"This is the best I've seen yet," Upper Milford Township supervisor George DeVault said Nov. 1 of the township's response to Hurricane Sandy.

DeVault, who is also a member of the Vera Cruz Fire Department, said a pre-storm meeting of emergency personnel was very helpful.

Most of the brief Nov. 1 supervisors' meeting was taken up by discussion of the storm and its aftermath.

Township Manager Daniel DeLong said on Tuesday morning, 100 percent of the township was without power, but by Thursday evening, only about 40 percent, in area, and probably less in terms of population was still without power.

DeVault said the fire company bought several new pumps in advance of the storm to help pump out flooded basements.

"Our big worry was that we would get trapped" by downed trees, he said, and that did happen in several cases.

Supervisor Robert Sentner expressed thanks to the public works department, the fire companies and township residents for their response to the emergency.

"Everyone did a fantastic job," he said.

He said by Thursday all township roads were open, and there had been no accidents at intersections where traffic lights were not operating.

But he said there is still room for improvement in the township's response to emergencies.

"We need to improve communication between emergency management and the fire companies," he said.

He also said there needs to be a better plan as far as providing shelters.

Martin A. Milne, pastor of Zions Lutheran Church, said he would like to help in a community effort to improve emergency management and establish a definitive shelter location.

DeLong said the good news was no fire department or public works personnel were hurt and no township equipment was damaged.

But he said PPL needs to improve communications with its customers.

"PPL thinks everyone's walking around with a smart phone in their pocket," he said.

Supervisors Chairman Daniel Mohr noted PPL's manpower is down.

"They always have to bring in people from the outside," he said, and that sometimes slowed response to outages.

Mohr also said he had received a call from a resident who had a chainsaw and was volunteering to help clear downed trees and branches. Mohr said he was concerned he could not give the resident an opportunity to help because of liability concerns.

Solicitor Marc Fisher responded that if someone just does this kind of work, without being assigned to do so by the township, there is no liability issue.

In other business, Milne also expressed concern about the safety of an 'S' curve between his church and the UCC church, where there have been numerous accidents. Supervisors agreed with him the location is a problem, but there is not a lot that can be done. There is already a warning sign recommending a speed limit of 20 mph, DeLong said.

"I think the real problem is with the drivers," Mohr said.

Supervisors also scheduled a special budget meeting for 3 p.m. Nov. 8.