FYI – This is a practice I started and will continue as a member of the BOC. With these previews while I may indicate a voting inclination, it in no way means my mind is made up on any issue. Back during a critical hearing for the Jaindl issue, a Commissioner once spoke before public comment outlining he was voting to move forward the project regardless of what people said during public comment. That was wrong.
My hope is this opens the door for conversations before public meetings. One of my biggest issues with the Jaindl debacle was people didn’t truly understand what was happening until it was “too late”. I plan on doing everything I can to make sure residents have background information and my thoughts on issues before they come to a vote in front of the board. This is one mechanism to do that. I hope people find it useful.
Executive Session – Clerical Union Contract review. I believe Bruce Fosselman and Ryan Conrad (chair of budget and finance committee) are the designees to negotiate. I think this is a strength of Conrad’s and I’m happy he has this responsibility.
Hearings and Approvals – None
Communication
Letter from resident William Mayo which I think sums up the thoughts of most township residents regarding the police issue. Mr. Mayo’s position, which I agree with was supported by the recent police services study. Mr Mayo doesn’t think we should deviate from our current police protection arrangement. I agree and think the crime stats presented recently support that position.
Here are articles overviewing the presentation held last week:
LMT releases police services analysis online
Presentation of Police Services Study Draws a Crowd
Planning
Grant application to update Southwestern Lehigh County Comprehensive plan. Lower Macungie will be applying for grant money to pay for our portion of the SW comp plan update. The plan is a non-binding document created 7 years ago by Emmaus, Alburtis, Macungie, Upper Milford and Lower Macungie.
This original Plan was funded a County grant and in part by a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Land Use Planning Technical Assistance program.
This Comprehensive Plan is intended to establish overall policies for the development and conservation of the Southwestern Lehigh County Region over the next 15 years. This Plan is not by itself a regulation, but is intended to provide the policy direction for changes to the municipalities’ development regulations.
Recently there have been discussions on updating the plan. This was largely necessitated because Lower Macungie has significantly deviated from the plan. The biggest example of course was the Jaindl development debacle and rezoning of 700 acres of ag protected land to Industrial, Strip Commercial and Residential.
Committee Reports:
Public Safety Commission has 3 terms expiring. VOLUNTEER HERE
Audit Advisory Board has 2 terms expiring. VOLUNTEER HERE
Environmental Advisory Board has 2 terms expiring. VOLUNTEER HERE
Planning Commission has 2 terms expiring. VOLUNTEER HERE
Zoning Hearing Board has 2 terms expiring. VOLUNTEER HERE
Discussion with EAC regarding tree-tender committee: TreeTenders AD-Hoc committee. I support this in lieu of a shadetree commission. I attended the tree-tender training and think it’s an excellent program.