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Although they did not take action at a meeting on Thursday, Aug. 13, Bethel Township supervisors plan to revisit a sidewalk installation disagreement with Northern Lebanon School District in September.
Melissa Johnson, township manager and treasurer/secretary, told LebTown after the meeting that there will be an action item on next month’s agenda for supervisors to consider.
They will discuss accepting an in-lieu-of payment from the school district for a sidewalk installation project that’s been assumed by Bell & Evans. In July, supervisors had expressed concerns about the district not fulfilling its original installation agreement with the township and the district’s financial liability regarding that matter.
On Tuesday, the school board unanimously agreed to pay Bethel Township $50,820 for roadwork improvements in lieu of completing the sidewalk installation on Airport Road near Shirk Drive.
Johnson said she understands that township engineer Matthew Mack, who did not attend Thursday’s meeting, had reached an agreement with the district to settle the sidewalk issue. She added, however, that the check’s acceptance is contingent upon supervisors approving the measure at their September meeting.
While the school district was responsible for the installation as part of its new elementary school project, the estimated cost of installation ballooned from $50,000 to $310,000 when it was learned that stormwater mitigation would be required due to flooding and a nearby stream.
Bell & Evans’ officials agreed to take over the project in place of the school district since it was having its own installation issues in another part of the township after being unable to obtain right-of-way clearance with a private business for that job.
In a separate matter involving the project, supervisors, at the recommendation of township solicitor Andrew Morrow, tabled until next month consideration of a permanent stormwater easement agreement for 200 Airport Road.
“On Tuesday afternoon, I was presented with a permanent stormwater easement agreement that named the township as a party. I did not know it existed prior to that time. Apparently, in the construction of the sidewalk along Airport Road, it was discovered that the township is going to require permanent stormwater easement for purposes of construction maintenance repair, replacement of stormwater improvements,” Morrow said. “I did take a little bit of time and did an initial review and I discovered a couple of words that need to be changed. I need the opportunity to speak with Matt (Mack) about this because, again, I was told about this just a couple days ago.”
Morrow added he would review the document’s wording and plans to present at September’s meeting an amended version for the supervisors to consider for adoption.
Other board actions
In other business, supervisors voted unanimously to:
- Accept the financial report ending Aug. 13, with a balance of $524,158.30 in the general fund and pay invoices from the general fund totaling $162,474.82.
- Accept a low-bid submission of $365,800 from A.K. Petersheim Builders LLC of Gap, including two add-on options for the new municipal storage building project. The other two bids were from Dutchman Contracting of Reinholds for $379,647 and Centurion Construction Group LLC of Lewisberry for $589,181.
- Table a financial security request for the Northern Lebanon School District stadium project for a field house and related site improvements.
- Grant a waiver request to Freebird Chicken, 220 North Center St., for a land development plan for two small building additions at the plant.
- Provide three waiver requests to Bell & Evans for their Plant 2 parking extension project. Waivers include submission of a required preliminary/final land development plan, location map scale that one inch equals 800 feet, and the required 36” distance between the stormwater best management practice recommendation and the limiting zone.
- Pay C.M. High Inc. of Myerstown a total of $4,586.15 for three preventative highway maintenance repairs.
- Adopt a resolution for two agricultural security area applications for Michael and Richelle Blecker at 221 Long Road and 1667 Mount Zion Road since there has not been any major modifications to those applications over the past 180 days.
- Approve a complimentary splash party for the township’s America250 contest winner.
- Pay Reed’s Lock & Access Control $3,573.99 to replace all of the locks at the township pool, and also to spend $1,975.19 to have the same company replace eight doors at the same location.
- Agree to close the township pool at Lion’s Park at 6 p.m. for the rest of the 2026 season due to a lack of use during evening hours.
- Agree to close the pool for the season on Aug. 23, since that’s the day that staff members return to college.
- Require child clearance checks for all park and recreation members and volunteers.
- Set Friday, Oct. 23 from 5 to 7 p.m. as the annual Trunk or Treat event at Lion’s Park.
- Allow township staff to attend the annual Lebanon County Municipal Official Convention on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at the Lebanon Valley Expo Center & Fairgrounds.
- Reimburse the new IRS mileage rate of 76 cents per mile, effective July 1.
- Grant two special fire police duty requests. The first is for the Fredericksburg Special Fire Police to cover Hinkelfest, which runs from Sept. 18- 20, while the second is for Mount Zion Fire Company to work at an event at the Lebanon Valley Expo Center & Fairgrounds on Sept. 18-19.
- Agree to extend to Sept. 21, based on a request from Isaac Simmons, 154 Airport Road, for the board to decide whether or not to grant his driveway waiver request. The agreement is contingent upon Simmons providing written confirmation of his request to the township by Aug. 17, or the waiver request will be denied.
- Approve their July 9 meeting minutes.
Executive session
Following the meeting’s adjournment, supervisors and the township solicitor went into executive session to discuss personnel matters.
Next meeting
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the township supervisors is on Thursday, Sept. 10, at 7 p.m. in the board room of the municipal building at 3015 S. Pine Grove St., Fredericksburg.
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