Letters to the Editor Associated with the Plainfield Township Supervisor Election November 2021

 There have been four Letters to the Editor published in the Morning Call and Express Times associated with the November 2, 2021 election of two Supervisors in Plainfield Township.  Elisa Robles-Carlo has submitted a fifth, yet to be published.  The authors of these letters have provided the full text so that they may appear here.

 In July 2020, the Plainfield Township Board of Supervisors rejected a request by Waste Management to rezone farmland, so that the Grand Central Sanitary Landfill can be expanded.  14 months later, the landfill has done nothing to reveal its next move.  It would not make sense to return with the same proposal.

 In August 2020, Plainfield Supervisor Steve Hurni, who is also the Green Knight Economic Development Corporation Secretary, announced at a Board of Supervisors meeting that he had requested the state Ethics Board to rule on if he has a conflict of interest if he votes on issues related to the landfill or Green Knights.  Fellow Supervisors expressed concern both that he suddenly made this request after having routinely recused himself for seven years from similar votes, as well as the fact that he must recuse himself from participating in important matters.  A September ruling confirmed that he has a conflict of interest.

 Then in October 2020, Supervisor Joyce Lambert made a motion at a Board meeting to reconsider Waste Management’s request, but did not receive a second.  This Spring, Bob Cornman, Vice President of Green Knight, entered his name on the ballot for a Board seat.  Is Waste Management’s plan to have Green Knight take over the Plainfield Township Board of Supervisors, in order to achieve its goal?  Should a 501(c)(3) be involved in politics?

 If you care about ethics, integrity and the future of the community, vote for Glenn Borger and Don Moore for Supervisor on November 2.

Tom Carlo

Pen Argyl

 As reported in a letter to the editor, non-profit Green Knight Economic Development Corporation Vice President Bob Cornman is running for Supervisor in Plainfield Township.  During a 1999 Zoning Hearing Board variance request for the Green Knight Energy Center, Mr. Cornman, who was on the township planning commission, represented himself as a member of a task force that preceded Green Knight, and supported a major zoning variance being granted.  Unwarranted, it was rejected.

 Mr. Cornman was the Green Knight Project Manager for the Synagro sludge plant proposed in 2016, while still on the planning commission.  Though he announced he would recuse himself, he participated during the first Synagro review and suggested prematurely that Synagro’s plan could be conditionally recommended that evening.  Thirty-four months later the plan was unanimously rejected by supervisors.  Mr. Cornman, a Plainfield Township resident with a conflict of interest, was curiously appointed to the Wind Gap Municipal Authority in 2019 – this was reversed when questions were asked.

 It is evident from his record that Mr. Cornman as a supervisor would continue to look out for interests other than those of township residents.  How can we not suspect that as supervisor Mr. Corman would promote rezoning farmland for a new dump and to host a sludge plant?  Green Knight supports these.  A man can not serve two masters. 

 Green Knight members have never been chosen by the communities, and Green Knight does not represent our interests.  Voters must reject Mr. Cornman’s attempt to join the township Board.

Jerry Lennon

Plainfield Township

   In this year’s primary, Upper Mount Bethel Supervisor candidates John Bermingham (R) and Dave Friedman (D) endorsed each other – requesting that voters split their vote.  This was in response to a lack of transparency in regards to the Board of Supervisors passing significant changes to the zoning ordinance, drafted by a major developer to benefit himself.

  In Plainfield Township, a similar bipartisan battle exists in the November 2 election.  A PAC named Committee Against Landfill Rezoning endorses Republican Glenn Borger and Democrat Don Moore.  While citizens in UMBT may suspect a conflict of interest in what transpired there, citizens in Plainfield Township have a glaring conflict of interest staring them in the face – Republican candidate Bob Cornman is the Vice President of Green Knight Economic Development Corportation, whose future is intimately tied to that of Grand Central Sanitary Landfill.  Green Knight member Steve Hurni, already serves on the township Board.

  Voters need to know that Mr. Cornman and/or Mr. Hurni can resign from Green Knight one day, and legally vote on matters relating to Green Knight and Grand Central the next day.  Board member and candidate Joyce Lambert (D), supports Mr. Cornman’s candidacy.   A man can serve only one master.

Jerry Lennon

Plainfield Township

 Once again, the residents of the Slate Belt must look to the wisdom and foresight of the voters and the leaders of Plainfield Township regarding the future containment of the landfill. Not one community in the Lehigh Valley would welcome a landfill, or the expansion of an existing landfill, inside their borders. The majority of the Plainfield Township supervisors got it right when they voted to keep the landfill within its currently zoned limits. We should all be grateful to them for their public support of a healthier future for those of us who must endure the impact that such an industry has had on our community and environmental health.

 Has anyone asked for hard evidence that the landfill has not impacted on the health of our neighbors, our streams and the air we breathe? No health survey or third party review of any data has ever been published to assure anyone near the landfill that we are not experiencing higher rates of medical and environmental issues due to the amount of trash that has been collected for decades in that location. We should demand that such data is collected and published!

No one should be fooled by the comments made by anyone connected to the mysterious organization called the Green Knight Economic Development group. I urge the voters in Plainfield Township to elect those who will maintain the size of the landfill to its currently zoned borders. Please do not sentence future families to more decades of mounting trash and potential health and environmental worries. That means voters must support Don Moore and Glenn Borger for supervisors in the township.

The life of the landfill needs to come to an end.

John F. Reinhart

Pen Argyl Borough

Voters in Plainfield Township can elect two supervisors who will not overturn last year’s vote to not rezone farmland to solid waste, so that Grand Central Sanitary Landfill can create a new landfill, or elect two other supervisors who will.

One candidate likely to push for reconsideration is Bob Cornman, the Vice President of Green Knight Economic Development Corporation (GKEDC) – a non-profit whose continued existence depends on the landfill.

 GKEDC’a charter is to benefit the community through giving – but from 2013 through 2019 grants were only $254,785 total on $3,112,655 in net income.  GKEDC would have sold waste heat valued at $2 million annually to Synagro, but passed on to the community as little as $100,000 – from a project that no one in the community supported, but GKEDC did.  When Waste Management requested rezoning, it stated it was paying higher tipping fees than required.

 Palmer Township has the Chrin Community Center, Forks Township has Chrinergy Park.  Plainfield Township has a bird sanctuary and chili-cookoffs.  Waste Management and Green Knight are giving back a pittance in exchange for the negative impacts on our community.  This community is eager to move on from its reputation as NY and NJ’s dump.

Elisa Robles-Carlo

Pen Argyl