Borough Council

Sharon Hill Borough Caucus Meeting Minutes Thursday, February 6, 2025 Quote of the Meeting “There are still many causes worth sacrificing for, so much history yet to be made” ~ Michelle Obama • Call To Order at 7:00 p.m. • Pledge of Allegiance • Roll Call – President Tanya Allen (P) Vice President Edward Booker (P) Councilor Sharon Booker (P) Councilor William Felder (P) Councilor Rodney Hill (P) Councilor Sandra Holcombe (E) Councilor James Patrick III (P) Mayor Hykeem Green (E) Borough Solicitor Colleen Marsini (P) Borough Engineer Susan Lynch (P) Police Chief Richard Herron (P) Borough Code Building Official Anthony Tartaglia (P) Borough Treasurer William Morgan (P) Borough Manager Ieasa Nichols (P) Committee Updates: o Land Development Presentation – Representatives for company 417 Callowhill Inc & 701 South Ocean Blvd Inc, the owner of the property on Chester Pike, located at the Northeast corner of the intersection between Chester Pike and Clifton Avenue, presented a detailed presentation of their plan regarding the development of the property to consolidate 2 lots and construct a one-story retail building. Copies of the presentation were provided to Council who had several questions for the presenters. Since purchasing the property, the owner, along with other representatives, had meetings with several borough officials and their representatives to present their plan and vision for the property. After the meetings, they adjusted their plans to address any comments and concerns from the Borough. They believe that from start to finish the overall project will take about 6-8 months. - Public Comment on Land Development - Resident from Burnside Ave. brought up the concern regarding the trash. She said there are already issues with several vendors and people dumping trash in the area where the dumpsters are kept, and she is concerned that things will get worse. The Code Official was asked to comment regarding the trash, and he said that they did go out to investigate but by the time they got to the area, it was cleaned up so there was nothing to do at that point. It was mentioned in general that we do have a trash ordinance and a noise ordinance which should be enforced. The Solicitor commented that it is important to have a relationship with the property owners, and she would be willing to coordinate and send a letter directly to the individual stores. She advised that if there was a name on the side of the dumpster, she could send them a letter. The Borough Page | 1  Manager said that it was requested that the Trash haulers register with the borough and the businesses should help by being sure they are registered. Resolution #2025-02 Granting preliminary and final land development approval was then voted on by Borough Council. The agenda was amended to allow Junior Council to give their report. Junior Council Report o Junior Council representatives informed Council about their February Black History Month presentation. They will be doing a presentation about Black artists at the Legislative meeting on February 20. They also plan to participate in and present a Black history program at the library at the end of the month. President Allen asked if they needed anything and if they had a flyer that could go on the website. Councilor Booker agreed to help with the flyer if needed. President Tanya Allen: Library, CPCIP o Library Report – Mr. Ashby told Junior Council members they could use the library for their recruitment project. There will be a Multicultural Authors Showcase featuring Divine 9 authors on Saturday, February 8, from 10-2:00p.m. Mr. Ashby advised Council that the library is currently looking into finding another vendor to replace Comcast in order to find a solution to the issues and provide better services to the library. A question came up due to the borough offices moving and the length of time requested for a long-term contract with the new vendor. The solicitor asked for a copy of the contract when received. Lastly, Councilor Hill thanked Mr. Ashby and the Library for going out of their way to make available a book his son needed. o CPCIP – There was no CPCIP meeting. However, President Allen shared the following. Regarding the Police Advisory board, established last year, we are currently in the process of getting the citizens together for the board. The Solicitor is also gathering information and recommendations, but we are asking Council for your thoughts on what next steps we should use to go forward. There were additional questions from Council members e.g. is there a way to get the information to the community, do we want to have a window for when we will close; should there be a specific e-mail address to send the Letter of Interest documents; should we figure out a name for the committee? President Allen said she will follow up and work on the email address to forward the statements to. President Allen thanked a resident who lent her talents to advance an initiative of the borough which Councilor Patrick will speak about shortly. Lastly, the Mayor and Council President held an Open Office Hours Meeting last month and had the largest turnout to date and plan to schedule more meetings in the future. Vice President Edward Booker: Public Safety/ DCJA o Fire Chief report – Read and submitted. o Police Dept. – Read and submitted. Page | 2  o DCJA – No Report. o President Allen thanked Chief Herron and the team for addressing abandoned vehicles in the borough. Councilor Sharon Booker: SHACC o SHACC will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year. The events coming up are the Love Your Neighbor event on February 23rd from 3-5:00p.m. which will feature jazz and a black history month project. Next week line dancing classes will begin and will be held for the next 6 weeks, Wednesdays, 7-8:00 p.m. Councilor Booker will be presenting a special Black history presentation at the next meeting. The SHACC Committee meets every Monday of the month, and they can now be found on a tab specific to SHACC on the website. Lastly, the annual flea market will be starting in May instead of April this year. Councilor William Felder: Public Works o Code Report – Read and submitted. Councilor Rodney Hill: Recreation o The Easter event will be Saturday, April 19 from 12-2 p.m. However, residents need to register for the event. The last event was the Breakfast with Santa event and Councilor Hill took the opportunity to thank all of Council, the Borough Manager, and the office for all of the things they have done for the event. Councilor Sandra Holcombe: Public Health – No report. o President Allen reminded everyone that February is heart health month, and that tomorrow is “wear red for the day” day. She mentioned that if anyone has any ideas of what we can do around heart health, please let her know. One idea is regarding CPR, and she would like SHB to have some sort of program as part of public health. Also, as part of public health, Councilor Felder mentioned an organization he would like to bring before Council. The organization is an educational resource who would like to explain what they do and provide mental health information that is beneficial to the community. Also, the Fire Chief agreed to coordinate a CPR course for the borough. Councilor James Patrick, III: Personnel Page | 3 o There will be a free rainwater workshop on Saturday, March 1, 2025, from 9-12: 00p.m.at the Haverford Community and Recreation Environmental Center, 9000 Parkview Drive, Haverford, PA. If anyone is interested in attending, you can register at www.dcva.org. The Rainwater Garden Workshop will teach the basics of stormwater and steps you can take to reduce stormwater pollution on your property. Additional information on the workshop will be posted on the website. • Officials’ Updates: Mayor, Hykeem Green – No report. - The Police report was read and submitted. Councilor Hill thanked the SHB Police Dept. for addressing an issue with solicitors in the Borough. President Allen advised that we have an ordinance in place now that covers this subject. Chief Herron spoke directly with the company involved at the time and advised everyone that if a solicitor is approved and legitimate, they are given yellow cards and should have the cards on them at all times. Borough Solicitor, Colleen Mansini, Kilkenny Law – - Currently working on several Resolutions. - Working on the land development deal. - Working on making a Right to Know email address specific to RTK information only. All information for RTKs would go to that email address. Also, they have a RTK attorney in the firm that only handles RTKs should anyone have a RTK question. Borough Engineer, Susan Lynch, Lighthouse Engineering – - Engineer heard from PennDOT regarding the Folcroft bridge which was due for demolition in April. - Getting ready to start work on the design on the Chester Pike sewer project. Page | 4  - Working on the land development project and continuing to collaborate with their Engineer to make sure the plans get cleaned up regarding comments from Council. - Re-submitted the PennDOT information for the bus shelters. Building Code Official, Anthony Tartaglia – No report. (Full Report submitted in packet.) Police Chief, Richard Herron – - Report from January which covered highlights from 2024 was read and discussed by Chief Herron. - Chief Herron announced the retirement of 1 Officer and 1 Administrative Assistant this year. - There were 3 new Officers, and 1 Administrative Assistant hired this year. - Initiative was taken by Chief Herron for SHB officers to attend additional training. Chief Herron shared the total hours for each training area with Council. - The Dept. would like to add 2 more part-time officers. - Chief Herron thanked the Mayor and Borough Manager for their assistance throughout the year. Treasurer, William Morgan - - January 2025 Treasurers report was read. There was a technical glitch which affected the sound, and all of the report was not heard. Borough Manager, Ieasa A. Nichols - No Report - The Manager’s report was in the packet, but the Manager wanted to personally address some specific concerns from citizens. - Regarding the tax bills for the sewer and trash increases, the manager broke down each bill to show the justification of why the increases were necessary. In addition, the Manager reviewed the total costs per year and explained any deficits due to additional expenses incurred during the year. - The extreme weather and pretreatment concerns were addressed. The manager advised that we do implement a plan when there is a severe weather forecast. However, when we experience extreme conditions as we have had, additional efforts are necessary. For example, we must make decisions on what roads we work on first and how we will salt all of our properties and smaller residential areas; so, sometimes it may take a little longer to get to the alleyways. However, we want to reassure residents that in situations such as this we are acting strategically to get everything done. - We recently had a meeting regarding the new municipal complex and will be updating Council on where we stand on the project. Page | 5  - The plan for Weiderwax will not be ready for June 2025. It is our hope that it will be done by July 2025. - We are working on getting quotes on tree abatements and hope to have all of the hazardous trees removed in the next 30 days. - President Allen and Councilor Booker asked if there is a way for us to tie in all of the conversations. The manager responded that we have actually started working on the redesign of our SHB Resident Handbook which would include a lot of the concerns we discussed today along with educating the public on the phone system so that residents can get to the person that can help them with their issue. Public Comment – Judge Forbes - It has been a pleasure to be here. The meeting was very informative and the 1-Sharon Hill concept is working out to your advantage. - I would love to see the Chicago step dancing classes offered. - With Valentine’s Day around the corner, if anyone has a marriage license and would like to get married or have a vow renewal, we want the public to know that we do them from 11-3 and they should feel free to call the office for scheduling or for additional information. - I am very encouraged by everything going on in SHB. New Business: Page | 6 • Motion to approve Resolution 2025-02 – Granting preliminary and final land development approval. Motioned E.B. Seconded R.H. Motion Passed • Motion to approve Resolution 2025-03 – Resolution in memory of Mrs. Shirley Williams Motioned S.B. Seconded R.H. Motion Passed • Motion to approve Resolution 2025-04 – Authorizing a right of way use agreement for replacement of transit shelters. Motioned S.B. Seconded E.B. Motion Passed • Motion to approve Resolution 2025-05 – Amending Resolution 2024-09 disbanding the Sharon Hill Recreation Committee Motioned E.B. Seconded W.F. Motion Passed • Motion to ratify the change of employment status for Bintu Gassama from part time to full time effective December 1, 2024. Motioned S.B. Seconded W.F. Motion Passed • Motion to approve the settlement stipulation for the tax assessment appeal involving 210 Greenwood Road and authorizing the Solicitor to execute the same. Motioned E.B. Seconded R.H. Motion Passed - Councilor Booker advised that she received a call from a resident regarding bringing another grocery store into Sharon Hill. She said she is still having conversations to ascertain what they are requesting. When she has more, she will present to Council. Old Business: None Adjournment – 10:14 p.m. Upcoming Meeting: Legislative, Thursday, February 20, 2025 Page | 7 “There are still many causes worth sacrificing for, so much history yet to be made” ~ Michelle Obama Page | 8