CV seeks high speed internet

Carroll Valley Borough staff is seeking to replace Century Link with Comcast as a highspeed internet provider for a part of the borough, but the efforts have been going anything but smoothly.

Borough Manager Dave Hazlett stated that, for Comcast to extend their service to the desired section of the municipality, the company is seeking $29,000 in order to implement the extension to the D-Section.

"I don’t know if that is $29,000 for each municipality involved (because the system starts in Liberty Township and ends in Carroll Valley), or if that is a total, and it needs to be further cut-down to figure out who owes what," he said.

He said Liberty Township officials seemed equally perplexed about the charge, "(because) we walked into this with an assurance from Comcast that they were going to do it as part of re-upping our franchise agreement with them – that was going to be one of their points of compensation – and that has since gone away."

The borough manager stated that there are residents who really need this type of (Comcast highspeed) service, adding, "It is 2021. They should have some (faster) internet. After living there for 17 years I can assure the internet back there is horrendous." He said the "so-called" high-speed broadband offered by Century Link is "dial-up speed."

"I don’t see Comcast moving from where they are at," Hazlett stated, adding, "It’s about finding additional COVID money… all the people back there want is for their I-Pad to work."

The council agreed to have the borough manager contact Liberty Township first, then commit the necessary funding to Comcast, if Comcast could ensure the borough that the highspeed internet extension could be provided by the end of this calendar year (December 31).

Police coverage offered to Franklin

Liberty Township will be offering police coverage, to be provided by the township Police Department, to Franklin Township, according to township supervisors's Chairman Walter Barlow.

Barlow stated at the township’s July meeting that a letter has been drafted to send to Franklin to "let them know that we are offering services to them if they would choose to listen." He said that he had received comments that Franklin Township officials were "interested at least in talking to our police chief and Carroll Valley."

He stated that police services have also been offered to Highland Township as well.

Barlow said that adding on other coverage areas would help "make our police force a stronger police force," and that extending offers to provide police coverage to other jurisdictions were intended to "let them (other municipalities) know that we are active in looking to service other residents, other than our own."

The township police have been providing police services to Freedom Township and continue to do so.

In other police business, Barlow noted that one of the police department officers had completed his TASER training, but that the department’s TASERs should be replaced, which he said are "outdated and obsolete."

Being the township may try to find a funding source with which to pay for the replacements, the board chairman stated, "I know they’re expensive."

(News Editor’s Note: TASER (sometimes spelled TAZER) is actually an acronym for Tom A. Swift Electric Rifle. The inventor of the TASER, Jack Cover, was a big fan of Tom A. Swift, a character in science fiction and adventure literature dating back to the early 20th century. Swift invented an electric rifle for elephant hunters to use in a novel published in 1911.)

Streaming to be continued

Hamiltonban Township will continue to stream its municipal meeting for the time-being.

Supervisor Coleen Reamer reported that the supervisors will be continuing with streaming their meetings via the startmeeting.com application through the end of the year for the convenience of the public.

She noted that the township is having in-person meetings and allowing public to attend.

As a result, township residents will have two options to participate in the budgetary process which will soon begin – in-person attendance, or streaming. Reamer said, "We are advertising our Budget Workshops for 2022 beginning with our August 17 meeting."

Utilities holding-up road work

Improvements planned for Moritz Road in Hamiltonban Township are being held-up by the lack of the requested relocations of telephone utility lines.

According to Supervisor Coleen Reamer, the township had planned this year to widen a lower section of approximately 1500 feet of Moritz Road, "but the telephone utility company has not yet moved their lines so we can begin the work."

Therefore, in lieu of any progress "along those lines," the supervisors decided to repair drainage pipes on the upper 1500-foot portion of Moritz. The stalled line relocations have also served as motivation to implement other repairs and widening now - that had been planned for next year.

The board will have furthering road-widening plans and a new road surface installed in 2022.