Salisbury Township residents are being updated about the new refuse and recycling schedule, which is being finalized.

The township administration Dec. 20 alerted residents signed up for township updates and posted on the township website concerning refuse and trash pickup.

Township officials met with the new trash hauler Dec. 19.

The township board of commissioners at its Dec. 14 meeting awarded a new refuse and recycling contract to the lowest responsible bidder, Whitetail Disposal.

According to the township administration in the email and website posting:

“This new contract is to begin Jan. 1, 2024 and it comes with significant changes in collection methods and schedules.

“With less than two weeks before the new year, we are working diligently with Whitetail Disposal to finalize and communicate details. The new quarterly rate will be $108 per unit.

“For now, please be aware that refuse and recycling collections will be reduced to once per week by way of automated means.

“The majority of the township will be able to be collected via automated means, but the viability of automated collections in specific areas will be assessed by Whitetail Disposal.

“To facilitate automated collections, a 95-gallon trash cart and a 65-gallon recycling cart will be delivered to all households. Please note that these carts have wheels for easy mobility.

“Collection days will be Monday and Tuesday; however, please be aware that this does not mean your current collection day will remain the same.

“Whitetail Disposal is reviewing all township addresses to build the most effective and efficient collection routes, which may mean your collection day will need to change.

“Information regarding scheduled collection days will be conveyed to residents as soon as Whitetail has finalized their routes.

“To facilitate timely and consistent collections, please be sure to have your items curbside no later than 5 a.m. on your collection day. The township strongly encourages you to place items curbside the evening before to ensure collection, but absolutely no later than 5 a.m. on your scheduled collection day.

“In the event of a holiday (or perhaps a weather event) falling on a scheduled collection day, collections will simply be pushed back one day. This is already the case for the New Year’s Day holiday, which falls on Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. Those designated with a Monday collection day will be picked up on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024 and those designated with a Tuesday collection day will be picked up on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024.

“Bulk-item collection will still be provided by Whitetail Disposal; however, you will need to notify Whitetail by Fridays at noon if you will have a bulk item for collection, so that they can build a route specifically for those items. Bulk items will be limited to one item per week to be collected on your regular collection day.

“Curbside electronics and household hazardous waste collections have been eliminated, but we will be working with Whitetail Disposal to arrange for special collection events for such items, and we will post that information when it becomes available.

“There is a lot of information being exchanged and arrangements being made over the next several days, so please bear with us as we work with Whitetail Disposal to finalize plans. We will continue to keep you updated as details unfold.

“Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work through this transition,” the township email and website stated.

In addition, the township administration Dec. 18 emailed and posted information concerning the trash and recycling holiday schedule:

“In observance of Christmas Day, Republic Services will not be collecting trash or recycling on Monday, Dec. 25. Both trash and recycling will be collected on Thursday, Dec. 28. Please note: this schedule change will only impact residents who have collection on Mondays and Thursdays.”

The township’s refuse and recycling contract with Republic Services expires Dec. 31.

At the Dec. 14 meeting, commissioners voted unanimously 5-0 in separate votes for a motion approving nonuniformed defined contribution pension plan funding for the year 2023; a resolution setting the police pension plan employee contribution rate for the year 2024 and an ordinance amending nonuniformed defined benefit pension plan to set the employee contribution rate for the year 2024.

The amount police officers contribute remains at 3.04% as part of the township’s four-year contract, 2021-2024, with the Salisbury Township Police Officers Association.

The amount nonuniformed employees contribute remains at 2.50% as part of the township’s four-year contract, which began in 2023, with the Salisbury Township Public Works Employee Association.

“This is the amount that employees will contribute for their earnings for 2024 to help reduce the amount the township puts into the fund,” Salisbury Township Manager Cathy Bonaskiewich said in a Dec. 15 phone interview with a reporter for The Press.

At the Dec. 14 meeting, commissioners voted 5-0 to approve:

•Motion accepting a time extension to April 7, 2024, for the land development plan at 1350 E. Susquehanna St.

Variances for the proposed eight-unit apartment building at 1350 E. Susquehanna St. were approved at the Sept. 27 township planning commission meeting when planners voted to table the project.

The land development plan for the two-story apartment building with supporting improvements on 1.09 acres of unimproved land submitted by Bedminster Building Company, Perkasie, is a permitted use in the R-4 Medium Density Residential Zoning District. Access to the building would be from Van Vetchen Avenue.

At the Dec. 14 commissioners meeting, Stan Wojciechowski, of Barry Isett & Associates, Inc., township consulting engineer, said, “We have pointed out problems with the stormwater management. So, they [the developer] are going back to change it.”

•Motion Approving Payments No. 3 ($4,179.60) and No. 4 Final ($6,283.90) to Billitier Electric, Inc. for the Cardinal Drive pump station generator replacement project in the total amount of $10,463.50.

“This was budgeted last year, but it took so long to do it. It’s all good,” Salisbury Township Director of Public Works Jim Levernier said at the Dec. 14 meeting.

•Motion accepting Kenneth Wied’s resignation from the Salisbury Township Civil Service Commission, effective Jan. 1, 2024. The township officials thanked Wied for his service, agreeing, “He has contributed much to the township over the years.”

•Motion authorizing execution of hold harmless agreement for property at 1801 Box Elder Road.

“It allows that, should we move forward with any work on the property,” Attorney Jason A. Ulrich, partner, Gross McGinley LLP, township solicitor, said at the Dec. 14 meeting.

“Our main sewer line goes through their yard,” Salisbury Township Assistant Township Manager-Director, Community Development Sandy Nicolo said at the meeting.

“We’re saying, ‘If we have to go in there and fix the sewer line and we take the fence down, we don’t have to put it up,’” Levernier said at the meeting.

In his report to commissioners, Police Chief Don Sabo said three new police officers hired in July have completed training. The police department is now providing patrols 24/7 in the township, Sabo said.

During the workshop after the Dec. 14 meeting, Wojciechowski reviewed and discussed an updated draft of the township construction standards and road opening ordinances.

The intent is to ensure township streets are repaved by contractors after, for example, natural gas service is provided to a property.

“We’re going to require the contractor to do it,” Wojciechowski said.

“We just paved one street and someone wanted to put gas in a house and they put a new cut in the new roadway,” Levernier said during the workshop.

Levernier and Nicolo said the township road paving schedule would be made available.

The Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners Dec. 28 meeting is canceled.

The Salisbury Township Planning Commission meets 7 p.m. Jan. 3, 2024 in the municipal building, 2900 S. Pike Ave., not the usual fourth Wednesday, Dec. 27, because of the Dec. 25 Christmas holiday week.