Ok look I have to ask: how can this one remaining supervisor in West Vincent Township sit here this past week at a gathering with bumble the solicitor and everything that is old is new again manager who was exited a bunch of years ago not because he was fab and came back as an interim with straight faces? They literally just held a meeting without a quorum which is really just a gathering right? How can you hold a meeting about the business of a municipality without a quorum? The answer is you’re not supposed to. It’s a second class township. This is the big flaw in the structure of second class townships because although you can have five supervisors too many places only have three like here.
You have one supervisor that I suspect people are not going to see again (Sara Shick) and you have another one also with obvious health issues (Bernie Couris formerly a Republican Borough Council person in West Conshohocken) given the gray pallor at the meeting they were last attending wearing a giant hospital mask and then leaving after 20 minutes. You may not see him again either, right?
Now many things people do not know about Bernie Couris is he was in the papers years ago for a heart transplant. I have never found him to be my type of politician either in West Vincent or West Conshohocken, but he had a heart transplant I want to say 1990-ish, and went on to run marathons etc, and that I do find truly amazing and inspiring. That being said, if he is not well, that could be super serious, right? (And if you don’t believe me check South Jersey papers archives, Inquirer, Daily News, etc.)
And Sara Shick is a breast cancer survivor – used to be a peer counselor at Living Beyond Breast Cancer which is actually one of the few breast cancer charities I believe in. BUT given the way she looked at meetings the past few months (wheelchair, suddenly a hair covering, looking frail, and a very wobbly voice) something is up and hasn’t been to a meeting or part of one since September?
Look, I am not being mean, these people are UNWELL and this township doesn’t have a quorum. So both of them need to put what is rumored to be some sort of competition or not getting along aside for the good of their township, don’t they? It is OK to say you are sick or whatever and step aside and release that stress from your lives if you have a medical condition that requires attention and less stress, correct?
So who is running the township?
And I realize government in West Vincent can’t escape being Pennsyltucky once in a while, but you can have a meeting and just say you’re getting together so everybody can see literally who’s left! They’re not actually doing anything because legally they can’t do anything without a quorum can they? And that is exactly what the remaining supervisor Dana Allen did. Had a meeting without a quorum and did not know the basics of you can’t post minutes that have not been approved by quorum?
And then you have to wonder if any of the former supervisor(s) that people fought so hard to rid the township of are just waiting in the wings, looking to be placed as the pinch hitter(s)? Now one pinch hitter I would approve of is Mike Schneider, for example. Or even George Dulchinos, right?
I have to ask should the state be stepping in here because I think this is crazy town and if I was living or working in this municipality and they don’t even have like the audit from the prior year finished yet let alone how can they really be talking about 2024 because they can’t really do anything with that either, can they?
Because again…broken record time… there’s not a quorum now, so wouldn’t you be anxious as a resident ? Or even as a township employee? Truthfully residents shouldn’t be just anxious, they should be up in arms. And before anybody jumps down my throat and says I am unsympathetic to people dealing with health issues, that’s not the case at all. This is a broken down system in this municipality once again, and that is not fair to anyone is it???
Again, supervisors who are not at the table and haven’t been at the table now in one case for several meetings, and in another case for a couple of meetings need to do the right thing. It is OK to say their health comes first and they are sorry they cannot serve any longer… but you can’t just pretend nothing is happening here, can you? And should you?
And let’s talk the everything old is new again interim manager? A right to know uncovered he is billing $75 /hour. How is the recruitment going and how can they appoint a manager without a quorum of supervisors anyway?
So then there is why are they using Keystone Municipal Services for manager searching when The Meyner Center at Lafayette has the better track record? Here, check this link because the Meyner Center has the track record IMHO:
Here is the job posting for a new West Vincent manager, but again, without a healthy Board of Supervisors HOW do they interview and hire one??? Picking a new manager is not just playing that child’s card game of match, is it?
A resident asked at the meeting asked the question of what if there was no quorum in December and the solicitor basically told her not to worry her pretty little head about it? I mean for real?
And of course because there really is no local journalism anymore you have nothing about this in the Daily Local and I doubt the Inquirer even knows there’s a problem.
West Vincent is careening in my opinion. I am glad I don’t live there but oh hell if this is not a reason for second class townships to go to a five member board everywhere in PA, I don’t know what is.
West Vincent is Crazy Town and not in a good or productive way.