Pocopson supervisor candidate cites her DuPont background, bipartisan support as making her the best choice
By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com
Carol Haaf
POCOPSON — In a word, she said she feels she represents a certain degree of continuity for township voters.
Carol Haaf is seeking to become the second Democrat in recent years elected to the township Board of Supervisors — and hopes to replace the retiring Lauressa McNemar. She’s running against Ricki Stumpo, a newly-minted Republican, in the Nov. 8 election. Stumpo, a former Democrat, lost a write-in bid for the Democratic nomination in May to Haaf, but defeated planning commission member Steve Simonson for the GOP nod.
She’s not alone in feeling that she could pick up the work of the current board and continue without missing a beat: she’s been publicly endorsed not just by McNemar, a Democrat, but Republican supervisors Georgia Brutscher and Steve Conary, who say they like her business and managerial experience (she’s a retired DuPont executive).
Haaf, in turn, suggests that the current group of supervisors have done a good job in attacking the issues that face the township and have put in place a good plan for the coming years — preserving open space, fighting to maintain the essential character of the township all while keeping a tight reign on expenses.
“I think they’ve shown a great vision,” she said.
After retiring from DuPont about three years ago — and dealing with some family issues – she became increasingly active in township activities, joining the township’s Stream Team, which works to clean and maintain the township’s waterways. She’s also served as one of the township’s Democratic Committee members.
But with time and the energy to step up her efforts, Haaf said she feels she’d like to do more.
“I think it’s time to get out and make a contribution,” she said.
Her experience at DuPont, where she managed budgets of as large as $18 million — almost 20 times larger than that of the township’s — gives her a sense that she’d enter the job without a steep learning curve.
Still, there are things she hopes to work on if elected. She’s worried that beyond a small number of folks who attend meetings, most residents don’t have a sense of what is happening. Although there has been somewhat more media coverage of supervisor meetings of late, she said she is concerned about a lack of connection with residents. She’d like to see the township’s Web site get retooled to be more user-friendly — and look at whether social media, such as Facebook, should be used to increase dialog between residents and elected officials.
One other issue: she said she’d like to get moving on the renovation work on the Barnard House, slated to be the township’s new office/meeting site, as well as the home to the Kennett Underground Railway. Right now, the township is forced to spend money on upkeep and stabilization of the 19th century building — but severe cuts in available government grant money have stalled efforts to get the real work on the building underway.
“I think we have to get moving on the Barnard House,” she said, although she didn’t commit to any one funding source — admitting that finding a way to pay for the project would be the big challenge and it is an issue the current board has been working hard to overcome.
She emphasizes that supervisors have to be careful, though, in how they spend money. While there is a certain amount of wealth in the township, there are also residents who are far less well off and with the cost of virtually everything else going up, can’t easily weather a local tax increase.
“There’s a big differential in the distribution of wealth,” she said. “Sure, there are some folks with money. But not everyone does and we need to keep that in mind.”
Although becoming a township supervisor is a bit of a challenge, Haaf says she’s excited at the prospect, in part because the township has so many good people — especially those who are volunteers for the township’s various committees and commissions.
It seems our GOP candidate Ricki Stumpo switched parties in order to collect the gop votes. What does this say about the character of a person-especially at this level? In addition, despite perhaps being legally able to run for this office while being a Township receptionist, it seems this is a huge conflict of interest for the daily activities of the existing staff, other supervisors and the public. How can you be your boss’s boss? how can you fairly make any staff related decisions if you are staff ?(in this small township, it must be nearly 50% of the decisions in some way involve staff) how can you now answer any questions to a public caller on the phone- as a receptionist? as a supervisor? seems you cannot answer any until you are off duty- as a supervisor cannot independently make decisions and should not give opinions. The current Board seems to have worked hard to rid the township of the opportunities for favoritism . Seems this receptionist/supervisor situation would take us backwards and create much conflict. is that why Stumpo won’t speak to the press? perhaps she doesn’t know how to do this job so she is avoiding dealing with it?
seems Haaf clearly has the right type of experience to handle our Township affairs and tax dollars. Stumpo has NO experience at this level of responsibility. We should all vote smartly.
I agree whole-heartedly that maintaining the continuity and energy of the current board is a major plus. In just the last four years, so much has been accomplished in the Township- old projects that were on hold for years, and finally new plans exist which look ahead to improve our infrastructure- with a ten year maintenance plan for our roads. Working as a team on this level of local government is so important. It is what helps move the population into current times, and keeps our taxes focussed on the important aspects of being a well kept community. Pocopson Township is a beautiful Township. Carol seems to have the energy , health, business background and passion it takes to do the hard work ahead.