Supervisors approve bond release from Dallas School District

The Dallas Township board of supervisors approved a $98,693 bond release request from the Dallas School District on Oct. 20 for a project that was completed over one year ago.

Tom Doughton, an employee from Douglas F. Trumbower and Associates, the township’s engineering firm, said the bond was a letter of credit from the Wycallis Elementary School expansion project.

Doughton said the final inspection on the expansion took place sometime in 2008, but the district never asked for the return of the bond until now.

Bond reduction

A bond reduction request of $140,122.40 was granted for the Saddle Ridge residential subdivision. The reduction will release the financial security for phase one of the project and will reduce the letter of credit for phase two. The revised financial security for phase two will be lowered from $161,103.06 to $20,980.66.

Paving project change order

A change order addition for $2,535.80 was approved for phase two of the Old Tunkhannock Highway paving project. The change order is necessary due to the addition of modified stone for the road’s shoulder.

The change order brings the project’s total cost to $98,292.80. The entire project is being funded by an Office of Community Development grant received by the township in the amount of $100,000.

Rice Drive project update

Doughton provided an update on a paving project on Rice Drive and said the project is about 85 percent complete. New sewer manholes were recently installed and United Water still has to install a new water main.

According to Doughton, approximately three days were lost on the project when an excavator owned by Pikes Creek Site Contractors was accidently buried in a stream and a 250-ton crane had to be used to pull the machine out of the water. Doughton says the Department of Environmental Protection was also at the scene.

Zoning ordinance amendment

Attorney Thomas Brennan, the township’s solicitor, said the township needs to adopt an ordinance to correct the description of things that can be done in a zoning district from a 2005 amendment to the ordinance that was not included when the ordinance was updated.

Brennan will draft an ordinance to include the previous amendment for the supervisors to review and eventually vote on. Brennan said the zoning ordinance issue was brought to his attention by Tom Reilly, an engineer from Reilly Associates, when he was doing research for the new Geisinger facility to be built on Dorchester Drive.

Letter of support

Approval was granted to submit a letter of support on behalf of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) northeast regional office’s grant application to conduct a trail and greenway feasibility master plan within the Harveys Creek and Tobys Creek watersheds.

Janet Sweeney, of the (PEC), recently sent correspondence to the Back Mountain Community Partnership (BMCP), asking for its support of the application. The PEC applied for funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and plans to apply for matching funds from Luzerne County.

BMCP President Al Fox suggested each municipality send its own letter of support to the PEC if it desires because the deadline for the PEC’s grant application to the county will occur before the next BMCP meeting.

Police pension contributions

A resolution was approved, as recommended by pension specialist Thomas Anderson and Associates, to eliminate the police officers’ contributions to the police pension plan for the 2010 because the plan is self-sufficient.

Resident requests report

John Newman, of Wedgewood Way, asked why the motion to pay the bills at each meeting is not broken down for the public to see. Newman requested a monthly or bi-monthly financial report to see how much money is coming in and out of the township.

The supervisors responded by saying that they are audited each year and the audit is advertised and available for viewing. In addition, secretary Nancy Balutis made a copy of the bills approved for payment at the Oct. 20 meeting for Newman.

Road department thanked

The supervisors thanked members of the township’s road department for the work they have done this year. The supervisors say department staff graded and worked on about 11 miles of dirt roads. They also paved, patched and performed other work on Shaver Avenue, Bulford Road, Church Road, Davenport Street, part of Ryman Road and part of Richard Drive.

Contracted work included phase two of the Old Tunkhannock Highway paving project and Trout Brook Drive, which is set to be paved.

Resident reminders

Bagged leaves will be collected, weather permitting ,from Nov. 16 through Nov. 20. Also, parking is restricted on all roads in the township between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. from Nov. 1 through April 30.

Meeting date change

The township’s next board of supervisors meeting will be moved from Tuesday, Nov. 3, to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 2, due to the general election.