Although the Franklin Township supervisors meeting was brief on Tuesday night, supervisors still had a big topic to discuss when a neighbor of I &D Salvage in the Union Hill section of Franklin Township showed Franklin Township supervisors photographs of oil spills on the business' property.

Steve Sauchinitz said that I & D Salvage, Inc. should not be making the amount of noise it makes, nor should it be having oil and antifreeze spills that are flowing into the Lehigh River or having tractor trailers running throughout the day.Sauchinitz showed photographs of the oil spills and said that he can smell the oily scent from his front porch. He said that they smash aluminum cans and that he could hear them drop motors all day long. He said the pile of scrap metal is 30 to 40 feet high."I'd like to know when they were given approval to recycle," said Sauchinitz. "It was always an auto junk yard, where there were cars and he sold off the parts. Now they have all kinds of junk there, from soda cans to bird cages."Sauchinitz said that he had made a formal complaint to the Department of Environmental Protection, but that he hadn't heard back from them yet.Chris Neeb, zoning officer, said that he had stopped by and spoken to Rafael Colon on several occasions about cleaning up and would do so again.Sauchinitz said that last week there was a fire at the business and that tires and gas tanks were exploding and they had no other way to put out the fire except to drag the burning car across the highway with a bulldozer and spray it down with water.According to the TIMES NEWS archives from October 2008, I & D Auto Salvage, Inc. was in the business of taking all types of scrap. At that time, Rafael Colon was the business' secretary. Colon had started the business in 2005 and expanded into the scrap metal business three years later. Colon had said in that news story that they accept all types of scrap, including aluminum and iron and will take entire cars and trucks or any used auto parts. I & D has a 6.31 acre holding area where metal will be stored until vehicles are separated and metal is hauled away for shredding. Shredding is not done on site.Sauchinitz asked, "Shouldn't they have had to apply for a change of use permit to do recycling?" He added that the noise level was extremely high. "This is a residential neighborhood. Should this be permitted here?" he asked.Supervisors also authorized Police Chief Thomas Beltz to sign an updated memorandum of understanding with Lehighton Area School District regarding safety procedures in Franklin Elementary School.The agreement establishes procedures for police to follow should there be safety incidents at the school involving possession of a weapon, acts of violence, possession of controlled substances or drug paraphernalia, possession of alcohol by minors or having a child under the influence of alcohol.In the agreement, school officials will report the incident on school property to police and assist police with gathering information, controlling the scene, providing emergency medical treatment, and identifying involved persons and witnesses.