Pledge of Allegiance lead by Maryann Weinstein, President

Public Comment

Any person from the public may speak for a 3-minute period. Total time allotted for public comment is 15 minutes. Please state your name, address and subject. Please choose a representative to speak if you have the same concern.

• Jeff Bull – Fairmont Ave. Reminded Council that a flashing light previously was at the Faith Christian School and was taken out and felt that taxpayers should not have to pay for this light. Mr. Bull stated that if a grant is not done properly or is done illegally that the Borough may be barred from getting any future grants. Mr Bull thinks the rental registration fee is too high and asked why the fee was raised from $40 to $50 to $100. It is wrong and needs to be fixed. Cindy Hested. 685 E. Beau.
• Cindy Hested asked Council if the stop work order on the garage being built on her property can be lifted. Is there a timeframe to release the stop order? President Weinstein said she would get an answer to Ms Hested by the end of the week.
• Kelly Alderson asked council what the status is of fireworks in the borough. He noted it was on the agenda but is unable to stay on the call for the meeting. There still is a safety issue as well as trash from the fireworks. He also has a petition with 29 signatures. He did call 911 and East Washington Borough police did respond to his complaint.
• Kathy Wells. 517 E. Chestnut  Ms. Wells said she supports a fireworks ordinance so that the members of the community are not disturbed at late hours in the night especially some of the elderly.

Approval

• Motion Arthur J. Fulton, second Dan Bird to approve Minutes July 6, 2020 and July 30, 2020. – Motion passed.

• Motion Kent James, second Tim Hurney to approve GEN Acct. $ 37,445.19 (Checks 6820 to 6860) PLGIT Acct. (Liq. Fuels) $ 257.40 (Check 970) – Motion passed.

Reports

• Rich Rush-road update. Wilmont drainage project has been completed. Road project to be scheduled. Rich has been in touch with the road contractor.
• Lisa Vipperman – Palermo/Kissinger – 2019 Audit Ms. Vipperman gave a brief presentation of the 2019 Audit. The borough is on a cash basis accounting system. Cash in/Cash out. Balance sheet shows a balance of $814,950 and special fund balances of $ 320,065. Excess reserve in the General Fund of $87,591 which is a strong indicator is encouraging and is commendable. Expenses are consistent with 2018 expenses. Police Pension is fully funded, and the Non-Uniform Pension plan is approximately 92% funded which is very good. Council Is to continue to do oversight of the finances since Sandy is the Treasurer. It is not feasible to hire additional personnel to split the duties of the treasurer. Sandy does a good job. President Weinstein thanked Ms. Vipperman for discussing the 2019 Audit.

Executive Session

• President Weinstein called an Executive Session at 7:40 pm for personnel purposes.

• President Weinstein announced out of Executive Session at 8:10 pm and resume regular meeting.

Official Action:

1. Cleaning bids

   • Nichole Holt-$300 per month coming weekly or as needed. Negotiable.
   • Simpson Cleaning-$433 per month to come weekly except twice a week for police station bathroom, waste baskets and floor.
   • Excel-Cleaning – Initial cleaning $159 then $95.40 per week.

   Council discussed the police background check procedure, workers compensation and liability insurance for the employee (s) of the cleaning companies. President Weinstein said she would get in touch with our insurance carrier regarding our workers compensation and liability coverage.

2. Communications report – Report Attached

3. Blight committee report – Council Member Doug Corwin said that the Blight Committee met with Jarrod D’Amico, Harshman Group, LLC and the committee is receptive to hiring them at a cost of $40.00 per hour up to $700.00 per month. Also, Mr. Mark Gordon is no longer interested in working for East Washington Borough.

   A motion was made by Kent James, second Doug Corwin to hire Harshman Group, LLC at $40 per hour up to $700 per month under the direction of the Code Officer and subject to oversight by Council as necessary.

   Maryann Weinstein	Yes
   Kent James	Yes
   Tim Hurney	Yes
   Douglas Corwin	Yes
   Daniel Bird	Yes
   Demond Nixon	Yes
   A. Joseph Fulton	Yes
   Motion passed

4. Grant update – President Weinstein stated that the storm water grant second application went in as did the Greenways grant for additional money for the park upgrade on Friday, July 31, 2020.

5. Landscape update – Reca Panian said Chris Day is doing the weeding and mulching at the Memorial Park. She recommended Mr. Day because he has done work at her home and does a good job and charges reasonable rates.

6. Fireworks – Dan Bird suggested creating a Fireworks ordinance and indicate that Memorial Day, Independence Day (July 4th), Labor Day and New Years Eve be days to permit fireworks in the borough and limit the time to cease at 11:00 pm. If there is an exception to those times, obtain a permit and charge a fee. The difficulty for police is that when someone calls, they must identify the resident or individual setting off the fireworks and often enforcement is difficult because they are not identified. President Weinstein will talk to the solicitor to see what may be feasible for us to do. Joe Fulton suggested posting some information regarding fireworks on the social media sites.

7. Strategic management program – Council members attended an information meeting via Zoom regarding the Strategic Management Program. Mr. Michael Foreman, DCED, explained he could provide assistance on leadership, management, and financial concerns. The borough would pay 10-50% of the cost depending on whether we can qualify as having financial hardship. Demond Nixon felt that we don’t have a management or leadership issue and the borough finances are ok. People on Council cooperate with each other. Kent James said that this may help us before we get into a financial crisis situation, but he feels we are in good shape.

   Motion Kent James, second Demond Nixon to authorize President Weinstein to do the initial paperwork to explore the Strategic Management Program at no cost to the borough. – Motion passed.

Reports

• Mayor – Michael Gomber – Absent
• Solicitor – Dennis Makel
• Council Members – Reports / Discussion
  • Maryann Weinstein, President – no report
  • Kent James, Vice President – no report
  • Daniel Bird – Council Member Bird said that Aaron Lucero’s Samsung NOTE10 phone is not working and Aaron requested to upgrade a phone in the office and transfer his number to that phone, send his non-working Samsung NOTE10 phone back to the manufacturer for repair. Once fixed, return the new Samsung phone and use the repaired Samsung NOTE10 phone.

    A motion was made by Demond Nixon, second Dan Bird authorize Secretary to contact Sprint and upgrade the phone in the office and transfer Aaron’s number to that new phone, send his non-working Samsung NOTE10 phone back to the manufacturer for repair. Once fixed, return the new Samsung phone and use the repaired Samsung NOTE 10 phone. – Motion passed.

    Tim Hurney said he had a similar situation with his phone and a new battery was needed in his phone.

  • Douglas Corwin – report above
  • Joe Fulton – report above.
  • Tim Hurney -no report
  • Demond Nixon no report

Motions

• Motion Kent James, second Tim Hurney to adjourn the meeting at 9:16 pm.