Adams Township meets with HOA leaders on merger with Mars
ADAMS TWP — With less than two months to go before the vote that will decide whether Adams Township and Mars merge into Mars Township, township officials met with leaders of various homeowners associations on Monday night, Sept. 21, to discuss the finer points of the merger and how it would impact their neighborhoods if voters approved the initiative.
“I’m going to wake up on Nov. 4 and it’s either going to be this or it’s going to be this,” said Supervisor Russell Ford, motioning both a thumbs-up and a thumbs down. “And if it happens to be this (thumbs-down), the only thing I would be disappointed about is if we did not follow our playbook from January to be transparent, communicate and be accountable for what we’re trying to do.”
Ford reiterated multiple times throughout the evening the township wasn’t using the meeting to “pitch” anyone on the idea of the merger, only to ensure that as many people as possible knew it was to be voted on this November.
“We’re not looking to sell anybody on anything,” Ford said. “We’re just looking to educate people on what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and how it’s going to benefit our whole community.”
Throughout the meeting, Adams Township officials reiterated key points which had previously been addressed at various joint meetings, including how the merger would impact infrastructure, public services and residents’ tax bills.
During the meeting, Ford unveiled a design for a yard sign promoting the merger vote, which incorporates Mars Borough’s famous flying saucer statue. The sign reads, “Mars & Adams, let’s merge. Vote yes on Nov. 3rd!” He encouraged homeowners association leaders to allow them to be placed in their neighborhoods.
According to Ford, 750 of the signs have been produced so far and neither Adams Township nor Mars paid for the production of any of them. Instead, they were paid for by multiple sponsors, including the Goddard School, NexTier Bank and Woodward Inc.
“None of these signs have been bought by Mars borough or Adams Township,” Ford said.
Some HOA leaders were hesitant, since most residential developments in Adams Township have rules and regulations either restricting or outright prohibiting the placing of political yard signs.
“My concern with this particular sign is that it’s kind of promoting a certain way to vote and I wouldn’t want to alienate my neighbors if they did their research and felt a different way,” Amber O’Malley said. “If there was a sign that was just like, learn about the merger, here’s the QR code, you know, and it was impartial, I’d be all for it. I think this is a harder sell to make an exception to the bylaws, because we’re telling them to vote yes.”
Ford said the signs have already been produced and it’s too late to change the wording on them.
“Unfortunately ... we didn’t think of that point before we had 750 signs made,” Ford said.
