Police commend postal employees
Employee noted request from resident to send $1,000
UPPER GWYNEDD >> Two local employees have been honored for helping protect a township resident.
Dianne Milkewicz, a lead sales and service associate with the U.S. Postal Service, and postal inspector Rick Link were honored by township police for helping prevent mail fraud late last year.
“On November 22, 2019, an Upper Gwynedd Township resident went to a post office to purchase a money order in the amount of $1,000,” said Police Chief David Duffy, reading from a formal police commendation.
The resident asked to send the money order in a priority envelope, and Milkewicz recognized something may have been amiss, Duffy told the commissioners during their Jan. 27 meeting.
“Based on her experience, Milkewicz asked the resident some questions and recognized that the resident was possibly the victim of fraud,” Duffy said.
“She tried to dissuade the resident from mailing the envelope, but he persisted. However, Milkewicz retained the envelope, and notified the U.S. Postal Inspectors office,” he said.
Township police were then contacted by the postal inspectors, and a joint investigation revealed that the resident would have been a victim of fraud if the money order had gone through.
“Instead, because of Milkewicz’s actions, the money order was returned to the resident,” Duffy said.
Diversion work continues: Staff gave members of the public an update during the Jan. 27 meeting about continuing work on the township’s sewer flow diversion project.
“The contractor has excavated through the intersection of Broad Street and Garfield Avenue, they’re working on Garfield, and expect to be past the Merck entrance this week,” said township Manager Sandra Brookley Zadell.
Work began in December on the “Wastewater Improvement Plan” project, which is meant to shift sewer flow from a treatment plant in Towamencin to the township’s own plant near Township Line Road. A $10.7 million contract for the project was awarded last August, details were finalized in September and October, then construction began in December as the township rolled out a dedicated website to provide maps and updates.
Once work proceeds past that Merck entrance, Zadell said this week, Garfield Avenue will need to be closed to through traffic from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, and traffic will be detoured to Park Avenue during that window.
“We haven’t had any complaints so far on the WIP project, which is great,” Zadell said.
“Now that this is the first time there’s going to be a detour, this is when we’ll see how it affects the residents,” she said.
Residents in the affected areas should be impacted by those detours for three to four weekends depending on weather, according to the manager, and can visit www.UpperGwynedd. org/WIP for updates.
Merck work gets OK: Several other land developmentrelated items were also approved unanimously by the board Monday night, including three waiver requests for Merck to perform upgrades within their West Point complex on buildings 51, 60 and 63, and a request for afterhours crane work on building 69D. Each was passed with minimal discussion from the board, and details are available in the board’s meeting materials packet for Jan. 27.
Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners next meet at 7 p.m. on Feb. 10 at the township administration building, 1 Parkside Place. For more information visit www.UpperGwynedd.org.