Township supervisors receive OK to begin working on bridge

NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- After a year of paper work, a bridge will be repaired in a Neshannock Township neighborhood.
Township supervisors announced Wednesday that they had received the OK from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to proceed with repairs to the small bridge on Catalina Drive.
The bridge, which is the only way in or out of the Catalina Drive neighborhood, was damaged by water erosion, but it is useable.
Supervisor John DiCola Jr. said the township applied for an emergency permit to fix the problem over a year ago.
DiCola said the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency reviewed the problem and allotted the township $8,000 to repair the damage.
DiCola said it could cost the township upward of $25,000 to fix the bridge. DiCola said after the project is completed in November, he would seek more state funding, though there's no guarantee it will come.
In other business, the supervisors hired Atty. Jonathon Solomon at a rate of $125 per hour to represent the township zoning hearing board on a variance issue with Jameson Health System.
Solomon was hired due to a conflict of interest with Atty. Don Nichols, who is the solicitor for the zoning and hearing board.