A major announcement involving the Slatington Sewer Authority was made at Monday night's Slatington Borough Council meeting.

Authority Chairwoman Laurie Dart-Schnaufer explained that the decades-old authority does not have financial control over operation of the facility, the borough does. Since the authority is not the operator with financial control, she said, the permit transfer form and fee need to be submitted to transfer the permit to the operator with financial control, which is borough council.She also read a portion of a letter she had written in case she was unable to be there in person that night."The attached letter from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is requiring the NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permittee without financial control over the operation of the facility to submit a transfer to the operator with control, Slatington Borough Council, and to contact the Department of Monitoring & Compliance of such."She continued, "At the Slatington Authority meeting today, the authority members authorized 'that the chair present the letter from DEP to the borough council along with the unanimous recommendation of the borough authority that the NPDES permit, DRBC (Delaware River Basin Commission) Discharge Authorization, and all other regulatory obligation be transferred to the Slatington Borough Council as required per the DEP May 2, 2014, letter and commence the dissolution of the authority pending as the obligation allows.'"Dart-Schnaufer added that authority engineer, Rettew Engineering, was reviewing items and would provide a response soon.She also said she had spoken with James D. Berger of the state DEP, and that he agreed to a June 10, 2014, timeline to complete the application for the permit transfers.She concluded by saying that authority members will continue to handle the H2O grant work, which is expected to be completed by June.Council member Bob Steets, who is the Sewer Committee Chairman, thanked Dart-Schnaufer for her service as an authority member.Also during the public comment portion of the meeting, two representatives of the Venture Group informed council that a Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce grant currently exists that would be helpful in gaining additional parking at the Slatington trailhead.Venture Group Chairwoman Nancy Treskot and former Chairman Jason Breidinger said the application for the grant is due by the end of May, with work needing to be completed by the end of the year.Council unanimously approved allowing the highway committee the authority to offer $2,000 in in-kind services to match the grant money.Resident Ed Ziegler offered to help with the Venture Group's efforts.In other news, results of a re-bid for the Washington Street roadwork project resulted in the project being awarded to Glen G. Hale, Inc., of Easton, in the amount of $77,010.In addition, council approved the hire of a part-time seasonal helper for the road crew, since it is currently short-handed.Council member and Public Safety Committee Chairman Jon Rinker said because no prior applicants met the full qualifications and standards necessary, a motion was made and approved to re-advertise to hire a full-time police officer.