Hanover Township Council Chairman Bruce Paulus opened the regular meeting Oct. 5 with a discussion on trash collection.

“We have a contract with [J.P. Mascaro & Sons] that calls for annual renewals,” he said. “The price we are paying now is $335 per household. It seems higher than some of the surrounding communities.”

Paulus acknowledged J.P. Mascaro & Sons picks up everything put to the curb and has recycling weekly.

The size of the residential base is small; there are only 476 residences in the township.

During the discussion, no one cited any instances when J.P. Mascaro & Sons had performed poorly.

The council is interested in learning if it can get an acceptable level of service at a lower cost.

“Maybe we don’t need recycling every week,” Paulus said. “We want to see pricing if recycling is done every other week. But we do need to look at options.”

Council agreed and asked the solicitor to put together a bid package.

Paulus notified J.P. Mascaro & Sons of the township’s intention to rebid the contract.

Also at the meeting, Paulus said pending state legislation would allow slot machines in airports and off-track betting locations.

He reported he is in talks with Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-18th, about revenue sharing. Hanover Township has an airport and an off-track location.

The township will install a fence along the property line between Chestnut Grove and the Days Inn. The properties were separated by a row of arborvitae. The trees were removed when sewer lines were replaced. The township Engineer Albert Kortze recommended no new plantings be installed over the new sewer lines.

Kortze also verified Catasauqua Lake is dry.

“We originally thought we had another sink hole, but we walked the whole lake and found no evidence of a sink hole,” he said. “It appears that the problem has been the extended drought.”

The fish in the lake were moved to the Lehigh River.

The borough has spent thousands to stock the lake and worked closely with the state game commission to ensure the stock was well fed and growing.

Fishing was denied during the management process.

The lake is expected to come back once the rains can replenish its source water supply.

“This time, I think we will let the fish come on their own,” Paulus said. “We are out of the fish business.”

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Prior to council’s regular meeting Oct. 19, a special meeting will be held to address township fines.

“The intent of a fine is to deter action,” Councilman Bob Heimbecker said. “Some of our fines are too low.” The special meeting will begin 6:30 p.m.

Trick-or-treat night in the township is scheduled for Oct. 28. This could be a boon to trick-or-treaters, as Catasauqua has trick-or-treat night scheduled Oct. 29. Goblins and ghosts with a sweet tooth can get double-duty from their Halloween costumes.