The thirteenth regular meeting of the Hamburg Borough Council for 2002 of the Hamburg Borough Council was held this evening at the Hamburg Municipal Center with President Richard W. Boyd presiding. The meeting was opened with Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and a Prayer.

Members Present – Richard W. Boyd, Roy Heffner, Leon Balthaser, Charles Figard, Dale Schlenker, J. Heckman

Members Absent – D. Edwards

Also Present – Kim Y. Berger, Recording Secretary, Lynda Albright, Borough Manager

Visitors – Nikki Murry (Hamburg Item), Kim Montone (Pottsville Republican), Thomas Zelinsky, Julia Nazimov (Reading Eagle/Times), Harold Holtzman

A motion was made by Roy Heffner and seconded by Charles Figard to approve the amended agenda.

ROLL CALL: AYES – R. Boyd, R. Heffner, J. Heckman, C. Figard, L. Balthaser, D. Schlenker

NAYES – None

Harold (Buck) Holtzman was present as the Hamburg representative to the Northern Berks Recreation Corp. He was seeking permission to make a motion on behalf of the Borough giving the Blue Mountain Wildlife the Borough’s blessing. The Blue Mountain Wildlife apparently has the money and the manpower. It was suggested to give this group a timeframe with which to get their plan in place. After further discussion, it was decided that since the NBRC was meeting on Friday, July 12, 2002, there would be no action until the next Council meeting on July 24, 2002.

A motion was made by Jeanette Heckman and seconded by Roy Heffner to approve the minutes of the June 26, 2002.

(Councilman Balthaser stated that a correction needed to be made to the minutes from the June 26, 2002 meeting on page 198 under Solicitor’s Report stating that Mr. Balthaser did not vote should be changed that Mr. Balthaser was not called on for this vote).

ROLL CALL: AYES – R. Boyd, R. Heffner, J. Heckman, C. Figard, L. Balthaser, D. Schlenker

NAYES – None

The Borough Manager’s activities for the month of June, 2002 included the following:

Held two Staff meetings to discuss various issues with Department Supervisors.

Handled various complaints regarding weeds, trash, zoning issues.

Chief Zelinsky and I attended a Personnel Management Seminar in Pottsville on Friday, June 14.

Submitted a grant application to the Community Development Office for the 2003 round of funding under the CDBG program which, if received, will be used for reconstruction and repaving of the municipal parking lot and the extension of storm sewer from the municipal parking lot at 3^rd Street south to State Street.

Keith Brobst, W/S Supt. and I met with representatives from Hood and Company regarding their sewer bill, which they are disputing. We are currently monitoring their meter on a regular basis.

Spoke with a cable company representative regarding internet access for the borough office. I am happy to report we will be converting to the cable system in the very near future and this service will be provided to us at no monthly cost.

Bid specifications for various alley work in the Borough has been bid and will be opened at the July 8 meeting of Borough Council.

Worked on getting Right-of-Way agreements prepared for storm sewer work, which will commence in the next few weeks under the 2001 CDBG program.

In addition to the two regular council meetings, attended Authority, Safety, Finance, and Property committee meetings.

If anyone has any questions regarding my report, please feel free to ask.

Attached with my report are the activities of my staff for the month of June, 2002.

Lynda G. Albright, Borough Manager

PUBLIC WORKS SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT - JUNE

During the month of June, the Borough Crew completed the following:

Performed a few meter checks and changes.

A lot of time was spent working on various projects, these include the following: poured a cement slab at the sewer plant as well as worked on the dryer press. At the reservoir, the pit for the electric work took some time as well as installing a new pump and pipe work of Well #5.

GENERAL WORK

Installed a new sign on South 7^th "Watch children".

Work continues with patching of streets and alleys. A few alleys continue to be problems because the patches don’t hold due to the condition of them.

Grass at the park tot lot, Hawk Ridge Park, municipal building, garage, library and other areas were cut and weeds were trimmed.

A lot of painting and line marking was done during this month. The intersections were all re-marked with crosswalk lines. The word "STOP" was replaced where necessary.

Weeds continue to be sprayed along the curb.

A lot of time was spent cutting weeds in the streams.

The railing on the bandstand was painted.

Routine maintenance was completed.

There was another vandalism incident at the park bathrooms. The handicap door in the men’s bathroom was damaged. The police were called and a report was recorded.

Richard L. Pickel

Public Works Superintendent

All water was from the surface source this month. The dam was full as of 6/30/2002 and flow into the dam is good.

The sample pump for combined turbidity and operating samples has been installed, as well as the chlorine pump at well 5. We are waiting for the final electrical work to be done to make both units operational.

Tony and I attended a seminar on new public notification regulations. The Consumer Confidence reports for 2001 have been distributed.

The propane service at the water filtration plant has been switched to PPL.

We have been hauling liquid sludge since the beginning of the month when the Belt Filter Press broke down. Repairs are being made and I expect to have it back on line shortly.

The dechlorination system has been set up to run manually until the permanent installation can be made. It is working fairly well with only some minor glitches. The pad for the sulfur dioxide enclosure has been poured and we expect delivery of the enclosure the week of 7/8. The permanent, automatic equipment will be installed at that time.

Number 1 secondary clarifier and number 1 primary clarifier have been cleaned and serviced. The primary is back in service. The secondary is not needed due to seasonally low flows. We will resume tank cleaning as soon as the belt filter press is back in operation.

Submitted

Keith L. Brobst

During the month of June, I attended, two Council meetings and two staff meetings.

The park and pool is in full swing for the summer. I spent a lot of time updating park and pool employees in the computer for payroll. Working with them to obtain working papers and explaining the procedures to the Recreation Director.

A lot of different letters were drafted and mailed during the month. Including, weed notices, debris notices, dog complaints and others.

The Consumer Confidence Report mass mailing was completed. This included copying, folding, addressing and counting the 2000 pamphlets.

The web page and municipal access channel continues to be updated.

The Nextel phones had arrived for the Borough Crew. I programmed them, and distributed a memo to all office employees, police and supervisors regarding the identification and phone numbers. I had also gathered all the radios and spoke with the maintenance vendor and discontinued the maintenance on these radios.

Completed various quarter end reports for payroll as well as Grease Trap letters to be mailed out.

Spent a lot of time working on compiling street work bid forms, advertisements and etc. Spoke with our representative numerous times to be sure that everything was copasetic. The bids have been advertised and will be opened on July 8, 2002.

Every year there are a few problems with season tickets and who is permitted on a "family" ticket. This year there have been many, many problems. I have brought this to the Borough Manager’s attention and have suggested that we change our procedure next year. One being that the Borough Office only accept the applications. The park and pool personnel are not familiar with who are residents and who are non-residents. In addition, I have called different municipalities who operate a pool. I have compiled a list of how other municipalities differentiate who is ‘allowed’ on a family ticket. There are different approaches to use. One being that the ticket be for two people and then a different rate for each additional individual. There are a few other scenarios and Lynda has the information to be discussed with the Rec Board/Property Committee.

Our contract with our current uniform vendor expires in the beginning of 2003 and therefore I have contacted a few different vendors for pricing quotes and will be forwarding the information to Lynda when complete.

There has been a continuing problem with a property on Hawk Ridge Drive in regards to dogs. I am happy to report that steps have been taken to solve this problem and the neighbors are extremely happy.

At the end of the month, assisted Lynda with grant for the parking lot.

Prepared various posters, signs for Authority and Borough.

Renting of the pavilions and the pool have been very good this season and we anticipate that it will only increase in the next month.

Respectfully submitted,

Kim Y. Berger, Office Manager

The following bids for the 2002 Street Work as well as some work for the Authority were opened and read.