City Council

1 Borough of Akron Council Meeting-March 13, 2023 2 3 Council Members Present: Nathan Imhoff, President; Justin Gehman, Vice-President; Kleon 4 Zimmerman, Paul Swangren, Jr., Ryan Cochran, Bonnie Young (Randall Justice not present) 5 6 Others Present: Mayor John McBeth, Susan Davidson, Borough Manager; Sean Molchany, Asst 7 Borough Manager; Suzanne Lausch, Minute Taker 8 9 Visitors: John Taylor, 216 S 8th St Akron 10 West Earl Police Chief Eric Higgins 11 Tom Burnett 724 Fulton St. Akron 12 Anthony Sheaffer Main St. Akron 13 Chris Beiler 40 S. 10th St. Akron 14 Valerie Schwenk Rep. Keith Greiner, CPA office 15 Keith Greiner, CPA-State Representative for 43rd District 16 17 Roll Call 18 Kleon Zimmerman-present 19 Paul Swangren, Jr-present 20 Randall Justice-absent 21 Ryan Cochran-present 22 Bonnie Young-present 23 Nathan Imhoff, President-present 24 Justin Gehman, Vice-President-present 25 Mayor John McBeth-present 26 27 Meeting opened at 6:30pm with the Pledge of Allegiance. 28 29 Approval of Minutes 30 Motion to approve minutes for February 27, 2023 31 Motion by Paul Swangren, Jr second by Ryan Cochran 32 Motion carried 33 34 Visitors/Comments from Public 35 State Representative Keith Greiner presented an American and Pennsylvania flag to Council as 36 appreciation for their service. Representative Greiner is trying to stay in touch with 37 communities and be responsive within a reasonable amount of time. Mayor McBeth expressed 38 his appreciation to Representative Greiner for his service to the community. 39 Tom Burnett-question about the Environmental Protection Act testing for drinking water and 40 does the Council have a date for the testing? Susan Davidson mentioned that the testing is 41 taking place in April and October, but we do not have specific dates. When we have that 42 information staff will forward to Mr. Burnett. 43 44 Zoom- none 1  1 2 Bills-February 2023 approval of disbursements. 3 Motion by Ryan Cochran to approve the March 2023 disbursements and fund the appropriate 4 accounts for the disbursement as reviewed by the Finance Committee. Motion second by Kleon 5 Zimmerman 6 Motion carried 7 8 Reports/Announcements 9 Police Report- 10 West Earl Police Chief Eric Higgins mentioned Coffee with a Cop on Friday, March 10th 11 was a success and approximately 40 people attended. 12 Event in West Earl on April 28 to meet with police officers. “Pizza with Police.” 13 Chief will be out for a period of time and will get the reports to Council prior to that. 14 Mayor McBeth stated he received complaints about Front St parking and the use of the 15 Rail Trail spaces by those not using the Rail Trail. 16 17 Mayor Report- 18 Lancaster County Drug Task Force Annual report review 19 Nathan Imhoff asked Representative Greiner his opinion of the Lancaster County Drug 20 Task Force and its effectiveness. Representative Greiner said that antidotally there has 21 been improvement with this group. 22 Mayor got request letter for annual donation to the Lancaster County Drug Task Force. 23 24 Manager’s Report 25 Administration & Finance 26 February 2023 month -end financials have been reconciled and the March payables 27 were reviewed by the Finance Committee 28 Herbein CPAs and Advisors contacted staff regarding the 2022 audit and a meeting discussing 29 the DCED report. Herbein will also attend a public meeting to review the audit report. 30 Parks and Property 31 Monica Padgett (US Road Running) has forwarded a certificate of insurance with the 32 Borough as an additional insured. This is in regards to the 5K Runs scheduled at Roland Park. 33 Wesley Moyer from the Lancaster County Disc Golf Club spoke with staff and said they are 34 planning to replace the concrete tee pads at Roland Park starting late spring. Wesley Moyer 35 will give more detailed information in the next week. 36 Staff changed the light at the well house building at the Roland Park so that the lights point 37 down. 38 Streets 39 $113,348.87 was deposited into the Borough Highway Aid account and $9,800 for 40 Turnback on March 1, 2023. This was $2,300.00 more than the budgeted amount. 41 Pre-construction meeting for the Manor Ridge/Edgehill Drive Street project is scheduled 42 for March 15, 2023 at 1:30 p.m. at the Borough Office. 43 Public Utilities 2  1 The Sanitary Sewer Replacement Project is underway and streets have been sawcut and 2 manhole at New and Tenth Streets has been installed. 3 The final Sewer Budget from Ephrata was received and Akron Borough has a refund 4 amount of $83,105.00 which will be forwarded towards the first quarterly treatment invoice. 5 The Public Works department continues to install meters and the installation project 6 should be completed by the end of the first quarter 2023. 7 On Friday, March 10 2023 there was a water main break at Tenth and New Streets 8 Community Relations 9 Bonnie Young is scheduling Concerts in the Park which is again being sponsored by 10 Randall Justice’s Law Firm. The Mandolin’s have been scheduled for Sunday, July 2, 2023 with a 11 rain date of July 9, 2023. 12 Planning & Zoning 13 Thursday, April 6, 2023 is the next scheduled date for the Planning Commission meeting. 14 Planning members will be reviewing zoning updates. 15 There is one zoning hearing application submitted for 21 N. 7 th St owned by Reid Meyers. 16 Personnel 17 Faye Martin tendered her resignation as the Borough Administrative Assistant with last 18 day of March 17, 2023. This was an unexpected resignation. Faye has worked for the Borough 19 for the past 24 years and was also the police secretary for a number of years. She will be 20 missed. Advertising for this position was placed on Zip Recruiter, Ephrata Review, Lititz record 21 and Lancaster Newspapers. Manager’s will begin interviews as soon as resumes/applications 22 are received. 23 The finance position will be pushed back at this time because of hiring and training a 24 new Administrative Assistant. 25 The Emergency Management Coordinator position is being reviewed by the Personnel 26 Committee. 27 Other Business 28 SwiftReach-Staff has gathered information on other companies for the mass messaging 29 for emergency and non-emergency items. The other companies are more expensive than 30 Swiftreach but they offer more services. 31 Sean spoke to David Jantzi with the Whistlin Cup Coffee and he has applied for a permit 32 and it awaiting approval. 33 PSAB’s annual conference is scheduled for June 4-7, 2023 at the Hershey Lodge. More 34 information can be accessed online under the PSAB’s webpage or from staff. Please let staff 35 know if you will be attending. 36 Senator Ryan Aument is holding a breakfast with local municipalities on Tuesday, April. 37 4, 2023 at 8:30am at the Eden Resort. RSVP by March 20,2023. 38 39 Administration and Finance- 40 Ryan Cochran read into the meeting minutes the February 2023 month-end balances. 41 42 43 3  February 28, 2023 General Fund $53,453.94 Water Fund $4,354.91 Sewer Fund $193,370.31 Highway Aid $138,664.39 General Fund Reserves General Fund Reserves Restricted Restricted $158,000.00 (Goal) $144,363.00 Operating $39,364.13 Capital $423,996.54 Total $621,360.67 Total $144,363.00 Water Fund Reserves Restricted $72,992.00 Operating $233,782.88 Capital $0.00 Total $306,774.88 Sewer Fund Reserves Restricted $121,822.00 Operating $319,436.98 Capital $0.00 Total $441,258.98 Capital Projects $410.18 Community Fund $2,087.95 Non-Uniform Pension $2,440.44 Total $1,764,176.65 Escrow $6,136.78 1 4  1 2 3 4 Parks & Property-Staff sent a reminder letter to the Roland Park House tenants related to the 5 rent increase. Kleon Zimmerman mentioned that the spouting at the Broad St Park pavilion is 6 clogged. 7 8 Community Relations-Bonnie Young attended Coffee with a Cop and shared that it was a 9 success. Bonnie will be writing an accreditation article on West Earl Police Department. Bonnie 10 is scheduling summer concerts and so far, there is two scheduled. 11 Representative Greiner shared that, unfortunately, there is no state grant money for fire trucks 12 at this time, although there is 2% loan money available from states for fire companies. Fire 13 Department could borrow $200,000 at 2%. Currently there is a wait of 3-4 years for a new fire 14 truck. 15 16 Personnel Report-Faye Martin resigned as Administrative Assistant and an advertisement for 17 her replacement has been created. This is a budgeted position, but this puts a delay on the 18 financial administrator position. Paul Swangren, Jr. mentioned that a computer software 19 upgrade and training will take place when we get the new Administrative hire and this money 20 will be taken out of budget line item under computer maintenance. Review of the 21 responsibilities for new Administrative Assistant would be appropriate at this time. 22 Discussion of the Emergency Manager position and desire of Council to move forward on this 23 position. Paul Swangren, Jr. talked with Greg Leisey, the current Emergency Manager regarding 24 this position. This position has changed in the past few years. Paul suggests that he would like 25 Greg to stay on board to advise, but we need a more visible Emergency Management 26 Coordinator. There is a state process to get a new person for this position. This is a volunteer 27 position but one that is assigned. It was noted that there is a lot of training related to this 28 position. 29 Mayor McBeth commented that he would work with Council to get someone for this position, 30 but this person is appointed by the Mayor. Paul Swangren, Jr. would like direction in moving 31 forward to fill this position and suggested that he works with the Mayor and perhaps Greg to 32 come up with some names. Susan Davidson recommended that the Borough Manager also be 33 included in these discussions. 34 35 Streets Report-none 36 37 Public Utilities Report- 38 Replacing sewer lines and making good progress. Kleon Zimmerman recommended a blinking 39 light for the road closed signs. 40 Discussion on Ephrata report on sewer costs for Akron. 41 42 Public Hearings/Presentations/Appointments 43 44 Old Business 5  1 Colonial Park Pavilion discussion regarding the project plan and Mr. Spencer’s (from 2 Rosenberger) agreement to change the plans to accommodate the donation monies. Nathan 3 Imhoff met with Mr. Spencer regarding the lack of progress and willingness to continue to plan 4 for forward movement with updates to the project. -Sean Molchany met with Randall Justice 5 and to discuss issues regarding ADA accessibility and wage rates for this project. Sean feels that 6 the project will cost more than money received. 7 Nathan Imhoff met with Mr. Spencer and told him that if no forward movement takes place by 8 the agreed upon date, then the funds will be returned. Mr. Spencer agreed to additional 9 changes if necessary, to help make the project move forward. Discussion of replacing the 10 gazebo with the Pavilion as a possibility. 11 12 Food Vendor trucks-information submitted 13 Computer Software Upgrade-will help with training and is already in the budget 14 15 Correspondence and Petitions 16 The Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County distributed a letter with an update of their 17 2023 goals and one on the goals is a Lancaster County Barn Tour in October 2023. 18 19 New Business 20 Justin Gehman recommended a tree in Roland Park for Faye Martin for her many years of 21 service to the Borough. 22 23 Adjournment -Motion to adjourn by Paul Swangren, Jr. and second by Kleon Zimmerman 24 Motion carried. 25 26 Meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m. 27 28 Respectfully submitted, 29 30 Susan Davidson 31 Borough Manager/Secretary 32 33 6