City Council

MOUNT WOLF BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING JANUARY 2, 2024 The Mount Wolf Borough Council conducted a meeting on Tuesday January 2, 2024. The meeting was called to order by President Darry Main at 7:30 pm ATTENDANCE: The following Council Members were present: Michael Barlett, Brian McKenna, President Darryl Main, Vice President Dennis Naylor, Dan Schleig, Josh Parish and Pat Poet Officials: Mayor Maureen Starner, Treasurer: Jennifer Reiner, Secretary: Bonnie Bentzel, Attorney: Devon Myers (arrived at:7:45pm) ABSENT: Engineer: Chris Owens AGENDA AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A motion was made by: Josh Parish and seconded by Dan Schleig with the correction of spelling of Devon’s name to approve minutes for December 12, 2023 and December 26, 2023. The motion was passed unanimously. A motion was made by: Josh Parish seconded by Pat Poet to approve agenda with the addition to Streets for January 2, 2023 meeting. The motion was passed unanimously. VISITORS: Jeff Keefer, Resident PUBLIC COMMENTS: No Comments ENGINEER’S REPORT: No report SOLICITOR’S REPORT: Devon stated that she started to do a conflict check at 142 Maple Street, and she could not do this due to an internal matter, so she contacted Chris Owens, and he sent out an MS4 enforcement letter to the property owner. Bonnie received a voicemail from the property manager, which she forward to Devon and Chris, about what was being discharged so they could “come up” with a resolution. Chris returned the call and has not heard back from the property manager at this time. Devon sent a copy of the enforcement letter to the attorney who is representing the property owner, so he could felicitate a resolution as well. Devon sent out the official enforcement letter to the property at 5 Center Street. Devon stated that she did receive a call from Pastor Mark Zortman, he stated he never received any letters from us. The Pastor stated that Wendy never informed him of the letters that she received from the Borough’s attorney. He stated that the property was inspected for insurance proposes and it cannot be insured. The Pastor stated to his knowledge, that people can walk into the building without being in danger, they cannot move a commercial grade freezer into the building without possible of danger. The Pastor stated they closed down the property, the electric and alarm system is still activated. Devon stated it is now insured as a vacant property, and they took steps that were suggested by the insurance company, which includes posting signs on the property. Darryl stated as of today there were no signs posted on the property. The only sign posted was “No Trespassing”. The Pastor stated they are listing the property today, January 2, 2024, for sale. The Pastor stated that he is willing to do whatever the Borough wants done. Devon did get his cell phone number and stated that he is willing to meet with any Council Members. Michael stated he is concerned with the safety of the fire fighters, in case of a fire. Josh stated he will notify Eagle fire company and the local police department. Josh stated that we need a placard stated they the structure is unsafe in case another fire company would response to a fire at this location. Rental property agreement was reviewed by Devon, and she stated that she did make some changes to the agreement. Devon stated she added they will inspect the properties according to the ordinances of the Borough. They will inspect one-third of the properties each year and the Borough will provide a list to the Rental Property Inspector of the properties that are due for inspection. Devon also added that they will do no less than five (5) properties with each inspection. Devon stated she can add that if for some reason they cannot do five (5) properties, due to unseen circumstances, they need to contact the Council President or the Mayor. Devon also added that we will need proof of insurance and Devon did contact Chris McDermott (Barry Isett and Company) and asked him if they have insurance coverage for Rental Property Inspections. Chris McDermott stated to Devon, that they do have insurance coverage for Inspections. As of today, Devon did not see any policies. Devon also stated she has not heard back from Barry Isett and Company to see if they agreed on our changes. Devon stated that the attorneys are involved with the Columbia Gas issues. Devon stated that the attorneys agreed to pay around $1,000.00 in legal fees. Devon stated that she put in prevision that if the Borough needs to take more legal actions, they will be responsible for all legal fees and any other fees that would occur. Devon stated that they were not happy with this. Devon asked the attorney for Columbia Gas what they feel is appropriate because the Borough needs protection in this matter. There attorney came back with “60 day written notice and cured period and after that if there were any fees, they would take care of the fees”. The Council stated that they did give Columbia Gas a deadline and they are already passed the deadline. The Council told Devon to have Columbia Gas sign the paper. Devon stated she will have Columbia Gas sign the paper for the agreement and the Borough Council will vote on this at our next Council meeting. ZONING OFFICER’S REPORT: No report TREASURER’S REPORT: Payment of Bills ~ Report of Finances ~ Receipt of Payments. A motion was made by Josh Parish and seconded by Michael Barlett to pay the bills. The motion was passed unanimously. President Darryl Main abstained from the vote. The Borough received the donation from “Wolves” Baseball. The 2024~2025 York County Treasurer Office “YCTO” tax agreement was received. A motion was made by Pat Poet and seconded by Dan Schleig to appoint the YCTO to collect the taxes for Mount Wolf Borough. The motion was passed unanimously. MAYOR: Mayor Starner reported that there were no weddings to report. No resident comments or concerns that was brought to her attention. Mayor Starner stated that Emerson Flatts will not be given any more occupancy permits until they satisfied the payments agreed upon. STREETS: Backhoe is working and ready for snow. Dennis Naylor stated that they saw the Sewer Authority painting green lines on the streets of Mount Wolf Borough. Pat stated that the Sewer Authority is not doing any projects. She stated they got a call from PA ONE stating Columbia Gas is doing a large project and asked the Sewer Authority to paint the green lines. The project is in design stage only. Michael stated that he did receive a complaint from a resident that they did get green paint on their car. They were able to get the paint off before it did any damage to the car. Darryl stated he got a call from Gary from Manchester Borough the leaf collector will need some work done to it before it is ready for the fall of 2024. Manchester Borough stated that they will do the labor themselves and asked if we could split the cost of parts with them. Darryl stated that it should not exceed $3000.00. A motion was made by Dennis Naylor and seconded by Dan Schleig to approve splitting the cost for materials to fix the leaf collector with Borough. The motion was passed unanimously. PARKS AND RECREATION REPORT: No events in January. Dan stated he will be looking at the security cameras to see who left 4 boxes of DVDs at the park. PROPERTY AND SERVICE REPORT: The Maintenace workers are asking for a “toolbox” for the new equipment so it can be locked up and not set out for anyone’s use. Josh asked if someone could forward him the information of the person to contact regarding getting a Knox box installed for the rental properties on 3rd Street. Mayor Starner stated that she texted Josh the information he requested. Josh stated it maybe in the best interest of the Borough to have a “Knox Box Ordinance” placed for any Rental properties placed with 10 units or more. Darryl stated that we will need to get together with Manchester Borough regarding the upcoming garbage contracts. This will be added to the agenda in February. BUDGET AND FINANCE REPORT: Devon stated that the Borough has until 2026 to spend the ARPA money. Devon stated that we the Borough must have something in place by December 31, 2024, on where the money will be used. HEALTH AND SAFETY REPORT: Josh stated Santa and the Grinch did visit the Borough. Mayor Starner did mention she did have some complaints from residents, because Santa’s visit was “too early” in the morning. The Police Department agreed with Council that we do not need to increase the PPU’s, but the cost of the PPU’s will be increased. PERSONNEL REPORT: No report PRESIDENT’S REPORT: No report OLD BUSINESS: No report NEW BUSINESS: Darryl did contact CS Davidson regarding our comprehensive plan. Last August, there is a grant opportunity and they wanted to know if we want to utilize CS Davidson to apply for $20,000.00 from the York County Planning Commission (YCPC) block grant for 2024. Darryl stated that they did give him a quote of around $40,000.00. Darryl stated we can use the ARPA money for this. The Borough agreed that we do need a new updated comprehensive plan. The last one we have in from the 1990’s. Darryl stated we will need a resolution. Darryl asked Devon to comply a Resolution 2024-2. Josh stated once we have a comprehensive plan in place, it will make it easier for the Borough to get grants that are needed. A motion was made by: Michael Barlett and seconded by Josh Parish to approve CS Davidson to apply for the Comprehensive Plan grant submission. The motion was passed unanimously. Pat asked about Enforcement of Ordinances. Mayor Starner stated that there are certain ordinances she cannot enforce. As an example, Mayor Starner stated abandoned vehicles park on the streets. Mayor has to contact the police regarding this matter. Due to the fact, she has no idea how to contact regarding the vehicles. Pat asked about the Borough website and who makes the changes. Josh stated that he is in charge of the website. Josh will work with Jen to posting things to the website. Mayor stated that she will continue updating the Borough’s Facebook page. Pat asked about Building Permits. She stated the Commonwealth Code regarding Building Permits. Commonwealth Code stated that they do not issue building permits and the Borough office issues building permits. Michael stated that they are incorrect. The Borough only issues zoning permits not building permits. The building permits are issued by the Commonwealth Code. The mayor stated that it was brought to her attention today that a resident built a porch without a permit. Chris McDermott will send out an enforcement letter the resident will need to apply for a zoning permit. After the project is completed the Building Inspector will need to come out and inspect the property in question. Pat stated that we can do our advertising in house instead of having the attorney do it for the Borough. Devon stated that she will “walk” Bonnie through the steps on Advertising for the Borough. Pat stated that one of the meetings she attended we discussed PA ONECALL and joining them. Pat stated that she thinks legally as a municipality we own underground utilities, which the Borough does own. We will need a representative to receive these calls and they can go onto the website and find out what is going on. It does cost a fee to join PA ONE CALL, but Pat stated that the fee is a small fee. She suggested that we should look into. Darryl stated that our engineer, Chris Owens, has all the updated maps. The borough did spend some of the ARPA money to televise all the current stormwater pipes. A motion was made by: Dan Schleig Pat Poet and seconded to adjourn meeting The motion was passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at: 9 pm Next Committee Meeting will be held on Tuesday January 23, 2024 at 7pm Next Council Meeting will be held on Tuesday February 13, 2024 at 7pm