As the weather continues to improve and trees begin to bloom, so too blooms our annual road repair and public works projects across the borough. This year, the borough will be attempting to repair, repave, and refurbish almost 13 miles of roadway on over 40 different roadways.

This Wednesday, I have the honor of hosting Lt. Governor John Fetterman and showing him our beautiful community.

As we head into the final few months of winter everyone is, undoubtedly, watching their heating budgets closely with the hope that warmer weather will help them save money as we head into spring.

Every year, the Chief of Police and I present council with a report that highlights how our police department has changed over the last twelve months.

As we are all aware, maintenance of our roadways is critical throughout the year, but especially critical during snow events as lives can be at risk if they are not properly maintained. Residents, rightly, have been asking to better understand the process through which the borough manages plowing and salting operations.

After our last storm and with another one possibly approaching, it is worth reminding everyone that for all snow alerts in the borough, vehicles must be moved to the proper side of the street otherwise they run the risk of being ticketed and — in the event a plow cannot maneuver around a vehicle — towed.

The county-run COVID-19 testing center will be reopened in Lansdale in the very near future. Last week the county’s Office of Public Health signed a one-year agreement to lease space at 400 Pennbrook Parkway to help administer and maintain an outlet for testing needs across the North Penn area.

Since August of last year, I have spent some time engaging in research around how our community can encourage continued growth by making it less desirable to have vacant commercial property in the borough, which continues to be a challenge across our community.

As you are all aware, the Omicron surge is in full swing across the North Penn area. As of Jan. 6, the county positivity rate was 29.6%. In our immediate area, the average comes down closer to 20%.

Last night, I had the honor of being sworn in for a second term as Mayor of Lansdale Borough. As noted in my post-election musing, I am honored and humbled by the support and passion the community has shared with me over my first four years in office and the vision we continue to share and work toward for our community.

Over the last several weeks, the Public Safety Committee and the Lansdale Police Department have been looking at ways to improve traffic flow on Main Street and in our core business district by making changes to the direction of two side streets: Courtland St. and Susquehanna Ave.

As we near the end of our annual budgeting process, it is worth discussing how the budget comes together and the philosophy behind the investments that are made in the borough.

As we conclude the year, we are actively planning and organizing our road improvement schedule for the coming spring. As a rule, the borough intends to repair around 5.5 miles of road per year, or around 10% of our total.

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to reflect on and acknowledge the dedication, passion, and commitment it takes to keeping our community moving forward.

This weekend on Main Street, we will be celebrating the 70th Annual Mardi Gras Parade! For 2021, the theme is “Decades of Celebration,” and parade goers can look forward to a walk down memory lane as floats, bands, and organizations celebrate how the holidays looked at each turn of the decade.

First, let me take a moment and thank everyone who took the time and had the confidence to vote for me in the most recent election. I am extremely proud to say that I will be serving another four years as Lansdale’s mayor and am humbled by the number of people who came out to support me with over 2,700 residents giving me the chance to continue to help lead our community over the next four years.

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for all residents to cast their ballots in person. Additionally, the drop box locations will be accepting ballots until 8 p.m. 2021 elections consist, mostly, of municipal races (borough/township government), judge races (magisterial, superior, and supreme), and school board.

Over the last several years, Lansdale Borough has been working diligently to improve and enhance our preparedness for emergency events that take place within our community. This process began with the hiring of Lansdale Emergency Manager Rick Lesniak, who was tasked with leading the effort to modernize our internal emergency management processes and increase training to improve communication across departments.

Over the last four years, it has been a focus of our community to continue to modernize and adapt our borough practices to meet the growing needs of our community. Specifically, we have embraced Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software that allows us to visualize our data and our community is new and different ways. This adaptation has allowed us to become more efficient and more effective with infrastructure management, budget planning, public works, and the interplay between all three.

Every year, Lansdale faces the same challenge when it comes to the cost of providing power to our borough. The cost of power remains the same, around $50/MWh, but the cost of getting power to Lansdale continues to increase despite the amount of power purchased remaining, mostly, stable. Each year this occurs, our borough ends up paying more for power without the cost of the power itself going up.