By SARIT LASCHINSKY

Special to The Press

Heidelberg supervisors met virtually on Dec. 17 to address a range of business items.

In the fire company report, Supervisor David Fink said the company’s raffles were going well and had netted more than $30,000.

He said after a brief intermission over the Christmas holidays the raffles would start again in January 2021.

Emergency Management Coordinator Dawn Didra noted in her report that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had determined the minimum disaster relief threshold for damages caused by Tropical Storm Isaias in August had not been met, and the township would not receive any damage relief funding.

She also noted the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency had thanked Lehigh County and municipalities for the “robust response of damage reporting” but also said not enough municipalities had reported their damages to the extend Heidelberg did, and thus the PEMA disaster relief threshold had also not been met.

Additionally, Didra reiterated the county had allotted $57,912.98 to the township for COVID-19 relief funding.

She said if the township removed the included $7,300 for employee leave, which she said would have to be paid by the township in any case, there was $21,172.12 in the COVID-19 budget left to spend.

Didra said the proposed purchases for a garage ventilation system - which had been discussed at earlier meetings as taking up a large portion of the grant -would be addressed by another grant in 2021 in the guaranteed amount of $50,000.

Didra and township Administrator Janice Meyers requested the board approve an upgrade to the municipal building’s video doorbell, as well as purchase an air purifier for the break room.

Didra also said Northern Valley EMS and the fire company had requested additional equipment.

Chairman Steve Bachman said the township had already authorized $20,429 to the fire company and $4,210 to NOVA.

Bachman proposed a motion to authorize the purchase of the air purifier and doorbell upgrade, and to split the remaining funds “to even out NOVA and the fire company” by making the same donation values to both.

Fink was opposed to the doorbell upgrade as the system had not been working properly.

He proposed the doorbell be returned and an additional camera added to the security system.

The motion passed 2-1 with Bachman and Supervisor Jonathan Jakum voting yes, and Fink voting no.

Didra said she would try to obtain a refund for the nonfunctioning video doorbell.

A second motion to remove the $7,300 for employee leave from the COVID-19 funds was also approved, with Bachman and Didra saying the additional money would go to the two emergency organizations.

For the NOVA report, NOVA liaison Dianne Huber said call volumes have dropped due to COVID-19, resulting in a loss of revenue.

She also said all fundraisers were on hold through the end of February 2021 due to the ongoing pandemic.

She reported subscriptions had been increased from $70 to $75 and deductibles had been removed.

In addition, NOVA put a line of the form so people could donate to equipment purchases.

Bachman reported NOVA handled 23 calls in November with one missed call and one canceled call.

Year-to-date NOVA has handled 211 calls, with 15 missed.

In her report, Meyers said the auditors reorganization meeting would be 1 p.m. Jan. 5, 2021.

The board agreed the reorganization meeting would be 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 4, 2021,

In other business, the board voted to adopt the 2021 tax levy, with Bachman saying taxes will not increase next year.

The general-purpose tax will remain at 1 mil, fire protection at 0.4 mil, earned income tax at one-half of 1 percent and real estate transfer tax at one-half of 1 percent.

Supervisors also voted to approve the final 2021 township budget at a total amount of $2,003,803.

The total budget includes $1,431,048 in the general fund, $403,800 in the state liquid fuels fund, $12,860 in the recreation fund, $50,045 in the open space preservation fund and $106,050 in the fire tax fund.

A proposal was also approved from EM Kutz Inc., regarding the township’s new public works truck, with Meyers saying there was a slight change in the overall amount, totaling $44,232.

She said once the company receives the truck equipment and chassis, the vehicle should be completed within 45 to 75 days.

The board also voted to table business regarding new signage decals for township vehicle doors until the next meeting in order to get additional information on vehicle numbers from Roadmaster Kevin Huber and to explore possible tweaks to the logo designs.

Bachman said in an email, Huber noted that the old decals were almost gone from several vehicle doors and had new logo designs made.

Fink and Jakum said, however, they were not personally in favor of any of the proposed designs.

At the end of the meeting, Bachman asked Didra, township engineer Chris Noll and other township staff to look into Heidelberg ordinances which could prevent a homeless camp from being set up on a vacant property in the township.

Bachman made note of a recent situation in Lynn Township where several homeless individuals had been given permission to set up tents on a piece of private property, owned by the nonprofit Operation Address the Homeless.

Bachman said he wanted staff to look into the ordinances in order to head off a similar issue occurring in Heidelberg.