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Politics & Government

Upper Milford Supervisors Will Attach Itemized Bill List to Agendas

Supervisors' action is prompted by request from Republican supervisors candidate Carl Stevenson.

At the request of Republican supervisors candidate , the Upper Milford supervisors agreed on June 16 to attach an itemized bill list to each meeting agenda.

Stevenson’s name will be on the ballot in the general election in the fall. He attends supervisors meetings regularly and frequently asks questions of items on the agenda.

Each meeting agenda includes time for public input. However, the supervisors – Robert Sentner, Daniel Mohr and Chairman Steven Ackerman -- liberally allow people in the audience to ask questions at any time during the meetings.

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Stevenson has taken full advantage of that opportunity during meetings in recent weeks. He frequently seeks more specific information about items on the agenda, and the supervisors and Township Manager Dan DeLong answer his questions.

Usually, the bills to be approved on the night’s meeting agenda are listed in general ways on the agenda. For example, “General Fund: check no. 11087 to 11139 in the amount of …” or “Escrow Fund check no. 1068 in the amount of …”

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That hasn’t been enough to satisfy Stevenson. Consequently, during the previous supervisors meeting on June 2, according to township meeting minutes, “Mr. Carl Stevenson said he noticed that there is no indication on the agenda what the checks are being disbursed for. He asked if that was customary.

“Supervisor Ackerman replied that Mr. Stevenson can put in a right-to-know request to ask for that information.”

But Stevenson subsequently sent correspondence to the township supervisors, requesting that a bill list be attached to meeting agendas.

“I’m not suggesting there’s anything irregular going on,” Stevenson told the supervisors on June 16. “I just think the public has a right to see how the money is being spent.”

Ackerman agreed. “We certainly can do that,” he said, adding that township residents have the right to go to the township building and seek more information about bills.

Sentner also expressed his agreement with attaching a bill list to future agendas. “I think it’s a good idea,” Sentner said. “Everything here is above board.”

In other business on June 16, the supervisors directed DeLong, at his request, to make a salary offer of $42,000 a year to a candidate for township secretary/treasurer and office manager.

, effective May 30, and the township received 70 applications for the position. Township officials narrowed the list to five finalists and now DeLong will make an offer to the candidate deemed to be the best.

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