UPPER GWYNEDD — A new year has brought a series of changes to Upper Gwynedd’s elected leadership positions.
The commissioners unanimously elected board members Denise Hull and Katherine Carter to act as board president and vice president respectively.
“Denise believes that the future is bright for our community, and she is honored to have a role in making that happen,” said Carter in nominating Hull for the president’s chair.
Hull and fellow commissioner Liz McNaney both were elected to the board in 2017 and reelected in 2021, and had served in the two top leadership posts with McNaney as president and Hull as vice president for 2020 and 2021. During their Jan. 3 reorganization, Township Manager Sandra Brookley Zadell briefly ran the meeting as District Judge Suzan Leonard administered oaths to Hull, her husband David who was elected to a post as township constable in 2021, and to newly elected tax collector Erica Koebert.
Hull’s nomination was then approved unanimously, and Commissioner Ruth Damsker then nominated Carter for VP, reading a bio summarizing Carter’s role as board liaison to the township’s public safety agencies over the past two years, and her work as a recently retired school principal in Philadelphia.
Hull announced the board’s liaison and committee assignments for 2022, with Carter keeping the assignment for public safety, commissioner Martha Simelaro still assigned to the town’s wastewater treatment plant, and Hull, McNaney and Damsker rotating. For 2022 and 2023, Hull will now take over from McNaney for finance, personnel and administration; McNaney will take over for Damsker on public works and parks and recreation, and Damsker will take over from Hull for planning and zoning topics and issues.
The board also voted unanimously on Jan. 3 to approve a long list of staff and consultant appointments, and a separate list of volunteer appointments to various boards and commissions.
Approved in separate motions were the reappointment of resident Mark Connelly to the township’s zoning hearing board, and appointment of resident Jonathon West as chairperson of the township’s environmental advisory committee.
During the board’s meeting on Jan. 18, township engineer Isaac Kessler gave an update on several grant-funded projects awarded in 2021 and moving ahead in 2022. Among those projects is a continued series of upgrades to add a berm along Haines Run, a hill adjacent to the township’s wastewater treatment plant on Township Line Road that was enhanced in 2021 after heavy rains flooded the plant in summer 2020.
In December 2021 the state’s Commonwealth Financing Authority announced a grant award of just over $76,000 toward a flood study of that area, according to Kessler and Zadell, which will combine with a separate state grant of roughly $90,000 to make a sizable dent in the total estimated project cost of over $600,000. The next phase, Kessler told the board, will involve taking soil from a Merck property in the township to the berm area, which should be done “in the next few weeks.”
“It’s kind of a win-win, with having soil from their site, and using it in a good spot,” he said.
Other grant-funded projects slated for 2022 include pedestrian traffic safety improvements at seven intersections around the township, design work for the replacement of a bridge carrying Sumneytown Pike over a small creek just west of the township building, and a series of drainage infrastructure improvements in the areas of Dickerson Road and Meadowbrook Road.
Several action items relating to the wastewater plant were also approved on Jan. 18, including a roughly $173,000 contract to add 12 removeable flood doors at the plant, a contract Simelaro said was meant to prevent a repeat of two summers ago.
“Back in 2020, when we had Tropical Storm Isaias, unfortunately our wastewater treatment plant flooded out because of high waters. These removable flood doors would prevent that happening in the future,” she said.
The commissioners also thanked several employees who have gone above and beyond their normal duties recently.
Carter extended thanks to township police officer Abdenour Fahem for helping a local student who had encountered issues with the county Child and Youth Services office.
“Throughout the incident, Officer Fahem did his best to comfort the boy, and also learned he was interested in basketball,” Carter said. Fahem was able to purchase a basketball hoop and enroll that child in a township basketball camp, which appears to have helped prompt a turnaround.
“We’re very proud of Officer Fahem, and I thank Chief Duffy — this is a wonderful example of his compassion, and what an asset he is to our community,” Carter said.
Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners next meet at 7 p.m. on Feb. 7 at the township administration building, 1 Parkside Place. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.UpperGwynedd.org.
