This Meeting was recorded for Accuracy

Meeting was opened by Sue Bartow, Council Vice President 7 PM.
Present: Sue Bartow, Ron Betts, Gladine McMaster, Solicitor Jeff Miller, Mayor Tom Pickup, Lou McLaughlin

Absent: Clark Baird

Public Attendance: Melissa Miller, Everett Saxton, Zachary & Cassandra Burla, Amy Lickenfelt, Dan Short JR, Greg Hughes

Approval of June meeting minutes – Ron motioned to accept 2nd by Lou, all in favor Motion passed.

Approval of Treasurer Report – Lou motioned to accept and Gladine, motion passed.

Solicitor Report- Act 167 Storm water Management – enactment extended to Dec 2020. He still working on draft Ordinance for this.

Public Comment: Amy, wanted to know if we had any additional contact information for the property owners of the old Shirey home. She has no response to the letters. She would like to purchase some additional property from them. Amy also said there is a sewage hole in the back and wanted to know if we were going to fill that up.

Everett, glad we got the grass cut down there. Everett also wanted to know about the pool deck. It is all rotten and a safety hazard. Jeffery said if it falls under the Ordinance then it can be taken care of. Discussion among council on this subject and if it qualifies then Greg can take down.

Melissa came in late. She wanted to know if the Borough had anything on the books that would allow her parking in front of the store during business hours. She has a problem all the time with the neighbor across the street parking several cars in front of the store. We have older people coming into the store and have to walk a distance just to get into the store.
Jeffery said there is no Ordinance on the books that designates parking for businesses. Melissa asked it would be possible to look into this for an ordinance. Jeffery stated in the past Council has declined not to post ample parking for businesses. Council does have the right to post signs for parking and do an Ordinance.

Greg Hughes came in to meeting. He wanted to ask council for a raise. Sue asked for him to wait for a bit until council gets through some other items. An executive meeting will then be called and discussed.

No other public comment.

Old Business:
Raising of taxes for police dept. We were selling the police car last month, Clark asked to have public comment for this meeting on the issue, sell or not sell and raise of taxes to cover wages for officer. Cost for an officer for 20 hrs per week @ $18. Per hour would run approx. $18,720. This would entail raising taxes by 10 mils to cover. The taxes in 2018 for the borough were at 10 mils. You can see how much your taxes will go up again to add the police dept.
Mayor, said we really need to look at the possible coverage charge by State Police per person and compare. He still feels we need to give the public more time to look into this.
Everett wanted to know how much he paid for 10 mils. Pat pulled the tax receipt bill for his property to let him know how much additional money he would have to pay.
If the state passes the bill for all municipalities to pay for coverage for State Police we would be responsible for 438 people @ $15.04 per person for total of $6,586.05. This is based on the 2010 Census. Now that 2020 Census is coming out that figure will change.

Sue made to motion to sell the police car, Gladine 2nd, Ron disapproves, Lou disapproves. Mayor must break tie. Mayor decision is the keep the car. Mayor wants to see the exact numbers for the cost of the community.

Update on 2nd & McKinley Street for asphalting. Ron said he did not receive any additional bids. He did contact Quaker Sales also and they did not respond. Lou said he checked with gas company in Robinson, and they also are not interested. Lou said he will also check with Ray Winter’s to see if they would give us a bid.

Update on police car sale. Sue stated since we are not selling the police car someone needs to find another place to park the car other than her property.

Update on Stump farm timbering.

Pat said received email from Forestland Services. They say markets for poplar are lousy now so HMI is sorry but they will wait until the fall to harvest the tract. Hopefully things will improve for them by then.

Update on 2019 CDBG project.

Ron said three catch basins are put in, has several others to put in and the one on Lear Street to pour. Will start on top of Station Hill on Monday after gas company comes just incase they hit gas line.

Update on storm water project funding.

Pat said she received an e-mail from Keith. Vasas with CMI Engineering. He was notified that we need to have income survey done. A different part of the grid the CDBG is using shows we do not meet the criteria because we were not above 50 %. He questioned whether we had any. Pat informed him no income survey's were done in the past. He to contact Janet from Westmoreland County and she to send the necessary requirement guidelines so he can continue.

Update on Fire Dept request for $1700 for insurance coverage.

Pat quoted the 2019 budget costs for both workers comp. and regular insurance was $20,749.00 Actual cost of insurance came to $19,153.00 which gave us a $1596.00 allowance. The money for the fire department was included in the figure. We were only $104.00 short of the actual amount.
Sue motioned to pay the $1700 to the fire department and Ron 2nd the motion, All approved., motion carried.

New Business

Fire Dept. street closing.
They are asking to close various street on July 9 & 12th for a fundraising event . Sue motioned to close streets and Lou 2nd, all in favor motion passed.

Sue called executive meeting at 7:40 PM

Executive meeting back in session at 7:51 PM. Sue stated we will look into this again in the fall after we do the 2021 budget. We need to continue to try to maintain the 35 hours per week as much as possible. Greg asked Sue how may bosses does he have. Sue stated Ron is the main street commissioner. You answer to him.

Sewage Report

Ron said haven't had any meeting for several months due to covid 19. Sue said they have been looking into a few CD's they have. They are also trying to get a grant to get the roads fixed. Cindy is working on marking all the sewage lines in Robinson so the gas company can redo the gas lines.

Mayor Report.

Mayor said it was fun hanging out on Saturday (Clean Up Day) and helping and watching people burn trash. He wanted to know what the final cost was and how much we made. Pat said Greg got more funds today on tin he took over to scrap yard. Made $193.00 spent $28.00 for lunch, and got $30.50 on scrap metal plus and additional trip brought in $6.00 Dumpster cost $450.00. Next year we should get a smaller one since we burn so much.

Street Commissioner Report.

Ron said put 139.5 miles on truck spent $33.01 Zero turn put 25.8 miles on it and used 21.99 gallons of gas. Ron said he also received a letter from Joe and Diane Robinson commending Greg for cleaning up the Shirey property and the streets in town. He very hard worker.
Ron request to purchase a U-Jack post puller and 42" anchor. He needs 12 anchors for a cost of $6.80 X 12 and the U-jack post puller is $464.30 for a total cost of $545.90. Gladine motions to spend no more than $750 on the total cost, Lou 2nd. all approved.

Parks Report.

We completed putting up 73 banners. Getting ready to do a 3rd shipment for this year. Due date is August 15. We also have a concert coming up July 12 and a movie on July 18th.

Sue asked Jeffery is the Deemer property was sold at auction. Sue wanted to know about the grass. Pat said she sent out the letter to the property owner. She wanted to know when Greg can go in and cut the grass. Pat said it ok now to cut. She wanted to know if the properties were ever lien. Sue said we need to get the lien on it.

Sue opened a letter from Clark, saying he resigns. Jeffery said if we accept his resignation we have 30 days to find someone for the vacant seat. Sue wanted to know what would happen if we accept it and no one comes forward with interest. Jeffery said then the Vacancy Board takes over to appoint a person. Sue motions to accept, Lou 2nd, Gladine yes, Ron declines.

Next meeting will be at 6:45 on August 6th to convene meeting on the subject.
We also need to put a 3rd person on the checking account since Clark is coming off. Gladine accepted to go on accounts.

The Mayor also wanted a Complaint Form made up. Everyone on council agreed to accept the form . Gladine motioned to accept form Lou 2nd, all in favor motion passed.

Mr. Burla wanted to know how to get rid of cats. Pat gave name and number for animal control.

No other business to discuss, Gladine motion to adjourn meeting, Lou 2nd all in favor motion carried. at 8:15 PM

Respectfully,
Patricia Betts
Secretary/Treasurer