BARNESVILLE — The township supervisors will beef up their efforts to collect delinquent garbage fees through the township solicitor.
The supervisors and solicitor Christopher Riedlinger discussed three options on how the collection effort could be done at Monday’s regular monthly meeting. The discussion followed up on a similar discussion at the April meeting.
“Last month, we talked about the garbage bills that are pretty high,” Vice Chairman Clyde “Champ” Holman said. “At the time, he (Riedlinger) said you could hire him and send some letters out saying that we’ll attach liens onto the properties. He does this for Gordon, and I think he does this for Rush Township.”
Holman said in addition to the solicitor option, other options would be to continue to use Creditech Inc. for collections or consider Portnoff Law Associates LTD., a law firm that focuses on delinquent collections and legal actions that is used by municipalities, authorities and school districts in the area.
“He (Riedlinger) gave the scenarios of using Creditech or turning it over to Portnoff or doing it with him,” Holman said. “If we do it with either Portnoff or him, and in order for us to get all our monies back when you lien a property, you have to do an ordinance under the municipal laws.”
Holman said the costs involved in giving the collection duties to Portnoff will include additional costs to the township, as well as for the delinquent accounts.
“We don’t have to put up front money with Portnoff. It will be a lot more of a burden on the people who don’t pay,” Holman said. “And if (Portnoff) sends a letter out, there is a cost added to the delinquent, where Creditech is a flat fee. In the case of Chris Riedlinger, our solicitor, we do the ordinance for the lien, but the lien part must also have an ordinance for the purpose of getting the attorney fees back.”
Holman made the motion to go with Riedlinger, which was seconded by Supervisor Franklin Fetter, and approved unanimously with Chairman David Morgan.
“And Frank Fetter mentioned that if you don’t pay with Creditech, they’re kind of like a utility and it will affect your credit rating,” Holman said.
Holman said if the township pursues a sheriff’s sale for collection of the delinquent fees, it would cost the township a few thousand dollars.
“We’ll do an ordinance and go with Chris,” Holman said.
According to Holman, the total garbage fee delinquencies is about $14,000 and growing.
In other business, the supervisors approved a subdivision plan by Anthony and Marybeth Mastrandrea on a Pine Street property between Fourth and Fifth avenues at the former Lakewood Park property. The plan was submitted to the township planning commission and William McMullen of ARRO Consulting Inc. and approved on the 0.72-acre property. A house will be constructed at the site.
The supervisors thanked the members of Boy Scout Troop 725 for cleaning up Brockton Road, and a resident commended the police for watching over the Scouts as they did their project.
The 2016 road project was approved by the supervisors.
“What we’ll do is finish off Chee Street this year, which is about $97,000,” Holman said.
He added, “We hope to have about $100,000 to $150,000 next year and maybe borrow $300,000. That will be the talk at next month’s meeting. We’ll be searching for the best interest rate. As most municipalities, we have a dire need to fix our roads and we obviously need money. So we’re going to get the most bang for our buck.”
During the public portion, the road crew was thanked for cleaning drains to prevent them from being overloaded during the recent heavy rains.