Board honors longtime volunteers
2 members each served more than 4 decades
Two longtime volunteers have been recognized, one posthumously, for decades of service to the Hatfield community.
The township’s commissioners recognized Charles Sibel and the late Charles Murgia for each serving more than four decades on the board of directors of the Hatfield Township Municipal Authority.
“I can’t imagine that in today’s day and age, we’re going to come across people like you, who are so dedicated to a township, to an organization, who are willing to give 45 years of their time,” said commis-
sioners’ President Tom Zipfel.
Sibel was recognized for 45 years of continuous service to HTMA, as a member of the board that oversees the township’s sewer plant, from 1972 through to the present. According to Zipfel, Sibel helped oversee upgrades to the plant in 1983 and 1994 and served several terms as the chairman and as treasurer of the authority.
“Charles Sibel helped introduce unique and technologically advanced concepts to the Hatfield Township Municipal Authority that are still being utilized today,” Zipfel read from a proclamation.
Sibel said he was initially involved in real estate development in Hatfield and made a presentation to the township commissioners in the early 1970s, after which a board member asked if he would fill an opening on the HTMA board.
“I said, ‘I’d love to do it, but I’m not a resident.’ They said, ‘That’s no problem, you have a business here — the meeting’s tomorrow night,’ and that was it,” Sibel said. “That’s how it went for 45 years, and 500 evenings my wife spent alone.”
Murgia was recognized for 47 years of service to HTMA, from the authority’s founding in 1960 to 1972 and again from 1982 until his passing on April 24, 2017.
“Charles Murgia served as chairman of the authority for the majority of his time on the board. Charles Murgia’s leadership and business skills led to countless savings, and increased efficiencies over the years,” Zipfel said.
Murgia’s son Charles Jr. accepted the township proclamation on behalf of his late father, and said HTMA was a highlight of his father’s life, even in his final days.
“The last couple of years, he lived with me, and we couldn’t sell his home because he had to keep that home, so he could keep serving for the HTMA in Hatfield. Hatfield was his life,” Murgia said.
In another presentation at the commissioners’ May 24 meeting, the township received its annual “Tree City USA” designation from the National Arbor Day Foundation for the 16th consecutive year.
In other business, the board approved two action items, one of which was a resolution changing a land development plan for a twolot subdivision on Line Lexington Road to include a $1,500 fee payment in lieu of replanting nine trees being removed from the property.
The second action item approved Hatfield’s participation in a regional partnership to develop plans to reduce sediment running into the Skippack Creek watershed. According to Township Manager Aaron Bibro and Engineer Bryan McAdam, joining the regional partnership should cost the township $10,000 to $12,000 in the first phase, depending on how many other municipalities join, and could lead to reduced requirements for removing sediment and opportunities to do joint projects to meet those requirements.
“Yes, it certainly is an investment, but we have a lot to gain from that partnership,” Bibro said.
Zipfel also announced the Hatfield Police Department will take part in a joint anti-violence event at Abington Health: Lansdale Hospital from 8 to 10 a.m. on June 7, where residents can meet and greet township police officers.
“This is basically our version of ‘Coffee With a Cop,’ but we wanted to change things up a little bit,” said police Chief William Tierney.
The Hatfield Board of Commissioners next meets at 7:30 p.m. on June 14 at the township administration building, 1950 School Road.