A 31 year veteran of service to the New Hanover Township board of supervisors and planning commission, resigned from the township's board of supervisors on Monday night.

                Reading from a prepared statement, Ralph Fluharty sprung his resignation on the board after sparring with other officials over road repair projects and the 2016 budget amount allocated to it.

                Fluharty has advocated for getting as many road repair projects done during the good weather season as possible. He cited that the township has the manpower and resources to tackle these projects now and that the season is being wasted if they're not done. The stumbling block is funding.

                For several months Fluharty has attempted to expedite the process by making a strong case for the projects. However, more recently, Agliano has been insistent, with the support of the board, that the budget process cannot be circumvented.

                During Monday's night meeting, words were exchanged between Agliano and Fluharty about the process, with Agliano stating that "The board will no longer move money from reserves to public works road projects," insisting that the budget process be followed.

                Fluharty countered that "The process takes too long when the manpower and resources are available now." With the township's coffers at a million plus dollars in the bank, Fluharty questioned why the township cannot tap into that for funding.

                Finance Director Cindy O'Donnell brought up that the figures the board were referring to for the road projects were inaccurate. Part of the problem had to do with the public works department using the liquid fuels tax reimbursement from the state to calculate monies to be expended on certain road projects, instead of the monies budgeted. This left an actual surplus for certain road projects.

                But, there were three different sets of figures that the board had in front of them. With that Agliano, with the approval of the rest of the board, put a freeze on all projects until the correct figures could be presented to the board. O'Donnell was requested to take on that task.

                Agliano initially refused to accept Fluharty's resignation.  When the board went into an executive session later in the evening, Fluharty declined to attend.             After the executive session the board, on the advice of Solicitor Andrew Bellowar, did vote to accept Fluharty's resignation.          The board now needs to move forward with advertising for a replacement.

                In addition to his supervisor responsibilities, Fluharty was also township treasurer.  Fluharty, in his resignation speech, stated that he had been a supervisor for 31 years, with 17 of them involved with the budget process. The supervisors expressed regret on his decision to resign.

                Fluharty's resignation comes during a year that saw former Solictor Paul Bauer announce that he would not seek re-appointment for 2016; the resignation of Supervisor's Chairman Douglas Muller in early April; and the dismissal of Township Manager Kevin Tobias earlier this month.

                In other business, during the course of the meeting, Agliano introduced Gregory Prowant as the new interim township manager.  Prowant was hired on July 11 and is scheduled to work approximately 20 hours and three days a week. Prowant retired in March after serving 15 years as manager for Caln Township, Chester County. Prior to that, he was manager for Lower Pottsgrove Township, Montgomery County for 20 years. During that time he resided in Gilbertsville.

                David Woglam, Assistant Director of the Meyner Center at Lafayette College, made a presentation about the services the center offers for locating potential municipal officials and public service officers.

                After the presentation, Agliano thanked Woglam and advised him that the board had already approved the use of the center's services. It was also stated that Vice-Chair Andrew Kelly and Supervisor Charles Garner will be the point people on the search committee that will work directly with Woglam. The board hopes to have the process of hiring a manager completed before the end of the year.

                Officials also approved a resolution for township officials to sign an agreement with PennDOT for the Green Light-Go grant for improvements to traffic lights in the township.  They also approved the appointment of Mark John as "back-up" building inspector to assist Code Enforcement Officer James Wozniak as needed, and approved advertising for two full-time replacements for the public works department

                The also approved a promotion and pay raise for Public Works employee Jay Smith from operator to Road Foreman from $22.26 per hour to $23.76 per hour.