Borough of Marietta, PA – Official Government Website
Marietta Borough Council
Minutes of Meeting held May 9, 2020
113 East Market Street, Marietta, PA
President Mazis with Council members Marsh, Carroll-Baltozer, States, Dalzell, Hudson, McKinney and Mayor Kulman and Solicitor Harter present by zoom meeting under Covid-19 limitations, called the regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Marietta Borough Council to order at 7:04 PM. The meeting opened with a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance.
Michael Reiner and Alissa Harrison with Sager, Swisher & Company were on the zoom meeting to present the annual audit report to council. The report was reviewed a few weeks ago by Glen Mazis and Sharon Bradnick. Michael Reiner went over the audit to council. The unassigned fund balance shows an $822,756 balance. The auditor reported a clean audit.
Ray Vegso asked what the unassigned fund balance amount is which Mr. Reiner stated the balance is $822,756. Ray also asked what made up the capital funds. Mr. Reiner stated that this was the flood control project of $445,542, sewer improvement fund of $413,362, and the capital reserve fund of $127,836.
Council member Dalzell asked if there was anything that the Borough should or shouldn’t be doing. Mr. Reiner stated “you had a good year and the Borough has a lot of needs that can restrict you, but as far as an operational perspective, it was a very good fiscal year.”
PUBLIC COMMENT
Ray Vegso – 50 N. Pine Street – Ray stated that he predicted this huge unassigned fund balance and you would be hard pressed to find any other Borough that has near the amount of fund balance that we have.
President Mazis stated that later in the agenda he will be talking about the $874,000 grant that we applied for and we received back positive feedback from DCNR and Chesapeake Bay Foundation that we are doing exactly what they have told Boroughs to do, which is to save up our funds to do some big projects for this Borough. We have saved up our liquid fuels for two years; we put money in our capital reserve. We have been conservative but it now allows us to get this great project completed on Furnace Road and Donegal Place, and allows us to be prepared for emergencies, Mazis gave the example of the recent sink hole on Market Street, a rather small emergency, that cost the Borough $30,000 to repair.
Council member States stated that we also need to put money back to fix the bridge on Front Street across Evans Run.
President Mazis closed public comment.
MINUTES FOR APPROVAL
President Mazis asked for a motion to approve the April council meeting minutes. Council member Dalzell made a motion to approve the April council minutes with a second by Council member Carroll-Baltozer. Motion carries unanimously by voice vote.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
President Mazis stated that we are still under a state of emergency. We are still in the red zone, and asked citizens to please do social distancing, wear masks when you are in public. We can now do regular Borough Council business in this remote way because the Legislature passed the bill to do regular business in this remote way. He would like to thank all essential workers of the Borough for the work they are doing to benefit us all.
REPORTS
Fire Police/EMA – Steve Bailey – Was not present to give his report. Council member Dalzell gave the report for Steve. They had a total for April of 8 calls, 20 officers, and 57 duty hours. The truck was cleaned and sanitized. All officers have been instructed in protocols for the virus. Gloves, masks and a thermometer are on the front seat of the vehicle and all officers have been instructed to use them.
Pioneer Fire Company – Brandon Smith – No one present to give a report.
Pioneer Fire Company Financial Statement – Jeffery Marsh – Council April stated that the balance as of April 27, 2020 was $21,867.25. Council member States made the motion to accept the report as presented with a second by Council member Hudson. Motion carries unanimously by voice vote.
Sewer –Freddy States – Council member States report was dated April 2020. The sewer fund has a savings account balance of $253,344.68 and a checking account balance of $2,643.76. Council member States motioned to accept the report as presented with a second by Council member Dalzell. Motion carries unanimously by voice vote.
Recycling –Freddy States – Council member States reported we did not receive a recycling report this month.
Treasurer – Sharon Bradnick - The General Fund Monthly Breakdown dated May 12, 2020. The total general fund accounts are $1,263,606.67. Council member States motioned to approve the report as presented with a second by Council member McKinney. Motion carries unanimously by voice vote. Glen Mazis asked that the funds are higher because this includes our grant money for the flap valves. Bradnick stated that the grant money is not included in this figure that is held in a separate account. We have more because we received $577,603 in property tax payments that came in.
Secretary – Sharon Bradnick – Everyone received their profit and loss statements for the month of April. At the end of April, we show that we have an income of $162,736.14 for the month. January through April we have an income of $59,726.60.
Zoning Report – Tom Arnold – Was not present to give a report.
Mayor’s Report - Harold Kulman – Mayor Kulman stated that we celebrated the Bells across Pennsylvania. They had one week to get this set up. He thanked everyone that helped with this. We had three churches and one train. He had a commission meeting they all sat apart. The meeting was short. We have an invitation to appear at the Donegal School District graduates. There will be approximately 200 cars that are meeting at the CBC Church. The supervisor for East Donegal Township will be there and Harold will be there, we are supposed to do something but he is not sure what.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
Administrative – President Mazis
President Mazis stated met for an hour and worked out a plan to deal with the Covid-19 situation. We set up the office workers to work alternating days and working at home the days that they were not in the office. On May 1st they both went back to the office and wore masks and practiced social distancing. The road crew’s reduced hours were compensated through the Federal emergency funds initially and then they came back to work with proper social distancing. The zoning officer also had to use some of those funds. In April we worked out that he works for home and comes in on Friday afternoons when no one is in the office. The office door will stay closed as long as the governor has the stay at home order in place.
President Mazis asked for a motion to accept the audit and to have it advertised. Council member Dalzell made the motion with a second by Council member States. Motion carries unanimously by voice vote.
President Mazis stated that during his announcements that he wanted to reassure the citizens that we are well positioned despite the covid-19 situation with our tax money. Bradnick under estimated the earned income tax in the budget, and the County predicted that we would have $40-$50 thousand dollars less, but this is still above the figure Bradnick estimated, so by doing this allows us to still be in a good position.
President Mazis stated that things have worked out really well. We have been talking about the DCNR grant every month. It is utilizing the Chesapeake Bay trust grant as a match and using $200,000 from liquid fuels as a match. We had two different meetings with the County, DCNR and other parties to really do a complete job and make that area of the trail on Furnace Road and Donegal Place outstanding. Everything together turned out to be $874,000 and all the Borough needs to put in is $37,000 to get $874,000. So we need to make a motion to have the Borough put in the $37,000 from the fund balance and put it in as our match towards the DCNR project. Council member Dalzell made the motion with a second by Council member Hudson. Motion carries unanimously by voice vote.
Planning/Zoning/Environmental – Bill Dalzell
Council member Dalzell stated they had their meeting. They are continuing discussing the 5 year plan and realized that it had not been discussed since October, and were pleased to discover that a number of the items that were on the list are already being addressed, such as the Parks Commission, Flood Mitigation, Tree Commission, and addressing blighted properties. These items have all been addressed or are currently being worked on. They will continue to work on this plan.
Public Outreach – Rebecca Carroll-Baltozer
Council member Carroll-Baltozer stated the Bells across Pennsylvania were amazing. She is going to reschedule her meeting for May 20th at 6:00 PM. We need to think about the fireworks and keep our social distancing and to move forward and make sure we get the fireworks off. Marietta Day has been changed to August 29. We also need to make a decision for our summer recreation plan. We have three options; to cancel it, go on as originally planned from June 15 to July 31 from 9-12, or proposing other dates starting on July 6th and ending July 31st. Currently, we have had no applications. Council member Dalzell asked if we could postpone the decision. The simplest thing would be to cancel it. Starting in June 15th is unrealistic and we should pick the second date from July 6 to August 14. We will want to see the program that is in place in regard to the social distancing. The discussion was tabled in order to reach out to GEARS on May 18th. The lawn mowing with the new lawn mower is cutting in half the time.
Public Safety – Jeffery Marsh
Council member Marsh stated they met on April 23 and the only member present was Harold Kulman. Harold received several complaints on the bicyclists not obeying the law in town and speeding on the trail. There is not a solution to the speeding on the trail. We can have the police come in and observe the bicyclists throughout town. It was asked when we want to open up the office doors of the Borough office. The solicitor informed the council on all the legal issues in which to think about when deciding on when to open up the office doors. Council decided to continue to have the doors closed to public until we meet in June in order to comply with the Governor’s orders and to put safety first. Mazis asked Council its opinion and all agreed with this plan..
Public Works – Freddy States
Council member States stated that Sharon and I are going to meet with the men on Monday’s to go over the projects. Next week will be street cleaning. West Prospect they will be starting on this, they have the millings and are ready to go. The men will also be repainting the bike stencils on the road and start painting the T’s in the parking spots in the downtown area. The “slow” sign on the road in the S bend has helped and he would like to see if we would like to put “slow” on the road in front of the road that goes to the school. One thing that we will need to do in the future on the flapper value project is to clean out all the silt in front of the flap valves. He is going to check with Darryl with ARRO in regards to the “no left turns” off of Furance Road. Bradnick stated that States needs to call ELA because they are the one that did the study.
The change order on the flap valve project came to $9500 and this was for the increase in the size of the pipes. Council member States made a motion to accept the change order for $9500 for the flap valve project with a second by Council member Dalzell. Motion carries unanimously by voice vote.
President Mazis stated that we had people asking for an extension for having the sidewalks completed in the 600 block of East Market Street due to the covid-19 situation. After a long discussion the solicistor gave a suggestion that we give a 60 day extension and make it known that they can submit a financial hardship letter to have the council consider exceptions on a case by case bases. Council member Carroll-Baltozer made a motion to extend the completion of the sidewalks repair deadline by 60 days and to be allowed to submit a letter for hardship to be looked at after that, with a second by Council member Dalzell. A roll call vote was asked for.
Dalzell – aye States – aye Mazis – aye Marsh- not present
Hudson- aye Carroll-not present McKinney-aye
Vote carries.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE REPORTS
JOINT SEWER AUTHORITY – Jeffery Marsh – Moving forward with removing the trailer and also interviewing for a manager.
NWRT Committee – Glen Mazis – They were supposed to meet April 28th and this meeting was cancelled and the next meeting is in July.
C2P2 Committee – Glen Mazis – We received a $20,000 extension to put together master parks plan for the Tot Lot, Front Street, and the Chestnut Street waterfront park. Ann Yost is working on this and will present it to council.
G3 Grant Phase II Committee – Glen Mazis – We have a comprehensive plan to move forward and submitted the grant application for the Phase III part of the project. We will learn May 21st if we received the Phase III grant for implementation.
Shade Tree Committee – Bill Dalzell – They will be meeting next Thursday May 21st.
OLD BUSINESS
Quick ticket ordinance - was gone over by the solicitor and the changes that were made. Council member States made a motion to advertise the quick ticket ordinance with a second by Council member Dalzell. The solicitor explained what the quick ticket is and that is an extra enforcement option, it is not to eliminate other enforcement mechanisms. Council had a long discussion on the quick ticket ordinance. Council member Dalzell would like to make sure that we send out a mailer to inform the public of the new quick ticket ordinance. Council member Dalzell made a motion to table the discussion for a month with a second by Council member States. Motion carries unanimously by voice vote.
Fire Company audit – the solicitor gave three options to discuss in regard to the fire companies responsibility to have an audit: 1) proceed 2) postpone the deadline, or 3) have the borough help pay for audit. After council had a long discussion, they decided to have the solicitor to send them a letter that they need to proceed in having the audit completed and gave them a three-month extension.
NEW BUSINESS
Council member McKinney thanked Officer Ney for coming to Clay Street. He also has the pictures of the Bells across Pennsylvania he is going to get Steve Bailey a copy. He asked if we are having a playground down on Front Street. President Mazis stated that Ann Yost is working on a plan for us to consider that includes a pavilion or events in that space. McKinney was asking because BCI the playground company is having a major sell on playground equipment and he was not sure where we wanted to put the equipment. He also feels we can raise some money for the borough with having some food trucks come in and some wine vendors that want to come to Marietta. President Mazis asked him to take this idea to his committee and they can discuss this in order to bring to council a proposal.
Council member States asked Officer Ney if it is true that the Wrightsville Borough passed a Resolution temporarily suspending the open container ordinance allowing people to purchase alcohol from bars and not be arrested for walking around. Officer Ney stated that the stipulation was that they had to stay on the premises where they purchased it at. It would be in the parking lot area.
Council member Carroll-Baltozer brought up about businesses not being open and having to pay a higher sewer/trash bill while being closed. Council discussed this and they feel that this is the part of doing business.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Tracy Fatridge – Lumber Ave. – wanted to know if she could get copies of what we were talking about. President Mazis stated that if we are considering the ordinance it will be publicized and the minutes once approved, will be out on our website. Our agenda was on our website under the invite for our meeting.
There being no further business to come before Council, on a motion by Council member Dalzell with a second by Council member McKinney, the meeting adjourned at 9:28 PM.
BOROUGH SEAL Respectfully submitted,
Sharon L. Bradnick
Secretary/Treasurer
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