Tempers flare over road projects, former firehouse at East Union

SHEPPTON – Monday’s township supervisors meeting here became heated as tempers flared at times between supervisors and a county official, supervisors and members of the public, among others.

Road projects, funding issues

Last Tuesday at a special meeting, supervisors voted to approve the 2025 road program, repaving Old Mill Road at a cost of $215,737.50 and Second Boulevard in Brandonville south of Chestnut Street, including Chestnut Street and every cross street, at a cost of $100,132.50, using Pennsylvania Infrastructure Bank Loan funds. Ronnie C. Folk Paving will undertake the project.

Daniel Danchision, township roadmaster and one of five property owners on Old Mill Road, described the road as one of the worst in the township.

Bids were also received for the remainder of Second Boulevard as well as Pumping Station Road, Foose Lane, Dombroski Lane, Cranberry Alley, and Girard Manor Road. Those bids were tabled after an extensive discussion.

Much of last week’s discussion regarding Second Boulevard related to the high cost, much of which was attributed to the need for drainage work. Township Engineer Dominic Yanuzzi said the portion came in at around $250,000.

The township has been seeking Community Development Block Grant funding for that part of Second Boulevard as well and have, to date, been unsuccessful. It’s been in the works for years now.

Both issues came up during public comment at Monday’s meeting.

Martin Kutsko asked supervisors about the status of the project, which Yanuzzi explained.

“At the last meeting, it was discussed that the township felt it would be beneficial to wait to do north of Chestnut after they find out if they get the Community Development money to lessen the burden on the township,” he said. “North of Chestnut is scheduled to be done next year.”

“That’s what you said last year,” Kutsko said. “And the year before, you said that.”

Yanuzzi said there were paperwork issues with the CDBG application last year.

“There was a glitch in some paperwork, they didn’t let us know until early this year to be able to rectify the information that they wanted,” Yanuzzi said. “It was rectified and resubmitted. They were not able to do that funding this year for the drainage part.”

County Commissioner Barron “Boots” Hetherington was present at the meeting, and Supervisors Vice-Chair Wendy Danchision suggested asking him if he could help.

Hetherington said the application this year simply wasn’t on time.

“The information came in and it wasn’t on time,” he said.

“It was on time,” Wendy Danchision said.

“The reason I came tonight, Wendy, was because, last month, someone said my administrator lied and my grantwriter lied, and that’s not true,” Hetherington said. “I spent time with both of them and Commissioner [Larry] Padora and everything was done properly but some information wasn’t turned in on time. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not sure that’s accurate either,” Supervisors Chairman Kyle Mummey said.

“I don’t want you people calling my administration liars,” Hetherington said. “That’s why I came tonight.”

“So, Boots, you and I discussed this multiple times, and we had initially submitted the project last year,” Mummey said. “We had to survey 50% of the homes in that area. We surveyed, unbeknownst to us, 49.5%. Gary Bender told me on the phone that he should have called us and told us to survey one more house so that we could qualify for the grant program.”

“He told me that later. The phone call never occurred,” Mummey added. “We were denied for the grant.”

Mummey said there was a discussion regarding finding funding from a different place and “that money didn’t come through for whatever reason.”

“I think we were told that it wouldn’t be able to be moved quick enough for this paving project,” Mummey said. “So, we delayed this particular part of the project to next year in hopes that we could reapply, which we did, for that grant funding. That’s $85,000 that this township can’t really afford to spend and we really need that block grant funding.”

“It’s submitted and I think the board’s asking for your help,” Mummey added.

“We’ll cooperate with you and we’ll get it done next year,” Hetherington said. “It won’t happen this year.”

Yanuzzi added that the Brandonville section was “over 90% low-to-moderate income,” which is required for a CDBG grant.

“It’s definitely needed for those residents,” he said.

Tempers flare over old firehouse

Kutsko then asked about the former quarters of the Citizens Fire Co. of Brandonville, now owned by Mar-Mel Industrial, LLC, of which Daniel Danchision is a principal.

“It looks like a dump, like a scrapyard,” Kutsko said. “What’s going on there? It was supposed to be open in the spring, people selling stuff, it’s been closed the whole time. Danny stood and said we’re going to hire people and we’re going to be selling equipment.”

“Is he going into the scrapyard business,” Kutsko added. “I’ll haul scrap in for him.”

After a brief period of silence, Kutsko asked what the code enforcement officer is doing, if anything.

“Do you want to file a complaint,” Mummey asked.

“Sure I do,” Kutsko said.

“I want to file a complaint on that too, that there’s garbage everywhere–” Stefan Gerneth said prior to an interruption by Mummey. Gerneth and his wife, Amy Austra-Gerneth, are plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the township alleging first amendment violations. Gerneth also unsuccessfully ran against Mummey in the spring primary election.

“You don’t have the floor,” Mummey said repeatedly over Gerneth.

“It’s a mess,” Gerneth said.

“You don’t have the floor,” Mummey said.

“And it’s a dump,” Gerneth said.

“You don’t have the floor,” Mummey said.

“It’s shameful, really shameful,” Gerneth said.

“Excuse me,” Mummey said before shouting over Gerneth. “I said stop talking. You don’t have the floor. You’re not going to just disrupt things, that’s not happening. I told you to stop talking. This is your warning.”

After another period of silence, Mummey asked Kutsko again if he wanted to file a complaint. Kutsko affirmed.

“Okay, we’ll give you the paperwork after the meeting then,” Mummey said.

Gerneth received the floor later in public comment and said he wanted to file a formal complaint regarding the Brandonville property.

“It’s a dump, there’s garbage in the center of it, you can’t get to it, it is a safety hazard,” Gerneth said, “Plain and simple.”

“I understand that it’s yours, your business,” Gerneth said, directed at Wendy Danchision.

“It’s not mine,” Wendy said.

“It’s named after your kids,” Gerneth said before continuing to outline issues with the property.

“There’s plastic flying all over the place, it’s on the roads, every time there’s a storm, there’s straps all over the place—” Gerneth said before Wendy interjected and both began talking over each other.

Mummey banged the gavel and a member of the audience shouted “He has the floor.”

“First of all, why do you have to come in here with a tone all the time,” Wendy said. “You come in here attacking us.”

“I’m not attacking anyone,” Gerneth said.

“You are,” Wendy said.

“There’s garbage everywhere,” Gerneth said.

“That’s not true, there’s not garbage,” Wendy said.

“That center around the building, where there’s dirt, is filled with plastics and straps,” Gerneth said.

“If you want to submit a complaint, I can give you the form to submit a complaint to the code officer,” Mummey said.

Danchision responds

After Gerneth spoke, Daniel Danchision raised his hand and responded to the complaints, lodging complaints about multiple commercial properties around the township.

“What amazes me is when you come into Sheppton, the Lex property is an absolute dump. No one says a word about it,” he said, “If you drive down Schoolhouse Road and look at Biros Utilities, an absolute dump, no one says a word about it.”

“No one is here complaining about how Dino Cicioni has their stones stacked and their pallets and their blocks and their bricks,” Danchision said. “No one is saying a word about Wes Kacilowicz’s property right up from the Pumping Station and it’s a dump. No one is saying a single word about the Careyva Farms and how their hay and their junk and their stuff is stacked like a mess everywhere.”

Danchision said the fire company, prior to his company’s acquisition of it, was a mess.

“Windows were smashed out, there was garbage, weeds, people in the parking lot doing drugs, trees, stumps, everywhere,” Danchision said. “No one said a word until I purchased it and my wife became a supervisor.”

“Now, all of a sudden, the $5 Million worth of brand new equipment isn’t stacked nice enough for everybody so it’s an issue,” he said. “And there’s straps and garbage? Drive through Sheppton past Wolky’s or past Stewards and take a look at the garbage on the ground that no one has a word to say about.”

“But because I own Mar-Mel Industrial and Mar-Mel Storage and everything else Mar-Mel, it’s a problem, because my wife is a supervisor,” Danchision said. “And I will file complaints about all of it with everyone so we can play this game fairly.”

“You already have,” Stefan Gerneth and Amy Austra-Gerneth said.

Mummey banged the gavel.

“You don’t have the floor. Again, this is your warning,” Mummey said. “You’re rude. Act professional. You’re at a public forum at a municipal meeting and you act like a child.”

Mummey asked for a motion to adjourn and Dino Cicioni asked for the floor. He owns Ciconi Stone Co. at Pole Road and 2nd Boulevard in Brandonville, one of the properties Daniel Danchision referenced.

“I know Danny well,” Cicioni said. “Danny, is there, when you cited our place as an example, is there something wrong with that?”

“No,” Danchision said. “My point is, no one can say that you should restack your stones, or restack whatever you have outside. If it’s good enough for you, I think it’s great, but that’s my point. No one has the right to go down there and bitch that Jonathan Biros has those porta-potties not stacked nice, and he’s got the same metal containers blocking them all in.”

“No one has the right to go and tell anybody what they put on their property or how they put it, but because it’s me there’s a problem with it,” he said. “Relentlessly and weekly.”

“No one’s talking about how the Careyvas stack all their stuff,” Danchision added. “No one’s saying a word because who cares? They work day and night like the rest of us. Who cares how they stack their stuff?”

Mar-Mel Industrial acquired the property in March of 2023 and Wendy Danchision ousted incumbent supervisor Larry Dettery in November of 2023.

The parcel includes the former grove on the opposite side of Spring Water Boulevard. The Brandonville playground was removed and a building was torn down shortly after Mar-Mel’s purchase.

Renovations occurred on the property and both the firehouse property and playground property appeared to be primed for storage.

Beginning in late 2024, truckloads of equipment poured in which, at the time, caused headaches for commuters between Shenandoah and Hazleton as trucks blocked Route 924.

East Union Township zoners considered a special exception to allow the sale of small farm and construction equipment from the property, a request that was approved 5-0.

“I was thrilled to have a national company with equipment that’ll really sell in our area,” he told the zoning board at the time. “I’m very certain that it’s going to create a few excellent jobs for people in the area.”

Equipment, at the time, was densely packed throughout the property.

Various pieces of Erie Industries Group (EINGP) equipment make up the majority of what is stored on the property.

The Shenandoah Sentinel was the ONLY local news source at this meeting. If you find value in our reporting and in knowing what YOUR local elected leaders are doing, PLEASE consider contributing to our efforts via Patreon or Buy Me A Coffee.

About Author