The Morris Township Board of Supervisors met for their regular meeting at the Municipal building. Present were Supervisors Rob Sanders, Doug Smith and Dave Dietrich, Zoning Officer Bob Sanders, Marissa & Rich King, Rose & Mike Donahue, Sam Bartolotto, Joe Young(from Harshman Engineering), Greg Dunn, Aileen Smith, Tim Hamilton, Randy Hamilton, Dale Leech, Michaela & Patrick Bracey, Marty Finch and Dusty Stockdale.
The meeting was called to order at 7:30pm.
Motion by Smith to accept the minutes from the Jan 19 meeting as written. 2nd by Sanders, all agreed.
Road Master report read. Randy asked for advance notice of what roads will be worked on. This won’t be known until Spring when the crew sees the condition of the roads.
Chairman Smith explained his opinion on the Range request to use the Strawn impoundment to frack a well in Amwell Twp. The township received a letter from the solicitor stating that we don’t have any legal right to stop them from using the impoundment in any way that does not go against the conditional use. Smith stated that we have been doing it for the past 10 years and he believes we should continue to do so. He blamed another supervisor for pushing for this and said he would be looking for a plaintiff who has proper standing to sue the township over the matter. Smith stated he does not like the opinion of the solicitor and plans to get another opinion. He thinks Range is hurting the people of the township because there are still people waiting for royalties.
The accused supervisor stated that he is not sure where Smith got the idea that he was trying to push anything one way or another. The thing that he thought people would be happy about was that the pipes eliminated the truck traffic, which was the biggest complaint about the impoundment site. He only spoke to Range to try to set up a meeting for them to come and answer questions from the residents. Marty Finch asked how the water was getting to the impoundment site. It is being piped in from Greene County’s public water source to Strawn and back out by pipe.
An explanation of the walking trail was given by Sanders. There was a drawing to see the path, explanation of costs and discussion on how the grant will work. There were questions/comments from Randy Hamilton, Dusty Stockdale, Bob Sanders, Patrick Bracey, Rose Donahue, Sam Bartolotto, Marty Finch, Marissa King, Michaela Bracey and Dale Leech. Questions were about surface, grant terms, fishing docks, trail width, township contributions. Joe Young was available to answer technical questions as well. Of the residents present at the meeting, there were 11 in favor of the trail, 3 against. A list of over 50 residents who are in favor was available to review. This list was printed from a Prosperity Facebook group where the topic was brought up. After discussion, it was the consensus that it would be better to use the grant money and have it done well the first time, not trying to cut corners. Motion by Sanders to build the walking trail using the DCNR grant. 2nd by Smith. All agreed.
A concern was expressed by Dale Leech about the condition of some of the houses owned by CNX that are around his property. They are full of garbage and not being cared for. Dave will call CNX and find out what their plans are for the houses.
Motion by Smith to approve Ordinance #1 of 2021 to increase the meeting pay for Supervisors to $50 per meeting starting with the Supervisor who’s term starts in 2022 . 2nd by Dietrich. All agreed.
Motion by Smith to review and pay bills, second by Sanders. All agreed.
Meeting adjourned 9:30pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Pamela Bartolotto/Secretary