A representative of Aqua PA was on hand at the October monthly meeting of the Sadsbury Township Supervisors in order to bring them up to date on the work that has been unfolding on the east side.

The bottom line of which was that everything is in order and they are simply awaiting the green light from the DEP before they can hit the switch, so to speak.

Two residents were in attendance from the area in which the revamp has been taking place. There had been a mix up in terms of the total subject matter of the meeting and the two gentlemen were under the false assumption that the meeting was one at which complaints about some of the work were to be voiced.

Even though that was not the case, the one citizen was given the floor. He said he was a spokes-person for many of his neighbors and imparted that the reason for his concern was due to the results of hard water replacing the soft water during the project.

During the time of the work, the water in that region was switched over to the Oakland Beach system. This, according to the citizen, caused some calcium build-up in dishwashers and other appliances. It was his view that because of this, the regular life of said appliances might be shorter than if they been not exposed to the hard water scenario.

His main topic took the form of a question to the Aqua rep. He asked if they might compensate any resident with ruined household items due to the hard water.

Township Supervisor Roy Whaley spoke up at that point and said that when the project began, he had been told by a higher up at Aqua that a meeting would be advertised and held when all work was complete in order to hear any kinds of issues, like the above-mentioned, that the residents might have.

A lengthy conversation ensued with the resident listing many of the water problems that had been occurring and also by his questioning of how to drain his hot water tank. He wondered if he would follow the usual protocol when doing such or, perhaps use a different method due to the high rate of calcium, etc.

The Aqua employee told him that directions should be on the side of the tank and encouraged him to check them out.

Again, it was stressed that these issues would be addressed at the meeting that Whaley had mentioned. The resident did apologize for bringing up the complaints at a supervisor meeting but explained again that the letter they received was misleading and he assumed that the meeting was the appropriate forum for such. The other resident in attendance backed him up on that and the supervisors said it was really not a problem that they had come forward at the meeting. Whaley said it gave them an idea of what was unfolding, etc.

In other business, Henry Knapp has been doing some survey work for the streetlight assessment and he was on hand to go over a few things with supervisors.

This project began several years ago and was put in motion after many residents had come forward at meetings with complaints about how they had been being charged for non existent street lights.

The township then decided that the best course of action would be for them to hire Knapp to do a study to ascertain the number of lights and which homes and businesses are affected by the lighting directly.

Knapp works closely with the tax collector, Pam Ferguson, who has developed an organized method by which to check on questions pertaining to streetlight placement and assessment when approached by a taxpayer and asked to do so.

Knapp had questions for the board: He said that the Municipal Authority has pump stations that are “touched” with lighting and asked if they were to be assessed or not. He suggested that they not be;.

Secondly, he said that the PA Game Commission owns the swamp on the south side of the region in the vicinity of Lake View Ford and lighting is also touching that area. “We wonder if it’s advisable to try and get money out of the state,” he said.

Knapp said the third area that is directly affected by street lighting is a Western Conservancy region near Station 3.

He explained that the Conservancy owns that particular area and suggested again that they not assess it.

All of the above-mentioned areas would be considered to be “non improved” regions, which is a term used as part of the formula for figuring the monies involved.

Knapp said that their books could be adjusted accordingly, depending on what the township decided in the cases noted.

At this point, Township Solicitor R. Charles Thomas gave his views concerning whether to bill, or not to bill.

He said in terms of the state, they could not be charged. As for the Conservancy, he stated that they are a private corporation and, as such, could be billed. Knapp said they are tax exempt but R. Charles said to go ahead and the Conservancy could challenge them if they so desired.

As for the sewer pump houses, R. Charles said they too could be assessed.

Knapp also said that Station 3 would indeed be charged as well.

Whaley made reference to the start of the streetlight program and said that after the residents had complained, they decided to document, record, engineer and verify. He said they have been doing so now for years and everything is above board.

Knapp’s closing remark was that 795 properties have been “touched by the survey.”

Whaley said in closing on this subject that it is not the goal of the township to make a profit off of streetlight assessments.

The conversation then moved along to fire hydrants, which are also being surveyed for assessment purposes.

This was very brief as he simply mentioned that because of the size of the current books, it is their desire to add a pamphlet kind of document to the books rather than to revise them.

Road Master Dave Hubbard brought supervisors up to speed about the fall work. He said that spray patch, spot paving and basic prep for winter have been on the agenda as of late. The crew will be cleaning out ditches, as well, once the leaves have totally fallen from the trees.

A motion was carried to approve Mast Painting as the company that will power wash, prime and paint the maintenance garage. There is a two year warranty on the work.

Zoning Officer Paul Roiz stated that he had received a few requests from residents concerning various property maintenance issues with neighbors, etc,. and had been following up on those.

There is a property on Woodman Ave that was described as being “next to a pink cottage,” discussed as well. The property is owned by Conneaut Lake Park and Roiz has been in touch with Carol West, a member of the Board of Trustees, about the structure.

Roiz said that West told him that there are some legal issues concerning that particular property and asked if he could allow them to get restitution so that they could then afford to tear it down.

He is going to follow up on it asap to find out how far things have gotten with the whole project.

The property in question was described by Supervisor VanHonk as being wide open in that folks could just wander in and out.

Whaley spoke up and said that the park board had been told that they would have to get rid of the structure or face the dilapidated building ordinance.

Another area on Woodman has housed two box trucks that are in a hideous state for a long time. They were not certain who owned that property and Roiz said he’d ask West if it fell under the park’s ownership or not.

Earlier in the day prior to the meeting, the supervisors took a road tour. Whaley said that during the course of the tour, they noticed that there is a fifth wheel camper parked out back of Antonio’s Restaurant on Rt. 618. He said that it appeared as though the camper was being occupied as a residence and no variance had been obtained for such.

“I’ve noticed a fifth wheel parked back there 24/7 so, somebody’s living there...” he said.

Community News Reporter Lisa Houserman asked why it was not permissible for a business owner to have a place in which to relax during down time. Whaley then pointed out the law which states that if a person owns an RV, which is habitable, he is to register with Rose and, “you’re good for two weeks out of the year. That’s it. Unless you’re in a campground or something like that,” he emphasized.

He then added that having an RV hooked up to the sewer system poses another problem in terms of the township regulations.

The topic sparked a question from a resident, in attendance, who then asked about storing an RV in one’s driveway.

Whaley said that he wasn’t totally certain about the current law but, years ago it stated that such vehicles were to be stored in the back or on the side of the residence. He said as far as having a tarp over it in the very front of the house, it was a no-no back then but, he wasn’t positive about how things are these days.

Secretary Mumau said that there is a section on the books about storage and then Roiz said that the ordinance does provide for it but it has to be set back from the property lines. He did say that it could be in the front, back or side though.

The township Trick or Treat night is scheduled for October 28 from 6 until 7:30. Township officials remind residents to be on the lookout for small ghosts and goblins and to drive accordingly.

The next meeting will be held at 6:30 on Tuesday, November 9 at the Sadsbury Township Building. Area residents are encouraged to come out and keep an eye on the happenings in the township