BRADY TWP — Discussion at a meeting Tuesday evening, June 20, around a campground ordinance will open the floor to negotiations with campground owners next month.

Jerry Kroczek, owner of Lake Arthur Family Campground, asked township supervisors to repeal Section 13 of Ordinance 118, which requires campgrounds to keep a register of campers that could be “open at all times to the inspection by the township engineer or code enforcement officer or law enforcement.“ The register would include names of campers, home addresses and phone numbers.

According to a statement Kroczek made earlier Tuesday afternoon, the original ordinance was made in 2019 and amended in 2021 by previous township supervisors.

Kroczek also said he opposed the need for an escrow account that would cost him $1,000 for the campground to be inspected by Richardson Inspection Services. The campground is already regularly inspected by the Department of Environmental Protection, Kroczek said before the meeting.

Township attorney Tom Smith said that he will consider changing the wording of the ordinance, but that the escrow account and campground inspections would be necessary.

“The bottom line here is we need the escrow account to pay for the inspections,” he said.

Smith said he believed that camper information should be recorded by the campground owners for health and safety reasons, but said that he did not personally deem it necessary for the information to be open for inspection at all times by officials.

Robert McConnell, supervisors’ chairman, said that campground owners should come back at the next supervisor meeting with a list of changes they would like to be made to the ordinance.

Later in the meeting, Smith addressed supervisors on the issue of camper information required by the ordinance, which he described as not being “set in stone for all of eternity.”

“I think it’s important that we work with the campgrounds,” said Smith.

“I would not have written the ordinance the way it is now,” he said.

McConnell told campground owners that a motion to make any changes will be made at the next meeting in July.

Supervisors accepted a bid from Holbein Inc. for an equipment operator. The contract went into effect Wednesday, June 21, and will expire June 18, 2024.

The contracted equipment operator would cover professional services and road projects in the township, McConnell said. Accepting the bid is not a guarantee that the township will make use of the contract, said secretary Michelle Thompson. The list of contracted services is not “all or nothing” and would be paid for as needed, said Thompson.

“You may never, ever use them at all this entire year. But if you need them, at least you know what it’s going to cost you,” she said.

The contract includes equipment such as a grader, a 66-inch vibrating roller, an 86-inch vibrating roller, a trackhoe excavator, a force-feeder loader, tri-axle trucks, a backhoe, a single-axle truck and a tandem-axle truck. All equipment comes with an operator.

The average hourly rate for the equipment is $151, with the highest price point being the force-feed loader at $220 an hour and the lowest-priced pieces of equipment being the tandem-axle truck, single-axle truck and tri-axle trucks at $120 an hour.

Supervisors also made a motion to work on a 2023 policy implementing driveway permits and road master inspections for driveway culverts.

Supervisors also noted the need for auditors. Two vacant auditor positions are available at this time and will be further discussed at the next township meeting on July 18.