Thursday, May 16, 2013
Submit letters to the editor at lansdale@patch.com or tonyd@patch.com.
To my Friends and Neighbors of Ward 3: My name is Daniel P. Dunigan, and I am the only experienced Republican candidate running for Council in Ward 3. I am proud to have been elected in 2009 by the residents of Lansdale, who valued my extensive professional experience in finance. That experience led to me being appointed to Chairman of the Borough’s Administration & Finance committee, a position I have held since being sworn-in in January 2010. As Chairman of the Administration & Finance committee, I led the current administration’s effort to restore the Borough’s fiscal health. In the decade preceding my term, the Borough was headed for bankruptcy as a result of continued deficit spending. Since my time as Chair, the Borough has been …
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
The Lansdale Republican Club is throwing its support behind four new faces for candidacy for Lansdale Borough Council. Incumbents Dan Dunigan and Mike Sobel are seeking re-election.
The Lansdale Republican Club last month voted to endorse four new faces for candidacy for Lansdale Borough Council, thereby not endorsing two incumbent Republicans seeking re-election. Dan Dunigan and Mike Sobel will run again for council in 2013. However, the LRC has chosen to endorse newcomers Jean Fritz in Ward One, Tom Work in Ward Two, and Walter "Cory" Brown and Peter Schmitt in Ward Three. Work is a member of the Lansdale Parking Authority. Dunigan and Sobel responded with Letters to the Editor on the endorsement meeting. Both claim that the LRC is using the four endorsed candidates as "puppets" to push party politics and not put Lansdale Borough first. Both claim that they were not endorsed because they did not put the Lansdale …
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Republican Dan Dunigan is up for reelection in the 2013 election for Lansdale Borough Council. Dunigan did not receive the endorsement of the Lansdale Republican Club.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Republican Councilman Dan Dunigan is up for reelection in the 2013 election to Lansdale Borough Council.
Dan Dunigan is an incumbent Republican councilman in Lansdale Borough. He is running for re-election and is facing a battle in the Primary. He and incumbent Republican Councilman Mike Sobel were not endorsed by the Lansdale Republican Club. Lansdale Republican Club Chairman Frank Bartle has not returned emails seeking comment. - Ed. Welcome to Lansdale — Party Politics and Puppeteers. Several weeks ago, I was invited to the Lansdale Republican Club’s endorsement meeting on March 25, after having been disinvited a month earlier by Club Chairman Frank Bartle, the managing partner at Dischell, Bartle & Dooley and a former Lansdale Borough solicitor for many years. I knew I faced an uphill battle for this endorsement, despite having been …
Friday, March 8, 2013
Lansdale Borough Council, in two separate 7-2 votes, approved on Wednesday professional services with Spiezle Architects for the design and construction of a new borough complex and for 311 W. Main St.
After much debate—and a failed majority vote to table four action items—Lansdale Borough Council Wednesday voted 7-2 to authorize a contract with Spiezle Architectural Group related to the design and construction of a new municipal complex, housing the police department and the borough hall administration. Council also voted 7-2 to authorize a contract with Spiezle for the design and renovation of 311 W. Main St. The dissenting votes in both instances were Democratic Councilmen Jack Hansen and Rich DiGregorio Jr. Hansen also made the motion to table the votes related to 311 W. Main St. and the borough complex, seconded by DiGregorio Jr. The motion was defeated in a 7-2 roll call vote. "I'm sitting here wondering why we’re having a special…
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Council voted last week 8-0-1 to borrow $10 million to help fund $20 million in proposed infrastructure repairs. Interest rates are at a 47-year low, according to asset management firm Boenning & Scattergood
Lansdale Borough is going to do business like it’s 1965. Last week, council voted 8-0-1 to approve the borrowing of a $10 million bond at an initial interest rate of .75 percent — a historic rate that hasn’t been seen in 47 years. The bond will be put toward the funding of $20 million in capital infrastructure and building repairs and refurbishments. The balance of the capital reserve funds in 2013 is proposed at $10.9 million; this amount is after a $2 million transfer to the general fund reserve balance, and $11.5 million in investments paid or to be paid. The debt service in Lansdale at present stands at $1.6 million, or 5 percent of the entire proposed 2013 budget. “The debt service will never go over that $2 million threshold,” said …
Saturday, May 19, 2012
The appointments committee met Wednesday and announced available positions on two Lansdale boards and the Industrial Development Authority
Lansdale Borough wants you ... to be on the Industrial Development Authority. If you'd prefer to sit on the Building Code Board of Appeals or the Police Pension Board instead, you're in luck. Appointments Committee Chairman Dan Dunigan said there are positions to be filled on those boards and authority. The Industrial Development Authority, he said, has been inactive for more than 30 years. According to the borough code, the term of existence of the authority shall be 50 years. "We would welcome the public's input in trying to get some folks to fill these positions for us," Duingan said Wednesday at the council action meeting. "In addition to reducing (the police pension board) from eight to seven, we had one resign and one chose not to …
Thursday, May 3, 2012
The borough is at 23 percent of its budget for real estate tax collection, when it should be closer to 80 percent for this time of the year. The finance department is looking into the matter with the current tax collector
Lansdale Borough is about $1.5 million short in real estate tax collection for this time of the year, and the finance department is looking into and will be monitoring the reason for the loss with borough tax collector Jim Hanratty. Administration and Finance Committee Chairman Dan Dunigan reported during the council work session Wednesday that the borough is running at 23 percent of the budget relative to real estate tax collection. "Typically, this time of year, you are running closer to 80 percent of budget," Dunigan said. "To give you a rough order of magnitude, you are looking at instead of having $2.1 million in hand, we have about $650,000 in hand." Dunigan said finance director Brian Shapiro would be reaching out to Hanratty in the…
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
The Lansdale Parking Authority Wednesday night approved the agreement of sale, paving the way for a parking garage, townhomes, condos and retail space to be built on the site
The two-acre parking lot behind the stores on West Main Street between Wood Street and Madison Avenue now belongs to BPG Properties, Ltd. On Wednesday night, the Lansdale Parking Authority approved an agreement of sale to the Yardley-based developer, according to an article in The Reporter Online. The parking authority chose BPG Properties as the developer in November 2011. BPG was chosen after Requests for Proposals netted six respondents. The parking authority ranked and rated those respondents, and cut the list down to two on October 12. On Nov. 9, interviews were made with the two respondents: BPG and Cedarwood Devleopment Inc. It's merely coincidence that BPG Properties has developed other locations with "Madison" in its name. It owns…
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Borough Manger Timi Kirchner has more guidelines toward her borough code-enforced purchasing power, and retains her power to request or not request proposals for contractual work
Lansdale Borough Manager Timi Kirchner now has more guidelines toward her purchasing power in the borough. Not only that – Kirchner continues her authority to put out or not put out Requests for Proposals for specific borough contractual services. Council this month approved unanimously the approval of a purchasing manual for the borough for the procurement of services and bids. Councilmen Rich DiGregorio and Jack Hansen, both Democrats from Ward Two, were dissenters earlier in the meeting when they said Kirchner's power to decide whether or not an RFP should be required for professional consultancy should be removed from the purchasing manual. Mayor Andy Szekely – who can vote to break a tie and veto an ordinance – proposed that the power…
Denton Burnell
6:14 pm on Saturday, May 18, 2013
Bob -- like all good Republican's Dan is against unnecessary tax increases. Don't think this one was necessary? Why don't we ask our local Mayor what he thinks? Here's what he said just the other day, right here on Patch: "My argument was that there was nothing miraculous or genius about what this Council did to correct the deficit spending by raising taxes... The previous Council rode out their … more ›