Susquehanna County Commissioners head Alan M. Hall gave an update on damage caused to the county’s 911 and probation departments, speaking during last week’s county commissioners meeting.

Torrential rains flooded both departments July 20, destroying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of sensitive electronic equipment which must be replaced.

In addition to computers, phones, monitors, electrical switches, carpeting, walls and cubicles were also destroyed, Hall explained.

“The Probation Department, basically everything inside the building in that department was a total loss. Ceilings are being removed, flooring, carpeting destroyed. Sheet rock on walls is being cut out. Computers are all gone, monitors are all gone,” Hall said.

“All of their equipment needs to be replaced,” Hall said, adding that sixty to seventy computers with monitors and several big screen TVs used in the county 911 center were destroyed.  Insurance is expected to cover the bulk of the county’s expenses, he said.

“All wiring under floor, electrical circuits in walls have to be yanked,” he said.

Extremely heavy rains overwhelmed the building’s drainage system, bringing gallons of rainwater into the building.

“If we were to put 911 back in its original location, we’re talking millions of dollars,” Hall said, adding that while the 911 center was fully operational throughout the storm and its aftermath, the 911 center won’t be back to normal for a few more weeks.

“We never lost any operation in our 911 center,” he said.

Hall said that the county received a visit from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and calls from the offices of Sen. Bob Casey (D-6th) and Sen. Lisa Baker (R-20th).

“Those are the two individuals who have contacted our county thus far. Haven’t heard from the other ones,” Hall said.

Hall credited local fire companies and help from adjoining counties with keeping the county 911 center online the entire time.

Damage from flooding was so severe prisoners from the county jail were shuttled in as workers.

“This is probably one of those things that best demonstrates how good we are in Pennsylvania.  When there’s a crisis or a problem all of the agencies pull together, come together and help each other,” he said.

When we left off last week, the Blue Ridge School Board was deciding on a candidate for special education coordinator to replace the recently departed Gail Wnorowski, and they had tabled the purchase of a truck and trailer.  In this episode, a special meeting on July 24th, they cleaned up those details.

But first, a word from Ron Cranage, Maintenance Supervisor, to members of the Facilities & Grounds Committee and assorted hangers-on.  A while ago, Mr. Cranage volunteered his crew to repair and replace some of the smaller HVAC units on the campus in order to cut the expense of a major overhaul.  This summer he is making good on that pledge, having already replaced units in several rooms; he is only waiting for a contractor to help installing ductwork to finish the project.  He also said that routine summer prep for the new school year is progressing on schedule, including stripping and waxing the floors, and aerating and treating the playing fields.

Mr. Cranage reported on what appears to be vandalism: the removal of a solar charging system related to the soccer scoreboard.  The State Police are investigating.

The crews are spreading 180 cubic yards of “certified playground mulch.”  One wag wanted to know who was being paid to inspect and certify … dirt.

A 6,000-gallon reserve water tank will be drained and inspected, pursuant to DEP regulations.

And Mr. Cranage is collecting quotes from 3 contractors for crack filling and sealing some of the asphalt areas.  He also said that a test of a new LED light in one of the parking lots demonstrated the increased illumination – and lower operating cost – of the newer technology, expected to be installed throughout the parking areas – and maybe even in the auditorium.

Mr. Cranage commended his staff to the committee, saying, “I got the top-notch guys.”

Business Manager Brian Dolan reported that a kickoff meeting is scheduled with Quad3, the engineering firm contracted to perform a campus-wide assessment of the facility.

Once the Board assembled for the 8-point formal agenda, business was gotten down to in a matter of minutes, passing all in a single motion, including the holdover items.  A 2017 Ford F550 truck will be purchased from Barber Ford for $74,650, including “up-fits” for a dump body, snow plow and spreader unit.  The truck will be shipped to Powells Sales and Service for outfitting, then back to Barber to finalize the sale.  Mr. Dolan said that, while the price was higher than budgeted, the unit recommended by the Facilities & Grounds Committee is a “better vehicle” for Blue Ridge needs.  The district will also purchase a 14,000-pound utility trailer from Powells.

The Board also approved service agreements with Barnes Kasson Hospital for reviews of Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for special education students for the new school year.  And Pivot Physical Therapy will provide physical therapy services for the upcoming school year.

The Board adjourned to an executive session that President Chris Lewis said was to consider the evaluation of Superintendent Matthew Button, who didn’t look like he was sweating.

But not before the Board hired Casey Webster for the position of Special Education Director.  She will presumably appear at the next board meeting, scheduled for Monday, August 21, 2017, beginning at 7:00pm in the cafeteria in the Elementary School.

The driver of a truck hauling compressed gas that flipped on its side in Forest Lake Twp. in February has publicly voiced her concerns about the safety of the types of trucks used, calling them a hazard to the public.

A spokesman for the company, Xpress Natural Gas, also known as XNG, denies her claims and defended his company’s safety record.

Alison Mayes, of Montrose, told Planning Commission members last week that XNG modified the Quantum Freightliner rigs to haul bigger loads of gas, making them top heavy and subject to tipping.

“The Quantums are the most unsafe trailers ever,” Mayes, 29, said last week.

“What they did essentially to haul more gas is they took the integrity of this vehicle, raised it . . .  messed with the center of gravity.  As a driver, it was the most unsafe feeling.  Very unsafe feeling,” she said.

Searching for an audience to hear her concerns, Mayes appeared at last week’s Susquehanna County Planning Commission meeting.  Commission members told Mayes there was little or nothing they could do.

“I have begged, I have pleaded, you name it; I have tried to speak with anybody who would listen to try and get them to look into these trucks,” she said.

Mayes said that she decided to take her concerns public after another XNG compressed gas hauler tipped over July 12 on North Road. 

A spokesman for XNG defended the company’s safety record, saying that XNG operates its trucks on the same roads used by a variety of other trucking companies and independent haulers.

“We have not experienced issues with any of our trailers when operated in compliance with posted speed limits and marked lanes and we are proud of our record of safety,” XNG spokesman Matt Smith in an e-mail.

XNG’s 130,000 square foot Lake Hill Road site has drawn the ire of local residents and county and municipal officials since opening in February.  Most recently, XNG paid a $10,000 settlement to the county after it got caught not telling the county that a sound study at the center of its operating permits showed it too loud for local ordinances.  XNG narrowly avoided a courtroom showdown with county officials last month after a second sound study showed its Lake Hill Road to be in compliance.

Mayes, an Army veteran, suffered a blackened eye and other injuries in the spill but no injuries were reported in the July 12 crash.

Mayes admitted that she was cited for failure to obey the traffic lane and was fined $138.  Mayes also acknowledged that she was fined in March for doing 60 mph in a 30 mph in Little Falls, New York.

“Driving on these county roads, these tractor trailers, they’re really not built to be on these roads.  Tractor trailers don’t belong, essentially, on North Road,” she said.

“Given my background, everything I’ve gone through, that is probably the most traumatic event that I’ve ever gone through in my life,” she said.

“There was nothing that I could do.  I have tormented myself for the last five months questioning it.”

Mayes said that she eventually learned that the pin holding the trailer section of the rig snapped in the accident in which she, the tractor and the trailer were tossed on its side.  An unsecured tow hook struck her in the head, blackening her eye.  She was later treated and released from the hospital.

But XNG’s Smith said that no mechanical problems were found on Mayes’ rig.

“The truck and trailer involved were inspected by the Pennsylvania State Police and found to have no mechanical defects that would have contributed to the accident,” Smith’s e-mail said.

Mayes also said that she more recently heard from another XNG driver – who she did not name – that the second accident was caused by a broken steering column. 

“If you can find any way.  In fact, I’m pleading.  My accident is done.  My name is already tainted.  My name has been in the papers, time and time again,” she said.

“They need to be shut down.  Not because of fracking, not because of air quality control, the X, Y and Z.  I mean, that is a concern.  I’m not just sweeping that under the rug.  I am concerned for the public safety.  Thank God nobody else was traveling on the other side of the lane,” Mayes said

“It scares me to think what will happen next.”

Robert Templeton, the planning commission’s president, said that much of the trouble with trucks in the area could have been avoided had recommendations made by the Northern Tier Coalition in 2005 been adopted as ordinances.

“If Forest Lake and other townships would have passed that zoning ordinance when they should have this would never be there, it would never be allowed to be there, it would never be there on North Road with those conditions.  But the township decided not to,” Templeton said.

The coalition, a group of 12 local municipalities, wanted the townships to adopt a Multi-Municipal Zone based in Bridgewater Twp. in which they could share uses.

 “In this zoning ordinance that they set up and they didn’t pass, all of the commercial and industrial use was going to be in Bridgewater Twp.  Forest Lake, Choconut, Middletown, Silver Lake, would not have any commercial or industrial use.  This wouldn’t have been allowed if they would have passed it,” Templeton said.

On June 13 the Planning Commission held a special meeting to address public controversy over the results of XNG’s first sound study.  A record of the meeting was forwarded to county commissioners in an attempt to convince them to close a loophole in county ordinances which prevents county planners from reviewing projects which have passed the design phase.

Currently, ordinances only allow county planners to review projects in the design phase but fall short of providing them with any authority over designs after the commission grants its approval, commission member Kathy Shelly explained.

Shelly told audience members that once the sound study for the design phase was approved – as it was July 10 – XNG could theoretically remove sound deadening measure and, in her words, “have as many decibels as they want.”

The situation, she said, is “something we have never encountered before.”

“We’ve always worked with people that were working in good faith,” she said.

But at Wednesday’s county commissioners’ meeting, chairman Alan Hall said that his board also lacked the authority to close the loophole and had no plans to do so.  That job, he said, belonged to individual municipalities.

“Well the county only has a design standard ordinance for the design of a property,” he said.  “As far as the operation, the county does not have any ordinances for operational.  If people are looking for ordinances in certain areas, then they need to go to their municipalities and see if they’re willing to put ordinances in to control noise and things like that.  But understand it’s a two-edged sword:  If you put an ordinance in then you can’t have your fireworks and things like that,” he said.

Asked by public watchdog Vera Scroggins if the county had any plans to draft up a maintenance ordinance, Hall responded flatly, “The county will not do it.”