Mahoning Township was one of five Central Carbon County communities to spend the last few years creating a comprehensive plan for the area and their work was awarded a Governor's Award for Local Government Excellence recently, Supervisor Frank Ruch shared with fellow supervisors.

"Rod Mann of Franklin Township and I traveled to Harrisburg last Tuesday to accept the award. Franklin Township kept the plaque since they were the main organizers but each of the other communities received one of these certificates," Ruch said displaying it for the supervisors to examine.Mahoning Township, along with Franklin Township, Lehighton Borough, Weissport and East Penn Township worked the last few years on developing a joint comprehensive plan for their municipalities. Ruch represented the township at the meetings since he was elected to the board. The plan was completed early in the year.The Governor's award was given to the communities in recognition of the excellence of their plan in the category of "Innovative Planning and Sound Land Use Practices". This was one of nine categories that was handed out in the capitol during the April 17th ceremony.Supervisors asked Ruch if local legislators attended the event and he admitted that Representative Doyle Heffley, Senator Justin Yudichak and even Governor Tom Corbett did not attend the ceremony. "It was a nice event and I was glad to be a part of it," Ruch said.