This Meeting was recorded for Accuracy

Meeting was opened by Lou McLaughlin 7 PM
Attendance, Keith St.Clair, Ron Betts, Lou McLaughlin, Sue Bartow, Gladine McMaster, Jeffery Miller, Clark Baird
Absent - none

Public - Dan Short JR, Melissa Miller

Approval of Minutes from Jan 3, 2022 .
Sue had several questions since she was not at the Jan 3rd meeting.
Sue wanted to know if anyone was sworn in by anyone before the meeting started. She questioned Lou, Keith and Gladine. She wanted to know if before or after executive meeting.

Pat commented they were sworn in after the meeting.

Sue questioned to Jeffery that they should have been sworn in before the meeting in order to make decisions according to code book. She wanted to know when they got sworn in and by who. Sue said anything that was done prior to the close of the meeting would not be legal.

Jeffery said if that was the case then council needs to ratify all actions taken during the last meeting.

Gladine then made motion to ratify all actions from prior meeting, 2nd by Keith all in favor , everyone commented except Sue, motion passed.

Sue had another question. After council came out of executive meeting and had Clark appointed as Mayor, she wanted to know how this was decided. She stated there was another person of interest in the position and had letter into council for this.

Lou said we went with the next person who had the highest count of ballots from the election. He knows we did not have to but we did.

She said so in the future if a position came open would council follow the same procedure. Lou said it is on a case by case procedure.

Gladine commented usually we do not have people waiting in line to be on council.

Sue said "so if Clark was sworn in as Mayor then who swore Clark in". "How did he get sworn in before he was appointed as Mayor. "

Gladine commented we had discussed in December the position of Mayor and Sue wanted to know how Clark could be sworn in before he was appointed.

Sue noted when listening to tape that Jeffery commented the Mayor position could not be appointed until the old Mayor's term is up on the Jan 3, meeting

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Lou wanted to know what Sue's end game is before we drag this out all night long, I know you have an end game what is it?

Jeffery is assuming Sue wants to know when Clark was sworn in before the re-organization meeting or the regular meeting. Jeffery said everyone takes the oath of office before hand otherwise they cannot take office. He said it happens to all elected or appointed to an office position. It does not disqualify the person for the position.

Lou asked for next question and had no response so he asked for motion to approve the Jan 3rd minutes.

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

Approval of Minutes from Jan 11, 2022 .
Sue asked about the pressure washer, why was it not in the minutes. Lou stated they discussed not to get until the new truck is here. We did not purchase it yet. Sue wanted to know why it was not in the minutes. Pat said it is in the Jan 11th meeting minutes to purchase but not until after the new truck is here.

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

Treasurer Report. Sue wanted to know why we are paying for additional truck insurance of $167. before we have the truck. Why are we paying any insurance on a truck we do not already have.

Pat said because we needed proof of insurance to get the loan so we had to have it covered and when we sold the other truck then it would come off the insurance and we would get a credit back on the insurance. Sue claimed she never heard of the insurance to work that way. Lou and Gladine both informed her this is how it works.

Sue asked what ever happened to DCED approval before hand like Fairfield had to do taking several months to get. Why would we need DCED approval if council already went to the bank and got the loan.

Jeffery spoke up again and said DCED must approve any indebtness to the municipality. If you want to take on debt then you must have their approval.

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

If DCED does not approve then the Municipality must come up with the funds to pay back the loan. General Assembly does not want Municipalities to go out and borrow without limits, they want them to be responsible so we are required to not borrow more than 250% of the last three years income. We do the paperwork for that and submit to DCED.

Another thing Sue wanted to know was on the payroll account for Jan 11 ck # 1262 it does not state who the check went to. Pat said she forgot to put her name on the report it was her paycheck.

Clark asked about the $3000 from Somerset Trust. Is this every month or a year. Pat said it is yearly for the lease of the ground for the ATM machine.

Motion to pass the treasure report made by Gladine, 2nd by Keith , all in favor motion passed.

Solicitor Report. Nothing at this time.

Public comment: Boone thanked council for plowing the streets and salting.

Jeffery commented as a member of the public we should send Fairfield TWP a letter thanking them for their help during our time of need for a plow truck and salting the streets. Pat said Fairfield is keeping track of their time, and supply usage of their anti-skid and salt so when we get our truck we will reimburse them for their time and service. Gladine motions to pay the bill when presented , 2nd by Lou all in favor motion passed.

Melissa, is asking for permission for parks to apply to Ligonier Endowment for playground equipment at the lower park. Parks will not have to do anything. The company will install the new equipment. She just needs council permission to use Ligonier Endowment. We are also submitting to Wagner Foundation, and Peoples Gas to help cover the costs of the upgrades.

Keith wants to know who is installing the equipment? The company has their own insurance.

Melissa said the company name is Playground Boss. We need to remove old equipment they to install and set up new equipment.

Lou motion to approve grant for playground equipment, Keith 2nds all in favor motion passed.

Old Business:
Update on Wex card
Pat said she received the wex cards. We can purchase gas, and any liquid products as well as towing. The individual who uses the card must put in their mileage and pin number and we will then get a report on what was purchased.

Update on new borough truck.
Pat said when truck went to Pittsburgh to get put together they had to shut down for 2 weeks because of covid, They then shipped it to their plant in Somerset and the same thing ended up happening there. So therefore, it has finally gotten into the shop on Jan 31 and they say 2 to 2- 1/2 weeks for us to get the truck. They then will bring to us and go over everything .

Update on Municibid sales
Pat said the siren items were the only thing left to pick up. The winner never did this so I contacted Municibid and asked the next step to take. We then informed the next highest bidder and asked if they still wanted the siren at their high bid. He did pickup this past Monday for $120 instead of $130.

McCormick Taylor & Curry & Kepple invoices.
Pat got an email from Mr. Prisk of McCormick Taylor. They stated that Curry & Kepple wanted to get paid for their storm inlets. Pat informed Mr. Prisk, that we did not have a problem with signing off on invoices for them, however we will not sign off on any invoices in which we do not have the product to verify. Pat told them Curry and Kepple came back in the fall and took the inlets back and until we have them back here we would not sign off for them to get paid.

McCormick Taylor said they were still starting in March as per contract.

Jeffery said they bear the cost of holding costs not us. Jeffery said do not pay until they do the work. Have them contact me if they do not like your response.

New Business
Certificates for new Council Members. Pat gave everyone their certificates from the County elections.

Garage door issues again. - Must hold button continuously to get door to close and stay down.

Pat said she watched Greg on camera and he must hold the button until the door closes, otherwise the door will not come down.

Lou said they will still charge us even though the product is still under warranty. Lou motions to have All Star Garage come down and fix door again, 2nd by Keith, all in favor motion passed.

Council Person Sue requests to get for 3rd year in a row a copy of Boro Worker time sheets.

Ron motions to have Sue pay for copies since she has been doing this for 2 years now and starting the 3rd year. Jeffery said she is entitled to look at the records. For 3rd year in a row its not right. Looking at the records is one thing but having to make copies of the records she should pay is what Ron says.
Lou asked if we had to make a motion and Jeffery said no.

Fire Company request for donation.
Keith asked if we pay for their insurance. Jeffery said we have been paying their vehicle insurance in place of their donation. Keith wanted to know how could we give to them when we could not give to anyone else. Discussion made on funding them. Keith motions not to give donation, 2nd by Sue, all in favor motion passed.

Reimbursement for kerosene plus 4 bags of calcium chloride . Ron had to purchase kerosene for blower to heat up skidsteer so it would start for $20 and had to use 4 bags of calcium chloride on hill. for cost of $39.48 . Sue motions to pay $59.48 2nd by Lou all in favor Ron abstains, motion passed.

2021 payroll over budget of funds - savings of $9,323.85 - Keith suggestion is to place into equipment fund. Pat said every year she has to budget Borough worker wages at 35 Hr per week for 52 weeks. even though he does not work that many hours. Total wages for, 2021 was budget as $37,852.15 Actual spent on wages was $28,528.30 saving of $9,323.85.

Jeffery suggested council to start exploring what type of equipment you need and look into cost. Put on agenda for next month.

Peoples Gas.
Received letter from peoples gas wanting us to provide to them our 2022 road paving schedule so they can coordinate our gas line replacements. Jeffery said to let them know when work will be done and also send a copy of our road opening Ordinance.

New Federal grant for infrastructure & cost.
Local share Account Grant through DCED is open until March 15. Grant is from $25,000 to 1 Million. No match required.

Will council approve for Keith Vasas, from CME to apply for grant? Engineer cost up to $3000 plus $100 non refundable application fee. Council will also need to approve for a Resolution up to $1 million and who is to sign for all documents. Council decided to have President and Vice President to sign documents.

Keith motions to have CME. Keith Vasas to apply for grant and spend up to $3100, 2nd by Sue all in favor motions passed.

Citizens Ambulance campaign.
Asking for donation to increase membership for our area. Discussion made on donating. Pat said each municipality in Homer City, Indiana, and Blacklick are all contributing .

Keith mentioned the issue of council approving for a donation before and then to rescind the donation he does not want to go through this again next month.
Keith motions to spend $50 for Citizens ambulance, no one 2nds, motion fails

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Any other business.
Gladine, asked about the stop sign at Marino's. Pat said we found the Ordinance where all the signs were listed in town, so we put a stop sign back at the intersection gain.

Lou said he has something. He talked to several people and told them if anyone had their yards messed up from someone else plowing that we would fix in the spring.

Mayor Report.
Clark said he only had the stop sign to comment on.

Street commissioner report. We got 15 gallon of diesel fuel for skidsteer. Have no gas to report since we have no truck. He said it is getting harder and harder to start. He has his heater down there now to get it started. Lou asked about the block heater that was bought last year. Ron said it will not fit.

Keith mention about the alley back of his house. His neighbor was concerned because it was not plowed. Keith explained the situation to them but he would look to see what could be done to try to get at least half the alley plowed.

Parks & Rec
Melissa is looking for support. The Legion is having a Rippy Party Feb 19 to help out parks. She is looking for support from council.

Any other comments:
Sue wants to have the beginning conversation of the minutes in the minutes and effective immediately she wants her name removed from the checking account . She does not want to sign for any checks.

Motion to adjourn at 8:29 PM made by Keith, 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion carried.

Respectfully,
Patricia Betts
Secretary/Treasurer