CONNOQUENESSING TWP — Supervisors appointed Laura Mason and Ken Norman to the Connoquenessing Township Sewer Authority at a Wednesday meeting.

Mason is filling a term left open by the resignation of Brendan Linton, which expires at the end of the year, and Norman is filling a term left open by the resignation of Ed Kasky, which expires in 2026.

In response to questions posed by residents at the meeting, township solicitor Andrew Menchyk said Mason can be reappointed to the authority once her term expires, but cannot be reappointed to fill the seat until then.

Supervisor Chairman Terry Steinheiser said the supervisors received a number of applications for the two open seats, and agreed with Supervisor Ricky Kradel that making a decision was difficult.

“Everybody can’t be on it,” Steinheiser said. “I read through things, and I would like to have all of you on it, but that’s just not going to happen.”

Residents also asked if the supervisors could expand the number of members on the sewer authority, to which Menchyk responded that it would require a restructuring of the board.

The sewer authority has been preparing for the installation of a public sewage system in Connoquenessing Township for several years now. Supervisors meetings and sewer authority meetings have been widely attended in that time for people to voice their concerns about the cost and extent of the project.

The township proposed a sewer system to comply with Department of Environmental Protection Act 537. Established in 1966, the act requires municipalities to provide public sewer systems.

The engineering firm Herbert, Rowland & Grubic presented five scenarios to the authority at its July meeting, which ranged in cost from $27 million to $51 million and would serve up to 1,100 customers. Conversations about the scenarios and a potential study on the feasibility of the proposals have halted with the resignation of sewer authority board members.

Menchyk said the sewer authority would be in charge of recommending a plan to the township supervisors, who would then implement the chosen proposal.

Steinheiser said the supervisors and the sewer authority have scheduled a meeting with Department of Environmental Protection officials on Dec. 13.

The parties will discuss the proposals the township has for its Act 537 plan. Steinheiser encouraged the residents who were at Wednesday's meeting to attend the sewer authority meeting at the end of the month to discuss their ideas.

“I am very open to listening to each and every one of you, to see that when we talk to the DEP (about) what they are willing to work with us on,” Steinheiser said. “Until we have that meeting with them, I would like as much feedback as you can possibly give us from the sewage board.”

Kradel said anyone with ideas is welcome to pitch them to the sewer authority.

“Right now every possibility out there is on our table,” Kradel said. “We’re going to study them all, get rid of the ones that are no good, hopefully come up with a confident one.”

Also at the meeting, the supervisors voted to increase the fire tax in the township by half a mill, bringing the rate to 2.5 mills.