DUBOIS – The regional lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) has made a donation totaling $14,600 to the Sandy Township police.
The check was presented to Police Chief Kris Kruzelak during Monday night’s supervisors’ meeting. He said the funds will be used to purchase ballistic helmets and patrol rifles for the department.
According to the IOOF Web site, as an organization, it aims to provide a framework that promotes personal and social development.
For its members, the degrees in Odd Fellowship emphasize leaving of the old life and the starting of a better one while also helping those in need.
In other business Monday night, the supervisors debated an additional tap fee on new connections to the township’s sewage system.
According to the supervisors, there had been an agreement to pay DuBois City $1,626 per equivalent dwelling unit (EDU), or single-family home.
The supervisors debated this additional tap fee because the township already has a fee of $1,380. “We’d be raising our tap fee from $1,300 to $2,900,” said Supervisor Dave Sylvis.
During the municipal authority meeting, a motion, which would have raised the township’s tap fee to include its existing fee along with the full DuBois City fee, failed to pass.
Sylvis and Supervisors Andy Shenkle and Jim Jeffers voted in opposition while Supervisors Mark Sullivan and Kevin Salandra were in favor.
The supervisors later tabled the matter during their regular meeting, at which point Salandra posed a question about the problem on the horizon since the township had already agreed to pay the city $1,626 per tap.
However, the supervisors appeared to agree that if any new taps were connected before they set a new rate, the township would have to eat the cost.
The supervisors also voted to continue engineering work for Industrial Drive Extension. However, they noted there was uncertainty about obtaining funding to complete the project.
The supervisors said that because of unexpected wetlands in the area, the projected cost increased from $1.1 million to $1.6 million.
“The concern is the more we spend, the more we’ll have to refund, if it’s not completed by September of 2020,” said Township Engineer Perry Bowser.
The supervisors noted that the grant entity advised the township that it won’t be aware until spring if additional funding will be available.