Council Business Meeting Public Comment

Nazareth Borough Council Business Meeting, August 6, 2007

The meeting began at 7:00 p.m. and Councilman Rev. Matz was absent.

Council President Dan Chiavaroli opened the meeting by presenting a plaque to Councilman Larry Stoudt from the PA State Association of Boroughs in recognition of his 30 years of service.

Public Comment then opened:

A resident noted that on 1/28 vandalism took place at his properties, has surveillance, police report, has posted no trespassing signs, tried many times to contact police and they won't acknowledge his situation nor return his calls. What can I do? Mayor Keller replied your should contact me.

Do we have permitted parking? No. The streetsweeper has a regular route but the cars don't move.

At Lincoln Textiles there is a sign about new apartments coming in, how many? There are 51 units with some high end and medium. Where is developer from? One is Wind Gap, Nick Sabatine, not sure of the other. Where will people park? Given most families have 2 or 3 cars where will they park? All cars will park in the existing lot, got a variance to do so.

On behalf of insomniak theatre thanks to Council and all borough workers who helped make our performance at the park such a success. The article in the Express-Times generated a lot of interest, people were willing to make donations and were very excited about the possibility of a community theatre. Council President Chiavaroli explained to Councilwoman Werner who was absent on Thursday, of the two plans presented and that they were encouraged to attend the Economic Development Committee meeting.

Noted that can't hear people on Board talking, especially when the AC is running. Chiavaroli noted we should look into microphones for the room. Was further noted it is the same in winter when AC is not running. Another resident noted that in the 1970s the idea was shot down for microphones because of the acoustics. Chiavaroli said we need to do something. Another resident noted that one problem is the direction of voices, which makes it very difficult to hear. Chiavaroli stated that on Thursday Erik Honsel of Insomniak Theatre spoke well and projected. He did try moving around to improve that. Councilman Stoudt said should remove the vestibule and rearrange the furniture. Chiavaroli noted we need to look at both floorplan and amplification.

Question about the payment to Furst for architecture and it was noted that the amount was negotiated from $26,000 down to $18,000.

Question regarding how many crimes were in July, noted 57, then asked how many in June, noted 68. For all those crimes, there was one article in the paper I saw and it wrongly identified the person. Councilman Herbst noted it could have come from Magistrate. Mayor Keller noted if from Magistrate, would still have been written by police. Resident noted they felt bad for the person who was named incorrectly.

I asked a question prompted by the bill for the architect that was the result of a committee acting without consent of full Council and more recently a councilperson individually deciding to lock the skate park, in regard to the Council members ability to act administratively when they are a legislative body that is also a working board. Solicitor Pierce noted that the hat switches quickly as needed and Council is set up to serve both functions. Traditionally employees work for Council as a whole. How do nine people speak with one voice? You do it by committee and then by committee chair, so it goes to the individual.

With the Skate Park in place, we have an ordinance, we need to enforce it.

The parking ordinance should be considered before changing it. It is done to protect homeowners.

The Skate Park is great, but the kids have to get there and back. When they do, I've twice witnessed groups of six to eight kids in the street swerving in and around cars.