Newtown BOS Performance Survey Results

Performance Ratings by Issue

Each bar shows actual votes, using the same 60-vote scale across all issues. Vote counts appear below each bar.

Ratings By Issue — Vote Counts

Township Manager Annual Review

52 respondents answered this optional question. Responses are reproduced as entered.

Written Comments (29)

Comments are reproduced as submitted and represent respondents’ opinions, not independently verified factual findings.

Comment 1. Answering "Public Comment" questions that are not too complex should be done at BOS meetings or answered by the Board, Legal Counsel or Township Enginner at the subsequent meeting in their Reports.

Comment 2. The township manager is the problem. Incompetent, always looking for a fat raise while hiring more people to do his work for him. Sees tax increases as the first option rather than the last resort. No consideration for the taxpayers who must fund his budget proposals. I heard he doesn’t even live in the township so he feeds off the public teat while not being affected by the same tax increases he wants the taxpayers to pay for, including generous increases for himself and his underlings. The Board needs to prioritize the taxpayers with low taxes and limited spending.

Comment 3. On pedestrian safety, I actually think we are overdoing it

Comment 4. The current BOS has completely failed to fulfill its mission and should be removed in its entirety.

Comment 5. We need more transparency about and accountability for where our tax dollars are going.

Comment 6. Answer questions during “Public Comment” for transparency.

Comment 7. I feel like John Mack does a better job of clearly communicating the topics that are being discussed by the Newtown Board of Supervisors. The Board of Supervisors do not come across aligned. It does not feel like they work well together. They are definitely hidden agendas that are not being disclosed to the public. They are not working in the best interest of the public.

Comment 8. the roads in Newtown are an embarrassment- how can we not have enough funds to cover the repaving and painting of our road system- is that not the basic job of the local government? Some of these other project need to be put aside until funds are left over from things that need to be done- like roads and upgrading infrstructure in the township

Comment 9. Enough with pedestrian safety, environmental signaling, bridges to nowhere. Let’s focus on running government efficiently. Why do we need a new police station , when every week, for instance last week, Newtown PD incident report summary was 3 cases of citizens reporting internet, banking fraud, and 1 traffic stop. No burglaries, no car thefts, etc are ever reported, unless they had already made the news media. So why do we need a new police station, and new cars. As for the new fire house, why do we new? Because someone bought a fire truck that’s too big? This board seems like we’ll just spend for whatever we want with no concern to taxes. And why do we need $100,000 master plan of Helen Randall Park? It is already fully developed and almost hundred percent utilized by softball organizations. There’s no land to do anything else there. And I see tournaments being held there run by organizations in New Jersey. Tournaments are very profitable for these group groups, are we charging enough for their rental of our park and maintenance of it?

Comment 10. Freeze spending and property taxes

Comment 11. The BOS needs to be much more transparent about the budget and fix structural budgeting issues. Some requests are too high (raises, police vehicle fleet) and each year they aren’t keeping up with road paving

Comment 12. We need more affordable housing not more luxury homes.

Comment 13. Upper Silver Lake has speeding , no cross walks marked , crops walk do not line up. Many people crossing with no protection. Chief Hearn has helped but has limited resources

Comment 14. I would like to see development simplified, along with simplified and streamlined zoning regulations. Current rules are arbitrary and waste resources, making development (and housing) more expensive.

Comment 15. Need More Republicans on the Board !

Comment 16. I'm a rideshare driver and ask the people I pick up in Newtown if they would pay more in taxes if it was dedicated to persevering the little bit of open space left in Newtown and they all said yes.

Comment 17. Need better financial management to lower property taxes

Comment 18. The residents of Newtown are very demanding and we are seeing a sharp drop in volunteerism. The simple answer is, if you want quick response to demands, pay for them.

Comment 19. I'm sure the relevant information is out there somewhere but the BOS is anything but proactive in making it readily available or in providing it to residents. Communication is poor to non-existent for most. Lack of information results in lack of confidence.

Comment 20. No reason taxes should be going up again. Find better solutions

Comment 21. There are multiple cross walks in the township that need safety upgrades. Roads need more funding in the township. We all want an exceptional town to live and that requires a reasonable property. We can’t ask for all the bells and whistles and expect that our taxes will be low. Was there ever a thought about merging the township and borough?

Comment 22. Improve the website by adding meaningful data and financial transparence. Also, improve the public comment portion of the BOS meeting by allowing responses from the board to questions, followed by taking of action items and publishing their response to the questions.

Comment 23. Only meridian circle in the Ridings was recently paved we have been paying taxes since 1977, other roads in the township have been paved 20 years ago.

Comment 24. Even though Newtown Township is a nice place to live, the Board of Supervisors could be more aware of what is happening in the community. For example, the frequent loud muffler car speeding on the Bypass, Upper Silver Lake Road, and many other areas in the community. The area is slowly losing its historic charm with the approval of a tattoo parlor in the borough and the consideration of plans for apartment buildings in the heart of the borough. Also, consider how high end and trendy the stores and restaurants located in the Village of Newtown Shopping Center have become. This shopping center is unaffordable for the residents of Newtown and is causing frequent shoplifting problems resulting in a safety risk for customers and a drain on our police force.

Comment 25. Newtown used to be the place to go for housing, schools or even a date night. It’s not pleasant for any of those due to the cost of everything. Nothing exciting at all!

Comment 26. Wawa on the bypass for a few e chargers…. need I say more. Horrible BOS

Comment 27. Spending is out of control.

Comment 28. I cannot thank you enough Mr Mack, for keeping us in the loop with all things Newtown!!! SO beyond grateful for the time and effort you put into keeping us all informed!!!

Comment 29. Communications is very important. Back room discussions need to be more open. Community needs quick response to emergency needs and adding more quality to those responses is a must. Volunteering is really going away, ashame, but municipality is legally responsible to supply that which most likely requires tax increases. Quality staff requires ability to pay for them and formal reviews of their work needs to be evaluated regularly, not once a year, otherwise problems may occur without realizing it.

Method: 60 timestamped responses. The spreadsheet uses “Great Joib” in some cells; these were counted as “Great Job.” Percentages use the number of answers to each question. Blank answers are excluded. Chart bar lengths use vote counts, not percentages.