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July 
8th 2021
Meeting

This Meeting was recorded for Accuracy

Meeting was opened by Lewis McLaughlin, Council President at 7 PM.


Present: Lewis McLaughlin, Sue Bartow, Solicitor Jeff Miller, Ron Betts, Keith St.Clair McMaster


Absent: Mayor Tom Pickup, Gladine McMaster


Public Attendance: Zackary and Cassandra Burtop, and Dan Short, JR and Melissa Miller


Approval June meeting minutes. Keith motioned to approve 2nd by Sue. Discussion was made concerning the property at 830 McKinley Street. Jeffery said the provisions for grass cutting and cleaning of the property was different. They left the tree branches but got rid of the swimming pool. Sue also asked if a letter was sent out to owners of 6th & McKinley. Pat said yes a letter was sent.  


Jeffery to review the Ordinance and advise. Motion made by Sue 2nd by Keith, all in favor motion passed.


Approval of Treasurer Report. Sue asked about fee for Harbor Freight. Pat explained the charge was for battery for emergency light that Jeffery gave to Borough. The rest of the fee was for a sprayer but it was returned because Ron was able to get the other sprayer hose fixed. Sue also asked if the streets were being sprayed. Pat said we were until we ran out of weed killer. Sue asked the difference between stock patch and cold patch. Lou said they are the same. Sue also questioned the newspaper charges for the CDBG grant. Pat explained why they were put in all the papers. Lou asked what Lawyers Abstract fee of $5. was for. Jeffery explained the cost. Sue wanted to know if the fee could be raised. Jeffery to check into fee change for clearance letters. Jeffery feels we can change by Resolution. Motion to approve made by Sue, 2nd by Keith, all in favor. Motion passed.


Public Comment .


Boone said nothing. Zak said other than 6th & McKinley he has nothing else to report.


Solicitors Report – Jeffery states he has nothing to report.


Old Business:


American Rescue Plan Update.
Pat said we received our first portion of the funds. $22,817.89 Pat made a separate file to the funds.  Council needs to decide how and when to use the funds for the 5th Street project.   Pat said she has to double check on the requirement for how long we have to use the funds.


Sue wanted to know if we can use for engineer fees. Lou said we need to do something for a skid steer. We need to do it now. Pat said Keith wanted me to check on the expenses for the skidsteer.


So far this year we have spent $1,244.26. Last year we spent $1,277.19 in 2019 we spent $135.98 and in 2018 we spent $909.72. We are just throwing our money away in repairs.

Borough building lighting update.


Keith said Lowes has 2 pack $99.98, Home Depot $158.97 2 pack. Sunco with 10 year warranty is $387.99 for 3 pack. Sue asked what we were getting for $99.98 2 pack. Discussion was made by Sue who did not understand the type of light that Keith was looking at. Keith said the old ones come out and we re-hook the new light into the wire case from the old lights. All the lights are between 5,000 and 6,000 illumination. Lowes has 60,000 hour warranty.


Bill from All Star Garage.


Pat explained the letter received from All Star which said the opener was acting up in a different way than the sensor. The opener lost its memory and that is what had to be re -programmed. This is why we were charge for a service call. Keith motion to pay and 2nd by Lou to pay bill. All in favor motion passed.


High grass properties update.


Letters were sent out to 406 Shaffer Street along with the Ordinance and bill from cutting this past year. We received $186.00 from the property owner. We also had to send a 2nd notice out to them for charges for this year for $67.11 We just received payment for this. I also included that we will no longer be cutting the grass at the property and they needed to hire a company to do the work.


Letter was sent out to 827 McKinley Street on the high grass and other items in the yard. Received a call from the property owner telling me they have hired a contractor to do the work.


A letter was sent to 757 Lincoln St. The property was just sold. Was informed that the new people were bringing in goats to keep the grass cut down.


A letter was sent to 759 Lincoln St on the boat blocking the alley way, and the construction items that have been in the front yard for over a year. That also has since been cleaned up and the boat put in their back yard.


A letter was sent to 703 Lincoln Street and has since been cut by a contactor they have recently hired.


A letter was sent to 830 McKinley Street concerning the swimming pool liner sitting along the street and also the tree branches piled up. Everyone also received a copy of the Ordinance .


Sue asked about the high grass at the Quonset hut on Lincoln St. Pat said she did not send one to the owner. Keith just asked about the property to send a notice to them.


Clean Up Days results.


Received $210.00 spent $30.23 on food and drink for lunch. Deposited $180.00 took in 1720 LBS. of steel and received $189.20 for this.

Sewage Authority Replacement.

Lou read the letter from Sewage authority on Greg Hughes position. Motion to accept Greg's resignation on Sewage Board made by Sue, 2nd by Keith all in favor motion passed. Lou received a letter of interest for Sheri Burtop to replace Greg's term. Sue motions to accept 2nd by Keith all in favor motion passed.


Skid Steer repairs update.


Additional parts to repair cost $241.16. Parts are on order through Groff Tractor.


Update on request for Mayor to resign.


Pat read a letter she sent to the Mayor asking for his resignation for the betterment of the community. His response was not very nice, and he also said he was not resigning.


New Business
Next meeting July 1 at 7 PM.


3 Resolutions for destruction of police records.

Pat said Keith and myself finished going through all the police records to see what can be destroyed according to law. Everyone reviewed the Resolutions and have agreed to sign for destruction of the records. Pat said we did keep several files for 20 year period and several for 75 year period. Also we kept several evidence bags that was associated to the files that were kept. Motion to destroy records were made by Lou 2nd by Sue. All in favor motion passed.


We also have the police computer. Keith motions to destroy the computer, 2nd by Lou. Pat to pull the hard drive and then destroy the computer.


Several items which was kept for evidence we had a question on. What do we do with the small bike, several pipes, brass knuckles, and full cans of beer. We also have lots of license plates. Jeffery said to take to Hemmingers for destruction.
We have several evidence items associated with files so what do we do with those items. Jeffery suggested to contact the District Attorney Detective Office


Tubmill Creek requesting donation.


They are requesting a donation. Lou said they applied for grants to help supply the Tub Mill Creek. Keith asked if they asked for specific amount. Keith in favor of donation.. Ron recommends $20. Sue said no because the Fire Company asked for donation and we never gave to them. Lou said we gave money before for donation. Lou said he remembers this. Keith motioned to give $20, Lou 2nds all in favor . Sue opposes for giving funds. Motion passed


Reimbursement for gates and weed killer for street.

Lou asked Ron if someone opened the gate areas again. Ron said someone pulled the pipe out to reopen to gate. Ron said he fixed this time so the gate posts could not be pulled. Sue wanted to know who picked up the parts and who to reimburse. Pat said Ron got the parts. The gate parts were $48.19 and weed killer was $40.17 for total of $88.36 Lou made motion to reimburse Ron, 2nd by Lou all in favor, Ron abstains. Motion passed.


Fire Dept road closure.


They want to close 3rd St between Shaffer and Market Street from July 15th thru Saturday July 17th.  Lou motions to close the street, 2nd by Keith, all in favor motion passed.


Parks requesting to close s streets for Brickfest car show from 3rd & Lincoln to 5th & Lincoln and 5th & Lincoln to 5th & McKinley. Keith motions to close Ron2nd 2nds all in favor motion carries.


Requesting a new Ordinance for All Farm Animals except chickens.


Gladine requesting this because now we are having goats brought into town. Sue wanted to know why except chickens. Discussion was made on this. Jeffery said start the process if you think this is an ongoing subject. All those currently having animals in town will have to be grandfathered in. By the time the Ordinance would be approved we would also have to grandfather the goats as well. Lou said lets revisit this later. Lou asked if Gladine has the Ordinance written out? Pat said no as far as she knows. Lou said lets table to next meeting when Gladine will be here.

Lou asked if any other business.


Sewage Report: Sue said meeting next week. Pat to get letter to Cindy on Sheri Burtop replacement. She to attend this upcoming meeting.

Mayor report: None to report Pat said Mayor informed her he will be at meeting next month.


Street Commissioner Report

Zero miles on truck, zero gallons in truck. Zero turn 16.3 hours used 20.47 gallons of gas. Greg working on streets. Sue questioned the miles on the truck. Sue has a question on Greg's time. He had 3.3 hours marked and got changed to 1.8 hours. Ron wanted to know if Sue was going to nick pick on everything the worker does. She wanted to know why he only worked 22 hours when he was approved for 35 hours back in April. Ron said you complain if he goes over by 1 hour and you complain if he is under his hours. what do you want? Sue said if the job can't be handled by Greg and you can't handle what he does then you need to resign as street commissioner. She has several complaints from people who are not hear that this is a government office and the grass needs to be cut. Ron said you complained when it was being cut too much so now the grass is being cut only every two weeks. The rest of the time is working on the streets. He worked 12 hours just to cut the grass at the park. Lou said to cut the grass and weed eat the banks yes. And we are sweeping the intersections but what about in between. There was a gentlemen about 80 years old by Wanda's who would like to have his street done and it still has not been done. Lou asked if that person was here to complain. Sue said no he is not but that she would help him get it done. Sue told Lou people put you on this council and they should be able to tell you things and not be here. Sue said if the worker is not going to put his 35 hours in then we might as well cut his hours to 20 hours a week. I think someone else needs to take the job as street commissioner. Sue said we need to re-organize and someone else take over the job.  Lou asked if anyone wanted to 2nd that motion. No one said anything. That's ok there is always next month.

I have another item to discuss. We had a CDBG storm project. Zak is the assistant street commissioner in case something would happened to Ron. Why was he not asked to come to the meeting? She wanted to know why he was not asked to come to the meeting. Pat said we were just signing contracts. He is not on council and is only assigned as Assistant Street Commissioner. In the past the Assistant was never asked to come to a meeting so why are we asking now. Why are we inviting the general public to come to the signing. Jeffery asked if it was a conscience thing or not. Pat said she only emailed the council members. Zak said he basically is a citizen with a key and nothing else. Jeffery said the history has been that the Assistant Commissioner has not been notified. Jeffery said the Assistant is just to help out and nothing else.
Lou said he will make it a point to notify Zack if anything comes up. Zak said by next week he will be back to work full time.


Any other business.


Keith said if council goes along with this. Would you ask Greg in the mornings to check the two parks for any possible needles because of the kids playing during the summer.


Parks & Rec. Report


Melissa said we have a concert this upcoming week and a movie next week. Brickfest is upcoming and we really need help during the Brickfest . The money goes to this town for the community and we really would like the community to help out even for just 2 hours.

Lou asked if any other business. Lou motions to adjourn meeting 2nd by Keith all in favor motion carried 8:30 PM


Respectfully,

Patricia Betts
Secretary/Treasurer