BY SUSAN BRYANT

sbryant@tnonline.com

Waste Management royalty fees were a major topic at the Aug. 8 Weisenberg supervisors’ meeting.

Township Manager Brian Carl provided an update on the fees.

Carl said he reached out to the staff at Waste Management, and they looked at everything and are proposing 14 cents a ton.

“They said a lot of stuff they get is compacted and, based on their information, I guess the cubic yard of garbage will be somewhere around 1,000 or a little over,” Carl stated.

Carl replied Waste Management is going to pay the township $20,481.47, after board Chairwoman Linda Gorgas asked if Waste Management was going to return to the amount when they stopped paying the township in 2013.

Solicitor Peter Lehr said now that Waste Management has made an offer, the township can make a counteroffer.

“The one thing, I know you sent an email, but a letter would indicate you are going back to that 2013 report and just say that was 20 cents per ton,” Lehr said. “I think if you want to authorize Brian to make that, then you can tell them you have the authority to accept that.”

After further discussion, the board approved a motion to accept a conditional agreement with Waste Management, if the company agrees to 20 cent a ton.

Another topic of discussion was speed complaints on various roads.

Carl said the township has been receiving complaints for Claussville and Siegfried roads.

“There is another LSA grant coming out and we could get a trailer like what the police departments have that could be moved around to the different hot spots,” Carl stated. “They are $15,000. They are not cheap.”

He contacted PennDOT on the issue and that agency has some of those little speed radar trailers.

He was put on the waiting list for one to use in the township.

Gorgas said after receiving numerous complaint calls from residents about a lawn service truck parked on one side of Seipstown Road while the workers mow a homeowner’s lawn.

Residents said they were almost involved in an accident, so she spoke with the homeowner.

Weisenberg Volunteer Fire Department Chief Matt Krapf reported firefighters responded to 15 calls the previous month, 98 calls for the year, all vehicles are working well and no repairs were needed during the last month.

“All the rescue trucks and gas meters had annual and quarterly services done and everything passed,” he said. “The new truck’s rear axle recall is still ongoing.

“It is still in service yet. They are not telling me to take it out of service yet.

“They do not have a fix for it yet, as to what I understand about it. There’s been only one case so far where the drive line on the truck came apart and they are doing all the research on it.”

Hunter Keystone Peterbilt, Breinigsville, is handling the recall and will be the ones to fix it locally.

He said the four radios ordered last October have come in and should be installed within the next few weeks.

“We received notification we were getting audited for last year’s state grant funds we received,” Krapf said. “But because we’ve got this great treasurer, he had all the invoices ready for us.

“We have completed the relief audit. It took place over five days, and we did very well.”

Treasurer Jeff Strauss reported the township received an email from Portnoff Law Associates about delinquent taxpayers’ checks being stolen and cashed.

“Apparently delinquent taxpayers are sending checks to Portnoff, and they are being intercepted through the mail and, as they put it, they are showing up on the dark web,” Strauss said.

The name Portnoff is removed from the checks, other names are put on and then they are cashed.

“I have not heard of any residents in our township being affected by this,” Strauss said.

Strauss added he was reviewing the Portnoff reports and realized the firm is not splitting the delinquent fire and real estate taxes, so all the delinquent tax payments were going into the general funds.

“Portnoff is working on the reports for the last two years, to split it out so we can put the money back into the fire funds that is in the general funds,” Strauss said. “We are probably talking about $2,500 to $3,000.”