Supervisor Ends 20 Years of Service to Middletown

Outgoing Middletown Township Board of Supervisors member Robert McMonagle has served residents for 20 years.

McMonagle, the board’s only Democrat, said he thinks the township is worse off than when he took office 12 years ago. He said he felt that way mainly due to the actions of the Republican majority on the board, adding they had undone the work of previous supervisors.

Fellow supervisors thanked McMonagle for his service at the end of Monday night’s meeting. Solicitor Joe Pizzo, who McMonagle has often spared with, smiled and wished McMonagle the best.

A resident, who said they didn’t agree with most of McMonagle’s political views, thanked him at a recent meeting for always being the first, and sometimes only, supervisor to respond to his emails.

McMonagle told LevittownNow.com on Monday that he always tried to hear people out when they provided input.

After his years of service, McMonagle said he decided not to run for reelection this past November. Republican Bill Oettinger, a former Neshaminy school board member, will be taking McMonagle’s seat come the new year.

“I feel like its time for younger people with fresh ideas to take over,” McMonagle said.

Board member Tom Gallager and McMonagle were the lone votes against the recently imposed earned income tax. The tax has residents upset and will be used to fill a $4 million dollar gap in the 2014 budget.

Previous to his dozen years of service as a supervisor, McMonagle held a seat on the zoning hearing board for five years, spent two years on the telecommunications advisory board and served as tax collector before that.