A Time for Reflection and Looking Forward!

It is that time of year again when people start to reflect on the past year and spend more time with loved ones.  December is a time for us, at Winfield Township, to reflect as well.  It is also the time of year when we look into the future.  When I look back on 2017, here is what I see… a year that produced over $60,000.00 in storm water projects and a year that saw East Cornplanter Road get a serious facelift through a Dirt and Gravel Road Grant (doing more with less!).  It was a year where the Community Park continued to grow. We installed a restroom and finalized another DCNR grant!  We are very proud to say that we fund the park expansion without local tax dollars!  We will continue to expand in 2018/19 as well, having recently received word that our grant application for a 1.2 mile, 6’ wide, ADA accessible walking trail was recently approved by DCNR!  But that’s not all!  We also completed a Full Depth Reclamation on Cruikshank Road by investing ACT 13 Monies along with General Fund Monies to drastically improve the condition of the roadway!  We seal coated over 140,000 square yards of roadway and by way of our Capital Improvement Plan adopted in 2016, have plans to seal coat over 120,000 in 2018 (over seven miles!) and close to 200,000 in 2019.  AND, if we sealed your road this year, we’ll see you again in 3 or 4 years!  Our plan stays on the offensive attack (for you hockey fans out there).

Through sound planning and astute fiscal management, the Board has positioned themselves to stay on schedule and purchase another Dump Truck, replacing a 2001 International, next year.  This schedule means that we will be able to replace each dump truck every 5 years.  We are also able to be in a position to finance less and less of those purchases each time.  We were also able in 2017 to purchase a new wheel loader for the Road Department.  A vital piece of equipment that is used on an almost daily basis.  I would personally like to thank the Board for providing the support and resources to make this plan possible.

The new year also allow us to reevaluate how we go about our work, and ask ourselves what can we do differently.  Can we reflect more on issues instead of reacting?  Can we look at problems differently?  Try new approaches?  Well, I can tell you that we are looking at ways to improve the way we patch sections of roadway, considering milling pavement down to provide a more smooth transition and a higher quality end result.  We are doubling down on our seal coating program, combing state and local monies with ACT 13 monies to seal more roadways, more often, allowing us to use less patch material and provide a higher quality patch where applicable.  We are also continuing to trim more trees which allows more sunlight to be on the roadway; aiding in snow removal in the winter and roadways drying out quicker in the spring and summer months.

Also, helping in drying roadways out are Storm water projects.  We have slated four projects for 2018 so far, totaling 3,000 ft. of pipe!  We are planning to complete those projects in house, allowing us to stay within our budget, and do more than we would otherwise be able to do had we bid the projects out.

We have also made permit application a tad easier in 2017, by providing fillable .pdfs on our website, to increase the convenience factor and help improve in the customer service aspect of our Township.  We have created a Facebook and Google pages to encourage better communication between our residents and the Township.  It will also allow us to push out information about emergencies and road closures to the public.  I always welcome feedback and would enjoy open dialogue on any of your questions or concerns!

We are continuing to work to make Winfield Township a great place to call home.  The Board recently enacted a Billboard Ordinance that will govern types and locations of Billboards within the Township, I will talk more about that in a later post though.  If you have a question or comment, I would love to hear from you either through Facebook or you can always reach me at winfieldtwp@zoominternet.net or by phone at 724-352-3333 option 1.

For your convenience, I have attached our proposed Budget for 2018 FY.

I hope you and your family have a safe and wonderful Holiday Season and a healthy and prosperous New Year!

As always…

Yours in Service,

 

 

Adam Hartwig, Township Secretary