The Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners went into executive session to discuss whether or not to appoint an MS4 coordinator for the township.

The commissioners, who convened the executive session after the Sept. 24 workshop where the township consulting engineer reported on the township MS4 program, was not expected to vote after the executive session discussion.

“I guess our next step is to decide who can be the coordinator and how to appoint that person,” Commissioner President James A. Brown said prior to the executive session.

It was not certain as of the deadline for this edition of The Press what option commissioners might choose regarding an MS4 coordinator.

Options include appointing a full- or part-time MS4 coordinator, having the MS4 coordinator’s duties be handled by township employees or a combination of these two options.

Salisbury Township Consulting Engineer David J. Tettemer, of Keystone Consulting Engineers, Inc., talked and answered questions for about 30 minutes during the workshop which followed the regular township meeting in the municipal building.

Keystone was paid $25,000 for six months of work to get the township up to speed with its MS4 program.

MS4 is an acronym for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System, with the “M” standing for “Municipal” and the numeral “4” representing the four “S” first letters of each word in Separate Storm Sewer System.

“I think that maybe it’s now time to have a transition,” Salisbury Township Director of Finance and Acting Township Manager Cathy Bonaskiewich said, in introducing Tettemer, noting the township’s MS4 contract with Keystone started in April.

Under the federal Clean Water Act, a municipality is required to have an MS4 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit to cover stormwater discharges and to maintain compliance with the permit.

Tettemer said Keystone has prepared maps of the township including stormwater inflows and outflows, among other tasks.

“We’re getting to the point where the township has to consider appointing an MS4 coordinator to take it to the next step,” Tettemer said, adding, “There’s a lot involved with this.”

MS4 Stormwater Management Program Protocol requires minimum control measures to enforce the MS4 program, which is mandated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and enforced by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

“One of the things you were going to do was to create a database,” Commissioner Vice President Debra Brinton said.

“At this point, we have the database,” Tettemer said.

Salisbury Township, along with other Lehigh Valley municipalities, received notice June 25, 2014, of a 30-day deadline to provide the EPA with evidence of MS4 compliance.

Salisbury Township provided sufficient information and has met the conditions of the Administrative Order and Section 308 Requirement for Information of the Clean Water Act issued May 29, 2014, according to an EPA letter received by the township April 14, 2015. The township’s five-year NPDES permit, issued in 2014, is good until 2019.

Brinton asked Tettemer for an estimate of how many hours would be required for an MS4 coordinator to do his or her work.

Tettemer replied the hours of work required for MS4 compliance is difficult to determine. “The next six months is going to be a learning curve,” Tettemer said.

“I don’t believe it’s going to cost dollars to do this,” Brinton said.

Tettemer said several people could accomplish the MS4 tasks, but there needs to be one person overseeing the MS4 work.

Tettemer estimated during the first three to six months of the MS4 program, it could require two to three days per week to complete the work.

“Once it’s up and running, you might look at one day a week,” Tettemer said. “The MS4 coordinator is responsible to make sure it gets done,” Tettemer said.

Municipalities are required to fulfill six MCMs: public education, public participation, illicit discharge detection and elimination, construction site runoff control, post-construction stormwater management pollution prevention for municipal operations and maintenance.

Keystone was tasked to address the last three mentioned items.

The Salisbury Township Environmental Advisory Council was tasked by the township board of commissioners to implement the first two of six MCMs.

“The township is moving forward at a very good rate to make sure it is in a position to meet the goals,” Tettemer said.

The township has until the end of 2016 to submit its MS4 plan to DEP.