BY PAT FARNELLI

The New Milford Township Supervisors and other officials just returned from the 92nd annual PSATS Convention in Hershey.

The supervisors attended several seminars including one on amending rules for hydrofracturing for the natural gas industry, as well as general oversight of the industry, Supervisor Jack Conroy noted.

Township Emergency Management Coordinator Ken Bondurant attended the convention’s emergency management education seminars.

He will be attending an all day training Thursday, he said, as well as a Flood Plain Management seminar.

Bondurant said that the previous week, a beaver dam broke in a swamp near Brushville. The water surge was handled by a state culvert but was too much at once for the township pipe.

Water came over the bottom of the Highlands Road but, Bondurant said, recent improvements to the road by a gas company enabled it to withstand the rush of the water with little to no damage.

The supervisors executed and signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding Sutton Road. The dirt and gravel road has been paved and the ditches were cut and lined with stone up to specifications agreed to by Bluestone Gathering.

Tony Baroni, a township resident who attended the meeting with his wife, commented, “I think we have the best road in the county, beside 81.”

Susquehanna Gathering submitted a general operating permit for approval, including an air quality (BAQ-GPA) and a general permit 5 (GP5).

A permit was submitted for a compressor station on East Lake Road, for South West Gathering.

A permit was received from Southwestern Energy to drill three more horizontal holes at the existing Innes South gas well pad on Alexander Road.

There was also an ESCGP-2 permit issued for the Barkem Squirrel Communications Tower on Three Lakes Rd.

The Wildcat 2 Blue Frog Hole Quarry was granted a non-coal mining permit, also known as a general NPDES.

The township is currently holding its fourth annual Local Government Contest at the Blue Ridge Elementary School. This includes a coloring contest for grades K-2, and an essay contest for grades three to five on “What my school needs.”

The winners for the contest will be announced in an assembly on May 1 at 2 p.m. in the elementary cafeteria.

The supervisors noted that while civics was removed from the curriculum, that subject is being reinstated.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, Apr.21 at 7:30 p.m.