South Annville Township extends contract with Kreider Paving for one year

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

During its Sept. 10 meeting, the South Annville Township Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion to extend a contract with Kreider Paving, which handles the township’s roadwork, for another year.

Last year, Kreider Paving submitted the lowest — and ultimately winning — bid with a one-year period, with the exceptions that South Annville Township and Ed Kreider both agreed to extend the contract for another year.

The other item for consideration at the meeting was the Campbelltown Fire Company box card change, which supervisors unanimously approved a motion to accept. Lebanon County already approved the change but still needed South Annville Township to accept it.

During the updates portion of the meeting, Marty Brandt, president of the Annville Free Library Board of Directors, told supervisors that the library’s expansion project has been successfully completed, though something to do always remains.

With South Annville Township’s continued support of the Annville Free Library, Brandt said the library is on track to welcome 46,000 visitors and circulate 83,000 items in 2025.

Brandt added that patrons are especially interested in attending programs and activities at the library. In 2019, the library hosted 400 programs that attracted 5,700 people. In 2024, the library hosted 650 programs that attracted 8,200 people.

As the library works to meet the changing needs of its community, Brandt requested supervisors consider the library and the increased cost of insurance, utilities, and potentially staff wages when they work on their budget for next year.

Brandt also introduced Ronice Nolt, the new library director, who provided supervisors with a copy of the library’s newsletter.

She reported that in March the library unofficially opened its creativity center, which she described as “a small room but with amazing possibilities,” and has hosted nine classes in the space since then, and acquired a 3D printer recently.

“When we were doing our expansion project, one of the taglines was ‘Not only a building for books but a place for people,’ because our attendance is up, but book circulation is not as high,” Brandt, who earlier attributed these circulation numbers to their unnamed competitor in streaming services, said. “Bring your kids. We love to see kids go out with big stacks of books.”

Read More: Annville Free Library reports record attendance, requests funding bump

Township staff reminded supervisors to let them know if they are interested in attending the Lebanon County Association of Municipal Officials Convention by the deadline on Tuesday, Sept. 30, so they can register. As of Sept. 10, second vice chairman Garry Rhine was planning to attend the convention.

Also during updates, township staff mentioned Norie Hawes, a South Annville Township resident who would like brake retarder signs installed on Route 934. Township staff previously explained to Hawes that the township would need to ask PennDOT for permission since Route 934 is not a township road. South Annville contacted PennDOT and was awaiting a response as of Sept. 10.

During public comment, Ed Fogelsanger, who serves as township representative to the Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority, said he will provide supervisors with a packet of the new recycling roundups, which were distributed at the refuse authority’s meeting the night before.

Also during public comment, David Risser, who lives on Louser Road, expressed interest and concern about a chicken house that may be built on the Martin farm on Louser Road near Mount Pleasant Road, which is less than a quarter mile from his home.

“There’s been nothing said to the township about it,” vice chairman John Harrell responded. “It’s all been hearsay. I don’t know where they’re at with it. I’d say I probably heard about it maybe a year and a half ago already. So, if they’re still doing it, they’re still working on it at that end.”

In other news, supervisors unanimously moved to:

• Approve the secretary’s and treasurer’s reports.
• Approve the engineer’s report, which includes:
  • Realignment of the intersection of Mount Pleasant Road and Reigerts Lane, which Allison Garner said went “pretty smoothly,” except for some questions from the contractors.
  • The widening of the frontage of the Carmany Place project on Mount Pleasant Road, which Garner said “looks satisfactory.” If the township decides to repave Mount Pleasant Road in the future, it can decide whether to widen the travel lanes. For now, the placement of the white lines remains the same, resulting in a wider shoulder.
  • A meeting between Garner and her colleague, Mike Knouse, and Dennis and Lois Miller, who have an issue with a water easement on their Louser Road property, is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 12, to assess the property and determine the best course of action.
  • A draft of the MS4 annual report is projected to be ready early this week.
• Approve the police report, which includes 204 incidents for South Annville Township and 44 for regional, as well as 320 hours for township and 43 for regional.
• Approve the payment of township bills.

Near the end of the meeting, Harrell told firefighters: “Thank everybody for what they did over at Weaber’s.” South Annville Township Chief of Police Ben Sutcliffe reported that as of earlier that day, Warehouse Five, which is adjacent to Warehouse Six, was 98 percent up and running.

Read More: Three-alarm blaze at Weaber Lumber facility expected to smolder for days

South Annville Township supervisors meet at 7 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month. Meetings are held in the township building at 1042 Horseshoe Pike, which features an ADA-accessible ramp and an on-site parking lot with ADA-accessible spaces, and are open to the public. Next month’s meeting will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 8.