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.

• Brittany Ingram 506 E. Beau St. Ms. Ingram wanted to thank Council and the Police for helping to organize a drive by parade to celebrate their son’s 8th birthday party. She wanted to express her gratitude during this difficult time. She would be interested to hear about the playground and if it will be open in the near future. President Weinstein thanked her and she was instructed how to come back onto the call after the executive session when the playground would be addressed.
• Mr. Jeff Bull.  Fairmont Ave.  Asked if the meetings are being recorded.  Some of the ordinances need to be fine-tuned.  Thought that the office should have been staffed despite COVID. Asked if there was going to be another boot camp. President Weinstein responded that everything is on hold because of COVID, PSAB has not responded about future boot camp and it is voluntary. Meetings have been recorded, the only requirement is to post minutes on the website.  It is safer for Secretary to work from home, she does go into the office to run payroll and print checks but the office is closed to walk-in visitors.

Motions

• Council agreed that the changes made by Council Member Fulton to the May 4, 2020 minutes should be reviewed and approved at the next meeting.
• A motion was made by Tim Hurney, second by Doug Corwin to approve Bills Gen Acct  $15,109.68  Check Nos. 6756  to 6781 (May 5 to May 31, 2020)  – Motion passed.

Reports:

• Engineer – Rich Rush, Widmer Engineering, Inc. – Rich Rush met with Independent and forwarded the agreement, as soon as things open up they can get started on the Central, N Wade and Wilmont road projects. He checked the water drainage on Wilmont and there was no more water coming out of the driveway above 16 Wilmont.  He will ask John Slusarczyk to take a look at the water coming from the pipe attached to 16 Wilmont. He estimates the cost to tie that pipe into the drain system under the road to be under $5,000 and we would not need bids.  Possibly dig into the green strip, attach a pipe so it can work its way down to discharge. It can easily be done.Motion was made by Dan Bird, second Tim Hurney to authorize Rich Rush to get an estimate from Slusarczyk Excavating to correct the drainage issue at 16 Wilmont.  Motion passed.
• Executive Session – Mrs. Weinstein announced entering an Executive Session at 7:23 pm for litigation or personnel issues. The regular meeting resumed at 7:32 pm.
• Action Items/Discussion:

1. Kenny Schriskey reimbursement request – The Borough has received a request for $400 which Mr. Schriskey spent to have 3 trees on borough property cut back while having tree work done on his property because the borough trees were creating a hazard. Dan Bird explained that the branches of the trees on Mr. Schriskey’s property were entangled with borough trees and were leaning toward his garage, creating a hazard over his garage.  At the time it was a wise decision to have the tree company cut down the trees. The price seems reasonable for the work done and it could have cost the borough more money if the trees did damage to Mr. Schriskey’s garage.A motion was made by Kent James, second Doug Corwin to reimburse Mr. Schriskey the amount of $400.00 for the tree work done on the borough trees.
   

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

2. COVID response. Going to green on Friday.. –
   1. Playground – Council discussed at great length the necessary steps needed to open the playground, such as how to control physical distancing, placing signs with Play at your Own Risk, removal of the porta johns because they are cleaned only once a week. Hand sanitizers, etc. Who will enforce the Pa Dept of Health guidelines and/or CDC guidelines? Are there liability insurance issues? A suggestion was made that between now and the next meeting, Council Members, Weinstein, Bird, and Public Works Supervisor delve into this and come up with a recommendation on what to do at the next meeting.
   2. Office – President Weinstein stated the Secretary comes into the office certain days and works from home. At this point we will maintain status quo until we see how the green phase goes. Mr. Makel advised council that at most municipalities the office is closed and the secretary does not come into the office.
   3. Public Works – Maintaining social distancing while working.
   4. Meetings – Maintain status quo.
3. Blight issues –
   1. New ordinances. Council discussed blight and new ordinances to address blight.  Council Member Kent James asked regarding the certificate of occupancy being required for every property being sold in the borough and how does that mesh with the current certificate of occupancy? Would that get rid of the current Rental inspection program?  Code Officer Coleman said that is a separate Certificate of Occupancy that is for Rental License and inspections.  Currently there is no Certificate of Occupancy/Inspection issued for the sale of any Single Family Property. The proposed ordinance would require an inspection and a Certificate of Occupancy be issued BEFORE the sale of any Single-family home in the borough. President Weinstein suggested that Council members read through the ordinances, and send her comments by next Monday, June 8, 2020.
   2. Hiring of the additional part-time code enforcement officer – A motion was made Tim Hurney, second Doug Corwin to hire Mark Gordon as a Part-Time Code Officer at $20.00/hour for 8 hours a week through October 2020. Motion Kent James, second Joe Fulton to table the motion until a committee meets with Mark Gordon. Committee is Mike Gomber, Gerald Coleman, Doug Corwin and Kent James.  – Motion passed.
   3. Cars on lawns on E. Beau Street.
   4.  Approaching banks to provide low interest loans for sidewalk improvements.- President Weinstein said Council needs more research on this subject so item is on hold.
4. Communication Update – Council Member Fulton said he created a DROPBOX for the borough to share files.  This is a better solution because the emails are getting clogged up.  He said he fixed the current home page on our website, making it easier to read but that is just a band-aid fix for now.  FACEBOOK and Nextdoor had a huge surge of traffic regarding the teacher parade which is highlighted good things happening in the borough.  That helps to promote the borough. Council Member Nixon and Fulton continue to get footage of the borough. Posting from Memorial Day was well received.  He would like everyone to submit ideas and design for a borough logo-branding. Kris Lagreca will continue to volunteer his time to develop the new website.  Work on information architecture, site map, and create content is ongoing. Mr. Fulton will have more information at the July meeting.
5. Grants
   1. PASWS (PA Small Water and Sewer) grant changes required. This grant was submitted last December to try to get grant funds to help us with the MS4 requirement that we abate 10% of our sediment run off. Reducing sediment run off is very expensive (several hundred thousand dollars). This grant includes 2 projects, one involves restoring the stream bank along the stream from the salt shed to Thayer. The other involves a vegetative swale from Lemoyne down towards the stream. The PASWS grant used to allow swales but now doesn’t. Sarah Boyce has been in contact with a grant officer who is recommending we switch this grant over to the Watershed Restoration grant program. The entire project would fit under the guidelines and would only require a couple of letters, one from Sarah and one from us to make the switch. The due date is later in July. This item is postponed until the next meeting. Aaron Lucero will talk to Sarah Boyce tomorrow.
   2. ARLE light at E Beau and Wade – Council reviewed the fact that the mayor applied for an Automated Red Light Enforcement (ARLE) grant for the traffic light at the intersection at Beau, Thayer, and Wade Council Member Bird said some of the lights such as the Do Not Walk lights don’t work and sometimes the buttons when pushed don’t work. Sandy, did Aaron say he would check the light and the buttons?
   3. Playground DCNR grant – This playground grant was submitted on time. Additional concern is the landscaping in the parks. Reca Panian said the Landscape company will be replacing the Arbor Vitae in Memorial Park at the end of next week. Asked Council if plans for the annual East Washington picnic are on hold?
6. Mission statement – Council Member Kent James suggested that the logo and branding be part of the Welcome message and part of the mission statement that may be addressed at the July meeting.
7. Flooding – The MS4 projects may help with flooding but that is not their purpose. According to Sarah Boyce we don’t fit into a category to get grants to help us with flooding. According to the Army Corp of Engineers, not classified as a flood zone. Mayor Gomber will check his contacts.
8. Boards – We need two people each for the planning commission, zoning board and code enforcement board President Weinstein said to send any names of people interested to serve on these boards and she will consolidate a list.

Reports / Discussion

• Mayor – No report
• Solicitor – Dennis Makel No report
• Maryann Weinstein, President – No report
• Kent James, Vice President – No report
• Daniel Bird – No report
• Douglas Corwin – No report
• Arthur Joseph Fulton – No report
• Tim Hurney – No report
• Demond Nixon – No report
• Executive Session – None

Motion

• Motion Dan Bird, second Doug Corwin, to continue the meeting on Thursday, June 11, 2020 at 7:00 pm. –  Motion passed.