Penn Forest Township has a new solicitor.

The township board of supervisors held a special meeting Thursday afternoon for the purpose of discussing personnel issues.Supervisor Alan Katz's first motion called for the termination of township solicitor, Thomas S. Nanovic. The motion carried despite Supervisor Christine Fazio's no vote. Supervisor Warren "Butch" Reiner was not present at the meeting.The second part of Katz's motion was to bring on attorney Greg Mousseau as the new township solicitor. Mousseau is currently with the Carbon County Public Defender's Office and he is also serving as the solicitor for the Jim Thorpe Area School District. Katz's motion passed unanimously.Nanovic, who was not present at the meeting, when reached for comment stated that he "wishes the township the best in the future."Katz made a number of motions, but it was the last motion that appeared to cut to the heart of the special meeting. As the person in charge of personnel matters, Katz requested discretionary power to approve overtime for two full-time administrative employees to assist the township in bringing itself up to date on all county, state and federal filings.In January the township was notified by the Carbon County Board of Assessment and Revision of Taxes that the township had failed to file "copies of Building/Zoning Permits … since April, 2011." When asked what this meant for the township, Supervisor Paul Montemuro explained that without the information requested, the County Board of Assessment would not generate the tax bills for the properties affected. The board estimated that as many as 75 permits require action.The motion regarding the overtime was approved.There were additional motions put forth by Katz during the meeting. The board agreed to hire Nancy Lamarie to an open administrative position.The board also agreed to implement an Internet based land mapping system. Initially the township will use the Landex System, which is the same system used by Carbon County. The system will allow the township to obtain property, tax and other legal records quickly from its own computers, without the expense of requesting information from the county or other sources.It was noted that system use is expensive and the motion contained limits as to who would be permitted to use the system and for what purposes. The approval of the motion limited the use to three months, at which time the board would reassess the need for the system.Township resident John Enck noted that realtors use a similar program known as RDP and suggested the township consider looking at both programs before making a final decision.It was noted that during the next regular monthly meeting of the board of supervisors, which will be Monday, April 2, the current SEO (Sewer Enforcement Officer), building inspector and zoning officer will be present to review procedures on how to obtain permits and to clarify when permits are needed.For those who are interested but not able to attend the meeting, there will be a flyer available in the municipal office lobby or on the township website at pennforesttownship.org.