So many flags, not enough poles
LANSDALE >> Are three enough, or does Lansdale need one more?
Resident Jean Fritz raised a question for discussion by council this month: Should the town add another flagpole outside borough hall?
“The American flag, the state flag, and the Lansdale flag should be flown at all times,” she said.
“Lansdale is planning their anniversary celebration, for 150 years (in 2022), and I do not think the Lansdale flag should be taken down to put up other flags,” Fritz said.
Since the renovated borough hall reopened in 2015, three flagpoles have stood in the patio in front of the building’s entrance, and through the month of June the borough flew a rainbow
colored Pride flag next to the American and Pennsylvania flags that fly there normally.
Fritz asked during the public comment portion of council’s June 16 meeting if one more should be added.
“I don’t have a problem with the other flags. I just don’t think the Lansdale flag should come down. I don’t know what they cost, but maybe you should have a flagpole that the borough owns somewhere else in Lansdale, that you could move over here?” Fritz said.
Council President Denton Burnell said he’d ask borough staff to look into options and report back for further discussion.
“That’s definitely something we can look into,” he said.
2040 plan up for award: The newest version of Lansdale’s comprehensive plan is up for a big award.
That plan has been submitted to a nationwide association for recognition, Borough Manager John Ernst announced.
“The Montgomery County Planning Commission has submitted that plan to the American Planning Association for a ‘Design Excellence Award,’ and acknowledging of the chapter on diversity and inclusion,” said Ernst.
The borough’s “Lansdale 2040” comprehensive plan update was formally adopted by council in July 2020 after talks that began in early 2015, with the establishment of an internal borough committee to oversee the process. The 276page document details the town’s history, demographics, infrastructure, and vision for the next two decades, but Ernst said it’s chapter four of the plan that has caught the county’s attention. The “Diversity and Inclusion” chapter shows the town’s population dip and then grow over time, with a breakdown by ethnicity and age, areas of origin of borough residents born outside the United States, a chart of languages spoken within the borough, and a series of diversity goals for the town to tackle over the next two decades.
“We were told that chapter is a very unique piece of a comprehensive plan, and that we are one of the only plans in the region that has that particular chapter noted as part of its long range plans for the community,” Ernst said.
Ernst added thanks on behalf of the borough to all of the residents who took part in the 2040 comp plan committee, particularly residents Nancy Frei and Carole Farrell who were present at the June 16 council meeting.
Utility charges restarting: Council also voted unanimously on June 16 to restart late fees and charges for borough utility customers, effective in mid-July.
“I move that borough council adopt attached resolution 21-15, authorizing the resumption of normal utility service billing and terminations by the borough, in accordance with the PUC action on March 11, 2021, to lift the PUC termination mortarium,” said councilwoman Carrie Hawkins Charlton.
Council and staff have talked at length in recent months about how and when to restart late charges and fees for customers of the borough’s electric department, as COVID restrictions ease and residents return back to work. In early June staff said that delinquent customers were behind by a total of roughly $120,000 on bills owed to the borough, and that they planned to restart late charges and fees on or around the July 22 billing cycle, and work with residents to set up payment plans and/or direct them to aid programs beforehand.
Council voted unanimously to pass a resolution doing so during the June 16 meeting, and staff have said borough customer service officials will give more information to those behind on their bills on an individual basis. One other COVID-related development: borough solicitor Patrick Hitchens announced that, since the state legislature has rescinded Governor Tom Wolf’s COVID emergency declaration, a similar local disaster declaration is now over.
“There’s no further action you need to do in order to rescind yours,” Hitchens said. Burnell then joked, “Sorry, Garry,” to Mayor Garry Herbert, who replied “I can feel the power escaping me” with a grin.
Meetings to continue hybrid, for now: Burnell also announced at the start of the June 16 meeting that all upcoming council meetings will be both in person and online for the near future.
“Obviously, we’re back in the room, but we’re also doing this Zoom thing that we’ve been doing forever, it feels like,” he said.
Those attending in person can do so by visiting borough hall, 1 Vine Street, and those interested in attending online can do so by sending their name, address and phone number to feedback@lansdale.org beforehand, or calling (267) 6389345 with the same information.
Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 8:30 p.m. on July 7 with various committees starting at 6:30 p.m., all at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine Street. For more information visit www.Lansdale. org.