BOROUGH OF SLATINGTON COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 1/8/18 The Regular Meeting Minutes of Council was held on Monday, January 8, 2018 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, President Pro Tem The meeting was called to order by President Stevens at 7:00 P.M. following in attendance: ROLL CALL: PRESENT ABSENT OTHERS PRESENT VISITORS Daniel Stevens Chief Rachman Mayor Niedermeyer Crystal Hausmann Jeffrey Hausmann Jason Ruff Attorney Healy Ed Zielger Amanda Raudenbush Bryon Reed Larry Turoscy Robert Herzog, Jr Kristie Wilk Russell Hallman Alice Wanamaker Mel Gildner Jared Kern Salvo Adragna David Schnaars Joseph Wechsler President Stevens 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. EXECUTIVE SESSION - None MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS - Councilor Schnaars made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Wechsler, to accept the following minutes: Council Meeting - December 11, 2017; Special Council Meeting December: 21, 2017, Workshop Meeting - canceled -December 26, 2017. President Stevens declared the motion passed 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. Mel Gildner - Signed in and was recognized to speak. Mr. Gildner questioned the appointment of Mr. Healy as Borough solicitor. He then criticized President Stevens concerning finance. Mr. Gildner criticized Councilor Hallman concerning finance. He then questioned Councilor Kern concerning his residency. Councilor Kern stated that he is preparing his residence at 110 Chestnut Street for remodeling. He hopes to have the remodeling done before March. Mel praised the former borough manager. Kristie Wilk - NOVA - Signed in and was recognized to speak. Kristie is the executive director for NOVA. She wanted to thank the council for our 2017 contribution. They will be having their annual comedy night fund raiser coming up on February 24th. There is a dinner and show for $35.00/person. You can call the station for a ticket. On January 23rd they will be supporting the fire department with an EMS basic life support training at no cost to the fire department. This is also for the Washington, Walnutport and Slatington fire departments. She supplied the council with some subscriptions to place in the front office. Their new Ford truck has arrived. 1 Salvo Adragna - Signed in and was recognized to speak, He had a problem with the last quarter water bill. It came up almost $2400.00, which is normally between $1400-81500. He did say there was leak, but it was fixed. He did not receive a call from the borough letting him know that his bill was sO high. He asked the council if there was something they could do. President Stevens informed him that if there is a leak, the property owner is responsible. President Stevens will ask Liz Miller what her process is after the meters are read and how she knows the bill is high. This will be placed on a committee meeting. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENIS, COMMUNICATIONS AND SPECIAL PRSENTATIONS 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 Since the financials were not completed, President Stevens asked Attorney Healy if it is alright to approve the bills and transfers, although the checks have been sent out. Councilor Schnaars made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Ruff, to table the ratification of the last months bills till the next regular meeting, at which time the president would decide if a special meeting would be required. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Voice Vote, All in Favor MAYORSPOLICE CHIEF'S REMARKS Mayor Walter H. Niedermeyer None Police Chief David Rachman None MAIN STREET MERCHANTS GROUP change Alice Wanamaker with the Northern Leigh Chamber of Commerce. As of] December, they have changed their name to the Slatington Revitalization Partnership which includes all business and organizations, as well as non-profit groups in Slatington, whether they are on Main Street or not. The focus of the group is to bring all the business in Slatington together as well as organizations for the good of the community. They are currently working on the lights on the trees that are not working due to some of the wires being cut. This will be done in spring along with the borough crew. They are looking at purchasing Welcome to Slatington open signs for all the business. She is hopeful they can obtain grants to cover it., but also need private funding. They will be working with Robert Stettner who has purchased the historical marker flag, and they want to make it look uniform in the same way for the spring. They are continuing their first Tuesday of every month at 8:00 PM at Charlotte's Main Street diner. Everyone business, committees, and government leader are welcome to attend and help plan to continue to revive the entire borough. First Fridays will continue. STANDING COMMITTEES A. Highway Councilor Jared Kern 1. Councilor Kern provided a general permit approval to the council for the MS4 Permit renewal information. The information shows the different reports that are necessary to be filed and payment that must be made. The permit is good until March 15th, 2023. 2. Larry Turoscy will comment on the southeast corner of Church and Main Streets ADA ramp. Larry Turoscy has called the bank because they are holding up the project. They have sent a re- 2 design SO they can put the ADA ramp in there with out affecting the property. It is special case because it is an extra wide sidewalk that goes into the property oft the bank. PennDOT has looked at it and had some comments. Larry will obtain a waiver on the design because it is a little steep, but PennDOT is going to let it go. Larry informed council that they forgot to ask them about the extension. And to their knowledge, no extension was ever sent in by the borough to extend the time. He and David Lear have a copy for them to complete, which requires President Stevens' signature. Larry is looking to extend this project at least until September or October. B. Public Safety Councilor David Schnaars 1. Discussed e-mail from Larry Turoscy, 12/20/17. Larry updated information on the December 1, 2017, FEMA document entitled "Engineering Models & Field Survey" concerning the data models for the proposed Special Flood Hazard Areas. 30-day notice to consult with FEMA. Larry Turoscy explained that there are mapped and unmapped streams, such as the Lehigh River that is mapped and you can measure the elevation. The e-mail was, just informing everyone that there will be surveyors to do a study sO anybody in Slatington and Washington Township along Trout Creek to tell ift they are in the flood plain or not. C. Human/Community Services Councilor Jason Ruff 1, Councilor Schnaars informed council that with Walnutport joining they have to adjust the bi-laws SO the NLRA is recognized as part ofthe. Authority. NLRA = Action to approve amendment to Articles of Incorporation & Bylaws. Councilor Ruff will discuss further with Mike Kukitz. No action was taken at this time. D. Finance Councilor Russell Hallman 1. Councilor Hallman made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Reed, to authorize President Stevens to approve Exemption request from Statewide Tax Recovery Inc. for Delinquent Per Capita Tax for: Lori Bandon - deceased - $16.50 (3 X $5.50); Pauline Rausch - deceased - $5.50. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Voice Vote, All in Favor. 2. Councilor Hallman made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Wechsler, to adopt Resolution R-03-18 a resolution appointing the Lehigh County Tax Claim Bureau to serve as the delinquent tax collector, for the Borough ofSlatington Real Estate Tax. Councilor Schnaars stated that Dinkelacker, Dimmich, & Anewalt had a high tax recovery rate last year. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Roll Call, voting as follows: ROLL CALL AYES NAYS ABSTAIN Daniel Stevens David Schnaars Jason Ruff Bryon Reed Russell Hallman Jared Kern Joseph Wechsler 3. Councilor Hallman informed the council that the cost of this audit would be $38,600 from CRY. With the additional work from Gurniak & Gurniak, there should not be any additional problems. Councilor Hallman made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Wechsler, to adopt Resolution 3 R-05-18 a resolution whereas, The Borough ofSlatington appoints a CPA as Independent Auditor and; now, therefore to memorialize by resolution the motion ofcouncil, adopted on December 11, 2017, be it resolved, by the Council ofthe Borough of Slatington that Campbell, Rappold & Yurasits is hereby appointed. Auditor. for FY. 2017 at the minimum cost of838,600. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Roll Call, voting as follows: ROLL CALL AYES NAYS ABSTAIN Daniel Stevens Jason Ruff Bryon Reed Russell Hallman David Schnaars Joseph Wechsler Jared Kern 4. Councilor Hallman made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Schnaars, to adopt Resolution R-06-18 a resolution ofthe Council ofthe Borough ofslatington, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, establishing Boroughfees and charges for the Borough services or for the use of Borough Facilities for Fiscal Year 2018. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Roll Call, voting as follows: ROLL CALL AYES NAYS ABSTAIN Daniel Stevens Jason Ruff Bryon Reed Russell Hallman David Schnaars Joseph Wechsler Jared Kern 5. Councilor Hallman made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Wechsler, to adopt Resolution R-07-18 Slatington. Borough appointment ofE Borough' 's bank signatories on all Slatington Borough bank accounts. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Roll Call, voting as follows: ROLL CALL AYES NAYS ABSTAIN Daniel Stevens Jason Ruff Bryon Reed Russell Hallman David Schnaars Joseph Wechsler Jared Kern 6. Councilor Hallman made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Wechsler, to reestablish the practice ofh having each committee chair sign the bills for their respective departments. Ifthe bills are not signed in a timely manner, they may be signed by any officer of council. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Voice Vote, All in Favor. 7. Lehigh Valley Planning Commission - review 426-428 W. Franklin Street subdivision. Amanda Raudenbus, Director of Community Planning, informed the council that there are 4 4 municipalities throughout Lehigh Valley that do not have their own planning commission and or their own subdivision and land development ordinance. Slatington does not have their own subdivision land development ordinance. Lehigh County has a subdlivision/subdivision land ordinance that goes in play when a municipality does not have their own. She provided a preliminary proposal to separate two properties on the corner of Fifth Street and West Franklin Street. The Planning Commission gets it to review it, a copy goes to the zoning officer in the borough, as well as council for comment. Council approved the plan. 8. Councilor Hallman made a motion, duly seconded Councilor Schnaars, to memorialize Statewide Tax Recovery to collect our delinquent per capita taxes as per existing agreement. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Voice Vote, All in Favor. Councilor Hallman informed the council that he had been in touch with Key Bank to try to reduce more of our costs that the bank is putting on us. The bank will get back in touch with Councilor Hallman. It has dropped a considerable amount. At the beginning of the year it was $1000 per month, as of last month it was $349. Any changes, it will be discussed at a committee meeting. Councilor Reed suggested to Councilor Hallman to get in touch with the police chief to see ifthere are any other accounts that are not needed. 9. Councilor Hallman made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Wechsler, to reopen 2018 budget. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Roll Call, voting as follows: ROLL CALL AYES NAYS ABSTAIN Daniel Stevens Jason Ruff Bryon Reed Russell Hallman David Schnaars Joseph Wechsler Jared Kern Council agreed to advertise special meeting on Monday, January 22, 2018, concerning the budget. E. Sewer/Solid Waste Councilor Joseph Wechsler 1. Authority Bills none 2. Councilor Wechsler was unable to update council on the sewer projects. F. Water/Special Sewer Committee Councilor Bryon Reed 1. Water Test Statement - Water was tested and found safe for human consumption 2. Councilor Reed made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Schnaars, to allow Lehigh Engineering Associates to prepare the application for the PA Small Water and Sewer infrastructure projects grant. (Shadow Oaks Lane) President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Roll Call, voting as follows: ROLL CALL AYES NAYS ABSTAIN Daniel Stevens Jason Ruff 5 Bryon Reed Russell Hallman David Schnaars Joseph Wechsler Jared Kern UNFINISHED BUSINESS: INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: A. Ordinance NO. 672 Section 1, Item B informational only B. Revised committee meeting dates informational only C. Public participation at meetings COUNCIL PRESIDENTS REPORT: None Daniel Stevens 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 Stevens recessed to executive session at 8:17 pm for personnel issues. At 9:40 p.m., President Stevens reconvened the meeting. Matters of personnel were discussed in executive session. 1. Councilor Schnaars made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Hallman, to appoint Daniel Stevens as temporary Right-to-Know Officer. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Voice Vote, 6 ayes, 1 nay - Daniel Stevens Attorney Healy informed council that at the end of March the borough has to give notification to the DRBC of its intention to renew its discharge authorization to the Lehigh River. Councilor Wechsler stated it was suppose to go to ARRO. There will be a meeting to find out whether or not if ARRO is involved with it or not. ADJOURNMENT Being no further business, Councilor Wechsler made the motion, duly seconded by Councilor Hallman, to adjourn the meeting. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Voice Vote, All in Favor. President Stevens declared the meeting adjourned at 9:48PM. Colleen Bresnak Assistant Borough Secretary 6