The Newtown-area’s municipalities held their annual reorganization meetings earlier this month to start 2024.
The meetings are for the swearing in of municipal officials who were elected last November, to organize the governing bodies, and for governing bodies to appoint professionals for this year.
Newtown Borough
Newtown Borough Council started the new year by welcoming three new council members.
District Judge Mick Petrucci swore in new Council Member Gail Foley and returning Council Member Kris Bauman. U.S. District Court Senior Judge Cynthia Rufe swore in new council members Josh Phillips and Julia Woldorf.
The council retained its Democratic majority.
At the reorganization meeting, the governing body elected Council Member Emily Heinz as president and appointed Bauman as vice president.
The council voted to reappoint Rudolph Clarke as solicitor and reappoint CKS Engineers as engineer.
In December, the Newtown Borough Council paid tribute to its departing members Bob Szwajkos, Tara Grunde-McLaughlin, and Dennis O’Brien, who previously served as the borough’s mayor, in recognition of their contributions to local government.
Newtown Township
Credit: David Hunt/NewtownPANow.com
District Judge Mick Petrucci swore in returning supervisors Elen Snyder and Phillip Calabro.
Supervisor Dennis Fisher was appointed as chairperson and Snyder was appointed vice chairperson of the supervisors.
The board retained its Democratic majority.
The Kilkenny Law and Jerry Schenkman were rehired as solicitor and Remington and Vernick Engineers were reappointed as township engineer.
George Pollitt was sworn in by Petrucci as a township auditor.
Supervisor John Mack announced at the meeting that he nominated Snyder for the 2024 City and State PA Above and Beyond: Women Awards. He said the nomination came due to her role in the passage of a reproductive rights resolution and a single-use plastics ban in Newtown Township.
Upper Makefield Township
Newly-elected Supervisor Braun Taylor and returning Supervisor Ben Weldon were sworn in by District Judge Mick Petrucci.
Supervisor Yvette Taylor was appointed as chairperson and Weldon was appointed vice chairperson of the supervisors.
At the meeting, supervisors Thomas Cino and Tim Thomas voiced concerns that the new Democratic majority needed to improve communication with the minority members of the governing body.
Yvette Taylor said she took exception to any allegation of lack of communication and political motivations.
Girm, Biehn and Thacher were reappointed to serve as solicitor.
The supervisors appointed Gilmore and Associates as the township engineer, a switch from past engineering firm Tri-State Engineering, which will stay on to handle ongoing litigation with Toll Brothers.
David Wilkinson and Kari Ries were sworn in as township auditors.
Wrightstown Township
The supervisors reappointed Chairperson Chester Pogonowski to the role and kept Jane Magne as vice chairperson.
