1 MINUTES OF THE 2 GLENDON BOROUGH COUNCIL 3 GLENDON BOROUGH HALL 4 August 8, 2024 5 6 7 Presiding: Donna Breidinger - Council President 8 9 Present: Michael Veres - Council Vice-President 10 Amy Weisenberger-Caswel. - Councilperson 11 Donald Young - Councilperson 12 Kathryn Harstine - Councilperson 13 Thomas Elliott - Solicitor 14 Beth Young Seretay/lreasurer/lax Collector 15 16 Not Present: Melody McAllister - Mayor 17 James McAlister-Zoning Officer 18 19 20 Visitors: Dale King, Kevin Benton 21 22 23 24 The regular meeting ofthe Glendon Borough Council was held on August 8, 2024 at 25 Glendon Borough Hall. President Donna Breidinger called the meeting to order at 7:00 26 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. 27 28 29 30 Public Participation- 31 Dale King asked what is being done about the trees hanging over Rock Road. Secretary 32 B. Young said that a letter was sent to the homeowner and that she also spoke with the 33 homeowner who was going to call Mayor M. McAllister to meet her at the property to 34 show her exactly which trees need to be cut back. 35 36 Minutes- 37 Councilperson K. Harstine made a motion to approve the minutes for July 11, 2024, as 38 presented. Councilperson A. Weisenberger-Caswel. seconded and the motion was 39 unanimously approved. 40 41 Treasurer's Report- 42 Bills to be paid: 43 Councilperson D. Young made a motion to pay all bills from the General Fund, excluding 44 Vice-President M. Veres, Duncan Caswell and Councilperson A. Weisenberger-Caswel. 45 Councilperson K. Harstine seconded and the motion was approved. Councilperson D. 46 Young abstained. 3 Meeting Minutes August 8, 2024 continued Page 2 0 7 Treasurer's Report (con't)- 8 Bills to be paid (con't): 9 Councilperson K. Harstine made a motion to pay Duncan Caswell and Councilperson A. 10 Weisenberger-Caswel. from the General Fund. Councilperson D. Young seconded and 11 the motion was approved. Councilperson A. Weisenberger-Caswel abstained. 12 13 Councilperson D. Young made a motion to pay Vice-President M. Veres from the 14 General Fund. Councilperson A. Weisenberger-Caswel. seconded and the motion was 15 approved. Vice-President M. Veres abstained. 16 17 Councilperson D. Young made a motion to add the invoice for Diehl Paving in the 18 amount of $1,800.00 to the list oft bills to be paid from the General Fund. Councilperson 19 K. Harstine seconded and the motion was unanimously approved. 20 21 Councilperson D. Young questioned the Sewer Fund bill for Hydra-Numatic in the 22 amount of$1,219.81. President D. Breidinger said that invoice was for having them come 23 out on an emergency basis to replace floats. Councilperson D. Young questioned how 24 the cost was being covered since the budget line for repair and maintenance of the pump 25 stations has already been overspent for the year. President D. Breidinger stated that she 26 spoke with former councilperson Lorie Thomas who advised her that the money in 27 reserve could be spent on capital improvements and that is where the money should come 28 from for this expense. 29 30 Councilperson A. Weisenberger-Caswel made a motion to reallocate $4,564.79 from the 31 Sewer Fund reserves to budget line 8429.37, repair and maintenance. Councilperson K. 32 Harstine seconded. President D. Breidinger, Vice-President M. Veres and 33 Councilpersons K. Harstine and A. Weisenberger-Caswel. voted in favor. Councilperson 34 D. Young voted against. The motion passed. 35 36 Vice-President M. Veres spoke with Josh from Hydra-Numatic and had him evaluate the 37 pump station equipment in the cellar at borough hall. Josh said that the equipment is junk 38 and obsolete. Vice-President M. Veres also stated that the two pumps at Pump Station 2 39 were tested by Josh and he said that one of them is garbage and the other may be able to 40 be rebuilt but needs to be covered. He asked Councilperson D. Young what the new 41 sump pump in the basement is for because it is not compatible with anything he could 42 find. Councilperson D. Young said he does not know but will look at it. 43 44 Councilperson K. Harstine made a motion to reallocate $1,219.81 for the Hydra-Numatic 45 invoice from reserves to budget line 8429.37, repair and maintenance. Councilperson A. 46 Weisenberger-Caswel seconded. President D. Breidinger, VicePresident M. Voros and 47 Councilpersons K. Harstine and A. Weisenberger-Caswel. voted in favor. Councilperson 48 D. Young voted against. The motion passed. Meeting Minutes August 8, 2024 continued Page 3 4 5 Treasurer's Report (con't): 6 Bills to be paid (con't): 7 Councilperson D. Young made a motion to pay the balance ofbills from the Sewer Fund, 8 totaling $3,726.51. Councilperson K. Harstine seconded and the motion was 9 unanimously approved. 10 11 Councilperson A. Weisenberger-Caswel. made a motion to pay all bills from Liquid 12 Fuels. Councilperson K. Harstine seconded and the motion was unanimously approved. 13 14 Sewer Bills: 15 Treasurer B. Young stated that four house were posted for water shut-off and one was 16 sent a letter offering a payment plan. 17 18 Crime Watch bank account: 19 Nothing new to report 20 21 22 Tax Collector's Report- 23 Councilperson K. Harstine made a motion to accept the Tax Collector's Report, subject 24 to audit. Councilperson A. Weisenberger-Caswel. seconded and the motion was 25 unanimously approved. 26 27 Tax Collector B. Young stated that 11 Island Park Rd. and 9 3rd St. are both going for 28 Upset Sale in September. 29 30 31 Mayor's Report- 32 Reporting on behalf of Mayor M. McAllister, Councilperson A. Weisemberger-Caswel. 33 stated that letters were sent out to residents for weeds. Councilperson K. Harstine asked 34 what to do about the residents who do not cut their grass after receiving letters and that 35 there is a house on Franklin St. that has garbage on the ground in front of their house. 36 Solicitor Elliott stated that the mayor has authority to issue non-traffic citations and if the 37 resident does not pay the citation, they can be taken to court. Solicitor Elliott also talked 38 about how far council wants to go regarding enforcement and said that a general letter 39 can be sent before moving forward with a notice of violation. He suggested using 40 Keycodes for enforcement as opposed to having him send letters. 41 42 43 Zoning- 44 Reporting on behalf of Zoning Officer, J. McAllister, Councilperson A. Weisenberger- 45 Caswell stated that someone called with interest in developing the two adjoining lots on 46 Berger Rd. 47 48 Meeting Minutes August 8, 2024 continued 3 Page 4 4 5 Engineer Report- 6 Council reviewed T&M invoices in their packets. Councilperson D. Young said that the 7 invoices regarding 124-126 Main St. should not be paid by the borough and should be 8 paid by either Northampton County or the site developer. Treasurer B. Young will reach 9 out to Mayor M. McAllister to get the contact information for Northampton County to 10 find out where to send the invoices. 11 12 Committee Reports- 13 Signs- Vice-President M. Veres said that the mirror on the corner ofHigh St. needs to be 14 replaced. President D. Breidinger said that they will get a price from Reliable Signs for a 15 new one. Councilperson D. Young also suggested calling Garden State Highway 16 Products for a price comparison. 17 18 Roads- President D. Breidinger said that she received a PA One Call for replacing the 19 guide rail on Berger Rd. She will look at it again to see who is doing the work. 20 21 Vice-President M. Veres stated that the plow truck was returned from Trius and that the 22 body of the truck is not in good shape. He said that a new stainless-steel bed would cost 23 approximately 25,00.0.530,00.0. He was told that the truck may be good for 24 another year or two. Plow driver Kevin Benton said that he has products that can be used 25 to clean up the truck and coat it. He will look into getting estimates to repair the truck 26 body. 27 28 Sewer- President D. Breidinger said that she has an estimate from Hydra-Numatic in the 29 amount of $2,064.64 for refurbished devices and she is still waiting to hear about a 30 warranty. Councilperson D. Young stated that nobody told him about this and that 31 council voted at the previous meeting to have Site Specific do the work. He already 32 called them and is waiting for a call back to schedule the work to be done on PS1 and 33 PS3. 34 35 Councilperson A. Weisenberger-Caswel stated that about 20-50 alerts per day are 36 coming in for low batteries at PS3. President D. Breidinger said that Hydra-Numatic is 37 suggesting replacing all batteries at all four pump stations at the cost of $564.00 38 Councilperson D. Young said that PS3 is the only one sending alarms and that is only 39 because the board is faulty which is why it is being replaced and that all the batteries 40 were replaced a few years ago. He also stated that the batteries are only about $15.00; he 41 feels that $564.00 is a lot of markup on both cost and labor and anybody who can replace 42 a car battery can easily replace the batteries at the pump stations. President D. Breidinger 43 again stated that Hydra-Numatic is suggesting to replace all the batteries. Vice-President 44 M. Veres made a motion to pay Hydra-Numatic $564.00 to replace the batteries at all 45 four pump stations. Solicitor Elliott asked if there was an explanation from Hydra- 46 Numatic regarding why their price is sO much higher than what Councilperson D. Young 47 said and also asked if that was not worth an inquiry. President D. Breidinger said that she 48 Meeting Minute August 8, 2024 continued 3 Page 5 4 5 Committee Reports (con't)- 6 Sewer - feels that Councilperson D. Young thinks everything is too expensive. 7 Councilperson D. Young said that current council is "pissing away" the money that is in 8 the budget because he was careful with the funds as president and that is why the money 9 is there. President D. Breidinger said that she does not feel they are pissing away the 10 money and has been told by the inspection agencies that they feel the pump stations have 11 been neglected and are in need of multiple repairs. Solicitor Elliott said that council has 12 an obligation to protect tax payer money and that the discrepancy between what 13 Councilperson D. Young said the cost of batteries should be and what Hydra-Numatic is 14 quoting should be investigated. President D. Breidinger said she will call Hydra-Numatic 15 and the topic can be tabled until the next meeting. She asked Councilperson A. 16 Weisenberger-Caswel if she would feel comfortable changing the batteries and she said 17 she would be able to do it. The motion from Vice-President M. Veres was not seconded 18 and did not pass. 19 20 Council also reviewed another quote from Hydra-Numatic in the amount of $3,070.56 to 21 replace two floats and install two fans at PS4. President D. Breidinger said she also 22 believes this is a capital expenditure and should be paid from reserves. Councilperson K. 23 Harstine said she doesn't know anything about the pump stations, just that they need to 24 work. She then made a motion to pay Hydra-Numatic $3,070.56 to replace two floats 25 and install two fans, to be paid from the Sewer Fund reserves. Vice-President M. Veres 26 seconded. President D. Breidinger, Vice-President M. Veres and Councilpersons K. 27 Harstine and A. Weisenberger-Caswel voted in favor. Councilperson D. Young voted 28 against. The motion passed. 29 30 President's Report- 31 Nothing to report. 32 33 Old Business- 34 299 Main St. - Solicitor Elliott said that the property is not going to upset sale because 35 the county has no one to whom they can serve paperwork! He said that, in regard to the 36 code violations, charges used to be filed by a summary criminal offense but he now needs 37 to file seventeen separate criminal complaints for each violation, per Judge Corpora's 38 office. Judge Corpora suggested submitting a non-traffic summary citation, as Keycodes 39 does. Solicitor Elliott said he could prepare the citations but he suggests turning this 40 over to Keycodes rather than pay him to keep working on it. He said he will contact 41 Keycodes to meet with them and go over the issues. 42 43 525 Berger Rd. - Solicitor Elliott said that Keycodes is handling this. 44 45 158 Main St. - Solicitor Elliott said that he sent letters and notice of violations that were 46 ignored. He is going to also talk to Keycodes about taking over this as well. 47 48 Meeting Minute August 8, 2024 continued 3 Page 6 4 5 Old Business (con't)- 6 124-126 Main St. (former Glendon Hotel site) - Nothing to discuss. 7 8 Air B&B- Solicitor Elliott will review prior minutes regarding drafting an ordinance. 9 10 Disposition of borough property = President D. Breidinger questioned how to dispose 11 of items, like the salt spreader, that are not worth anything other than scrap. Solicitor 12 Elliott stated that it can be scrapped but an inventory of anything being disposed of must 13 be done SO that he can draft a resolution to authorize the disposition. 14 15 Paving Pine Lane = Tabled 16 17 Solicitor Elliott circled back to the Air B&B topic. He said, per the June 13, 2024 18 minutes, it states that he is working on a new ordinance for the Air B&B and that he was 19 absent for the July meeting. He said he will draft an ordinance allowing the Air B&B in 20 the HI district. 21 22 Raise $50.00 limit for spending by council members without prior approval = 23 Solicitor Elliott asked if there was a written policy. Councilperson D. Young said that 24 there is not anything in writing but it has always been an understanding among council 25 that if a minor expense needs to be made in an emergency situation, as long as it under 26 $50.00, it has always been allowed. He gave the example of the road crew working on 27 filling potholes and having a shovel break. It is something that is needed at that moment 28 and is a minor expenditure SO it could be purchased at that time to finish a job without 29 council's prior approval. Solicitor Elliott asked if every council person has this right and 30 Councilperson D. Young said that, at this time, yes, they do. Solicitor Elliott said that 31 there is always the potential for abuse of power and since there is no limit to spending up 32 to $50.00 on a daily basis, that could add up. He said, ultimately, any expenditures need 33 to be approved by council SO if someone does overspend the $50.00 limit, there is the 34 chance they would not be reimbursed if the rest of council did not approve the 35 expenditure. President D. Breidinger used the example that, recently, the condensation 36 pump was leaking in the basement. She called a borough employee to look at it and he 37 determined a new pump was needed. She found a replacement pump on Home Depot's 38 websitc and with the borough's tax exemption, free shipping and her military discount, 39 she was able to get the cost to just under $50.00. Her question was whether or not that 40 would have constituted an emergency if it had cost over $50.00. Councilperson D. 41 Young said that example would be considered an emergency to avoid damage to the 42 basement. Vice-President M. Veres suggested holding a second meeting in a month, if 43 needed, to approve expenditures. Vice-President M. Veres made a motion to raise the 44 spending limit by council members without prior approval to $75.00. Councilperson A. 45 Weisenherger-Caswel seconded and the motion was unanimously approved. It was also 46 decided that all expenditures should go through President D. Breidinger for her approval. 47 48 Meeting Minute August 8, 2024 continued Page 7 4 5 Old Business (con't)- 6 Councilperson K. Harstine said that there is water getting into the electrical panel in the 7 pavilion due to wood rotting and rainwater running down. President D. Breidinger asked 8 if she should have borough employee, David Blankenship look at it. Councilperson D. 9 Young said that, due to comments that have been made over the last few meetings, the 10 borough needs to find a new electrician as he is, at this time, unwilling to do the work. 11 President D. Breidinger said that she was sorry to hear that and asked Councilperson D. 12 Young ifhe had anything to report regarding the parking lot lighting. He said that he did 13 not. 14 15 Lighting for Borough Hall parking lot - President D. Breidinger said that she will call 16 electricians to get estimates. She asked Councilperson D. Young if he had worked up 17 numbers for the parking lot lights. He stated that he had been in Florida from right after 18 the last meeting until the night before the current meeting SO he did not have time to do 19 SO. 20 21 Solicitor Elliott left the meeting at 8:50 p.m. 22 23 Charging residents for rental of pavilion -Counci/person K. Harstine said that she and 24 the Easton Lions are usually the only two who rent the pavilion during the year. 25 President D. Breidinger said to take the topic offthe agenda. 26 27 28 New Business- 29 Tire removal - Vice-President M. Veres said he has someone who will pick up the tires 30 at borough hall at the cost of $3.50 per car and light truck tire. He also said he will take 31 the speed humps that are outside and rotten. Councilperson D. Young said that the speed 32 humps would have to be inventoried for a resolution, as Solicitor Elliott had just stated. 33 President D. Breidinger said that, at this time, the tires can be taken but the speed humps 34 need to stay to be part oft the inventory. Vice-President Veres said he will pay for the tire 35 removal and then be reimbursed because the vendor does not accept credit cards. Vice- 36 President M. Veres made a motion to spend up to $100.00 to remove tires. 37 Councilperson K. Harstine seconded and the motion was unanimously approved. 38 39 CAT batteries President D. Breidinger said that, per James Stevely, Caterpillar is 40 having a sale on batteries and they currently cost $80.00 apiece. Vice-President M. Veres 41 made a motion to authorize having James Stevely spend $160.00 on two batteries for the 42 backhoe. Councilperson D. Young seconded and the motion was unanimously approved. 43 44 Intrepid Fiber Networks President D. Breidinger said that Intrepid Fiber Networks 45 wants to do a formal presentation at the September meeting, if council is interested in a 46 Fios network. They would install their wires in the borough and sell access to their - network to local providers. Council unanimously decided to not have the representative come as they are not interested. Meeting Minute August 8, 2024 continued Page 8 7 8 10 Announcements/Correspondence 11 Williams Township Fire Department covers Glendon Borough and if anyone is interested 12 in volunteering, please contact Williams Township at 610-258-6788. 13 14 15 16 Councilperson A. Weisenberger-Caswe! made a motion to adjourn. Councilperson K. 17 Harstine seconded, and the motion was unanimously approved. 18 19 The meeting was adjourned at 9:03 p.m. 20 21 22 Respectfully submitted, 23 24 25 26 Beth Young 27 Secretary