Chester’s new mayor, Stefan Roots, is talking compromise with state receiver Michael Doweary so the city can emerge from bankruptcy, writes Kathleen E. Carey for the Daily Times.

“It’s my intention to work as constructively with the receiver’s team as possible so that Chester can emerge from bankruptcy in a financially strong and sustainable position,” Roots said just days after his swearing-in.

Doweary has been Chester’s state receiver since April 2020, instructed to draw up a financial recovery plan for the city.

By November 2022, he was filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy for Chester.

Most of Chester’s financial woes came from a $46.5 million deficit, with $39.9 million of that from past-due pension payments. 

“Up to now, it always hasn’t gone smoothly … between the receiver and the city,” Roots said. “The city hasn’t offered up many recommendations to the receiver, and the feedback to his recovery plan has mostly been in the form of resistance and an aggressive lack of cooperation.”

That has kept the receiver in Chester longer than intended.

Compromising on how the city operates to accommodate what the receiver needs to do will return the city to normal operations faster, he said.

See more of Mayor Stefan Roots’ observations about Chester’s bankruptcy in the Daily Times.