By SARIT LASCHINSKY

Special to The Press

At the start of their Oct. 5 meeting, North Whitehall supervisors honored two individuals with proclamations for their years of service to the township.

First, township Secretary Brenda Norder honored Frank Kedl for 13 years of service on the township recreation board, “and the contributions he had made to making a better future for all township residents because of his time as service.”

Kedl was appointed to the board in March 2008 and served as the board’s secretary since 2012.

Norder noted he had participated in recreation land acquisition, park development, the establishment of the current recreation board, and the establishment of recreation activities.

Chairman Ronald Heintzelman presented Kedl with his proclamation.

Additionally, Norder also read a proclamation honoring Michael Basta for 33 years of service on the zoning hearing board and serving as an elected auditor.

Basta was appointed to the zoning hearing board in January 1993.

Norder said he served many years as chairman of the zoning hearing board, member and as a township auditor.

“Mike faithfully executed his duties and presided over the meetings in a professional and organized manner,” she said, as the board commended both Basta and Kedl for their dedication to the community and contributions to improving life for township residents.

Under new business David and Luke Jaindl, as well as Topher Gudmand from Vanguard Renewables, gave a cursory presentation about setting up a proposed digester near the Jaindl turkey farms.

Gudmand said digesters process food and farm waste to produce natural gas and natural fertilizer and would help establish a reduced carbon intensity score through a “no waste” closed-loop cycle.

David Jaindl said the digester proposal was evaluated for compatibility, noise, smell, traffic and aesthetics for the farm and neighboring properties.

He said the digester would occupy around 6 acres near the Jaindl’s breeder farm operation south of Shankweiler Road and would have around 10 truck trips per day to bring in waste products from the farms or off site for processing.

Jaindl said there would be no hazardous or human waste used - only food processing and resident farm byproducts.

Gudmand said there would be “almost nonexistent” odor issues as the odorous gases would be captured and cleaned for use as energy.

Additionally under presentations, township Manager Chris Garges reported an application to renew the township’s MS4 permit - related to stormwater discharge - would be submitted by the end of the year, and a new permit would be received at the start of 2021 for another five-year period.

Garges said for the permit’s next round, North Whitehall would be required to reduce its sediment load by 10 percent, and he and engineer Steve Gitch said a challenge would be find projects on land controlled by the township in order to document and capture sediment output.

Public education requirements about the MS4 permit will be included in the township’s newsletter and will also be posted to its message board.

Furthermore, the board also heard from resident Dan Linchuk, who asked the board about taking action to solve longtime water drainage and erosion issues near his property along Shady Lane.

Linchuk said the issue was due to large volumes of water from an area above his home being diverted to areas with known drainage issues.

He said the flow needed to be given a correct path.

Linchuk added the additional water “and that additional berm that was put in [across Laurel Lane] and being diverted to this known drainage issue,” caused “tempers to flare” between neighbors, which is why he was asking to board to look at the problem.

Linchuk also said during recent heavy storms the volume of water buckled the roadway and left piles of silt on the street.

“After 50 years, I just would think you would want to help resolve this issue,” he said.

Supervisor Dennis Klusaritz said Linchuk had been before the board numerous times, and proposed holding a workshop to inspect different areas, including around Shady Lane, where the township became involved with correcting or addressing drainage issues to help form a plan of action.

The board approved a motion to advertise the workshop for 10 a.m. Oct. 29 and supervisors said they would draw up a list of places to inspect.

In other business, the board approved the release of a maintenance security escrow of approximately $93,000 for Valley Road Estates.

Additionally, supervisors approved a reduction of $545,106 from the maintenance and improvement letter of credit for the Ridings at Parkland for completed and inspected improvements.

The board also approved time extensions for the Kornfeinds Apartments until Feb. 14, 2021, and for the Dalla parking lot until Nov. 30 in order to review plans.

A further time extension for 5077 Overlook Road LLC until March 29, 2021 was also approved for the board to review conditional use plans for the active adult residential community planned for the former Strawberry Acres orchard.

Supervisors also approved awarding the nine-township joint salt bid, which was done by Weisenberg Township, to Eastern Salt Company for $57.57 per ton.

They also authorized the appointment of a CPA firm to conduct the township’s 2020 fiscal year audit.

In his manager’s report Garges provided an introduction into the preliminary 2021 budget.

He said the final budget will be prepared, advertised for public comment and up for adoption in December.

Garges said some budgetary highlights including a $5,000 allocation for employee development and leadership training, increasing fire company contributions by $1,000 per company, increasing the ambulance contribution by $2,000 to $62,000, and budgeting $10,000 for yard waste facility upgrades.

Additionally, Garges said the township ordered a new sound system and camera for the meeting room.

This would allow the board to meet in person as a group, and livestream and interact with audience members via Zoom if COVID-19 restrictions prevent physical attendance.

He also requested authorization to submit two grants - one related to the Park Valley Road bridge, the other tied to the North Valley Trade Center and upgrades along Route 309 and Pennsylvania Avenue upgrades.

Garges said the grants are open through Nov. 30, and the applications would be prepared for approval and submission at the next meeting.

The next board of supervisors meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2.