The Mahoning Township Supervisors have denied the request of the Mahoning Police Department to acquire a new vehicle.

The vehicle in question is a 1987 mobile command center. The '87 vintage vehicle is being offered to the township for free from North Central Highway. The vehicle is typically used for DUI checkpoints because it has the ability to tow the DUI trailer used for arrests made during checkpoints.Chairman John Wieczorek could not find the practicality in acquiring of the piece of equipment."I don't support bringing another piece in. It's more maintenance. Even though it's free, it would still cost to insure it, and who knows what we'd even use it for," he said.Wieczorek made the motion, which was agreed to by the board members present, Bruce Steigerwalt and Kerry Verrastro. Franklin Ruck and Shawn Haggerty were absent from the monthly meeting.The police station and township office will be acquiring new routers. A three-year rental contract for two new routers will be signed by the board.The rental fees will include any repair or maintenance needed for the routers."It's better to just rent them; it'll include the maintenance, and these things are always changing and can quickly become obsolete," Steigerwalt said. "Just look, they went from Windows 8, skipped over 9 and now releasing Windows 10 already."Road reportsThe township's Peterbilt plow is in need of a new set of brakes. The estimate to the township is $1,000 for the repairs needed for the vehicle to pass inspection."We have to pay it. We need the truck, unless we buy four new shovels. We'll be paying a lot of overtime," Steigerwalt said during his report.Part-time summer road crewman Tim Kocher will be kept on the township payroll on an as-needed basis while a fellow crewman is out for eight weeks on short-term disability.The township's road crew still has a handful of projects to complete before winter, including shoulder grating and patch work.Lehighton Borough has requested to borrow the township's paver and an operator for roughly two days' worth of work. The truck used to haul the borough's paver has broken down, Steigerwalt said."I have no issue with sending it to them. But it would need to be at our convenience," Wieczorek said.Steigerwalt told the board that the township has maxed out the budget of paving materials and would have no need for the paver any time soon."We can help them. When we need help they're right there, no questions," Wieczorek said.Township engineer Carl Faust reported to the board that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's zoning permit for the reconstruction and expansion of buildings at the Mahoning Township location expired Sept. 22.They recently reapplied, but Faust denied the permits. PennDOT will seek a variance to the zoning ordinance regarding the type of building it will be permitted to construct."They want to tear down the salt sheds and build something else; you cannot replace a conforming use with a nonconforming use. If they take down the salt sheds, they are losing square footage," he said.The footage is used to determine how much expansion can be added to a new building.Faust also reported on the state of the 335 Center St. property which has been in violation of a township ordinance regarding the high weeds and various vehicles on the property.Faust said the resident had recently cut the weeds down and was given 45 days to remove the vehicles from the property.The resident's deadline for the removals will be Nov. 14.