The board of commissioners held a joint legislative and budget meeting this week. There’s no meeting next week due to Thanksgiving. The meeting video is available on Youtube.

There were no public comments, solicitor or engineer report and the board passed the minutes as usual. There are positions available on the planning, EAC, shade tree and history commissions and three alternate spots on the zoning hearing board. Appointments usually happen at the turn of the year, I posted more about these earlier today.

Public Safety

The board passed the ordinance decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana in the township. The lengthy ordinance makes such possession a summary non-traffic citation.

Parks and Open Space

The board passed a motion approving expenditures at Gouley Park as the matching expense of the RACP grant funding work there.

The board approved payment of an invoice for the demolition of the house at 1012 Glenn Rd. This was funded by the PEMA grant that helped purchase the property.

Building and Zoning

The marijuana sales zoning location ordinance was sent to the planning commission for review by a vote of 4-1.

Finance and Administration

The board approved a 2 year extension of the agreement with DIVET, the township’s insurer.

The board approved advertising the 2022 budget, which could be passed at the Dec. 9th meeting, but more likely the Dec. 16th meeting. The expected tax increase will be just under 3%. The commissioners spoke about possibly taking a more detailed look at the budget at the Dec. 2nd meeting.

The board approved the usual bills list. The port-a-potties have left the township parks for the winter and will return in the spring. There was mention of a new laptop for the police department for social media posts, and that family fun day resulted in a surplus that will be rolled into next year’s event. Commissioners noted the leaf truck program is expensive. Although the gaps between leaf truck visits are long this year, the township’s been able to keep to the schedule better than in years past.

Community Enhancement

The board will have a hearing at the Dec. 9th board meeting (it was implied that was the time and location) to hear ideas for the CBDG grant program for improvements to the Garden City Manor area, the only part of the township eligible. The grant application is due by early January. The commissioners discussed ways to reach out to the Garden City Manor community.

Public Works

The township is gathering information on yard waste collection programs, notably Swarthmore’s.

Infrastructure

As stated previously, the township is not applying for the green light go program because Turner and Baltimore Pike is not eligible. They are instead waiting for the Automated Red Light Enforcement grant program in the summer for that intersection.

The state house is working on a transportation capital budget project itemization bill which will collect project suggestions across the state. While the list gives no funding for projects, it may make projects eligible for future grant opportunities. This is primarily focused on expensive (>$300k) bridge projects, so commissioners suggested the bridge over the SEPTA line at Providence Rd., the Plush Mills bridge, and a bridge by Houston Park. Commissioner Molloy also suggested the bridge in Chester Park that is barely intact, but that is entirely contained in Chester City.

Manager Report

Information on Covid vaccines are available at the county website as before. There is also a flu clinic in Chester City tomorrow (Friday).

As previously mentioned, the township is hosting a blood drive on Dec. 29th. Signups are available at the Red Cross’s website.

There is a tree planting on Saturday at 10 am that anyone can participate in.

The township is running a successful holiday food drive.

The EAC is holding a longer meeting on Dec. 15th at 6 pm to plan for the year ahead.