Mr. Robert G. Bledsoe This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Commissioners' Meeting Minutes - January 5, 2004

   www.manheimtownship.org/edits/ - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/5/2004   Last Visited: 1/27/2008

   Commissioner Downing moved to appoint Harry E. Ritter as President of the Manheim Township Commissioners and Robert G. Bledsoe as Vice President of the Manheim Township Commissioners.
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   RESOLUTION 2004-01: Commissioner Bledsoe moved to adopt Resolution 2004-01 appointing Donald A. Smoker to the BOCA and Fire Prevention Board of Appeals until the first Monday in January, 2009.
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   RESOLUTION 2004-03: Commissioner Bledsoe moved to adopt Resolution 2004-03 appointing Kevin Dick to the Fire Council until the first Monday in January, 2008.
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   RESOLUTION 2004-04: Commissioner Bledsoe moved to adopt Resolution 2004-04 appointing Michael Hearn to the Fire Council until the first Monday in January, 2008.
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   RESOLUTION 2004-05: Commissioner Bledsoe moved to adopt Resolution 2004-05 appointing James M. Martin to the Fire Council until the first Monday in January, 2008.
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   RESOLUTION 2004-06: Commissioner Bledsoe moved to adopt Resolution 2004-06 appointing William R. Ross, Jr. to the Fire Council until the first Monday in January, 2008.
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   Seconded by Mr. Bledsoe.
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   Seconded by Mr. Bledsoe. President Ritter asked if there were any questions or comments from the Board or the audience. There were none. Motion carried unanimously.
   
   RESOLUTION 2004-18: Commissioner Bledsoe moved to adopt Resolution 2004-18 appointing James M. Martin as Secretary for the Board of Commissioners of Manheim Township until the first Monday in January, 2006.
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   Seconded by Mr. Bledsoe.
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   Seconded by Mr. Bledsoe.
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   RESOLUTION 2004-24: Commissioner Bledsoe moved to adopt Resolution 2004-24 appointing the Law Firm of Hartman, Underhill & Brubaker, LLP as Solicitor for the Board of Commissioners of Manheim Township until the first Monday in January, 2006.
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   RESOLUTION 2004-25: Commissioner Bledsoe moved to adopt Resolution 2004-25 appointing the Law Firm of Morgan, Hallgren, Crosswell & Kane, P.C. as Assistant Solicitor as the Advisor to the Manheim Township Planning Commission until the first Monday in January, 2006.
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   RESOLUTION 2004-26: Commissioner Bledsoe moved to adopt Resolution 2004-26 appointing the Law Firm of Zimmerman, Pfannebecker, Nuffort & Albert, LLP as Assistant Solicitor as the Advisor to the Manheim Township Zoning Hearing Board until the first Monday in January, 2006.
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   RESOLUTION 2004-27: Commissioner Bledsoe moved to adopt Resolution 2004-27 appointing the firm of Trout, Ebersole & Groff as Township Auditor until the first Monday in January, 2006.
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   RESOLUTION 2004-28: Commissioner Bledsoe moved to adopt Resolution 2004-28 appointing Fulton Bank as Depository of the Manheim Township Commissioners until the first Monday in January, 2006.
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   There being no further business before the Commissioners, Commissioner Smith moved and Mr. Bledsoe seconded that the meeting adjourn at 7:30 p.m., with all in favor.

2. 2. Commissioners Meeting Minutes 02-27-03

   www.manheimtownship.org/edits/ - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/27/2003   Last Visited: 1/27/2008

   Commissioner Bledsoe thanked President Smith and introduced himself and said this is his second year serving as a Township Commissioner.
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   Commissioner Bledsoe said the next part of the presentation this evening would be Dr. David Polk.
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   Commissioner Bledsoe said that his occupation and training is as a market researcher and he's been in research for twenty years. He heads up the research for New Holland, which is called CNH Global, so he's done lots of research, and he's the one who designed the survey.
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   Commissioner Bledsoe said he only looked at five to ten surveys.
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   The survey instrument itself, as Commissioner Bledsoe had mentioned, was developed by the Township. He said when they looked at the results, they analyzed the results by household type, because if you think about it, this survey was sent one per household.
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   As Commissioner Bledsoe flips the slide, now what we're doing is we're showing the percent of people who picked any one of these options as their first or second choice, and what we will see is - look at where C is.
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   Commissioner Bledsoe thanked Dr. Polk and said the Board appreciated his analysis of the survey results.
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   Commissioner Bledsoe said he thought that was the first time a Township Commissioner has ever gotten applauded, and he's not even running for re-election! He continued by saying that the Commissioners are very sensitive to that fact. He said like President Smith said, the Commissioners have not raised taxes in 13 years, and he said he certainly had no intent in raising taxes in his next three years of serving on this Board. He said they understood fixed income, the current state of the economy in terms of what's going on out there, in terms of the unemployment situation, consumer confidence is at an all-time low. He was interrupted by an inaudible comment from a member of the audience. He continued by saying excuse me, but he was going to speak, and if anyone was going to shout him down, then there will not be a meeting. He said what he wanted to do is give everyone a chance to provide input, that is additional information that he was trying to share with the audience, that he thinks would be important and asked that he be allowed to continue on.
   
   He continued that the Commissioners have looked at the current state of the economy and they know it's not a very good situation right now. It's probably one of the worst times we can think of to talk about any kind of a building project, because of what's going on with the economy, Iraq, and all the things that are happening out there and the Board is sensitive to that. He said what he wanted to do was to get the citizens' input. The survey process was designed to get additional input from the citizens. He said they said they wanted a chance to respond to the survey. He said they did that process and they have the information and now we can digest that in a very unbiased way. We've gotten a professional analysis of the information. All of this information will be very important to the Commissioners versus what is said tonight in terms of their decision on March 10th. He then set the stage for having the members of the audience give some input. He said he wanted to hear from the members of the audience as citizens in terms of their viewpoints of the community center. He said comments should be only directed to the community center; that is the subject of the meeting here tonight. He said if anyone has some personal innuendoes or battles with Commissioners, this is not the meeting. There will be a Township meeting on March 10th and there will be a chance there for some of those things. Tonight's meeting is to help the Board of Commissioners understand how the residents feel about the community center - whether we should move forward or not move forward. He asked everyone to focus all of their comments on that simple singular subject. He then explained how this would work this evening to give everyone a chance to comment. He indicated that there was a microphone over here for people who feel we should not move forward, and he asked for the reasons why. It might be taxes, fixed income situation, but let the Board know how you feel and why we should not move forward with the community center. He pointed out the con side and said over here we have the pro side. For those who think we should move forward, he asked them to let the Board know what they think, why we should move forward. He said they might have specific parts of this community center they think should be focused on, such as a library or a specific element of this community center that we should do versus the whole thing. He said the Board wants to hear those that feel we should be moving forward in some form or fashion, and those that feel we should not. He explained how they would conduct this meeting. He said they didn't take names, what they want to do is start with this microphone. Whoever wants to speak first, in terms of giving a pro comment, to come up, give your statement, you have two minutes to talk. He said he has a little timer and once it beeps, he will ask them to finish their comments quickly and then sit down.
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   No one came forward immediately and Commissioner Bledsoe joked that maybe they could take this microphone away. Someone did come forward and he joked that here was their ten dollars and thanked them. There was laughter. Commissioner Bledsoe asked each person who comes forward to please give their name and address.
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   Commissioner Bledsoe thanked her and there was applause.
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   Commissioner Bledsoe thanked him.
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   Commissioner Bledsoe interrupted and said he asked for one thing in this meeting and that was when someone was speaking that everyone respect the speaker's opinions. He said if we don't respect everyone's opinions, the meeting will be over right now, because everybody needs to be heard, whether it's an opposing viewpoint or not. This is a chance to be heard, so he asked the audience to please give the speaker the respect of listening to their opinions. He said that was very important, and if we're going to have a meeting, we have to listen. He said he wanted to listen to everybody's comments. He asked everyone to please observe that, and then asked Steve to continue. A member of the audience said something inaudible and Commissioner Bledsoe answered that he is giving an opinion and he is allowed to give his opinion, just like anyone who stands in front of a microphone is allowed to give their opinion about what we should be doing. He again asked Steve to please proceed. Steve began again by saying it's not easy speaking in a group when a lot of people don't agree with you, and he said he's sat in many groups where he wanted to not agree with the person and the audience, he said just hear him out and then when he's done, go to the other microphone as Commissioner Bledsoe said. He said the point he was trying to make was it is likely, since Manheim Township School District and Manheim Township are comprised of exactly the same taxpayers that if the School District decides to proceed with the pool, because no pool is being proceeded with at a community center, either on its own as a first step to the community center, or as part of a larger community center, it is likely that the School District and the School Board are going to vote to proceed with a pool, which the taxpayers will pay for. That is the point he was trying to make. He said whether they support that concept or don't support the concept, that was the point he was trying to make. And, he said he didn't think that the Commissioners should allow the School Board to set their timetable, but he does think that the worst of all possible worlds is the taxpayers eventually end up paying for two swimming pools, one at the school and one at the community center. The advantage of the pool at the community center over a pool at the school is that a pool at the community center will allow the community to use it. If we're going to pay for it, he said he'd at least like to be able to use it, whether or not he was or wasn't a student at the school. He said that was the point that he was trying to make. The other point that he's made all along during this process is he does not think we should go forward with a community center with taxpayer dollars, and take the pressure off raising money from the private sector. This should be primary, with the exception of the pool issue, which is sort of out there on its own right now. Once the Commissioners make a decision to spend taxpayer dollars, it will be very difficult to raise community dollars. So, he said if the Commissioners would decide to move forward, he would hope that it would be on some sort of matching basis with the community, and not strictly with taxpayer dollars. He said thank you, and Commissioner Bledsoe thanked him.
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   Commissioner Bledsoe interrupted and said one thin

3. 3. LASA Sale Meeting Minutes - July 21, 2003

   www.manheimtownship.org/edits/ - [Cached]

   Published on: 7/21/2003   Last Visited: 1/27/2008

   Members present were: President Smith, Commissioners Reinaker, Bledsoe, Gordon and Ritter, and Manager-Secretary James M. Martin.
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   President Smith opened the meeting by introducing the members on the dais: Don Smith, Dennis Reinaker, Bernie Gordon, Bob Bledsoe, Harry Ritter, Bill McCarty and Michael Klein.
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   Commissioner Ritter then turned the meeting over to Commissioner Bledsoe.
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   Commissioner Bledsoe went over the fact sheet. He emphasized the concept of "economies of scale" and the concept that a larger rate base would spread capital costs. He cited Manheim Township and LASA rates, stated that LASA rates are currently projected to intersect Manheim Township rates in about twenty years, and that Manheim Township could expect stable rates for many years to come. He described the transition as seamless from a service perspective.