KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Attorney Joseph Oros III, left, talks about his return as the solicitor for Muncy Township at Wednesday night's meeting.

Though the most recent Muncy Township supervisors meeting seemed calm compared to the usual fare of people yelling at each other, there still was a surprise for the evening — the return of attorney Joseph Orso III, of Rudinski, Orso and Lynch, in his third try at serving as township solicitor.

In his mea culpa, of sorts, Orso apologized for leaving abruptly last month when his appointment as solicitor had been placed on the agenda.

One of the main reasons he cited for seeking the position again is possible litigation related to a proposal for a data center in the township.

“Anybody that would think that this township, with the amount of commercial development that it has, can survive without a solicitor is badly mistaken. The municipality’s planning code is a tricky statute, even for seasoned lawyers, and the lawyers for these developers are very seasoned,” Orso stated, referring to the law firm representing DANKO Holdings II/Fishlips LLC., which is seeking to build a data center in the township on Yetter Road,” he said.

“So here’s what happened in the last month when you didn’t have a solicitor. The attorney for Danko sent a letter to the township saying because the township did not comply with the Municipalities Planning Code (MPC) — which there’s no way any of the supervisors have the ability to know what that code is — ‘because it was not complied with, we are contending that the data center was approved without any conditions.’ That’s what happens when you don’t have a lawyer,” he said.

“So I got involved at the request of the board, and I sent a response to the lawyer for Danko why I believe that’s incorrect, but that is probably going to go to litigation,” he added.

Orso did explain to residents at the meeting — some who could possibly find themselves with a data center as a neighbor-that the township cannot ban data centers. What they can do under the MPC is place reasonable conditions on a data center.

“Muncy Creek Township just went through this with the chicken farm. I didn’t read the decision, but I believe they put 30 conditions on that chicken farm,” He said, adding the information that the lawyer for the chicken farm is also the lawyer for the data center.

“If they’re correct, zero conditions, and a data center was approved. That’s why I came back on July one, on behalf of the township, not any individual. Anyone who thinks I’m here for any individual supervisor is wrong. I’m here for the entire township, and on behalf of the entire township,” he said.

The Muncy Township Planning Commission will be working on a curative amendment for their land development ordinance to address data centers at their next meeting, at 7 p.m., July 15 at the Municipal Building, 1922 Pond Road.

Although he acknowledged that both his wife and secretary think he’s an “idiot” for returning, he said he was “back because the township needs representation.”

“Nobody’s lining up to do it. I helped get the fire company resolved. I wasn’t even the lawyer, but I helped the township do that,” he said.

“That’s all I want to say. I want these meetings to run professionally. I want these meetings to be boring…that’s the way municipal meetings are, they’re supposed to be boring, but work gets done, everybody’s respectful, that’s what I’m hoping to do,” Orso added.

The board approved the appointment of Orso at the rate of $300 per hour. Supervisor Heath Ohnmeiss was the only supervisor to vote against hiring Orso citing what he considered too high of a salary.