Out With the Old, In With the New in Upper

Photo by Evan Brandt

Outgoing Township Commissioner Russ Noll, right, congratulates his replacement, France Krazalkovich, who was unanimously appointed to Noll's seat until the end of the year.

We can't say it came as a surprise.

Longtime Commissioner Russ Noll, who has been on the board for about 15 years, resigned his his last night.

Noll announced in June that he would be resigning, but held off until he sold his house last month.

(Here is video of him reading his resignation letter, in which he gave a shot to the school district, saying rising school taxes are one of his reasons for leaving.)



After Noll finished and the commissioners voted to accept his resignation, an obviously prepared Commissioners Chairman Elwood Taylor presented Noll with a plaque of appreciation for his years of service and read off some of the accolades he has received over the years.

Here is the video of that:



Equally unsurprising was the immediate unanimous appointment of France Krazalkovich to fill Noll's seat until the end of the year.

Krazalkovich, a Republican area leader, sought and won a line on the Republican ballot in May and will be running for his own four-year term in November.

Presuming he wins, Krazalkovich will step down at the end of the year from Noll's seat to assume his own.

The remaining two years on Noll's seat will be filled in November, most likely by someone who runs a write-in campaign.

I wonder of Commissioner Renee Spaide, who was the odd-candidate-out this year for Republican reelection endorsements, will run to fill the remaining two years of Noll's term.

There was no love lost between Spaide and Krazalkovich over the way things shook out during the Republican endorsement season, but she did vote for him Monday night.

Perhaps all is forgiven -- or isn't.

In any case, we'll know when it happens

Monday's meeting also featured presentations by Pottstown Regional Public Library Director Susan Davis as well as John Cover and Donna Fabry from the Montgomery County Planning Commission.

The meeting was rounded out by a very interesting discussion on the invasive pest, the emerald ash borer and the devastating impact it is having and will have on the township's ash trees.

I'll be writing more about that later I think.

That said, here are the Tweets from last night's meeting.