STONINGTON - An engineering firm from the Allentown area that specializes in power line regulations has contacted Shamokin Township solicitor James Bathgate about possible work for the township.
The firm, which supervisors did not identify at their meeting Wednesday night, would conduct a review of all power lines on township land and report any power line violations to the board.
Currently, all compliance issues dealing with power lines are governed by the Pennsylvania Utilities Commission (PUC). Bathgate said that because of the PUC's limited resources, it is unable to check every power line in the state. In order to hire the firm to do a review, the township would need to adopt a new ordinance that would allow it to directly enforce power line regulations against PPL. Bathgate said such an ordinance could generate revenue for the township through fines, which would be assessed for every day a power line on township property remains out of compliance.
The township would also have minimal expense with hiring the firm because it would only be paid if and when a violation was found as well as when fine monies were received. The township would receive 50 percent of all fine monies, 35 percent would be paid to the engineering firm, and 15 percent would be paid to the township's legal counsel, which would be responsible for collecting fine monies, setting up an escrow account to deposit funds, managing the account and ensuring monies are paid to the township and the engineering firm correctly.
Tom Carl, chairman, stated that although this would be a way to increase township revenue and that it sounds enticing, he is concerned how that would affect a positive working relationship with PPL. Carl said that he would like to have discussions with other municipalities that adopted similar ordinances to gain insight into how it is working for those municipalities.
Supervisors Carl, Greg Rahau and John Klinger said they are more concerned about the safety issues for the citizens if there were power lines out of compliance, and for the safety reason, all three supervisors voted to allow Bathgate to begin work on an ordinance to be discussed further at the next meeting.
Insurance claim procedures
The board of supervisors will continue to manage the insurance policy and will make all decisions of when to submit a claim. A recent incident where Stonington Fire Company filed a property damage claim without the township's approval raised the issue. A resulting memorandum of understanding would deal directly with the procedure of how an insurance claim would be submitted to the insurance carrier. Although the memorandum of understanding was not voted on Wednesday, it was made clear that the board will make such decisions. It was also stated that the particular department that has the insurance claim would be responsible for paying the deductible on those claims. Currently, the township pays for the insurance that covers the township and the Shamokin Township Municipal Authority, as well as the Stonington Volunteer Fire Company.
In other business, any citizen having a question related to flood insurance and ways to potentially decrease flood insurance costs can contact the township office for further information.