Borough Council

COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF THE SHARON HILL BOROUGH COUNCIL JANUARY 10, 2019 @ 7:00PM Meeting called to order President Oliver Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag Roll Call: Roll call was answer as follows: Present: Mrs. Booker (running late), Mrs. Bedford-Dean, President Oliver, Mayor Dunfee, Messrs., Green, Finnegan, Felder, Mr. Martinez and Mr. Smith. President Oliver I want to start the meeting approving the minutes. We have several minutes to approve this month. I’m looking for a motion to approve the Budget Meeting Minutes from October 22, 2018. Motion made by Mrs. Dean second by Mr. Finnegan. Any questions on the Budget Meeting Minutes from October 22, 2018? None being seen. All in favor? Opposed? 6-0 motion passes. I’m looking for a motion to approve the Budget Meeting Minutes from October 29, 2018. Motion made by Mr. Martinez second by Mrs. Dean. Any questions on the motion? All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries 6-0 I’m looking for a motion to approve the Council Meeting Minutes from November 8, 2018. Motion made by Mr. Martinez second by Mr. Finnegan. Any questions on the motion? All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries 6-0 I’m looking for a motion to approve the CDGB Meeting Minutes from December 13, 2018. Motion Made by Mrs. Dean second by Mr. Green. All in favor? Opposed? Motion Passes 5-0-1 Mr. Finnegan abstains. I would like to open the floor to public comments. You get 3 minutes. Once you start you can speak for 3 minutes. If you stop then you forfeit your time until the second half of the meeting. I’m going to ask council to refrain from responding until they are finished with their question. PUBLIC COMMENTS John Zangaro 89 Frances Ave. I have been a resident here for 34 years. I have been coming to all these meetings and have been coming to council about the fella that lives at 86 Frances Ave. Things seemed a little bit better but now it’s back to being bad again as always. The fella has 3 scrap trucks a tow truck a snow plow truck, cars behind his house. He is moving cars around the neighborhood and it’s been going on for years. Now why does he do it because he doesn’t have to pay a mortgage and get a used car lot? You don’t have to pay taxes, you don’t have to pay insurance. He has got free run of our neighborhood. This is Sharon Hill. If other find out he is doing this they are going to do it too. He is living off the land for free. Using our property and people have to figure out how to park all the time. It’s not right. It’s not fair I don’t know how this has been going on for years. We had good neighbors in the twin that is attached to his. A School teacher and a nurse. They lived there for years. She was a nurse and worked midnight shift and she couldn’t take the scrap metal he was cutting during the day. When is this going to end? Is he paying somebody off I mean. I’m not accusing anybody of anything here. I don’t understand how this is possible he has been doing this for years and years and years. It’s not legal. It can’t be legal. If it was legal people would be doing it all over our country. I’m sorry for getting a little angry and I’m not accusing anybody of anything but I don’t know how he is doing this legally unless I am missing something. President Oliver thank you. First I know we have addressed this question a hundred times. Mr. Smith? Mr. Smith we are continuing to address it. There are a couple of things that we have done recently through Mr. McSween and Mr. Schleigh. We are waiting to hear back from the property owner who is out of state to make them aware of what is going on. We continue to look at the property. Myself, Mr. Mcsween and the police force. All of the vehicles that are there now have, and I was by there this morning have current registrations and current tags so there is not much that we can do. Frankly you can’t limit how many vehicles someone says that they own, however all of the vehicles that are currently there are current with valid registrations and inspection stickers. I have noticed however that this is not a problem that is unique to Frances Ave. so one of the things that we have been discussing since the fall I think is a commercial vehicle initiative or an oversized truck initiative. I have noticed on my travels around the borough over the last few weeks that there are at least 4 or 5 other spots in the borough where trucks that are similar to the ones on Frances Ave. full of debris and are just sitting there. They are literally just sitting there and one of them is right across the street from Memorial Park next to the car wash and there is another one on Woodland so there is a number of spots that we are now noticing both myself and Chris. So there is a larger issue that we need to address for this specific issue we continue to look at and we are pushing pretty hard with the property owner at the moment making them aware that this is a nuisance. President Oliver so one more question about Frances. This is a rental property? Mr. Smith yes. President Oliver now if they call the police so many times when do we have a right to… Mr. Smith that is exactly what we are looking into. President Oliver ok thank you. Mr. Smith Code enforcement is on this property. I can’t count how many times I have passed by. I would venture to guess how many times Chief Herron’s guys have been there. Chief Herron we checked for abandoned vehicles up there this afternoon. All of the vehicles are legally registered. We received no 911 calls today. President Oliver ok. Mrs. Dean so you would need 3 complaints right. President Oliver yes but they are working on it. They are counting them as he comes here to the meetings. Mrs. Dean but he said he never had a call. President Oliver no 911 calls but he is here in the meetings so I’m taking it you are serving these as complaints as he comes to the meeting with the chief being present. Mr. Smith this gentleman has complained… President Oliver yes. Ok any other questions? My name is Clifford Spencer I live at 73 Ridley Ave. I’m having an issue right now my request is simple. I’m requesting that a street light be placed on Marshall Rd between Ridley Ave and Kenny Ave. Over the holiday I went out of town for 1 day and when I came back my back door had been attempted to be pried open. Someone had attempted to break into my home and one of the reasons being is just the light. On a dark night it is pitch black and within that street that is the last street we want not lit in Sharon Hill. It borders the t rain track and there are strange faces walking up and down the street all night long so I had to spend unfortunately a lot of money over the past couple of weeks to make sure that my house is secure. I’m having an electrician come out and install lights and a home security system and the whole gadget but this is the first time since 2005 since I have been here that I have encountered something like that before so I am requesting that a street light be placed right between Ridley and Kenny Ave there is a telephone pole where that can be installed so I also took pictures of my door so that you guys can see what I came home to when I returned after the holiday. Mr. Smith can we look into that? Mr. Smith Yes. Someone broke into your home? Clifford Spencer 73 Ridley Ave. I made a police report. They didn’t get in but I saw the pry marks on my back door and scratch marks on the door where they were trying to get in the back door. President Oliver ok we will have someone look into that because if it’s a pole I’m not sure if… Mr. Finnegan I have a question for this gentleman. The street light are you talking about on the street because you were talking about someone trying to break into your house and that was behind your house? Clifford Spencer 73 Ridley Ave. yes. I’m on the corner property. Mr. Finnegan so you would need a light like towards the back or do you want it on the street? Clifford Spencer I live at 73 Ridley Ave. the one on Marshall Rd. there is a street post that is in the center right in between Kenny sand Ridley that would light up the area where they tried to break in. Mr. Finnegan so that would light up your back. Clifford Spencer I live at 73 Ridley Ave. yes if you are not familiar with it if you ride past 73 you will see exactly where it is. Mr. Finnegan I just wanted to know if that was going to help you light up your back. Thank you. President Oliver any other questions? None being seen we will move onto committee reports. Mayor Dunfee can we swear in this young lady before we start that? President Oliver we can move to committee reports and that is the first thing on the agenda. Mr. Finnegan I don’t have a full library report this month. The library is currently closed for renovations but Erika J. Wilson has been recommended to serve on our library board. Erika has quite an impressive resume. I can read it but it would take a while. I think everyone of the council members has it. Erika has quite an impressive resume and I’m sure this is available to the public to so… Mrs. Dean no the public doesn’t have it. Mr. Finnegan well maybe next month we can give copies out. Mrs., Dean I’m not going to put her resume out but her bio… Do you have her bio that you can read? Mr. Finnegan that’s what I was talking about her bio. Mrs. Dean you can probably read… Mr. Finnegan it will be with the minutes. Mrs. Dean just the bio not the resume. Mr. Finnegan just the bio yes. Mrs. Dean ok. Do you mind if they put that into the minutes? Ms. Wilson that’s fine. Mr. Finnegan so at this point I would like to ask for a second to have Erika Wilson… Mrs. Dean Mike can I ask you a question. Can you just read that first paragraph so people will know? Mr. Finnegan read Ms. Wilson’s bio see attached: Mr. Finnegan she looks like a good candidate to serve on our board and I know that I would be glad to have her serve for us. Can I have a second? Mrs. Dean second. President Oliver any questions on the nomination? All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries 6-0. Mr. Finnegan Erika could you please step up. President Oliver Mayor Dunfee could you please… Do you have someone you would like to hold the bible for you? She probably has her own bible because she is a member of Sharon Baptist. Mayor Dunfee swore in Ms. Wilson to the library board. Mr. Finnegan that concludes my report. President Oliver any questions for Councilperson Finnegan? Mrs. Dean yes there is still 1 vacancy for the board left. President Oliver ok so we just have 1 more vacancy to fill? Mrs. Dean yes. President Oliver once again there is another vacancy on the library board so if anyone is interested please contact the library board members. You can stop in the office or stop in the library when they open in March but before that you can always stop in the office and someone will direct you to a contact person. Thank you Mr. Finnegan. Mr. Smith I’m not sure we have finalized the vacancy board issue last month. President Oliver for… Mr. Smith we are getting to appoint of chairing the vacancy board and I thought we had considered Ms. Hunter but I’m not sure we voted on any of that. President Oliver yes because she seems to be like… Mr. Smith I don’t want to put you on the spot but you happen to be here. Mrs. Hunter I told Sharon yes. Mrs. Dean you told Sharon yes? So she said yes. Mr. Smith ok so should we finalize that with a motion? Mrs. Dean do you want to swear her in? President Oliver I need a motion to make Ms. Hunter the vacancy board chair. Motion made by Mr. Felder second by Mrs. Dean President Oliver I have a motion and a second. Any questions on the motion? All those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries 6-0. Congratulations Ms. Hunter welcome. When she comes back we can swear you in but in the meantime we are going to continue. Councilperson Green? Mr. Green I don’t have a report for the Rec. Board at this moment. The only thing that I have for the Ramblers is the upcoming banquet is being held at the Oaks Ballroom in Glenolden on February 23rd from 1pm to 5pm. President Oliver did we talk about the Florida trip the last time? Mr. Green yes. President Oliver ok. They won 2 championships here and they went to Florida and they did well I just want to make sure everyone knew that. They did well they placed down there but they didn’t win the championship. Mr. Green they placed 4th out of 87 teams. President Oliver they did pretty good down there. I just wanted to make sure everyone knew so as far as the Rec. Board. I have a question. I know it’s the beginning of the year and these will probably come later but y’all will be moving soon with Easter. Mrs. Dean yes Easter is coming up. President Oliver that’s the next one? Mrs. Dean yes, that’s the next one. President Oliver ok. Mr. Green I’m glad you brought that up. Anyone that would be interested in joining the Rec Board our first meeting is Tina? Mrs. Dean February… The first Wednesday in February. Mr. Green February 6th at 8pm in this room right here if you are interested in joining. There are different things that we do throughout the borough for the community. Please feel free to come out and join us and trust me you won’t regret it. It’s an awesome team that we are trying to put together. That’s all I have for my reports. President Oliver any questions for Council person Green? Councilperson Martinez. Mr. Martinez thank you Mr. President I have the Chief of Police report. See attached: Unfortunately I do not have a Fire Chief report. President Oliver we have member of the fire company here so maybe we can get one. Any questions for Council person Martinez? Thank you Sir. Councilperson Felder? Mr. Felder read the Highway report see attached: I do not have one for sanitation, code or zoning. President Oliver is that all your reports? Mr. Felder yes. President Oliver any questions for Councilperson Felder? Thank you Mr. Felder. Councilperson Booker is not here at the moment. Mr. Smith I actually her report. See attached: President Oliver thank you is that all you have? Mr. Smith yes that is all I have on behalf of Mrs. Booker yes Sir. President Oliver thank you I have the Treasurers report see attached: I need a motion to accept the treasurer’s report. Motion made by Mr. Martinez second by Mrs. Dean. Any questions on the motion? All in favor? Opposed? Motion passes 6-0. I need a motion to ratify the paid bills totaling $58,839.95 which were approved by the proper chairpersons for their respective committees. This includes invoices received prior to tonight’s meeting which were paid before this council meeting due to timing and due date of the invoices. I need a motion to ratify the bills totaling $58,839.95. Motion made by Mr. Finnegan second by Mrs. Dean. President Oliver any questions on the motion? All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries 6-0. That is all I have. Before we move to the official reports we are going to swear in Mrs. Hunter to the Vacancy Board Chair. Mayor Dunfee swore in Mrs. Hunter to the Vacancy Board Chair. President Oliver thankyou Mrs. Hunter. This time we are going to move to the official reports. Mayor Dunfee? Mayor Dunfee thank you Mr. President. I have the Abandoned Vehicle report. See attached: But we do have issues as the Borough Manager Indicated and as John always brings up we have a lot of work to do to get this squared away. It’s unfortunate that we let it get this bad and we have to fix it there is no question about it so be patient with us and we will do the best we can. I give you my word on that I know the rest of the folks here feel the same way. Moving onto the Police Chief’s report and I always appreciate this thank you Chief for your efforts. See attached: We always do appreciate anybody bringing up safety concerns. A light that could help any kind of situation I’m sure our guys will make a good call on that. I appreciate you bringing that to us. Again I want to thank everybody that stepped up and are taking new positions. We really appreciate your efforts and I’m sure that all the things that you bring to the table will be a great asset to the borough so again on behalf of council and the borough of Sharon and myself we appreciate your efforts and we appreciate you guys coming out and giving us some input so thanks again. That would conclude my report. President Oliver does anyone have any questions for Mayor Dunfee? Mr. Smith? Mr. Smith thank you I have a couple of things to follow up on from last month. One of the things we talked about was truck traffic on Elmwood Ave., Sharon Ave and Calcon Hook Rd. That is already no trucks posted on that street on both sides. We need to enforce that a little bit more stringently. The CDGB applications I submitted those yesterday out in Media that got approved at last month’s meeting so that has been done as well. Mr. Finnegan mentioned about the library upgrades going on I think that should be done by next week I think. Mrs. Dean yes. Mr. Smith so that is getting done as well. Mrs. Dean one part finished. Mr. Smith I have also not heard back from the folks who visited us from Colwyn last month so I wanted to make sure that I followed up with all of you on that. I don’t know whether I should reach out to them or not or just see what happens. President Oliver we gave them instructions so the lowness is on them. Mr. Smith the camera instillation for out front here for security purposes that should be done next Tuesday or Wednesday. They tried to come in today but it was too crazy in here today so we will get that done sometime next week. I guest lastly just since it’s so new in the year I wanted to point out as Mrs. Dean pointed out to me as we were meeting a few minutes ago the bills list that you just approved was bills that finished up 2018. We are holding a small stack of bills now that are for 2019. Having said that the books for 2018 are essentially closed right now as Mona and I have worked quite a bit on that over the last few days. I do need to finish up a few pension reconciliations and a little bit of work in the liquid fuels but otherwise the books are closed. The auditors will be here in about 3 weeks. Carl, I spoke to Carl today at length. He will be here in about 3 weeks to audit the borough as well as the library. He is currently working with the fire company as we have discussed over the last couple of months. He is working with Jen to get some things squared sway over there to make sure we start getting an annual audits for the fire house as well. So that’s what’s happening. I do have 2 executive items. One is actually related to Mr. Schleigh and a possible legal settlement and I have a couple of personnel issues to discuss quickly in executive session. That’s it. President Oliver any questions for Mr. Smith on his report? Mrs. Dean what’s the status of the sign? President Oliver for Memorial Park? Mrs. Dean yes. President Oliver the sign… The sign for Memorial Park? Mr. Smith yes I actually spoke to Dave Damon last night. Not in Sharon Hill. Everything has been submitted out to Media. Weather permitting I want to get that done in the next few weeks. The company that was the winning bidder KC Signs I spoke to them late last week and they are ready to go so it’s just a matter for us to get documents back from the County Planning Office which I’m hoping to be in the next few weeks. I’m pushing them pretty hard to get that done. It’s only a $17k project so it’s not like it’s overly complicated. I want to get the sign up so we can start using it. Mrs. Dean did they meet about the parks and did they meet about the bus stops? Mr. Smith the bus stops I’m waiting for the PA Environmental Council to get back to me. They are working on the green roof aspect so that is in progress as well. Mrs. Dean and the park? Mr. Smith the park is actually on hold at the moment with the number of things that they are doing down on Elmwood Ave. Mrs. Dean ok. Mr., Smith so that has been on hold. Mrs. Dean and what is the deadline? Mr. Smith we have until June 2020. Mrs. Dean ok. President Oliver ok I just don’t want that to fall to the wayside. Any other questions for the borough manager? None being seen Mr. Solicitor. Mr. Schleigh thank you Mr. President. As you know I was tasked in the fall with seeking injunctive relief in relation to some violations of the zoning variance at the Sharon Storage, the old Sharon Pool property. The hearing was scheduled for December 19th we were loaded for bear and ready to go but we ended up having a conference with Judge Green instead and as a result of that conference with consultation of both parties, engineers and some negotiation a consent order was entered last week which set definitive time lines when all the work needs to be performed at that property and what they are expected to do. We very well educated Judge Green about the safety concerns we have about the erosion sanitation issues as well as the potential safety concerns posed to the AMTRAK line and the way they were storing some of their things on the property. I understand that’s already been mitigated. Correct me if I’m wrong Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith I’m sorry? Mr. Schleigh the logs and things of that nature. Mr. Smith they are pretty much gone it’s still pretty muddy there it looks like it needs to be remediated a bit. Most of that debris is gone near the fence. Mr. Schleigh alright so there is a consent decree put into place and they have to follow it now if they done follow it them there will be sanctions and contempt of court so I will rely on Mr. Smith and the Code Department and consultation with the engineer to tell me if and when that is necessary. Hopefully it won’t come to that. Mr. Smith Mr. Damon is going by there on a regular basis as I am as well. They have not come back in yet to give us a permit and it looks like no work is going on there. President Oliver ok. Mr. Schleigh let me know if you need me to hit them with a stick again. Mr. Smith no I know they have a certain number of days so they have about 20 left. Mr. Schleigh ok so that’s where we are wit that and as Mr. Smith said I have something for executive session. President Oliver any Questions for Mr. Schleigh? Ok any other business from council? Any other items that you have? I do have one that I want to point out. The statement of financial interest form that is in everyone’s packet. Mr. Smith oh yes I forgot. President Oliver when do you need that back by? Mr. Smith as soon as possible but by May 1st for sure but as soon as possible. I will continue to bother you about those. Those of you who on this board that will be running for re-election next year you will need to file 2 of those. One you need to file with the borough office as a sitting council member and another one as a candidate so make sure that information is obviously the same. I think that those members it would affect are Mr. Finnegan, Mr. Green and Mr. Felder are the 3 spots that are up for 2019. I think that Mr. Attix needs to fill out a statement of financial responsibility as well. Mr. Attix no mine goes right to the state. Mr. Smith oh ok thank you actually I’m sorry I... President Oliver ok so now we can turn it back over to public comments. Once again you have 3 minutes to speak once you stop you forfeit your time. PUBLIC COMMENTS John Zangaro 89 Frances Ave. I spoke earlier I want to ask a couple questions. 1. Mr. Smith did you say the fella that I’m talking about that is a rental property that… President Oliver what’s the second question? Mayor Dunfee yes. Mr. Smith we are well aware of that. John Zangaro 89 Frances Ave. ok that for sale sign has been in front of his house for 10 years and he gets his tags and inspections from a place called Ronnie Jones. It’s down past the airport so that is how come everything seems to be new. President Oliver any other public comments? Brent Wilson 200 Reese St. I just have a small question. When can we dispose of our Christmas trees? Mayor Dunfee anytime just put them out. Brent Wilson 200 Reese St. ok I put it out today for trash and they didn’t take it. Mayor Dunfee just leave it out there. They will drive around and they will see it. President Oliver thank you. Anyone else? Ms. Hunter. Donna Hunter 1026 Coates St. and I don’t know if this is for the regional rail or not. The people are walking their dogs in the area and they are not only pooping in the grass but it’s on the sidewalk its everywhere and its large dogs so would it be the borough or… because there are no sign up there. President Oliver it’s SEPTA. Donna Hunter 1026 Coates St. ok it is the regional rail because it is horrendous. I mean they are pooping on the steps. It’s everywhere. Mr. Smith I hate to ask but are you sure it’s dogs? President Oliver yes. Mr. Smith I know there was a problem with people sleeping down there as well. Donna Hunter 1026 Coates St. that is gone that has been taken care of but the dog mess it’s like it’s everywhere. Mr. Smith I can contact SEPTA. Donna Hunter 1026 Coates St. ok. President Oliver Mr. Smith you know the area. It’s combination of 2 things. It’s done on SEPTA but they let the dog’s loose right there at the corner of Elmwood and Sharon and it’s just where he goes to the bathroom at. Donna Hunter 1026 Coates St. do you know what animal it is? President Oliver no but I’m just assuming with the open field that is where the dog is and that’s just where he started. Donna Hunter 1026 Coates St. and they are coming from the apartment building across the street. It’s just so overwhelming now. President Oliver so it’s just one of those things that maybe we can put a sign on our property at Elmwood Ave and Sharon but the dropping are just up and down the walkway of the SEPTA property. Donna Hunter 1026 Coates St. I will complain to regional rail tomorrow. Mr. Smith yes I’ll call SEPTA. Donna Hunter 1026 Coates St. ok thank you. President Oliver any other public comments? Mr. Felder question does those signs have indications of how much the fine would be? Mayor Dunfee yes they usually do. Donna Hunter 1026 Coates St. That would be helpful. Mrs. Dean ours do. President Oliver alright with no other public comments. I’m sorry. My mane is Tammy Forbes my address is 319 Greenwood Rd. I just wanted to let all of the council members know and the Mayor know that the Democratic Committee is having their nominating commission on February 24th at Chester High School at 3pm. The credentials are starting at 2pm and actually the convention is from 3pm-6pm. President Oliver thank you. The next meeting will be held on Thursday February 14th @ 7pm. Meeting adorned