Ringtown Borough Council-April 2017 minutes

A regular meeting of the Ringtown Borough Council was held on Tuesday, April 11, 2017 in the Ringtown Senior Citizens Building at 104 W. Main Street. Board members in attendance were J. Milewski, D. Seresky, P. Forgotch T Murray and J. Compton. Also present was S. Schuetrum, foreman, A. Breznik, mayor, J. Price, solicitor, J. Peleschak, engineer and T. Buriak, officer.

Minutes- Compton stated that at the last meeting, none of the motions were voted on. He moved to ratify the motions, as needed. Seresky seconded and everyone was in favor. With that change, Seresky made a motion to accept the minutes. Compton seconded and everyone was in favor.

PCOAI- None.

Citizen’s Petitions- none.

Communications- A letter from PaDoT was received stating we were not selected to receive any funding for our sidewalk project.

  • The Library will host its Wine Gala on June 3rd.
  • Liquid Fuels money for 2017 was received. $31223.91.
  • St. Mary’s Church will hold their annual block party June 9 & 10 this year. Murray made a motion to allow the church to occupy the streets. Seresky seconded and all were in favor. Insurance certificate attached to request.
  • Dave Argall sent a letter pertaining to downtown location laws.
  • The COG sent a police study questionnaire. Turned over to mayor.
  • Since the health officer resigned, we need to send letters to each business affected and also to the director of food safety, notifying them who needs to be inspected, and when.

Treasurer/Monthly Bills-. Compton moved to accept the report and pay the monthly bills. Murray seconded the motion and everyone was in favor.

Mayor & Police- Breznik stated that Buriak was not given his raise to $18 per hour, which was to be effective in February, when council authorized him to work up to 32 hours. Forgotch made a motion to raise the pay, and pay arrears. Seresky seconded and everyone was in favor.

  • Buriak is a licensed firearm instructor, and needs to be recertified every 3 years. The cost is $600 plus ammo. Compton felt we discussed this before and denied the request. After discussion, Compton moved to pay for Buriak’s training, as long as he is employed by the Borough. Murray seconded and everyone was in favor.
  • The recreation committee will sponsor its annual 5K run on June 17th. The same streets will be blocked off, as every other year, and will be posted prior to the event. Forgotch made a motion to allow the run, and post/block the streets. Seresky seconded and everyone was in favor.
  • Compton voiced complaints about people parking in the middle of a street during the snowstorm, and about PaDoT throwing snow back on sidewalks on Main Street. Nobody was ticketed, but were given warnings if they didn’t clear the sidewalks in 48 hours, which is longer than the ordinance allows.
  • Buriak will be doing a sweep of illegal vehicles and repainting lines to watch for speeding.

Compton moved to accept the report. Seresky seconded and all were in favor.

Foreman’s report- (on file) – The third well was drilled. One last property needs to have the well drilled before we can turn off that line. Dave Thompson, the property owner was at the meeting to say he thinks he should have 4 wells drilled, since he has 4 potential properties. He currently has only one water account with the borough. Leib will provide an estimate to get the one well drilled and council will discuss the other lines in the future. Thompson also complained about the condition his neighbor’s property was left in after his well was drilled. Price stated that was between the neighbor and the well driller.

  • Street sweeping will be April 24 & 25, as long as the weather is good.
  • The small dump truck needed a new transmission and should be fixed by next week.
  • Thank you letters will be sent to Rarick’s & Lex’s for their work helping us clean up after the snowstorm. A letter will also be sent to Luna’s Pizzeria for supplying food to all those that were working during the storm.
  • Ray Dunsavage, fire chief, was at the meeting to discuss the drop in ISO numbers for the Township. They were classified as a 9, and were dropped to a 5. Our thanks to the fire department for the hard work in making this possible. Dunsavage also stated they will be seeking permission to install quarter turn hook ups on the hydrants in town. This system will make connecting to the hydrants more efficient and could also be used by mutual aid trucks. These will be paid for and installed by the fire company.

Seresky moved to accept the foreman’s report. Compton seconded and all were in favor.

Committee Reports:

Municipal Authority- Corrective Action Plan sent to DEP for approval. Issues with aeration system.

EMC- Forgotch is resigning as the Emergency Management coordinator. Council is seeking a replacement.

Murray moved to enter Executive session for police and personnel issues. Seresky seconded and everyone was in favor.

Seresky made a motion to return to Regular session. Murray seconded and everyone was in favor.

During the Executive Session, issues with the Engineering services were discussed. Peleschak was asked to document any pro-bono work she does for the Borough. She also agreed, and will submit in writing, that if a major project is being done, Benesch would allow us to seek proposals from an outside engineer. Murray made a motion to retain Benesch for the remainder of 2017. Compton seconded and everyone was in favor.

New Business- Compton asked if we need to advertise for summer help. Zachary Griffin was employed on a part time, per diem basis over the winter and will stay on as the summer help for 2017.

Murray moved to adjourn the meeting. Seresky seconded and everyone was in favor. Adjourned

NEXT MEETING IS TUESDAY, MAY 9th at 6:00 pm

Minutes taken and submitted by A. Mays, Borough Secretary