Any Schuylkill Township resident who hasn’t paid their 2023 $200 annual garbage collection bill in full will be assessed a $20-per-month late fee, the township supervisors said Monday at their meeting.

In October, the supervisors voted to hire PA Municipal Services, Oakmont, Allegheny County, to do the trash billing for the township.

Feathers said PA Municipal Services can collect bills for $1.10 per household, as opposed to the $3.50 per household it costs the township. The firm will take care of collections, and the delinquents.

The supervisors decided to table a decision to change the garbage billing cycle to help the firm.

Where’s the solicitor?

The absence of the township’s new solicitor was noted by one township resident.

“These meetings have been held the first Monday of the month forever,” the woman said. “The people who come to these meetings expect to see a solicitor here.”

The new solicitor, Chris Reidlinger of Orwigsburg, was appointed township solicitor in January at a rate of $125 per hour on a 2-1 vote, with Fayash voting no, because “I don’t know him,” he said.

The vote was the same not to reappoint the Slusser Law Firm as solicitor at $130 per hour.

Feathers said Reidlinger told them he cannot make the Monday meetings, but will attend the other monthly meeting, the third Wednesday of the month. Reidlinger told the supervisors at the Jan. 17 meeting.

“It should have been advertised that the solicitor won’t be here on Mondays,” the woman said.

The supervisors said they wouldn’t pay the solicitor for two meetings per month. Feathers said Reidlinger would be on-call for Monday meetings, if necessary.

The township has a new website, operated by the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors: schuylkilltownship.org.

Feathers said the township’s present site, schuylkilltownship.com, will continue to be used. The township will gradually move from the old to the new website.