Mahoning rejects tower money

Mahoning Township’s board of supervisors on Wednesday opted to turn down a lucrative lease offer due to a code technicality.

American Tower had presented Mahoning with a perpetual easement proposal for the land occupied by a cellular tower adjacent to the township building. Two options were made available, with American Tower paying $4,315 a month for 10 years, or $411,000 upfront. In either case, the easement would belong to American Tower.

Solicitor Thomas Nanovic informed the board that he had looked into a claim from American Tower that two other municipalities, Saylorsburg and Shippensburg, had entered into a similar agreement, though he found the statement to be misconstrued. In those cases, nonprofit entities Blue Ridge Hook and Ladder Company and Cumberland Valley Regional Development Corporation had entered into the agreements, not the actual municipalities.

“Under the second-class township code, if you sell real estate valued at more than $1,500, you have to go through the public bid process, or public auction. You can’t simply enter into a perpetual easement agreement,” Nanovic said.

The township engages in five-year lease contracts with American Tower, currently at the rate of about $28,000 per year. At the current rate increase, when the next five-year agreement comes up, the payments would go up to approximately $31,000 per year. Vice Chairman John Wieczorek said that the township is currently engaged in its fourth lease period, with at least one additional period remaining.

Toward the conclusion of the discussion, Wieczorek suggested that the board request an increase for the current monthly payment agreement.

“The worst they could do is say no,” he said.

The supervisors could offer a lease extension in exchange for such an increase, allowing the township to make up for some of the potential revenue lost from not entering into the perpetual lease agreement.

The board settled on having Nanovic send a response to American Tower rejecting the perpetual lease agreement offer, but stating that the township is open to discussing other terms.