Category: Open Records/Transparency

Still Hard at Work as Supervisor in October Despite Campaigning

I spent a lot of time campaigning for re-election in October 2019, which paid off in a bittersweet victory (read "Mack & Fisher Beat Butler & Boyle by Going Positive!"). Despite that, I spent nearly 35 hours in October 2019 on official Supervisor business to maintain an average of 40 hours per month in 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 October 2019, I spent 6.7 hours attending required meetings and 4.4 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 non-public executive sessions. Optional meetings include public work sessions, and special meetings (see the list below).

“Other Meetings” I attended were optional. In October, 2019, I attended meetings of the Parks and Recreation Board, Joint Zoning Council (JZC Definition), the Newtown Fire Association (NFA), and a meeting with Police Chief Hearn to discuss communications (Savvy Citizen) and tour the police building.

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 October 2019, I spent 3.9 hours (12% of my total logged hours) interacting with residents, not including the hours I spent campaigning for re-election.

What did I discuss with residents? Here’s a partial list (some items are not included for confidentiality reasons):

• Toll Bros Archdioscese application
• collection of EIT Definition from new restaurants
• Outdoor speakers at Drive-thru Starbucks
• Tyler Walk trail to 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 08 Nov 2019, 10:22 - Category: Open Records/Transparency

Summer's Over! It's Back to Work for Us Supervisors

Even though it may feel like summer out there, it's back to work for me and most of the other Newtown Supervisors. I spent nearly 50 hours in September 2019 on official Supervisor business. That's above the average of 43 hours per month for the 12-month period of September, 2018 through August, 2019.

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 September 2019, I spent 6.3 hours attending required meetings and 11.5 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 September, 2019, I attended meetings of the Planning Commission, Environmental Advisory Council (EAC), and the Newtown Fire Association (NFA).

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 September 2019, I spent 6.8 hours (14% of my total logged hours) interacting with residents, not including the hours I spent campaigning for re-election.

What did I discuss with residents? Here’s a partial list (some items are not included for confidentiality reasons):

• Planting trees in Roberts Ridge Park (see Summary of Sep 11, 2019, Newtown Township BOS Public Meeting)
• Trail from Tyler Walk to Acme Shopping Center
• Visited Villas of Newtown to discuss their issues with the developer (see here)
• Newtown Walk Fire Report

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 03 Oct 2019, 16:29 - Category: Open Records/Transparency

My "Lazy" Summer as Supervisor, Part 2: Activities for August 2019

As expected, I've had another "lazy" summer month as Supervisor in August. In fact I spent almost exactly the same amount of time on official Supervisor business in August, 2019, as I did in July, 2019: 28 hours! That's way below the average of 43 hours per month for the 12-month period of September, 2018 through August, 2019.

As in July, I spent less than 3 hours attending required meetings in August, primarily because the township is on a summer schedule with only one Board of Supervisor (BOS) meeting for the months of July and August.

Although things were slow in the summer, I expect my activity to pick up substantially in September.

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 the month of August 2019, I spent about 8 hours attending township meetings (required and optional). The average for the 8-month period of Jan-Aug, 2019, was 9 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 non-public executive sessions. Optional meetings include public work sessions, and special meetings (see the list below).

My Hourly "Wage"

Newtown Supervisors receive a compensation of $4,125 per year before taxes. That's about $344 per month. For the period of January 2019 through August 2019, I earned an average of $9.51 per hour, which is higher than PA's minimum wage of $7.50 per hour - a rate that has not increased since 2009! If I just attended required meetings without putting in any time preparing for those meetings, my compensation would be about $95 per hour.

PA's #minimumwage has not increased since 2009.

Since then, all our neighboring states have given workers a raise—and DE, MD, & NY have raised or will raise their wage again in 2018.

It's time for PA's GOP-controlled legislature to act. Tell your legislator to #RaiseTheWage. pic.twitter.com/ilIvbGcTa0

— Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) October 3, 2018

“Other Meetings” I attended were optional. In August, 2019, I attended meetings of the Parks and Recreation Board, Finance Committee, Planning Commission, and the Newtown Fire Association.

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 August 2019, I spent about 4.5 hours (17% of my total logged hours) interacting with residents, not including the hours I spent campaigning for re-election.

What did I discuss with residents? Here’s a partial list (some items are not included for confidentiality reasons):

• Visited Villas of Newtown to discuss their issues with the developer (see here)
• Newtown Area Comprehensive Plan (read "It’s Time for Newtown Township to Update Its Comprehensive Plan!")
• Possible Wawa on the Bypass (read "What's Next for Ordinance Amendment to Allow Wawa on Newtown Bypass?... It's Complicated!")

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 Sep 2019, 12:26 - Category: Open Records/Transparency

My "Lazy" Summer as Supervisor, Part 1: Official Activities for July 2019

This is a "lazy" summer so far. I spent only 28 hours in July 2019, on official Supervisor business! That's way below the average of 45 hours per month for the period of Jan-May, 2019.

I spent less than 3 hours attending required meetings, primarily because the township is on a summer schedule with only one Board of Supervisor (BOS) meeting for the months of July and August.

Although things are slowing down in the summer, I expect my activity to pick up substantially beginning in September.

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 the month of July 2019, I spent about 6 hours attending township meetings (required and optional). The average for the 5-month period of Jan-May, 2019, was 10 hours per month (including June, the average is 9 hours).

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 July, 2019, I attended a Human Relations Commission public meeting on July 29, and a Newtown Fire Association meeting on July 30.

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 July 2019, I spent about 8 hours (28% of my total logged hours) interacting with residents, not including the hours I spent campaigning for re-election. Included in that were 3 hours spent at a Friends of Roberts Ridge party at my house(see photo).

What did I discuss with residents? Here’s a partial list (some items are not included for confidentiality reasons):

• Planting trees in Roberts Ridge Park (read "Friends of Roberts Ridge Park Plan to Plant Tens of Native Trees")
• Golf Cart/ATV riding in Roberts Ridge Park (not allowed!)

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 Aug 2019, 12:08 - Category: Open Records/Transparency

Open Records Requests Processed by Newtown Township in First Half of 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 in the first half of 2019. You can compare these data with the analysis of all requests processed in 2018 here.

In the first half of 2019, Newtown Township processed 37 Open Records Requests in compliance with the State’s Sunshine Law. That compares to 55 requests in the first 6 months of 2018.

A total of 16 (43%) were from businesses/unions. There were an equal number of request from individuals. About one quarter of requests were for building permits. There were no requests for records from the media.

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

Posted on 14 Jul 2019, 01:14 - Category: Open Records/Transparency