Hopewell Borough mayor, clerk are leaving town this month

Both Mayor George Padgett and borough Clerk Hilary Fortenbaugh are leaving their posts and moving out of state.

By John Tredrea
   May 2003 will be a watershed month in the history of Hopewell Borough government, with both Mayor George Padgett and borough Clerk Hilary Fortenbaugh leaving their posts and moving out of state.
   In tandem, they have more than 25 years of service in the borough.
   Mr. Padgett, who has been mayor for nine years, will preside over the council’s meeting next Monday night. He and his wife, Molly, will hit the road for Sarasota, Fla., the next day.
   "We have to be there on time to meet the movers," he explained. "They’re coming on the 16th."
   Mr. Padgett, who was a Borough Council member for several years before becoming mayor, is a retired attorney. He was a general counsel and executive vice president for the Lionel Corp., for whom he worked for many years.
   "Being the mayor of Hopewell Borough has been a very satisfying experience," he said. "I can’t complain about one day I’ve served as mayor. It’s been a good run."
   Ms. Fortenbaugh, who has been borough clerk for 15 years, had planned to retire herself after she leaves Hopewell and moves to a home she and her husband, Robert Fortenbaugh, have purchased in Pennsylvania, near Gettysburg.
   Mr. Fortenbaugh, retired now, has been serving as a Hopewell Planning Board alternate. A former chairman of that board, Mr. Fortenbaugh also was a member and served as president of the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education in the early 1990s.
   "A really great job opportunity came out of the blue after we decided to move, so I won’t be retiring after all," Ms. Fortenbaugh said. She’s taken a full-time position as borough manager of Carroll Valley, a town southwest of Gettysburg.
   "I’m leaving Hopewell with very mixed feelings," Ms. Fortenbaugh said. "The prospect of a new home and new job is exciting, but I’ve made a lot of friends here and have a lot of respect for many of the people on Borough Council I’ve worked with over the years."
   Ms. Fortenbaugh said May 23 "will probably be my last day as borough clerk."
   Several factors led to the Padgetts’ decision to move to Florida, the mayor said. He said financial considerations led them to try to find a smaller home, in or near the borough, than the one in which they live now. "But we couldn’t find anything we could afford," he said. "And I’ve developed asthma and some allergy problems in recent years. Cold weather doesn’t agree with me too well anymore. It’s much easier on me in Florida — I can breathe and sleep!"
   The mayor is proud and glad that Hopewell Borough’s government has "managed to avoid partisanship, unlike some other towns. Political partisanship in a government of volunteers? It makes no sense to me."
   Looking back, he said the intense, prolonged debate over the fate of a tract of land formerly owned by the Ruhland family stands out as an important event in a number of ways. In the mid-1990s, area developer Peter Blicher wanted to build housing for seniors on the land, 13 acres of which was in the borough. Another 30-odd acres of the tract was in Hopewell Township, which surrounds the borough. In the end, a group of citizens bought the land and it has been preserved as open space.
   "It split the community," he recalled of the Ruhland debate, adding that two of the leading opponents of the senior housing project, David Mackie and Alice Huston, decided to run for council themselves as the debate drew to a close. "And they both have become cooperative, industrious and outstanding members of our council," he said. "It’s that kind of thing I’m thinking of when I talk about avoiding political partisanship."
   David Nettles — a member of Hopewell Borough Council serving now as council president — will take over the duties of acting mayor, a borough spokeswoman said Tuesday. Mr. Nettles, a Democrat, is expected to run unopposed in the November election for the position of mayor.
   As to the position of clerk, the spokeswoman said Tuesday that officials are looking for a replacement for Ms. Fortenbaugh.