July 11 Commissioners Meeting

Recap of major actions of the Board of Commissioners at the meeting of July 11, 2007:

• Promoted Tim Denny to Assistant Township Manager/Haverford Reserve. Mr. Denny also remains as Director of the Parks and Rec department.
• Hired John Primus as the new Public Works Director.
• Approved the Cable Advisory Board to proceed with procuring the software and services need for a new township website.
• Passed the first reading of the Rugby Road zoning ordinance, changing the south side of Rugby Rd. from R-4 to R-3. This would prevent a new development in that area.
• Approved the purchase and installation of a new scoreboard at the Skatium for $14,083.
• Tom Broido submitted a report on the feasibility of maintain the locally-staffed 911 dispatch system. <-Click link to open report (PDF).

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Township Website / Haverford 311
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On the agenda items, I spoke in support of acquiring the new software and services to create and maintain a first-class township website. The provider of the packaged solution is eGov Strategies, a company that specializes in municipal websites. Check out the Radnor Township Website to see how our neighbors are utilizing the eGov content management system tools to create a robust, informative website.

Is this Haverford 311? The eGov system provides about 80-90% of the functionality that I talked about in Haverford 311 when I first brought this up 1 1/2 years ago. Call it whatever you want, this would be a huge upgrade over the current website and very good for our township!

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Questions
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At this meeting I raised a number of questions in the Citizens Forum. Here's a recap of the questions:

Recreation center questions:
What is the process for making the decision on this center?
How accurate have Ballard’s previous projections been in our geographic area and other areas?
What's the range of Ballard’s projection outcomes? Have they provided forecasts that were +/- 5% or +/- 50%?

Township questions:
1. Now that the year is half over, where do we stand on the township budget? Are we on track, ahead or behind? If we are behind, what steps are being taken to address the problem?
2. Are there any lawsuits against the township right now? What is the nature of these lawsuits, if any? And what is the potential liability to the township of these lawsuits?
3. $25,000 was authorized at last month’s meeting for a feasibility study to look at acquiring the former gum factory property. What actions are in place or planned for this work?
4. I attended Commissioner Moran’s preliminary hearing last week and heard testimony from the former township manager that Moran directed him to move employees and/or hire employees. What is the Township’s policy on hiring, promoting and moving employees and advertising positions?
5. What is the Township’s policy on hiring friends and relatives? What constitutes a conflict of interest?
6. I’ve heard that a new position of Recycling Director was established a few months ago. Is this the case? Was this position planned in last year’s budget? Is there a job description for this position? Was this position publicly advertised so that the township could get the best available person for the job? Or was this position created for the former head of Public Works? Is this employee a friend or relative of Commissioner McGarrity, and was McGarrity involved in this decision? With an estimated annual cost in salary and benefits in the $100,000 range, the public has a right to know.
7. I’ve heard that a Highway Inspector position was filled a few months ago. Is this the case? Was this position planned in last year’s budget? Was this position publicly advertised so that the township could get the best available person for the job? Is this employee a friend or relative of Commissioner McGarrity, and was McGarrity involved in this decision? Again, the public has a right to know how our tax money is being spent.

I will post here again when I have received the answers to these questions.