Flack said he also disagrees with the merger and he and Gelesky took aim at the borough through the township’s sewer authority for the installation of a flow meter in West Middlesex council agreed to put in.

The authority asked for the meter to measure waste leaving the borough’s plant traveling to be treated in the township so it could complete its state-required plan to gauge future needs.

Gelesky questioned how officials of both towns could ever work together under the same government if they couldn’t even agree to work on a simple project like the flow meter’s installation.

“There’s a big divide,” agreed Gilliland, who also said he agrees with consolidation, but not under these terms.

“I think if this is done right, it could work,” said Gilliland, who suggested that an independent committee with few supervisors or council members study the pluses and minuses consolidation could bring.

With our nation’s economic woes also taking a toll on the state budget, Gilliland said there’s not going to be as much money as people think available for grants.

The new township’s population numbers would bump the municipality into a new level where it would be eligible for more state grants and funding programs than Shenango or West Middlesex currently are separately.

But being eligible and being approved are two different things, Gelesky said.

Grants are gifts and a municipality can’t bank running its annual operations on them, he said.

The borough also has too much that needs updated or improved for consolidation to make sense for Shenango Township voters, Flack said.

“Their infrastructure’s in bad shape down there,” he said.

Many of the borough’s curbs and sidewalks are in shambles and some roads haven’t been paved in over a decade, Flack said.

If consolidation is approved, the township will spend much of the money it has banked over the years to fix problems borough council has ignored for years, he said.