CURWENSVILLE – Two, possibly three potential compost sites are under review in Curwensville Borough.
At Monday’s meeting, council member Dave Donahue gave an update on the council’s search for an area to store and compost leaves gathered from the borough using the leaf-vac.
Donahue said the borough needs to submit the necessary paperwork to obtain permits. He said once the permits are in order, the borough will submit the permits to the Department of Environmental Protection for its approval.
According to previously-published GANT News articles, because the borough received a leaf-vacuum truck from Lawrence Township, it’s in need of a place to compost the leaves once they are collected.
Lawrence Township had purchased the leaf-vac through a grant. The grant specified that the leaf-vac could not be sold, it must be donated. When Lawrence Township received a new leaf-vac, it donated its old one to the borough.
However, because the borough took the leaf-vac, it must abide by the same rules, which specify that the borough must have a compost site for the leaves.
Also, at the meeting, Code Enforcement Officer Tom Carfley said there has been a lot of trouble with residents and property owners blowing grass onto the roadways as they mow their lawns.
Carfley said he has been giving verbal warnings to residents he has seen. He said the borough has put warnings in the media, on the radio stations and on the borough’s Facebook page.
“They’ve been warned,” Carfley said. “We go through this every year. We tell them not to do it every year and every year, they keep on doing it. I don’t know what else to do.”
Carfley said the grass causes problems with the stormwater system, it makes the roadways very dangerous for individuals riding motorcycles and it also makes it difficult for the street crew to keep the roads clean.
“The street sweeper went by and he looked in his rearview mirror and saw people mowing grass back onto the road right after he went past,” Carfley said.
Carfley said he will now be issuing $50 fines for anyone caught blowing grass onto the roadway. He said the fines can accumulate until they reach as high as $1,000.
In other business, the council voted to approve:
- Permission for the Curwensville Regional Development Corp. to apply for a grant on behalf of the borough to upgrade and repair the traffic lights.
- Allowing a resident to place port-a-potties at the park for a function, providing the port-a-potties are removed by Monday. The borough is not responsible for any damage or vandalism that may occur while the port-a-potties are there.
- Appointing Hildred Rowles to the vacant seat on the planning commission.
- Paying the bills in the amount of $29,588.
