In the absence of Doug Phelps, Sue Furney took the chair as the Harford Township Supervisors met on February 21st.  And Ms. Furney’s first action was to welcome Dustin Walker to the table as Harford’s newest Supervisor.  Throughout the meeting, Ms. Furney walked through the various agenda items, patiently explaining each to the novice Mr. Walker.  A young aspirant to the honor, Zack Weida, declared his intention to run for the seat in the primary this Spring, and Mr. Walker graciously accepted the challenge.

Because Mr. Walker wasn’t present for prior meetings, Ms. Furney noted that the minutes for January 3rd and February 1st could not be formally approved until Mr. Phelps is available.  To begin his education, Ms. Furney outlined to Mr. Walker the finer points of the bill list, and how it relates to the budget, in particular the breakdown into township, state, sewer accounts.

Asked whether the township would be fixing the ditches on Stearns Road, Roadmaster Jim Phelps announced that most of the stretch from Tingley Lake Road to the intersection with Richardson, Wilcox, and Wolf Lake Roads would the subject of some training he would be getting soon for a Dirt & Gravel grant to completely refurbish it, including a topping of DSA.  Driving Surface Aggregate is a product developed by Penn State, and the grant would be administered by the Dirt & Gravel program overseen by Penn State.  These projects have successfully renovated several roads in Harford Township in recent years.  The Roadmaster also said that some additional stretches of Lower Podunk, Stevens and Orphans School Roads would get similar treatment this year.

A resident of the Tyler Lake Road area asked when the township would be taking action to fix that road in conformance with the agreement that tentatively settled a lawsuit that resulted from an earlier project intended to improve drainage in that area.  Ms. Furney reported that as soon as it could be scheduled, the Supervisors would be meeting with the township’s engineers to go over the details.  She agreed that the issue has been “racking up bills” for the township.  The questioner, party to the lawsuit, noted that he has been receiving comments from township residents concerned about the continuing expense to the township budget.

Roadmaster Phelps repeated his request to have the employees’ pay deposited electronically.  He said that some of them, who live paycheck to paycheck, have to take time off to visit their banks to deposit their checks during business hours.  Direct deposit would be much more convenient and efficient.  All staff have agreed to participate, so the township will proceed to make it happen.

The supervisors reviewed the Roadmaster’s recommendations for materials purchases for 2017 and will be soliciting bids for fuel and for a variety of stone and dust control products.  Bids will probably be opened at the March meeting.

The supervisors accepted the recommendation of the township’s engineers to purchase 2 sewer pump repair kits at $800 a pop.  These would be for the first generation Hydromatic pumps that are no longer being manufactured.

The next meeting of the Harford Township Supervisors is scheduled for a month hence, on March 21, 2017, beginning at 7:00pm at the tiny office on Route 547.  Citizens attending are expected to behave: the newest supervisor carries.

Local Boy Scouts were out in force at Lanesboro's regular monthly meeting for February. The meeting, delayed a week due to coincidence with St. Valentine's Day, was rescheduled from the 14th to the 21st. The 45-minute meeting was well attended not only by a half-dozen Boy Scouts, but by their parents and scouting leaders as well. Spokesman for the entourage of Troop 81 was Bob Martin, who explained that the scouts were there to fulfill one of their requirements to earn their “Citizenship in the Community Merit Badge.”

Council President Dan Boughton called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. Councilmen Dave Glidden and Tom Nitterour were in attendance, as well as Mayor Chris Maby, Secretary/Treasurer Gail Hanrahan, and Police Chief Jim Smith. 

Mayor Maby presented the Streets Report. In doing so, he notified council that the county was in receipt of two grants (for the borough), for $45,000 and $93,000, respectively. Council passed a motion to have necessary engineering specifications drawn up prior to the work being put out to bid. Mayor Maby said that the grants would likely be used in consolidated fashion to get the most bang for the buck. The two grants flow from grant submissions dating to 2014 and 2015. The borough's grant application from 2016 totals some $578,200, and is likely to result in its receipt and expenditure in 2018. The primary goal of all of these grants is the installation or improvement of sidewalks on the borough's streets. 

Also under the category of streets, councilmen discussed and passed a motion to sign on with Susquehanna Borough for participation in PennDOT's Agility Program. The benefit to the borough would be spring street-sweeping. Lanesboro councilmen agreed, as a correlative necessity, to use Harmony Township's road crew for road clean-up of winter's heavier detritus just prior to any scheduled street-sweeping. 

Chief Smith presented the Police Report for the month of January. It showed that police made 28 traffic stops, resulting in eight citations and 20 warnings, for the following reasons: speeding (11), equipment violations (9), failure to use turn-signal (3), inspection violations (2), registration violations (2), and careless driving (1). Chief Smith also noted that LPD worked a total of 159 hours, including 145 school patrol hours, 10 patrol hours in Thompson, and four court hours. Police officers also had five arrest-related incidents—all now closed—two disorderly conducts, one harassment, an arrest warrant served, and a dog complaint/disorderly conduct. 

The most substantive item tackled by councilmen on this evening was approval of Freddy's Waste Removal to haul the borough's garbage for the next three years. Freddy's was the only bidder for the contract, which runs from April 2017 through March 2020. Either party, Freddy's or Lanesboro Borough, may opt out with 90-day notification. Also included in the approved contract is an automatic one-year, and subsequent annual, renewal—unless the borough opts out by January 1 of each successive year beginning in 2020. 

Freddy's has agreed to keep “prices per can” the same as in the original contract; only the price of “stickers per-bag” is going up for now. Borough residents already having stickers may continue to use them so long as they have them. New bag-stickers will cost more. Other provisions in the contract allow Freddy's to implement modest rate increases each year, with notice, to recoup rising transportation/fuel costs. 

Before closing, Mayor Maby summarized a letter received from one of Lanesboro's police officers, Officer Tilghman. Officer Tilghman is riding his bicycle from Philadelphia to Washington, DC., a distance of 260 miles, for a charity event designed to honor all the police officers who have fallen in the line of duty. Officer Tilghman noted in his letter that he had set a goal of raising $1,850 for the event. As Lanesboro's “Official Representative” in the event, Officer Tilghman was commended by the borough council and mayor. As a further, and more tangible, show of support for the officer, Council voted a donation of $100 from the borough's coffers. 

In answer to whether Officer Tilghman was riding the borough's Police Bicycle, the answer was “no;” the officer is riding his POB (Privately-Owned Bicycle). The ears of the audience scouts perked up fully at this point. “The borough has an OFFICIAL police bike?” asked a scout. Mayor Maby answered to the affirmative, and shot a look at Chief Smith while inquiring as to the bike's current location. “It's locked up in the storeroom for the winter,” came the reply. Residents can observe local officers on cycle-patrol during summer's balmier days. 

Lanesboro's March meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 14, same bat-time, same bat-channel, Scouts.