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New Middletown Township manager outlines priorities, flags $3.5 million operating shortfall
Summary
Manager Eden Ratliff told the board he spent his first month listening to staff and stakeholders, meeting with Simon Properties about Oxford Valley Mall, raised concerns about volunteer fire funding and said the township starts fiscal year with a $3.5 million operating deficit.
Eden Ratliff, who began as Middletown Township manager about a month before the Aug. 11 meeting, told the Board of Supervisors he spent his opening weeks meeting staff and external partners, conducting listening sessions and beginning preparations for budget development.
Ratliff said he met with representatives of Simon Property Group and the local mall management to discuss possible futures for the roughly 100-acre Oxford Valley Mall property and “how that kind of partners with the board’s vision and what the community’s vision” might be. He said the developer responded positively to exploratory discussions and staff expects follow-up conversations in coming months.
On emergency services, Ratliff told the board the township is supported by four volunteer fire companies and one combination career service for EMS and that the Second Class Township Code obligates the township to support fire and emergency medical services. He said volunteer and career departments have funding needs as Middletown grows and suggested enhanced regional collaboration and support will be necessary.
Ratliff said the township will publish more materials to improve transparency, including fuller agenda packets, and announced a capital planning workshop scheduled for Aug. 18 at 5:30 p.m. at the community center. He described the budget as the board’s statement of priorities and warned of a fiscal challenge: “we have an existing, deficit in the, operation come January 1. So we're starting 3 and a half million dollars in the wrong direction,” he said.
Ratliff also said the township has used $2.5 million from its investment fund to support capital projects; he described that step as one reason to build a multi-year funding plan for operations and capital.
Under other business and staff announcements, the board heard that township staff prepared roughly 180 mailings to residents near the Langhorne Gables project and that an open-house meeting for those neighbors is scheduled for Aug. 26. Supervisors congratulated public information officer Liz Martin on the birth of her child; staff noted the resignation of Ashley Casey, executive assistant in the township manager’s office, and the retirement of Fire Chief Don Harris after more than three decades of service. The police department’s National Night Out event was also described as well attended.
Ratliff said his next steps include presenting a public work plan for the township manager’s office, continuing outreach with directors and the public, and returning to the board with a strategic and balanced budget proposal.
