Goose Poopin’ Won’t Boogie Until Next Year
By Wayne Witkowski
Thursday, October 4, 2018 – Pike County Dispatch

DINGMANS FERRY –The goose poop dilemma at Akenac Park and the Wilson Hill Road ball fields might be resolved, but not until next year.

Delaware Township supervisors at last week’s meeting unanimously agreed to pay the Tri-State Geese Police company in Milford $400 a month to get rid of the honkers during the fair weather months of 2019.    They’ll also pay $100 per nest for the removal of goose eggs. 

Supervisors at previous meetings tossed around ideas with residents from allowing people to come into the park with their dogs on leashes to drive the geese away, to setting up a dog mannequin.  But their conclusion is that geese are too savvy for those ideas to succeed in warding them off for long enough before they return.

That’s when township Administrator Krista Predmore, who said she herself had some bad firsthand experiences with geese and their sometimes aggressive behavior and droppings, found the Geese Police in her research and said they’ve been successful keeping geese away from Delaware Valley School District properties.

With the frustration experienced by residents and visitors at Akenac Park and the ball fields, the board confidently approved the contract and doesn’t expect a peep of criticism.

Also at the meeting, the board agreed to send a letter to owner Ray Hull of Dingmans Shooting Range on Route 739, saying he could lower the customer age limit to 10 years as long as his range meets federal and state regulations.  During the workshop before the meeting the board discussed that they heard from Hull on the issue and said the township has no authority to stop the range from lowering the minimum age to 10, but higher authorities can prohibit if it it is out of compliance.

The saga of the cabins at Akenac Park continues.  Six of the cabins were scheduled to be removed from the park this fall but the board decided to remove only the four log cabins and to leave the other tow that have standard plank walls for next year.  The Delaware Township Volunteer Fire Company was scheduled to perform training exercises on three of them but the board tabled a decision on how they will be removed.

They were visited at the last meeting by Bucks County entrepreneurs Lisa and Jeremy Bowman, who went to Akenac Park to examine the cabins earlier that day but have not offered a price to remove them.  Predmore said they needed to respond by last weekend when the fire company performs its drills because the township already received bids to remove the cabins from other companies, with Donald Jablonski Jr.’s company from Bushkill offering the lowest price of $10,000 to cart out all four log cabins.

Also approved was for the board and the township Emergency Management, led by interim Emergency Management Coordinator George Beodeker, to hold an information session regarding the Emergency Operation Plan (EOP) update at 1pm October 11^th at the township building.

The township accepted the resignation of Melanie Palma from the Recreation Committee, the second resignation from the recently constituted five-member board.

“You just started it (the Rec Committee) and things were going pretty good and the bottom falls out,” said Ron Hough during the public comment.  “A lot of people volunteer and then they find out what’s involved,” responded Board of Supervisors Chairman Joh Henderson, who led the way to revive the board.  “I agree,” Hough answered.

Supervisors announced that one letter of interest was received for an interim term to fill the unexpired seat on the township’s Planning Commission.

Township offices will be closed four days at Christmas this year.  The board approved closing township offices Monday, Dec. 24, in observance of Christmas Eve but followed Supervisor Jane Neufeld’s recommendation to add into the approval that it would not happen every year, but only this year rather than open the building one day after the weekend before Christmas.

Coming off its first budget workshop meeting on Sept. 19, the board has two more set for Oct. 17 and 31, both at 6pm… the township’s annul Trunk or Treat will be held Sunday, Oct. 27 from 2-4pm at Akenac Park.  Anyone who wants to bring a trunk with goodies can contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The board announced that Pennsylvania Department of Transportation was scheduled to pave the intersection of State Route 2001/Milford Road and Route 739 at the end of last week and to pave Milford Road between Silver Lake Road and Johnny Bee Road starting Tuesday.