header-image
January 2, 2024
Re-Organization
and 
Regular
meeting
Minutes


This Meeting was recorded for Accuracy

Meeting was opened by Clark Baird, Mayor at 6:30 PM.

Present:  Lewis McLaughlin, Solicitor Michael Smith, Keith St.Clair,  Gladine  McMaster, Dan Short, JR, Sue Bartow

Absent:  none

Public Attendance:   No one

Mayor, Clark Baird called meeting to order at 6:30 PM. 

Sue Bartow and Dan Short JR turned in their swearing in oaths from Magistrate office. 

Election of officers for 2024

Council President - Sue motions to elect Lou as, 2nd by Dan Short, all in favor, motion passed.

Vice President - Sue motions to elect Keith 2nd by Lou, all in favor, motion passed.

Street Commissioner - Sue motions to elect Lou for street commissioner , 2nd by Gladine, all in favor, motion passed.

Assistant Street commissioner - Lou nominates Gladine.  Gladine declines.  Lou asked Gladine if she could do the PA one calls.  Gladine responds that she can but has not received anything in a long time. Pat said she was never taken off and she still has access to PA one calls. 

Lou said he does not have log- in for this.  Gladine said she then would accept Asst Street Commissioner position.  Dan Short then 2nd motion, all in favor motion passed. 

Solicitor: Sue motions to elect Michael 2nd by Lou all in favor motion passed

Secretary/Treasurer - Lou motions to elect Pat, 2nd by Sue, all in favor motion passed

Sewage Committee Representatives -  Stay the same.  

Sherri Burtop expires 12-31-2025

Jeffery Miller expires 12-31-2027    Sue Bartow expires  12-31-2024 

Bank:  Remains S &T Bank - Lou motions to stay with them 2nd by Sue all in favor motion passed.

Signatures on bank Account: Motion to keep same 3 people on account. Motion to accept made by Keith, 2nd by Dan Short, all in favor motion passed.

Auditor:   Singer accounting cost this year is $4200. Pat said we have a 3 year contract with them.  Pat said this is the 3rd year of the contract.  Motion to keep made by Sue, 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion passed.

Insurance Carrier:  Motion to keep FWF Ins made by Sue, 2nd by Keith, all in favor motion passed.

Chairman of Vacancy Board:  Sue motions have  Michael, 2nd by Lou all in favor motion passed.

Engineer: Lou motions to use GAI Consultants, 2nd by Sue,  all in favor motion passed.

EMC/EMS - Keith StClair - Sue motioned to keep Keith 2nd by Dan Short, all in favor motion passed. 

Tax Collecting Committee Rep -  Pat said there are 2 different things with this.  Pat said every year we have the same issue.  Pat stated that Sue insists that this position cannot be me.  It is a conflict of interest.  Pat called tax collector office in Greensburg and spoke to Mike Rellovish on this. 

He stated that the committee rep attends quarterly tax collector meetings in the absence of the tax collector.  That is all that person does.  The Deputy Tax Collector person is the individual who takes over for the tax collector when they  are not able to do the job for a period of time.  They have the authority to collect the money and do the reports as well as be on the tax account. 

Tammie Baird is requesting Kelly Coursin, the tax collector from Fairfield Twp to be the Deputy Tax collector for Bolivar.  Mr. Rellovish says that a lot of the smaller Municipalities use another tax collector or a prior tax collector that adjoins their Municipality.  In the past the county and school system had problems in getting their funds from the account because of the current tax collector was unable to do so.  The Tax Collector Association made this requirement into the Tax Collector Act so this would be prevented. 

Last year Gladine was the committee rep.  Does council wish to keep Gladine on this?

Sue asked if we could appoint a Deputy Tax Collector.  Pat explained what that position entails. 

The Borough does not have to approve a Deputy Tax Collector.  The Borough will not be penalized if we decide not to approve who Tammie wishes to use.  If we approve Tammie's request then council needs to sign the form.  It then goes to the bonding company for them to also approve.  

Keith says she will not have any time for people to show up. He has a problem with this.  Pat said her hours are Mondays, Tuesday, Thursday 5 to 7 PM by appointment.    Fridays closed.  Saturdays  10 am to 11 am by appointment.  Wednesdays 5 to 7 pm open to the public with no appointment.

Clark wanted to know if Kelly is even interested in being Deputy Ta x Collector.  If she wishes to be,  then she should have come to our meeting and say she would like the position.  No-one called her to ask if she wanted the position. 

Gladine asked who is going to pay her if she has to stand in and do the job for Tammie.  Gladine thinks that Tammie had gone to her for advise and that she assumed that she would be a back up tax collector. 

Further discussion was made on this subject and decision was made for Sue to motion to have Kelly as Deputy Tax Collector, 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion passed. 

Tax Committee Rep backup person - motion made by Sue to also have Kelly Coursin be committee backup person, 2nd by Dan Short all in favor motion passed. 

Verification and signature for key holders for 2024:  Everyone needs to review and sign for their key number.

Emergency contact form verification:  Everyone needs to verify the information on file is still correct for 2024.

Motion to adjourn made by Keith, 2nd by Gladine, all in favor reorganization meeting is now closed. 

Regular Meeting

January 2, 2024

Meeting opened by Lou McLaughlin, President at 7 pm.

Present: Lou McLaughlin, Michael Smith, Gladine McMaster, Keith St.Clair, Sue Bartow, Dan Short JR, Clark Baird

Absent: no one

General Public : no one in attendance

Old Business:

Approval of December  minutes

Motion made by Gladine, 2nd by Keith all in favor,  motion passed.

Approval of Treasurer Report

Michael commented on the Gen account expense section for Westview Cemetery.  A zero was left out of the dollar amount.  should be corrected for future purposes. 

Sue asks about transfer of funds from J. LaMantia in Parks account to the project fund.

Pat said that is funds from Pam StClair for Joe for future parks events to cover his food so no-one complains that he did not pay for a meal. 

Lou spoke of an incident during the gun bash to explain what took place.

Motion to accept made by Keith 2nd by Sue, all in favor, Sue abstains, motion passed

Solicitor Report:

Michael was going to comment on his bill for December but Pat said she did not get a bill from him.  Michael checked his phone and realized he forgot to hit send and resend again for payment.

Michael asked what happened to the Mayor salary.  Pat said when Tom Pickup was Mayor he decided to have his salary put into a tool account each month.  After awhile council decided to close the tool account and the $50 stopped.  When Mr. Pickup resigned and position was opened again , Keith got the position but declined so Clark got appointed by council.  Now that Clark ran again for Mayor and won the election he would like the Mayor salary back. 

Public Comment.  

No one there.

Old Business

Mayor request for salary to be reinstated since new office period has just started.

Sue said the code book said the Mayor position was a4 year term and Clark just got re-elected for Mayor for a 2 year term. 

Michael said he researched the salary and he could get a salary when he starts a new term. 

Sue said she called Greensburg and it has to be a full 4 year term.  Sue said the code book also said the Mayors position is to also enforce the codes.  Clark said then he resigns as Code Enforcement Officer and he wants his Mayor salary back.  Council can pay someone else to be Code Enforcement Officer. 

Lou asked Michael to further look into the code and we will take up again next month.

Sue commented to Clark "Can't you do something for Free for the town!"

Clark commented" Excuse me, do you know how many trips he makes throughout the day for this town checking out stuff.  Can I go down to the Borough building and put gas in my car?"  Sue comment was "I don't know".  Clark response was then "Alright then, shut your mouth about the subject", at which time Lou stepped in stop the conversation.

Winter tires for truck-revisit.

Clark said he talked to Paul and he had a hard time during the last storm and he slid down the street sideways which scared him. 

Discussion was made about the pre-approval several meetings ago for winter tires.  Sue said someone needs to recheck into the cost of the tires because there is no way we can get new tires for around $180.  Lou said he will shop around for tires again since it has been several months.

Pat said she will check the prior minutes for the 3 quotes. 

Sue said the price is not enough per tire.  Lou said if we can get 6 ply tires for a quote that Sowers's said then we can get. 

Pat said the minutes state that Carmen's was $395.  Sowers $182.00  Tri-Star was $550.00 for good year tires.   Pat gave photo of the tire size for Lou to use. 

Discussion continued and decision was made.  Motion by Gladine up to $3,000 for 6 tires, 2nd by Keith.  Tire cost can come from Liquid Fuels Account.    

No other old business

New Business:

Salary increase start date for employees

Motion made by Keith, 2nd by Lou to start January 1.  All in favor motion passed.

Transfer of funds for the parks of $2500 per Ordinance

Clark asked if parks really needs it.  Pat said it is in the parks ordinance.

 Keith asked if it was in the budget and Pat said yes. 

Keith motions to approve transfer, 2nd by Sue all in favor motion passed.

January 16th - auditing of the books to be done.

Pat is just letting everyone know they are coming to audit books. Pat said before the end of this year we need to decide on a new contract for auditing. 

Sue motions to pay for audit, 2nd by Lou all in favor motion passed.

PA One Call & Co-Stars Assignment Appointment

Lou said since Gladine is the Assistant Street Commissioner she can be the person for PA one Calls and Co-Stars.  Pat said she just needs to go into the system and update the record.  Pat said when she forwards the one  calls that Gladine would have to go in and clear the one call after the other utility companies have marked the area. 

Pat said Ron will show you how to do the maps on the site.  He will also show you how to do an order for Co-Stars. 

Drivers for Boro truck & equipment.

Pat read the approved drivers for the Borough truck.  She asked if Ron could stay on the insurance since he is still on the parks board.  Authorized drivers currently are as follows:  Lou, Keith, Paul, Gladine, Myers Miller and Ron.  Discussion was made and decision was made to allow Ron to stay on as a driver for the Borough truck.   Keith and Lou said they have no problem.  Lou asked everyone if they had a problem  with keeping Ron on policy.  No one opposed. 

Lou asked if any other business-

Lou said he received a letter from public utilities on gas pipe lines.

Keith mentioned about the gas house falling  in. Pat said you would have to contact PUC on this to get the gas company to do repairs on the gas house again. 

Pat said that starting this month the ATM fee from Somerset Trust will be on a monthly basis instead of paying for  a year.  Our original contract is up.  Now on month to month basis. 

Sue asked if we could do another contract with them for more money. 

Keith said if we make them mad they may pull out so we should just leave it alone.  

Sue asked if they are willing to do a month to month.  Pat said she contacted them this morning when

she got the check with no explanation. 

Lou said he would like to talk about FAVOR.   We have no say on who buys private property.  He received calls on the matter and said we should have stopped the sale. 

Keith said that building was never put up for sale.  It was a private sale.  He truly does not know what FAVOR does but we also cannot stop people from purchasing a building.  There is nothing that we could have done.  Council could not afford to purchase that building. 

Pat said theonly good thing is now it is a taxing property effective January 1, 2024. Before it was exempt because it was a church. 

The property at 5th & Washington St Lou received a call about the disabled ramp on the sidewalk. 

It does not block anyone from using the sidewalk.  The sidewalk is twice the size of a normal sidewalk. 

The Brickyard cafĂ© even has tables and chairs on their sidewalk and no one has said anything about them.  Council has no problem with  either spot.

Mayor report:

Clark warned a person in town about burning on a Tuesday. 

              Dumpster was moved on 2nd & Shaffer St.

                Lost cat  reported - orange and white. Got out of house at Amy McClellan's. Wishes if anyone sees please contact her.

                If anyone has a complaint it needs to be in writing and signed before action will take place.   Forms are here in the Borough office. 

                Mayor received invitation from Fire Dept for a banquet to be held January 20th, at 6:30 PM.  He   not going.  Is anyone else interested in going. 

                Census Bureau letter to complete.  Pat said that was taken care of.  We receive one every year. 

Street Commissioner Report:

Lou said he wants to write a letter for all he has done.  Discussion was made and if council writes something down then Pat will type it up.

Sewage Report

Sue said meeting next week.  Keith asked if at Community Center.  Pat said she would like to know why something was blacked out.  This is not allowed.  Cindy blacked out with a marker.  You can still see what is under it but if it was said at a meeting then it cannot be blacked out.  Council needs to say something to Sewage Authority on this.

Street Commissioner Report

Lou said that Paul is coming in 1 day a week to check the drains and anything else he see' that is needed.

He has the plow on the truck and ready for the upcoming storm.   

Dan asked if we have a backup driver.  Lou said we do not.

Pat commented that if it gets bad enough then the Mayor can declare an emergency and he can hire anyone he wants to. 

Parks & Rec

Pat said we had our Santa meet and meet and greet on Dec 16th.  46 kids showed up. 

Lou asked how much was charged.  Pat said we do not charge the kids for any event. 

Lou commented about an event sponsored by Michael Raineri to charge $7 for pizza and Santa. He wanted us to distribute flyers at our event for his.  We told him we could not because he was charging for the event but if he wished to hand out flyers he would have to do so outside on his own. 

We also had sleigh rides for the kids.  The adults were charged $5 donation to help cover the cost of the sleigh rides.  The cost to parks was $500.  We made $232 that went toward the sleigh rides. 

We answered 56 Santa letters.  Each child was sent a letter with their requests. 

K & K also came down to serve hot chocolate. 

Motion to adjourn made by Dan,2nd by Lou  at 7:50 PM. 



Respectfully,

Patricia Betts

Secretary/Treasurer