CONNOQUENESSING TWP — Even after stretching a one-page meeting agenda into a 3½ hour marathon, Connoquenessing Township supervisors had no answers for the residents of Golden L Mobile Home Park.

The township is seeking more than $262,000 from the park, which is in both Connoquenessing and Franklin townships, for the four years that supervisors allege the 32-unit park has been in violation of sewage ordinances.

The township's legal action against the mobile home park began in November 2005 when the supervisors began fining park owner Faye Bennett $2,000 per week for not repairing a septic tank that became clogged and overflowed.

Golden L residents and the township supervisors have repeatedly sparred over whether the sewage leakage issue has been resolved, even though the actual system has long been fixed.

"We proved years ago that the problem was fixed. The only reason it has gone to this point is because a sewage permit that was paid for was never issued," said Golden L manager Justin Herp.

The system has now been replaced, but a line feeding the system was broken and required a permit to fix.

Although the permit was applied for and a $950 fee paid — Herp has produced records of both — the permit reportedly was never issued and Herp was fined $500 by the township after fixing the pipe, still without a permit, when told to do so by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

During the lengthy meeting, supervisors skipped an agenda item regarding the residents' complaint about the accrued fines, $2,000 a week from Nov. 14, 2005, the date of the initial infraction, "until the park has closed."

However, on an appeal to Butler County Court, Judge Marilyn J. Horan in 2007 ruled "the basis for the board's imposition of said fine until the closure of the park is unclear. The cessation of the fine is more appropriately linked to the park's violations and to the remediation of the sewage disposal system."

In November, a further appeal to the state Commonwealth Court resulted in Judge Johnny J. Butler upholding Horan and stating that "the board abused its discretion in continuing the fine 'until the park closes' as opposed to until the violation is abated."

However, that did not stop Connoquenessing Township solicitor Robert Hawk from mailing, on behalf of the township board of supervisors, a letter reaffirming revocation of the park's sewage permit and demanding a total of $262,000 in weekly fines from the residents.

"This seems to us like some sort of threat or intimidation tactic. I will be in contact with both Judge Butler and Judge Horan," Herp told the supervisors.

When the issue finally surfaced at 10:30 p.m. — supervisors skipped the solicitor's report during the agenda and the discussion had to wait until the end of the meeting — Hawk moved to a back room of the township building, leaving the supervisors to deal with a demand for fines seemingly in violation of two court orders.

"I had other things to do. It was just a matter of fines, no big deal," said Hawk as he walked to his vehicle after the meeting.

When asked if those things took precedent over a letter he drafted, and which his opinion was relevant to, he responded, "the meeting just went too long."

Chairwoman Evelyn Hockenberry and Supervisor Jack Kaltenbaugh did not answer Golden L residents' questions and adjourned the meeting before heading to the same back room Hawk retired to. Supervisor Stephen Misko was present but stayed quiet because comments by residents were not directed at him.

Several Golden L residents left during the long meeting which preceded the eventual confrontation, calling the delay "an embarrassment."

At last month's board of supervisors' meeting, Herp agreed to pay for another sewage enforcement officer to visit and to pay the officer's fee, with the hope of regaining the park's sewage permit, but only if the supervisors would accept the officer's findings.

Though an independent SEO and the township's officer have both recently inspected the 6-acre property, the latter has not yet submitted an official report to supervisors.

Although almost half of the Golden L property sits in Franklin Township, Herp said Franklin has never approached the park with complaints of any violation.