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CONTINUED YEAR END MEETING - January 5, 2004 The continued year-end meeting of the Hamburg Borough Council was held this evening at the Hamburg Municipal Center with President Richard Boyd presiding. Members Present - Richard Boyd, Roy Heffner, Scott Kreider, Charles Figard, Dale Schlenker and Adam Dries Members Absent – Jeanette Heckman Also Present – Lynda G. Albright, Borough Manager, Kim Y. Berger, Recording Secretary, Mayor Del Rosario, Solicitor Speicher Visitors – Aleece Dries, Neven Dries, Steph Smith, James Kissinger, Norman Taylor, Brian Freeman, Egon Leutze, Joey Leutze, Erin Green, Shannon Lutz, Tim Neufeld, Nikki Murry, Clara Moyer, Morgan Wilkinson, Allan Wilkinson, Whitney Wilkinson, John Zettlemoyer, Joyce Zettlemoyer, Betty Schappell, Moises Arce, Alean Tray, Lee Degler, Kimm Montone (Pottsville Republican), Rodger Gehring, Heather Breininger, Kelly Breininger, Brad Breininger, Donna Smith, Garnetta Heckman, John Sterner, Peggy Sterner, Linda Strahn, Sarah Strahn, Adrian Strahn, Aaron Cassel, Holley McEllroy, Bill McEllroy, Norma Berger, Rick Kauffman, Lennia Kauffman, Rick Leymeister, James Gilmartin, Leon Balthaser, Robert Mengle, Buck Holtzman, Kim Emes A motion was made by Scott Kreider and seconded by Roy Heffner to approve the amended agenda. ROLL CALL: AYES – R. Boyd, R. Heffner, C. Figard, D. Schlenker, S. Kreider, A. Dries NAYES – None COURTESY TO AUDIENCE Moises Arce questioned when the elevator will be put back into service. There are a lot of elderly people who need to use it. Manager Albright stated that Kim has been in contact with the company and we hope to have it restored shortly. We were not notified that it would be out of service. Garnetta Heckman questioned why there was a substitute crossing guard trained and worked two days and now is being told that he cannot work. What is the problem? President Boyd stated that the issue was not brought before the Personnel Committee. Mrs. Heckman stated that we need crossing guards desperately. President Boyd stated that it would be dealt with at the next Personnel Committee meeting. Donna Smith stated that every other crossing guard’s name was submitted and then was approved and did not go through Personnel. President Boyd stated that Personnel interviews for all positions. Ms. Smith stated that she was never interviewed and she has been a crossing guard for two years and Mrs. Heckman stated that she was not interviewed by Personnel and she has been a crossing guard for 8 years. A motion was made by Charles Figard and seconded by Adam Dries to approve the minutes of December 30, 2003 meeting as submitted. ROLL CALL: AYES – R. Boyd, R. Heffner, C. Figard, D. Schlenker, S. Kreider, A. Dries NAYES – None A motion was made by Roy Heffner and seconded by Dale Schlenker to approve the following reports: Borough Manager’s Report, Public Works Supt. Report, Water/Sewer Supt. Report, Office Manager’s Report. ROLL CALL: AYES – R. Boyd, R. Heffner, C. Figard, D. Schlenker, S. Kreider, A. Dries NAYES – None BOROUGH MANAGER’S REPORT The Borough Manager’s report for the month of DECEMBER, 2003, includes the following: Held staff meetings with Supervisors to discuss various issues and plans. Met with John Leonforte, Code Enforcement Officer several times during the month to discuss various building and zoning issues he is working on. Also discussed the proposed zoning ordinance and was provided with an update regarding its status since it is now being prepared by the engineer for final draft form. Spent time finalizing both the Borough and Authority budgets for 2004. Borough budget will include a .5 mil increase, increased trash rates, increased pool rates, increases in the parking fines. Regarding the Authority budget - water rates will remain the same for 2004; however, there will be increases in both the sewer service charge and overage effective 1/1/04. Handled correspondence and complaints as needed. Spent time speaking and meeting with council-elect to answer questions and discuss issues as needed. June Hilbert, Recreation Director and I held park/pool interviews for potential applicants for the 2004 park/pool season. Recommendations to Personnel will be made for the hiring of those being considered. Handled various other personnel issues during the month dealing with both non-uniformed and uniformed personnel. Also spent time with Chief Zelinsky discussing items and being updated on several issues which may be outstanding with council after he steps down as chief. Attended one of the job meetings to be updated regarding the status of the District Justice Office. It is anticipated that the judge’s quarters will be ready for occupancy sometime in January or early February. Worked with the solicitors in having the tax anticipation note prepared for 2004. Met with the non-uniformed employees to discuss salary issues for 2003/ 2004 and make them aware of the large increase in blue cross effective 1/1/04. Overall, the meeting went exceptionally well. In addition to two council meetings, attended Personnel, Property, Safety, Road, Finance, and Authority and other meetings as required. If anyone has any questions regarding my report, please feel free to ask. Following my report are the activities of my staff for the month of December, 2003. Lynda G. Albright, Borough Manager PUBLIC WORKS SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT DECEMBER 2003 The crew continues performing the winter program of installing the remote meters and meter checks. During the month, a crew member started to touch up the walls with paint in the municipal building. Due to the weather there were a lot of trees and limbs that fell throughout the Greenway. The crew spent time removing these from the area and cleaning up the park area from the same time of material. The crew delivered OPT forms to the various businesses around the borough. A 4" drain pipe was installed along the shoulder of Pine Street to help alleviate some flooding issues we were having in the area. The storm drain at Peach and Washington Streets was repaired. The police cars were in need of service and clean up. All the cars were serviced and washed. The sewer authority requested that we haul some scrap metal for them. Brush was cut along Port Clinton Avenue, Mountain Avenue, Service Road as well as others. A lot of time continues to be spent cold patching the rough areas of the borough roads. Signs continue to be repaired and changed as needed. Equipment continues to be serviced. We started our winter maintenance of the lawn mowers for the spring season. We had our first winter storm on December 5, 2003. The crew plowed and cindered as necessary as well as December 14, 2003. The parking lots were also cleared of snow by hauling it away. During the month I attended staff meetings and the Road Committee meeting as required. Richard L. Pickel Water/Wastewater Superintendent’s Report December 2003 Water The water plant is back on line full time. There are still some glitches in the operation and we are trying to work them out. The radon testing at the plant has shown significant levels of radon in the plant. There is a mix of gas coming from the soils and from the water. PaDEP is going to do further testing and make recommendations on how to remediate the problem. The Disinfection/Disinfection By-Product Monitoring Plan has been completed and submitted to PaDEP. A copy of the plan is now available for inspection at the Borough Office. Sampling will begin in January 2004. The year ended on a sour note with the discovery of a leaking water main New Years Eve. Wastewater We had another by-pass incident on December 11. All three pumping stations failed with Ridge Lawn being flooded for several days. The appropriate forms were filed with PaDEP. The high flows have caused some settling problems. That, coupled with a "stop and start" holiday schedule at Mid-Atlantic Canners has led to some filimentous growth which has compounded the problem. We are, however, meeting permit parameters. The I&I work is continuing. We had inspected all manholes in Edenburg and Ridge Lawn and are working our way through Hamburg. We have installed inserts in all three areas as both new installations and replacements. We have located several missing or broken clean out and vents and homeowners have been notified to make repairs. Manhole metering has also continued. We are working, for the most part in the south ward as that seems to be the area with the most I&I. The belt filter press is out of service due to some bearing problems. We are locating parts and taking care of other maintenance items in the meantime. We expect to be hauling sludge for several weeks. Respectfully Submitted Keith L. Brobst Water/Wastewater Superintendent OFFICE MANAGER’S REPORT Contacted Met-Ed several times regarding street light problems – they were going to be working on expediting the matter. I updated the workman’s compensation files. Worked on various correspondence to employees for year end as well as memos of information for the new year. Various sewer vent letters were created and mailed for the authority. Letters to park and pool applicants regarding interviews for December 29, 2003 were mailed. Letters were mailed to police applicants regarding their written exam scores. Several ordinances were typed. Assisted with final budget preparation. I have been working with Food Lion to have them re-erect their stop sign at Woodland Road. Created and ordered two plaques to be placed on the donated pictures of Furnace Creek Dam. They were ordered, received and placed on the pictures. Our office has undertaken the project of organizing the town and establishing files for every property. I hope to have this completed by February 2004. I have been working with Telco and Troy Hatt to have the transfer switch installed at 4th and Rt. 61. This project should be completed by the first week in January 2004. Calculated capital expenditures for reimbursement. Compiled the Civil Service Commission report for Secretary’s review. Met with Sgt. Painter on several occasions and assisted the department on various issues. Requested the light at the rear entrance of the police department be repaired. Updated information for the new year. Contacted Muhlenberg Foods to set up an account for the pool for the summer season. Contacted Pepsi company to replace the cooler in the food stand due to it not cooling. Thought they could take care of this before spring. Requested that Roger Stetzler assist me in revamping key cabinet. He checked the cabinet and the keys to determine which keys were obsolete or did not work. This cabinet is on its way to being completed. Completed all quarterly reports and w-2’s for payroll. Several of the auditors requested to get a head start and visited us for three days the end of December. Our office pulled the invoices and other material requested. I assisted the auditors as needed. Spoke with Pat Grob of the Hamburg Jaycees regarding the Christmas Tree drop off and organized the dates and times that residents may drop off trees (January 11 through January 18) at the old borough dump. The Jaycees will be chipping the trees on January 18. This is posted on the web and the municipal access channel. Checked on various workman’s compensation claims as well as the claim for the 4th and Pine Tractor Trailer incident. The web page and municipal access channel continue to be updated on a regular
basis. Respectfully submitted, Kim Y. Berger, Office Manager An executive session was called at 7:35 p.m. to discuss personnel issues. Only the present council and Mayor attended the session. Meeting reconvened at 7:57 p.m. A motion was made by Dale Schlenker and seconded by Scott Kreider to accept
Lynda Albright’s decision to decline the position of "Acting Chief"
of Police as per letter submitted on 12/31/03. NAYES – None A motion was made by Adam Dries and seconded by Dale Schlenker to appoint Michael C. Painter as Acting Chief of Police contingent upon receiving a letter from Michael Painter that he will resign as President of the Hamburg Police Officers Association. He will be Acting Chief until March 31, 2004. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned on the motion of Roy Heffner and seconded by Charles Figard at 8 p.m. ATTEST: Kim Y. Berger
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