Governing in Newtown Township -- Time for a New Approach

If there is one thing that stands out as perfectly clear to me after months of posting this blog, it is the pride and concern that those who live in Newtown Township have for their community and most specifically their neighborhoods. 

The concerned residents living in the St. Albans and Newtown Heights areas where the Supervisors have proposed to change zoning care deeply about this issue. They do not want to hear that the gateway to their community will be a restaurant or a bar. They do not want to hear from elected officials that there is no concern for those who live in those neighborhoods today.  The concerned residents living in Echo Valley and Florida Park are waiting and waiting for comprehensiveness, fiscal responsibility and feasibility in the proposed sewer plan. They want to be part of the process, not the last to know what is proposed for their neighborhoods.

The concerned residents living on Paper Mill Road enjoying a road that has been in use and existence since the 1800s do not want to worry that this asset will be abandoned or sold like the Wyola School House. They are waiting to be assured by the developer who purchased his home on Paper Mill Road from a former local politician and wishes to take away their access that this developer now understands and accepts the property that he bought.  They want to trust that their elected officials will fight to retain and expand this community asset.  The concerned residents who live in the newer neighborhoods of Springton Pointe and Springton Pointe Woods have been asked to live with sewage pump stations and treatment plants that have issues with smell, noise and would be intolerable to most people.  They ask repeatedly and wait patiently for township officials and employees to understand that these conditions are unacceptable and can be fixed now rather than put off to a future time.

Why has it become seemingly so difficult for Newtown’s elected officials to represent these residents and to take care of their concerns?  Why do elected officials avoid communication and action on these issues? The answer can’t be that they don’t have time.  The answer can’t be that they don’t have available resources.  The answer can’t be that residents don’t care. 

It is time for elected officials and those that hope to represent Newtown as Supervisors, Tax Collector and School Board Directors understand and own the decisions they make for the community.  It is time for them to show that they want to make decision for the community that reflect the care and concern that I have witnessed  by the reception of these posts, increased attendance at public meetings and the growth in resident email communication about propriety, protocol, governance and management in Newtown Township.  Residents have engaged in the process and get the word out in spite of the incomplete agendas, lack of recordings or televised meetings, incomplete and inaccurate minutes only made available after they have been approved and the lack of responsiveness on many issues.  

Residents do not want the continued excuses, ignorance and disrespect. They don't want discussions and decisions at public meetings to appear to be predetermined prior to meetings or during "executive sessions". They want leadership, transparency, honesty, integrity, ability and compassion. Qualities that at times appear to be in short supply with those currently serving.  It is time for the discussion to be about the issues, not personal attacks and mischaracterizations of those residents providing information in the absence of communication from township officials and employees.

There was a time when “Public Service” was exactly as the term states.  It was service to the public, not self-serving, self-aggrandizing nor self-enriching.  It is my hope that the coming elections serve to remind those who want to represent Newtown residents that they are agreeing to serve their community.  It is not about political party, it is about people.  If this becomes their governing strategy, it would serve to reinforce and reenergize the community’s willingness to work with elected officials, to agree to serve on Boards and Commissions and to make Newtown Township the model for good governance, fiscal responsibility and public accountability.