BOROUGH OF SLATINGTON COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 7/13/20 The Regular Meeting of Council was held on Monday, July 13, 2020 at 7:10 PM, at the Vigilant Fire Company, 110 S. Walnut Street, Slatington, PA 18080. Presiding: Bryon Reed: President of Council Recording Secretary: Daniel Stevens, Borough Manager/Secretary The meeting was called to order by President Reed at 7:10 pm following in attendance: ROLL CALL: PRESENT ABSENT OTHERS PRESENT VISITORS Bryon Reed Dave Rachman Jeffrey Hausman, Robert Herzog, Jr Jason Ruff Ed Healy Lindsey Bowman, Kristie Wilk Joseph Wechsler Daniel Stevens Nancy Treskot, Jason Nicholas David Schnaars Mayor Niedermeyer Ryan Mayberry Thomas Bartholomew Dave Lear Ronald Kratz Kevin Steckel NOTIFICATION: President Reed announced that all public sessions of Borough Council are electronically recorded and such recordings are maintained as part of the meeting record until the minutes are transcribed and approved by the Board, at which time the recordings shall be erased. President Reed announced the following executive sessions to discuss personnel matters a. Announcement concerning executive session on June 15, 2020 5:30 PM b. Announcement concerning executive session on June 22, 2020 5:40 PM EXECUTIVE SESSION None MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS - Councilor Schnaars made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Ruff, to approve the following minutes: Council Meeting - June gth, 2020; Committee Meetings - June 15th, 2020 and June 22nd, 2020. President Reed declared the motion passed with following a Voice Vote, All in Favor. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION (Agenda and Non-Agenda items) You will have three minutes to address Council from the podium. The three minutes applies to your time at the podium. Ifyou exit the podium, you have yielded the floor, and any time you have remaining. Kristie Wilk NOVA = Signed in and was recognized to speak. She provided an update they were dispatched to 1,596 calls through the end of June. This included 338 calls in Slatington. This is approximately 10.5% lower than normal, which did cause a minor decrease in their income. However, they have applied for the PPP Loan and the Forgiveness. They received money under the PPP and have applied for a second round. They have just applied for the COVID-19 Crisis Grant. With all of this assistance, they are still on track with their budget. The auxiliary also lost some funding in rentals and other fund-raising opportunities. Their first event is the BBQ Chicken which will be held Saturday, July 18th, 2020. They received funds from the Johnson Foundation and they installed UV lights in all trucks. The UV lights will disinfect the trucks once the patient is removed. The meeting for the Round Table is on August 13th 2020. Councilor Kratz asked Kristie about how many COVID patients they have had. Kristie informed him about 25, and just recently 4 suspected COVID cases. 1 Nancy Treskot Venture Group - Signed in and was recognized to speak. Nancy reported to the Council on last month's request to open the bathrooms. The bathroom at 7th Street Covered Bridge will not be open this year, due to financial reasons. The Trailhead bathroom in Slatington has been opened. They are following CDC regulations; it is being cleaned and trash is being emptied. They have purchasedreceived donations for all the necessary supplies = toilet paper, sanitizing equipment, etc. Nancy has requested the following: She would like to give Jeff Hausman a raise, because he is doing more work due to the COVID-19 virus than the previous person who cleaned the bathrooms. She is asking if the Borough could chip in $400.00, which would take care of July, August, September, and October. Secondly, she requested that the weeds and edging be done at the Trailhead. President Reed informed her that the Highway Crew takes care of the weed whacking. Manager Stevens informed her he has already done 2 work orders and the weeds would be taken care of prior to the event on Wednesday. Nancy also stated that something will have to be done with additional parking. Nancy informed the Council that Solo will be coming Friday to re-tack the netting in the bathrooms. Jason Nicholas Slatington Fire Chief - Signed in and was recognized to speak. Chief Nicholas stated the tree line on the Danny is over grown and they are scraping the fire trucks. He reported that for the month of June they had 14 calls, one fire, two rescue calls six good intent/false alarms. This bring their yearly number as ofJune 30th, to 149. Last year they had 252 total calls. He also stated their fund raising is considerable down. They did do a coin toss on Saturday. They are also applying for the same grant that Kristie Wilk mentioned. Ryan Mayberry - 14 2nd St., Signed in and was recognized to speak. He just moved into the Borough in January. He has a problem with people leaving garbage outside his garage, which is located behind the post office. He said the garbage is from the apartments at 511 Main St. President Reed informed him that they have always put their garbage at the location. At this time, there is a large TV that has not been picked up and is he responsible for the removal. Raw food is being dumped. He has tried contacting the property owner with no response. Manager Stevens said they would have the code enforcement officer look into this matter and contact Mr. Mayberry. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS, COMMUNICATIONS AND SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS REPORTS The reports of various committees, officials and officers were provided to Council and are on file in Borough Hall and are available for public inspection. APPROVAL OF ACCOUNTS PAYABLE/TRANSFER Councilor Schnaars made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Wechsler, to approve payment of the bills and transfers as presented by the Treasurer. President Reed declared the motion passed following a Roll call, voting as follows: ROLL CALL AYES NAYS ABSTAIN Bryon Reed Jason Ruff Joseph Wechsler Dave Schnaars Thomas Bartholomew Ronald Kratz Kevin Steckel MAYORS/POLICE CHIEF'S REMARKS Mayor Walter H. Niedermeyer 2 Mayor Niedermeyer informed the Council that the Venture Group committee is dwindling down. He stated that the Borough should start donating money to the Venture Group, and supplies to maintain the Trailhead. He informed the council that from Rentschler on Rte. 873, down to the sewer plant, the trees will tear down the cable. Manager Stevens stated he had called Blue Ridge and Verizon, but they must not have done anything. He will call them again. Chief Rachman Chief Rachman stated that with all that is going on with COVID-19 and the war on the police, anonymous donations were made to the police force, i.e., baked goods, baskets, cards, and friendly waves from people who appreciate their service. On behalf of the police department, Chief Rachman wished to thank everyone publicly for the support they have received. Councilor Ruff asked Chief Rachman if there previously was a fireworks line in his report. For this month, there were 21 fireworks calls. Councilor Ruff asked how things are with the fireworks due to the fireworks ordinance. Chief Rachman stated that it is difficult because up until last year fireworks were basically illegal. He also stated that with the fireworks calls, it is difficult because they can'ta always find the people who lit the fireworks. STANDING COMMITTEES A. Highway Councilor David Schnaars 1. Councilor Schnaars made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Wechsler, to approve Ordinance 700, an ordinance ofthe Borough ofSlatington, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, amending Chapter 159 Article VI of the Borough Codified Ordinances pertaining to street excavations and occupancy. President Reed declared the motion passed following a Roll call, voting as follows: ROLL CALL AYES NAYS ABSTAIN Bryon Reed Jason Ruff Joseph Wechsler Dave Schnaars Thomas Bartholomew Ronald Kratz Kevin Steckel 2. Councilor Schnaars made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Wechsler, to approve Resolution R-12-20, a resolution of the Borough council of the Borough of Slatington, Lehigh County PA, setting fees relating to street occupancy permits under Chapter 159, as amended, of the Codified Ordinances of the Borough of Slatington. President Reed declared the motion passed following a Roll call, voting as follows: ROLL CALL AYES NAYS ABSTAIN Bryon Reed Jason Ruff Joseph Wechsler Dave Schnaars Thomas Bartholomew Ronald Kratz Kevin Steckel 3 3. Councilor Schnaars made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Ruff, to accept bids for Memorial Park CDBG Project. President Reed declared the motion passed following a Roll call, voting as follows: ROLL CALL AYES NAYS ABSTAIN Bryon Reed Jason Ruff Joseph Wechsler Dave Schnaars Thomas Bartholomew Ronald Kratz Kevin Steckel 4. Councilor Schnaars requested that we table awarding the bid for Memorial Park CDBG Project till next month. Additional information is needed. 5. Councilor Schnaars made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Ruff, that we proceed with the public parking project. The Borough portion will not exceed $1,407.00, (The grant request for public parking signs was approved for $600.00. Total project cost not to exceed $2,007.00.) President Reed declared the motion passed following a Roll call, voting as follows: ROLL CALL AYES NAYS ABSTAIN Bryon Reed Jason Ruff Joseph Wechsler Dave Schnaars Thomas Bartholomew Ronald Kratz Kevin Steckel 6. Manager Stevens provided the council with an update on the ARLE Grant from State of PA. He cited from the report, "project delays are not considered mission critical, unless it can be shown that the health, safety and welfare of the public is impacted. Written justification is required to advance a mission critical agreement through the routing process." In other words, we are not critical; our contract is sitting in a pile of paper in Harrisburg. This is for the Main and Church Street light. B. Public Safety Councilor Kevin Steckel 1. Councilor Steckel made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Kratz, to approve purchase of in- car camera system for police per attached quote from Digital-Ally for $3,455.75. (budgeted) President Reed declared the motion passed following a Roll call, voting as follows: ROLL CALL AYES NAYS ABSTAIN Bryon Reed Jason Ruff Joseph Wechsler Dave Schnaars Thomas Bartholomew Ronald Kratz Kevin Steckel 4 1. 2. The Council reviewed the letter from Kristie Wilk, NOVA, inviting officials for a round table luncheon at the NOVA social Hall, 2375 Levans Road, Coplay, Thursday, August 12, 2020, from 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM. (informational only) 3. The Council discussed the sale of 1991 fire truck. Chief Nicholas informed the Council there was someone who is interested in purchasing both trucks, but they couldn't release the rescue truck. He does have the 1991 back on Municibid as of Monday afternoon. The highest bid they have received recently is $5,000.00. It is listed until the 6th of August. Reserve- $15,000.00. C. Human/Community Services CouncilorJason Ruff 1. The Council reviewed the e-mail, dated 7/7/20, from Erin Yasenchak, Census Fed, concerning 2020 census response for Slatington which currently is 67.8%. (informational only) 2. Councilor Ruff made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Kratz, to approve $400.00 for the Venture Group to pay for the extra cleaning and staffing that they need to keep the Trailhead open. President Reed declared the motion passed with following a Voice Vote, All in Favor. D. Finance Councilor Thomas Bartholomew 1. Councilor Bartholomew, made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Wechsler, to authorize Daniel Stevens to approve Exemption Report from Statewide Tax Recovery Inc. for Delinquent Per Capita Tax for: Richard Moser deceased - $5.50. President Reed declared the motion passed with following a Voice Vote, All in Favor. 2. Councilor Ruff had suggested posting borough budget on website. Manager Stevens received a response from the website stating that depending upon the size of the document and if it is a normal PDF, then we would have plenty of space. It we are looking for something more complex, they would need more details. Manager Stevens gave a list of boroughs that do and do not have their budgets posted. The Council has requested the cost. Councilor Ruff suggested this be tabled until more information is obtained. Manager Stevens informed the Council on where we stood on receipts - Earned Income Tax in June 2019 we brought in $194,315.00, June 2020 - $191,429.00. We are only down 1.5% for this year. For the Real-estate transfer tax - June of2019 - $27,556.00, June 2020 - $27,580.00. Yearly budget for Real-estate Transfer Tax is 947,500.00. Property tax receipts are looking good at this point. E. Sewer/Solid Waste Councilor Joseph Wechsler 1. Councilor Wechsler informed the Council that we are installing a new meter per quote from Moyer Instruments for $3,000.00. Informational only F. Water/Special Sewer Committee Councilor Ronald Kratz 1. Water Test Statement - Water was tested and found safe for human consumption 5 2. Councilor Kratz informed the Council of issues at the water plant. Working on resolving issues with the levelers at the water treatment plant. We have a specialist coming tomorrow (7/14/20) to assess the on-going problem. (informational only) President Reed informed the Council we have received 250,000.00 from DCED for the Sewer & Water Grant. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: None INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: None NEW BUSINESS: President Reed discussed the line painting machine that is broken. Iti is broken and Bob Herzog has tried to fix it. He asked the Council what they would like to do. Council agreed to send it out to Sherwin Williams for repair. Manager Stevens informed the Council that the street sweeper is also broken and is at Erschen's for repairs. COUNCIL PRESIDENT'S REPORT: None Bryon Reed COURTESY OF THE FLOOR - (Agenda Items Only - You will have two (2) minutes to address Council from the podium on Agenda Items Only.) EXECUTIVE SESSION - President Reed recessed to executive session at 8:26 PM. At 9:32 PM, President Reed reconvened the meeting. Matters of personnel issues and Union negotiations were discussed in executive session. ADJOURNMENT Being no further business, Councilor Schnaars made the motion, duly seconded by Councilor Kratz, to adjourn the meeting. President Reed declared the motion passed following a Voice Vote, All in Favor. President Reed declared the meeting adjourned at 9:33 PM. Daniel L. Stevens Borough Secretary 6