PALMER TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

GENERAL BUSINESS MEETING

JANUARY 26, 2010

 

      A general business meeting of the Palmer Township Board of Supervisors was held on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in the Community Room of the Palmer Library with all Supervisors in attendance:  Dave Colver, Bob Lammi, Mike Mitchell, Ann-Marie Panella and Bob Smith.  Also in attendance were the Township Manager, Public Services Director, Police Chief and Township Solicitor.  Colin McEvoy from the Express Times represented the news media. Chairman Colver convened the meeting and led those present in the Pledge to the Flag. 

 

2.      APPROVAL OF DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS JANUARY 11, 2010 AND JANUARY 26, 2010

 

      INFORMATION

 

      The report will be provided at the meeting.

 

      DISCUSSION

 

      On motion by Mitchell, seconded by Panella, and agreed by all, the Board approved the disbursement of funds for January 11, 2010.

 

On motion by Panella, seconded by Mitchell, and agreed by all, the Board approved the disbursement of funds for January 26, 2010.

 

3.   APPROVAL OF MINUTES – JANUARY 4, 2010

 

      DISCUSSION

 

      On motion by Smith, seconded by Panella, and agreed by all, the Board approved the minutes of January 4, 2010.

                 

4.   STREET VACATION REQUEST

     

      INFORMATION

 

      Carmelita Foreman, 1200 Wayne Street, is requesting vacation of street.

           

      DISCUSSION

     

      Carmelita Foreman, 1200 Wayne Street, said she is requesting the vacation of the street in front of her home for her private use.  Planning Director Cyndie Carman said it is a township street with a water main under the street and the street is maintained by the township.  Bruno said back in April 2001 he had written a memo regarding a paper street that runs behind Ms. Foreman’s home, it was not related to Forks Street that Ms. Foreman is talking about tonight.  Colver confirmed with Ms. Foreman that she was requesting to have half of Forks street turned over to her and the other half turned over to her neighbor across the street.  Foreman said that is correct.  Colver said we have public utilities in that street so we can not turn that road over to a private resident.  Adams said the water company recently upgraded and upsized the water main because of the Woodridge Falls subdivision.  Lammi said Easton Suburban Water Authority felt that was the best way to get water into that project.  Colver said it isn’t an option to give that stub of street to you and your neighbor.  Colver noted the road will stay the same as it is today, curbed with a water line in it.  Bruno said those public structures are for all residents use.  Colver asked the Planning Director to see if the developer of Woodridge Falls could place some barricade at the end of the dead end.

 

      On motion by Lammi, seconded by Smith, and agreed by all, the Board denied Ms. Foreman’s request to vacate a portion of Forks Street.

 

5.   LOWES HOME CENTER PLANNING MODULE POSTCARD EXEMPTION/CAPACITY TRANSFER

 

      INFORMATION       

     

      The PTMSA and Director of Public Utilities are recommending approval of the capacity transfer request and the planning module postcard exemption for the Lowes project.

 

      DISCUSSION

 

      Mike Gavin, a representative from Lowes was in attendance.  Colver said Easton Hospital had the capacity and they are now asking to transfer a portion over to Lowes.  Colver said he can not vote for anything tonight since this Board has never been officially informed that Lowes is definitely coming into Lower Nazareth.  Colver said this is the start of a big project that will have a big impact on Palmer Township and its residents.  Colver said he believes it’s important that we are made aware of the type of improvements involved and what will be done in Palmer Township.  Gavin said they will be producing less than 50% of the traffic that was anticipated for the original hospital project.  Gavin said they are not that far along regarding storm water planning.  Gavin said they have conditional use approval from Lower Nazareth but do not have land development approval.  Smith said he would like to hear from Paul Hosking, if at some point in the future our needs change, where Palmer stands regarding capacity.  Gavin said they are going before the Lower Nazareth Board of Supervisors tomorrow night for approval.  Colver said we would appreciate a courtesy review.  Colver asked Gavin to submit information regarding the project to our Planning Director and we can then put it on one of our upcoming Board of Supervisors agendas.  Gavin said the planning module is also in front of you tonight which would allow us to begin the submittal process with DEP.  Lammi said we can’t approve it until we are comfortable with answers to any foreseeable problems that could occur in the future.

     

6.   TAX COLLECTION COMMITTEE REASSIGNMENTS

 

      INFORMATION       

     

      The Palmer Township Tax Collection Committee (TCC) members have agreed to the following assignments for 2010.  Delegate – Virginia Rickert, first alternate – Brenda DeLong, second alternate – Jeff Young.

 

      DISCUSSION

 

      On motion by Lammi, seconded by Smith, and agreed by all, the Board approved the 2010 assignments for the TCC as listed above.

 

7.      FUEL BID AWARDS

 

      INFORMATION       

     

      Bids were opened Monday, January 25th.  A bid recommendation will be provided at the meeting.  The Board needs to approve/disapprove awarding of the bid. 

 

      DISCUSSION

 

      Tom Adams said they received two bids yesterday.  Adams said it is hard to make a recommendation because it is subjective to fluctuating fuel prices.  Anckaitis said the low bidder is Petroleum Traders with a firm price for gasoline at $2.4615 and a fluctuating price at $2.1100 for diesel fuel.  Anckaitis said after sitting down with Tom Adams and doing an analysis this afternoon he would recommend taking the $2.4615 firm price for gasoline and take the $2.1100 fluctuating price for diesel.

 

      On motion by Smith, seconded by Panella, and agreed by all, the Board approved awarding the bid to Petroleum Traders, Ft. Wayne, IN for 56,000 gallons of unleaded gasoline at the firm price of $2.4615 per gallon and 45,000 gallons of diesel fuel at the fluctuating price of $2.1100 per gallon.  

 

8.      CHRIN COMMERCE CENTER ESCROW RELEASE

 

      INFORMATION       

     

      The Board needs to approve/disapprove the escrow release.

 

      DISCUSSION

 

      On motion by Lammi, seconded by Smith, and agreed by all, the Board approved escrow release #1 for the Chrin Commerce Center in the amount of $339,055.67.

 

9.   DISCUSSION REGARDING PAVILION RENTAL AT THE VILLAGES AT MILL RACE PARK

 

            INFORMATION 

           

      The Recreation Board is recommending rental of the pavilion at the Villages at Mill Race Park.  The Board needs to approve/disapprove the pavilion rental.

 

      DISCUSSION

 

      Smith said this was discussed at the last Recreation Board meeting and the Recreation Board recommended approval for non-alcoholic rentals at the Villages at Mill Race pavilion.

 

      On motion by Smith, seconded by Lammi, and agreed by all, the Board approved rental of the Villages at Mill Race Park pavilion at a fee of $50 for non-residents and $30 for residents, no alcohol will be permitted.

 

10. STREET LIGHT RESOLUTION

 

      INFORMATION       

     

      The Board needs to approve/disapprove the street light resolution for lights in the Villages at Mill Race Phase IV.

 

      DISCUSSION

 

      On motion by Lammi, seconded by Panella, and agreed by all, the Board approved the street light resolution for street lights in the Villages at Mill Race Phase IV at lots 12, 8 and 3 along Mill Brook Court, the intersection of Mill Brook Court and Moss Court, and in the cul-de-sac on Moss Court.

 

11. PUBLIC COMMENT

 

      None

     

12. REPORTS

       

      Solicitor

·        Bruno had an extension request from Prologis requesting an extension until March 31, 2010 to complete public improvements.  Bruno noted they extended their letter of credit.  On motion by Mitchell, seconded by Panella, and agreed by all, the Board authorized the Chairman to sign the extension agreement.

·        Bruno had an extension request from Finelli Consulting related to their Route 248 project requesting an extension until February 28, 2010 to enter into an agreement and post security.  On motion by Panella, seconded by Mitchell, and agreed by all, the Board approved the extension request.

·        Bruno had an update on the IDI appeal.  He informed the Board that IDI filed a petition for allowance of appeal to the PA Supreme Court as it relates to the zoning decision rendered by Lower Nazareth Township. 

·        Bruno had three real estate and six litigation items for executive session.

 

      Manager

·        Anckaitis reported the Sewer Department hired Neville Burd effective January 18, 2010.

·        Anckaitis said we received our last dividend installment from the Lehigh Valley Insurance Cooperative in the amount of $4,182.  Anckaitis said we received a total refund last year of $157,214.  Anckaitis said he feels it is a definite benefit being self-insured otherwise we would have never received these refunds.

 

      Planning Director

·        Carman asked the Board if there were any comments related to the upcoming Zoning Hearing Board agenda.  Colver asked when these items come up regarding lots that are identified by parcel numbers how do neighbors get notified since it doesn’t list a particular address.  Colver said he would like to see a better description on the agenda of the piece of property that is being discussed.  Carman said she’ll talk to the Zoning Administrator about using a better description.

 

      Public Services Director

·        Adams said UGI is going to replace the gas main in the vicinity of the Greenwood Avenue extension project prior to March.  For one month they will have one-way traffic with flaggers.

     

      Police Chief

·        Fretz said they have a new intern, Jennifer Tallada, from East Stroudsburg University that started with the department.  Colver asked to pass on the Boards condolences to Eric Belshaw in the passing of his mother. 

 

      Supervisors

·        Lammi said the COG met last Wednesday and there were two items he wanted to bring up tonight.  First, the rates for electricity will go up next year with the caps coming off for Met Ed.  Lammi said they were wondering if municipalities would be interested in getting together with school districts, water authorities, etc. to come up with a larger purchasing block.  Anckaitis said as of right now PLCM offers municipalities a consortium to participate in.  Anckaitis said he and Tom Adams attended a seminar last year where it was discussed.  Anckaitis said he thinks the township would want to get involved in something like that since they have expert consultants that put it all together.  Lammi said he will share that information with the COG.  Lammi said the second item he wanted to share is that the COG is looking to hire a part-time director like the Nazareth area COG and the Slate Belt COG has done. 

·        Colver said the fire department took on two new members at last nights meeting.  One with twelve years experience and the other is brand new and will be going through the training process.  Colver said last night the new trustees ran the meeting and it went very well.

 

      On motion by Mitchell, seconded by Panella, and agreed by all, the meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m. with three real estate and six litigation items for executive session.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Robert G. Anckaitis

Township Manager

Township Manager