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Swoyersville Kiwanis Club selling cake pops for Valentine’s Day

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One memorable Knight: Gnall scores 1,000th point, saves Sem with block at buzzer

<p>JACKSON TWP. &#8212; More than 150 area residents packed the township&#8217;s fire hall on Chase Road Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. forum to express frustration over the new stormwater fee, and to talk about possible options for relief.</p><p>The fee stems from a federal Susquehanna River pollution reduction mandate requiring less sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus washed into the Chesapeake Bay over the next five years.</p><p>While a number of those in attendance said they understood the need to clean up the Chesapeake, they questioned whether levying a fee on property owners &#8212; as 32 Luzerne County municipalities have asked the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority (WVSA) to do on their behalf &#8212; is the most fair and equitable means of achieving that goal.</p><p>&#8220;We all pay federal income tax. We have funds for everything. Why don&#8217;t we have funds for this,&#8221; said Lehman Township resident Carl Kern.</p><p>&#8220;We want to send funds to Guatemala, we want to send money to Honduras so the immigrants can stay down there and have a nice country. We send money to Iran,&#8221; a frustrated Kern added. &#8220;What about us? Why not us?&#8221;</p><p>The 5:30 forum was the first of two Thursday evening, and came about thanks to the efforts of Lehman Township resident Marian DeAngelis and some friends who, like many, question how the mandate is being enforced locally.</p><p>&#8220;The municipal leaders of these towns signed up with WVSA as a private entity to take on their MS4 (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer) project for them and they decided to bill us. They gave all their stormwater rights to this entity, who is now sending out all these crazy bills,&#8221; DeAngelis said.</p><p>A communications professional by trade, DeAngelis also is involved in civic causes, including the Luzerne County Fair, which is sponsored by a non-profit association.</p><p>Under the mandate, there are no exceptions to fee, meaning non-profits and even government entities must pay, DeAngelis pointed out.</p><p>Bills for non-profits went out a little earlier than others, and caught the attention of DeAngelis and fair volunteers.</p><p>&#8220;When we saw that it triggered everyone to say, &#8216;hey, if that&#8217;s the fair&#8217;s bill, what&#8217;s my bill?&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>The answers created some serious sticker shock once residential landowners began seeing their bills last week. And, DeAngelis pointed out, they also caused some frustration when compared with neighboring townships.</p><p>Three Back Mountain municipalities opted to obtain compliance through the Dallas Area Municipal Authority (DAMA).</p><p>WVSA has a sliding fee scale based on how much impervious land a property has; DAMA is charging a flat fee now, but plans to calculate impervious areas in time for the 2020 fee.</p><p>&#8220;I have a friend who lives in Dallas who is paying $60 a year&#8221; under DAMA, DeAngelis said. &#8220;His driveway is three times longer than mine and his prop is multiple times the size of mine. His house is multiple times the size of mine and I&#8217;m paying almost $250.&#8221;</p><p>Kevin Naugle, another Lehman resident, agreed.</p><p>&#8220;We need our township supervisors to opt out,&#8221; Naugle said. &#8220;The tier system is totally wrong.&#8221;</p><p>A major theme Thursday: DeAngelis and others encouraging residents to contact their lawmakers with questions and concerns about the fee, from the local level up to Congress. She also said some residents are considering banding together and seeking legal representation.</p><p>Her message about what to tell lawmakers was crystal clear.</p><p>&#8220;If the municipal leaders signed the contract (with WVSA), we&#8217;re going to ask the municipal leaders to try to get out of the contract,&#8221; she said, adding that the message should not stop there.</p><p>&#8220;Our state reps, our local reps did not sign us up with WVSA, but we all have to work together to fix this,&#8221; DeAngelis added.</p><p>&#8220;But it starts at home, and it seems like they&#8217;re all passing the buck, and it&#8217;s very frustrating and that&#8217;s why tonight&#8217;s meetings happened, because they&#8217;re all passing the buck.&#8221;</p><p>Kern expressed similar sentiments.</p><p>&#8220;I want them to get rid of it,&#8221; he said of the fee. &#8220;If they truly are trying to cut those (sediment and pollution) rates in that river, I don&#8217;t mind paying. And if every last single solitary person (along the river) is paying, then I have no problem with it, but they&#8217;re not.&#8221;</p><p>Seeing municipal buildings having to pay only rubs salt in the wound.</p><p>&#8220;With them not exempting any entities, we as taxpayers are getting taxed three-four-five times on this. That&#8217;s the problem we run into,&#8221; Kern added.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Marian DeAngelis, of Lehman Township, speaks to residents about the stormwater fee at Jackson Township Volunteer Fire Department in Shavertown. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_TTL011119Stormwater4-1.jpeg</photo0><caption0>Marian DeAngelis, of Lehman Township, speaks to residents about the stormwater fee at Jackson Township Volunteer Fire Department in Shavertown. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_TTL011119Stormwater2-1.jpeg">
<div class="neCaption">Lehman Township resident Carl Kern speaks during Thursday&#8217;s community forum about the new stormwater fee, held at the Jackson Township Fire Hall. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_TTL011119Stormwater2-1.jpeg</photo1><caption1>Lehman Township resident Carl Kern speaks during Thursday&#8217;s community forum about the new stormwater fee, held at the Jackson Township Fire Hall. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Roger DuPuis</p><p>rdupuis@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Stormwater fee forums draw frustrated crowd