Bethlehem Township’s Board of Commissioners has decided to tweak its residential resale inspection process. At an unusually collegial meeting Oct. 5, President Marty Zawarski led a discussion on changes to make things easier for residents seeking to sell their homes.

One change that has already been made is to provide home inspections when requested, as opposed to waiting until an agreement of sale is in hand. Board members also plan to eliminate some of the more onerous requirements in home inspection.

An example of this was highlighted by both Zawarski and Tom Nolan. For years, the space between stairway railing balusters was six inches apart. But a few years ago, that was suddenly reduced to require that balusters be placed every four inches. This would require homeowners to rip out and install new balusters at considerable expense.

“We need to use a little more common sense,” observed Michael Hudak.

Planning Director Nathan Jones said his staff is currently reviewing inspection requirements to weed out code requirements that are regarded as burdensome.

Commissioners also agreed, by a 4-0 vote, to recognize the Freemansburg-Bethlehem Township Athletic Association as the township’s official Little League and Senior Legion sports organization. In June, the board recognized the Bethlehem Township Athletic Association, also known as the Bulldogs, as an “official” township youth sports group. Both of these organizations are nonprofits supported, in part, by public tax dollars.

According to Hudak, 98 percent of the baseball players come from the township.

In the aftermath of township police successfully tracking down and capturing a suspected burglar, commissioners had no problem approving, by a 4-0 vote, a number of funding requests for the police department. These included a Toyota Scion ($24,623), radios for detective cars ($5,920.80) and polygraph exams for new recruits ($2,550). Part of this money was awarded to the township by the Northampton County Gaming Authority in the form of grants.

Pat Breslin was absent from this meeting. Commissioners will meet again Oct. 19 at the municipal building.