Township establishes human relations commission
A new volunteer board meant to provide an extra layer of protection for township residents is now official.
The township’s commissioners voted unanimously Monday night to formally establish a new Human Relations Commission.
“Adopting this ordinance is something that was important for all of us, all of the commissioners,” said board President Liz McNaney.
Talks began on establishing a township human relations commission with the board’s 2020 goal-setting meeting in January,
and the board vowed in June to set it up soon in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minnesota and subsequent nationwide protests.
Similar boards have already been established and started meeting in nearby North Wales and Lansdale boroughs, and McNaney said she and board Vice President Denise Hull incorporated feedback from those into their own.
“Commissioner Hull and I attended some North Wales Borough meetings when they were adopting theirs, and we learned a lot from them,” McNaney said.
“It’s a five-member board consisting of residents and business owners, and it’s a commission to deal with local concerns, before they would be taken up any further” into the court system, she said.
During a brief public hearing at the start of their Sept. 14 meeting, the commissioners heard township Solicitor Lauren Gallagher read the draft ordinance advertised on Sept. 1, and clarify minor language changes made since that publication to a revised ordinance.
Other changes were to add one member to the commission, to create a body of five members instead of the proposed four, and one definition update to better conform to legal language from the state.
The draft ordinance states that of the five members, each shall be appointed to a threeyear term, with terms staggered so one-third of the members are appointed or reappointed each year. The draft also says the commission will designate one chairperson annually, who will report to the commissioners “from time to time,” and that the chairperson will designate one member to field complaints and conduct intake meetings with them.
The ordinance also spells out how any complaint can be filed with the commission, that the township manager must transmit any complaints to the commission within ten days of receipt, and that the commission must, within 30 days, send a copy of the complaint “to the person(s) charged with a discriminatory act or practice,” with a similar notification going to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.
Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners next meet at 7 p.m. on Sept. 29; for more information visit www.UpperGwynedd.org.