City Council

FORTY FORT BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAY 6, 2013 The May meeting of the Forty Fort Borough Council was held on Monday, May 6, 2013 at the Forty Fort Borough Bldg., 1271 Wyoming Ave., with President Joseph Chacke presiding. President Chacke called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM with the following members of council present: Robert Craig, Dorothy Craig, Charles Rick Kamus, Frank Michaels & Karen Martinelli via telephone. Betty Mascelli was excused. Also present was Mayor Boyd Hoats, Jr., Atty. Sam Falcone, Mike Lombardo of Quad 3 Group, Barbara Fairchild, Manager & Bonnie Arnone, Secretary. A moment of silence was held followed by the pledge of allegiance to the flag led by Mayor Hoats. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Motion by Mrs. Craig to approve the minutes of the 4/1/13 council meeting. Second by Mr. Michaels. Roll call showed all council present in favor of this motion. Motion passed. Motion by Mrs. Craig to approve the minutes of the 4/15/13 council work session. Second by Mr. Craig. All council was in favor of this motion. Motion passed. COMMUNICATIONS: Letter from Hoyt Library asking for a donation. Since there was no line item in this year’s budget, council will determine later in the year if a donation can be made. Letter from Earth Conservancy thanking the borough for their recent donation. Letter from Medico Ind. Inviting all to Government Day on 5/23/13 at their facility. Letter from PEL re the 2013‐2014 Budget. Meeting will be held on Friday, May 10, 2013. Request from Mr. Ostrowski of River St. with concerns over the stability of the flag pole on River at Fort St. Issues with overcharge of taxes for Mr. & Mrs. Kraynak‐ issue is with county on the assessment. Sewer back up problems and a request for tree removal at 1120 Wyoming Ave., by realtor Susan Dombrowski. RESIDENTS AND TAXPAYERS COMMENTS & PETITIONS REGARDING AGENDA ITEMS ONLY: Jeff McLaughlin, 25 Yates St., Forty Fort asked what the item on the agenda listed as Motion to adopt & Amendment to Resolution 2013‐2 as presented was about. Atty. Falcone explained that this was concerning the Borough General Obligation Note and a necessary amendment to the original resolution. TREASURER’S REPORT: Motion by Ms. Martinelli to accept the treasurer’s report as presented. Second by Mrs. Craig. On the question: Mr. Kamus questioned the funds from the Recycle fund; Mr. Craig questioned why there were no figures for the police salaries; Mr. Michaels questioned the Budget vs. actual report. It was noted that council would like this report given to them on a monthly basis. All council was in favor of this motion. Motion passed. ENGINEERS REPORT: Mike Lombardo of Quad 3 Group stated that they were continuing to work on the storm & sewer projects. GENERAL BUSINESS: Motion to accept the reports from the following dept. was made by Mr. Craig. Second by Mr. Michaels: Mayor/Police Dept; Forty Fort Volunteer Fire Chief, Kingston Fire Chief & Code Enforcement Officer. All council was in favor of this motion. Motion passed. Motion by Mr. Michaels to adopt Resolution # 4: Resolution of the Borough of Forty Fort authorizing execution of a cable franchise agreement between the Borough and Comcast of Colorado/Pennsylvania/West Virginia, LLC as presented. Second by Mrs. Craig. All council was in favor of this motion. Motion passed. Motion by Mr. Craig to adopt Resolution #5: Resolution amending the 120,000.00 General Obligation Note. Second by Mr. Michaels. All council was in favor of this motion. Motion passed. Motion by Mrs. Craig to hire Katelyn Lord as head lifeguard at a rate of $8.25 per hour contingent on acceptable clearances & certifications. Second by Ms. Martinelli. All council was in favor of this motion. Motion passed. Motion by Mrs. Craig and second by Mr. Kamus to hire the following lifeguards contingent on acceptable clearances & certifications: Michaels Yeninas, Ryan Kozich, Daniel Jones, Zachary Holena, Janelle McDaniels, Victoria Brown & Sean McQueen at a rate of $8.00 per hour. Motion by Ms. Martinelli to adopt Resolutions #6 & #7 which appoints Borough Manager, Barbara Fairchild as applicant agent for PEMA/FEMA‐DAP 1 & 2 Forms for Disaster Assistance. Second by Mr. Craig. All council was in favor of this motion. Motion passed. OPEN DISCUSSION: Mrs. Craig spoke about pool activities & purchases that need to be done for the upcoming swim season. She would like to purchase an additional freezer, cash register, hot dog roller & eyewash station, which is required by law. Mike Lombardo of Quad 3 Group stated that they will donate the cost of design work for the eye wash station and the cost of the eye wash station to the borough. He was thanked for their generosity. Ms. Fairchild stated that State Rep. Phyllis Mundy is asking that borough officials contact her with their comments regarding an e‐mail that she sent to all council concerning situations such as what happened with the Wilkinson Agency problems. Ms. Fairchild explained that she has an opportunity to apply for a USDA Grant for Road resurfacing of possibly 11 streets in the borough. This is a low interest low with a 15‐20 year payback period. Mr. Chacke reminded council that if and when the Farm Bill goes through, Forty Forty will no longer qualify to receive this type of low interest loan. Motion by Mr. Craig to authorize Barbara Fairchild to apply for the USDA Loan to resurface streets in Forty Fort Borough in the amount of $992,984.47. Second by Mrs. Craig. All council was in favor of this motion. Motion passed. A discussion regarding membership in the West Side Council of Governments ensued. Article #7 of the COG’s bylaws has an unknown monetary figure shown for membership in the COG. In addition, they are asking that each member community pay $2,000.00 for the maintenance and insurance of the equipment purchased through the recent grant. Council feels that they need to have more information and know the costs involved before they can proceed any further. The next COG meeting will be on May 15, 2013 at 7:00 PM. Mr. Michaels questioned if the departure of county engineer, Joe Gibbons, would have any bearing on our ongoing endeavor to have a composting area at the county fields. Mr. Kamus stated that he felt that would not impede the process. He will be attending upcoming meeting with a composting association. Motion by Mr. Michaels to rename the Wyoming Avenue park to the Betty Mascelli Park in honor of her many years of service to Forty Fort Borough. Second by Mr. Craig. All council was in favor of this motion. Motion passed. The dedication for the park will take place on Monday, May 27, 2013 in conjunction with the Memorial Day parade and run. Resident, Mr. Robert Cole, stated that he would like to donate the cake for the event. Motion by Mr. Craig to authorize Ms. Fairchild to purchase a small plaque for the tree planted prior to the council meeting in honor of the borough 125th anniversary. Second by Mrs. Craig. All council was in favor of this motion. Motion passed. RESIDENTS & TAXPAYERS COMMENTS & PETITIONS FOR GENERAL PURPOSES:  Willard Coutts, 55 Sunset Court, Forty Fort, stated that the area behind his home on the banks of Abraham’s Creek is in bad condition and overgrown with brush, fallen trees, etc. The local prisons will be contacted to see if we can get the assistance from the prisoner’s work release programs and the borough street dept. will be asked to dedicate hours each week towards the cleaning of these areas. Robert Cole, 76 Walnut St., questioned what areas will be done in the sewer line replacement/repair project. He was told that some areas will need to be replaced and some areas that are not as bad will be slip lined. He asked if sewer fees will be reduced or eliminated at any time. Mr. Chacke stated that he did not foresee either one of those happening in the near future. Jeff McLaughlin, 25 Yates St., Forty Fort asked that council provide residents with what the cost will ultimately be to them when discussing the improvement projects that are being done within the borough. He also stated he wanted to make sure that the council was receiving the minutes of the WVSA authority , of which he is Forty Fort’s representative. Mr. Chacke requested that instead of Ms. Fairchild e‐mailing that report to council, that it be made part of the report package at council meetings. He also asked why some of his political signs had been removed by the police. Chief Hunsinger stated that the officers had removed signs from tree lawns. Mr. Craig asked if as a original members of the WVSA, our borough’s bldg. fees could be waived. Mr. McLaughlin stated that he would ask. Carol Seltzer stated that she has been encountering cars parked across sidewalks throughout town recently. Chief Hunsinger stated that he has the officers investigating this. She also asked that anyone willing to help prune trees and pick litter report to the borough bldg. at 11:00 AM on Saturday morning, May 11, 2013. She also requested a flag pole be placed at the end of Oak St. at Wyoming Ave. John Kalinas, 96 Oak St. asked if Oak St. was involved in the sewer line project. He also stated that during the work done last year by the water company, the roadway restoration was not done well & his vehicles scrape bottom on the driveway apron continually. He also questioned the new bills sent by Berkheimer for the sewer fees; he requested that the borough do a list of where certain bills are sent to relative to the borough; he requested that the borough investigate property throughout the borough that may be owned by the borough and not on the tax rolls. PAYMENT OF BILLS: Motion by Mr. Craig to pay all bills as presented. Second by Mrs. Craig. All council was in favor of this motion. Motion passed. It was noted that the next meeting of council would be held on Monday, May 20, 2013 at 7:30 PM at the Borough Building. Motion to adjourn by Mr. Craig at 9:15 PM. Second by Mrs. Craig. All council was in favor of this motion. Motion passed. Respectfully submitted, Bonnie Arnone Secretary