This week’s meetings

March 28 HATFIELD TOWNSHIP

Sewer authority budget passed: The 2018-19 budget for the Hatfield Township Municipal Authority is now on the books.

Hatfield’s commissioners voted unanimously March 28 to approve the sewer authority’s budget, which sets expenses and revenues at roughly $8.6 million and keeps sewer rates level after an increase last year.

“Same great service, same great price,” said board President Tom Zipfel.

HTMA Executive Director Pete Dorney gave the board and public a presentation on March 14 outlining the sewer authority’s goals and priorities for the coming year. Roughly $1.1 million will be allocated from a construction reserve account for a line upgrade in the area of Lenhart Road. Sewer line repairs and upgrades will see a total of $2.1 million in spending during the upcoming year, according to Dorney, and the sewer authority’s revenues are split between residential, sewer rental, industrial, and trucked waste fees.

“The bottom line is that rates aren’t going up, and currently the HTMA are among the lowest ten of the 75 sewer providers in the region,” said Township Manager Aaron Bibro.

“They do a great job containing costs, and providing a good service,” he said.

For more information on the Hatfield Township Municipal Authority call 215822-9300 or visit www.HatfieldTwpAuthority.org.

Projects approved: Three land development projects discussed at the commissioners’ March 14 meeting were approved unanimously by the board on March 28.

An expansion was approved for Spanial’s Service Center, located at 45 W. Orvilla Road on the northeast side of the intersection of Orvilla and Welsh Road. The project involves adding roughly 1,200 square feet to the existing service center and reconfiguring the stormwater management features on that site. The project was vetted and approved by the township and Montgomery County planning commissions, according to planning and zoning officer Ken Amey, and a resolution was signed by the property owner ahead of the approval from the board.

“It is an addition to the service center, to allow some expansion of their business, which is a good thing,” Amey said.

A second project approved by the board was an amended land development plan for Clemens Food Group, which updates a prior approval from roughly a year ago to add more storage space within the freezer area of the food company’s complex off of Forty Foot Road near Fairgrounds Road.

“During the planning stages, the size of the project increased from about 24,000 square feet to approximately 26,000 square feet, and because of that, the resolution that was previously passed by the board needs to be revised and passed again,” Amey said.

The third approval accepted dedication of a piece of land offered by the Clemens Family Corporation near Forty Foot Road and Clemens Road, which had been included on plans for a shopping center development on that corner but was never formally accepted by the board.

“What we’re doing is simply taking that right of way. It’s something that was contemplated by the plan and anticipated by the commissioners — we’re just going through the formal motions,” Amey said.

Pool chemical bids awarded, others rejected: Hatfield’s board also voted unanimously to accept bids on several pool chemicals meant for the Hatfield Aquatic Center, while rejecting other bids to seek lower prices.

According to Bibro, the pool chemical bids were sought and received by a consortium of roughly ten communities created by the Hatfield Aquatic Center staff, who agreed to bid together to seek better deals.

“It was the volume that was generated that helped create some lower prices,” said Bibro, crediting aquatic center operations manager Dave O’Donnel with creating the consortium.

Bids awarded included liquid chlorine, hydrochlorite acid, sodium bicarbonate, calcium flakes, sodium thiosulfate, soda ash and heating oil, all of which Bibro said “marginally increased” from the prior year. The board also voted to reject bids received for gasoline, diesel fuel and propane gas, which the manager said only produced one bidder for each.

“We don’t know exactly why, other than maybe the weather got in the way. The bid opening was a few days after a big storm we had, but we’d like to go after bids again, and hopefully we get more competition at a better price,” he said.

Fee changes OK’d: The commissioners also approved changes to several building permit fees, based on a recommendation from a third party firm hired to analyze the township’s fee structure.

“They found several situations where Hatfield was issuing permits and the township was losing money,” Bibro said, due to the inspection costs being higher than the permit fees.

Changes include slight increases to the fees for construction, alteration and renovation permits, residential building and alteration permits, deck and patio permits, and electrical and mechanical permits.

“Even with the increases, the township will still, in several circumstances, have a small loss, but with these adjustments we’ll be closer to breaking even than we have been,” Bibro said.

Details are included in the board’s meeting materials packet for March 28. Hatfield’s commissioners next meet at 7:30 p.m. on April 11 at the township administration building, 1950 School Road; for more information visit www.HatfieldTownship.org or follow @HatfieldPA on Twitter.