The East Allen Township Board of Supervisors met Wednesday, June 8 to discuss various recommendations, including improvements to the East Allen Township Volunteer Fire Department facility.
East Allen Township Recreation Director Chuck Frantz attended the meeting with five of the 13 summer camp counselors that were being recommended for hire. The annual camp will begin Monday, June 13 to Friday, July 29 for a total of seven weeks. The counselors being hired consisted of seven returning counselors and five new counselors that attend colleges and universities all over the state, mostly in the field of education. This will be Lauren Lalik’s fourth year as a camp counselor, and she is returning as one of two head counselors during her summer break from Marywood University in Scranton where she is currently a junior studying Biology/Secondary Education with a minor in Chemistry. Ashley Rolles will be returning for her third year as a camp counselor and will also be a co-head counselor this year while on break from East Stroudsburg University where she is currently a junior studying Communications Sciences and Disorders with a certificate in Death Education.
Director Frantz stated that the camp will see many returning activities such as the Wildlands Conservancy coming to visit and the honeybee vendor, and this year they will see some new activities such as fingerprint identification with the PA State Police, who will also be doing forensics and safety classes.
The camp currently has 105 sign-ups, but Frantz said they have been getting applications daily. He estimates that the total of attendees will be around 120 to 125, but the camp has room for 150 total students. The counselors have been working hard to prepare activities for the kids and are excited to have a fun summer with them.
The board unanimously voted to approve the hire of all 13 camp counselors.
In other business, the board discussed facility improvements at the East Allen Township Volunteer Fire Department, which includes fixing the cracks in the concrete floor and the steel framing that is lifting around the floor drain, as well as painting, cleaning and resurfacing the outside block of the fire house for a total of $42,015. The funds that would cover these repairs would come from previously budgeted funds that have not yet been used, so no additional funds would be required from the township. The board voted to approve the allocation of funds for the fire department’s facility repairs unanimously and thanked them for the hard work they do.
Next, the board approved the three seasonal employees that were recommended for hire who have already started working for the township using funds previously budgeted.
The Board of Supervisors also unanimously approved the promotion of Luis Figueroa from deputy to emergency management coordinator after his completion of necessary course certifications for the position.
In other news, the board discussed the recommendation to consider a change order request for the 2022 Road Program after the contractor felt they needed an additional 4,000 square yards of leveling on the lower portion of Goldcrest Lane, and also additional quantities on Mountain View Drive and Mountain View Circle where the curb was removed since it originally went curb-to-curb and wasn’t included in previous calculations, adding an additional one to two feet plus the cost of materials. The amended amount would be a total of 4,469 square yards at the bid amount of $7.52 per square yard, which equals a total of $33,606.88.
Township Manager Brent Green assured the board this will not result in any additional hardship costs for the township. Supervisors approved the ratification unanimously.
During staff reports, Manager Green reported that the Sunny Slope Farms major subdivision, located on Dogwood Road and Hanover Street, received final conditional approval and is waiting to get an extension after receiving recommendations from the planning commission, since their plans expire at the end of the month. The board chose to make a motion to conditionally reject the plans since an extension was not received based upon the outstanding items in the Hanover Engineering letter, which passed unanimously.
East Allen EMS Board of Directors President Joe Light reported there were 53 dispatches for the month of May and that two EMTs were recently hired, which have been the first applicants in a while. During the Covid pandemic, East Allen EMS received a waiver to allow an uncertified driver to ride with one EMT during dispatches, but since the waiver will be expiring, they will be going back to requiring a minimum of two EMTs in each vehicle. Unfortunately, this will mean two individuals will be laid off; however, one of the individuals is currently taking classes to become a certified EMT and will be hired back upon passing the required courses.
Last, the East Allen Township Volunteer Fire Department reported a total of 29 incidents for the month of May, with five fire calls, 11 rescue and EMS assist calls, two hazardous condition calls, one service call, one odor of smoke call, eight false alarm and false calls, and one special weather and natural disaster assessment. Fourteen of the incidents were in East Allen Township and 15 of the incidents were in surrounding areas with an average dispatch time of five minutes and 51 seconds.
There will be a board workshop meeting on Thursday, June 23, a planning commission meeting on Thursday, July 7, and a monthly supervisors meeting on Wednesday, July 13, all at 7 p.m. in the township municipal building, located at 5344 Nor-Bath Blvd.
