Your Dad - Wyoming Councilman

We've had a good relationship with Carpinet Plumbing & Heating since buying the Montgomery Ave property.  It started with creating the upstairs, front bathroom (formerly a bedroom).  Then continued with installing our gas, forced hot air heating system and recently replacing our ductless air conditioning equipment.  It's great to have a responsive plumber.  Alex, you'll remember....  shortly after buying your house on North Street, there was a water leak from your back bedroom heating pipe down through your kitchen ceiling (you got to hold the bucket!).  On that Saturday afternoon, Bob Carpinet stopped over within 30 minutes to turn off the water source from your basement. 😅

Last week I stopped into the Carpinet Plumbing office in Wyoming to pay our bill.  I was looking around for a photo of the original owner, Albert Carpinet, when I saw a picture that I think is from the early 1990's - immediately below.  Presumably Wyoming had just purchased a new police car.  On the left are the borough secretary, Dad and police officer Bill Ragantesi (who was Wyoming's police chief from 2004-2011).  On the right are four other Councilmen including Ernie Stahley (tallest man, also mentioned below), State Representative Phyllis Mundy and lastly Al Carpinet at the far right.  The reason for Al being included in the photo is not clear to me; possibly he contributed to help buy the police vehicle?  Dad always said Al was the wealthiest man in Wyoming, as a business owner and landlord.

It seems to me that your Dad's best years went through roughly age 35.  And from at least his college days, Dad was interested in local politics.  In the mid 1980's, he decided to run for office in Wyoming Borough.  This involved getting signs and campaign cards i.e., "Vote for Bob Carroll", asking friends around town to put the signs in their yards and campaigning door-to-door dressed up in a suit & tie.  Though a big time commitment, Dad was enthusiastic.  He had an advantage in knowing many people in Wyoming, having delivered newspapers, worked at the Wyoming Theatre as a kid and later worked at Avenue News.  (I hope you remember Lee and Sammy Brosso, owners of Avenue News, who truly enjoyed having you stop in.)

The Carroll family was generally interested in politics, discussing mostly national news and candidates.  Grandma and Grandpa were conservative.  The family was registered Republican, except for Grandpa who during his career in broadcasting was registered Independent.  

Running for a local office is largely a popularity contest, with name recognition as a key objective.  To help voters remember you, it's important to pass out campaign cards at the polls.  So election days (primary and general) were very long, with Dad greeting incoming voters outside the Breese Street municipal annex - at a proper distance.  I was out there for most of the day too.  Voting was largely in-person; absentee ballots were allowed in limited circumstances such as when voters were disabled or traveling.

After much effort Dad was elected, as quite a young man, to be a Republican Councilman from the second ward (Wyoming did not have at-large voting at that time, I'm not sure whether it does now).  The second ward correlated to Wyoming's early-day business and residential zone, from 6th - 8th Streets.  At that time there were no women, so it really was just Council men.  However, later during this tenure a woman did get elected as Wyoming's Mayor.  

There were 6 Council members, two from each of three wards.  Your Dad's level of involvement depended on whether he was he was part of the voting "majority" or "minority" on Council.  For several years he was in the majority, which meant that his group made key decisions.  And also played a large role in town adminstration.  During this time the Council Chairman was Ernie Stahley, who ran a pet supplies store near the Midway Shopping Center.  He and Dad were good friends.  They were leaders in planning and running Council meetings, dealing with significant projects (such as road paving) and helping to address problems (I particularly remember sewer issues).  Dad was in charge of the annual budget process i.e., he was very involved in drafting it late in the year, presenting it to Council for approval and tracking actual financial results vs. budgetted amounts during the next year.  There were annual expenses and longer-term commitments, like putting funds aside for expensive equipment. 

There were also years when Dad was in the minority.  In this situation, his primary function seemed to be making things difficult for the majority faction.  From what I could tell, the minority members voted the opposite of the majority in almost all circumstances.

Regardless, all Council members got complaints and questions from borough residents.  Especially at public meetings, this could be quite difficult.  As one example, a woman who lived on the west side of Wyoming Ave near 10th Street complained repeatedly that remote control airplanes being flown behind her house constituted operating an airport.  This area along Abraham's Creek had been a temporary mobile home park following the Agnes flood in 1972.  Just off Swetland Lane in West Wyoming (which we've always called the "dirty road"), I used to see an old sign for the Wyoming Valley RC Flyers.  And to my surprise, there's now a new sign:

Effective municipal government is important.  Dad was successful since he was intelligent, worked hard, used good judgement and dealt strategically with opposition.  I'm glad to have come across the Wyoming photo and to share these memories with both of you.