2 of 3 township supervisors resign
EAST VINCENT >> For the second time this month, township supervisors will meet Monday to appoint a new member of their board.
The meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. in the township building at 262 Ridge Road, will be held to select a replacement for Supervisor Mark Dunphy.
Township Manager Mary Flagg said Dunphy submitted his resignation and did not offer a reason.
As of Friday afternoon, she said three people had applied to replace Dunphy.
Flagg said the supervisors can choose from among those who applied, or someone else.
Although Dunphy did not give a reason for his resignation, Flagg said she suspects it has to do with his business.
“John owns a lot of property all over. Here, in Berks County, in Montana, in California and I believe he is starting a new business in California and realized he cannot give the time he needs to to the board,” Flagg said.
In fact, Flagg confirmed questions about Dunphy’s residency have been raised at public meetings.
Elected officials must have official residency in the municipality where they hold office.
Those questions have also been raised on a public Facebook page with more than 400 members called East Vincent Voices.
According to township minutes, Dunphy missed six of the township’s 11 meetings in 2019, including every meeting since July.
He was present for the Jan. 6 re-organizational meeting.
One day after that meeting, Supervisor Jane Peronteau submitted her letter of resignation, Flagg confirmed.
The board of supervisors held a special meeting on
Jan. 9 to accept her resignation.
On Jan. 15, another special meeting was held and former supervisor John Funk was named to replace her.
Appropriately, at the re-organizational meeting Funk had been appointed as chairman of the township vacancy board, which is charged with filling vacancies.
It is Funk and Supervisor Ed Dracup, who was reelected for another six-year term in an uncontested election in November, who will decide on the replacement for Dunphy.
The meeting is open to the public and, by law, any interviews of those seeking the position, must be conducted in public.
However, the law does not require interviews of applicants before a new supervisor is appointed.