Three things were obvious at the joint meeting Wednesday to address sewage problems in three Panther Valley towns: Coaldale, Lansford and Summit Hill.

1. The three municipalities agreed to submit a joint Act 537 Sewage Facilities Plan to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources, which will list corrective actions for deficiencies of the sewage systems in each community.2. Officials of the municipalities are not ready to commit to having the Coaldale-Lansford-Summit Hill Sewer Authority take over control of the sewer lines in the three towns until more financial information is available.3. As soon as the approximate cost for developing an Act 537 Plan is known, monthly sewage rates for residents of the three municipalities will rise.Twenty-five representatives of the three municipalities and the Coaldale-Lansford-Summit Hill Sewer Authority met in the Hilltop Community Center in Summit Hill.Those representatives included borough council members, solicitors and consulting engineers. A representative of state Sen. John T. Yudichak was also present.The meeting was held because the DEP has told the three municipalities and the authority it wants an indication by July 31 that they are taking positive steps to address sewage inadequacies, including leaking sewer lines and an overburdened sewage treatment plant.Bob Ames, chairman of the authority, said that because the municipalities agreed to work together on the plan, the authority will respond to the DEP by next week.Mike Tirpak of Carbon Engineering, consulting engineer for the authority, said the Act 537 plan could take several years to complete.He said it would take two to three years for the municipalities to compile it and then possibly two years for the DEP to review it.He said the cost for completing the document won't be known until he receives information on what to include.Ames said the authority will raise sewage rates to pay for compilation of the Act 537 plan.The meeting was conducted by Ames, who said it appears that the three municipalities appear unanimous on having the authority take over the lines.Presently, the authority operates the sewage treatment plant but the individual municipalities maintain the collector systems.Council members from Coaldale and Lansford said they are approving joint efforts on the Act 537 plan but aren't ready to commit to having the authority take over the collector systems until more financial data is compiled.Both Coaldale and Lansford charge their residents sewage transmission fees, but Summit Hill has no such account.Attorney Michael Greek, solicitor for all three municipalities, said the authority could potentially be given control of the storm sewers, too, if the councils so desire.He said presently there are no plans for the storm sewers to come under the auspices of the authority.Lansford Borough Council President Martin Ditsky expressed concern about costs to local residents for rebuilding sewer lines and upgrading the treatment plant."This is a depressed area," Ditsky said."The mines have closed. The sewing mills shut down."He said despite this, the area is deprived of funding from the federal government.John O'Gurek of Summit Hill Borough Council agreed, saying, "We get nothing but they put millions and millions of dollars of burdens on us."Don Gildea, a Lansford resident, said storm sewers were mandate for Lansford.Even though only a few streets had the storm sewers updated, Lansford accrued debt totaling $3 million."That almost has us broke," he said.Ames told the gathering, "We're all in the same boat."