Upper Milford Township resident Gerald L. Reinbold Jr. was back before the Upper Milford Supervisors April 18 to ask about the status of his complaint about a neighbor’s unregistered vehicles parking in public streets and his complaint about the neighbor’s chickens.

He was pleased to learn Upper Milford Township had sent a team out to inspect the area and sent certified letters to not only Reinbold’s immediate neighbor but to several other property owners in the area regarding the same issue.

Failure to respond appropriately to the letters of complaint, Upper Milford Township Attorney Marc Fisher said, could lead to the problems being brought before a district magistrate judge.

“We want vehicles moved permanently,” Fisher said.

Fisher said the township prefers compliance rather than collecting fines.

“I’m thankful that you have started,” Reinbold said.

When Reinhold pressed the supervisors about the problem of his neighbor’s errant chickens being on his property, he was told Upper Milford Township does not have an animal control ordinance.

In other business, Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong attended the meeting and spoke for a few minutes, asking Upper Milford Township leaders and citizens to participate in the upcoming census. “Every person not counted costs Lehigh County $10,000 over the years.”

Having listened to the discussion about junk yard properties, Armstrong said, “We had a conference yesterday on blight. The thing you want to do is to take care of your own problems. We recommend the carrot and stick approach.”

Supervisor Robert Sentner, who is also a fireman, was concerned residents were starting fires to burn refuse, but that caused their neighbors to call in fire alarms thus causing the fire departments to respond with their expensive and cumbersome vehicles to what amounts to a “bonfire.”

“We spend a lot of money on salary for code enforcement,” Sentner said. “We need to get more from our code officer. Something needs to be changed.”

The supervisors approved an ordinance governing timber harvesting.

Supervisors reappointed Judith Parker, Mathew Hunter and Alternate Sentner to new terms ending April 30, 2023.

Supervisors also approved four new farm preservation resolutions. This will put the number of acres under preservation at 11,020 acres in the township.

Emmaus Public Library representative Lisa Marten announced the Emmaus Public Library was awarded the “Gold Level PA Forward Star Program” award “for successfully incorporating the five literacies in their library programming. The five literacies are: basic literacy – which incorporates areas such as story time, displays and author visits; information literacy – entailing such things as basic computer classes and author visits; civic and social literacy – music programs, games, museum pass program and linguistic series; health literacy – such things as seed check out, information and programs dealing with health related issues and partnering with health care professions and financial literacy – involves programs dealing with personal finance, real estate and similar matters.

“This is, at present, the highest award to be earned by Pennsylvania libraries,” Marten said.