Voters in Lower Heidelberg Township will be asked in November’s general election to decide whether the board of supervisors should be expanded.
A ballot question will ask if the number of supervisors should be increased to five from three. If approved, the two new supervisor positions would appear on ballots next year, and the winners would start their terms in January 2024.
The idea to expand the board of supervisors came from current Supervisor Vice Chairman Paul Prutzman. It was something he initially proposed a few years ago before he became a supervisor.
At that time, he said, the supervisors weren’t interested in pursuing the idea. And an attempt to collect enough signatures on petitions to get the question on the ballot fell short.
Now that he’s a member of the board, Prutzman has decided to give it another try. And this time around his fellow supervisors are on board.
Prutzman said there are several reasons behind his desire to expand the board.
The first, he said, is that with the current three supervisors power can reside in just two people.
“It only takes two people to run everything,” he said. “Needing three is a whole lot more, but it means you can’t just have a buddy and run everything.”
Prutzman said having just three supervisors also creates challenges in making sure the board has a quorum for meetings.
For example, he said, he spent two months in the hospital this summer. During that time, another supervisor was also hospitalized following surgery.
“Technically, you couldn’t do anything then,” he said, explaining that meetings can’t take place with just one supervisor. “Even if just one person is gone, you’re down to the barest of quorums.”
Prutzman said quorum rules factor into another aspect of having just three supervisors that he thinks is a detriment. Because two supervisors make up a quorum, two supervisors cannot discuss township business at all outside of public meetings.
“Just being able to talk on the phone about things sometimes would be helpful,” he said.
The final reason Prutzman wants to expand the board is because he wants to see more people get involved with running the township.
“If you bring more people in you get a diversity of opinions,” he said. “And I think that’s useful.”
Prutzman said he believes finding more people to serve won’t be a challenge. When a supervisor moved out of state earlier this year, he said, the township received eight applications to replace him.
Ballot question
Here’s how the ballot question will appear on ballots in Lower Heidelberg Township:
Should two additional supervisors be elected to serve in this township?
Simple explanation
The Lower Heidelberg Township Board of Supervisors currently consists of three township supervisors. The Pennsylvania Second Class Township Code allows two additional supervisors to be added to the Township’s Board of Supervisors if the addition is approved by a majority of the Township’s electors voting at the next election. A ‘Yes’ vote means that you are in favor of adding two additional supervisors to the Lower Heidelberg Township Board of Supervisors. If a majority of the Township’s electors vote ‘Yes’, the total number of township supervisors would be increased to five (5) supervisors. A ‘No’ vote means that you are not in favor of adding two additional supervisors to the Lower Heidelberg Township Board of Supervisors. If a majority of the Township’s electors vote ‘No’, the total number of township supervisors would remain at three (3) supervisors.
Source: Berkshire mont
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