Monday, June 8, 2015

EAST MARLBOROUGH: A civics lesson in how local government should work

I was pleased to learn that an overflow crowd showed up at the June East Marlborough Township meeting to protest the proposed sidewalk ordinance. Residents were concerned (to put it mildly) that the language of the new law would allow supervisors to require homeowners to install and maintain sidewalks, at their own expense.
The township supervisors handled the potentially divisive situation well. They really listened to the audience, made it plain that they understood the residents' concerns and assured the audience that forcing everyone to install sidewalks was absolutely not their intent -- while acknowledging that the perhaps overly broad wording could lead homeowners to reach that conclusion. They tabled the ordinance so it can be rewritten. I'm sure the citizens will be keeping an eye on the new wording.

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