The reorganization of officers, sale of an asphalt zipper to Lansford Borough, and a “Save Carbon County” presentation for a call to action on the dangers of sewage sludge on county farmlands topped the agenda of the Jan. 24 Carbon County Council of Governments meeting.

The officers remained the same with Kara Scott from Bowmanstown Borough as chair, Kris Hoffner of Palmerton Borough as vice chair, Christian Bartolovich of Penn Forest Township as treasurer, and Dennis Pearson of East Penn Township as secretary.

The council unanimously accepted the lone bid of $60,576.75 for a 2017 asphalt zipper by council member Lansford Borough and submitted by borough President Bruce Markovich.

The sale is the end of road equipment ownership by the council, which sold a street sweeper last year for $205,000. Originally the council was hoping to provide shared equipment to the municipalities, but lack of usage led council to sell the machines.

The featured speakers at January’s monthly meeting were “Save Carbon County” President Linda Christman and Vice President Brian Fogel.

They introduced their organization which was originally formed to help combat the proposed natural gas PennEast pipeline. Christman said after the group helped win that battle, it decided to stay together in case future issues faced the county environment.

The speakers said a new threat to Carbon County farmland is the use of sewage sludge applied by at least four farmers from processing companies in Lehigh and Northampton counties.

“They are giving this waste to farmers for free and besides human excrement, it contains heavy metals, pathogens including COVID and other viruses and bacteria as well as levels of ‘forever chemical’ perfluoro alkoxy alkane or PFAs,” Fogel said. “These chemicals never decay and contaminate the soil and plants grown in it.”

Christman said that “big agriculture” has successfully lobbied to remove all regulation and oversight from the farm industry so that material like sewage sludge could be used without standards. She said this poses a threat because as the sludge dries, wind can blow the contaminants to neighboring properties.

She requested council members take resolutions back to their municipalities to pass in support of demanding the product stop being used on farmland in Pennsylvania and to allow for local regulations and oversight including the ability to ban its use. Several council members committed to taking the resolution to their governments.

In other business, members discussed:

• Brainstorming a possible countywide Civil Service examination for police officers.

• Funding options to open the possibility of grants for member municipalities.

• Upcoming speakers to discuss blight.

• Handicapped parking abuses in communities.

The next council meeting is Feb. 22 at the 44 Susquehanna Building in Jim Thorpe, and will feature Carbon County Economic Development Director Kathy Henderson as a speaker on the “Return on Environment” Program at 6:30 p.m. and the business meeting at 7 p.m.

The meeting is open to all Carbon County residents.