The Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners has made it official with the appointment of Acting Township Public Works Director James Levernier as public works director.

Levernier succeeds John Andreas, whose resignation for retirement was accepted by township commissioners at their Jan. 28 meeting.

Levernier, former township Salisbury Township highway department supervisor, was appointed acting public works director Jan. 28.

Township Commissioner James Seagreaves made the motion, seconded by Commissioner Heather Lipkin, to bring the resolution to appoint Levernier to a vote, approved 4-0 at the June 10 township meeting.

The meeting was chaired by board of commissioners Vice President Rodney Conn in the absence of board President Debra Brinton.

“Jim has been serving since the beginning of February,” Salisbury Township Manager Cathy Bonaskiewich said before the vote.

“He has already taken great strides in showing what his plans are for the department,” Bonaskiewich said.

After the meeting, Levernier told The Press his priorities are township roads and township parks.

He is establishing a schedule of road improvements, available to view on the township website. “The roads need a lot of work,” Levernier said.

Maintenance needs to be done in the parks. “There’s a lot to be done. We were short-staffed,” Levernier said.

“It’s really great working with Jim. He’s a team player,” Salisbury Township Assistant Manager Sandy Nicolo said.

“The first time I met Jim was when he brought a crew out to clear the trees in my neighborhood after a storm,” Conn said.

Levernier’s annual salary is $101,000, according to Bonaskiewich.

Honored before the start of the agenda items portion of the meeting was Salisbury Township Police Detective Christopher Casey, who was presented with the FBI Leadership Trilogy Award for completing 175 hours of training.

Salisbury Township Chief of Police Kevin Soberick commended Casey for his work as part of the police department’s command staff.

In other business, commissioners voted 4-0 to award a bid to Insituform Technologies, LLC, for the 2021 Sanitary Sewer Cured-In-Place Pipe-Lining Project.

Lipkin made the motion, seconded by Commissioner Alok Patnaik, to bring the motion to a vote.

“This is a joint contract between Salisbury and the Whitehall-Coplay Sewer Authority,” Salisbury Township Consulting Engineer David J. Tettemer of Keystone Consulting Engineers, Inc., said before the vote.

Salisbury’s portion of the contract is $221,762.04.

Whitehall-Coplay’s portion of the contract is $104,007.46.

“We do this once in awhile to expand the project,” Tettemer said, noting it results in a cost savings.

Whitehall-Coplay must approve its portion of the contract.

Salisbury commissioners voted 4-0 to ratify the Salisbury Township Police Officers’ Association Collective Bargaining Agreement, 2021-2024, based on arbitration award.

Patnaik made the motion, seconded by Seagreaves, to bring the motion to a vote.

Bonaskiewich said the three main items in the contract are pay raises, employee contributions to their health plans and employee longevity compensation.

“Those are the only things that are changing in the contract,” Bonaskiewich said before the vote.

The contract pertains to 19 township police officers.

Pay increases are: 3.5 percent, first year; 3.5 percent, second year; 3.75 percent, third year, and 3.75 percent, fourth year.

Health care contributions are: $55, single, $65, family, first year; $62.50, single, $75, family, second year; $70, single, $85, family, third year and $77, single, $95, family, fourth year.

Longevity compensation will increase from $80 to $100 per year, each year, effective Jan. 1, 2022.

Township police contract negotiations began in April 2020 and continued through September 2020 when arbitration began.

Commissioners voted 4-0 to authorize executing a Memorandum of Understanding between the township and KidsPeace regarding its Broadway campus.

Lipkin made the motion, seconded by Patnaik, to bring the motion to a vote.

“It’s to reinforce reporting of every side,” Bonaskiewich said before the vote.

“It has an opt out for every year,” Salisbury Township Solicitor Attorney John W. Ashley said of Davison & McCarthy Professional Corp. before the vote.

“It gives us the ability to deal with them because they’re minors,” Ashley said of KidsPeace Broadway Campus residents.

During the public comment portion of the approximate 40-minute meeting, which included a workshop, Salisbury Township Zoning Hearing Board member Joseph Kovach expressed concern about proposed changes to the township shade tree ordinance.

“I feel it’s very regulated,” Kovach said.

“The new tree ordinance seems more suited to an urban area,” Kovach said.

“Twenty percent of our residents are 65 or older,” Kovach said, reading from a prepared statement, citing U.S. Census Bureau figures for Salisbury.

“My concern is that this could become too burdensome for property owners,” Kovach said.

“Nobody wants to see tree police going around, writing up ordinances,” Kovach said.

“The property owner is responsible for maintaining trees,” Nicolo responded.

During the township officials’ comment portion of the meeting, Seagreaves complained about the use of explosive devices, such as M-80s, during the Memorial Day weekend.

“It was going Tuesday to Tuesday,” Seagreaves said.

“We also have a lot of veterans in the area,” Lipkin said, referring to persons with possible post-traumatic stress syndrome from the battlefield.

“I would recommend citizens to call police,” Soberick said, adding, “Especially with July coming up, it’s going to be a noisy Fourth.”

In another matter, Tettemer said, “We will be doing some smoke testing in the east side.”

Smoke testing is when smoke-filled air is forced through a sewer line to detect leaks.

The work is expected to take place the first week in July.

Door-hangers will be placed at residences to alert residents.

Salisbury Township Recreation Director Genny Baillie told commissioners movies would be shown in June and July and a rock band would perform in September in Franko Farm Park.

Soberick said Salisbury Township police officers received thanks from Upper Macungie Township officials for assisting in a shooting incident at a Wawa store. “Salisbury officers located the suspect,” Soberick noted.

During the commissioners’ workshop, revisions to the noise ordinance and the dumping ordinance were reviewed.

The Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners’ next scheduled meeting, which is open to the public, is 7 p.m. June 24 in the municipal building, 2900 S. Pike Ave.