Council of the Municipality of Murrysville

THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, October 2, 2024 Council of the Municipality of Murrysville held a Regular Voting Meeting on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. in the Municipal Building. Present at the meeting were Council members Eli Diacopoulos, Dayne Dice, Jason Lemak, Jamie Lingg, Mac McKenna, Matthew Olszewski, Carl Stepanovich, and Mayor Synan. Also present were Chief Administrator, Michael Nestico, Director of Public Works, Bill Paiano, and Solicitor, Wes Long. REGULAR VOTING MEETING AGENDA ROLL CALL/VOTING ORDER: Carl Stepanovich, Eli Diacopoulos, Mac McKenna, Matthew Olszewski, Dayne Dice, Jamie Lingg, Jason Lemak, and Mayor Synan. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Council President, Dyane Dice led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. UNISTED AMENDMENTS: None CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS: A. Approval of September 17, 2024 Council Meeting Minutes. Mrs. Lingg made a motion to approve the Consent Calendar Items. Mr. Diacopoulos seconded. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. MAYOR’S COMMENTS: Mayor Synan wanted to congratulate Herb Yingling for being inducted into the Franklin Regional Hall of Fame. He attended the event last Friday and at the social gathering after, he read Proclamation No. 226-24 declaring September 27, 2024, as Herb Yingling Day. Herb Yingling has contributed more than 40 years of volunteer service to the Franklin Regional School District, Municipality of Murrysville, and local service organizations. He served 18 years on the School Board along with many years of service to multiple school committees. Herb volunteered more than 36 years in the Athletic Department. He served the municipality for 20 years as the Franklin Regional School District liaison to the Parks and Recreation Commission, helping to grow and promote Murrysville parks and programs and volunteering at community events. Herb was a 2009 RAUW Educational Foundation Honoree, Murrysville Volunteer of the Year, a recipient of the Jefferson Volunteer Award, and a 1999-2000 Franklin Regional Excellence Award winner. Herb Yingling Day recognizes service above self and encourages all residents to follow his lead by giving back to their school and community. Curbside Leaf Collection Program: To schedule a pick-up on one of the collection dates, please fill out the “Curbside Left Collection Program Form” on the website. There is a 20 bag limit each collection date. The deadline to sign up for each date is the Thursday before the pickup date: Saturdays – October 19, November 9, November 16 and December 7. Murrysville Trick or Treat will be Thursday, October 31st from 6 – 8 p.m. vmp -1- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, October 2, 2024 CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR’S COMMENTS: Mr. Nestico gave the following updates: There are various road projects going on within the community and are aware of some of the disruptions to local traffic. The projects are through the gas company and through the state. We want to make the community aware that we do recognize that there are some disruptions to local travel. Hopefully they will be wrapping up soon and are pretty much out of our control. The Old William Penn Bridge repair will be starting on Monday, October 14th. When the project begins, the detour will take effect for all vehicular traffic in that area. It will be a full closure. The detour will be posted, and the information will be available on our website. The contractor expects the project to wrap up before Thanksgiving. Once the project is completed, it will improve the load rating on the bridge. It’s election time and political signs are popping up everywhere and we recognize that. The only location that the Municipality is enforcing is on the Route 22 median, which is a major safety concern for people going onto the roadway placing the signs, it’s dangerous for our staff to go out and remove the signs, and it is also a distraction for drivers. We talked to the various political groups in the community and made them aware. PennDOT has also been enforcing some of the signage requirements in their right-of-way. A lot of folks in the community have signs and place signs throughout the community that may not be directly involved with political groups. We respect and appreciate that, but we ask that people don’t place signs in the median on Route 22. Staff did receive some feedback about a property located on Stewart Street and the people residing there. They looked into the situation and the police have not received any calls of criminal activity. We are aware that the property owner is trying to evict the tenants at that location, which is a process involving legal rights of tenants or squatters. The sheriff has been there and posted the property. The landlord is aware, and the Code Enforcement Office has gotten in contact with him to address maintenance concerns. Police will be monitoring that area. COMMUNITY INPUT: None LIAISONS COMMENTS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS: Mr. Lemak: The Murrysville Library meets on October 16th. They will be holding a fundraiser PUTTS FOR PAGES where they will set up a miniature golf course at the library on Saturday, November 23rd. Family mini golf will be from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. and adult mini golf from 5:30 – 9 p.m. There will be food and beverages, a 50/50, and raffle baskets. Mr. Stepanovich: Medic One met on September 19th. The subscriptions are at 27%, which is less than last year. In the month of August, they delivered 3 babies, and they answered a cardiac arrest at one of the Panther football games. Medic One is not a tax-exempt organization. It is a private business. There is a certain amount of funds they acquire by being on hurricane standby. There is going to be 4 additional receptor preemptions to facilitate the lights when emergency vehicles are approaching. There will be 2 at the Old William Penn/Sardis location and the other 2 at Route 22/Vincent Hall location. The total cost will be in the range of $10,000. vmp -2- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, October 2, 2024 The Parks and Recreation Foundation will be advertised in the October issue of Stroll Magazine. There is work on what will be a natural playground in Murrysville Community Park. The playground itself will have a mulch bed about 6 inches deep. The estimated cost is in the range of $10,000. Next meeting is October 28. Mr. McKenna: Parks and Recreation did not have a meeting last month. They will meet next Tuesday. This week on social media, showed the Pickleball Courts at Kovalczik Park which are complete. A huge shoutout to the Public Works Department for all their work up there. They turned out very nice and is what the community asked for. Mrs. Lingg: The next Planning Commission meeting is Tuesday, October 8th. Mr. Olszewski: The Environmental Action Committee September meeting was cancelled. The next meeting will be the end of October. Mr. Diacopoulos: The Pension Committee has no update until the November meeting. Mr. Dice: FTMSA continues their list of work on upgrades. They will come and give a presentation sometime soon in regard to the upgrades to the plant. WORKSHOP ITEMS ADMINISTRATION: 9.A. Discussion regarding adoption of a Stormwater Management (MS4) Fee Mr. Nestico gave an overview of consideration to adopt a stormwater management fee. Unfortunately, the cost of maintaining our stormwater system has gone up along with the cost of materials, the cost of labor, and the overall upkeep of the system. In Murrysville, our current stormwater system is maintained primarily through our Public Works Department and cost has mostly been absorbed by the General Fund budget. We are at a point where the costs to maintain the system and requirements implemented by the state and the needs of the overall stormwater system that we have as a whole; the cost will probably not be able to be met by the General Fund budget much longer. That is why we are asking Council to consider the implementation of a fee. Stormwater is comprised by a number of different aspects, which include all the underground storm sewer pipes, conduits, inlets, culverts, catch basins, gutters, ditches, channels, detention ponds, streets, curbs, and drains. Murrysville operates under a current NPDES permit, expiring April 30, 2029, which must be renewed every five (5) years. The permit authorizes discharge from the Murrysville small municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) to Lyons Run, Abers Creek, Haymaker Run, Turtle Creek, Steel’s Run and Pucketa Creek. The requirements of the state mandate the municipality to maintain the system to a certain degree and continue to make improvements to that system. vmp -3- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, October 2, 2024 We dedicate about one month out of the year to having the Public Works crew go out and engage in stormwater and storm flow repair projects. We also address storm ponds throughout the year usually through a contractor. We are behind schedule on some of those items. Our system isn’t mapped very well. We run into issues with PA ONE calls in marking the system. Stormwater systems are located in many municipalities throughout the state and there are about 100 municipalities that have stormwater fees. The fees, for instance, could be anywhere from $5-$10 per month for the average residential home. For commercial and non-residential facilities, the fee would be higher depending on how much impervious surface they have. To adequately examine what the fee structure should be, the first step in the process would be to move forward with an aerial survey of the municipality to get a handle on how much impervious surface there is in the community. Mr. Stepanovich asked if the storm sewers were separate from the sanitary sewers. Mr. Nestico answered yes. MS4 is a separate storm system. Mr. McKenna asked that when a residential development or commercial development occurs, the infrastructure put in for the stormwater, is that done by the developer, and we absorb the cost after that? Mr. Nestico stated that generally speaking, the stormwater controls put on a development are maintained privately, but it discharges into our system. Mr. Olszewski asked if the new fee would then take the strain off the General Fund? Mr. Nestico answered yes. The state guidance provided regarding stormwater fees states explicitly that any stormwater fee that is generated by a municipality has to go into a separate fund only to be used for stormwater projects. Any overlap would then be taken from the General Fund. Mrs. Lingg asked what the fee is for the NPDES permit. Mr. Nestico stated that the annual fee is $2,500 per year for five years. There are requirements to continue to improve your stormwater system throughout the five years. Mrs. Lingg asked if we were going to start requiring mapping the GIS of new construction as part of the ordinance, so we don’t bear the cost. Mr. Nestico stated that right now when a development comes in, we do have maps that the engineering tech will try to plug that information into our GIS system. Mrs. Lingg asked if residential or commercial properties that have their own stormwater management system would get a credit or discount. Mr. Nestico stated that some municipalities do have a credit system. There is a process for that, and we will look into it. Mrs. Lingg stated that in the CIP there was a line item for an estimate. Is that in line with the anticipated annual costs for dealing with the problems? Mr. Nestico answered yes. It was an estimate based on the needs of our system and the expenditures we anticipate on an annual basis. The number could fluctuate depending on how aggressive we want to be with some of the improvements. An analysis would have to be done of our community to try to identify the Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU). This is the measure of impervious ground cover for a typical single-family residential property used in assessing the fees for each parcel. Once that is determined, that number establishes the baseline on how the fee is set. Mrs. Lingg asked if there were any grants that we could apply for to help vmp -4- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, October 2, 2024 with the stormwater management. Mr. Nestico answered that there is not much funding out there for stormwater management. When the MS4 requirements were put into place by the state, it was an unfunded mandate. Mr. Olszewski asked if a revenue analysis was done. Mr. Nestico answered no, that the community would first need to be mapped with desire from Council to do so and consider this fee. In the ordinance, there will be an appeal process so if anyone feels that their property was assessed the wrong amount of impervious surface, they can challenge that. Mr. Stepanovich stated that he would like to go with the goal of no fee. Mr. Nestico stated that he will check with the engineer to see if the aerial survey can be done in-house. We do have GIS software and may require a few layers of mapping to be added in. Or many engineering firms we work with would probably have the capacity to do that. This would be step one. If Council does have an interest in seeing this to the next step on what it would be dollar and cents wise, the best way would be to have the area surveyed. The feedback from Council should be if there is a recognition of some budgetary constraints and that we may need an alternate source of funding. The recommendation from staff is that we do need another source of funding to address this issue. Mr. Nestico stated that he would get the figures on what it would cost to do an aerial and get back to Council on any expenditure. Mr. Dice asked Council if they agree to proceed with investigating this and looking into the aerial GIS and see what staff comes up with. Mr. Stepanovich stated that he did not agree, but the others on Council agreed to proceed with the aerial GIS survey. Mr. Dice noted that this would be a fee – not a tax. Any monies collected would have to go to stormwater. Let’s look into it and see where it goes. ENGINEERING: None COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: None PUBLIC WORKS AND PARKS: None COUNCIL ACTION ITEMS ADMINISTRATION: 13.A. Advertise to fill the vacancy on the Parks and Recreation Commission, said term to expire December 31, 2024. Mr. Stepanovich made a motion to advertise to fill the vacancy on the Parks and Recreation Commission, said term to expire December 31, 2024. Mrs. Lingg seconded. Mr. Nestico stated that the term expires then end of the year; however, Parks and Recreation has been having difficulty getting a quorum and would suggest that the candidate filling this position would continue into a new term. vmp -5- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, October 2, 2024 All those present voted aye. Motion approved. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: None ENGINEERING: 15.A. Authorize advertisement for Ordinance No. 1092-24, an ordinance accepting the streets in the Hillstone Village development. Mrs. Lingg made a motion to authorize advertisement for Ordinance No. 1092-24, an ordinance accepting the streets in the Hillstone Village development. Mr. Olszewski seconded. Mr. Nestico stated that this is an ordinance to advertise accepting streets in the Hillstone Village development which include North Valley Court, South Valley Court, Harrison Court, Hillstone Village Drive, and Clubhouse Court. The developer has requested that the Municipality accept these streets into the municipal street system. Construction of the streets was inspected by the engineering department. Mr. Lemak asked if we have the public works resources to support those roads. Mr. Nestico answered that we do. The more roads that we continue to add to our street system to maintain, plow, and repair, the public works department has gone beyond its limit. Mr. Paiano commented that every 13 miles they are to gain a truck and a new employee. This is set up in the CIP for the year coming. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. PUBLIC WORKS AND PARKS: None OLD BUSINESS: None NEW BUSINESS: None EXECUTIVE SESSION: 19.A. Legal Matters Mrs. Lingg made a motion to adjourn to Executive Session. Mr. Lemak seconded. There was no action anticipated coming out of the meeting. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. ACTION ITEMS: None ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 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-