In addition to officially and unanimously electing the four officers and two board of trustee members it had nominated last month, the Walnutport Canal Association tackled several key issues Wednesday.

First up, recently elected borough council member Patrice Hunsicker said she was there to introduce herself as the council's newly appointed recreation board liaison."I'd like to get to know what you guys are doing," Hunsicker said, "and how you would like to have me (assist you) … in presenting ideas to council.""I'm sure there are quite a few projects we can work on together," said new association President Doug Boehrer.Next, Dean Hower, vice president of the Lehigh Township Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, said his group had a meeting Tuesday night during which it saw for the first time two signs it wanted to donate for placement along the canal.Hower said someone at the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor had created the signs and that the LTRTC, which had gathered information for the signs and paid for them, simply wanted to get the association's approval of where to place them.Upon members approving them, Boehrer suggested a letter be drafted for borough council to keep it abreast of the association's approval and also the LTRTC's proposed sign locations.Afterward, member Bob Treskot handed out a full set of first-edition bylaws, also available online, which the association has been working on for months. Two new revisions had centered around "open flames" and also whether or not to allow alcoholic beverages on property owned or maintained by the canal association.In regard to upcoming challenges facing the association, Boehrer said he recently learned that re-permitting the WCA Heritage Center for public use, a topic of discussion since borough council's Feb. 6 workshop meeting, may be more difficult than first expected.However, he noted that the association is determined to "make it right."Boehrer also said he learned at last Thursday's council meeting that permitting from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers has not yet come through for rehabilitation of Lock 24.Boehrer said time is running short for a $200,000 gaming money grant from the Sands Casino for that purpose, adding that he plans to stay in contact with council members about the issue.On Wednesday the association also approved Ginger Masonheimer as its first-ever authorized Facebook representative.Masonheimer said she hopes to have a Facebook page up soon, noting it is an important way to get information out to the public, such as the association's booth at the Lehigh County Historical Society's upcoming history expo on April 5 and the association's "Canal Cleanup Day," scheduled for April 26.