It appears a near certainty that West Penn Township will update its property maintenance code.

The township's board of supervisors reviewed the International Property Maintenance Code with township engineer Bill Anders at a meeting Monday morning.Supervisors' Chairman Jim Dean said the township's current ordinance was put into play in 1997, and that while it has its good points, it needs to be improved.Anders said he and board solicitor Holly Heintzelman reviewed a modified version of the International Property Maintenance Code line by line.The new version would change the word "shall" to the word "may," and would change the offense from a summary to a criminal charge, Anders said.Anders said the code would help support and bring some clarity to its current ordinance, and that he believes the changes are adequate and satisfy all the concerns of township residents.Supervisor Tony Prudenti then turned his attention to remarks made by Supervisor Ted Bogosh as part of a letter Bogosh sent to the Times News that ran in an article in Friday's edition.Bogosh, who wasn't in favor of the code, said the code was considered by the township's planning commission, and members either rejected it or selected various portions of it.Bogosh, who had recently served on the planning commission, said in his letter that he believes it is not suitable for the township.Specifically, Bogosh said in his letter that the code "makes it possible to arrest citizens, make them a felon, lose their right to own firearms, lose their right to vote, lose their job, have their property condemned and sold at a public sale where a developer or water harvester could buy it.""Why would you put those things in there if you didn't know," Prudenti said.Bogosh responded that was how it read, and that was how the township solicitor said it.Prudenti asked Anders whether the board should still adopt the ordinance.Anders recommended it, saying the code helps keep blight out of communities.Bogosh asked Anders whether the code would stand up in court legally, to which he said it would.Prudenti told Bogosh the code will allow the township to get problems fixed faster.Dean advocated for the code. "Our ordinance at this time is ambiguous. Now, we've got something that has teeth to it."Prudenti said earlier this month he pushed for the code after receiving multiple complaints over property issues.Anders said the code is a way for the township to be proactive, and that his experience with it has been successful.