HEGINS — Hegins Township supervisors Monday voted 3-2 to have Entech Engineering, Pottsville, review the existing Act 537 plan and present a report.
Newly elected members of the five-member board, Chairman Gary Harner, Vice Chairwoman Sandra McCullough and Bruce Klouser, voted in favor, while supervisors Mike Begis and Brad Carl were opposed.
McCullough brought up her concern, saying that she wanted “verification of some of the conclusions” in the existing plan.
Begis questioned why the review was needed at all, since the plan had already been reviewed by two Department of Environmental Protection engineers. He also questioned why the matter was not listed on the agenda and was just added.
According to Begis, the review could cost from the low end of $5,000 up to $10,000 or more for the size of the review that would be required. There was also no stipulation on a limit to the amount of money the supervisors approved to spend in the motion.
At the start of the meeting, Harner introduced Willliam Enders with Lehigh Engineering, William Brior with Brior Environmental Services Inc. and attorney Donald Karpowich to the audience. Enders, Brior and Karpowich were selected during the township’s Jan. 4 reorganization meeting to serve as bridge and road engineer, sewage enforcement officer and solicitor, respectively.
Because Karpowich already is the counsel for the Concerned Citizens group, he will handle all legal matters for the township, except for the Act 537 appeal. At the Jan. 4 meeting, the supervisors appointed John Dean, Wilkes-Barre, to handle the appeal for the township.
Begis also wanted to know if Klouser and McCullough, who had previously been members of the Concerned Citizens, could now represent the township during the Act 537 appeal. Both Klouser and McCullough said they had removed themselves from the group. Dean would have to answer Begis’s question, he was told.
A crowd of about 45 people packed into the Hegins Area Ambulance Association building for the meeting, but no one from the public addressed the board.
In other action, the board unanimously approved a 3 percent pay hike for township Secretary Cathy Moyer and zoning officer Al Swab. Treasurer Vernon Schlegel was also offered a pay hike, which he refused.
The board also voted to place all the names of the current supervisors on the checking account. Previously, just the treasurer and one of the township supervisors used to sign the checks. Carl explained that the supervisors took turns, when it was a three-member board, signing the checks. The board voted to remove the name of former supervisor, Leroy Shuey, from the account. Karpowich suggested the board place all the names on the account, for now, and then the matter can be revisited on determining just who should be signing the checks. Karpowich suggested listing office-holder positions, such as chairman, instead of listing people’s names.
“You should be looking at the bills every month,” Karpowich told the supervisors, noting they didn’t need to be on the signature card to review the bills.
During an exchange between Carl and Karpowich, Carl asked the new solicitor if he was involved with the Pennsylvania Association of Township Supervisors. Karpowich confirmed he was.
Carl then asked Karpowich, since he was hired as the township’s solicitor, was he going to continue to represent the Concerned Citizens group. Karpowich said he would continue representing the citizens group and reminded the board that the township did hire a separate attorney, Dean, to handle the Act 537 appeal on the township’s behalf.
In other changes, the board approved moving the monthly township meetings from Monday, to the first Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. The meeting schedule will be: Feb. 3, March 2, April 6, May 4, June 1, July 6, Aug. 3, Sept. 7, Oct. 5, Nov. 2 and Dec. 7.
Carl asked why there was a need to move the meeting times to a new day. The change was needed due to the availability of the new solicitor, it was announced.
Carl also had questions about fees with the new sewage enforcement officer. He offered several comparisons between former SEO Randy Young and the current SEO William Brior, most notably a jump in a repair permit from $100 or $150 with Young, up to $450 with Brior.
“This is going to cost people more,” Carl said.
Carl noted new permit fees were relatively equal between the two. He also wanted to know who Bruce Dobash was, after the township received some brief paperwork on Dobash. Brior confirmed Dobash was assistant sewage enforcement officer and worked for his firm.
The township announced Philomena Williams had resigned from the planning commission, and the township was accepting letters of interest from anyone interested in filling the post.
The board approved all five supervisors to attend the PSATS convention in April and appointed Harner as the voting delegate at the convention.
Schlegel offered his treasurer’s report, showing total income of $62,772.14 and total expenses of $62,060.27 for Dec. 1, 2015, to Dec. 31, 2015, showing a balance of $711.87. Total liabilities and equity was $321,966.35.
Hegins Police Chief Steven Lohr reminded motorists to be aware of children darting across the road at their bus stops, since the colder weather has arrived and most children aren’t standing outside waiting. He also said there was still some sitting water on a few roadways that could freeze over and become icy. He reported 70 incidents for December 2015, including 10 offense reports, two criminal complaints, one non-reportable accident, four traffic citations and six warnings issued. There was 2,205 miles put on the patrol vehicles.
The next food pantry will be Jan. 20.