It seems my updates are running late recently. What follows is a brief summary. We covered many more topics in both these meetings.
May 8, 2003 Maidencreek Regular Business Meeting:
Attendance:
All three supervisors attended the meeting.
Recycling:
The recycling fee was discussed by members of the public. The decision for this year to have a flat $55.00 per property was made back with the budget. In the workshops the supervisors considered basically three options. Each had their disadvantages.
Include the recycling in the per captita tax. This has the problem that the retired couple would be paying twice as much as the single mother with 3 kids. While the retired couple is likely to generate about ½ the recycling materials.
Include the recycling in the millage. This had the disadvantage that people with more expensive property would pay more, and the ones with more expensive properties are not necessarily the ones that use recycling the most.
Have a flat fee per property. Again, this has the disadvantage of having the retired couple paying the same as the family of four, but at least it is more fair than the per capita method.
In all three of these cases the board thought the recycling fee could be included in the same mailing as the tax bill. We chose option 3 the flat fee. However, it turns out there are people with multiple deeds making up their properties. One retired couple who attended the meeting has 3 deeds making up their lot. They will pay triple what the board intended. PA law requires the tax be fairly administered. Since we decided one fee per property we can not grant exceptions to that method and still provide equality of taxation. To make matters worse we were unable to piggy back the flat fee on the existing mailing. Many peoples tax mailing goes to their mortgage company. The mortgage company will pay the property taxes, but not necessarily the recycling fee. These people would be unaware they owed the $55.00 since they will not receive the bill. We are unable to piggy back the fee on the water bill, since not everyone who owes the fee receives a water bill. The bottom line is we will need a separate mailing for the fee (at the cost of about $764).
My Opinion on the recycling fee:
Based on how this is unfolding, I no longer believe the flat fee is the best way to collect money for recycling. Each of these ways has some unfairness to it, however, including the recycling in the millage (real-estate tax) would save the taxpayers the cost of the extra mailing. It would eliminate the triple and double tax some residents with multiple deeds are paying. This change depends upon the other two supervisors, and in any event will have to wait until next year.
May 15, 2003 Maidencreek Regular Business Meeting Continuation:
Attendance:
Gloria Kemmerer and Roy Timpe attended Bob Kopfer was not able to attend.
Dries Road:
Last month there was a fatality on Dries Road. A woman who was making a left hand turn off of Dries road onto US 222 South was struck by a North bound car on US 222. The woman failed to see the North bound car while she was at the stop sign on Dries Road. Making the left turn off or Dries Road requires you to penetrate at least three lanes of opposing traffic and then merge with the traffic on 222. The more prudent thing is to use the light at 73 or the acceleration lane provided at the intersection of the Blandon-Fleetwood Road and US 222. The police Chief has suggested that we make Dries Road onto US 222 a right turn only intersection. I favor this change. The Township will support this change, but it is likely PennDOT will have to get involved as well as Ontaulanee Township.
Radar Bill:
There is a bill in the state house introduced by Dennis Ley to allow local police to use Radar. Our chief favors this bill, and with complaints about speeding being so common in the developments, a memorializing resolution was offered asking our state representative (Argall), and our state senator (Rhoads) to support Dennis Ley's bill. This resolution passed with the votes of both supervisors present. Bob may also sign on later if he wishes. A copy of the resolution will be sent to both men representing us.
May 27, 2003 Maidencreek Emergency Plan Workshop:
Attendance:
Gloria Kemmerer and Roy Timpe attended Bob Kopfer was not able to attend.
The county has provided us with an emergency plan that we are requested/required to adopt. This integrates Maidencreek with the rest of the county. Our workshop meeting was precipitated by two different seminars one attended by Gloria Kemmerer and one by me. Fortunately, it seems our emergency plan is in good shape. We do lack a formal method for the local officials to declare a disaster. The state law allows for the chief executive (i.e. mayor of a borough) to declare a disaster with the declaration to be ratified within seven days of the declaration. In Maidencreek we will have a chain established among the elected officials. This way a disaster can be declared even if two of the elected officials can not be reached. The advantage of declaring a disaster is that it frees us from the bidding process for purchasing, and it makes us eligible for county and state support in the emergency. For example, suppose a large fuel oil truck ruptured in a traffic accident at one of our intersections. If the resulting fuel spill overwhelmed our supplies, the responders would be free to get more supplies bypassing the normal purchasing process. If we had to, we could clean out the disposable diaper shelves at Walmart. If a disaster is declared, it will be followed by an advertised special business meeting to ratify the disaster declaration.
paid for by Roy Timpe