New Dates For Montco Commissioners’ Postponed Town Hall Meetings

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Norristown, PA – The Montgomery County Commissioners have released the new dates for the “Conversations with your Commissioners” town hall meetings that had to be postponed because of the spate of bad weather over the past few weeks.

The wintry weather forced the postponement of three of the six town hall meetings.  Those postponed were in Lower Pottsgrove, Bryn Mawr, and Abington.  The new dates for those meetings are:

Wednesday, March 5 at 7 p.m.

Lower Pottsgrove Township Building

3199 Buchert Road

Pottstown, PA

Tuesday, March 11 at 7 p.m.

Lower Merion Township Building

75 East Lancaster Avenue

Ardmore, PA

Saturday, March 22 at 10 a.m.

Abington Township Building

1176 Old York Road

Abington, PA

“These conversations with the commissioners are another in a series of ways we are trying to keep residents informed about what we are doing,” said Josh Shapiro, chair of the commissioners.  “We also live stream our meetings online and use social media a great deal to inform everyone about what is going on in the county.”

“We urge residents to attend these conversations so they can hear what we have tried to do during our first two years in office, and we can hear what issues are most important to our residents,” Shapiro said.

For more information please call the Commissioners’ office at 610-278-3062.

Montgomery County Holds Line On Taxes In 2014

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NORRISTOWN, PA — Montgomery County will balance its 2014 budget without raising taxes, according to Chief Financial Officer Uri Monson.

It will be second straight year tax rates in the county have not been raised, Monson told the county commissioners Thursday.

The county projects $371,510,842 in total revenues and $371,473,973 in expenditures for 2014, with a year-end operating surplus of $36,869 in the general fund budget, Monson said.

The county also expects to have just over $41 million in the fund balance at the end of the year, he said.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/government-and-politics/20131122/montgomery-county-holds-line-on-taxes-in-2014

County Commissioner: Deal Will Put Lancaster County Convention Center On Solid Financial Footing

Lancaster County Commissioner Scott Martin announced an agreement Wednesday that promises to put the Lancaster County Convention Center on solid financial footing.

But it requires significant concessions from six parties, and that work is not yet complete.

One of those parties, Penn Square Partners, was noticeably absent from the press conference in the commissioners’ meeting room.

Penn Square Partners Vice President Mark Fitzgerald said later Wednesday the private-sector partners participated in crafting the agreement and agreed with its provisions in principal.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/891056_County-commissioner–Deal-will-put-Lancaster-County-Convention-Center-on-solid-financial-footing.html#ixzz2e2FlSsK3

Pottstown School Board Urged To Approve KOZ Deal

Editor’s note:  We agree!

The Pottstown School Board is set to vote tonight on a tax break deal that would bring a new business to the Keystone Opportunity Zone.

Pottstown Borough Council has approved the tax break, but if the school board votes no, the plan is nixed.

The three boards that levy property tax — council, school board and county commissioners — must all approve it for the business to relocate to Pottstown.  Montgomery County Commissioners have said they will go along with whatever the two local governing bodies decide.

As with council, we urge the school board to vote yes to this proposal as an incentive to business and as a smart move in the longer view of the borough economic development.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130325/OPINION01/130329656/pottstown-school-board-urged-to-approve-koz-deal-#full_story

Montco Commissioners ‘Listening Tour’ Comes To Pottstown Monday

Location of Pottstown in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Maybe they should call this the magical mystery tour!

POTTSTOWN — Issues of low-income housing concentrations and economic development are likely to command the agenda Monday when the Montgomery County Commissioners come to town as part of their ongoing “listening tour.”

The commissioners are holding the open meeting Monday at 7 p.m. at the Montgomery County Community College on College Drive.

The meetings serve as a way for residents to get answers and for the commissioners to get a sense of issues their constituents care about as a way to inform important decisions, particularly budget decisions, said Frank Custer, the county’s communications director.

It is the fourth of five such meetings set up around the county that so far have attracted moderate interest from the public, according to Custer.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130210/NEWS01/130219982/montco-commissioners-listening-tour-comes-to-pottstown-monday#full_story

Conversations With Your Montgomery County Commissioners

Join the Montgomery County Commissioners in a conversation on the administration’s first year in office.  Learn about new initiatives the commissioners will be working on in 2013, and have your questions about county government answered.  Monday, Feb. 11^th, 7 pm, Montgomery County Community College, West Campus, Community Room, 101 College Drive, Pottstown.  For more information please call the Commissioners’ office at 610-278-3062.

Reading Crime Summit Yields Plan

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Look what happens when people get together to work on a problem!  Reading needs to be the focus.

The cause of curtailing violent crime in Reading and Berks County got a push forward Friday afternoon as more than 100 public and private leaders conducted a long-awaited crime summit.

Gov. Tom Corbett and U.S. Sens. Bob Casey Jr. and Pat Toomey were among the participants in the closed-door session held at the Crowne Plaza Reading in Wyomissing.

Lasting two hours and 15 minutes, the summit produced a five-point set of initiatives that county officials pledged to pursue immediately.  Those ranged from strengthening county-city cooperation to a fact-finding trip to learn about a community program in Altoona.

Berks District Attorney John T. Adams and Christian Y. Leinbach, county commissioners chairman, were at the center of preparations for the summit.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=444689

‘Code Red’ Issued For Montgomery County

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NORRISTOWN, PA — A has been issued by Montgomery County from noon until 8 p.m. Saturday, July 7.

“A Hot Weather Health Warning is issued in anticipation of an oppressively hot air mass with a heat index of 100 degrees F or greater,” according to a press release from the county.

“We urge all of our residents, especially those most at risk, to please take steps to minimize the effects of the heat, and it is critical that the rest of us check on the elderly and others at risk during this hot weather,” said Josh Shapiro, chairman of the Montgomery County Commissioners.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20120706/NEWS01/120709669/-code-red-issued-for-montco

Montco Commissioners Tell Pottstown The Era Of The “Big Check” Is Over

Editor’s note:  What else is new.  The county is over involved in Pottstown‘s affairs and has helped to create a great deal of the problems Pottstown and Norristown both face by making them the dumping group for Section 8 Housing and social services.  Now we just wash our hands and say “see ya”.  Typical!

POTTSTOWN, Pa. — Say goodbye to the big, giant check.

That was one of several messages Montgomery County Commissioners Josh Shapiro and Leslie Richards had for Pottstown officials last week during a rare joint meeting of borough council, school board and members of the board of Pottstown Area Industrial Development, or PAID.

Officially, the joint meeting was also the required annual meeting of PAID at which the executive director, Steve Bamford, is required to give a report on the activities of the year before.

But since Bamford was not hired until November, there was not much to tell.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20120529/NEWS01/120529365/montco-commissioners-tell-pottstown-era-of-the-big-check-is-over-(video)

Joe Hoeffel Will Not Seek Relection

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Embattled Montgomery County Commissioner, Joe Hoeffel will not run again.  Instead, he will support Josh Shapiro and Leslie Richards.  Shapiro and Richards are running as a team and joined Hoeffel at a news conference where he announced he would not seek relection. 

It looks like Montgomery County Commissioner Bruce Castor will run again.  Castor was not involved in the Sunshine Law charges leveled against Commissioners Matthews and Hoeffel.  The three commissioners have had a strained relationship and frequently made headlines in local papers with their squabbling.

The Republican nominating convention will be held on February 9th and the Democratic Nominating Convention will take place on February 15th.

Let us hope whoever wins can work together for the good of Pennsylvania’s third largest and second wealthiest county!

More Damaging Evidence Comes Forth In Hoeffel/Matthews Alleged Sunshine Law Violations

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The Times Herald is reporting that H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest has revealed Hoeffel and Matthews conducted a meeting with him about the proposed American Revolutionary Center in Valley Forge Park.  When Lenfest arrived at One Montgomery Plaza in September, thinking he was meeting with all three county commissioners, only Matthews and Hoeffel were present.  Castor stated he was just down the hall, totally unaware that a meeting was taking place.

Hoeffel, in a pathetic attempt to defend his “breakfast meetings” with Matthews said “He wouldn’t be any fun.  I don’t want to have breakfast with Bruce Castor.” 

My response to this nonsense is,  “How old are you Joe??”  That sounds a little junior high school for a county commissioner.  We are not paying you to “have fun” we are paying you to run Montgomery County which means working and playing well with others, including Bruce Castor!  Grow up!

Read the entire article here:

http://www.timesherald.com/articles/2010/12/05/news/doc4cfb1788dfdb0872346216.txt?viewmode=default