Lower Makefield Township manager Kurt Ferguson resigning

Updated:  3:30 p.m.. April 5, 2022 ; Updated:  5:20 p.m.. April 4, 2022

Lower Makefield Township Manager Kurt Ferguson is resigning from that position after four years.
An item on the agenda for Wednesday night’s township supervisors’ meeting reads “consideration to accept the resignation of the township manager with his last day of work on July 4 and his official resignation effective July 18.”
Reached on Monday, Ferguson said he has accepted a manager’s job in another town but said he didn’t want to talk about where or other specifics for another week or so.
“I’m accepting a job in another town and this all revolves around this other opportunity I could not pass up,” Ferguson said. “I have nothing disparaging to say about Lower Makefield. It’s all about this other opportunity.”
Ferguson became Lower Makefield’s manager in May of 2018 after six years in the same position in neighboring Newtown Township.
At a meeting in late December, the Lower Makefield supervisors voted to bump up Ferguson’s scheduled salary increase for 2022 from 3 percent to 5 percent, with supervisors’ Chairman James McCartney, Suzanne Blundi and Fredric Weiss voting in favor of that motion and Daniel Grenier and John Lewis voting no. The move increased Ferguson’s annual salary by $8,409, from $168,178 to $176,587.
While not commenting on the specific reasons for Ferguson’s pending departure, Weiss and Blundi had high praise for him and the job he has done while in Lower Makefield.
“I am saddened both as a resident and as a supervisor to see Kurt leave,” Blundi wrote in an email. “He has helped LMT through a very challenging time and his shoes will be very difficult to fill. He is super talented and his new community is lucky to have such a dedicated and creative public servant.”

Weiss said Ferguson has made many aspects of the township’s operation much better since arriving four years ago.
“We were all trying to figure out how to turn things around,” Weiss said. “Now, four years later, and all because of Kurt’s recommendations and foresight, we have. I am going to miss him. He will be very difficult to replace.”
After paying off some major debts – most notably debt on the sewer system and at the township-owned Makefield Highlands Golf Club – and other obligations with proceeds from the $53 million sale of its sewer system to Aqua Pennsylvania, Lower Makefield has almost $21 million left from the sale to spend or invest as the supervisors see fit.
The supervisors were able to pass a 2022 budget with a half-mill property tax decrease while still approving a road repaving program for this year of more than $3 million and creating four new full-time positions Ferguson has said will make several township operations more efficient.
“Because it is an ongoing personnel matter, I cannot comment at this time,” Lewis wrote in an email about Ferguson’s resignation.
McCartney said the board will begin the process of replacing Ferguson in the coming months.
“My understanding is that Kurt was recruited by another municipality for their township manager vacancy,” McCartney wrote in an email. “After careful consideration and discussion with his family, he decided to take the position.
“Kurt has been instrumental in the process of getting Lower Makefield Township back on track financially. Our recently paid off golf debt will create an income-producing asset for the township and his numerous other recommendations have positioned us to a path of financial stability for the future.”

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