“I believe that government has forgotten whom they're working for and who they're representing,” was just one of the many statements made by Sadsbury Township Supervisor Roy Whaley, during the February meeting.

Whaley was visibly wound up and admittedly so, about a storm water management law that will be enforced by DEP in the very near future. This was also discussed at length during the Summit Township Supervisors meeting, and those officials also took issue with the situation.

Whaley imparted information about Act 167, Storm Water Management Plan to those in attendance, which sparked a lively discussion.

He said that due to some budgetary issues and lack of funds in the Commonwealth, they cut off the money to the county for ex-tended engineering costs concerning this act, into 2010.

HRG Engineering represents the county and, according to Whaley, is under a “crash program” to get this wrapped up by June 30, of this year.

The law has actually been on the books for many years, one date of October of 1978 was mention-ed, and has been amended as recently as the 1990s. It just has not been enforced for anything other than commercial building.

Whaley and Summit officials both expressed concern for private property owners and especially ones that live on smaller lots. This would come into play for any new construction at 1,000 square feet or over, and would not be limited to nails and wood as driveways would also be a - to part of this.

Whaley continued to impart some details of what is on the direct horizon ahead. “What's going to happen is the engineering part of it and the draft ordinance is supposed to be finalized before June 30, so the engineering will be out of the picture. Then, it is turn-ed over to the county and the municipalities for their public hearings and final approval.”

He said the thrust of the law is to maintain quality water with DEP acting as the enforcing agency involved. Whaley expressed several times that he had no problem with having safe water and is on board in terms of preventing flooding, etc., but had many issues with the way things are being handled, especially in terms of what kind of outcome it could have for private land owners.

He hit on some of the same things that they did at the Summit meeting including how getting a building permit would be more difficult and costly.

The homeowner would be in charge of paying all those costs on top of the regular fee as a storm water plan would have to be a part of the whole scenario. So, once the ordinance is passed, some of the particulars pertaining to a storm water plan would be how the water would be contained and absorbed on the lot.

Some of the local engineers have been attending engineering meetings concerning the act and were described as also being apprehensive about small lots. He said they expressed views about property owners being able to contain and control the water on their land. “It's going to be very difficult. It's going to be very expensive. According to HRG Engineering, the only way this can be changed now, is by amending the laws by the legislature.

“The public have not been aware of this. It's just now coming to light because the state is paying for the engineering to be done quickly by the county—this is a county-wide ordinance that has to be approved. Municipalities are required to vote on this resolution. If they don't approve it, then the county does not get reimbursed....-Right now the county is paying the engineering bills...,” Whaley stated.

He said once the municipalities approve the ordinance then the county would be reimbursed for the cost.

Someone in attendance said that the county did not seem to be concerned about what is best for the residents.

Whaley said in a joking manner that he had been attending many meetings and had been “quite vocal.” He added that he had be-come somewhat notorious and had engineers “rolling eyes” when he entered the meeting hall.

He went on to say if they don't pass it, DEP could spring into action and issue fines, hold back state funding and penalize the municipalities in other drastic ways.

Township Solicitor R. Charles Thomas spoke up and mentioned flood insurance. Secretary Rose Mumau said she wasn't certain the two had anything to do with one another but Whaley said more information about the flood plain, etc.

“They are tied together. What I did find out was, as long as a municipally participates in the flood plain with an ordinance, then people who are outside of the boundaries of the flood plain, due to storm water management situations, they can purchase inexpensive flood insurance. So on the small lots, if they do have a flooding situation of something they put in for storm water management under this other law, (Act 167) they can get flood insurance and reimbursed for the utilities....”

He concluded that part by saying this would not pertain to paneling, furniture or the like but water heaters, pumps, etc., would be covered.

Road Master David Hubbard asked about current subdivisions that have a storm water management plan already. Whaley said they are OK but any future construction would be under this new deal.