BOROUGH OF SLATINGTON



BOROUGH OF SLATINGTON

The Regular Meeting of Council was held on Monday, November 12, 2012 at 7:00 P.M. in Council Chambers, 125 S. Walnut Street, Slatington, PA 18080.

Presiding: Daniel Stevens: President of Council

Recording Secretary: Bryon Reed, Council Vice-President

The meeting was called to order by President Stevens at 7:00 P.M. with the following in attendance:

ROLL CALL:

PRESENT ABSENT OTHERS PRESENT VISITORS

Galen Freed None Mayor Niedermeyer Jonathan Bevans William Stein

Bob Steets Ed Healy Carol Gildner Dwight Miller

Bryon Reed George Moyer Everette Bevans

Daniel Stevens Melvin Gildner Kris Burek

David Schnaars Conrad Bevans Ed Zeigler

Gwyneth Neff Ashton Bevans Jared Brassowski

Jon Rinker Lou Yurasits Robert Stettner

EXECUTIVE SESSION – None at the present time

President Stevens noted that the Resolution pertaining to “Rules and Regulations of Good Conduct” are posted on the wall, to either turn off their cell phones or silence them, and he also reminded everyone about the procedure for signing in for attendance and for addressing the Council. He then clarified the following: when a motion and a second is on the floor and he asks for questions, this request pertains only to Council; there are no questions accepted when a motion is being considered. Any questions on the agenda items may be made during the Visitors Section. The only exception is when any items which are not on the agenda on which action is taken or items that were not discussed at a committee meeting.

President Stevens noted that he would like to thank the Police, Fire Department and Borough Crew for persevering during the hurricane. We managed to maintain all of out vital services; Water, Sewer, Police protection and Fire protection. Despite the circumstances, everyone did a good job.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS – After corrections to the minutes were noted, Councilor Freed made a motion seconded by Councilor Neff to approve the following sets of minutes: Council Meeting October 9, 2012; Special Meeting October 15; Workshop Meetings, October 15, and October 22, 2012. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Voice Vote, 7 Ayes, No Nays

COURTESY OF THE FLOOR (Agenda and Non-Agenda items)

Melvin Gildner- 528 Pine Street, said he attended the sewer authority meeting and would like to know if it’s true that our sewer plant is in dire need of repairs. He added that a member of the SBA said publicly that our sewer plant could blow up in 2 weeks, 1 week or that same day. He said he considers this a pretty serious matter. He also added that he would like to compliment the Authority for all that they are trying to do. Mr. Gildner said that it is quite obvious that they are doing everything that they can and it seems like when it comes down to it Council is the one dragging their feet on doing these major repairs. He asked how much do you plan on budgeting to repair the plant. Mr. Gildner stressed that this is a major issue and it needs to be taken care of. He said that this has been going on for several years even when Kris Burek was on Council she tried adding money into the budget to start taking care of these issues and the rest of Council depleted it when the budget was finalized. Mr. Gildner said that it was stated publicly by the plant operator that the plant is leaking methane gas, which is a serious problem. Councilor Steets said we are working on fixing it. Mr. Gildner asked if all of Council is in agreement that this needs to be repaired; Councilor Steets said he would hope so. Mr. Gildner asked where you are going to get the money to do these repairs; Councilor Steets said we are looking into that as well. President Stevens noted that Council is the one who suggested that we fix the digester and the SBA suggested that we repair the outflow line. He added that Council is pushing to have the digester fixed. Mr. Gildner asked why isn’t something being done because this has been going on for a while. He also suggested that before you charge the single home owners and senior citizens in town maybe you should look into taking on new customers instead of raising rates or taxes. Councilor Steets said that we will take that into consideration.

Dwight Miller- 256 S. Walnut Street- noted that he is back because there are still snares on the trail. He added that the word around town is that he is the one setting the traps. Mayor Niedermeyer said that he did not accuse him of setting the traps. He said that he went down because of the D&L Marathon and he did not see any traps or cameras. President Stevens said that if these snares are located in Washington Township there is nothing we can do because they are out of our jurisdiction. Mayor Niedermeyer asked Mr. Miller if he would take him down to show him where the snares are located; he said he would.

George Moyer- 231 Main Street, asked Council if they have looked into the resolution he suggested a few months ago. Councilor Neff said we have discussed it and we have decided to table it until we can sit down and talk about the budget. She explained that we are going to have to hire someone to enforce it and to be honest we don’t know if we have the money at this point. Until we can sit down and start discussing the budget I won’t have an answer. Mr. Moyer noted that there are ways to fund it by charging a fee for the inspection. Mr. Moyer said that at every month you approve accounts payable and we do not hear or see these figures. He asked if Council could either attach a copy to the agenda or read what they are approving.

REPORTS

The reports of various committees, officials and officers are on file in Borough Hall and are available for public inspection.

APPROVAL OF ACCOUNTS PAYABLE/TRANSFER

Councilor Freed made a motion seconded by Councilor Steets to approve payment of the

bills and transfers as presented by the Treasurer. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Roll Call, voting as follows:

ROLL CALL AYES NAYS

Daniel Stevens Gwyneth Neff None

Bryon Reed Bob Steets

Galen Freed David Schnaars

Jon Rinker

MAYOR’S/POLICE CHIEF’S REMARKS

Mayor Niedermeyer noted the following: on October 16 he attended the 2012 Mayors and Municipal Officials Reception, the event was sponsored by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce at the Steel Stacks in Bethlehem. On October 19, he participated in the Homecoming Parade on Main Street to the High School Stadium. On October 27 he participated in the Halloween Parade on Main Street. On October 27 he met with Fire Chief Weaver to go over emergency procedure for Hurricane Sandy. October 30th drove around Slatington looking for storm damage with Fire Chief Weaver. On November 1, he attended the meeting at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center for go over the 25K run on the D&L Trail. November 2, volunteered at the D&L 25K run at the Trailhead and Lehigh Gap Nature Center finish line. He said that he also worked with Chief Rachman on citizens complaints.

Kris Burek noted that we had a major hurricane on October 29 she added that Borough Hall was without power for 4 days. She said that there wasn’t a public broadcasting announcement to let the residents know or informing them if we were in a state of emergency or if there were any shelter facilities available. She asked how you account for that. Mayor Niedermeyer said that he went over the emergency procedure with the Fire Chief.

Chief Rachman noted that we lost power during the hurricane and he was informed by our EMA representative that the Vigilant would be a temporary shelter and if need be we could use the Middle School. He added that he put a sign up on the door of the Police Department and also on the door of Borough Hall to inform anyone who came and needed help on where to find us.

STANDING COMMITTEES

A. Highway

1. General Morgan Bridge- Councilor Freed said that we have been in contact with Penn Dot and they have told us that there will be no further funds on top of the $2,500 that we currently receive. President Stevens noted we received a new 5-year contract from PENN DOT for cleaning the sidewalks on the General Morgan Bridge. Our last contract, also for five years, paid us $11,195.06 over a 5 year period. The new contract would pay us a total of $581.35 over a 5 year period. It was questioned why we went from $2239 a year to only $116 per year, especially when we now need to clear sidewalks on both sides of the bridge and the old bridge only had a sidewalk on one side. They responded “the rate determined in the past appears to be in error and continuing a known error into the future is not sound management.” Vice President Reed said that last year he met with Don Cole and they discussed raising the rate of the contract because there are now 2 sides of the bridge and they have finally got back to us with the new contract that President Stevens was talking about. President Stevens noted that $116.00 wouldn’t even pay to clear the bridge once. Councilor Schnaars asked why we don’t just reject their offer. President Stevens said that we have, and now Penn Dot will be responsible to clear the bridge. President Stevens suggested that we pass a motion in case they come back to us with a reasonable offer. Councilor Schnaars made a motion second by Councilor Steets moving that we let the Highway Committee have the authority to enter into an agreement with Penn Dot for the General Morgan Bridge provided the said contract is as much as the previous 5 year contract of $11,195.06.

ROLL CALL AYES NAYS

Daniel Stevens Gwyneth Neff None

Bryon Reed Bob Steets

Galen Freed David Schnaars

Jon Rinker

2. Ordinance 660-Multi Municipal Agreement- Councilor Freed made a motion second by Vice President Reed to pass Ordinance 660, The Multi Municipal agreement. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Roll Call, voting as follows:

ROLL CALL AYES NAYS

Daniel Stevens Gwyneth Neff None

Bryon Reed Bob Steets

Galen Freed David Schnaars

Jon Rinker

Councilor Freed noted that the backhoe is back.

B. Public Safety

1. Narrow Band- Councilor Rinker noted that our radios must be “narrow-band” compliant by the end of this year. The Police and Fire Departments and have been converted now we have to convert the highway crews and the one at the office. He said that he has a proposal however he would like to table this so that it can be discussed further. Councilor Rinker asked do we really need all of these base stations; Chief Rachman said that you really don’t need them. Councilor Rinker said that we can save a lot of money if don’t update the base stations. Councilor Rinker tabled it until the Committee Meeting.

2. Emergency Generator- Councilor Rinker said between the Mayor and the Fire Chief we came up with some plans and it was agreed by Chief Rachman if we lost power that he would come up to the Fire Department. He said we seemed to have everything covered if we lost power. Councilor Rinker said that we need to look into an emergency generator for part of Borough Hall. A brief discussion took place on a generator. Councilor Rinker made a motion second by Councilor Neff to authorize an electrician to assess and give us a quote on an emergency generator to run the office, police department and lights for the first floor. Councilor Steets asked if we can get more than just one quote. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Roll Call, voting as follows:

ROLL CALL AYES NAYS

Daniel Stevens Gwyneth Neff None

Bryon Reed Bob Steets

Galen Freed David Schnaars

Jon Rinker

3. ACO- Councilor Rinker said that we have an issue with keeping dogs

at the sewer plant. He said that it seems that Orlando the state dog warden does not want to come and pick the dogs up with-in a 48 hour period because we do not have a contract with anyone. Councilor Rinker said that he was told from the dog warden that if we acquired a $25.00 kennel license there would be no problem to adopt the dogs out. Now things have changed and we will need a $5,000.00 adoption license. He said that in order to get a contract with the humane society it will cost the Borough at least $6,000.00 per year and we do not have the resources to pay that kind of money for a couple of dogs. He said that he called Peaceable Kingdom and they would be happy to take any small friendly dogs that we get for no charge. However they cannot handle the bigger dogs. He said that Linda Steets our ACO has been in contact with the Sanctuary at Haafsville. She has spoke with Liz Jones to see how much it will cost, so that we have a place to go with these dogs. A brief discussion took place on the dogs. Councilor Rinker said we are checking to see what Liz Jones wants, and if it’s something reasonable then I think we need to do it. Councilor Rinker made a motion second by Councilor Schnaars to renew the contact with the Sanctuary at Haafsville if it is a reasonable price. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Roll Call, voting as follows:

ROLL CALL AYES NAYS

Daniel Stevens Gwyneth Neff Bob Steets

David Schnaars Bryon Reed

Galen Freed

Jon Rinker

Councilor Rinker asked if someone comes to the sewer plant to claim the

Pitt bull/bull dog mix since there is no license and we are not sure who the owner is, can we just give it to them. Chief Rachman said that you cannot just give the dog away without a license or shot records because we are liable if something were to happen. He explained that if we take custody of an animal we have to make the owner prove that they are the owner by their county license and shot records.

C. Human/Community Services

1. West End Playground- Councilor Schnaars said that we have been working on repairing the playground and here is a quote to repair the fence that had been knocked down. He added that repairing it will stop the people that are vandalizing the park from running out unnoticed. Councilor Schnaars said Sillettco Fence quoted us $400.00 to repair it. Robert Stettner said that he received a request from St. John Neumann School asking to have recess on the playground. He added they would like some easy access to get in and out so they are asking if a gate can be part of this project. President Stevens asked if it is where the fence is being repaired; Mr. Stettner said yes. President Stevens asked if they could put a lock on the gate because it’s defeating the purpose of repairing the fence. Mr. Stettner said that they could put a lock on it. Councilor Schnaars made a motion second by Councilor Rinker to repair the fence and also install the new gate for no more than $590.00 total. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Roll Call, voting as follows:

ROLL CALL AYES NAYS

Daniel Stevens Gwyneth Neff None

Bryon Reed Bob Steets

Galen Freed David Schnaars

Jon Rinker

2. Thank You Letter- Councilor Schnaars said that Council received a letter along with a fruit basket and sticky buns from Renee Schnabel thanking us for our assistance with the D&L Marathon.

D. Finance-

1. Councilor Neff noted that effective January 28, 2013, we will be required to have a barcode on our bulk mailings. This would be our newsletters and our utility bills. The office received phone calls earlier this year from other Municipalities, stating that they were having a lot of trouble with this software. So what we are proposing is mailing our bills out first class currently, the cost of a postcard stamp is $.32. We pay $.28 to mail bills under our bulk permit. It would cost us $60 more and save us the trip to Lehighton, plus the cost of the bulk permit. Councilor Neff said that the cost of the bulk permits are $190.00 each which cost a total of $570.00 per year. Plus we must haul all of the mail up to Lehighton. Councilor Neff made a motion second by Vice President Reed not to renew the bulk mailing permits. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Roll Call, voting as follows:

ROLL CALL AYES NAYS

Daniel Stevens Gwyneth Neff

Bob Steets David Schnaars

Galen Freed Bryon Reed

Jon Rinker

2. Request from Julie Harhart- Councilor Neff said that Julie Harhart would like to hold a Holiday Gathering in the Council Room on Wednesday, December 12 from 1-3. She will be inviting the Northern tier of her District, along with County Commissioners, local Government Officials, the school Superintendant and the School Board. Councilor Neff made a motion second by Councilor Freed allowing Representative Harhart to use the Council Room on Wednesday, December 12, 2012 from 1-3 for a Holiday Gathering. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Voice Vote, 7 Ayes, No Nays

3. Elevator Maintenance- Councilor Neff explained that we did have some issues with the elevator in the summer and while they were repairing it they noticed there were more problems. They have provided us with a service contract however, I am questioning it. Councilor Neff said I am waiting for the company to get back to me in the mean time she would like to get 3 quotes for the service to determine whether or not the repair is necessary. Councilor Neff said that she would like to table this until the Workshop Meeting.

E. Sewer/Solid Waste

1. Authority transfer request- Councilor Steets made a motion seconded by Councilor Freed to authorize the affirmation of the Authority’s Transfer in the amount of $26,049.85; requests as listed: S&S - $22,925.45, Times News - $24.40, Lehigh Engineering- $2,200.00, Brown & Brown- $900.00. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Roll Call, voting as follows:

ROLL CALL AYES NAYS

Daniel Stevens Gwyneth Neff

Bob Steets David Schnaars

Galen Freed Bryon Reed

Jon Rinker

2. Generator Update- President Stevens said that on Friday, October 26, we heard from DEP they finally gave us the go ahead to bid the generator at the sewer plant. He said that he was in contact with Lehigh Engineering and they are getting everything together for the bids to go out. Attorney Healy asked if there were any changes required to the bids that were submitted because that is pretty much done; President Stevens said no.

3. Cleaning of the Digesters- Councilor Steets asked Vice President Reed if he heard anything from the sewer plant about the engineer who was supposed to check the digester. Vice President Reed said that he spoke to a gentleman from Rettew and he will be at the plant on Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. to go over the digester. Attorney Healy asked if he would be able to get a report to the Authority by November 26 for their monthly meeting. Vice President Reed said that he will explain to the engineer that it is time sensitive. Attorney Healy also asked if Vice President Reed would be able to make the meeting because the Authority would like his input.

4. Grease Traps- Councilor Steets said he would like to table the letter until the workshop meeting.

F. Water/Special Sewer Committee

1. Water was tested and found safe for human consumption

2. Vice President Reed explained that when the power goes out at the WTP the generator does not hook into the RTU unit that checks the levels at the other reservoir. He said the Borough Crew is going to dig a ditch and Defrain is going to run the line from our building to the generator to the other reservoir. Vice President Reed said that during the storm there was a lot of trees knocked down at the plant along with some minor damage.

EXECUTIVE SESSION – President Stevens recessed the Regular Meeting at 8:20 and called for an Executive Session. At 9:26 P.M. he reconvened the Regular Meeting and noted that issues of personnel and the status of the collective bargaining agreement with the police and non-uniform employees were discussed.

At 9:27 P.M. Councilor Neff made a motion to adjourn the meeting.

Joan Cheesbrough

Assistant Borough Secretary

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