This story has been updated to reflect that Exeter Township Supervisors have withdrawn their censure resolutions against former Supervisor David Hughes.

Exeter Township supervisors took two important actions Monday: selecting a new board member and approving the bid for the sale of Reading Country Club.

The Board has selected Mohammad Mohammad to fill a vacancy created by the recent resignation of David Hughes. Mohammad was selected from a pool of six candidates who participated in public interviews last week.

Three of the four current overseers voted to appoint Mohammad; Michelle P. Kircher was the only member who did not vote for him.

Mohammad works as an engineer for PennDOT and, according to John Piho, chairman of the board, has knowledge and experience that will help the community tackle a variety of upcoming major projects.

“With what we are planning for the future here in the community, we hope that he will be a real asset to the board and bring his experience,” he said.

Piho said Mohammad had experience working on large-scale projects with multimillion-dollar budgets and was familiar with both the financial and planning aspects of such efforts.

Mohammad will serve a 16-month term, replacing Hughes, who resigned this month as part of a settlement with the municipality. Hughes has long been a critic of the municipality, which continued after he took office in 2022.

During his two and a half years on the Executive Board, he often had disagreements with his colleagues on the Supervisory Board.

He was reprimanded twice – once in 2022 and once in 2023 – for what his colleagues called his ongoing “inappropriate and unprofessional” conduct. The board lifted those reprimands this month.

Hughes had made claims or announced he intended to make claims against the municipality in violation of state and federal laws. The municipality, in turn, filed suit for a temporary restraining order against Hughes, claiming he had posted confidential information about the municipality on his website and social media.

Those issues were resolved with a settlement signed by both sides this month. As part of the settlement, which paid Hughes more than $800,000, Hughes agreed to resign from his position as supervisor.

The Reading Country Club

Regulators took the next step in the lengthy process of selling Reading Country Club.

The municipality has owned the country club since it bought the 134-acre property in the 5300 block of Perkiomen Avenue for $11.9 million in 2006. But over the past two decades, operating costs have skyrocketed.

At a meeting in March, Piho said the club’s expenses last year totaled nearly $1.6 million, and that doesn’t include maintenance and public works costs.

This prompted the community to seek to sell the club, which was built between 1923 and 1931 and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2018.

The sale has come one step closer to being realized after the regulator unanimously approved the tender for the sale on Monday evening.

Township attorney Chad Schnee said the club will be put up for sale this week and in early September. Bids must be submitted in late September, with the sale expected to close on Oct. 14.

Snow said the reserve bid was set at $4,805,000.

The sale will be announced in a local newspaper, on the municipality’s website and on social media, Schnee said.

Originally published: August 27, 2024 at 1:15 p.m.