MAHONING TOWNSHIP Area officials plan to join COG study

The study will determine needs and contributions of each municipality, then those municipalities would decide whether to commit to the project.
By MARY GRZEBIENIAK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HILLSVILLE, Pa. -- Mahoning Township supervisors took another step toward being part of a regional police department Tuesday when they unanimously passed an intent to participate in a study spearheaded by the Lawrence County Council of Governments.
Supervisor Chairman Poncho Exposito said the study will be paid for by the state and will determine needs and contributions of each participating municipality. Those municipalities would then decide whether to commit to the project. The state is encouraging formation of such cooperative police departments and has grants available for start-up. Mahoning Township has no police department.
Also on agenda: In other business, Exposito said he and the other supervisors are driving around the township looking for building permit violations to take to the district magistrate.
He responded to several questions from residents, including why the township still does not have enhanced 911 service, which automatically displays callers' addresses to dispatchers. Exposito said the township has submitted all preparatory work, including street renaming and numbering plans to the regional post office in Erie.
Another resident asked why Union Township residents do not have to pay waterline tap-in fees while Mahoning Township residents do. Exposito said that Union has only a main waterline while Mahoning has extensions into several side streets. The cost of extending water service to side streets is then shared among all township customers of the new water line through a tap-in fee, he said.
The deadline is May 1 for tapping into the recently completed waterline on U.S. Route 224. Exposito said letters giving a 60-day notice will be sent out to those who have not yet tapped in.
Permits approved: Also, two conditional-use permits for operation of businesses out of homes were approved. They included one for a computer Web site for Dr. Robert and Judith Waddington, at a residence on U.S. Route 224 near the intersection of Harbor-Edinburg Road and one for Rand Alansky for storage of dry goods for future off-site use at a building on Main Street, Hillsville. Both were given favorable reviews by the Mahoning Township Planning Commission.
Exposito announced that Lenten fish fries benefiting the fire department will begin from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at the Edinburg Fire Department.