City Council

BOROUGH OF AKRON COUNCIL MEETING – August 9, 2021 Council Members present – Nathan Imhoff, President; Thomas J. Murray, Sr.; Kleon Zimmerman; Paul Swangren, Jr.; Michael Morris and Randall Justice (Justin Gehman, Vice- President not present). Others present – Mayor John McBeth; Susan Davidson, Borough Manager; Sean Molchany, Assistant Borough Manager, and West Earl Police Chief Eric Higgins. Visitors – Lora Gomboc, Stan Brightman, Kyle Robinson, John Taylor, Robert Weaver, Sharon Smeltz and Steven Smeltz. No Zoom Visitors Meeting opened at 6:30 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Council Members/Mayor Roll Call: Thomas J. Murray, Sr. – Present Kleon Zimmerman – Present Michael Morris – Present Paul Swangren, Jr. – Present Randall Justice – Absent at Roll Call (showed up later) Justin Gehman, Vice-President – Absent Nathan Imhoff, President – Present Mayor John McBeth – Present Approval of Minutes Paul Swangren, Jr. made a motion to approve the July 26, 2021 Borough of Akron Council Meeting minutes. Michael Morris seconded the motion. Motion carried. Steven Smeltz presented a request to connect a property on Diamond Station Road, which is in West Earl Township, to the Akron sanitary sewer system. West Earl Township does not have a septic system in the area, and Akron Borough is the closest available sanitary sewer system. If it is not possible to connect to a system, that property is going to be in danger of not being able to be sellable because there is not an area where the septic system would be able to be repaired. The Council recommended that Mr. Smeltz would get documentation from West Earl Township stating that they do not have any facilities in the area and that they are requesting to connect to the Akron Borough sanitary sewer system, before Akron Borough acts on it. Bills Michael Morris made a motion to approve the August 2021 Board of Akron disbursements and fund the appropriate account for the disbursements as reviewed by the Finance Committee. Kleon Zimmerman seconded the motion. 1 General Fund – $97,737.15 Water Fund – $30,655.08 Sewer Fund – $21,44.64 Motion carried. Reports Police Report Chief Higgins will send his July 2021 Akron Borough Monthly Activity Report to Council for review. Paul Swangren, Jr. thanked Chief Higgins and his officers for handling a recent incident in the park. Nathan Imhoff brought to Chief’s attention seeing broken glass from alcohol bottles on the field, next to the frisbee golf course. Mayor Report Mayor McBeth presented the Mayor’s Wedding Report, as well as a Thank You letter from The Historical Society of the Cocalico Valley for the generous donation, and a compliment letter from the Hartman family for the work on the Anniversary book. Borough Manager Report The Borough Manager reported she started the 2022 Budget preparation. A Reserve Policy will be drafted by the staff to incorporate into the budget. The bid proposals for the Street Drainage Improvements are on this evening’s agenda. The painting of the Roland bathrooms will begin tomorrow morning, August 10th at 8:00 a.m. An Akron resident who must do community service will be helping at the park. He needs to complete twenty hours of community service and has forwarded his criminal background and child clearances. It came back for DUI. Comcast is still working in the Akron area. They are finishing up on the West side of Akron and are working on the East side on Park Street and Meadowview Street. A copy of the Non-Uniform Employee Handbook with proposed changes has been forwarded to Council and Mayor (excluding Thomas J. Murray, Sr.) with comments from the Borough Labor Attorney. The Borough Manager advertised again for a school crossing guard and received two applications and interviewed on Friday. She is also arranging to have the crossing guards watch a safety video before starting the school year. 2 The Akron Night at the Barnstormers is scheduled for Friday, August 27, 2021. The free tickets are available at the Borough Office to Akron Borough residents (two tickets per household). Handi-Vangelism forwarded a time extension letter for their Subdivision Land Development Plan to Akron Borough Council. It is on the agenda for this evening. There is no Planning Commission Meeting scheduled at this time. There is a Zoning Hearing scheduled for Thursday, August 19, 2021 for Earl and Nancy Shirk requesting a variance to permit an existing dwelling within the 25’ front yard setback. The Borough Manager asked Sean Molchany, Assistant Borough Manager, for updates on the sewer I & I work. Sean Molchany stated they started going through the videos of the sewer to identify the areas where pipes need to be replaced and make a recommendation on how to move forward. The Water Looping project is moving forward. The work on Route 272 started today and finished the work on New Street last week. The boil water advisory for New Street was lifted after the test came back negative, and the residents were notified on Friday. The Borough Manager gave a little bit of insight on the Real Estate Tax Collection stating that 2020 was a very busy year but 2021 is an extremely busy year with tax certifications. They have done over 200 certifications so far through July, which means they are averaging about 32 to 33 a month. Because of refinancing and because there have been many houses sold, it is extremely busy, which is good, because the budget for real estate transfer tax, through August 2021 is 127%. Finance Report The July 31, 2021 month-end cash balances were read into the minutes. General Fund $268,720.40 Water Fund $2,567.52 Sewer Fund $73,135.75 Highway Aid $141,174.22 General Reserves $694,941.92 Water Reserves $321,375.79 Sewer Reserves $335,613.58 Capital Projects $374.17 Community Fund $2,289.22 Total $1,840,192.57 Escrow Fund $18,554.56 Thomas J. Murray, Sr. reviewed the July 2021 Revenues and Expenditures Report. Community Relations Report 3 Nothing to report. Parks and Property Report Randall Justice reported that he reached out to the folks involved in the Cyclocross. As of now, they are going to run a 10-week program starting Friday, August 20, 2021 in an open area, not designated for other activities. The practices will run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the latest, and they asked for feedback on the best areas for parents to park their cars. Nathan Imhoff stated they can park in the general parking lot; there should not be any designated parking area. Kleon Zimmerman reported seeing in Roland Park a lot of pine trees getting vines growing up, which eventually kills the trees. He recommended cutting the vines off. Randall Justice recalled having a conversation with a neighbor who reported seeing in the parks a lot of loose hanging branches. These tasks will be put on the worklist. Personnel Report Paul Swangren, Jr. presented a couple items, from which he excluded Thomas J. Murray, Sr.: Labor Management Committee meeting with IBEW is scheduled for Tuesday, August 17, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. Sean Molchany and Paul Swangren, Jr. will attend the meeting with the business representative of IBEW and a Union employee. As the Borough Manager mentioned, a copy of the Non-Uniform Employee Handbook with proposed changes has been forwarded to Council and Mayor with comments from the Borough Labor Attorney. Mr. Swangren asked the Council to look at that closely and get back to him or the Borough Manager with any comments. Paul Swangren, Jr. stated when they hired the Assistant Borough Manager, one of his duties was to bring some structure to Public Works, some efficiency, and to set some priorities and programs. Mr. Swangren said the Assistant Borough Manager has done that, and he also gave a report of some of the projects that are going on, some tasks completed and some time frames. Mr. Swangren asked if the Council would like to see a report in the Council packet periodically. The Council liked the idea and they would like to see a report quarterly. Paul Swangren, Jr. presented the next item in which he included Thomas J. Murray, Sr.: Mr. Swangren discussed the Crossing Guard proposal stating that they are looking to get a proposal for 2022 budget to look for a contract service for crossing guards. He said it is a lot of process and a lot of work to get it going, so he does not want to waste staff time. He asked for thoughts on that. Nathan Imhoff suggested they have an in-depth discussion about the crossing guard services at the next Council meeting. Public Utilities Report Nothing to report, other than what the Assistant Borough Manager already covered. New Business 4 Meeting Agenda Act 65 Fact Sheet The Borough Manager forwarded important information to Council and Mayor regarding posting meeting agendas. 2022 Budget Preparation The Borough Manager asked Committees to submit what they want in the 2022 budget. The Assistant Borough Manager asked Council to get any projects they want identified to him so he can get them a budget estimate for consideration. Motions and Decisions Motion for time extension for Handi-Vangelism Subdivision Land Development Plan Paul Swangren, Jr. made a motion to approve the time extension request for HVMI Organizational Headquarters Campus, Preliminary/Final Land Development Plan for action by Borough of Akron Council. The request will extend the time period which acts on the plan to November 17, 2021. Michael Morris seconded the motion. Motion carried. Motion to accept bid for Storm Box Inlets Randall Justice made a motion to award the bid for the 2021 Street-Drainage Improvement Project, Ninth Street to Affordable Paving & Excavating, LLC, in an amount not to exceed $118,752.75, which includes the Base Bid and Alternate 2. Michael Morris seconded the motion. Mayor McBeth asked how much money will be left in the Highway Aid Fund. The Borough Manager stated there will be left about $23,000. The Mayor asked if there is an estimate on the next year’s project that they are committed to. Paul Swangren, Jr. stated this balance is for the design of Edgehill Drive and is going to come out of this year’s budget. Once they get the design finished, they will then do an estimate to know what the cost would be to do the project next year. The Assistant Borough Manager stated this will be among the numerous projects for Council’s consideration for next year’s budget. Paul Swangren, Jr. stated the tabulation sheet for the Street-Drainage Improvements project from Hanover is pretty in depth; however, he wanted to make sure that Council is aware that when you get into these tabulations and different contractors, they bid things a lot differently and it can really throw you off. Mr. Swangren’s point is because the Borough is planning to do smooth line cylindrical plastic pipe, they have to lower the main line, which is Alternate #2. The cost to lower that pipe will be $8,900. Sometimes they run into problems moving water lines, but they have done evaluations after which they decided to move the water line. If they did Alternate #1, which is a cylindrical concrete pipe, the water line would not have to be moved; however, it costs more - $15,000. Motion carried. 5 Back to Liquid Fuels Funding: Paul Swangren, Jr. stated they had $141,000 in this year’s 2021 budget. The project is $118,000 which is awarded. The Fulton repair was taken out of the Reserves fund, so they still have $23,000 left. Mr. Swangren stated that Council did say in earlier meetings this year that they would get a design and cost estimates for Edgehill Drive repairs. He believes that the $23,000 was for the Edgehill Drive design. Even though the project still has to be funded for 2022, which would be Liquid Fuels allocation, if Council approved in the budget. Nathan Imhoff added that any remaining allocations from Liquid Fuels was going to carry over into the next year to help with the project. Paul Swangren, Jr. made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Kleon Zimmerman seconded the motion. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Lydia Kovalchuk Minute Taker 6