October 7, 2026 Committee Meeting and Special Board of Commissioners Meeting

Lower Merion Township committee meetings and Special Board of Commissioners meeting, October 7, 2026: The Finance Committee approved a road-salt purchase agreement with Morton Salt through the Montgomery County consortium, at reported unit prices of $73.44 per ton for delivered salt and $73 per ton for non-delivered salt. The revised arrangement gives each participating municipality a direct agreement and more independent remedies if the supplier fails to meet its obligations, including the 72-hour delivery expectation. The Board unanimously authorized 36-month electricity-supply agreements with Freepoint Energy for general-service accounts at a rate not to exceed 9.35 cents per kWh and Constellation Energy for lighting accounts at no more than 6.9 cents per kWh; both include 100% renewable energy credits. The Finance Committee also advanced notice and hearings for the proposed 2027 budget and 2027–2032 capital improvement plan. Discussion of the 2027 budget included a proposed $75,000-per-year, five-year Axon drone program, additional code-enforcement staffing, and a temporary management fellow; these were budget deliberations, not final purchase approvals. A proposed $10,000 business-district planning study was withdrawn after staff offered to assign existing intern resources to the work, and a commissioner asked staff to pursue grants for the Writer’s Ferry trail project, which was listed for 2030 in the draft capital plan.

The Police Committee unanimously recommended a five-year police-services cooperation agreement with Narberth Borough, and unanimously approved advertising an ordinance for four-way stop controls at Coulter Avenue and the Suburban Square parking-lot driveways. The Special Board meeting approved the electricity agreements unanimously and approved a 12-hour police-officer suspension, with one abstention. The committee also reviewed pension funding pressures, including approximately $3.193 million in state aid and a projected increase in 2027 pension obligations, as well as police activity and staffing. No final board action on the debated drone or staffing proposals was recorded in the transcript.