Limerick Saves Money, Gets Money, New Police Dog

Photos and video by Evan Brandt

State Sen. John Rafferty, R-44th Dist., holds two checks worth $100,000 for the Linfield Fire Company and $50,000 for the Limerick Fire Company, whose members surround him, which he delivered during Tuesday's Limerick Supervisor's Meeting. 

It's the time of year when Harrisburg politicians return to their district's bearing gifts.

Right on cue, state Sen. John Rafferty, R-44th Dist., was at Tuesday's Limerick supervisors meeting to deliver two checks, one for $100,000 that went to Linfield Fire Company, the other for $50,000 that went to Limerick Fire Company.

He said he "discovered" the money in the state budget and claimed it for Limerick.

Several other items of interest also cropped up Tuesday.

Limerick Center Snag?

The proposal to build a 450-unit combination development with senior housing, townhouses and a retail strip on 30 acres at the intersection of Ridge and Swamp pikes nearly hit an unexpected snag Tuesday night.

An early version of plans for "Limerick Town Center."

With Supervisor Thomas Neafcy absent, a looming 2-2 vote threatened to put the brakes on a development which has moved steadily through the development process since last month when a portion of the project received preliminary site plan approval last month from the supervisors.

Because the township requires that road improvements accompany the first phase of construction but Supervisor Ken Sperring, who has objected repeatedly to the traffic circle required by Montgomery County Planning Commission, said he refuses "on principle, to vote for anything involving the circle.

Joining him was Supervisor Patrick Morroney who first said he is concerned about buffering issues and later said he is opposed to the entire project.

In the end, after much explaining about the need for applying the permits, and re-assurances that there would be other opportunities to raise concerns, Sperring changed his vote "under protest" and allowed the measure to move forward.

Saving Money on Building Project

Township Manager Dan Kerr had some good news for the supervisors about the new township building in which their meeting was being held.

Of the four major contracts that comprised the $11 million township building project, three came in under budget.

The new Limerick Township Building on Ridge Pike.

The general contract, mechanical contract and electrical contract all came in under-budget, while the plumbing contract came in nearly $11,000 over-budget.

The "soft costs" also came in more than $112,000 over-budget, largely because the cost of new furniture was more than expected.

Nevertheless, the final tally is $10,106,597, between $800,000 to $900,000 under budget. And the $438,585 contingency budget "was not even touched," said Kerr.

The supervisors thanked the staff and project manager for excellent work.

"I really hope the public comes to the ribbon cutting and sees that there are no frills here," said Supervisor Kara Shuler. "there is no wasted space and it is designed so that there is still room to expand."

The ribbon-cutting will be on Oct. 27 at 9 a.m.

Low-Income Housing Aid Program Dies

In June, Kerr outlined for the supervisors how federal bureaucracy surrounding a Community Development Block program Limerick has used for decades to help low-income home rehabilitation was making the program unsustainable.

In July, the supevisors reluctantly decided to keep the program going for another year, despite the added costs.

Last night, they reversed that decision.

Kerr said because the arc of the program is so slow, the township still has about $240,000 remaining in the account that can be used to help rehabilitate low-income homes until it runs out.

Even doing that will require the spending of between $20,000 to $30,000 of township programs.

The money once allocated to Limerick, between $190,000 to $200,000 per year, will instead go to Montgomery County, although there is no saying how much of it will be put into a similar low-income housing program.

In the future, Limerick properties can still apply for the program, but they will be competing against applicants from throughout the county.

Kerr explained that the rules had become so burdensome that, for example, where once the township could go in and use the program to replace a heater that failed in the middle of winter, the rules now require that the entire building be brought up to code.

"It's a real shame," said Supervisor Chairwoman Elaine DeWan. "We used to help a lot of people with this program."

Rambo with handler Chris Wienczek

Meet Rambo the Police Dog

As the meeting wound up, Police Chief Brian Skelton askewd permission to bring in the department's newest canine officer -- A dog obtained fromt he FBI name Rambo.

"We got lucky," said Skelton. the FBI is always looking for the best dogs."

According to his handler, Chris Wienczek, Rambo did just fine in all training until he came to the requirement that he jump out of a helicopter.

"He's supposed to do that strapped to a handler, but he didn't like that and kept punching them in the face, and the FBI didn't like that, so we got him," said Weinczek.

"I figured Limerick Township is not buying a helicopter any time soon," joked Skelton. "So I sent Chris to Virginia and we grabbed him quick."

Skelton said they even beat the state police to the punch, who were also interested in acquiring Rambo.

"You have to give credit to these officers. This is a 24/7 responsibility and those dogs home with them when the shift is over," said Skelton.

Here's some video of Wiecznek introducing Rambo.



The department has one other canine officer named Flynn.

"Flynn will let me pet him. I can't do that with Rambo yet," Skelton said.

And with that, here are the Tweets from last night's meeting:


Dollars for Firefighters, Roundabout, Project Savings, New Police Dog