The township board of commissioners held their usual meeting on October 27th. The video is available online and the agenda is on the township website.

Opening

Rep. Krueger was present to recognize two Eagle scouts for their work in the township. She was also on hand to present a check from the state for trail work in Houston Park.

The board voted to appoint Dana Pickup as an alternate to the Zoning Hearing Board.

Representatives of the South Media Fire Company were on hand to make their budget presentation to the board. The fire company has 4 new adult and 5 new junior members and now has 28 active members. They have not requested a budget increase for 2023. This year they have replaced the roof and generator and maintenance costs have declined. They noted future work may be needed on the concrete between the bays and the street and will soon need to replace a 22 year old fire truck. The fire company celebrated its 100th anniversary this year.

It was noted that PennDOT will complete their work on Waterville/Chestnut next week at night.

Government

PECO has postponed its planned work in Nether Providence until next year (except the Pine Ridge project, which is the least controversial). There will be a meeting with the township and elected officials in mid-November. It was noted that PECO’s projects in Swarthmore are moving forward after a lengthy delay.

Addy Bailey was appointed to the comprehensive planning interview committee.

There was discussion of Judge Elizabeth Gallard’s District Court. Currently Judge Gallard’s staff is located at her office in Media, but she is sharing a courtroom up in Upper Providence outside the district. The commissioners discussed the problems with this arrangement as well as the poor condition of the court building in Media. They will contact the court administrator about their concerns.

Open Space

Township staff have completed installation of the Gouley Park playground.

The township has consulted with NPAA and is planning to use the remaining Hepford Park grant money to regrade a field and add a batting cage. NPAA has further improvements to the baseball and softball fields planned.

Public Safety

The Media Fire Company (Media, not South Media I think), has been hit by an ask from Riddle Hospital for an additional 190k/year to fund the advanced life support (ALS) paramedic stationed in Media. Up until now Media borough has paid 40k/year for this service (Nether and other municipalities served do not contribute), so this represents an enormous increase. The municipalities are discussing how to handle this. Nether Providence is in a particularly awkward position as it is served by multiple ALS providers. The Board of Commissioners said several times they were concerned about this request due to Riddle Hospital’s owner, Main Line Health, being for profit. But at least according to Wikipedia and their own website, Main Line Health is a not for profit organization so they may need to revisit that discussion.

Finance and Administration

The 2023 budget continues moving forward, at the Nov. 3rd budget meeting the Garden City Fire Company will present their request.

The board approved applying the DVT rate stabilization fund returns to next year’s insurance premiums. DVT is a non-profit trust, so any profits are refunded to ratepayers like the township. This was approximately $70k this year.

The township is tweaking its fees to bring them in line with expenses. Should be minor adjustments this year, but it wasn’t entirely clear what was changing.

Community, Health and Environment

The waste committee is still lacking appointments from wards 1, 3 and 6.

The board thanked the sponsors of Family Fun Day, which was again successful.

The board briefly discussed the plastic bag ban, but again took no action. It was noted that Media’s ban starts in January.

The board passed a resolution to apply for a DEP 902 grant for a leaf truck and recycling containers at a cost of $300k with a 10% match.

Infrastructure

The solicitor is still working on the public right of way access for utilities ordinance, no updated.

Building and Zoning

Garden City Fire Company has asked for a waiver for application fees for a new structure. The board approved it, in line with usual practice for funded agencies.

The board delayed approving the 20th Media Walk escrow release because it didn’t seem ready yet.

The Zoning hearing board agenda was not available yet.

Manager Report

The LIHWAP program has closed.

The Halloween contest has ended, and the judges are still reviewing the best entries.

The township’s shredding and electronics recycling event is being held Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm at Gouley Park.

Furness Library is seeking board members.

There is a subdivision request coming for 14 New Jersey Ave. This is the empty land near the old Comcast building that the township received a grant to buy but was ultimately turned down by the owner. Instead the owners are planning to build 11 new townhomes on the property.