Credit: Pennsbury School District
Falls Township’s new zoning officer and director of building, planning, and code enforcement will also serve as the assistant township manager.
In a statement, the Falls Township Board of Supervisors said they plan to hire Matthew Takita at their Tuesday, October 15 meeting at a starting salary of $120,000 per year.
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Takita was Bensalem’s director of building and planning for 24 years until leaving in 2018 to start MTA LLC Architecture & Urban Design. During his time in the township, he worked on zoning for a 675-acre revitalization district on the Delaware River.
“The board had been considering doing a formal search, but Matt’s qualifications and experiences were so stellar that we realized we wouldn’t have to,” Supervisors Chairman Bob Harvie said in a statement. “We knew that a search would not yield any candidate with the experience, qualifications and reputation greater than Matt’s. His reputation as one of the finest zoning officers and code enforcement officers in Bucks County precedes him and is unquestioned. Matt’s nearly 30 years in municipal government made him the ideal candidate for the assistant manager position that the Supervisors had been contemplating for some time.”
Takita will replace former Chief Zoning Officer Tom Bennett, who resigned earlier in summer. Earlier this week, Bennett came forward and claimed he was pressured to pass a home earlier this summer, which led to a suspension and his resignation.
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In acting as the assistant township manager, Takita will fill a role that currently doesn’t exist in Falls Township. He will work along side Township Manager Peter Gray, who planned to resigned but is now staying.
According to the township, Takita holds two dozen certifications from the International Code Council, including Building Code Specialist, Mechanical Code Official, Fire Plans Examiner, Residential Building Inspector, Master Code Professional and Certified Building Official, among others. He has more than a dozen Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code licenses, including Residential Building Inspector, Residential Mechanical Inspector, Electrical Inspector, Fire Inspector and Building Code Official.
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Takita is a Spring Garden College graduate and holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture.
