Newtown Twp. Fills Open Seat On Sewer Authority Board

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — In a surprise move, the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors this week appointed one of its own to an opening on the Newtown, Bucks County Joint Municipal Authority Board.

After voting to remove a motion from the table from last month’s meeting to appoint township planner Craig Deutsch to the opening, the board voted to remove Deutsch from consideration at his request and to appoint Supervisor Dennis Fisher to the opening.

Fisher, who will replace Linda Bobrin on the six-member board, will serve through 2029.

"He is the perfect replacement," said board chair Elen Snyder. "Thank you for stepping up," she told Fisher.

The motion received the unanimous support of the supervisors after Fisher reiterated his opposition to building a sewer treatment plant in the township.

The typically routine appointment to the authority board turned political in the wake of an unsuccessful attempt by the authority to build a sewer plant in the township on Lower Silver Lake Road on the township's southern border with Middletown.

The proposal sparked a backlash from township residents and neighboring Middletown Township residents who fought vehemently against the plan.

In March, the authority board voted to stop all work on the treatment plant.

Fisher will join the township’s two other representatives on the board - Supervisor Elen Snyder and Jerry Schenkman. The other three members of the board are Newtown Borough residents appointed by the borough council. They are Bob Walker, Chris Gusty and Christine Sciarrotta.

In June, Snyder again declared plans for a new sewer plant officially “dead.”

Her declaration came after residents, fearing a vote could resurface at the municipal authority level to move forward with the project, asked the board for reconfirmation that plans for a plant are indeed off the table.

“For the sewer plant to even happen, it would require this board to authorize the township engineer to amend the township’s Act 537 Plan to include a new sewage treatment plant,” explained township

manager Micah Lewis. “Until the board does that, there’s no forward progress with the plant.”

Added Snyder, “There will not be a sewer plant on that property. That I can tell you 100 percent. We are not for it,” she said after taking an informal poll of the board and finding no support.