WEST MARLBOROUGH: Raise for employees

West Marlborough Township residents will see no tax increase, either in the real estate tax or the earned income tax, under the proposed 2019 budget, which the supervisors discussed at their Dec. 4 meeting.
Supervisors' chairman Bill Wylie said that the proposed budget is "very much like last year's budget," although the supervisors are keeping a close watch on two items that could affect expenditures in the future. The first is possible increases in financial support for the fire and ambulance companies that serve the township. The second would be part of the supervisors' ongoing efforts to discourage speeding and through traffic, which, as Mr. Wylie put it, "could involve some expense."
A vote on the 2019 budget will be taken on Thursday, Dec. 27, at 7 p.m. at the township office.
Township employees will get a 3 percent raise in 2019, prompting an amusing exchange between the board and longtime township secretary-treasurer Shirley Walton. She told the board that rather than a raise, she'd rather replace the township's aging Quicken software with QuickBooks.
Mr. Wylie, chuckling, said he was sorry, but she had to take the raise.
"Can I still get the software package?" Mrs. Walton quickly asked. He agreed.
Supervisor Hugh Lofting Sr. looked out at the audience in wonder.
"Only in West Marlborough," he said.
The township's annual reorganization meeting will be on Wednesday, Jan. 2, at 7 p.m. (not the usual Tuesday night, which is New Year's Day).

GROCERIES: Postprandial chore

After having a tasty dinner at Mi Cocina Mexicana in Jennersville (chicken fajitas and pork quesadillas), we walked over to the Giant supermarket -- and spotted four other diners who had done exactly the same thing.
"Wait, I recognize you!" I said to one of them in front of the milk case.
He laughed. "It's never a good idea to go to the grocery store hungry," he said.

RADIO: 1980s marathon

WXPN, the Philadelphia radio station, has spent the past 2 weeks playing songs from the 1980s, in alphabetical order. As I'm typing they are up to the letter "S." Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me," which I heard this morning, seemed prescient with its lyrics "People call me on the phone I'm trying to avoid. Well, can the people on TV see me, or am I just paranoid?": after all, in the 1980s we didn't have cell phones, Facebook, or much of the technology we take for granted now.
I shared the playlist with a buddy in Havering, England, and he texted me that he was listening to it at that very moment, via Alexa and TuneIn Radio. Pretty amazing, considering the FM station on my car radio went all fuzzy as I drove through downtown Kennett.

HEAT: You're getting warmer

During a discussion about the autumnal increase in electric bills we've all experienced, the Young Relative noted that he jacks up the thermostat in his room in hopes of warming it up as quickly as possible. I added that I do the same thing as soon as I get into my car.
The Y.R.'s father (and, I should add, the payer of the electric bill) sighed and started channeling his undergraduate engineering textbooks.
"The RATE of increase in temperature is a constant," he lectured us. "You can't speed it up!" I wouldn't have been surprised had he started scrawling equations on the napkin.
Dearest Partner, who works with thermostats daily and is all too familiar with this crank-it-up fallacy, said he thinks appliance manufacturers should add a screen saying, "Heating as quickly as possible," just to keep customers happy.

HOSPITAL: Better than medicine

A friend couldn't wait to tell me about his recent stay at Chester County Hospital's new Lasko Tower. The nursing staff, he said, made up a comfortable bed so his wife could stay with him -- and even provided turn-down service. And the nurses, remembering from a previous visit how fond he is of coffee, had a hot cup waiting for him when he returned to his room after surgery. (A retired Navy cook, he IS a very memorable fellow.)
"I couldn't believe it!" he raved. "They were amazing!"

KENNETT: McFarlan Road lot

A reader asked if I know whether anything's going to be built on the long-vacant, paved lot at McFarlan Road and East Baltimore Pike in Kennett Township, opposite the medical office buildings. I think it used to be a car dealership. I searched online but couldn't find anything. Can you help me out, readers?

THE CLAUSES: Coming soon!

As they have since 2014, the Po-Mar-Lin Fire Co. will be escorting Santa and Mrs. Claus through the fire company's service area this Christmas season. They'll be visiting neighborhoods in Pocopson and Newlin townships on Sunday, Dec. 16, and in East and West Marlborough on Sunday, Dec. 23. You can follow their progress live on PoMarLin's Instagram or Facebook page.