Candidate for
Commissioner; Township of Nether Providence; Ward 3

Since being appointed to fill the term of Many Parks, I have had the privilege of representing the residents of the Third Ward and working with a strong group of democratic leaders on the Board of Commissioners.

My litmus test for any decision we face on the Board of Commissioners is 1) whether the proposed action will improve the township, and 2) whether it is worth the cost to the township. To me the decision-making process should involve careful and thoughtful analysis of the issue, making sure we have enough information to make an informed decision, considering both short-term and long-term implications, making sure I understand any opposing views and information, and making sure we can afford it. Civility is always important, but I welcome disagreement and debate in the decision-making process. It is always important to be willing to re-examine your own positions rather than become intractible, and to be willing to compromise.

During the past two years, I have tried to apply these rules as the Board has addressed many needs in the township, and I think we have established a strong track record. We have addressed many important issues in controlling development, improving our zoning and land use regulations, improving the township and carefully managing our resources.

We have:

• Established a new zoning district for our largest (and most sub-dividable) properties, to control development;
• Tightened our zoning ordinances;
• Carefully reviewed and controlled land development and subdivisions;
• Worked to control the number and location of new cell towers;
• Implemented energy-savings, and committed to make the township "greener";
• Addressed the need for new sidewalks where needed without changing the character of our neighborhoods;
• Stepped up efforts to address our ubiquitous storm water drainage problems;
• Reversed the misguided and damaging decisions of the prior Board to terminate our highly experienced Assistant Township Manager and outsource (without competitive bidding) township inspections to a contractor that seriously dropped the ball;
• Found creative ways to upgrade police and fire department vehicles with much less budget impact;
• Stepped up efforts to address long-standing infrastructure problems in sanitary sewer lines;
• Aggressively sought grant money to supplement our budget (hundreds of thousands of dollars so far in 2007);
• Established a much more "robust" township web site to promote open government (http://www.netherprovidence.org).

CONTROLLING DEVELOPMENT

Creating a new zoning district, R-1A, with larger minimum lot sizes, has helped control subdivisions and over-development. The R1-A district has saved potentially hundreds of new houses being built next to or behind existing lots. We also are establishing a steep slope overlay district, to prevent damaging development on hillsides.

We have tightened controls for storm water management (a perennial problem), and are systematically dealing with many ambiguities and gaps in our zoning code. When development has occurred, we exercise careful control and oversight through the approval process, and ask that developers contribute improvements to storm water drainage, streets, or sidewalks where appropriate. We also use great care and caution in controlling the location and placement of new cell towers, which cell companies are constantly pressuring us to allow.

FISCAL MANAGEMENT

Budget season in Nether Providence begins in September, when we face the difficult task of prioritizing many areas of need so we can allocate our limited dollars in a way that is not just careful but is smart.

Smart financial management is more than just cutting current costs. It means carefully balancing short term savings with long term costs. Example: by signing a lease for a new $1 million fire truck this year, instead of waiting, we saved hundreds of thousands of dollars, spread the cost of the new equipment over 10 years, and will get better trade-in for the old equipment.

Short-sighted decisions can cost money for years, as happened when the prior Republican Board sought to save money by forcing out our highly experienced Assistant Township Manager, and out-sourcing some of her duties. Result: township services were degraded, our staff was overworked, and the private contractor was a bust! Now we have a great new assistant township manager, we got rid of the poorly performing contractor, and services are improving. One of the tasks that suffered was our ability to find grant opportunities. The aggressive use of grants is another key to good fiscal management. We receive hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for things such as paving, fire equipment, police cars, and developing a recycling program, and every extra dollar we get is one less dollar of township taxes.

STREETS AND INFRASTRUCTURE

The state funds we get for re-paving don't go very far, so we make smart use of our own Public Works department to extend road life by patching where possible. In addition to our usual state paving funds, we currently have almost $600,000 in grant awards, for a walkway along Turner Road to the train station, and street improvements in the South Media and Garden City neighborhoods. An even bigger problem lies underground, with our degrading storm and sanitary sewer lines. There are no easy answers, but two important keys are diligent maintenance and making sure we are treated fairly by CDCA, the county sewer authority. We can no longer afford to ignore these needs year by year.

PARKS, OPEN SPACE AND RECREATION

Our parks and open space are an essential part of what gives Nether Providence its character, and contribute to our quality of life. We are working to make better us of our two largest parks, Houston and Furness, with a open space planning grant, and are utilizing some of the great home-grown talent and expertise to do so. We have also found funds to obtain some much-needed playground equipment for Sapovitz Park.

OPEN GOVERNMENT

I firmly believe that residents should have full access to the governing process, and should stay informed. We have a great new web page (http://www.netherprovidence.org) which includes announcements, police reports, minutes from all our meetings, and useful links, including e-mail addresses for each commissioner and key township officials. We are also improving the quality of television coverage of meetings.

LONG TERM PLANNING

We often deal with immediate needs, and short term issues, but I believe it is important to have ideas and plans about how the township can improve and strengthen our sense of community. The recently adopted Multi-Municipality Comprehensive Plan (MMCP) provides an important guide and resource for future governing.