E-Edition
Sign up for email newsletters
Sign up for email newsletters
E-Edition
TOWAMENCIN — One staff vacancy will soon be filled in Towamencin Township, while the search is on to fill another.
Township officials announced Wednesday night that a new finance director is now on board.
“New finance director Adam Szumski is ready to start by the end of June,” said supervisors Chairman Chuck Wilson.
The finance director position has been vacant since late February, when then-director Brooke Neve resigned after roughly three years in that position. A search firm was hired in March to find a successor, and Wilson announced Szumski’s hiring during his finance committee report on June 8.
Szumski arrives in the township with roughly a decade of background working both with and for municipalities in Pennsylvania, township Manager Don Delamater said afterward, most recently as a Senior Analyst for the Pennsylvania Economy League’s Central Division. Szumski “has contributed to numerous municipal operational reviews and developed long-range financial projections by scrutinizing line item financial statements of Pennsylvania municipalities,” Delamater said, while also working closely with finance departments to implement financial management software and train employees on those systems.”
With that vacancy now filled, staff are now working to file another, the manager confirmed: Jen Guckin, the township’s code director since 2015, has departed for a position in the private sector.
“The township is currently advertising and accepting resumes to fill the vacant position,” he said.
Wilson also announced the departure of an elected official: township auditor Don Lepp has resigned, leaving that position vacant.
“We’ll be accepting letters of interest from residents who may be interested in filling that, for the balance of that term,” Wilson said.
The auditor position must now be filled within 30 days by a board appointee until the 2023 election cycle, at which point the position would be on the ballot for a public vote that fall. Anyone interested in being considered is asked to send a letter of interest and resume to the township addressed to Delamater at Towamencin Township, 1090 Troxel Road, Lansdale, PA 19446 or via email to ddelamater@towamencin.org.
Two proposed projects discussed in late May were also voted ahead by the board on June 8.
In late May the board heard details of a plan by the Chick-Fil-A restaurant on Forty Foot Road to widen their drive-through driveway and add a canopy structure near the pickup window, to allow staff to better handle the heavy traffic seen since the restaurant opened in 2014. That plan was approved unanimously on June 8 with minimal discussion, as was another just south on Forty Foot Road, where the Easter Seals of Montgomery County sought approval to repave their parking lot and make minor changes to add additional impervious surface.
Another action item also discussed at the May meeting was approved: a roughly $49,000 proposal from township land planner Simone Collins to perform a sidewalk study throughout the township, which had been tabled for staff to investigate whether such services could better be performed by the Montgomery County Planning Commission.
“We have received communication from the county planning commission that they are not prepared to accept any new clients at this time, until they are able to hire additional planners,” Wilson said. Supervisor Rich Marino added that he was glad the township checked, but the timeline for any county new hires would likely extend longer than that from the consultant, “so in the interest of speed and efficiency, I’m good with the Simone Collins proposal.”
Another unanimous vote formalized change to the township’s agreement with Upper Gwynedd regarding sewer customers that cross the borders of the two municipalities.
“When Upper Gwynedd Township withdrew from the sewer authority, it was agreed that a few Towamencin Township properties were to continue to be served by Upper Gwynedd,” Wilson said.
At that time, Upper Gwynedd had indicated there were five such properties, but new data now indicates the number is seven, thus requiring an update to the intermunicipal agreement between the two. That update was approved unanimously, with no comments, but the board did field two comments from residents continuing to voice their opposition to the board’s sale of the township sewer system. Kofi Osei, founder of the Towamencin NOPE group opposing the sale, continued to challenge the projected rate figures presented by the sale consultant and which the board used to justify voting for the sale, while resident Tina Gallagher asked for specifics about who will operate the plant locally on behalf of the national firm that has purchased it.
Due to poor weather, the township’s Towamencin Day festivities slated for May 21 were called off, and the board unanimously voted to reschedule that event for Oct. 1.
Other upcoming events in the township include a showing of “Sing 2” at Fischer’s Park at 6 p.m. on June 21, a concert by “Don’t Call Me Francis” at the park at 7 p.m. on June 23, a concert by “The Supernaturals” there at 7 p.m. on June 30, and an electronics recycling event at North Penn High School, 1340 Valley Forge Road, from 9 a.m. to noon on June 25.
Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on June 22 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information visit www.Towamencin.org.
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.
Sign up for email newsletters
Copyright © 2022 MediaNews Group