One critical day in 1998, Middletown controversially settled a lawsuit with electric supplier Met-Ed. The borough would lose its long-term bargain rate contract for electricity with the utility, but would be compensated with $18 million to keep electric rates down.

Eleven years later, millions of dollars from the settlement, placed in a trust fund, were gone, and residents were shocked by high electric bills. By 2012, Middletown Borough Council and its financial consultants were declaring Middletown to be on the brink of fiscal disaster.

What happened?

Council President Christopher McNamara thinks the answer lies in mismanagement by borough staff in the mid-2000s, which he believes squandered the trust and created sky-high electric rates to postpone an inevitable fiscal catastrophe – all without keeping council informed of the borough’s financial problems.

Swatara Twp. police ­are looking for a Steelton man wanted as a suspect in a shooting at Jones Corner Bar in Steelton on Saturday, May 4.

Drakkari Lee Brooks, 25, of the 300 block of Swatara Street, is described as a black male, 5 feet 7 inches tall with a thin build. He faces charges of attempted criminal homicide and carrying a firearm without a license.

Police were called to the bar at 428 N. Harrisburg St. at 1:52 a.m., where they found the victim in the parking lot.

According to police, a disagreement allegedly occurred in the parking lot between the victim and Brooks, resulting in the victim being shot. The shooter fled the scene in a silver or gray, newer model sedan, possibly a Hyundai Sonata with the driver’s side mirror missing, police said.

The 43-year-old male victim, of Harrisburg, was able to speak with officers, but was unable to identify the shooter, according to Swatara Twp. police.

The victim was rushed by ambulance to a local hospital and treated.

Police filed the charges against Brooks before District Judge Kenneth Lenker on Saturday, May 4. The Dauphin County Crisis Response Team attempted to locate Brooks in two locations on Saturday, but was unsuccessful.

The suspect is considered armed and dangerous, and should not be approached. If spotted, call police or 911 immediately. Anyone with information on the suspect or the investigation is urged to call Swatara Twp. police at 717-564-2550.

Noelle Barrett: 717-944-4628, or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Borough must get union concessions or pay the price, consultant says

Middletown should consider selling its water and sewer systems or filing for the state’s Act 47 distressed status if the borough cannot win concessions in negotiations with its union employees, according to financial consultant Mark Morgan.

Morgan, who has completed a draft of his long-awaited final report on the borough’s finances to the state, has been warning of impending fiscal insolvency for Middletown since Borough Council first hired him as a financial consultant in early 2012.