City Council

Call Meeting to Order Art Pencek, Council President called the April 6, 2026, regular meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Pledge Of Allegiance: Art Pencek, Council President Roll Call: Arthur Pencek (President) Present Rosemarie Warner (Mayor) Absent Edward Gaughan (Vice-President) Present Joseph Castrogiovanni Present Luis Arias (Junior Council) Present Dennis Cawley Present Alia Rava (Junior Council) Present Earnest Church Present Nichole Musewicz Present Also, present were Amy Carlson (Business Manager) Ivy Brenzel (Police Chief), George Parker (Zoning/Code Enforcement Officer) Colin Young (Chief/Moscow Volunteer Fire & Hose Co.), Kyle Donahue (PA State Representative, 113th District) Marc Gaughan, Natalie Knight , Lindsay Grady, Frank Walsh, Paul Burns, Beth Murray (Moscow Borough Residents) Amy Hlavaty Belcher, Lisa Duffy, Luann Matchulat , Daniel Kozar (NP Cultural Society) Approval of Minutes The monthly council meeting was held on March 2, 2026 Minutes were submitted for review and approval. Motion was made by Joseph Castrogiovanni to accept council meeting minutes as written for both. Motion was seconded by Ed Gaughan. The motion carried unanimously. Citizen’s Comments And/Or Follow-Up On Previous Citizen’s Requests Amy Hlavaty Belcher, President NP Cultural Society and Lisa Duffy, member of the NP Cultural Society requested specific road closures for the annual Moscow Street Fair to be held Thursday July 23, Friday July 24 & Saturday July 25, 2026. VanBrunt Street was approved to be closed on the three dates requested. Request for closure at the bottom of Academy Street from the entrance of Peoples Security Bank closest to Main Street down to the intersection of Academy and Main Street was not approved. Art Pencek and Joesph Castrogiovanni stated that Golden Park is an option. The NP Cultural Society will need to submit a plan for Golden Park use and any other requests during the Moscow Street Fair to be presented to council at the next May 4, 2026 meeting for approval due to time constraints. Request was also made to have Keene Street closed on Friday July 24, 2026 to line up for the Street Fair Parade if Borough Council agrees to close Academy Street. The parade would go from Keene Street down Main Street to Van Brunt Street. The parade is slated to start at 7PM with line up starting around 6PM. Request was approved for same set up as in the past for the duration of the parade and the tractor parade day times/routes. Car Show will be on Saturday July 25, 2026 and will be in the parking lot by the Moscow Borough Building on Van Brunt Street (which will be closed). The annual “Run for the Hoses” will be on Saturday morning as well. Paul Burns, 500 Hideaway Drive was in attendance to voice his concerns to borough council of four separate issues regarding RLE Enterprises, Inc. located at R 457 N. Main St., Moscow, PA 18444. The issues Mr. Burns put forth to address were noise control, lighting issues, lot appearance and zoning. Details of the specifics were presented in a copy of an email that he had sent to the Moscow Borough on April 6, 2026. Art Pencek responded to Mr. Burns concerns and stated that he would instruct George Parker , Moscow Borough Zoning/Permit Officer to look into these issues. Moscow Volunteer Fire & Hose Co. Chief Colin Young of the Moscow Volunteer Fire and Hose Co. gave the call report for the month of February 2026. There were 102 total calls. The breakdown was 96 EMS and 6 fire calls. The Annual Chicken BBQ will be held Sunday June 7, 2026 and a flyer and details will follow in Moscow Borough Newsletter and website. Public Recognition Kyle T. Donahue, State Representative, 113th Legislative District was in attendance to present Marc Gaughan with a citation for his 23 years of service as a Moscow Borough Councilmember. Marc stepped down from his position on March 31, 2026. General Information: A letter dated March 20, 2026, from Senator Rosemary M. Brown to the Jefferson Township Supervisors regarding concerns about overweight truck traffic at the intersection of SR 247 & 348 in Jefferson Township was submitted to council for informational purposes and review. Letter dated 03/24/26 from District Attorney Brian J Gallagher regarding Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office Community Justice Program was submitted to council for informational purposes and review. Laurel Lines, Vol 54, Issue 3 – March 2026 , Publication Of The Lackawanna And Wyoming Valley Railway Historical Society, Inc can be downloaded and viewed at https://lwvrhs.org/monthy-laurel-lines-newsletter/ Thank you letter received from the NP Public Library for annual donation from the Moscow Borough was submitted to council for informational purposes and review. Street Sweeper cleaning by DPW of borough roads will be Monday 04/27/26 through Friday 05/01/26. Business Office A motion was made by Nichole Musewicz to approve Kuharchik Construction, 2026 Traffic Signal Maintenance Rate Proposal. Motion was seconded by Dennis Cawley, the motion carried unanimously with a roll call vote. A motion was made by Joseph Castrogiovanni for approval to apply and approve resolution 317-2026 for the 2026 Lackawanna County Reinvest Grant (deadline 04/30/26) to defray cost of the purchase of a Erskine Cold Planer 18" 4 Function Model cp18 for the DPW Department. (Approximate cost 21K/ money to be disbursed through Moscow Borough Liquid Fuels Fund for initial purchase) Motion was seconded by Ed Gaughan The motion carried unanimously with a roll call vote. Treasurer’s Report Nichole Musewicz made a motion to approve the transfers for the month of March 2026. The motion was seconded by Dennis Cawley. The motion carried unanimously with a roll call vote. The treasurer’s report was submitted and reported for the month of March 2026. Ed Gaughan made a motion to accept the treasurers report as reported and to pay the bills as presented. Dennis Cawley seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously with a roll call vote. Real Estate Tax Collector's Report Real Estate Tax Collector report was submitted for the month of March 2026 for informational purposes and review. Financial Report Joseph Castrogiovanni initiated discussion regarding purchase of the annual certificate of deposit. Advised by Joe’s recommendation, Ed Gaughan made a motion to invest with Edward Jones for a term of one year at an APR of 3.90%. Nichole Musewicz seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously with a roll call vote. Streets/Planning Commission and Council of Governments: Ed Gaughan made a motion to approve Academy Street Multimodal Grant Design Proposal submitted by Robert Bochicchio, P.E., DBIA, Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. on behalf of the Borough of Moscow. Joseph Castrogiovanni seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously with a roll call vote. Art Pencek advised George Parker to move forward in sending a letter of violation to the owners (Padavan LLC Justin & Angela Padavano) of 201 North Main St, Moscow PA. The owner has never followed through the first floor as an antique sales store as they were told when they bought the property. Prebid Meeting will be held on Thursday April 16, 2026 at 11:00 am at the for Covington Township 2026 Pavement Improvement Project. Robert J. Bochicchio, P.E., DBIA Greenman-Pedersen, Inc., will be attending on behalf of the Moscow Borough for the Base Bid#1 of Union Mill Road Station 0+00 to Station 5+58 - approximately 1,420 SY Bituminous Wearing Course 9.5 MM Mix, 1,420 SY Bituminous Binder Course 19 MM Mix, 2-1/2” Depth, 250 SY of Type 3 2A Aggregate Shoulder and related work. Zoning and Code Enforcement Zoning and Code Enforcement monthly report for March 2026 was submitted for review. Parks & Recreation / Shade Tree Commission Nichole Musewicz stated that the Annual Park Development Plan Report for Old Mill Park was submitted with no annual changes to Paul Bechtel, Director, Department of Parks and Recreation, Lackawanna County. Nichole Musewicz made a motion to approve the Annual Proposal for Spring /Fall Cleanup of Borough Building submitted by Shade Tree Commission, President Dan Schilling in the amount of $550.00. Dennis Cawley seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously with a roll call vote. Police Report Chief Ivy Brenzel submitted police report for March 2026. There was a total of 156 911 calls and 154 cleared calls for the month, also several events and training. On 03/31/26 Ivy stated she participated in helping others place a total of 655 pinwheels at the Lackawanna County Courthouse (The pinwheels represented children who received services through The Children's Advocacy Center of NEPA in 2025) Personnel Committee A motion was made by Earnest Church made a motion to adopt to the Moscow Borough Employee Handbook with the following as read: If an employee of Moscow Borough maintains continuous employment as a regularly scheduled Part-Time Employee for twenty (20) years, the regularly scheduled Part-Time Employee shall receive the same consideration as Full-Time Employees for the following benefit categories: Sick Time, Family Illness Time, Personal Days and Bereavement Leave. Such consideration shall begin at the start of the employee’s twenty-first (21) year. The motion was seconded by Dennis Cawley. The motion carried unanimously. Edward Gaughan, Personnel Chair working on Moscow Borough Employee Handbook clarifications requested by Murphy Dougherty & Co. and in general that will take additional time and will update when completed. Recycling Earnest Church, Recycling Chair stated he would be looking onto grants that support an electronics recycling event and other recycling related events. New Business Advertising for the vacant councilmember position is up to Moscow Borough Council. Councilmembers agreed that public notification should only need to be posted on the Moscow Borough website. Council will have until 4/30/26 to name a replacement for the vacant councilmember. Letters of Intent will be accepted from interested candidates. A special meeting date was set and will be advertised for Monday April 27, 2026 at 6:00 PM at the Moscow Borough Municipal Building. The purpose of the meeting will be to appoint a new council member to fill the current vacancy and conduct any other business that may come before Borough Council. Adjournment Motion was made by Ed Gaughan to adjourn the meeting. Motion was seconded by Joseph Castrogiovanni The motion carried unanimously. Minutes submitted by Amy Carlson