Amid all of the hustle and bustle of today's fast-paced, technologically oriented lives, it is refreshing to hear about a back-to-basics approach to something.

County residents got such news during the past week by way of an announcement that the Penn State Cooperative Extension Service, Butler County Department of Recycling and Waste Management and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will be teaming up again for composting workshops and to provide composting bins to those who complete the workshop.

The workshops will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. April 24 and May 9, 15 and 17 at the Butler County Cooperative Extension Office in Building 10 on the grounds of Sunnyview Nursing Home.

People can register for the sessions by calling the county extension office at 724-287-4761.

Composting is the natural decomposition of organic matter. The process creates a material that is valuable for conditioning soil.

Composting also helps conserve landfill space and natural resources, and can help save money, time and effort.

Those who desire a respite from the hustle and bustle of daily life should consider workshop participation. Not only is composting environmentally friendly, it also is rewarding when that compost helps create beautiful flowers and productive gardens.

Butler County municipalities should take notice of the constructive dialogue that has been going on between the Springfield Township (Mercer County) supervisors and the Springfield Volunteer Fire Company in regard to increasing the township's allocation to the fire service.Currently, the township allocates approximately a third of all real estate tax revenue collected to the fire company. However, the company has requested that the allocation be upped to 35 percent of the tax revenue collected, because of the pressures skyrocketing fuel costs have imposed on firefighters.Some boards of supervisors might have rejected the request outright, since most other communities don't financially support their emergency services by such a percentage. However, in Springfield's case, the supervisors said they would continue to consider the request, although no date was set for a decision to be finalized.One issue impacting the request is Mercer County's approximately two-year lag in reassessing properties on which development has taken place. The county should strive to correct that situation."We (supervisors and fire company) have a decent working relationship," said Fire Chief Steve Rea. "I think we need to make it better, to make it easier for you and easier for us."That the supervisors and fire company are committed to maintaining constructive dialogue and are trying to be honest with one another in terms of needs and available resources should be imitated by other communities and their emergency services.

The Oakland Township supervisors should rethink the way they have begun to manage municipal operations. The unhappiness expressed in recent days by a significant number of residents is indicative that problems have been festering that must not be ignored or trivialized.While the focal point of residents' unhappiness apparently is the supervisors' treatment of township secretary Nadine Neff — she says she has been harassed and asked to resign — residents' concern extends beyond that position.It's difficult for any municipal government to conduct orderly business when there is a swirling of anger such as that demonstrated at Tuesday's supervisors meeting.Perhaps Neff in some ways has been deserving of the supervisors' unhappiness, especially in regard to divulging certain information that the supervisors regard as outside the public's right to know. But at the same time, the supervisors should be committed to transparency in their conduct of township business.Whether that is actually happening is now open to deserved speculation.Allegations that the supervisors are using their purported unhappiness with Neff to disguise a desire to open a position for a supervisor's relative provides an unflattering glimpse of the supervisors' judgment, if those allegations are in fact true.Residents who met Wednesday at the Oneida Valley firehall discussed recourses such as removal of the supervisors and adding two seats to the supervisors' current three-member board. How all of that shakes out will be determined in the months ahead.The fact remains that none of that would seem necessary if the supervisors would try to find an amicable resolution to this dispute.It would seem that a cooling-off period might be the best option for now for the supervisors and the residents.