Two Incumbents, One Challenger on Ballot in Lansdale’s Ward 2

Dan Sokil | The Reporter•

Voters will have two choices to make in Lansdale’s Ward 2 on Nov. 7.

Incumbent Democrats Meg Currie Teoh and Rich DiGregorio are being challenged by Republican Scott Kallatch, with the top two vote-getters earning four-year terms on council.

All candidates were asked the same questions, and below are their answers:

WARD 2

DiGregorio

No answers have been provided by press time.

Teoh

Meg Currie Teoh (Submitted photo)

Describe your background and qualifications for a position on Lansdale Borough Council

I was first elected to serve as Councilperson for Lansdale’s 2nd Ward in 2019, and am now running for reelection. I currently chair the Public Safety committee and serve on the Code Enforcement committee. I also am the council liaison to the Planning Commission, and previously served on the Parks and Recreation committee. Prior to my election to Council, I served as Judge of Elections in my precinct.

Outside of Council, my career at Manna on Main Street puts me in regular direct contact with our neighbors who are facing food insecurity and other challenges. This was an early motivation to pursue public life, and it continues to inform my work and choices as I look to serve all residents of my ward, and of Lansdale.

Prior to working at Manna, my professional experience includes the public sector at both the state and local levels as well as philanthropy. I have degrees in political science (BA, Loyola University New Orleans) and in public policy (MPP, University of Chicago).

Why are you running for a position on Lansdale Borough Council?

I am dedicated to serving this community. I am finishing my first term on Council, and while I’m pleased with what has been accomplished there is still much work to do. In my time on Public Safety, I have been proud to partner with the Lansdale Police Department as they have taken many significant steps to strengthen and modernize the department. One example is the recent contracting with a mental health co-responder, a program that is off to a strong start. We need to continue to grow and invest in this and similar programs. Additionally, we have substantial infrastructure needs. I will work to ensure we address them in a manner that is expedient but also fiscally responsible.

When I first ran for Council, I spoke of protecting the diversity of our community, including the economic diversity. I still hold this as a priority, and this has only grown as a challenge as prices continue to climb, including that of the limited housing stock. We must ensure there is room for all in our borough, or risk compromising our character. I have two young children, and I will keep working to ensure Lansdale continues to be a special and unique place where they — and others — will want to live, work, and play.

But most importantly, I want to continue to stand up for my neighbors, to be available to them and help solve problems, answer questions, be a resource. At the end of the day, I am grateful to have this opportunity to serve my neighbors, and I look forward to continuing to do so.

Borough officials have been debating how to balance needed infrastructure repairs with tax and utility increases. How would you approach those decisions?

This is unavoidable work. The infrastructure needs are not going to address themselves and go away, and are already quite dire in some locations. It would be wildly irresponsible of us as an elected body to not take action, especially as our highly desirable town continues to grow and the existing infrastructure continues to deteriorate – from both time and increased wear.

To finance this work, I would look to other funding options, such as various bond structures, for the bulk of the funding needed. Some tax increases may yet be needed to give us a more favorable bond rate – that discussion is still underway – but the scale of the work needed is beyond a sustainable tax or fee increase alone, and not doing the work is not an option. The responsible path forward is to do our research and ensure that we have the most advantageous bond terms available to us, minimize the financial impact to our residents, and then get to work on repairing our infrastructure before the work gets any more expensive. Not tackling this head on will only result in increased costs to residents in the future.

Your campaign website, social media pages, and/or anywhere else our readers can find you.

Facebook: @Megforlansdale

Email: [email protected]

Kallatch

Scott Kallatch (Submitted photo)

Describe your background and qualifications for a position on Lansdale Borough Council

Hello, my name is Scott Kallatch, and I am running for Lansdale Borough Council as a Republican. My wife and I have lived and raised our three children in the Borough for twenty-seven years. I have been a truck driver for thirty-one years and twenty-nine have been with the same company (Lehigh Valley Dairy Farms). After raising our children my wife and I started attending college at Montgomery County Community College and then transferred to Liberty University where we graduated with Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology in 2022. I am currently attending Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia working on a master’s program in counseling.

Because of my longevity as a Borough resident and my community involvement through the Lansdale Republican Committee and youth sports over the years, I believe that I am qualified to help guide the Borough into the future.

Why are you running for a position on Lansdale Borough Council?

I am running for Borough Council to try and bring fiscal responsibility to the budget and to hold the line on continued tax increases. I believe that the Council should represent all voters, but currently there are no republican voices in Borough government which is another reason why I am running. Balanced and open discussions with opposing points of view are healthy and make our town more inclusive. With these ideas and my qualities, I am confident that I would make a positive impact for the Borough of Lansdale.

Borough officials have been debating how to balance needed infrastructure repairs with tax and utility increases. How would you approach those decisions?

With the growing population and building in Lansdale, our infrastructure is under increasing stress causing deterioration to roads and utilities. The current economic situation in the Commonwealth and the country is causing increased stress and anxiety because of financial difficulties making it difficult to justify increases in local taxes or utility costs. Because of higher interest rates, restructuring loan debt is not an option that I would look at. My approach to funding these decisions would be to first research on what is needed and differentiate between must have improvements and items that may be able to be done later.

As far as funding, I would rather increase utility costs rather than increase taxes to pay for improvements because I feel that the money would be easier to keep track of as opposed to having tax dollars go into a general fund and then hopefully get spent on the projects. I would want to see complete transparency on where the extra money is spent to make sure everyone involved is held accountable. Increases in utility costs are difficult to accept especially for our residents on fixed incomes (i.e., senior citizens) so I would propose offering a discount for those that are retired or permanently disabled. Unfortunately, there is no option that will make everyone happy. Upgrades need to be done, that’s a fact and they need to be paid for, so it would be my responsibility to keep the impact on borough residents as low as possible.

Your campaign website, social media pages, and/or anywhere else our readers can find you.

I do not have an official campaign website or social media presence but if residents want to reach out to me through email: [email protected] or Facebook I would be happy to answer questions or have a conversation with them.

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