Whitehall Mayor Edward D. Hozza Jr. spoke at the Whitehall Township Crime Watch meeting March 23. His presentation included this year's economic direction and future plans and goals for Whitehall Township.

New recycling toters will be introduced later this year. Currently, the township has stackable milk crates for recyclables.

These bigger recycling bins will allow more items to fit inside.

Hozza also reminded attendees they do not have to separate items for recycling.

"You don't have to separate anything anymore," Hozza said. "You can mix everything."

Perkins Restaurant and Bakery on MacArthur Road had to close due to a fire on March 30, 2014. Hozza informed the audience the building will be demolished.

"Perkins will be coming down," he said. "The restaurant chain did not want to reopen, but the owner of the property has to negotiate with Perkins to get out of the lease. The owner of the property has another project going in."

At this time, it is not known what the project might be.

Route 22 was one of the plans discussed for the future.

"We're looking at 2020-22 for the widening of Route 22," Hozza said.

Because of the widening, telephone poles, electric poles and billboards will have to be moved back for the construction.

Hozza also discussed some new developments that occurred at the township's municipal building in 2015.

"The building is celebrating 50 years this year, and this was the only area of the building that did not have roof drains," he said. "So [recently] when it was dry, a roof drain was installed here, and you'll see a gutter going outside for the gardens, and a roof drain was installed back here, and the amount of water over here was six inches. So that will get rid of the water, so we never have to worry about a wet T-shirt contest [with] Linda Snyder."

Snyder serves as president of the Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners.

When contacted for comment, Snyder said, "It's totally unprofessional for a mayor to speak like that at a public meeting, but I considered the source. Evidently, that is the mayor's style of humor. No big deal. I'm just one of the guys. I can take it. I'm not a crybaby. And guess what? It's not worth it.

"But how would he feel if someone made a remark like that about his wife or daughter?"

Crime Watch meetings are held in the public meeting room of the Whitehall Township Municipal Building on MacArthur Road the fourth Monday of each month. Meetings start at 7 p.m. and are open to the public.