Barrett Township News, Events, Public Notices: Villages of Mountainhome, Cresco, Skytop, Buck Hill Falls, Canadensis
(From 2017)
Paradise Township supervisors unanimously approved a controversial ordinance regulating short-term rentals following a hearing Monday night.
The ordinance sets rules and standards for homeowners who rent their properties for between one and 30 days. Its intention is to provide for the health, welfare and safety of renters, but also includes protections for surrounding neighbors.
The Rotary Club of the Pocono Mountains’ Banners Throughout Barrett campaign is a local initiative designed to cultivate pride in our community and contribute to the revitalization of Barrett and Paradise Townships. Complete the form (see attachments) to purchase a banner.
Disclaimer: The ideas expressed below are the personal thoughts and opinions of Nate Covington and do not necessarily reflect the position of Barrett Township or the Board of Auditors.
Earlier this year I filed a Right-to-Know request as a private citizen to view the township’s pension plan.
Well, for starters, township residents were taxed $55,000 in 2017 to fund the plan which has around $1 million in assets. In the same year, the State of Pennsylvania contributed an additional $32,000 to the pension fund.
Disclaimer: The ideas expressed below are the personal thoughts and opinions of Nate Covington and do not necessarily reflect the position of Barrett Township or its Board of Auditors.
After I was appointed auditor in November 2018, I requested a copy of the previous year’s CPA audit from Pam Gardsy (Barrett Township Secretary/Treasurer, who replaced Rick Scrudato in 2015). Pam emailed a copy of the auditor’s report, but it did not include the cover letter. I wound up filing two Right-To-Know requests to obtain the following information:
More than 11,000 people who were registered to vote in Pennsylvania were found to not be citizens of the United States — and the state's Democratic governor didn't want anyone to know about it.
What's the story?
Two Republican state lawmakers, Reps. Daryl Metcalfe and Garth Everett, released the information Tuesday. Metcalfe had requested this information from the state in February 2018, but the request was appealed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, and stalled until Dec. 3, after the elections had already wrapped up.
On Dec. 3, the Pennsylvania Department of State sent a letter to Metcalfe, which indicated that a "possible" 11,198 voter registrations existed for people who were identified by the state as non-citizens.
Two years ago, Chief Grover Cleveland thought it would take until at least 2023 to complete the renovations necessary to repair Barrett Township’s 30-year-old firehouse.
Thanks to a $148,270 grant the volunteer fire company received last year, they were able to complete all of that work in less than 12 months.
“It’s really nice and I’m glad we were able to do it without taking money from the township,” Cleveland said. “It helps out with training, cleanliness. We’re able to have two things going on at once.”
PUBLIC NOTICE REGULAR MEETING SCHEDULE Notice is hereby given that the 2019 regular meetings of the Barrett Township Board of Supervisors will be held at the Barrett Township Municipal Building, 993 Route 390, Cresco, Pennsylvania 18326, on the second Wednesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. and on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 8 a.m. unless otherwise noted. Regular meetings are scheduled as follows: on second Wednesdays at 5:30 P.M. ( Feb 13, March 13, Apr 10, May 8, Jun 12, Jul 10, Aug 14, Sep 11, Oct 9, Nov 13, Dec 11) and on fourth Wednesdays at 8:00 A.M. (Jan 23, Feb 27, Mar 27, Apr 24, May 22, Jun 26, Jul 24, Aug 28, Sep 25, Oct 23, Nov 27; no meeting in Dec.) If any person with a disability wishes to request that special accommodations be made to allow his or her participation, he or she is asked to contact the Township at 570-595-2602, at least one business day in advance to make arrangements. Weitzmann, Weitzmann & Huffman, LLC By: Todd W. Weitzmann, Esquire Stroudsburg, PA 18360 Barrett Township Solicitors P - Jan. 11
PUBLIC NOTICE WORK SESSION SCHEDULE Notice is hereby given that the 2019 work session meetings of the Barrett Township Board of Supervisors will be held at the Barrett Township Municipal Building, 993 Route 390, Cresco, Pennsylvania 18326, on the third Wednesday of each month at 8 a.m., unless otherwise noted. Work session meetings are scheduled as follows: Jan 16, Feb 20, Mar 20, Apr 17, May 15, Jun 19, Jul 17, Aug 21, Sep 18, Oct 16, Nov 20, Dec 18. If any person with a disability wishes to request that special accommodations be made to allow his or her participation, he or she is asked to contact the Township at 570-595-2602, at least one business day in advance to make arrangements. Weitzmann, Weitzmann & Huffman, LLC By: Todd W. Weitzmann, Esquire 700 Monroe Street Stroudsburg, PA 18360 Barrett Township Solicitors P - Jan. 11
Editor's Note:
A member of the community forwarded this article to me and I want to share the idea with everyone. Last year, the recycling center in Barrett closed, and this might be a great way to respond. It's environmentally friendly and we'd be creating value out of items that we used to discard...
The majority of the 300 million tons of plastic produced every year isn’t recycled, and recycling that does happen typically happens at an industrial scale in factories using equipment that can cost tens of thousands of dollars. But a growing number of designers are using a set of open-source, easy-to-build tools to recycle plastic and manufacture new plastic products on their own.
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Related:
Tunnel Detour in the Poconos Riddled with Potholes
POCONO TOWNSHIP — A PennDOT construction project on Route 191 is expected to cause detours for more than 5,000 commuters per day for 11 months during 2019.
Crews will be replacing the Route 191 Bridge in Pocono Township and detours in the area are expected to last from Jan. 7 until the projected completion date in Dec. 2019.
The big numbers related to Pennsylvania’s public pension debt are somewhat mind-boggling. According to a September report from Truth in Accounting, a nonprofit organization that aims to find out what states’ balance sheets truly look like, the commonwealth has $42.8 billion in unfunded pension obligations and another $29.8 billion in underfunded retiree health care benefits.
For the sake of comparison, the state’s annual budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year is $32.7 billion – which means if the state devoted every penny it takes in to nothing but closing that gap, it would still take more than two years to do it.