Upper Gwynedd Township’s new logo is seen on a wall in the newly renovated township administration building in April 2024. Photo by Dan Sokil | The Reporter.
Budget talks this fall will have a new voice taking part in Upper Gwynedd.
Township officials approved two contracts last week while announcing a search for a new finance director.
“We have a vacancy in the role of our finance director right now, so both of these next two items are to provide in-between service, before we can hire someone again for that role,” said township Manager Sandra Brookley Zadell.
Former finance director Nathan Crittendon was hired in February 2022 after prior director Dave Brill announced two months earlier his plans to retire after roughly 12 years in that position. Crittendon had previously worked in similar positions in Cheltenham Township and Whitemarsh Township since 2014, township officials said at the time, and has since helped staff and the board develop and pass budgets for 2023 and 2024, with no tax increase in either year.
Two action items on the board’s July 15 agenda dealt with his departure, one a motion with Wiesner Consulting LLC and one with Brian Shapiro, the finance director of neighboring Montgomery Township, both for “financial consulting services.” Zadell said Steve Wiesner, former Lower Salford and Warminster township manager and financial consultant, would work on an hourly basis and Shapiro would work “on a project-based level for us."
Assistant manager recognized
Zadell and the commissioners also recognized Assistant Manager Megan Weaver for five years of service to the town. Board President Katherine Carter noted that since arriving in summer 2019, Weaver has overhauled and modernized the township’s permitting process, online map-based GIS systems, recycling and shredding events, and overseeing the planning and zoning department and an update of the township website.
“Significantly, she has grown our social media footprint, introducing Instagram and Tiktok to our social media presence,” Carter said.
Weaver has also helped with stormwater and flooding issues, organizes annual plant giveaways, oversaw an update to the township’s comprehensive plan, aids with online streaming of public meetings, and revived the township’s internal safety committee, Carter said.
“It’s truly a joy and a relief to have someone as competent and skilled at her job as Megan, helping to steer the Upper Gwynedd ship,” commissioner Denise Hull said.
Grant consultant approved
The commissioners also approved a contract with contractor Millennium Strategies which Zadell said will help Upper Gwynedd seek and secure additional grant funding, above and beyond the grants already sought and secured by township engineering consultants Remington and Vernick Engineers.
The contract with Millennium gives the township access to what the manager termed a “database of grant funding options” including corporate grant opportunities, separate from the governmental grants that RVE typically helps with, and can give frequent updates on those applications and opportunities.
“Basically, what we’re paying for is that database. We are not, at this time, asking them to write any grant” applications, she said, and the contract will “expand the scope of the types of grants we could apply for — and grants that we don’t even know exist.” Contract language states a $5,000 annual cost, with any grant applications from the company costing more “based and determined by the scope of the grant application.”
AEDs to be replaced
The board approved a $22,000 contract to replace and upgrade nine automatic external defibrillators stationed across the township, a project Hull said was prompted by the township’s safety committee in consultation with fire marshal Conor McCann.
Zadell added that the replacements will be funded by a grant, and said defibrillators are positioned in the township administration building, in police squad cars, public works vehicles, and at the township wastewater treatment plant and in their vehicles — and she’s seen firsthand how they can make a difference.
“I’ve worked for a municipality where there was a heart attack at a public meeting, and the AED saved someone’s life,” she said, before the board approved the replacements unanimously.
Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners next meet at 7 p.m. on Aug. 12 at the township administration building, 1 Parkside Place. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.UpperGwynedd.org.
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