Douglass Supervisors Board Back to Full Strength

Photo by Evan Brandt

With the return of John Stasik, second from right, to the Douglass (Mont.) Board of Supervisors, replacing Fred Ziegler, the board of supervisors, Chairman Anthony Kuklinski, center, and Alan Keiser, is back up to full strength. They are flanked by Township Solicitor Robert Brant, left, and Township Manager Peter Hiryak.

There was no public swearing in ceremony for John Stasik.

A former township supervisor who wanted to waste no time in diving back into the business of the township, he got himself sworn in after being selected from among four applicants last month to replace Fred Ziegler.

Ziegler, as we all know, resigned as part of a plea agreement in his trial on theft and embezzlement charges.

Brian Steffie is congratulated by his wife after she

pinned the new badge of rank on his uniform.

So when the meeting began last night, there was a brief-but-hearty "Welcome Back John" and the board got right to work.

And the first thing they did was promote officer Brian Steffie to the rank of police
sergeant.

This of course explained the crowd.

One the happy event was over, the vast majority adjourned to the lobby of the township building and loudly congratulated the township's new police sergeant.

Janet Bauer, center, with her certificate of

appreciation flanked by Tony Kuklinski and

ESB Chairman Andrew Duncan, right.

The board also unanimously granted preliminary plan approval and several waivers for the long-discussed Zern tract, a development with 240 townhomes off Jackson Road.

Engineer Josh Hagadorn also reported that the bids for the new township highway maintenance building are in and he believes the method chosen to bid the project will "save the township a lot of money."

And the board also thanked Janet Bauer for her service on the Emergency Services Board.

And now, without any further ado, are the very Tweets and videos from the meeting.

New (Former) Supervisor, New Trash Hauler, and Congratulations Chief Templin on 25 Years Service

Photos by Evan Brandt

Douglass Police Chief Barry Templin, right, is congratulated

on 25 years of service to the township by Supervisors

Chairman Anthony Kuklinski

As you have no doubt already read in your print edition of The Mercury, former Douglass supervisor John Stasik Jr. was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Fred Ziegler's resignation last month.

I'll trust you to find that news in the newspaper (although a video of the vote can be found admid the Tweets below).

But that was not the only thing that happened last night.

Police Corporal Brian Steffie was promoted to the rank of sergeant and Chief Barry Templin was recognized for 25 years of service to the department.

A local boy who graduated from Boyertown Area Senior High School, Templin was congratulated by the entire department and his extended family, as well as the Board of Supervisors.

He said the people he works with "make my job really easy, although I suppose I shouldn't tell you that."

He added that the officers in the department are "the ones who go out and bust their buns every day" and make him look good.

Although they all looked pretty good in this rare photo of the all of Douglass's uniformed personnel:

Douglass (Mont.) township's uniformed personnel.

The other significant development last night was the awarding of a three-year trash collection contract to Keystone Disposal.

The low bidder among five -- which included Advanced Disposal, which had the most recent contract, A.J. Blozenski, J.P. Mascaro and Son and Waste Management -- the cost to the township per year is $278,333.33 for the service.

The three-year total is $835,000, $72,535 less than the next lowest bid of "907,535 from Advanced.

Advanced won the contract for disposal of the township's trash at its Western Berks Landfill with a low bid of $58.65 per ton.

Township Manager Peter Hiryak said the bids were about $30,000 lower than the last rounds of bids, which the township rejected in November.

He said the November bids were higher because "we made it too complicated." Simplifying the bids brought the price down, he said.

Douglass (Mont.) will continue to use the pay-per-bag system, in which users buy their trash bags from the township as their only disposal cost, ensuring they only pay for what they use.

The township will continue to operate its recycling and composting facility. The only change as a result of the new trash hauler, said recycling coordinator Andrew Duncan, is that recycling will be collected once a week, instead of once every two weeks as occurs now.

"I expect that will increase our recycling and reduce our trash tonnage," Duncan told the supervisors in recommending the Keystone bid, which they adopted unanimously.

We'll have a little more on that in an upcoming article in The Mercury.

In the meantime, here are the Tweets and video from last night:

No Tax Hike, An Eagle Scout, What's Not to Like?

Photo by Evan Brandt

Eagle Scout applicant Jacob Volpe talks about his Eagle Scout project, mulching trails in the township's open space property, with a little help from Roadmaster Michael Heydt

Monday night, the Douglass (Mont.) Township Supervisors adopted a $3.4 million preliminary budget that does not raise taxes.

They also heard from Jacob Volpe, from Gilbertville's Boy Scout Troop 36, whose Eagle Scout project was the mulching of trails in the township's open space areas.

Here are the Tweets from the meeting.