Millerstown Borough Council Meeting Minutes
May 3, 2010
Those in attendance: President Bill Roush, Councilmembers Rob Sweger, Mike Sweger, Bruce Hengst & Jackie Minium. Secretary Karen Knellinger, Mayor John Kerns, Rodney Gish, Dave Stroup and Kevin Jacobs & Bob Reisinger from Glace Associates.
President Roush presided, pledge of allegiance and meeting called to order at 7:00 pm.
Council member Bill Ritzman arrived at 7:15pm.
Public and Private Concerns
None
The minutes from the last meeting were previously emailed and reviewed. Councilmember Hengst made the motion to approve the minutes as read. Councilmember Minium seconded the motion. Approval was unanimous.
The bills/receipts/expenditures were reviewed. Councilmember Rob Sweger made a motion to approve the bills and expenditures. Councilmember Hengst seconded the motion. Approval was unanimous.
Street Committee Report
Chair Hengst, Councilmembers Ritzman and Minimum are on the committee and are still working on a list of streets needed to be paved but some will need to be dug up for the sewer project. Kevin advises, from the HRG video report, the streets to be disturbed will be Poplar on the upper end and the right of way from Stephen to Sunbury, Poplar from Nace to William, and Walnut from Poplar to School Street. Most of those streets are in good shape and the sewer would be off to the side and just a saw cut to be repaired. The video was conducted during a dry season several years ago and more research needs to be done before the actual repairs. The list of streets to be repaired needs to be done by next month to get the projects started before summer. Greenwood Street needs to be done from Market to High and will probably be the only liquid fuels project. Councilmember Mike Sweger thinks Mulberry Street may be in worse shape. President Roush thinks the heavily traveled roads should be first to be repaired. Councilman Rob Sweger advised the drainage from the VFW to the alley still needs to be repaired. This was discussed in prior meetings during the winter and needs to be addressed now. Rodney agrees this needs to be repaired. Councilmember Mike Sweger advises he talked to Supervisor Rotzinger from Greenwood Township and in September or October of this year; they would like to have a meeting to discuss all the related projects completed on Iron Mt. Road as a cooperative and draw up an agreement for the future. Councilmember Rob Sweger advised Rodney this needs to be documented as which tasks are done by their workers and by the borough.
Sewer Committee Report
Act 537 Plan updates from Bob Reisinger, the reimbursement application has been started. The second phase of the plan has been submitted and waiting on DEP. There is a $500 application fee for the second application.
Water Committee Report
Councilmember Mike Sweger advises the roof repair at the reservoir is not complete and contact will need to be made with someone else. Councilmember Hengst asked how big the job is and Rodney advised it will need to be jacked up and repaired, a one or two-day job at most but needs to be done before the winter. Several names were discussed and contact will be made before the next meeting. Secretary Knellinger is researching a DEP mandated automated alert system for customers to be notified of any water outages. Kevin will provide names of other companies and recommendations to use. Rodney advises 6 more valves need to be turned and 50 more meters to be replaced. Water has been turned off to the Locust Street pump building but certain steps need to be taken to permanently seal up the well. President Roush thinks it should be considered to tear down the building and permanently seal the well. Councilmember Rob Sweger assumes DEP needs to be notified and Rodney affirmed this.
Finance Committee Report
Joe Pierce from Eckert Seaman’s advises after the Penn Vest application needs to be submitted on May 18th and he will be reviewing the options for the bond or loans. An update will not be until after July 20th decision from Penn Vest. The 1st quarter budget numbers were distributed.
Solid Waste Report
Councilmember Mike Sweger spoke with Wendy from CCD for the clean up day and compared the borough to Port Royal who had 19 tons of trash in 5 days. On the last clean up day, the borough had 17 tons in one day. Several options were discussed and policing needs to be done. Councilmember Minimum advised Miller Twp is charging $5 a pick up load and no tires. She also asked about businesses, dumpsters, how it would apply to them, and also property owners could be an issue. President Roush thinks it is much easier not to have it. President Roush is concerned of the cost and not everyone will be able to participate. The average cost will be between $2-3,000. Bob made a suggestion to include one bulk item a week at the next contract negotiation. Too many abuses occurred at the last clean up. Councilmember Ritzman made a motion not to have the clean up day. Councilmember Hengst seconded the motion. Councilmember Minimum and President Roush also voted yea. Councilmembers Rob Sweger and Mike Sweger voted nay. Motion carried on a 4-2 vote. Councilmember Rob Sweger thought a previous vote was taken to approve the clean up day and President Roush disagreed. CCD did provide this service in prior years but not in the new contract due to cost. President Roush wants the individual to contact CCD to dispose of their own trash instead of making all taxpayers absorb the cost for others.
Engineer’s Report
Kevin gave a corrected copy of the zoning map to be finalized for Vice President Shipp to review for the next meeting since he is absent. Lance from Glace will have the CCR report the next meeting. Secretary Knellinger advises this will need to be mailed by June 28th, which prior to the following meeting and Kevin assures he will have it ready. The sampling tap tests continue with updates to follow.
Solicitor’s Report
None
Mayor’s Report
Mayor Kerns has been in touch with the Sergeant from the State Police and they have been conducting speed traps especially around the school zones. He also talked to the merchants concerning MCSI request to close the roads and asked Vice President Shipp to follow up with them. The businesses are against the road closure at this time. President Roush is against closing the street. President Roush advises the fire company sent MCSI a letter they would like the night to be changed to a Saturday instead of a Friday @ 4pm for manpower since so many are still coming home from work at that time. Councilmember Hengst suggested changing the night to Saturday. Mayor Kerns will try again to talk to the merchants and discuss at the next meeting. Afterwards, a letter needs to be sent advising of the final council decision and consideration for a Saturday night.
Old Business
Councilmember Mike Sweger advises a generator can be purchased for $800 and a sump pump for $300 from Northern Tool. Councilmember Ritzman made a motion to purchase the items and Councilmember Hengst seconded the motion. Approval was unanimous. Two zoning board members need to be replaced with Bob Finicle the only remaining member. The council will make personal contacts and have names at the next meeting. The DSL has been complete at the plant and Bob from Glace will set them up with email from Google. Councilmember Mike Sweger spoke to Curt Black about old borough documents he has that have been preserved in folders. A storage idea is the jail cell until researched further, something airtight could be built later.
New Business
Five or six properties have been sold in town recently.
MSCI rescheduled clean up on square for the 23rd.
Zoning Permits
Councilmember Rob Sweger wants to know what has been done with the deck the Clegg’s built without a permit. Secretary Knellinger will contact the inspector for an update.
Adjournment
Councilmember Ritzman made the motion to adjourn to Executive Session. Councilmember Mike Sweger seconded the motion. Approval was unanimous.
Councilmember Mike Sweger made the motion to adjourn from Executive Session. Councilmember Rob Sweger seconded the motion. Approval was unanimous.
Councilmember Ritzman made the motion to adjourn. Councilmember Hengst seconded the motion. Approval was unanimous.
The next meeting will be held Monday, June 7, 2010 at 7:00 PM at the borough building.
