Meet Your Candidates: Mardi Harrison

Name: Mardi Harrison

Age: 63

Occupation: Attorney

Length of time living in Doylestown Township: 13 years

What organizations and activities are you involved with locally?

Chair, Doylestown Performing Arts Council; Almost Home Dog Rescue; Kruisin Kanines Agility Club

Why do you want to serve on the Doylestown Township Board of Supervisors?

I want to serve because I love Doylestown Township, I have skills and experience that are valuable to the Township, and I want to give back to this community in return for all the fun and pleasure it has given to me. 

I have been actively interested in the running of the Township for years. I have regularly attended the Supervisors' meetings, as well as Budget Committee and Ways & Means Committee meetings, which are open to the public. I have served on the Doylestown Performing Arts Council for 6 years, 3 of them as Chair (the council produces the summer concert in the park series).

Because of my attendance at these meetings, I am aware of the issues and challenges facing our Township. I know I can use my background and experience as an attorney for 17 years and small business owner (with my husband) for 33 years to help find real world solutions. 

As an employment attorney I counsel clients through serious problems and I negotiate agreements between parties with differing interests. As a small business owner, I have been intimately involved in budgeting, strategic planning, human resource issues, contract negotiations, salary and benefits issues.

Doylestown Township, like so many other municipalities in today’s economic environment, is facing some very difficult choices. I believe my training allows me to see all sides of an issue, and to make reasonable decisions that will work for the residents. I worry about candidates who think cutting the Township staff in half and closing our parks are the solutions to our budgeting problems. Such “solutions” will degrade our municipal services and eliminate the very things that make the Township a sought-after place to live – doing that will only lower our property values, so it is a false economy.

I am 63 – I am not looking to use this position as a political stepping stone. I just want to be a part of real solutions for the Township that will maintain its services and special qualities into the future.

What would you like to see happen on the at York and Swamp roads, which developer Joe Grasso has been tussling over with the township for years?

I would like to see a solution that evolves from an open communication between the residents and the developer. It was clear at the recent open meeting that the trust that once may have existed between the parties is long gone. It was also clear that the residents’ trust in the Supervisors was lacking as well.

The Supervisors can play a critical role in re-opening communications and setting this process back on track, but we must also be open and transparent in our efforts with all of the parties. I am confident a plan can be developed which will meet the needs of the developer, as well as the comfort of the residents, but it will require an honest effort on all parties, and competent facilitators (who I hope will be the Supervisors) to work through the bad feelings, and honestly evaluate new ideas.  In my work as an employment lawyer, I have been involved in countless mediations with distrustful parties concerning very emotional issues – I believe I can contribute to a solution for this property.

What are the most important issues facing Doylestown Township today?

• Creating a fiscally responsible budget, in coordination with the Ways & Means Committee
• Assuring that the Township receives the best services at the most reasonable fees through institution of competitive bidding process
• Re-establishing trust between the residents and the Supervisor’s Board.
• Creating an open dialog with Township residents
• Ensuring quality municipal services such as road maintenance and repair