City Council

The Regular Monthly Meeting of Dupont Borough Council was called to order at 7:00pm on Tuesday evening, February 14, 2023 by President of Council Stanley Knick Jr. ROLL CALL: Mr. Knick – Present Mr. Kowalczyk – Present Mr. Karkut – Present Mr. Price – Present Mr. Jones – Present Mayor Lello – Present Introduction of Fire Chief Donald Hudzinski. Don stated he wants to bring to Council’s attention, one thing himself and the fire chiefs of Hughestown, Avoca and Duryea have discussed ideas with regard to day time responses as far as staffing goes. We are trying to get the four towns together too figure how we can put on paid firefighters during the day Monday to Friday 7 am to 3 pm since that is the time most departments are struggling. They are planning a meeting with all town councils along with Senator Flynn and Representative Haddock to see if there is something the State can do for us. We are trying to make it as least of a burden as possible. The meeting is March 22nd and Don invited any council members interested in attending to do so. Stan Knick asked Don that once all the details about the meeting are finalized to let Patty know and noted he will attend. Mark Kowalczyk asked what is the goal. He understands the shortages during the day because most volunteer firefighters have jobs and cannot give up their day jobs to sit at the fire station. Is your goal to regionalize the day time. Don stated preliminary talks were for each town to put on one person and break in into duty crews between two towns. So say, Avoca/Dupont staffed this week. One week at Dupont, one week Avoca. Hughestown /Duryea would have an alternating crew. So each town would pay for one person and they would have four to respond. Having one in every station would be a waste of resources as far as apparatus goes. We are open to suggestions because this is a think tank at this point. Mark said get the information and we will show up and listen to see what we can do. Mark thanked Don for being proactive and appreciates the time volunteers donate. Next on the agenda, Mayor Elaine Lello swore in Kenneth Salvo, new full time police officer. Kenneth was welcomed to the force. Applause. Pictures were taken. MOTION TO ADOPT THE MINUTES OF THE JANUARY 10, 2023 REGULAR MEETING AND PLACE ON FILE. Motion: Mr. Kowalczyk Second: Mr. Jones Roll Call Vote: Mr. Knick, yes; Mr. Kowalczyk, yes; Mr. Karkut, yes; Mr. Price, yes; Mr. Jones, yes. Motion Carried 5/0. MOTION TO ACCEPT THE CORRESPONDENCE PRESENTED. Motion: Mr. Kowalczyk Second: Mr. Jones Roll Call Vote: Mr. Knick, yes; Mr. Kowalczyk, yes; Mr. Karkut, yes; Mr. Price, yes; Mr. Jones, yes. Motion Carried 5/0. MOTION TO APPROVE THE BILLS FOR PAYMENT. Motion: Mr. Jones Second: Mr. Karkut Roll Call Vote: Mr. Knick, yes; Mr. Kowalczyk, yes; Mr. Karkut, yes; Mr. Price, yes; Mr. Jones, yes. Motion Carried 5/0. MOTION TO APPOINT THE PART TIME POLICE OFFICERS FROM FEBRUARY 14, 2023 TO THE NEXT REGULAR MEETING OF COUNCIL WITH NO GUARANTEE OF WORK: Bryan Besecker, Duane Saunders, Jennifer Polemitis, Christopher Fargione, Robert Avvisato, Thomas Rushak, Michael Sniscak. New Hires: Full Time Kenneth Salvo Part Time: John Tamburello Motion: Mr. Price Second: Mr. Jones Roll Call Vote: Mr. Knick, yes; Mr. Kowalczyk, yes; Mr. Karkut, yes; Mr. Price, yes; Mr. Jones, yes. Motion Carried 5/0. REPORTS: Treasurer’s Report: Submitted by Albert B. Melone Company, Business Consultants General Fund - $69,976.28 Payroll Fund - $8,839.97 ARPA Fund - $104,592.95 Admin Debit Card - $236.29 Police Debit Card –$ 201.45 Community Development Fund - $63.18 Refuse Fund - $ 162,708.25 Sewer Maintenance Fund - $303,655.00 Liquid Fuels Fund - $ 176,989.45 Police Pension Fund - $1,109,295.74 Town Clock - $ 87.19 Special Fund - $178,947.32 Tax Collector’s Report: No new Report. December 2022 report filed. Received January 12, 2023 Check $4,586.18. Mayor’s Report: Welcome Ken Salvo to the police department. Reminder Food Drive is February 23rd at Holy Mother of Sorrows and the truck arrives about 8:30 am. We have been having trouble finding people to unload the truck and we would sure like to have you there. Police Report: Chief Doran read the monthly report for January as follows: criminal arrests, 0; traffic citations issued,24; non traffic citations issued,0; appearances in county court,4; appearances in magisterial court,10; motor vehicle accidents,9; assist to ems/fire,2; assist to other police dept.,2; alarms,2; thefts,2; vandalism,1; disorderly conduct,5; domestic reports,3; suspicious activity,4; dui arrest, 1; assault/harassment,1; miscellaneous calls,26; building checks,57. Mileage: F150, 39,855; Explorer, 13,102; Explorer, 10,936. Magistrate Fines Collected $710.24. Solicitor’s Report: No Report. Engineer’s Report: Bob Naegele updated on the following: (1) Growing Greener Project for Almond Street, Everhart and Holden creek restoration is currently out for bid. Four contractors have picked up bid specs and we hope for good pricing. (2) Patty asked us to do some research on the park improvements and grants and match for other funding. Both parties were contacted and it seems both agree that the lsa can be used as a match for the DCNR application. (3) The threeprojects s that are underway right now currently are on hold right now. The flood channel being the most work to be completed. They decided to pull the plug for a while with temperatures up and down and rain. They have a little more work to do and will resume in April based on rain. The Ramp project is pretty much complete minus some punch list stuff. Same thing with Walnut stormwater. We are working with the contractor to go through some payment applications. (4) Alley by Sacred Heart Church – our office provided cost estimates for that. That was basically a conservative estimate based on recent construction prices which are high. We can meet with contractor on site and discuss making it a complete project and getting a price on that. Stan asked Bob for an update on the street paving projects. Bob stated he is working on it. The hold up is getting all the ada ramps designed and approved by Penn DOT. Bob stated we are not ready yet to reach out to Mike Carroll, Secretary of Transportation, but we may consider doing that. Crime Watch Report: Bob Price stated we had the first meeting of year in January. We discussed with police different issues in town. The next meeting is February 28th at 7:00pm in the council chambers. Starting in March once the weather breaks we will have a couple of speakers and invite the other towns to join us. Council President’s Report: Trash – 72.28 tons; Comingle 5.23 tons; Paper - 9.79 tons. Mileage: Packer-68,172; Recycler-38,032; F550-44,967; C3500 -at Powell’s- hydraulics, under warranty; C6500-480; Green GMC-5,144; Bucket Truck-896; Mack-4,443. Stan updated on the following: (1) Avoca contacted Dupont regarding a bill for work on the signal at the Heidleberg Bridge. Dupont shares the costs for that signal and therefore split the bill each paying $637.00; (2) Request from DYBO to assist in paying the $538 water bill at the field. The Borough did use the water at the park powerwashing and Council needs to decide whether to pay something toward the bill. (3) DCNR grant open - We can apply for 239,000 for the back field using the LSA 239,000 LSA grant monies as a match. Bob spoke on this before. That includes the pocketpark. We met with Christine from DCNR regarding the deeds. We do have a pending grant for approximately $600,000 for the field so if that is awarded, we will not have to apply to DCNR, and can move forward with the $239,00 for pocketpark and basketball court. The other grant is for walking trail and everything else we planned behind the high rise. (4) Settlement with the Simpson Street alleyway. (5) Deed corrections land behind highrise (6) Alley by Sacred Heart. MOTION TO ACCEPT THE REPORTS PRESENTED. Motion: Mr. Karkut Second: Mr. Jones Roll Call Vote: Mr. Knick, yes; Mr. Kowalczyk, yes; Mr. Karkut, yes; Mr. Price, yes; Mr. Jones, yes. Motion Carried 5/0. MOTION TO ADOPT ORDINANCE 2 OF 2023 RENTAL INSPECTION PROGRAM Mr. Jones asked if BHW reviewed the Ordinance. Stan stated yes. Motion: Mr. Jones Second: Mr. Kowalczyk Roll Call Vote: Mr. Knick, yes; Mr. Kowalczyk, yes; Mr. Karkut, yes; Mr. Price, yes; Mr. Jones, yes. Motion Carried 5/0. MOTION TO ADOPT ORDINANCE 3 OF 2023 ESTABLISH LANDBANK AUTHORITY Motion: Mr. Jones Second: Mr. Kowalczyk Roll Call Vote: Mr. Knick, yes; Mr. Kowalczyk, yes; Mr. Karkut, yes; Mr. Price, yes; Mr. Jones, yes. Motion Carried 5/0. MOTION APPROVING SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT WITH A R POPPLE FOR CULVERT REPLACEMENT PROJECT ON WALNUT STREET AND AUTHORIZE APPROPRIATE MEMBER OF COUNCIL TO EXECUTE ALL DOCUMENTS NECESSARY TO FINALIZE THE AGREEMENT Motion: Mr. Jones Second: Mr. Price Roll Call Vote: Mr. Knick, yes; Mr. Kowalczyk, yes; Mr. Karkut, yes; Mr. Price, yes; Mr. Jones, yes. Motion Carried 5/0. MOTION TO USE THE LSA $239,000 GRANT MONIES AS THE MATCH AND APPROVE APPLICATION TO DCNR FOR ADDITIONAL $239,000 FOR A PROJECT FOR THE LAND BEHIND THE HOUSING COMPLEX ON HEMLOCK Motion: Mr. Price Second: Mr. Karkut Roll Call Vote: Mr. Knick, yes; Mr. Kowalczyk, yes; Mr. Karkut, yes; Mr. Price, yes; Mr. Jones, yes. Motion Carried 5/0. Danielle Perrins – asked how long the delay will be for the $239,000. Stan stated not sure, it might be a year. It all depends on how things go. Danielle stated she will be aa pain in the ass about it. She is very passionate about hat project. I won’t apologize for it. She submitted her ideas, her plans and her visions for the project. Stan agreed. Danielle stated for seven years she heard that we applied to DCNR and can’t get a grant. We now have the grant why would we go for a match one. Stan explained it was DCNR, but we bought the field back. That changes everything with DCNR. The lady sat here with us and feels we have a good chance at the grant now that we own all that property back. To double our money and wait a year I think is worth it. But if that state grant comes in it will be done sooner. Stan is estimating a year, but he hopes it won’t take that long. We need to do this approval to put it in. Danielle stated we won’t hear of an approval until November, and we cannot start anything on that project until we hear back on that grant. Stan agrees. Danielle asked what are you referring to as a pocket park. Stan explained next to basketball courts the other piece would be the pocketpark, a small park. . If we get this other grant we can deal with the whole field, a walking trail, small pavilions, like for a birthday party or something. The residents would get a lot more out of it. A lot of people would like to walk. There will be a track all around it. Plus it is the last green space in Dupont. Danielle commented we just purchased that back from the Housing so what is the rush to do that property. DCNR will be there for recreational grants that we can apply for. Lets start the project. Stan agrees, but if we use that $239,000 and we put in for another $239,000 where will the match come from. Danielle stated there is no guarantee on that grant, it is a 50/50 gamble. We are delaying the work. Bob Naegele said we are not going to lose the original $239,000. Joe Karkut felt confident from speaking to this lady about the proposed project. Mark Kowalczyk asked if there is anything we can do now without spending the money, for example start a bidding process for next spring. At least to get in motion. I understand her concerns and I understand our concerns with the matching money. Is there anything we can do because we are guaranteed at least that amount of money. Joe Karkut talked about some of the ideas brought up at the meeting, the reference to the senior housing, perhaps pickleball court. Mark agrees with all of that. That was his vision when the high rise was put in. There are a lot of people there to get outside and enjoy something outside. But can we at least set it in motion to go this far and then if we get the rest of the money like we are hoping too and we should than we go to home plate. Danielle stated she would be happy with the second court, taking down the fence and removing the basketball poles because no one plays there. It is right in front of my front porch and is an eyesore. The weeds grow high and I have to call Patty to have the guys come over and clean it when they can. If we at least start something like the plans, or something. Mark said to go so far with the bidding process and if we get the rest of the money. Erik stated you can’t do any of that. If you start a contract and file stip against liens and you bring someone else in they are not subject to that. I think once you start you have to keep going. No one will come in the middle. Mark wants to start the project without spending money. Mark said if we get this money next winter. Then bid it out for spring. It will be years down the road before we see progress. Bob stated he believes you can go as far as bid ready documents, but the solicitor said the second you put it out for bit, you cross that threshold. Bob would have to check this with the grant of course to see if they are comfortable with that. He is dealing in Lackawanna County. The municipality wanted to start the work themselves and if you do that you just jeopardized the whole application. Bob would have to check into that. He does know on another grant, small water and sewer, if you touch anything that is on the grant for review, they reject it outright. There is no reason you cannot have bid ready documents ready to go and when grant is approved you can put out for bid. Lou Posly asked how much land is involved. Stan stated over 2 acres. Bob added if you did put it out for bid you couldn’t award the contract until and then you would be asking contractors to hold the prices. Mark agreed it would be more confusing. Bob stated we can take it as far as getting the documents ready and then it is council decision whether to wait or go. Mark asked for the award date. Bob stated the applications are due in April. Stan again mentioned the Statewide grant application in and if that comes in for $600,000 then we can forget about the DCNR application. We will have enough to start it this year. We don’t want to lose monies or disqualify ourselves. Mark said wheels of government turn slow but they are turning. Danielle wants to see progress, does not want to wait another year, waited seven years already. She does not want to be greedy, nor give up free money, but would like to see it start this year. John Luckasavage – Will the borough be working on that creek at all. Stan and Bob stated that is the grant that is out for bid now. John stated you mentioned Holden not Jackson. Stan stated its Holden, then down toward Jackson both sides of the road. The whole creek is getting done. Behind Jones property behind their garage. The project is out for bids. Next meeting we will open bids. Lou Posly – Mr. Jones is there any progress with any natural gas piping. I hear half of Dupont is done and half is not. Mr. Jones stated the mains are in. Mr. Knick stated they are as far as they are going right now. They cannot get them in between the tracks cause of the railroad. Everybody didn’t hook up yet. There should not be much more. Lou asked what is going on where the project is stopped. Mark said only part of Center is done. They cannot go across the creek. Permits are required from DEP or Penn DOT. Lou asked what has the gas company told you guys about what is happening. Stan stated they are working on it, but he will look into it and get him a better answer next month. Lou stated it is not fair to the town. Stan stated we do not have the right to tell the railroad what to do. We knew in the beginning not everyone is getting gas. They dealt with Penn DOT to cross some highways. They were working the best they can. Lou said other towns have got similar problems and they have the gas. Stan will conduct UGI. Pina Hansen – I have several things I’d like to address tonight. The first one would be is there any update on the roads in Quail Hill. Bob responded under Penn DOT review, hopefully good news and we can be out for bid. (2) On the Quail Hill Property has Dupont been given any information, was it sold or not. Stan did not hear anything. Through the grapevine he heard it did go through. He and Mr. Karkut was at the courthouse with Judge Hughes, but he heard it did. (3) The reason Pina is asking is because dumping has been picking up again. There are mattresses there that were not there weeks ago, chandelier. Stan stated he shouldn’t say it went through, there were people that didn’t want to sell, there was confrontation between one person and family members, but they were able to do it. Pina stated several residents would like to clean and wondered if they pulled that dumping stuff and put it somewhere on the main road would Dupont Borough be willing to pickup. There is a refrigerator there, every week there is more stuff there. Stan stated it is private owner and understands what she is saying, but at the same token if others have land, is it fair. Pina stated if it is sold, she would contact the owner. Stan suggested she call the courthouse and see. Erik stated Judge Hughes was to make a decision, Erik did not receive anything. If there was a deed of record, call recorder of deeds. Pina stated the Borough would be notified. (4) Ordinance #2, are we going forth with BHW when will that start. Stan will meet with Jason and we may have to advertise. Erik added that he reviewed the ordinance and suggested raising the fee from $50 to $75. They talked about sending out notices, staggering the mailing throughout the year. Last have the board meet. It is all moving along. (5) There is a white truck sitting across from Patty’s. that is sitting on the inside, no license plate and flat tires. Is that truck allowed to be there. Chief stated it is a borough ordinance. It is not illegal to have a vehicle on the street without a plate. It is not in motion. (6) Bobby O’s steps. - Stan talked with BHW and they sent a letter. Its winter so you cannot do concrete work. (7) I have one last question for all of you and I am sure this is going to upset some, but it is not meant to upset anyone. I just want to bring it to light and there is no other way to do it but to have it on record. Unless it is on record I feel sometimes things don’t happen. How many of you know what the requirement is for tax collector. How many of you know what the requirement is? Stan stated I do. Pina said I know you do. Anybody else? Pina stated there is one requirement. Stan stated you have to live in town. Pina stated Bingo, and that is all I am going to say. Pina added since nobody down in Luzerne County has anybody to protect the residents in Dupont Borough for things not being down correctly, regarding that, all of you all are aware what the requirement is. And all of you were elected by the residents to protect us to help us. Im done. Stan stated that was already checked out. He knows what she is saying. John Luckasavage - To get gas in your home it is $2100. Each homeowner has to pay that. Years ago they got gas in the first ward. How much did they pay. If it is in your town, the gas company should come through the rest of the town. They did it in other towns. If there wasn’t gas in that street, they came with gas. West Pittston, Exeter. Stan asked how many years ago was that. Stan stated when the gas lines were put in Dupont at that time, and he cannot to swear to it, council didn’t want it because of the residents that sold coal and oil. It was their fault. And now you cannot get it for free. The only way is through the get gas program. We were one of the first ones to get on the get gas program and others are following. Stan agreed it should have been done years ago. He had to pay for both houses. Lou agreed that is the point he brought up before. Stan said call the gas company, or fight with railroad or DEP do it. Mark addressed Mr. Luckasavage. He attended the meetings with UGI when the get gas program was introduced. The problem with utility companies is it is a monopoly. They have to go through the PUC to get these projects approved because if they come in to Dupont, West Pittston, when you excavate in West Pittston its all sand and gravel, loose. In Dupont by Sacred Heart Church it is solid rock. It is going to cost x amount of dollars to do so. If they go to PUC and say we are extending gas mains in Dupont and it will cost x amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars, but to do that they have to raise the rates for West Pittston. PUC has to approve that. Meeting after meeting to explain the project. That was basically what was involved with that meeting. They came up with the Get Gas Program but you have to contribute so much per month or pay all at once. The old first ward, sand and gravel, the reason it was brought there was because they built the Victoria Inns. The top of Lidy got gas because of Petro. Everybody in between is a bonus to the gas company. That was the thinking with the program. He has gas at his house on Simpson, he didn’t have to pay for it. There were even streets in that section where it wasn’t extended because people didn’t want the gas. It is the PUC governing it. Lou Posly stated it was put in before Petro. Mark said for the Petro. He lives on Lidy’s Road. Lou asked if someone made a deal that the line is coming in for Petro. Petro was in the process. It is not something to start overnight. It is multiple years. Mark stated it was brought down Lidy Road that was the easiest way to bring it in. They shot it up that landscape area on top of Hill Street . Lou doesn’t think it went through Airport. Mark said maybe Hotel or Damons. Lou stated he has gas and didn’t have to pay for it. Lou added people want gas but cannot get it. That is unacceptable. Mark stated it is not in our control. We can push for it, make phone calls. Lou stated our Representative and Senator should be in on it. Mark stated it is 90% done and you are absolutely right we have to finish it for everybody. If we hit a couple obstacles we will need time to handle all these. Look what we are going through for a grant for the park. Mark stated we will push that. Matters from Council and Mayor: Joseph Jones - Happy Valentines Day. But in addition to love, you can see the people in this town, everybody on Council, Fire Dept., Police Dept., working together. Great Job. Mark Kowalczyk – Happy Valentines Day to all us romantics in here at a council meeting on Valentines Day. I blame the president of council for having a meeting on Valentines Day. This is for the engineer what is for the finish of the grade for the landscaping next to our new handicap ramp which is beautiful. Do they owe us anything else out there? Bob stated there are punch list items. It is an awkward area. Mark stated he is asking because every morning Channel 16 has our clock on there, our Veterans monument. Its awesome. Patty deferred it to me when I wasn’t here, there was an unfortunate passing of a Veteran, a young Marine from town a few weeks ago, then I had several others ask me about purchasing a brick for out here. They are already purchasing a Flag for the deceased Veteran, but several others asked me about purchasing a brick. There are no more blanks out there. I can come up with a plan to add some bricks in front of the memorials. I need a plan to know what else is being done out there. We have expensive LED lights out there for the flag poles, the wires are damaged, but I can work on it for the spring. I would need council approval to come up with plan, and I can possibly raise funds with the bricks to put into materials for the project. Stan said that would be great. I would be ok with that. Stan explained the new monument will include the names of those on the white crosses. Mark will add bricks for Veterans that served. He wants to design it and have everybody on the same page. Bob asked to meet with Mark so they have a direction for the contractor when he comes back in the spring for the punch items. Joe Karkut - Happy Valentines Day. Joe also talked about the rebates you can get with the Get Gas program. Energy Star equipment. John Luckasavage said he would need two furnaces. Bob Price – Happy Valentines Day. Bob attended a meeting at Penn DOT. In 2028 , a major renovation of I81 between Avoca and before Dunmore. A multi-million dollar project that will affect, not taking land, but it will be a traffic nightmare when it comes down. Details to follow. Mayor Lello - Happy Valentines Day. Stanley Knick – Happy Valentines Day. Questioned Ellen on last motion being voted on. Ellen confirmed. MOTION TO ADJOURN. All in Favor. Respectfully submitted, Adopted and Approved Ellen Price Stanley Knick , Jr. Clerk Council President Patricia McDonald, Secretary