Council appoints members to human relations board
NORTH WALES >> Five local residents have stepped up to serve on a new borough board they hope is never needed.
Residents Patti Armstrong, Collette D’Angelo, Tim Clarke, Johanna Owings and Moira Blacksmith were each nominated to the newly established borough Human Relations Commission.
“Thank you very much. We appreciate your stepping forward,” said council President Jim Sando.
Started in May 2019 council discussed whether to adopt a local nondiscrimination ordinance modeled after one passed the year before in Lansdale, setting up a local commission to field and act on complaints about discrimination against local residents, business customers or visitors, with rulings that could be appealed into the court system. Talks continued throughout the summer of 2019 when the town heard from a member of Governor Tom Wolf’s LGBTQ Affairs Commission, refined their new proposed code through August, and formally adopted it last October, with a call for volunteers issued soon after.
Sando and borough Manager Christine Hart announced Tuesday that five letters of interest were received, and all five were then appointed unanimously by council: D’Angelo to a one-year term running through 2020, Clarke and Owings through 2021, and Armstrong and Blacksmith through 2022, with all terms to become the full three years after the initial appointments.
“The term will become a
“I’m very passionate about helping people who are discriminated against, have a voice, have a say, in their life and in their community. This brings me joy, to be a part of this committee.” — North Wales resident Collette D’Angelo
three-year term the second time it’s voted on,” Sando said.
Blacksmith could not attend Tuesday night’s council meeting due to an illness, but the other four introduced themselves and described their backgrounds for the board. D’Angelo said she has worked in the mental health field for the past sixteen years, currently as the director of a program helping those in need.
“I’m very passionate about helping people who are discriminated against, have a voice, have a say, in their life and in their community. This brings me joy, to be a part of this committee,” she said.
Clarke said he has worked at Muhlenberg College for the past ten years, and currently serves as a member of their cultural advisory board.
“I’ve been trained in inter-group dialog, and how to form and run affinity groups, and I’m looking forward to taking direction, receiving the training, and doing what I can to be helpful,” he said.
Owings said she’s been a borough resident for ten years and currently works as a family doctor with a federally qualified health care center in Norristown.
“I pretty much directly deal with a lot of immigrant populations, and refugees, on a daily basis. On most days I pretty much feel more like a social worker,” she said, and had done numerous medical mission trips overseas before having two children: “Now I don’t get to travel a lot, but I’m glad to do something in my own community. Hopefully we don’t need it.”
Armstrong has lived in North Wales for 24 years, the past 22 of which she has worked in the field of human resources, and said she’s currently a senior HR manager and preparing for a work-related trip to North Carolina for further HR training.
“I’ve got an extensive background in dealing with employee relations, discrimination claims, harassment; in fact, I’m flying to our Greensboro office in two weeks to do sensitivity training for the office, “she said.
All five members were appointed unanimously by council, and Armstrong joked that she, Clarke and D’Angelo already have one thing in common: living on different blocks of Prospect Avenue.
“I guess I know where we’re having the meetings then,” Sando joked.
Members of the state Human Relations Commission in Harrisburg have been in contact with the borough, Sando said, and will likely visit the town in the coming weeks to set up training and share any needed information with the new members.
North Wales borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on Feb. 11 at the borough municipal building, 300 School St. For more information visit www. NorthWalesBorough.org.