Penbrook Borough Caucus Meeting Minutes February 18, 2025 6:30 PM 1. Call to order and roll call: President Deardorff called the public meeting to order at 6:30 pm. All elected officials were present. Kern and Hogarth were also present. 2. Citizen Comments on Agenda tems = N/A 3. Discussion and Action tems A. No one was in attendance to represent the applicant for 650 S 28th Street. Council was provided with a draft Developer's Agreement sent by the applicant as well as digital plans designed by one of the applicant's representatives, Mark Romeo. Romeo is a surveyor, not a professional engineer. Council was reminded that even though they had voted to give the applicant conditional approval at the September 2024 meeting, the applicant was not able to satisfy some of the conditions because of the unorthodox manner in which they wanted to proceed. Kern advised Council that they could require the applicant to file a new application. Armbruster went through the draft agreement provided by the applicant and pointed out several mistakes, some of which would likely be considered as fatal flaws. One of which is the draft lists an approving body as the Cumberland County Conservation District. Another is the amount listed for the security bond. The Municipalities Planning Code requires that amount to be estimated by a professional engineer and that amount approved by the Borough's engineer prior to being a part of the agreement. Armbruster also pointed out that the Borough's SALDO requires that the drawings be prepared and stamped by a professional engineer and not a surveyor. There was an unofficial consensus not to require the applicant to start the process over and likely to accept the drawings prepared by Romeo since those drawings were reviewed by the Borough's engineer. Hogarth will contact the applicant directly and review the issues. B. Hogarth provided Council with a request from the Church at 120 S 27th Street requesting a tax exemption. Armbruster asked for a copy of the church's 501 3C. This will be on the 3/3 agenda for action. C. Hogarth asked Council to consider allowing the Civil Service Commission to establish an eligibility list to hire a new police officer to replace Officer Maley. Maley intends to retire on November 8, 2025. Hogarth said it typically takes a year to hire and train an officer and that's if the academy training schedule is conducive to that timeline. If not, it could be 18 months. Council agreed it should be on the 3/3 agenda for action. D. The staff is compiling data to provide the newsletter publisher for mailings. A spreadsheet is being sent out for topics to be included SO articles can be submitted in a timely manner. Hogarth said for a June 1 publish date there will be a submission deadline of April 18. E. Hogarth asked for Council feedback to provide Senator Kim with data regarding her survey. The survey asks what challenges the Borough faces and how she and her staff can assist. A deadline for feedback was agreed to be Friday February 21 SO Hogarth can compile the results and send a final survey back to the Senator. F. The Solicitor provided Council with a draft of the ordinances that would affect brew pubs and similar establishments. Several issues were discussed including parking, noise considerations, hours of operation and outdoor seating. Council asked Hogarth if he could get sample ordinances from similar size boroughs. To be continued at the March Caucus Meeting. 4. Citizen Comments - N/A 5. Council Comments A. Burdine looked into the sign-up apps and suggested Event Brite. Moore said she was familiar with that and that it would work. Hogarth to work on getting signed up B. Newcomer announced that Carmen will be leaving the Parks Sub-committee in June and recognized her long-time commitment to the parks program as well as many other borough projects and initiatives. C. Moore wanted to go on to also recognize the commitment of both the Lions and the LEO's program and their recent achievements. 6. The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 pm. Respectfully submitted, Joseph Hogarth Borough Secretary