Having served as interim-manager since mid-July, assistant township manager Micah Lewis was officially appointed township manager at the Oct. 24 supervisors’ meeting in a unanimous vote.
He replaces Kurt Ferguson, who left in July after six years to take the township manager’s job in neighboring Lower Makefield under a two-year contract.
In nominating Lewis for the position, Chairman Phil Calabro praised him for doing a “great job.”
“I thank the board for your confidence and look forward to working with the staff here,” Lewis responded.
“It’s a different life in the barrel of the shotgun” he joked about his promotion. “I enjoyed it up to this point.”
Voting for the appointment were: Calabro, along with Supervisors Linda Bobrin and John Mack, Dennis fisher and Kyle Davis.
Township solicitor David Sander is currently drafting an employment contract for Lewis for approval by both parties.
In the 2019 proposed budget, the township manager’s salary is set at $115,000 a year.
Lewis was working at the Doylestown-based engineering firm Boucher & James, Inc. when he was hired as Newtown’s full-time assistant township manager in February 2015.
He had been brought on to handle planning and development, as well overseeing parks and recreation matters and improving the township’s technology.
Meanwhile, Ferguson has been retained as a consultant to Newtown Township at $75 an hour and has helped Lewis prepare the proposed $14.34-million 2019 general fund operating budget for the fiscal year beginning Jan. 1.
At this time, the no-tax increase package calls for hiring an additional police officer, three new police cars and other capital purchases, including several new public works vehicles to replace aging ones.