By Richard L. Gaw
Staff Writer

The verbal swords that were unfurled against the Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO) by Kennett Township Supervisor Geoffrey Gamble during an early July meeting may have been somewhat tempered following a meeting he and township Manager Alison Dobbins had with PECO officials on July 30.

The swords, however, are still swirling in the air, as the township’s fight to provide its residents with more reliable power has not wavered in its commitment. 

The context of that meeting, which was discussed at the board’s July 6 meeting, connected Gamble and Dobbins with PECO’s external affairs manager, their engineering and design manager; their senior programming manager for vegetation management; their reliability engineer for Chester County; and their reliability engineer for Delaware County.

“Kennett Township now has their [PECO’s] attention,” Dobbins said. “I feel like it was a productive meeting, where we were able to raise strong concerns. We asked a lot of questions, and we certainly continued to make clear the depth of frustration felt by this community.”

Dobbins said that PECO provided she and Gamble with updates about projects being done on five different circuits in the township, one-third the total number of circuits that provide power to the municipality.

“PECO did acknowledge that 2024 was a hard year for Chester County, in terms of levels of storm damage and outages, and as a whole, they are addressing Chester County specifically, where they are looking at more vegetation work, in addition to the four-year [vegetation] schedule they are on,” Dobbins said. 

The meeting stemmed from the comments Gamble delivered at the end of a July 2 board meeting, when he eviscerated PECO for its lack of reliable service to Kennett Township and called the energy provider “masters of obfuscation,” which was reported in the July 9 edition of the Chester County Press. 

Gamble requested full transparency in how PECO operates its grid in the township and in surrounding municipalities; asked for the appointment of a PECO representative to provide regular updates at public meetings; called on township Solicitor David O. Sander to explore the possibility of initiating a class action lawsuit on behalf of the township and perhaps surrounding municipalities to key PECO leaders; and asked the township to initiate a formal complaint to the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PUC) about PECO’s inadequate service and encourage the PUC to explore the idea of licensing alternative electric companies to provide service to the township and surrounding communities. 

Holding PECO accountable

“The best strategy in the short term is for us to give PECO a chance to demonstrate that they are going to be responsive to our needs,” Dobbins said. “We will continue to be in consistent contact with PECO, pressing for results.”

Dobbins said the township will also begin to “empower” its residents by adding PECO information to its website and recommended that residents continue to contact PECO in the event of a power outage. She encouraged township residents to reach out to the township if they are continuing to experience power outages – especially those not related to weather events.

Quoting the English philosopher G.K. Chesterton, Gamble said, “The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple, and this is certainly true with respect to our issues with PECO.”

He called the July 30 meeting “enlightening and instructional,” and confirmed that the PECO officials they met with are actively trying to correct the energy deficiencies experienced in the township and throughout southern Chester County.

“We have the same goals – which is safety and reliability – but the question is whether reliability is to be achieved,” he said. “Before we proceed as a township with any formal complaint to the PUC, I do believe it’s only fair to set a data-driven performance baseline that gives [PECO] a chance to improve.

“What we need is for PECO to stop going through the motions and take the kind of action that produces performance results.”  

In other township business

American Mushroom Institute President Rachel Roberts brought the supervisors up to date on initiatives being undertaken by the mushroom growing industry to combat air quality concerns and the Phorid Fly, two consistent presences that have frustrated many residents throughout southern Chester County over the past several years. 

One initiative being explored is nanobubble technology, which addresses climate change, environmental challenges, cost and energy reduction in industrial processes, and optimization of therapeutic and diagnostic techniques in many agricultural sectors, including the mushroom industry, with special focus on wastewater treatment. To date, this technology has not been implemented on local mushroom farms, but Roberts said that she was “cautiously optimistic” about the initiative, which has received funding over the past year and will continue to seek matching grants.

“Nanobubble technology focuses on composting and not only helps improve lagoon waters but also can improve the entire composting process overall,” she said.

The industry has also been exploring the future use of carbon activated tarps, a pilot study that has been in place since last year, which if used on mushroom farms, would mitigate nuisance odors emanating from these operations.

Regarding the mitigation of the Phorid Fly – which are drawn to mushroom farms to lay their larvae and subsequently travel to nearby residential areas – is underway through a Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture quarantine enacted on facilities in Chester County to apply a “steaming off” process, the funding of which is being allocated by the Conservation District of Chester County.

In addition, Roberts said that over the past few months, the industry has been exploring the idea of making insecticide netting available to mushroom farms. She said that the EPA has recently temporarily approved the product, which “will go along the cracks and crevices of a mushroom houses, but also over the mushroom beds, so now these Phorids that love to breed inside the house won’t have a way to get in and out of [mushroom houses] without coming into contact with this screen.”

The board voted to adopt Resolution 2025-13, approving the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Kennett Consolidated School District. The MOU, which will be enacted through 2027, establishes clear guidelines and cooperative procedures between the school district and law enforcement regarding school safety and security, incident response and investigations, and the sharing of information between the school district and the township. 

The board also authorized Dobbins to sign the contract with Carroll Engineering Corporation to perform the survey and design services for the Five Points Intersection Improvement Project, in the amount of $105,000. The firm will design roadway and traffic signal upgrades for the five-legged signalized intersection of South Union Street, Hillendale Road and Old Kennett Road.

The agency will complete a topographical study of the intersection; determine the extent of the ground leveling needed; provide the township with right-of-way impacts; and design turn-lanes, signal phasing and signal timings splits.

Following approvals of these projects, Carroll Engineering will prepare design plans for submission to PennDOT in order to obtain a traffic signal permit and a highway occupancy permit.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].