City Council

1 Borough of Akron Council Meeting-December 11, 2023 2 3 Council Members Present: Nathan Imhoff-President: Justin Gehman, Vice- 4 President; Kleon Zimmerman, Paul Swangren, Jr., Ryan Cochran, Bonnie Young, 5 Tonya Haynes (phone), Rebecca Abraham-Junior Council Member, Max Herman- 6 Junior Council Member 7 8 Others Present: Mayor John McBeth, Susan Davidson, Borough Manager; Sean 9 Molchany, Asst Borough Manager; Valerie Wagner, Director of Finance; Suzanne 10 Lausch, Minute Taker 11 12 Visitors: 13 Larry Alexander, Ephrata Review 14 John Taylor, 216 S 8th St Akron 15 Thomas Murray Jr. 219 S. 11th St Akron 16 Sue Glick 119 S. 10th St Akron 17 Tom Burnett 724 Fulton St. Akron 18 Warren Bingeman, 412 Edgehill Drive, Akron 19 Chief Eric Higgins, West Earl Police Department 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-Phone 29 Mayor John McBeth-present 30 Earianne Evangelista-Junior Council Member-absent 31 Rebecca Abraham-Junior Council Member-present 32 Max Herman-Junior Council Member-present 33 34 Meeting opened at 6:30 pm with the Pledge of Allegiance. 35 36 Approval of Minutes 37 Motion to approve minutes for November 27, 2023 Council Meeting 1  1 Motion to approve minutes by Paul Swangren, Jr, second by Ryan Cochran 2 No discussion 3 Motion approved 4 5 Visitors/Comments from Public 6 Tom Burnett thanked Council and Borough staff and the West Earl Police 7 Department for attending the luminary walk at the Roland Park on Saturday, 8 December 9, 2023. Approximately 360-380 participants 9 Sue Glick also helped at the luminary walk and thanked the council. 10 Visitor questioned increase in taxes and was interested in the reasons for the 11 increase 12 13 Zoom-none 14 Bills 15 Ryan Cochran moved to approve the December 2023, Board of Akron 16 disbursements and fund the appropriate account for the disbursements as 17 reviewed by the Finance committee. Second by Kleon Zimmerman 18 Motion carried 19 20 Reports/Announcements 21 Police 22 Chief Eric Higgins mentioned that the November 2023 West Earl Police 23 Department report was submitted to Akron Council and Mayor. 24 Nathan Imhoff requested to put the speed sign on S. 10th St as several residents 25 were requesting this due to speeding on this street 26 Paul Swangren, Jr. thanked the West Earl Police Department for attending and 27 assisting in an accident at his place of work and commended them on their 28 professionalism. 29 30 Mayor Report- 31 Mayor McBeth commented on the positive luminary comments from the 32 community 33 34 Manager’s Report 35 Administration & Finance 36 November 2023 month-end financials have been reconciled 37 December 2023 payables will be reviewed by the finance committee 2  1 2024 Proposed Budget includes a proposal for a real estate tax increase from 3 2 mils to 3.3 mils and an increase from $7.00 per 1000 gallons to $8.00 per 1000 3 gallons for the Water Fund; 4 Staff advertised the proposed 2024 budget for public inspection and the Borough 5 Solicitor advertised the 2024 proposed tax ordinance for December 11, 2024 6 adoption. These items are on the December 11, 2024 Council meeting agenda 7 along with a Resolution increasing water rates. 8 Staff will have the proposed 2024 meeting advertisement including the 9 Reorganization meeting advertisement on the Council meeting agenda for 10 December 11, 2024. The Reorganizational meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 11 January 2, 2024. 12 Herbein Co. will be contacting staff before the end of the year to prepare for the 13 2023 audit. 14 15 Parks & Property 16 No issues of vandalism have been reported since the installation of the cameras 17 at the Broad St. Park restrooms 18 Pilgrim Mennonite Church sponsored luminary walk is scheduled for Saturday, 19 December 9, 2023 20 The US Road Running organization submitted their Certificate of Insurance for 21 2024. 22 23 Streets 24 Borough staff provided roadway widths to the engineer in June 2023 and they are 25 currently entering the data into the CS Datum in preparation for a roadway plan. 26 Staff would like to have a presentation for Council in early 2024. 27 Borough vehicles are ready for winter and plow routes have been designated and 28 driven by PW employees. Road salt was delivered a month ago. 29 Public Utilities 30 Hydrant flushing went well. During flushing a hydrant wouldn’t shut off so it will 31 need to be replaced. 32 Sewer flows continue to look good 33 Inlet work on S. Ninth St has been completed 34 Inspection of the standpipe and reservoir work was completed on October 31, 35 2023 for both the interior and exterior. Results are pending 36 Water/Sewer bills are due on Friday, December 15, 2023 37 3  1 Community Relations 2 The fourth annual Christmas Tree Lighting took place on November 24, 2023 in 3 the W Donuts Parking Lot and had a huge turnout. Thanks to Katrina and Kleon 4 Zimmerman for their hard work making this event so successful. 5 6 Planning & Zoning 7 Sean Molchany shared that staff need to have all of the administrative items in 8 order for the Bollinger Subdivision Land Development Plan prior to presenting to 9 the board. 10 Planning Commission meeting was scheduled for Thursday, December 7, 2023 for 11 the Bollinger Subdivision Land Development Plan on N. Eleventh St 12 No Zoning Hearings scheduled at this time 13 14 Personnel 15 Staff was contacted by Randy Gockley on October 30, 2023 and shared that the 16 Emergency Management Plan updates should be completed by January 8, 2024 or 17 earlier and will keep staff updated. 18 Valerie Wagner employment position as the new Full-time Finance Director/Office 19 Manager is going extremely well. 20 E-mails for the new Junior Council Members have been set up by staff. 21 22 Other Business 23 The Akron Authority met this evening for their annual meeting and included 24 Susan Davidson, Pam Musser and Mayor McBeth 25 The New Year’s Eve committee met again on Saturday, December 2, 2023. 26 The Ephrata Scout Troop 38 will be building the bonfire this year. Shoes will be 27 collected again this year and this event has been advertised with hopes for a good 28 turnout. 29 30 Board Vacancies 31 Building Code Appeals Board 32 Planning Commission 33 34 Finance-reviewed by Ryan Cochran 35 Fund balances November 30, 2023 36 General Fund-$185,454.72 General Fund Reserves 37 Water Fund-$3,546.29 Restricted (Goal) $144,363.00 4  1 Sewer Fund-$82,124.86 Total-$144,363.00 2 Highway Aid-$53,238.99 3 General Fund Reserves 4 Restricted-$158,000.00 5 Operating-$80,560.01 6 Capital-$116,153.54 7 Total-$354,713.55 8 Water Fund Reserves 9 Restricted-$72,992.00 10 Operating-$215,239.70 11 Capital-$0.00 12 Total-$288,231.70 13 Sewer Fund Reserves 14 Restricted-$121,822.00 15 Operating-$92,486.46 16 Capital-$0.00 17 Total-$214,308.46 18 Capital Projects-$1,633.71 19 Community Fund-2,087.95 20 Non-Uniform Pension-$3,764.64 21 Total-$1,189,104.87 22 Escrow-$6,372.96 23 24 Parks & Property 25 Nothing 26 27 Community Relations 28 Bonnie requested photographer to take pictures for recent events in Akron 29 including the Tree lighting and luminary walk 30 31 Personnel Report 32 Nothing 33 34 Streets Report- 35 Nothing 36 Akron Borough Public Works Director Thomas Murray, Jr. stated that 188 LED 37 streetlights have been installed by PPL 5  1 2 Public Utilities Report- 3 Nothing 4 Public Hearings/Presentations/Appointments 5 Old Business 6 Nathan Imhoff requested that Council consider and additional donation to the 7 Ephrata Public Library in the amount of $4,000.00 for the monitor and computer 8 upgrades. Nathan requested that council consider this additional donation as a 9 good faith effort. Nathan asked council to consider this donation as this was not a 10 request from the Ephrata Public Library. Paul Swangren, Jr. reminded Council that 11 the Digital literacy grant donated approximately $2,000.00 towards the 12 $4,000.00. Bonnie Young stated that the budget is allowing $20,000.00 for the 13 2024 year. Paul said that the $4,000.00 could be used for other Borough projects. 14 Justin Gehman questioned the finances and whether there are monies available. 15 Susan Davidson said that the Ninth St inlet project went a few thousand over. 16 Nathan thanked council for discussion. No motion made for the additional 17 $4,000.00 for the EPL. 18 19 New Business 20 A. Resolutions 21 B. Ordinances 22 C. Motions and Decisions 23 Ryan Cochran made a motion to approve Herbein Co as auditors for the 24 2023 Annual Audit; second by Paul Swangren, Jr 25 Discussion on length of time Borough has used Herbein Co and it is 26 approximately seven years. 27 Motion approved 28 29 Kleon Zimmerman made a motion to approve $2,077,600.00 for the 30 2024 budget General Fund; second by Ryan Cochran (Increase of 6.97%) 31 Tonya Haynes-yes 32 Nathan Imhoff-yes 33 Bonnie Young-yes 34 Kleon Zimmerman-yes 35 Justin Gehman-yes 36 Ryan Cochran-yes 37 Paul Swangren, Jr.-no 6  1 Motion carried. 2 3 Ryan Cochran moved to approve $551,550 for the Water Fund for the 4 2024 budget. Second by Justin Gehman (Increase of 13.49%) 5 Tonya Haynes-yes 6 Bonnie Young-yes 7 Kleon Zimmerman-yes 8 Nathan Imhoff-yes 9 Justin Gehman-yes 10 Paul Swangren, Jr. -yes 11 Ryan Cochran-yes 12 Motion carried 13 14 Paul Swangren, Jr made a motion to approve 1,006,315.00 for the Sewer 15 Fund for the 2024 Budget; second by Justin Gehman (Increase of 0.55%) 16 Tonya Haynes-yes 17 Bonnie Young-yes 18 Nathan Imhoff-yes 19 Justin Gehman-yes 20 Paul Swangren, Jr.-yes 21 Ryan Cochran-yes 22 Kleon Zimmerman-yes 23 Motion carried. 24 25 Justin Gehman made a motion to approve the 2024 budget Highway Aid 26 $175, 834.00; second by Bonnie. (Decrease 31.93%) 27 Tonya Haynes-yes 28 Bonnie Young-yes 29 Nathan Imhoff-yes 30 Justin Gehman-yes 31 Paul Swangren, Jr.-yes 32 Ryan Cochran-yes 33 Kleon Zimmerman-yes 34 Motion carried. 35 36 37 7  1 Kleon Zimmerman made a motion to approve Ordinance #23-003 the 2 2024 Real Estate Tax Millage Increase Ordinance which increases the 3 real estate tax from 3 mils to 3.3 mils for the 2024 tax year; second by 4 Ryan Cochran. 5 Tonya Haynes-yes 6 Bonnie Young-yes 7 Nathan Imhoff-yes 8 Justin Gehman-yes 9 Paul Swangren, Jr. -no 10 Ryan Cochran-yes 11 Kleon Zimmerman- yes 12 Motion carried. 13 14 Ryan Cochran made a motion to approve Resolution #23-008 which 15 increases the water rates from $7.00 per each 1,000 gallons to $8.00 per 16 each 1,000 gallons. Water Rate Increase Resolution; second by Kleon 17 Zimmerman (begins February 1, 2024) (Increase of 13.49%) 18 Tonya Haynes-yes 19 Bonnie Young-yes 20 Nathan Imhoff-yes 21 Justin Gehman-yes 22 Paul Swangren, Jr.-yes 23 Ryan Cochran-yes 24 Kleon Zimmerman-yes 25 26 Paul Swangren, Jr made a motion to approve the 2024 Health Insurance 27 Renewal through Benecon; second by Bonnie Young 28 Motion carried. 29 30 Ryan Cochran made a motion to approve the Section 125 Premium Only 31 Plan Resolution/Agreement; second by Kleon Zimmerman 32 Motion carried. 33 34 Paul Swangren, Jr made a motion to approve the 2024 Re-Organizational 35 Meeting Advertisement and to authorize Borough Staff to advertise the 36 Advertisement; second by Ryan Cochran. Motion carried. 37 8  1 Justin Gehman made a motion to approve the 2024 Council and 2 Committee meeting Schedule and 2024 Meeting Advertisement and to 3 authorize Borough Staff to advertise the advertisement; second by Ryan 4 Cochran 5 Motion carried 6 7 D. Correspondence and Petitions 8 a. Letter received from Keith Greiner for support of the Borough’s 9 request for a grant award from the Commonwealth Financing 10 Authority Local Share Account (LSA) for the Maintenance Building 11 Renovation plan. 12 Additional Comment: 13 Susan Davidson mentioned that she e-mailed Council members letting them know 14 that she has the certificates of election and will have them for the newly elected 15 Council members to present before they are sworn in. Davidson will also have 16 copies of the residency affidavit that needs to be completed at the Re- 17 Organizational meeting for the newly elected Council members. 18 19 Adjournment -Motion to adjourn at 7:27 pm by Paul Swangren, Jr. second by 20 Justin Gehman Zimmerman 21 Motion carried. 22 23 Meeting adjourned. 24 25 Respectfully submitted, 26 27 Susan Davidson 28 Akron Borough Manager/Secretary 29 30 SD 31 32 9