DISCLAIMER: The information contained on this Web site, which includes information contained on all links to other sites, is provided as a public service by Pottstown Citizens for Responsible Government. The material on this Web site comes from government and other sources, and Pottstown Citizens for Responsible Government does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information, or make any representation as to whether the information is current. No warranty, express or implied, is created by providing the information on this Web site. Pottstown Citizens for Responsible Government shall not be liable to anyone for any decision made or action taken, or not taken, in reliance on the information found on this Web site. Users are advised to do their own independent investigation before relying on or taking/not taking any action based on information found on this Web site.
Dennis Wausnock, left, and Tom Hylton
About Us
Pottstown Citizens for Responsible Government is a registered political committee created to encourage Pottstown Borough and the Pottstown School District to conduct their business in an open and professional manner. By state law, political committees must have a chairman and a treasurer.
To encourage excellence in government, Pottstown Citizens for Responsible Government will post information and analysis on this Web site to help inform readers about local issues. We have already posted a great deal of factual information and will add more as time goes by.
Our analysis of the issues, based on the facts, is clearly labeled as "Commentary."
Our Web site is continually evolving, so please check back often. Just as we seek continual improvement from the borough and school district, we seek to improve our performance as well. Your feedback is welcome!
Note: This Web site was developed as a community service.
To see our annual financial report filed with the Montgomery County
Office of Voter Services, click here
About Dennis Wausnock, chairman
Dennis Wausnock is a lifelong resident of Pottstown and a graduate of Pottstown High School. He has three grown children who also attended Pottstown public schools. He served 16 years on Pottstown Council, including two years as president and eight years as vice president. He served on the Pottstown Planning Commission and on numerous planning committees, including the Open Space Committee which adopted Pottstown’s current Open Space Plan.
Wausnock was elected to the Pottstown School Board in 2007 with more votes than any other candidate. He ran on a pledge to preserve Pottstown’s five neighborhood elementary schools – a pledge he is still trying to carry out.
About Tom Hylton, treasurer and Web site editor
Tom Hylton has lived for 38 years with his wife, Frances, in a small brick house at 222 Chestnut Street in downtown Pottstown, next to the John Potts Burial Ground. Frances recently retired after 35 years as an elementary school teacher in the Pottstown School District.
During his first 22 years in Pottstown, Hylton wrote for The Mercury, where he won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1990. He resigned from the newspaper in 1994 to form a small non-profit and write a book about ways Pennsylvania can preserve its towns and countryside. Later he produced and hosted a public television documentary based on the book that has aired more than 100 times on PBS stations nationwide.
Hylton serves on the Pottstown School Board, the Pottstown Planning Commission and the Pottstown Shade Tree Commission. Hylton has championed Pottstown as a model of sustainable development in his book, public television documentary, and in nearly 450 talks given in 35 states, including one to the nation’s governors at their 2001 conference in Washington.
Hylton was named Pennsylvania’s Urban Forester of the Year by the Pennsylvania Forestry Association in 1992; Conservationist of the Year by the Pennsylvania Wildlife Federation in 1999; and Historic Preservationist of the Year by Preservation Pennsylvania in 2000.
In December 2008, the Pottstown Citizens for Responsible Government Web site was established by Tom Hylton with his longtime colleague, Dennis Wausnock. At the same time, Hylton began writing occasional columns for The Mercury's editorial page as paid advertisements.
The columns are used as a forum to promote the best aspects of Pottstown, which is a sustainable community.We believe these columns help promote good government and preserve Pottstown's core virtues, which include walkable neighborhood schools. Freedom of speech is a precious right which can make our communities stronger.