Antrim declares state of emergency during snow storm

With just three supervisors and the township administrator present, the Antrim Township Board of Supervisors met for 15 minutes Feb. 9 and tabled most agenda items. The rest of the Antrim personnel and citizens stayed home because of the winter storm underway.

The board followed suit from the state of Pennsylvania and Franklin County in declaring a disaster emergency. The county's Feb. 5 emergency was still in effect due to final cleanup efforts when the Feb. 9 storm commenced, extending the emergency. Solicitor John Lisko had reviewed the document and suggested the township pass the same declaration with the addition of authorizing the board chairman or administrator to declare an emergency, necessary for reimbursement purposes, without waiting until the next board meeting. The supervisors at that time could ratify the declaration.

Administrator Brad Graham recommended the supervisors appoint the board chairman to declare any disasters. James Byers thought Antrim's emergency management coordinator Paul Minnich could do it since he was in contact with the county regularly. However, since that position wasn't on the list of potential people to make a declaration, Fred Young III moved to authorize the chairman to issue the state of emergency. Seconded by Byers, the motion passed with Rick Baer also in assent.

The trio granted extension requests for six land development plans, and approved a change order for work at the sewer plant. Due to a backlog with the manufacturer, the contractor needed 60 more days to finish the compactor upgrade. The change added no additional cost to the project.

The next meeting will be at 7 p.m. Feb. 23.