Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to the May meeting meeting of the board of supervisors. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Gallardo, will you please call the role? Absolutely. Uh, Miss Hannah here. Mr. Leighton here. Miss Kane here. Mr. Kisak here.

Uh, also in attendance is the interim township manager, Miss Kohl's. Uh, township solicitor, Mr. Espazito, and township engineer, Mr. Kler. Bless you.

Thank you. Um, upcoming meetings and events. Our next board of supervisor meeting will be Monday, June 8th at 7 p.m. Uh next board of supervisors meeting, Monday, June 8th, uh 2026 at 7 p.m. Police Memorial Day um in Bucks County will be held on Monday, May 18th. A ceremony honoring Detective Chris Jones will be held at 12 noon here at the Municipal Center. Um, Bucks County Police Memorial Day will be Monday, May 18th, 2026. Middletown Township Memorial Ceremony honoring Detective Christopher Jones at the M Middletown, I'm so sorry, municipal center starting at 12:00 p.m. Special items and announcements. Um, we have the swearing in of Officer James Moratti. I'd like to invite Chief Barillo to come forward to introduce our new officer, James Morate. Thank you. Good evening, Miss Hannah. Fellow board members. So, we're here tonight to do the ceremonial swearing in for uh Officer James Moratti uh before have him go up onto the stage for the swearing in. I will read a brief biography on Officer Moratt. Officer James Moratti was born and raised in Bucks County where he still resides with his wife and son. A graduate of Conwell Egan Catholic High School. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Holy Family University. Officer Moratti is a graduate of the Philadelphia Police Academy and brings eight years of experience as a police officer in Bucks County to our department. During his career, he has earned numerous certifications, most notably as

an accident reconstructionist and a commercial motor vehicle inspector. Having always aspired to a career in law enforcement, Officer Moratti looks forward to serving our great community with the Middletown Township Police Department. I just want to note that Jim also uh followed in the footsteps of his father who is a retired officer from Falls Township. And I know Jim's dad is here with us tonight for the swearing in. So, welcome. And a lot of Jim's family is here as well. So, I'm going to have Officer Moratti go up on the stage. And if you want to bring a family member up to hold the Bible, you're welcome to.

Yeah. the Bible. Bible.

Yeah. Do you have one? Nice to meet you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Come right up front. Do you have any other family that you'd like to come up with? Okay. We're just waiting for a Bible. Did you bring one or

I did not. No. Okay. It's okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Place your right hand on the Bible. Could you repeat after me? I state your name. I, James Moretti, solemnly swear to support solemnly swear to support obey and defend the Constitution of the United States obey and defend the Constitution of the United States the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the ordinances of Middletown Township with duty and the ordinances of Middletown Township with duty, honor, and fidelity.

Honor and fidelity. as a Middletown Township Police Officer. as a Middletown Township Police Officer. Congratulations.

Thank you. Again, thank you so much. Let me take her pictures. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Give that to you and we're going to do some pictures. I'm going to put the Bible on the side here. Thank you. Uh we'll just take a two or three minute break. If you were here to um celebrate the signing in of Officer Moratti, um you know, you may leave at this time if you'd like. Time to go outside.

until we finish with the commenation presentation which is a few more items away. Okay. Absolutely. Thank you. Next on our agenda, we have a Falls Township plaque presentation. Could you come to the Thank you. Uh, a representative of Falls Township has asked to make a presentation to the board of supervisors. Um, I'd like to invite all of them to come to the podium.

Hi there. Good evening. My name is Aaron Mullen. I'm the vice chair of the Falls Township Board of Supervisor. I'm here tonight with our manager, John Shepard. And we are here tonight on behalf of the board of supervisors, our staff, our residents to sincerely thank you for your generosity and partnership over the past two and a half years. While our municipal building was being renovated, you welcomed us without hesitation and it allowed us to serve our residents uninterrupted. And that was after delay after delay after delay. And uh I'm sure that wasn't always the most convenient thing for you, your staff or your residents. Um this plaque is a small token of our appreciation for an incredible kindness that really meant a lot to our township. So we just wanted to say thank you for being wonderful partners and neighbors and supporting a fellow local government. Thank you so much.

Thank everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry. Okay. Uh next up we have Supervisor Gardo uh reading the National Public Works Week Proclamation.

Thank you. Uh this is a proclamation recognizing the Department of Public Works Week in Middletown Township. Whereas public works infrastructure is above, below, and all around us. We're able to have clean water, safe streets, efficient traffic, and livable communities because of public works. And whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, and services that are vital importance to our sustainable and resilient communities, and to the public health, high quality of life, and well-being of the people of Middletown Township. And whereas these infrastructure, facilities, and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals who are responsible for rebuilding, improving, and protecting our roads, public buildings, and other structures and facilities essential for our citizens. And whereas it is in the public interest for the residents of Middletown Township to gain knowledge of and maintain an ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs. And now therefore, do we, the Middletown Township Board of Supervisors, hereby proclaim the week, this week of May 17th through May 23rd, 2026 as National Public Works Week as designated by the American Public Works Association.

Thank you. At this time, um, we have police departmentations. Chief Barillo, will you please come back to make your presentation?

Sure will. Good evening once again and we are going to do some commendations tonight. So, first I'm going to call up uh Officer Larry Hardy and K9 Blue, Officer Kevin Echimro and K9 Jax. I know you got to keep your distance, guys. So, So tonight, I want to recognize two of our officers and their K9 partners for their outstanding work during a recent multi-day federal law enforcement operation conducted here in Middletown Township and in New Town Township uh two months ago. On March 8th through March 10th, members of our department assisted the FBI in the execution of multiple court authorized search warrants as part of a highly coordinated and sensitive investigation. Officer Kevin Echenrode and K9 Jax along with Officer Larry Hardy and K9 Blue were deployed in specialized support roles during these operations. Their responsibilities required a high level of professionalism, precision, and discipline. They performed exceptionally under those conditions. Their efforts contributed directly to the safe and efficient completion of these operations while helping to ensure there was minimal disruption to our community. This type of work often happens behind the scenes, but it is critical to the success of complex investigations and to maintaining public safety. Their actions reflect great credit upon themselves, their K9 partners, and the entire Middletown Township Police Department. And I will say whenever the FBI asked either of uh these officers and their K9 partners for assistance, they didn't hesitate and uh it was amazing to see the the collaboration and partnership. They did an outstanding job. So I'm

going to read each of their commendations. Starting first with Officer Larry Hardy and K9 Blue. In recognition of your outstanding law enforcement service, you are hereby commended for the following actions. On March 8th, 9th, and 10th, 2026, she responded and provided critical assistance during a multi-day law enforcement operation conducted in Middletown Township in New Town Township in support of the FBI. During this operation, you and your K9 partner were deployed in a specialized capacity to assist federal authorities in the execution of court authorized search warrants at multiple locations. Your professionalism, preparedness, and operational effectiveness contributed to the safe and successful completion of these coordinated efforts. Throughout the operation, you performed your duties under demanding and highly sensitive conditions, demonstrating sound judgment, discipline, and a commitment to public safety. Your actions help ensure the operation was conducted safely and efficiently while maintaining the highest standards of law enforcement. So your performance reflects great credit upon yourself, your K9 partner, the entire Middletown Township Police Department. Notation of this commendation will be placed your personnel file will become part of your permanent record. Congratulations, Officer Hardy and K9 Blue. All right. Next is uh Officer Kevin Echenrode and K9 Jax. In recognition of your outstanding law enforcement service, you are hereby commended for the following actions. On March 8th and 9th, 2026, you responded and provided valuable assistance during a coordinated law enforcement operation conducted in Middletown Township and New Town Township in support of the FBI. During

this operation, you and your canine partner were deployed in a specialized capacity to assist federal authorities with the execution of court authorized search warrants. Your attentiveness, professionalism, and effective use of your canine partner contributed to the safe and orderly completion of these operations. You carried out your responsibilities under demanding and sensitive conditions with discipline and sound judgment. Your efforts helped ensure that the operation was conducted safely, efficiently, and with minimal disruption to the community. Your actions reflect great credit upon yourself, your K9 partner, and the entire Middletown Township Police Department, and are in keeping with the highest standards of law enforcement. Notation of this commendation. Officer Echenro will be placed in your personnel file, will become part of your permanent record. Outstanding work. Congratulations. So, do you know what? We'll wait. We'll do the final commendation then then we can do the the pictures. Is that okay? All right. All right. And finally, this is going to be a unit citation for our police department as part of a regional SWAT response. So, if I can have uh Lieutenant Zack Brochist, detectives John Beck and Ryan Morrison, and officers Josh Andrews, Adam Bailey, Joe Heler, and Melissa Robinson come forward. So, this uh unit citation is recognizing members of the Middletown Township Police Department who serve on the South Central Emergency Response Team and responded to assist Northampton Township during a critical incident on January 26th, 2026. What began as a well-being check quickly

escalated into a dangerous and prolonged barricaded subject situation involving an armed individual. Our officers responded as part of CERT to support that operation alongside our regional partners from several neighboring police departments. Over the course of several hours under extremely cold conditions, our personnel, including tactical operators, a crisis negotiator, and a UAS operator, played a key role in containing the situation, gathering intelligence, and supporting a coordinated resolution. Despite the seriousness of the incident, the tragic circumstances that were later discovered, our officers demonstrated exceptional professionalism, discipline, and restraint throughout. Their actions helped ensure that the subject was taken into custody safely without further harm to law enforcement or the community. Just as importantly, they represented the Middletown Township Police Department with the highest standards of conduct while operating in another jurisdiction as part of a unified regional team. It is for these reasons I want to formally recognize our personnel assigned to the South Central Emergency Response Team with this unit citation. They also each have individual certificates as well for their professionalism and restraint and commitment to public safety. So Zach, since you're the highest ranking officer here, I'm going to present this to you. This says presented to Lieutenant Zachary Brochious, Detective John Beck, Detective Ryan Marson, Officer Joshua Andrews, Officer Adam Bailey, Officer Joseph Heler, Officer Melissa Robinson for your exceptional professionalism, courage, and dedication in responding to the homicide barricaded subject incident in Northampton Township on January 26, 2026 as part of the Bucks County South Central Emergency Response Team. Outstanding work by all of you. So, Zack, here you go. All

right. And I I did forget Kevin and Larry. I I also have plaques for you guys, so I'll get them to you. Actually, let me give them to you now so you can take your photos. That's all I have, Miss Hannah. If uh I know the officers want to get photos with the board if that's possible, come on up. Sure. I think the canines are going to go one at a time first, right? Okay.

Thank you. Great. Thank you.

Got it. Yep. Good. Good. Josh,

thank you, Miss Hannah. Thank you. Just take a minute for people to rearrange themselves. Okay. Uh, next up on the agenda, we have uh public agenda items or public comment. I'm so sorry. Public comment, not agenda items.

I probably threw you off by standing here right now. Um, I just want to take some time to speak on the behalf of many that work on the for the township. Um, from what I can tell and hearing, there's frustration amongst some in the community when it comes to the lack of details on how the previous manager was terminated from the position. I can understand that frustration because it may have appeared from left field from those outside of these walls and out there in the community. I am not going to get into details because there are people, a significant number that were very, very negatively affected during the brief time the previous manager held the position. I am not going to have anyone relive those experiences. I can tell you that what has always been for me an amazing work culture filled with many dedicated people that take great pride in their role in this administration, many of which are actual residents of this township was completely ruined. I really did think there was a point of no return and there were people targeted, unfairly treated and downright harassed for, from my eyes absolutely no justifi just justifiable reason. It affected morale to an abysmal point. There are people that were highly respected and excellent representatives to the community that were part of the workforce that are no longer working for Middletown. I never seen anything like it anywhere else I worked in such a short span of time. I think that if anyone really wants to understand as much as possible what some of the issues may have been, then look at the job announcement for trying to recruit a new manager, especially the words in bold print. They speak volumes. All I can tell anyone in the community is that it may have only been in these walls at the time the manager was let go, but it would have eventually gone beyond these walls into community if it continued. The issues would have absolutely had negative effects to the community as a whole. Things would have gotten worse and you the board stepped in at the right time and did the right thing. I am speaking for many of the staff that the high morale is back. People feel like

they are again working in a very stable environment. The great work culture is restored and we are very appreciative for you having the township staff township staffs back and making a very tough decision that has resulted in having negative crit criticisms. Thank you very much and we are very confident we will thrive under the new manager and their leadership. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for that. Um, uh, any other public comment non-aggenda items at this time? Please come on up.

Good evening, Sheldon Post, Red Rose Gate. Um, actually just took away half my thunder. I think I had two things I wanted to comment on tonight, both pertaining to last month's meeting. And uh one of them was just that um I know that you have a you know a policy to not speak on personnel matters but um you know our only alternative then is to listen to what we hear around the community read on Facebook which is never very reliable uh hear from other township employees and things like that people that we know. And it's unfortunate that we have to kind of formulate our own ideas then as to what did or did not take place and so on and so forth. Um much of what I was going to say I think was just pretty much spoken. So I won't reiterate and go back through with all that again. Uh but I do think that since you know the residents elect supervisors to represent us to make decisions for us to spend our money I think in a case like this we have a kind of a right to know situation what happened uh we have a right to know how much money is going to be expended um in settlements or whatever you might want to call them. Um, I don't know if you can or will ever will or whatever, but uh I just think that there's quite a big faction of people who would like to know something official as opposed to just what we hear on the street. Um, that said, the other thing I wanted to deal with was something that is related to something I've brought up a number of times at this microphone, and it involves agendas. Um there were two things on last month's agenda that there were comments made by the speakers

up here uh in representing those two things. One was Aqua and one was Corman. Um and they referred to the fact that both things had already re received approval at the March um planning commission meeting. To my knowledge, there never was a March planning commission meeting. I do check I look at our website every month to see when zoning and planning and and yours uh are gonna well I know when yours are going to happen. They coincide with mine all the time. Um but um you know the other two I check and I look and I have never seen anything actually for either one, zoning board or planning commission with March agendas. Yet, both of those items last month referred to the fact that they received approval at the March planning commission meeting. If there was a meeting, I'd like to know why it wasn't ever noted on the website as far as the agendas are concerned. And if there wasn't a meeting, I'd like to know why it was stated that it was approved at the meeting if there wasn't one. I at first I thought, well, maybe they meant February. So, I looked back to Februaries once again. One of the two items was probably on February's agenda because Corman was mentioned. Um, however, they're both uh in that and then last month's agenda for your meeting, they were worded a little differently, but I'm assuming they were the same thing. However, the other one, Aqua, wasn't mentioned in February either. So, I don't know. I just like to know, was there a March meeting? Wasn't there a March meeting? And if there was, why wasn't it noted? And if there wasn't, why is it used as saying that those two things received approval in that meeting? I don't know if you can answer that on the spot or not, but that's

I we will uh speak with Mr. Andis and we'll get we'll get you that information. We'll take a look at it. Okay. And I know as recently as of this morning, there there still doesn't show that there was any March meeting on the website. So, uh, if there was, I I don't know what happened. All right. Well, thank you very much for the opportunity to speak. I'm not actually going to bail out, but I have to go back upstairs for another meeting. So, thank you. Thank you for your comments.

Hi, Joe Fitch, 346 Wyoming Avenue. Couple things. Um, now that our sovereign citizen problem is resolved and the house is up for sale, do we have all of our leans and costs on the property to get reimbursed for what we've spent as a township?

The leans. Yeah, the uh foreclosing bank does have the leans that would be ahead of uh them such as the the cost to knock down the building and take out the driveway uh and for all the costs that were related to the uh mowing the lawn and those those such things. There are other judgments that were DJ court judgments that actually are behind the bank, but those are just from courts from violations, not any money that was actually expended by the township. Gotcha. might not get paid off, but the leans of money that expended by the township will be ahead of the bank and will likely get paid off if if it sells at share sale or if it gets sold to a third party after sher sale.

Okay. Uh I wasn't really going to say anything about this, but since the other gentleman brought it up, um the Corman property that we're talking about, I I wish you guys would take a look at at some other options for them to do something with that property. There's so many different things that can be done besides some type of light industrial, you know. Um, put a campground in there. I mean, I'm sure that would do good. You got Sesame Place up here. People would come in camping for that. You got Philadelphia. They would come in, they could camp, go down to there. Um, a water park, another summer camp for for kids. um put a big industrial building up for area schools so they can have indoor football, soccer, baseball, tennis, you know, all kinds of different practices like that. We don't need another eyesore like these storage buildings up here or whatever the logistic buildings that are just sitting empty. Do something for the for the township. Make it worthwhile. Something for the people. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Any other public non-aggenda items for comment?

Good evening board. Uh Lance Seers, Quincy Hollow. Um I did want to make some comments in regards to um the staff coming up here and and speaking on their behalf. Um, I do think the township has already um felt the losses. I think I've come up here and spoke about Mr. Graham and some of the other uh staff that we've lost. Um, I think I've already personally have felt affected by that because some of the recreation programs that are no longer happening. um which you know is not just about citizens being involved in those recreational programs but um that is actually where I got to meet a lot of the great Middletown staff that we have at some of these things like kickball on Friday night or you know food truck festivals or different things like that. Um and most of your staff have um presented themselves uh in a way that Middletown should be proud about. Um, and some of that stuff is not happening because of that decision. Um, last month I asked, well, what's what's going to be the cost to Middletown residents, right? And I wasn't really given an answer. I did put a right to know request in, which after some back and forth, and I appreciate um Stephanie and and uh Mr. Espazito for getting back to me. um that cost in salary alone looks to be around $149 $150,000 without even getting into what the benefit cost of of paying out Eden for whatever months that we have him on the rolls. Um that's a a lot of money. That's a big financial mistake coming on the back of um raising taxes like we did. Um, so I, you know, I think there's a bunch of people that have talked about getting it right this time. I know Mr. Bruno wanted um a timetable on what we do and and for me, I I agree. I think we need a

township manager. I I appreciate Stephanie stepping in, but um we need to get it right. Um I think, you know, hindsight's whatever it is looking back and looking at all of the different townships that was were noted in Mr. for Ratliff's hiring. I think when I see people jumping from township to township and employment to employment, um that starts to begin a red flag for me right there. Um so I hope we get it right this time. Um I think the one thing I will discuss is um my experience with some right to know requests. Um and I don't know how we fix that process. Um I think I have maybe submitted about 10 of them. I don't like, you know, submitting them because I feel like they're a burden on the staff of Middletown Township. However, sometimes when I'm not feeling like I'm getting the answers I want, I submit those. Um, and I don't necessarily think I'm always getting the answer um that I should get when it comes to an open government or a government that wants to be open and wants to provide the information that people are are asking for. Um, one example is probably um asking what are we on the hook for? Um, the other example is and and I spoke about it in a previous meeting is when I asked about the auditing of our fire companies after we bailed out Pendell in that in that fire truck. Um, I put a right to no request in on audits. I was already aware theou said we should have an audit done of every fire company, the four fire companies once a year. So, I just asked for the dates, just the dates, not the audit. What dates were these fire companies audited? And my right to know request came back. That that record does not exist. As if an audit was never um it never happened. So, when I brought it up at a meeting, I remember Mr. Ratliff saying, "No, those audits happen. We allowed those independent fire companies to do an audit of their own stuff."

So then I go, "Well, did you lie to me on my right to know request or was the township so negligent in their duties that we didn't even get a copy of the audit so that you could respond to my right to know request?" And are we doing that on purpose? Are we layering our government in, you know, these layers to where, hey, you keep the audit so I don't have to respond to it for a right to know request? Then I have this layer of like, well that's William Penn fire company or that's Pendell Fire Company, right? Um I guess to me that's not a way to run open government. All right. And that's not a way to um approach interactions with citizens that are concerned about their community. Okay. If what you are doing is above board, then you shouldn't have an issue providing the information. Thank you very much board. Thank you. I appreciate your comments. Um, any other public nonaggenda comments? I just wanted to say, um, as a board, we obviously had concerns, um, and we terminated our township manager. Um, the board of supervisors is under legal guidance. Um, and we have decided to take this personnel action. I thank you for your feedback. Um, and I will continue to say that we do make decisions based on the best interest of this township. And if you have requests for right to know, I know that Mr. Espazito and our interim manager is diligently working to support that process. I also wanted to say um that we are currently interviewing uh potential township managers. We are already in that process and we are dedicated to

making sure that we find the right person, the right fit um and that we can uh continue to provide the services that we have done for this community and at no time has there been a lack of services. um we have you know maintained um the level and commitment because we have a very dedicated staff um and we value them and we have um excellent um department heads and we value them. So we are in that process um and we are being open with you um and sharing with you what we can and I thank you for your comments and your feedback. Next we have consent agenda items. Uh our first is consideration of authorization of payment of May 11th, 2026 bills list in the amount of $2,429,30.96. Next item is consideration of approving the April 13, 2026 minutes of the public meeting of the Middletown Township Board of Supervisors. Next agenda, non consent agenda item, consideration of approving a memorandum of understanding for the use of a facilities evacuation site for the Bucks IU 22 Samuel Ever School. Consent agenda item D, consideration of approving resolution number 26-15R, authorizing application to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Flood Mitigation Program. Agenda item E, consideration of approving resolution number 26-16R authorizing application to the PA DCEED watershed restoration and protection

program WRPP. Agenda item F, consideration of approving resolution number 26-17R, authorizing application to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, Greenways, Trails, and Recreation Program. And the final consent agenda item G, consideration of approving change order number one for the Maple Avenue pedestrian signal project in the amount of $25,318. Mr. Keeler, could you speak to that consent agenda item right there? The change order number one for Maple Avenue pedestrian signal project. I think uh absolutely.

Do you know that? Uh well, it is the project that's at the signal here on Maple Avenue. Uh the change order uh is additional fiber connections and uh work that was uh basically had to be done to complete the work to improve that signal at Maple and Flowersmo. Okay. Thank you. Or at 213, I'm sorry. All right. Um is there a motion to approve the consent agenda items as noted on the agenda? So moved. Is there a second? Are there any questions from the board? Are there any questions from the public?

I don't have a uh question. I just have a comment regarding item E which uh is with regard to resolution 2616R. Um I just want to note for the record that the EAC is requested that to the extent the grant is awarded that they be permitted to be involved in that process. Okay. Noted. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Um, all those in favor say I. I.

I. All those opposed Fi passes 5-0. Uh, next agenda item number seven, consideration of authorizing the execution of a contract with Boil Construction of the Center Valley, PA for design and construction management services for the Middletown Township Municipal Center roof repair project in the amount not to exceed $138,600. Eric Artmire, will you come forward for this item? Good evening board. Um so as you well aware um in the pa previous years um the roof here has leaked numerous times. We had it patched numerous times. um we finally have part partial grant for this project and it was in the 2026 budget to go ahead with the um construction of the of the roof. Um the roof has been since 2023 um we had the company Boil come out um they were the first ones to actually take a look at the roof. Um, Boil Construction is a very well-known construction um, company that administers any construction um, that's what their company does. So, with looking at the bids, we had three bids. Looking at the bids, um, we decided to go with Boil Construction for for the bid. I

have two questions. The first one is, is this for a full replacement or is just a repair? So, some of the roof is still good, some of the roof is not good. So, when they came out, they looked at everything. We looked at all the spots that were leaking and then we looked at, okay, what else needs to be replaced. So, with doing that, um, I would say a majority of the roof will be brand new and replaced. It's not completely though. Okay. And this is and what is the differential between what we had budgeted for it and what because we had 1.1 million budget it for this correct this is for the management.

This is for the management of it not the actual right roof replacement. This is for them to actually administer and be the overseer of the roof and everything to you know all the bits and pieces that have to go together. Okay. But we don't have a quote in for the actual roof yet. Correct. And does the grant that we received apply to the management or is that only for the replacement? I that's going to go toward the construction. Okay. And the grant is 566,000. Right.

And is it just because it's such a large project that we need management of it? In my opinion, yes. You you do need somebody else will be back right in the same position we are kind of it's a it's a $1.2 million project. Having a construction manager lead us through the process is going to assure us that we get it right from the bid package to overseeing the construction and finalizing project.

Thank you. Okay. Um, is there a motion to um approve the purchase? I move to uh award the construction management of the municipal municipal center roof replacement to Boil Construction, Inc. of Center Valley, Pennsylvania in an amount not to exceed $138,600. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Second. We have a motion and a second. Are there any questions from the board? Any questions from the public?

Um, Eric Bur 79 sweet um, just a couple quick questions I don't think I got answered. What guarantees does the 138,000 give us? Does it give us any sort of warranty or uh, with this that his work will be complete? Has he ever has he given any of that information over I mean 138,000 is a lot for project management? I get it. It's a $1.1 million roof, but like what like do we have any guarantees for for our money?

So, Boil Construction, that's what they do. Obviously, they're well-known well um company. Um having them as our go-to. If something should not be right, it falls back on them. Is that in the contract? Yes. Okay. All right. And how many bids did we get for the three bids? Yes.

I actually Hi. I actually had a question. What is the time frame turnaround for the roof? So it's 138,000. That's more than most people make in a year. So what is the time frame for this particular salary? Like how long will they be overseeing this project? I'm I'm not sure. Looks like

I'm just going to I'm just going to defer to the proposal that's in the packet for everyone. So, they're going to start from the preconstruction phase. Um, I'm going to say that preconstruction and then we have grant management. You have meetings to coordinate. There's cost estimating associated with it. Scheduling. Then there has to be the design, bidding, and procurement they're going to oversee. Then the board's going to award a project and there's going to be construction. During construction, they're going to be overseeing it, doing daily meetings, weekly meetings. They're going to do the inspections, you know, safety, quality control, all of those types of things. Um, and then, um, you know, all of the final submissions. And, you know, my experience working with a construction manager means you're going to minimize change orders because you're going to have an expert on site. I don't know the answer, but at least six months.

Six months. I mean, I don't know what the average cost for something like this is. You know, this is relatively new to me, you know, coming to the board meetings, but I just feel like that's kind of excessive for a six-month period. I understand that there's multitudes of different steps to be taken, but I just feel like it's a little excessive for a six-month project. It's typically based It's It's typically a percentage of the overall cost. So it's actually it's actually a very standard proposal based upon the cost. Okay. Was there other companies before that used to oversee this? And what did that encompass? Like why are we going to an outside company? Um whereas we maybe used different companies in the past.

Um this is the first time the roof is going to be addressed and the building has been was constructed 20ish 24 years ago. So it's not you know it's not been addressed. We don't have in-house staff that has this level of expertise to oversee this kind of project. In the long run, although it seems like a lot of money upfront, in the long run, it um typically will pay for itself in limiting change orders. Okay, perfect. Thank you. You're welcome.

Excuse me. I do have a question. Are any budget cost overruns going to be factored in? You're talking about a $1.2 million project. It's $138,000. It's going to someone to manage this project for six months. There's inevitably going to be cost overruns. You don't know once they start peeling back this roof whether any structural members need to be replaced. So, are you going to be able to factor that in as well?

Well, this firm did actually do a very detailed assessment of the roof. Um, and their fees are based upon what the board is going to award the fees. They're not going to increase the fees if it takes longer, if there is cost overruns. Um, but having a construction manager involved at the front end of a job like this really does actually help overall to keep it within budget.

I understand that point. I don't have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with are the inevitable cost overruns. And in any large project, governmental or otherwise, or even local, you're going to have cost overruns. And you have to factor that in either 10% 15% to your overall budget to be on the safe side. Well, and I think that will happen after it's designed and the bid documents are ready before the board is authorizing a construction manager to lead us through this project. They will have the opportunity to award the actual contract to someone. At that point, we're going to have fresh estimates um based upon the current environment rather than maybe two years ago um you know when we applied for the grant that we received the funding for. So the board will have that opportunity and there typically are contingencies built into the budget at that point.

All right. And Miss Tely Cools, if um a resident is interested in that process and when that comes up for bidding, where would they find that information? I would just tell them to keep an eye on the agendas for when this comes back to the board of supervisors. And that way you know when it comes up and you can be a part of that conversation. Thank you. Okay. Any other public comment? Thank you. Is this the only project getting done in Bucks County this year or there several? What type of project? Wouldn't it be more costefficient to get a project manager on board, not board, but in house?

Um, it's a highly I'm in construction and I find for a six-month project that's a high cost. Boil is a very good construction company. tearing off a roof? Is it security? Is there's so many different things, but there's other projects going on. So, it'sund and something here, it's 10 and something there. Are we getting project managers for every construction? No, we never use construction managers. This is the first time in 15 years at least. And what's the building that's getting the roof down? This.

This building. This building. I mean, you use a construction manager when you get to this size of a project. If we were going to do a new municipal building or there is a p, you know, we received from funding for public works building. You know, I'm not going to be here, but I would certainly recommend that you consider a construction manager. I've done municipal building projects in my career. It's day and night different when you have a construction the roofing company from tear off to put on. Correct. before, during, after and that security of all their materials, everything from soup to nuts. Okay.

Thank you. I I think it's different because we don't have people who can do roofing in house. I know it's an enormous enormous project. This roof is unlike, you know, in the 13 years that I was the manager, there were probably five different roofers climbing all over that roof, patching it up here and there. This is the first time it's going to be addressed completely, and it will last, you know, pretty much indefinitely. Thank you. Okay. Um, with that, uh, we have a motion, uh, and a second. Are there any, um, questions from the board? Okay. All those in favor, please say I. I. I.

I.

Uh. All those who oppose say nay. Motion passes. 5-0. All right. Next, we have consideration of authorizing the purchase of a 2026 F600. Uh oh, sorry. Let me go back. Consideration of authorizing the purchase of public works vehicle. Um, the first one. uh consideration of authorizing the purchase of 2026 HV507 cab and chassis from Ascendants Truck Eastern PA. Mr. Gart Meyer, could you just come up for the next couple ones? Thank you. Um uh LLC Swedsboro, New Jersey in the amount of $120,333. Angelon stainless steel dump body from HA de Hart and Sun Thoroughfare New Jersey in the amount of $125,727.50 for the total of $246,60.50. Um could you share some information about this agenda item?

Um so obviously public works uh replaces vehicles on a annual basis. Um, we look at the fleet. Um, you know, we see what's actually needs to be replaced. Um, typically it's 10 to 15 year replacement on most of this stuff. Sometimes we run into things that are might might be a little newer that need to get replaced, but usually typically it's around 15 years. Um this truck actually um $240,717 is actually coming from RDA um which is the RDA grant that we received for the vehicle. So there is a small balance um after that of 5,000 and some change that would come out of um the general fund or the road machine refund.

So um this is replacing an ' 06 um one of our '06 trucks. This one is okay. Thank you. And um it's already in the budget, the balance of correct. Everything was uh all these items are were budgeted in the um budget for 2026. They all all of them are co-stars um vendors that we reach out to to try to get the best price for for the vehicles and that. Okay. Thank you. All right. Um I'm sorry. Um, is there a motion to approve the purchase?

Say that.

Can I put them all three together? Yeah. Okay. Um, let Eric, I'm just gonna, Mr. Gar miner, I'm going to put them all together. Okay. Um, the next one is consideration of authorizing the purchase of a 2026 F600 chassis from Fred Beans Langghorn in the amount of 89,647.13 and one Western Pro Plus plow from OSO Group COD MPA in the amount of $8,765 and soundbar from SKD Trion COD MPA in the amount of $7,8818 for the total of $106,29321. I'm going to go to the next one. Okay. Consideration of authorizing the purchase of a 2026 F600 chassis from Fred Beans Langghorn, PA in the amount of $74,126.65 65 and steel dump body from HA de Hart and Sun Therapair New Jersey in the amount of 67,818.75 for the total of $141,94240.

Okay. Anything you want to say about those two V vehicles?

So once again, the last one you just read um that is a small dump truck is replacing a truck that needed to be get replaced. Um the body is is standard. The truck comes complete with um the spreader, the plow, it's ready to go. Um all our trucks are four-wheel drive for winter. Um and the um the body also um is a stainless steel body, which we find that we um keep longer than a steel body. Um so that that's for that one. The other one is replacing a U pickup truck. Um we are replacing that with a stake body truck which we don't have. Um so that's the reason for that one. Um they're all co-stars. They were all bid out for co-stars and um the bids came back and this is what we have in front of us.

Okay. Thank you. All righty. I'm going to um put these all together. I make a motion to authorize the purchase of a 2027 HV507 cabin chassis from Ascendance Trucks Eastern PA LLC Swedesboro, New Jersey in the amount of $120,333 and the Gallion stainless steel dump body from HA Deart and Sun Therapair New Jersey in the amount of $125,727.50 for the total of $246,60.50. I also make a motion for the purchase of the 2026 F600 chassis from Fred Beans Langghorn PA in the amount of $89,647 13 and one Western Pro Plus plow from OSOC Group Cuden PA in the amount of $8,765 and soundbar from SKD Trion Cuden PA in the amount of $7,8818 for a total of1 $106,29321. And I also make a motion for the purchase of a 2026 F600 chassis from Fred Beans, Langghorn, PA in the amount of 74,123.65 65 and steel dump body from HA Deart and Sun Therapair, New Jersey in the amount of $67,818.75 for a total of $141,94240. Is there a motion to approve these purchases?

I'll second your motion. Okay. Thank you. Um, any questions from the board? Any questions from the public? Mr. Fitch. So, Eric, you said B and C are both going to be four-wheel drive. They all are, except for the big truck. Our big trucks aren't four-wheel drive. Would it be beneficial for us as a township to for truck C to put a plow package on there? Not necessarily by the plow, but by the mount and the wiring. Because then if we have a truck that's down, you can switch from truck to truck. I mean, I would hope that we would all be using all western stuff so we can

I'm going to defer to Mr. Gart Meyer. Number C is a small dump truck. So H A D Hart furnishes the plow, the spreader. Okay. Everything. All our trucks are equipped for winter usage. Are they all westerns? Yes, we we keep them all the same. Thank you. Okay. Okay, we have a motion, a second. All those in favor say I. I. I.

I. Uh, all those who say nay. Okay. And motion passes 5-0. Thank you. All right. Next item on the agenda for consideration authorizing purchase of a 2026 Chevy Blazer EV for the building and zoning department from Bergy's Chevrolet Karp, PA in the amount of $40,1646. Mr. Gmmer, so glad you stayed at the podium. seems to be my night now. Um, so, um, helping Jim out in L and I, uh, since I deal with most of the vehicles, um, Jim came to me and there was in the budget from last year a vehicle for LNI. Um, one of the vehicles does need to get replaced. So, way back, we decided that LNI would have EV vehicles. We have one already. Um, unfortunately, that model is discontinued. They are coming back with it, but it's in another year or so. So, what you have in front of you is fully all uh EV um vehicle. Um there was a grant um that $7,500 uh went towards that vehicle.

The vehicle actually came in under budget. Um I believe it was budgeted for $45,000. It only came out to 40, 100 um and some change. So that was under plus the grant. Um so that's why talking with GM we want to move this forward. Okay. Thank you, Eric. Um so I want to make a motion um for the purchase of the 2026 Chevrolet B Blazer EV for the building and zoning department from Bergies Chevrolet Kolmar PA in the amount of $40,1646. Um I second.

Thank you. We have a motion, a second. Any questions from the board? Any questions from the public? We have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes 5-0. I just want to let you know that is on co-stars also. Thank you. Thank you. All righty. Next agenda item number 10. consideration of authorizing preparation for an agreement of service connected uh disability for officer Ed Defr agenda item.

Uh certainly. So um officer DFrank was injured back in 2023. Um we received a request recently from Officer Defrank and the chief um to consider a disability pension. There are two IMEs indicating that he is unable to return to work full duty. Um he is uh being covered also by workers comp. It is a it is a covered injury. It remains a covered injury. Um officer defrank is currently in the drop. Um, and what that means, the difference between a disability pension that happens before someone reaches retirement age versus someone who's actually for all intents and purposes already retired um is there is no impact to the pension plan. So um there is an impact uh to officer def uh the tax implications um but he is he has been deemed unable to return to work. Um the motion that uh we're requesting is just your go-ahad to actually move forward with the process. We typically work with the labor team and they will develop an agreement that sets out all of the specifics of the disability pension. So this would come back to you. This is your opportunity to just give us the go-ahad. Thank you. All righty. So I make a motion uh to authorize the preparation of the agreement. Is there a second? Second.

All right, we have a motion and a second. Any questions from the board? Any questions from the public? All right, we have a motion in a second. All those are in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you. All right. Next agenda item 11. Consideration of approving amended contract award of the 2026 liquid fuels road program to James D. Moresy Inc. of Philadelphia, PA in the amount of $1,614,215.40. Uh Mr. Keesler, could you present this item?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh before you this evening, this agenda item, as you can see, is an amended contract award. Uh it was before the board last month. Uh to the board's credit, there were items uh with the uh alternates of how many we were looking to have as restriping of roadways uh that uh were worth revisiting. Um and we did just that with staff and and took a look through each one of those and which ones uh quite frankly did not need to be restriped this year. Uh the original effort was to basically restripe just about every roadway that the township had ownership of uh to just give a fresh striping of all that, but with the revisiting uh really it's it's better uh sense to do the ones that are either fading and deteriorated this year. Uh obviously there'll be a plan going forward to address other roads that need restriping uh in years to come. Uh so the amended uh award this evening uh is still to James D. Morsy. Uh the repaving roadways uh are still the same as the initial recommendation for the Quincy Hollow neighborhoods. Uh the alternate that is for Harris Avenue, which is really a storm water improvement project with paving work at the end that still remains in the award recommendation. Uh the difference is the roadways to be restriped. Uh so of the 14 that were listed uh which included one with Langghorn Manor Burrow as part of the service road uh we've revised that to recommending five uh segments uh that would be restriped this year. Uh they would be Big Oak Road uh between Woodborne uh and the address 2475 Big Oak which is about halfway uh through that roadway. It includes Chickenfoot Road uh Fulling Miller Road, Snowball Drive uh and Wood Lane. uh those were uh determined to be the ones that uh do need that this year and and we'd

recommend having that as part of the project. Uh the amended um recommendation is $104,91760 less than the uh earlier recommendation. Uh what we've done in in the past as a staff is look at the roads and the ramps kind of as one bulk of the budget to get infrastructure moved ahead. Uh so this uh would uh create the road program even further under its budget in the 2026 township budget uh and would allow some uh additional funds to be reallocated and that's what we'll touch on with the next agenda item. Uh but for the amended award uh we recommend uh this revised amount um which would be 1,66,76180. Happy to answer any questions.

No, I just want to thank you. I know I know I pushed this after last meeting um especially when driving over some of those roads and seeing the con the good condition that a lot of that striping is in. So, I want to thank thank you, thanks Stephanie, um, for bringing this back to the to us to to talk about. Absolutely. Okay. Sorry, I need to make a correction to the amount that I said. Um, okay. Let me try this again. Um, I make a motion um to amend the contract award of the 2026 Liquid Fuels Road program to James D. Morrisy, Inc. of Philadelphia, PA in the amount of $16,761. and 9 cents. Is there a second? Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any questions from the board? Any questions from the public?

Is there anybody from the township that is going to go out and inspect them while they're doing the paving? I know Quincy Hollow, it's it's kind of easy. It's curb to curb, but the other roads that do not have curbs on them, uh, Marcy just paved four streets in Oakley section and man, they really colored outside the lines. I mean, there's no straight lines at all. I mean, it's like this in people's yards and the neighbors are all complaining and I said, "Well, it really doesn't have anything to do with the township because the water company is the one, I guess, that gave them that project or awarded that to them." But, you know, if if we're paying for it, I mean, I would hope that somebody would make sure that the operator's eyes have been checked. And

we we do exactly that as the township engineering office for the township. Uh we manage the construction phase and have construction inspection throughout. Uh and obviously uh each road that will be repaving, we'll have folks out there making sure they're doing a good job within the limits and and a good product for the township at the end of the day. Gotcha. I know this gentleman mentioned Dorm Road. Dorm Road is a state road, so we have nothing to do with that. We can't do anything with it right called the state. Oh, good luck. I mean, it's terrible in Pendle. I understand. and I drive it every day, but so do I. Street Road. Thank you. Um, okay. Motion in a second. All those in favor say I. I. I.

All those opposed say nay. Motion passes. 5-0. Thank you. Um, next item on the agenda, consideration of awarding ADA curb ramp contract to NJS concrete of Fasterville Trios, PA in the amount of 864,9791. Mr. Kesler. Yes, Madam Chair. Sorry.

As I mentioned, the the roads and the ramps uh go hand inand pretty much each year. uh the ramp program. And the reason we have it separate from the road program is that we have the neighborhoods identified that we want to complete and reconstruct the the ADA curb ramps to meet current standards. Uh obviously to improve the accessibility in these neighborhoods, uh many of which were constructed decades ago and don't meet current standards. Uh we look to get ahead of where we will look to do paving in the next few years. Uh the liquid fuels money that we utilize as a township um requires that ADA compliance is is current for when you use that for roadway repaving. Uh so we not only for that purpose but also the accessibility for these neighborhoods to do those ramps. As I mentioned with the uh money saved or or or valued under budget uh from the road program still able to do uh what we want to accomplish this year. uh the ramp program uh we have had a base bid plus uh five alternates and it was relying upon what kind of funding was available. Uh the base bid uh is for the remaining ramps in Cobalt Ridge. Uh that neighborhood has had some of the ramps done the last few years with some of the smaller grant funding that we've had. Uh but it's kind of just been chipping away at it. So this year's budget does have a more robust ramp program already in it. Uh so we're looking to have as that base bid the remaining ramps in Cobalt Ridge. Alternates one and two are upper and lower Orchard neighborhoods. Uh all the ramps in uh included in in that neighborhood there, both those neighborhoods rather. Uh alternates three and four are ramps associated with PennDOT HOPS. So where our township roads intersect with the Pendot roads, uh HOP's highway occupancy permits are required uh to do construction at those intersections. Uh there's two ramps that

remain in Juniper Hill neighborhood uh as well as uh HOP ramps in Cobalt Ridge. So those are the HOP ones that would complete those two neighborhoods uh as far as the ramp work is concerned. And then alternate number five, uh we included uh to at least get pricing this year, but now with the funds available, uh we're recommending this be included this year as well. Uh and that is for the entirety uh of the ramp work in the Ivy Stream neighborhood. Uh one that definitely is is in need of it. Uh and a few other improvements to the concrete throughout the neighborhood before that could be repaved hopefully in a in a few years time here. The uh budget in the 2026 township line item for the ramps is 750,000. Uh as I mentioned, if you combine this and the roads um for the construction budgets, the ADA ramp construction budget 660, the roadway program was 1.84 million. Uh that combined is a total of 2.5 million. uh with the road program just amended uh that was awarded uh the balance of that total is 954,43620. Uh so that that is the reason we're recommending that for the ramps we were able to do these additional neighborhoods really get ahead of it this year. Uh even with doing the base and all the alternates described in this year's contract, uh we would still be $89,457.19 below that combined budget. So we're able to reallocate that township money to do more for accessibility, get ahead of the road program, and still be under the total budget for the roads and the ramps this year.

Thank you for that. All right. And do those totals include all the engineering costs as well, or has that put us over budget? No, that's included. So the engine well the 660,000 is the construction budget for the ramps. 750,000 is total budget for construction and engineering and inspection costs. Great. And did we put in for a grant for ADA ramps this year or No, I know we've gotten them in the past. Not for this year. We went after a different project for CDBG funding. Okay.

Thank you. Okay. Okay. I make a motion to award the base bid and all al alternates number 1 through five for the 2026 ADA curb ramp program in the amount of $864,9791 to NJS concrete. I second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any questions from the board? Any questions from public or comments? Okay. Um, all those in favor say I.

I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you. All right. Next agenda item, consideration of awarding summer recreation bus services bids. Um interim parks and recreation director Monica Tierney will handle this item. Thank you, Mrs. Tierney. Today I'm here to seek your approval to move forward with the lowest responsible bidder. There were two biders on pen bid. Uh lowest responsible bidder was David Thomas Trailways at $37,076. Okay. All righty. Can you walk me through what happened with Dorm?

Sure. Um Durham did put in a bid but did not send in all their documentation and paperwork in time for this meeting today. So, I had to go with the next well the lowest responsible bidder who did turn in all their paperwork. So, it's a $3,000 difference between the two biders. When do you need to start the bus services? Uh June 16th. Okay. Thank you. All righty. Um Okay. Um, I'm going to make a motion to award the contract for the 2026 summer recreation program bus services to David Thomas Trailways in the amount of $37,076 as the lowest responsible bidder. Um, I have a motion. Can I have a second?

A second. All right. Motion and a second. Any questions from the board? Any questions or comments from the public? Okay. All those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed say nay. Motion passes. 5-0. Thank you, Mrs. Tuni. Um, next item on the agenda, consideration of awarding the pedestrian equipment upgrade bid to Armor and Sons of Langghorn, PA in the amount of $297,000. Uh, Miss Tie Kohl's.

Uh, thank you. So this project includes the upgrade of the pedestrian crossing equipment at eight key intersections in the township. It is funded by an Arley grant. The intersections are Oxford Valley Road and Woodburn Road. Uh New Falls Road and Bristol Oxford Valley. Uh New Falls at the shopping center driveway. New falls at the Giant Access. Lincoln and Woodburn and then Woodburn Road at Trenton at Fourth Street Oxford Valley Mall and at Harmony Road. So these are um again eight signals. The improvements are 297,000. We do have a grant that is an Arley grant. That's the red light camera grant and the that is $229,8. And so the um the board would if you wanted to move forward with this award, we would need to be taking 67,992 from the capital fund. This wasn't specifically budgeted. However, if you wish to move forward with this, which I would recommend that you do because you're really getting a lot of bang for your buck in what you're doing, um your motion would also be to amend the budget to allow for this. Okay.

So, we have we didn't put this in budget specifically. You It's in the budget, but you we thought that it was going to be fully funded by the Arley grant, unless Okay. Um, Miss Hucklebridge has anything. She knows the budget a little bit more than me since I just showed up a month ago. It's because it's coming in so much higher than that. It's just I mean it the the original estimates for this were done like four years ago and a lot has changed in the economy since then. Okay. Um, if the board concurs, the motion would be I I move to award the pedestrian equipment upgrade bid to Armor and Suns Electric, Inc. of Langghorn, PA in the amount of $297,000. I second.

We have a motion and a second. Any questions or comments from the board? Yeah, just very quickly, I just want to say um that I am very appreciative that most of this is covered by a grant. I think that is really great and I think doing everything we can to make, you know, our community more walkable and more mobile and protect pedestrians, especially with a lot of traffic we have nowadays. Um I do think this is a really um worthwhile thing for us to vote in favor of. I agree. Those are very busy um intersections where they are. So it would be uh more safe. So we have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I.

Uh all those opposed say nay. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you. Alrighty. Uh, up next we have the presentation of quarterly one financial report. Um, could finance director Laura Hucklebridge please present quarterly 1 2026 for us? Thank you. Good evening. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Okay, we have our first quarter presentation tonight. This covers the months of January through March of 2026. So, we'll just go through our overview. Oops, wrong way. Okay. All right. For the first quarter, our expenses exceeded our revenue, but that is the way it's been all these years. That's because most of our revenue comes in in April. So, the first quarter of the year, we're using fund balance from last year to cover our expenses until we have that increase of revenue in April. This is just a breakdown of our revenue by category. Our property taxes and our local Act 511 taxes are our largest sources of revenue. The local Act 511, that's where the earned income tax is, and we did increase that this year through the end of March. We had received um $2 million in earned income tax and we also received another million dollars in April for earned income tax. This just shows you the historic trends for Q1 for the last 3 years. Again, that local act 511 is our largest source of revenue with the earned income tax. There's that also includes the real estate transfer tax and uh that that v that changes every year. We can't

predict that based off of changes in the market and property sales. This is our chart historically. The dotted red line shows you April since this is Q1, but in April we had a very significant increase. As I said, the earned income tax went up a million dollars in April and the real estate tax, we collected $3 million in April. As we look at expenses, our personnel costs are our largest expenses. They did increase more this year through Q1 than in the prior year. Something I'm doing this year is I'm taking the pension MMO, which is our minimum municipal obligation, which is over $3 million. It's $3.7 million. We would normally recognize that as an expense all in the month of October, and it would make our little chart spike. So, I'm expensing that every month evenly, $38,000 a month, so that we can hopefully identify where there's true peaks in our expenses and help mitigate those and kind of spread them out throughout the year. So, again, personnel costs are the highest every quarter. Here's our expense by month. Again, the red dotted line, it takes you through April. what I was speaking about. Here we go. The spikes here in the latter quarter of the year. That's all of the MMO. That's almost $4 million just in one month. So, the red line is higher than all the other years because it includes a portion of that expense every month. So, we won't have that huge spike in the end of the year. As we look at the general fund, these trends are very similar to what we just looked at. That was the consolidated looking at all of the funds. The general fund is our largest fund. So this

operates the same way as what we just looked at. So again, the expenses for the general fund exceeded revenue for the first quarter. This is a breakdown of all the different revenue types for just the general fund. Again, our the local 511 taxes are one of our largest sources. Public safety includes uh permitting fees, and we did have a significant increase in building and zoning permitting fees in Q1. Our general fund expenses, we have uh the tax collection line, which is the second line. That's refunds for tax appeals. and we had a significant number of them for Oxford Valley Mall last year. So that's why the budget number was so high because we didn't know what was going to happen, but so far we haven't had very many. And again, the employer paid benefits line, that's what includes the MMO. So it's 1.2 million as of Q1 because it includes three months of the pension MMO. When we look at our fund balance at the end of Q1 for the general fund, we were at 2.4 months of expenses, which is below our township policy of 3 months, but we did the tax increases this year to help refund and replenish that fund balance. So, as you saw in April, we got $3 million um in revenue. So, that will go to increase our fund balance going forward. the capital fund. We've only had some spending so far out of the capital fund. We had about $90,000 in computer purchases, $219,000 in police vehicle purchases. Those were covered by the RDA grant for the year

and it's supposed to be ADA ramps, not ASA ramps of 32,000 for uh engineering fees. the fund balance. We don't have a lot of grant money as of Q1. We did receive um several hundred,000. We received I think it was like $250,000 in April of grant funding for the capital fund. So that will increase our balance there. The investment fund, this is the money held from the water and sewer sale, uh the basis of $40 million. We had income of 116,000 in Q1 for this fund. We do have a budgeted transfer of $1.3 million from this fund to the capital fund to help cover purchases by the end of the year. Did I do that? This just shows you the uh portfolio balance for the investment fund. that large dip here at the end of 2024, that's when we withdrew $2.4 million to transfer to the capital fund. We try and do that every other year so that we can rebuild the principal and our balance is almost where it was right before we did our last withdrawal. Moving on to the pensions, it's been a rough quarter for the pensions, but I think that they held their value. Um for the police pension, our withdrawals and distributions were greater than the contributions and income for the quarter. So right now at Q1, it was a annual rate of return of.39%. But looking at the one-year rate of return, it's 10.48%. Very similar story with the non-uniform pension, uh the fund balance decreased

by 564,000 in the first quarter. uh rate of return through Q1 was negative.5% but annualized it for the last year it was 10.77%. Okay. All of that we had a strong quarter with revenue of 8.4 million and we expect that significant increase in April that we saw of over 3 million. Expenses of 10.4 million were higher than previous years through Q1. Again, that was because of the pension including that. The general fund balance decreased in Q1, but we have that additional tax revenue that will increase it going forward. And the storm water bills were mailed at the end of April. Some people have already started to pay those, so that will bring in more revenue going forward this year as well. And if people had questions about the storm water credits, they can continue to check our website. We will be updating that information and registration information as well. You have any questions? All right. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Next up, um policy discussions. Uh we will be discussing the chicken ordinance. Mr. Andis,

hello again. Uh, chickens. Um, so before I get into my actual report that was in your packets, I do want to do some brief coverage uh that was uh a report that was prepared by Miss Liz Martin uh that covers the whole uh community engagement that occurred all of last week uh for this matter. Uh I think you can also see from the high attendance that this is obviously something that a lot of the community finds uh of high importance. But uh yeah there was a multiplatform uh community engagement effort uh that included social media video content across uh Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok and interactive poll on uh Facebook and Instagram. Uh when that was all said and done, the total video reach uh across the platforms was uh there was the views of 23,476 and uh a total of uh comments that were received was 165. Um as far as the poll results, there was uh 344 poll views and that was all within a 24-h hour period uh Wednesday of last week into Thursday. uh 78% are uh in favor or allowing backyard chickens and 12% are no and 10% uh replied that they needed more information. Uh there were several concerns and recommendations that were consistently mentioned and uh when it was all said and done uh you know a lot of the uh suggestions are reflected into a lot of the what I am recommending in in my report. Um but it was it was a high public engagement. Um and I think also as you can see on the high attendance um and then so it resulted again in in 23,000 video views, 165 public comments, hundreds of poll interactions and uh significant resonant discussion and

feedback. So this has definitely been uh a matter that has had a lot of outreach and a lot of engagement. Uh now actually getting into my reports. Uh you know I briefly covered the last time this was discussed was during uh the July 14th, 2025 meeting. So, it's been a while.

Uh kind of just give a brief summary of everything that happened there. Now, one thing I do want to uh point out was there was mention of a previous study during that meeting in uh last July. Uh I could not find that that previous study. I did find a very lengthy u document that was written by a uh resident. Um, but as far as anything that was raised, it's kind of stuff that we already know at this point given the fact that this has been a policy discussion probably about two or three times already uh within the last couple of years. Now, actually just getting into my recommendations, I I kind of provide two of those. I provide the more what I call a cautious one which is kind of in line with what I uh recommended before and and before we get into the collective groans of anybody uh from from some of my recommendations here it I think everyone needs to understand that right now chickens are pretty much not allowed in this township. You need uh a minimum of 10 acres and you can only have uh I believe it's five chickens per acre. So right now it's almost near impossible for any resident to really have any backyard chickens. uh in in our residential properties. Um

I can tell you that from 10 years ago. I'm sorry. Sir, what was that? I said, "Oh, it is."

Gotcha. Gotcha. Um yeah. So again, this is a cautious recommendation that is my initial one. Again, I provide two of them. The the the cautious one is is that we only allow them on uh halfacre properties. that's consistent with the RA1 and the RA2 and the RA3 zoning districts, especially since there's already agriculture in the actual name of that zoning district. So, it seems that it would kind of be a good fit. Yes, I do say there does need to be a permit. Um, I we will make sure that the permit is very low cost and low cumbersome and that also that we were I've already been kind of tossing around with some other staff that maybe some of those uh funds that are generated through the permitting goes to the community fund for some other measures especially things that would uh help the community as far as any kind of pet ownership. Uh still kind of being discussed and figured out. Um, but with that, again, we emphasize that it's residential backyard chickens for non-commercial purposes. Uh, the numbers right now are, I'll be honest with you, kind of arbitrary based off of all the various types of numbers that are allowed in other communities or has been discussed in other communities for other ordinances. Uh, no roosters. That is that is a given. I think I want to see even the people that are actually proponents of the chickens uh say no roosters. Uh there would be uh measures to make sure that everything would be kept in a sanitary fashion and um you know there's just some other things that we would do and that would be all part of the permit process. uh all to ensure that you know the bad actors are kind of vetted and those that do want to have chickens or good chicken owners just go through a a very basic permit process to also enforcement measures. I will say that when it comes to enforcement in my, you know, I've only been here

about four and a half years now. In my time here, there's probably been a few that have actually been nuisance issues that needed to be addressed. But I think a lot of the enforcement are people just knowing that people aren't supposed to have chickens and therefore bringing it to our attention and we really have no other recourse but to do enforcement since they are not allowed right now in in the township. Um, we're going to get to the alternative recommendation, which is pretty much the same thing that I already recommended, but now we're talking about uh smaller properties and a kind of a tiered system where you would be allowed a certain number of hens. I at the time right now, at the time of this report, but that's already kind of changing from other research that I found, you would have a minimum three for uh a lot that can't be any smaller than 7,000 square feet. Now, that's consistent with uh pretty much the pretty much the higher density uh residential neighborhood, especially in Levittown. So, that would allow for someone with a small property, relatively speaking, in Levittown to have a few hens. Uh then every 5,000 square feet grows, you get to have an additional chicken or hen. Uh and until you get to a certain point where, you know, you're allowed to probably have a lot of hens by that, especially if you have a very very large property. Um, that really quickly covers everything that I said. I know there's a lot to still dig into, but uh, as far as next steps depending on what happens tonight. Uh, this would then have to because it is a zoning change would have to go in front of the planning commission. So, I do want to stress to everyone around here tonight that you would have another bite at the apple, so to speak, and as far as providing comments and uh but it it is expected based off the results of tonight to go in front of the planning commission in June uh all with you know in an effort to go in front of you again with an actual uh ordinance

for adoption during your August meeting. Uh so with that uh any questions? Uh, I don't have any at this time, but I'm sure that we have people who are interested in um having public comment. And can I just say um everyone here tonight, I understand this is very important to everybody, but if just for for the hour that we're at and everything else, if someone's already said something that you wanted to say, we get it. And I'm not trying to be rude, but please don't repeat it in effort to try to move this along and maybe have not a very very very long night. All right. Thank you.

I I appreciate um you sharing this information. I hope everybody had an opportunity to access the information and report that Mr. Andis has shared. Um I know that we were thinking about this a couple of months ago and it was put on the back burner. Uh I'm excited that it's uh here tonight so that people can um be a part of the discussion. Excellent. Okay. All righty. Any other questions? Just a quick question. Is there like um I know this is all still very theoretical, but is there like a plan for like any sort of um like routine inspection of where they're being kept to make sure that people are still following like the new

Yeah. So, so the permit process, we would ask for those kinds of details, especially when it comes to the coupe, the the type of coupe, how are how is the feed stored, you know, just overall just a a nice narrative on how they're going to be taking care of their chickens. Now, if we find some some areas where maybe we get a nuisance complaint, and this is actually even someone with a permit, um even the uh animal control officer, she's been a big help. we would absolutely try to do some some outreach with them and an effort to make sure that they would no longer continue to be a nuisance to to to the neighbors. Uh and otherwise it would just kind of be handled, you know, post that like normal zoning enforcement where where we just say that you're not fully in compliance with all the requirements and and you have to you have to be in compliance or we're going to have to do some further violation and penalties that could uh potentially uh may be an appearance in front of the district judge. Do we have similar um guidelines from other townships that have done that?

Yeah. So, there's been this is literally a mash of many things that I've been found as as actual proponents of this matter that have shown me other ordinance and codes throughout different communities whether it be in Bucks or McGomery County. Um so, yeah, we do have some some places that we can follow a model of enforcement and everything else. I mean, we're we're obviously not there yet. I mean, that would be something that would be kind of done in conjunction with actually drafting the ordinance, getting in front of the planning commission, and also have all those things really straightened down and buttoned up by the time it goes in front of you for adoption. Thank you.

Is there like an expected um increase in cost for the township to try to enforce codes? I know that's again very theoretical, but I

I mean, maybe. I don't know. I you I like I said, I I don't really have any data to support this. It's kind of just what I've noticed. I I think a lot of our enforcement is really someone calling on somebody else that has chickens and knowing they're not supposed to. Not necessarily that they're bad actors and not necessarily that they're actually causing a nuisance issue like Roaden Harbor Bridge and that kind of thing. Uh I think the bad actors are always just going to exist, right? I I I think I think that those are the ones that are probably not going to try to get a permit and everything else and those are the ones that we're going to have to kind of course correct which is a long way of saying that what's probably happening now won't really change as far as really the level of enforcement as far as and also the strain on staff.

Yeah. Because I just want to make sure that we're not one straining the staff with this or um and again I agree that if you know we allow this that there's a permit it should be something that most families can afford. It shouldn't break the bank. That's right. That's I I can't stress that well enough. It's It's not going to be something that's that's trying to in any way gouge any of the residents for having chickens. We're just trying to make sure that we have some things in place uh before we allow for them at that particular property. Gotcha. And I and I agree completely and I think part of it too is that as long as we're staying revenue neutral, I just don't want this to become like a detriment to the to the funding of the town. Abs. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Nice. Any other questions from the board?

No. Okay. Um I guess one last thing um is that if we are, this is just my opinion, if we are to adopt something like this, I do think it is only fair that we make it so that because I'm from Levittown and I know we have smaller plots, but it should be fair that you know people in that part of the town have the opportunity to partake in this as well. So I guess I know we talked about like a tiered system and from my perspective I think it's important that we allow those residents to also participate. Yeah, I think 7,000 feet that would include most of the

Yeah. So 7,000 square feet is literally even like I would say the smaller properties in like for Cythia and and so forth like so that you you you would definitely at 7,000 I think probably cover a great deal of the township especially R1 R2 and all obviously all the RA zoning districts. Okay. Okay. Thank you Mr. Anis. Thank you for your work on this. Thank you. Appreciate that. Um, okay. Um, do any, uh, members of the public wish to make comment? Sure.

I think it's great. 10 years ago, I did have a flock of chickens at my property. My property is 14,400 square foot. I made sure my surrounding neighbors that everything was fine because I knew about the um I guess the way to go about it with the township and I only had one neighbor who complained that it brought in vermin which was totally false. Chickens are great. They're on the wars. Don't eat anything. Delete mice. I've had a chicken that ate a mice a mouse and I have it on pics. I had to give up within a year I had to give up my chickens. I've regretted that decision every single day. The prior board I proposed charge me charge me a permit fee for it. Come out and see how how it is. They didn't want to listen to any of that. I I found out that I would have had to get a lawyer to actually go before a border, go before a judge to plead hardship that yes, I wanted the chickens. And it was it wasn't only for the eggs. It was for the companionship, for the antics, for everything, my son growing up and what have you. I still regret that decision. I'm here tonight to say yes, I am in favor for it. If you want to do it at every 7,000 ft, I mean 7,000 square foot, three chickens, and then you can add in another chicken or hen to it. I'm all for it. So, yeah, I think it's a great idea. And and charging a permit fee gives you money back, allows an inspector to come out and check us out and find out that we're doing everything right. where because there are people here from other parts of the country that have moved here and want chickens as well because they they're also very knowledgeable.

Okay, if you have any questions about chickens, ask it. I've got 10 years of knowledge from it that I did my research for two years before ordering my chickens. Thank you. Thank you. If you could just state your name, I'm sorry, please.

Hello. My name is Dr. James Robinson. Um, I had chickens about nine years ago. Before we got our chickens, we called the township and asked if we were allowed to have them. We were told we were zoned as a residential agriculture, RA, as he was saying, whoever it was was RA, we could get them. I spent about $3,000 building my coupe and run. Had my chickens for about nine years. During the pandemic, I look outside and there's some random lady looking over my fence. Took a picture of my chickens. Two days later, some terrible lady from your township was there. pulled my wife out of my house, called her a liar that we had asked permission, made my kids cry in my front yard. I had to come here in front of the zoning hearing board twice to argue. I was called a liar for calling or incompetent for calling the wrong Middletown Township. Anyway, that was my saga with the chickens. I fought you guys, not you, but whoever it was before and lost. So, I do have no chickens now. Um, having chickens is one of the best things I've ever done. I raised my three daughters with the chickens from a time they were probably four years old and now she's 14, so a long time. Um, I loved it. I loved having chickens. I had eggs every day. I knew what my kids were eating. I would like to say also that during the pandemic, there were literally zero eggs in the giant supermarket. You know, we all kind of forget that now, but there were no eggs and I had eggs. And I fed my neighbors. I fed my family. I fed people. I gave the eggs away for Easter so people could dye them. And that's when they came, your government came to my house and pulled my wife out and made me get rid of my chickens when there was no eggs during a global pandemic. It's terrible what they did to me and us. So during the process, I was able to get a hold of somebody from the Penn State Extension who said that they were not um not agriculture, they were pets. I never had more than about six to eight at a time for the eight to nine years. Nobody ever complained until that lady was looking over my fence and ratted me out. So, I strongly suggest that we get chickens. People want chickens.

Everybody wants chickens in this neighborhood, right? It's what we want. Let people have their freedom back. Thank you everybody. So, that's what I have to say about my chickens. It's haunted me ever since I had to go through this previously with a zoning hearing board and again being called incompetent or a liar in front of my family and everybody else who came out to support me. So, please let us have chickens back. I appreciate it.

Thank you for your comments. My name is uh Jacqueline. I'm in the Gables and I came out today for the chicken ordinance especially. Um I understand chickens might not be everybody's cup of tea and I feel like chickens get an unfair bias against them. You know they're not cute and cuddly like you know dogs and kittens and things but you know they have little personalities and I just feel like you know unfortunately chickens have gotten a bad rap. I know that they people think that they bring rodents and things, but as long as you keep your coupe clean, my grandmother I grew up in Philadelphia. My grandmother grew up uh lived in Frankfurt A. Her backyard was I mean a tiny little postage stamp and she had chickens. I mean I grew up with chickens in Frankfurt a down in Philadelphia. It was never an issue. I just feel like, you know, chickens, when it comes to the topic of chickens, people just think that they're dirty animals and, you know, it's going to draw in ruins and things and and it's not like that. As long as you have a responsible person taking care of them, I don't think that there would be an issue. They're not as loud as dogs. I mean, my neighbors dogs bark all hours of the day and night. You know, it's not as loud as a dog. I mean, if I wanted to, I could have 15 probably rabbits in my backyard and that's not an issue. So, I just don't understand what the issue is with the chickens. And also, people don't understand like Bucks County, this used to be farmland, you know, and and you know, as we've, you know, had population booms and we've added, you know, residents to the area and zoning has changed, but up until the 50s, like this was farmland, you know, the best farmland in the country, actually. And now we're, you know, turning everything over to housing, which is limiting, you know, what us residents can do on our own property, which is not fair, you know, and some residents have lived in this area for a long time. I think chickens were allowed up until what 12 years ago I think it was. Um and then I guess they changed the zoning for it and now you know it's not allowed. So you know I just would like at least consideration and also if you do go with the original conservative

ordinance that will um you know eliminate other people like myself. I would not be able to qualify for that you know so um you know I live in the Gables. I think my property is what 23 of an acre. So I wouldn't be able to qualify for that. So I would really like the consideration for it and you know permitting and um you know coming in for inspection is fine. I understand that. So that's all I had to say. Thank you so much.

Hi Jacqueline Williams. I'm at Deepdale East. I guess it will be a future for chicken property. So that's one of the big ones. Good evening members boards and of the board and neighbors. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to speak tonight. I'm here to support the allowance of blackyard chickens in our community. For many families, backyard chickens are not about creating large commercial farms and residential neighborhoods. They are about sustainability, responsibility, education, self-sufficiency. Across Pennsylvania and throughout Bucks County, more communities are recognizing that backyard chickens can peacefully exist in residential areas and provide meaningful benefits to families and neighborhoods alike. Chickens provide families with fresh eggs, reduce househood who house hold food waste. We all know we have limited trash now. And they eat almost anything and encourage healthier, more sustainable living. They also provide valuable educational experiences for children. My daughter, my nieces are here. This is what I'm most interested in. Teaching responsibility, animal care, biology, and where food truly comes from. In a time when many people are increasingly disconnected from nature and food production, backyard chickens help reconnect families to both. I attribute much much of my personality and my own personal success to the skills I learned caring for animals in Langghorn. I went to a farm nearly daily at the intersection of Woodburn Road and Langghorn Yardily Road. Unfortunately, in 2020, a long time now that was knocked down and houses were developed there. So, it has not been the experience I've been able to share with my own children that I have. At that property, I learned and cared for horses, pigs, emus, ducks, dogs, and sheep. We're just asking for chickens. Chickens can also provide natural pest control. They eat insects such as ticks, which are a growing concern in Pennsylvania due to tickborne illnesses like Lyme disease. Many homeowners already spend significant time and money trying to reduce tick

populations in their yards, often turning into chem turning to chemical treatments. Chickens can help naturally manage these pests. Chickens has been known to eat over 300 ticks a day. Yes, they eat ticks and then make you eggs. Backyard chickens also support local resilience and food sec food security. During World War II, shortly before my family moved from Philadelphia to Middletown Township, Americans were encouraged by the government to grow victory gardens and raise food at home to help support the nation and reduce strain on the food supply. Families across the country participated proudly, understanding the value of local food production, self-resil reliance, and community contribution. In many ways, today's interest in backyard chickens reflects those same values of resilience, responsibility, and independence. Over the last several years, many families have become more interested in becoming less dependent on long large commercial systems and more involved in local sustainable practices. Raising chickens is not is one small but meaningful way families can participate in producing some of their own food for more sustainability. The expectations of having 10 acres to support chickens is extremely excessive. It is nearly exclusionatory at all point. Homes in Middletown with over 10 acres are selling for upwards of $3 million. This also is more alignment with the space you need to raise the next Kentucky Derby winner and his whole family versus a chicken who prefers to stay close to their coupe. Do you know that chickens put themselves back to bed at night? I understand that concerns are sometimes raised about chickens in residential areas, but responsible animal animal ownership already exists throughout the community. People are often surprised that chickens are quieter and cleaner than expected, while maintained flocked has minimum smells far less than a poorly maintained dogyard or trash. Most

people who wish to keep chickens simply want opportunities to responsibly care for a small flock as part of their household and lifestyle. In many communities where chickens are permitted, they have become a normal and accepted part of neighborhood life. At the end of the day, it's about residents reasonable freedom to make a sustainable and choices for their families and homes. Backyard chickens can strengthen connections to nature, food, education, and community while promoting a more self-reliant, environmentally conscious way of living. I respectfully asked the board to consider supporting the allowance of backyard chickens in our community and recognize the many benefits that have to our local families. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you.

Um thank you for the opportunity to give us to speak. Um it was actually about two years ago um that my neighbor Britney Jourett and myself sat at my kitchen table um after our chickens weren't allowed anymore and thought like we live on West Richardson and I can throw a baseball to Langghorn Burrow. So many of my friends in the burrow have chickens but we are on the little ship of Middletown that we are Middletown. Um so we thought like how are counties and uh I guess townships all over starting to allow chickens. What can we do? Um so my kids were there. I'm a solo mom of four kids, ages 13, 11, um almost 8 and five, and they sat and watched us um come up with ideas. We started a face Facebook group um and a petition and I just feel very um blessed that they've gotten to see when you like believe in something. They came to one of the meetings and watched me talk and it almost gives me chills. I'm a kindergarten teacher. Um I have one of my Girl Scouts here with me, too. that they can see like real government and when you believe in something and other people believe in it too the importance of that that you don't have to sit back and say well this is just the way it is um I had written a bunch of things that I wanted to say tonight but I don't want to repeat the great things that the speakers have said so far as well as Mr. Andis um because all of this is true. Um I've had my kids be able to raise chickens from chicks, collect the uh collect the eggs, um and have them as pets. As a kindergarten teacher, I just hatched ducks with my class. And there's such um a special thing of these animals um with kids and adults alike of like the social emotional aspect of it besides like knowing where your food comes from um and the bug pest control and all of those things. Um, the woman previous to me had such a great speech, but she was talking about when we had our Facebook page, all of the naysayers, their things were really about the smell, um, which can be done with clean coops. Um, I

mean, there could be waste that smells bad. There's neighbors that might not clean up their dog waste that can smell bad. There's many other things that we can't control as residents for bad smells or neighbors do that have nothing to do with chickens. Um, people had said on our Facebook page, the far and few between, about rodents. Um, but if you're keeping things clean, rodents don't come. It's a matter of how you keep your food and that you're keeping your pens um, secure. Um, so I feel like any of the complaints that have been given about chickens, it's from those like bad actors as you say. Um, and it's not really the norm if you're doing it correctly. So, I just wanted to thank the board for this journey. Um, it was actually funny since I am close to Lancorn Burrow, they had overturned um, the ordinance and made a new ordinance to allow chickens and I said, "What did you do?" and they said we got a couple signatures and we went and they said okay have your chickens and that's when we said that doesn't sound that hard but I realized that Lancorn was a totally different animal and a totally different municipality um that is not the size of this. So it's been a cool journey to watch this happen um even though it did it's not as simple as their journey was. So I just thank you for allowing myself and um also my children and kids to see that uh you can make a change in your community and even if it doesn't work out you can say that you tried. So thank you. Thank you.

I feel like backyard chickens are good because they can eat like um food scraps so you don't have to throw them away and they also eat ticks and ticks can give you Lyme disease and like Lyme disease can be really bad for you. I also feel like backyard chickens are good because you um they like produce lots of eggs and in like one week they can get like like more than 30 eggs and like that's a good that's like a really good food source and it give eggs like give you lots of protein and I feel like backyard chickens are just a great pet because if you like if you have kids that like they're really fun like chickens are fun to play with and I chicken backyard chickens just really make me happy.

I might just follow that. Can I just say something real quick? All of you had great speeches, but none of them were as convincing as the last. All right.

So, for me, this is actually a full circle situation uh for me because it wasn't until uh 2021, right? I stumbled across a a um a zoning board and I think it was yours where the zoning board uh was not kind, we'll put it that way. And that was the progenitor of me starting to come to uh meetings. Now I stayed for uh the fun I guess but uh this coming in I mean I even talked to you Jim. We were trying to put together something back in 22 right? Yes.

So, this is a long time coming and I want to say that you guys are better prepare yourself if either the planning committee or the zoning committee says no to this. You better be prepared to override them or take or be able to start firing people off of those committees. This is obviously has so much support and I do not want to see you a single person up here say, "Well, the zoning committee said no, the plan committee said no, their hands are tied." This is something you guys can do. You guys can do it appropriately. If you have to go through your little uh trance of, oh, it's got to go through planning, got through zoning, etc., and then come back here, fine. Do it. Get it done. You could see everything here. And I mean, come on. That last You can't make a charge me for my chickens. I don't care.

They don't make a little girl cry. Thank you.

Good evening, board, and thank you for uh hearing us out. Uh I do want to state that I grew up in the area. I graduated from Namin. Uh soon after graduation, I did move out of state to a to a community that did allow chickens. Um, coming back, finding out that we weren't allowed to have him was a large disappointment. And my wife and I were actually considering about not purchasing a property here in the township and possibly purchasing. We're still considering purchasing outside where we can have that freedom because let's be honest, it is a freedom that we need with the rising cost of uh, as everybody said of of food and things like that to be able to be self-sufficient and maintain things. not only just the eggs, but the fertilizer that chickens produce, the uh the ability to compost the shells and all that kind of stuff. It's just a matter of sustainability that we want to be able to have for ourselves. So, thank you for hearing me out.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Donna Bole. I live in um Langghorn. Um I had chickens and my chickens were taken away because somebody snooped. Um and I had them for four years and not one neighbor complained. It was somebody who um hurt other people here. Um, and what I was going to say is that I live in an area that is a very small neighborhood, but next to me is a business, and that business is dirty, disgusting, poisons the ground, and my chickens were very clean, but I don't see anything happening to that business that's been grandfathered in and is poisoning the ground. So, I think we need to treat um our citizens fairly and not let businesses get away with things that, you know, when we've got people here who just want to be sustainable and do good things for the environment. Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh good evening. I I would just like to encourage you to take a look at even smaller lots. Um, my I'm I'm in a townhouse community. I could buy two 120lb dogs, put them in my my relatively reasonable size backyard, but not two birds um about 1 ft by 1 ft. So, it just doesn't make sense why even smaller townhouse communities wouldn't be allowed to uh participate in this. I think you would see a lot of adoption.

It's about my property is about 4,500 ft. Um, and it's, you know, our backyard is, we could put eight birds back there. We got plenty of room. Um, but it doesn't I can understand if that's not something you guys want to explore, but, uh, definitely could accommodate two to three to four birds. Thank you. Thank you. I just have a quick question. U, my name is Angeline Dy. I live over on uh, Old Lincoln Highway in Langghorn. Um, so you said that the planning commission meeting is in June and this is going to be discussed there too. What's the date for those of us that don't know?

June 8th. June 8th at this June 8th is the planning commission meeting and that's at 7 o'clock too. Correct. In this building and then the next supervisor's meeting is in August and you when that this might be discussed at again. That's not a given, but that's the target that we're shooting for. It's all dependent on what happens. So then we should need to be here for the planning commission meeting, right? Okay. I just want to make sure everybody was aware that's going to be June 8th, 7 o'clock here. I just want to correct I apologize. The planning commission in June is actually June 3rd. June 3rd. See, now that's important to know. Yeah. Sorry.

Okay. So June 3rd at 7 o'clock. And um I also had chickens. I have a gorgeous coupe that has sat empty for probably about six years now. And the the the arguments against it make no sense because for one thing, uh there's an ordinance on the township that you can't put bird seed out on the ground because it attracts mice. But how many people are going around checking people's bird feeds? Cuz my neighbor dumps it. She just throws it out there, you know, and nobody's going over there and, you know, attacking her and she's feeding mice, you know. But um yeah, just yeah, just say yes. Thank you.

Okay. Any other um public comments? Uh just just one. Um I actually have a coupe with chickens in Pendelle. Um but it's right across the street from me. So I send my kids across the street to go get the eggs. I'd like to have it in my backyard instead of setting them across the street because it's legal in Pendal for some reason. I I'm glad they're in Pendell right now. Okay. Um Okay. Thank you. All righty. Okay. One more question. Uh yeah. Could you just state your name? Come on up again. State your name. I didn't state my name before. I know.

Yeah. Gerald Napkowski. Lang Horn Gables. I will not be able to make it to the planning commission. It's a Wednesday and I happen to work on Wednesdays. I wouldn't get up here until probably 7 7:30. Where would it wind up in the agenda? They're posted on the the township website. On the website. Okay. All right. Mr. Andis, could you just quickly just review the um planning commission meeting process where it is?

Yes. Sorry, I miswrote on my memo and then misread it, too. So, it's June 3rd would be the planning commission meeting and dependent on the results of that. Now, that's if an actual recommendation is given during that meeting. I don't see why not, but it could maybe stretch a little bit further in the planning commission, maybe even to their July meeting. I don't know. But if a recommendation was given during that June 3rd meeting in front of the planning commission, which is a Wednesday at 7:00, I don't know. The agenda is not done yet. So, we don't even really know on the order of the agenda items where all that will fall. Uh, that would be it would be expected to go in front of you guys during your August meeting. And I'm al I'm now hesitant to even quote that date since I messed up the planning commission date, but I believe that one would be uh August 10th.

Okay. Yes. Thank you. Just so the board knows, any change to the zoning ordinance also needs to go in front of the Bucks County Planning Commission as well. So it will go in front of the Bucks County Planning Commission too, right? So first it's our planning commission, then the Bucks County Planning Commission. It would it would go simultaneous. We'll send it to them. Yeah, it's it's it's it's a zoning ordinance rewrite. So it absolutely goes in front of the Bucks County Planning Commission for their review as well and comments. Thank you. All right. Any other chicken comments? Okay,

one more chicken comment. My name is Nicole Donado. I am in the Gables. We also had chickens. We had them for about four years. There was no complaint except for the neighbor behind me. Had an issue with us because of a dog complaint. Their dog almost bit my child. So once that happened, they turned us in. We haven't had the chickens for about four years. Everybody around us didn't have a problem with it. They were all in favor for us to have them. We haven't had them in four years. I have that. However, we've been doing homework, finding out Bristol Township, Ben Salem Township, Yardley, New Town, everywhere else. The bottom line is is the chickens were like an emotional support for my son. Okay? He went outside. He was bullied in Hoover. He was beat up three times. The district did nothing about it. These chickens were like an emotional support for him. He went outside. He got confidence. He was able to touch them, hold them, love them, read to them. It was more than just a pet. It was more than just chickens and eggs. It was so much more to give back to a child when they're trying to regulate and go through their coping skills. So, it was a lot more than just what everybody here is saying. There's a lot more that goes into this. And I think we all are aware of what we're doing to our families and we wouldn't put our children in jeopardy to just have things ripped away. So we're trying to all do it the right way and we really want you to take it seriously. But the other question that I have is what is the time frame in regards to if they were to get approved? I mean are we looking like another three years, another two years? Is this possible for August? like how can we be part of the decisions moving forward?

Well, um first up, thank you for your comments. Thank you for your questions. Um like Mr. Andis said, we have our planning commission on June 3rd at 7:00. If we're lucky, there'll be more social media posts with Mr. Andis and chickens to inform us about when that's coming up. Um and then after that, uh it will go, I guess, before us, um after it is approved by the the Bucks County Planning Commission. So those those things have to happen. Um am I promising anything? No. Things can happen and come up. The intention is to we are having this discussion because we know the community is interested and uh we're committed to looking into it and trying to like address your needs and your wants. Thank you.

Okay. Um with that, um any other business, Mr. Kesler? Uh yeah, I just wanted to clarify a comment from before there there was a March planning commission meeting on the 4th. Uh so I know Mr. Post is still here. We're happy to kind of guide him to where that information is. Okay. Will you speak with him after the meeting? Thank you. Yes, absolutely. Yep. That's all. Thank you. All right. Any other business? Um, Supervisor Gallardo, Supervisor Kisik, Supervisor Kane. Nothing further. Supervisor Leighton. Um, just wanted to, you know, hope everyone had a happy Mother's Day on Sunday.

What's the matter? Oh, okay. M, Mr. Espazito, yes. I just want to announce that the board did hold executive sessions on April 14th and immediately prior to tonight's meeting to discuss labor and employment matters. Thank you, Mr. Espo. Miss Steelely Cools, nothing. Thank you. Okay. Um, thank you everybody for coming out. Um, I also wanted to take a a moment to um uh recognize somebody in the audience. Um, we have uh Kevin Clutch, correct? Andrew,

Vincent, I'm sorry, Vincent. Um, uh, last weekend we were with Vincent, amazing, uh, gentleman. He's going for his Eagle Scout. Um, he was working on trails, um, by the Veterans uh, memorial park. And I know you've been invited in June to come back to the board meeting, correct? To share with that. All right. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Okay. All righty. I don't have anything. Uh meeting ajourned