Meet Your Candidates: Margaret Chleboski

Name: Margaret Chleboski

Occupation: Senior account executive at Barry Wind and Associates

Length of time living in Newtown Township: 22 years

What organizations and activities are you involved with locally?

Current: Newtown Township Auditor; Auditor for Bucks County Association of Township Officials; volunteer tax preparer for the Bucks County Opportunity Council. Formerly: Council Rock North Ice Hockey, former board member and treasurer; Newtown Grant Home Owners Association, former board member; Council Rock School District Re-Districting Committee, former member; Republican Committee, former committee person for District 7; Newtown Grant Garage Sale, 12 year chairperson; Newtown Elementary School Parents Teachers Association – former member, various chairs; Freedom Valley Girl Scouts, Council Rock Service Unit Girl Scout, former program chairperson; Freedom Valley Girl Scouts, seven year Girl Scout troop leader.

Taxes are always of interest to residents, especially in these tough economic times. What suggestions do you have to improve the efficiency of the township to save tax dollars?

The current Board of Supervisors has taken major steps to make good government less expensive.  I have real-world experience helping individuals and small businesses stretch their dollars to make ends meet and will bring the same common sense ideas to township government to save tax dollars while providing essential services.

Sycamore Street is the focus of Newtown Township’s downtown shopping district. However, the Acme site remains an eyesore and some residents say the street is not as pedestrian friendly as it should be. What suggestions do you have for improving this key shopping and business district in Newtown Township?

The Acme property lies at the heart of our shopping and business district and it’s imperative we help produce a building that fits with Newtown’s historic character.  Making sure we fill vacancies in the shopping center and properly developing the Acme site should be top priorities for the Board of Supervisors to build our business tax base and hold the line on property taxes for residents.

What other issues would you like to see come to the forefront if you are elected to the Board of Supervisors?

First and foremost, I want to protect taxpayers and make sure government does more with less. We must do that while improving services like snow removal, improving our walking trails, enforcing the speed limit in developments to protect our children, providing adequate parking for residents, businesses, and visitors who enjoy Newtown and contribute to our economy. We must also improve communication with township residents by implementing a search library on our website.

In 50 words or less, why should residents vote for you?

I’ve made a career helping individuals and businesses save money by being efficient just like we all do with our household budget.  That’s the spirit I intend to bring as a Supervisor -- finding common sense solutions, implementing cost-saving technologies and evaluating the budget line-by-line to save money.