City Council

1 Borough of Akron Council Meeting-October 9, 2023 2 3 Council Members Present: Nathan Imhoff-President; Justin Gehman-Vice President, Kleon 4 Zimmerman, Paul Swangren, Jr. , Ryan Cochran, Bonnie Young, Tonya Haynes. 5 6 Others Present: Mayor John McBeth, Susan Davidson, Borough Manager; Sean Molchany, 7 Assistant Borough Manager; Suzanne Lausch, Minute Taker 8 9 Visitors: 10 John Taylor, 216 S 8th St Akron 11 Sue Glick 119 S. 10th St Akron 12 Tom Burnett 724 Fulton St. Akron 13 Abby Balmer, Ephrata Public Library 14 Laura Brandt, Ephrata Public Library 15 Chris Beiler, 40 S. 10th St Akron 16 Heather Martin-46 Knollwood Dr. Akron 17 Chief Eric Higgins, West Earl Police Department 18 Maria Rotella-Ephrata Recreation Center 19 20 Roll Call 21 Kleon Zimmerman-present 22 Paul Swangren, Jr-present 23 Ryan Cochran-present 24 Bonnie Young-present 25 Nathan Imhoff President-present 26 Justin Gehman Vice President-present 27 Tonya Haynes-present 28 Mayor John McBeth-present 29 30 Meeting opened at 6:32 with the Pledge of Allegiance. 31 32 Approval of Minutes 33 Motion to approve minutes for September 11 and September 18, 2023 34 Motion to approve minutes for September 11 by Paul Swangren, Jr; second by Kleon 35 Zimmerman-11th 36 No discussion 37 Motion approved 38 Motion to approve September 18, 2023 minutes-budget meeting 39 Motion to approve Paul Swangren, Jr; second by Justin Gehman 40 Discussion: Page 3 line 13 3.0-3.3ml or 3.35 ml (change “to” to “or”) 41 Motion approved 42 Visitors/Comments from Public 43 1. Ephrata Recreation Center-Maria Rotella representative. 1  1 a. Maria discussed the Ephrata Recreation Center’s summer municipal camps for 2 2024. Informational brochure handed out to Council and Mayor. Four new 3 camps added this year including youth pickle ball, boys’ volleyball and girls’ 4 basketball and paper crafting. Enrollment was down this year so budget request 5 is down a bit due to lower enrollment. Breakdown of municipalities to show 6 number of participants in Akron. 7 2. Ephrata Public Library 8 a. Abby Balmer interim director handed out a power point presentation to Council 9 and Mayor. 10 b. Abby reviewed her current role as interim director at Ephrata Public Library. 11 c. Abby reviewed stats from Ephrata Library; increase of people accessing the 12 library since 2021 to 2023 13 d. Akron circulation stats: 34,000 items 14 e. Circulation staff handle library circulation and questions from the public 15 f. Summer reading program was successful over 200 programs this summer 16 g. Many programs offered at the library span over a lifetime 17 h. Full time programing manager with several assistants 18 i. Passport office has employees from library and this helps fund the library 19 j. Tonya Haynes asked about 2022 statistics and whether there was any for 2023 20 k. Also asked about workforce development and if participants are required to be 21 from local areas 22 l. Bonnie Young said that borrowed items was impressive from Akron 23 m. Tonya Haynes was impressed by number of programs offered by the library for 24 all ages 25 n. Mayor McBeth asked about the HUB building. The library owns the building and 26 the land of the HUB building. It is called the “Community Commons”. Ephrata 27 Borough owns the building and the land for the library. The Community 28 Commons is a partnership of community groups. The Mayor also asked if there is 29 a separate financial statement for the Community Commons building? Abby 30 Balmer replied no that it is included in the library statement. Mayor commented 31 that the rent was very small. 32 o. Ryan Cochran asked Abby Balmer to describe her interim status and what is the 33 process for moving forward. Abby took over the end of July 2023 and the board 34 of directors is in charge of the search for a new director. Abby will be applying 35 for the position. 36 p. Akron Council and Abby looking for better relationship with the Ephrata Public 37 Library. 38 q. Heather Martin commented that she was at a meeting last year where it was 39 stated that if the winter weather was mild some additional funds may be added 40 to the library donation. Nathan Imhoff commented that the budget is currently 41 being discussed. 42 Zoom-none 43 Bills 2  1 Ryan Cochran moved to approve the September 2023, Board of Akron disbursements and fund 2 the appropriate account for the disbursements as reviewed by the Finance committee. Second 3 by Kleon Zimmerman 4 Motion carried 5 6 Reports/Announcements 7 Police- report submitted to council 8 Mayor Report-none 9 10 Manager’s Report 11 Administration & Finance 12 Month end financials for September 2023 have been reconciled 13 The Finance Committee reviewed the October 2023 payables 10-9-2023 14 Council, Mayor and staff met on Monday, September 18,2023 to discuss the proposed 2024 15 budget. A Real Estate tax increase for the General Fund was proposed; from the current 3 mls 16 to 3.3 mls. For the Water Fund an increase of $7/1,000 gallons to $8/1000 gallons was 17 proposed. No increase for sewer rates and no proposed projects in 2024 for Highway Aid. 18 Staff prepared an edited copy of the proposed 2024 budget for the council and mayor prior to 19 the October 9, 2023 council meeting. If council approves a real estate tax increase, an 20 ordinance for advertisement must be approved by November 13, 2023. 21 Minimum Municipal Obligation-MMOs have been completed for the Non-Uniform Pension plan 22 and mailed to Council and Mayor for approval at the October 8, 2023 meeting. 23 24 Parks & Property 25 Colonial Park pavilion has been completed but waiting for final inspection. Final inspection 26 could not take place until the final grading was completed. 27 Additional PPL pole needs relocated to run electric underground which would eliminate two 28 PPL poles 29 Cameras have been installed at the Broad St Park in September because of ongoing vandalism 30 Staff met with Chad from C.S. Davidson and reviewed the storm water project at Roland Park 31 32 Streets 33 The repair work on Tenth and New streets will take place on Friday, 13, 2023 and letters will be 34 sent to residents of the work being completed. 35 Staff met with Chief Higgins and Sgt. Ray in regard to an issue of farm tractors speeding on 36 Main St. This occurs in the spring and the fall of the year and has become a safety and nuisance 37 issue. There was an accident on Main St. caused by a car swerving to avoid the tractor and 38 subsequently hit a parked car. The driver of the tractor did not stop and both cars had to be 39 towed. The police chief will have his department watching on Main Street for any speeding 40 tractors and tractors that do not have the load covered. 41 Borough staff provided roadway widths to the engineer back in June 2023 and they are 42 currently preparing a roadway plan. The final ride along with staff is scheduled for the week of 43 October 19, 2023. Staff will have a presentation for council by the end of the year. 3  1 A Liquid Fuels (Highway Aid) audit was conducted by the Auditor General’s Office on September 2 28, 2023 for the years 2023 and 2022. There were no findings or recommendations. 3 4 Public Utilities 5 Sewer flows continue to look good. 6 Received the 2024 sewer treatment numbers and amortization numbers from Ephrata Borough. 7 The 2024 treatment numbers came in at $335,660.00 as compared to $427,185.00 in 2023 (a 8 difference of $91,525.00). The 2024 amortization numbers came in at $208,780 as compared to 9 $186,767.00 in 2023 (a difference of $22,013.00). 10 Received an estimate on the inlet repair at 451 S. Ninth St and staff does not have an exact 11 date, but the work should be finished by the end of the year. S. Ninth St. will be closed 12 intermittently for this work. 13 The standpipe and reservoir work are scheduled for October 31, 2023 for both exterior and 14 interior. 15 The annual MS4 report was sent to DEP by September 30, 2023. All full-time staff met with C. S. 16 Davidson to review our current MS4 reporting and paperwork to make sure we are prepared 17 for any unscheduled audits by EPA. 18 19 Community Relations 20 Bonnie Young did an article on the Akron Volunteer Fire Company Halloween Parade. The 21 parade will take place on Wednesday, October 25, 2023. 22 23 Planning & Zoning 24 No meetings scheduled at this time 25 26 Personnel 27 The Emergency Management Coordinator proposal was approved at the August 28, 2023 28 Council meeting and the signed copy was sent back to Randy Gockley. Staff met with Randy 29 Gockley to review the next steps for updating the plan. The meeting went well and the plan 30 should be completed by December 2023 or January 2024. 31 Staff moved forward with the advertising for the Director of Finance and scheduled interviews 32 for the week of September 11, 2023. Staff did interview and called back an applicant who is 33 qualified and would like to offer the job to this person. Personnel committee would like to 34 discuss this issue in Executive Sesson on Monday, October 9, 2023. 35 36 Other Business 37 Violation/ Weed letters continue to be sent out addressing grass and weeds at the curb line. 38 HVMI work is ongoing with the water line work and meter pit. 39 The New Year’s Eve Committee met on Tuesday, October 3 rd to plan the next Shoe-In. Cindy 40 Hoffert is the new chairperson as Daryll Witmer has stepped down but will continue to serve on 41 the committee. The committee needs more volunteers. 42 43 Board Vacancies 44 Building Code Appeals Board 4  1 Planning Commission 2 3 Finance-reviewed by Ryan Cochran 4 Fund balances September 30, 2023 5 General Fund-$317,543.67 General Fund Reserves 6 Water Fund-$17,065.34 Restricted (Goal) $144,363.00 7 Sewer Fund-$191,159.75 Total-$144,363.00 8 Highway Aid-$52,781.68 9 General Fund Reserves 10 Restricted-$158,000.00 11 Operating-$117,273.27 12 Capital-$116,153.54 13 Total-$391,426.81 14 Water Fund Reserves 15 Restricted-$72,992.00 16 Operating-$219,322.32 17 Capital-$0.00 18 Total-$292,314.32 19 Sewer Fund Reserves 20 Restricted-$121,822.00 21 Operating-$203,491.44 22 Capital-$0.00 23 Total-$325,313.44 24 Capital Projects-$1,261.48 25 Community Fund-2,087.95 26 Non-Uniform Pension-$3,764.64 27 Total-$1,594,719.08 28 Escrow-$6,317.39 29 30 Parks & Property 31 Tonya Haynes shared that there is a grant for a rain garden but it is still in the design phase. 32 Colonial Park Pavilion is completed but needs a final inspection for the grading. Nathan Imhoff 33 would like to do a small ribbon cutting with Rosenberger and invite Randall Justice to the 34 ceremony. 35 36 Community Relations 37 Bonnie Young wrote about the Akron Fire Company Halloween Parade on October 25, 2023. 38 Spoke with Representative Greiner and Representative Aument for a possible grant for new fire 39 engine but is not looking hopeful. Justin Gehman had asked Bonnie to look into a grant for a 40 new fire engine. Grant is a reimbursable grant meaning the Borough must cover the cost before 41 the grant is released. Grant opens from September to November 2023. 42 43 Personnel Report 44 No report-will move to executive session later in meeting 5  1 2 Streets Report-none 3 4 Public Utilities Report-none 5 6 Public Hearings/Presentations/Appointments 7 Old Business 8 9 New Business 10 Susan Davidson, Borough Manager is requesting another budget meeting. 11 Five students interested in being Jr. Council members and Justin Gehman would like them 12 included in the discussion. 13 A. Resolutions 14 B. Ordinances 15 C. Motions and Decisions 16 a. Ryan Cochran motioned to approve the Non-Uniform Minimum Municipal 17 Obligation (MMO) for the 2024 non-Uniform Pension in the amount of 18 $39,319.00 second by Paul Swangren, Jr. Motion carried. 19 b. Kleon Zimmerman motioned to approve the Akron Volunteer Fire Company 20 2023 donation remainder $17,500. Second by Bonnie Young. Motion carried 21 c. Motion to approve the Ephrata Public Library 2023 donation remainder 22 $10,600 for 2023 could be used for the upgrade of PCs which exceeds 23 $10,000.00. Original motion did not include that specific item, but could that be amended to 24 include these items. 25 1. Ryan Cochran moved to approve the $10,600.00; second by 26 Bonnie Young and approved the monies for the upgrade of the 27 PCs and monitors. Motion carried. 28 29 d. Paul Swangren, Jr. motioned to go into Executive Session to discuss personnel 30 issue; second by Kleon Zimmerman; motion carried time: 7:38 pm. 31 e. Motion by Paul Swangren, Jr to resume Regular meeting at 7:54pm; second by 32 Kleon Zimmerman; motion carried 33 f. Motion by Paul Swangren, Jr to hire the Budgeted Position of Finance 34 Director/Office Manager; second by Ryan Cochran; motion carried 7-0. 35 D. Acknowledgments 36 E. Other Business/Deliberations 37 a. Justin Gehman indicated that he and Bonnie Young met with the Ephrata 38 School Guidance Counselors regarding the Jr. Council Member. Justin 39 indicated that there are five candidates for the position. 40 b. It was suggested that the Personnel Committee interview the Candidates at 41 the next meeting giving each candidate 5 minutes to present themselves. 42 c. There was a discussion with the Board regarding attendance at the October 43 23rd Council meeting. Due to lack of quorum, it was suggested to move the 44 meeting to October 30th. 6  1 d. On a motion by Tonya Haynes, seconded by Ryan Cochran it was 2 recommended to cancel the October 23rd , 2023 meeting and reschedule the 3 meeting for October 30th, 2023 with personnel meeting starting at 6:00 pm 4 and the regular meeting to start at 6:30 p.m. The Budget will be discussed as 5 part of the 6:30 p.m. Meeting. Motion carried 7-0. 6 F. Correspondence and Petitions 7 8 Additional Comment: 9 10 Adjournment -Motion to adjourn at 8:05 pm by Paul Swangren, Jr. second by Justin Gehman 11 Motion carried 12 13 Respectfully submitted, 14 15 Susan Davidson 16 Borough Manager/Secretary 17 18 SD 7