2016 calendars - UPDATED 1/12

It's that time of year again - more precisely, the end of one and the start of another. As we're right on the brink of 2016, our local municipalities are starting to line up their schedules of local meeting dates and times throughout the year. Most of our munis will pass 2016 calendars during their reorganization meetings on Jan. 4 and I'll update as we get those, but here are the ones we know so far:

LANSDALE BOROUGH
Council will keep a similar schedule as in 2015, with committee meetings starting at 7 p.m. the first Wednesday of each month and reporting back to council at 9 p.m., and a business meeting two weeks later on the third Wednesday.
Committees at 7 p.m., work sessions at 9 p.m.: February 3, March 2, April 6, May 4, June 1, July 6, August 3, September 7, October 5, November 2, December 7.
Business meeting at 7 p.m.: January 20, February 17, March 16, April 20, May 18, June 15, July 20, August 17, September 21, October 19, November 16, December 21.
Other Lansdale meetings:
- Planning Commission at 7:30 p.m. on third Monday of each month except in February (22nd instead of 15th)
- Economic Development Committee at 6:30 p.m. on third Monday of each month, except Feb. 22 instead of 15th
- Zoning hearing board at 7:30 p.m. on third Tuesday of each month
- Parking Authority at 7 p.m. on second Wednesday of each month
- Communication Commission on second Tuesday of the month, once per quarter - January 12, April 12, July 12, October 11.
All Lansdale meetings will be held at the borough municipal complex, 1 Vine Street; for details or agendas visit www.Lansdale.org or follow @LansdalePA on Twitter for more.

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP - UDPATED 1/12
Hatfield's commissioners held their reorganization meeting at 7 p.m. on Jan. 4, and have approved the following calendar of 2016 meeting dates and times.
All board meetings will be held at 7:30 p.m. on the following dates, at the township administration building, 1950 School Road:
Workshop meetings - Jan. 13, Feb. 10, March 9, April 13, May 11, June 8, July 13, Aug. 10, Sept. 14, Oct. 12, Nov. 2, Dec. 7.
Business meetings: Jan. 27, Feb. 24, March 23, April 27, May 25, June 22, July 27, Aug. 24, Sept. 28, Oct. 26, Nov. 16, Dec. 21.
The following boards and commissions will also meet at these dates and times:
Planning Commission - third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m.
Parks and Recreation board - first Monday of each month at 7 p.m.
Pool Advisory Board - second Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m.
Shade Tree Commission - third Monday of each month at 7 p.m.
Planning and Zoning committee - fourth Monday of each month at 9 a.m.
Environmental Advisory Committee - third Monday of even-numbered months at 6 p.m.
Hatfield's board and staff have also held a special meeting on Jan. 6 to discuss the plans to extend the Frick's Trail from a house near Line Lexington Road, west across Orvilla Road to connect with School Road Park. Hatfield's staff discussed the trail project during budget meetings over the past two months, and showed a video of what the current trail route looks like walking through the wilderness - start at 35 minutes in on the Nov. 18 video for details, and visit www.HatfieldTownship.org or follow @HatfieldPA on Twitter for more.

UPDATED 1/4
UPPER GWYNEDD TOWNSHIP
Upper Gwynedd's commissioners held their reorganization meetingon Jan. 4, and approved during their final meeting of 2015 the following schedule of meetings:
Workshop meetings at 7 p.m. on Jan. 19, Feb. 16, March 15, April 19, May 17, June 21, July 19, Aug. 16, Sept. 20, Oct. 18, Nov. 15, Dec. 13.
Business meetings at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 25, Feb. 22, March 28, April 25, May 23, June 27, July 25, Aug. 22, Sept. 26, Oct. 24, Nov. 21, Dec. 19.
The township's planning commission is scheduled to meet at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 5, Feb. 1, March 7, April 4, May 2, June 13, July 11, Aug. 1, Sept. 7, Oct. 5, Nov. 2, and Dec. 5.
The zoning hearing board meets at 7 p.m. on Jan. 26, Feb. 23, March 22, April 18, May 24, June 28, July 26, Aug. 23, Sept. 27, Oct, 25, Nov. 22 and Dec. 20.
Upper Gwynedd's Parks and Recreation board is slated to meet at 7 p.m. on Jan. 11, March 14, M ay 9, Aug. 8 (to plan to township summer carnival), Sept. 12, and Nov. 14.
The Police pension board meets at 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 17, May 18, Aug. 17 and Nov. 16.
The Nor-Gwyn Pool Commission is scheduled to meet at 7:30 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month: Jan. 21, Feb. 18, March 17, April 21, May 19, June 16, July 21, Aug. 18, Sept. 15, Oct. 20, Nov. 17, and Dec. 15.
All meetings will be held at the township administration building, 1 Parkside Place. For more information or meeting agendas and details visit www.UpperGwynedd.org.

MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP
Montgomery Township's supervisors will hold their reorganization meeting starting at 7 p.m. on Jan. 4, and on the agenda for that meeting is approval of a 2016 meeting schedule. Meetings will be held at 8 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of each month, with no Jan. 11 meeting due to Jan. 4 also serving as an action meeting night.
Subsequent board meetings will be held at 8 p.m. on: Jan. 25,  Feb. 8 and 22, March 14 and 18, April 11 and 25, May 9 and 23, June 13 and 27, July 11 and 25, August 8 and 22, September 12 and 26, October 11 and 24, November 14 and 28, and Dec. 12. All meetings will be held at the township administration building, 1001 Stump Road, except for the Jan. 4 reorganization meeting at the new township community and recreation center just across the street at 1030 Horsham Road. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.MontgomeryTwp.org or follow @MontTwp on Twitter.

UPDATE 1/7
TOWAMENCIN TOWNSHIP
Towamencin's supervisors have approved the following 2016 meeting schedule, with all meetings to be held at 7:30 p.m. at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road:
Work sessions - Jan. 13, Feb. 10, March 9, April 13, May 11, June 8, July 13, Aug. 10, Sept. 14, Oct. 12, Nov. 9, Dec. 14.
Business meetings: Jan. 27, Feb. 24, March 23, April 27, May 25, June 22, July 27, Aug. 24, Sept. 28, Oct. 26, Nov. 22 *Tuesday due to Thanksgiving holiday* and Dec. 28.

NORTH WALES BOROUGH
Borough council has approved a 2016 meeting schedule with council meetings held at 7 p.m. at the borough municipal building, 300 School Street, on the following dates:
Jan. 12 and 26, Feb. 9 and 23, March 8 and 22, April 12 and 19 *moved due to primary election*; May 10 and 24, June 14 and 28, July 12 and 26, Aug. 9 and 23, Sept. 13 and 27, Oct. 11 and 25, Nov. 1 *moved due to general election* and 22, and Dec. 6 and 13.

Lansdale talks televised meetings

Now that Lansdale Borough's staff have moved into their new municipal building, officials are revisiting an issue tabled for most of the last two years.

Council's Communication Commission is starting to revisit the possibility of televising borough meetings, according to commission Chair Denton Burnell.
"We've obviously capable of televising things, video recording things, so now that we're in this fancy, cool space, what can we do?" Burnell said.
Before leaving the previous borough hall in 2013, the commission had broached the topic of televising meetings and posting the video on the borough website Lansdale.org.
Since then, the website has been revamped and modernized, and the new borough building "is certainly wired for" video recording equipment, Burnell said, thus restarting a discussion that's been on hold for years.
"There's obviously a lot of questions to be answered: are we buying this stuff? Are we renting that stuff? What do we have to do with regards to a public access channel? Who would manage the equipment? So on and so forth," he said.
Some of those responsibilities could be part of the role of the borough communications coordinator, a position that has been vacant since early August.
According to Burnell and borough Manager Jake Ziegler, candidates for the coordinator position are still being interviewed, and a new employee could be in place by mid-November.
That new coordinator, once they're in place, could draw on a shared services agreement with the North Penn School District to discuss how the district's NPTV channel does their broadcasts, and the hard- and software they use.
"We could have them come in, look at our situation, and say 'Hey, we can help you here, here are some recommendations we can make,'" Burnell said.
"At least, starting the conversation with them to start to build a framework for the type of things we would need to do, in order to leverage and publicly televise on a public access channel our meetings," he said.
With talks on the 2016 borough budget underway, any large equipment expenses such as multiple large cameras would likely wait until 2017, but low-cost options such as a single-camera setup could be implemented sooner depending on the answers to the cost questions.
"I'm committed to realizing at least one of those options in the next 12 months. I would assume that the video recording options could happen much quicker than that, and at a relatively low expense to the borough," he said.
The website and channel could have fresh content, if another project discussed by the commission comes to reality.
Commission member Carrie Hawkins Charlton suggested a Civics 101 program, or a series of courses introducing residents to local government and how it works.
"You can learn about the police department, learn about the fire department, learn about borough government: what we do, how our local government is structured, the processes that we go through, and some basic information about how our budgets are structured," Burnell said.
Those courses could be offered in person by borough department heads, and could run four to six weeks and result in an honorary certification for those who complete the courses.
"The idea is to engage people who don't normally come to council, who perhaps aren't really engaged, and don't really have a sense of what we do, but might be interested," he said. 
"The goals are simple: getting people more engaged and interested in their local government, and hopefully not just engaged but more involved," said Burnell.
In recent months the commission has welcomed three new members and shifted from monthly to quarterly meetings, and as part of that reorganization Burnell was renamed as the commission Chair and Charlton as Vice-chair. The group also discussed the new look of the North Penn Water Authority's water tower near Third and Richardson Streets, which now sports the new borough brand and logo developed by the commission, and a possible update to the recently revamped borough website Lansdale.org. The upgraded site is able to track users' stays and how they find certain data, and Burnell said the commission and new coordinator could use that data to make certain features more prominent and easier to find.
"We don't really know with any great certainty how people are using (the site), so I'm very keen to leverage any data tracking metrics that we have," he said.
Examples discussed by the commission include promoting more economic development topics for outsiders visiting the site, linking borough social media channels to the site, and reconfiguring photos that appear distorted due to the page framing. 

 Lansdale's borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on Oct. 21 at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine Street. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.Lansdale.org or follow @LansdalePA on Twitter.