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.

• Mr. Jeff Bull, 20 Fairmont Ave.  Mr. Bull expressed his opinion to Council regarding the Hopper/McIlvaine driveway application.  He stated that Mr Hopper violated the borough ordinance by placing his driveway entrance on an easement owned by the McIlvaines rather than on his own property.  He does not think that Council should grant Mr Hopper an exception to the ordinance which permits only one driveway entrance per property.  In his opinion Mr Hopper should be required to put his driveway entrance on his own property.
• Following Mr. Bull’s comments, Mrs. Weinstein stated that an issue has come up in relation to the driveway and that she was removing discussion of it from the agenda for tonight.

Motions

• Motion Demond Nixon, second Dan Bird to approve Minutes February 3, 2020. – Motion passed.
• Motion Demond Nixon, second Kent James to approve Bills Gen Account $ 6,293.29, and PLGIT Account (Liq. Fuels) $ 3,179.46. – Motion passed.

Reports:

• Engineer – Rich Rush, Widmer Engineering, Inc. – AbsentMrs. Weinstein said she spoke to Rich Rush, Engineer, and he would not be able to get the bids in time for the March Meeting.Consequently, a motion was made by Dan Bird, second Kent James to rescind previous meeting motion regarding the submittal date of the bids for streets projects. Motion Passed.Motion Kent James, second Dan Bird to authorize Rich Rush, Widmer Engineering, Inc. to send out bids for road projects to be submitted by Noon Friday, April 3, 2020. Council to award bid at the Monday, April 6, 2020 Council Meeting. Motion passed.

• Park & Shade Chair, Reca Panian – Absent

Action Items/Discussion:

1. 2020 East Washington Calendar – Motion Demond Nixon, second Kent James to approve 2020 East Washington Borough Calendar as presented. Motion Demond Nixon, second Kent James to amend motion to replace Martin Luther King Holiday in 2020 as a personal day. Motion passed. Full-time employees may take the personal day by giving 7 calendar days’ notice.
2. Glass Recycling – Approval of Glass Recycling Agreement with South Strabane Township. Council already approved this on February 3, 2020.
3. Discussion – Communications– Mr. Fulton presented Council with a Communication plan for the borough. He will create a borough Facebook page and Nextdoor Neighbor Account and address the website. All Council members will have an East Washington Borough email address. He made recommendations and will update the sites and post items to these sites, as well as provide reports to council as needed.
4. Discussion – Code Officer Presentation – Mr. Coleman gave Council a brief overview of the process for issuing citations for Property code violations in the borough. He receives very few neighbor complaints and does not patrol. Complaints need to come from citizens. Often when the parties meet with the Magistrate, the violation is already taken care of and the case is dismissed. If the property owner is cited again, the process starts all over again. The borough loses money taking people to the magistrate because of the cases being dismissed or because the fines are extremely low. He gave examples for Council. He also noted that the Mayor is identifying blight properties in the borough.
5. Discussion – Strategic Management and Planning Meeting – Mrs. Weinstein stated a meeting has been set up with Johanna Pro on Thursday, March 26, 2020 at 9:30 am to discuss Strategic Management and Planning for the Borough.
6. Fee Schedule Change – The tax collector has requested an increase in the duplicate bill fee from $.25 to $1.00.  Current U.S. Postage stamps are $.55 to mail the duplicate bill.  A motion made by Kent James, second Demond Nixon to approve 2020 fee schedule change for duplicate bill charge to $1.00.  Bird, No. Corwin, No. Weinstein, yes, James, yes, Nixon, yes, Fulton, yes. Motion passed. – Motion passed.
7. Discussion – Hopper Driveway/Easement – taken off the Agenda by President Maryann Weinstein

Reports / Discussion

• Mayor – Mayor Michael Gomber discussed blight in the borough. It was noted that Canton Township recently addressed blight and passed an ordinance to address blight.  Fees are assessed and the township can deny permits if the problem is not addressed.  Doug Corwin, Kent James, and Mayor Gomber are going to meet to discuss possible solutions to address blight in the borough.Mayor Gomber requested that Resolution 006 of 2020 be approved by Council.  This resolution authorizes Trans Associates, Clifford Eich, P.E., to submit bid specifications to contractors that manufacture the flashing light device which is to be placed near the Faith Christian School for the safety of students and ultimately help slow traffic on Beau Street.  This resolution satisfies an ARLE grant requirement. Mr. Bull advised Council that there used to be a light on E Beau Street near the school but that a past council got rid of it as a cost savings measure.  Mrs. Weinstein stated that the 2018-2020 council already approved accepting the grant for the flashing light.
  • Discussion:  Motion Demond Nixon, second Dan Bird to approve Resolution 006 of 2020 authorizing Trans Associates, Clifford Eich, to submit the application and bid specifications to PENNdot for the borough. – Motion passed.
• Council discussed the timing of submitting items for a vote.  In general council members want to discuss an issue at a meeting prior to the meeting where it comes up for a vote.
• Solicitor – Dennis Makel No report
• Maryann Weinstein, President – President announced there will be an information meeting on Friday, February 21, 2020 at 1:00 pm with Rich Cleveland, our grant writer, to discuss the Small Community Greenways Grant. We may be able to partner with the city on this grant for flooding and/or parks/playground equipment.
• Kent James, Vice President – No report
• Daniel Bird – No report
• Douglas Corwin – No report
• Arthur Joseph Fulton – Report given to Council
• Tim Hurney – Absent
• Demond Nixon – No report

Motion

• Motion Doug Corwin, second Dan Bird to enter Executive Session at 8:30 pm. –  Motion passed.
• Executive Session – Out of executive session 9:14 pm. Motion by Kent James, second by Doug Corwin. – Motion passed.
• Motion by Dan Bird, second by Demond Nixon to adjourn at 9:15 pm. –  Motion passed.