Coatesville city manager assails D.A.'s statement

Twenty-four hours after Chester County's district attorney called for an overhaul of Coatesville government, the city manager issued a written dissent denouncing the D.A.'s motivation.

Harry Walker disputed District Attorney Joseph W. Carroll's depiction of Coatesville as a violence-ravaged city in crisis, stating that crime had decreased by 20 percent in the last year.

"The city administration has no comment on a Republican district attorney's plans to use the power of his office and taxpayer dollars to change the complexion of fairly elected City Council persons in a primarily Democratic city," Walker said in the statement, released Wednesday night. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Council member Martin L. Eggleston disagreed that Carroll's motives were political and took issue with Walker's statistics.

"I'm not confident those are accurate," Eggleston said yesterday. "I will say if that number is accurate, I can guarantee the level of violent crimes has not decreased - heinous, egregious acts that are out of control."

Carroll, who bought a house in Coatesville in July, issued a four-page statement Tuesday that outlined his concerns that violence had escalated and the "city administration doesn't seem to have a plan to address it."

Urging residents to become involved and pledging to boost resources, Carroll called for the ouster of Police Chief William Matthews and at least two of the four City Council members up for reelection in 2009.

Although Carroll did not specify which members should be ousted - Kareem Johnson, Patsy Ray, Kurt Schenk or Robin Scott - the four generally voted together and supported Matthews, whose failure to get state certification has sparked conflict.

Three of the City Council's seven members - Eggleston, Johnson and Ed Simpson - have praised Carroll's initiative, calling it candid and accurate; the other four did not return phone or e-mail requests for comment.

In his statement, Walker did not respond directly to the flap over Matthews, who has been unavailable for comment. Matthews has cited undisclosed medical reasons for his failure to earn the authority to carry a gun and enforce the state crimes code.

"We substantially restructured the Coatesville Police Department," said Walker's statement, citing improvements that included new investigative procedures, increased foot patrols, and meetings with businesses.

Carroll called the Police Department undermanned, but Walker, citing Bureau of Justice statistics, said the city had 36 percent more law enforcement officers than the national average.

Eggleston said the department was still recovering from the exodus of one third of its members after Matthews was hired.

"I have great respect for Chief Matthews, but he cannot perform police duties," Eggleston said. "I do take issue with that."

Eggleston said he also found it troubling that Walker released a statement on behalf of the city without input from council.

"I have a problem with that," he said.