During their Thursday, May 9 meeting, East Allen Township Supervisors rejected a draft ordinance that would increase supervisor pay. Per state mandate, township supervisors are eligible for a yearly pay increase once the township population surpasses 5,000.
The current yearly rate is $1,875. The ordinance proposed an increase to $2,500, per state guidelines. The increase would go into effect during the next term, meaning no supervisor would be eligible for compensation before re-election.
Supervisor Mark Schwartz made a motion to approve the draft ordinance.
“The population has gotten over the mark,” he said. “It’s state-controlled…we’re just going with the scale they have created,” said Schwartz.
Supervisor Georgiann Hunsicker also voted in favor.
However, Supervisors Roger Unangst and Christopher Cruz voted against the motion. Supervisor Don Heiney was absent. With this tie, the motion failed.
Cruz voiced discomfort with the ordinance in a past meeting.
“I am totally against it,” he said during an April 11 meeting. “This is taxpayer money…We’re doing what’s best for the township.”
While all supervisors agreed that they did not seek office for the pay, those in favor of the increase primarily cited the state’s guidelines, which would put them on par with other municipalities.
In other news, Tim McCarthy, managing partner of Traditions of America, appeared before the board for a status update on his company’s 250-acre active adult community on Locust Road.
A sewer study was authorized by supervisors in March; however, little movement has been made since, said McCarthy. Although the property is in East Allen Township, the sewer systems are in Hanover Township and Bethlehem. McCarthy questioned why letters regarding the study were not sent to the neighboring municipalities.
Township Manager Brent Green explained a change of leadership in Hanover Township has held up the process. The letters have been drafted and are currently being reviewed by engineers and solicitors.
“We can do a study in East Allen, but we don’t own the system in Hanover, and we don’t own the system in Bethlehem, and we don’t control capacity…we don’t have agreements to do any of that,” Green added. All municipalities must work together as a result.
McCarthy also asked why his team has been “prohibited” from contacting the township or its consultants. Green explained this is because of an influx of calls to township staff.
“We were getting calls between five, 10, 15 times a day at multiple levels from different people,” he said. The township asked that the dialogue cease until the sewer study starts. Then, a meeting would be held between the stakeholders.
With the letter in the queue, McCarthy thanked the township and asked to “keep the wheels turning.”
The next East Allen Township Board of Supervisors workshop meeting will be Thursday, May 23 at 7 p.m.
