Correction: We have updated this article to state the board made a motion to inform the the Zoning Hearing Board that solicitor’s hourly rate should not exceed $170 an hour. The previous version said the board made a motion to cap professional rates.
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Middletown Township, in accordance with the second class township code, has reorganized their Board of Supervisors.
The Board of Supervisors, which met last week, appointed Tom Gallagher as chairperson, William Oettinger as vice-chairperson and H. George Leonhauser as secretary.
The board also took the action of reappointing its township professionals, including Solicitor Joseph Pizzo.
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Board member Amy Strouse questioned Pizzo during the meeting, asking why he had raised his rates beyond budget hearing meetings to $35 more an hour. Pizzo, who has been paid the rate of $135 an hour for the past four years recently put in a request for $170 per hour for 2017.
Pizzo noted he had heard that the township labor council was asking to be reappointed at $170 an hour, and that the township Zoning Hearing Board solicitor was asking for reappoinment at $200 an hour, and thought he was incumbent enough to at least raise his rates to the lesser of the two.
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Strouse said she was concerned for the impact on the township’s budget, but Township Manager Stephanie Teoli Kuhls noted that Pizzo is frequently under budget and so the increase shouldn’t effect it.
Pizzo, as well as board members, have mentioned that his 2016 rates were the lowest in the area, with Falls Township paying their solicitor $185 an hour and Bensalem paying $200 an hour.
Strouse, who was supported only by fellow board member Tom Tosti, noted it was “fiscally irresponsible” to accept all of the reappoinments asking for increases without first interviewing other candidates.
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While all of the reappointments were approved, the board did make a motion resolution to put a cap on inform the Zoning Hearing Board that solicitor’s hourly rate should not exceed $170 an hour.
