City Council

1 Borough of Akron Council Meeting-June 24, 2024 2 3 Council Members Present: Nathan Imhoff-President; Kleon Zimmerman, Paul Swangren, Jr., 4 Ryan Cochran, Tonya Haynes, Max Herman-Junior Council Member. (Justin Gehman, Vice- 5 President and Bonnie Young not present) 6 7 Others Present: Mayor John McBeth, Sean Molchany, Borough Manager; Susan Davidson, Asst. 8 Borough Manager; Valerie Wagner, Director of Finance. 9 10 Visitors: 11 Police Officer Mitchell Rogers, West Earl Police Department 12 Anthony Sheaffer, 110 Main St. Akron 13 Larry Alexander, Ephrata Review 14 Tom Burnett, 724 Fulton St., Akron 15 John Taylor, 216 S. Eighth St., Akron 16 Rebecca Abraham, 903 High St., Akron 17 Earianne Evangelista, 126 S. Ninth St., Akron 18 Monica Hersh, 491 S. Ninth St., Akron 19 Stephanie Drake, PA. State Association of Boroughs 20 21 Roll Call 22 Kleon Zimmerman-present 23 Paul Swangren, Jr.-present 24 Ryan Cochran-present 25 Bonnie Young-absent 26 Tonya Haynes- present 27 Justin Gehman Vice President-absent 28 Nathan Imhoff President-present 29 Mayor John McBeth-present 30 Max Herman-Junior Council Member-present 31 32 Meeting opened at 6:32 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. 33 34 Approval of Minutes 35 Paul Swangren, Jr. made a motion to approve the June 10, 2024 Borough of Akron Council 36 Meeting minutes. Kleon Zimmerman seconded the motion. Motion carried. 37 38 PA. State Association of Borough’s Jr. Council Member Recognition- 39 Stephanie Drake from the PA. State Association of Borough’s presented to the 2023-2024 40 Borough of Akron Jr. Council Members each a plaque recognizing them for serving as Jr. 41 Council. Rebecca Abraham, Earianne Evangelista and Max Herman were all presented with a 42 plaque. Council also thanked the Jr. Council members for participating in this program. 1  1 Visitors 2 Anthony Sheaffer, Main Street, Akron commented that there are number of properties on just 3 Main Street that are in violation of the borough weed ordinance. Sean Molchany, Borough 4 Manager responded that there are even more and will be sending out letters to at least eighty 5 (80) properties this week. 6 7 Nathan Imhoff mentioned to Anthony Sheaffer that he is still waiting on the screen shots of the 8 ordinance he was looking at on his phone. 9 10 Police Report 11 Officer Mitchell Rogers was present at the meeting and mentioned that Chief Higgins 12 distributed the latest police report recently (was in the Council books at the previous meeting, 13 June 10, 2024). 14 15 Mayor McBeth mentioned that there is still an unhitched boat on Broad Street and this is also a 16 safety issue because there are only wood blocks holding it in place. Officer Rogers was not 17 aware of the issue (as he just returned from vacation) but will drive by the boat when he leaves 18 the meeting. 19 20 Mayor Report 21 Mayor John McBeth mentioned that he granted permission for a street closing request from 22 the Akron Volunteer Fire Company for their Open House on July 16, 2024. The event runs from 23 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Main Street between Diamond Street and Dawn Avenue will be closed. 24 Residents in that area will be notified of the street closing. 25 26 Borough Manager’s Report 27 Susan Davidson mentioned the Historical Society of the Cocalico Valley donated a journal to the 28 Borough called the “Cloister Boys” and the Mexican Border Campaign of 1916-1917. 29 30 Finance Report 31 Nothing to report 32 33 Community Relations Report 34 Mitch & the Moodswings, free concert will be at the Roland Park (Pav #2) this Sunday, June 30, 35 2024 at 6:00 p.m. 36 37 Parks & Property Report 38 Sean Molchany mentioned the bids for the Roland Park Project should be out this week. 39 40 Personnel Report 41 Paul Swangren, Jr. mentioned there was a Personnel Meeting this evening at 6:00 p.m. 2  1 Brian Brooks has withdrawn his resume for the Borough Emergency Management Coordinator. 2 Paul will follow up with the other applicant. The Emergency Management Coordinator 3 appointment will be on the July 8, 2024 Borough Council meeting agenda. 4 5 Streets Report 6 Nothing to report 7 8 Public Utilities Report 9 Paul Swangren, Jr. and Kleon Zimmerman mentioned that the sewer flows are way down at this 10 time. 11 12 Nathan Imhoff asked about the water tower study. Sean Molchany mentioned the study is 13 about 20% completed at this time. No invoices will be paid until the study is completed. 14 15 Jr. Council Report 16 Max Herman thanked Council for the plaque. 17 18 Old Business 19 Nothing to report 20 21 New Business 22 Applicant information for the 2024-2025 Jr. Council Members were distributed to Council and 23 Mayor. Council was unsure if the one applicant was an Akron or Ephrata resident. Staff will 24 check the addresses and get back to Council. 25 26 Employee Handbook 27 Paul Swangren, Jr. mentioned that a draft of the updated employee handbook was distributed 28 to Council and any comments or questions were to be directed to staff no later than June 18, 29 2024. There were no comments. 30 31 Paul Swangren, Jr. made a motion to update the employee handbook dated October 28, 2019 32 and amend it with today’s date of June 24, 2024. Kleon Zimmerman seconded the motion. 33 Motion carried. 34 35 Paul Swangren, Jr. made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Tonya Haynes seconded the motion. 36 Motion carried. 37 38 Meeting adjourned at 6:54 p.m. 39 40 41 3  1 Respectfully submitted, 2 3 Susan Davidson 4 Assistant Borough Manager/Secretary 5 6 SD 7 8 9 10 4