Council of the Municipality of Murrysville

THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, May 17, 2023 Council of the Municipality of Murrysville held a Regular Voting Meeting on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. in the Municipal Building. Present at the meeting were Council members Jamie Lee Korns, Jamie Lingg, Mac McKenna, Tony Spadaro, Carl Stepanovich, and Mayor Synan. Also present were Chief Administrator, Michael Nestico, Community Development Director, James Morrison, Director of Finance, Jacie Milchak, and Solicitor, Adam Long. Council members Dayne Dice and Jason Lemak were absent. REGULAR VOTING MEETING AGENDA ROLL CALL/VOTING ORDER: Jamie Lingg, Dayne Dice-absent, Tony Spadaro, Mac McKenna, Carl Stepanovich, Jamie Lee Korns, Jason Lemak-absent, and Mayor Synan. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Council Vice President, Tony Spadaro led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. UNISTED AMENDMENTS: None CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS: A. Accounts Payable B. Cash Investments and Transfers C. Approval of May 3, 2023 Council Meeting Minutes Mr. Stepanovich made a motion to approve the Consent Calendar Items. Mr. McKenna seconded. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. MAYOR’S COMMENTS: Mayor Synan made the following announcements: Spring Gardening Series continues. The Inviting, Pollinator-Friendly Gardens of Westmoreland County will be Tuesday, May 23rd at 6:30 p.m. Attracting Butterflies to Your Garden will be Tuesday, May 30th at 6:30 p.m. All events are held at the Murrysville Community Library. Register at murrysvillelibrary.org or call 724- 327-1102. Enjoy Life Sunday Morning Yoga at Townsend will be held every Sunday, May 14th – September 10th from 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. The cost is $10 per session. Visit SolSpace.love to register. Cash or Venmo will be accepted. May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month: Please be aware motorcycles are out there on bright sunny days! Memorial Day Celebration will be Monday, May 29th. The information is available on our website of where the services will be and at what time. Murrysville Cemetery is usually at 9:00 a.m. and Hills Church at 9:30 a.m. and ends at the AMVETS usually around noon in White Valley. Flag Retirement Ceremony will be May 22nd at 7:00 pm at the Sardis Volunteer Fire Department. If you’ve never seen one, it is quite interesting. Sponsored by Sardis VFC, Post 711, and Scout Troup 205. vmp -1- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, May 17, 2023 Farmer’s Market opening day is June 1st. It will be Thursdays 3pm – 7pm June thru September at the Murrysville Fire Department parking lot, 3235 Sardis Road. If you have any questions call 724-327-2100 ext. 131 or 115. Breze Coaching, Group HIIT Workout will be held at Chambers Park every Saturday from 7:00am – 7:45am and 8:15am – 9:00am beginning June 3rd. All fitness levels are welcome. For more information to go www.MurrysvillePARecreation.com. CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR’S COMMENTS: Mr. Nestico stated that the Bargaining Committee will be meeting with the Police Department to begin CBA discussions in the coming weeks. The Planning Commission will be reviewing the Short-Term Rental Ordinance in June. This item has been discussed internally. Administration has been fielding questions from the public about some short-term rentals that exist in the community. Next month the Police Department will be asking for approval to advertise for a new eligibility list. There was a recent resignation in the Public Works Department so we will be seeking a new employee there as well. COMMUNITY INPUT: None LIASONS COMMENTS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS: Mr. McKenna: He was out of town last week and unable to attend the Parks and Recreation meeting. June 13th will be the first Tuesday at Townsend. This Sunday is the Murrysville Police tribute event “Strengthening the Thin Blue Line” which will be held at the 11 a.m. service at the Murrysville Alliance Church. Mrs. Lingg: She attended the Franklin Regional School Board meeting on May 8th and the Policy meeting on May 11th. It looks like there is going to be a 2 mil tax increase from school taxes – not municipal taxes. Dr. Lee Korns: She was not able to attend the Pension meeting due to a work conflict. The fund right now and in April investment gains of $132,000 a value of 28.6 million for a year-to-date gain of approximately 5.1% which is up from 4.6 at the end of March. Mr. Stepanovich: The Planning Commission met last Tuesday. Injector Wells were discussed. The minimum acreage size for a plot of land for an injector well will be proposed at 5 acres, will be in the Business District as defined, minimum distance from the property line from the well hole to the boring is 250 feet, the protected structure distance from the well hole boring is 750 feet proposed, the elements of what can be put into the well will be determined by state regulations. This was forwarded to Council for discussion this evening. Also discussed were short-term rentals. Short-term means less than 30 days. The permit would be good for 1 year and all other municipal ordinances would have to be met. Mr. Spadaro: Medic One meets tomorrow night. vmp -2- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, May 17, 2023 WORKSHOP ITEMS ADMINISTRATION: 9.A. Discussion regarding finance software upgrade Mr. Nestico stated that he had discussions with Jacie over the last couple of months regarding the finance software that she is currently using and asked her to go out and see if she could find a software app or program that we could upgrade to that would help with some of our reporting needs, not only internally, but for auditing purposes. The current software gives us some difficulty with some of the reporting functions. Ms. Milchak stated that the current software is Great Plains, which is a very antiquated system. The reporting capabilities are limited. We have to enter data into the accounting software. There are a few reports that can be printed to get overviews and then we supplement using excel in our excel creative reports and do a double entry of that data into excel to have the reports that they submit. It takes a lot of time and any time you are entering data in twice, you are running the risk of more errors. Looking at different accounting systems, there are very comprehensive systems that involve not just the accounting side, but also planning, receiving invoicing for different departments, and tracking certain things. We utilize a lot of different softwares in different other departments, so we really don’t need a complex system. There is one accounting system that specializes in municipal accounting and the multiple funds and is utilized by other local municipalities, which include Upper St. Clair, North Huntingdon, Fox Chapel, Greensburg, Mt. Lebanon, and Monroeville. Ms. Milchak stated that she utilized the system when she worked in Greensburg. She recommends going to AccuFund which she is familiar with. The cost associated with the upgrade is about $17,000. The Great Plains software 20 years ago was $14,000 for the upgrade. The annual cost for this software is estimated to cost about $100 less than what we are currently paying. The breakdowns are in the briefing. The auditors would really appreciate a software that can export into excel. Unfortunately, the current system doesn’t allow that and would take hours to format that. AccuFund has a wonderful ability to customize reports. Mrs. Lingg stated that if it is going to facilitate the job that she does and make the reporting process easier and lessen the errors, then it would be a good change. Mr. McKenna agreed that just the amount of labor and entering things twice, the time could be used better somewhere else. Ms. Milchak noted that AccuFund will be able to transfer old data into the new system, but not 20 years of data. We will be able to utilize the old system for pulling information. Mr. Nestico feels it would be prudent to consider the upgrade, not only because of the way it processes reports, but the way data is entered. Jacie has already had experience and familiarity with working with this system. The conversion would take place at the end of the year, so a portion would be paid this calendar year and the remaining half of the balance in next year’s budget. ENGINEERING: None COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: 11.A. Discussion concerning a proposed ordinance regulating injector wells in the Municipality of Murrysville vmp -3- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, May 17, 2023 Mr. Morrison stated that Pennsylvania State Act 247 which covers some municipal planning codes states that any legal land use must be accounted for in a community that has a zoning ordinance. We do not currently provide for any provisions or regulations in our existing ordinance to regulate injection wells. The Planning Commission developed a proposed ordinance. In Council’s drop box were some Injection Well Resource websites and explains what an injection well is and why we need injection wells. Mr. Morrison continued that the proposed ordinance is to regulate injection wells in the B-District and look at if it can legally be located within a B-District. The municipality doesn’t have a lot of B-District and the B-District acreage is somewhat limited. We want to set a minimum of acreage on this particular use because of the impact. An injector well is a constant industrial use. Staff reviewed all of the Business District properties and found that a percentage would meet the requirement of 5 acres. When we addressed the actual use, we wanted to make sure that the impact was also minimized on the basis of business uses. We have done a lot of work in trying to maintain our Business District. The well would need to be no closer than 250 feet to the property line and no closer than 750 feet to a protected structure. The actual permitting of the use of the injection of the material into the ground is regulated by the EPA. The State permits the actual well. The State is considering putting provisions in place to regulate this which takes the permitting away from the EPA. Until that time comes, we will try the best we can to regulate here at a local level. The Planning Commission has worked on this ordinance for the last couple of months and made a recommendation to Council to consider passage of it. This is an introduction tonight and the next step would be to begin the Public Hearing process in June. Mr. Stepanovich asked how many potential 5-acre parcels there were. Mr. Morrison answered that there were around 53 along Route 22 and Route 286. Dr. Lee Korns asked if we are still looking at roughly the same number, 5% of the municipality, that could be fracked? Mr. Morrison stated that it is actually less. The amount of business properties as it related to the total land area is a smaller percentage than what it was under the Marcellus. Mr. McKenna asked what the life cycle of one of those wells is or how much can they put in one well? Mr. Morrison stated that the numbers he has seen was that the largest well that has been permitted in Pennsylvania takes 30,000 gallons max a day. It depends on the permeability of the layer that they are going into. Dr. Lee Korns stated that it would be crucial in order to have the strongest ordinance possible, especially given some of the concerns over the injection wells or standard fracking, to have the noise ordinance regarding ambient noise revised. Mr. McKenna asked if a company wants to put an injector well in would they pay and permit who owns that land or do they purchase the land for that use. Mr. Morrison stated that they would have to have equitable title to the property or some kind of arrangement with the property owner. PUBLIC WORKS AND PARKS: None vmp -4- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, May 17, 2023 COUNCIL ACTION ITEMS ADMINISTRATION: 13.A. Appoint Darren Miller to the Environmental Advisory Committee to fill the remainder of a vacant, unexpired term ending December 31, 2025. Dr. Lee Korns made a motion to appoint Darren Miller to the Environmental Advisory Committee to fill the remainder, unexpired term ending December 31, 2025. Mrs. Lingg seconded. Dr. Lee Korns noted that Mr. Miller is an asset to the community and is sure that he will be an asset to the EAC. Mr. Nestico stated that Mr. Miller has worked with some of the members of the EAC on other projects in the community and will be a valuable addition to the EAC. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. 13.B. Authorize advertisement of Ordinance No. 1074-23, the Fee Ordinance, Chapter 112-6, an ordinance amending existing Fee Ordinance No. 1062-22. Dr. Lee Korns made a motion to approve advertising of Ordinance No. 1074-23, the Fee Ordinance, Chapter 112-6, an ordinance amending existing Fee Ordinance No. 1062-22. Mrs. Lingg seconded. Mr. Nestico stated that this is specifically related to adding a fee for the use of the kitchen portion/concession stand area of the Leftwich Pavilion at MCP. MASA has stopped using the concession stand of the facility for soccer events. It will be an additional item for someone who rents the Leftwich Pavilion to also have access to that kitchen facility for an additional fee of $100. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: 14.A. Approve Ordinance No. 1073-23, an ordinance for rezoning of approximately 19.3 acres, Tax Parcel 49-10-13-0-014, Logan Ferry Road, from R-1 Residential to R-2 Residential. Dr. Lee Korns made a motion to approve Ordinance No. 1073-23, an ordinance for rezoning of approximately 19.3 acres, tax parcel 49-10-13-0-014, Logan Ferry Road, from R-1 Residential to R-2 Residential. Mr. McKenna seconded. Mr. Nestico stated that this was approved at the last meeting. There will be a conservation easement that runs with the property. This is the formal portion of the process by putting it into an ordinance. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. vmp -5- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, May 17, 2023 ENGINEERING: 15.A. Authorize advertisement of the DPW-2-23 Alternative Road Surface Treatment Project. Mrs. Lingg made a motion to authorize advertisement of the DPW-2-23 Alternative Road Surface Treatment Project. Dr. Lee Korns seconded. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. PUBLIC WORKS AND PARKS: None OLD BUSINESS: None NEW BUSINESS: None EXECUTIVE SESSION: None ACTION ITEMS: None ADJOURNMENT: Dr. Lee Korns made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mr. McKenna seconded. All those present voted aye. The meeting was adjourned at 7:50 p.m. The Regular Voting Meeting was broadcast on local government Channel 21. 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 -6-