City Council

1 Borough of Akron Council Meeting-October 30, 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; 8 9 Visitors: 10 John Taylor, 216 S 8th St Akron 11 Chris Beiler, 40 S. 10th St Akron 12 Max Herman, 1224 Diamond St Akron 13 Rebecca Abraham, 903 High St, Akron 14 Earianne Evangelista 126 9th St, Akron 15 Thomas Murray Jr. 219 S. 9th St Akron 16 Les Martzall 113 Windser Dr Ephrata 17 Brenden Curry Lancaster Newspapers 18 19 Zoom-None 20 21 Roll Call 22 Kleon Zimmerman-present 23 Paul Swangren, Jr-present 24 Ryan Cochran-present 25 Bonnie Young-present 26 Nathan Imhoff President-present 27 Justin Gehman Vice President-present 28 Tonya Haynes-present 29 Mayor John McBeth-present 30 31 Meeting opened at 6:32 with the Pledge of Allegiance. 32 33 Approval of Minutes 34 Motion to approve minutes for October 9, 2023 35 Motion to approve minutes for October 9, 2023 by Tonya Haynes,; second by Ryan Cochran 36 No discussion 37 Motion approved 38 39 Visitors/Comments from Public 40 1. Ephrata Area Ambulance 41 a. Less Martzall was present representing Ephrata Area Ambulance. Mr. Martzall 42 stated that they need help. They went from 57 volunteers to 8 since Covid. The 43 have had to hire paid employees to pick up the shortfall of volunteers. They had 44 204 calls in Akron Borough in 2022. Martzall asked the Borough for more 1  1 funding in 2024. They had only a 14% response rate to their fundraising mailer 2 where they sent out 12,000+ requests. He indicated that in three years they will 3 be out of funding. There was a long discussion on how they could fix the funding 4 shortfall. 5 6 2. Police Report 7 Detective Barns from West Earl Police Department invited Council to a special meeting 8 on November 8, 2023 for their Accreditation through PLEAC 9 10 Zoom-none 11 12 Reports/Announcements 13 14 Police- No Report 15 16 Mayor Report-No Report 17 18 Manager’s Report No Report 19 20 Parks & Property 21 Colonial Park pavilion has been completed picnic tables ordered. 22 Ribbon cutting will be November 18th at 11:00 am. (tentative date) for the new pavilion at the 23 Broad Street Park. Staff will contact Rosenberger to see if this date works for the event. 24 Nathan Imhoff will reach out to Randall Justice to see if he is available for the ribbon cutting 25 event. 26 27 Streets – No Report 28 29 Public Utilities 30 Sewer flows continue to look good. Kleon Zimmerman mentioned that the Oak Street sewer 31 repair has been completed. 32 33 Community Relations 34 Bonnie Young did an article on Police Accreditation, Halloween Parade, and volunteers for the 35 Shoe In 36 37 Planning & Zoning 38 No meetings scheduled at this time 39 40 Personnel 41 There was a discussion regarding appointments to Junior Council. It was suggested that Council 42 ask all three candidates to serve. Justin Gehman will invite all three candidates to the 43 November 13th meeting to be sworn in. 44 2  1 Other Business 2 Susan Davidson, Borough Manager led the Budget discussion. Davidson indicated that this is 3 the second formal discussion on the Budget and that she will highlight the changes that were 4 made at the last meeting. 5 6 Highway Aid Fund there were no changes. 7 8 Sewer Fund, Ms. Davidson stated that changes are increases to interest earnings and health 9 insurance. There is a net balance of $77,481 and that balance is proposed to be moved to 10 Sewer Reserves. 11 12 Water Fund, Ms. Davidson stated that there are increases to interest earnings, rate increase 13 from $7.00 to $8.00 per 1000 gallons, which reflect 3 quarters of billing in 2024. Lab testing 14 was increased as well as electric. There is a proposed 14.28% increase to the fund and the fund 15 is balanced at $292,314.32. 16 17 General Fund, Ms. Davidson stated that the are increases in interest earnings, cell phone, 18 advertising, dues, parks electric and contracted services. Decreases in maintenance webpage, 19 propane, Ephrata Rec Center contribution. 20 21 It was also stated that the millage rate is proposed to be increased from 3.0 mills to 3.3 mills or 22 $30.00 per $100,000 assessed value. 23 24 Bonnie Young suggested that we increase the Donation to the Ambulance Association by 25 $5000.00 there were no objections. It was also suggested by Council to decrease the webpage 26 line item by $2000.00 and remove the replacement of the chairs in the conference room for 27 $3000.00 to offset the Ambulance contribution. 28 29 Mayor John McBeth had some questions regarding the Insurance Bonding line item and he 30 suggested to check with our Solicitor take a look at our liability insurance. 31 32 There was no further Budget discussion. 33 34 On a motion by Tonya Haynes, seconded by Ryan Cochran, it was moved to have Borough Staff 35 coordinate with the Borough Solicitor the advertisement of the 2024 Akron Borough Budget. 36 Motion approved 7-0 37 38 On a motion by Ryan Cochran, seconded by Tonya Haynes it was recommended to approve 39 Borough Staff to coordinate with the Borough Solicitor the Advertisement of the 2024 Borough 40 Real Estate Increase Ordinance. Motion passed 7-0 41 42 On a motion by Ryan Cochran, seconded by Kleon Zimmerman it was recommended to approve 43 the placement of two signs for the Akron Grace EC Church Holiday Craft Show that is scheduled 3  1 to take place on November 4, 2023. The signs will be placed at 530 Main Street and 1250 Main 2 Street. Motion carried 7-0 3 4 On a motion by Justin Gehman, seconded by Paul Swangren it was recommended to adjourn 5 the meeting at 8:58 pm. Motion carried 7-0 6 7 Respectfully submitted, 8 9 Susan Davidson 10 Borough Manager/Secretary 4