CURWENSVILLE – At Wednesday night’s Pike Township meeting, the board heard from Rick “Whitey” Swatsworth about his ongoing concerns about flooding on Ann Street.
Swatsworth’s sister lives on the street in the house where their parents lived and raised their family. He has been trying to get problems fixed on Ann Street and has been in contact with the supervisors, Curwensville Borough, the state Departments of Transportation and Environmental Protection and various state representatives.
During public comment, Swatsworth asked the supervisors what action has been taken on Ann Street in the past 13 months when he first came to the supervisors.
He added that he had asked state Rep. Tommy Sankey to attend the meeting as well, but Sankey had prior commitments.
Swatsworth said a sinkhole on the street is worse and a catch basin has not been repaired or cleaned. He also said that the questionnaire he sent the township has never been answered and returned.
Some of those questions include asking when the ditches or catch basins on the street were cleaned, when was the last time Ann Street was paved and has a camera ever been sent up the lateral on Ann Street to find the cause of the hole.
He also asked if the township has checked water run-off from the area of the collection pond on Jo-Lin Acres, which is above Ann Street.
Swatsworth also said that when PennDOT looked at the situation the township was told to fix the catch basin.
The supervisors attempted to respond and noted that some work has been done on Ann Street, notably recent sweeping.
The supervisors also said that the sink hole and catch basin problems were created by a pipe being put in by neighbors to drain a French drain, and the township doesn’t even have four-inch pipe.
Swatsworth replied that the hole and basin are safety issues and therefore the township’s responsibility.
Swatsworth said there are records saying the pipe was installed by the township, but the supervisors said they aren’t aware of such records.
Swatsworth also asked about work the township may have done for Bloom Township and asked if they were paid for it.
The meeting became heated until the supervisors declared that Swatsworth’s five minutes were up.
Later in the meeting, the supervisors noted that they had been doing some work on their end of Bilger’s Rocks Road, and that they did go into Bloom Township in order to complete the cleaning work they were doing.
They said Bloom Township officials were aware of it, as Bloom Township has had to do similar things for Pike Township, noting that townships try to work together to get things accomplished.
