What you did not read this morning

Here is what the newspapers did not report about last night’s Board of Supervisors meeting.

1. Yes, there were supporters of the zoning change to allow for a “big box/supermarket” retail store who spoke before the Board. They were however outnumbered 4 to 1 and unlike the opponents to the change, none of these people received rousing amounts of continual applause.
2. Supervisor Howell is correct when he stated that we need new revenues, as new home construction revenue will eventually go away. But why did this happen in the first place? Perhaps this question should be posed to Supervisor’s Don Miller and David Hoff. Mr. Miller is in his 4th term (each term is 6 years) and Mr. Hoff who is completing his 2nd term. Under their “stewardship” all of this new housing was made possible and the fees charged to developers remained minimal compared to the revenues that they (Developers) derived from home sales.
3. With respect to Supervisor Howell’s report that there are 3.096 homes approved for construction in the pipeline, in light of our serious flooding issues, why isn’t Forks Township pursuing a moratorium on building similar to what New Jersey is doing so that the problem can be studied and addressed?
4. As for Supervisor Miller’s report that the people he spoke to want “choice” as it relates to a grocery store, we wonder if he told them that besides Giant, there are five other grocery stores within five miles of our township and that depending on where you live, some of them might actually be closer to you than the new store that will be built.
5. Supervisor Howell also reported that the new supermarket would employ approximately 200 people. How many of them will be full-time? If this store goes the trend of every other grocery store, very few. He also indicated that the township receives approximately $54,000 in mercantile taxes from Giant and $12,000 from CVS. So are we to believe that $42,000 will solve all of our financial worries?

Here are some good questions to pose to our elected leaders.

1. What are they doing to solicit new non-commercial businesses to our township?
2. Shouldn’t this be among the top five priorities and measurable goals of the new town manager?
3. Why is the Board of Supervisors so hesitant to dramatically raise fees charged to developers?
4. An oldie but a goodie. If our elected public servants are now so concerned with our fiscal future, why did we rack up $10-12 million in debt ($8-10 million w/o interest) to build a new municipal complex? Better still, how did a township with this much growth incur this much debt? Shouldn’t this have been all paid through higher fees charged to developers?

Doing it the right way

Despite what some people might suggest, Residents Who Care (RWC) is NOT necessarily opposed to another grocery store being built in Forks Township.

What we are unwaveringly against is the changing of an ordinance to suit one developer which will result in the creation of long-term negative consequences in Forks Township.

Do you have any idea as to how much of your tax money has been spent in the last ten years to craft a comprehensive plan as well as to write and then re-write the township’s zoning laws? Why did the elected leaders bother to waste your hard-earned money and squander people’s time and effort if these formalized plans mean nothing?

If this change in the Employment Center (EC) District is approved to allow for this use, how much other land zoned for one purpose will be used for another?

To be very, very clear, there are areas within the township that make it permissible to build a grocery store. This area is called the Town Center (TC) District.

If our elected leaders vote to approve this change to zoning we can promise you two things without reservation.

1. This will be the first of many changes to come. Precedent will be set and developers will challenge the township in court if necessary to develop areas such as the Farmland Preservation (FP) District.
2. Within a few short years you will be demanding action to stem the tide of over-development including increased traffic, the loss of open space and the commercialization of Forks Township. More than likely, you will also strongly entertain the idea of moving again to another place for the same quality of life that you currently enjoy today in our township.

Many of you moved here for "the better life." We are not suggesting that anyone live like the Amish, no offense, but we do urge our elected representatives to follow the established zoning laws so we all have a decent quality of life for a long time to come.

Let's not open Pandora's Box. The stakes are too high to justify short term gain that will surely result in long term pain for all of us.

Listening to the residents

Check this snippet out from a piece in today's paper-
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By William J. Ford Of The Morning Call
Williams Township supervisors unanimously approved a resolution Wednesday night to place a question on the November ballot asking residents whether they want to borrow $2.5 million to preserve open space.

Supervisor Chairwoman Sally Hixson and Supervisors Robert Doerr and Fred Mebus say it's a way to combat residential development and maintain the township's rural character.

According to the resolution, the money would be used to finance the acquisition of open space, purchase development rights and obtain conservation easements.

Officials said a tax increase isn't necessary because revenue from an existing open-space tax would pay the debt.

Through a referendum two years ago, voters approved raising the earned income tax by 0.25 percent to preserve land. About $320,000 has been collected from the tax.

So far, Doerr said 400 acres have been preserved with more being sought.

Another $400,000 was pledged last month by Gov. Ed Rendell's administration to help acquire 73 acres along Hexenkopf Road to protect meadows, wetlands and vernal pools. Northampton County gave $300,000 toward the project and the township contribution is $114,557."
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So let's get this straight. In Williams Township, they actually-

1) Ask their constituents what they think about important issues

2) Seek grant money for open-space preservation

3) Undertake meanigful measures to preserve the rural character of their community

4) Have already preserved 400 acres of land with the goal of saving even more

Hmm, seems like the only question is; how do we get some of those Williams Township Board of Supervisors to move to Forks Township quickly, take office here, and give us the kind of respect, service and consideration that they currently provide to the residents of Williams Township?

Excuse me, is the Mayor in?

Since all kinds of ideas are floating around the Township regarding what qualifications and background the next Township Manager should have, we thought that we would throw our .02 in.

NOW is a good time to study our current form of government. Should we convert from a Second Class Township to a First Class Township? Better still, this may be an opportune moment to find out the viability to entirely change our government structure from an elected Board of Supervisors with a board elected chairperson to a citizen elected town council with a citizen elected full-time Mayor.

Having an elected Mayor would lead to greater accountability and responsibility.

Will our current elected officials take the time to look at this big picture and be selfless in their decisions regarding this situation? We hope so!

Help Wanted

Outside of what the Morning Call and Express-Times have reported regarding the termination of our township manager, there is not much more to say on the subject, except-

1) According to the E-T article, The Board of Supervisors will start seeking a new township manager in late July or August. It is our sincere hope that a residency requirement is established for this position so the new manager lives in Forks Township.

2) It has been additionally reported that the now former township manager and her attorney are negotiating a settlement package with the township. We hope that the ex- manager does not waive her rights to sell the rights to her story for the purposes of a book and/or movie.

3) Losing a job is never easy. No matter what you think of the person, there is always a ripple effect to those that depend on you. Whether she was right or wrong on issues during her tenure with Forks Township is irrelevant today. We genuinely wish her the best of luck and success in her next career position.

Blazing Saddles-Forks Style

New residents often inquire as to how they can learn how our township government works, especially our Board of Supervisors and relevant key “players”.

We highly recommend the 1974 movie, Blazing Saddles as a good primer. We believe that Mel Brooks’s character (Governor William J. LePetomaine) is a very good representation of how our Board of Supervisors, at least the male members, function.

This is a movie that you can play along with. Pick which movie character most matches our township characters and various carpetbaggers (developers, lawyers, builders, etc.) who all have roles within our ongoing township dramas.

We promise that even the first 30 minutes or so of this movie will have you thinking that the movie was based on Forks Township! After all, consider the movie’s tag line: “Never give a saga an even break.”

For more information about this movie, please check out http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071230/

Table talk, part 2

So in today's Morning Call ("Forks Twp. supervisors stunned by the dollars in the details for project", July 8, 2006) Reporter Joe Nixon had the following line-

{The new municipal complex was completed without the need to raise township property taxes and did not run over budget}

This may indeed be true, but, no one ever wants to talk about how much debt this township has. Overall it is in the area of $11-12 million dollars. Supervisor Chairman David Hoff doesn't like to include interest since his view is that its not reported in routine accounting methods. So he prefers the $9-10 million dollar figure. Either way, with all the explosive growth we have, and continue to experience, why do we have any debt at all? Why didn't, and don't we charge more to developers who wish to build here? After all, once all the available land to build on is gone, the only revenue stream will be from you, Joe or Jane Taxpayer!

As for the $3,000 table, Mr. Hoff offered these insights. ''Some things were ordered later,'' he said, adding he was not aware of what type of wood the table was made from or why it was chosen. ''It does appear to be a considerable amount of money,'' he said Friday.

A considerable amount of money indeed! How many of you taxpayers have a $3,000 table in your front foyer?

Whether the $3,000 table was part of the furniture plan or not, this is a terrible waste of taxpayer money. Most especially we should hold Supervisor Hoff (current Chairman, former Treasurer) and Supervisor Don Miller accountable for this as they have served multiple consecutive terms (each term is 6 years) in office. It certainly appears as though they both forgot that they are suppose to be looking out for us, the citizens and taxpayers of Forks Township.

Shh, don’t tell anyone, but there is a board vacancy....

Supervisor David Hoff was attributed with the quote below in the Morning Call (“Forks approves National Guard center”, July 7, 2006) written by Joe Nixon. This was regarding the appointment of a new recreation board member and having only two applicants apply.

''It's unfortunate there are only two candidates in a community this size,'' observed Supervisor Chairman David Hoff.

Mr. Hoff, outside of perhaps a legal positing, what have you and your fellow board members done to recruit candidates for the recreation board? Actually the same question could be raised regarding the Planning Commission, Zoning Hearing Board as well as other township positions.

Is it not true that for the most part that the Recreation Board has been handpicked by you and Supervisor Don Miller?

If you want to see more people volunteer for township boards Mr. Hoff, perhaps you can make this a priority for your remaining time on the board and before your term expires next year and your replacement is elected.

Boys and their toys....

Wow, our elected leaders really did spend $3,000 for a custom table for their clubhouse.

As reported in the Express-Times (July 7, 2006, “Officials question pricey table for municipal lobby”) by Sarah Mausolf,

Whether it was part of the “furniture deal” or not, did we really have to spend $3,000 for a table? Forget for a moment that the township is marred in debt, traffic is at a near standstill, our roads are crumbling and thanks to poor planning our homes are flooding with each significant rain, among other issues, wouldn’t the $3,000 be better used by our police or fire department to protect us?

Perhaps next time the Board of Supervisors can check out a firm like Raymour and Flanigan for a simple, far less costly and functional table for their clubhouse.

Special thanks to Supervisor Bonnie Nicholas for catching this disbursement and questioning its validity. It’s nice to know that at least one of our elected officials is watching out for us, the citizens of Forks Township.

Hopefully the external auditors will take a very close look at this specific expenditure.