Local Night Out event called success
Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Council ran its Sept. 7 meeting with three members, as Chairman Bruce Paulus and Councilman Anthony Rossi were absent. Council was still able to move forward with Vice Chairman Michael Woolley and Councilmen Robert Heimbecker and Robert Lawlor, with only one new item on the agenda up for discussion.
During the review of official reports, township Manager Melissa Wehr mentioned the township’s Community Night Out, held Aug. 23 at Canal Park, was a major success and drew a larger crowd than the previous year. She extended her thanks and gratitude to all those who helped organize the event.
She also mentioned a shredding and electronics recycling event, which took place Sept. 17 at Sheckler Elementary School, 251 N. 14th St. The event was free to all Catasauqua Area School District residents and was organized by state Rep. Jeanne McNeill, D-133rd.
McNeill and her staff were present to provide information on state programs, including CHIP, the children’s health insurance program; Medicaid; the senior property tax and rent rebate program; and identity theft, from the attorney general’s office.
Moving on with business, council discussed a bill that will amend the stormwater management ordinance for the Catasauqua Creek and Lehigh River Sub-Basin 4 and the Monocacy Creek watersheds. This amendment will only bring the existing code up to date for federal and state regulations.
The bill was introduced as one single ordinance, but there is still an ongoing discussion whether the ordinance should be broken into two parts, as multiple watersheds are mentioned. Township Attorney Jackson Eaton said the ordinance was only being introduced during this meeting and that the item would return another day for voting.
Before the meeting closed, Heimbecker mentioned Community Partner for Kids, a local organization that helps ID children with fingerprinting to keep them out of the hands of predators, was successful in helping identify a young child who had been put on an Amber Alert in the Reading area.
He mentioned that Grant Heimbecker, operations manager, took the child’s ID just three days earlier during a two-day event in Reading.
Council will next meet 7:30 p.m. Oct. 5 at the municipal building, 2202 Grove Road. Visit hanleco.org to view the agenda ahead of time.