Frailey residents invited to Christmas tree lighting service this weekend

DONALDSON - Frailey Township residents are invited to the annual Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony held each year in the village on the Sunday evening after Thanksgiving.

Township chairman Donald Allar reported November 13 that a service will be held in the Lutheran Church on Center Street, followed by the tree lighting ceremony across the street from the church. Residents are then invited to join the festivities in the church basement where the children will be treated by a visit from Mr. and Mrs. Claus who will have a present for each one of them. There will also be food and drink for young and old alike. The township supervisors also agreed to make their annual donation of $500 to the Christmas Tree Lighting Committee.

On September 18, the supervisors met with the owner of the old factory building located on the corner of Martin Street and Cedar Alley giving him the opportunity to show why the building should not be demolished, a move recommended by the township engineers who have inspected the building and have found it to be unsafe and in violation of township Ordinance 2001.2.

At the meeting, owner Lewis Graver agreed that the roof needed fixing, but did not agree that the building was as bad as the engineer's report indicated. Friends, he said, were willing to put some of their own money into repairing the property since they were interested in starting a business. Since the property had already been scheduled for a September 24 tax sale, after the meeting, Graver paid the required amount to remove it from the sale. Graver had also noted that he would be willing to turn the building over to the township if the supervisors would fix it up for a community center, an offer they declined.

Allar reported the board had met with Eric Lieberman, the attorney retained by the township for this matter, on October 17 to discuss their next action.

Graver, said Allar, was served with a Notice of Violation of the Ordinance the following day. According to Allar, Graver called and informed him that he had gotten wood and wanted to meet again with the supervisors, but to date, that has not happened.

Allar noted Graver has until December 18 to come up with a plan or legal action will be taken.

The Walnut Street drainage and paving project is completed. According to roadmaster Keith Allar, the $95,565 cost covers work done by Dallago's Backhoe Service, Marlin, and Ronnie Folk, Shoemakersville, with $52,000 coming from a

Community Development Block Grant.

After last month's meeting, D. Allar reported that he was informed that the meeting was being taped by a resident. Since the supervisors were unsure about the legality of that, solicitor Joe Zerbe was contacted.

According to Zerbe, taping a meeting is not against the law, but to be fair to other people in attendance, they should be informed that taping was being done.

Police coverage for September amounted to 31.25 hours, while only 22.70 hours was logged in for October. The reports for both months involve patrolling only since no incidents were noted.

In other business, the third quarter CES Landfill check in the amount of $89,679.30, and the Natural Soil Product check in the amount of $9,.271.82 were both received.

The Code Enforcement Officer served one Notice of Violation to a resident on East Center Street, while the Schuylkill County Municipal Authority notified the township that both water and sewer had been turned off for a West Center Street home for failure to make payment.

D. Allar reported he had contacted Hillside SPCA regarding the stray cats being fed by a West Center Street woman. Hillside would loan a trap for the township to trap the cats, would spay or neuter them, but the township would

need to take them back.

the West Philadelphia Street resident was informed again that the materials on her porch must be removed by the end of this year, or else she will be cited.

D. Allar noted the township has received information from the county indicating the assessed value of properties in the township at $6,315,715, an increase of $123,845 from last year. The assessed value of county owned property was listed at $9,485. Per Capitas totaled 296.

The second reading of the proposed budget will take place during the board's December 4 meeting.

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