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Chester County Press

Ladley resigns from East Nottingham Twp. board

11/16/2015 12:00PM ● By Steven Hoffman

The East Nottingham Township Board of Supervisors announced that Jane Ladley is resigning from the board at its meeting on Nov. 10.

Ladley was not present at the meeting.

Scott Blum, the chairman of the board of supervisors, read an email from Ladley informing the board about the resignation, which was effective on Nov. 9. In the email, Ladley expressed her gratitude at the opportunity to serve the township. She said that she would be spending more time on various projects and endeavors, as well as dedicating more time to her family.

Supervisor John Coldiron made a motion to accept the resignation, and Blum seconded the motion. It was unanimously approved.

The board now has 30 days to fill the vacancy. Anyone who resides in the township and meets the requirements to serve as a supervisor can submit a letter of interest to the township. The letters of interest need to be turned in to the township building by the end of the day on Nov. 30.

The person selected to fill the vacancy will serve as a supervisor for the duration of the term, which runs through the first meeting in January of 2018.

The supervisors are expected to hold a special public meeting at 6 p.m. on Dec. 1 to interview all the candidates who are interested in the position.

Also at the Nov. 10 meeting, supervisors unanimously approved a motion to keep the millage rate at zero for 2016. Not surprisingly, there was no objection to this. The supervisors also signed off on a recommendation by township treasurer Suzanne Hamlin to keep the same health insurance plan for employees for the next year. To do this, the supervisors approved a slight change to the preliminary 2016 budget to increase the budgeted health insurance costs from about $80,000 to $89,000. The increased costs will be balanced by a projected increase in the sum amount of earned-income taxes that will be collected next year.

During public comment, township resident Joe Scheese asked Hamlin to clarify some of the information that was being shared about the township's investment in its open space program leading up to Election Day. A referendum was on the ballot asking voters to decide if they wanted the township to continue to levy a tax to generate funding for the open space program.

Scheese said that opponents of the open space program were telling voters that more than $11 million had been allocated by the township on open space since it was approved by voters more than a decade ago.

However, Scheese said—and Hamlin confirmed—that the actual number was the $7 million figure that supporters of the open space program were sharing with voters. Hamlin said that the total taxpayer money spent on the program was the $7 million figure.

East Nottingham residents voted to continue the open space program by a fairly wide margin, with 693 voters answering “yes” to the referendum question, while 550 voted “no.”

The East Nottingham Township Board of Supervisors will hold its next meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at the township building.