Council to Vote on 2013 Budget and Tax Rate Tonight
Council is also expected to establish the 2013 Community Development Block Grant budget and amend the three-strikes ordinance.
Norristown Municipal Council meets again tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Norristown Municipal Hall, 235 E. Airy Street. Among the business on tonight's agenda will be approval of an ordinance establishing the 2013 municipal budget and tax rate, the 2013 Community Development Block Grant budget and dates for the 2013 meeting schedule.
Council is also scheduled to adopt an ordinance amending the current three-strikes ordinance designed to give the municipality an avenue for dealing with landlords whose tenants are considered repeat offenders by police when it comes to disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace and other illegal behavior. The American Civil Liberties Union threatening legal action, claiming the ordinance denied landlords and tenants due process. Council rewrote the ordinance to answer the ACLU's concerns. [Read more about the ordinance here.]
You can download the full agenda for tonight's meeting in our PDF section and check back at 7:30 p.m. for a live stream of the meeting.
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Sally19401
8:39 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Is there a topic tonight for an announcement of a search for a new Police Chief? That would be a worthy topic. All - please write your Council members. This is a critical issue that needs to be addressed now! We need the best qualified Police Chief that we can get.
MzPaula
1:42 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Every time I read your comments they remind me of Rosewood.
zanbott
1:05 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
We are going to be hearing a lot more about this situation. Many of you have received flyers in your mailboxes and have heard of events taking place in the community to bring awareness to this issue. Norristown residents deserve a qualified police chief. The Council must post this position both internally and nationally so that all current members of the force can apply and candidates outside the area can be vetted. The police chief position pays $134k salary plus benefits plus pension. It is common sense that a position of this magnitude should require an exhaustive search for the right talent. It is only a few members of Council insisting Norristown only considers internal candidates but please email and call all of Council and ask them to do the right thing.
Durable
7:42 am on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Rosewood?! Come on MzPaula, really??! Sally19401 is only asking the same question a lot of other folks are asking. I'd say comparing this issue to a race riot and lynch mob in 1923 Florida in which six blacks and a two whites were killed is a bit extreme. But then again, from reading many of your posts to the other story, it would be expected.
zanbott
12:52 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
A conversation about the next qualified police chief is critical.
Sally19401
2:56 pm on Friday, December 7, 2012
As it says above, please contact your council members regarding the search for a Police Chief. This is a Chief Executive job in the Norristown police department. We need an internal and external search for the best candidate. It is also a legal issue since there are laws governing fairness in employment. So, if Council does not do the right thing and conduct a search, Norristown could be sued by one or two individuals that may not have the opportunity to be appointed by Council. If there are lawsuits, taxes could definitely go up. They may have insurance policies for lawsuits, but too many lawsuits, no one will want to cover the municipality or they will charge very high premiums. It will be more difficult to recruit qualified candidates to any job in Norristown government.
We can't afford to let Norristown Council get away with these back door politics. Is this not what caused the last Mayor of Norristown to go to federal prison?