Elected Democratic Officials'
Updates
Because Accountabillity Matters
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Way back in November 2017 the Collegeville Democrats and many, many like-minded voters elected five great candidates to Borough Council and to the Mayor’s office! Collegeville Dems asked the newly elected officials (Cathy Kernen (now serving her 3rd term in office!), Marion McKinney, Mat McKnight, Shannon Spencer, and Aidsand Wright-Riggins (all serving their first terms in office)) to give their voters an update on what they’ve been doing so far.
We have summaries from most of our 2017 elected Collegeville Democrats of their activities for 2018.
Thank you for your service Marion, Mat, Cathy, Shannon & Aidsand!
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Marion's first year has been spent doing a variety of activities, She attended boot camp for newly elected officials. Marion highly recommends this camp to anyone thinking about running for office.
She went door to door meeting people in the Borough and she has found that to be most rewarding! She will also be attending the next collaborative meeting with the other municipalities.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
This committee will focus on community service. Marion is planning an event with West Chester University and Ursinus College Democrats.
STREETS, ROADS & LIGHTING
Marion championed a new parking ordinance that creates a residents-only parking area on Clamer Avenue for residents on that street who have no off-street parking.
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SAFETY COMMITTEE
The committee established meetings every two months. We have invited Fire Company representatives and the Police Chief to attend meetings with us to discuss community issues that might need to be brought to the council.
PUBLIC WORKS
I was the President of the committee for 2018. We are moving forward with permitting and planning for a joint salt storage facility for Trappe and Collegeville. Currently the boroughs only have one supplier that bids on salt treatment. Having our own salt storage allows the boroughs to reduce costs and risk of having no salt to treat the roads in the winter.
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CATHY KERNEN, PRESIDENT PRO TEM
Service: Collegeville Business Development Committee (chair); Personnel (chair); Central Perkiomen Valley Regional Planning Commission (Collegeville Representative).
Contact: ckernen@council.collegeville-pa.gov
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BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
The Borough Business Development Committee was formed in Jan. 2018 to work to attract new businesses to the Borough. Cathy and the 14 community members on the committee have met monthly from Feb., 2018 through the present.
The Committee voted to follow the 2010 Collegeville Revitalization Plan, which was developed by the Montgomery County Planning Commission, as the committee’s road map. You can look through the revitalization plan here.
We also totally updated the study’s work plan and have begun a review of the Borough’s zoning, ordinances and infrastructure in order to prepare to identify and attract businesses that would hopefully be successful in the borough.
Committee Members: Aidsand Wright-Riggins, Andrea Baptiste, Annette Parker, David Hayward, Deb Snowden, Karen McCaslin, Kathy Costello, Lynda Barker, Mike Koenig, Phil Sapovits, Robert Botti, Robert Clothier, Valerie Beckius, Chris Louten, Vince Raffeo.
Over the past year, our Committee Members:
Identified and agreed on the boundaries of Collegeville’s “business district.” We are focusing on the two Shopping Centers on Rt. 29, the Borough’s Main Street businesses, and those on side streets, such as on Third and Fourth Avenues.
Adopted the 2010 “Collegeville Revitalization Plan” developed for Collegeville Borough by the Montgomery County Planning Commission as our strategic plan. We have updated the Work Plan in the document to act as our roadmap for work in 2018 and future years.
Were updated on the growth trends of retail and service businesses in the Collegeville area and nearby, and the effect of the Rt. 422 interchange designations as industrial and commercial hubs.
Learned from the experts. Members of the Committee met with:
- Local Collegeville building and business owners Vince Raffeo, David Kaplan, and Randy Rieger;
- Jean Krack, Phoenixville Borough Manager, on the achievement of Phoenixville’s business viability;
- Consultant Steve Barth on successes on Main Streets of nearby PA boroughs and townships;
- Eric Jarrell, Section Chief, Community Planning, Montgomery County Planning Commission and
Reviewed the CEDC’s JGSC Collegeville Marketing analysis, and articles, practices and ideas from other communities and reviewed the CEDC 2015 surveys of residents and students concerning the businesses they would like us to attract to our Main Street and Shopping Centers.
Identified Collegeville’s particular aesthetic, assets and strengths. What attributes can we build on to create a unique business community for Collegeville? What is our identity? The committee agreed that Ursinus College is one of our most valuable assets, along with our location, nearby corporate employers, and our demographics. Also:
- Collegeville benefits from a deep sense of community and a good police department
- Kimberton Whole Foods and health-related businesses
- Events on the Ursinus campus and the Berman Museum of Art
- Music events at Community Music School, Ursinus, Rock n Roll After School and events
- All of our independent restaurants
- Capitalize on the Perkiomen Creek Trail that crosses our Main St.
- Evansburg Park is nearby
- Our ability to hold running events in Collegeville, with safe trails and cooperation of our Police and Fire-Police
- And discussed types of businesses to attract to Collegeville. Some of the ideas included:retail clothing, craft breweries, quaint, interesting one-of-a-kind shops, music venues, fun things for kids to do, stores with card games, comic books
Surveyed existing Collegeville business and building owners to hear their concerns and ideas. The majority of businesses in the two shopping centers and on Main Street are open and receptive to new businesses moving into the borough. We also have the support of the building owners and the management companies of our two shopping center.
Received ongoing updates at each meeting on the status of current, new and potential businesses. We also learned of area developments affecting our business district, such as the Royal Farms development, road realignments, and the potential construction of a second bridge over the Perkiomen Creek.
Inventoried available building spaces available on Main Street and in the two shopping centers. Although our current inventory is limited, we are fortunate this year that the Ursinus College is open to leasing their former dormitories on Main Street to businesses that are of high interest to the Committee and College. There are five buildings in the 400 and 500 blocks that could house amazing businesses, such as cafes, more restaurants and niche stores appealing specifically to Collegeville’s demographics and students.
Began identification and recruitment of businesses that we felt would appeal to Collegeville residents and students. One business was looking for larger windows for display space and decided to stay at their current location, but two businesses are very interested.
While the Borough Business Development Committee worked to recruit new businesses to Collegeville, the Collegeville Economic Development Corp. promoted local businesses through family-friendly events to reinforce Collegeville’s image as a desirable place to live and do business where there is always something fun going on.
CENTRAL PERKIOMEN VALLEY REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION
The commission has worked with the National Lands Trust to develop stewardship plans for Waterworks and Hunsberger Parks, reviewed safety pedestrian reports for PVSD, reviewed the Bike Montco plan, and reviewed development plans of regional significance.
PERSONNEL COMMITTEE
Cathy rewrote and finalized the Borough Manager’s Job Description with input from the Council, and rewrote the Borough Administrative Assistant Job Description. She led the search for and interviews for our new Administrative Assistant at the Borough.
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SHANNON SPENCER, AT-LARGE COUNCIL MEMBER
Service: Collegeville Planning Commission (vice-chair); Communications Committee (chair); Central Perkiomen Valley Regional Planning Commission (alternate).
Contact: sspencer@council.collegeville-pa.gov
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Since taking office, Shannon has attended several webinars about serving in local government, has prepared for and attended meetings and has worked to develop the communications committee. The Democratic candidates ran on a platform that included increasing transparency, and that has informed Shannon's actions as an elected official. As chair of the communications committee, this plays a large role in the direction of the committee.
COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE:
The communications committee is comprised of three community members and has been very active during the past six months. We began meeting in January, and met weekly during much of February through May. Here's what we've been doing this year:
- Identified what the borough needs in our website and how the current site needs to be changed.
- Worked with Geoff Thompson (our Borough Manager) to write a request for proposal (RFP),
- Got the RFP approved by Council and sent it out to vendors.
- Interviewed vendors, accepted bids, reviewed bids, and working with Geoff Thompson selected PSAB as the website vendor.
- Brought the proposal to go with PSAB to Council, which passed it unanimously.
- Published four Collegeville e-newsletters and
- Have been collecting email addresses of residents who would like to sign up for that newsletter (the signup form is linked from our Facebook page and from the Borough’s home page).
- Post items to the Borough’s Facebook page.
PLANNING COMMISSION:
The Planning Commission (PC) met twice during 2018 (it was scheduled to meet a third time, but we did not have a quorum, so that meeting was cancelled). The agenda items have included the Royal Farms development, Hookah Lounge regulations, the Ursinus College Student Commons development, and updates from the Central Perkiomen Valley Regional Planning Commission. The materials for the two developments are complicated planning documents, and require close reading and often need clarification during planning meetings. In the case of Royal Farms (since there wasn’t the third PC meeting), clarifying questions were asked during the Borough Council meeting.
- The PC voted 4-3 to give preliminary approval to Royal Farms’ initial planning documents, without approval for the requested waivers.Those waivers were approved in Council.
- The PC voted 5-0 to approve the Ursinus Student Commons development preliminary plan (with two members abstaining due to a conflict of interest).
- The PC voted 7-0 to approve moving forward with Hookah Lounge regulations which restrict Hookah lounges to the industrially zoned areas of Collegeville.This was related to problematic experiences that we had had with other hookah establishments in town.
REDISTRICTING RESOLUTION
Shannon brought a redistricting resolution to Council in March 2018 to support efforts to make changes to how voting districts are drawn and reduce gerrymandering. This resolution was one that was supported by the organization Fair Districts PA, and stated that we here in Collegeville support having a citizen redistricting commission for state-wide districts. This resolution passed 4-3 (all four Democratic candidates voted for it). Read it here. However, at the PA state house the bill that supported that citizen commission ( HB 722) was gutted in committee so that it gives even more power to the party in power (currently the Republicans). And the bill in the PA Senate (SB 22) was altered in committee, but appears to be intact enough to provide some protections for voters.
We must elect Dems at the state level!!
Volunteering for Dems:
In her non-elected office time, Shannon volunteered during the election campaign for the Democrats. She looks forward to working with and canvassing for our 2019 slate of Democratic candidates for Borough Council!
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AIDSAND F. WRIGHT-RIGGINS, MAYOR
Service: 2018 -2019 Mayoral Initiatives include: Sustainable Collegeville; “Best of The Boroughs: A Kaleidoscope of Talent”; Living Room Conversations; Collegeville Connect
Contact: mayorawr@council.collegeville-pa.gov
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It has been an honor and a delight to serve as Mayor of Collegeville Borough for a year now. After a hard-won campaign in which the voters placed their trust and confidence in us, I have used 2018 to accomplish three main things: Learn, Leverage and Lead.
One of my mentors once counseled, “Don’t use your influence until you get it!” With that in mind, I spent a lot of energy in 2018 just trying to learn the ropes. I learned a lot by simply observing without attempting to make changes or exert unearned influence. How does Borough really function? What are the strengths and talents of the staff and Council? What Committees are functional or dysfunctional. Who listens to constituents? Who lectures to residents? Who really cares? What are the formal and informal ways to address an issue of importance? These and many other questions occupied my work as I simply attempted to learn in 2018.
I also took advantage of formal ways to learn the role of Mayor:
- Attended and participated in a Newly Elected Officials Boot Camp.
- Participated in the PA Association of Boroughs Annual Conference.
- Spent two days with other Mayors and Chiefs of Police learning how to best support and supervise our Police Department.
- Attended the annual meeting of the Association of Mayors.
I want to do a good job serving our community, so I spent a good portion of 2017 simple learning. A learning community is a growing community.
I realize that this work cannot be done alone. So, I spent time this year building relationships in order to leverage the good will between us toward the positive development of our community. I have advertised and kept office hours so that each resident knows that I am available and assessible. I have responded to every email, snail mail and phone call which has come across my desk. I have knocked on the doors of residents and business owners simply to chat. I have attended meetings of clubs, organizations and educational institutions. I have drafted and delivered proclamations for youth and adults who have made a positive impact on Collegeville. I have spent more time simply trying to hear and listen to others than I have attempted to be heard by them. I have attempted to extend goodwill to others who see me as an adversary or enemy.
Some of my relationship building has been beyond the physical boundaries of the Borough Collegeville:
- I belong to a Mayor’s Think Tank of Western Montgomery County Mayors where we think, dream and commiserate together.
- Working with Mayor Jenna Antonovich of Royersford, I led an initiative of support for Mayor Mark Barbie of Bridgeport which gained Montgomery County wide recognition.
- I support Area Four of the Montgomery County Democrats.
- I campaigned with and financially contributed to the campaigns of new State Senator Katie Muth and new State Representative Joseph Webster.
While learning and leveraging, I have also been leading, especially in connection with our educational institutions and with businesses. I have been a leader in strengthening our connection with Perkiomen Valley School District and with Ursinus College. I have also been a part of the leadership team in enhancing business relationships and development in Collegeville.
Collaborating with the newly elected School Board member and president, Judy Lofton, I have established healthy and productive relationships with the Perkiomen Valley School District. A few of the concrete results of this connection have been an enhancement of the annual Martin Luther King Day of Service; a mayor’s intern in the person of Erin Quinn; a collaborative relationship with All Sides Schools and the mayor’s participation in discussions regarding the future of South Elementary School. I continue to meet with Superintendent Barbara Russell and Communications Director Jessica Lister looking for opportunities for positive change.
Ursinus College is a strategic partner with both the Collegeville Borough and the Collegeville community. In addition to providing non-mandated financial support to our Fire Company and Borough General Fund, it is one of the largest employers in the borough. It is a source of community identity, synergy and pride. As mayor, I have sought to lead in having the borough and the college invest in each other for the betterment of our community. I have met regularly with President Brock Bloomberg, Vice Presidents Kimberley Taylor and Debbie Nolan and Heather Lobban-Viravong, Special Assistant to the President.
Among the concrete results coming out of this strategic leadership initiative has been the mayor’s involvement in the Sexual Misconduct & Advocacy Resource Team (SMART). SMART is a group of faculty, staff and community leaders prepared to appropriately and compassionately support students who are affected by sexual violence. I have also been engaged with SUN of Ursinus College, promoting and engaging in issues of diversity and inclusion.
I have worked with Council Member Cathy Kernen throughout the year on the Borough Council Business Development Committee and with the Collegeville Economic Development Corporation. Without much financial support from the Borough itself, leaders in seeking to enhance our business footprint have been making bricks without straw. Nevertheless, a very strong foundation has been laid in 2018 that we plan to build on assertively in 2018.
So, 2018 has been a year of learning, leveraging and leading for me in my role as Mayor. In 2019, “Leaping” will be the new component of my work on behalf of the borough. I will focus more on policy and ordinance development now that the table has been adequately set for moving forward. I am excited about working with you all in the year ahead.
If you are interested in becoming involved in these initiatives, advocating for them, or participating directly in them, Mayor Wright-Riggins welcomes your engagement. Please feel free to contact him at:
MayorAWR@council.collegeville-pa.gov
(888) 804 2945
Follow him:
Instagram – MayorAidsand
Facebook – WrightRiggins4Us
Twitter - @Aidsand |
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2018 Elections
We would be remiss if we didn't also note that the 2018 PA elections were a HUGE success for Dems! We elected all of our candidates who will now serve Collegeville at the state and national level!
Congratulations to:
US Senator Bob Casey
US Representative Madeleine Dean
PA Governor Tom Wolf
PA Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman
PA Senator Katie Muth
PA Representative Joe Webster!!
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