Newcomer Ousts Hatboro Mayor in Primary

Political newcomer and Hatboro businessman Bill Godshall wasn't surprised at defeating sitting mayor and fellow Democrat Norm Hawkes in Tuesday's primary election.

"The past couple of days really did it for me. I did an awful lot of knocking on doors," Godshall said Tuesday night, after learning he defeated Hawkes, among Democrats at least, by a 184-143 vote, according to unofficial Montgomery County election results. "I was judging from that response ... 'I think I’m going to win this thing.' "

In an email to Patch Wednesday morning, Hawkes said he got "the most votes overall" from Democrats and Republicans. According to Godshall, both candidates staged a write-in campaign at the polls on Tuesday. 

"It looks like the office of mayor will be decided in the fall," Hawkes said. 

In his conversations with borough residents, Godshall said that some "have no idea who the mayor of Hatboro is."

If elected in November, Godshall, who has no official Republican opponent, said he hopes to work on that. 

"I want to be in touch with a lot of people in town," Godshall said. "You have an awful lot of people who don’t belong to groups ... I want to find a way to reach out to all of those people."

Godshall said he hopes to be "a voice of those people."

In addition, Godshall said he wants to share the borough's happenings in a more timely manner. Borough council's minutes, for example, are approved at following meetings, meaning residents could have to wait a few weeks to see what the governing body discussed and acted on at previous meetings.

"By the time they get on the Web site, you’re looking at news that’s three to four weeks old," Godshall said. 

Instead, he said he'd like to begin filming meetings and sharing them on a social media site, possibly Facebook, so information can be shared more quickly. If the filmed meetings could be tied into the borough's Web site "that would be even better," he said. 

But, first and foremost, Godshall said, "people need to know who I am."

"They need to know what the mayor does," he said. "I just don’t see that happening right now. I’m not saying Norm’s a bad guy. I just think I can do better."