Government watchdog, 05.18.09

* Lower Paxton Twp. supervisors will meet at a special time due to this week's election – tonight at the Municipal Center, 7:30 pm. (Meetings normally are held on Tuesday.) You can view a live broadcast of the meeting on Comcast cable, channel 20. (agenda)

The meeting's key action item is a vote on proposed permit fees for transporting leaf waste to the township’s Conway Road compost facility.

* Tuesday, May 19, is Primary Election Day. Please do your civic duty and vote, especially since local government offices are up for grabs!

On a related note, attending CD school board candidates' night last week was an eye-opening experience for me. I learned that nothing beats seeing candidates speak in a public forum. Check out the three videos that I posted last week. Even though the videos are short, you'll learn more about candidates than what is revealed in brief profiles published by newspapers.

After watching the videos, I entitled them as follows: "I Love This Place" ... "The Image Changer" ... "I Mean Business." Can you match the titles with the candidates?

* Like the township supervisors, the Central Dauphin School Board will meet at a special time this week – Wednesday, May 20 at the Lecture Hall of Central Dauphin East High School, 7 pm. (Meetings are normally held on Monday.) To view the agenda, click on the plus sign for 05/18/09, and then click on the plus signs to get details about specific agenda items, including downloadable PDF files of documents.

The agenda includes a motion to adopt a preliminary 2009-2010 school budget that would include a tax hike of 2.45 percent. (See 5/18/09 agenda item 7.02 under Unfinished Business.)