My Supervisor Activities for October 2018

As I reported in September, Newtown Supervisors prepare for and attend a lot of meetings (read “A Month in the Life of a Newtown Supervisor: Meetings, Meetings, and More Meetings!”). Some of us also spend time doing other things as well, such as having full-time jobs, being parents, and volunteering for other community services.

Admittedly, I have a lot of free time to devote to my Supervisor duties – perhaps more than other Supervisors. I am a retired businessman whose children are adults and sad to say, I do not have any grandchildren to keep me busy, yet! And I am not a golfer! So, for me, I have the “luxury” of devoting as much time to being a Supervisor as I wish. This month, for example, I spent a total of 57.5 hours on official Supervisor-related activities. The following report provides details of how these hours were spent. 

I decided to keep track of my activities as a Supervisor on a monthly basis partly because I want to be accountable to residents, but also to make sure I am making the best use of my time.

My log keeps track of the time spent on the following:

• Attending “Required” Meetings
• Preparation for BOS Meetings
• Attending Optional Meetings/Activities
• Interaction with Residents
• Travel To & From Meetings

Meetings

In the month of October 2018, I estimate that I spent about 17 hours attending meetings, which was significantly less than the 34 hours I spent attending meetings last month. BOS meetings are “required” in the sense that I am expected to attend them in order to satisfy my duties as a Supervisor. These include regular bi-weekly public meetings, non-public Executive Sessions Definition, public Work Sessions Definition, and special meetings (see the list below).

“Other Meetings” I attended were optional. For October, 2018, these included:

1. Planning Commission meetings: October 2 and 16, 2018
2. Zoning Hearing Board meeting: October 4, 2018
3. Finance Committee meeting: October 9, 2018
4. Joint Historic Commission meeting: October 22, 2018

I spent 8.8 hours attending these optional meetings. In total, I spent nearly 33.7 hours in October, 2018, attending all the above meetings, preparing for these meetings, and traveling to and from these meetings. The following chart shows the breakdown of all my Supervisor-related activities for October, 2018:

Interaction with Residents

In my opinion, personal interaction with residents regarding their concerns is an important part of my responsibilities as Supervisor. I want to be sure that I spend enough time reaching out to and responding to residents via personal contact, official email via my johnm@newtownpa.gov account and via my personal john@johnmacknewtown.info account, and via phone and/or Facebook. For October, 2018, I spent approximately 9 hours (16% of my total logged hours) interacting with residents.

What did I discuss with residents? Here’s a partial list (some items are not included for confidentiality reasons):

• Noise issues related to Sit-Stay (for background, read, “Board of Supervisors Decimate Noise Ordinance”)
• Review of newsletter article prior to publication with Finance Committee members (read “The Newtown Township Finance Committee Warns of Approaching Precipice”)
• Text Amendment of CO Zoning Ordinance (for more on that, read “The Newtown Township Planning Commission Stymies Path Forward for Wawa - For Now”)
• Traffic Impact Fee Advisory Committee (for background, read “$1.6 Million Available for Traffic Improvements BUT It Can't Be Spent!”)

I spent some time nearly every day of the month in October working for you as Supervisor (see chart below). Not that I’m complaining! It's really an honor to serve the community! I learn something new every day and have met many fine people and volunteers who also put in a lot of time without any compensation at all. Thanks to everyone who help keep Newtown in business and safe.

Posted on 01 Nov 2018, 01:41 - Category: Open Records/Transparency