LEHIGH TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. Minutes of the December 8, 2015, Meeting

Transcription

1 LEHIGH TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Minutes of the, Meeting I. CALL TO ORDER. The regular monthly meeting of the Lehigh Township Board of Supervisors was held on Tuesday,, at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was held at the Lehigh Township Municipal Building, 1069 Municipal Road, Walnutport, Pa. Present were Cindy Miller, Sandy Hopkins, Darryl Snover, Dell Grove and Keith Hantz, along with Attorney David Backenstoe, Phil Malitsch and Alice Rehrig. Chairman Darryl Snover called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance. II III IV. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES A. Minutes of November 24, Sandy Hopkins made a motion to approve these minutes. Cindy Miller seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried. APPROVAL OF THE BILLS A. General Fund Checks and to Cindy Miller made a motion to approve these bills. Keith Hantz seconded the motion. Sandy Hopkins questioned Check 19285, reimbursement for recording fees for Delps Park. Alice Rehrig commented that she needed to record the final mylar and agreements pertaining to the NPDES permit for Delps Park. When she went to the Court House to record the documents, she needed three separate checks and only had one Township check so she needed to pay the remaining fees out of her pocket. Sandy Hopkins also questioned the bill from Hanover Engineering regarding Berlinsville Intersection. Alice Rehrig commented that it was for the review of the prints for the improvements that PennDOT is doing to the Berlinsville Intersection. Sandy Hopkins questioned the check to Office Basics for a heater. Chief Fogel commented that the heater was for the bathroom at the Police Station because there is no heating vent in the bathroom and they have been having problems with pipes freezing almost every winter. The Maintenance Department has been working to resolve the problem. All voted aye. Motion carried. PLANNING RELATED ITEMS A. Engineer s Report. Phil Malitsch reported that he and Cindy Miller have met with some of the residents in Cherryville regarding the right of way that is needed for the intersection improvements. The meeting went well and since then they have received the HOP plans from the Developer and should have comments out by the end of next week regarding this.

2 Page 2 His office has also completed the right of way survey has for the Bodish property and they should have the plats and descriptions to the Solicitor next week. Darryl Snover questioned if Phil Malitsch would suggest he meet with the Cherryville Partners Engineer and the residents after the review was completed. Phil Malitsch commented that they did that with the Fire Department and it went very well and he would plan on doing that for the residents. Attorney Backenstoe commented that he spoke with the attorney for Mr. Leibensberger and that conversation went well and he got him in contact with Attorney Preston. Cindy Miller questioned if a list of items that needs to be addressed will be available when the next meeting takes place with the property owners. Phil Malitsch commented that generally HOP plans do not show a lot of the common sense type information. They are difficult plans to read because PennDOT has a specific template and every plan looks the same. A lot of details such as a resident s mailbox or how far a driveway needs to be cut back tend to get lost in the way the PennDOT requires the plans to be presented. After reviewing the PennDOT plans, he will talk to the Developer s engineer and ask them to include the specific property concerns on a separate plan that could be attached to an agreement as to what needs to be done on their property. Hanover Engineering also provided the Board with a separate report regarding the Teel Road vacation. Darryl Snover commented that one of the concerns that was indicated at a previous meeting was that there was a bridge on the section of Teel Road that is slated to be vacated. After looking at the photographs, it looks like it is a concrete box. Looking at the pictures, the concrete box will not be deteriorating from any foot traffic once the road is vacated. He doesn t see this as an issue in vacating the roadway. Phil Malitsch commented that when he was out there he was shocked at the speed in which some of the cars were travelling in the area. It is easy for a car to speed if they are going to be turning on this portion of Teel Road rather than having to navigate the turn on South Cottonwood. The vacation of that portion of Teel Road will actually function as a traffic

3 Page 3 calming measure because people will show down since they can t just go straight through. The important thing in introducing new traffic patterns is that you don t want to surprise anyone. If the Board moves forward with this, they would introduce advanced signing warning people of the road closure and use simple break away type devices so that if someone does make a mistake or not pay attention, they could continue through. After a period of time, introduce more permanent closures. Darryl Snover made a motion to re-advertise the vacation of Teel Road. Cindy Miller seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried. V. OLD BUSINESS A. Maintenance Building. Phil Malitsch reported that the Board has information as to what will be needed for the project and they would need to determine when they want to take the next step. The Board will need to keep in mind that the permitting, bidding, and design work could take up to a year to complete. His office did also send a draft spec package to Stolfus Builders and are waiting to hear back from them. B. Cherryville Intersection. There were no additional comments specific to the improvements of the intersection. Darryl Snover did note that there is a public opinion that the Board is blocking these types of projects from within the Township. He wants to let everyone know that this is false. Since he has been on the Board, he has seen the Board and Planning Commission be proactive in this type of development. The Board is not trying to hold everything up, but at the same time the Board can be held up by the developer and the many State regulations. The Board also has to do what is necessary to protect the Township and its resident. Keith Hantz commented that in the early stages of the Turkey Hill Development, one of the partners did not do a very good job in communicating to the residents what was needed. It has nothing to do with the Supervisors, it was all the developer. C. Adoption of 2016 Budget. Cindy Miller made a motion to adopt the 2016 Budget as advertised. Sandy Hopkins seconded the motion. Keith Hantz commented that he is in favor of the budget, but was concerned because the Board never received a full copy of the audit from the Fire Company. Alice Rehrig noted that she did speak with the President and he told her

4 Page 4 they would be working on it. Keith Hantz commented that he feels that the allocated 2016 funds should stay in the Township s General Fund Account until the audit is received. Darryl Snover questioned if there would be a legal reason that the Township couldn t release funds that are in the budget. Attorney Backenstoe commented that there is no legal reason that the Board would have to release the funds. The Board agreed that the funds should remain in the General Fund until the audit is received. Keith Hantz also questioned who will be using the infield machine. Will it be the Township crew or will it be kept in one of the garages at the parks? Alice Rehrig commented that she was of the impression from previous discussions that it would be the road crew that was using it. Sandy Hopkins agreed. Keith Hantz also questioned if the $210,000 that was included in the budget was for Delps. Alice Rehrig commented that it was. Mike Meyers noted that there is a line item for longevity. What is this? Attorney Backenstoe commented that it is like a bonus for someone based upon the amount of time that someone has been employed. Cindy Miller noted that it is something that is part of the negotiated contract. Mr. Meyers also questioned the amount of money that is included for pension. He heard that households should be putting away 15 percent for pension. He doesn t even put that much aside. The amount in the budget is about 25 percent to 1/3 of the salaries. He has to pay the taxes and can t put that much aside for himself. Darryl Snover commented that for years, there has been a legislative effort to try to switch the defined benefit programs to a more traditional type of plan such as a 401. Attorney Backenstoe commented that when the State Senator was here he indicated that the pensions were a problem and concern across the State. Cindy Miller commented that from the State budget talks, the Senate just passed a budget over to the House that includes budget reform and it will have a positive impact on municipalities. Noting that she hasn t seen or read what was being proposed, but from what she has been hearing, it is more of a hybrid of the two types of plans and it usually impacts new hires moving forward. Mr. Meyers commented that he is bringing this to the local level so that they can also take it to the State level. Sandy Hopkins commented that in the State passing the budget, they were told that everyone would be effected, including the legislatures, but they have the option of opting out to protect their retirement so they really wouldn t be part of it. Darryl Snover commented that like so many other things, it is out of the Township s hands. The Police Pension is regulated by the State. Mike Meyers

5 Page 5 commented that he would also like to see the revenue from the Police Department fines, exceed the budget, especially in the area of loud motorcycles. All voted aye to adopt the 2016 Budget. Motion carried. VI. NEW BUSINESS A. Berlinsville Playground. Sandy Hopkins commented that she was contacted by the Lions Club that they would like to upgrade the playground equipment in Berlinsville. They would like to expand upon what is there. She would like the Board to consider assisting them with our equipment as needed for leveling the area or similar items. She doesn t know specifically what they are planning but they would be purchasing the equipment and probably erecting it themselves. The Board has no objection to them doing this. Darryl Snover questioned if there was anything that the Board needed to be aware of pertaining to this. Phil Malitsch commented that the primary concern with new playground equipment is fall protection so the surface of the playground needs to have a certain amount of elasticity to it, such as mulch. There is always a liability concern with this. There is some level of acceptability in terms of accessibility and fall protection. Sandy Hopkins commented that there are also grants available in which there is a 50 percent match required. The Board had no objection to the Lions Club purchasing and installing equipment. B. Adoption of Employee Safety Manual. Alice Rehrig reported that she heard from both of the unions and neither union had an objection to the manual. Cindy Miller made a motion to adopt the Safety Manual. Sandy Hopkins seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried. C. Resolution , Authorization for Grant Submission. This Resolution would authorize the submission of a Multi-Modal Transportation Grant from PennDOT in the amount of $125,000 for the replacement of the Ash Road Bridge. The Township would be required to provide a match of 30 percent for this grant. The total amount of the project would be $170,000 which is expected to be on the high side. The Township s contribution towards this would be $45,000. Of this amount $30,000 would be coming from the Liquid Fuels Account, and if the project does need the full $170,000, the remaining amount could come from the Road Improvement Fund if the State Fund couldn t support the project. The Liquid Fuels Budget already has this amount included for repairs, but if the grant is

6 Page 6 approved, it will provide for a more permanent solution by replacing the bridge. Phil Malitsch commented that he will be working with Alice Rehrig to try to fine tune the numbers as well. Keith Hantz made a motion to adopt Resolution Dell Grove seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried. D. Police Report. Chief Fogel provided the Board with a recap of the following highlights of 2016: The relations with the Police Association have been very good this past year and it seems like things are progressing in a positive manner. The Department completed an internship program which allowed the intern to experience every aspect of police work. It was a very rewarding program for both the intern as well as the officers. The Dog Kennel Fundraiser was completed and enough funds were raised to complete the project. There was a lot of community support for the project, particularly with the two animal hospitals in the Township. Both Blue Ridge Veterinary and Cherryville Animal Hospital contributed $1,000 each. Executive Auto Gallery also contributed $1,000. The Med-Return boxes have now been provided to all the departments in the County and the County will be taking care of the collection and disposal of the medication. The County is in the process of completing a booking center policy to help with a smooth operation and maintenance of the facility. The retirement of Officer Doug Geisner after 30 years of service to the community. He still enjoys helping out with the firearms at the range. Next year, they will be implementing a new program with the elementary school call the Officer Phil Program. This program is put together by an outside agency and it funded by outside sources, but the local department is still involved.

7 Page 7 Chief Fogel has also been in contact with the Principal regarding doing an active shooter drill to try to go through as many components as possible to provide full training for everyone. By doing this, the school will know what to expect from the emergency services and the police will know what the school s capabilities are so that everyone knows what the other is doing. The Department s calls for service is still expected to be over 10,000 for the year which is the highest it has ever been. Their proactive traffic enforcement has also been increasing and is at the highest level since Criminal arrests remain relatively steady. Because of the continued calls for service and the continued changing within the communities and what they see, there will need to be additional conversations at some point for a future budget year. At some point, being understaffed will become a detriment. Right now the department is struggling with staffing issues. One officer has been on long term sick leave, another officer just had surgery and will be out for approximately 6 weeks, and a third officer is scheduled for surgery shortly. So far, they have been able to maintain the schedule, but it could become a problem. There may be an issue where they may not be able to staff a portion of the schedule. There is no easy fix to this because of it being a short term problem, but there are officers that work close to 16 hour shifts. Even though the guys are working longer shifts, this month has been one of the most productive months for the department. There were seven officer who participated in a traffic detail on Rt They had all their vehicles on the road for this detail. The average speed the vehicles were traveling was 65 in a 45 mile per hour area. They were having speeds as high as 75 miles per hour in the same area. This weekend will be the Shop with a Cop Program. The funding for the program was mostly provided with a contribution of $600 from the Hillbilly Open Golf Tournament. On Thursday, the Department will be proving another Car Fit/Car Seat program at 10:30 at the Hope Lutheran Senior Center. They will also have an occupational therapist on site to offer additional suggestions to make it more comfortable for driving for them.

8 Page 8 Officer Ball is doing very well. With the call volume and types of calls they have had, he has had exposure to a variety calls that can sometimes take years for an officer to experience. He s been taking it all in and has not shied away from anything. He is working out well. E. Manager s Report. This is the last week for the leaf collection. By delaying the collection by two weeks and utilizing all three collectors, the Road Crew was able to complete the large pipe replacement. They have also been able to keep ahead of the leaves which alleviated some of the frustrations by residents regarding the collection. Alice Rehrig received a call from Nick Smith who is a member of the Northern Lehigh Rotary Club. They meet at Woodstone Golf course and would like to place a Rotary sign somewhere along Route 946 indicating their meeting dates and locations. They haven t decided upon a specific location, but with Rt. 946 being a State Road, we would have to obtain permission from PennDOT. Darryl Snover noted that there is an article in the Township News where there are challenges to sign ordinances in the State Supreme Court. The Board asked Alice Rehrig to obtain additional information as to whether there are Township residents who are members of the club. Keith Hantz questioned if the cleaning services are put out to bid each year. Alice Rehrig commented that she hadn t been regularly bidding them because of the amount. The last time it was placed to bid was when there was a problem with the last service. Keith Hantz commented that he was asked by employees to get a new service. Dell Grove and Cindy Miller commented that they too had heard it. Keith Hantz made a motion to review and possibly bid the cleaning service. Cindy Miller seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried. F. Solicitor s Report. Attorney Backenstoe reported that the PRRC ordinance has been advertised. The hearing will be held on December 22. He has also made arrangements to have the property posted at least one week prior. The ordinance requires that the property be conspicuously posted. Notices will be placed by any adjoining property owner and at intervals of several hundred feet. There was also a question as to whether or not the Board would be voting on the ordinances at this meeting. Ordinarily, the Board

9 Page 9 would do so; however, the Board can wait up to 90 days to vote on the ordinances. If the Board does not vote on the ordinances at the meeting, the hearing would be closed and at a future meeting it would be announced as to when the vote would take place. Attorney Backenstoe is also working with Attorney Zator on getting an agreement in place that would confirm that any developer who would proceed within the new district would fully comply with any and all impact fees. The Traffic Impact Committee is working on amending the current impact areas and the ordinances will be adopted prior to that being complete, but there is no reason that an agreement cannot be entered into. The potential developer has agreed to enter into such an agreement and Attorney Backenstoe would like to have it in place prior to the meeting. The agreement could be adopted prior to the hearing taking place. VII. PUBLIC COMMENT. Keith Hantz noted that the organizational meeting will be taking place on January 4. Attorney Backenstoe has three different meetings that night. Does the Board see the need for him to attend our meeting? The Board had no concerns with Attorney Backenstoe not attending the organizational meeting. Mike Meyers commented that he wants to pursue the use of Food Processing Residuals and somehow legislate or do something. It is not farming that what was known in the past. The odors from the farming of horses and cows has a different odor than what is currently being experienced. The person who is creating the FPR is responsible for creating an analysis of what is being created. He would like to see this. The MS4 regulations are costing the Township a lot of money. The use of the FPRs needs to be looked at from a runoff perspective, where it is going and what is in it. We all have wells and do not want to be forced to connect to public water because of the use of this type of byproduct as fertilizer. These byproducts should not be put on in the winter yet Mr. Lorah has put this on the fields when the ground is frozen, then it snows, then it runs off. This is serious. Darryl Snover commented that he believes that the State will have to start dealing with this because of the MS4 requirements that the Federal Government is pushing down. Phil Malitsch commented that one possibility is that the State may end up pushing this matter onto the Townships similarly to how it is structured now in that once the runoff hits the Township s MS4, it becomes their responsibility and the question becomes how do you deal with it? Darryl Snover commented that if

10 Page 10 the State decides that this matter does get pushed down to the municipalities, then he would not have a problem telling whomever that we are either simply going to disregard the regulations or adopt regulations that regulate runoff from the farms. They add additional requirements to the Townships but don t provide the funding or the ability for the Townships to properly deal with them. Cindy Miller commented that she has seen proposed legislation that has not been brought forward to the rest of the legislators. What they have been looking at is that it would be the discretion of the Township as to what they would allow to be used on the fields. Attorney Backenstoe commented that in order for this to work, they would have to change the existing legislation that pre-empts the Townships from regulating farming activities. Phil Malitsch commented that the only other logical simple solution would be to require the farmer to install BMPs to manage the product that he wants to use so that it doesn t become the Township s problem downstream. Sandy Hopkins noted that even though Mr. Lorah is not permitted to store the material, he does. Darryl Snover noted that the Township has no enforcement power over this. Keith Hantz commented that he thought DEP stated he has 48 hours to turn it under. Sandy Hopkins commented that he does have the 48 hours to turn it under, yet he still stockpiles it. Darryl Snover commented that based upon the correspondence that he has seen, there are different requirements for the bio-solids and the FPRs. The FPRs do not have time requirement to turn it under. Mr. Meyers commented that he wanted to bring this to the Board s attention. The regulations indicate that the person who is creating the material must provide an analysis of what is in it. He would like to see this. He wonders if Mr. Lorah knows that is in the product he is spreading or if he is following the BMPs. Sandy Hopkins commented that when the Township requested that DEP verify that Mr. Lorah was in compliance, they came back and said there was no odor. He only smelled regular farm smell, yet there are times when it is so bad that you can t open your windows. In Pennsylvania, the farmers have the lobbyists and they lobby strongly for the farmers. VIII. ADJOURN. Keith Hantz made a motion to adjourn. Cindy Miller seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.