Three vs Five Supervisors - The Referendum

"Should two additional supervisors be elected to serve in this Township?"

Note: The bulletin board for this referendum was taken off-line 03/26/00.

This referendum is the result of efforts by Charlestown Green. Charlestown Green has provided the a statement in support of this referendum. The Charlestown Civic Association has provided a statement opposing this referendum. Both are posted below. Review others' opinions and post your own thoughts on this issue by clicking the links above. Click the "?" icon for some help with using this bulleting board.

Why we should increase to five supervisors Positon of Charlestown Green (09/01/98)  At the January 5th Annual Reorganization Meeting of the Charlestown Supervisors, Robin Kohn resigned stating he did not feel he had been effective in the position. This followed many months of gridlock and constant bickering between the two remaining Supervisors on numerous issues regarding the governing of our township. After numerous attempts and meetings, the one member Vacancy Board was required to assist in selecting Mr. KohnÍs successor, as the two remaining Supervisors could not agree on even this issue. Charlestown Green, Inc. has taken the position that increasing the Supervisors from a three-member board to a five-member board would help eliminate gridlock and foster a more proactive board. The board of directors of Charlestown Green approved a motion to petition the Chester County Board of Elections, collected the requisite signatures and filed their petition on July 27th. The referendum question that will appear on this November´s ballot is as follows: Should two additional Supervisors be elected to serve in this Township? Charlestown Green supports this referendum and is actively encouraging residents of the township to vote yes in November. The only individuals who have been vocally opposed to the idea of a five-member board are the three incumbent Supervisors, and you have to wonder why? While initially this was done in an attempt to bring civility to the board, there are numerous advantages and few potential disadvantages to an expanded board, such as: When one or two members cannot make a meeting or are unable to vote on an issue due to a conflict of interest, we still have the ability to resolve the situation without having a stalemate. Division of power and responsibilities: A supervisor wears many hats, it´s a great deal of work. This would give the board the ability to have sub-committees for various projects and would allocate the work to more bodies. At the present time the Supervisors rarely attend the Planning Commission meetings, and they should be more in tune with this board so they are not re-doing the board´s work. Eliminate the "odd-man-out" situation that has existed on the board from time to time over the last seven plus years. Bring more and diverse talent to the board and hopefully better reflect our divergent population, especially our newest residents. Will it cost the taxpayers more? Yes, based on the number of meetings the supervisors attend each year and the present salary ($50.00 per meeting), the cost to the taxpayers of Charlestown Township would be in the range of $4,000. This represents approximately 1/2 of a percent of the Township´s annual budget.

Why we should continue with three supervisors Position of Charlestown Civic Association (09/19/98)  In February of this year, after the process of selecting a supervisor to replace Robin Kohn, Kevin Kuhn from Charlestown Green announced that his organization was going to sponsor a referendum to increase the present Board from three Supervisors to five. At the time, the referendum was developed over the frustration felt by some individuals that the remaining two Supervisors were not able to come to a consensus on a replacement. It was felt that had more representatives been on the board, they would have been better able to reach an agreement on one individual. Our view is that, even with a five member Board, the possibility of a consensus not being reached exists. In both of these cases, the course of action would lead to a vacancy Board decision. When Charlestown had a two member Board, the business of the Township proceeded without impedance. Since Bob Wert's appointment, the Board has continued to run with the best interests of the Township in mind. All three current Supervisors have expressed their opinion that the Board should continue to consist of only three members. It has been our experience that finding a qualified candidate who is willing to run actively for office can be difficult. Should a five member Board be chosen, it could mean reducing the caliber of our Board. In this situation, it would be difficult to return to a three member Board. There has been no absenteeism with our board this year, compared to, for example, the seven member Planning Commission, which has one to three members absent almost every meeting. A larger number of members on the Board of Supervisors will allow for a greater chance of someone being absent. With one person absent, it will allow for a split decision and delay the business of the Township. One member could also influence greater power on the board by abstaining during close critical votes causing inaction and delay. One of the difficulties with the present Board is trying to match their schedules when trying to have an executive session or a road inspection tour. This will be made more difficult when trying to match five schedules. Also, when a member misses a meeting, we will see as with the planning commission, that person as having to be brought up to speed. This could also create delay in conducting business. We will also be faced with the difficulty of reaching a consensus, delaying decisions to the detriment of the Township. There will be an additional cost to the Township. The Green estimated that cost to be $4,000 with the additional supervisors. We believe that there will be a higher administrative cost as well. We have had discussion with a supervisor in Schuylkill Township where they increased their board to five members, and were surprised at the increase in office work. We have to ask ourselves do we want to go from small government to big government. The Charlestown Web page is sponsoring an on-line debate on this issue. Please take the time to examine both sides of the issue and please make your comments known. We respect Charlestown Green's effort in pushing for the referendum but after careful consideration, the Charlestown Civic Associations Board of Directors recommends to the residents of the township to vote NO on the referendum to increase the Board of Supervisors to five.