Jul 8, 2013 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg Borough Council received a check for $100,000 Monday after agreeing to a two-year extension on a lease for the natural gas rights on property at the borough’s Meadowlark Park and its former dump.

Council agreed to the lease extension on the 100 acres of land at the park and former dump with Vantage Energy, the company that acquired Tanglewood Exploration.

The borough originally leased the gas rights to Tanglewood in 2010 under a three-year agreement that expires Aug. 7. The company had agreed to pay a signing bonus of $1,000 an acre, or $100,000, and royalty payments of 20 percent on the sale of natural gas extracted from the property.

Under the lease, if the company failed to extract the gas by Aug. 7, the lease would be voided and the borough could keep the signing bonus.

Borough solicitor Linda Chamber negotiated the two-year extension with the company that provides the borough with another $100,000 signing bonus and maintains the 20 percent royalty on the sale of the gas.

The borough has about 80 acres of land at the former dump on Woodland Avenue extension and about 20 acres at Meadowlark Park. Both are in Franklin Township.

The company can drill on the dump property but is prohibited from drilling at Meadowlark Park, borough manager Bruce Wermlinger said. The gas under Meadowlark will have to extracted from wells on property outside the park.

In other business, council voted to hire Dave Beiter as a sewer plant worker to replace Charles Rick who resigned last month.

It also authorized the police department to hire a part-time patrolman. Last month council hired two of the department’s part-time patrolmen for full-time positions.

The two full-time position came open with the promotion of patrolman Rob Toth to chief and the expected resignation of Brian Tennant, who won the Democratic and Republican nominations for sheriff in the primary.

Council also agreed to employ engineer Mike Dufalla to oversee the borough’s sewage project to separate storm water from the sanitary sewer system. He will be paid $60 not to exceed $8,000 for the remainder of the year.

The meeting was the last meeting for both police Chief Tim Hawfield, who will retire July 16 after 32 years as chief, and Wermlinger, who will complete his last day with the borough Aug. 1 or 2.

It was announced Church Street from High Street to Cherry Alley will be closed July 16, to allow the county to make repairs to the courthouse tower.

Council held a public hearing on the Safe Routes to School project that will involve replacing the sidewalk and curbs on the south side of Lincoln Street from Morgan Street to West Street. No comments were received.

The project is being funded with a Safe Routes to School grant, awarded to the borough in 2009, for $442,500. The borough also earmarked $81,261 from its 2012 Community Development Block grant for the project.