2006 News

July 26, 2006

Commissioners Visit Falls Township Senior Center
Facility Serves as Key Community Center for Power Outages and
Voting Machine Education

In a timely choice of venue for their bi-monthly meeting, the Bucks County Board of Commissioners visited the Falls Township Senior Center on July 26. During the widespread county power outages of July 18, the center – which serves over 800 residents, according to director Ann Marie Moyer – became a place of refuge for citizens without power and, specifically, air conditioning.

Commissioners’ Chairman James F. Cawley, Esq. trumpeted the county’s rapid response to the power outages, detailing a cooperative effort with PECO to distribute dry ice to affected municipalities.

“The commissioners fought long and hard so that our municipalities would not have to pay for the dry ice (used to protect food from spoilage),” said Bucks County Chief Operating Officer/Managing Director David M. Sanko, adding that 180 roads were closed throughout the county in the aftermath of the storm. “We have a wonderful emergency management team and support network. The good news is that we’re getting very good at handling disasters. The bad news is that we’re having them.”

During September, the Falls Township Senior Center, one of 13 centers operated by Bucks County, will be one of the “Bucks VOTEs” educational venues for hands-on training for the county’s new Danaher 1242 electronic voting machines. That session is part of a county-wide informational initiative, slated to kick off at the Grange Fair next month, designed to reach each of the 54 municipalities.

Additionally, the Falls Township Senior Center is located adjacent to the Oxford Valley Golf Course – the county-operated, nine-hole layout that has been the focus of significant upgrades over the past year. The effort was a cooperation between golf course management and players from the county, who were able to share their concerns and recommendations with the county’s Parks and Recreation Department.

“We are going to conduct a personal inspection (of the course),” Commissioner Charles H. Martin told a gathering that included dozens of senior center members. “We will see all of it.” Lauding the commissioners for their prompt attention to please for course-maintenance upgrades, Lower Makefield resident Charles McGovern observed, “The course is in the best condition we’ve seen in CB West Girls Track Teamyears. We want to thank the commissioners and the new course superintendents,” (Denny Bonner and Michael Bernilovitch, who were hired at the March 1 commissioners’ meeting.)

Aside from the meeting’s recreational theme – which included a proclamation saluting the Central Bucks West girls’ track and field 4x800-meter state championship relay team – the agenda included resolutions for contracts and/or agreements with 15 county departments.

Highlights of the regular agenda included:

  • A $561,080 contract with Philadelphia’s Aramark Services to provide non-kosher home delivered meals to clients of the Bucks County Area Agency on Aging;
  • A $170,000 Area Agency on Aging subsidy to Bucks County Transport, Inc. for senior citizen transportation services;
  • A $1.221 million community block grant to be distributed between 28 subgrantees through the Community and Business Department, including $143,900 to the Bucks County Housing Group, Inc., $167,400 to Bristol Borough for lighting installation in Spurline Park, $99,200 to Middletown Twp. for curb cuts and reconstruction, $97,900 to Upper Southampton Twp. for library meeting room and restroom accessibility improvements, and $98,000 for road construction and curb cuts in Warminster Twp.(see page 8 of link for full list: Click here for agenda
  • A $183,600 agreement with Community Education Centers of Roseland, NJ to free up space in the county correctional facilities. According to Prison Oversight Chairperson and Commissioner Sandra A. Miller, the five-month, renewable agreement will allow up to 20 inmates to be transferred to Philadelphia’s Coleman Hall. The program is specifically designed for work-release prisoners who have jobs in the lower portions of Bucks County ;
  • A $602,161 grant from the PA Department of Health to provide funding for WIC (Women, Infants and Children) programs through the Health Department;
  • A $35,000 contract for design services for reconstruction of the Core Creek Park tennis courts.

HS Poet LaureateThe commissioners also issued a proclamation to Pennsbury High junior Sara Steinhouse, who recently earned acclaim as the county’s youth poet laureate. Steinhouse read one of her poems, “Pennsylvania Summer,” for the meeting attendees.