The Towamencin Township Government Study Commission – which was created to attempt to stop the $115 million Towamencin Township sewer sale to NextEra and investigate a Home Rule Charter – is now official as of Tuesday night, where, among other things, they elected officers, appointed a solicitor, set meeting rules and meeting dates between January and March 2023, and appointed a Citizens’ Volunteer Committee instead of hiring a public relations firm.
“These Government Study Commissions can technically look at a lot, but we’d like to set a Statement of Purpose so people know what we want to specifically look at,” said commission Chairman Kofi Osei during the commission’s Statement of Purpose portion of the agenda. “The purpose of the study is to explore the ways Home Rule can change the outcome of the pending sewer sale, explore the ways Home Rule can add citizen participation through referenda, and explore the ways Home Rule can add transparency to Towamencin’s operations.”
About 25 people attended the meeting, including family and friends of the commissioners, Towamencin Supervisors Rich Marino, Joyce Snyder and Kristin Warner, and former TRUST candidate Nancy Becker. There was no public comment at the meeting.
Prior to the meeting, six of the seven elected officers – all candidates from Towamencin Neighbors Opposing Privatization Efforts (NOPE) – were sworn in by Magisterial District Judge Ed Levine, now that county officials certified the 2022 General Election.
Elected Commissioner Don Lepp was absent from the meeting, as he has chosen not to take the oath of office, leaving a vacancy to be filled later.
In addition to Osei as chairman, the commission unanimously elected Jenn Foster as vice chair, Christina Gallagher as chair pro tempore, Gisela Koch as secretary, Martin Cohen as vice secretary and treasurer, and Mark Warren as vice treasurer.
The commission also appointed resident Joe Rumsey as commission alternate.
“Alternates in other commissions typically attend these meetings and take notes in the event that there’s a vacancy,” Osei said. “Don Lepp let the rest of the commission know he doesn’t plan to take his oath of office. So once his position is legally vacant, we will appoint likely this alternate.”
The law firm of Rudolph Clarke LLC was appointed solicitor and were represented at the meeting by partner Lauren Gallagher.
The commission set its meetings for the first and third Wednesday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., starting in January 2023 and ending in March 2023, to be held at the township municipal building.
As far as the rules and business conduct for the commission, Osei said they would be following rules “loosely based” on Robert’s Rules of Order.
“We have a few things we officially have to vote for: whether or not to recommend the (Home Rule) Charter, whether or not to actually send the charter to the Montgomery County Board of Elections, if we choose to do so,” Osei said.
Among the commission’s rules:
As far as public comment rules, the commission has limited public comment to three minutes per speaker, and a public comment period will occur before each voting agenda item.
“When we have presentations or interviews without an associated vote, we will ask for public comments at the end for anyone in the audience to pose questions,” Osei said. “And then after our meeting’s business, we will have public comment period at the end related to anything on the Government Study Commission. If there are public commenters who would like to speak after, and there’s no public commenters left, they may speak for more than three minutes if no one else would like to speak. We will read public comments into public record for comments emailed in, and we will accept public comments emailed in by 6 p.m. on the day of our meetings.”
In order to save money on hiring a public relations firm, the commission voted to establish a Citizens’ Volunteer Committee, made up of residents Lea Munjone and Vanessa Gaynor.
“In lieu of hiring a public relations consultant, we’d figure we’d have some citizen participation in this committee,” Osei said. “We’re going to appoint two people, but if anyone would like to participate in our study, we will accept applications for this.”
Towamencin voters opted to pursue a Government Study Commission during the General Election, with the potential establishment of a Home Rule Charter on the horizon aimed at overturning the sale of the township’s municipal sewer system. Voters also were asked to select seven candidates from a field of 14 to lead the commission.
Official election results show 5,352 residents voted yes to the ballot question seeking to establish a Government Study Commission to 3,466 who voted against the measure. Towamencin NOPE were successful in fending off a late push from Towamencin Residents United Serving Towamencin (TRUST).
Since none of the TRUST candidates gained more votes than the lowest NOPE candidate, the Government Study Commission consists of all NOPE members.
Towamencin NOPE contends that establishing a Home Rule Charter in Towamencin would allow the group to pass legislation making the privatization of water/wastewater illegal at the local level, thus terminating the sale agreement through “no-fault language.” However, opponents have contended that using Home Rule Charter to block the asset purchase agreement would allow NextEra to sue the township for breach of contract.
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