MAHANOY CITY — The Mahanoy Township supervisors announced at Thursday’s meeting a code enforcement officer has been appointed.
Chairman James Stevens said township resident Samuel D. Brobst will take over the position in March.
“We’re hiring a new code enforcement officer, Sam Brobst,” Stevens said. “We’re looking to get him started sometime in March once we go over things with him and procedures.”
Stevens said anyone with code violation complaints should come to the municipal building to complete a complaint form.
“It’s been a little while since we had a code officer,” Stevens said.
In other business, ARRO Consulting Inc. project manager William N. McMullen wrote in his engineering report that the inlets for the drainage pipe replacement project in Morea and New Boston have been received from Terre Hill Concrete Products. Pipes are scheduled for delivery the week of March 14 to the Skytop Coal Co. facility on the Morea Road. The company will do the installation project.
McMullen added that a formal change order was provided to Skytop for signature by a company official. The change order is for an extension of the contract completion date to May 20.
ARRO received notification that the application submitted in 2015 to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for Phase II of the Parente Family Park project in the village of Park Place was not awarded. McMullen said the intention is to submit another application for consideration in the 2016 funding cycle by the April 13 deadline.
Stevens said that in order to give the application a better chance for being approved, the township will seek letters of support for the project from the township recreation committee, the planning commission and from residents in the Park Place area.
Stevens said the township recreation committee will hold an Easter egg hunt in March for township children and grandchildren of residents. A date has not been selected by the committee. Stevens said children can register at the municipal building.
During the public portion, several residents had complaints about code violations or other issues.
Betty Goodolf, Glendon, spoke to the supervisors about the condition of a neighboring property.
“I’m here to complain to the township supervisors about conditions on my neighbor’s property that has been ignored and nothing has been resolved,” Goodolf said.
Goodolf held a paper with a hand-drawn diagram showing the neighboring home that shows where the violations are. She said a copy was given to the township on Nov. 13 and on Jan. 16.
“This shows the junk, trash and garbage bags,” she said. “It’s an eyesore, a health hazard and depreciates the value of my property.”
Goodolf added that filled garbage bags are being picked apart by crows, and she saw another being dragged into the woods by an animal.
“As supervisors, you have the responsibility to enforce the law. I believe I have legitimate complaints,” Goodolf said.
“We will definitely check into this,” Stevens said.
“I’ve been complaining a long time about this,” Goodolf replied.
“Well, for the longest time we didn’t have a code officer,” Stevens said. “Give us a copy of that paper and we’ll get at it.”
Glendon resident James Schropp addressed two concerns, the first being the poor condition of the main street, and asked the supervisors to make repairs when the weather becomes more favorable.
Schropp also complained about people who drive to the village, park on the street and drink.
“That’s illegal and they’re getting away with it,” Schropp said. “Glendon has become a dumping ground and is getting a black eye and a bad reputation.”
Another resident, Allan Jones, complained about construction work being done at a neighboring home that he considers not up to code and that is causing damage to his home. Jones, who is the head of the township planning commission, provided the supervisors with a copy of a demolition code book from Mahanoy City. Jones said the Uniform Construction Code does not address different contingencies in construction and remodeling work. He said the demolition code does meet may different conditions.
“Here’s a copy of the demolition code so you won’t have to go through any expense,” Jones said as he placed it at the meeting table. “I’d like to see it reviewed and see if it could be considered for adoption.”
“We’ll look it over and then have Eric (Lieberman, township solicitor) review it,” Stevens said.