This Meeting was recorded for Accuracy

Meeting was opened by Clark Baird President at 7 PM

Present: Clark Baird, Ron Betts, Sue Bartow, Solicitor Jeff Miller, Lewis McLaughlin

Absent- Mayor Tom Pickup and Calin Gropp

Public Attendance – Amy Lickenfelt, Alex Ashcroft and Spouse- Ligonier Echo, Margareta Roderiguez

Approval of January 7 re-organization meeting minutes. After review, Ron motioned to approve, seconded by Sue. All in favor, motion passed.

Approval January 7 regular meeting minutes. After review Sue motioned to approve, 2nd by Ron, with correction on the word "save" on 2nd page. All in favor motion passed.

Approval of Treasurer Report. After review Sue made motion to approve, 2nd by Ron, all in favor motion passed.

Solicitor Report. None at this time.

Public Comment: None.

Update on Comcast renewal contract. Jeffery said he spoke to Ms. McCabe. Jeffery stated he has a draft agreement he was preparing and just needs to get to Comcast. He has 4 Municipalities he is working on with Comcast. New Florence, Seward, Laurel Mountain Borough and Bolivar. Jeffery said he used the agreement from Ligonier Borough.

Boat launch project. Jeffery said he thought he would be rewriting the entire bid package. Pat said the bid package was done by Conservation District. Jeffery advised for council to use prevailing wage even though the Pittsburgh Foundation said we were not required because of the grant being a private grant. Jeffery presented a court case that made a Borough at fault.
Lou made motion to use prevailing wage, Sue 2nd, all in favor motion carried.

Pat asked about the dates to put on the bid package so the article can go in the newspaper. Sue question the May 31 deadline. Pat said the date was extended by the foundation. Would like to get this part of the project completed by end of June or July. Discussion was then done on the dates for the newspaper. Pat said the sooner we get phase one completed then we can
be working on phase two of the project which consists of a bridge across Tub Mill and stairs to go down to the water where the old grist mill used to be and to add cameras and lighting for the poles that are being put in under phase one. Everyone agreed that for the newspaper ad use today's date of February 7, and advertise the article in the paper for Wednesday February 13, and again Wednesday February 20, 2019.
Under the proposals section we will accept until March 7, at 2 PM. Bids will be opened at March 7th, 7 PM during the regular meeting. Contract will be awarded on March 14, at 7 PM.
Site visit date to be determined after speaking to the Conservation District to see when Mr. Crounour can make it. Also set up a date to review all bid documents to be sure they are in compliance. Under B-2 of the bid package the wording of the withdrawal of bids section is changed to state "no bid will be allowed to be withdrawn for any reason after it has been deposited.
Next correction will be the completion of the project date. It was decided to put June 30, 2019 as the project completion date.

Next item to discuss: Police car keys. Jeffery said he received the keys from New Florence. Pat asked if he had all the keys, there should be at least three keys. Jeffery said he preferred to give us all the keys. Jeffery again brought up the insurance coverage and wanted to make sure council was aware he has no insurance coverage on the building and that he would not be responsible if something happened. Council assured him that coverage will still be on the police car to cover all those types of incidents if they would occur.

Meeting with Somerset Bank for a possible ATM machine in Bolivar. Pat said yesterday that Ron, Sue and I met with Aaron Hoover, and Andrew Cook both from Somerset Bank . They are very interested in putting a machine here at the Borough Building and possible drive up across the street. Any reconstruction that will need to be done they will incur the total expense for. They will get back to us in about a week. Also considering a bank person here once a week to help the older generation on banking needs and showing how to use machine. Jeffery asked about access to the machine. Pat said they would construct a small room to enclose the ATM, they would have a key to the building in case of repairs to the machine. Them putting the machine here still will not interfere with the garage project.

Municipal Round Table meeting. Pat explained they covered the West Nile Virus program, what projects are covered by the Dirt and Gravel Grants, when permits are needed to water obstruction and types of permits. Pat also said that Greg, Ron, and she have signed up for the Dirt and Gravel Course class coming up in April at Greensburg. This is free to the Municipalities. Any one attending the two day course will be good for 5 yrs. That makes us eligible for the Dirt and Gravel projects.

Update on pot hole left by gas company on 259 by St. Clair's. Ron contacted the gas company and they had their contractor come out and fix the pot hole.

Update on auditor for 2019 - 20 tax year. Pat checked with New Florence, they use Rennie and Associates charging $8600 - Fairfield TWP this year is using Lindsey Singer Accounting - CPA for $3000, St Clair Twp uses private citizens, Never heard back from Wessel & Company in Johnstown, and Means and Vance from Latrobe who the sewage company uses, does not want anything to do with us. A packet was sent to us from Lindsey Singer Accounting _ CPA. She proposed a three year contract and pricing for 2019 tax year $3,160 , for 2020 $3250.00 and 2021 $3350.00 . The decision is to table until next month.

Update on 2018 audit results from Rennie and Associates. Everyone received a copy of the final report. We were charge $4100. This make us now having all our required reports completed so we should be able to receive our Liquid Fuels Funds on time. Sue asked about using private citizens as a possibility. Pat said as a private citizen she would be against this because how would they know what to look for. Would they be able to find a mistake that she would possibly make. A CPA is more qualified to be able to audit the books and know what they need to look for.

Update on Storage garage. Pat said she e-mailed Keith and he still awaiting funding from Harrisburg and will let us know when it comes in so we can proceed. He requested our 2019 budget so I sent to him.

New Business:
Fire Dept request for donation. Everyone agreed since we pay for their workers comp insurance that we do not donate to them.

New Florence police report for November. Sue has an issue with the bill. For the month of November Officer Salley charged for 1 Hour to come to our meeting. She opposes paying this amount because we kept the total insurance on police car for them to use for the entire month of December and they have never charged us for Officer Salley to come to our monthly meeting as this was part of the contract agreement. Does anyone else feel the same way? Clark made motion to pay $729.60 for the November bill. This does not pay for Officer Salley's 1 hour charge due to the fact that we let them use the car for December and they never charged us before as it was part of the contract. Ron seconded the motion, all in favor motion passed.

S & T Business Network Event. - We received an invite to attend the event on Thurdsay February 21st. This event is to show appreciation to the local businesses in the area. They are having food and refreshments as well. It is from 5 - 7 PM.

ARC Power Grants. - This type of grant is for Boroughs and Municipalities that have been affected by the coal mines closing. Do you all want me to apply or not for this grant? Lou also said about the discharge of the coal into the creek and a lot of miners living in the area that were affected by the closures. We have until April to apply. Clark advised to table to next month.

Dave with Suit-Kote called and wanted to know if we wanted the streets sweeped again this year. They are trying to get all the municipalities set up to get a better price for sweeping the streets. Clark made motion to go ahead and use them, Lou 2nd, all in favor motion carried.

Update on Dollar General Store. Pat said she has tried to find someone in the Corporate office to see if we could get a store here in Bolivar. Pat had to visit the store in New Florence to get information on this. She is awaiting a response from them. Will keep trying until next month and then get an update.

Westmoreland County Boro Association annual banquet. Ron and Pat went to this last year. Do we want to place an ad in the county booklet or not. Ron and I are still going again this year.

Pat asked Jeffery about one other item that was not put on the agenda. This pertains to the Ordinance violations from properties that the Borough worker had to cut and clean up. Did you receive this year's property owners bills?

Letter from New Florence Community Library. They asking for a donation to their basket party on February 24. Sue commented we have our own library here.

Sue also said she saw in the treasurer report that the borough pays for the electric at the park and recommends that the parks people pay their own electric since they were given the $2500 as per Ordinance for the parks. She doesn't think the Borough should pay the electric bill any longer. Pat thought that part of the Ordinance says that the Borough would pay the utilities. Pat also said that parks did pay for the electric over the Christmas Holidays because of the extra lighting.

Sewage Report - Nothing.

Mayors report - nothing

Street Commissioner report. - Ron said truck broke down again. He has photo of the brakes that went on the right side of truck. The caliber blew apart. Lears put two front brakes, and calipers and hoses on the truck. Also replaced the right rear that had the wrong caliper on it.
Sue motions to pay $327.85 for the cost of the repairs on the truck, Clark 2nds motion all in favor motion passed.
Next Ron had to order gas for the tank. Received 294.3 gallons of gas which is all Accent Fuels had on their truck for a cost of $610.67. Sue asked when we got gas last. Pat went to check files. Pat said Aug 12 was last time we got gas at 312 gallons.

Ron said he got complaints on Crab Apple Lane about the drain being clogged. Judy Lichtenfels said it has too much water in it. Ron said he wants to try the fire dept first to see if it can't be blasted out. Discussion was made on the leaves they keep putting into drain. Greg cleans out the drain and the very next day the drain is packed with leaves again. If that doesn't work then Ron wants to try an auger to see if it can be opened that way. Sue motion to pay for gas, Lou 2nd motion all in favor, motion passed.

Parks & Recreation report. Pat said nothing happened during January. She said Parks is working on schedule for this year and to also put in for grant to help cover the cost of events. Melissa is also sending out letters for potential sponsors. Jeffery said to look at Ordinance, one of the members position expires on a yearly basis. This needs to be addressed. Pat said we have a meeting on February 21st. Sue said ok what about the electric bill. Jeffery said there is nothing in the Ordinance to say the Borough is to cover the cost. Clark asked how much is the electric up there. Pat said not sure if we can pay or not. Concerts - band cost $500 to $600 dollars per band, movies cost $300 each. The kids are expecting have the petting zoo again, that is the cost of $1600 , we also are going to try to pay for the port-a-johns which is $200 per month for two. We also need to purchase mulch for the playgrounds and do repairs. We are not allowed to get a SGOC certificate so we rely soley on donations. We are trying to apply for a grant through Ligonier Endowment but not sure if we will get this or not. Clark stated that his own opinion is to continue to pay for the electric until we are stable. Clark said that $20 - or $25 dollars per month for electric is not a big thing. The Borough will continue to pay until you get on your feet, just let us know.

Motion to adjourn made by Ron at 8:20 PM 2nd by Lewis. All in favor, Motion passed.
Respectfully,

Patricia Betts
Secretary/Treasurer