It's back to the drawing board for the Red Hill trash hauling contract.

                The Red Hill Borough Council decided to amend and re-advertise the bid package for trash collection after an executive session at its Tuesday meeting.

                The decision came after a lengthy discussion at the supervisors' first October meeting that left many unanswered questions about the initial bids submitted.

                All of those bids will be rejected and the haulers will need to submit new bids for the five-year contract. 

                In local police news, Mayor Dave Schiffgens reported on his impressions of the recent regional police committee meeting. Schiffgens said that the committee was assembling a letter of intent to participate in a state-funded fact-finding study. Municipalities can participate in the study at no cost. The study will assess the region's needs, as well as each municipality's needs. 

                Schiffgens has signed the letter, and voiced his concern that Upper Hanover was not planning to sign.

                He said that it "would give a better overall picture of what the region would need" if Upper Hanover joined the study. He noted that without the township's presence, the assessors might get a skewed view of the area.

                Council President Doris Decker said that Upper Hanover "is happy with the state police."

                But Schiffgens stated that "the results would be meaningless" without Upper Hanover.

                In code enforcement news, the council discussed asking code enforcement officials for an assessment of all the sidewalks in the borough and then ranking them in terms of damage and disrepair, rather than continuing with repairs along Main Street. Council also discussed extending the time period that property owners would have to complete the repairs from nine months to a year.

                "I don't think it's a bad idea to get a professional opinion," commented council member Liz DeJesus. 

                In old business, the council voted to have Creative Color Graphics of Quakertown create a quarterly newsletter for the borough at the cost of 23 cents a unit.