Sometimes I forget about people. Take this guy John Granger, Township Manger for hire. I first heard about him in March, 2009 when he was appointed interim township manger in Radnor while manager in Solebury Township, Bucks County, after they fired Dave Bashore. It was almost former Coatesville now Phoenixville guy Jean Krack, but that is another story entirely, isn’t it? In 2016 Granger was in Aston, Delaware County. Before West Vincent, Granger was in Exeter Township, and his contract wasn’t renewed.
I remember literally saying when West Vincent hired him full time, couldn’t they do any better? But whatever, I am but a mere mortal and a female of many questions and opinions. But now there is an “A ha” moment of sorts. Why?
Well because John Granger is a pattern guy. He is doing something in West Vincent he did while full time manager in Solebury, Bucks County: He’s straddling two townships. Yes I am being repetitive.
And sadly, no, I am not kidding you.
Granger will be a “consultant” compensated at $100 per hour, said Board of Commissioners president Tom Masterson (Ward 6).
He came recommended by Radnor’s special labor counsel Neil A. Morris, according to one commissioner. Morris also recommended the township’s interim solicitor John B. Rice of the Bucks County law firm Grim, Biehn and Thatcher.
Granger has been manager in Solebury since 2003. Before that, he was manager of Towamencin Township in Montgomery County from 1991 to 2001.
He also runs a consulting business, Granger Associates, which he describes as “management services for local government, focusing on grant writing and strategic planning,” according to his resume.
The Chalfont resident said Monday he will be using some saved up vacation time at his Solebury Township job, and estimates that he will work anywhere from 30 to 50 hours per week in his Radnor position.
~ main line media news, sam strike article 3/24/2009
So West Vincent Township explain to me how your full time manager John Granger can be your treasurer too and NOW he is interim manger and secretary for New Garden Township as well? West Vincent has approximately 5500 residents and New Garden approximately 11,500 residents? Does he still live in the Chalfont area or did he move?
Great work if you can get it and clearly he can and how much is he making for everything? And this is again what he did when at Solebury Township. He also became Radnor Township’s interim manager. So is West Vincent is supposed to be full time and he’s only there on average 3 days a week, is West Vincent getting a rebate on salary? Wowza West Vincent one would have thought you learned with Wendelgass but even West Pikeland didn’t did they?
Granger has done this before. Kind of double dipping, eh? Township Manager and Treasurer in West Vincent. Interim Township Manager and Secretary in New Garden Township.
Not my country, not my people. But hey, putting it out there. Below after the photos of camera shy Manager Granger today is your history lesson:
So for the “Radnor Time” , Granger came from Solebury, Bucks County. He was not a fan favorite when an interim manager in Radnor Township circa 2009, was he? Didn’t he try for a FL job at some point too? Anyway. He popped up as a name on the Main Line in 2014 with some litigation a former candidate for Radnor Manager filed:
Although a jury declared Wednesday that his future military obligations were a factor in Radnor Township’s decision not to hire an Air Force major as manager in 2009, the same jury added that there were still other reasons as to why it did not hire him.
John J. Murphy, who is currently the city manager in Hobbs, New Mexico, filed suit in federal court in 2011 claiming that Radnor did not hire him as manager because of his future reserve military obligations when the township was looking for a new manager after firing its old manager, David Bashore, in 2009.
In its decision, the jury had to answer two questions.
The first question was whether Murphy’s ongoing reserve military obligations were a contributing factor in its decision not to hire him.
Though the jury answered yes to that question, it was also tasked with the next question as to whether there were other reasons for Radnor not to have hired Murphy. Again, the jury decided the answer was yes.
In order for Murphy to have won the case, the jury would have had to find that there were no other reasons for the township not to have hired him.
Following the verdict, both sides declined comment…..
The township launched a nationwide search for a new township manager in 2009 by bringing in a consultant. The hiring consultant then conducted the nationwide search and received 76 applications for the post.
Radnor has said Murphy was not among the top 17 qualified of the candidates. Murphy, however, had been the put in with a group of eight who were interviewed based on the request of Commissioner John Fisher.
Murphy, the son of a retired Philadelphia police officer and raised in Northeast Philadelphia, had been working as the city manager in Wilkes-Barre, for several years before learning that Radnor was looking for a new manager. In court he said getting the job in Radnor was his chance to come home again.
In testimony during the trial, Radnor said the board believed that Murphy had overstated his qualifications and his role in turning around the troubled finances of the city of Wilkes-Barre when he was manager.
Murphy is also the brother of former Congressman Patrick Murphy who represented a district in Northeast Philadelphia and Bucks County.
Among the issues that came up during the four-day trial was a phone call that Patrick Murphy made on behalf of his brother to the commissioners president at the time…
There were also disputes as to what was said to Murphy by former Radnor interim township manager John Granger.
Granger, in the interim position, was tasked with facilitating interviews with potential candidates in 2009 for Bashore’s replacement.
In his suit and during his testimony, Murphy claims that Granger told him prior to his interview that he was in his list of top candidates. Murphy added that after the interview, Granger called him and said some of the board members had concerns over his ongoing military commitments and he was not selected for a second interview.
On the stand Wednesday, Granger said he did not recall the conversations Murphy was referring to and that he would not have made some of the statements attributed to him.
Granger was brought in to be the township manager in Radnor temporarily while he was also township manager in Solebury Township in Bucks County.
According to Granger’s testimony, he planned on working for Radnor from April through Labor Day in 2009. In the end, he stayed until Dec. 31, 2009.
Granger disputed Murphy’s statements by telling the court that he did not have any favorites because he didn’t really care who Radnor hired.
So….I remember I wrote briefly about this again in 2020 when John Granger was appointed Township Manager of West Vincent Township. West Vincent has a checkered past and present when it comes to elected officials and appointed ones, doesn’t it? Granger was also in Towamencin too:
NEWS
Towamencin officials must remain vigilant
By LANSDALE REPORTER |
PUBLISHED: April 19, 2003 at 6:41 a.m.
Instead, they must keep foremost in their minds that the review highlighted an overall failure to follow formal municipal procedures.
And they must learn from their mistakes in allowing former township Manager John Granger to assume power that wasn‘t his – power he used to transfer $1.9 million from the township to the Towamencin Infrastructure Authority without authorization, according to the independent review.
Township officials and residents are living with the aftermath of these actions, and continue to grapple with such thorny issues as widening Forty Foot Road, building a pedestrian bridge over the widened highway and “village plans“ that have been both touted and questioned in Towamencin.
AT THIS POINT, the township is forging ahead with the controversial project, restarting the procedure to acquire rights-of-way needed for the road-widening and pedestrian bridge project…..WHAT HAS occurred in the past can‘t be changed. And instituting written procedures such as these should go far to ensure the township does not encounter similar problems…..
The other troubling aspect is the topic of John Granger, who apparently has not had to answer for any of his deeds. He left the township abruptly, worked for a time at Temple Ambler‘s Center for Sustainable Communities and now has left that job.
He is a difficult man to track down and refuses to comment on the topic. It would be the right thing for him to come forward and offer an explanation for his actions.
The supervisors should demand this explanation. The public deserves it. And then, with new procedures in force, perhaps the township can move forward.
~ landsdale repoter 4/19/2003
Now back up to 2007, when Granger was quoted in The Philadelphia Inquirer regarding open space:
Open spaces pinching suburbs
Municipalities find that keeping land free can turn into a money pit.
By Diane Mastrull, Inquirer Staff Writer
Published Aug 12, 2007
….In town halls across the suburbs, conservation euphoria is giving way to the sober realization that open space can be a money pit.
“What did we get ourselves into?” is the increasingly common refrain among municipal officials, said John Granger, manager of Solebury Township in Bucks County.
READING EAGLE: Exeter will search for new township manager
By KEITH SMOKER
PUBLISHED: January 14, 2020
Exeter Township supervisors on Monday voted to officially open the position of township manager. The vote came a week after they agreed not to renew current Manager John Granger’s contract.
Supervisor John Cusatis said later that Granger was given 30 days’ notice when the decision was made Jan. 7. Cusatis did not, when asked, specify a reason for Granger’s pending exit.
Then this pops up:
EXETER TWP, Pa. – Monday night’s meeting of the Exeter Township Board of Supervisors was relatively calm and quiet, compared to last Wednesday’s special meeting during which the board voted to censure and remove as vice president David Hughes.
The subject of the supervisors’ focus at Monday’s meeting wasn’t Hughes but controversial former Township Manager John Granger, who was fired in early 2020.
Granger had changed the reporting protocol for the chief of police, having the position report to the township manager rather than the supervisors. During Monday’s meeting, the supervisors changed the reporting structure for the police chief back to the way it was before Granger became township manager.
Oh and this is a public record for the PUC from 2019: