Feb 3, 2014 2 min read

CARMICHAELS – Cumberland Township supervisors approved the installation of a temporary sewage holding tank Monday for the Carmichaels Area School District’s renovation project.

The holding tank, approved under the township’s holding tank ordinance, will be used when the district begins renovations at the junior-senior high school this spring.

The district expects the renovations to begin in April, with the construction of a new cafeteria and kitchen in the area between the junior high school and senior high school.

At the end of the school year, the junior high will be turned over to contractors to begin work. Next school year, while the junior high is under renovation, mobile classrooms will be used for classes that can’t be accommodated in the high school. After the junior high is finished, work will begin on the high school.

The supervisors also approved a cellular telephone policy for the township’s police department that specifies use of the township-supplied telephones. The policy addresses such issues as use of the telephones for personal calls and their use while driving.

Phillip Chojnicki, who lives on Route 1021 near Bailey’s Crossroads, asked the supervisors whether there has been any progress to resolve a problem involving a fuel oil leak from a line at the Route 21 Mobile Home Park.

Chojnicki said the leak has been running into a catch basin along the highway, which leads to an unnamed creek that flows in Muddy Creek. He said he first noticed the leak about five to seven days ago. Enough oil has leaked that “you can see it and smell it,” he said.

Supervisor Bill Nicholson said when Chojnicki earlier reported the leak to him he contacted the state Department of Environmental Protection. Chojnicki said he, too, had contacted DEP.

Following the meeting, Nicholson called DEP and was informed the leak has been repaired and a company was at the property Monday digging a retaining ditch to catch any oil that still might be flowing through the ground.