Wyalusing Township supervisors Art Allen (left) and Lanny Stethers (right) revealed new signs made by Parrot Graphics that will soon adorn the front of the township’s office building on Route 6. Supervisor Marvin Meteer and secretary Maxine Meteer are seated in the background.
Photo and story by Rick Hiduk
(originally published in the Daily Review)
Preparations for the seasons ahead topped the agenda of the Wyalusing Township Supervisors on Tuesday evening, as they reviewed bids for mowing and stone supplies. Five mowing bids were received in time for the March 7 meeting and, while the final vote went to a contractor who did well for the township last year, a young entrepreneur who pulled into a close second place was acknowledged as a force to be reckoned with.
Wyalusing Township has numerous parcels of lands that require routine maintenance, including the area around the office building and garages along Route 6, the Lime Hill Cemetery and monument, Wyalusing Rocks Overlook, and the former Camptown Elementary School ball fields and playground. Some of the bidders separated the costs for each, and others combined properties in close proximity to each other.
After carefully comparing the slightly differing offers, including variations on the proposed length of the mowing season, supervisors Marvin Meteer, Lanny Stethers, and Art Allyn, determined that the rates per mowing cycle ranged from $750 to $1,150, with Brandon Carr submitting the lowest bid. Carr’s proposal also included a commitment to remove small debris such as tree branches and trash prior to mowing.
“He did an excellent job for us last year, and he’s willing to do anything extra if you need it,” said Stethers.
After some more discussion, the supervisors went the “tried and trusted” route and unanimously accepted Carr’s bid. But they could not help but be impressed by the well-prepared package submitted by Cade McMicken of CM Earthworks. McMicken is a student at Wyalusing Valley High School whose proposal made a similar impression on the members of the Wyalusing Borough Council the previous evening, though they too renewed their contract with the previous year’s mower.
“Cade really sharpened his pencil for this,” township secretary Maxine Meteer remarked. “He didn’t just list references, he included letters of reference and a contract ready for us to sign.”
“For an eleventh grader, this is absolutely amazing,” Marvin Meteer agreed. “For anybody who has large parcels to mow, it might be a good idea to keep Cade’s name in mind.”
There was only one bid for one thousand tons of 2A stone that the township uses over the course of the year for a variety of projects. The contract went to Stagecoach Transport & Crushing again this year at a cost of $13.25 per ton delivered and $8.50 per ton pick up.
Maxine read a letter from Tom Miller of the Wyalusing Volunteer Fire Department thanking the supervisors for a recent donation of $14,417, which was their share of the township’s 2022 Local Service Tax levied on those employed within the township. Guthrie Ambulance received a similar amount, she noted.
Maxine then read a lengthier letter received from the Bradford County Humane Society whom, she noted, usually reaches out to the municipality each December for an annual contribution. The letter described the many changes that have taken place at the BCHS shelter in North Towanda over the years, including adopting a no-kill policy.
Due to a large number of surrenders from the beginning of the pandemic through 2022, the facility built in 1960 has reached and surpassed its capacity for both dogs and cats. There has been a 12 percent increase in the stray population across the United States, and regional shelters have been similarly impacted. The average cost for providing food, shelter and medical services is about $870 per animal.
To meet the growing need, BCHS is building an addition to their shelter, which the letter indicated may cause some disruptions in their abilities to provide routine services. Rather than requesting a donation based on an assessment of each municipality’s population, shelter authorities are appealing to municipal leaders to send what they can to ensure the ongoing operations of the BCHS.
“They don’t ask for a lot, and they’ve always been there for us,” Maxine related.
“I have no doubt they have a very tight budget,” Marvin added.
“This is a very important issue. They need some place to go,” Stethers said of stray and abandoned animals.
The supervisors were unable to immediately recount how much they had given the BCHS in previous years, so they tabled the motion while they look into it and committed to following up on the matter at a future meeting.
One non-agenda item brought up by Maxine was that the township recently received $139,543 in Liquid Fuel Funds, an increase of about $4,000 over last year. They also received $41,080 for “turn back roads” – those given back to the township by PennDOT some years ago. That amount never changes, Marvin noted.