After living in Delaware for over 30 years, Lisa Johnson relocated to Media, Pennsylvania in 2008. A native of the Philadelphia region, she spent part of her childhood in Haddonfield, NJ and attended school in Downingtown, PA. Lisa Johnson has served on Borough Council for almost 8 years.
Ms. Johnson currently holds positions on several committees, including Chair of the Public Safety Committee, Liaison to the Civil Service Commission, Liaison to the Media Business Authority, Member of the Finance Committee, Liaison to the Media Historical Society, and member of the Pandemic Committee, an ad hoc committee created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a liaison to the Media Business Authority, Johnson enjoys working with Media’s business community. She is impressed with their resilience while facing hardships brought on by the pandemic. “They are always willing to try something new and are flexible enough that if Plan A doesn’t work, there is always Plan B or C. They are just a wonderful group to work with,” she says.
The Public Safety Committee recently finished a traffic calming study for the borough. The study, which took over a year to complete, reviewed the overall traffic flow and parking throughout the borough. Obtaining the necessary volume of input from residents was more difficult during the pandemic, since live meetings were not an option. Despite the challenges the study faced due to the pandemic, the committee was able to devise a plan to address traffic and parking issues in Media. Beginning in 2021, the Public Safety Committee will focus on implementing the plan, a process which will take more than a year to complete.
One of the Civil Service Commission’s responsibilities is the hiring of new police officers. The borough sees little turnover in its police department, but with the recent retirement of a lieutenant, and other officers nearing retirement age, Johnson felt it was necessary to get a head start on the process. Since the process is lengthy and infrequently used, Lisa has been working with the committee to review the rules and processes for hiring.
The Media Business Authority is seeing some changes as well. The Business Authority’s current executive director, Zubair Kahn, recently retired after 25 years of service. Johnson says they have big shoes to fill as they look for his replacement.
Media’s Historic Society, responsible for maintaining the Minshall House at the corner of Front and Providence, began in early 2020 to explore extending its reach beyond Minshall and into the history of Media as a whole. With the pandemic cancelling in-person meetings and some members retiring, interest in the committee has waned. Johnson hopes that new volunteers will help reenergize the committee and implement some of the great work started by previous committee members.
When asked what she wants to tell residents, Lisa stresses that everyone should continue to mask up. Media residents are respectful of one another and the wearing of masks hasn’t been an issue. She also wants to remind the community to get involved, and expressed her belief that “the more the residents are involved, the better the borough becomes.