Penn Forest supervisors turned down a grant for a garbage compactor at their meeting Monday night.

Supervisor Judy Knappenburger notified those present that the township had been successful in their seeking of a 904 grant for $217,000 for a garbage compactor which would compact recycling items into cubes which would then be sold. The grant would provide the funds for the 1, 2, 3 compactor(s) and the concrete pad to be placed at the transfer station. The only cost to the township would be $23,000 for the electric supply, as well as additional manpower.Knappenburger made the motion to accept the grant, but the motion failed to pass.Chairman Warren Reiner is in the process of making a deal with Jim Lambert of Blakeslee to provide recycling bins at $100 per month, as well as removing tires and electronics on a regular basis. It wasn't clear if the tires and electronics would be at no cost or at a cost of $2.Knappenburger also informed residents that a bank bag was missing from the transfer station and that the issue was in the hands of the Pennsylvania State Police.A motion was made by supervisor Scott Lignore to bring back "back punches" on garbage punch cards. This motion was not favored by supervisors Knappenburger and Christine Fazio because it would require a change to the resolution and would better be held until next year. The motion was passed with two supervisors voting no. The resolution will be changed and will allow for back punches going back no more than two weeks and no more than eight bags.Engineer Greg Pavlick, project manager for the park project, gave an update on the park. According to Pavlick, the park is behind schedule and the contractor has requested an eight-week extension to the contract that expires on May 31."I believe that an extension is warranted by the rough winter that we had, but I don't believe that it needs to be eight weeks," said Pavlick.In addition, Pavlick said to the board that so long as the DCNR grant money was spent by June 30, there was no chance that the terms of the grant would not be met and that the township would have to pay back the grant."The contractor assures me that the grant money value will be billed by the June 30 date," said Pavlick.Resident Floyd Day questioned the board on another matter."I am concerned with the conversation going on in the township regarding the elimination of the township trucks and employees in the future," Day said. "Having our own trucks and employees has saved the township over $100,000 a year; it's in black and white. Just because the employees went to the Teamsters is no reason to get rid of them; they do a good job. They are just trying to protect their jobs."Resident Ken Gilmore addressed the board once more about the road work done in Valley View without township approval."The improvements, while they look as though they might have been done well, without a land development plan, I would have nothing to base my calculations on for pipe size, etc.," Pavlick said."Maybe it's time that our solicitor sent a letter. Maybe we will get a better response from the developer," Knappenburger said.Solicitor Thomas Nanovic agreed to get the relevant information from Pavlick and forward a letter requesting the information from the developer.Barbara Smith, who lives across the street from the new park, addressed the board as well."We were very concerned that the park would increase the flow of water across our property, but I am here to thank you. The improvements on the park property have actually decreased the amount of what we normally see and we wanted you to know that we appreciate it," Smith said.William Miller of Bear Creek Estates and Carla Becker of Albrightsville both thanked the board for cleaning up the roads."We want to thank Christ Lutheran Church and Camp Adams for helping with picking up trash on the sides of the township roads," Reiner said. "Camp Adams will continue to clean up once the kids get out of school in a few weeks."