Newtown Municipal Authority Appoints New Chairman

NEWTOWN SQUARE–With just over two months since he's been appointed, newly appointed board member of 's Municipal Authority Joseph Sweeney was given another hat to wear by the end of Tuesday evening's Municipal Authority meeting.

Sweeney, who was , was appointed by the board members of the Municipal Authority as the chairman of the board.

Two new members also joined the board on Tuesday evening to fill the final two vacancies. Recently appointed members, also approved by the supervisors, sat on the board.

Lopez motioned to appoint Sweeney to chair the Municipal Authority, which was seconded by Vice Chairman Mark Caldwell. With the exception of an abstained vote from DiPompeo, the vote carried unanimously.

Though he acknowledged the large tasks ahead such as dealing with the township's Act 537 Plan, Sweeney was optimistic with the "new board."

"We have three new members on the board–we're essentially a new board," said Sweeney. "And we're beginning to look at all the issues and open items that the others have been working on for the past few years. It's going to take us some time to get our hands on all the specifics but we're all committed to doing that."

Sweeney stayed positive with the developing 537 Plan and looked forward to developing an open, working relationship with the township to help deliver answers to the residents as well as to move forward with the township's sewer plan.

Township Manager Mike Trio provided an update on the current status of the 537 Plan and stated that who was recently hired by the supervisors to review the final draft of the plan, has provided additional information to be included in the plan.

"[James] McCombie has provided some supplemental information. We've got to put that together in the copy. We're determining to what extent our existing engineer will make anymore work on this," explained Trio.

Trio alluded that there may be some "transitional constituents" that may occur and shared that the supplemental information provided by McCombie would be included with the final version of the overall plan.

"We want to make sure it's tight and that everything that's been brought up is addressed," said Trio. "Instead of starting all over with another engineer from scratch, we think there's enough information that they provided that is valuable but we feel that it needs to be supplemented."

Trio anticipates to have the final version of the Act 537 Plan ready for public view and comment in the next 30 to 45 days.

Sweeney sits on the seat once held by former Municipal Authority Chairman Bob Jackson,  due to a disagreement of decisions made by the supervisors.

A moment of silence was held during the meeting for Jackson. According to board member Jack Lear, Jackson had passed away sometime early Sunday morning in Colorado, where he was for the past month or so accompanying his wife on a business trip.

"I will sorely miss him," said Lear, a neighbor and friend of Jackson's. "He was a good friend of mine."