This Meeting was recorded for Accuracy
Meeting opened by Lou McLaughlin, President
Present: Michael Smith, Jeffery Miller, Clark Baird-Mayor, & Lou McLaughlin- President, Keith StClair,
And Gladine McMaster, Sue Bartow arrival 7:10 PM
Absent: none
General Public: Mellissa Miller and Heidi Speidel
Old Business:
Approval April minutes
Clark mentioned error with the alone, typo was along.
Sue mentioned error concerning foxes living around Beth’s property should be Dink’s property.
Sue also mentioned page 4 of 5 West Wheatfield should say Fairfield Township.
After review motion made by Keith, 2nd by Lou to approve minutes for April, all in favor motion passed.
Approval of Treasurer Report
Clark ask about the electric bill for the borough building. Wondering why it was high. Pat said she could not control Penelec and their rates. That is what the bills are now running.
After review motion made by Keith, 2nd by Jeffery to approve treasurer report, all in favor motion passed.
Solicitor Report:
Michael stated he sent letter to Mr. Garriety concerning his property at 745 Lincoln St. Letter came back undeliverable. Michael stated he called Mr. Garriety and spoke to him concerning the property and the return letter. Michael told him what the letter said and also that Mr. Garriety confirmed the address was correct. Mr. Garriety stated that he did not think the foundation was as bad as what we are making it out to be.
Pat said she reviewed the photos that were taken and confirmed the foundation is much worse. This property at one time belonged to her grandparents, and knows what the foundation was like before Mr. Garriety purchased the property. Mr. Garriety said he would go over to the property on April 7th to see what else could be done. Michael said the only thing he did was cut the grass.
Keith asked about homeowner insurance on the property. Mr. Garriety wanted to know how we knew it was going to fall over. He asked if we got an engineer to look at it. Michael informed him we have an ordinance on this such issue. He was given 10 days to fix the problem or the borough would have to take formal action.
Jeffery knows a person who is qualified to inspect the property for the issue in question.
Keith asked, “If the house were to fall down now is there a possibility the borough could be liable. “
Jeffery thought the borough would not be held liable because we have proof we have officially notified him. Michael also said that Mr. Garriety informed him that if he really had to he would contact an engineer to check the foundation.
Michael’s other situation is he is resigning as council for the borough. With his workload as Indiana County Public Defender has increased so much he does not have the time to spend on borough issues as needed. He said he will stay on until we find someone else.
Jeffery made motion to accept Michael’s resignation letter 2nd by Keith, all in favor motion passed.
Public Comment:
Mellissa, none at this time.
Heidi Speidel, again asking for council to possibly make 6th street from Market to Washington as two way. Heidi also wants council to enforce the one way street and the council people to also abide with the one way.
Lou said if we had enough money to pay for a police officer they could sit there and issue tickets, but we don’t.
Jeffery commented that council has no way to enforce people from going the wrong direction on a one way street.
Old Business
Update on Storm inlet Market Street in front of Kovac residence.
Lou said the storm inlet was fixed the best we could other than putting in a new inlet.
Update on street sweeper
Pat said Dave from Penn Sweeping has us on the schedule for week before Memorial Day. He to notify me several days in advance so signs can be put up to have people remove their vehicles from the streets.
No other old business
New Business:
Approve June yard sale date
Yard sale day is June 21st from 9 AM to 1 PM. Motion to approve made by Jeffery, 2nd by Keith, all in favor motion passed.
Approve Clean Up Day June 28th from 9 AM to 3 PM
Sue motions to approve clean up date June 28, 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion passed.
Correspondence
None
Mayor report
Clark said he is notifying people about their high grass. He has already talked to several people on this matter.
Clark also asked if the Borough has a backup generator.
Pat said we do, however it has not been used since Ed Speidel was alive. We do have emergency lights here in the borough if the power goes out so you are not left in the dark.
Sue asked about Memorial Day parade. She would like council to notify people living on Market Street to have their grass cut and property looking presentable for the parade.
Lou said that is not our call to make.
Clark said he will talk to people along the route.
Sewage Report
Meeting next week at the sewage authority building at 6:30 PM
Lou asked if they got our letter. Sue said we did not have a meeting yet.
Street Commissioner Report
Lou said we put 850 miles on truck, 89 hours on Kubota and 10 more hours just added. Zero turn has 1361 miles on it.
The workers are fixing the grass areas where the plow got into.
They fixed the inlet at Kovac’s
No update on the recall for the truck.
Pat said she checked last week and still have not gotten in the recall parts yet.
Lou also said he has been receiving complaints about kids running around on go-carts and 4 wheelers.
They are not stopping at stop signs or paying attention when going through intersections.
Eventually someone will get hurt.
Not sure what we can do about it. Most of the time that parents are with the kids or watching them go thru the intersections. Lou said he has told the callers to contact the police and have them come down.
Parks & Rec
Mellissa said we have a ticket going off over Memorial Day. We just finished selling subs and pizzas.
We also don’t have many organizations in town so we really need to get local support. It is really getting harder and harder to support when we don’t get the support from our organizations.
We did get the pavilion done at the lower park and are also getting a picnic table down there. Not sure what type yet.
We are having someone coming in to sand blast all the metal play equipment and have it then painted.
May 26th 1st concert
Motion to close made by Keith 2nd by Jeffery at 7:30 PM all in favor motion passed.
Respectfully,
Patricia Betts
Secretary/Treasurer