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Author: Brooke Schultz

Township should deny data center project proposed for Pennhurst, planning commissioners say

Calling a developer’s plan for a data center at the historic Pennhurst site “technically deficient” and not in compliance with the zoning ordinance, East Vincent’s planning commission voted Tuesday to recommend that the township’s board of supervisors deny the proposal.

The decision, which passed the commission unanimously and saw enthusiasm from residents who had been vehemently pushing back against the project for months, doesn’t hit the brakes completely. The township’s board of supervisors will still have a hearing for the project in March.

The developer declined to appear at the meeting Tuesday, instead sending a letter indicating they intended to revise the submitted plan and pressing the commission for a positive vote.

Their absence rankled the commission.

“I take exception to the fact that the applicant and the applicant’s lawyers have declined to present this evening, and they informed us by letter” that morning, said vice chairman Lawson Macartney. “This is especially germane, given the lamentably poor technical quality of detail presented in the plans.”

The commission’s vote is a win for the residents in the township — and surrounding municipalities — who have decried the plan that would bring five two-story data center buildings, a sixth building, an electrical substation, and a solar field, totaling more than 1.3 million square feet, according to sketch plans.

The data center would sit on the property of the former Pennhurst State School and Hospital — known as Pennhurst Asylum during the Halloween season. It’s situated near the Schuylkill and borders Spring City, and would be a close neighbor to the Southeastern Veterans’ Center.

“Based on the materials presently before the township, there is no factual or legal basis to conclude that the proposed development would create impacts greater than those ordinarily associated with a permitted conditional use,” Matthew McHugh, the developer’s attorney, wrote in the letter.

But the commission found the plans lacking in detail and explanation of what impact it’d have on water, trees, employment, and more, saying the materials were “significantly technically deficient and do not comply with our zoning ordinance in some major ways.”

The letter indicated the developer would submit a revised plan that would add private power generation consisting of natural gas and battery storage installation, and relocate the proposed substation. The overall square footage and building heights wouldn’t change, the letter said.

“I just think this is the biggest, most impactful development that’s been proposed in our community since I’ve been on the planning commission,” said the commission’s chairwoman, Rachael Griffith. “I’m just shocked at the minimal detail that has been provided and just doing the absolute bare minimum, especially when data centers are just such a hot topic these days…I’m just sort of dumbfounded as to why they thought we might be interested in recommending this in the first place.”

Residents praised the commission’s decision.

“This is the kind of stuff that keeps people up at night, especially those of us who are impacted,” resident Larry Shank told the board. “You really made my night. Thank you.”

State Sen. Katie Muth, who represents the township and is a resident, said commissioners protected the community.

“I think that you all made the right decision tonight on a multitude of fronts,” she told them.

In a statement, Kevin A. Feeley, a spokesperson who represents the developer, rejected the commission’s assertions, saying that they had “exchanged information about the development on a regular basis throughout this period.”

He added that the developer would submit revised plans to “address some of the review comments, particularly with respect to onsite power generation and water usage.”

East Vincent’s proposed data center comes as Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has championed data center development, promoting a 10-year plan that includes cutting regulatory “red tape” to make it easier to approve them. The governor’s office also announced Amazon would spend $20 billion to develop data centers and other artificial-intelligence campuses across Pennsylvania.

Despite pushes at the federal and state level, 42% of Pennsylvanians say they would oppose the centers being built in their area, according to a recent survey.

With the state’s strong private property rights, it creates a bind for township officials, who are struggling with residents’ pushback and zoning allowances.

“Pennhurst LLC owns the land, so they can do what they want with it, as long as it aligns with our ordinances and what they’re allowed to do,” Griffith told attendees Tuesday. “They’re trying to do something that is not really allowed. It’s our role to uphold our zoning ordinance so that they stick to that.”

In December, the township’s board of supervisors declined to move forward with a draft ordinance it had been penning for months that would govern data center development in the township, allowing the application to come before the planning commission and continue on to the conditional use hearings.

The township’s solicitor said the scheduled March 16 conditional use hearing for the project would move forward. If the developer submits an updated plan, the proposal could come back before the planning commission.

February 18, 2026
A historic Chesco bridge will be rehabbed to extend a scenic trail

A project to expand the Chester Valley Trail and repair the historic Downingtown Trestle Bridge, which has spent decades largely untouched, will kick off soon, Chester County officials said.

It’s part of a larger effort to expand the sprawling Chester Valley Trail, a 19-mile rail trail that runs through Chester and Montgomery Counties, from Exton to Atglen.

“The bridge is a really key part of it, because it’s multimodal,” said George Martynick, director of Chester County’s facilities and parks department. “Without that bridge, I really don’t know what we’d do with this project. It is the keystone of that project. It’s a big job.”

As the county kicks off the project, people can expect to see inspections taking place on the bridge in the coming months. The trestle will get a full inspection to make sure it meets federal standards, Martynick said. Design is slated to begin in the next year, and the rehabilitation and extension should be completed in five to seven years, he said.

The bridge stretches 1,450 feet long and more than 130 feet high over the east Brandywine River. Known as the “Brandywine Valley Viaduct,” “Downingtown High Bridge,” or “Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Bridge”— but colloquially called the Downingtown Trestle Bridge — it was constructed in the early 1900s, according to the Downingtown Area Historical Society.

“This is taking on something much bigger than I think a lot of people understand,” Martynick said.

Map of the Downingtown Trestle Bridge and the Chester Valley Trail in Chester County.

The Trestle Bridge has been out of commission since the 1980s, with the track removed. Since then, the bridge has sat abandoned, and has had a troubled history. Security measures were added to prevent people from accessing it, and netting was put on it to keep debris from falling off it.

The county completed a drone inspection before it took ownership of the bridge last year.

In May, the county commissioners voted to purchase a portion of the former Philadelphia and Thorndale railroad corridor from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for $1.

Other than some growth and weeds, “it’s in fairly good shape,” Martynick said.

The county has received three grants for the project — two from the state department of conservation and natural resources, each for $500,000, and a Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission grant for $200,000, said Brian Styche, the multimodal transportation planning director for the county’s planning commission.

The county is matching both of the conservation and natural resources grants, for a total of $2.2 million in funding toward the bridge’s design.

“It’s a good project. It’s going to take a lot of time and effort and a lot of patience, but it will be a pretty impressive project for the community,” Martynick said.

It’s a personally important project, too: Martynick applied to work in the county’s parks department because of his love of the trail.

“I love it,” he said. “It’s a very, very special trail.”

February 18, 2026
Only 1 in 10 people survive cardiac arrest. Here’s how to help if you’re a bystander.

When Bob Borzillo collapsed a few months ago, he could have become a statistic: More than 350,000 people go into cardiac arrest each year, with a 90% fatality rate. But his wife’s quick response — and a calm 911 dispatcher — saved his life.

Bystanders could do this too, advocates say.

But in the Philadelphia region, only 26% of people suffering cardiac arrest receive bystander intervention, said Jeffrey Salvatore, the vice president of community impact for the American Heart Association of Greater Philadelphia. That’s much lower than the national average of 40%.

Though often used interchangeably, a heart attack and a cardiac arrest are not the same, and they warrant (slightly) different responses.

A heart attack is a “plumbing issue,” where there’s some blockage in the arteries that supply blood to the heart, Salvatore said.

But a cardiac arrest is an “electrical problem;” the heart pumps through an electrical system, and when something misfires or stops, that’s when a cardiac arrest occurs. It necessitates CPR.

“When the heart stops doing its job, we have to take over, and that’s when CPR comes into play,” he said.

That’s what happened to Borzillo.

A Chesco man’s heart stopped. His wife’s fast response — and a steady 911 dispatcher — saved him.

Someone in cardiac arrest is unresponsive, and requires immediate intervention to prevent death.

You can check for unresponsiveness by tapping someone on the shoulder, rubbing their chest, or yelling loudly. If they don’t respond, call 911, and begin hands-only CPR, pressing hard and fast in the center of the chest.

In many cases, 911 operators have been trained to walk callers through delivering CPR.

A heart attack can lead to cardiac arrest, but it can also happen separately, and never result in the heart stopping, Salvatore said.

If someone is exhibiting signs of a heart attack — chest discomfort; or discomfort in other areas of the upper body, such as arms, back, neck, jaw and stomach; shortness of breath; cold sweats; light-headedness; rapid or irregular heartbeat — call 911, Salvatore said.

The American Heart Association is seeking to expand training in hands-only CPR for adults and teens, to increase low bystander-intervention rates.

Just doing chest compressions — no mouth-to-mouth contact required — and calling 911 can double someone’s chance of survival, Salvatore said.

“They are the first responder before EMS gets to the scene,” he said.

For more information, or to get CPR certified, you can go to cpr.heart.org

February 14, 2026
A Chesco man’s heart stopped. His wife’s fast response — and a steady 911 dispatcher — saved him.

Bob Borzillo has a deal with his wife Terri: She puts everything in the dishwasher, but he has to unload it.

That’s what he was doing on a night in November, after the couple had arrived back home in Willistown from Barcelona. He was putting the very last thing — a wine glass — away. That’s where the 65-year-old’s memory stops.

But for Terri Borzillo, also 65, that’s where a terrifying ordeal began.

She had been just a few feet away, writing in her journal as her husband unloaded the dishwasher in the background. She heard him groan and glass shatter. She got up to help him, expecting to find him picking up glass shards. Instead she found him on the floor, unresponsive.

What they did not know then was that a piece of plaque had broken off, completely blocking his artery. He was in cardiac arrest — not breathing, no pulse. After having walked around Barcelona, averaging 18,000 steps a day, he had no symptoms, no warning signs, until he collapsed in their kitchen.

More than 350,000 people annually experience cardiac arrest outside hospitals, and only one in 10 survives, said Jeffrey Salvatore, the vice president of community impact for the American Heart Association of Greater Philadelphia.

The association has been leading a campaign to teach more teens and adults hands-only CPR to increase bystander response rates. Nationally, 40% of those who experience cardiac arrest each year are helped by a bystander. The rate in the Philadelphia region is significantly lower: less than 26%.

Only 1 in 10 people survive cardiac arrest. Here’s how to help if you’re a bystander.

The association also holds telecommunicator CPR training, so dispatchers can instruct people over the phone on how to provide CPR, said Salvatore.

“Cardiac arrest is 100% fatal without any intervention. If nobody does anything for the person, there’s no chance of survival,” he said. “By just calling 911 and just doing compressions, you can still double someone’s chance of survival.”

Terri Borzillo immediately went into action, calling 911.

“I think my husband’s having a heart attack,” she remembers screaming to the dispatcher.

Calmly, the Chester County dispatcher, Kayla Wettlaufer, had Borzillo describe her husband’s condition.

“She said, ‘OK, lady, get control of yourself. We’re going to do this together,’” Borzillo recalls. “By the command in her voice, and because there was no option, I had to do this.”

Wettlaufer led Borzillo through CPR over the phone — telling her where to place her hands, when to compress. Wettlaufer even told her when it was time to unlock the front door so the nearby first responders could get in.

“It was horrible to watch my husband in that condition, and it was horrible to know that I had the balance of his life in my hands,” Borzillo said.

With Wetlaufer guiding her — and, she swears, every doctor in heaven — she did compressions until the EMTs arrived, using paddles to restart his heart.

As the EMTs wheeled Bob Borzillo out, Terri Borzillo retrieved the bottles of holy water they had picked up at Our Lady Lourdes in Barcelona. She sprayed her husband and the EMTs.

It got her an odd look, but, she said, “For somebody who has deep faith, I know all the angels and saints were there with us, and we’re smiling today instead of crying,” she said.

Bob Borzillo, left, takes a photo with two first responders who arrived to his home in November when he was in cardiac arrest.

Terri Borzillo’s faith runs back to their first date, more than 40 years ago. It was 1982, she was single, and her coworker asked her if she’d like to meet a nice guy. What do I have to lose? she thought. Acting as an intermediary, that colleague — a friend of Bob Borzillo’s family — told Bob about Terri. The young man’s father happened to know Terri’s father. He told his son, “Call that girl.” Bob listened.

On their blind date, Terri Borzillo knew he was the one. There was something to how he talked, explaining — of all things — turbine generators.

He really was a nice guy, she thought. (“I was a nerd,” he said.) She felt something click. Dear God, she thought, let him ask me out again.

One big Italian wedding, three sons, and seven grandchildren later, the two have lived in Chester County for more than 40 years.

This experience has made him proud to be a county resident, Bob Borzillo said. After he was released from the hospital a few days later, Borzillo went to the firehouse and met the first responders. He and his wife met Wettlaufer, and toured her workplace.

Wettlaufer, an operator who has been with the county for almost five years and was honored by the county this month, was the start of a well-oiled machine, Borzillo said. Their proximity to the firehouse and Paoli Hospital helped get him professional care quickly.

“If the Eagles offense executed that efficiently, we would have been in the Super Bowl,” he said.

Terri Borzillo said meeting Wetlaufer helped ease the trauma of the situation.

“She’s beautiful. And what they do there is amazing, and they get all of the credit,” she said.

Saturday marks three months since Bob Borzillo’s cardiac arrest. He and his wife are in Florida while he recovers, and will celebrate Valentine’s Day with friends from Chester County.

“Certainly the heart and what Valentine represents has a special meaning this year, and I am blessed to be here to celebrate it,” he said in an email.

This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

February 14, 2026
Chesco makes another election error, after residents said their faith in voting security was shaken

On the heels of a massive pollbook error that left thousands of voters off the rolls in the November election and prompted an independent investigation, Chester County is facing another mistake from its voter services department.

Earlier this month, the county’s reminder notices, sent to voters who said they would like to receive an annual mail ballot application, reversed the first and last names of voters on the applications. It was not clear how many applications were affected by the error.

“This printing error will not affect the processing of the form,” the county’s voter services department posted on its website. “Whether voters choose to submit their application online or using the paper form, all applications will be processed accordingly.”

It was another blunder for a department that has made administrative mistakes in its elections, with residents telling county commissioners last week the errors were eroding their trust in election safety. It also comes as voters have called for the firing of the director of the department after the office has seen high numbers of turnover.

Counties across the state are sending reminders to voters who said they would like to receive an application to vote by mail. The county became aware of the mistake on Feb. 4, after it mailed out the applications earlier that week.

County officials alerted the Pennsylvania Department of State that day, a spokesperson for the agency said.

“We agree with county officials that there is no need to reissue the applications,” the spokesperson said in an email.

A county spokesperson referred to the voter services statement.

More than 52,000 county voters cast their ballots by mail in November.

Residents had worried during a public meeting last week that the county would make another misstep. The meeting was the first since the county released an independent report investigating a pollbook error that omitted roughly 75,000 unaffiliated and third-party voters and forced more than 12,000 voters to cast provisional ballots in the general election.

November’s error followed another omission in May, when the county did not include the office of the prothonotary on its primary ballot, due to a legal misinterpretation from the county’s solicitor.

The issues come as the department’s director, Karen Barsoum, has been accused of fostering a toxic workplace, leading to unusually high turnover. The independent investigation found no evidence of that, the lawyers who penned the report said last week.

The investigation found no evidence of malfeasance in the election blunders, but rather that lack of training, poor oversight, and staffing challenges compounded to cause the pollbook error.

This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

February 11, 2026
Roadside bakeries are growing in Chester County: ‘It’s that home-sweet-home comfort food’

When Jacqueline Spain’s now-grown kids were having a bad day, she would sit them down at the kitchen island and bake them something. Now, she has opened up that kitchen island to her community with her roadside home bakery, Devon Road Made.

“Food is love, love is food,” Spain said, standing in her kitchen recently, bread in the oven and cookies on the counter. “I like to put a lot of heart and soul into it. I feel if you’re going to put good energy into that, people are going to feel that. They’re going to taste it; they’re going to like it.”

Devon Road Made is one of the newer additions to a trend of microbakeries that are cropping up in Chester County, some with roadside carts and stands dotting residential roads in Paoli, Downingtown, West Chester, and elsewhere.

The Devon Road Made bakery cart outside the home of David and Jacqueline Spain for folks passing by to buy some home baked goods in Willistown, Pa., on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.

Statewide, interest in selling home-baked goods has been growing. Pennsylvania had 361 licensed home bakeries in 2023. That nearly doubled, to 663, in 2025, according to the state agriculture department, which oversees the inspections and licensing of food businesses that operate out of home, rather than commercial, kitchens. There has been a general bakery boom, too, in Philly.

Chester County appears to be a growing incubator of such little bakeries: It had 28 licensed home bakeries in 2025, compared with 16 in 2023, the department said.

Before issuing a license, the department inspects the baker’s food production site. Bakers must verify they have zoning approval to have a business on their property, submit ingredient labels, restrict pets or not have them, and have an approved water supply. It costs $35 to register.

In the few weeks since, Spain, 59, and her husband, David, 60, rolled their bakery cart to the foot of their yard at 60 Devon Rd. in Willistown, the community has indeed seemed to like it. Jacqueline Spain’s cookies and David Spain’s sourdough loaves continually sell out. People knock on their door to ask if things will be restocked. One woman sat at the Spains’ kitchen island, sampling freshly baked cookies, while awaiting her pickup order.

“Everything we make, she has been making for years,” David Spain said. “That’s kind of part of our DNA. It’s got to taste really good — something that we would only serve our friends and family.”

David Spain, of Willistown, Pa., and his wife Jacqueline Spain, chat with Inquirer Reporter Brooke Schultz about their Devon Road Made bakery cart at their home on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.

And Chester County seems like a place perfectly ripe for these little bakeries to thrive, several home bakers said: It’s not a wholly rural community, nor is it totally Main Line. There is an affluent clientele (Chester is the wealthiest county by median income in the state) with an interest in homemade, quality ingredients.

But they do face some headwinds: A number of municipalities restrict such carts through zoning codes, even if the bakers are licensed to sell.

Alexa Geiser, 28, of Lulu’s Bread & Bakery in West Chester, opened her home bakery in October, originally selling her sourdough first come, first served from her porch. But then the borough told her she was not permitted to sell from her residential porch, and she moved entirely online to sell her bread and the occasional chocolate chip cookie batch.

Though it’s a bummer — she said it was nice to talk with people stopping by for a peaceful hour on Fridays — she felt supported by the community, who offered their businesses for her to host her pickups.

“I think people really value homemade goods that people put a lot of effort into, and good quality ingredients,” she said. “I use all organic flours and filtered water and good salt in my bread, which is something I personally value. It’s what I want to give to my customers as well.”

The Devon Road Made bakery cart outside the home of David and Jacqueline Spain for folks passing by to buy some home baked goods in Willistown, Pa., on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.

But the stands are a niche the bakers feel they are filling.

“I noticed around here, at least where I live specifically, there aren’t really that many,” said Maddy Dutko, of Maddy Makes. “I’ve seen a couple that sell honey or some that sell flowers, but I haven’t really seen any that sell baked goods. I was like, why not? It’s a way for me to connect with people around here. Maybe bring them something that they didn’t know was necessarily in their community.”

Dutko’s stand, at 623 Sanatoga Rd. in East Coventry Township, is open on the weekends from spring to fall. Dutko sells bread loaves, coffee cakes, cinnamon buns, cookies, and dry mixes for pancakes or cornbread. She tries to keep things fresh and interesting, but also consistent for loyal customers. Dutko, 29, also sells orders online and at markets.

The physical presence has led to customers hiring her to bake for kids’ birthdays, or people approaching her at markets to tell her they always stop by for a treat when they end their walk on a nearby trail.

The Devon Road Made bakery cart outside the home of David and Jacqueline Spain for folks passing by to buy some home baked goods in Willistown, Pa., on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.

There’s something to be said for products baked with love in someone’s home, Jacqueline Spain said.

On a recent Friday afternoon in Willistown, the Spains stocked the baskets of their cart with baggies of cookies, breads, and dog treats — a customer request that their daughter, a veterinary nurse, fulfilled. A red open flag commenced their weekend hours of “noon-?” People pulled up onto the lawn to shop.

“It’s feel-good, it’s warm, it’s friendly, it’s inviting,” Jacqueline Spain said. “It’s that home-sweet-home comfort food.”

February 9, 2026
This Chesco business wants to create a ‘third place’ between home and work or school

When you walk into Koselig Nook, Aracelis Mullin wants you to feel a wave of calm. She intentionally designed the teahouse that way: From its welcoming furniture to its lighting, its green paint, its scents, it is meant to be a relaxing third space, a stopping point between work and home, where people can gather, craft, focus on wellness, or anything between. Don’t forget to take off your shoes. (Really. It’s a rule.)

Koselig Nook, a late-night teahouse, plans to open in Exton, at 333 E. Lincoln Highway, later this month. The business is relocating from Coatesville, where it opened in 2024, to be more central for customers within the county and traveling from Philly.

“The whole idea and the purpose is to bring the people out of their houses and to enjoy another place where they can network or just spend some time or talk,” Mullin said.

Named for the Norwegian term encompassing contentment and coziness, Koselig Nook’s seating is meant to be secure and comfortable — with plush, downy pillow seating and blankets, oils, and low lighting, inviting people to lounge.

So much of today’s gathering culture revolves around bars and drinking, Mullin said. Though sober options are opening in metropolitan areas, like Philadelphia, people in the county have fewer places — especially places open later, she said.

That’s the gap Koselig Nook seeks to fill, she said.

“I think there’s a big need for third places that are more calm; for introverted people, they can come and network, too, little by little, but they don’t have the pressure of society saying, ‘Hey, do you want to drink?’” she said.

Instead, customers can sit and study or work from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for $25 on Tuesdays through Fridays. Students spent a lot of time holed up in the Nook’s Coatesville location during finals week in December, Mullin said.

In the evenings, from 7 to 11 p.m. for $35 on Friday and Saturday, people can go somewhere that is not about drinking.

During various events offered week to week, people can come to workshops where they junk journal, cutting up pictures and pasting them into notebooks, or take a meditative break surrounded by gongs and chimes and singing bowls in a sound bath session, or spend time with a medium. You can pick up letters from a pen pal in another country or pen your own, facilitated through Koselig Nook. You can silently read your own book and then, in a formal discussion, chat about it with other readers, trading recommendations.

Some make events out of it. For one 24-year-old’s birthday, she and her friends journaled together, sipping their tea, and had a sound bath.

Others come alone and leave with connections: During a full moon ceremony, only two of the 15 women who came knew each other. By the end, “they all shared their phone numbers. … It was amazing,” Mullin said.

The business traces its lineage to when Mullin’s daughter, Victoria, was living in California in 2020. She frequented a teahouse where customers could reserve time and sit and enjoy themselves during the evening hours. After Mullin visited herself, she felt compelled to bring something similar to the East Coast. She picked the brains of the owners.

With her background — she ran a traveling tea party business for young girls and a birthday party business in Thorndale — Mullin embraced their model; her teahouse is reservation-only. There is unlimited tea, and a selection of premade snacks. Everything is provided without extra charge once you are in the Nook. Socks only.

“I wanted to have that community place where the people come and gather, regardless of what your politics and your religion, so we did it. I was scared to death,” she said.

She expected to have to go a bit more slowly in Chester County, for people to understand the business. But she was met with a lot of enthusiasm.

“The people are so in need of this that they love it,” she said.

February 7, 2026
Downingtown dog involved in 4 attacks is euthanized

A Downingtown dog has been euthanized after it injured multiple people in recent months and made residents feel unsafe, officials said.

The decision, made the day of a Thursday hearing in district court, stems from a November incident in which the dog bit a child in a neighboring house on the 500 block of Thomas Road.

Whitley Coggins said her sons, ages 4 and 8, had been playing in the backyard when the neighbor’s dogs were let outside. One mixed-breed dog got through the fence, attacking her youngest son, she said. The boy was bitten on his upper arm and required stitches.

There are four dogs that had been known to neighbors for aggressive behavior, she said. Though the Coggins family had never personally experienced it until November, the mother said, she warned her sons to run back inside if they ever saw the dogs in the yard.

After the hearing and the owner’s decision to euthanize, Coggins said she was frustrated that the only positive was that one of the dogs was removed from the house.

“I feel like I’m supposed to feel like something was done, I’m supposed to feel good that the one dog that attacked my child is gone, and I do feel a small sense of replaced safety or something — that that one dog is not there,” she said. “But that one dog has never been the problem, not the whole problem.”

Coggins said her sons still feel unsafe leaving the house and are fearful of dogs.

“Following our time in court, we still had to return — and the rest of the neighbors had to return — to a neighborhood with three dogs who have registered attacks on other people and other animals, and because of the laws and the way the laws are written or interpreted, there is nothing to go forward with to remove these dogs,” Coggins said.

Reached by phone, the attorney for the dog owner declined comment.

Brendan Brazunas, Downingtown’s chief of police, said the owner’s defense counsel immediately suggested euthanasia given the seriousness of the 4-year-old’s injury, and the fact that this was the fourth documented bite involving this dog since 2023.

“The dog that created the most issues at that house is this dog that was euthanized,” Brazunas said. “Obviously, the community is very concerned and they’re afraid, and I think this was the first step with regards to dogs at that house.”

Brandywine Valley SPCA, which had assisted the Downingtown police in the case, transported and euthanized the dog, a spokesperson for the organization said.

“This was a tragic situation that never should have escalated to this point,” Erica Deuso, mayor of Downingtown, said in a statement. “I love animals, and I am heartbroken any time a dog loses its life, but public safety comes first.”

The charges were dropped, as they can only be made for live dogs, Brazunas said. But there are ongoing cases facing the owner’s other dogs.

A Jan. 20 incident was reported to police when the dogs escaped through an open door and injured an adult man, a tow-truck driver who was returning a vehicle. That case will be heard in the coming weeks.

The SPCA has six outstanding charges for other dogs in the owner’s home regarding rabies vaccinations, dog licenses, and the dogs getting loose, the spokesperson said.

February 6, 2026
‘The first step’: Chester County commissioners present poll book investigation to voters

Chester County residents called for accountability after a poll book error led to thousands of voters being left off the rolls in November’s election, and said the recent investigation solicited by the county fell short of addressing problems they fear could happen again.

Tuesday’s public meeting was the first time community members — and the county commissioners themselves — were able to respond to an independent firm’s investigation and report, which found that insufficient training, poor oversight, and staffing challenges in the county’s elections office forced more than 12,000 voters to cast provisional ballots in the general election. The poll book error occurred as the 25-person department has faced unusually high turnover in recent years, and as the director faces allegations of fostering a toxic workplace.

“This is the first step, this is not the last step … to rebuilding trust with the public and improving elections in a way that ensures this never happens again,” Josh Maxwell, chairman of the county commissioners, told the attendees.

The 24-page report, prepared by West Chester law firm Fleck, Eckert, Klein & McGarry LLC and published last month, found that two employees mistakenly included only registered Democrats and Republicans when using the statewide voter roll to create the poll book, omitting more than 75,000 registered independent and unaffiliated voters from the rolls.

The employees, inexperienced and never formally trained, lacked direct supervision, the report said. No one in the county’s department checked the books until a poll worker noticed the omissions before polls opened on Election Day.

There was no evidence of malfeasance, the report said. County officials said previously that everyone who wanted to vote could cast a ballot, despite the issue.

Still, the error rocked Election Day in the county, with officials scrambling to print supplemental poll books and poll workers staying late to address the challenges. Republican Commissioner Eric Roe broke with his Democratic peers by voting against the certification of the election results in December, saying his conscience would not allow it.

Community members said Tuesday the error further eroded trust in voting security.

John Luther addresses the Chester County Commissioners as they hold a public meeting to discuss the errors they had in the pole books during the November election. West Chester. Tuesday, February 3, 2026

“How many voters were disenfranchised and did not vote?” resident John Luther asked the commissioners. “That is the most important thing. You guys can fix all the rest, but you can’t fix what you messed up in the front.”

Kadida Kenner — who leads the New Pennsylvania Project, an organization dedicated to voter registration — said she rushed on Election Day to West Chester University, where the organization had helped students register to vote, to make sure they were not disenfranchised.

“I see the impact of this mistake, this opportunity for change and growth,” she said. “The events of Election Day really did not help our efforts to be able to overcome feelings of individuals, as it relates to the electoral process, here in the commonwealth and across the country.”

The report recommended more than a dozen changes for the county to prevent future errors, including improved training, reviewing processes and policies, and evaluating staff levels and pay. The county rolled out a plan to address the recommendations and intends to make monthly reports on its progress, saying some recommendations would be in place ahead of May’s primary.

“Everyone in this room knows that a grievous error was made, and everyone is upset about it,” resident Marian Schneider said. “We can stop the browbeating and focus on the path forward.”

The report stopped short of recommending personnel changes. Maxwell said the commissioners would not discuss personnel actions.

Attorney Sigmund Fleck addresses the Chester County Commissioners as they hold a public meeting to discuss the errors they had in the pole books during the November election. West Chester. Tuesday, February 3, 2026

“Bottom line, this appears to be a human error — clicking the wrong box,” said Sigmund Fleck, one of the attorneys who oversaw the report.

Residents worried that those errors were symptoms of a deeper problem, and that the report’s scope did not fully address issues within voter services.

“Yes, human error is a factor here,” Elizabeth Sieb told the commissioners. “This goes far beyond that. Mistakes of this magnitude require consequences.”

Fleck pointed to larger issues with the state’s election system that culminated in the error, such as tight turnaround times for publishing the poll books, lack of statewide training, and a fairly old-school online voting roll system.

Elizabeth Sieb addresses the Chester county commissioners as they hold a public meeting to discuss the errors they had in the pole books during the November election. West Chester. Tuesday, February 3, 2026

But other counties deal with those same complications, some community members argued. November’s error came after the county omitted the office of the prothonotary on the ballot in May’s primary. The report found that error was due to the county solicitor’s office misinterpreting state law.

“Sixty-seven counties face the same exact issues, except for one: management,” said Nathan Prospero Fox, a former voter services employee.

Roe acknowledged the anger directed at county staff, but said: “The truth is, the buck doesn’t stop with staff. It stops with us.”

“I am so sorry,” he continued. “This is not the end; there’s still time for accountability and improvement.”

This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

February 4, 2026
Local businessman and ‘Task’ stuntman is appointed to Kennett Square council

Michael Bertrando’s first brush with Kennett Square’s council three years ago was to discuss a parking issue at his family’s legacy sandwich spot, Sam’s Sub Shop. He saw his neighbors, listened to them, and started to see how the council worked. Eventually, he became something of a regular.

When the issue of short-term rentals came up last month, Bertrando had a lot of perspective: As an actor — you might have seen him on HBO’s Task — he has traveled extensively. He has seen the negative effects short-term rentals can have had on communities from New York to Argentina to Brazil. He spoke up.

And then people started to drop by the sandwich shop, which he runs alongside his parents, suggesting that he put his name in for a vacant seat on the council.

The council voted last month to appoint Bertrando, 52, from a crowded field of applicants to fill former council member Julie Hamilton’s seat through December 2027. He was sworn in Monday.

The seat will be on the ballot for a four-year term in the 2027 general election. Hamilton resigned for a job in Texas, the Daily Local reported.

Long ties to Kennett Square

Council member is another job title the local businessman and Task stuntman can add to his resumé.

“I’m volunteering to help the residents of my community; that’s my primary goal,” he said in an interview Tuesday.

Bertrando — an actor, director, and producer — has worked at his family’s 80-year-old sub shop for decades. It drew him back home a few years ago, so he could help his aging parents run the shop.

But in the years between, Bertrando left Kennett Square to pursue acting, appearing in commercials for brands like Mercedes, McDonald’s, Nintendo, and Oscar Mayer; traveling the world as a professional clown; and working the improv comedy circuit in New York and Chicago.

His film career has continued back in Pennsylvania; Bertrando served as Mark Ruffalo’s stand-in and stunt double in Task, the HBO crime drama set in Delco. In his own productions, his hometown has seeped into his work. A short film, Italian Special, is set within Sam’s Sub Shop and Kennett Square.

Since returning to the borough, Bertrando has been a frequent visitor to council meetings, and advised the borough alongside other business leaders on what was going well, and what wasn’t, in Kennett Square.

Priorities on council

His professional career and his family’s long lineage in Kennett Square have shaped his perspectives on the borough, and what he thinks he can add as a council member.

He is motivated by the possible development of a new theater. Infusing more arts into the community would be beneficial, he said.

Having worked on Task, he saw how other municipalities the show filmed in benefited from an influx of revenue: from parking to hiring police for traffic control, to renting out locations in town, to ordering food for lunches and snacks, to coffee runs, to overnight stays in hotels.

“We have all the infrastructure needed for that to happen here in Kennett,” he said.

Both Task and fellow Pennsylvania-based crime drama Mare of Easttown mention Kennett Square, but neither used the borough for filming.

“When you have a theater or something arts-driven in the town, I think that’s a signal,” he said. “I think a theater can work as a beacon for revenue from other sources, like film production.”

Beyond the intersection of his passion for film and the borough, he said the development of the former National Vulcanized Fiber land, a large undeveloped parcel that is being remediated for contamination in soil from the industrial site, has been of concern for residents.

While the project would be years out even if ultimately approved, Bertrando said he would advocate for environmental transparency and affordable development that respects the existing neighborhoods.

He would also like to improve communication between the municipality and its residents — the longtime community members, like Bertrando’s family, and those who are choosing to relocate.

As he began his term on the other side of public comment, he said, he focused in, listening closely to what his neighbors were saying. He feels the burden to pay close attention, since he was appointed to the role, rather than elected.

“I really have to make the effort to listen to their concerns and really try the best ways to help in their concerns,” he said. “Sitting on the other side was exciting. It was important. It’s serious. It’s my town. I really care about it.”

February 4, 2026