A West Penn Township official did his best to quell rumors at Monday's West Penn Township board of supervisors meeting.

Resident David Lapinsky referenced the May 1 board of supervisors meeting in which Supervisor Tony Prudenti expressed his concerns to get truck traffic off the township's roads.Lapinsky asked if there was an update on Prudenti's solution, which on behalf of the township, was to negotiate a water extraction and road agreement with Jay Land, president and owner of Ringgold Acquisition Group II LLC."Nothing has happened since that day," Prudenti said. "Nothing was discussed about it; (the) idea was to get truck traffic off township roads and onto a state road."Lapinsky asked if there was any conflict of interest involved."No, there's no conflict of interest," Prudenti said.Lapinsky then asked if the township has a conflict of interest policy to see to it that no one has any personal gain.Resident Donald Cunfer asked Prudenti if there was any truth to the rumor that a pipeline could eventually go up to Prudenti's property, and whether he would realize any personal gain from it."Absolutely not," Prudenti said.Cunfer then asked, "Why are we going for a pipeline when we're trying to get rid of water."Prudenti said it made sense to him to try to make the township's roads safer by getting trucks off township roads, and that he's suggesting that at Land's expense, he run a pipeline out onto a state road.Resident Elaine Lapinsky said that even if the pipes go onto Route 309, it still doesn't do anything about the fact that "our water's still being stolen."Prudenti said there was a sheet with a list of organizations along with their contact information for residents concerned about water extraction to call."I would encourage everyone to call (those numbers)," Lapinsky said. "We have to make noise, because otherwise, they're just going to continue stealing our water."Prudenti said the township is trying to update the township's water extraction ordinance to try to make it a little bit tougher than it is right now."The ordinance that we have in place today makes this a very tough thing to get done," he said.At the board's May 15 meeting, Prudenti, in a letter to the board, said he would like to propose that the board, on behalf of the township, negotiate a water extraction and road agreement with Land.As a starting point, Prudenti proposed they negotiate that the zone of influence be extended to a 1½-mile radius. The current Department of Environmental Protection zone of influence is a quarter-mile, he said.Prudenti also suggested constructing a pipeline to state roads for the loading of water into trucks, with the township helping procure rights of way if it is not able to use its own.Additionally, Prudenti suggested a $10,000 yearly road maintenance and repair fee for each well site for roads affected by truck traffic.Prudenti has said on several occasions that the township has to look at protecting residents' wells, eliminating truck traffic and saving roads.In April, Christine Verdier, chief of staff for state Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill, said that DEP would be sending a biologist out this spring to look at groundwater and surface water.