The Jackson Township Supervisors held their regular meeting at 7:00 p.m. at the Jackson Township Municipal Building. Members present were Supervisors Dave Bracken, Bob Stephens and Bruce Baker along with Secretary-Treasurer / Manager Dave Hirko and Solicitor Bill Barbin. The meeting was called to order by Dave Bracken, Chairman with the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.

Board Roll Call was taken with all three Supervisors present.

Public Comments Concerning Agenda Items:
(None)

Minutes:
Motion Baker, second Stephens to approve the minutes of the February 24, 2005 Board of Supervisors meeting. Vote-3 yes.

Expenditures:
Motion Baker, second Bracken to approve the bills for the period of February 25, 2005 through March 31, 2005. Supervisor Stephens commented that he wanted a clarification concerning the Solicitors bills and asked if we hired Mr. Barbin as Solicitor or the firm of Gleason, Barbin, Markovitz and McQuillan. Manager Hirko thought it was Mr. Barbin as an individual but wasn’t sure legally. Solicitor Barbin felt it was the firm but he would have to go back and look to be sure. Stephens said as he recalled hiring Mr. Barbin in January. Barbin said he would have to check and see what the representation letter says. Stephens said he was bringing this up as it has happened on more than one occasion where Mr. Barbin was unable to come and the Board did not approve or request the person that represented them. He said at the last meeting we had another gentleman here and he didn’t recollect the Board approving him. Barbin said this was a general practice and he tries to be available for all the meetings but when there’s a conflict or change he tries to send someone from the firm who is knowledgeable and experienced in municipal law so that questions can be answered. He added if the Board as a whole wants to tell him no and you can’t be here, that’s fine and I’ll follow the directions of the Board. A vote was then taken on the motion. Vote-Baker & Bracken-yes, Stephens-no due to the fact that we did not approve the Solicitor at the last meeting who filled in for Mr. Barbin.

Township Police Report:
It was announced by Chairman Bracken that the February Police Report was not available at this time.

Correspondence:
(None)

New Business:
Mr. Larry Custer of the Cambria County Redevelopment Authority discussed the 2005 CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) Program. Mr. Custer stated that 2 public meetings were held earlier this year to get direction on the usage of CDBG funds. He added that this year’s funds amounted to about $119,046.00 and that this years funds were appropriated for the construction of a water system on Wagner Road & Pintail Road. Public comments were received this year expressing the need for water on Swigle Mountain Road and wastewater lines on Pike Road West, Rocky Road and to extend a sewer line previously constructed on Loraine Road. He said the top priority this year was the continuation of the water project for Wagner Road & Pintail Road to serve 22 families due to poor quality wells. He asked that the Board pass a resolution to approve the use of funds for this project but also pass a resolution to apply for additional competitive funds. He said approximately $500,000 is needed to complete the Wagner & Pintail Road water system plus to extend a water line down Chickaree Hill Road to about 12 additional homes. Custer added that this would be the 4^th allocation of entitlement funds by the Township. He said the engineering work for the project is underway by Paul C. Rizzo Associates of Johnstown which would include design work, placement of water lines, establishing right-of-ways and placement of fire hydrants. Supervisor Stephens asked when we could expect the project to be completed. Custer said it depends upon the money but the engineering work should be done this year and actual construction in the Spring of next year if we get the additional funding. Stephens asked when we could expect to see completion of the project. Custer said if we start in the Spring we could have completion by next Fall if we get the funding or additional monies needed. Rita McGuire said she would like to see sewer go up along Finntown Road from Nanty Glo. Custer said a feasibility study was done a number of years ago that would take in Lorain Road and Turkey Path Road and that there are some studies we could draw upon that were done in the past noting where the lines would be and cost estimates. Will Michaels asked what happened with that deal with the High Ridge Company and it was supposed to be a much lesser cost. Custer said the initial cost estimates were from a feasibility study and when he discussed this with them in greater detail, they said that they would need a pump station and some tanks which were not addressed in that study. He added that the Jackson Township Water Authority has expressed an interest in providing water and that improvements were made to their tank up there and new lines were installed under Route 22 by PennDOT which was something they were previously concerned about with the cost involved in boring underneath the highway. He said the costs are now comparable between the two based on this information. Michaels said he recalled about 3 years ago that it was stated within 2 years we’d have water now. Custer asked where he heard that and Michaels replied right here. Custer said he never stated that. Michaels said he knew High Ridge moved it right up to the line and High Ridge was only about $600,000 which included the pumping station. Custer replied that it didn’t and Michaels said he just wanted to get it on the record. Custer said that if you noticed tonight Mr. Stephens asked me for a schedule of completion and my answer was dependant on if we get the funding. He re-emphasized that the top priority of the Township is to get water to that area as the last three years of funds were designated. He then said not real long ago we went into various areas of the Township to see if residents were willing to accept public water and some areas said they didn’t want the water while others wanted it and those are the areas where water lines were installed with the help of Pennvest funding. Michaels said he could understand that. Custer said the situation has changed over the years and now the residents want the water and it’s currently the Township’s top priority. Michaels said he just wanted to see it at the right cost and not inflated.

Motion Stephens, second Baker to approve Resolution # 02-05 to approve use of 2005 CDBG Funds. Vote-3 yes.

Motion Baker, second Stephens to approve Resolution # 03-05 to apply for additional funding for Wagner & Pintail Water Projects. Vote-3 yes.

A motion was listed on the agenda to hire two part-time Police Officers. Motion Stephens, second Baker to table the motion to hire two part-time Police Officers. Vote-3 yes.

Motion Baker, second Stephens to adopt Police Complaint Procedure Policy for Jackson Township. Vote-3 yes.

Motion Baker, second Bracken to request District Attorney Tulowitzki to investigate Robert Stephens complaint against Chief Robert Fatula. Supervisor Stephens commented that he sent Mr. Tulowitzki a letter stating that he felt it was a possible conflict of interest for Mr. Tulowitzki to pursue this case and conduct an investigation and requested that Mr. Tulowitzki turn this over to the Attorney Generals office and therefore it was not in the best interest of the Township for Mr. Tulowitzki to pursue this matter. A vote was then taken. Baker & Bracken-yes, Stephens-no.

Motion Stephens, second Baker to adopt Street Light License & Release Form to cover Township maintained street lights not on right-of-way. Vote-3 yes.

Motion Baker, second Stephens to enter into an agreement with the Ebensburg Municipal Authority to begin work on the Pike Road Water Project at an estimated cost of $104,324.30. Vote-3 yes.

Manager Hirko noted that two bids were received for fuel, one from Martin Oil & the other from Luther P. Miller. Chairman Bracken said Martin Oil submitted a bid using the OPIS average plus .119 cents per gallon. He then said Luther P. Miller used the OPIS average plus .12 cents per gallon. Solicitor Barbin said the bids were OPIS plus the rack price plus the .119 and .12 cents per gallon. He added that the bids say .119 dollars but it’s .119 cents. He added that the Martin papers were in order. Motion Stephens, second Baker to accept the low bid submitted by Martin Oil for Heating Oil, Premium No Lead Gas and Diesel Fuel. Vote-3 yes.

Motion Stephens, second Baker on transferring $ 61,132.12 from the Capital Reserve Fund to the General Fund - $15,000.00 to Naugle Insurance for deposit on 2005 Insurance Policy, $10,000.00 towards March 1, 2005 Payroll, $8,785.27 to American Rock Salt for road salt, $7,000.00 to Hegemann & Wray Engineers for engineering work for Pike Road & Ogden Street water projects, $5,611.59 to Grannas Brothers for anti-skid, $4,676.29 to Penelec for electrical installation at Veterans Memorial Park, $4,535.07 to Lehman Engineers for work done on Comprehensive Plan and Stormwater Management, $3,950.00 to Bohadel Painting for painting of Senior Center Building and $1,573.90 to Tel-Power for traffic light repairs. Vote-3 yes.

Motion Stephens, second Baker on approving the time sheets from February 13, 2005 through February 26, 2005, February 27, 2005 through March 12, 2005 and March 13, 2005 through March 26, 2005. Vote-3 yes.

Other New Business:
Chairman Bracken said that the Solicitor submitted a request asking for clarification concerning the Jackson Township Volunteer Fire Company. Solicitor Barbin said he wrote a letter to the Supervisors saying that he has represented the Jackson Township Volunteer Fire Company for an Unemployment Compensation Hearing. He said he did this on a volunteer basis and a complaint was made by one Supervisor suggesting that because he had a relationship with the Jackson Township Volunteer Fire Company that he couldn’t give advice to the Township on any matters concerning them. He asked for clarification from the Supervisors as to whether the Supervisors wish him not to provide representation. He said you can’t tell me to do it because I’m not charging but it was my choice to do it. He said if you want to direct me not to do it, you have that right but in every municipality I work in, I always help the Volunteer Fire Companies on the theory that they are a good thing and take a huge cost off of the Township as they serve voluntarily and it’s good to help them out. Supervisor Stephens brought up the letter and said that if no conflict of interest was determined, he concurred with him; however none of us are scholars or attorneys and if the Board hired you to give us legal advice and State law provides that the Board including you cannot participate in any conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest. He said he commended Mr. Barbin whole-heartedly for his willingness to get out there and represent the fire companies for "free gratis. Barbin replied that there wasn’t a conflict and the complaint that you made was about obtaining a building permit and you know who does the building permits as you went there and talked to the people who have jurisdiction over those matters and if you complained it was a violation of DEP law then you go to DEP about the violation. He said if you want to have an ordinance adopted to prevent the Fire Company from burning houses, tell me and I’ll write one for you. Stephens said it clearly states on page 7 that noone is permitted to burn any buildings. Barbin said that wasn’t what it said and he answered him in explicit detail and quoted the sections of the Ordinance and that’s not what it says or even close to what it says. He added that you know that because you got the letter. He said the Ordinance says noone is allowed to burn anything in the Township if that burning goes over and causes pollution, harm and annoyance, protecting the people living around it. Stephens said he was talking about what it said on page 7. Barbin replied that was a definition and Section 201 is a definition section and not a rules section. He added that the rules section says you’re not allowed to burn in a way that causes smoke to go onto people’s property and annoy or bother them or cause air pollution. He added that nobody complained and nobody that was anywhere near that house that the Fire Company burned complained. He said you complained and you live at least one mile or more away and you didn’t smell it or suffer air pollution. He said this is like saying you don’t want Township regulation and that the Township over-regulates things and then saying that you’re doing this on principle when nobody complained or had a problem. He said if you as three members of the Board of Supervisors want to have an ordinance banning burning houses in the Township, tell me and I’ll write the ordinance. Stephens asked if there was a policy in the Township against burning on Sundays and asked if anybody has ever heard or been told by the Chief of Police or other police members that they can’t burn on Sundays. Barbin replied that he don’t know what the Chief of Police may have said but he said we have prosecuted people for burning in Leisure Village trailer park because they involved people burning and smoke going into peoples home who then complained. The ones burning were given warnings and continued burning anyway and those individuals were prosecuted under that section of the Zoning Ordinance and that was the only prosecution he was aware of. Stephens asked that if it was Mr. Barbins opinion that there was no violation of Township law. Barbin said of the Township ordinances, no. Barbin said from your paperwork, there probably was a building violation in not getting a demolition permit, but that is handled by the Building Codes Agency and that’s up to them and not us. He added that he didn’t know the status on the Dept. Of Environmental Protection rules on burning but if it’s their rule and it’s their enforcement. He said he previously stated that in his letter and he’s happy to write an ordinance if three supervisors, not one, tell him to do so. He said if you want to have a policy on not burning down buildings, it’s your policy to make but it’s not one man’s policy but the Board as a whole. Supervisor Baker said if he was looking for direction, he would move that the Board not inhibit your providing service to the Fire Company. Bracken agreed and said the Fire Company for years has been burning buildings and that people come and ask for them to be burned and this is useful for fire training. He said the only way you can get actual real fire training is when you burn buildings. He said you can go to all kinds of seminars but it does not prepare you to fight a fire instead of the actual burning of a building would. He added that he as been a member of the Fire Company since 1956. Stephens commented that as the Township appointed delegate, he attended the Cambria County Building Codes Agency meeting where there was about 20-25 people in attendance. He said during the course of that meeting, a session on demolition came up and he said he asked if burning was considered demolition and Executive Director, Larry Custer said if you burn it down or bull-doze it down, it’s demolition. He then said Barb Frantz injected a statement saying, Bob, we know you burn down buildings in Jackson Township in violation of State law. He asked her how they knew and she said by a telephone call that a building was burnt down with carcinogens in it from roofing and shingles. He asked her what they did about the complaint if that was done in violation of law and she replied, nothing being the complaint was by telephone and not written. He said in front of about 25 people he was made aware of a possible violation of law and he’s now compelled by the Oath Office he took from Fidelity to obey all laws and on behalf of all the citizens of the Township request an investigation to see if the residents of Jackson Township and others may have been exposed to known cancer causing carcinogens and or asbestos vapors. He said in the best interest in protecting the health, safety & welfare of all citizens and the possible violation of Township, County & State laws, he made a request. He said he filed a complaint form with the Township to have Harry Baker, Zoning Officer with the legal help of Solicitor Bill Barbin determine if the burning of a building may be in violation of Township law, citing among other violations of Township law that on Page 7 of Ordinance 118 it states that no one may burn construction or demolition waste. He asked if doesn’t no one include the Fire Company. Bracken said his 7 is under definitions. Stephens said he hasn’t seen an exception in Township law for the Fire Company and he thought it was in order for the best interest of the Fire Company to note that there is a State law that supercedes Township law in this case. He said we are not permitted to make anything less stringent than the State law. He said he then sent a letter to Barb Frantz of the Cambria County Building Codes requesting an investigation and answer and personally received nothing to date from Ms. Frantz however Ms. Frantz wrote a letter to the Board of Supervisors stating that no demolition permits have been issued by the Cambria County Building Codes Agency. This means demolition as in the Dolan Buildings and others. He said he has also sent a letter to the PA Dept. Of Environmental Protection requesting an investigation and answers concerning the possible burning of the Dolan buildings and others and possible violations of State law and he has not had any response from the PaDEP. He said if the Fire Company would have came to the Supervisory Board asking the Board if the burning of the Dolans building and others would be in violation of law concerning their prior actions at the Rosemary Gillin residence and the Board said no, then the Board may be liable if the violation of law occurs. If one member of the Board said no or instructed the Fire Company into a course of action that resulted in a violation of law, then the Township may still be held liable and not the Fire Company. He said an elected officials responsibility is seeing and obeying laws that have been enacted and protecting the safety and welfare of all citizens. He said he will continue to take the necessary steps to protect all from the possible exposure from any cancer causing agents, vapors or fallout from carcinogens or asbestos. Bracken said in view of this for the health, safety and welfare, if it wouldn’t be for people volunteering to learn how to fight fires to get people out in time, he thinks it would be a lot worse. He said he didn’t know why Stephens would want to stop the Fire Company from having fire schools but you’re going to stop the whole County and State as the whole County & State does the same thing for fire schools. Stephens asked if it was a violation of State law. Barbin said when it’s a violation of State law, it’s up to the State and not up to us. Stephens asked if it was a possible violation of Township laws. Barbin said only the sections that state that it is bothersome to others. Stephens said all he is doing is asking the person that has the authority to investigate and take the appropriate action and make a determination if a violation of law occurred at the Township, County or State level. He added he was not making that determination but asking the powers-that-be to make that determination. Bracken said Mr. Barbin explained this to you. Barbin said he’s not making the decision for the County as that’s up to their Solicitor as with the PaDEP, it’s up to their attorneys. He said we don’t have violations unless somebody complains. Stephens said we as a Board might have to make changes by enacting new laws. Baker told Stephens that he should have went to the Fire Department before he went anywhere else and ask them what their stance and position were. Stephens said he just brought it up and they didn’t come to us. Baker said if you had a problem with what the Fire Department did, you should have went to the Fire Department and ask them what they did and if they know about or violated any laws. Stephens said it was after the fact. Baker replied that so is your complaint. Stephens said exactly as he didn’t know about it ahead of time. Stephens said he would have cautioned them ahead of time if he would have known. Baker said that we’ve gotten off track and we need to deal with the clarification that the Solicitor asked for. Motion Baker, second Stephens that we don’t interfere with Bill Barbin’s grateful service to the Fire Department. There were no public comments. A vote was taken. Vote-Baker & Bracken-yes, Stephens-no because he felt it was a possible conflict of interest that the Solicitor participate with two different authorities in the same group. He added that they informed him that they already have a Solicitor by the name C.J. Webb the night before last. Baker asked why you would make a volunteer service pay for anymore than they have to. Stephens said he’s not asking them to pay. Bracken said he was.

Public Comments:
Rita McGuire said she hoped to soon be a resident of Jackson Township but that depends upon the availability of a sewer system to be provided along Finntown Road. She said she was told that a study was already on file to provide sewer service to this area and that Mr. Larry Custer mentioned this earlier. She said she didn’t know if the study was done by the Nanty Glo Sewer Authority or the Jackson Planning Commission was not known to her at this time. She said difficulties may lie in the fact that residents of Finntown Road live in Jackson Township and the most advantageous source of sewer service is from the Nanty Glo Treatment Plant. She said one pumping station may be required at the old ballfield but other than that, it’s all downhill for wastewater to flow into the Nanty Glo Treatment Plant. She asked that the Supervisors, members of local Planning Commissions and concerned citizens for the environmental effects of wastewater flowing where it should not come to an understanding of the problem and agree to provide an acceptable solution to provide sewer service to the tax paying people of this congested area. She said Mr. Custer also mentioned Loraine town and she suspects the whole area will be considered including Fords Corner Road. She asked when can the residents on Finntown Road expect sanitary sewer lines to be available for connections. Supervisor Stephens said that about 10 months ago he attended an inter-governmental cooperation meeting with Nanty Glo Borough and he was the only one who attended that meeting except he believed Mr. Nischalke was also there and at that meeting he proposed that the Nanty Glo Sewer System would encourage inter-governmental cooperation in conjunction with the Jackson Township Sewer Authority or JETSA. He said he pointed out that Finntown Road, Lorain Road, White Street Extension, the upper end of Christoff Street and Pergrim could all be serviced most equitably by the Nanty Glo Borough. He said those areas are all downhill and would cause very little maintenance or cost and he isn’t sure if they’ve done anything with that. He said that Mr. Burkey was here from the Sewer Authority and we’ll bring it to his attention and hopefully they can get out and work with the Sewer Authority in Nanty Glo and facilitate what might be done. McGuire said she wants to move here but doesn’t want to pay for a sand mound if the sewer lines are going to come up there. She said she had a financial interest in that "leg" of sewer line and she would be more than happy to help survey the people who might be interested or any other way she might be able to help in getting the project along.

Announcements:
Chairman Bracken announced that the Board of Supervisors next scheduled meeting will be held on Thursday, April 28, 2005 at 7:00 pm at the Jackson Township Municipal Building.

Adjournment:
Motion Baker, second Stephens to adjourn the meeting at 8:38 pm. Vote-3 yes.