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MILL HALL -- At its monthly meeting this week, Bald Eagle Township Board of Supervisors addressed potential updates to local ordinances and a follow up for Charlie Drive, among other items.
Ordinance updates
Mill Hall Police Chief Brandon Coleman attended last night's Bald Eagle Township Board of Supervisors meeting to discuss confusion around incorrectly marked roadways throughout the township.
Coleman's main concern was "Ordinances in reference to different roadways," in response to misnamed routes.
"Let me give you an example. I have an ordinance that says Route 325. It doesn't give any specific definition of the roadway. When I look at Pennsylvania state liquid fuels maps, you guys don't even have a Route 325 anymore," Coleman explained.
A liquid fuels map can sometimes refer to the official maps regarding locally maintained roads that are eligible for state funding to help with maintenance.
"The other one, the description of it gives a Route 369, which the description is 100 percent Fairpoint Road but when you look at the liquid fuels maps, 369 is Kinley Hollow, so there is something there that needs to be changed up," Coleman said.
Vice-Chairman Kenneth McGhee shared concern about the correction asking, "What are we going to do about these ordinances?"
Solicitor Frank Micelli recommended amending the ordinances that are incorrect, marking them with the current route number.
"You can just do an amendment of the ordinance to say what was in effect then under the one number is now the same road with a new number," Micelli said.
"A route number will change over time if there's a project or it receives some type of funding," Coleman added. "But for our business, we need those types of routes with an actual street name instead of just a township number because a name typically never changes."
In order to provide more of a solution to help the township, Coleman offered to create a document of the roads to allow for amendments to any incorrect ordinances.
"I'm out here on these roads and I can start taking a notebook and get a document together telling you what the routes are and get it back to (Treasurer/Secretary) Marissa (Morgan)," said Coleman.
Charlie Drive update
During the October meeting, residents who live along Charlie Drive within the township attended to discuss the township taking over maintenance to the road.
At the time, the board tabled the discussion while Micelli looked into the request.
On Monday night, Micelli shared, "I found the subdivision map from whatever year it was, and at that time it was subject to approval by the county."
While the road was approved, "It was approved as a 33 foot wide right of way," said Micelli, which does not fall into the current guidelines for the township to take over.
"It looks like the language on the map is what I call standard offer of dedication language. On a lot of subdivision plans, there'll be a block that says the owners hereby dedicating the roads and streets on this plan to the municipality. The municipality then has the option of accepting the offer," he explained. "But then the township had a duty within 21 years to accept that offer and from what I can understand, it was never accepted."
At this time, the board has continued to table the discussion pending another conversation with the residents of Charlie Drive to bring the road up to township standards before making their final decision, on the advice of Micelli.
Micelli, based on his opinion, recommended the board come up with and determine what condition the road needs to be in before the township would take it over.
"If it is stated that the road has to satisfy the current standard, then the property owner needs to know that if they bring the road up to the current standard, then you will take it over," he said.
The board has not made a final decision on Charlie Drive at this time.
Pipe Replacement
Following up on the pipe replacement discussion from last month, Morgan shared one quote with the board.
A road project that was up for discussion was the pipe replacement on Plunket Run Road.
Currently, there are nine original pipes that need to be replaced, with the addition of four pipes along Plunket Run.
The board held off on putting out a bid, claiming the project can be completed in-house, but may take longer with unexpected breaks which pushed the community to request bids be put out.
"One price (was) given and it was right around $40,000," said Morgan.
The single quote did not include any outside materials that were not purchased by the township.
Although only one quote was received, Morgan explained,"We didn't get any other quotes just because at that point we'd have to put it out for bid being over the threshold."
At this time, the board is still discussing next steps for the pipe replacement.
Special Meeting
During their special meeting on Nov. 7, supervisors discussed their continued use of Mill Hall Volunteer Fire Co. for primary fire coverage along with better communications and a quarterly donation rather than an annual donation.
A motion was also carried to approve the draft of the 2026 budget that will be discussed at their next meeting. There will be an announcement for the public if members of the community would like to attend.