Morrisville School Board: The Next Generation

According to the Courier Times, it appears that President Bill Hellmann and Vice President Al Radosti will lead the crew of the Starship Enterprise-NSN for the next two years. So much for my guess that Radosti would emerge as the new Jean-Luc Picard.

MORRISVILLE

The Morrisville school board welcomed new members, including William Hellmann, who was elected president. Alfred Radosti, who has served on the board since 2003, was elected to serve as vice president.

Other members joining the board were Robin Reithmeyer, Marlys Mihok and William Farrell.

Hellmann and Radosti were elected by votes of 7-2, with Edward Frankenfield and Joseph Kemp voting to elect Kemp as president and Frankenfield as vice president.

Mihok was unanimously elected to serve as school district representative to the Bucks County Intermediate Unit Board.

Power has an interesting dynamic all its own, and I admit that I am somewhat surprised that Radosti, Heater, and Worob (oh my!) having survived so many years of silent second banana-hood under the alleged dictatorial iron thumb of Dr. Gibson would decline an opportunity to gloriously lead this board. May their golden tongues be loosened.

The next two years are also going to be tough on Ed Frankenfield and Joe Kemp. In much the same way the Republicans have found that minorityhood in Congress is not fun (and they are retiring in record numbers for the 2008 election cycle), they will be largely ignored by the NSNs unless they maintain strident and loud dissent or moderate their positions to more closely match the NSN positions. I remember reading about Richard Nixon's first few days as a private citizen following his resignation, and he wanted to send a letter to a supporter. They looked and looked, and the only stationery available was the apple green letterhead reserved for the President of the United States. An aide took a pair of scissors, cut off the presidential seal, and handed the remains of the page to the former president remarking, "This is the new reality."

Any thoughts about the power dynamic with the former borough controller now president of the board? How about board member Mrs. Worob and councilman Mr. Worob? Is Vice-President Radosti running for a second shot at Mayor Wisnosky's job? And how about relations between the borough council and the board of education? Who runs who? Any other thoughts?

Wish I Had Thought of This.....

In a spirit of cooperation with the new board members, (I couldn't attend last night's meeting. How did the re-org meeting go?), here's a nifty idea for thought. Imagine using the schools as quasi-community centers.

New equipment might pay for itself
By CHRIS ENGLISH
Bucks County Courier Times

A $27,000 investment in new technology for the township meeting room could end up paying for itself, one Middletown supervisor said.

Robert McMonagle said planned installation of equipment for Power Point presentations and other things designed to make the room more user-friendly could make it attractive to outside organizations for meetings and conferences. That would mean rental income for the township, he said.

“By adding all these technological accoutrements, we should be able to offer the room for other functions and events,” he said. “Those kinds of things should be happening more often. We have this excellent resource we're not using enough.”

The $27,000 for new equipment in the meeting room is allocated in the 2008 proposed budget. A vote to finalize the budget is scheduled for the supervisors' Dec. 11 meeting.

One of the pieces of equipment is a large screen that would allow the supervisors and audience to more easily view plans, blueprints and other images shown during meetings. The screen also could be used by outside organizations renting the room.

“I think it will make things much better,” said township resident Phil Schieber, who frequently attends supervisor meetings. “It's often very difficult to see what some of the developers and engineers are trying to present, particularly on housing and water runoff type issues. Water runoff is a particularly sensitive issue and the more residents know about it the better off they are.”

However, he doubts the wisdom of allowing the new equipment to turn the meeting room into a money maker.

“I have a little concern with that,” Schieber said. “The purpose of that room should be to benefit and serve the residents and homeowners of Middletown, as far as I'm concerned.”

But with expenses constantly rising, the board must always look for new sources of revenue, said Supervisor Jasper Caro. The proposed 2008 budget has a property tax increase of 1.5 mills, or $43.50 for the average property owner.

“We were originally talking about $100,000 worth of new equipment and I started favoring it when we cut it way down,” Caro said. “I think trying to get outside groups into the room is a good idea, provided it's not used for political purposes. If we're allowed to do it and it can help the budget, it's a good idea.”

McMonagle also would like to see other events in addition to the supervisor meetings televised over the township's cable TV government access channel.

“A good example is the global warming conference we had in the meeting room a few weeks ago, more things like that,” he said. “We could televise cultural events, music events and maybe work in conjunction with the Neshaminy School District to bring in student functions.”

December 3, 2007 7:36 AM