Regular Session of Council

MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF GREENVILLE BOROUGH COUNCIL HELD IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS ON TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. 1. Call to Order Council President Longiotti called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. 2. Invocation: Pastor David Dobi, First Presbyterian Church Flag Salute 3. Roll Call: Pete Longiotti, Council President Pamela Auchter, Vice President David Henderson, Councilor Henry Mueller, Councilor Alfred Peden, Councilor Brian Shipley, Councilor Jasson Urey, Councilor Landis Erwin, Jr. Councilor - absent James Ingley, Jr. Councilor – absent Richard H. Miller, Mayor Also present was Joe Joseph, Borough Solicitor and Ryan T. Eggleston, Borough Manager 4. Public Comments/Public Participation No public comments 5. Approval of Minutes Councilor Henderson moved, seconded by Councilor Mueller that the minutes of the December 11, 2007 regular meeting and the minutes of the December 27, 2007 special meeting be approved as written. Not being on council at the time of the meetings, Councilors Peden and Shipley abstained. Motion approved 5-2. 6. Budget Report Councilor Urey moved, seconded by Councilor Henderson to accept the Budget Report – Fund 01 as presented. Motion approved. 1  Greenville Borough Council Meeting minutes 1/8/08 7. Mayor’s items Mayor Miller briefly spoke on two items. The first being, he wrote a letter to PennDOT requesting a traffic study be done on the light at the intersection of South Mercer Street & Stewart Avenue. Mr. Miller stated he received a call from PennDOT today saying they would proceed with a traffic study. Mayor Miller said he would keep the councilors informed of the progress. His second item was announcing the grand opening of the new Rite Aid store will be at 10:00 a.m. on January 10th and invited all to attend. 8. Council reports Councilor Henderson moved, seconded by Councilor Auchter to accept the monthly reports as written. Motion approved. The GALSA meeting report will be placed on file after the meeting on January 17th. Councilor Shipley questioned why only certain reports were actually approved and other placed on file. Citing past practice, President Longiotti stated beginning next month, it would be changed to approve all reports. a. Police report for December 2007 & year end report b. Fire Chief’s report for December 2007 c. Treasurer’s report for December 2007 The following reports were placed of file: a. Code Enforcement report for December 2007 & year end report b. Public Works report for December 2007 c. GALSA meeting report for January 17, 2008 9. Reports from Council Committees  Councilor Henderson spoke on the upcoming GALSA meeting stating there are many exciting projects in the works and encouraged all to attend the meeting on January 17th at 7:30 p.m.  President Longiotti briefly spoke on the Mercer Co. Regional Planning Commission meeting reporting that the Commission is working on recycling centers within the County. 10. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Resignation letter from Linda Crisman, Greenville Tax Collector Councilor Henderson moved, seconded by Councilor Auchter to accept with regret, the resignation letter from Linda Crisman, Greenville Tax Collector effective June 1, 2008. Motion approved. 2  Greenville Borough Council Meeting minutes 1/8/08 b. Advertise for Tax Collector Councilor Urey moved, seconded by Councilor Henderson to authorize the Borough Manager to advertise for the position of Greenville Tax Collector. Motion approved. 11. NEW BUSINESS a. Award bid for sewer lateral inspections Borough Manager Eggleston read the amounts from the 3 bids received. Councilor Auchter questioned the large differences in the bid amounts. Mr. Eggleston explained the calculations and that all bidders used the designated forms. Councilor Mueller moved, seconded by Councilor Henderson to award the low bid of $79,920 for 36 months to Steve Vosler, 376 Mercer Road, Greenville for sewer lateral inspections in the Borough. Motion approved. b. 2008 COG joint purchasing program low bidder listing Councilor Urey moved, seconded by Councilor Henderson approve the 2008 COG joint purchasing program low bidder listing. Motion approved. c. Authorize HRG Engineering to send certification letter to L&I Councilor Henderson moved, seconded by Councilor Auchter to authorize HRG Engineering to send a certification letter to Labor & Industry for the former borough maintenance garage. Motion approved. d. Collection of delinquent property taxes After a lengthy discussion, Solicitor Joseph explained the potential ramifications of council’s decision on this item. Mr. Joseph stated Portnoff Law Associates is requesting council to adopt a resolution to be sent to the county asking them not to collect the borough’s taxes stating a 3rd party would be doing the collection. Solicitor Joseph advised the councilors to think long and hard about sending the county such resolution. He said Portnoff is relying upon the provision in the statute that requires 5% to be paid to the county and that it is going to be changed. There may be legislation adopted this year that is going to change that requirement. Solicitor Joseph’s caution to council was, if that legislation doesn’t happen the way Portnoff says it might happen, there will be a resolution on file at the county stating not to collect Greenville Borough taxes. Solicitor Joseph recommended this item be tabled 60-90 days and see if the legislation goes through. Mayor Miller briefly spoke in support of the Solicitor’s comments. Councilor Shipley asked the Solicitor if the council had to take any action to turn the collection back over to the county and noted the borough had a contract with Portnoff Law Associates for collection services and would the court ruling automatically cease the contract. Solicitor Joseph suggested the Borough Manager contact Portnoff and ask them not to do anything 3  Greenville Borough Council Meeting minutes 1/8/08 for the Borough until the borough is notified this piece legislation has passed and until further notice, the County will be doing their job. Councilor Henderson made a motion to table this item and revisit it at the February 7th work session. Councilor Auchter seconded the motion. Motion approved. e. Per Capita exonerations Councilor Auchter moved, seconded by Councilor Urey to approve the request from the Greenville Tax Office for permanent exonerations in the amount of $45.00. Motion approved. f. Appendix #8 from E.G.&G. ,Inc. Councilor Urey moved, seconded by Councilor Mueller to approve Appendix #8 to Agreement for Professional Services from E.G.&G., Inc. in the amount of $6,555.00. Motion approved. g. Auditing services for the period ending December 31, 2007 Councilor Mueller moved, seconded by Councilor Henderson to appoint Paparone Stillwaggon & McGill to conduct the borough audit for the period ending December 31, 2007. Motion approved. h. Notice of petition to vacate a portion of Linden Alley Councilor Shipley moved, seconded by Councilor Auchter to authorize the Borough Manager to begin the process of advertising, prepare the proper notices and schedule a special hearing to petition to vacate a portion of Linden Alley by Sheetz Convenience Store #139. Motion approved. i. Authorize easements for the Borough Councilor Henderson moved, seconded by Councilor Urey authorize the Borough Manager to sign off on two easements for the borough for Streetscape Phase II. Motion approved. 4  Greenville Borough Council Meeting minutes 1/8/08 j. Re-open 2008 budget Councilor Shipley moved, seconded by Councilor Peden to reopen the 2008 budget. Councilor Shipley addressed the motion stating he means no disrespect to the council or the finance committee but, believes it would be in the best interest of everyone to take a “fresh look” at the budget and try to come to a common ground before council goes back to the court for the earned income tax hearing. Mr. Shipley believes it would only take a week or so to review the budget by line item and stated he was not necessarily suggesting making any changes. A roll call vote was taken. Councilor Auchter No Councilor Henderson No Councilor Mueller Yes Councilor Peden Yes Councilor Urey No Councilor Shipley Yes Council President Longiotti No Motion defeated 4-3 k. First and Final reading of Ordinance 1476 - EIT Solicitor Joseph commented on why he suggested this Ordinance be placed on the agenda pending court approval. Mr. Joseph stated the borough already paid to have the ordinance advertised and if the court approves it, it will not have to be advertised again. If the court does not approve the ordinance it will need revisited and advertised again. He stressed it would be adopted pending court approval and become effective upon court approval. Solicitor Joseph said this item could also be tabled for (what he believed) 30 days without having to advertised it again. Councilor Henderson moved, seconded by Councilor Urey for a first & final reading of Ordinance 1476. Motion approved. 5  Greenville Borough Council Meeting minutes 1/8/08 l. Adoption of Ordinance 1476 - EIT Councilor Henderson moved, seconded by Councilor Auchter to adopt Ordinance 1476 pending court approval. Mayor Miller asked to speak to the motion. He stated he would be vetoing this ordinance in about 9 days. He reminded the members that the judge was looking for a “good faith effort”. Mr. Miller predicted what will happen at the upcoming court hearing stating the judge will not grant the requested EIT rates and there will be a “large hole to cover” because there has been no demonstration of a good faith effort to review the situation. Mayor Miller stated the other issue to be resolved is, are we collecting all the tax we should? Mr. Miller said the reason he will take 9 or 10 days to veto this ordinance is he wants someone to send the judge a message that we are not trying to decide this issue for him. Councilor Shipley moved to table the adoption of the ordinance. Solicitor Joseph interjected there was already a motion on the floor and that motion had to be resolved before another motion could be made. A roll call vote was taken. Councilor Shipley No Councilor Auchter Yes Councilor Henderson Yes Councilor Mueller No Councilor Urey Yes Councilor Peden No Council President Longiotti Yes Motion approved 4-3 12. Council Comments Councilor Shipley said he is looking forward to working with everyone and addressed Mr. John Wilson, 44 Eagle Street in the audience complementing him on his presentation at the previous night’s work session with his idea to “generating Greenville’s own lighting system”. All the councilors individually thanked Mr. Wilson for his “thinking outside the box” and welcome more people to come forth with new ideas for the borough. Councilor Henderson invited Mr. Wilson to attend the GALSA meeting on January 17th to share his idea with the board. Councilor Peden cautioned if a grant was obtained for generating power, that it not be a large matching grant. Mr. Peden also commented he was disappointed in the vote to reopen the budget and the EIT ordinance. He is glad to be a member of council. 6  Greenville Borough Council Meeting minutes 1/8/08 Councilor Urey mentioned that some people have a hard time hearing the discussions of the councilors and suggested microphones be passed around so the audience can hear better. Councilor Mueller said he attended the court hearing on December 28th and he felt, at the time, the borough should not have requested a continuance “and let the chips fall where they may”. Since a continuance was granted he felt the budget should have been reopened. President Longiotti presented the councilors with their committee appointments and asked the members to let him know if they had any conflicts with the assigned committees. He then read from a prepared statement, highlighting his council actions from January 7, 2002 to the present. Councilor’s Henderson, Auchter, Urey, Mueller & Longiotti all welcomed the two new council members. 13. Borough Manager’s Comments None 14. Bills for Approval Payroll 126,895.48 Administration/Building 12,988.50 Tax Expense 1,886.97 Douglas and Joseph 1,250.00 Police Department 12,483.02 Fire Department 10,497.07 Code, Zoning, & COG Department 2,048.30 Sewer Employee Benefits 4,006.82 Streets/Public Works Department 21,768.13 Airport Expenses 456.94 Park Expenses 3,040.53 Bank Payments and Insurances 147,554.07 Sewer System Operating Fund 111,184.76 Sewer Capital Projects 68,919.00 Capital Fund Projects 50.00 TOTAL OF ALL DEPARTMENTS $525,029.59 7  Greenville Borough Council Meeting minutes 1/8/08 Councilor Auchter moved, seconded by Councilor Urey that the bills be paid as presented. Motion approved. 15. Adjournment of the regular meeting Having no other business before council, Council President Longiotti asked for a motion to adjourn to an executive session to discuss a personnel issue. Councilor Urey moved, seconded by Councilor Henderson to adjourn the regular meeting at 7:34 p.m. Motion approved. 16. Press time 17. Executive session Respectfully submitted, Ryan T. Eggleston Borough Secretary Borough of Greenville vdh 8