Millcreek Township is run by a Board of Supervisors: three members elected to six-year terms under Pennsylvania’s Second Class Township Code.1Millcreek Township, PA. Board of Supervisors The Millcreek Township Supervisors hold the legislative, executive, and administrative authority for the township, which means they adopt the budget, set the property tax rate, write and enforce local ordinances, oversee roads and parks, and hire the staff who carry the day-to-day work out. If you live in the township, almost every local rule that touches your property, your taxes, or your street traces back to a vote this three-person board took in public.
What the Supervisors Can Decide
The Second Class Township Code gives the board broad power to adopt ordinances for the management, finances, peace, good government, health, and welfare of the township.2Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Second Class Township Code – Section 1506 In practical terms, that covers zoning, land development, noise, nuisance, and property maintenance rules. The board also adopts the annual budget, sets the real estate tax millage, and levies the Earned Income Tax. Under the Local Tax Enabling Act, the combined earned income tax rate shared between a municipality and its overlapping school district is generally capped at 1%, usually split at 0.5% each.
On the operations side, the supervisors oversee the township’s roads, parks, and other public infrastructure, and they appoint key positions including the Township Secretary, Treasurer, and solicitor. They also set the fee schedule for services like building permits and zoning applications.3Millcreek Township, PA. Zoning and Development Division
When the board writes an ordinance with a penalty attached, state law caps what it can charge. Most ordinance violations enforced through civil proceedings carry a maximum penalty of $600 per violation. Ordinances covering building, housing, property maintenance, health, fire, and public safety are prosecuted as summary criminal offenses, and the board can set those fines up to $1,000 per violation.4Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Second Class Township Code – Section 1601 Zoning violations run on a separate track under the Municipalities Planning Code: up to $500 per violation plus court costs and the township’s attorney fees, with each day a violation continues counted as a separate offense.5Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code – Section 617.2
How Supervisors Are Elected and Replaced
Each of the three Millcreek seats carries a six-year term, and the terms are staggered so one seat is on the ballot every two years in the odd-year municipal election cycle.1Millcreek Township, PA. Board of Supervisors That rhythm keeps the board from turning over all at once. To run for supervisor, you have to be a registered voter of the township, which means keeping your primary residence inside Millcreek’s boundaries.6Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Second Class Township Code – Section 401 Move out, and you lose eligibility.
When a seat opens up between elections because of a death, resignation, or move, the remaining supervisors have 30 days to appoint a replacement. An appointee has to be a registered voter who has lived in the township continuously for at least one year. If the two remaining supervisors can’t agree within 30 days, a vacancy board takes over. The vacancy board is the remaining supervisors plus one registered voter named chairperson at the board’s first meeting of the year, and it gets 15 more days. If that also fails, the chairperson petitions the Court of Common Pleas to fill the seat.7Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Second Class Township Code – Section 407 These vacancy provisions were most recently amended in late 2025.
Expanding the Board to Five Members
The township isn’t locked at three supervisors. Second class townships can expand to five through a ballot question, triggered either by a resolution of the board or by a petition signed by at least five percent of registered voters. A simple majority approves the change, the total cannot exceed five, and the question cannot be put to voters more than once in any three-year period. The same mechanism works in reverse to shrink the board back to three.8Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 53 PS 65402 – Number of Supervisors
What Supervisors Are Paid
State law caps supervisor pay by township population. Millcreek’s population is over 35,000, which puts it in the top tier at a maximum of $8,385 per year.9Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 53 PS 65606 – Compensation of Supervisors The board sets the actual figure by ordinance and can choose to pay per meeting instead of annually, but a per-meeting rate still cannot push total annual pay above that statutory ceiling. Pay only accrues for meetings a supervisor actually attends, and an unexcused absence means no pay for that meeting.
Attending a Meeting and Being Heard
Every piece of official board business is conducted at a public meeting governed by the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act. At the start of each calendar year, the board publishes a schedule of all regular meetings in a newspaper of general circulation and posts it at the meeting site. Special or rescheduled meetings require at least 24 hours’ advance notice through the same channels.10Office of Open Records. Pennsylvania Sunshine Act (Open Meetings Law)
Agendas have to be posted at least 24 hours before a meeting on the township website or social media, at the township offices, and at the meeting location, with paper copies available on site. Minutes become public once the board formally approves them.
If you want to speak, plan to sign in on a speaker form before the meeting starts and be ready to state your name and address for the record. Most township boards impose a time limit of three to five minutes per speaker. For a concern that’s too complex for a short comment, the supervisors can direct staff to investigate and bring the item back on a future agenda, which is often how zoning complaints and road maintenance requests make the jump from public comment into actual board action. A written follow-up to the township office after the meeting creates a paper trail.
When the Board Can Meet in Private
The Sunshine Act lets the board hold executive sessions for a short list of reasons: hiring, firing, or disciplining specific employees; collective bargaining strategy; potential real estate purchases or leases; legal strategy with the solicitor on current or anticipated litigation; privileged matters; and emergency preparedness planning.11Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes 65 Chapter 7 Section 708 – Executive Sessions Any official action that comes out of a private discussion still has to happen at an open public meeting, and the reason for the executive session must be announced on the record. Filling a vacancy in an elected office cannot be discussed in executive session at all.
Getting Township Records
Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law lets you request public records in writing from the township’s open-records officer. The officer has five business days to respond with access, a denial and reason, or a notice that the request is under review. The deadline can be extended by up to 30 days with written notice explaining the delay. If the extension would push the response past 30 days total, you have to agree in writing or the request is automatically considered denied, which gives you the right to appeal to the Office of Open Records.12Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 65 PS 67.902 – Requests for Public Records
Conflicts of Interest and the Tie-Breaker Rule
Supervisors fall under Pennsylvania’s Ethics Act. A supervisor, their spouse, or their child cannot enter into a contract worth $500 or more with the township unless the contract was awarded through an open, publicly noticed process, and even then the supervisor cannot play any role in overseeing or administering it. A contract that violates this rule can be voided by a court if challenged within 90 days.13Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes 65 Section 1103 – Restricted Activities
Voting conflicts work differently on a three-member board. A supervisor with a personal financial interest in a matter must abstain and file a written disclosure with the minutes. But because abstention on a three-member board can deadlock a vote, the law lets the abstaining member break the tie when the other two cast opposing votes, as long as the conflict is disclosed on the record.13Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes 65 Section 1103 – Restricted Activities
Who Audits the Township’s Money
Second class townships are required to have their finances audited. By default, voters elect a board of auditors to review the accounts of the township and its officers. The supervisors can replace the elected auditors with a certified public accountant by passing a resolution at the annual organization meeting, after advertising the intent in a newspaper of general circulation at least 30 days in advance.14Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Second Class Township Code – Section 917
Taxpayers can also force the issue. A petition from at least 25 taxpayers requires the Court of Common Pleas to appoint a CPA at least 30 days before the close of the fiscal year. The township pays for the audit either way. When a CPA is appointed, the elected auditors step aside from auditing for that year but keep performing their other statutory duties, and the CPA’s report carries the same appeal rights as an auditors’ report.