Liberty supers discuss sewer, clean-up matters/By Martha Knight

Liberty Villa—Liberty Township Supervisors took another step Tuesday night (May 14) toward qualifying for a grant to help fund water-sewer lines in the Liberty Villa area of the township.

Supervisor chairman Gary Turner and fellow supervisors Chuck Safford and Bruce Klein adopted a resolution naming Turner and Safford authorized signers for various purposes relating to the quest for PennWORKS funding.

The township and Port Allegany Borough have agreed in principle to a project in which the township would install about two miles of sewer and water lines in a southeasterly direction from the borough line, parallel to Route 155 South.  These would connect to Port Allegany sewer and water services. The Brooklynside area of the township already has sewer and water service through a compact with the borough.

The project is in planning stages, and is contingent on the success of the pending grant application. The PennWORKS grant would supply 75 percent of the necessary funds. Some of the local share would be in-kind services and rights-of-way provided by industrialist and developer Randy Hobbs. The township would borrow the rest.

Township resident Barbara Spencer wanted to know about the program that assists homeowners with costs of hooking on to new sewer lines.

The supervisors assured Spencer that the information and applications would be available through the township office, as well as from the McKean County Redevelopment Authority’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) personnel.

Earlier Tuesday McKean County Commissioners had allotted some CDBG funds for hook-on assistance to eligible homeowners.

Supervisors and their engineers have estimated that hookups may cost around $1,000 for the typical new customer connecting to the sewer lines.

Supervisors continue to discuss possible loans for the local funds needed if the grant is approved. Borrowings would be paid off over time through user fees, not taxes.

The supervisors mentioned the cleanup day they are sponsoring Saturday, May 18, at the township headquarters. A truckload of trash can be deposited for a minimal charge. Tires will cost extra, and residents are reminded to keep electronics items separate from other discards because they must be recycled separately.

In another kind of cleanup, Turner and Safford and some township crew members planned to clean up an illegal dump along a township road, Wednesday morning. It had been accumulating additional trash, apparently from one set of illegal dumpers, for some time, and is contaminating a wetland, a stream and possible private water sources.

The supervisors said they will continue to seek better enforcement of regulations prohibiting dumping, and utilize what evidence and testimony they can relating to the identity of the illegal dumpers.

There was discussion of whether to revert to being an opt-out township, one of two in Pennsylvania without a local Universal Construction Code compliance officer. The matter was tabled. Supervisors will continue to research the issue.