 Jones Township Supervisors Laurie Storrar, Jim Elinski and Deb Schaeffer conduct business. By Heidi Zemach
Special to The Ridgway Record WILCOX - Jones Township has received 50 applicants for a road crew job from workers throughout the region.
Tim Lechien, the longtime township road master, will be retiring soon.Township supervisors met in executive session Monday afternoon to begin sorting through the applications, and to discuss employment policies with KDK Associates, of DuBois, a consulting firm brought in to help with the hiring process.
The list has been winnowed down to a smaller number and interviews will take place in the near future, according to the supervisors.
The township will pay the lobbying group Allegheny Forest Alliance a 1-percent remittance of Forest Funds it receives from Allegheny National Forest, amounting to $734 for the $73,400 payment it will receive to fund road work and related improvements.
The payment to AFA is money well spent, said Board Chairman Jim Elinski. He also noted that last year the township received around $80,000 of federal forestry money. None of the supervisors are able to attend public informational meetings by the forest service on proposed new plan criteria for oil and gas development in the national forest, however. Supervisors also agreed to spend the $11,000 it will receive from Elk County Liquid Fuels to purchase limestone for upcoming road projects.
Under Old Business, the supervisors reminded residents that there are still two vacancies on the recreation board. Construction of sidewalks and placement of new streetlamps is due to start April 6 in the grant-funded Hometown Streets project.
While Federal Stimulus money is likely to be spent in Elk County on at least four of 12 ìshovel-readyî bridge-projects, the Horner Road Bridge, in Wilcox, is not even in line for that money, said Laurie Storrar, the township supervisor/secretary. The project apparently never made it onto North Central Planning committeeís ìTIPî or Department of Transportation bridge replacement list. Horner Bridge, which has a bad abutment, might cost the township an estimated $80,000 to replace on its own, Storrar said.
Storrar suggested that township work on engineering the project so that it might become shovel-ready in the future, and possibly receive alternative funding.
Under New Business, the supervisors agreed to send out requests for proposals for legal services. Jim Vittoria, who serves Ridgway Township, Fox Township Sewer Authority and Elk County Solid Waste Authority has expressed an interest, Storrar said. His $130 hourly fees are nearly twice that of their current solicitor, Mark Jacob however. Supervisors felt they should continue looking.
The supervisors agreed to submit a grant application to the State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, DCNR, to pave their ballpark parking lot. The applications are due in April. Another DCNR grant already approvedóbuilding a fishing pier at the park again came under criticism by resident Mike Vonarx.
He said it was ìpretty dumbî and a ìwaste of moneyî to build a pier in a location where fishing is only possible through June, at which point the stream usually dries up.
Fred Swanson also questioned the grant, saying that the winter ice might take out the new pier, as it often takes out trees. If that happens, local taxpayer money would be needed to replace it, Swanson said.
His own proposal for the township to bring in 3-Phase Electrical power to Wilcox to encourage industrial development has gone nowhere.
ìBusiness keeps people here,î Swanson said. The supervisors are doubtful that even if the money was spent on 3-Phase electricity, any businesses would move in. Elinski pointed out that the DCNR grant was free money, and that if Wilcox didnít get it, the state grants would only go to another community, not theirs. Wilcox is listed in Elk County as a ìbedroom communityî and as such, is a great place for people to live and raise children ó even if there isnít industry, Storrar said.
All of the recent grants that funded the pier and other ballpark improvements, and renovated the public library, only make Wilcox a more attractive community for people to move to, Supervisor Deb Schaeffer said.
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