City Council

Borough of Beaver, PA Council Meeting January 9, 2018 Minutes  A regular scheduled meeting of Beaver Borough Council was held in the Community Room on January 9, 2018 and called to order at 7:00PM by President, Sean Snowden.  Pledge of Allegiance  Council Representatives in attendance: Alexander Andres, Michael Deelo, Chris King, Margaret McKean, Jim Perini, Adam Rathbun, Alex Sebastian, Sean Snowden. Borough officials in attendance: Mayor Tom Hamilton, Chief Dan Madgar and Solicitor Shannon Steele. Absent: Jarrod Thomas  Visitors in attendance (signed in): George Kauffman, Cheryl Hansen, Jim Woolley, Midge Sefton, Rick Sprecker, Dan Martone, Charles Casbourne, George Lindemann, Tommi Wagner. Approval of minutes  Motion by Mr. Andres to accept the December 12, 2017 Council meeting minutes. Seconded by Mr. Rathbun. Voice vote passed unanimously. Treasurer’s Report  December 2017 end of month reports and balances reviewed.  Reports will be filed for annual audit  Mr. Perini added that for the new members of council this is one of the key reports for the year because it has all of last year’s data in it, will go into more detail in 2 weeks. On expense side were within ½% of goal. Congratulations to the borough manager. On the revenue side was pretty light, came up $200,000 short of where expected. Will invite our tax collectors to the meeting in 2 weeks. Former tax collector never got back as to why receipts we were $80,000 below on property tax. Chief Madgar followed up with her by phone and asked why we were “lopsided” and it was due to people not paying. Review invoice and authorization to pay bills Motion by Mr. Andres to authorize and pay submitted invoices for the Borough. Seconded by Mr. Perini. Voice Vote passed unanimously. Public Participation -  Jim Woolley, 343 Park Street – Concerned with driving in center town now that traffic increased, he hits 2-3 lights in town and wants to know if there is anything that can be done with timing.  Dan Martone –  Advised this is a Penn Dot issue and not able to be changed; they do not have the motion actuators in the roads letting the lights know something is sitting there. January 9, 2018 Page 1   Chief Madgar -  advised that pedestrians using crosswalks change the sync of the lights, can call and reevaluate this again  George Kauffman, 100 Oak St. - states other towns such as Beaver Falls have lights timed out where you almost make it through the whole town and you can see them all change at once.  George Lindemann, 360 College Ave – He is getting questioned about when the sidewalks will be getting replaced once the new gas lines are installed.  Dan Martone –  Started today on Turnpike Street and will start with taking up sidewalks and they will put up temporary sidewalks of crushed stone and will leave the curbs unless have to take out. They will build sidewalks of plywood etc. until they do all of the testing they will not be doing sidewalks for quite a while. Mr. Snowden announced there will be an Executive session for litigation update and will not requiring any votes. Reports – Commissions/Authorities Council of Governments (COG) – No report Civil Service Commission – Reported by Midge Sefton  December 31, 2017 Year-end report enclosed in council packet. Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB) – Reported by Mr. Martone  A meeting was held on 12/13/17, FTK Ventures, LLC received a variance to use 205 College Avenue as professional use to seek relief from the off-street parking; most everybody at the meeting spoke in favor of this. Received official decision letter from the solicitor and is in the process of being finalized. Planning Commission – Reported by Mr. Deelo  Bob Rice asked Mr. Deelo to pass on a few comments regarding Quay Park. The consultants are planning a presentation the work session at 7pm on 2/27/18. Some of the plan graphic depictions are available on the borough’s homepage. Tree Commission – No report Code Enforcement Officer Report - Reported by Mr. Sprecker  Report in packet distributed to council in December. Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB) – Reported by Mr. Deelo  Bob Rice wanted to pass along the reminder to council to complete the survey circulated on 12/10/17, deadline is 1/15/18. HARB will be deliberating the options and will present to council sometime in September.  Chief Madgar – Asked Mr. Deelo if this was in reference to add additional structures. January 9, 2018 Page 2   Mr. Deelo – Looking at expanding historic district which will need approval by council. This is part of the Shell mitigation program of the $85,000 that was available.  Chief Madgar – Need to find out who will administer and monitor this with work saying the borough will do “this or that” which will result into staffing.  Mr. Deelo – The historic ordinance was adopted in 2012 only addressed demolition, nothing within the design. Municipal Authority – Reported by Mr. Rathbun  December 20, 2017 meeting minutes enclosed in council packet.  Mr. Deelo – Looking to have a website to have a separate municipal webpage with graphics working together with the borough website. Council Committee Reports Public Safety/Code Enforcement – No report. Finance – No report. Highway – No report.  Chief Madgar –  Columbia Gas will be all over town and to have patience. We will try to keep everyone updated as much as we can.  Mr. Martone – Columbia Gas will start on Turnpike Street from College Street to Beaver Street, up Beaver Street, also about the same time on 2nd Street. Bank Street will be last later in the year.  Chief Madgar – They have 2 crews working, possibly 3 crews to ease the burden of traffic.  Mr. Snowden asked Mr. Martone if someone does need a ramp/sidewalk who are they to contact. Mr. Martone advised to call the borough and they will get in contact with the Project Manager of Columbia Gas. Recreation – No report Reports Manager’s Report – Reported by Chief Madgar  Spoke to Sipe’s Demo regarding 274 Wayne Street and did a walk through today, they are anticipating 3 weeks for demolition and Solicitor Steele reviewed all documents.  Mr. Martone added once the building is down will there be some landscaping and new curbs/sidewalks in front of the house. Sipe’s is preparing insurance certificates.  Ms. McKean asked if anything is salvageable.  Midge Sefton imputed that her and some of her team walked through and not much there to salvage.  Chief Madgar advised sometime in March there will be a Citizen Police Academy (CPA) class, it is in its 12th year. The District Attorney office reimburses the cost of the classroom supplies/materials. January 9, 2018 Page 3  Breaks down barriers and shows how to work together as residents and officers. The class is every Monday from 6:00pm-9:00pm, the first 5 weeks are taught by the officers.  Midge Sefton stated the class lets people know that police offers are people too and is often forgotten. Police officers teaching are very polite and informative and shows what specialties the officers have.  Chief Madgar will get the information out and Borough Secretary will put on website  Chief Madgar asked for input on lighting on the trees in town as to what are our options when taking down Holiday lights. People really enjoy the lights and complain when they are taken down.  Mr. Snowden asked Mr. Martone when 274 Wayne Street is demolished, will there be something for safety such as a fence.  Mr. Martone advised they will stone the lot when finished to be used for parking. President’s Report - Reported by Mr. Snowden  Council will meet 2nd Tuesday of the month for regular council meetings and the 4th Tuesday of the month for work sessions for committees. We will be liberal with public comments section because we want to hear their questions/comments. Regular council meetings will still have public participation; however, will strictly keep the discussion to the council with motions. Council to focus on motions between council. The February for Quay Park, depending on the public turnout, we may have to limit public comments.  Mr. Deelo asked Mr. Snowden if there were any more thought as to how committees should be functioning.  Mr. Snowden stated a discussion will still happen but all committees will be there to discuss topics.  Solicitor Steele stated it is not necessary to have separate committee meetings and was understood that there were problems with committees meeting before.  Mr. Snowden stated that often committees would not have meetings or any public participation and then come to a regular council meeting with a motion and 1st time members of council and public heard of it. Give this a shot for work sessions and see if this works or not and better for the public.  Solicitor Steele stated, if a committee wants to meet outside of the work session as long as there is not a quorum. Advertising wouldn’t be required.  Mr. Andres asked if the committee chairs should submit an agenda for the work session the same as sending to Debbie Hindman (Borough Secretary). Mr. Snowden responded yes. Mayor Hamilton – No Report. Police Chief Madgar – Still down 3 full time employees. Fire Department – No report Emergency Management Coordinator - Mr. Perini  Will submit a report regarding 2018 drills. January 9, 2018 Page 4 Borough Engineer – Mr. Martone  December 2017 Borough and Municipal Authority reports enclosed in council packet. Solicitor Report – Solicitor Steele  For the past 6 months her firm has been the Assistant Solicitor to the former Solicitor Petrush. Firm is Santicola, Steele, and Fedeles at 722 Turnpike Street and takes pride when being from Beaver, PA. She and Garen Fedeles are 2 of the 4 lawyers who work mainly in Municipal law.  Release and Reimbursement Agreement with Columbia Gas to give to Mr. Martone and Mike from Niesource for language changes. Unsure if they will accept changes. Will reimburse the borough for the restoration of the sidewalks of the project.  Advertised for the rest of the year for work sessions to be every 4th Tuesday of the month at 7:00pm.  Prepared the ordinance rescinding previous ordinance #621, Current Code of Ordinance indicates the regular monthly meeting at 7:30pm and needs to rescind for 7:00pm, need motion for the February meeting. Motion – Advertise ordinance #621 regular monthly meeting to 7:00pm. Motion by Ms. McKean that Beaver Borough Council authorize Solicitor Steele to advertise the change to Ordinance #621 correcting time from 7:30pm to 7:00pm. Seconded by Mr. Rathbun. Voice vote passed unanimously. Motion to adjourn by Mr. Andres. Seconded by Mr. Sebastian. Voice vote passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 7:56pm. Executive session began at 8:06pm and ended at 8:36pm. Submitted by Kim Leslie January 9, 2018 Page 5