Wright Twp. Supervisors took another step toward a feasibility study on police regionalization when they passed a resolution approving a peer-to-peer technical agreement with the state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).
Board Chairman Don Zampetti said the agreement will allow a police colleague to work with the police on the feasibility study. He said the peer is usually a police officer familiar with regionalization feasibility studies.
Officials from Wright and Fairview Twps. have agreed to participate in a feasibility study on the regionalization of Mountain Top police departments. In Rice Twp. Supervisor Tom Romanyshyn asked supervisors to participate in the feasibility study. Romanyshyn has stressed that he is not necessarily in favor of regionalization, but believes that the municipality should participate in the study to obtain information.
However, regulators did not act on his recommendation. Supervisor Bob Pipech has strongly opposed the study, while Chairman Rick Arnold has repeatedly said he wants to hear from the community what residents think about participating in the study.
There was no public meeting on the issue, as Arnold suggested. However, at the supervisors' meeting this month, Arnold read a letter from a 90-year-old resident who said she had lived in the community for 80 years. Her letter described Rice Township as having “the best officers and equipment in all of Mountain Top.” The letter goes on to say that she would not support regionalization.
It appears to be Wright Twp. The community center is finally getting a new roof. Supervisors approved a $38,088 contract with Gilroy Roofing to replace the roof, which is in dire need of repairs. Zampetti said Gilroy was the lowest of 12 bidders for the work. Back in August, supervisors voted to rebid the project after receiving only two bids, both well over the $30,000 budgeted for the work. The lowest bid at that time came from Vertex at $56,000 and Bognet Inc. offered $68,788.
The township and its volunteer fire department have worked out an agreement to transfer a small portion of the township fire tax into the township's general 2025 budget to help fund the new roof. The agreement shifted $0.085 mills from the fire tax into the general fund budget. The fire tax was set at 0.5 million. The change, Supervisor Don Zampetti emphasized at the time, only applies to 2025.
Rice Twp. rejects mobile phone offer
Rice Twp. At their October meeting, supervisors decided to reject an offer from a cell tower company for a “perpetual lease” of a tower on township property and hire a law firm to review the current cell tower lease, which expires in 2038.
American Tower, through The Lyle Company, offered the township a lump sum payment of $220,000 for a “perpetual lease” or $20,000 to extend the existing lease for an additional 40 years under the current terms of the agreement.
Township Clerk/Treasurer Jeffrey Beck said under the current lease, the township receives $985 a month in rent for the cell tower, with a three percent increase every five years. At the recommendation of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS), the township voted to hire Cohen Legal Group to review the current agreement at a cost not to exceed $1,000. Beck said the current market for such wireless contracts is between $2,000 and $2,500 per month.
Beck said the community regularly receives proposals for the cell tower. He recommended that the municipality not pursue the current offer and check what the market value would be at the end of the current agreement. “The risk of being shredded is very low,” Beck said of the decision.
Attorney Drew McLaughlin noted that after review by Cohen Legal Group, the township still has the option to negotiate a new agreement with the cell tower company.
Rice Twp. Consideration of the data center regulations
Rice Twp. Can I be the next Mountain Top community to pass an ordinance regulating data centers?
McLaughlin said he has reviewed the language of data center ordinances passed by municipalities across the state and hopes to have an ordinance available for consideration at the board's November meeting. This meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 5th due to Election Day being November 4th
Dorrance and Wright Twps. have already issued regulations to regulate data centers.