Towamencin still sparring over supervisor vacancy

There’s no official word yet, but Towamencin residents have continued to sound off on who they’d like to see in the vacant seat on the township’s board of supervisors.

Three familiar names were dropped Wednesday night, as the board continues to regroup in the aftermath of the sudden resignation of now-former supervisor Laura Smith earlier this month.

“Why is there no agenda item regarding process and next steps on filling the board vacancy? As a constituent, I expect to be updated during these meetings, or through E-news on the progress,” said resident Jenn Foster.

Last week the township supervisors called a special meeting to accept the resignation of Smith, who created an uproar in late January by posting a now-deleted TikTok video mimicking an alleged Nazi salute in the manner of Elon Musk at the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

After more than a day of growing uproar online, the township announced Smith’s pending resignation on Jan. 26, and the board voted unanimously, after dozens of residents sounded off on the video and the board’s subsequent response, to accept the resignation on Feb. 4.

With one seat empty, the board held a regular meeting on Wednesday night, and gave no formal update on the empty seat or the process to fill it — but heard plenty from residents, including Foster, a leader of the “Towamencin NOPE” group that opposed the long-debated sale of the township’s sewer system, and was vice-chair of the government study commission that wrote a new township charter in 2023 to make such sales illegal.

“Let me put in my two cents. The least controversial appointee is Dan Bell: he is well liked, and respected in the community, and by this board as far as I can tell,” Foster said.

She then took aim at the two remaining Republicans on the five-member board: “Lastly, Kristin Warner and Chuck Wilson should resign: Chuck, you should resign for your continued failure at leadership; Kristin, you should resign because you flat-out refused to condemn Laura’s behaviors as anti-Semitic, which doesn’t make you an ally at all. You can take a guess at what it makes you,” Foster said.

Tina Gallagher, another NOPE member who also sat on the study commission, said she was also looking for specifics on filling the empty seat on the board of supervisors, and another empty spot meant to break ties.

“At the public resignation meeting, it was unclear to me. I heard ’30 days’ and something about one-to-one meetings, and we don’t want a judge to make the decision. Please detail the procedure. Also, why was the vacancy board consideration removed from the first agenda? Is that still being considered?” Gallagher said.

Resident Rich Costlow referenced the township’s last election to the board of supervisors, when Democrat challenger Kofi Osei and then-incumbent Republican Rich Marino both finished with the same total of 3,035 votes.

“The results of that election were dead even. The person who sits now on the board of supervisors, won that election by drawing of lots. Rich Marino and Kofi Osei both got the exact same number of votes,” Costlow said.

“I think what we have is a pretty rare opportunity to actually have 100 percent of the township represented on the board of supervisors, because Rich Marino got exactly the same number of votes as Kofi Osei,” he said.

Since that election season, Marino has continued to serve on the board of the township’s sewer authority, on its planning and zoning board, and has said he would be a willing to fill the vacancy, Costlow told the board.

“And quite frankly, he has about three times as much experience being a supervisor as Kofi does. So I think, in order to give the opportunity to have 100 percent of the township represented on the board of supervisors, the gracious, fair and honorable thing to do would be to appoint Rich Marino,” Costlow said.

“I think it would speak volumes of the character of somebody who would be a gracious winner in the last contest, to do that. And I would expect that of the people who represent me on the board of supervisors,” he said.

Paul Andrews answered, saying he hoped the board was having talks about the vacancy, then recalled spats between Marino and NOPE members about when and whether the supervisors knew about a second buyer for the sewer sale after the first withdrew.

“I certainly do not want Rich back on the board, given his behavior during all the sewer sale discussions. He was secretive and dishonest with the residents,” Andrews said.

“I know he’s well-liked among a whole lot of people in this township. He’s very involved, and he does a whole lot of sports. But our interactions with him during those negotiations were not positive, to say the least,” he said.

And Osei sounded off about the nomination process, and Marino in particular, at the close of the meeting.

“To the public commenter that suggested Rich Marino would be a gracious winner: I don’t expect sore losers to be gracious winners. There were a group of residents that sued to keep me out of the seat. Even after they lost their lawsuit, I did not get a concession from Rich Marino, and I am against him for this appointment,” he said.

Osei then sounded off against an online comment made against him after the resignation meeting, and repeated his calls for Warner, Wilson, and the rest of their party to denounce Smith and her video.

“When the entire Republican committee is saying in unison that all anti-Semitic action is bad, but cannot bring themselves to say anything specific about Laura, you do wonder if they understand antisemitism at all, or if they are against it,” he said.

“The strongest word Supervisor Warner offered to describe Laura’s video is that it was ‘foolish.’ She also said getting emails and being called a Nazi sympathizer is somehow just as bad as having your local elected official do a Nazi salute. I don’t want to be too rude, I do still think you shouldn’t get death threats, but that is Nazi sympathizing,” he said.

Osei then said he had contacted the rest of the board to discuss how to fill the vacancy, and only heard back from Snyder, before asking Wilson: “are you sure this court process will appoint a Republican?”

“Let me profile a candidate that could fit a judge’s criteria: former elected official, who was vice chair to the commission whose purpose was to study municipalities. Dedicated community member seen at tons of event and township meetings. passionate, well-liked, advocate. I would like to state for the record that Kofi Osei is a Jenn Foster fan,” he said.

“Chuck, it is your fault this might go to court. I don’t think you’re in a position to be playing partisan games, but know what you are gambling. I would have a lot of fun with my former vice-chair, while Chuck is in the minority at the end of his term . I would prefer if you talk to Joyce, so we can start to bring the community tougher, but I’ll play games if you want to play games.”

On Thursday, following the meeting, the township sent an e-news mailing asking residents to apply for the vacancy board: “the appointed elector will serve as the chairperson of the vacancy board and will assist in filling vacancies on the board of supervisors. The appointee will essentially act as a tiebreaker when consensus cannot be reached, between the remaining supervisors, when appointing a new supervisor.” Anyone interested can visit the application link on the township website or contact info@towamencin.org with applications due Monday, Feb. 24.

Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on Feb. 25 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information visit www.Towamencin.org.

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