Neighbors for Open Government Survey

Neighbors for Open Government (NOG) in Newtown Township – a nonpartisan citizen advocacy group – seeks your input to a survey regarding transparency, accessibility, and accountability within the local government.

Founded by a balanced coalition of two Democrats, two Republicans, and two Independents, NOG aims to put aside partisan politics to focus strictly on the future of Newtown Township and the actions of its elected officials.

The group's founding members include former Newtown Board of Supervisors member John Mack, and township residents Charles Feuer, Todd McGonagal, Eric Pomerance, Al Dufault, and Donna Serdula.

“NOG is simply a way of keeping a finger on the pulse of what our elected officials are doing,” explained founding member Charles Feuer. “It's up to each individual resident to keep up with what they're doing. But how can we keep up with how they're doing the job we elected them for if we don't have transparency?”

The survey asks your opinion of several practical, immediate improvements, including:

Accessible Documents: Adding direct links to bills lists, contracts, and other relevant documents within the BOS meeting agendas so residents can review what is being voted on prior to meetings.
Interactive Public Meetings: Changing the current BOS policy of not engaging in conversation during public comment, and instead moving toward a more conversational and responsive model used by neighboring municipalities such as Middletown.
Financial Responsibility: For its first major initiative, NOG is raising the alarm on the township's lack of financial transparency. The group has discovered that Newtown has not posted a financial report to the township website since June 2025. Furthermore, NOG is highlighting a conflict of interest in the local government's structure, noting that the current township manager is also acting as the Financial Director, meaning the same individual is responsible for both setting and analyzing the budget.
Website Improvements: Overhauling the township's website to fix broken links, remove outdated personnel information, and ensure residents can easily find the data they need.

“I see our role as being the people promoting transparency, but we also have to be the whistleblowers because residents need to pay attention to the decisions affecting their lives,” said founding member Donna Serdula. “They just trust that the right decisions are being made and they don't know that sometimes they aren't”.

NOG hopes to serve as a conduit of information for the public, encouraging more residents to attend BOS meetings, ask questions, and take an active role in shaping Newtown's future. Let us know what you think by taking the survey now. You will also have the option to sign up to keep informed about future NOG activities: