HILLSVILLE, PA. Fifth-grader provides impetus for playground

Supervisors are supporting an effort to build a playground at the old Hillsville Elementary School.
HILLSVILLE, Pa. -- Jeff Johnson, serving the last year of his second six-year term as a Mahoning Township supervisor, submitted his resignation in a letter Tuesday night, citing personal reasons.
His fellow supervisors, Poncho Exposito and Gary Pezzuolo, accepted it with thanks for his years of service and named Township Treasurer Gilbert Lucarelli to fill his vacant seat.
The post is up for election this year.
In other business, supervisors officially threw their support behind an effort to build a playground at the old Hillsville Elementary School property on West Main Street. Exposito said the township's insurance provider informed him that township involvement in the playground will not increase rates, thus paving the way for township participation.
Supervisors agreed to sign a 10-year lease for $1 for the property, which is owned by Carmen Shick, president of C.D. Ambrosia Trucking Co. The township will support, maintain and insure the playground and seek grants for equipment for it.
Shick will donate the surface material and the cost of half the equipment. Exposito said the township will require the playground committee to inspect the playground once a week and notify supervisors if any repairs are needed. He added that the township will provide no supervision and parents will be responsible for their own children.
Youthful proposal: The idea for the playground came from local fifth-grader Elizabeth Birdsell who did the planning and legwork for the project.
In other business, Ed Caggiano and Bill Wyza were named to the township planning commission to replace Linda Caggiano and Joe Retort, who resigned. Supervisors appointed Marcie Romano to conduct a study from Butch Estates to Edinburg and Mohawk School Road to determine the number of low- and moderate-income residents eligible for water and sewer grants, and also to collect water line tap-in applications for eventual extension of water lines there. She will be paid minimum wage.
Pezzuolo reported that construction of waterlines down U.S. Route 224 to the Mahoning River and up state Route 551 to U.S. Route 422 is expected next year.
Bob Izzo of Phillip Weiner and Co., reported that an audit of township records showed no findings.
Exposito reminded residents that fish dinners to benefit the fire department continue from 4 to 7 p.m. Fridays during Lent at Edinburg Fire Station.