City Council

Steelton Borough Council Meeting July 21, 2008 The regular monthly meeting was called to order at 6:38 p.m. by President, Michael Kovach, with the pledge of allegiance, followed by a moment of silence. In Attendance: Absent: Dennis Heefner Lisa Wiedeman-Krosnar Jeffery Wright MaryJo Szada Michael Kovach Stephen Shaver Michael Albert Mayor Thomas Acri David A. Wion, Solicitor Patrick Gehrlein, Secretary Kathleen D. Handley, Assistant Secretary APPROVAL OF MINUTES: There were no minutes presented. EXECUTIVE SESSIONS HELD BETWEEN MEETINGS: (Secretary Gehrlein): Mr. Gehrlein said he had nothing to report at this time. APPROVAL OF SCHEDULES OF BILLINGS, REQUISTIONS AND CHANGE ORDERS AS PRESENTED: On a motion made by Mr. Albert, seconded by Mr. Heefner, Council Members present voted unanimously to approve the schedules, as presented. APPROVAL OF DEPARTMENT REPORTS: Community Development Finance Fire and Ambulance Personnel Police Public Works Code Enforcement Mr. Heefner said that, as Chairman of the Public Works Committee, he will be meeting weekly with the Public Works and every two weeks with the Water Department. He said that Public Works will clean the Locust Street Steps, Plaza and bump-outs on Thursdays. He said that other projects will be cleaning weeds and debris from Front, Second, Pine and Swatara Streets, and then work on Rte 230 area known as no-man’s land, and then -1-  Steelton Borough Council Meeting July 21, 2008 Swatara Street Wall. Mr. Heefner said they will also put up the tent for the Dauphin- Lebanon Borough’s Association Meeting. Mr. Heefner said that Public Works, Water Filtration and Water Distribution departments will be submitting reports and Council will also receive copies of the Water Authority minutes. Mr. Shaver noted that some of the bags have been removed from the new parking meters and asked if they are in use. Mr. Gehrlein said that we are waiting to have them configured and that is being arranged with Duncan Solutions. Mr. Kovach added that the numbers will have to be painted at the parking spaces also. On a motion made by Mr. Shaver, seconded by Mr. Albert, Council Members present voted unanimously to approve the June department reports as presented. PUBLIC COMMENT: Agenda Items Only There were no comments. COMMUNICATIONS: Daniel Shaffer; 413 North 3rd Street, Steelton and Charles Leidig; 415 North 3rd Street Steelton – Letter to Council concerning the parking issues in the Alley behind their properties on North 3rd Street. Mr. Shaver stated that this issue will be turned over to the Community Development Committee for the Police Department to conduct a traffic study. Chief Lenker gave pictures to Mr. Wright and stated that it is possible to erect two signs that read: NO PARKING BETWEEN SIGNS. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Chief Kenneth Lenker – Presenting Council with the Traffic Study requested regarding a 15 minute parking area for Al Madina’s at 441 South Front Street, Steelton. On a motion by Mr. Shaver, seconded by Mr. Heefner, Council Members present voted unanimously to approve the 15 minute parking area for Al Madina’s. After some discussion, the motion was rescinded. On a motion by Mr. Shaver, seconded by Mr. Wright, Council Members present voted unanimously to approve the two (2) 15 minute parking spaces for Al Medina’s, as recommended in the police study and authorized the solicitor to prepare the applicable Resolution. -2-  Steelton Borough Council Meeting July 21, 2008 NEW BUSINESS: RESOLUTION 2008-R-17 – Resolution authorizing the acquisition of the real property constituting a .7506 acre tract known as lot 5 on the preliminary final subdivision plan showing Steelton plant subdivision property of Bethlehem Steel Corporation in the borough of Steelton, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, was presented for Council’s consideration On a motion by Mr. Wright, seconded by Mr. Albert, Council Members present voted unanimously to accept Resolution 2008-R-17 as presented. Mr. Gehrlein – Presenting Borough Council with the 2007 Audited Financial Report and Management letter as of December 31, 2007 as performed by Boyer & Ritter; Certified Public Accountants. There were no comments. Mayor Acri – Informing Council of the Dauphin-Lebanon County Borough’s Association meeting taking place on Tuesday, July 29th at 6:30p.m. at the Steelton Boat Dock; Steelton, PA. Mayor Acri said that Representative Ronald Buxton will be the guest speaker and TJ’s will cater the meeting. He invited Council Members to attend and asked for a count of those planning to attend. Mayor Acri – Discussion of the current Landlord/Tenant Reporting process and requesting Council’s opinion as to a method to make this reporting more efficient. There was discussion on the current process and the fact that our ordinance authorizes the Code Officer to fine those landlords who do not comply with the request for tenant information after the second notice. Mr. Heefner noted that in the Rental Ordinance if the landlord neglects to furnish the information they can be fined $500.00, per unit per day, and the Code Officer was instructed to get that information and remind the landlords to file the form. Mayor Acri said we really need to follow this up and fine landlords who do not comply. Mrs. Zell, the Code Officer said she has addressed this. She got the forms from Mrs. Sprow and had the landlords fill them out. She said she has taken violators to court and it has been thrown out. Mr. Kovach asked if the Judge said what he would accept. Mrs. Zell said he did not. Mr. Heefner asked the Borough Solicitor if the Judge can over rule the Borough Ordinance and Mr. Wion said he can and explained the procedure. Mr. Wion said that if the Borough doesn’t agree with the judge’s ruling, we can probably appeal it to the -3-  Steelton Borough Council Meeting July 21, 2008 Superior Court. Mr. Heefner said that Columbia adopted the same ordinance and they don’t have any problems. Mr. Kovach suggested the matter be discussed in the Community Development Committee. He said the system is just working against us; we want to increase and improve the housing stock and make it safe. Mr. Kovach said we need to see how we can work this out. Mayor Acri said he didn’t want this overlooked, it is very important. Mr. Wright said he will take it to the Committee and try to get another solution or another avenue to follow. OTHER BUSINESS: Mr. Gehrlein – Informing Council that an Executive Session is needed to discuss Personnel Matters, Pending Litigation and Land Acquisition Matters. There were no comments. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION: Emuel Powell, 321 Lebanon Street – asked if it is possible to place Watch Children or Slow Down signs at Lebanon and Bessemer Streets and Lebanon and Lincoln Streets. Mayor Acri said we will address that. Pauline Douglas, 433 Bessemer Street – asked if there is an ordinance prohibiting Section 8 or is that against the law. Mr. Kovach said that is something that we are going to look into and meet with Dauphin County Housing Authority. Mrs. Douglas asked how many tenants can be in a property. Mrs. Zell said 1 person per 200 square feet. Mrs. Douglas asked if there is any law about a fire escape. Mrs. Zell said they are required if there is (3) or more stories. Mrs. Douglas said the traffic light at Front and Locust Street is very slow to change if you are coming down Locust Street. Mr. Kovach said he noticed that and that will be checked. Jennifer Daniels – 105 N 2nd St – said there is a bust stop sign at the corner of 2nd and Pine Streets and she called Capital Area Transit and they said there is no bus stop there. She asked if that sign could be removed so allow parking. Mr. Kovach said we will verify that and if it is not a bus stop we will remove the sign. -4-  Steelton Borough Council Meeting July 21, 2008 COUNCIL’S CONCERNS: Mr. Wright - said he will be having surgery this coming Wednesday and asked Mr. Kovach and Mrs. Wiedeman-Krosnar to oversee the Community Development committee in his absence. Mr. Shaver – wished Mr. Wright success with the surgery. Mr. Kovach – informed Council that Mr. Segina contacted us about helping Ms. Hill and Mrs. Brown-Sweeney with the Borough’s website and asked Mr. Wion if Mr. Segina volunteers his time, can we give him access to a computer. Mr. Wion said there is confidential information that only Borough employees should have access to, so he is a little reluctant to recommend allowing access to someone who is not an employee. Mrs. Brown-Sweeney said she was waiting to talk to Council before she spoke to Mr. Segina. Mr. Kovach said he wanted to be sure that Mr. Wion is aware of the situation and to get his advice. Mrs. Brown-Sweeney said she could show Dennise how to do certain things on the website. Mr. Wion said that as long as they only have access to public information then he doesn’t have a problem with that. There was additional discussion on ways to restrict access to confidential information and signing a confidentiality statement. On a motion by Mr. Heefner, seconded by Mr. Wright, Council Members present voted unanimously to recession into executive session at 7:38 p.m., to discuss personnel matters, pending litigation and land acquisition matters. The regular meeting reconvened at 8:10 p.m. Mr. Gehrlein said he has received a few calls asking for temporary no parking signs or special purpose parking signs. After discussion, it was the Consensus of council Members present not to make any exceptions. On a motion by Mr. Albert, seconded by Mr. Heefner, Council Members present voted unanimously to put a letter of reprimand in Officer Fry’s personnel file. On a motion by Mr. Heefner, seconded by Mr. Albert, Council Members present voted unanimously to approve the Side Letter Agreement for Charles L. Miller, Jr. ADJOURNMENT: There being no other business before Council, on a motion by Mr. Wright, seconded by Mr. Albert, Council Members present voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 8:17 p.m. -5-  Steelton Borough Council Meeting July 21, 2008 Respectfully submitted, _____________________________ Dennise L. Hill Executive Administrative Assistant -6-