The Route 903 Park is one step closer to reality after last night's special board of supervisors' meeting in Penn Forest Township.

The park project has been under a lot of scrutiny over the past few months. The DCNR grant, which totals $509,000, is set to run out on June 14, 2014 if the project in not finished. To date, only road work has been completed. The widening of Route 903 in the area of the park and the entranceways were not part of the DCNR grant.The package, which went out for open bid last month, included a number of alternatives to be bid. This approach gave the supervisors the ability to choose the options they wanted from an al a carte menu.The base package included the complete parking lot construction, the storm water control and retention ponds for the first phase and for all future phases and the playground. The playground will have six pieces of equipment initially and will be on a rubber base.The package also includes one full-size and one junior-size soccer field, one of three sections of walking trail and the fencing for the exterior of the park.The first alternative option was a concession stand complete with the necessary sewage and well. The bid package also included options for a second and third section of walking trail.The bids on the base package ranged from a low bid of $1,339,717 by Papillion & Moyer, Stroudsburg, to a high of $1,885,000 from J.D. Morrissey of Philadelphia. Papillion also had the lowest bid on the second section of walking trail at $15,652.In the end the supervisors opted to accept Papillion's bid for the base package and the second section of walking trail for a total of $1,355,369. The vote to accept the bid was 4-1, with Warren Reiner abstaining. Reiner stated that he abstained for personal reasons.The supervisors did not select an option which included the concession stand. The bids for the concession stand, which includes restroom facilities as well as the sewage and the well, ranged from a low of $269,940 by Morrissey to a high of $388,470 from Papillion.Work on the park is expected to begin within two weeks in an effort to get as much work done before the winter weather makes it impossible to continue.Chairwomen Christine Fazio expressed her concerns with the overall cost of the park."This project was the work of the previous board. I have looked at these numbers and if we were to scrub this project now we would be out $750,000 and have nothing but a big plot of grass to show for it. So I believe we have to proceed, but I am worried about hidden costs," stated Fazio.Bob Cox, an engineer with Barry Isett and acting project manager for the park, explained that the hidden costs are there for every construction project and that they could be as high as 10 percent of the total cost."You never know for sure what the DCNR or DEP inspections might call for, but I don't really expect anything out of the ordinary," explained Cox when asked where the hidden costs might come from.Also on the agenda for the special meeting were concerns expressed by the auditors regarding the financial record keeping of the township.Relying heavily on a letter sent to the township by auditors Kirk Summa & Company, Supervisor Alan Katz criticized the township and more specifically township treasurer Mary Ann Lewellyn, for failing to reconcile all of the bank statements.The letter warned the township that failure to address the items outlined in the letter could mean that the township should expect to receive a "qualified" report. Such a report could mean that the township would be in jeopardy of losing grant money and liquid fuels money.When she was finally given an opportunity to respond, Lewellyn explained that all of the bank statements had been reconciled as of August 2012 prior to the township switching from Quick Books software to Edmonds accounting software. Lewellyn went on to state that for various reasons, including issues with building permits and a medical leave, she was unable to complete the training for the new software. Lewellyn did not hold the position of secretary and treasurer from late 2012 through March of 2013, when she was reappointed to both positions.Lewellyn stated that she is often in contact with Edmonds and that they have not provided sufficient training to date. Lewellyn also stated that all bank accounts, with the exception of the general account and the waste account, are reconciled through August 2013.All of the explanations given by Lewellyn were corroborated by Supervisors Judy Knappenberger and Paul Montemuro.Katz made a motion to hire a full-time "government fund" accountant to take over as treasurer."The auditors pointed out that we don't have a backup person who understands the accounting. What would happen if she got run over, who would know what to do?" said Katz.Montemuro and Knappenburger were not in agreement that a permanent position needed to be created."We could hire a sub to come in and fix this. It would cost more per hour, but once it was done it would be over," said Montemuro."We'll hire someone and get this fixed, and then if it turns out we don't need them, we will let them go," said Fazio.The motion to hire an accountant passed 3-2.Katz also made a motion to eliminate the secretary from the planning meetings."We don't need to be paying someone $16 an hour to open the building and record what goes on at the meetings; we bought them a recorder for that," said Katz."So you will instead pay the township engineer $46 an hour to come early to open the building for the meetings?" Knappenberger asked.The motion was tabled until the Oct. 7 meeting.The final item on the agenda was to approve the invoices for the Old Stage Road paving. The supervisors agreed to pay the invoices and decided not to fine Locust Ridge for running five days over schedule. As it turns out, Locust Ridge finished the job under the bid price by $36,000.