West Penn Township supervisors took the first step in adopting a policy that would prohibit hiring their relatives to any township post.

The board voted unanimously Monday to advertise the anti-nepotism policy.

The personnel policy would ban supervisors’ immediate family members from working in the township, board Chairman Anthony Prudenti explained. “Immediate family” includes husbands, wives, sons, daughters, siblings, parents, grandparents, grandchildren, in-laws, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces.

“This policy would apply only to those applying to township employment or consideration for township employment after the date of the date of passage of this ordinance,” Prudenti said.

It would not stop the employment of those already working in township positions.

Answering a question from an attendee, Prudenti clarified that it pertains to elected supervisors, and not supervisors of township departments.

“It really consists of myself, Timothy Houser and Glenn Hummel,” he noted.

Prudenti said the expected passage boils down to keeping a system of checks and balances.

In an unrelated matter, supervisors decreased the speed limit on a portion of Municipal Road from 55 to 35 mph.

Prudenti said the township received three more requests for speed reductions on township roads in the past month.

“The problem is the cost,” he explained. He estimated that signs alone costs $500 per mile.

“And we have 150 miles. It would be in the $700,000 range to do every road. So you can see how this could get out of hand real quick with this stuff,” Prudenti said.

Houser and Hummel voted in favor of reducing the speed on Municipal Road. Prudenti cast the lone “no” vote based on the cost.

In other business, supervisors accepted a $52,000 bid from Mark Leid Farms, New Holland, for a loader/crawler. It was the only bid received.