April & May Meetings:
Sewage Sludge:
We adopted the sewage sludge ordinance at the April Meeting. This ordinance is intended to help safeguard the health an welfare of Maidencreek residents, as well as protect the Maidencreek watershed. I should point out that the township can not do any enforcement on an issue without an ordinance in place. This ordinance was the most involved that I have seen in 7 years as a supervisor. There was a maze of legal pitfalls from the State of Pennsylvania to avoid. There were several public hearings, Literally thousands of pages of evidence were provided for the township's consideration. Evidence was heard that Pennsylvania DEP seldom does any enforcement of their regulations, and sewage sludge can be and has been the source of pathogens. The state is very clear that townships do not have the authority to be more restrictive than the the sate on sewage sludge. We heard testimony that sewage sludge may be a contributor to the problem of high phosphorous levels in the lake. One source of information on pathogens is an article in International Journal of Occupational Environmental Health 2005;11:415 427 titled “The Dirty Work of Promoting Recycling of America s Sewage Sludge” by CAROLINE SNYDER, PHD In this article she claims, “The three deaths linked to land application were those of Shayne Connor, from Greenland, NH, Daniel Pennock, from Robesonia, PA, and Tony Behun, from Osceola Mills, PA.” My understanding is that there is disagreement over the source of the pathogens causing the deaths of both the Pennsylvania boys, however, both were exposed to sewage sludge.
To see the Snyder article (pdf format) click here.
Make no mistake about it, without this ordinance the township would have no ability to take any enforcement action against the illegal application of sewage sludge.
Township Manager Position:
In May the board held a public hearing on the Township Manager position. This position includes the secretary treasurer functions. Later in the regular business meeting the board created the position of township manager, and (after executive session) announced that Diane Hollenbach (the current township secretary treasurer) would accept the position. This will likely be made official at a special meeting to be followed by a workshop with the Water Authority on May 24th.
During the public hearing Maidencreek Voters Alliance (MVA) founding members Joe Rudderow and Barry Higo both expressed concern that this position may cause a significant increase in the township's payroll. They were told that the board had complete control over who they hired, and how much they would be paid, and just because the position is created, does not mean it must be filled with a high salary. Barry also expressed concern that the teamsters union would object to creating a management position that included the secretary treasurer. I responded that we had a letter from the teamsters union saying that they had no objection.
I still have copies of the Fredrick Bastiat book “The Law” available to Maidencreek residents. Email me if you want one.
Paid for by Roy Timpe