Paul Shinsec was on the list for public comment at Thursday'smeeting of the Towamensing supervisors and said his issue was the same - the PennEast pipeline. He said there would be a meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Towamensing firehouse.

The Save Carbon County committee will have attorney Peter Caffley speak. He is a specialist in easement negotiations and eminent domain with proceedings with pipeline companies.Shinsec said he has 1.26 acres and a neighbor also has 1.26 acres, but the neighbor was offered $2,000 more than he was. He said it looks like the timeline has been pushed back. Extra land is now in the plan to temporarily store equipment.He said by 2030 the ice caps will be melted and fossil fuels contribute. PennEast spends $1 billion for construction when it would make more sense to spend it on renewables.Zoning issuesHoward Williams on Hazelwood Street was concerned that the township might try to take his property by eminent domain. He was assured the township had no such intent. Since the property is old, the buildings are nonconforming and are grandfathered. Unless he made changes, there are no zoning problems. He was also concerned about stormwater. The township will have the engineercheck if anything needed to be done.Richard Hall said he filed a petition with the township to have his neighbor Jason Marks clean up his property a year ago. Zoning officer Carl Faust said Marks had filed for a zoning permit but was denied. He can file an appeal or request a variance, but the township wants it cleaned up.Supervisor Penny Kleintop said the township received a lot of correspondence about complying for land use and stormwater. There is talk of the pipeline becoming a public utility. Seifert said as a public utility the township cannot do much about the pipeline.Fire auditKleintop talked to Dale Kirk, who is doing the fire company audit. The township had expected it before the meeting. It will be ready for next month. Kirk said President Eric George and Gary Anthony have been very helpful.George was ratified as the president. Kleintop said they had requested two names for the position of president and two for fire chief. A letter was received from the board of directors that said it was against the bylaws, but Seifert said the township trumped fire company rules. George was also named liaison between the fire company and township."We want our fire company to flourish," Kleintop said. She hopes the changes being made will attract some members who quit to return to the company. Seifert said the company gets a lot of township money. The prime problem is communications.The state passed laws that forbid junior firefighters from doing much of the work they used to. It is based on the child labor laws.A meeting will be held by the AG Security Board at 2 p.m. March 18, to check applications for admission to the AG Security Area. Kleintop urged everyone with 10 acres or more to apply for inclusion.The fire police were approved to help at the Premium Challenge (formerly Black Bear) at Beltzville and at the St. Patrick's Day parade in Jim Thorpe.Connie Bieling was appointed to the planning commission.Snow removalKleintop said there were very few complaints about snow removal and they were on Facebook. She considered them unreasonable.Seifert helped with snow removal. Between a tipped-over truck on which even the mirrors were not broken, it was quite an adventure, he said. With a fence on one side as a marker, he still had trouble getting out of his own driveway because he could not see.He said, "We were able to drive all the trucks home," and was pleased with that.Snowmobiles were racing past the plow trucks. Seifert said they should have been in the fields because it was dangerous on the roads. One person was out with a two-wheel drive truck and got stuck. The township helped him out but, "What was he doing out there with two-wheel drive?"There are lights that will go on automatically when someone comes at night to drop off recyclables. Security cameras are being installed because of the continued dumping of garbage and construction materials on the site.Mary Beth Beers came to drop off recyclables and found someone filling buckets with gravel before the storm. The person thought it was permissible but though it once was, it no longer is. A contractor drove up and wanted to take a whole truckload and could not understand when he was told "no."