Council Meeting Notes August 28, 2024

Reduced comment time, parking meters make us safer, JM in the spotlight, and George Locke scores one for the opposing team

Here’s what we learned from the August, 2024 Borough Council meeting: 

Council President Jay Conners reduced public comment time from three minutes to just two. The Sunshine Act recommends three minutes. When a commenter on the Facebook page asked why the time was reduced from three minutes, Mr. Conners asserted, “It’s up to me. I can make it thirty seconds if I want.”

Borough Manager George Locke corrected “misinformation” from Jenkintown Matters. Mr. Locke claims that he did not make initial contact with the DCED. Mr. Locke now claims that the state agency first reached out to him to offer their free consulting services after the publicity. While we’re grateful for the correction, we don’t understand the gloating. His revelation tells us that the Borough was either unaware of the agency or that they felt they didn’t need the help. Or that they wanted to keep the process out of the spotlight for as long as possible. We don’t see how this correction makes the Borough look any better. 

Mr. Locke also brought up our RTK filing for the ParkMobile contract, which the Borough invoked a 30-day delay. At the meeting, he readily cited the fifty-cent per transaction fee imposed upon the user. For comparison, we also filed a request to review ParkMobile’s agreement with Cheltenham, (that we received in two days) which charges users thirty cents per transaction. 

George Locke’s comments about this RTK marked the first time he acknowledged our existence at a public meeting. We’re somebody now!

As expected, the Council’s discussion about the proposed redevelopment of the Pitcairn property acknowledged the Borough’s limited standing over the plan for an apartment complex with 86 units. Because Sean Kilkenny’s law firm also represents Cheltenham’s planning board, the Borough will have to send in its backup “conflict” attorney from Rudolph Clarke, LLC. Mr. Kilkenny, who also serves as our county sheriff, represents about twenty municipalities in MontCo alone, and how this isn’t a conflict of interest continues to mystify us.

Is parking enforcement about safety or revenue? Council and Chief Scott assured everyone that it’s all about safety. And that’s exactly what we think when we see a parking meter or find a twenty dollar ticket on our windshield.

Speaking of parking, Chief Scott announced that there will be a meeting about parking enforcement at Borough Hall on September 19.

The meeting agenda posted on the Borough’s website contained 47 pages of attachments, but it did not contain Chief Scott’s monthly police report.