The Newtown Township Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) is considering recommending that the township implement a single-use plastics resolution. Similar actions have been taken or are being considered by Solebury, West Chester, Philadelphia, Doylestown Township and Borough and Lower Makefield Township.

To better understand how local business use single-use plastic items - bags and carry-out containers - the EAC requests that you complete its Single-Use Plastics Business Survey. Your response to this survey will help EAC to provide a recommendation to the township that is most appropriate for local businesses.

If you would like to learn more about single-use plastics, please download the Single-Use Plastics Fact Sheet.

Take the Single-Use Plastics Business Survey Now

Disclaimer: This is not an official Newtown Township survey. It is solely for the use by the EAC, which has approved the content. De-identified results may be presented to the Newtown Board of Supervisors for information purposes only.

To date (Nov 14, 2021) there are 78 responses to my 2022 Budget Cut Survey. 

The first section of the survey asks respondents which of the following personnel cuts they would make (see figure above):

• Eliminate hiring a new Deputy Fire Chief
• Eliminate hiring a consultant to provide part-time zoning & code enforcement services 
• Eliminate hiring of 1 additional police officer
• No promotion of supervisors within the Police Department 

The second section asks respondents which of the following capital spending cuts they would make:

• Reduce number of new police vehicles purchased
• Eliminate Financed purchase of police body
• Eliminate two new truck purchases for Public Works Department
• Eliminate purchase of one Parks and Recreation pickup
• Eliminate Police Department Facilities
• Eliminate purchase of new Admin/Finance/Codes software

The survey is still open: TAKE THE SURVEY NOW!

DISCLAIMER: This is not an official Newtown Township Survey. It’s purpose is solely to inform John Mack, a Newtown Supervisor, of your opinions. The opinions expressed here are solely those of John Mack and do not represent the opinions of any other person or entity.

Local governments and organizations were forced to transition in-person meetings to online, seemingly overnight, due COVID-19 restrictions and stay-at-home orders. Many people learned new tools and technologies in order to continue to work and support their constituents.

As COVID-19 restrictions are being eased or lifted entirely and as more people are fully vaccinated, townships are planning to return to live in-person meetings. Some townships are already hosting hybrid in-person/online public meetings (see "Related Content" below).

WHAT DO YOU THINK? TAKE MY SURVEY!

Survey asks: Do you favor the implementation of hybrid in-person/online township public meetings where officials meet in person as before COVID-19 but the public has the option to participate remotely via Zoom (or other technology) or in person? 

Your open-end comments are also welcome.

No identifying information is collected via this survey unless you opt-in to provide such information for purposes of follow-up by subscribing to John Mack's email newsletter. After completing the survey, you will be able to see a de-identified summary of the results to date.

DISCLAIMER: This is not an official Newtown Township approved survey. Its purpose is solely to inform John Mack – a Newtown Supervisor – of the public’s opinion regarding this issue.

Preliminary information related to the recently passed Federal Relief Package was released on Friday, March 12, 2021. It was announced that the 936 million dollars would be shared among local governments in Pennsylvania with populations of less than 50,000. Newtown Township’s allocation of those funds is anticipated to be $1,936,231.

The Township should have ½ of the Township’s funds by June 9, 2021. The State will have it by May 10, 2021 and it has 30 days to distribute to municipalities. The second half will come before March 11, 2022.

What CAN The Money Be Used For? See a list here...

What SHOULD The Money Be Used For? TAKE MY SURVEY!

DISCLAIMER: This is not a Newtown Township approved survey. It is solely a survey posted by John Mack acting as a private citizen. You may remain anonymous - your personal information is never revealed without your permission.

The following is an email message sent to the Newtown Township Supervisors and several other elected officials from Fred Kachuk, a concerned Newtown Twp resident.

Hello neighbors,

Warmer weather and sunshine are finally here! Please consider taking the PENNDOT Transportation Survey before Wednesday, April 14.

This is an opportunity to comment about those daily annoyances that you would like to have fixed. I’ve submitted several comments online, and below are two which may also interest you.

TAKE THE SURVEY

[Above: A resident comment submitted via John Mack's 

 2021 Budget Cut Survey.]

Many Newtown Township residents were understandably upset about the proposed Newtown Township “Preliminary 2021 Budget,” which includes a 133% increase in municipal property tax. For the average Newtown Twp homeowner that translates to an ADDITIONAL $200 to $300 per year paid in taxes to the township.

That version of the budget included many new and increased expenditures for personnel, services, and capital improvements.

John Mack’s Budget Cut Survey* asked respondents to select items in the preliminary budget they would be willing to cut in order to reduce or eliminate the proposed tax increase. The list of items to cut includes many – but NOT all – of the expenditures in the originally proposed preliminary budget. A total of 128 responses were collected.

The final budget was approved at the 22 December 2020 BOS meeting by a 3-2 vote. Voting for this budget were Dennis Fisher, John Mack, and David Oxley. Voting against were Phil Calabro and Kyle Davis.

The following expenditures cuts were made.

• Eliminate hiring of new Director of Zoning & Code Enforcement. 65% of survey respondents chose that as an item to cut. Estimated savings: $40,000
• Reduce the Road Program by $50,000. Although a high percentage (47%) of survey respondents were happy with cutting $280,000 from the road program. The majority of supervisors felt it was important to continue to pave at least 3-4 miles of roads every year.
• Eliminate New police building study. This was "no-brainer." 84% of survey respondents chose that as an item to cut. Estimated savings: $20,000
• Reduce new police vehicles from 3 to 2. 73% of survey respondents chose that as an item to cut. Estimated savings: $56,667

TOTAL ESTIMATED SAVINGS: $166,667

The final APPROVED budget includes a 3.99 mill increase in Newtown property taxes, which is a decrease of 2 mills from the preliminary budget. That works out to be about $160 per year increase for the average homeowner. The total Newtown property tax is 8.49 mills or about $340 per year. Calculate your tax here.

DISCLAIMER: This was not an official Newtown Township Survey. It’s purpose was solely to inform John Mack, a Newtown Supervisor, of residents' opinions. The opinions expressed here are solely those of John Mack and do not represent the opinions of any other person or entity.

The Newtown Area Jointure (the joint municipal zoning consortium comprising Newtown Township, Upper Makefield Township, and Wrightstown Township) is in the process of updating the Newtown Area Comprehensive Plan, which was last updated in 2009.

See 2009 Newtown Area Joint Comprehensive Plan

The is the Jointure's primary land use policy document that sets goals and objectives, and a vision for future development and growth. The Comprehensive Plan (CompPlan) sets the foundation for land development standards, including subdivision and zoning laws. 

The plan is periodically reviewed in order to make sure it reflects the most current needs and views of the community. To review and update the CompPlan, the Joint Zoning Council (JZC) hired the Bucks County Planning Commission (BCPC).

The Jointure would like to hear the views of as many residents as possible and is committed to ensuring the community plays an active role in developing the policies that will help shape the development in the Jointure for the next ten years and beyond. To that end, the BCPC hosted a Citizen Survey.

Survey Summary for Newtwon Residents

At the December 3, 2020, JZC meeting, BCPC Planner Jeremy Stoff reviewed results of the Citizen Survey. The following is a summary of the results focused on Newtown Township responses. The full results - including responses from all three municipalities - will be included in the final updated plan.

See the summary here...

The recently completed Newtown Citizens Survey reveals that many residents are concerned about the condition of roads, streetlights, etc.

Question 8 of the survey asked respondents to rate several services as Excellent, Good, Fair, or Poor. Responses weighted using scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being “poor” and 4 being “excellent.”

Snow removal, street cleaning, street lighting, and street maintenance received were among the services receiving the worst ratings.

One of the goals of the Newtown Township 5-year financial plan is to attract new business to Newtown and help all businesses thrive. When asked to identify the two TOP priorities that the township should focus on for attracting new business, Public Infrastructure was the top choice with 45.6 % of respondents.

More...

A recently completed Citizens Survey reveals which parks are most popular with residents and whether recreation programs need improving.

Quality of Parks, Recreation programs, and Recreation centers/facilities were at the top of the list following Fire and Police Services! A majority of survey respondents (58.1%) say they have used township recreational programming, which was rated Good by 42% of respondents and Excellent by 48% of respondents.

More...

The Newtown Area Jointure (the joint municipal zoning consortium comprising Newtown Township, Upper Makefield Township, and Wrightstown Township) would like your help in determining future planning needs for your community.

The Jointure is beginning the process of updating its Comprehensive Plan, which was last updated in 2009.

The Comprehensive Plan is the Jointure's primary land use policy document that sets goals and objectives, and a vision for future development and growth. 

The Jointure would like to hear the views of as many residents as possible, and is committed to ensuring the community plays an active role in developing the policies that will help shape the development in the Jointure for the next ten years and beyond.

Questions include:

• Why did you choose to live in your township?
• What are the best characteristics of your community?
• What do you consider to be the most important problems facing your community?
• Overall how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the residential development within your community?
• Overall how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the commercial development within your community?

Take the Survey.

"Extraordinary Times Call for Extraordinary Measures." These are indeed extraordinary times with many businesses forced to close and millions of people out of work due the measures necessary to contain the Coronavirus pandemic. And municipalities like Newtown Township that depend upon business and job related taxes (e.g., Earned Income Tax or EIT) face financial difficulties if the shutdown continues much longer and people do not get their jobs back.

To stay financial solvent, it behooves the Township to do all it can to help local businesses. As a Newtown Township Supervisor I expect that I will be called upon to make critical decisions in the coming weeks and months in response to the dire financial impact on Newtown Township of the Coronavirus pandemic and the emergency mitigation measures currently in place. Consequently, it is important that have the necessary information and feedback from local businesses to make the right decisions. That is why I hosted the COVID-19 Business Impact Survey.

Download a summary of results of the survey here.

How have YOU been impacted by COVID-19?

As a Newtown Township Supervisor I expect that I will be called upon to make critical decisions in the coming weeks in response to a possible dire financial impact on Newtown Township due to the Coronavirus pandemic and the emergency mitigation measures currently in place. Consequently, it is important that I get feedback from local employees and businesses that have been impacted by COVID-19.

TAKE THE SURVEY HERE: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6HTHQML

Savvy Citizen pushes out notifications about (1) emergency/public safety/utility outage notices, (2) roadwork and traffic alerts, (3) public meetings and special event notices, and (4) municipal news (ordinances, resolutions, committee vacancies, etc.).

87% of all respondents say they would opt-in to a mobile notification service such as Savvy Citizen. Only 7% said "No" and 6% were not sure.

More, including comments from respondents, here: http://bit.ly/SavvyResults 

Over 200 people have responded to my online survey: Issues of Importance to Newtown Township Residents, which asks respondents to rate the importance of several issues impacting the quality of life in Newtown Township.

I began this survey in August, 2016, long before I was elected Supervisor in November, 2017. At that time I applied for a vacant position in the hopes that I would be appointed by the Board of Supervisors. Unfortunately they picked someone else who served two years until he lost the election to me in 2017.

Now that I am running again for Supervisor, I want to give residents another chance to take this survey and let me know what is important to them to keep Newtown a great place to live, work, and play. 

NOTE: THIS IS NOT A NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP APPROVED SURVEY. IT IS SOLELY A SURVEY POSTED BY JOHN MACK ACTING AS A PRIVATE CITIZEN. YOU MAY REMAIN ANONYMOUS - YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION IS NEVER REVEALED WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION.

Is a mobile-based service needed to notify Newtown residents about emergencies, public meetings, special events, etc.?

Like many local municipalities, Newtown Township has no official Twitter Account or Facebook page to help keep residents informed about public meetings, special events, public service notices, public works projects, etc.

The Township publishes notices in the classified ad sections of local newspapers and posts limited information to its website.

Wouldn't it be better if residents could subscribe to one service that is capable of providing ALL this information or just the information they want to receive? And wouldn't it be great if residents could get this information via a cell phone app, text message, or email?

Learn about a notification system that the Township may consider implementing and TAKE THE SURVEY to express your opinion.

Like hoagies, pizza is really BIG in Newtown! There are many pizzerias in Newtown and soon to be more (read "MOD Pizza to be Opening In Newtown").

But which one makes the best pizza?

To answer that question, I started a poll on Nextdoor, which included the 10 pizzerias most mentioned by pizza afficionados:

1. Acqua e Farina
2. Dolce Carini Pizzeria
3. Dominick's Pizzeria
4. Francesco's Pizzeria
5. Jules Thin Crust Pizza
6. Marco's Pizzeria
7. Meglio Pizzeria
8. Newtown Pizza
9. Tre Fratelli
10. Vince's Pizzeria

The chart above shows the results as of today (August 9, 2019).

Recently, there have been several emergency or near emergency situations in Newtown Township. On March 7, 2018, during a snow emergency power failure, the Township Building was open as a “warming center,” but before any township residents were made aware of this, power was restored; on October 5, 2018, the Bucks County Community College was locked down due to a supposed terrorist threat, but residents did not get immediate alerts sent to their cell phones; on October 24, 2018, Swamp Road and Route 413 experienced significant traffic delays due to an accident, but many residents were unaware of the problem.

The list goes on. And although the Newtown Police Department and/or the Township Manager were able to post information about some of these events on Twitter and Facebook or via email homeowner association management companies, these notices reached a limited number of residents, reached them too late, or never reached them at all.

Would you opt-in to receive Emergency Alerts, Advisories (less urgent need-to-know information), Community Information (day-to-day neighborhood to community-level information), Traffic (very localized traffic information), etc., via mobile phone, email or hard line phone?

TAKE THIS SHORT SURVEY!