I'm No Longer Meeting You Halfway

Norman Rockwell's famed painting,

'Freedom of Speech' depicts that speech

happening at a town meeting.

Perhaps the most important, and least appealing aspect of municipal government is the much-maligned public meeting.

They are almost always in the evening, when all of the good TV shows are on, and it can be hard to navigate the language and procedures to get a feel for what's being accomplished -- or not accomplished.

And let's face it, people in the audience, and on the dias, have been known to drone on at public meetings.

That's where your local news sources comes in. We usually have a fair bit of experience in that department.

In my case, it's more than 30 years and, remember, I'm being paid to be there -- at least for now..

The public meeting is the place where elected officials, and the paid staff, interact with and are, to some extent, accountable to the people who elected them and pay their salaries.

The public meeting is where those things most likely to affect your life on a daily basis -- things like trash pick-up, water from the tap, your neighbor's noisy rooster -- can be taken up and addressed, not always to our satisfaction.

But knowing which meeting to attend, when your issue is going to come up, why a particular motion is important, can be a difficult needle to thread. After all, who wants to go to them all?

And all too often, important matters come up that were either not on the agenda, or whose importance was not clearly outlined on the agenda.

Traditionally, this is where local news has served a public purpose, paying folks like me to know what meeting is important, and to be there when the agenda looks boring but something vital comes up unexpectedly.

As I have written about here previously, and, some would argue, ad nauseum, that vital public service is being threatened by a variety of factors. Local newspapers are struggling and closing and the public they once served is less informed as a result.

That is true here in Pottstown as it is all across the country.

All of which brings me to today's point.

Thanks to government offices being closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Tuesday saw seven different meetings (that I know of) that should have been covered:

The Fifth Street home where an Airbnb is proposed.

• The Pottstown Zoning Hearing Board heard testimony on a request to convert a large home on Fifth Street into an Airbnb, an application borough council opposed. I didn't go to that meeting, so I don't know yet what happened. And so, neither do most of you.
• In the next room in borough hall, the Pottstown Borough Authority met and, according to the agenda, set the new water rates for 2020. An attachment to the agenda made it clear what they are and I have reported on it previously, but I didn't go to that meeting, so I don't know yet if anything else happened. And so, neither do most of you.
• In Royersford, the Spring-Ford Area School Board met for a work session. One of the items was discussion of a $176 million preliminary budget for the coming school year. The board is scheduled to vote on adopting it at another meeting Monday night, during which two other municipal meetings that should be covered will take place (more on that later). I didn't go to the school board meeting Tuesday, so I don't know what was said. And so, neither do most of you.
• In Limerick, the township supervisors met and their agenda included discussion of the construction of a new firehouse for the Linfield Fire Company. I didn't go that meeting either, so I don't know if anything happened. And so, neither do most of you.
• The Douglass (Mont.) Township Supervisors also met Tuesday, but because they do not post their agenda online, I can't even tell you what I missed because I wasn't there. And so, neither do most of you know what happened either.
• In Upper Pottsgrove, I've confirmed the Township Commissioners voted unanimously to advertise an ordinance to abolish the township planning commission and replace it with a planning committee. I wasn't there, so I won't have a report on that for a day or two. The final vote on whether to move ahead with it is scheduled for Feb. 3.
• The meeting I did go to was the Phoenixville School Board, which, evidently, had a rocky start to its year. With several new board members, the video from the Jan. 13 meeting shows the board convening, heading immediately into closed-door executive session and coming out more than an hour later and immediately adjourning. Tuesday's meeting was a continuation of that meeting.

U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan

Among the things discussed was the revelation that the Pennsylvania Department of Education has cited the district for disproportionately suspending students of color.

The picture is muddled and I am meeting with Superintendent Alan Fegleyy and Assistant Superintendent LeRoy Whitehead today at noon to get it sorted out before I report something incorrectly about a very important and sensitive subject.

Speaking of today, if you've read this far and you live in the 6th Congressional District, you may want to attend a meeting I will be covering. U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan will be holding her 15th Town Hall meeting at the Colonial Theater on Bridge Street at 7 p.m.

As you may have read recently, in 2019, Houlahan held more town hall meetings than any other member of Pennsylvania's Congressional delegation, a report put together by CoverThis.com.

That means I will miss the Lower Pottsgrove Township Commissioners meeting tonight where the agenda indicates architects will present the latest plans for the new $8.2 million township building.

But, check out Joe Zlomek's Sanatoga Post news site. He will likely be there and have a report for you.

And when Monday rolls around, there are three meetings which should be covered. In addition to the previously mentioned Spring-Ford School Board's voting meeting, the North Coventry Township Supervisors will meet.

Last night, Chairman Jim Marks, who was at the regional planning meeting I was covering, revealed that two important officials, longtime Township Manager Kevin Hennessey and Police Chief Robert Schurr are both retiring, "so we're dealing with that."

An older version of the plan for New Hanover Town Center.

And perhaps most significantly, the New Hanover Township Supervisors and Planning Commission will conduct a joint meeting on the proposed massive New Hanover Town Center project, which includes shopping centers and more than 700 new homes.

That meeting will be held at the township recreation center, 2373 Hoffmansville Road, starting at 6:30 p.m., according to the legal notice published in The Mercury on Jan. 15.

"We're expecting a crowd," New Hanover Supervisor Kurt Zebrowsky said at last night's regional planning meeting. "It's going to be some meeting."

Don't worry, I'm not going to miss that one.