PALMYRA TOWNSHIP – WAYNE COUNTY Aug 1, 2022

Chairman Steffen called the regular meeting to order at 6:30 PM. Roll call of the Supervisors showed Chairman Steffen and Supervisor Kmetz were present. Supervisor Hanf was excused. Supervisor Kmetz made a motion to accept the previous month’s minutes with a second by Chairman Steffen and all Supervisors voting yes.

Treasurer’s Report was given by Ms. Powderly and is on file as well as posted on the back wall. Chairman Steffen made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report with a second by Supervisor Kmetz and all Supervisors voting yes. An additional $214.94 was deposited to the savings account. This was money collected from the Cares Act from townships that chose not to take the Cares Act money. This was total monies was distributed to the counties that accepted the money.

Bill list was read. Chairman Steffen made a motion to pay bill list #8 with a second from Supervisor Kmetz all supervisors voting yes.

Police Report - Mr. Bertholf was present, and report is on file. Chairman Steffen asked the township to continue to donate this year to the Hawley Borough Police National Night Out. Supervisor Kmetz made a motion to donate $250.00 to the Hawley Borough Police National Night Out with a second from Chairman Steffen, and all supervisors voting yes.

Fire Report - Mr. Mead was present, and report is on file.

Ambulance Report - no one was present, and no report was given to file. PP and H ambulance had it by laws finalized and approved for the corporation status.

Road Report was given by Road Master Kmetz and is on file. Supervisor Kmetz asked the board if he could take flare mower down to Sewer Road to cut back branches and shrubs that are growing into road. Estimated time for this project is 2 hours. All supervisors agreed to this maintenance.

Correspondence - The Township received its normal newsletters, pamphlets, brochures and magazines that are posted on the back wall. Two notices of tax appeals have been received from the County. The township has no plan to attend or dispute the tax adjustments. Wayne County is also doing an update on the Comprehensive plan and are requesting both full and part-time residents fill out a survey. This survey can be found on our website as well as an access scan code on the front door.

Zoning Report was given by Paul Natale. Due to a recent incident of an individual building on the wrong lot, Paul has requested that the board make an adjustment to the Building Permit process which only requires a plot plan and to update it to include a survey to ensure that this does not happen in the future. Mr. Treat advised that we could have a hearing to adjust the permit process to be that a survey would be needed under special circumstances whether that is by lot size or at the Zoning Officers discretion. Mr. Treat and Paul will discuss the section of the permit to be adjusted after the meeting.
Paul also had question concerning a shooting range a resident has put up on their property and enforcing Title 34. There have already been complaints. Enforcing Title 34 is a Hawley Borough Police responsibility, and they will be handling it.
Middle Creek is inquiring about a special exception hearing and a quarry expansion. Attorney Henry has been in touch with Paul about application fees. But no new communications have been made.

Planning Commission - None

Conditional Use Hearing - None

Report of Digitizing Records was given by Paul Natale.

Emergency Management - Nothing to report

Crime Watch - Nothing to report

Solicitor’s Report - Attorney Jeff Treat stated that he continues to work on Short Term Rental Ordinance. Chairman Steffen requested that the ordinance read differently concerning some areas. One change was to include that all bedrooms are required to have windows. These wording changes were discussed by the board and Mr. Treat. We are still in discussion on what short term rentals will be defined as. The ordinance is still in discussion. We will be receiving a proposal from the third-party company interested in enforcing the short-term rental ordinance. Should we find the proposal sufficient we will reconvene to plan for an in person meeting and presentation by said company.
The letter received from an attorney concerning an accident, where the details were very minimal and no road was named, was researched by Mr. Treat and found to have not happened in our township.

Public Comment - None

Chairman Steffen made a motion to adjourn at 6:56 PM with a second by Supervisor Kmetz and all Supervisors voting yes.

Next scheduled meeting is Tuesday September 6, 2022, at 6:30 PM.