Supervisors to seek funds for firefighters
GERMAN TWP. – The township supervisors praised firefighters’ fast work in freeing three teen-agers trapped in a vehicle in a recent accident, and they plan to seek grants to help the emergency crews. “I don’t doubt for a minute that their (the firefighters’) fast work in getting those boys out saved their lives. The four departments all did an excellent job,” said supervisor Bob Belch.
The three teens were extricated from their vehicle and flown to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va.
Belch said he never realized how hard it was to open doors on a vehicle after a collision.
“I don’t know what the car-makers make those hinges out of, but on a door you could probably punch through, three men with a pry bar couldn’t budge it,” he said.
Once the Hurst tool was used, Belch said, the youths were freed and on their way to the hospital in minutes.
Because of the effectiveness of the tool, the supervisors discussed applying for a grant to purchase another for the township’s fire departments: Adah, Edenborn, Footedale, McClellandtown and Ronco. However, the question of where to locate it has to be addressed.
Concerning safety, the supervisors also are looking to work with the fire companies and road crews to form a safety committee to investigate on-the-job accidents and other incidents that have raised the township’s workers’ compensation insurance costs. Between claims and the effect the Sept. 11 attacks had on the insurance industry, the township’s rate on workers’ compensation went up 30 percent, or $16,557, supervisor Dan Shimshock said.
He explained that the insurance carrier agreed to lower the rate 5 percent if the township started a safety committee, ultimately saving the township thousands of dollars. Six months after the committee is in place, the rates would go down, he said.
In an unrelated matter at the supervisors’ meeting last week, Belch threatened to have a resident removed after she complained about a sewage issue that was explained at last month’s meeting.
Betty Corazzi again asked the supervisors why they did repairs to a private sewer line for one resident if they weren’t going to do the same for the rest of the township. She accused Belch of doing “favors for relatives.”
Belch responded that he also was related to Corazzi by marriage, “and you don’t see me out there digging up your lines, do you?”
Last month, the supervisors cleared a section of sewer pipe in a township right of way. Supervisor Bob Croushore explained that about eight homes and a personal-care home all use that pipe to carry waste to a leeching field.
“The pipe went through township property, and when it plugged, it created a public-health hazard. It was within our right to fix it, and we did,” he said.
His fellow supervisors agreed, noting that the problems that other residents, including Corazzi, reported were traced to individual homes and occurred primarily on private property.
Township solicitor Doug Sepic said that when it comes to work in the township right of way, the board has broad discretion as to what work that can be completed, especially when it is a case of preserving the public health.
The supervisors also conducted the following business:
– Warned residents to be wary of slick conditions on township roads that have been seal-coated. Because of the warm weather, some of the tar has come to the surface, making the roadways slippery. Crews have been canvassing the township, applying rock dust to oily patches, but roads such as College Avenue have been greatly affected, the supervisors noted.
– Welcomed Carl Williams with PA CleanWays to discuss cleaning up an illegal dumpsite along Fells Road. Croushore said crews have removed truckloads of trash from the site before. Williams noted that Duke Energy agreed to donate to PA CleanWays to help it in this and other cleanup projects in the county. Because of foliage growth at the site, the cleanup will be held after the first frost.
– Announced a pesticide and insecticide-recycling event at the Fayette County Fairgrounds will be held Thursday Aug. 8, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
– Approved changes to the township’s Community Development Block Grant funding, transferring unused funds from the completed Club Sofia waterline project to the Leckrone-Highhouse Road waterline extension project.
– Informed residents that property tax assessment appeal forms, with instructions on how to complete them, are available in the township office.