Norristown council reorganizes

Dear residents,

The beginning of the year is not only a time to make resolutions, and celebrate with family and friends, but it is also a time that your municipal council reorganizes.

By law, the municipal council of Norristown annually elects a president and a vice-president, from among its members, at the beginning of each year. It also, by law, appoints our town's solicitor (legal counsel), municipal engineer, municipal manager and our ambassador -- the inimitable Hank Cisco!

Things went fairly routine tonight. Congratulations are in order for Councilwoman Linda Christian, who was elected council president by her peers, and to Councilman Gary Simpson, elected council vice-president by the same.

After being elected by her peers, President Christian then made committee appointments, with things remaining fairly consistent. The present committee structure is as follows:

Finance Committee
Chair -- Cathy Lawrence
Vice Chair -- Gary Simpson

Public Safety Committee (Police/Fire)
Chair -- Bill Procyson
Vice Chair -- Cathy Lawrence

Public Safety Committee (Code Enforcement)
Chair -- William Caldwell
Vice Chair -- Marlon Millner

Planning/Zoning & Business Development Committee
Chair -- Gary Simpson
Vice Chair -- William Caldwell

Public Works/ Parks & Recreation
Chair -- Marlon Millner
Vice Chair -- Bill Procyson

You'll notice a hole in our roster. That is because Councilwoman Mila Hayes stepped down at the end of 2010 due to family obligations. Council celebrated her six years of service with flowers and a plaque. We wish Mila all the best in her future endeavors.

The year always has a way of beginning with smiles, joy, laughter and promise. We hope to maintain that throughout the year, even as the invariable challenges come.

Now that I know where I will be serving -- on two of the most important areas in the municipality, I pledge the following:

1) That we will have a strong and sufficient response to any snow emergency. You will know when there is a snow emergency and you will know how you should respond (moving cars, suspension on street parking and street maintenance rules, snow emergency routes, etc). You can expect our streets to be clear.

2) We will hire a new Public Works Director of the first rank and highest order. This person will not just bring a long laborer experience, but more importantly will have professional experience that can be leveraged in management best practices and garnering resources for the department to pursue critical projects.

3) I have a deep and abiding commitment to workforce diversity and contractor diversity. Norristown will take bold steps in 2011 to demonstrate the value of diversity in both hiring and contracting through Public Works and Code Enforcement.

4) Code Enforcement will be closely managed and we will share results with the public of our ongoing effort to tackle a variety of problems from property maintenance, to blight, to recycling.

5) Speaking of recycling, some recent rule changes are now being fully enforced with trash pick up. We are going to let you know what those issues are, and how you can get more information. But basically, the big change is we need more people to recycle. So get those cans, bottles, newspapers and magazine OUT OF THE TRASH and into a recycling bin ... OR ELSE! :-)

6) Finally, for the committee that I chair -- Public Works -- I commit to making our meetings open to the public, and our minutes readily available to the public.

Thanks again for your support and we look forward to continuing to serve you in 2011!

Sincerely,

Councilman At-Large Marlon Millner