The Summit Township Supervisors meeting started off with a bang as an area resident approached the board about a driveway pipe that had been replaced recently.

He asked the board if they ever check out survey records of property lines prior to carrying on with road work, etc. His reasoning behind his inquiry was due to his having issues with a neighbor about the property line.

When Supervisor Harry McGrath, who is also the Road Master, told the resident, Mr. Watt, that it hadn’t been their policy to check surveys of properties, Watt shot back and said that they should do so.

This broke into a back and forth with Watt declaring that other townships do check on such things and also saying that even though it isn’t currently required for property surveys to be researched, it might be a good idea to start.

Evidently, the whole scenario stems from some problems he has had with the neighbor overlapping a pond onto his acreage.

As far as what was imparted by the board, they had placed the pipe under the driveway in the same location in which it was originally.

Summit Solicitor William Walker spoke up and said that it is really an undertaking that should be handled between Watt and his neighbor.

Litigation was brought up and Watt said he was hoping the township could clear the pipe issue up so that he wouldn’t have to spend his money on needless court appearances.

Since the area in question is on the township right of way and the main thrust of the problem lies between Watt and his neighbor, it is more or less out of the township’s hands, according to Walker and the supervisors.

Watt said on numerous occasions during the meeting that the supervisors didn’t recall certain aspects of the issues he’s having on his land because they aren’t directly affected by any of it and he is.

Supervisor Joel Stone asked Watt why he didn’t make mention of the pipe when he saw them putting it in. Watt said that he did approach the board about it and was told the same thing they were telling him at that point.

He then asked if they kept minutes of the meetings since he declared that all of the above-mentioned would be on the record if so.

Secretary Cindy McCoy interjected that they do keep minutes but do not put in detailed discussions. Watt asked how they would ever know what was said during such meetings if they didn’t keep complete records.

Watt indicated that it would be best to have in the minutes exactly what was said by whom so that years down the road they could refer to them if need be.

McCoy reiterated that she did not keep a running transcript because it wasn’t required by law for her to do so. Watt then said, “There we go again. We do just as little as possible...” He then spoke as if he were a supervisor and said, “It ain’t prescribed by law so we don’t do it. We don’t ever do surveys because it ain’t required by law...”

He ended by asking if they ever use common sense. This is when Walker jumped in again and reminded Watt that his pipe in the driveway difficulty was really a private property matter that would have to be taken up with his neighbor.

The conversation basically continued along the same lines and became repetitive. Watt had requested a copy of the zoning laws and McCoy is getting it together for him. There was a cost involved and prior to his exiting the building, he gave her the required amount.

The meeting moved forward with some business that has been on the table for a few months, which is that of the dilapidated home and property on Jeannie Lane, off of Reed Avenue.

During previous meetings, some neighbors had come forward with complaints due to the general condition of the property, including overgrown grass and a house that was in hideous disrepair.

Some options had been discussed as to what could be done and things have moved forward with the township now being in possession of the land.

Walker got in touch with a few companies in order to get prices on tearing it down and, so far, the quotes have been rather expensive.

One of the neighbors who had been attending recent meetings asked if the lawn could finally be manicured now that the township is in charge. The answer was no because they aren’t really sure what kind of debris is in the now very high grass, and would be afraid of damaging equipment.

The spokeswoman for the neighborhood asked several times if they could mow but they said they simply couldn’t at this time.

There are a few people interested in purchasing the property once the house is down, etc.

The township will have to follow proper protocol and put it out for auction when the time comes.

In other news, firefighter Gene Calvert asked supervisors for their blessing on forming a Crime Watch group in Harmonsburg.

The board said they were fine with the idea and reminded Calvert that one had been in place years ago but had folded due to the lack of interest.

Calvert said he was well aware of that but said he had been talking to various residents about the possibility of starting it up again and he had generated a great deal of interest.

There are still Crime Watch signs scattered about the village and also, there was still some money in the treasury from the last group.

There have been several instances of vandalism and other crimes in Harmonsburg as of late and many of the citizens are up in arms about it.

The group will be forming and Calvert was asked to call the Community News when he had the details sewn up so that some coverage of meetings could hit the paper.

According to Secretary McCoy, Park Restoration and the Lisko group from Conneaut Lake Park, are both behind with the amusement taxes.

The last payment for the entity known as the Beach Club Complex was for the time period from January 1 through July 11. McCoy said that nothing had come in since.

As for the Lisko portion, which would be for the rides in the park, payments were received for May and June only.

Greg Sutterlin was reached for comment after the meeting and said that they made a payment of Summit taxes on August 14 and would be paying again when they are due.

In other brief CLP news, at last month’s Summit gathering, a great deal of time was spent on a discussion about the McClure House, in the park, being used for a haunted house event.

Because the house had been condemned, there was some concern about the appropriate permits being obtained from MDIA and so forth.

Since that time, Summit Fire Chief Gig King and a gentleman from MDIA went over and looked at the situation.

McCoy said that the township had not been given any kind of official report at the time of the meeting.

Sutterlin had the following statement after the meeting, which also includes a bit of history about the house. This is his quote via email: “Both Jake Doub and Duane Fitzsimmons from MDIA inspected the McClure property. Jake did the preliminary inspection and Duane did the final inspection that gave us approval to use the home in the Ghost Lake attraction. The McClure was also inspected by PA ride inspector Dave Martin.

I would like to personally thank MDIA for their timely inspections; allowing us to get the 1850 McClure home open, on time, for Ghost Lake 2010.

The McClure Home was condemned by Summit Township and was due to be torn down for several years.

Luckily, the financial limitations of the Park did not provide the funds needed to perform the demolition.

As a result, we were able to save the oldest building on the Park property.

Its initial use will be for the Ghost Lake attraction and at some future point it will find a place in future residential or similar purpose.

The McClure house was build in the 1850's. (we found a board in the home authored by the craftsmen at the time).

In 1897, two years after the passing of Col Frank Mantor, his former residence was converted to the Mantor House.

In 1906, the Mantor house was renamed the Lakeside Inn upon the addition of the third floor.

The Hotel stopped hosting guests in the 1960's when it was converted to an employee dormitory.”

Since the first Tuesday in November is Election Day, the next meeting will take place on the following Tuesday at 7 PM.