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.

• Martin Lamarche – 687 E. Beau Street. Mr. Lamarche and his spouse expressed concern about their neighbor’s garage construction project which resulted in damage to their property including damage to the roots of a large tree. They commended Gerald Coleman, our code enforcement officer, for his assistance in the ongoing problem and reported that their neighbors have agreed to use the survey paid for by the Lamarche’s.
• Arlene Nicolella – 15 Wilmont Ave. Ms. Nicolella wants to have parking on the even side of Wilmont. She does not think that side of the street needs to be no parking.
• Jim Irwin- Wilmont Ave. Lives on the side of Wilmont that would become no parking. Agrees with
  Ms. Nicolella. Feels that no parking signs detract from the appearance of the street.
• Beverly Coward was disturbed to see what was done to the Lamarche’s property. Nothing being done to remedy the damage. Wants to know what the borough can do.
• Chuck McHugh 10 Wilmont Ave. Is concerned about safety if there is parking on the even side of Wilmont. Supports no parking on the even side of Wilmont.
• At the completion of the public comment period Mrs. Weinstein asked Mr. Fulton to mute everybody to avoid background noise.

Reports

• Rich Rush -Widmer Engineering, Inc. -road update. Mrs. Weinstein reported that Rich is still trying to get a start date from the contractor for the road work.

Approval

• Motion Tim Hurney, second Joe Fulton to approve Minutes August 3, 2020. Motion passed.  Prior to passage of the minutes Joe Fulton stated that the mayor had made inaccurate comments about the code enforcement officer at the previous meeting. – Motion passed.

• Motion Kent James, second Doug Corwin to approve Minutes August 20, 2020. – Motion passed.

• Motion Demond Nixon, second Joe Fulton to approve Bills – Gen Acct $ 14,597.35 – PLGIT Acct. $ 228.80 – Motion passed.

Presentation

• Presentation from W and J on project on E Beau St – Jim Irwin, Vice President -Business & Finance and Chief Financial Officer, W&J College, wanted to inform the Council of a future project on East Beau Street to establish a curb cut for a future parking lot. Beau street is a state road and PENNdot is asking for documentation from East Washington Borough giving its okay to the project to move forward. Several Council members had questions. It was decided that a meeting with W&J officials and EWB council members and the public works supervisor needs to be scheduled to discuss the project further before any approval will be granted. President Weinstein will follow up with W&J to schedule a date and time for the meeting.

Official Action:

1. Ordinance No. 543 of 2020 Amend Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System (PMRS) Non-Uniform Pension Plan (prepared by Solicitor Makel) – This is a routine update that needs to be done every 6 years. Our plan is a defined benefit plan. Highlights of the discussion were that full-time is defined as 40 hours per week, the pension is based on the last 36 months of service and the employee must complete 3 months of service to be eligible for the plan. Vesting occurs at 8 years. One change we need to consider is allowing employees to contribute additional money to their plan. This change (and any change in the plan) can be made at any time. Additional paperwork would need to be done to make changes.A motion was made by Kent James, second Doug Corwin to authorize Solicitor Dennis Makel to proceed with advertising the Ordinance No. 543 of 2020 prepared by the Solicitor to amend the Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System (PMRS) Non-Uniform Pension Plan with changes as presented. Motion passed.
2. Minimum Municipal Obligation (MMO) – Motion Kent James, second Demond Nixon to approve the Minimum Municipal Obligation (MMO) for 2021 as presented and submit to Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System (PMRS) for the Non-Uniform Pension Plan and the Police Plan. – Motion passed.
3. ARLE Bid Award – Motion Tim Hurney, second Demond Nixon to award the ARLE bid for the Flashing Light to be placed on Beau Street at the Faith Christian school to the lowest bidder, Bronder Technical Services, Inc. in the amount of $24,183.78. – Motion passed.
4. Financial Status – Council Member Kent James gave a brief report on the financial status of the borough. Graphs were presented and the borough is currently in good condition to weather the results of COVID-19.
5. Budget Workshop – Motion Joe Fulton, second Kent James to schedule the first Budget Workshop for Thursday, October 1, 2020 at 7:00 pm. (notice on website, nextdoor, etc.) – Motion passed.
   
6. Purchase of concrete blocks for salt shed area. – Motion Kent James, second Tim Hurney, to authorize Aaron Lucero, Public Works, to purchase 12 jumbo blocks 6 feet x 2×2” at a cost of $120.00 each plus shipping for a cost not to exceed $1590.00. – Motion passed.
7. Parking on Wilmont Ave. – There were No Parking signs on the even side of Wilmont from N Wade to E Beau prior to the road project. Signs were put back up in August but some of the neighbors did not like the signs and it turns out that even though there have been No Parking signs up for many years, that section of Wilmont is not listed in the parking ordinance as being no parking. We will need an amendment to the ordinance to make that area no parking. Chuck McHugh has submitted a petition with 6 signatures from 4 houses on the even side of Wilmont supporting no parking on that side. Mrs. Weinstein emailed it to council and the Mayor.After lengthy discussion regarding parking on Wilmont on one side of the street, a motion was made by Tim Hurney, second Doug Corwin to direct Solicitor Dennis Makel to amend the ordinance for parking on Wilmont Avenue. Erect signs stating No Parking This Side of the Street with a smaller sign stating Except for Local Services.
   

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

Department Reports

• Police and Secretary-Treasurer Reports sent to Council previously.

Executive Session

• Personnel reasons involving employees. Motion Dan Bird, second Joe Fulton to enter Executive Session at 9:07 pm. for personnel reasons involving employees. Motion passed. President Weinstein announced out of Executive Session back into regular meeting at 9:26 pm.

Motions

• Motion Dan Bird, second Demond Nixon to approve the cost of living increase of 4.4% for full-time employees only retroactive to Jan 1, 2020. – Motion passed.

Reports

• Mayor Gomber stated he was muted, and the information was accurate and truthful as to conversation with Jerry Coleman. He wants an apology from Joe Fulton.
• Solicitor – Dennis Makel Megan Patrick was in attendance for Dennis Makel.
• Council Members – Reports / Discussion
  • Maryann Weinstein, President – President Weinstein said she has recently learned of another cleaning company and is in touch with its representative, Aaron Wrubleski. Regarding the Strategic Management Assistance Program, Michael Foreman recommends that our paperwork be submitted by early October. Mrs. Weinstein is working on this. Last September Matt Boice submitted information to Camera Bartolotta’s office that has resulted in EWB being on the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RAC-P) allocation list under the category of flood control for up to $5 million. This means we can apply for grants under this program. The grants are provided through the DCED. We are on the list for approximately 10 years. There are billions of dollars worth of projects on the list but only millions of dollars are granted. The governor and the state representatives have discretion over the grants. We can apply for grants at the beginning of the year. Mrs. Weinstein will get in touch with Rich Cleveland about applying for these grants. Add note to December calendar so we do not miss the application date.
  • Daniel Bird – No report
  • Douglas Corwin– No report
  • Kent James, Vice President– No report
  • Demond Nixon – No report
  • Joe Fulton– No report
  • Tim Hurney– No report

Motion

• Motion Kent James, second Joe Fulton to continue the meeting on Thursday, September 24, 2020 at 7:00 pm. Motion passed.