Neumann College Plans New Facility 

Township commissioners have granted final approval to Neumann College plans to build a 70,000-sq. ft. sport, spirituality and character development center on the north side of Convent Rd., to the west of the dormitories.

The two-story multi-purpose center will sit on a 24-acre parcel that incorporates five housing lots recently purchased by the college. Commissioners voted unanimously to rezone the five lots, which total just over four acres, from residential to institutional district to facilitate the construction project.

The new center will feature a 1400-seat gymnasium, locker rooms, an alumni hall, offices, classrooms, and a community room for public events. The site will be served by 1,296 parking spaces. The parking lot on the south side of Convent will be expanded, while a circular botanical garden and reflecting pond with a stature of St. John Neumann will stand nearby.

Only the curved roof and the upper floor of the center will be visible from Convent Rd., looking across a campus green. Two floors will be visible from the rear of the building, where four new tennis courts will be situated.

There are no immediate plans to widen   Convent   Rd  but  one speed table

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Commissioners Reorganize

The township’s 2008 reorganization meeting included Magisterial District Judge David Murphy administering the oath of office to first-time electee First Ward Commissioner V. Michael Fulginiti; Seventh Ward Commissioner Michael Higgins, who is starting his third year and first full four-year term on the board; Commissioners President Joseph Possenti, Jr., who is starting his fourth term in office; and Fifth Ward Commissioner James McGinn, who was recently re-elected to an unprecedented eighth term. As McGinn starts his 29^th year as an Aston commissioner, he is the senior elected official in the entire county.

Possenti was unanimously elected by his peers to serve his third full year as commissioners president, while Sixth Ward Commissioner Frank Murphy was unanimously elected to serve his third full year as board vice president.

At commissioners’ first regular meeting of the new year, a laundry list of reappointments was made to township service positions.

Richard D. Lehr was reinstated to a two-year term as township secretary/manager. Lehr has held this post for the last 20 years and has been a township employee for 40 years, starting out in the public works department.

Barbara DiMario will serve as deputy tax collector for another two years.

-Other two-year reappointments include: the law firm of Swartz Campbell as township solicitors, and Joseph Honor, Esq. as alternate township solicitor; Ralph Maiden as senior code enforcement officer, and George Savastano as code enforcement officer; Frank Giorgini, Robert McLaughlin and William Mason to the plumbing board of examiners; William Westcott, Arthur Baur and Joseph McColgan to the electrical board of examiners; Carol Thompson as zoning hearing board officer and Frank Sbandi, Esq. as zoning hearing board solicitor; Dr. William Cohen, D.O. as township health officer and James Talbot as deputy health officer; Thomas Morgan as fire marshal, and James Voss and Edmund Woodruff as assistant fire marshals; and Nancy Bowden as vacancy board chairman.

-Three-year reappointments include: Carolyn Williams, Charles R. Hoyt and Harry Hill III to the Aston Public Library board of trustees.

-Four-year reappointments include: Kenneth Novotni, Thomas D’Alonzo and Christopher Gubernot to the township planning commission;

-Five-year reappointments include: Kevin Carr to the board of health; Arthur Berkau and Raymond Church to the zoning hearing board;

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