Nesquehoning Council gave a proposed medical waste processing facility the preliminary green light to move forward with site improvements.

Earlier this month, borough council approved, 4-2, a motion to grant preliminary plan approval to Bio-Haz Solutions, located on Tonoli Road off Route 54 between Lake Hauto and the Hauto Valley Estates.This will allow owner David Henritzy to begin agreed-upon improvements, such as landscaping and a new fence around the property, in preparation for a medical waste processing operation at the site.This would be the second medical waste processing facility in the borough. Alpha-Bio Med/Sharps Compliance recently began operations at a site on Industrial Road, about a mile east of Bio-Haz.Greg Haas of Carbon Engineering and Henritzy were at the meeting and outlined the plans, asking for the approval in relation to the borough planning commission’s recent action. The commission granted conditional approval last month.Henritzy plans to use Clean Waste Systems OMW-1000 machines to purify the medical waste using ozone through a process called HumidiZone. The site currently operates as a medical waste transportation company but does not do any processing.Last month, he told the planning commission that he plans to submit an application for a permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. He said that his timeline for the project was pushed back indefinitely due to a number of factors, including the DEP permit.Insurance brokerIn other matters, Joseph Pilla of ETA Benefits in Nesquehoning, approached council to question the reason officials decided to hire Equinox, a company based in Allentown, as the borough’s new insurance broker, rather than his business, located almost across the street from the borough office.He quoted an article published in the Times News on Oct. 28 that cited the reason as “the members felt Equinox would provide the best customer service.”“It’s really hard to take,” he said, adding that he presented his proposal with options on employee insurance choices to council.He said he felt slighted because no one from the borough touched base with him after their meeting and then he wasn’t notified until he saw the article in the Times News about the action.“I feel like I’ve been abandoned,” he said.Council said that one of the reasons for their decision was that they never received information they requested in the time frame that was agreed upon.Councilwoman Rosemary Porembo asked if Pilla would like to meet outside the meeting rather than laying it out in a public meeting.She said she would gladly sit down with him to explain their decision and go over information they had received from all the companies.Pilla said if the decision was final he wouldn’t be interested, but said he was upset because it sounds like his company doesn’t give good customer service, which he feels is false.Councilmen David DeMelfi, Don DeMarco and George Sabol said that they were told it was based on customer service.DeMelfi voted against the measure last month and Sabol wasn’t at that meeting.DeMarco said his vote was based on the recommendation of the personnel committee and wasn’t personal in nature against Pilla’s company.DeMelfi pointed out that he voted against the measure because of ETA’s location and commitment to the borough.