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An ongoing disagreement over how much financial liability the Northern Lebanon School District has concerning a sidewalk installation project in Bethel Township appears to be settled.
At their Tuesday, Aug. 12 meeting, school board directors unanimously agreed to pay Bethel Township $50,820 for roadwork improvements in lieu of completing a sidewalk installation on Airport Road near Shirk Drive.
Read More: (July 2026) Greble Road closure, sidewalk project drive Bethel Twp. supervisors meeting (Updated)
Assistant superintendent Dr. Bradley Reist told LebTown following Tuesday’s meeting that the district had agreed to pay that amount as part of its schedule of fees agreement with the township prior to construction of a new elementary school and renovations to the high school.
“If you go back all the way to the beginning of the approval of the elementary project, there is a schedule of fees that are associated with that project. And so our escrow amount at the township would be reduced based on this work being done. I believe that number came out of the value assigned to the sidewalk work,” Reist said. “So it was a number that would have been agreed upon at the beginning of the project, not something that just came out of the air later. Although we, again, have to confirm that.”
The cost of the sidewalk project became more complicated due to other issues impacting what normally would be a fairly simple installation. Flooding of private land along the sidewalk’s path and the proximity of a nearby stream, which will require Department of Environmental Protection permits and other considerations before construction can commence, greatly inflated the project’s estimated cost.
What should have been a fairly straightforward installation costing the agreed-upon amount ballooned to an estimated $310,000 due to the additional work required to mitigate the water issues and meet DEP requirements.
“The scope of the work spread beyond what the district expected the scope of the work to be. We want to be a good partner with Bethel. We want them to be a good partner with us,” Reist said. “We’re just looking for a mutual agreement on the scope that was reasonable for the project.”
Learning of the ongoing disagreement, Bell & Evans officials – who had hit a roadblock for obtaining right-of-way access to private property for its own sidewalk installation on Route 22 at Fredericksburg Road – agreed to complete the Airport Road installation as an in-lieu-of payment, according to chief operating officer Mike Bracrella.
He noted at the July township supervisors meeting that the poultry producer is willing to pay the full cost of the project from its own funds to avoid paying prevailing wages, which would be required if school district funding were included with the project.
Many municipalities have ordinances allowing certain community enhancements to be required as part of approving construction projects.
Bethel Township requires sidewalks to be built within the municipality, generally near the new construction. A public sidewalk or an in-lieu-of payment for the township to use at its discretion for other beautification efforts are ways to meet the ordinance terms.
Over the past several months, the district has offered the township a payment totaling $57,000 in lieu of doing the Airport Road sidewalk project.
During their mid-July meeting, all three supervisors expressed concerns about the school district’s failure to complete a sidewalk that they agreed to build more than three years ago, and a long discussion ensued when it was learned that the district’s funds couldn’t be co-mingled with monies provided by Bell & Evans.
Since that meeting, however, township and school district officials have been in discussions to reach a financial agreement, according to district business manager/board treasurer Leanne Martin, who discussed with LebTown after the board meeting the recent progress that’s been made concerning this issue.
“My understanding is that they are going to accept this (check) and then it’s going to be completed. I had a conversation with Mr. Mack (township engineer). Missy (township business manager) was on the email as well,” Martin said. “They would like the check and close this (out).”
The next supervisors meeting is at 7 p.m. Thursday at the township building in Fredericksburg, with “Airport Road Curbing and Sidewalks” on the agenda.
Other board business
In other business, the board voted unanimously (unless otherwise noted) to:
- Approve the payment of vouchers in the Statement of Cash Transactions in the general, construction, and cafeteria funds in the amount of $6,174,470.18 for June and $5,462,682.86 for July. (Disbursements for June and July were reviewed by the board treasurer.)
- Approve the superintendent’s salary at $200,720, retroactive to July 1. (Director Shen Kreiser voted no.)
- Approve Erica Wilkinson as elementary assistant principal at a salary of $95,824, prorated to her start date, which is to be determined as mutually agreed upon.
- Approve the athletic staff pay rates for 2026-27.
- Approve the school security guard job description.
- Approve a variety of personnel transactions.
- Approve the Student Activity Account statements for June and July.
- Approve a memorandum of understanding between Compass Mark and NLSD.
- Approve an affiliation agreement between Wilson College and NLSD.
- Approve a dual enrollment agreement between Messiah University and NLSD.
- Approve the IU13 intergovernmental agreement — Nonpublic School Services Consortium — Title 1 Shared Services.
- Approve the Vista School Year Educational Services contract.
- Approve the IU13 technical agreement for 2026-27.
- Approve the IU13 Special Education Legal Consortium.
- Approve library book orders for the elementary library totaling $8,488.35.
- Approve the substitute teacher list for August. (Director Robbie England abstained.)
- Approve a five-year agreement with Turf Track & Court LLC for field maintenance services at the district’s synthetic turf fields.
- Approve the attached five-year agreement with Turf Track & Court LLC for G-Max testing for synthetic turf athletic fields.
- Approve Rufus Brubaker Refrigeration LLC, COSTARs to replace the wood shop HVAC unit for $65,500. (Director Benjamin Moyer voted no.)
- Approve a change order for soil remediation of a small basin west of the baseball field. (Moyer voted no.)
- Approve a change order with Construction Masters Services for undercutting the unsuitable soils and replacing with 3A soil and a geogrid back to stabilize the soil. (Moyer voted no.)
- Approve the RJ McCarveille Assoc. LTD three-year maintenance agreement for the Signature 800 and 700 series moveable partitions in the elementary school.
- Approve the annual Northern Lebanon Secondary School Improvement Plan for the 2026-27 school year (ATSI Plan).
- Approve the agreement with Mindy Nguyen (American Speech Language Hearing Association supervisor) to provide clinical supervision and mentorship to speech and language pathologists seeking clinical certification.
Committee reports
During committee reports, it was noted a new law regarding 30-minute mandated recess for elementary school students per school day, preferably held outdoors, goes into effect during the 2027-28 school year, not 2026-27 as widely believed.
New teacher induction days will be held Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 19-20, and the first day of the 2026-27 school year for students is Monday, Aug. 31.
The school board meeting can be viewed online and detailed information concerning approved actions can be read on the district’s website.
Next board meeting
The next meeting of the Northern Lebanon school board will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 8, at 6:30 p.m. in the administration building board room, in the east side of the elementary school, 346 School Drive, Fredericksburg.
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