Category: Open Records/Transparency

My Official Supervisor Activities for Q1 2022

The following is a summary of my Supervisor-related activities for first quarter of 2022 (January, February, March). In Q1 2022 I spent, on average, 53.2 hours per month on official Supervisor business. This compares with an average of 45.9 hours per month in Q1 2021.

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

The following chart shows the breakdown in percent of hours spent on these various official activities.

For Q1 2022 I earned a “stipend” of $1,031.25 before taxes. That’s works out to $6.47 per hour or $33.26 per hour if I just attended required meetings without preparation. Compare that to PA’s minimum wage of $7.25. Luckily, unlike many working people in PA, I do no depend on that for a living.

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 email account, and via phone, Nextdoor and/or Facebook.

BTW, if you need to contact other Newtown Township Officials, access the Directory of Newtown Township Officials.

Working for You Every Day!

I can truly say that I work for residents EVERY day of the week, but mostly Mondays through Thursdays.

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 May 2022, 13:32 - Category: Open Records/Transparency

How I Spent My Time as Newtown Supervisor in February 2022

I keep track of my activities as a Supervisor 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.

Hours Per Month

February 2022 was another busy month for me as Supervisor! In January, I spent a total of 55 hours engaged in official Supervisor activities that included preparing for and attending meetings and interacting with residents. This compares to 54 hours in January 2022. The following chart shows the hours per day of the week that I spent on these activities.

I work for you every day of the week! But Mondays and Wednesdays are the busiest because I usually host a Meet Mack Monday Zoom meeting at least once each month and attend BOS meetings on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month. I spend a lot of time preparing for these meetings.

Breakdown by Type of Activity

I keep track of the time spent on the following activities:

• Attending “Required” Meetings (BOS regular & special meetings and Executive Sessions; Supervisors are not required to attend Work Sessions)
• Preparation for BOS Meetings
• Attending Optional Meetings/Activities
• Interaction with Residents
• Travel To & From Meetings

The following chart shows the percentage of time I spent on all these activities in February 2022:

I spent 13% of my time attending required Board of Supervisors (BOS) meetings and a whopping 44% of my time is spent preparing for these and other official - but not required - meetings.

Interacting With Residents

In my opinion, personal interaction with residents regarding their concerns is an important part of my responsibilities as Supervisor - as important as attending required meetings. 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 February, I spent 13% of my time (7 hours) interacting with residents. A big chunk of that time is interacting with residents via my Meet Mack Monday meetings. Thanks to COVID-19, I began hosting these meetings remotely using Zoom - usually every month before the first BOS meeting. Usually between 7 and 15 people attend each meeting. 

My Compensation

Every Supervisor is provided a yearly stipend of $4,125 per year. This has not changed in many years. Thus, I earned $6.24 per hour in January as a Supervisor. That's less than the $7.25 per hour PA minimum wage (a disgrace!). For all of 2021 I made more than minimum wage: $8.60 per hour.

But it's possible to make a higher hourly wage as a Supervisor. That's because Supervisors only need to attend "required" meetings as noted above. If I only attended required meetings, my hourly wage would be about $47. Not bad at all! If I also include hours spent preparing for these meetings, then my hourly wage drops to about $11. Still a lot more than minimum wage.

Posted on 01 Mar 2022, 13:16 - Category: Open Records/Transparency

How I Spent My Time as Newtown Supervisor in January 2022

I keep track of my activities as a Supervisor 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.

Hours Per Month

January 2022 was a busy month for me as Supervisor. In January, I spent a total of 54 hours engaged in official Supervisor activities that included preparing for and attending meetings and interacting with residents. This compares to an average of 46 hours per month in all of 2021. The following chart shows the hours per day of the week that I spent on these activities.

Breakdown by Type of Activity

I keep track of the time spent on the following activities:

• Attending “Required” Meetings (BOS regular & special meetings and Executive Sessions; Supervisors are not required to attend Work Sessions)
• Preparation for BOS Meetings
• Attending Optional Meetings/Activities
• Interaction with Residents
• Travel To & From Meetings

The following chart shows the percentage of time I spent on all these activities in January 2022:

Interacting With Residents

Interestingly, I spent only 8% of my time attending required Board of Supervisors (BOS) meetings. However, 35% of my time is spent preparing for these and other official - but not required - meetings.

In my opinion, personal interaction with residents regarding their concerns is an important part of my responsibilities as Supervisor - as important as attending required meetings. 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.

Probably the biggest change in how I interact with residents is via my Meet Mack Monday meetings. Thanks to COVID-19, I began hosting these meetings remotely using Zoom - usually every month before the first BOS meeting. More residents are able to join in these remote discussion discussions - usually between 7 and 15 people attend each meeting. 

My Compensation

Every Supervisor is provided a yearly stipend of $4,125 per year. This has not changed in many years. Thus, I earned $6.38 per hour in January as a Supervisor. That's less than the $7.25 per hour PA minimum wage (a disgrace!). For all of 2021 I made more than minimum wage: $8.60 per hour.

But it's possible to make a higher hourly wage as a Supervisor. That's because Supervisors only need to attend "required" meetings as noted above. If I only attended required meetings, my hourly wage would be about $61. Not bad at all! If I also include hours spent preparing for these meetings, then my hourly wage drops to about $14. Still a lot more than minimum wage.

Posted on 02 Feb 2022, 12:39 - Category: Open Records/Transparency

How I Spent My Time as Newtown Supervisor in 2021

Posted on 01 Jan 2022, 01:30 - Category: Open Records/Transparency

My Official Supervisor Activities for Q3 2021

The following is a summary of my Supervisor-related activities for the third quarter of 2021 (July, August, September). In Q3 2021 I spent, on average, 35.0 hours per month on official Supervisor business. This compares with an average of 39.2 hours per month in Q2 2021 and 45.9 hours per month in Q1 2021.

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

The following chart shows the breakdown in percent of hours spent on these various official activities.

The following tables shows the numbers:

For Q3 2021 I earned a “stipend” of $1,031.25 before taxes. That’s works out to $9.83 per hour or $64.85 per hour if I just attended required meetings. Compare that to PA’s minimum wage of $7.25. Luckily, unlike many working people in PA, I do no depend on that for a living.

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 email account, and via phone, Nextdoor and/or Facebook.

BTW, if you need to contact other Newtown Township Officials, access the Directory of Newtown Township Officials.

Working for You Every Day!

I can truly say that I work for residents EVERY day of the week, but mostly Mondays through Thursdays.

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 06 Oct 2021, 01:59 - Category: Open Records/Transparency