BOROUGH OF TARENTUM ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA BOROUGH REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING 6:30P.M. OCTOBER 19, 2015 6:00P.M. EXECUTIVE SESSION  6s eu  COUNCIL  1. CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEIGANCE  2. ROLL CALL Mayor Magnetta Tim Firko Eric Carter Joseph Davidek Erika. Josefoski Raymond Kerr Greg Schmitt Chief Vakulick Michael Gutonski  3. MOTION TO APPROVE MINUTES FROM THE SEPTEMBER 21, 2015 COUNCIL MEETING AND' THE RESOLVED, motion by Councilman Davidek, seconded by Councilman Kerr, to approve the minutes of the September 21, 2015 council meeting and the September 28, 2015: special meeting with unanimous  SEPTEMBER 28th SPECIAL MEETING.  votes by council.  4. CITIZEN'S COMMENTS REMARKS:  Cindy Sanders, 506 C6th Avenue. Notice about maintaining yards, trash rules are ambiguous. What are the rules? The trash is sO numerous that sometimes I'm unable to get in my front door because oft the flies and bees. I've called property management numerous times and my basement is now leaking afterl put in a new 40-foot sidewalk and all new drainage. My neighbors have goo dripping out of their trash all over the sidewalk all the time. The property is rented for two people, but two more kids justr moved in, sO at any given time there's about 7-8 kids and 5 adults. There are numerous problems. Two of their cars are broken down and don'tmove. Then they'll park in my spot or our 78-year-old neighbor who lives up the street. And they won'tanswer to us.    3460631  Their backyard is trashed SO the kids trespass in my backyard and scribble all over my bricks with chalk. Ican't sell my house because ofa all this.  REMARKS: MANAGER GUTONSKI  There are numerous rules. Obviously, you have to maintain your property. And Ispoke to you on the phone about this. I've gone to your property and spoken with your neighbors, whom you say you have a good relationship with.  REMARKS: PRESIDENT FIRKO  And you said they clean it up once a week for trash disposal and then it gets  dirty once a week?  REMARKS: CINDY SANDERS  (Showing photos.) They never tie their trash bags shut so there's trash everywhere. They won't clean their drains out and stuff flows out of their backyard. Ijust spent thousands of dollars putting new storm drains in. lalso had to spend $1300 on at fence and $200 on a security camera because the kids keep coming in to my yard. And the poor Pitbull puppy, you know about this.  The dog laid there for two weeks with al broken hip.  REMARKS: CHIEF VAKULICK  We had tot turn that issue over to the humane society. We can't prove how it  happened.  REMARKS: MANGER GUTONSKI  Let us hire our code enforcement officer. Since thisi issue came to light, we really haven't had one, and he'll put this issue on this list.    35 630  REMARKS: REMARKS: SOLICITOR CLARK  yous said you went into an executive meeting before this to discuss administrative moves. Just looking for a clarification.  It was for personnel matters.  **NO PRESIDENT'S REPORT1 THIS MONTH***  6.N MAYOR'S REPORT MAYOR MAGNETTA  Calls for service for September 2015: Calls for service 445; action necessary 326; no action necessary 119; arrests 21; Citations issued 89; Total accidents 6; Accidents with injuries 1; Fines collected $3,804.19. Fines collected for the year  $37,136.81. Parking tickets issued 20.  Mr. Chairman, we had previously discussed that you were going to appoint a fact-finding committee to investigate how the Borough had been spending its money over the past five years. And who knows how long that's going to take, but I think the citizens have to find out what happened to their money. The electric account on October 28, 2011, transferred $25,000 into the disbursement account, the general account. May 28, 2012, transferred $100,000 into the disbursement account. February 4,2015, transferred $78,000 into the disbursement account. February 27, 2015, transferred $21,000 into the disbursement account, which totals $424,000 that was moved from the electric Now, the water account, October 28, 2010, transferred $75,000. February 15, 2012, transferred $101,772.80 into the disbursement account. February 27, 2015, transferred $47,000 into the disbursement account, for a total of If you total the two up, it comes to $647,772.80. What we have left in those The last thing we have is the EPA sewer account, which everyone pays $5.00 every month on your water bill. We had approximately about $140,000 in that account. On March 7, 2014, $70,948.22 was taken out of that account and put  account into the general fund.  $223,772.80.  accounts is approximately $40,000, correct? Correct.    38833  into the disbursement account. On May 8, 2014, the EPA account was closed. All EPA money was going directly into the disbursement account. In other words, every month, your $5.00 was going directly into the general fund. When Mr. Gutonski got to be president of the council, Itold him there were some things he needed to look into, and the sewer issue was one that he found. The account was opened up again the day after he talked to our former secretary. And we have approximately $40,000 in that one, right, Mr. Manager?  REMARKS: MANAGER GUTONSKI REMARKS: MAYOR MAGNETTA  We have approximately $70,000i in that one.  And back on May 8, 2014, we had approximately $140,000? The reason Ibring this up is because this money was all taken and put into these accounts and no one knew anything about it. Am Ir right or wrong? No one knew? And I don't know, Mr. Solicitor, if there's anything criminal about it. Idon't know. Idon't know if there's any money missing. All l'm saying is this money was taken out Now, we're talking about we wanted to redo the water tanks on the hill. We had a bond issue. Well, there's not enough money to even build a water tank. So we have to refurbish the water tank, which will come up a bit later on in the meeting. But between these accounts and the bond issue, we should have had  and put into the general fund.  enough money to build the tanks.  ***NOPOLICE CHIEF'S REPORT THIS MONTH***  8. MANAGERSREPORT    SGA. 63  REMARKS: MANAGER GUTONSKI  The only thing Ihave is that we bid out two projects for the Borough. One is that we want to refurbish one of our water storage tanks. And the other is to redo the water line on West 7th Avenue across the Bullcreek Bridge span. We didn'treceive any bids for the Bridge, SO we're going to readvertise for that job.  "NOSOLICITORS REPORT THIS MONTH***  COMMITTEE REPORTS  A. ADMINISTRATIVE, EMPLOYEE RELATIONS, FINANCE COMMITTEE  Tim Firko, Eric Carter  1. MOTION TOI PAY OCTOBER BILLS.  Upon motion by Councilman Carter, seconded by Councilman Kerr, RESOLVED, this Council approves the payment of the OCTOBER 2015 bills. Upon roll call, the resolution was adopted with unanimous affirmative votes. 2. MOTION TO ACCEPT DAN FERRARI'S RESIGNATION AS CODE ENFORCEMENT RESOLVED, upon motion by Councilman Carter, seconded by Councilman Davidek, to accept the resignation of Dan Ferrari as code enforcement officer. Motion was passed  OFFICER.  with a unanimous vote by all council present.  REMARKS: PRESIDENT FIRKO  Dan was hired last week and found he had some indifference to the job and  resigned.  3. MOTION TO HIRE PHILLIP DAVIDEK AS CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER AS AN AT-  WILL EMPLOYEE UNDER DIRECTION OF COUNCIL.    34A685  RESOLVED, upon motion by Councilman Carter, seconded by Councilman Kerr, to hire Phillip Davidek as code enforcement officer as an at-will employee under the direction ofcouncil. Motion was passed with five (5) affirmative votes and one (1) vote  abstaining by Councilman Davidek.  REMARKS: PRESIDENT FIRKO REMARKS: MANAGER GUTONSKI  Phil can start in two weeks, so let's get together with Mike and discuss the  contract.  Clarification: It's not a contract; it's an agreement. It'san understanding between you as code enforcement officer and Tarentum Borough.  B.  WATER COMMITTEE Joe Davidek, Pete Varos  1. MOTION TO ACCEPT BID FROM ANDREAS PAINTING IN THE AMOUNT OF $247,000.00 FOR THE REFURBISHING OF WATER: STORAGE TANKI NUMBER THREE. RESOLVED, upon motion by Councilman Davidek, seconded by Councilman Carter, to accept bid of $247,000 from Andreas Painting for the refurbishing of water storage tank number three. Motion passed by a unanimous vote by all council present.  REMARKS: MANAGER GUTONSKI  We actually received three bids for this. Two were from out of state. One was from Michigan for $800,000, and one was from Georgia for $484,000. So,  obviously, we're going to go with the local.  2. MOTION TOI READVERTISE BIDS FOR THE7" AVENUE BULLCREEK BRIDGE WATER  LINE REPLACEMENT.    35836  RESOLVED, upon motion by Councilman Davidek, seconded by Councilman Carter to readvertise for bids for the 7th Avenue Bullcreek Bridge water line replacement. Motion  passed by unanimous roll call vote by all council present.  REMARKS: MANAGER GUTONSKI  Just a quick note: Ifwe do not receive bids the second time around, the Council has the right to choose whomever we want to do the project.  **NOELECTRIC COMMITTEE REPORT THIS MONTH*** D. PUBLIC SAFETY AND CIVIL SERVICE COMMITTEE  Tim Firko, Erika. Josefoski  REMARKS: PRESIDENT FIRKO  For the month of September 2015, Eureka Fire Rescue, 42 fire calls representing  121 personnel hours.  EMS, 273 calls representing 1,002 personnel hours. Total company training hours for the month are 38.  *NOPROPERTY & ZONING, LIBRARY & HEALTH COMMITTEE REPORT THIS MONTH***  F. STREETS & SANITARY SEWERS COMMITTEE    30832  Eric Carter, Tim Firko  1. MOTION TO PLACE TWO "15 MINUTE" PARKING SIGNS ON 2ND AVENUE IN FRONT RESOLVED, upon motion by Councilman Carter, seconded by Councilman Kerr to place two "15 Minute" parking signs on 2"d Avenue in front of Verners Paint Store for customer parking. Motion was passed with unanimous votes by all council present.  OF VERNERS PAINT STORE FOR CUSTOMER PARKING.  G. PARKS & RECREATION COMMITTEE Erika Josefoski, Greg Schmitt  1. MOTION TO HOLD TRICK OR TREAT ON OCTOBER: 31 FROM 6:00TO8:00P.M. RESOLVED, upon motion by Councilwoman Josefoski, seconded by Councilman Kerr, to hold trick or treat on October 31* from 6:001 to 8:00 P.M. Motion was passed  with unanimous votes by all council present.  REMARKS:  ***Idon't know who this is*** p.18. Iwill bei in contact with the fire department to make sure they have their routes out and are watching for general safety.  ***NOAVN/COG COMMITTEE REPORT THIS MONTH*** ***NOKOZ COMMITTEE REPORT THIS MONTH***  *** NOREDEVELOPMENT & REVITILIZATION COMMITTEE REPORT THIS MONTH***  ***NOBUDGET COMMITTEE REPORT THIS MONTH***  11. CITIZEN'S COMMENTS  REMARKS:  Janice Lang, 3" Avenue. Mr. Mayor, just want to say what a great joby you did inf finding out about all the funds. But was all that going into a slush fund or petty cash where you could do whatever you want with it?    34636  REMARKS: MAYOR MAGNETTA  It's because we have a good manager. Ithink it was just into the general fund to pay bills. The committee is going to look into which bills were paid, becausel don'tknow, but I'm sure we'll find out once they make their report. Ithink it's important to do this now. We don't know where the budget will end up, and if there willl be an increase in water rates, electric rates, or taxes. And everyone here is going to be questioned about it, why?  REMARKS: JANICE LANG  REMARKS: MAYOR MAGNETTA  Right, and that's the reason whyl thought iti important to bring it up tonight and let the people know. And I see we have a representative from the newspaper here, SO maybe we'llg get something into the paper about this.  REMARKS: PRESIDENT FIRKO  And we do want to clarify that we're not automatically raising taxes or raising  utilities. It'sj just fact-finding right now.  REMARKS: MANAGER GUTONSKI  Idid give the Mayor some figures I'd found about where some oft the money ended up, but we'll leave that to the factfinders for now.  REMARKS:  (unidentified speaker) 351 West gth Avenue. What Iwant to know is, Mike,a few weeks ago a tree fell on myl brand-new car right and the front of my house.  Are the rest of those trees going to come down?    5630  REMARKS: MANAGER GUTONSKI REMARKS:  We're in the process of taking care of the rest of those trees.  So it's been three weeks. The car only had 700 miles on it. Your insurance didn't pay for anything. Idon't have a deductible. Sol I'm going to end up paying for my house to put new shingles up and to put the satellite dishes back  up.  REMARKS: MANGER GUTONSKI  You came to a meeting a year ago, Ithink, to mention about thei trees, andI want to apologize to you on behalf of the entire council that we did not take any action then and that this happened. We're going to do all we can to prevent it  from happening again.  REMARKS:  Nowlhave to pay for the council dropping the ball and it reflects through my  insurance.  REMARKS: MANAGER GUTONSKI REMARKS:  You don't have a deductible on your insurance?  Idon't have a deductible on my car insurance. Ihave a deductible on my house. And to put a strike on it for $5-, 600 worth of damage isn't worthi it.  REMARKS: MANAGER    GUTONSKI  Ispoke to the insurance company and with us paying the deductible, we are the  ones at fault here.  3640  REMARKS:  Myi insurance company said that it's going to be a strike against you ify you make this claim, so it's not worth it to me to make a claim for $500 worth of damage. It's going to be reflected on myi insurance and my insurance is going to goup.  REMARKS: MANAGER GUTONSKI  The insurance company assured me that would not happen.  REMARKS:  Well, your insurance company isn't paying fori the damage to my house, State Farm is. And I'm going to go with what they're telling me, not what Traveler'sis saying. Ihope you all can understand my frustration with this.  REMARKS: MAYOR MAGNETTA  Did youl have to pay any moneyo out-of-pocket?  REMARKS:  Iflclaimi it under my homeowner's insurance, in the long run, it's going to cost me money. Traveler's insurance, which is the Borough'si insurance, said they'll make up the deductible for my cars. Well, Idon't have a deductible on comprehensive for my cars. Int the long run, I'm going to pay fori it month to  month.    REMARKS: MANAGER GUTONSKI REMARKS:  That's Pennsylvania law. It'scalled limited tort.  33664  So basically the Borough is running without any consequences. You can have hazardous trees fall on someone's, property and noti be held responsible at all for it? Well, you're not responsible for my car, because my insurance is covering  it, sO who'sresponsible? The Borough is covering nothing.  REMARKS: MANAGER GUTONSKI  No, sir. It's the Borough'sr responsibility to maintain that tree. Andlcalled your  insurance company and Itook responsibility fori it.  REMARKS:  Soi it's state law with sovereign immunity, Ithink, that you can't go to a city, town, or borough fori insurance because they aren't held responsible or liable  for anything.  REMARKS: MANAGER GUTONSKI  Howi it worksi is, is that ifi the Borough is found not at fault for being lax or negligent in performing their duties, then they can be held unaccountable. But where it does state the Borough is lax, under Pennsylvania law, there is limited  on what can be done.  REMARKS:    64:  Right. But like Isaid, itj just seems like you were operating without any consequences with the trees. You drive by there every day, how could you not  notice it?  REMARKS: MANAGER GUTONSKI  Idon'ti think any of us were really aware oft the situation. How dolpay attention toi the tree? The ball was dropped a year ago. Whatlcan promise is from this point forward, we'll do it the proper way. We'll take care ofy your  other trees.  REMARKS: PRESIDENT FIRKO  And you do bring up some good points. And we don't do anything without  consequences.  REMARKS:  Well, like Isaid, the Borough isn't paying fora a dime of my case at all, and I had nothing to do with that tree. And when Icame in here last time to complain about the trees, most of this council was here, except for maybe two or three people. And they did do something about it, but theys stopped right at my house. The most hazardous trees, they didn't cut down, because you weren't worried about the power lines. There's only one 110-volt power line that goes through there, and you weren't worried about it. The electrician told Rossi that he wants to take it down. And that he wasn't worried abouti it. That's what he  said. It wasn't int the budget.  REMARKS: COUNCILWOMAN JOSEFOSKI REMARKS:  So they took down some of the trees?  They removed all oft the trees except for the ones in front ofr my house. And  nowlhave to pay for all of this damage.    36v643  REMARKS:  Jim Bowser, 314 West gth Avenue. Ithink youl knew about his situation andl think ina a show of good faith you should payf for the damage to his car. You're the ones that are at fault. You're the ones that are wrong. You knewi it was neglected. Make a good faith statement and show you're willing to make good  changes in this town.  ADIOURNMENT  Motion by Councilman Davidek, seconded by Councilwoman Josefoski to adjourn. There being no further business to come before Council, the meeting of October 19, 2015 was unanimously adjourned at7 7:10P PM.  Respectfully submitted, Michael Gutonski Borough Manager    E