Eldred Township’s temporary Public Works supervisor stepped down at the supervisor’s meeting last week, and the new supervisor stepped up.

Supervisor Blaine Silfies resigned as the temporary supervisor, and Jonathan Gula, the new Public Works supervisor, took over.

“Thank you very much for your service,” Gary Hoffman, the chairman of the supervisors, said to Silfies.

The supervisors approved having Silfies stay on as a temporary part-time crew member of the public works department. Silfies abstained from the vote.

He will work no more than 24 hours a week with a salary of $19.36 per hour.

The supervisors are also looking to hire two full-time employees for the public works department.

In Gula’s first report to the supervisors, he said the township’s Ford F550 dump truck needs about $1,500 in repairs. The fuel tank is leaking and needs to be replaced, as well as the fuel pump. The work will be outsourced.

The report included:

• The Dodge pickup needs body work. The cost is yet to be determined.

• The supervisors approved placing the Gradall on Municibid with a minimum bid of $15,000.

• Line striping work will be done between Aug. 1 and 19.

In other business, Hoffman said the fire departments for Polk Township and Kunkletown discovered that a dry hydrant is needed in the area of Getz-Dawl Road.

“There’s virtually no water supply,” Hoffman said. “If there was a house fire down there, they would have to haul water.”

The project will need a $40 Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory permit that will be turned over to the Monroe County Conservation District. Hoffman said the installation could be done by the Eldred Township road crew. Parts are expected to cost about $1,950.

“This will be available for not just Kunkletown, but for Polk,” he said. “Remember, they may be helping us, so we don’t want to restrict it to just one department.”

The supervisors also discussed the emergency propane fired generator project. Hoffman said that when the power goes down, the municipal building shuts down, and the computers go out.

“We’ve been talking about it for years,” he said. “I think it’s time we follow through and look into putting in an emergency generator.”

Hoffman said the generator would be purchased through CO-STARS. He said an engineering firm would have to do the calculations to let them know what size they need. Who will do that work is yet to be determined.

Hoffman expects that the majority of the installation would be done by the township’s Public Works Department under the guidance of an electrician.

“I think we can save a lot of money by doing ourselves,” he said.

A professional electrician would work with the power company to set up the connection. The township is considering Brennan Electric to help with this project at $100 per hour.

Hoffman said he plans to use money from the American Rescue Plan to pay for the generator and installation. The township is earmarked to receive a total of $283,000 in COVID funds. It received the first half last year and should be receiving the second half soon. The second half is $141,500.

The township already has to reserve $40,000 from the funds to go toward its share for the two-way radio replacement project for the fire departments in the county. Eldred is contributing to the one-third due from municipalities in the Monroe County. The other two-thirds will be covered by Monroe County and by the fire departments.

Hoffman said the township also needs to upgrade the Public Works Department two-way radios. The price is yet to be determined.