Monday, July 13, 2009
Vice Chairman Robert Birch called to order the action meeting at 8:00 p.m. In attendance were Supervisors McDonnell, Prousi and Sarosky. Chairman Fox was absent. Also in attendance were Frank Bartle, John Nagel, Bill Brightcliffe, Larry Gregan, Bruce Shoupe, Don Simes, Pam Gural-Bear, Kevin Costello and Deb Rivas.
There was no public comment.
Vice Chairman Birch presented a donation to the Montgomery County Public Library in the amount of $8,000 to Kathleen Arnold-Yerger. Ms. Arnold-Yerger made a brief presentation about the new services being provided by the library which is accessible to all Montgomery Township residents through several outlets, including the online system and bookmobile. Ms. Arnold-Yerger indicated that the library system is expecting a cut in next year's budget from the State and asked the Supervisors and residents to ask their legislators to keep mentioning the library funding situation in their ongoing conversations with the state representatives.
John Nagel provided an update on the Storm Water Management response. Mr. Nagel said that the consortium of communities participating with Montgomery Township is now up to 28. Mr. Nagel announced that the response comment letter to the DEP was delivered on July 2, 2009. Mr. Nagel also said that a separate letter was being sent to each legislator who represents the core group of the consortium to ask for their assistance. Mr. Nagel said that an update would be provided on this matter at future Board meetings.
John Nagel provided an update on the transportation projects in the Township, including the 202 Parkway, County Line Road and Horsham Road widening. On the 202 Parkway, Sections 711 and 721 (Warrington and Doylestown) have construction bids out and due for opening on July 30th (721) and August 20th (711). Section 701 is underway and construction updates can be found on the Township website and the 202 website. Mr. Nagel stated that the Township would continue to keeps residents updated on the transportation construction projects occurring around the local area.
Vice Chairman Birch announced that an update on televising the Board meetings would be given by Richard Grier, Technology Manager. Mr. Birch also announced that this was an update and discussion only and that no action would be taken at this meeting. Mr. Grier provided an update on the survey of area municipalities that have implemented the televising of their Board meetings. Mr. Grier stated that 40 municipalities were surveyed and that 31 had responded. Mr. Grier said that out of the 31 municipalities that replied, only 9 currently televise their Board meetings. Mr. Grier provided further details of the survey including start up costs and ongoing costs for the municipalities that do televise. Additionally, Mr. Grier said that he had contacted the North Penn School District and while they were not able to provided actual recording services directly to the Township (equipment and students), they have offered to provide the Township with technical assistance, such as selecting equipment, etc. Mr. Grier also reviewed the several options available to the Township for initial recording. Mr. Grier stated that one fixed camera would have a start up cost of approximately $2,000. The negative issue regarding that option would be the limited view it would provide, such as a wide room view only. Mr. Grier said that another option would be a manned camera which would be able to zoom in on the person who was speaking. The negative issue regarding that option would be the cost, a minimum of $475 per meeting with additional staff time for programming of the broadcast. Mr. Birch indicated that he had heard some concerns about altering a video or audio and asked if that could be prevented. Mr. Grier indicated that we did not have the technology to encrypt or protect a video once it was available to the general public such as on a website. Mr. McDonnell stated that he has been a strong proponent of televising the Board meetings and he would have expected that this would have been done by now. Mr. McDonnell said that he understands that fiscally the Township cannot be spending that kind of money now, but perhaps in 2010 this could be accomplished. Mr. McDonnell inquired as to how much money was in the budget for technology. Mr. Nagel responded that over the years, this and previous Boards have set aside $325,000 for the advancement of technology in the Township. Mr. Nagel said that this money could be used for this purpose or any purpose that the Board agreed upon. Mr. Prousi stated that he was opposed to televising the Board meetings because of the ongoing costs involved. Mr. Prousi said that if residents are interested in what is going on in their local government, they should come to a meeting. Mr. Prousi said that people do not come out to the meetings. Mr. Prousi also said that if the meeting is broadcast later and people have questions or concerns about the topics, many people will be calling the Township with questions and tie up the staff. Mr. Prousi said that people should come in to the meeting if they have a problem. Mr. Birch disagreed and said that many people cannot make it to the meeting, such as older people or people with small children. Mr. Prousi responded that it was too expensive and once it was started, you would not be able to turn it off. Mr. Sarosky said that communication is very important, however, if the meeting will be broadcast a week later, residents will miss the opportunity to respond and in most cases, the votes have been taken by that time. Under public comment, Dot Biedeman of the Village of Neshaminy Falls, inquired as to how the Supervisors are available to answer questions. Mr. Prousi indicated that any questions that come to the Township are handled by the staff. Mr. Prousi continued that if the question is not handled by the staff, the Board member is contacted and provided the information to reply to the resident. Mr. Prousi said that if the Board is discussing a topic of interest, residents should come to the meeting to discuss the topic with the Board. Sam Dugan of 143 Pine Crest Lane asked what was the real purpose of televising the meetings. Mr. Dugan inquired if the meetings would be televised live or broadcast at a later date? Mr. Birch replied that that decision had not been made by the Board. Mr. Dugan suggested that rather than spending more money, the Township should utilize communications tools it already has in place. Mr. Dugan suggested using the Township website to inform people of what is going on at the meetings and in the Township in general.
Under the consent agenda, the minutes of the meeting for June 22, 2009 and the payment of bills were approved as submitted. Resolution #1 unanimously approved the disposition of records for Planning and Zoning. Resolution #2 unanimously approved the escrow release for Keystone Community Church. Item number 11 was the consideration of a letter of support for naming Township tributaries. Supervisor Prousi indicated that he does not think that the names of the tributaries should be secular in any way. Nora O'Malley of Pine Crest indicated that the Mary Mother of the Redeemer church had received a grant from the county to clean up the seven acres of wetlands that had been overgrown. Mrs. O'Malley said that the county had suggested that the tributaries be named. Mary Mother of the Redeemer school held a contest and the children submitted names which were voted on. Mrs. O'Malley agreed that the names should not be secular. Resolution #3 approved the letter of support for naming the Township tributaries by a vote of 3 to 0, with Supervisor Prousi abstaining from the vote. Resolution #4 unanimously approved the annual Traffic Signal Maintenance Inspection Agreement.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:42 p.m.