Republican Kyle Davis appointed to fill vacancy on Newtown Board of Supervisors
By D.E. Schlatter 21st Century Media News Service
NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP - As expected, the townships vacancy board voted 3-2 along party lines at a special March 12 meeting to appoint Kyle Davis, a Republican, to fill the empty seat on the board of supervisors created by the resignation of Matt Benchener earlier this year because of increased job duties.
The five-member vacancy board consisted of all four sitting supervisors, Republicans Matt Gallagher and Ryan Gallagher, along with Democrats Phil Calabro and Jen Dix.
The boards chairman is township resident Patricia Bachtle, a Republican who is also the Bucks County Prothonotary, the clerk of the Common Pleas Courts civil division.
Bachtle represented the tie-breaking vote, and not surprisingly backed the 46-year-old Davis.
The vacancy board scheduled the brief meeting, which was held before the regular March 12 supervisors meeting, because the four-member board of supervisors deadlocked Feb. 12 in choosing whether to appoint Davis, or former supervisor Jerry Schenkman, a Democrat.
Speaking before the vacancy board vote, Supervisor Chairman Mike Gallagher downplayed that party politics was involved, saying that it was not purely a Republican versus Democrat thing, though I admit theres an element of that.
Gallagher, who ran with Davis on the November ballot, labeled his running mate very capable. Davis lost his election bid to Democrat Dix.
Although Gallagher praised praised Schenkman for his tenure as a supervisor from 2006 to 2012, he said that the board needed someone like Davis, who would stay in township politics for the long-run to build a career, rather than a person who would just stay for the next year-and-a-half until Bencheners term expired at the end of 2015.
Fellow-Republican Supervisor Ryan Gallagher agreed with that assessment, stating that although Schenkman was a fantastic supervisor, At the end of the day, the most important thing for me ... is an eye towards the future and Mr. Davis stepped in and said that he wants to be part of the townships future.
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Republican Kyle Davis appointed to fill vacancy on Newtown Board of Supervisors