April 9, 2003 Northern Berks Police Information:
The police will be doing an emphasis on seat belt enforcement the two weeks prior to Labor Day.
April 10, 2003 Maidencreek Regular Business Meeting:
Sorry, my update is very late this month. I have included a few highlights below:
Attendance:
All three supervisors attended the meeting.
There was considerable discussion about parking problems and the improper discharge of a firearm near the Coliseum Restaurant. At this point the code enforcement officer will investigate the parking. Making the residential streets in the vicinity of the restaurant no parking was considered, however, this is likely to affect residents on Thanksgiving and other holidays when friends and family visit.
2002 AUDIT REPORT:
Mark Zettlemoyer, of Reinsel & Company presented the Maidencreek Township 2002 Audit Report that was submitted to the state. He explained that Reinsel & Company conducted the audit with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. He outlined several notable expenditures, revenues, and findings to assure the Board that Maidencreek Township's finances are being effectively managed.
East Wesner Road:
Some residents asked the Board to consider changing the speed limit to 25 mph for the entire section of East Wesner Road from Park Road to Hoch Road. They can not understand why the 300 block of East Wesner Road posted speed is 25mph and the 400 block of East Wesner Road is posted 35mph. They feel that the residential growth in the 400 block of East Wesner Road and the completion of the Community Park will result in additional traffic traveling at 35mph or higher will result in unsafe conditions on this section of the roadway. We referred this issue to the engineer for study. It may well be that we as supervisors do not have the authority to reduce the limit to 25 unless the road meets certain PennDOT criterion. If it does meet the criterion we could reduce the speed limit on the road. This would be done by ordinance with a public hearing etc. I would appreciate your thoughts on reducing this speed limit.
Snow Removal:
Robert Kopfer made a motion, and seconded by Gloria Kemmerer, authorizing the Operations Manager as a designated agent for the Township to apply for state reimbursement for costs incurred for snow removal February 16 - 18, 2003. All Board members voted, "Aye." Motion carried.
April 17, 2003 Maidencreek Regular Business Meeting Continuation:
Attendance:
Gloria Kemmerer and Roy Timpe attended Bob Kopfer was not able to attend.
Recycling:
We passed the recycling regulations (see last month for details on this) Also we received bids on the recycling containers. We have decided to go with a 20 gallon container with a lid. Bell Hardware was the low bidder at $4.95 for the can and $2.13 for the lid.
Martin Retirement Village:
There is no evidence of this system leaking sewage, however, there is an outstanding citation from a previous leak. The board is trying to get the District Justice to expedite serving this citation. The Sewage Enforcement Officer has been to the Martin place nearly 3 times per week. There has been no evidence of a leak since the last meeting.
Portable Sports Equipment:
The board has authorized the solicitor to investigate an ordinance prohibiting equipment like Hockey nets and basketball nets in the streets. Children are expected to do many activities in the streets (i.e. ride bicycles etc.) however, there is a safety concern with the Hockey and Basketball since the children involved in the game often are not watching for traffic. I would appreciate your thoughts on this as well.
Seminar for Elected Officials on Bio-Terrorism at Lafayette College (May 2 & 3):
I attended this seminar, and found it very interesting. Most of the people were from Northhampton County and some even from New Jersey. The information was applicable to us here in Berks County. The whole issue of disasters (both natural and man-made) merits a workshop by the board. It may well be that some of our ordinances and plans need to be updated.
paid for by Roy Timpe