How I Spent My Time as Newtown Supervisor in 2021

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

Hours Per Month

In 2021, I spent a total of 481 hours (an average of 40 hours per month) engaged in official Supervisor activities that included preparing for and attending meetings and interacting with residents. This compares to 548 hours (an average of 46 hours per month) on such activities in 2021. The following chart shows the hours per month I spent on these activities.

Breakdown by Type of Activity

I keep track of the time spent on the following activities:

• Attending “Required” Meetings (BOS regular & special meetings and Executive Sessions; Supervisors are not required to attend Work Sessions)
• Preparation for BOS Meetings
• Attending Optional Meetings/Activities
• Interaction with Residents
• Travel To & From Meetings

The following chart shows the percentage of time I spent on all these activities in 2021:

Interacting With Residents

Interestingly, I spent only 12% of my time attending required Board of Supervisors (BOS) meetings. However, 40% of my time is spent preparing for these and other official - but not required - meetings.

In my opinion, personal interaction with residents regarding their concerns is an important part of my responsibilities as Supervisor - as important as attending required meetings. 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.

Probably the biggest change in how I interact with residents is via my Meet Mack Monday meetings. Thanks to COVID-19, I began hosting these meetings remotely using Zoom - usually every month before the first BOS meeting. More residents are able to join in these remote discussion discussions - usually between 7 and 15 people attend each meeting. 

My Compensation

Every Supervisor is provided a yearly stipend of $4,125 per year. This has not changed in many years. Thus, I earned about $8.60 per hour in 2021 as a Supervisor. That's more than the $7.25 per hour PA minimum wage (a disgrace!). So, I can't complain.

But it's possible to make a higher hourly wage as a Supervisor. That's because Supervisors only need to attend "required" meetings as noted above. If I only attended required meetings, my hourly wage would be about $71. Not bad at all! If I also include hours spent preparing for these meetings, then my hourly wage drops to about $18. Still decent.

The Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS) - of which I am a member - has been lobbying the State Legislature for an increase in the Supervisor stipend for years without success. No wonder! Even a Supervisor like myself who spends a lot of time on official business and not just attending required meetings makes more than a minimum wage earner in PA!

Of course, I'm not in it for the money. And I'm sure my fellow Supervisors feel the same.

My Voting Record for 2021

I've been keeping track of how Newtown Township supervisors voted on motions before the Board. The following is the supervisor voting record for 2021, based on the approved minutes of meetings.

NOTE: This is NOT an official record of votes. Some very minor motions, such as to approve minutes, bills lists, etc., are not included. Please refer to the BOS meeting minutes for the official voting record of each meeting.

Download a PDF version here.

Posted on 01 Jan 2022, 01:30 - Category: Open Records/Transparency