In Montco, Traffic's The Thing In Seven Towns, Candidates See A Need To Control Growth And Repair Crumbling Infrastructures.

In some of Montgomery County's smaller towns, candidates for municipal office are marching toward Election Day in a blizzard of handbills and a thunder of knuckles rapping on doors.

The issues range from snarled traffic to rapid development. And in many locales, there is concern about keeping big-town problems from creeping in.

Following is a look at Nov. 7's contested races in seven communities:

COLLEGEVILLE. Four candidates are running for three four-year terms on the Borough Council.

Lee Leming, 48, is a Democrat making her first run for a council seat. She is a medical technologist who currently works as a substitute teacher, and who also serves as Home and School Association president at Perkiomen Valley High School. A Collegeville resident for nearly four years, Leming believes the biggest challenges are developing a long-range plan and drawing up tighter zoning ordinances to protect the borough's character.

Arnold Mann, 57, is an incumbent Republican and serves as council president. Mann is a manager at Uniform Tube Co. and a 26-year resident of the borough. He sees the borough having to juggle a growing budget with shrinking

revenues during the next four years. A priority for the council, he said, will be working with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to straighten the dogleg on Route 29. Mann also seeks bipartisanship on the council.

Phyllis V. Parsons, 71, is an incumbent Republican who has served seven years on the council. Chairwoman of the council's public-safety committee, Parsons regularly listens to her police scanner to track goings-on in the borough. Although she believes the borough needs another police officer, she said Collegeville cannot afford to hire one. "We want to keep Collegeville looking small," she said. "That's our strength."

John Zvarick, 34, is a Republican who was appointed to the council last November. He works for Imperial Inc. as a national sales manager. He serves as chairman for the borough's centennial celebration committee, and hopes that next year's festivities will get both old and new borough residents active in the community. Zvarick wants a nonpartisan effort on the council to improve the quality of life in the borough.

CONSHOHOCKEN. Borough Council members elected this year will be in office until 2000, when the borough celebrates its 150th anniversary.