2010 News

April 1, 2010

Commissioners Host Seminar for Municipal Officials

On many Wednesday evenings, supervisors from Bucks County’s 54 diverse municipalities can be found conducting business meetings in their respective townships and boroughs. Last night, in the auditorium of Bucks County Community College’s Newtown campus, nearly 100 of those elected officials from all pockets of the county attended a “Seminar for Municipal Officials.” The event, part of an occasional series designed to bring local supervisors and council members together on common issues, was sponsored by the Board of Bucks County Commissioners. The seminar represented the first county-sponsored municipal officials gathering of its kind since 2005 – since which time there has been significant turnover on many local boards.

After Commissioner Chairman Martin welcomed the attendees, county Acting Chief Operating Officer Brian Hessenthaler provided a brief overview of the county government structure – which includes more than 80 different departments. Mr. Hessenthaler discussed the county’s $467 million budget breakdown and pointed out that, for several years, the county has been jockeying with St. Mary Medical Center for the mantle of largest employer in Bucks County.

County Emergency Management Director John D. Dougherty, Jr. introduced the topic of emergency communications and narrowbanding – a multi-million dollar project that will impact nearly 5,000 first-responders and emergency personnel. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandates that this narrowbanding conversion must be completed by Dec. 31, 2012. To that end, the commissioners have hired consultant L.R. Kimball to study the current system, and provide recommendations on how to proceed. The total cost of the conversion, including all of the new equipment involved, is estimated to be in the $60-70 million range, according to L.R. Kimball Project Manager John Cunnington.

“Narrowbanding will allow any public safety or radio user to make more efficient use of the system,” Mr. Cunnington noted. “Bandwidth is finite. You cannot create more.” A broad survey of end users revealed that narrowbanding will create a better mobile data system (along with improvements due to GIS, or the global information system), will upgrade vehicle location systems, will reduce paging response time, will alleviate system busy communications, and will improve in-building coverage. The conversion will be aided by a national standard that will be implemented during the process.

Following Mr. Cunnington to the lectern was county Acting Chief Clerk Lynn T. Bush, the executive director of the Bucks County Planning Commission. She explained the history of the county’s comprehensive plan, which was first authored in 1960 as a response to rapidly changing demographics. The current comprehensive plan was completed in 1993, and a new “unifying framework” will be finished later this year – according to Ms. Bush. She introduced county Transportation Planning Director David P. Johnson.

Mr. Johnson offered a detailed history of vehicle, rail and air transportation in the county, which consists of 1,500 miles of road infrastructure. He noted that 90 percent of county residents use an automobile to get to work. Compounding that demand for road space is the reality that commuters averaged 6.2 cents per mile in fuels costs as recently as 2001, but are now paying nearly 14 cents per mile. He also detailed ridership figures for the county’s multiple SEPTA rail and bus lines.

Following a brief break, Commissioner Vice Chairman Jim Cawley provided an update on the progress of the Bucks County Economic Development Advisory Board (EDAB) – which he formed in February, 2009 along with co-chair and Congressman Patrick Murphy. Commissioner Cawley recalls being spurred to action by the demographic reality that Bucks County’s population decreases during work hours as a result of workers traveling to jobs in Philadelphia and Montgomery counties and to New Jersey. “They aren’t going because they want to, but because they have to,” he stated. He detailed EDAB’s work, which included nearly 3,000 “Bucks County Business Survey” responses last summer. He also amplified on the EDAB recommendations report which was adopted by the commissioners earlier this year.

Of great interest to the audience was one of the EDAB recommendations: “Engage Municipal Partners.” According to Commissioner Cawley, “This is probably the biggest challenge. We have to get all of you to buy in. Due to Pennsylvania’s local sovereignty, it’s your zoning and your plan, but we’re all in it together. Now, we’re going to go out and sell the (EDAB) plan.”

Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia offered remarks on several significant social service programs, including the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training that has taken place in several municipal law enforcement departments, the county’s “Code Blue” homeless sheltering program, and the rise in home foreclosures throughout Bucks County. She asked seminar attendees to take the CIT program back to their respective municipalities, if they are not already involved. She also thanked the four church members of the “faith based community” who assisted with the implementation of this winter’s Code Blue efforts during a particularly severe season of cold weather.

Chairman Martin wrapped up the presentations with an update of several county capital projects, including the new 1,200-space parking garage in Doylestown (on track for a June ribbon cutting) and the new, seven-story justice center which will rise on the site of the current parking garage. After sharing architectural models of the new buildings, he addressed the “green” expansion of Churchville Nature Center. The chairman concluded his presentation by reaffirming the county’s commitment to the preservation of farmland, municipal open space, parkland and property adjacent to the Delaware River (involving 17 municipalities). He lauded the popularity of the preservation programs and thanked the municipal officials for their efforts to leverage preservation funding streams.

The seminar concluded with a question and answer session, during which topics included transportation projects and other funding concerns. To view the slide presentation, please click here.