Gettysburg Borough Manager, in email: “these people are bats–t crazy”

(Harrisburg) — A midstate borough has been wrapped up in controversy over its police department and transparency for more than a year.

And now, a new chapter has emerged in Gettysburg — over an email with explicit language.

Gettysburg Borough Manager Charles Gable sent an email to a professional friend last March.

In it, he writes “these people are bats–t crazy”.

Gable now says he was talking about his critics.

“You’re going to talk to people about that, and that’s what happened here. I was consulting and talking with another professional in the field, who was also an interim borough manager, not once, but twice in Gettysburg, so he’s intimately familiar with how these people operate,” says Gable.

He says he wouldn’t use the language again in an email, but says it’s an accurate way to describe a group of his critics.

“I can’t guarantee that I wouldn’t refer to people in terms that may or may not articulate the environment in which they’re creating for staff members,” adds Gable.

One of Gable’s critics, Gettysburg resident Stan Clark, is skeptical Gable was talking about him.

“I wouldn’t buy that for a minute, and neither do I think anybody that can read and has any comprehensive abilities would think that either.”

Clark says the email like the March 2016 one should concern Borough Council about whether Gable is committed to Gettysburg.

“Talking about the borough council, so I wouldn’t buy it for a minute that he’s referring to people from the public,” he adds.

But council leadership say they have a good relationship with the borough manager.

The email highlights how contentious things have become in Gettysburg, with people like Clark pointing out that the borough is spending money on lawyers to keep public records private, and Gable arguing document requests are costing the borough tens of thousands of dollars.