Meeting to fill vacancies delayed

About 150 people attending Thursday’s Maidencreek Township supervisors meeting will have to wait once again to hear who will be their new supervisor as well as who will fill other vacancies, including township manager.

Supervisor Chairman Heidi Fiedler told the crowd that Supervisor David Franke could not attend due to a medical emergency, leaving the board without a quorum.

Many had attended a March 3 special meeting that involved hours of executive sessions and private interviews to fill the vacancy created when Supervisor Joseph W. Farley resigned effective Feb. 4, just six weeks into his sixyear term.

Farley’s resignation letter to the board stated that a “divisive atmosphere was no longer in his comfort zone.”

His resignation came amid an ongoing controversy involving Fiedler accusing former township manager Diane Hollenbach of illegally paying herself nearly $10,000 in bonuses.

District Attorney John T. Adams has said his office investigated the matter and the claims are “completely unfounded.”

Hollenbach, in an email to the Reading Eagle in February, defended her compensation. On Jan. 3, the board failed to reappoint Hollenbach as manager. She was reinstated Jan. 10, but the supervisors on Jan. 19 confirmed that Hollenbach had submitted her resignation, effective Feb. 4.

When asked Thursday night when the next meeting would be, Fiedler said she had no way of knowing Franke’s situation and that any special meeting would be advertised.

In addition to the open supervisor and township manager positions, the supervisors are set to appoint positions on the authority board, parks and recreation, building, code enforcement and zoning officers.