Does he, or doesn't he? That is the question about where Upper Hanover tax collector Matthew Kells resides currently.

            Township solicitor Joseph Bresnan discussed email exchanges he had with Kells at the Upper Hanover Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, April 12.

            Bresnan emailed Kells following questions by a township resident during the March meeting. Residency in the township is required for the tax collector. Bresnan said that Kells insisted he was a resident, although he had purchased a home in Berks County, but wasn't going to move until his term was up.

            Facebook posts made by his wife, Bresnan said, indicated otherwise. According to Bresnan, she had written posts about the new house and moving.  He said that further investigation was needed.

            Bresnan acknowledged that removal of a public official was complicated and would cost the township "thousands and thousands of dollars."

            "Let him conclude the term then let the political system take care of it," Bresnan said. He stated that Kells told him he intends to relinquish his position, and let his son, who acts as his assistant, take over. Bresnan said that passing on the position to another person isn't permitted.

            Bresnan noted that Kells had recently brought a form into the township office to have his son recognized as his assistant, but he said he was reluctant to have the supervisors sign it and would be contacting someone at the county level.

            He said that he had been aware of the situation prior to the resident's questions.

            "It isn't right," he said.

            In farmland preservation news, the supervisors authorized the inclusion of 38.74 acres of the Reihman farm, located in Marlborough township, into the agricultural security district. Farmland from other municipalities can be included in an agricultural security district if the home township doesn't have enough acreage to support a district.

            In roads and bridges news, supervisor Ben Fiorito discussed cost increases for the St. Paul's Road bridge project, slated for 2023. The original cost came in at $800,000, but with current inflation, the cost has soared to a ballpark estimate of $1.2 million.

            Supervisor Stefan Laessig was recognized for his ten years of service on the township planning commission.