City Council

1 Borough of Akron Council Meeting-January 9, 2023 2 3 Council Members Present: Nathan Imhoff, President; Justin Gehman, Vice-President; Kleon 4 Zimmerman, Paul Swangren, Jr., Ryan Cochran, (Randall Justice & Bonnie Young not present) 5 6 Others Present: Mayor John McBeth, Susan Davidson, Borough Manager; Sean Molchany, 7 Assistant Borough Manager; Suzanne Lausch, Minute Taker 8 Visitors: Eric Higgins West Earl PD 9 Tom Burnett 724 Fulton St Akron 10 Katrina Zimmerman 429 S. 9th St Akron 11 John Taylor 216 S. 8th St Akron 12 Sue Glick 119 S. 10th St. Akron 13 Mike Morris Miller Rd. Akron 14 15 Roll Call 16 Kleon Zimmerman-present 17 Paul Swangren, Jr-present 18 Randall Justice-absent 19 Ryan Cochran-present 20 Bonnie Young-absent 21 Nathan Imhoff-present 22 Justin Gehman-present 23 Mayor John McBeth-present 24 25 Meeting opened at 6:30pm with the Pledge of Allegiance. 26 27 Approval of Minutes 28 Motion to approve minutes for December 12, 2022 by Paul Swangren, Jr second by Justin 29 Gehman. 30 Mayor questioned page 6-line 17 error on General Fund Budget number 31 Mayor McBeth requested that Page 6-line 38 be updated to read, “a budget is a roadmap, not 32 the road”. 33 Mayor McBeth also Page 6-line 41 regarding the budget for a new finance person and whether 34 or not insurance, social security etc. was included and Sue’s reply was that it was not included. 35 Kleon Zimmerman page 6 update to Concerns with Northern Hub as he thinks the library does 36 not get enough rent for the building which creates a liability. 37 Sewer fund page 7 line 23-caveat for finance position should be added to sewer fund budget. 38 Highway aid fund needs numbers added 39 Paul Swangren, Jr questioned page 6 lines 30-35 related to a question he brought up regarding 40 non-personnel finances by library that was not presented to the council. Library staff refused 41 to disclose non-personnel finances to the council. 42 Nathan Imhoff suggested tabling minutes due to the number of edits. He requested that council 43 members send edits for minutes prior to coming to council meetings in order to efficiently 44 facilitate approval of minutes. 1  1 Paul Swangren, Jr made a motion to rescind minute approval until edits have been made as 2 requested by council members; second by Justin Gehman. The December 12, 2022 will be 3 revisited at next meeting for approval. 4 5 Visitors/Comments from Public 6 7 Zoom-no one on zoom meeting 8 9 Katrina Zimmerman gave update on tree lighting. Really good turnout and thanks to West Earl 10 Police Department and to Akron Volunteer Fire Department for their participation in the event. 11 Katrina noted that each child took home some North Pole snow and reindeer food. She shared 12 that all wreaths are paid off and that she would like to order 16 more wreaths. Nathan Imhoff 13 noted that the Borough Council does not finance any of the tree lighting expenses but does 14 support the event. All costs are from community donations to the event. 15 John Taylor-heard a rumor that a park bench was set on fire. The Borough Manager mentioned 16 she is not aware of this happening in Akron. West Earl Police Chief mentioned he will try to get 17 information on this. 18 19 Bills 20 Ryan Cochran motion to approve disbursements for December 2022and Kleon Zimmerman 21 seconded 22 Motion carried 23 24 Reports/Announcements 25 26 Police Report 27 Chief Higgins- shared that the police are going to store the speed board inside for the winter to 28 prevent damage. The West Earl Police Report for December 2022 was distributed to Council 29 and Mayor. Chief Higgins shared that the Police Department is attempting to plan for events in 30 the community in which the officers participate for the year. 31 32 Mayor Report- 33 John McBeth-offered thanks to police for their service. He commented on New Year’s Eve 34 saying that the weather was damp but over 100 residents attended the event. He also said that 35 they may be looking for a new chairman for next year’s New Year Event. Disc Jockey at the 36 event was great. He said that the donations from the community is building up a nice fund for 37 the future. He recommended that perhaps a plan for inclement weather on New Year’s Eve 38 should be included when planning this event. 39 The Mayor offered some budget suggestions-He said that the responsibility for finances is up to 40 the seven elected council members. He recommends that at the beginning of each quarter each 41 council member gets finance report related to the budget to give good overview of the finances 42 of the Borough. 43 Also recommends any budget not needed for day to day running of Borough should come 44 before Council. Several council members asked for specific examples of what the mayor had in 2  1 mind for those budget expenses. John McBeth shared a picture of the sidewalk in front of a 2 public building and expressed concerned about liability due to damaged sidewalk. Nathan 3 Imhoff asked the Mayor to provided information such as this in a timelier fashion. John McBeth 4 also expressed concern about building expenses and Sean Molchany shared that the original 5 budget for building started at $70,000 but was pared down to $55,000. 6 Mayor assumed that everyone in Borough knew sidewalks were damaged and should be 7 repaired. Mayor was also concerned about no line item in the budget for items. Sean Molchany 8 told the mayor that all Council members had received this information. 9 Ryan asked the Mayor what additional information he would like from the finance team other 10 than the current information. The Borough Manager shared that she used to distribute a 11 monthly report on the finances and was told not continue that practice as council members do 12 not review it. 13 Mayor would like quarterly report on finances. Nathan Imhoff asked Sue to send out her 14 Monthly finance report to each council member. 15 Both Susan Davidson and Sean Molchany said that the mayor could ask at any time to see the 16 finances. 17 18 Borough Managers Report 19 Administration and Finance-December 2022 month-end financials have been reconciled and 20 January 2023 payables will be reviewed by the Finance Committee 21 The 2023 Council meetings have been advertised. 22 2022 financials have been closed out and 2023 information is being processed. 23 Herebin & Company will begin the annual audit the week of January 23, 2023. Preparing for the 24 annual audit and workman’s comp audit. W-2 information and 1099 reporting will be finished 25 by the end of this week, beginning of next week. Continuation of filing DCED yearend reports, 26 PennDot year end reports, pension reports etc. 27 Ethics forms will be mailed out to Council and other committee members etc. next week and 28 are due back to Borough secretary by May 1, 2023. 29 Parks & Property 30 Staff received a request from a running group to do a small 5K/10K run at Lloyd Roland 31 Memorial Park every Saturday from April thru December. Staff will contact the representative 32 of this group and get more information for the next Council meeting. 33 Streets 34 The bid for the 2023 street project to advertise is on the January 9, 2023 agenda 35 Dedication process for Westview Dr. is continuing. Managers have been in contact with PPL 36 about street lights (waiting for work order) and C.S. Davidson is reviewing the as built plans for 37 the street dedication and this item will be on the January 23, 2023 agenda. 38 Public Utilities 39 PW department continues to install meters and this project should be completed by the end of 40 the first quarter 2023. Staff will begin to read meters the week of January 9, 2023 for bills going 41 out in February. 42 Community Relations 43 The Annual New Year’s Shoe drop was not as well attended due to inclement weather. There 44 was a crowd at approximately 11pm to see the Shoe drop. State Representative Keith Greiner 3  1 was at the Shoe -In Event and spoke briefly to the crowd and wished everyone a Happy New 2 Year. 3 Planning & Zoning 4 The next Planning Commission meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 2, 2023 at which 5 time the zoning updates will be reviewed. 6 No Zoning Hearings scheduled at this time. 7 The overnight parking ordinance will be on the agenda for the January 23, 2023 meeting for 8 Council’s approval. 9 10 Administration & Finance 11 Ryan Cochran read into the minutes the December 31, 2022 month-end balances December 31, 2022 General Fund $25,061.76 Water Fund $33,385.24 Sewer Fund $147,984.53 Highway Aid $137,717.15 General Fund Reserves General Fund Reserves Restricted Restricted $158,000.00 (Goal) $144,363.00 Operating $169,001.08 Capital $436,801.27 Total $763,802.35 Total $144,363.00 Water Fund Reserves Restricted $72,992.00 Operating $241,537.35 Capital $0.00 Total $314,529.35 Sewer Fund Reserves Restricted $121,822.00 Operating $316,247.48 Capital $0.00 Total $438,069.48 Capital Projects $401.59 Community Fund $2,424.12 4  Total $1,863,375.57 Escrow $6,093.97 1 2 Parks & Property 3 Staff received a request from a running group to do a small 5K/10K run at Lloyd Roland 4 Memorial Park every Saturday from April thru December. 5 Council members expressed logistics concerns about this request. Davidson will continue to 6 look into this request and get specifics to share with Council members. 7 Streets 8 Street bid mentioned in Borough Manager’s report. 9 10 Public Utilities 11 Nathan Imhoff expressed curiosity about the length of time it will take to read the water meters 12 now that the meters have been installed. Sean Molchany thought perhaps a day or two. 13 14 Community Relations-nothing to report 15 16 Personnel Report- 17 Paul Swangren, Jr. met with the Borough Manager for yearly review. Personnel Meeting on 18 January 23, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. 19 20 Streets Report 21 Nothing to report 22 23 Public Utilities Report- 24 No report. Discussion regarding the sewer flow report and how this will reflect why it is 25 necessary to keep up on repairs. Normal flow is approximately 250, 000 gallons and has gone as 26 high as 681,000 gallons after one rain and 870,000 gallons after another rain and did drop 27 quickly after rains. Discussion at what flows a penalty would be assessed. 28 29 Old Business 30 Overnight parking Ordinance is being advertised and will be on the January 23, 2023 agenda for 31 Council’s approval. 32 33 New Business 5  1 Council Committees-Borough Managers suggested that it would be beneficial for the Planning 2 and Zoning to report back to the entire Council. Recommendation to rename Ryan Cochran’s 3 committee to Finance, Planning and Zoning committee. Nathan Imhoff, President agreed and 4 the recommendation was approved. No motion necessary for this change as it is under the 5 responsibilities of the Council President. 6 Roland Park 5K Races-concerns related to logistics for races due to accommodations related to 7 parking, clean up, and planning. Sean Molchany mentioned our Parks are not suitable for these 8 types of events. Susan Davidson will call the organization for additional details. 9 10 Motions and Decisions 11 Sanitary Sewer Replacement Project bid 12 Kleon Zimmerman made a motion to award bid to low bid by Ankiewicz Enterprises, Inc., 13 Tamaqua PA 18252 in the amount of $523,243.00. Motion second by Ryan Cochran. 14 Other bids for the Sanitary Sewer Replacement 15 Joao & Bradley Construction, Inc. , Bethlehem PA - $535,735.00 16 Anrich, Inc., Wayne PA 19087 - $584,544.00 17 Kinsley Construction, York PA 17403 - $692,384.14 18 19 Discussion-Paul Swangren, Jr. concerned about budget for this project and over budget of 20 $53,000. Discussion on how managers are planning on funding this project with current monies. 21 Ephrata penalties for reconciliation are being considered for the I & I work. Also concerned 22 about contingency monies for this project and whether any monies are designated. Sean 23 Molchany shared there is no contingency fund for this project. 24 Ryan Cochran has question about maintenance and protection of traffic. If not needed based on 25 what they are doing Borough can get credit if not needed. 26 Ryan what is a bonding requirement for a smaller company? The company does have to be 27 bonded. Sean has no specific information, but Ryan can read bid information. Sean will contact 28 C.S. Davidson and they will notify company and Sean will set up a meeting. Police Chief Higgins 29 asked to be involved in pre-project meeting. 30 Motion carried. 31 32 Adjournment -motion by Paul Swangren, Jr at 7:50 with second by Justin Gehman 33 Motion carried. 34 35 Respectfully submitted, 36 Susan Davidson 37 Borough Manager/Secretary 38 39 SD 40 6