JAMES CITY — Following the adjournment of June’s Highland Township supervisors meeting Wednesday night, residents Leo Niklas and Sally Peterson exchanged frustrated comments stemming from Niklas’ complaint of roadwork done around his driveways.

“I would like for whoever gave the order to grade these berms to come down to my house and try to drive into my upper driveway with their car and tell me how well they like it,” Niklas said. “You don’t grade side roads and side berms on downhill slopes. You level them off, you don’t peel them back the way they were messed up down there.”

Additionally, after a comment about legal expenses near the conclusion of the public comment period, the supervisors provided an update on legal expenses accrued year to date as a result of the Seneca lawsuit. Secretary-Treasurer Christy Reigel provided that year to date they had accrued $17,312.28 in solicitor fees with approximately 98 percent attributable to litigation surrounding the home rule charter and CELDF. Reigel expressed concern that this number was expected to continue to rise and the lack of funds to support it.

In another matter, supervisor Jim Wolfe spoke on a proposed tax break for volunteer firefighters. According to Wolfe, the municipalities’ fire chiefs will be collectively deciding the program format in an effort to standardize it across the state. More information will be available following their June 25 meeting.

Reigel provided an update on the recent rate increase in liability insurance that was also related to the ongoing litigation with Seneca Resources. According to a recent proposal from the township’s liability insurance provider, Matson Insurance, premiums will increase approximately 11.8 percent to $25,067, compared to 2016’s premium of $22,416. With this in mind, the supervisors needed to make a decision on whether to renew or not.

“I don’t want to go through what we went through two years ago hunting insurance, you know,” Wolfe said. “We are just about to get shut down and Matson came in and offered us insurance which was considerably more, but they were the only show in town. As far as I’m concerned, I hate to say it, insurance is going to go up. I make a motion to accept it.”

Supervisor Mike Detsch seconded the motion.

Moving into new business, Reigel brought up the need to review and amend the proposed budget in response to the increases in insurance premiums and legal expense overages. In her comments, she outlined that the proposed budget for Solicitor’s fees was now approximately $3000 over and that the added strain from the insurance hike and other bills was “eating [them] alive.”

To rectify the imbalance, Reigel then proposed that recent funds gained from the sale of a road drag they no longer used for $6,500 be applied to the deficit in hopes that it would hold them even for the remainder of the year. The supervisor agreed that this was the best move and Detsch motioned to accept Reigel’s proposal. Supervisor Glenn Hulings provided a second to the motion.

With the meeting adjourned, Niklas again asked township officials to view his driveway.

The situation became heated after Niklas called out the supervisors’ level of experience in roads maintenance, of which Niklas had several years in his career.

Wolfe, who does have roads maintenance experience, responded to Niklas stating, “Leo, there’s a roads program and there are standards that they go by for road design and roads maintenance. The other thing I will say, and I don’t like to say it and you’re not going to like hearing me say it, the driveway is your responsibility.”

“On township right of way? It is not,” retorted Niklas.

“Hey, how come I got to do mine every year when PENNDOT comes by they run grader down there and I got a pile of dirt. If I don’t want the water running in my driveway, I fix it,” added Wolfe.

Closing out his statement, Wolfe said, “That’s up to you. The driveway entrance to the public highway is the owner’s responsibility as much as I hate to say it.”

“Well, I’m going to fix it,” stated Niklas visibly angry over Wolfe’s statement. “I’m going to fill the [Expletive] back in and I dare you to come and try to grade it out again because I’m not going to go for the guy in the grader, I’ll come to your house. And that ain’t a promise.”

Niklas’ frustration continued to boil over as he pointed out several other things he felt were not done correctly with the roads maintenance program including his perception that the supervisors’ driveway entrances were not done the same and that residents’ questions around road maintenance decisions and other matters were left unanswered during the supervisor meetings.

Niklas then called for the supervisors to “cut out the Thursday night meeting” that occurred at the home of attendee Sally Peterson.

Peterson took offense in Niklas’ comment stating, “That is my personal property and that has nothing to do with this. That is just my friends coming over. Anyone here is welcome to come over at any time and that’s when they come. You’re crossing a line Leo.”

Peterson went on to outline her similar experience with road work done in front of her house several years ago in an effort to put things in perspective with Niklas stating, “I had to [complain] a number of times until they finally fixed it, but it got done.”

After several minutes of exchange between multiple residents in attendance, the meeting finally broke up. The meeting was adjourned at 7:38 p.m. The next regular meeting of the Highland Township board of Supervisors will be held on July 12 at 7 p.m. in the Highland Township Municipal building located at 363 Pennsylvania Avenue, James City.