Hi, Neighbors. We had an Aleppo Legislative Meeting just before Thanksgiving and I wanted to tell you what happened.
It was a long one with a detailed conversation about the proposed Masonic Village Children’s Home and a presentation about the township’s 2018 Budget. If you want to watch the meeting from the beginning, click here. Otherwise, feel free to click the links below to jump to the portions of the meeting that are of particular interest to you.
Here’s what happened:
- Our police chief told us what our law enforcement officers have been doing. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
- We discussed the status of our ongoing Emergency Management project. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
- Our Director of Public Works told us what our crews have done recently. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
- I read emails to the Board concerning mini-casinos and the possibility of hiring an external company to enforce our Property Maintenance Code. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
- Our Treasurer told us how much revenue we have collected, what we’ve spent, and how much we have in the bank. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
- We heard that pH testers are being installed in–and upstream of–the Culligan Water plant to continue to investigate the allegations of dumping of unapproved substances into our sewer. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
- We learned of preliminary plans to replace the pumps at the pumping station on Deer Run Road in an effort to resolve the ongoing problems at that facility. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
- I told the board about the outline for the 2018 budget for the Quaker Valley Council of Governments. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
- We heard about a pilot study concerning ambulance authority patients who are treated but not transported. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
- We discussed the proposed Masonic Children’s Home. Specifically, we read emails from residents. We reassured the community that our expectation is be as open as possible during the process of this application. Commissioners committed to the fact that they had not made up their minds at this point. Our solicitor explained that the motions on the table serve only to initiate a process, which will involve additional opportunities for public comment–they are not approvals of the request. We heard input from our residents about this issue. I told the board and the residents that I intended to travel to Elizabethtown to tour the existing Masonic Village Children’s Home. We voted (5-0) to amend the first motion on the table to read “Refer a proposed amendment of the text of the Aleppo Township Zoning Ordinance to the Township Planning Commission and County, which adds a definition for a Children’s Home and amends the definitions of a Continuing Care Retirement Community and Life Care Facility/Senior Living Community as specified in the letter dated October 19, 2017”. We voted (5-0) to postpone both open motions until after Masonic Village notifies the Board that they have more information. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
- We voted (5-0) to approve Core Sampling as specified in the October 13, 2017 letter. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
- We voted (5-0) to schedule the Legislative Meeting for the third Tuesday of March in 2018. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
- We voted (5-0) to authorize solicitor to grant extension for 30 days to negotiate the Franchise Agreement as requested by Verizon. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
- We voted (5-0) to re-approve Trapizona Plan of Lots No. 5 due to prior approval expiration. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
- We voted (5-0) to adopt a Act 172 Resolution, which sets the criteria to qualify for our tax credit to volunteer firefighters and EMS workers. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
- We voted (5-0) to approve a change order for the School Street & Hill Road resurfacing project. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
- We received a draft of the 2018 Budget. It is a on-time, balanced budget that does not include a tax increase. We will be voting on this budget at our Legislative Meeting on 18 December 2017–if you have comments, please pass them along. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting and click here to see the draft Budget Summary.)
- We heard Citizen Participation, including commendation of our police department, a discussion of our Comprehensive Plan, and concerns about the School Street & Hill Road resurfacing project. (Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.)
Our next Workshop meeting will be on Monday 11 December 2017 at 7:00 PM at the Township Building. Between the date of our last meeting and now, we have received another letter from Masonic Village’s attorney concerning the Children’s House, so that topic will be on the agenda. If any of these issues are important to you, please feel free to join us. If you cannot attend the meeting in person, please feel free to share your thoughts with me by email and I will be sure to convey your feelings to the other commissioners.
As always, thanks for making Aleppo a great place to live.
Best wishes,
Matthew Doebler
Aleppo Township Commissioner