Supervisors Fill Final Two Vacancies on Muni Authority

NEWTOWN SQUARE–Newtown supervisors approved the appointments of two candidates to fill the vacant seats on the township's Municipal Authority at a meeting on Aug. 9.

Raymond Lopez, president of the Homeowner's Association of Springton Pointe Estates, and Jack DiPompeo, a former supervisor who served for six years on the board, were unanimously approved in a 3-0 vote (Supervisors Linda Houldin and George Wood were not present at Monday night's meeting) to fill the remaining empty seats of the Municipal Authority.

At a supervisors meeting on June 27, to fill one of the three vacant seats and sat in on his first , and discussed the Act 537 Plan. Two empty seats remained, one left by at the end of June.

According to Supervisors Chairman Joseph Catania, three people from the public expressed their interest in the positions. Among Lopez and DiPompeo, former Municipal Authority member Alex Canonica submitted his name for consideration.

A few concerns were raised from the public about a potential conflict of interest for Lopez, who represents the Springton Pointe residents and previously in his neighborhood, to sit on the Municipal Authority and help plan for sewers in the township.

Catania addressed the potential conflict of interest for Lopez and said, "The consensus seemed to be that Ray [Lopez] would be an excellent candidate and if there was an area where his interests conflicted because of Springton Pointe or its money, Ray would have to recuse himself from that portion of the sitting."

Supervisor Ed Partridge also added in that he spoke to Lopez to straighten out any potential conflicting issues that may occur if he sat on the town's Municipal Authority.

"So I took the liberty to call Ray about that and he expressed to me that he would serve the township and represent–not just the interest of Springton Pointe, but move forward with the objective of getting the remainder of the township sewered," shared Partridge.

Partridge reminded the public that many members who are appointed and elected for various township committees live in various parts of the township and also face potential conflicts of interest from time to time.

"We need to recuse ourselves from certain issues and Ray would do so if that situation came up regarding Springton Pointe," said Partridge. " Everyone on the Municipal Authority lives in some part of the township. A member of the board who lives in Echo Valley or Florida Park, those folks could also find themselves in conflict the same way. I don’t really see a potential for seeing something exceptional."

Echo Valley resident Paul Guest stood up after a motion was made to appoint Lopez to the Municipal Authority and still believed there was a "serious conflict" with the appointment.

"He [Lopez] has very actively advocated for sewers in Springton Pointe. I would assume that if he's on the Board [Municipal Authority] because he owns a home there and he is the president of the homeowners association for I think 115 homes, there would consistently be a conflict," said Guest.

The supervisors addressed Guest's concerns and stated that Springton Pointe is included in the latest draft of the Act 537 Plan and that it was the board's intention to include all areas of the township with a few exceptions.

Another resident from Echo Valley, Erin Cook, asked how Springton Pointe was back in the Act 537 Plan which seemed "coincidental" with the appointment of Lopez.

Catania responded and said after the resignation of Jackson, a newly revised plan was developed.

"The new revised plan was explained to us and we’re moving forward with that," said Catania. "It was presented to us by the consultants as they were trying to show us a plan that they thought made sense with the gallons available. That’s what they gave us and that’s what we’re working on."

Lopez also mentioned he has previously worked in defense funding and has worked on multi-billion dollar projects.