If you can't find the house, 911 is no help

DINGMAN — “We need to put together some kind of ordinance which will require township residents to get emergency 911 reflective signs for their homes,” Dingman Township Fire Chief Bill Mikulak told the supervisors earlier this month. “We may have to initiate fines for non-compliance.” When answering a recent emergency call in Lake Adventure the fire department emergency vehicle spent more than 20 minutes to find the house where they were called. They passed by the home three times before realizing which house the emergency vehicle needed to get to. “The 911 emergency sign issue was resolved in Blooming Grove Township where they have 95 percent compliance. Conashaugh Lake and Gold Key Lake sub-divisions are pretty good. On the other hand Sunrise Lake doesn’t even have street signs,” reported Mikulak. “A contract was signed with the software company which will provide the program and hardware to automate 911 emergency calls,” said Mikulak. He went on to say, “There will be a touch screen which will show the address, street location, phone number and type of emergency we have to respond to.” Mikulak told the supervisors the new system will help the fire department respond quicker to emergencies. That’s tomorrow. Today some signs are needed. What about daycare regulation? In unrelated business, the subject of a daycare facilities regulations was discussed again. “Daycare regulations in the township are basically unregulated, if the number of children being cared for fall below a certain number,” said Township Solicitor John Klemeyer. The Township Planning Commission has suggested there be revisions to the current requirements in place now. The revision suggested would make all child care facilities in the township conform to the licensing requirements set by the state. “This revision may not work because if someone asks for state licensing they may not get it because the state does not license facilities with less than seven children,” said Klemeyer. “We have facilities that care for less than seven children. “If we do this then we are increasing current number of children allowed for a home occupation daycare business in the township to fewer than seven in order to receive a township permit but not necessarily a state license,” Klemeyer stated. Concerns over wording regarding daycare signage was unclear and Supervisor Chairman Tom Mincer suggested the revision be sent back to the planning commission for further review. In other business Milford Volunteer Fire Department representative Tom Stephenson reported the company had 96 fire calls so far this year and 89 of them were in Dingman Township. They also 275 ambulance calls of which 108 were in Dingman Township. Milford received a state grant and has purchased five automated external defibrillators and an extrication saw which will be used to get trapped occupants out from a damaged vehicle. A repaving bid submitted by three companies for 1.32 miles on Husson Road was awarded to Hanson Aggregates of Lake Ariel. Hanson was the low bidder at a price of $118,496.35. E.R Linde Construction of Honesdale, bid $119,766.50 and Wayco Inc. of Waymart, bid $122,567.55. The repaving will be completed by Aug. 22. Line stripe painting on township roads also received three bids. The work will consist of 73,285 feet of four inch double yellow center line and 91,230 feet of six inch white sideline painting. The bid was awarded to Midlantic Marking of New Market, Md. at a cost of $8,559.30. They were not the lowest bidder but the lowest bidder PSX of Kennette Square, at a cost of $8,156.98 was not responsive to calls from the township regarding a list of references. The third bidder was Interstate Road Management of Hazleton, at a cost of $10,642.65.