How a $41.8 million lifeline tore a township apart
For more than two years, the township government has been plagued with infighting between two factions of officials over the ARPA funds and the subsequent lawsuits. Both sides wrestled for control of the dollars.
Three Democrats and three Republicans on the township council formed a coalition, then solidified a majority. The remaining five Democrats on council sided with former Mayor Barberann Keffer’s administration.
In February 2022, the then-council majority accused the Keffer administration of mismanaging a portion of ARPA funds. The allegations nearly plunged the township into a government shutdown.
“It’s been a tumultuous two years leading up to this time,” Silva said. “It hasn’t been great.”
Two investigations, three court actions and six months later — the funds remained unspent. Along the way, former Chief Administrative Officer Vincent Rongione stepped down, and the township Democratic party decided to publicly disavow the three council members who were siding with township Republicans.
Eventually, council managed to allocate funding. In September 2023, the council members unanimously approved a set of ordinances to spend the final amount of funding. However, Democratic Council President Hafiz Tunis has concerns about the transparency of the process and the lack of expert input.
He said the council minority at the time was not brought into the planning process until the very end.
He believes he was put in a difficult position: vote against it and leave his constituents hanging or vote in favor of the ordinances which he believes shortchanges his district. Tunis is embracing Brown’s plan to re-allocate the money.
“I feel like a lot of my colleagues have made promises to some stakeholders on these funds and they believe that they won’t be met and that’s not necessarily true,” Tunis said. “Some of these projects will happen, but it needs to be thorough. The public needs to be involved and it needs to be transparent and it needs to be open to the public — not backroom deals, meeting at someone’s house over pizza and wine and that’s what really happened.”
Despite disagreements, township officials mend fences
He said the 19082 ZIP code, which encompasses the area near 69th Street, earns less than some of the more affluent districts in Upper Darby. To Tunis, the ARPA conversation is missing a cultural component.
“Those ARPA allocations, it shows that. $1.6 million to the Drexel Hill Senior Center — $250,000 to the Upper Darby Center. That’s a disparity. That’s over a million dollars,” Tunis said.
He believes reallocation allows for a fresh start.
Both Tunis and Andruszko entered the ARPA controversy, relatively speaking, as the new kids on the block. Although they still sit on opposing sides of the debate, both expressed a desire to change the tenor of local government through better communication.
“I just feel like that’s how government should work,” Tunis said. “People want this adversarial relationship where we hate each other — I don’t think that works. Mayor [Cherelle] Parker and [City Council] President Kenyatta Johnson were able to get a budget done together. That’s a big win for Philadelphia. Upper Darby wants to do the same thing.”
Even though Tunis disagrees with Andruszko’s stance on guarantees, he believes the Republican council member has the township’s best interests in mind.
Council meetings still have their tension, but they are a far cry from public meetings of yesteryear.
“It has improved, and I’m happy to see that, and I think we need to continue to focus on the residents, ensuring that our actions are respectful and that we’re taking care of them first, Andruszko said.
Brown said he welcomes opposing perspectives. As a newcomer, he wants to keep the peace inside of the municipal building.
“But I think that’s a collective effort, right? I don’t think this is solely my effort,” Brown said. “I will control myself, and I can control my administration to a degree, but I think other people who disagree also have to be committed to keeping the temperature down. There’s such a thing as respectfully disagreeing and accepting decisions that are made.”
Councilmember Silva said he plans to do just that. He described Brown’s administration as “honorable people” and said he has more confidence in them than their predecessors.
“If we can do this with a level of mutual respect and understanding and if we all have that same goal of trying to do something good for the people of this township, then I feel like we’ll be able to do this in a calm and rational way,” Silva said. “It’s entirely possible — and it might even be probable.”
