PO © In Sunday, January 22, 2012 THE DALLAS POST PAGE 3 elometown Hero Project continues The Dallas Lions Hometown Hero Project 2011 was very well received, and based on the num- ber of requests and inquires about possible sponsorships for next year, the club has decided to once again promote the project for 2012 in partnership with Fron- tier Communications. ; The project will be a tribute to those men and women from the Back Mountain who have served or who are presently serving in any branch of the military. The Hometown Hero Project is a street pole banner program. The banners are 30” wide and 60” high. Each banner is unique and honors a specific honoree. The banners include a picture of the service man or woman in uni- form, branch of service, era of ser- vice and rank. Photos can be in black and white or in color. The banners will be placed throughout Dallas Borough on Memorial Day and displayed through Veterans Day. At the con- clusion of the program, banners will be given to family members. Sponsorship cost for each ban- ner is $200. Family members and loved ones of service men and women may purchase a banner themselves or obtain sponsor- ship by a local business. Should a family wish to pur- chase a banner the family name will appear on the bottom of the Planning the 2012 Hometown Heroes project sponsored by the Dallas Lions Club are, from left, seat- oC ed, Don Berlew, project chairman; Dan Corbett, president; Joe Czarnecki, secretary. Standing, Joe Hudak, lion tamer; Joe Dwinchick, director; and Dave Fitch, director. banner. Businesses that sponsor a banner could have their name at the bottom of the banner. Any proceeds from the project will be donated to the 1st Lieu- tenant Michael J. Cleary Founda- tion. Sponsorship forms will be available at the Dallas Borough office, Frontier Communications office, Dallas American Legion Post #672, Back Mountain Me- morial Library and NAPA Auto Parts. For additional information, contact project chairman Don Berlew at 675-4360 or 760-6147 or Dallas Lions P.O. Box 54, Dal- las, PA 18612. Deadline for spon- sorships is March 31. see fax By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com Luzerne County residents in the Lake-Lehman School District could see a 4.4 in- crease in their property tax- es for the 2012-13 year as shown in the board’s prelimi- nary budget approved on Monday. Business . Manager Tho- mas Melone of Albert Mel- one & Co. presented the $27.4 million budget to the board, which will increase millage rates to 9.28 for those living in the Luzerne County municipalities of Harveys Lake Borough and Jackson, Lake, Lehman and Ross townships. A mill is $1 for every $1,000 in average assessed property value. Melone said the increase will translate to an addition- al $54.90 for the year for an average assessed property value of $141,241. LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICT Residents may Increase The budget set the millage rate at 53.52 mills for those living in Noxen Township in Wyoming County, which is a slight decrease from last year’s millage. This trans- lates to a decrease of $57.55 for the average assessed property value of $14,932. The percentage increase for Luzerne County resi- dents goes above the Act 1 index, a state-wide limit to how much school boards can raise property taxes. This year the Act 1 index is 2.1 percent, and the dis- trict will need to apply for special exceptions to cover the proposed increase. Melone said the district will apply for special excep- tions in retirement contribu- tions and special education. Special exceptions are “ex- traordinary circumstances” in which the rise in costs for certain programs dwarfs the amount of revenue that See TAX, Page 10 IT ——— ~ Dallas Township 0 get second gas metering station ‘By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com @®.. natural gas metering station will be located in Dallas Township, as the zoning hearing board recently approved Wil- liams Field Services LLC's re- quest to build a facility off Low- er Demunds Road. The facility, opposed by sever- al local residents, will be located on 4.29 acres about 2,682 feet from the Dallas School District campus, 1,140 feet from the clos- est residence, 1,651 feet from the closest residential development and 2,249 feet from the Evangel ical Free Church on Hildebrandt ad. Nilliams has already put the “nishing touches on a 33-mile natural gas pipeline that runs from Springville Township, Sus- quehanna County to Dallas Township. It carries natural gas from wells to the Transco inter- state pipeline, also owned by Williams, which then sends the gas to market. The purpose of the metering station is to measure the quanti- ty and quality of the natural gas. The facility includes a meter- ing building, a flow control building, a pig receiver and a fil- ter at the site. A pig is a device that runs through the pipeline to remove debris from the line. The zoning hearing board of- fered several conditions for Wil- liams to follow in order to con- struct the facility. Many of the conditions were similar to those imposed on an- other gas company, Chief Gath- ering LLC, which received ap- proval to build a metering sta- tion Dec. 7 after nearly a year of Williams has already put the finishing touches on a 33-mile nat- ural gas pipeline that runs from Springville Township, Susquehan- na County to Dallas Township. It carries natural gas from wells to the Transco interstate pipeline, also owned by Williams, which then sends the gas to market. hearings. The Williams hearings began just last month. Williams must comply with the following conditions: e Install a fast-acting shut-off valve upstream of the facility and a valve to prevent the back- flow of natural gas downstream from the metering station to minimize the effects of a poten- tial leak. | e Provide certification that the valves have been installed to the township engineer. eo Construct a 6-foot-high ‘fence with barbed wire to be no less’ than 50 feet away from ground equipment at all points. e Post warning signs around the perimeter of the property. e Meet with local emergency responders and officials from the Dallas School District to devel- op an appropriate emergency re- sponse plan. e Maintain a system integrity plan for the metering facility ap- plicable to federal and national industry guidelines. e Do not store any hazardous materials at the site. e Install a remotely-con- trolled video monitoring system at the site ¢ Do not use Fairground Road as an access road to the site. The company has already spent about $10 million to com- plete a metering facility in Northmoreland Township, Wyoming County, where much of the controversial equipment for the Dallas Township site will be located. Those items removed from the Lower Demunds Road site include a 100-foot communica- tions tower, mercaptan tanks, odorant building, communica- tions building, condensate tanks and a 10-foot flare. Residents had questions about the company’s plan to de- velop a better communication system with the township in or- der to quell concerns when work is performed at the site, Supervisor Liz Martin said she and emergency manage- ment coordinators are creating a website to keep residents in- formed about work on the line and Williams officials have agreed to provide the township with information. Also, resident Chuck Borland said he noticed a pig receiver already located at the site, and provided photos as evidence. He asked why the mechanism was constructed prior to the board issuing a decision on the matter. Williams attorney Shawn Gal- lagher said the pig receiver al- ready onsite is part of the Springville Gathering Line and not the metering facility. The pig receiver approved will be a larger mechanism that will al- low a smart pig, which collects data about the pipeline, to pass through. HARVEYS LAKE Council votes to oppose legislation SUSAN BETTINGER Dallas Post Correspondent Council voted to write letters of opposition to legislation relat- ed to gas drilling during its regu- lar meeting on Jan. 17. The letters, which will be ad- dressed to state Sen. Lisa Baker and state Rep. Karen Boback, oppose Senate Bill 1100 because it would take away any rights the borough has in regards to the gas zoning laws, borough of- ficials said. SB1100 is coupled with House Bill 1950, which allows the bor- ough to receive impact fees. Former council member Diane Dwyer stated the two bills should be voted on sepa- rately. In a letter to Baker, profes- sional geologist Sid Halsor points out that SB 1100 would re- quire “every municipality to al- low gas drilling operations in ev- ery zoning district.” Halsor is currently a member of the Envi- ronmental Advisory Council of Harveys Lake. Dwyer also said there was an incorrect statement in the min- utes of the Dec. 20 council meet- ing. The minutes state that all seven members of council, along with Mayor Clarence Ho- gan, had made the decision to forego their yearly stipends in order to balance the borough’s budget. Dwyer pointed out only the seven council members agreed to give up their stipends, but the mayor will still receive his. The decision to have the 911 home addresses displayed on all borough mailboxes has not yet been voted on and is in the proc- ess of being studied from all le- gal aspects. Police offer identity theft advice Dallas Township Police Department offers tips on protecting identity. The Dallas Township Po- lice Department advises resi- dents to guard their personal information to avoid identity theft. Several township residents have been contacted by tele- phone and electronic mail by people seeking information regarding personal banking.. In one case, the caller ted that the Dallas Town- @ resident had won a large m of money and a small fee was necessary to process the prize. Another asked for banking information so the prize could be electronically X tion on delivered to a checking ac- count. Legitimate operations do not call or e-mail asking for such information. Anyone re- ceiving such calls or e-mails should not provide private in- formation or send money. Residents are advised to shred financial documents and paperwork with personal information before discard- ing them. Social Security numbers should be protected. Resi- dents are advised not to carry their Social Security card in their wallets or write their Social Security number on a personal check. Residents are advised not give out personal informa- the telephone through the mail or over the Internet unless they have ini- tiated the contact and know with whom they are dealing. Links sent in unsolicited emails should never be opened. Residents are ad- vised to use firewalls, anti- spyware and anti-virus soft- ware to protect home com- puters. Obvious password like birth dates, mother’s maiden name or the last four digits of a Social Security number should never be used. Personal information should be kept in a secure place at home, especially for those who have roommates, employ outside help or are having work done in their homes. DALLAS BOROUGH Council will seek funding to address water drainage issues “We don't know what we're going to do yet because we don't want to spend money on engineering fees on a project if we don't have the funding. The size of the project will be determined by whether or not By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com Borough officials said Wednes- day they are looking into funding sources to solve water drainage is- sues along Toby Creek. Borough Manager Tracey Carr said she and the borough engineer have been conducting research to find funding sources for a Toby Creek maintenance project that would alleviate water drainage and other issues along the water- way. Residents told council about problems with water drainage at council meetings after tropical storms Irene and Lee dumped re- cord amounts of rain on the Back Mountain within a two-week peri- od. Carr said she has contacted state Department of Environmen- tal Protection officials to discuss storm water and flooding con- cerns along Columbia Avenue, at the American Legion and at Leg- gio’s Restaurant. She said the consent of all prop- erty owners would be a require ment for the project, and costs may need to be shared with property owners as well. “We don’t know what we're go- ing to do yet because we don’t want to spend money on engineer- ing fees on a project if we don’t have the funding,” said Carr. “The size of the project will be deter- mined by whether or not we can I we can secure funding.” Dallas Borough Manager Tracey Carr About Toby Creek water drainage issues secure funding.” She also said borough engineer Brent Berger is in the process of contacting officials from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for a partial grant to complete the work. The grant would require a 15 percent contribution from the borough and property owners. Carr also announced Berger is working with the state Depart- ment of Transportation to ensure the agency’s designs for a round- about in the center of Dallas Bor- ough would be in accordance with the flow of Toby Creek, which flows underneath that area. In other news, council will con- sider banning all clothing and fur- niture donation boxes within the borough at its next meeting. Solicitor Jeff Malak said the do- nation boxes are located in parking lots and other common areas, and the overflow of items often blocks access to traffic. Carr said she has received sever- al complaints about the various do- nation boxes located within the borough over the last few months. Council also passed a resolution acknowledging the inclusion of Dallas Township into the Back Mountain Regional Emergency Management Agency, and ap- proved Alan Pugh as an assistant coordinator of the regional group. Malak also said council will con- sider the adoption of a “BYOB” or- dinance in March. The bring-your- own-bottle ordinance refers to res- taurants that allow customers to bring their own alcohol rather than selling it in-house. Carr said there have been re- quests in the borough about estab- lishing BYOB policies at restau- rants. She learned that the policy is not governed by the Liquor Con- trol Board, but rather the munici- pality in which the restaurant re- sides, so council must have alaw in place to regulate the policy. Malak said the law would en- sure that alcohol would be handled appropriately at those restaurants and would include regulations such as hours of consumption. The next Dallas Borough Coun- cil meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Feh.15 if) the fiuidipatbitlding
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