DAMASCUS, NY — At the Damascus Township board meeting on May 20, acting chairperson eighth-grader Hannah Rybak took attendance and opened the forum for the meeting.

With the assistance of Joseph Canfield, the chairman of the board of supervisors, Rybak introduced the first order of new business, to set up a hearing for the comprehensive plan.

“This is the comprehensive plan for the township,” Canfield said. “Every 10 years we’ve got to renew this plan. It gives a comprehensive overview of the general direction and trend the township is going in. It’s not a plan that is set in stone, but a kind of guideline for the township for the next 10 years.”

Following the lead of Daniel Rutledge the vice-chairman of the board, the shadow vice-chairman, Owen Hawley, made a motion for the hearing to tentatively take place regarding the comprehensive plan at the next regular board meeting on June 17.

Throughout the meeting, the four acting supervisors for the day—all of whom have yet to enter high school—followed the lead of the attending Damascus Board of Supervisors. The assistant principal of the Damascus Wayne Highlands School District, Patrick Blaskiewicz, thanked the board for allowing the four students from the Damascus School to participate in the 24th annual “Supervisor-for-a-Day” event. Eight-grader Trent Gombita is the third generation in his family to participate in the event, shadowing secretary and treasurer Dolores Card.

In the yearly event, supervisors expose the four students to how local government is run by taking them to see ongoing projects, visit different businesses in the township and later allowing the four students to come back and help run the monthly meeting.

Pete Casazza, the American history teacher for eighth grade, said, “This program teaches the students that local government on a day-to-day basis is the government you are going to be impacted by the most. I’m not aware of any other program like this, and I’ve been teaching over 30 years.”

As the meeting continued, Owen read the report to get everyone up to speed regarding the submission for a $200,000 Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) grant for parks and recreational improvements.

That grant is part of the 10-year plan to improve the township. It’s an in-kind match for the $200,000 Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) application grant that the board had applied for in April. To double its chances of receiving money to improve aspects of the parks and recreational site, the board has to have an in-kind match to bring in another grant.

Steven Adams, operational supervisor, was absent that night, but eighth grader Ivy Brinkerhoff, the shadowing operational supervisor for the day, made a motion to set a resolution to apply for the $200,000 DCED grant. The motion was seconded by Gombita.

The meeting continued with Brinkerhoff reading the road department report. The report listed several roads in the township that have had various repairs, including filling in and patching potholes, clearing culvert pipes, cutting trees and doing general road work. The department has begun grinding calcium chlorite for the year, restocking anti-skid material for next winter, according to the report, and the road department plans to continue fixing road damage.