Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Foster Township supervisors on Monday deflected fallout from last month’s meeting when statements were made about former supervisors and township employees. Former supervisor Chris Wolcott, who resigned in December, said he is “very disturbed” by some of the statements made at the June meeting. Wolcott said current supervisor Jim Connelly Jr. “has been blaming former supervisors and (former township secretary Jennifer Gorrell) for not getting a recent PennVEST loan “and that is just ludicrous.” He added that blaming Gorrell is “despicable.” “Somebody dropped the ball and it wasn’t the secretary or former supervisors,” Wolcott said, adding that he believes the responsibility lies with E & M Engineers. “It was a slip,” said township engineer Roy Pedersen. “This was a procedure we’d never had to follow before.” Wolcott also took exception to Connolly, last month, questioning diesel fuel contracts given to Wolcott’s employer, William G. Satterle...

Foster Township supervisors Bob Slike and Chris Wolcott have resigned, along with longtime township secretary Jennifer Gorrell. At the end of Monday’s meeting Wolcott announced that his resignation would be effective Tuesday. Slike’s resignation is effective immediately. Slike, who had been supervisor chairman for many years, would have been entering his 20th year on the board. Wolcott has been a supervisor for 12 years. Both men said the meetings had gotten to be too much to deal with. Remaining supervisor Jim Connelly Jr. must work with the vacancy board to fill the positions. Gorrell tendered her resignation earlier in the day, and it was accepted during Monday’s supervisors meeting. It was effective Monday.

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Some people think Foster Township residents are paying too much for their sewer tap-in fees, and that should change. Others agree the fee is too high, but think it should stay where it is. The $2,000 tap-in fee was one of the topics of Monday’s Foster Township supervisors meeting. Bradford Township residents pay $1,000. City residents pay $500. The issue arose, in part, because residents are concerned about what would happen if the three municipalities consolidate sewer services. Supervisor Jim Connelly, who believes the tap-in fee is too high, is hoping to find ways to cut costs – including being more diligent in collecting from delinquent customers – to lower the fee. “I think that’s ($2,000) a lot of money to ask somebody to pay,” Connelly said. He added that there are $30,000 in delinquent bills. “It’s not fair that some of us have to pay our sewer bills and some of us don’t,” Connelly said. East Main Street resident Don Pistner wanted to kn...

Tom Munn is the new chief of the Foster Township Police Department. Supervisors unanimously approved the appointment during their meeting Monday night. The appointment was effective immediately. Munn replaces Jeff Wolbert who retired. His last day was October 20. Supervisor Chris Wolcott said Munn is a hard-working and dedicated police officer and is a great asset to the township. Supervisor Chairman Bob Slike asked township secretary Jennifer Gorrel to send a letter to Wolcott thanking him for his 33 years of service to the township, adding that he was dedicated at the township will miss him. “Amen,” Wolcott added.

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Foster Township Police Chief Jeff Wolbert is hoping to retire next year. Wolbert made the unofficial announcement during Monday’s Foster Township supervisors meeting after a question by Interstate Parkway resident Joe Piganelli. Piganelli said, because they know he attends the township meetings, several people asked if he knew anything about Wolbert retiring. Wolbert said he hopes to retire in January. He’ll be retirement age in November. Piganelli then asked if the supervisors had a plan to name a new police chief. “We’ve had some discussions” supervisor Chris Wolcott said. Piganelli asked if the discussions would be just among the supervisors, or if the public would be involved. “I don’t see that the public needs to be necessarily involved at this stage,” Wolcott said, adding that the supervisors are willing to take comments and suggestions. “We don’t even have a plan right at the moment,” Wolcott said. “We’ve had some discussions but, actuall...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director There was more trash talk at Monday’s Foster Township Supervisors meeting. Residents wanted more details on a plan that was introduced last month about changing the way trash is collected in the township. Last month supervisors voted to start a study to look into collecting its own trash instead of having several haulers do the pickups. Derrick Road resident Ron VanScoter said one of the reasons he’s against the township getting involved is that it would be taking business away from private enterprise. “You have private enterprise that works and they’re doing a good job. If the township collects their own, they’re going to put people out of work,” VanScoter said. “Once the government’s involved, it seems to go out of hand,” he said. Township resident Kira Leck said she hauls her own trash to the landfill, and thinks that people who don’t want to pay for trash collection shouldn’t have to. “I work really hard at lowering my trash output. I recycl...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Engineers are currently trying to figure how to pay for the $800,000 sewer line project from Laffery Hollow to Corwins Corners. Foster Township Engineer Roy Pedersen said they are looking into a loan from PENNVEST, and will also be updating their H2O grant application. He said they are going to "see if we can figure out a way to do it without raising rates." He added that he doesn't know when the H2O grant money will be awarded "but at least they're taking applications." When asked about the possibility that the township will actually get the grant, Pedersen said, "I don't want to give you false hope. We applied for it last year to pay for that section of sewer line ... which would have been beautiful. ... We're hoping to get 100 percent funding so there would be no local borrowing." He said they are "shovel ready," which is one of the criteria for federal stimulus money. Supervisor Chris W...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Volunteer fire departments are "officially" on the endangered species list. That's according to Foster Township Supervisor Jim Connelly Jr., who took time during Monday's supervisors meeting to address the dwindling membership of the Derrick City and Rew volunteer fire departments. "I'm going to put our Foster Township fire departments on the endangered species list," Connelly said. "We need help. It's got to be addressed." He reiterated what supervisors have been saying for months -- people don't have to fight fires to be a member of the department. Plenty of other jobs, such as maintenance and bingo, are available. Connelly acknowledged that the problem isn't unique to Foster Township. "It's a serious issue all over the United States of America," he said. "Our volunteers are falling by the wayside. Having a volunteer fire department is a luxury." "When we pick u...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Foster Township residents may be looking at an increase in taxes and sewer rates. When asked at Monday's supervisors meeting if a tax increase is in the future, Supervisor Chris Wolcott said it's a "good possibility." Among the reasons is a 24 percent increase in health insurance. Township Secretary Jennifer Gorrell said, however, that they're "not close enough yet to know what it's going to be yet." Wolcott added that they "still have some things they're going to try" so they don't have to raise taxes. Later in the meeting, Wolcott said he thinks they might have to raise the rates of sewer customers who are currently paying $24 a month. He said the township is facing "a lot" of expense related to inflow and infiltration issues, adding that the cost of grouting one 3,000-foot section of sewer line will cost $32,000. "This is just the tip of the iceberg of what we have to do to...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Truck traffic on Interstate Parkway is horrible, according to one area resident. Deb Piganelli told Foster Township Supervisors during their meeting Monday night that the drivers don't seem to care about the other drivers on the road, or people walking along the road. She said people walk along the road "all the time" and, now that summer's here, more children are out and people are driving to Allegany State Park by way of Interstate Parkway. "This isn't just one incident," she said. "This is non-stop day and night. Two and 3 o'clock in the morning they are flying up there – six, eight trucks at a time." Piganelli said she and her husband walk every night and "there are some nights we actually have to jump off into the side of the road, way into the grass, just to let them get by. And they don't seem to want to slow down whether you're walking or not. They don't even try to slow down...