This Meeting was recorded for Accuracy
Meeting opened by Lou McLaughlin, President at 7 pm.
Attendance:
Ron Betts, Gladine McMaster, Keith St Clair, Sue Bartow, Lou McLaughlin, Jeffery Miller
Absent: Clark Baird, Mayor
Gen Public, Zach Burtop, Cassandra Burtop, Scott Sanders, Mellissa Miller
Old Business:
Approval of March minutes
Motion made by Ron to accept minutes, 2nd by Keith, all in favor motion passed with no nays.
Approval of Treasurer Report
Lou asked if the check for the dumpster was for clean up days? Pat said this is our monthly fee for the small hopper.
Motion to approve made by Keith, 2nd by Sue, all in favor motion passed with no nays.
Solicitor Report:
Lou read to public the resignation of Jeffery. Lou said he wanted to Thank him for his time he served as our town solicitor. Keith also gave a "Thank you" for his years served.
Public Comment.
Lou asked for general public input. No one had anything to comment or ask about.
Update on easement rights for Cunningham property.
Jeffery said he still needs the original signature from William Cunningham. Pat will resend a letter to get another signature from him so Jeffery can file.
Update on PA Small Water and H2O grant and Local Share Grant
Keith is still waiting for the PA Small Water and H2O grant to go through general assembly. He was using the funds from the LAR grant for the match and since we did not get that grant he had to reconfigure to get the H2O grant since that does not require a 50 % match.
He did apply for ARP funds to recover our engineer fees from phase 1 and phase 2 we spent since they are not completed as of yet. This is a new program the state gave to the county and he needed to comply before March 31. He sent the figures in for this. Those fees totaled $91,000 and used toward the H20 grant.
No other old business
New Business:
Street Sweeper - this year cost is $1150 for 8 hours
Do we want to get the sweeper this year? the cost went up by $48. If council approves they can come in the week of April 17th when they do West Wheatfield street. Lou said he would like to see some of our grass taken away from the curbs first.
Ron motions to get street sweeper for $1150, 2nd by Keith. All in favor motion passed. no nays.
Pat to check to see if rate is the same for next month so we can get more grass taken away from the curbs.
Beacon Baptist Church apartment re-assessment of Property Tax April 13.
Does anyone oppose this. They no longer rent the apartment out above the church.
Discussion was made on the matter and as long as it is not being rented out and used for church purposes only then no one opposes. Jeffery said if not going to contest then no motion needs to be made.
Sewage Authority spending $8.13 to send out certified with return receipt for the minutes.
Lou asked Zach why this was done and wanted to know if this was going to be done every month.
Zach said, Cindy did not have authorization to do this. This was all on her. Ron asked why it had to be certified. Sue commented, too many people were not getting them.
Audit results:
Pat said everyone received a copy of the audit for the Borough for last year. All funds were accounted for. Pat said everyone can look at it at their leisure. Also everyone has a copy of the sewage minutes so they can review.
Municibid results
Skid-steer auction ended on Monday at 5 PM. Mr. Weinstein, from New Jersey was the high bidder and resulted in $6,675.00 profit for us. Gladine was shocked. Mr. Weinstein knows the sale had to be approved at council meeting this evening. If everyone approved then arrangements will be made to pick up next week. Gladine made motion to accept the bid results from Mr. Weinstein , Keith 2nd motion, all in favor motion passed. No nays. Pat gave Lou a bill of sale for signing.
Mayor report:
Nothing to report. Mayor absent
Sewage Report
Zach said everyone has a copy of minutes. Next meeting in May and everyone is allowed to come. Gladine asked where the meetings are. Zach said over at the sewage authority building.
Street Commissioner Report
Truck was taken to Tri-Star for service. Did oil and filter change and had DEF added for total of $183.10. Also the recall on the wipers was done. This time put 147 miles on truck and put 31.13 gallons fuel in since December. Zero turn won't start, battery dead. Need new battery. Tried charging for 3 days on low charge and will not hold charge.
Skid-steer starts and Paul keeps starting every couple days.
Lou said 3 months ago when Paul was hired we said we would look into giving him a raise of $1.00 making his hourly rate $14.00 His probationary period is over. Does anyone want to make motion to give him his raise. Sue motions to give Paul the raise to $14 per hour, 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion passed with no nays.
Pat asked when does the raise start? His 3 month period ended March 12th. Do you all want the raise to take effect as of today or from April 1st? Council said effective immediately.
Parks & Rec
Mellissa said the Calendar of Events is complete and will be going door to door to hand out. Also met with Arborist. Broken into - must cut down, must trim, really bad shape, and did separate bids for each park. There is a whole list. Lou asked how much? Mellissa said she did not bring because we did not have the parks meeting yet. Her question is this. Is the Borough interested in helping with the cost?
2 that are really bad and one is by the concession stand and if we have a good wind it could take the tree. Also at the lower ball field we have several down there the same way. He put orange bands around them and said we really need to take care of immediately.
Is there any money at all to help? Parks has no money for this. Lou said we did not put in our budget for this either
Sue's comment is we are getting $6700 for skid-steer. Lou said that is our equipment fund. Money is tight. Go to your meeting and see what they can come up with. Lou said get us some numbers and what is really dangerous and we can go from there.
Other business for parks is the cow plop. Mellissa said it has to be a calm cow and Keith does not have calm ones.
Any other business:
Lou said our contractors are supposed to come back next week to finish the job on the 5th street.
Also we have to start looking for a Solicitor. We are not going to get someone as good and as cheap as Jeffery. Keith and Ron asked Jeffery if they could give us several names of people who may be interested.
Pat said Lou said to ask Mr. Boyle or Kim Houser. Pat talked to Mr. Boyle and was told he is retiring this year but he would also ask Kim since he also works in his office or possibly one of the younger attorney's from his office.
Motion made to adjourn meeting at 7:40 PM by Keith, 2nd by Gladine all in favor motion passed.
Respectfully,
Patricia Betts
Secretary/Treasurer