July 23, 2007, Council Meeting

We have a busy agenda at this meeting. The first thing I did was impose a three minute time limit on public comment. It worked very well at the Refuse hearing and it worked well at this meeting. Several people spoke on the following issues: a thank-you for having the public hearing; a question on how the new yard-waste drop-off facility and security cameras were being funded (savings realized when an employee left Public Works); complaint and concern about road construction; and concern that borough ordinances were not being enforced.

A highlight at this meeting was the announcement that a local teen-ager, one Darren Reilly, won a $1,000 scholarship from the President Edward Fund that is sponsored by the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs . This is the first time in at least the 10 years I’ve been on Council that someone won a scholarship. Congratulations to Mr. Reilly!

We had a very busy night. The evening began with another public hearing, this one was required and concerned renewing the borough’s franchise agreement with Time-Warner Cable. Four councilors, our solicitor, Ms. Daly/Borough Secretary and one newspaper reporter were present – yep, no citizens. Mr. Whalen (sp) represented Time-Warner and answered our questions. There technical improvements coming later this year affecting how television channels are delivered to each residence. At the moment, they send all channels to all homes. Under the new scheme, they will send just the requested channel – a kind of on-demand system. Also, of interest to us, they are working on building some redundancy into the service provided to the borough and the Valley. A lightning strike a couple of weeks ago destroyed their equipment on Round Top and wiped out cable, internet phone, and Road Runner for almost 14 hours. The equipment site was a single point of failure and they recognize the problem and have a solution under development. We’ll see…

• We approved, 7-0, the franchise agreement, pending correction that substitutes the “Borough of Sayre” for “Athens Township” and legal review.

• Approved, 7-0, the Payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement with Guthrie Heathcare System . The GHS is tax-exempt (for most of its operations) but they provide services in kind, e.g., they maintain Howard Elmer Park (which is pretty much their “front yard” and they do it very well; they will provide the borough with $10,000 annually beginning this year through 2009 towards purchase of a police car; and they will begin maintenance of the Island Pond park area, which compliments their management of the Packer Pond.

• Rejected, 7-0, the refuse collection bid proposals from bid proposals from B&E Disposal of Nichols and the Northern Tier Solid Waste Authority. This effectively ends the drive to privatize our garbage collection program.

• Authorized, 7-0 for each vehicle, advertising the sale of the 1995 Chevy Caprice sedan and the 2004 Ford sedan. Both are police cars going out of service.

• Authorized, 7-0, pay request 9 from Chicago Construction for $379,579.00. CC is the contractor working on Phase I of our sewer infrastructure project.

• We also authorized, 7-0, Change Order 8 from CC for $10,492.59. Part of this money will purchase manholes and pipe from CC for use on the West Street sewer project.

• Accepted a bid, 7-0, for this work on West Street from G. DeVincentis & Son Construction out of Binghamton, NY. They provided the low bid of $178,000. Vacri Construction, also of Binghamton, submitted a bid for $232,000.

• Authorized, 7-0, the purchase of concrete barriers for the yard waste drop-off facility, with the purchase not to exceed $8,000.

• Authorized, 7-0, the purchase of a video surveillance system from Teledair Communications for $3,900. Price includes equipment, installation, and set up of an internet link.

• Authorized, 5-0 with one abstention, the removal of a tree on private property at 106 Layton Street with costs to be shared equally between the borough and the home owner. Layton Street was part of our sewer infrastructure project and the home owner is very concern the digging disrupted the roots and harmed the tree. A commonwealth forestry expert was consulted and her recommendation was to remove the tree.

• After long discussion, the council authorized, 5-2, the purchase of a 2007 Dodge Charger for the Police Department that will replace the 2004 Ford sedan previously mentioned. It will be funded by the first $10,000 check from GHS, with the remainder coming from our loan “set-aside” account that will be paid back to the borough over a two year period.

• Approved, 7-0, the assignment of the first metered space on the north side of West Lockhart Street at Desmond Street as a bus stop for Endless Mountains Transportation Authority (EMTA). This bus stop will service the Lockhart Building residents.

• Adopted, 7-0, the recommended changes to our Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) housing rehabilitation program policy. The changes increased the grant from $10,000 to $20,000; and updated contractor insurance requirements language to make insurance requirements the same as required for a construction permit in the Borough.

• Approved, 7-0, a request from the Roma Madre Lodge 1342, Sons of Italy, to close Hayden Street between Desmond and N. Lehigh Avenue and to allow parking on the east side of N. Lehigh.

• Approved a resolution, 7-0, adopting the Bradford County Multihazard Mitigation Plan as the borough’s plan.

A very busy meeting with much accomplished!