Based on Tuesday's general election, there won't be a personnel change on the Connoquenessing Township Board of Supervisors. Incumbent Supervisor Stephen Misko defeated challenger Sherry Lokhaiser for another six-year term.

The current terms of the other two supervisors, Evelyn Hockenberry and Jack Kaltenbaugh, who were not up for re-election, run through 2011 and 2013, respectively.

But while there presumably won't be any new names and faces on the supervisors board for at least two years, the township is in need of big change in another way: the way it manages it finances.

The three supervisors have to muster the cooperation and full commitment to purpose that so far have been elusive — to attack and correct financial deficiencies identified in an independent audit of the 2008 books.

Without judging Lokhaiser's qualifications for a supervisors seat, it's fitting that the board that is responsible for the problems is left with the task of correcting what's wrong.

Such a combined initiative is imperative, if the township is to avoid deeper, more-difficult-to-correct financial trouble in the future.

The independent audit, which was performed by the certified public accounting firm Maher Duessel of Butler, found "signficant deficiencies" that hinder Connoquenessing Township's ability to report financial data, and "material weaknesses" that carry a possibility of financial misstatements.

The audit report, which was a topic of discussion at Wednesday's supervisors meeting despite a Maher Duessel representative not being in attendance, said the township "does not currently have written policies and procedures to guide many aspects of financial operations."

That's a dangerous scenario on any governmental level, even in the smallest of municipalities.

Judging from audit findings, the township seems locked into a past, less-complicated era when township operations consisted mainly of fixing roads and paying a few bills — and when corners could be cut in municipal operations without any damage being done.

Connoquenessing Township needs to leave behind that previous era and update itself to 2009, when running a strictly by-the-books operation is not an option, but a necessity.

That requires all elected officials to put to rest their differences — personal as well as municipal. That's something the current supervisors have been unable to do in the past.

Amid all that lies ahead, the supervisors must keep township residents fully informed about what is happening in terms of rectifying financial shortcomings.

The residents are entitled to that; their taxes help keep the township government in operation.

Hockenberry didn't enhance the board's standing with residents when at Wednesday's meeting she refused residents' requests that the board provide an itemized, written statement regarding the status and possible solutions on each specific issue identified by Maher Duessel.

Prior to the election, Misko pledged to work toward reducing wasteful spending by the board, specifically supervisor pay — the focus of an investigation of Hockenberry and Kaltenbaugh by the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission. Likewise, Misko promised to work toward ending frivolous lawsuits tied to alleged mismanagement of the township.

"I think it will take six years to rectify the damage done here in the past two years," Misko said.

For the township and its residents' sake, that job must happen much more quickly.

It is important that residents stay interested in the township government's goings-on and regularly attend supervisors meetings. It's important that they demand governmental harmony and transparency.

What has evolved in Connoquenessing necessitates change, even if no new leaders were brought on board by voters to take charge of that mission.