BOROUGH OF SLATINGTON

The Water, Sewer/Solid Waste, and Highway Committee Workshop Meeting was held on October 21, 2013 in Council Room, 125 South Walnut Street, Slatington, PA.

The meeting was called to order by President Stevens at 6:30 PM with the following in attendance:

PRESENT ABSENT OTHERS VISITORS Daniel Stevens Mike Kukles George Moyer Melvin Gildner

Bryon Reed Carol Gildner John Bolton

Bob Steets Russell Hallman Kris Burek

Galen Freed-6:39 Ron Scheffler Sharon Stanley

Jay Polanski Ed Ziegler

VISITORS-

Kris Burek, 1235 Fourth Street- asked Councilor Steets if the grease trap letters were sent out and if so, when were they sent out. Councilor Steets said yes they were mailed out last week.

WATER/SPECIAL SEWER

Bryon Reed – Chairman; Members: Bob Steets, Galen Freed

1.  Church Street Parking Lot- Vice President Reed said he noticed that there were some alternate plans given from Lehigh Engineering. Mike Kukles explained the alternates. A discussion took place on the parking lot.

2.  Sewer laterals- Vice President Reed requested to skip the sewer laterals

3.  133 Diamond Street- President Stevens explained that the owner claimed they didn’t know that garbage was included in their utility bill. The owner is looking to be reimbursed for the garbage portion of the bill. Since no one lived there and they didn’t use the garbage service, she feels that she should be reimbursed. Vice President Reed said that if she didn’t notify the Borough of this then she is still responsible for paying for the service. The Committee agreed that this should be placed on the agenda for the next Council meeting.

4.  Sewer Laterals- Vice President Reed said that at the last Council Meeting there was a discussion about sewer laterals which wasn’t 100 percent true. Then the Times News ran an article in the paper with these false statements, which then leads people to believe that the sewer laterals didn’t need to be replaced. This is not the case. Vice President Reed pointed out that one of the parts in the news paper article stated that Ronald Scheffler stated that he and several of his neighbors replaced their laterals at their own expense. Vice President Reed said that this isn’t true because you haven’t replaced your lateral yet. Mr. Scheffler said that he did not say that. President Stevens asked John Bolton if he is aware of any sewer laterals that were repaired that didn’t need to be; Mr. Bolton said no. Mr. Bolton stated that everyone who had a bad lateral received a tape showing them their damaged lateral. President Stevens said then this story going around that some people didn’t need to have their laterals repaired is all hear say correct; Mr. Bolton said he was not aware of any. Mr. Scheffler said that his plumber told him that Mr. Bechtel’s wasn’t bad; Vice President Reed and John Bolton both said that Mr. Bechtel’s was one of the worst laterals in the area. President Stevens also brought up a statement that Mr. Scheffler made about Mr. Bolton “not telling the truth at public meetings”. Mr. Scheffler said that that comment was based on those two incidents and that everyone was video taped. Mr. Scheffler asked if he could recite a section from the June 2012 Council Meeting Minutes, he read that it states: “Mr. Gildner asked if everyone was video taped” and “Vice President Reed answered yes”. Mr. Bolton said that he didn’t answer that question so why am I being dishonest? President Stevens said he believes that Mr. Scheffler owes Mr. Bolton an apology. Mr. Schleffler apologized to Mr. Bolton. A discussion took place.

There were no questions from the committee members, other Council members and so the Water/Special Sewer Committee Meeting was adjourned.

SEWER/SOLID WASTE

Bob Steets – Chairman; Members: Galen Freed, Bryon Reed

1.  Act 537 Planning Module Exemption Request- Councilor Steets said that the Authority would have to approve this along with Council. This would have to be placed on their agenda for approval.

Councilor Steets asked John Bolton about the two storm sewers on Main Street by the dog shop, it has been rumored that they are connected to the sewer is this true? John Bolton said it is not.

There were no further questions from the committee members, other Council members and so the Sewer/Solid Waste Committee Meeting was adjourned.

HIGHWAY

Galen Freed– Chairman (absent); Members: Bryon Reed, Bob Steets

George Moyer, 231 Main Street- noted that at the last meeting there was someone asking to be reimbursed for a leaking water line that was outside of their home. Mr. Moyer said that at the Workshop meeting he suggested that you look into his billing history and see what his past usage is. Mr. Moyer asked if this was looked into because Council makes special exceptions for other things but why not this. President Stevens said that in the code book it states that there is no special allowance for leaks and that they are responsible to repair that section of their line.

1.  Application for payment # 3- Mike Kukles said that there are 2 items on the check list that haven’t been completed yet. Mr. Kukles noted the two items and said that he has sent a letter to Livengood along with a punch list with the remaining items that need to be completed. In the letter he noted that the third application for payment would not be made until these items were completed.

2.  Winter Maintenance Agreement- Vice President Reed said that he spoke with Don Cole from PennDot and he will be getting back to us with a date and time when we can meet.

3.  NOVA Parking- Vice President Reed said that the medical van that normally parks at Spring Side has been having some problems with parking. He said that people who leave nearby are using the parking lot, and now it is difficult for the drivers to park. He also noted that someone who yelled at the woman who drives the van stated that it is a public parking lot and they can park there. Vice President Reed suggested that we put in two signs that state “NOVA Parking”. John Bolton said that there are available spots behind the fish pond. Mr. Bolton suggested that we can put in a handicapped sign in. Vice President Reed said that he would like to reserve two spots for them because they do wonderful things for the community and they are volunteers. Councilor Freed said that we should have a handicapped sign there just because people use it for recreational purposes and he believes it is a requirement to have at least one. The Committee is requesting for this to be placed on the agenda for the next Council Meeting.

4.  Act 46 Report- President Stevens said this is just informational.

John Bolton asked if the crew was taking care of the Halloween Parade or is the Fire Company. He said that last year the Fire Company took care of posting the street. Vice President Reed asked if Mr. Bolton would prefer the Fire Company to do it again; Mr. Bolton said yes they do a good job.

5.  Street Lights- John Bolton said that he has been in contact with Defrain Electric and they said that there is money available for Victorian street lights. Councilor Freed said if there is money available let’s have Defrain look into it for us.

Kris Burek asked if Mr. Bolton was here on paid time or his own time; Mr. Bolton said it was his own time.

There were no further questions from the committee members, and so the Highway Committee Meeting was adjourned.

Councilor Freed adjourned the meeting at 7:40 P.M.

Joan Cheesbrough

Borough Secretary