7 appointed to new advisory council
A new volunteer board is now in place and could help Lansdale go greener like never before.
LANSDALE >> A new volunteer board is now in place, and could help Lansdale go green like never before.
Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to appoint seven members to the town’s new Environmental Advisory Council, whom council President Denton Burnell said have a big job ahead of them.
“We’ve been at this for a long time. We started this process before COVID,” he said.
“I’m super excited to be appointing these folks. I’m looking forward to getting this body underway, and having an immediate impact on the environmental issues that Lansdale faces,” he said.
Council started discussions in June 2019 on whether and how to set up an all-volunteer board dedicated to discussing and debating all things environment-related. Topics for that group could include how to allocate savings from a recently renewed borough electricity contract, ways the town could subsidize or encourage renewable energy sources, grant opportunities, parks projects or upgrades, or other topics.
An ordinance was approved in January 2020 formally establishing the group, and in February 2020 council called for applicants — just before COVID-19 arrived, a factor Burnell said was one reasons the appointments took so long to finalize.
Those selected by council’s appointments committee include residents Wilma Dorman and Rob Gladfelter, both for one-year terms ending July 31, 2022; Sean Weatherwax, Connie Lezenby and Sarah Batory for two-year terms ending July 31, 2023; and Beth Benyishay and Sean Green for three-year terms ending July 31, 2024.
“We had a significant number of very, very qualified candidates,” 14 in all, seven of which were chosen for appointment, and others Burnell said he hopes stay involved.
In addition to the seven voting members, who are empowered to make formal recommendations to council, Burnell added that the group could also appoint up to five non-voting members, in order to field feedback and hear perspectives from a wider range of viewpoints.
Staff have already been in contact with the Montgomery County Planning Commission regarding similar environmental committees across the county, Borough Manager John Ernst added, and have already gathered information for the new appointees to start with.