2007 News

January 4, 2007

Bucks County Commissioners Open 2007 Meeting Schedule by Emphasizing Unprecedented List of Public Works Projects

Even as Commissioner Charles H. Martin succeeded Commissioner James F. Cawley, Esq. as chairman of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners during the Jan. 3 bi-monthly meeting in the courthouse community room, Martin, Cawley and fellow Commissioner Sandra A. Miller detailed a course of vast structural and procedural improvement for the upcoming year.

“We have many projects moving forward and hopefully to be completed this year,” Chairman Martin said after accepting the gavel for his seventh one-year term as chairman and commending both Cawley and Miller for their 2006 service and contribution to governmental progress. “We want to continue to build upon the progress of 2006.”

The commissioners unanimously approved resolutions for 10 departments, including a four-year Corrections uniform contract with Philadelphia’s Cintas Corporation that will save taxpayers more than $30,000 annually with the potential for significantly more savings in the future. The commissioners also approved a one-year media data-retrieval service for the Recorder of Deeds office that will allow the public, especially attorneys, real-estate brokers/agents and bankers, to access public records dating back to 1970 via the internet. According to Recorder of Deeds Edward Gudknecht, the system will lead to a reduced volume of visitors and phone calls for his office and make access “better for all of us.”

During the chief operating officer’s report, David M. Sanko addressed the “long-awaited smoking pavilion” on the courthouse second-floor level that “will remove the cloud of smoke from the entrances and exits to the building.” The new policy went into effect Jan. 2.

Sanko’s report underscored the multiple government construction endeavors that are ongoing or, in his words, the “largest list of building projects in Bucks County history.” They include the morgue/crime lab in Ivyland, the 9-1-1 expansion, also in Ivyland, the new parking garage and justice center in Doylestown, the Quakertown Government Service Center and three new district courts in Richland Twp., Warwick Twp. and Bensalem Twp.

“These projects are moving along nicely,” Sanko added moments after the commissioners approved a contract with Langhorne’s Armour & Sons Electric to add 400 amps of service to the courthouse while setting up a system for an emergency generator.

The commissioners also unanimously approved appointments and reappointments to 18 different county boards and authorities, including Agricultural Land Preservation, Airport Authority, Bucks County Conference and Visitors Bureau, Enterprise Zone, Human Relations Council, Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority and the St. Mary Hospital Authority.

The list is available from Public Information, at 215-348-6415.