City Council

1 Borough of Akron Council Meeting-November 13, 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, Asst 7 Borough Manager; Valerie Wagner, Finance Director/Office Manager; Suzanne Lausch, Minute 8 Taker 9 10 Visitors: 11 John Taylor, 216 S 8th St Akron 12 Tom Murray Jr. 219 S. 11th St Akron 13 Sue Glick 119 S. 10th St Akron 14 Tom Burnett 724 Fulton St. Akron 15 Chief Eric Higgins, West Earl Police Department 16 Brenden Curry LNP & Ephrata Review 17 Earianne Evangelista-Junior Council Member-126 S. 9 th St Akron 18 Rebecca Abraham-Junior Council Member-903 High St. Akron 19 Max Herman-Junior Council Member-1229 Diamond St. Akron 20 21 22 Roll Call 23 Kleon Zimmerman-present 24 Paul Swangren, Jr-present 25 Ryan Cochran-present 26 Bonnie Young-present 27 Nathan Imhoff President-present 28 Justin Gehman Vice President-present 29 Tonya Haynes-present 30 Mayor John McBeth-present 31 32 Meeting opened at 6:33pm with the Pledge of Allegiance. 33 34 Motion to appoint Akron Junior Council Members 35 Paul Swangren, Jr moved to appoint Max Herman as an Akron Borough Junior Council Member 36 until the end of the 2023/2024 school year; second by Ryan Cochran 37 Bonnie Young moved to appoint Rebecca Abraham as an Akron Borough Junior Council 38 Member until the end of the 2023/2024 school year; second by Justin Gehman 39 Ryan Cochran moved to appoint Earianne Evangelista as an Akron Borough Junior Council 40 Member until the end of the 2023/2024 school year; second by Kleon Zimmerman 41 Motions approved 42 Swearing in of Akron Junior Council Members by Mayor McBeth 43 44 Approval of Minutes 1  1 Motion to approve minutes for October 30, 2023 Council Meeting 2 Motion to approve minutes for by Paul Swangren, Jr; second by Tonya Haynes 3 No discussion 4 Motion approved 5 Visitors/Comments from Public 6 Mr. Tom Burnett reminded council about the luminary walk. Offered that 32 tasks have been 7 taken by volunteers. 8 Zoom-none 9 Bills 10 Ryan Cochran moved to approve the September 2023, Board of Akron disbursements and fund 11 the appropriate account for the disbursements as reviewed by the Finance committee. Sewer 12 was higher due to Authority payment. Second by Kleon Zimmerman 13 Motion carried 14 15 Reports/Announcements 16 Police- West Earl Police Chief Higgins mentioned that the October report not completed and 17 will be completed by the next Akron Council meeting. Chief Higgins thanked Council members 18 for showing up for accreditation event. Police presence will be at the tree lighting and the Shoe 19 Drop. 20 Mayor Report-Request to close N. 9th St from Main to Fulton for the annual tree lighting 21 beginning at 6pm. Mayor approved closure for that time frame. 22 23 Manager’s Report 24 Administration & Finance 25 Month end financials for October 2023 have been reconciled 26 November 2023 payables will be reviewed by the Finance Committee 27 Council, Mayor and staff met on Monday, October 30, 2023 to discuss the proposed 2024 28 budget. A proposal for the General Fund included a real estate tax increase from 3mils to 3.3 29 mils. A proposal for the Water fund included an increase from $7/1000 gallons to $8/1000 30 gallons. No increase for sewer rates and no proposed projects in 2024 for Highway Aid/ street 31 projects. Staff advertised the proposed 2024 budget for public inspection and the Borough 32 Solicitor advertised the 2024 proposed tax ordinance for December 11, 2023 adoption. 33 Staff will have the proposed 2024 meeting advertisement including the reorganization meeting 34 advertisement in the November 27, 2023 packet. The reorganizational meeting is scheduled for 35 Tuesday, January 2, 2024. Nathan Imhoff suggested the 2024 Re-Organizational meeting begin 36 at 6:00 p.m. 37 38 Parks & Property 39 Staff reached out to Rosenberger with the date of November 18, 2023 for the ribbon cutting for 40 the new Colonial Park Pavilion; this date does not work for Ryan at Rosenberger. Staff 41 contacted Tonya Haynes with other available dates and is waiting for reply. 42 Cameras have been installed at the Broad Street Park in September because of ongoing 43 vandalism. The video was given to the West Earl Police Department pending investigation. 44 Presently no other vandalism has occurred. 2  1 The Luminary walk hosted by the Pilgrim Mennonite Church is scheduled for Saturday, 2 December 9, 2023 at Roland Park from 6: 00p.m to 8:00 p.m. (Rain date December 16, 2023). 3 Staff received certificate of insurance for the walk. 4 The US Road Running has requested use of the Roland Park again in 2024 for the third Saturday 5 of each month. The US Road Running organization used the Roland Park during the Spring of 6 2023. No issues reported to/by staff. 7 8 Streets 9 Borough staff provided roadway widths to the engineer back in June 2023 and they are 10 currently in the process of entering data into the CS Datum and preparing a roadway plan. Staff 11 would like to have a presentation for Council by the end of the year. 12 13 Public Utilities 14 Sewer flows continue to look good 15 451 S. Ninth Street inlet work: PPL has indicated that the pole next to the inlet must be 16 relocated. Staff is working with the contractor for alternate repair methods. 17 The standpipe and reservoir work are scheduled for October 31, 2023 for both exterior and 18 interior. Inspection has been completed and results pending. 19 Valve repair on Fulton Street was completed on Wednesday, November 8 th 2023. 20 Water/Sewer bills will be mailed on Wednesday, November 15, 2023. 21 22 Community Relations 23 Bonnie Young wrote articles on the Christmas Tree Lighting event scheduled for Friday, 24 November 24, 2023 at W-Donuts Parking Lot as well as the Luminary walk that will take place 25 on December 9, 2023 at the Roland Park. 26 Katrina and Kleon Zimmerman have been hanging Christmas Wreaths along Main Street in 27 preparation for the upcoming holidays and tree lighting event. 28 29 Planning & Zoning 30 Thursday, December 7, 2023 is the next Borough planning commission meeting regarding the 31 Bollinger Subdivision Land Development Plan for N. Eleventh St. Akron 32 33 Personnel 34 Staff was contacted by Randy Gockley on October 30, 2023 regarding the updated Emergency 35 Management Plan and should be completed by January 8, 2024 or earlier. 36 Valerie Wagner was hired as the new fulltime Finance Director/Office Manager and began 37 employment on Monday, November 6, 2023. Valerie is a resident of Akron Borough and the 38 first week of transition ran smoothly. 39 The new Junior Council Members appointment is scheduled for the Monday, November 13, 40 2023 Council meeting. 41 42 Other Business 43 HVMI update construction is completed for 2023. Construction will resume in spring of 2024. 3  1 The New Year’s Eve Committee will meet on Wednesday, November 15, 2023 to continue 2 planning this year’s Shoe-In. The committee needs more volunteers. 3 Akron Council and the Mayor attended the West Earl Police Department Accreditation 4 Ceremony on Wednesday, November 8, 2032 to extend congratulations and their ongoing 5 support for the West Earl Police Department, 6 7 Board Vacancies 8 Building Code Appeals Board 9 Planning Commission 10 11 Finance-reviewed by Ryan Cochran 12 Fund balances October 31, 2023 13 General Fund-$174,769.46 General Fund Reserves 14 Water Fund-$901.71 Restricted (Goal) $144,363.00 15 Sewer Fund-$87,368.79 Total-$144,363.00 16 Highway Aid-$53,013.19 17 General Fund Reserves 18 Restricted-$158,000.00 19 Operating-$78,985.75 20 Capital-$116,153.54 21 Total-$353,139.29 22 Water Fund Reserves 23 Restricted-$72,992.00 24 Operating-$213,934.21 25 Capital-$0.00 26 Total-$286,926.21 27 Sewer Fund Reserves 28 Restricted-$121,822.00 29 Operating-$166,526.54 30 Capital-$0.00 31 Total-$288,348.54 32 Capital Projects-$1,626.88 33 Community Fund-2,087.95 34 Non-Uniform Pension-$3,764.64 35 Total-$1,251,946.66 36 Escrow-$6,345.50 37 38 Parks & Property 39 Tonya Haynes reported about the grant for Roland Park for the rain garden and erosion fixes for 40 the Roland Park stream embankment. Announced that there will be a ribbon cutting for the 41 new Colonial Park Pavilion with date to be announced. A date of November 18, 2023 was 42 recommended for the ribbon cutting. Tonya recommended a January 2024 date and that it 43 would be a Saturday and Justin Gehman recommended moving it to spring for better weather. 4  1 US Road Running for 2024 has requested to again use Roland Park for the third Saturday of the 2 month. Sean Molchany recommended that Council ask for portion of the profits from the 3 running club. 4 Discussion on logistics and actual usage of the club. Nathan Imhoff requested that staff request 5 the presence of the running coordinator at the next meeting to give specifics to Council. 6 7 Community Relations 8 Bonnie Young contacted photographers for accreditation of WEPD. Working on article for the 9 ribbon cutting for the Colonial Park Pavilion. 10 Bonnie Young wrote articles on the Christmas Tree Lighting event scheduled for Friday, 11 November 24, 2023 at W-Donuts parking lot as well as the Luminary Walk that will take place 12 on December 9, 2023 at the Roland Park. 13 14 Personnel Report 15 Junior Council members present this evening. Paul Swangren, Jr. thanked Justin Gehman for 16 recommending and coordinating the Junior Council Members. Bonnie Young recommended 17 that if the Junior Council Members would like to volunteer in Akron activities to ask staff. 18 Nathan Imhoff recommended that the Junior Council members be the liaison to the younger 19 generation in Akron. Earianne Evangelista volunteered to advertise via the AM report at the 20 Ephrata School. 21 22 Streets Report-Patch and seal completed on New Street 23 24 Public Utilities Report-sewer numbers in council packets. House bill 1619 information in 25 Council books which is a bill to introduce legislation regarding duplicative utility poles in the 26 commonwealth. Akron staff provided photos of these type of duplicate poles in Akron which 27 was helpful to the representatives sponsoring this bill. 28 29 Public Hearings/Presentations/Appointments 30 Old Business 31 32 New Business 33 A. Resolutions 34 B. Ordinances 35 C. Motions and Decisions 36 a. 37 D. Acknowledgments 38 E. Other Business/Deliberations 39 F. Correspondence and Petitions 40 G. Executive Session 41 Additional Comment: 42 43 Adjournment -Motion to adjourn at 7:21 pm by Paul Swangren, Jr. second by Kleon 44 Zimmerman 5  1 Motion carried. 2 3 Meeting adjourned. 4 5 Respectfully submitted, 6 7 Susan Davidson 8 Borough Manager/Secretary 9 10 SD 11 6