Bradford Township supervisors voted unanimously Monday for the municipality to take over Pennbrook Lane as a township road.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Supervisor Steve Mascho.
Supervisor Chairman Jim Erwin said this means that residents of the road will now be able to get garbage service and have their street plowed in the winter. He noted that people put a great deal of money to bring the road up to the required standard.
Also at the meeting, township resident Dean Woodring, a former police officer, brought up traffic concerns he had for U.S. Route 219 between Owens Way to Lewis Run.
“The speeding going on up there is ridiculous,” said Woodring, noting there have been “a lot of close calls.” He added that he would like to see a sign telling drivers not to use jake brakes in the area.
Erwin noted that there are similar issues of fast-moving vehicles by Marilla Reservoir on West Washington Street, and the township has been waiting for two years to see the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation do a study for that spot.
Officials said both township and state police have been monitoring Route 219 for speeders. They agreed to try to get officers out to Route 219 more and to talk to PennDOT about doing a traffic study there.
Later in the meeting, Shipman asked residents to report it to police if something seems out of place.
He referred to a recent local vehicle arson that police were able to connect to a robbery elsewhere in the state using information from a resident. Without the residents, Shipman does not believe they would have been able to make an arrest.
Also brought up were issues in the area of the recycling bins across the street from the municipal building. The fate of the recycling program is in question, as people regularly recyclables and trash on the ground by the bins — leaving it up to township employees to clean up after them.
Officials indicated that people have been more courteous since the last meeting when it was brought up. For now, they plan to just keep an eye out for the litterers.
“We can’t keep trying to pick (garbage) up off the ground,” said Mascho, reiterating that residents who find the bins full are to come back another time after the bins are emptied rather than leave trash on the ground.
Regarding a $250 bid for a property in the McKean County Tax Claim Bureau repository at 994 South Ave., the supervisors voted to reject the bid because the bidder wanted to rehabilitate the home, despite being beyond rehabilitation.
The supervisors did accept a bid of $250 for a vacant lot located along South Avenue.
Mascho was the sole holdout on a vote to accept a price $2,000 to have William Keesler mow township roads in 2018.
Supervisor Gayle Bauer explained that the grass wasn’t being cut back far enough with the equipment the township owns, and she felt it was unsafe that the equipment operator had to drive in the road to mow.
Mascho felt the township was spending money needlessly.
They also voted in favor of hiring Michael Davis on a part-time, as-needed basis in the garbage department at a rate of $12 per hour.
A township work session is set for 6:30 pm. Monday, and the next regular supervisors meeting will be at 7 p.m. Aug. 13.
