The regular meeting of the Nazareth Borough Council was really a meeting in two parts, one related to the hiring of a new police chief, and one standard fare.
This post will speak to the standard meeting.
The call to order, pledge and roll call was taken. All officials were in attendance. Following the motion for the chief and swearing in, the public comment took place:
One resident asked what if anything could be done regarding two big vehicles parked infront of my home. The owner lives across the street, has four vehicles and always has two infront of my house. Newly sworn in Chief Sinclair took the photos and information and indicated it would be looked into.
The only other comment was in regard to a motion on the agenda calling for a gas log system for the Council Chambers, particularly in light of the fact that the use of the building was not yet determined.
Councilwoman Werner noted she was not at Thursday’s workshop and the motion came about from a discussion at the Economic Development Committee, but wasn’t intended as a motion right now.
Concluding public comment, the August Business Meeting Minutes, Treasurer’s Report, Bills to be Paid, Ambulance, and Zoning and Code Enforcement Reports were all approved.
Economic Development – Werner explained that the committee was working with the community college to conduct a feasibility study of 30 Belvidere for conversion to a community theatre. The 2007 Park Program and Summer Rec Programs were very successful. Finally she explained that a discussion took place to convert Council Chambers into a more community usable space. A better design for desks that could be curved and in four parts to fan out into the corners of the room to open it up for events when Council was not meeting, as well as AV and a gas log system to make if more usable. The committee felt this should be done in conjunction with public property committee, so it was recommended the motion be tabled until later.
Law Committee – Councilman Herbst made a motion to approve Resolution 9-07 which was seconded but then only passed 5-4 with Werner, Bowers, Stoudt, and Kopach voting against it. The resolution states that “elected officials and Borough employees will be subject to review for unpaid real estate taxes, Borough refuse and recycling fees and sewer charges. The Borough’s tax collector, clerk in charge of refuse and recycling and the Municipal Authority clerk will be asked to report to Council, all delinquencies of six months or more.”
Herbst also had a comment and question related to the Skate Park. He noted that the Borough did not require additional insurance due to the Skate Park so there would be no increase. He also recognized the public and private contributions received and thanked all parties prior to questioning the bill received in the amount of $7,605 or roughly 10% of the total cost as it was described in the meeting from Keller Consulting. Herbst felt the bill seemed excessive. Don Keller responded stating it was more than a survey, but a plan, rfp selection, review, inspection, and close out.
Ecology Committee – Councilman Samus provided the refuse report which was approved and then noted that the Sewer Authority was audited by DEP and there are a few minor changes needed. Also that 23 land owners along Tatamy Road have been notified of the work that will be done related to the sewer line.
Public Property – Councilman Bowers made a motion to approve payment of $9,873 to Kraemer Electric of Nazareth, PA for lights at the new Borough building at 134 South Main Street. The motion was approved and it was noted that to date there have been no complaints about the lighting from neighbors.
Police – Councilman Stoudt had several motions, two related to no parking on school days in front of Holy Family School, one to approve a new police cruiser for $9,235.53 per year for three years, one to switch the Special Purpose Parking Zone from 30 Belvidere to 134 South Main Street, and one for a Boy Scout event on November 10, 2007. All motions were approved.
Highway – Councilman Kopach had no report, but wanted to thank the Chief for accepting the position and was sure he’d be pro-active working with the community from the business district to the schools.
Fire Committee – Councilman Daugherty made several motions including to approve payment of $6,872 to BayCom Inc for final payment on purchase and installation of the Mass Alerting System; to approve purchase of (8 based on what I heard in conversation) new 500 mhz radios for fire vehicles at a cost of $9,340; and to approve purchase of the EMA upgrade which allows the Mass Alert System to be triggered/activated from the EMA office (at the Borough office) in the amount of $1,695. These were all approved, however, one to accept a proposed Emergency Services Mutual Aid Agreement via COG was tabled.
There were a few questions related to the Mass Alert System, one was the total Mass Alert Project Cost. It was noted that the cost was $16,872 and the additional pole was $2,500. This remote access would add to the $19,372 system. Another question was in regard to the comment that the system would only be active during certain hours, not nighttime (I believe it was ‘off’ from 10 pm to 7 am). It was noted that all firemen and fire police have pagers and there is no point to signal at night for a fire – this did not mean if there was an emergency to signal people in the community it wouldn’t be done.
Finance Committee – Councilman Matz reminded member of Council that budget time was coming around and to give consideration to next year. There were also three motions made and approved: to approve the 2008 Police Pension Budget with no Borough contribution due to an ‘overfunded’ status; to approve the 2008 non-uniformed pension budget, which requires a 9% Borough contribution; and a motion to approve a $300 donation to the Nazareth Community Chorus.
Mayor Keller’s Report – welcome Chief Sinclair to our already very good police department. He also noted he was surprised that a conversation from Thursday regarding a blocked sidewalk on Walnut and Broad (again I believe this was the intersection) was not yet cleared. The police report noted 65 crimes, 50 criminal arrests, 46 motor vehicle arrests and a list of crimes with locations was available to anyone afterward (prompted by my own request to group more serious crimes by cross streets to make people aware of where these incidents are taking place).
Stoudt noted it was unfortunate that Detective Koch had already left the meeting because this Council should recognize and provide him recognition for what he did under very difficult circumstances. Also said it was very easy to criticize the people at the 911 center, but they’ve done a very good job and he’d like to see a letter written recognizing their recent efforts.
The meeting was adjourned until 6:30 p.m. on September 10 at Council Chambers for matters pertaining to the proposed health insurance agreement.
While the meeting ended, there were many additional pages to the packet available for the public. I’ll cover those related to the new Chief in another post, but these two stick out and I’ll hit them here:
Borough Park Pool numbers were released and while the expenses are not yet totaled, the revenues are the 2nd highest since 2001. The breakdown of revenues reveal some interesting information:
Summer Rec Program Fees, instituted in 2004 have grown from $5,430 to $13,725.
Twilight Admissions, instituted in 2005 have grown from $732 to $1948.
Daily admissions have fluctuated over time, but 2007 was only the 2nd time since 2001 that revenues were under $20,000 at $18,436 (and down $3,200 from 2006).
Resident Family Passes were down from a high in 2002 ($15,209) to a low in 2007 ($10,915).
In short, lower daily admissions and resident family passes were offset by increased summer rec program fees and stable non-resident passes and usage. Payroll has remained reasonably stable, but operating expenses have had some highs ($26,406) and lows ($10,779) leaving the final numbers – at this point profit of $8132 – up in the air because maintenance and repair have not yet been included.
Upon further review, the other page is worth a post of its own, probably for later this week and taken word for word from the report, “Twenty Questions Which Must Be Answered Before We Have a 2008 Budget.”
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