Departing Commissioner: 'It's Really Sad to be Leaving This Ward'

Richard Gaglianese, the commissioner for Ward 3, said his goodbyes at the end of the Abington Board of Commissioners meeting Thursday night.

It was the commissioner’s last full board meeting, as he will be resigning Feb. 28 due to personal reasons.

"I want to take a little time just to thank a lot of people, it’s really sad to be leaving this ward," he said.

He thanked his family, neighbors, the township’s department heads and thanked his fellow commissions, adding that while they didn’t always agree politically, they were always respectful.

"This is a great township, with great people," he said. "We wouldn’t have this smooth operation we have without the departments and the people we have. The staff does the work and we sit up here and take credit for a lot of it."

The board and many in the audience gave Gaglianese an ovation after he spoke.

Gaglianese was a relatively new commissioner after defeating Democrat John Swanson in the November election. That crop of new commissioners included Madeleine Dean in Ward 7; John Spiegelman in Ward 11; and Thomas Bowman in Ward 15.

See the January 2012 reorganization story here. 

Lately, it seems there has been a lot of turnover on the board. Matthew Willis replaced now-State Rep. Madeleine Dean in September after she resigned as Ward 7 commissioner in August 2012. And more recently, Commissioner John Farren took the place of Carol DiJoseph, who stepped down in December. 

After the meeting, Gaglianese said he will still be living in the township and added that he will miss his post greatly. He didn’t rule out coming back to the board.