With Election Day around the corner, Heightsonline takes a look at the candidates and some of their accomplishments: Today we look at the Democrats.
Mayoral candidate Tom O’Brien is no stranger to local politics; it is a “family affair.” His uncle, John E. “Jack” Tully, served as a SLH Council member for almost 20 years, in addition to serving as the Democrat’s elected committee representative for the 1st Voting District. That mantle was passed to O’Brien in 2014, when Tully decided to not run for Committee re-election. O’Brien previously served a term on Council, from 2006 through 2008. In 2008, he ran for re-election but was unseated in a contested Democratic primary by John Brennan. He returned to Council in January 2014.
O’Brien, who chairs the Council’s Finance Committee, most recently became embroiled in a debate over raising municipal taxes. O’Brien supported the increase and initially proposed a budget that include a 1.3 cent tax rate increase. It was O’Brien’s desire to create a fund that could be set aside for future Capital expenditures. A counter-argument was put forth that any such fund should include an actual list of needed equipment along with some sort of proviso to prevent it from becoming just a slush fund for future Councils (see Heightsonline’s previous post, “Councilman Campion Suggests Cautious, Planned Approach to Future Spending”).
The argument over the creation of the fund triggered another budget proposal, this time put forth by Councilwoman Sara King. King’s budget contained a zero-cent tax rate increase but did not cut any services. The Council voted along party lines, with Republicans supporting the zero increase and the Democrats and one Independent supporting the tax increase. When it came time to vote, O’Brien again outlined his argument for an increase and ended by saying, “You know, now you have me on record as saying I want to raise taxes, so that’s cool.”
His other accomplishments on Council include:
Voted “yes” on Ordinance #2-2000, a bond issue appropriating $750,000 for the purchase and installation of new water meters. In support of a request by Public Works Superintendent Art Herner, the Council agreed to purchase approximately 3,000 new electronic-read water meters. The water meter project became fraught with problems, including the initial installation of defective meters which were discovered to have been rejected from a project in another town. The project lagged for years until Councilwoman King reorganized and completed it when she joined the council in 2010.
Voted for the 2007 Borough-wide Tax Reassessment, granting the contract jointly to Realty Appraisal Systems and to Value Consultants, the firm owned by the Borough’s tax assessor, Mitch Elias. Elias received $75,000 for the work.
O’Brien served as the Council’s Finance Chair when former Borough Clerk Theresa Casagrande took on the additional job of CFO. In the role of Finance Chair, O’Brien has the responsibility to oversee all financial transactions, sign the payment vouchers, and other related tasks. Either he was aware that Mrs. Casagrande had been approved for overtime, or he was not aware – which is worse, because as Finance Chair, he had an obligation and a duty to know that. In either scenario, Mrs. Casagrande’s approval of overtime happened on his watch and the refusal of a later Council to pay said overtime led to legal proceedings.
Council candidate Art Herner is another familiar face in local politics, having previously served on Council from 1984 to 1993. Herner, who served as the Council’s chair of the Public Works Committee, was appointed in 1993 as Public Works Superintendent and resigned his Council seat to accept the then-$42,072 a year position (see related story: Art Herner: From Councilman to Public Works Superintendent in the Blink of an Eye).
In 1984, his first year on Council, Herner voted to support an 18.87% increase to the budget cap, at a time when the cap was 5%. Municipal tax that year was .35 cents per $100 of valuation.
The same year, Herner supported a 4-year police contact that granted a “5% across the board salary increase for all PBA members and full time dispatchers,” in addition to expanding paid sick days from 6 to 10.
This contract, which caused a 20% raise to police salaries in 4 years, caused such an imbalance that at the 1987 budget hearings, the Police Chief and the Police Captain came before the Council to say there was now an inequity in salaries between them and the union members and requested and received a 15% pay raise for 1987 to “compensate them for the approximate 10% of extra benefits gained by their staff and 5% to keep them in line with increases given to union members.”
Other accomplishments include:
Voting for a $95,000 bonding issue to clean up a fuel spill at the Borough Yard on Atlantic Avenue. Although groundwells for testing were installed and some remediation done, the work was never completed and the Yard remains on the DEP’s list of Known Contaminated Sites, 30 years later.
Voted “yes” in 1988 to support a budget that exceeded the 4.5% budget cap by 11.4%.
Voted “yes” on May 9, 1988 for an ordinance that included granting medical benefits for part-time Councilpersons – but no other part-time Borough employees.
1n 1990, voted for a Salary & Wage Ordinance that put the Borough Attorney Robert Blasi on the payroll as “this would allow him to purchase health insurance through the borough group.” Coincidentally, it also provided that the Borough contribute towards Blasi’s inclusion in the pension system, social security, and Unemployment/Disability benefits. The attorney would receive an annual salary of $4,200, plus legal fees.
Voted for these tax increases in these years: 1984, .35 cent per $100 valuation; 1985, .47 cent per $100 valuation, 1987, .62 cent per $100 valuation, and .08 cent per $100 valuation. There was one year where there was a zero tax rate increase, 1992
Voted for the following salary increases:*

*Source: SLH Borough Council Meeting Minutes
**Retroactive to January 1, 1993 from April 23, 1993.
The percentage is not available for all years, but at minimum, these raises saw salaries increase by approximately 60% over the 10 years Mr. Herner was on Council, or an average of 6% annually. This gives an effective raise of 73% over 10 years as this year’s raise is added to next year’s base salary. Plus, employees enjoy periodic “step increases” in addition to these annual raises.
Council Candidate Nathanial “Nate” Novak: Mr. Novak’s resume includes community involvement, but no municipal involvement such as a volunteer on one of the many boards, commissions, and committees that are continually seeking members.
If you have any questions on the candidates or if you are interested in becoming involved with the SLH Democratic Party, please contact your elected committee representatives for your voting district:
District 1, Thomas O’Brien & Lisa O’Brien
District 2, Thomas Vorbach & Eileen Eilenberger
District 3, John Scanlon & Elizabeth Stader
District 4, Fredric Manger & Ellen Manger
District 5, Maeve E. O’Malley and no male representative elected