Concord group learns about home rule

Marita Kelley, program manager for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, gave members of Concord Township’s Government Study Commission a brief rundown on home rule charters.

Kelley’s presentation came during the GSC’s Jan. 29 meeting. Attendance was light with one supervisor — John Gillespie — and only four other residents in the audience.

She called it a “mini presentation,” saying she discussed the matter with commission Chairman James Gray beforehand and said the mini session was sufficient.

The basics of the presentation were that local municipalities have the right and power to adopt home rule charters under state law. Governments established under home rule charters may perform any power or function not denied by the U.S. or state constitutions, general assembly legislation or the specifics of the charter, she said.

“The adoption, amendment or repeal of a home rule charter shall be by referendum. The voters decide,” Kelley said.

She reminded people that developing a home rule charter is only one option the commission is exploring. Other options include remaining a township of the second class or finding some other optional plan. She did not mention changing to a township of the first class, the action the group Concord First wants..

Kelley likened developing a home rule charter to “rewriting the book.” In that process, she said, elements of the Second Class Township Code would be used, “but for the most part, it’s going to be a new book, and it’s going to be a new government.”

She said the GSC must come up with some decision on what’s best for the community by August of this year. However, the commission gets another nine months if the decision is to develop a home rule charter. If that charter would include some sort of district or ward representation, the commission gets another two months to develop that structure.

Kelley also provided a list of historical reasons for developing a home rule charter. Among those reasons are the ability of a municipality to write its own code, improve accountability and responsiveness, have a professional administration and have separation between legislative and executive functions.

Kelley also spoke about optional forms of government. Two involved having a mayor and town council, others with a mayor, managing director and council and another being a manager/council form of government.

The manager/council form is the most common in the United States, she said.

Of the two types with mayors, Kelley said, one has a strong mayor with a lot of decision-making power. The other, what she termed a “weak mayor,” gives most of the power to the council with the mayor having little power.

She used borough-style of government as an example of the “weak mayor.” In those styles, Kelley said, the mayor may be in charge of the police force, but not much more.

In the “strong mayor” option, “the mayor is the boss,” she said. She used previous administrations in Harrisburg and Reading as examples of that type of government structure.

The next meeting for the study commission is scheduled for 7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 5, in the Concord Township municipal building. From then on, meetings are scheduled for the first and third Thursday of the month through the remainder of 2015, according to the commission’s page on the township Web site.

Prior to Kelley’s presentation, commission solicitor Michael Maddren told members that since the state Supreme Court denied the petition to intervene filed in the commission’s name, the commission is not a party to the appeal involving Concord First.

 

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.

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