City Council

1 BOROUGH OF AKRON COUNCIL MEETING- JUNE 27, 2022 2 3 Council Members present- Nathan Imhoff, President; Justin Gehman, Vice- 4 President; Kleon Zimmerman, Paul Swangren, Jr., Ryan Cochran, Bonnie Young. 5 (Randall Justice not present) 6 7 Others present- Mayor John McBeth, Susan Davidson, Borough Manager; Sean 8 Molchany, Assistant Borough Manager; West Earl Police Chief Eric Higgins, Larry 9 Alexander, Ephrata Review; John Taylor, Warren Bingeman, Tanya Carter, Edwin 10 Carter. 11 12 Roll Call 13 Kleon Zimmerman-Present 14 Paul Swangren, Jr. – Present 15 Randall Justice-Not Present 16 Ryan Cochran-Present 17 Bonnie Young-Present 18 Justin Gehman, Vice-President-Present 19 Nathan Imhoff, President- Present 20 21 Meeting opened at 6:30 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. 22 23 Approval of Minutes 24 Paul Swangren, Jr. made a motion to approve the May 23, 2022 Borough of Akron 25 Council meeting minutes. Ryan Cochran seconded the motion. Paul Swangren, Jr. 26 questioned page 6 line 20 regarding a Borough policy for curb and sidewalks 27 throughout the Borough. 28 Motion carried. 29 30 Bonnie Young made a motion to approve the June 13, 2022 Borough of Akron 31 Council Meeting minutes. Paul Swangren, Jr. seconded the motion. Paul 32 Swangren, Jr. said there was conversation at the June 13, 2022 meeting on how 33 we should address sidewalk and curb due to utility failure. Both Bonnie Young. 34 and Paul Swangren, Jr. amended their motion to include this. Motion carried. 35 1  1 Visitors 2 Warren Bingeman, 412 Edgehill Drive, Akron had concerns on his most recent 3 sidewalk letter. Bingeman asked about the time frame of getting the sidewalk 4 completed and Nathan Imhoff mentioned that the November 2022 date is for 5 either the date to be completed or a date to be determined for completion before 6 the street project begins. A date needs to be in place for sidewalk completion. 7 Warren Bingeman asked about repairs that need to be done and Sean Molchany 8 mentioned contact the Borough staff with any questions on repairs. Bingeman 9 also asked about jacking up the sidewalk and Nathan Imhoff mentioned to 10 contact Borough staff during office hours. Bingeman also asked if there is going 11 to be a re-mark on the sidewalk. Sean Molchany answered staff can come out 12 and mark the sidewalk if requested. Bingeman also asked about utilities in the 13 sidewalk and what do we do. Sean Molchany mentioned unless the Borough is 14 replacing the utility it is the property owner’s responsibility. Bingeman also asked 15 about the pervious surface on Colonial Drive and Nathan Imhoff stated that when 16 that issues comes up then Council will make a decision. 17 18 Paul Swangren, Jr. mentioned it’s up in the air about sidewalk and utilities. 19 20 Nathan Imhoff mentioned to Warren Bingeman to contact staff with any sidewalk 21 questions or concerns. Bingeman then asked about sidewalk safety and what is 22 Council doing. Nathan Imhoff mentioned Council is listening and will be looking 23 into sidewalk safety. 24 25 Tanya Carter & Edwin Carter were observing the meeting for a Scout Project. 26 27 Reports 28 Police Report – West Earl Police Chief Eric Higgins 29 Chief Higgins mentioned to Council that Officer Mertz has completed a 3-week 30 course on PSP Motor Carrier safety. Chief Higgins will be sending an email to 31 Council and Mayor asking for suggestions for locations for the speed trailer. 32 33 Chief Higgins thanked Borough Manager, Susan Davidson for taking the crossing 34 guards to lunch and also mentioned the crossing guards have a tough job. 35 2  1 Chief Higgins spoke on a proposed animal shelter ordinance. Kleon Zimmerman 2 emailed the Chief a copy of the Reading City Ordinance to review. Chief Higgins 3 mentioned that Reading City has an animal control ordinance and at this time 4 West Earl Police can’t commit staff and also does not have a facility to impound 5 animals. Chief Higgins mentioned that the police will enforce if needed. 6 7 Nathan Imhoff thanked Chief Higgins. 8 9 Mayor Report- Mayor John McBeth 10 Mayor McBeth mentioned that Carol Stark a long-time resident has passed away 11 recently and it is with regret but also note her help and many years community 12 service in both Akron and Ephrata Borough. 13 14 Borough Manager’s Report 15 Nothing at this time 16 17 Finance Report- Ryan Cochran 18 Nothing to report 19 20 Community Relations Report- Bonnie Young 21 Bonnie young mentioned the June 19, 2022 concert at Roland Park had about 22 seventy-five people in attendance. Bonnie asked people about the publicity and 23 most people responded to the sign at the Borough office. Bonnie also mentioned 24 her gratitude to Randall’s Law firm for sponsoring the 2022 concert series at 25 Roland Park. 26 27 Bonnie Young wrote a press release for the July 10, 2022 Concert for “Fire in the 28 Glen.” 29 30 Bonnie also mentioned that Dick Wanner took pictures of the last concert and 31 Akron Day in the Park. Bonnie will write a news release on “Akron Night Out” 32 scheduled for August 2, 2022 at the Broad Street Park. 33 34 Staff set up a SurveyMonkey on the Borough Webpage asking for the public’s 35 feedback on a town motto. Staff will continue the survey through September 15, 3  1 2022 and Council will make a decision at the first Council meeting in October 2 2022. Staff will also put information in the next newsletter going out in August 3 about the survey and town motto. 4 5 Park & Property Report- Randall Justice (not present) 6 Staff distributed a budget quote on exterior work at the park house. The estimate 7 was through a CoStars vendor and the estimate was $23,896.93. Sean Molchany 8 mentioned we will probably have to do electrical work. Kleon Zimmerman asked 9 what kind of windows were spec’s out? Staff will have to ask the contractor, 10 11 Paul Swangren, Jr. mentioned that this gives Council an idea of the work that 12 needs to be done at the park house. The Parks and Property Committee will 13 review the estimate and discuss with staff and have something by the next 14 meeting. 15 16 Personnel Report- Paul Swangren, Jr. 17 Nothing to report 18 19 Streets Report- Justin Gehman 20 Nothing to report 21 22 Public Utilities Report- Kleon Zimmerman 23 Kleon Zimmerman mentioned that the storm box on S. Ninth Street needs to be 24 looked at the Borough engineer. Staff mentioned that the box is failing. 25 26 Mr. Rehab has completed lining work on Tobacco Road, Colonial Drive and point 27 repairs on Colonial Drive. 28 29 Nathan Imhoff asked who is responsible for policy procedure and addressing 30 utility concerns. Paul Swangren, Jr. said it should be a case by case matter. Paul 31 Swangren, Jr. mentioned when streets are being reconstructed all utilities that are 32 in the sidewalk on the Edgehill/Manor Ridge Project should have the engineer 33 take a look. 34 4  1 Paul also mentioned that Comcast when repairing sidewalk poured low and now 2 people are going to have to fix their mistakes. Borough Manager Davidson said 3 staff will contact the Hanover engineering tomorrow and get them out to look at 4 this. 5 6 Mayor McBeth mentioned the letter he received for sidewalks is confusing and 7 has questions. Nathan Imhoff said please contact staff to get your questions 8 answered. 9 Nathan Imhoff mentioned to remove the Animal Shelter Ordinance from the Old 10 Business on the agenda. 11 12 Staff will reach out again to the Akron Lions Club about Pavilion #1 and the park 13 bathrooms and will need an answer by September, 2022 for budget reasons. 14 15 New Business 16 Bid Advertisement for Sanitary Sewer Replacement 17 Paul Swangren, Jr. made a motion to authorize staff to coordinate the 18 advertisement for bids for the 2022 Sanitary Sewer Replacement Project at New 19 and Tenth Streets. Kleon Zimmerman seconded the motion. 20 Paul Swangren, Jr. asked how many linear feet and Sean Molchany mentioned 21 950 linear feet. 22 Paul also asked how many gallons will the Borough save once this is repaired. 23 Davidson will ask the Public Works Supervisor to give an estimated amount. 24 Motion carried. This will be paid for with ARPA funds. 25 26 Ephrata National Bank Ordinance 27 Nathan Imhoff, Council President handed the meeting over to Justin Gehman, 28 Council Vice-President. 29 30 Ryan Cochran made a motion to approve Ordinance 22-00102 increasing the 31 indebtedness of the Borough of Akron by the issuance of a General Obligation 32 Note (five years) in the amount of Two Hundred Thousand Dollars ($200,000.00) 33 for the unfunded police pension liability. Ordinance was properly posted and 34 advertised. Kleon Zimmerman seconded the motion. Motion carried. Nathan 35 Imhoff abstained from any discussion or voting on this motion. 5  1 2 Meeting handed over to Nathan Imhoff, Council President. 3 4 Correspondence 5 1) Lancaster County Association of Twp Supervisors Picnic/Golf Invitation. 6 Please contact staff if you will be attending 7 2) Thank you letter from the Ephrata Community Ambulance Association for 8 the 2022 donation. 9 10 Paul Swangren, Jr. made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Justin Gehman 11 seconded the motion. Motion carried. 12 13 Meeting adjourned at 7:34 p.m. 14 15 Respectfully submitted, 16 17 Susan Davidson 18 Borough Manager/Secretary 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 6