Polk to suspend electronic recycling

The Polk Township supervisors on Monday voted to suspend electronic recycling at the township transfer station for the next three months while they look into alternative methods of collecting and disposing of televisions and computer monitors.

“We were notified by letter from the county that we cannot continue to collect $5 per electronic item under our grant,” said Chairman Brian Ahner. “We were charging the handling fee since we usually help get the items out of the resident’s car, we have to stack them, then we have to palletize them. By the time we ship them out of here we have handled them five times.”

Ahner said the county does not charge the township for the electronic items, but because of the amount of handling it is still costly to the township.

The supervisors will be looking into other options. In the meantime, residents can still take the items to the county on their own.

Hell Hollow

The Hell Hollow culvert replacement is underway, and the contractor said it is scheduled to be completed by Oct. 23.

Polk Township Engineer Russell Kresge Jr. said it seems that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has allowed the contractor a “little wiggle room” and he believes that the contractor may have until around Oct. 10 to clear the water, rather than the Oct. 1 date that is contained in the DEP permit.

Truck traffic

Ahner also expressed his concerns again about the seemingly overloaded dump trucks from New Jersey that have taken to using township roads rather than the designated route to and from the dumping area in Palmerton.

Ahner, who serves as the township’s paid roadmaster, said there is a new and noticeable change on the deck of the bridge on Lower Middle Creek Road. Ahner waded into the creek under the bridge and noticed that there seems to be some damage to the bridge.

The supervisors instructed Kresge to contact the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and request that the same company that conducted the bridge inspection last year be sent to reinspect the bridge to confirm the damage.

Other business

In other business the township agreed to purchase anti-skid from Hanson aggregates at a rate of $11 per ton picked up or $15.50 per ton delivered. Hanson was more expensive than Locust Ridge at $8 per ton for pickup, but Ahner pointed out that the cost of using the township trucks to go over the Effort Mountain actually makes Locust Ridge more expensive for pickup and Locust Ridge’s delivery price was considerably higher than Hanson.