LAKE TOWNSHIP LUZERNE COUNTY
December 11, 2024, Meeting Minutes
On Wednesday, December 11th, 2024, the Lake Township Board of Supervisors held its monthly meeting at the Municipal Building. Chairman Jerry Price called the meeting to order at 6:59 pm.
Meeting Attendees: Jerry Price, Kenneth Scavone, Gary Booth, Solicitor Mark McNealis, and Secretary J. Carlene Price.
All joined in the pledge to the flag.
Booth moved to approve the minutes of the November 20th meeting.
Seconded by Scavone –Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to accept the following reports: Road Foreman, Financial, SEO’s and Tax Collector’s.
Seconded by Scavone –Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to approve the payment of the list of bills.
Seconded by Scavone –Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to adopt the apportioned tax rate of .5 mils for 2025.
Seconded by Scavone –Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to approve the Highmark Blue Shield insurance plan for the Township Road Crew members.
Seconded by Scavone –Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to accept 2025 budget.
Seconded by Scavone –Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to advertise the reorganization meeting scheduled for Jan 6th 2025 @ 7 PM and the auditors meeting scheduled for Jan 7th, @ 5 PM as well as the monthly meeting dates for the year 2025.
Seconded by Scavone –Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to advertise adoption of Ordinance No. 1-25, increasing supervisors pay rate for incoming supervisors.
Seconded by Scavone –Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Communications:
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Supervisors Christmas gift for the Road Crew- work boots
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State Police Fines-$674
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Dec Hours for the Tax Collector- Dec 16, 2-4pm
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Saturday Recycling this weekend 10-12
Booth moved to accept the communications as read.
Seconded by Scavone –Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Roadmaster Report
Gary booth announced that he will be resigning as township supervisor effective January 31st, 2025. We are accepting resumes and will be appointing a new supervisor at the February 12th, 2025 township meeting. Interested parties should contact the township office.
Other Business
An onsite meeting is scheduled with PennDOT and Kuharchik’s to discuss the timing of the traffic light this Friday. Calls have been made to PennDOT regarding run-off issues on Wesley Rd, and the dept of aging regarding elderly living in squalor. Still awaiting return calls. Trumbower and Assoc. announced that they will be retiring the business at years end. Supervisors are actively looking for a new municipal engineer. PennDOT intends to hold a meeting at the township building regarding the closure of Church Road for bridge repairs in 2025. Meeting is tentatively scheduled for January 7th. Please check the web site or call the office to confirm the time or any changes to the meeting date.
Hearing Of Visitors
Residents have concerns regarding Sorber Mountain Rd issues with missing signage, high brush and ditch work. The supervisors will discuss these with the road crew.
Booth moved to adjourn.
Seconded by Scavone
Price declared the meeting adjourned at 7:58pm.
J. Carlene Price
Lake Township Secretary/Treasurer
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THE FOLLOWING MINUTES HAVE NOT BEEN APPROVED BY THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
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January 6th, 2025, Meeting Minutes
On Monday, January 6, 2025, the Lake Township Board of Supervisors held its monthly meeting at the Municipal Building. Chairman Jerry Price called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm.
Meeting Attendees: Jerry Price, Kenneth Scavone, Gary Booth, Solicitor Mark McNealis, and Secretary J. Carlene Price.
All joined in the pledge to the flag.
Chairman Price declared all offices vacant and appointed Kenneth Scavone as temporary Chairman and Carlene Price as temporary Secretary.
Scavone called for a nomination for Chairman. Booth nominated Jerry Price.
Seconded by Scavone – Scavone, “Aye”, Booth, “Aye”. Nomination Carried.
Price nominated Gary Booth as Vice-Chairman.
Seconded by Booth – Price, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”. Nomination Carried.
Booth moved to appoint J. Carlene Price as Secretary Treasurer and Building Permit Liaison at a Salary of $16692 per year.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, abstained. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to set bond at $500,000 for Treasurer Carlene Price.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, abstained. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to appoint a Road Foreman at $28.50 per hour and Laborers for the Road Department at $26.95 per hour. All to receive Highmark Insurance, and vacations and holidays as follows: 2 Personal days, 6 paid holidays, two employees to receive 10 vacation days and one to receive 15 vacation days. Employees will contribute 3% to Highmark.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to appoint Supervisor Kenneth Scavone to be in charge of the Road Department, Supervisor Jerry Price to be in charge of the SEO and Supervisor Gary Booth to be in charge administration and applying for grants.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to authorize any Township Supervisor to be paid as a part time employee hourly for additional work in addition to supervisors’ monthly salary of $156, after approval from the Board of Supervisors according to the rate established by the township auditors.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to appoint McNealis Law Offices as solicitor to be paid a fee of $200.00 per hour.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to appoint Steve Egenski as Sewage Enforcement Officer to be paid on an established fee schedule.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to appoint BIU to continue being our third-party building code official.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to appoint Kenneth Scavone as Code Enforcement Officer @ $26.96 per hour.
Seconded by Price –Booth, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”, Scavone, abstained. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to appoint an auditor to work with elected auditors Eric Hansen and Gianna Kurtz to set the wages for the paid working Supervisors.
Rich Chocallo
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to adopt resolution 25-01 to appoint Ray Knaub and Co., a Firm of Certified or Competent Public Accountants to examine all the accounts of the Township for the fiscal year 2024.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to adopt resolution 25-02, WHEREAS, PennDOT and the Township of Lake, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania have agreed to use the DotGrants on-line reporting system to file the required Liquid Fuels forms annually; including, but not limited to the MS-965, MS-329 and MS-999 forms.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to adopt Resolution 25-03, the PSATS Pennsylvania Municipalities Pension Trust Disclosure Statement required by Chapter 7-A of Act 44 of 2009, covering the administrative, actuarial, investment and advisory services which are provided to the pension plan through PSATS Pension Trust, Summit Financial Corp. and Nationwide.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to appoint Jerry Price as acting EMA Coordinator, and to Re-appoint the following individuals to the Back Mountain Regional Emergency Management Agency in conjunction with the Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement between Dallas Borough, Jackson Township, Lehman Township and Lake Township:
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Harry Vivian as the Back Mountain Regional EMA Chief Coordinator representing Dallas Borough
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John J. Wilkes as the Back Mountain Regional EMA Deputy Chief Coordinator representing Jackson Township
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James Welby as the Back Mountain Regional EMA Assistant Coordinator representing Lehman Township
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Jerry Price as acting Back Mountain Regional EMA Assistant Coordinator representing Lake Township.
Seconded by Scavone –Scavone, “Aye”, Booth, “Aye”, Price, abstained. Motion Carried.
The motion to appoint an engineer for the township was tabled until further research could be done on potential firms.
Booth moved to appoint Bob Halowich as Chairman of the Vacancy Board.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to appoint Vito Pilosi, Thomas Grundowski, Brett Raspen, Tony Hudack and Kenneth Gronski as the Unified Construction Code Appeals Board.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to appoint the Pennsylvania Local Government Investment Trust and First National Bank as depositories of the Township funds until transfer can be made to M&T Bank.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to set the mileage rate at 70 cents per mile for reimbursement expenses for all Township personnel who use their own vehicles for Township business other than coming to work.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to set the regular monthly meeting dates for the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7:00 PM with work session starting at 6:00 PM and the regular office hours are Tuesday and Thursday from 9am to 1pm. Budget meeting will be Nov 3rd, at 4:30pm.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to authorize Secretary to pay the following bills on or before the due dates: UGI, Frontier, Insurance Premiums, Withholding Taxes, fuel bills, and any other routine bills that may come due prior to the next meeting.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to authorize the Secretary to certify PA DEP reimbursement forms with the Township seal.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to name the Secretary as the Chief Administrative Officer for the purpose of certifying information to the Office of the Auditor General for the pension fund.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to approve the minutes of the December 11th meeting.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to accept the following reports: Road Foreman, Financial.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to approve the payment of the list of bills.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to adopt PSATS Pension Trust Act 44 Disclosure Form. This form states that the Trust has entered into a number of subcontracts with firms that provide various professional services, and provides a list of those subcontractors and their services.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to adopt Ordinance No. 25-01, increasing incoming supervisors’ annual compensation on a monthly basis.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to accept materials quote from Pikes Creek.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to adopt PSATS Pension Trust Act 44 Disclosure Form. This form states that the Trust has entered into a number of subcontracts with firms that provide various professional services, and provides a list of those subcontractors and their services.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Booth moved to adopt Resolution 25-04 designating depositories for township funds.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Communications:
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PennDOT will hold a public meeting here at the township building tomorrow night, January 7th at 7pm, to discuss the bridge project on Church Road.
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Recycling Saturday is January 11th, 10-12.
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Thank you from Back Mountain Food Pantry
Booth moved to accept the communications as read.
Seconded by Scavone – Booth, “Aye”, Scavone, “Aye”, Price, “Aye”. Motion Carried.
Road Master’s Report
We will be applying for a D&G road grant for the dirt portion of Sorber Mountain Rd. We hope to submit it in February. Scavone will be speaking to residents on Sorber Mountain regarding run-off from driveways. Brush has been removed from intersection of 29 and Sorber Mountain Rd.
Code Enforcement
Scavone visited Brown property but no one was home.
Other Business
Timing issue with the traffic light has been addressed.
Booth moved to adjourn.
Seconded by Scavone
Price declared the meeting adjourned at 7:42pm.
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J. Carlene Price
Lake Township Secretary/Treasurer