Council of the Municipality of Murrysville

THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, October 6, 2021 Council of the Municipality of Murrysville held a Regular Voting Meeting on Wednesday, October 6, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. in the Municipal Building. Present at the meeting were Council members Toni Brockway, Dayne Dice, Loren Kase, Jamie Lee Korns, Mac McKenna, Tony Spadaro, and Carl Stepanovich. Also, present were Chief Administrator, James Morrison, and Director of Finance, Diane Heming. Mayor Synan and Solicitor, George Kotjarapoglus were absent. REGULAR VOTING MEETING AGENDA ROLL CALL/VOTING ORDER: Toni Brockway, Dayne Dice, Loren Kase, Mac McKenna, Jamie Lee Korns, Tony Spadaro, Carl Stepanovich, and Mayor Synan - absent. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Mr. Dice led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. UNISTED AMENDMENTS: None CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS: A. Approval of September 15, 2021, Council Meeting Minutes. Dr. Lee Korns made a motion to approve the Consent Calendar Items. Ms. Brockway seconded. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. MAYOR’S COMMENTS: Mr. Morrison presented the Mayor’s Comments on behalf of Mayor Synan. The Murrysville Recreation Department and Murrysville Community Library will present Nazi Saboteurs at Horseshoe Cure During WWII on Wednesday, October 13th at 6:30 p.m. at the Murrysville Municipal Building Council Chambers. Register for the free program at www.murrysvilleparecreation.com. Trick-or-Treating in Murrysville will be held on Sunday, October 31st from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Please turn off your porch lights if you do not want to participate. Please drive safely and have fun! Westmoreland Cleanways will hold a Household Hazardous Waste Collection on Saturday, October 23rd from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at Westmoreland Cleanways Recycling Center in Unity Township. Register by calling ECS&R at 866-815-0016 or visit www.ecsr.net. Amount due will be determined on site depending on the weight of material to be disposed. Local author Genna Stemley will be the featured speaker at the Murrysville Community Library’s October 23rd program at 2:00 p.m. at the library’s new TechNook. Pre-registration is requested but walk-ins are also welcome. For more information, call 724-327-1102 or register online at murrysvillelibrary.org. The Murrysville-Export Rotary has partnered with Completely Booked in Murrysville for a fundraiser that will benefit Franklin Regional’s Back-Packs-to-Go program. From October 15-17, a portion of proceeds from the store’s book fair will go to the program to help ensure that participants will receive a Christmas gift in addition to a regular supply of nutritious food. Completely Booked is located at 201 Blue Spruce Way. vmp -1- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, October 6, 2021 Franklin Regional Homecoming Bonfire will be Thursday, October 7th from 5:30 – 8:00 p.m. Franklin Regional students, staff, families, alumni, and the community are invited. Free admission and fun for the entire family. CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR’S COMMENTS: Mr. Morrison stated that the Mayor wanted to send his heartfelt thanks to Council President, Mr. Dice for filling in while he is recuperating. Mr. Morrison stated that he spoke with the Mayor earlier in the week and he is coming around very well. Mr. Dice added that we all wish the Mayor a speedy recovery. Mr. Morrison stated that he wanted to thank the Murrysville Fire Department for helping out with the ladder truck to repair the flagpole in front of the Municipal Building today. The public works bucket truck wasn’t high enough to reach it. Delivery of the new dump truck will be this Friday. COMMUNITY INPUT: Mr. Dice noted that this is the portion of the meeting where members of the public can speak on whatever topic they’d like, as long as it is three minutes or less. Andrew Lambl, 5061 Northlawn Circle: Mr. Lambl wanted to express his concern regarding traffic backing up between 3:00 – 3:30 p.m. on both lanes of Crowfoot Road. Options had been discussed to address that issue back when the school was being planned. There are approximately 20 to 30 cars backed up on Crowfoot and there is nothing they can do except sit and wait till school lets out. A policeman needs to be there to direct the traffic or other options need to be considered. If there is ever an emergency and emergency vehicles need to get into the school or into the neighborhood, there will be an issue. Mr. Lambl would like Council to please note that and consider some options. Matthew Aukeman, 4211 Bulltown Road: Mr. Aukeman wanted to address the risk in regard to the intersection from Route 22 turning onto Old William Penn. Around the bend is a walkway crossing intersection which does have a sign indicating there is a walkway, but it is difficult to see at nighttime and is located a ways back. The walkway is behind North Park Lounge where there is a parking lot which people use and need to cross there. Could Council please look into some type of light system where someone can push a button when they want to cross the street and it lights up or something. People don’t even think about stopping or slowing down and can cause fender benders. Also, in case Council isn’t aware, there is a huge rubber buffer that has pulled up at the bridge before that intersection. Maintenance needs to look at that expansion joint for the bridge. LIAISON COMMENTS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS: Mr. Spadaro: Medic One did meet last month. They had 1,351 trips; 197 were Washington Township, and 193 were wheelchair cases. Their subscription drive is now over. They got $205,000 in subscriptions. If anyone still wants to give, they are more than welcome to. Medic One got another grant for $115, 000 for equipment and additional training. Two crews were sent to help with Hurricane Ida. The dive term went to Ohio to help look for a 7-year-old boy that drown there. Medic One is worried about the Biden mandate of mask wearing. They may lose all their insurance payments if the people are not vaccinated that are called. They would lose a lot of revenue and a lot of people won’t get service. vmp -2- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, October 6, 2021 Mr. Stepanovich: The Planning Commission and Parks and Recreation Foundation will both meet next week. Mr. Kase: EAC met on the 28th. The main topic was the future of Bowser Body Shop, formerly Creative Bus and before that 84 Lumber. Most of that information is in the briefing. Dr. Lee Korns: Pension Committee meets next month. They have been working on an investment policy statement to highlight changes that the committee has made. Ms. Brockway: Nothing more to report than what was mentioned in the Mayor’s report for the Library programs. Mr. McKenna: Parks and Recreation meets next Tuesday. The Farmer’s Market ended. It was a huge success. The senior Halloween party is coming up this month. Trick or Treat on the Trail is October 30th. You have to be pre-registered for that. No immediate details on Santa at Sardis. The Scout project of digging holes for the trail signs at Townsend Park, there are19 more post to dig which should be finished by fall. If you have neighborhood parks in your community or go to the parks, please feel free to reach out with ideas for updating the parks. WORKSHOP ITEMS ADMINISTRATION: None ENGINEERING: None COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: 11.A. A discussion concerning SP-7-21, a site plan for the Bowser Body Shop, 4429 William Penn Highway, Tax Parcel 49-14-07-0-002. Ed McGrath, Director of Operations for Bowser, presented a drawing of the proposed development. The intent is to convert the building into a collision repair center for automobiles and small trucks along with two paint booths which will contain a down draft system and filter the air. Vehicles waiting for repair will be stored in a stockade fenced area so they can’t be viewed. The paint that will be used is highly environmentally clean and water based. There are no air pollutants in the paint and are compliant with all Federal rules. Mr. Morrison stated that this is the site plan for Creative Bus, who sold the property to Mr. Bowser. The only changes to the building were the paint booths and couple of garage doors. The major change was a 70 x 180 foot storage area, which is marked on the site plan. Several of the planting installed by Creative Bus had died and will need replaced. As part of the Conditional Use approval for Creative Bus, there was a waiver granted for parking because of the demand of the space, which a traffic study was involved. Bowser proposes to meet the requirements as was granted under that Conditional Use. The Planning Commission reviewed this application last month and made several recommendations. The applicant is aware of the conditions and has no issues with them. Mr. Morrison stated that this will be brought back to Council at the next meeting. vmp -3- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, October 6, 2021 PUBLIC WORKS AND PARKS: None COUNCIL ACTION ITEMS ADMINISTRATION: 13.A. Consider approval of the 2022 Minimum Municipal Obligation for the police and non-uniform pension plans. Dr. Lee Korns made a motion to approve the 2022 Minimum Municipal Obligation for the police and non- uniform pension plans. Mr. Spadaro seconded. Ms. Heming stated that this is done every year to set the minimum obligation for both pension plans. The actuarial study is still in process and will not be available in time to be used for the 2022 actuarial valuations, so the 2019 Actuarial Valuations has been used. If the reports are received prior to the approval of the 2022 General Fund Budget, staff can revise the MMO payments for 2022. The total obligation is $691,648. Of that, $423,522 is for the police and $268,126 is for the non-uniform plan. Each year, we receive an allocation from the state, which is call the Foreign Casualty Allocation. The estimated allocation will be $326,000 which goes directly into both pension plans. That leaves us a net payment of $365,000. One plan is 98.5% and the other is 95% funded. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. 13.B. Consider approval of an appointment to the Zoning Hearing Board. Mr. Stepanovich made a motion to appoint Greg Hammill to the Zoning Hearing Board for a term which expires December 31, 2023. Mr. Spadaro seconded. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. Mr. Morrison noted that Mr. Hammill is a local realtor and is a member of the Murrysville Economic Community Development Corporation. 13.C. Consider authorization to advertise an Earned Income Tax Ordinance #1038-21 Notice to increase the Earned Income Tax rate from one-half (.50) of one (1) percent to seven-tenths (.70) of one (1) percent for the Municipality of Murrysville’s use alone, as set forth in Notice as provided in Council’s Briefing Packet, for the tax year 2022 and continuing in effect for each year thereafter unless otherwise revised by ordinance of Murrysville Council. This advertisement shall be published once a week for three consecutive weeks prior to Murrysville Council’s consideration of said Ordinance at its public meeting to be held at the Murrysville Municipal Building at 7:00 PM Wednesday, November 3, 2021. Mr. McKenna made a motion to consider authorization to advertise an Earned Income Tax Ordinance #1038-21 Notice to increase the Earned Income Tax rate from one-half (.50) of one (1) percent to seven- tenths (.70) of one (1) percent for the Municipality of Murrysville’s use alone, as set forth in Notice as provided in Council’s Briefing Packet, for the tax year 2022 and continuing in effect for each year thereafter unless otherwise revised by ordinance of Murrysville Council. This advertisement shall be published once a week for three consecutive weeks prior to Murrysville Council’s consideration of said Ordinance at its public meeting to be held at the Murrysville Municipal Building at 7:00 PM Wednesday, November 3, 2021. Ms. Brockway seconded. Mr. Morrison noted that this is “notice” of advertisement which is required under Act 511. The notice will be advertised three consecutive weeks prior to adoption. vmp -4- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, October 6, 2021 All those present voted aye. Motion approved. 13.D. Consider authorization to advertise a Real Estate Transfer Tax Ordinance #1048-21 Notice to increase the tax rate from one-half (.50) of one percent to one (1) percent for the Municipality of Murrysville’s use alone, as set forth in Notice provided in the Council’s Briefing Packet, for the tax year 2022 and continuing in effect for each year thereafter unless otherwise revised by ordinance of Murrysville Council. This advertisement shall be published once a week for three consecutive weeks prior to Murrysville Council’s consideration of said Ordinance at its public meeting to be held at the Murrysville Municipal Building at 7:00 PM Wednesday, November 3, 2021. Ms. Brockway made a motion to consider authorization to advertise a Real Estate Transfer Tax Ordinance #1048-21 Notice to increase the tax rate from one-half (.50) of one percent to one (1) percent for the Municipality of Murrysville’s use alone, as set forth in Notice provided in the Council’s Briefing Packet, for the tax year 2022 and continuing in effect for each year thereafter unless otherwise revised by ordinance of Murrysville Council. This advertisement shall be published once a week for three consecutive weeks prior to Murrysville Council’s consideration of said Ordinance at its public meeting to be held at the Murrysville Municipal Building at 7:00 PM Wednesday, November 3, 2021. Mr. Kase seconded. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. Mr. Morrison noted that under Act 511, this “notice” of advertisement is required to be advertised three consecutive weeks prior to adoption. This is a real estate transfer tax which occurs on the sale of property and is not a tax millage increase. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. 13.E. Consider authorization to advertise Ordinance #1038-21, an ordinance amending Murrysville Code, Chapter 126, Article II, Section 206-10 to (a) increase the Earned Income Tax rate from one-half (.50) of one (1) percent to seven-tenths (.70) of one (1) percent, for the Municipality of Murrysville’s use alone for tax year 2022, commencing January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022, and continuing in effect for each year thereafter, unless otherwise revised by ordinance of Murrysville Council. Murrysville Council’s consideration of said Ordinance is to take place at its public meeting to be held at the Murrysville Municipal Building at 7:00 PM Wednesday, November 3, 2021. Mr. McKenna made a motion to consider authorization to advertise Ordinance #1038-21, an ordinance amending Murrysville Code, Chapter 126, Article II, Section 206-10 to (a) increase the Earned Income Tax rate from one-half (.50) of one (1) percent to seven-tenths (.70) of one (1) percent, for the Municipality of Murrysville’s use alone for tax year 2022, commencing January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022, and continuing in effect for each year thereafter, unless otherwise revised by ordinance of Murrysville Council. Murrysville Council’s consideration of said Ordinance is to take place at its public meeting to be held at the Murrysville Municipal Building at 7:00 PM Wednesday, November 3, 2021. Mr. Kase seconded. Mr. Morrison stated that this is the enabling ordinance that follows the notice. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. vmp -5- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, October 6, 2021 13.F. Consider authorization to advertise Ordinance #1048-21, an ordinance amending the Municipality of Murrysville Code, Part II: General Legislation, Chapter 206 Taxation, Article VI, Real Estate Transfer Tax, Section 206 -52, a tax on the transfer of title to real property, to increase the rate of transfer tax for Murrysville from one-half (1/2) of one (1) percent to one (1) percent for the Municipality of Murrysville’s use alone shall commence in tax year 2022, and continue in effect for each year thereafter, unless otherwise revised by ordinance of Murrysville Council. Murrysville Council’s consideration of said Ordinance is to take place at its public meeting to be held at the Murrysville Municipal Building at 7:00 PM Wednesday, November 3, 2021. Mr. Spadaro made a motion to consider authorization to advertise Ordinance #1048-21, an ordinance amending the Municipality of Murrysville Code, Part II: General Legislation, Chapter 206 Taxation, Article VI, Real Estate Transfer Tax, Section 206 -52, a tax on the transfer of title to real property, to increase the rate of transfer tax for Murrysville from one-half (1/2) of one (1) percent to one (1) percent for the Municipality of Murrysville’s use alone shall commence in tax year 2022, and continue in effect for each year thereafter, unless otherwise revised by ordinance of Murrysville Council. Murrysville Council’s consideration of said Ordinance is to take place at its public meeting to be held at the Murrysville Municipal Building at 7:00 PM Wednesday, November 3, 2021. Mr. Stepanovich seconded. Mr. Morrison stated that this is the enabling ordinance for the real estate transfer tax. Staff is proceeding at this time in anticipation of appropriating these increases into the 2022 budget. The last time that the Municipality of Murrysville experienced any tax increase was in 2007. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. 13.G. Consider authorization to enter into agreement with the Allegheny League of Municipalities (ALOM) through its Public Partners program to provide the Municipality of Murrysville with assistance during the transformative phases of securing a new Chief Administrator. Dr. Lee Korns made a motion to enter into agreement with the Allegheny League of Municipalities (ALOM) through its Public Partners program to provide the Municipality of Murrysville with assistance during the transformative phases of securing a new Chief Administrator. Mr. Kase seconded. Mr. Morrison stated that the current Chief Administrator is proposing to retire in December 2022. Previous attempts to find qualified candidates has been difficult. The Allegheny League of Municipalities through its Public Partners Program has former managers and current managers as part of their program that go through a very detailed hiring process. ALOM’s extensive knowledge of local government and specific skills needed to be a successful administrator will aid in the search. The Mayor has identified Mr. Morrison, Ms. Heming, and the Chief to work with ALOM during the initial review of applications received. Once short listed, we’ll establish the hiring process. The estimated cost is $110/hour, with a sum not to exceed $5,000. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. vmp -6- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, October 6, 2021 13.H. Consider authorization to advertise for the Murrysville Council Volunteer of the Year nominations. Mr. Stepanovich made a motion to consider authorization to advertise for the Murrysville Council Volunteer of the Year nominations. Dr. Lee Korns seconded. Mr. Morrison stated that this is done annually. The staff solicits nominations from various organizations and the community at large. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. 13.I. Consider authorization to advertise for openings on various Boards and Commissions. Mr. Kase made a motion to consider authorization to advertise for openings on various Boards and Commissions. Ms. Brockway seconded. Mr. Morrison stated that in Council’s support document file is a list of the Board and Commission memberships and vacancies that will occur. Typically, in the past, letters have been sent to the existing board members asking if they were interested in re-applying. It has been difficult finding volunteers for these Boards and Commissions and encourages everyone to get the word out. There are descriptions of all the positions and meeting times on the website, along with the volunteer application. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: None ENGINEERING: 15.A. Consider approval of Ordinance #1047-21, an Ordinance accepting a storm water easement in the Bianca Rose Plan of lots. Dr. Lee Korns made a motion to approve Ordinance #1047-21, an Ordinance accepting a storm water easement in the Bianca Rose Plan of lots. Mr. Spadaro seconded. Mr. Morrison stated that at last meeting Council authorized to advertise the Ordinance. The streets in Bianca Rose were accepted, but the storm water system was not accepted because of some inconsistencies in the as-builts. This ordinance corrects that problem with acceptance of easements from the property owners for the storm sewers. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. 15.B. Consider reducing the sequestered funds being held to insure completion of the required improvements at the Hillstone Village Development in the amount of $32,073.30. Mr. McKenna made a motion to consider reducing the sequestered funds being held to insure completion of the required improvements at the Hillstone Village Development in the amount of $32,073.30. Ms. Brockway seconded. vmp -7- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, October 6, 2021 Mr. Morrison stated that this is bond reduction for work completed at the development. It has been inspected by the Municipality and recommends release. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. PUBLIC WORKS AND PARKS: None OLD BUSINESS: None NEW BUSINESS: None EXECUTIVE SESSION: - Personnel Dr. Lee Korns made a motion to adjourn the meeting to an Executive Session. Mr. Spadaro seconded. Mr. Morrison noted that there was no action anticipated coming out of the session. All those present voted aye. The meeting adjourned to the Executive Session at 7:45 p.m. ACTION ITEMS: None ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m. The Regular Voting Meeting was broadcast on local government Channel 19. A true copy of the Council meeting DVD is available for the public to purchase from the Municipality of Murrysville and is in the Murrysville Public Library for review. vmp -8-