Township sets guidelines for donations

A new approved policy now directs how private donations and funding are managed by the township.

Introducing the need for the new document on May 16, Township Manager Timothy Tieperman said, “we currently have no policy to handle the solicitation of moneys from our businesses and other associations. It’s not necessarily businesses that give us money unsolicited, it’s for when we go out and solicit funds.”

The policy’s background section states, “network- ing and partnering with the local business community and help enhance the township’s delivery of public services, whether it be in the form of capital contributions for authorized special projects, the full (or partial) underwriting of capital equipment or the sponsorship of approved special events or programs.” It will also be used to handle situations including park and building naming rights or other capital projects.

Township Solicitor Edward Skypala sought to “describe a way to conduct yourselves so that you can’t fall under the scrutiny of the criminal law criminal justice system,” because “it would have adverse consequences for the supervisors.” All township staff are bound by the new policy.

Tieperman added, “obviously the first goal is to keep us out of jail.”

This policy proscribes a clear and unambiguous approval process for the solicitation of private funds as a three-step authorization process that includes an advertised public list of township projects eligible for private funding. Tieperman will maintain the list that would be up for adoption on an annual basis.

In related news, Tieperman announced the township received an unsolic- ited donation of $35,000 from Pfizer during that company’s community day festivities. The money was divvied up among the Blackrock and Trappe fire companies, the Police Department, and the township’s fire emergency services team.

The board also approved adding 28.24 acres within an adjacent municipality to the Upper Providence Agricultural Security Area upon recommendation from township’s Planning Commission.

Schwenksville resident Suzanne Baryzcsky had applied to have her small farm, located on North Limerick Road in Perkiomen Township, preserved as the Montgomery County farmland. Baryzcsky’s family has owned the land since 1943. Perkiomen Township does not have an agricultural security area.