You may have read or heard about the huge crowd at the Feb. 8 Slatington council meeting.

However, it may not be clear why they are so upset about the new ordinance which mandates annual fees, inspection fees, and unknown repair costs on rental property owners. The crowd was not so upset about the fact that inspections of properties needed to be done.The outrage was over the new bureaucracy which was created, and the new fees and costs to property owners.In addition, they were upset about Slatington Councils refusal to enforce existing ordinances on its own members (in particular Councilman Bryon Reed).Reed's properties have been the source of numerous complaints over the years. Yet, there has been no effort to seriously enforce existing ordinances on him to clean them up. This entire inspection fiasco stems from the fact that Councilman Joe Wechsler did not like the appearance of a neighbor's property, and wanted it cleaned up.You may remember Wechsler as the person who falsely signed an affidavit in 2014 claiming he met the requirements to be appointed to council. Wechsler was then appointed in violation of the Pennsylvania Borough Code.Therefore, the person passing new laws and fees on citizens ignored the law to get himself appointed to council.It is that hypocrisy that has citizens so upset. It is not reasonable laws that upset citizens, it is when those making the laws have a history of continually flaunting them.Until Slatington Council looks in a mirror and realizes that they are not above the law, they will never gain the trust and respect of the citizens and property owners.Dee BrownSlatington