First, let me take a moment and thank everyone who took the time and had the confidence to vote for me in the most recent election. I am extremely proud to say that I will be serving another four years as Lansdale’s mayor and am humbled by the number of people who came out to support me with over 2,700 residents giving me the chance to continue to help lead our community over the next four years.
For those who did not vote for me, thank you for voting. Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with me and please continue to engage with me about your vision for our borough. We may not agree on every issue, but I value your thoughts and concerns. It takes all of us actively engaged in public discussion to improve our community and we need your voice.
So, where do we go from here? It is my hope that over the next several years our borough will continue to work, on what I see, as critical opportunities to improve daily life in Lansdale. Some of those key issues are:
Local/Green Power Generation
This is a topic that has been discussed often in these musings. Over the last four years, Lansdale has taken great strides forward in the generation of green power. We have installed solar panels at our Wastewater Treatment Plant that has already delivered a monetary savings of over $40,000 to our borough within the span of a few months. Additionally, solar panels on Borough Hall have helped offset the cost of electric in that building as well.
Going forward, we need to continue to find new ways to generate power locally utilizing green technology. As noted in prior musings, the transmission fees in our Purchase Power Agreement are trending up (as they have been for over a decade) and to off-set that cost we must generate more power locally. This solution will allow us to have more control over the cost of power in the borough while also decreasing our communities carbon footprint. We must continue to invest in developing a comprehensive plan that allows us to generate more local and green power in the hopes of maximizing efficiency for residents and community members.
Continued Community Policing Efforts
Over the last four years, the police chief and I have worked tirelessly to help grow our police department and modernize the way we interact with the community. We have embraced new technologies such as body worn cameras and new policy management tools like LexiPol, while also focusing on adding more officers to the department to keep up with the pace of growth in Lansdale. Hopefully, in 2022, Lansdale Police Department will achieve accreditation from the PA Chief’s Association. Something fewer than 150 departments in the state have achieved, putting us in the highest echelons of performance within Pennsylvania.
Going forward, our focus will be on grappling with community issues that continue to challenge our residents every day. Traffic flow, traffic speed, and wayfinding are all critical community aspects that we need to address in the coming years. This goes beyond stopping speeders (though we will continue to do that too). We will complete a traffic study in the coming months that will help guide the decisions we make about how to best mitigate traffic and decrease speeds across the borough. Undoubtedly, this is one of those constant issues across all our neighborhoods and I believe we can find reasonable solutions to these issues.
Infrastructure & 5G Development
We must continue to invest in repairing and replacing our aging infrastructure. Over the last four years, we have repaired many of the roads that were in awful shape, and we have developed a 10-year plan that helps prioritize roadwork in the coming years. In 2022 alone, over 10 miles of roadwork will be completed to help rehabilitate our aging roadways.
However, infrastructure does not stop at the assets we currently own. We must consider what else our residents need as our community grows and changes. Internet infrastructure is a critical component to everyday life. It is my hope that as a community we can develop our own internet infrastructure to support residents and businesses in ways that few other municipalities have thus far. Reliable and affordable internet is critical the success of our community and it is time for us to explore how we can set ourselves apart in this area.
While four years seems like a long time, I know all too well that it is not. Work on these critical issues is ongoing and I will be pushing even harder to ensure that we continue to build a forward-looking community that is dedicated to leaving a better future, and a better Lansdale, for our kids. I remain hopeful that we can achieve real progress on these issues, and I am dedicated to bringing them to fruition. I am positive there will be setbacks and challenges. However, I know we can bring about lasting improvement to our community through these efforts, and I am excited to move our community forward together.
(Mayoral Musings is a weekly op-ed column submitted to North Penn Now, courtesy of Lansdale Borough Mayor Garry Herbert.)
See also:
Mayoral Musings: Local Elections Matter, Remember to Vote Tomorrow
Mayoral Musings: Real-Time Data Systems and Emergency Management
Mayoral Musings: Streamlining the Community Event Application Process
Mayoral Musings: Cost of Power Projections
Mayoral Musings: It’s Time for a ‘Main Street Manager’
