Leadership in Review - Q&A with Former Royersford Mayor Dave Urner: Part I

Royersford Mayor Dave Urner made a truly difficult decision in September. He announced that he would be stepping down just about a year shy of the expiration of his term for personal reasons. His resignation was effective Sept. 30 and in the meantime, the borough council had to make moves to select an interim.

The council chose one of its own in , who has served the borough for more than 20 years. He now sits in Urner's seat and hopes to fulfill the duties of a man who has been cherished in the community for over seven years as a leader and a neighbor.

Urner took a few hours of his time to sit down with Limerick-Royersford-Spring City Patch Editor Kevin Haslam and discussed everything from the genesis to his term to the wonderful people he's served in the community.

Make sure you check back here all week long for the continuation of the conversation, and a photo gallery of Urner over his tenure provided by a local resident.

LRSC Patch: How long did you serve as mayor?

Dave Urner: Originally, I was a councilman for six years, 15 years ago. It was a situation where I had a business going and it was just too many conflicts, so I had to bail out. Then, Tom Quigley ran for representative in the State House. He had a year left in his term. They asked me if I would consider doing the unexpired term. I had to think about it because I was still working. I was not retired. I was working a type of job that was at night, so it meant my daytime was limited. I took it, I liked it.

It came time to make a decision on a full term and I decided that I really wanted to try it, so I did. I was the mayor for seven years and nine months. I have a year and three months left on my term, which is going to be billed by the interim mayor of John Guest. Seven years, three months was my duration.

The , of course, was not something I wanted to do. I did it yielding to priorities of the family. That was more important to me than maintaining my status as a mayor. I doubt that it will ever change that I could or would come back into a local municipal government. It’s just that I am 75. That pretty much sets the tenner for me. There’s other fish in the stream to be caught. I’ve never done that kind of stuff. At the same time, to it’s to be of service to my wife.

Patch: Since the day you took over the interim job, until now, how much has Royersford changed?

Urner: It has changed. We have had programs that have changed the landscape of Main Street with such an impact that it has, I think, lifted the spirit of the borough – especially the business community. The area has a lot of old structure. As a matter of fact, it was selected by a Hollywood production company to film a portion of their in Royersford, because of the old structures, the facades, the different frontages on the buildings and it had its effect.

However, it’s time to spruce it up from what it is. We have streetscapes – the lights and sidewalks – you see it. It just makes the town brighter especially in those areas. Revitalization has created a real change – when you enter the borough, when you leave the borough. There are points of interest. When you cross the bridge, there’s that introduction on the side. These are all things that would not have been here if it wasn’t for revitalization and the effort of committee along with our manager to go after grant money that provides those funds. Of course, there has to be matching money, but since we were able to match what was necessary, we could do something worthwhile.

You see along the river – First Avenue – you see eyesores of old industry that was just deteriorating. What you see there now is a godsend, really, because it’s not an eyesore. It’s spruced up. There’s revenue there because it’s living quarters. People live there and they pay their rent in taxes. So, it has provided an area that was formerly just blah into an area that was just bright and is worthwhile looking at.

To the best of my knowledge – I’m not sure, but – there is very low vacancy there. That is, they’re occupied pretty much 100-percent. It has become a bedroom community because of its convenience to the 422 bypass and it becomes a very attractive spot for people working in King of Prussia or even Philadelphia to reside there. So, they are major changes that have come about during my tenure.

The committees work hard at doing what appears, in their best interest, to be right for the town. Sometimes developers come in and try to push their own agenda, but our people have an idea how they want to see the town maintained and what they want to see retained and develop on that perspective.

Patch: Do you see in that Main Street area the likelihood that that becomes something like a downtown Phoenixville someday while still maintaining the stores that are still operating in business down there?

Urner: That’s the desire. That’s the wish, because there’s so many storefronts there that are vacant right now. For something of that nature to happen, those businesses – those kinds of businesses – must be attracted to the area. How do you attract them? Well, I guess there’s any number of ways: tax relief, incentives that are a benefit to them as business people, and of course there’s the monetary aspect of it, whether it’s assistance or a reduced tax-base for a period of time until they’re on their feet. They are matters that are reviewed in light of what is wished to have developed.

I have to give a lot of credit to our borough manager. He comes from West Conshohocken. If you’ve ever seen what West Conshy was in what it used to be compared to what it is now, there are some major developments there that he has been responsible for through his initiative, through his understanding of grant procurement, his knowledge of people that he can get assistance from. If you don’t know, he knows how to get that information. He is a person I think the borough is fortunate in having as we develop what we have. Unfortunately, we’re in a financial downturn. This impacts everybody. We’re no exception. So, he’s working within those parameters, doing the best he can, and I think he and the borough is doing well, because of his effort.

Now, I’m a cheerleader. Unfortunately, I’m not a developer and I don’t have that kind of understanding, so I don’t have an awful lot to contribute as far as ‘Why don’t you do it this way?’ other than the use of just common sense. Other than that, I just applaud what has been done. To be able to point to these things and show that this is where we are compared to where we’ve come from is just great.

Check back tomorrow for more musings from the mayor, including: his fondest memories during his term.