At a special meeting of the board, two reelected Newtown Township supervisors were sworn in while the board at large reorganized its leadership ranks. Dennis Fisher will stay on as chairman for 2024 via a unanimous vote by the board.
Newly reelected supervisor Elen Snyder, who previously served as assistant secretary/assistant treasurer, was elected vice chair of the board. Former vice chair John Mack was elected assistant secretary/assistant treasurer.
Phil Calabro, who was also reelected in November, returns as a board member as does Kyle Davis, the board’s lone Republican. Also sworn in Tuesday by District Judge Mick Petrucci was township auditor George Pollitt.
Snyder and Calabro expressed gratitude to the residents of Newtown Township and to their colleagues on the board for their successful reelection campaigns and each supervisor reflected on last year’s accomplishments.
“In 2023, we hired and promoted key public service police and fire department staff,” Fisher said. “We received a SAFER Grant award from the federal government for fire services, we purchased critical capital equipment for public works, police, and emergency services.”
“The Lower Dolington Trail was finally completed and the plastics ordinance was presented, reviewed and adopted. We reached a settlement agreement with Wawa that includes solar panels. In November, we had a clean audit presented by our auditor and in December, the 2024 budget was passed.”
Mack added, “I would like to congratulate Ms. Snyder for her nomination to the vice chair, I know she worked very hard for that. I also wanted to announce that on December 19, I entered Ms. Snyder’s name for the City and State of Pennsylvania Above and Beyond Women Nominations.”
“I mentioned your leading role in the passage of a woman’s reproductive rights resolution passed by the Newtown supervisors, also for your work in getting the single-use plastics ban. I urge all my colleagues to also nominate Ms. Snyder for this award.”
Supervisor Davis also congratulated his colleagues, “I want to say congratulations to everyone who got elected this past November and also to the three of you who were elected to leadership positions on this board. I look forward to doing the business of Newtown Township with you guys this year.”
Snyder thanked Mack for the nomination and expressed gratitude to the board.
“That humbles me,” she said. “I hope I make a difference, I try to make a difference for Newtown Township to take the lead on environmental and other concerns.”
Calabro also thanked his fellow board members and the community.
“I’m humbled to have the honor to serve the people of Newtown again,” he said. “I’d like to thank all the voters who came out on Election Day, those who voted for us and even those who voted against us because that’s what democracy is all about.”
“I’d also like to thank our opponents who held our feet to the fire and made us better campaigners. I look forward to the many things that will be happening for Newtown in the coming years. We are all in this together and with everyone’s help, we will keep Newtown a continued gem in Bucks County.”
The board also appointed and reappointed community members to township volunteer committees, including the planning commission, parks and recreation committee and environmental advisory council.
The township veterans and public relations committees have yet to reach the needed capacity for a quorum so the board is still accepting letters of interest for these committees.
The board reappointed several township officials to their posts for 2024.
This includes Micah Lewis as township manager, Jerry Schenkman and Kilkenny Law as township solicitors and Glenn Forsyth as fire code official. Remington and Vernick Engineers will return as the township’s traffic engineers.
The meeting concluded with supervisor Snyder praising chairman Fisher on a job well done, calling him an “excellent chair” and “a great role model to follow.”
The board will resume its regular meeting schedule during the second week of January.
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