Township Police Report
The December, 2010 Police Report submitted by Police Chief Bob Fatula was presented. The figures for December were as follows: 911 Calls dispatched to Police: 325 Reportable Part I Crimes: 10 broken down as follows: Larceny-7, Assaults-1, Burglaries-1 and Robberies-1. Reportable Part II Crimes: 21 broken down as follows: DUI (Driving While Under the Influence)-4, Receiving Stolen Property-4, Disorderly Conduct-1, Drugs-1, Drunkenness-1, Embezzlement-1, Forgery-1, Fraud-1, Vandalism-1 and all others-6. Calls Resulting in Cases: 20, Total Arrestees: 9, Total Suspects: 5, Total Victims: 9, DUI Arrests: 4, Traffic Citations: 27, Non-Traffic Citations: 2, Total Warnings: 0

Correspondence:
Manager Hirko said, we received a letter from East Taylor-Jackson Little League requesting our support in the form of an annual donation and this year they are taking on reviving Girls Softball again in addition to their regular leagues.

Old Business:
(None)

New Business:
Motion Westrick, second Wallet to approve annual contribution to the East Taylor-Jackson Little League for $1500.00. Vote-3 yes.

Motion Wallet, second Westrick to adopt Ordinance # 166 which replaces Ordinance # 61 (Occupational Privilege Tax) in it’s entirety and establishes the Local Municipal Services Tax in the amount of $15.00. Vote-3 yes.

Motion Wallet, second Westrick to accept the resignation of Eric Reitler from the Jackson Township Recreation Commission. Vote-3 yes.

Motion Westrick, second Wallet to approve the Jackson Township Volunteer Fire Company’s list of activities for 2010. Vote-3 yes.

Motion Wallet, second Westrick to hire Bob Wenklar to temporarily work in the absence of Betty Lybarger at the Jackson Township Senior Center at the rate of $7.25 per hour not to exceed 20 hours per week. Vote-3 yes.

Motion Westrick, second Wallet to renew Amfire Mining road bond for a six month period to continue using 1.32 miles of Pike Road East. Vote-3 yes.

Motion Wallet, second Westrick to approve Capital Reserve Fund bill list for the period of December 18, 2009 through January 28, 2010 and transfer $ 119,716.40 from the Capital Reserve Fund to the General Fund. Vote-3 yes.

Motion Westrick, second Wallet on approving the time sheets from December 13 through December 26, 2009, December 27, 2009 through January 9, 2010 and January 10, 2010 through January 23, 2010. Vote-3 yes.

Other New Business:
(None)

Public Comments:
Steve Yurasek commented, we just got done spending $50,000 for each sewer pumping station. . well guess what? . . my sister has a mess in her basement and John Letizia has a mess in his basement and we’re paying Kamzik again to pump the sewage because we can’t handle it. . . .now. . either you got a bad engineer or you got contractors that don’t know what they’re doin. There’s gotta be somethin done. Now John. . he got a mess down there and he told me, this isn’t called for. This happened before and it’s always the same thing. . we got insurance. . .get it cleaned up and send us a bill. It’s not send us a bill. . it’s solve the problem. Did you ever see water make a square turn?. . well, go down there and look at the system. When you got a pumping station here, you got a manhole directly across the street so what happens when the pumping station starts filling up, it backs right over. . .it goes right into my sisters basement. Do you think she should put up with this all the time? So then the pump kicks on and it blows the sewer line apart in John Letizia’s basement. Do you think he should have a couple feet of shit and slop in his basement? There’s still something drastically wrong. Either you need another engineer or you need a contractor that knows what he’s doing. Solicitor Barbin said, and you got to get that extra flow out of the lines. The extra flow in the lines is the root of the problem. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be solved and can’t be solved. Yurasek continued, well, when it’s pouring down rain you can’t sit out here or down there with your feet propped up. You got to get out there where the problem is. You got to get out there and find out. What manhole is this water coming in from? Barbin said, Nanty Glo used the Fire Company down there to be able to go out and look at multiple manholes all at the same time. It’s hard for one person to go from manhole to manhole. Yurasek said, if you went out and took a simple little ruler and went out and measured the water. . .now when you get a rainstorm and you get in the same manhole and look to see how the flow is, you say hey. . the problem is above here. It’s the process of elimination. Barbin said, and that’s what they did down there. Supervisor Wallet said, I agree . . it’s an infiltration problem. Yurasek said, you know. . once or twice. . but this has been going on since they built the thing down there. . .it’s always, we’re gonna fix it. . and now they turn around and they spend $50,000 per pumping station and if they spent that money and it don’t work. . now somebody ought to be held liable. They’re paying for Kamzik to come and pump this excess water off all the time to keep it from coming out and going in the creek. So. . what are we going to do when we get 3 or 4 of these at the same time, like the one over there on Adams Avenue that if it goes, it goes right to the reservoir? . . then what are we going to do? We’re gonna get fined by DEP because we? Barbin answered, if they catch it, they sure will. Yurasek said, sure you’re goin directly into a clean stream and reservoir. Somebody got to take the initiative and say hey, this got to come to a halt. Wallet said, they’ve had that problem since the system was new and that’s when it’s the tightest. . when it’s new. You’ll never get it as tight as it was then. Yuasek said, you do a sewer job . . in order to get it inspected, it should pass the test. If it don’t pass the air test. . if a manhole leaks. Wallet added, and then it has to pass the vacuum test. Barbin said, obviously this wasn’t tested. Yurasek said, and this problem existed right when the sewer system was built. Wallet said, there’s no doubt in my mind. . .I seen it coming out of inactive sewer lines that were already in blowing up manholes before they were even attached to houses. Yurasek said, places where there was terra-cotta pipe in. . now. . come on. With terra-cotta pipe, the water just pours in from everywhere. You can’t expect that you’re ever gonna get a tight system with terra-cotta pipe in. Chairman Baker replied, well. . we’ll make contact with the Sewer Authority and tell them about. . .I’m sure they’re aware of it. Yurasek said, sure. . they were out there the other day. . .they were in my sister’s cellar. . they said, don’t get excited. . we’ll take care of it. Baker said, you know that right turns don’t work and gravity don’t run uphill either and there’s a lot of that in that system. Yurasek said, that’s the problem. . you know between the gas main and the creek. . you put a dip in the pipe. . no. Now. . what I can’t understand is how you could have laid that line with a laser and that don’t make sense. There’s no such thing as bends or dips when you use a laser. Baker said, it goes uphill on Rose Branch too Steve. Clair Michaels said, if these lines aren’t working why don’t they go together with the one they weld together. Barbin said, nobody has the money for that. Michaels said, at least it wouldn’t be separating at the joints. . that’s exactly what’s happening. Baker said, well even their manholes have problems. Wallet added, that’s where the problem is. . in the manholes. . I don’t think it’s in the line. Yurasek said, I don’t understand why when it’s raining they don’t go to the manhole down by the creek and pop it off and see if it’s coming through the sides of the manhole. If it’s coming through the sides of the manhole, you know you got to seal the manhole up. Baker said, that’s what they’re doing with these manholes. . they’re in rehabilitation. . they just did a bunch. Barbin said, they did report that they had a crew out going manhole to manhole. Baker said, they relined them with concrete. Yurasek said, yeah. .they have a sealer.

Steve Yurasek asked, is there something wrong with the Fire Hall that we’re building a new Fire Hall? Chairman Baker said, you should ask the Fire Department that. . we have no control over that. Yurasek said, every year we give money, we give money, we give money. We bought a fire truck. . how many times have we donated to the Fire Company in the Township using the taxpayers money? You now have a vested interest in that Fire Company. Baker added, we were strongly encouraged to buy the whole thing and not give part of it. . . for the fire truck. We give them $15,000 a year and they show us what they do with that money. . the rest of the money, we have no control over. . .the Auxiliary has all that money. The little bit of money we give them is beneficial to this Township. Yurasek said, we need the Fire Company. . all I want to know is what’s wrong with the building we have? Baker said, I suggest you go to their meeting. Yurasek replied, you aren’t allowed to attend. Solicitor Barbin said, they’re a private non-profit corporation. Yurasek said, it used to be in the old days, anybody could go but then Hofecker, when he became what ya ma call it, only members. . .only certain members could go to the meeting. I went two different times and I was told I had to leave both times because they said they don’t discuss their financial stuff in front of other people. Barbin added, they are a private, non-profit corporation so they’re not bound by the public rules like we are. Yurasek said, but they receive money from this Township. Barbin said, and they have to give us an audit equal to the amount of money. . they don’t have to give us a full audit. They just have to give us an audit equal to the amount of money we give them and show that they spent that on legitimate things. Yurasek continued, but I don’t see nothing wrong with the building. . that’s why I question why they’re building another building? Is money growing on trees in this Township? Baker said, I don’t have one. Yurasek said, we’re not getting it from the dump anymore. We don’t want windmills, we didn’t want gas wells. .what do we want? Baker replied, no. . we want that Steve. Yurasek said, why don’t we have them. . .what about Portage Township. . why do they have all those windmills out there on the ridge? How many do you see? Barbin added, they’re ridge has a lot more wind power than our ridge and that’s the honest truth. Yurasek said, trust me. . this ridge will carry windmills. Baker said, they can come here just as easy as they went there. Clair Michaels said, I heard they were supposed to put 12 of them up there on Chickaree. . . up on the Water Authority’s property. Barbin said, on the Water Authority property there’s room for one or two and they’re still pursuing it. Johnstown Water Authority will be going to the Zoning Hearing Board soon. I won’t get involved in it. . that would be a conflict. They own 948 acres but only a very small part of that is up on top of the mountain. Michaels said, now I was told 12. Barbin said, no . . there’s only room for 2 but they are pursuing it and they’re real close to coming to the Zoning Hearing Board. . they’re putting another test tower up to test the wind. Yurasek said, and there’s Gamesa shut down. . all of our taxpayer money went into that. . to build that Gamesa plant so now we shut down and this one don’t want windmills and that one don’t want windmills. Up there in State College we’re killin birds but we’re trying to save the birds down here. Barbin said, it’s not the same birds. It’s Eastern Starlings up there in State College that they’re poisoning. Yurasek said, if you ever attended a pigeon shoot. . years ago we used to have pigeon shoots and we’d have a ball. . I used to go to Chambersburg with my brother and shoot pigeons. We’re not allowed to shoot them now. Barbin said, you’re allowed to shoot Starlings though. Starlings are a pest and you’re allowed to shoot them. If you really want the fun of shooting them, you can shoot Starlings. . that’s perfectly legal.

Announcements:
Chairman Baker announced, The Board of Supervisors next regularly scheduled meetings will be held on Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 8:00 AM and Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 7:00 pm at the Jackson Township Municipal Building.

Adjournment:
Motion Wallet, second Westrick to adjourn the meeting at 7:18 pm. Vote-3 yes.