City Council

The Regular Monthly Meeting of Dupont Borough Council was called to order at 7:00 on Tuesday evening, January 11, 2022 by Vice President of Council Mark Kowalczyk. Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: Mr. Knick, Excused Mr. Kowalczyk, Present Mr. Karkut, Present Mr. Price, Present Mr. Jones, Present Mayor Lello, Present Ellen Price , Secretary for this meeting Patty McDonald, Excused Mr. Kowalczyk called for an executive session for personnel matters. MOTION TO ADOPT THE MINUTES OF THE DECEMBER 14, 2021 REGULAR MEETING AND JANUARY 3, 2022 REORGANIZATION MEETING AND PLACE ON FILE Motion: Mr. Price Second: Mr. Karkut Roll Call Vote: Mr. Knick, Excused; Mr. Kowalczyk, yes; Mr. Karkut, yes; Mr. Price, yes; Mr. Jones, yes. Motion Carried 4/0. MOTION TO ACCEPT THE CORRESPONDENCE PRESENTED. Motion: Mr. Jones Second: Mr. Karkut Roll Call Vote: Mr. Knick, Excused; Mr. Kowalczyk, yes; Mr. Karkut, yes; Mr. Price, yes; Mr. Jones, yes. Motion Carried 4/0. MOTION TO APPROVE THE END OF YEAR BILLS AND CURRENT BILL LIST FOR PAYMENT Motion: Mr. Jones Second: Mr. Karkut Roll Call Vote: Mr. Knick, Excused; Mr. Kowalczyk, yes; Mr. Karkut, yes; Mr. Price, yes; Mr. Jones, yes. Motion Carried 4/0. MOTION TO APPOINT THE PART TIME POLICE OFFICERS AND APPROVE NEW HIRES WITH NO GUARANTEE OF WORK FROM JANUARY 11, 2022 TO THE NEXT REGULAR MEETING OF COUNCIL: Duane Saunders, Jennifer Polemitis, Christopher Fargione, Thomas Rushnak, Robert Avvisato, Michael Sniscak and new Hires: Thomas Skilonger, Full Time as discussed in Executive Session Motion: Mr. Price Second: Mr. Jones Roll Call Vote: Mr. Knick, Excused; Mr. Kowalczyk, yes; Mr. Karkut, yes; Mr. Price, yes; Mr. Jones, yes. Motion Carried 4/0. REPORTS: Treasurer, Tax Collector, Mayor, Police, Solicitor, Engineer, Code Enforcement, Crime Watch, President Treasurer’s Report: Balance as of December 31, 2021 unless noted otherwise General Fund - $31,440.50 as of Jan. 5, 2022 Payroll Fund - $ 7,467.38 as of Jan. 5, 2022 ARPA Cash Fund - $ 119,989.39 Community Development Fund - $ 255.18 Refuse Fund - $ 172,891,12 as of Jan. 5, 2022 Sewer Maintenance Fund - $ 321,003.02 Liquid Fuels Fund - $ 179,066.18 Police Pension Fund - $ 1,144221.96 Town Clock - $87.19 Special Fund - $ 178,507.72 Report was submitted by Albert B. Melone, Business Consultants Tax Collector’s Report: Ellen read the report Susan Gregory submitted for December 2021. Check deposited into General Fund in the Amount of $ 3329.82 Balance Collectable beginning of month - $17,077.27 Balance Collectable end of month - $ 14,410.38 Mayor’s Report – not at this time. Police Report – Chief Doran read the statistical report for December 2021 as follows: Criminal arrests-2; traffic citations issued-12; appearances in county court-1; appearances in magisterial court-4; motor vehicle accidents-9; assist to EMS/Fire – 5; assist to other police depts-4; alarms-10; thefts-3; vandalism-3; disorderly conduct-6; domestic reports-7; suspicious activity-4; assault/harassment-4; miscellaneous calls-22; building checks-45; Mileage: Explorer -63,257; Taurus- 87,607; F150- 32,380. Magistrate Fines Collected: $1,448.25. Solicitor’s Report – None Engineer’s Report - Bob Price read the summary submitted by Robert Naegele, Engineer as follows: Two projects ready for bid. The legal ads will be advertised in the Citizens Voice on Thursday January 13th and Monday January 17th. The two projects are the ADA Ramp and the Elm and Walnut Street Stormwater project. If council have any questions they can let Patty know and she will email them to Bob. Secondly, Patty and Erik need to meet with the property owners that are part of the Growing Greener Grant project with regard to the easements and signatures required for access to properties to do the work. The easements are being prepared by Mike in Bob’s office and should be ready next week. Code Enforcement Report – None Crime Watch Report – Bob Price noted there was no meeting in December. The next meeting is scheduled for January 25th at 7 pm in the borough building. Council Vice President’s Report – Trash to landfill slips for December total 61.01 tons. Paper to recycling center was 4.66 tons. 2.51 tons was marked as single stream which should have been listed as comingle. It was an error at the slip at the center. Mileage: F550 – 36,680; New Chevy – 1,989; Mack – 3,856; Packer – 63,951; and 3500 – 76,654. MOTION TO ACCEPT REPORTS PRESENTED. Motion: Mr. Karkut Second: Mr. Jones Roll Call Vote: Mr. Knick, Excused; Mr. Kowalczyk, yes; Mr. Karkut, yes; Mr. Price, yes; Mr. Jones, yes. MOTION APPROVING THE FOLLOWING PROJECT BID SPECS FOR ADVERTISING TO BE OPEN AT THE FEBRUARY REGULAR MEETING: ADA Ramp outside the side of building council chambers, Elm Street and Walnut Street Stormwater Project Motion: Mr. Price Second: Mr. Karkut Roll Call Vote: Mr. Knick, Excused; Mr. Kowalczyk, yes; Mr. Karkut, yes; Mr. Price, yes; Mr. Jones, yes. Motion Carried 4/0. MOTION TO HIRE EUGENE SZUMSKI FOR SEASONAL PLOW DRIVER DPW DEPARTMENT Motion: Mr. Price Second: Mr. Jones Roll Call Vote: Mr. Knick, Excused; Mr. Kowalczyk, yes; Mr. Karkut, yes; Mr. Price, yes; Mr. Jones, yes. Motion Carried 4/0. Matters from Audience: Pina Hansen, Ivy Lane - (1) Question on DPW hire, is it the same person that was hired for trash pickup and quit. The response was no. This is someone else. (2) Property at 606 Main has that gone to court yet for the garbage that is buried under the leaves. Mark does not have any new information on it, but referred it to the Chief. Chief explained the December magistrate hearings were only 4, most were not scheduled due to the election for Judge. Erik stated she is now scheduling hearings. Secondly, the absence of officers in the department has restricted Officer Besecker from doing code enforcement since he has been primarily working midnight shifts. Pina asked if there is someone else that is going to be chosen for code enforcement since he is working midnights. Chief jokingly asked if Pina was volunteering. She said absolutely not. Chief Demark said no one has stepped up at this point in time. That is going to have to be addressed. Mark stated we are dealing with staffing issues like everyone else. Pina responded she understands that. She also added a letter needs to be sent to the property owner at 4 Ivy Lane, Joseph Kwiatkowski. He has cleared his lot and threw the limbs to the curb that some are out onto the street. She has actually moved them from the street because they will scratch cars going by. She would like if someone can send him a letter to clean it up. Mark asked Ellen to address that in the office. Pina also asked Sean if he wants to hire her for code enforcement to work out of police department. Mark thanked her for joining the meeting. Mark called for any more matters from the public. Matters from Council and Mayor: Mr. Jones – No. Mr. Karkut – Be Safe with the ice. Mr. Price - Brought up recent events in New York and Philadelphia with house fires and wanted to remind everyone about smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in the homes and apartments. Secondly, thanked Jesse for his help with the virtual meeting setup. It allows us to be safe and still have our meetings. Mayor Lello – Everyone be safe out there. Mr. Kowalczyk – Same thing, everyone be safe. Do your part and be patient. Appreciate people tuning in from their homes. Great to see everyone involved even if it is from a distance. Hopefully we get through this shortly. Hopefully in the near future we can go back to regular meetings and regular life. Adjourned at 7:20 by unanimous vote. Respectfully submitted, Adopted this day of _______ Ellen Price, Clerk for Stanley Knick, Jr. Patricia McDonald Secretary Council President