Tinicum has hired veteran municipal manager Judith Danko to succeed Teri Lewis in the township’s top administrative job.
Lewis resigned in December to take the reins in Nockamixon Township. Since then, Tinicum has been operating under interim Manager Terry Fedorchak.
After numerous fruitless candidate interviews in May, the township Board of Supervisors reviewed a second batch of candidates. There, they found one individual — Danko — who immediately impressed them with her years of municipal management experience and the skills she could bring to such an integral township oversight role.
“I’m very excited to be working here in Tinicum Township and looking forward to working closely with the entire community,” Danko said after being introduced by the board during a July 2 meeting.
Danko comes to Tinicum from Morrisville Borough, where she held the manager’s position for the last three years. According to her LinkedIn profiles, Danko has also managed Slatington Borough in Lehigh County and Freemansburg and Bath boroughs in Northampton County.
On June 10, the board was unanimous in its support of Danko’s capabilities to ably fill the role. However, discussions became fractious over her compensation and benefits package.
Chair Eleanor Breslin moved that Danko’s salary be $148,000 annually. In addition, she would receive vehicle expenses, a cell phone allotment, medical and dental benefits, a life insurance policy, short-term and long-term liability insurance and four weeks of paid vacation. Supervisor John Cole seconded Breslin’s motion.
But Supervisor Richard Rosamilia called the salary level and vehicle expense to be “too rich for our community.” He questioned the proposed offer of four weeks of paid vacation as well.
Resident Anita Nolan questioned why the Township Manager position’s compensation had sharply risen from former manager Lewis’ budgeted $109,000 annual salary.
Breslin responded, “This was Ms. Danko’s request, and then after our interview, it also became our offer. Over the course of the prolonged search for a new manager, it became clear there are not many individuals in Bucks County or even neighboring counties who can meet the needs of this township. I am thrilled with our decision to hire Judith Danko. Just this past week, she was honored for having served in a borough manager position for 25 years.”
Responding to Nolan’s questions, Cole said Danko had expressed a strong interest in overseeing township finances.
“To me, this hire is something that stabilizes our township,” he said. “The salary is high and more than we wanted to spend, but this is what it costs for someone of quality to come in and run our township the way it needs to be run.”
Cole also lauded Danko’s background in grant writing.
“We may be able to get some of this grant money we’ve been missing out on,” Cole said. “I get text messages almost every week from the vice chair of our planning commission asking why other townships are winning grants and Tinicum is not. A good township manager will pay for themselves due to the grant money they can pick up.”
Breslin concurred, bringing the hiring motion to a vote, with Breslin and Cole in favor and Rosamilia voting opposed.
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