Council President Says He’s Appalled By Accusations of His Corruption

Frackville’s Borough Council President said earlier this month that he’s “appalled” that some people in the community believe he’s corrupt.

Ron Jordan was responding to criticism leveled against him at last month’s council meeting, which he missed, and claims on social media that he’s corrupt over the borough’s handling of a situation involving the feeding of birds.

Jordan made a statement near the the conclusion of Frackville council’s regular meeting in September, saying “I want to stand here today and tell everybody here, I have never been corrupt in my life. I ran for council 18 years ago because people asked me to because of how I conducted myself and I continue to do that today.”

What brought about this statement from the council president?

At Frackville’s meeting in August – which Jordan did not attend – one resident spoke out against his receiving a Notice of Violation of an ordinance that prohibits the feeding of wild birds and stray cats.

In July, Frackville council members voted unanimously to start enforcing an ordinance that was already on the proverbial books that banned feeding wild animals, namely pigeons and stray cats. It did so as an attempt to curb what they say is a growing problem with pigeons.

Robert Wuttke said he got the Notice from the borough’s code enforcement officer regarding the bird feeder he keeps in his yard.

“I like to sit on my front porch and de-stress. Some people like to go fishing. Some people have a beer or whatever. I like to sit on my front porch and watch the birds,” Wuttke said. “I have a big, nice beautiful tree in my front and they sit in there and they chirp … all the sparrows, the bluebirds … whatever type of birds. I don’t seem to have any problem with any birds, really, except feeding them. The only problems I have are with the robins.”

Wuttke was not pleased about getting the violation notice. He was sharply critical of the borough’s handling of the situation and believed he was being “harassed and targeted” because Jordan’s wife had attended a previous meeting to speak out against the pigeons and that he lives near the Jordans.

“Feeding birds in a feeder on my property is not harboring feral animals. It is simply feeding wild birds,” Wuttke said. “Is the borough’s plan to file criminal charges against me, a tax-paying citizen and retired veteran for feeding birds and a bird feeder on my own property?”

By the end of the rather lengthy discussion last month, Frackville backed off of taking action against Wuttke and explained to him why the borough is trying to limit using bird feeders and feeding birds, at least temporarily, while it tries to rid itself of nuisance pigeons.

There was also some question about whether Wuttke or others were “chumming” birds by throwing peanuts and other food onto the street to feed them.

Rather than being cited, Wuttke said he wished that someone from the borough had simply approached him and spoke to him about the pigeon problem and why his bird feeder may be problematic.

However, he also leveled an accusation that he was being singled out because he lives close to Jordan and that it was Jordan’s wife who made a public comment at a meeting at the beginning of summer regarding his bird feeder.

“Are you truly prepared to take this as far as criminal charges, because one person chose not to speak to their neighbor first? Is that really where we want to go as a community,” Wuttke asked.

He also noted that Jordan’s wife’s comments at a previous public meeting were not included in the official meeting minutes.

“Only two notices were sent, one to me who lives directly across the street from the council president and one to the resident directly behind the council president,” Wuttke claimed. “This is not broad, even-handed enforcement. It is targeted enforcement against two specific households in close proximity to a single council member.”

Wuttke’s claims then apparently carried over into Frackville-based pages on social media, where the “corrupt” label was apparently applied liberally, enough that Jordan noticed.

Jordan took particular exception to that.

“The same neighbors could have come across the street and knocked on my door and asked me about the ordinance. They did not. They decided to go to social media and talk about my corruption. Absolutely absurd,” Jordan said. “I’ve been on council over 17 years now. I am 100% behind the residents of Frackville. I am appalled to believe people in this town believe I’m corrupt on how I do business.

“I am appalled to believe people in this town believe I’m corrupt on how I do business,” he added.

The council President also defended his wife’s right to log complaints or ask questions of borough officials.

“She is a resident of town and has a right to come to this meeting and talk on behalf of her needs, just like anybody else,” Jordan said, adding that his wife had specifically come to speak about the practice of chumming.

Regarding Wuttke receiving the Notice of Violation, Jordan said he asked the borough’s code enforcement officer to post a copy of the ordinance on Wuttke’s property. Instead, code enforcement issued the Notice of Violation.

“Unfortunately, the code enforcement officer, who likes to do his job, took it to another level and posted it as a fine. That is not my intention. I did not want that to happen but it did,” Jordan said.

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