Controversial Penn Township ordinance proposals thrown out for good
PENN TWP — For the second month in a row, the township’s municipal building was packed nearly to overflowing.
Residents at the Tuesday, May 13, meeting didn’t have to wait long for news on two controversial ordinances introduced last month. Within 10 minutes, supervisors voted to discontinue any further discussion and drop the ordinances, which were meant to address blighted structures and junk accumulation.
“We received the petition and public comment,” said township Supervisor Samuel Ward. “We all considered it and members of the board asked that the motion be placed on the agenda.”
The two proposed ordinances drew concerns from the moment they were made public last month, as residents criticized them for potentially impeding on their rights.
Residents took issue with language in both ordinances that would have allowed officials to enter offending residences “whenever necessary,” as well as other language perceived as potentially being discriminatory against lower-income residents.
Both ordinances were tabled after a meeting held on April 8, following a lengthy period of public comment.
Although the proposed ordinances were shelved once and for all, residents continued to express their frustration with the board of supervisors over the fact they were proposed at all.
“The board and the solicitor decided to create and try to execute two ordinances that would not stand legal grounds in a magistrate,” said Brian Helfer.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Helfer called upon the township solicitor to insert the word “deleted” into the township minutes regarding the two ordinances.
One resident, Jonathan Gavin, went as far as invoking Benjamin Franklin and the Founding Fathers to make his point.
“Benjamin Franklin was famously quoted as saying, ‘We must all hang together, or assuredly, we shall all hang separately,’” Gavin said. “For far too long, we have trusted that the supervisors of the township, if left alone, would protect the township from government overreach and policies that would destroy our beautiful rural community. Apparently that was a serious error on our part.”
Even after discussion surrounding the ordinances ceased, residents took the opportunity to vent their frustrations over other issues.
According to Helfer, packed meetings such as those which have taken place in Penn Township over the past two months may become the norm from now on.
“I'm hoping that we're going to continue having attendance here by our township citizens, because we’ve got some different mindsets on this board,” Helfer said. “There's enough issues that are being brought up that aren't being dealt with.”
“I hope it’s like this from now on,” Gavin said after the meeting. “We need more involvement in our community.”
