A nameplate for now-former Towamencin supervisor Laura Smith stands on the dais in front of her empty seat as her fellow supervisors voted to accept her resignation on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. Photo by James Short.
Board filed request with county court after deadlock
After remaining deadlocked earlier this month, Towamencin’s supervisors have no timeline for filling the vacant seat caused by a January viral video.
“On Friday, March 7, the solicitor filed a petition with the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, requesting the court to fill the vacancy, as is the remedy under the Second Class township code,” said supervisors Chairman Chuck Wilson.
In late January then-supervisor Laura Smith sparked an uproar 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 accepted the resignation in a special meeting on Feb. 4, after dozens of residents sounded off on the video and the board’s subsequent response.
In their subsequent regular meeting on Feb.12, residents continued to sound off about the uproar and the rest of the board’s reactions, and the township subsequently issued calls for submissions to fill the vacant supervisor seat for the rest of the year, and the open seat on the township’s vacancy board.
Supervisors said the deadline for board action would be within 30 days from the Feb. 4 resignation or the vacancy could be filled by county common pleas court, then held a special meeting on March 3 with filling that vacancy as the only agenda item, but remained deadlocked as two candidates received 2-2 tie votes.
At the start of the supervisors meeting on Wednesday night, Wilson announced that the township’s solicitor had made the court filing, due to both the board of supervisors and the vacancy board being unable to fill the position, and said the filing included an outline of the resignation and the efforts made so far to fill it.
“We’ll share another update as soon as we have additional information. At this point, a judge has not been appointed to the case, but we expect that shortly,” he said.
Supervisor Kofi Osei also addressed the vacancy at the end of the board meeting, saying he had proposed multiple ways out of the impasse.
“I also emailed Supervisor Wilson with an offer to have a vacancy board meeting tonight, and we did not schedule that meeting, so I assume that he did not agree,” he said.
“I really think we should have appointed Dan Bell, with a majority vote. Dan has run for office twice, as a Republican, so he has had your approval at some point. I wish at the very least we got a reasoning for the change of heart, and I am a bit disappointed that we’re heading to court,” Osei said.
Wilson replied by asking solicitor Bob Iannozzi to clarify if the township had the ability to schedule such a meeting that night, and the attorney said they did not.
“But if the board were to see fit to make an appointment, or attempt to make an appointment, we could notify the court. And the court would hopefully step aside at that point,” Iannozzi said. The board then voted to adjourn the meeting, with no further discussion.
Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on March 26 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road; for more information visit www.Towamencin.org.
This article appears courtesy of a content share agreement between North Penn Now and The Reporter. To read more stories like this, visit https://www.thereporteronline.com.
