Towamensing Township's board of supervisors passed a conditional approval on a reverse subdivision at Thursday's meeting.

Introduced at the October meeting, the motion was tabled to clear up details in the proposal for the land owned by Richard Morrissey. Morrissey had submitted for approval on a reverse subdivision of 31 lots that he intended to merge into one lot.Engineer Greg Haas and Solicitor Thomas Nanovic had been reviewing the proposal to ensure that the wording for some technical details was sound."After last month's meeting, Tom and I met with the applicant's attorney, and we worked out the issues relating to the access drive easement. The plans have been revised according to that meeting, with the language that Tom recommended in one of the notes. I recommend that you grant final approval," Haas said.The board passed conditional approval based on signed plans."The note that I wanted on the plan was basically saying that even though this was becoming one lot, it was still the same subdivision it was when it had been 31 lots. That it was not changing any rights or obligations of the other lot owners in the development," Nanovic said.The planning commission and board of supervisors will sign off on the plans within the next few days.The end of the year supervisors meeting has been set for 3 p.m. Dec. 29.Garbage rates for 2017 were approved, and will remain the same as 2016's rates: regular family, $190; senior citizen couple, $125; senior citizen single, $105, active duty military, $105, and disabled veteran, $105.Fire company newsFire company President Eric George reported that they are working on the fire company hall rental agreement, and should have a resolution by the end of the month. "We already had several inquiries of people wanting to rent the hall," George said. The hall had been on display during Towamensing Fire Company's September open house event, attracting the attention of community members."We have six fire police that will be going down to Palmerton this Sunday for the Veterans Day Parade to assist," George said. "The department will also be participating in that with our equipment."George said that anyone who plans on attending the parade should be aware that Delaware Avenue will be shut down by 12:30 p.m.George said the fire company's participated in Towamensing Elementary's fire prevention program on Oct. 21, and the Palmerton Halloween Parade."We got a call in the middle of it, one truck left, but we still kept two trucks in the parade," George said.The fire company is in the works of planning their 2017 membership drive, and has received township approval to send out information and requests for $10 donations along with the garbage bills. The company is also looking for volunteers, especially in the kitchen.Fire police participation in the Bo Tkach Turkey Trot on Nov. 24 - Thanksgiving Day - was approved by the board.Fire Chief Jeremy Haydt reported that October was quiet, with only a few incidents."We only had three calls, one automatic fire alarm, one motor vehicle accident - a motorcycle went into a dump truck and resulted in a landing zone for the helicopter as well, and the other landing zone during the Halloween Parade," Haydt said. "On the operations side, it was quiet. I like those kind of reports."Penny Kleintop asked Haydt whether they will be featuring Santa Claus this year."The person that is usually in charge of it has washed their hands of it, but it's still going to happen," Haydt said.Details will be announced.