The Morris Township Board of Supervisors met at the township office for their regular scheduled meeting. Present were Supervisors David Stockdale, Dave Dietrich, Doug Smith, Zoning Officer Bob Sanders, road crew employees Rob Sanders and Jeff Mooney, and also residents Carl Sanders and Jim Wilson.
Chairman Stockdale called the meeting to order at 7:50 P.M. Minutes of the previous meeting were read. Motion by Smith, second by Stockdale to approve the minutes as read with the correction of a typographical spelling error.
In old business, concerning the Hathaway dilapidated property, the Greene County Regional Police will hand deliver the Notice of Violation that Hathaway’s never accepted via Certified Mail. Also, Smith wants Lesnock to contact Solicitor Hook to ask if liens applied to properties that the township has demolished, are able to be increased, due to interest being charged to the property owner on the amount the township spent to have the property demolished.
Rob Sanders said that the township is waiting for West Penn Power to place a stake in the ground to locate where the power pole will be placed. Township will dig ditch for underground conduit and will hire someone to do the small amount of electrical work needed. Rob Sanders also met with Ralph Metz, electrical inspector.
In new business, Smith stated that there is a slip on Weir Cole Road just below Buffy Cole’s place. It is in an area that has previously slipped and was previously repaired. Dietrich stated that the area of the slip was about 1-1/2 feet deep and the township filled the area with 2-A stone. The road crew will continue to monitor the slip and make temporary repairs as needed for now.
Jeff Mooney and Rob Sanders went before the board to ask about raises for 2017. Lesnock indicated that she was not requesting any raise this year. Mooney requested .75 cents per hour, which would be a 3.7% raise. He currently earns $20.25 per hour as Operator/Laborer. Smith stated that he wants to see the employees pay 2% of the health insurance premium and if they did that, then they could have a 4% raise. Smith also stated that he himself only makes $18.00 per hour driving a water truck and has to pay toward his health insurance premium. Dietrich stated that whatever Smith earns in his employment and what he has to pay toward his health insurance, has nothing to do with the hourly rate of a township employee or insurance. Dietrich also stated that he disagrees with having the township employees paying 2% of their insurance premium in order to get a 4% raise. Motion by Stockdale, second by Dietrich to leave the insurance as it is without making the employee pay 2% of the insurance premium and to raise Jeff Mooney’s hourly rate by .75 cents an hour to a total of $21.00. Doug Smith adamantly objected to this motion and second. Rob Sanders indicated that he was requesting a $2.00 per hour raise from his current hourly wage of $18.00 per hour. He indicated that he believes the skills and experience he brings to the township are worth a $20.00 per hour wage and that he has contributed to many projects that would be outside the scope of work of a normal road crew and by being able to do so, has saved the township money, such as the bridge project on Weir Cole Road. Smith responded by saying that Sanders can be replaced. Dietrich stated that Rob has been a good asset to the township. Smith stated that he wants Rob Sanders to also pay 2% of his insurance premium in order to get a 4% pay raise. Motion by Dietrich second by Stockdale to leave Rob Sanders insurance premium as it is without making him pay 2% and to raise Rob Sanders hourly rate by $2.00 to $20.00 per hour. Smith adamantly opposed the motion and second and added that the board gave the employees exactly what they wanted and added they were not being fiscally responsible. Dietrich then added that if it comes down to giving a raise to good employees that the township wants to keep versus paying nearly $50,000.00 per year for a part time regional police force that serves the township 24 hours a week, then he would choose to keep the good employees and let the regional police service go. Carl Sanders agreed with Dietrich’s statement. Smith felt that was comparing apples to oranges. Dietrich disagreed with Smith. Then Dietrich added, everyone can be replaced.
Motion by Smith, second by Dietrich to review and pay bills. Motion by Dietrich, second by Smith to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 8:40 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Lesnock, Secretary