Miller Hopes To Lend Architectural Expertise To The Haverford Board of Commissioners

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An architect and project manager by profession, Jeff Miller would like to lend his expertise to the Haverford Township Board of Commissioners.

Miller, a 47-year-old Democrat, is challenging Republican Jane Hall for the 3rd Ward commissioner seat, which is up for grabs because 3rd Ward Commissioner Robert Trumbull is not running for re-election.

Miller and his wife have lived in the township for 11 years. The couple shares their home with their two children, a dog, a cat, a frog and a hamster.

In 1986, Miller graduated from Bates College in Maine with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and psychology and went on to work as director of the Storrs, Connecticut office of Public Interest Research Groups.

He later obtained a second bachelor’s degree—this time in architecture from Drexel University—and has spent the past 20 years working for architectural firms.

Miller currently works as an architect and project manager for KlingStubbins in Philadelphia, a large multi-national architectural engineering firm.

One of the reasons that Miller decided to run for commissioner is that he wants to lend his expertise as an architect, and his construction knowledge, to the Haverford Township Board of Commissioners.

“There are so many planning issues in front of the board and the approach has been very piecemeal. …We really need to take a township-wide, regional view of how we want to spend our limited resources,” Miller explained to the Haverford-Havertown Patch.

Miller also said he is running because if elected, he wants to make improvements to the township's website and insure that the Board of Commissioners’ committee meeting agendas and minutes are posted and available to the public.

Another reason why he’s running?

“I volunteer a lot,” Miller said. “It’s part of my upbringing.”

Outside of work, Miller currently serves as the Democratic Party committeeman for the 3rd Ward and he previously served on two other boards.

Miller’s final term as president of the Haverford Township Library Board, a position to which he was elected by the Library Association, ended in May.

Miller also served as secretary of the Haverford Township Civic Council, the umbrella organization for the community’s civic groups, but he resigned in May because he is running for commissioner.

As a volunteer, Miller currently serves on the library’s building committee, and he works on various committees of different community organizations, he said.

Miller said he attends public meetings, where he has spoken out against the proposal to , and was involved with a task force for the redevelopment of Eagle Road.

Miller proposed that the township publish a township-wide newsletter, and the township is now implementing his suggestion, he said.

He said he was also “very involved” with the library’s proposal to build a new library on the Swell bubble gum factory site and rezone part of the property for commercial use. That proposal never came to fruition because the township ultimately took the property by eminent domain and a on the site, Miller said.

One of the issues of concern for residents of Ward 3 is the traffic which will be created by the new YMCA, Miller said.

Another issue for residents is how the township handled the sale of the property, Miller said.  When the township took the property by eminent domain, it gave the property owners, the Fenimore family, $1.26 million as just compensation, but the family sued the township, seeking a total of $6 million for the property.

The township is appealing a court ruling that awarded between $4 million to $5 million to the Fenimores.

“That’s a $4 million piece of arrogance on the part of commissioners … People are concerned about that because that’s $4 million they have to come up with” Miller said.

Other issues of concern are Ward 3 residents who would like to see improvements along the Eagle Road corridor, and a plan for how the township is going to prepare for the U.S. Open golf tournament coming to the Merion Golf Club in 2013, Miller said.

“That’s bringing hundreds of thousands of people in—lots of traffic,” Miller said of the U.S. Open. “Residents are concerned what are we doing to prepare for this.”

Millers said residents should vote for him because he is committed to the township.

“I have the expertise required to get through some of these important planning issues,” Miller said. “I have the desire to make the township run efficiently and economically.  And I’m committed to good government.”