Political Parties To Share Leadership Roles In Doylestown Township

DOYLESTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — The board of supervisors met Tuesday night to reorganize its leadership electing a Republican and a Democrat to lead the governing body in 2023.

The board opened its annual reorganization meeting by voting 4-1 to return Republican Barbara Lyons to the chairmanship of the five member board.

The board also voted 4-1 to appoint Democrat Jennifer Herring as the board's vice chairwoman for 2023. Herring replaces Republican Ryan Manion who served as vice chair during 2022. Manion nominated Herring for the position.

Republican Supervisor Nancy Santacecilia voted against both appointments.

The majority of the votes taken during the meeting were unanimous, from the reappointment of board professionals and meeting dates to an updated fee schedule.

But when the attention turned to naming board liaisons to the township's various boards and committees for 2023, Santacecilia questioned why she wasn't being assigned in 2023.

"This puts me in a position of not being able to perform my duties as an elected supervisor," said Santacecilia. "If you move this forward, which you have the votes to do, I'm going to insist that we have dual-liaisons for those committees. We did that two years ago. There's no reason why our community and our volunteers should not have access to every supervisor."

Supervisor Manion shot back, "The reason is because most of the board chairs for these committees don't want you as liaison. They don't want to serve with you."

A defiant Santacecilia responded, "If you want to continue to bully, that's not a problem. I will be attending those meetings and I will expect all the agendas to be sent to me."

In early 2022, the board stripped Santacecilia of her one committee assignment and removed her as a delegate to the Bucks County Association of Township Officials and the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Officials.

The actions came amid calls for her resignation after information surfaced that she had distributed more than 40 letters described as "hateful propaganda" to district teachers using Central Bucks School District’s interoffice mail in October 2021.

Looking Ahead

• The next meeting of the Board of Supervisors will be held on Tuesday, January 17 beginning at 7 p.m.

• The Township Administrative Offices will be closed on Monday, January 16 in observance of Martin Luther King’s Birthday.

• Christmas trees can be dropped off through Jan. 31 at the New Britain Road entrance of Central Park.

• Applications are now being accepted by the Doylestown Township Board of Supervisors for vacancies on its Agricultural Security Area Advisory Council, the Doylestown Township Finance Committee, HARB and the Pension Advisory Committee.