Elizabeth Township police say goodbye to intern

Jenna Dale has expressed interest in possibly joining the department in the future.

Elizabeth Township Police Chief Ken Honick recognized a department intern in a “happy but sad moment” at Monday’s commissioners meeting.

The department was approached by the University of Pittsburgh, according to Honick, which resulted in a summer internship for Jenna Dale.

Dale worked for the department for a few months and will graduate soon from the university’s criminal justice program.

“She has sadly concluded her time with the Elizabeth Township police helping the police administrator and Sgt. (Chris) McBride and Lt. (Gerald) Cimba with our accreditation process,” Honick said, “so we just want to take a moment this evening in our public meeting to acknowledge her with the police administrator and present her with a small token of our appreciation, which is a plaque for her time.”

Dale brought her mom along as Honick asked her to the front of the room to present the plaque. Dale thanked all the commissioners.

This is the second time in the history of Elizabeth Township Police that they brought a student in to learn about the department and to be a part of the team in an educational as well as real-life environment.

“What’s exciting is in 2025, we’ll be trying to employ some new people since some of our officers will move into the retirement stage, and Jenna had shared with us in her departure she is going to be entering the police academy in 2025,” Honick said. “So we look forward to her having a successful time there and possibly someday becoming an Elizabeth Township resident and joining our team.

“Jenna, thank you so much for your time and this plaque is a token of our appreciation and we hope to see you again real soon. Be safe in the training environment.”

Waste Management update provided

Also Monday, there was also a presentation and update from Commissioner Adam Musisko about the township’s Waste Management situation.

Waste Management began fully implementing the new system Monday, and it will only collect material that is placed into the provided Waste Management trash and recycling bins.

A tagging process has been in place for the past three weeks to notify residents of the transition to automated collection. Because the system is now fully implemented, Waste Management will no longer be lenient regarding what trash it is taking.

“After months of acclimation and the switch over to the automated system, almost everybody is complying with the new cans,” Musisko said. “So the rollout phase, which took a lot longer than Waste Management anticipated, was a fortunate accident for us. It got everybody acclimated without any penalty.”

That allowed residents to choose other cans and get acclimated to the new garbage system, according to Musisko, who said they were short on cans because a lot more people picked smaller cans than they expected.

“So what we did instead is say well, we aren’t going to implement rules until everyone has the right to,” Musisko said. “So we believe that 99% of the community has the right can, and most of the switches now are people deciding that their can is either too big or too small.”

The update, which was also posted to the township’s Facebook page and website, asks residents to not put bags on the curb and to the Waste Management cans.

Bulk collection occurs during the second full week of the month, which is this week, and residents are permitted two bulk items per monthly collection. To schedule a bulk item to be collected outside of the designated week, residents can go to www.wm.com/us/en/ home/bulk-trash-pickup.

Residents have the option to receive a second cart at no additional cost, and those looking to contact the Township Municipal Building about their garbage will be directed to contact Waste Management instead.

To request an additional cart or make a service adjustment, contact Waste Management at 800-866-4460 and say, “service change.” For more information about services available, the township recommends visiting www.wm.com.

“I wanted to thank our office staff, they put in a heck of a lot of time between May and now fueling these phone calls and kinda being the liaison between the people and Waste Management,” Musisko said. “Waste Management has been very grateful for us to do that, but we’ve also been very grateful to them to not enforce this stuff until everybody was ready.

“All and all I think we’re going to have a clean and better community — as you guys have seen when you walk down your street. Garbage isn’t getting ripped up by animals, so it’s a little bit better for us than we expected it to be, so I’m grateful for it. Waste Management did a great job and thank you to our office staff.”

Also Monday, commissioners: • Confirmed applications for various grants, including a GEDTF and Act 152 grants.

• Rescinded ordinances to get rid of the rezoning of certain properties.

The 30th annual Yough N’ Roll bicycle ride is set to hit the Great Allegheny Passage Saturday. The ride will be followed by a free Party on the Trail at the Boston access from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Both events are fundraisers for the Mon/Yough Trail Council.

Elizabeth Township’s Fall Festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 28 at 522 Rock Run Road.