Standing Room Only

It was a full auditorium at Lenape Middle School as residents and business owners voiced their support and reservations about the proposed "teen" measures. The meeting opened with a presentation by Doylestown Borough Manager, John Davis. I have made the presentation available here or by clicking on picture below.



WARNING: The presentation contains graphic/mature content.

The participants of the town meeting demonstrated strong support for the education and town watch components of the plan. These popular proposals received outspoken vocal support from borough residents and the surrounding communities. While surveillance cameras were somewhat controversial, the curfew drew the strongest criticism from a large cross-section of residents.

As the Public Safety Committee, we focused our attention on the comments and feedback of the audience before speaking ourselves. I expressed my reservations regarding the curfew proposal and the necessary due diligence required for such a decision. Given the significant potential impact to the liberties of our residents, I suggested that the curfew ordinance be tabled for future discussion. Mark Douple made a motion to table the ordinance -- it passed with strong support by myself and Lori Clipner.

From the committee discussion, Education, Citations, and Town Watch will be passed on to Borough Council with the recommendation of the Public Safety Committee. Surveillance cameras are being passed without a recommendation.

Further discussion of the proposed curfew ordinance will be conducted at the March meeting of the Public Safety Committee. Borough Council has 30 days to consider the ordinance before the advertisement is invalid.

Thank you all for your insightful comments. It was rewarding to see the community so involved.

Town Meeting Reminder

Tonight, a town meeting is being held regarding the teen issues and proposals. We look forward to your participation. Please consider attending.



Public Safety Committee:
Town Meeting for Teen Issues and Proposals
Lenape Middle School Auditorium
TONIGHT at 7PM
If you are concerned about the safety of our teens and our community, please come and participate. All residents are invited. Your feedback and comments will be invaluable as our borough government faces these difficult decisions.

Thank you!

Water Committee

The Water Committee will have its first meeting this evening. Agenda items include an update the ongoing environmental issues on North Broad St. Of note to Ward 1 residents, the meeting will also include a recap and review of the false positive test at Linden Elementary. The borough personnel attention and rapid response to the test received a good deal of positive and well-earned press.

If you are interested in attending committee meetings, be sure to check out my public calendar. Official meeting agendas are available at Doylestown Borough Hall.

Thank you.

First Friday

Doylestown continues its First Friday events this evening. Extended hours for shops, art events, and live music make for a special night. With the warm weather, it should be a pleasant night for a stroll in our great town. Hope to see you out in the borough!

All the Best!

Finance and Administration Committee

The Finance and Administration Committee meets at 7PM this evening. Being that last month's meeting was cancelled to accomodate the re-organization of the Doylestown Borough Council, this is the first meeting for the committee in 2006. Agenda topics include a review of the Capital Reserve investment performance and the year end budget of 2005.

Unlike some surrounding municipalities, Doylestown Borough has managed to maintain a significant capital reserve. As we face challenges in the year ahead, it is important that we continue this stewardship for the fiscal integrity of the borough.

Thank you for your support.

Meeting Calendar and Agendas

The scheduled meeting times for many of our Doylestown Borough Council committees have changed. To best serve residents and my constituents, I have made my schedule available online at the following address.

http://ical.mac.com/detansinn/Doylestown

The calendar is "spartan" at the moment, but I will be updating it to include additional scheduled meetings and agenda as available. All meetings are at Borough Hall unless otherwise noted.

Please be advised that Borough Council committees do not meet if no agenda has been identified. As always, summaries and meeting synopsis are provided for informational purposes. Please contact Doylestown Borough Hall if you would like a copy of the formal agenda for a particular meeting.

Thank you!

February 8th Town Meeting

A town meeting has been scheduled for February 8th. Given the large public attendance at last night's session of the Doylestown Borough Council, the venue for the town meeting has been changed.



Public Safety Committee:
Town Meeting for Teen Issues and Proposals
Lenape Middle School Auditorium
February 8th at 7PM
If you are concerned about the safety of our teens and our community, please come and participate. All residents are invited.

Your feedback and comments will be invaluable as our borough government faces these difficult decisions.

Thank you!

Parking and Voting

With limited committee meetings in January as a result of the re-organization, the rest of the Doylestown Borough Council agenda was relatively limited. That said, there were two decisions that may be of interest to residents.

Parking
An advertisement will be issued for a proposed ordinance change that elevates relief from building parking requirements to a variance from a special exception.

Voting
The voting integrity resolution passed with a strong bi-partisan vote. It establishes Doylestown Borough support for voter-verified paper ballots. Specifically, it expresses support for both the PA Senate Bill (SB977) and PA House Bill (HB2000).

Full House for Teen Issues

Last night, it was a full house for the first meeting of the new Doylestown Borough Council. With teen issues being a prominent part of the agenda, more than 50 people attended the meeting to voice their concerns and/or support for the proposed initiatives. The significance of the meeting attracted a FOX television camera -- extremely rare for a council session.

Public comment was both strongly worded and empathetic to the needs of the community and our teens. Concerned citizens, borough residents, and business owners spoke passionately to both the overall plan and specific initiatives. Within this preliminary discussion, the curfew emerged as one of the more controversial proposals. Conversely, the town watch received very strong support with citizen volunteers already emerging. Uniformly, we heard thoughtful perspectives from a diverse audience.

With the excellent public participation, it also became clear that a larger venue would be required for an effective town meeting on February 8th. Our Borough Manager, John Davis, has begun to investigate an alternate venue. I will post that information as soon as it becomes available.

Thank you for your participation and terrific comments.

January Monthly Meeting

On Monday at 7PM, the Doylestown Borough Council will have its monthly meeting. It will be the first time the full council has met since the January 3rd reorganization meeting. Two important issues will be discussed by the council.

Teens and Public Safety
The proposals from the Public Safety committee will be presented. This will include the components of Chief Donnelly's plan as well as the controversial teen curfew. As always, there will be an opportunity for public comment. While no decision will be made on the proposals this month, feedback and comment from residents and business owners is very important. Next month, a special public town meeting will be held on February 8th for further input from the community. I will post details for this town meeting as soon as they are available.

Voting Integrity Resolution
Members of the full council will have the opportunity to vote on the proposed voting integrity resolution. The resolution will demonstrate the borough's support of a paper-based audit trail for the new voting machines. Similar resolutions have passed in Doylestown Township and elsewhere. If this issue is important to you, please come out and show your support.

If these issues are important to you, please come out and show your support and/or opposition. Public comment is critical for the effectiveness of our local government.

Thank you!