Category: Open Records/Transparency

A Very Busy January 2020: Tiny Houses, Old Navy, more...

January 2020 was my busiest month as a Newtown Supervisor since I began keeping a log of my activities in September, 2018. In January, I spent 68 hours on official Supervisor business despite missing one Board meeting due to the flu or whatever it was that knocked me out for several days.

Log of Hours Spent on Official Business

My log keeps track of the time spent on the following:

• Attending “Required” Meetings
• Preparation for BOS Meetings
• Attending Optional Meetings/Activities
• Interaction with Residents
• Travel To & From Meetings

Meetings

In Jan 2020, I spent 10.5 hours "attending" required meetings (this includes the 0.8 hours watching the recording of the January 8 meeting, which I missed due to sickness) and 15.1 hours in optional meetings.

Obviously, BOS meetings are the most important meetings - I am expected to attend them in order to satisfy my duties as a Supervisor. These include regular twice-per-month public meetings (except in July and August and sometimes in December), and non-public executive sessions. Optional meetings include public work sessions, and special meetings (see the list below).

“Other Meetings” I attended were optional. In January, 2020, I attended meetings of the Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB Definition), Environmental Advisory Council, Sewer Authority, Finance Committee, Planning Commission, Technology & Communications, and the Human Relations Commission (HRC).

In January, I spent 7.9 hours preparing for required Board meetings. This includes downloading and reviewing documents, including the Bills List (invoices paid by the Township), minutes of previous meetings, and police report.

Interaction with Residents

In my opinion, personal interaction with residents regarding their concerns is an important part of my responsibilities as Supervisor. I want to be sure that I spend enough time reaching out to and responding to residents via personal contact, official email via my johnm@newtownpa.gov account and via my personal john@johnmacknewtown.info account, and via phone and/or Facebook.

In January 2020, I spent 10.0 hours (15% of my total logged hours) interacting with residents. What did I discuss with residents? Here’s a partial list (some items are not included for confidentiality reasons):

• Tiny Houses (read "What Zoning Ordinances Apply to Tiny Houses?")
• Wawa & Municipal Curative Amendment (VIDEO: "Newtown Passes Joint Municipal Curative Amendment")
• Toll Bros proposed development (read "Newtown Residents Dissatisfied With Toll Brothers")
• Old Navy(read "Survey Says Residents Don't Want Old Navy in Newtown Shopping Center")

I decided to keep track of my activities as a Supervisor on a monthly basis partly because I want to be accountable to residents, but also to make sure I am making the best use of my time. It's really an honor to serve the community! I learn something new every day and have met many fine people and volunteers who also put in a lot of time without any compensation at all. Thanks to everyone who help keep Newtown in business and safe.

Posted on 04 Feb 2020, 10:18 - Category: Open Records/Transparency

Open Records Requests Processed by Newtown Township in 2019

The Pennsylvania Right to Know (RTK) Law Definition, also known as the Pennsylvania Sunshine Law, is a series of laws designed to guarantee that the public has access to public records of governmental bodies in Pennsylvania.

Thanks to Open Records Officer Micah Lewis, aka, Township Manager, I was able to analyze the open records requests processed by Newtown Township in 2019.

In 2019, Newtown Township processed 83 Open Records Requests in compliance with the State’s Sunshine Law. That compares to 92 requests in 2018 (see here).

A total of 32 requests (39%) were from businesses/unions/Nonprofits.

The nonprofit organization Open The Books, which describes itself as a transparency group devoted to posting online all the disclosed spending of every level of government across the United States, made two requests for employee salary records, which were provided by the Township.

There were 44 requests from individuals (53% of the total). There was 1 request for records from the media (i.e., Bucks County Courier Times) for "Review files for Provco Wawa (ZHB/Sketch Plan)" and 6 requests from law firms (7% of the total). 

Requests That Were Denied

Only 11 requests (13% of the total) were "denied"; 7 because no records exist that comply with the request. There was no reason in the records for why the other 4 requests were denied, but one was for "All building permits since 1980," which is seems excessive. Two involved Wawa; one for the proposed "Amendment to the OR Ordinance sent to the BCPC" (Bucks County Planning Commission) and the other for a "Copy of Zoning Variance Application for Wawa," both of which are "drafts of a bill, resolution, regulation, statement of policy, management directive, ordinance or amendment thereto prepared by or for an agency" and therefore NOT public documents.

The fourth request that was "denied" for unspecified reasons was for "Information re:Agt w jointure participants." This was a request for the agreement between Newtown, Wrightstown and Upper Makefield that governs the JMZO. The requester notified me that although this request was initially denied becuase the information could not be found, but was subsequently found and sent to the requester.

Citizen's Guide to PA's Right-to-Know Law

Posted on 06 Jan 2020, 14:08 - Category: Open Records/Transparency

My Year (2019) as Newtown Supervisor

The following is a summary of my Supervisor-related activities for the entire year of 2019. In 2019 I spent, on average, 39.4 hours per month on official Supervisor business.

Log of Hours Spent on Official Business

My log keeps track of the time spent on the following:

• Attending “Required” Meetings
• Preparation for BOS Meetings
• Attending Optional Meetings/Activities
• Interaction with Residents
• Travel To & From Meetings

Meetings

In 2019, I spent a total of 56 hours attending required meetings and 63 hours in optional meetings for a total of 119 hours for the year or 10 hours per month.

Obviously, BOS meetings are the most important meetings - I am expected to attend them in order to satisfy my duties as a Supervisor^*. These include regular twice-per-month public meetings (except in July and August and sometimes December), and non-public executive sessions. In 2019, I had a perfect attendance record for regular Board of Supervisors meetings and voted on every motion (refer to "The (UNOFFICIAL) 2019 Voting Record of Newtown Supervisors" for details of how I and other Supervisors voted). Optional meetings include public work sessions, and special meetings (see the list below).

“Other Meetings” I attended were optional. These include meetings of the Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB Definition), Planning Commission, Human Relations Commission (HRC), Human Relations Commission, Environmental Advisory Council, Parks and Recreation Board, Finance Committee and the Newtown Fire Association (NFA).

In 2019, I spent a considerable amount of time (131 total hours/11 hours per month) preparing for required Board meetings. This includes downloading and reviewing documents, including the Bills List (invoices paid by the Township), minutes of previous meetings, and police reports.

Interaction with Residents

In my opinion, personal interaction with residents regarding their concerns is an important part of my responsibilities as Supervisor. I want to be sure that I spend enough time reaching out to and responding to residents via personal contact, official email via my johnm@newtownpa.gov account and via my personal john@johnmacknewtown.info account, and via phone and/or Facebook.

In 2019, I spent more than 80 hours (17% of my total logged hours) interacting with residents.

Posted on 06 Jan 2020, 10:07 - Category: Open Records/Transparency

My Supervisor Activity Log for December 2019: Toll Bros, Savvy Citizen, more...

The following is a summary of my Supervisor-related activities for December, 2019. I spent 34.8 hours in December on official Supervisor business.

Log of Hours Spent on Official Business

My log keeps track of the time spent on the following:

• Attending “Required” Meetings
• Preparation for BOS Meetings
• Attending Optional Meetings/Activities
• Interaction with Residents
• Travel To & From Meetings

Meetings

In December 2019, I spent 2.2 hours attending required meetings (there was only one BOS meeting) and 5.4 hours in optional meetings.

Obviously, BOS meetings are the most important meetings - I am expected to attend them in order to satisfy my duties as a Supervisor. These include regular twice-per-month public meetings (except in July and August and sometimes in December), and non-public executive sessions. Optional meetings include public work sessions, and special meetings (see the list below).

“Other Meetings” I attended were optional. In December, 2019, I attended meetings of the Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB Definition) and the Human Relations Commission (HRC).

In December, I spent 9.8 hours preparing for required Board meetings. This includes downloading and reviewing documents, including the Bills List (invoices paid by the Township), minutes of previous meetings, and police report.

Interaction with Residents

In my opinion, personal interaction with residents regarding their concerns is an important part of my responsibilities as Supervisor. I want to be sure that I spend enough time reaching out to and responding to residents via personal contact, official email via my johnm@newtownpa.gov account and via my personal john@johnmacknewtown.info account, and via phone and/or Facebook.

In December 2019, I spent 9.3 hours (27% of my total logged hours) interacting with residents. What did I discuss with residents? Here’s a partial list (some items are not included for confidentiality reasons):

• Toll Bros Rt. 413 and Twining Bridge Road Development Application (read "Newtown Residents Dissatisfied With Toll Brothers")
• Lower Dolington Trail (read "Newtown Township Gets Grants to Build Lower Dolington Road Multi-Use Trail")
• Sponsorship of Savvy Citizen Notification App (see video: "Supervisor Mack Seeks Funding for Savvy Citizen")

Posted on 06 Jan 2020, 01:38 - Category: Open Records/Transparency

My Supervisor Activity Log for November 2019: 2020 Budget, Durham Road Development, more...

The following is a summary of my Supervisor-related activities for November, 2019. I spent 40.2 hours in November on official Supervisor business. That's just about the average per month for 2019 to date.

Log of Hours Spent on Official Business

My log keeps track of the time spent on the following:

• Attending “Required” Meetings
• Preparation for BOS Meetings
• Attending Optional Meetings/Activities
• Interaction with Residents
• Travel To & From Meetings

Meetings

In November 2019, I spent 7.3 hours attending required meetings and 4.8 hours in optional meetings.

Obviously, BOS meetings are the most important meetings - I am expected to attend them in order to satisfy my duties as a Supervisor. These include regular twice-per-month public meetings (except in July and August), and non-public executive sessions. Optional meetings include public work sessions, and special meetings (see the list below).

“Other Meetings” I attended were optional. In November, 2019, I attended meetings of the Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB Definition), Planning Commission, Human Relations Commission (HRC) and the Newtown Fire Association (NFA).

In November, I spent a considerable amount of time (17.3 hours) preparing for required Board meetings. This includes downloading and reviewing documents, including the Bills List (invoices paid by the Township), minutes of previous meetings, and police report. I spent about 5 hours reviewing the preliminary 2020 budget and 2 hours preparing a summary of my Newtown Creek Bridge Proposal Survey (download a copy here).

Interaction with Residents

In my opinion, personal interaction with residents regarding their concerns is an important part of my responsibilities as Supervisor. I want to be sure that I spend enough time reaching out to and responding to residents via personal contact, official email via my johnm@newtownpa.gov account and via my personal john@johnmacknewtown.info account, and via phone and/or Facebook.

In November 2019, I spent 3.0 hours (8% of my total logged hours) interacting with residents. What did I discuss with residents? Here’s a partial list (some items are not included for confidentiality reasons):

• Village at Newtown Shopping Center road closures
• 413 Durham Road development proposal (read "It's Strike Two for 27 Townhomes on Durham Road!")
• Wawa ZHB Application, which was subsequently withdrawn

I decided to keep track of my activities as a Supervisor on a monthly basis partly because I want to be accountable to residents, but also to make sure I am making the best use of my time. It's really an honor to serve the community! I learn something new every day and have met many fine people and volunteers who also put in a lot of time without any compensation at all. Thanks to everyone who help keep Newtown in business and safe.

Posted on 02 Dec 2019, 12:46 - Category: Open Records/Transparency