The desk at the front of the Supervisor’s meeting room at the Lake Township Building looked oddly empty on Monday evening without the presence of Russell Enslin. But after the tumultuous events of last month’s meeting, where legal notice was finally given to the absconding Supervisor that his move to Salem Township invalidated his term of office, it’s unlikely that he will be returning to his old chair. The only question now is; who will be filling it?

No answers were apparent at the organizational/regular meeting, but a host of other vacancies were filled. These included:

• the reappointment of Solicitor Mark S. Jennings
• Township engineer Michael Propst of Keystone Consulting
• the reappointment of Glen Swingle and Peter Snyder to the Planning Commission; one vacancy remains on the commission, that formerly filled by Mildred Matthews who declined to remain. The vacancy will be advertised.

Mr. Enslin’s absence was explained more fully during the latter half of the combination meeting. Solicitor Jennings contacted the Supervisors and informed them that the next step in taking legal action on Enslin was filing an official complaint with the Wayne County Court of Common Pleas. Solicitor Jennings needed a authorization under an official motion from the supervisors in order to proceed with the complaint. The supervisors passed the motion, but not without regret for the way the situation played out.

Luckily, the meeting also contained happier notes. Amy Alpaugh came to the meeting to update the Supervisors on the great work that the Community Library of Lake and Salem Township is engaged in.

“2007 saw a 37% increase in titles checked out, and we’ve doubled the number of borrowers,” she said. “We’ve also added a number of titles, as well as been able to host sold-out computer classes, hosted a children’s reading time, and an outreach program at Julia Ribaudo.” Alpaugh thanked the supervisors for the support which made these, as well as many other, changes possible.

Lastly, the supervisors decided to rescind the responsibility of assigning new addresses, street names, and house numbers to the Wayne County Board of Supervisors, to better match other townships in the county and simplify matters of mail delivery. This change will not effect any currently developed property in the township, merely property which has not yet been built.

Other News
• The Lake Ariel Fire Department wrote a letter to the Supervisors thanking them for their help with the Christmas Eve luminaries. “Our town, once again, looked beautiful...and without your help this would have been a difficult project to complete,” the letter read.

• The Commonwealth of PA Department of Auditor General furnished the Supervisors with a copy of the Examination Report for the township’s liquid fuel tax. This report will be on display at the Township Office.

• Wayne County Solid Waste Department reimbursed Lake Township’s Recycling Program for their efforts over the year with a check for $660.72. In total, residents of the township managed to recycle 82.59 tons of garbage and waste material.

The Lake Township Board of Supervisors will meet on the first Tuesday of every month at 7:30 p.m. in the Township Building, Route 196.