City Council

1 BOROUGH OF AKRON COUNCIL MEETING – FEBRUARY 12, 2024 2 3 Council Members Present: Nathan Imhoff-President, Kleon Zimmerman, Paul Swangren, Jr. 4 Ryan Cochran, Bonnie Young, Tonya Haynes, Max Herman-Junior Council Member, Earianne 5 Evangelista-Junior Council Member, Rebecca Abraham-Junior Council Member. 6 7 Others Present: Mayor John McBeth; Susan Davidson, Borough Manager; Sean Molchany, Asst 8 Borough Manager; Valerie Wagner, Director of Finance 9 10 Visitors: 11 John Taylor, 216 S 8th St Akron 12 Chief Eric Higgins, West Earl Police Department 13 14 15 Roll Call 16 Kleon Zimmerman-present 17 Paul Swangren, Jr-present 18 Ryan Cochran-present 19 Bonnie Young-present 20 Nathan Imhoff President-present 21 Justin Gehman Vice President-absent 22 Tonya Haynes-present 23 Mayor John McBeth-present 24 Earianne Evangelista-Junior Council Member-present 25 Rebecca Abraham-Junior Council Member-present 26 Max Herman-Junior Council Member-present 27 28 Meeting opened at 6:34 pm with the Pledge of Allegiance. 29 30 Approval of Minutes 31 Paul Swangren, Jr. made a motion to approve the January 22, 2024 Borough of Akron Council 32 meeting minutes. Ryan Cochran seconded the motion. 33 Mayor McBeth mentioned that on page 3 line 18 of the minutes he did not state that each 34 employee should account for each specific task and remove specific task it should say specific 35 fund. Tonya Haynes said Mayor you did say each specific task. Nathan Imhoff added that if you 36 read the rest of the paragraph it goes on to mentioned specific tasks. 37 Mayor mentioned page 4 line 11 & 12 and Susan Davidson did present the invoices for those 38 checks and no correction is needed. 39 Mayor mentioned page 4 line 28 response – Mayor was not looking to hire anybody but to 40 train. 41 Mayor mentioned page 4 line 33 – Bonnie Young said 70% of the budget is for police, it should 42 state 70% of the General Fund is for police. She stated she is grateful that Akron Borough 43 prioritizes safety. 1  1 Ryan Cochran mentioned Page 3 line 38 that the Rail Trail signal was an unbudgeted expense 2 that was not approved. 3 Motion approved with changes. 4 5 Visitors 6 Nothing to report 7 8 Justin Gehman, Council Vice-President arrived at the meeting at 6:50 p.m. 9 10 Police Report 11 West Earl Police Chief Eric Higgins distributed the January 2024 police report. Chief Higgins also 12 mentioned that the newly hired West Earl Police Officer, Alex Reed was sworn in at the January 13 22, 2024 West Earl Supervisor’s meeting. Chief Higgins will try to schedule a time at a Borough 14 Council meeting to introduce Officer Reed to Council and Mayor. 15 16 Mayor McBeth asked Chief Higgins about the ordinance enforcements mentioned in the police 17 report. Chief Higgins mentioned that he is not sure about all of them, some are for snow and 18 some are for trailers on the streets. Mayor also asked if West Earl Police cited anyone for snow 19 on sidewalks or just gave them a warning. Chief Higgins responded that we usually give a 20 warning the first time. Chief Higgins left the meeting at this time. 21 22 Bills 23 Ryan Cochran made a motion to approve the February 2024 Borough of Akron disbursements 24 and fund the appropriate accounts for the disbursements as reviewed by the Finance 25 Committee. Tonya Haynes seconded the motion. Motion carried. 26 27 Mayor Report 28 Mayor McBeth mentioned at the last Council meeting that it was brought up that he spoke to 29 Dave Landis about the recent Akron Borough tax millage increase. The Mayor went on to 30 mention that he reached out to Mr. Landis and Mr. Landis was confused and that information 31 he read was an article in the newspaper not from the Mayor. 32 33 The Mayor mentioned that the recent Ephrata School Resource Officer report for the first 34 quarter of 2024 looks good and there is nothing outstanding in the report. 35 36 Borough Manager Report 37 The January 2024 month-end financials have been reconciled and the February 2024 payables 38 have been reviewed by the Finance Committee. 39 40 The Annual/Year End Reports and filings have been submitted including W-2’s, 1099’s, DCED 41 Reports and PennDOT Reports. 42 2  1 Herbein Co. started the annual audit on January 22, 2024. The Finance Director was trained in 2 what information is needed by the audit and was involved with any questions that the auditors 3 asked. Audit is going well and will hear back within the next few weeks from Herbein Co. 4 5 There was also another audit for Workman’s Compensation for both the Borough and the 6 Akron Volunteer Fire Company. 7 8 Valerie Wagner the Director of Finance has been assisting in the audits and reporting and doing 9 a great job. 10 11 Park rentals reservation scheduling has been very busy the past few weeks. 12 13 No reports of vandalism at the Broad Street Park. 14 15 Staff reached out to Rosenberger to schedule a date and time for the Colonial Park pavilion 16 ribbon cutting. The item is on the agenda for this evening’s Council meeting for discussion. 17 18 The Stream Embankment/Rain Garden at Roland Park – plans have been submitted to the state 19 for permitting. 20 21 There is a thank you email from the US Road Running Group in the Council books. 22 23 The CS Datum presentation will be on the agenda for the February 26, 2024 Council meeting. 24 25 Street Sweeping is scheduled for Thursday, April 4 and Friday, April 5, 2024. 26 27 Sewer flows are high due to the large amount of rain the past few weeks. 28 29 Staff is waiting for the engineer comments from the inspection that took place on October 31, 30 2023 for the standpipe and reservoir. 31 32 Public Works fixed a water main break on S. Ninth Street on Tuesday, February 6, 2024. 33 34 Water/Sewer bills will be mailed on Thursday, February 15, 2024. 35 36 The New Year’s Eve Shoe-In Committee will be meeting on Thursday, February 15, 2024 at 7:00 37 p.m. All are welcome to attend. 38 39 There are not Planning Commission meetings scheduled at this time and no Zoning Hearings 40 scheduled at this time. 41 42 The Bollinger Subdivision Plan will be on the February 26, 2024 Council meeting agenda. 43 3  1 Randy Gockley has reached out to Greg Leisey, Tim Hoffman, AVFC Chief; Tom Murray, Jr., Chief 2 Higgins and Borough Staff with a draft of the Emergency Management Plan to get their input 3 and then make any updates and then we can bring it back to Council for their review, hopefully 4 by the end of February beginning of March 2024. 5 6 Quarterly SRO report is in the Council books 7 8 The Ephrata Public Library 2023 4th Qtr Report is in the Council books. 9 10 A newsletter from the Historical Society of the Cocalico Valley was mailed to the Borough. 11 12 A 2022 Ford Escape was purchased recently to be used by staff. This item was in the 2024 13 capital budget. 14 15 State Senator Ryan Aument Breakfast Meeting is Thursday, February 29, 2024. If you plan to 16 attend let me know ASAP. 17 18 The Ambulance Report was sent via email per Council’s request. 19 20 Finance Report 21 Ryan Cochran read the January 2024 month-end balances into the minutes. January 31,2024 General Fund $38,596.49 Water Fund $7,497.83 Sewer Fund $119,678.84 Highway Aid $53,707.17 General Fund Reserves General Fund Reserves Restricted Restricted $58,000.00 (Goal) $144,363.00 Operating $64,819.49 Capital $110,156.52 Total $232,976.01 Total $144,363.00 Water Fund Reserves Restricted $72,992.00 Operating $211,403.46 Capital $0.00 Total $284,395.46 4  Sewer Fund Reserves Restricted $121,822.00 Operating $144,448.24 Capital $0.00 Total $266,270.24 Capital Projects $1,756.99 Community Fund $1,669.61 Non-Uniform Pension $3,764.64 Total $1,010,313.28 Escrow $6,429.91 1 Ryan Cochran mentioned that he and staff are working on a plan in regard to the General 2 Reserves restricted goal amount. 3 4 Community Relations Report 5 Bonnie Young mentioned that she wrote an article on the newly appointed Borough of Akron Jr. 6 Council members. Bonnie emailed the Shopping News article and picture to the Jr. Council 7 members. 8 9 Bonnie Young mentioned that she is looking for funding for the 2024 Summer Concert Series 10 and the amount we spend last year was $2,400.00. Ryan Cochran mentioned that he will see if 11 he can get some funding for the 2024 concerts. 12 13 Parks & Property Committee 14 Tonya Haynes mentioned that the second part of April 2024, either a Saturday or Sunday would 15 work for the Colonial Park Pavilion ribbon cutting event and for staff to email Rosenberger with 16 the information. Bonnie Young asked Tonya Haynes if she should write an article on the ribbon 17 cutting event. Tonya mentioned that she can write an article after the event and include a 18 picture. 19 20 Personnel Committee 21 Paul Swangren, Jr. mentioned that there is a Personnel meeting in two weeks and everyone is 22 invited. 23 24 Streets Committee 25 Justin Gehman mentioned that 2024 street sweeping is scheduled for April 4th and April 5th by 26 Martins Paving. Staff will use Facebook, Borough webpage and the sign out front to advertise 27 for the street sweeping. The Borough does not post or tow cars that are not moved, but 5  1 Council told staff to do their due diligence to get the message out to residents to move cars off 2 the street during those days. It was suggested to post signs on utility poles. Martin’s Paving 3 does give us information on how much stone etc was swept and this information is included in 4 the Borough’s annual MS-4 report. 5 6 Public Utilities 7 Kleon Zimmerman asked Sean Molchany if the information on the reservoir and standpipe was 8 forwarded to Council. Sean said no because he is waiting for the Borough engineer’s report and 9 once that is received, he was going to forward to the Public Utilities committee for their review. 10 Paul Swangren, Jr., mentioned staff should look into a grant from PA Small Water. Sean 11 mentioned that he will get the information to apply. Nathan Imhoff agreed with Sean 12 Molchany in regard to sending out the standpipe/reservoir information to Council once the 13 engineer gets back to us. 14 15 Paul Swangren, Jr. asked if staff pulled manholes lately after the snow and rain. Sean Molchany 16 mentioned that Public Works pulled manholes down at Nissley and also on the east side of 17 town. Staff will provide Council with a comprehensive I & I report. Nathan Imhoff asked about 18 grants for I & I work. Sean mentioned grants are usually a year in advance. 19 Paul Swangren, Jr. mentioned there is a lot of truss pipe down at the Nissley development and 20 it was mentioned we have found truss down at the Nissley Station in the past. Sean Molchany 21 mentioned that the manholes are too low in that area. Staff is planning a meeting with Ephrata 22 Borough to discuss raising manholes. 23 24 Junior Council Members Report 25 Rebecca Abraham will be attending the February 26, 2024 Ephrata School Board Meeting to get 26 recognized for receiving the Keystone Award at the Pennsylvania Farm Show this year. 27 Earianne Evangelista will be presenting a power point presentation during that same meeting. 28 29 Mayor McBeth mentioned there was 100% participation from our Jr. Council Members in the 30 Ephrata School District Honor Roll. 31 32 Nathan Imhoff mentioned that he is looking forward to hearing about the Jr. Council members 33 School Board meeting at our March meeting. 34 35 Old Business 36 Susan Davidson asked if anyone is interested in attending State Senator Ryan Aument’s 37 Breakfast meeting on Thursday, February 29, 2024 please contact her as soon as possible. 38 39 New Business 40 Nathan Imhoff mentioned that we received the 4th Quarter 2023 report from the Ephrata Public 41 Library. Nathan also mentioned that he congratulated Abigail Balmer on her recent appoint as 42 Director of the Ephrata Library. Balmer spoke to Nathan and asked to be on the February 26, 43 2024 Council meeting agenda. 44 6  1 Correspondence 2 The Borough received the February 2024 newsletter from the Historical Society of the Cocalico 3 Valley. 4 5 Paul Swangren, Jr. made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Bonnie Young seconded the motion. 6 Motion carried. 7 8 Meeting adjourned. 9 10 Respectfully submitted, 11 12 Susan Davidson 13 Borough Manager/Secretary 14 15 SD 16 17 18 19 20 7