Committee recommends appointments, flags HARB planning-member vacancy
January 19, 2025 | Narberth, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
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The Narberth Borough Finance Administration Committee recommended approval of Resolution 2025-02, a packet of board and commission appointments and vacancies, at its Jan. 16 meeting.
Maggie Dobbs presented the appointments list and explained the color coding in the packet: yellow for reappointments whose terms expired Dec. 31, 2024, and green to indicate current vacancies. The committee recorded several recent resignations: Michelle Carton (Parks & Recreation), Jim Cornwall (Planning Commission), and David Bergau (Industrial Authority). Lynn O’Connor (Civil Service) and Rebecca Starr (Human Relations Commission) did not request reappointment and their seats appear as vacancies.
Dobbs said that because Cornwall resigned from the planning commission, the HARB no longer includes a planning-commission member; the Historic Architectural Review Board’s composition legally requires at least one planning-commission representative. The planning commission has been asked to identify a member willing to serve on HARB, and staff discussed moving an existing HARB member off the board if necessary to meet the mix requirement. Dobbs clarified that HARB may include nonresidents but certain HARB seats must be borough residents.
The committee also noted movement of Brian Kinslow from planning-commission alternate into Cornwall’s planning-commission seat and the nomination of David Greenberg as the new alternate. Committee members raised a potential conflict-of-interest concern because Greenberg works for the Montgomery County Planning Commission (MCPC), which serves as the borough’s planning consultant. Dobbs said Greenberg works in a county planning section different from the MCPC staff who directly perform borough consultant work; she consulted the borough solicitor and reported no legal bar to the appointment. Greenberg also checked with his employer before applying.
The committee unanimously recommended the appointments and forwarded them to full council for final action. Staff said applications for several vacancies are being accepted on a rolling basis and that some candidates will be before council in February.
Maggie Dobbs presented the appointments list and explained the color coding in the packet: yellow for reappointments whose terms expired Dec. 31, 2024, and green to indicate current vacancies. The committee recorded several recent resignations: Michelle Carton (Parks & Recreation), Jim Cornwall (Planning Commission), and David Bergau (Industrial Authority). Lynn O’Connor (Civil Service) and Rebecca Starr (Human Relations Commission) did not request reappointment and their seats appear as vacancies.
Dobbs said that because Cornwall resigned from the planning commission, the HARB no longer includes a planning-commission member; the Historic Architectural Review Board’s composition legally requires at least one planning-commission representative. The planning commission has been asked to identify a member willing to serve on HARB, and staff discussed moving an existing HARB member off the board if necessary to meet the mix requirement. Dobbs clarified that HARB may include nonresidents but certain HARB seats must be borough residents.
The committee also noted movement of Brian Kinslow from planning-commission alternate into Cornwall’s planning-commission seat and the nomination of David Greenberg as the new alternate. Committee members raised a potential conflict-of-interest concern because Greenberg works for the Montgomery County Planning Commission (MCPC), which serves as the borough’s planning consultant. Dobbs said Greenberg works in a county planning section different from the MCPC staff who directly perform borough consultant work; she consulted the borough solicitor and reported no legal bar to the appointment. Greenberg also checked with his employer before applying.
The committee unanimously recommended the appointments and forwarded them to full council for final action. Staff said applications for several vacancies are being accepted on a rolling basis and that some candidates will be before council in February.
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