Township Supers add depository, plan clean-up / By Martha Knight

LIBERTY VILLA—Liberty Township supervisors discussed some funding matters Tuesday night at their April business meeting, as they continue to prepare for the water and sewer services to be extended into another portion of the township.

In one move, the supervisors added Northwest Bank as a depository. Their other depository is First National Bank of Port Allegany.

The township will need to arrange for a loan to meet its obligation in connection with the grant-assisted project that will bring water and sewer service to the Liberty Villa area of the township, along Route 155 south of Port Allegany.

Supervisor chairman Gary Turner said he has had verbal and other assurances that substantial help will come from McKean County. He believes Act 13 “impact” funds, to be distributed by the county, will be a source of such aid.

So far the township does not know the amount it will need to borrow, but that will be determined after design is complete and project costs are refined. The township will bear 25 percent of the cost of the project, with a state grant covering 75 percent. Township borrowings are to be paid off through user fees from water and sewer customers.

Tax collector Sandra Kinney attended the meeting and turned over funds collected to date. She noted that property owner, Collins Pine, had paid current taxes under protest, so that money should be set aside until Collins Pine’s appeal process has been concluded.

Switching hats, Kinney spoke to the supervisors as treasurer of the Samuel W. Smith Memorial Public Library and Bookmobile, reminding them that Liberty Township is one of the municipalities served by the library.

Liberty Township residents account for 20 percent of the library’s users, Kinney said. It costs about $10,000 a month to operate the library. Port Allegany Borough has dedicated tax millage for library support, and other municipalities either do the same or allocate library support in their budgets. Fund raisers provide the rest of the library’s support.

Liberty Township’s budget does include $500 for library support this year, township secretary Cindy Speeth confirmed, and that amount will be remitted. Turner said that the supervisors will revisit their amount of support later this year, and will increase it if funds permit.

Supervisors Bruce Klein and Fred Ernst III added their support to Turner’s for holding a cleanup day again this year. The tentative date is May 31. The board plans to use the township’s dump trucks rather than rent a hopper, this time.

Township residents will be invited to bring in their accumulated discards, for a reasonable fee. Even electronics will be accepted, but must be kept separate from other materials. More details will be made available closer to the event.

Besides providing a service to residents, Turner said, the cleanup day events “help keep some of it (trash) from being dumped beside the road.”

Turner mentioned correspondence that has been received from the McKean County Planning commission showing approval of Portage Industrial Properties, LLC’s land development plan, based on a survey by its engineers, comments by the township and a copy of the township’s approval of the stormwater management plan.

Portage Industrial Properties owner Randy Hobbs was present. He reported that a major tenant, Welded Construction, LP now expects to maintain a base of operations here for years to come, because it has additional pipeline work lined up in the region.

In a reminder to township property owners, Turner said, “People need to remember to get a permit if they plan to clear more than an acre.” Removing brush or other vegetation from areas should be cleared with the Conservation District.

A similar reminder came from Kinney, who said that removing or dismantling a mobile home requires a permit, available from her for $2.00. That small fee will reap benefits to taxpayers, as they will no longer have to pay taxes on the mobile homes that are gone.