Ninth Annual Christmas Parade.

The 9th Annual Sayre Borough Christmas Parade took place last Friday, November 23rd, and it was a resounding success. I don’t know how many people lined the parade route, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it equaled Sayre’s population (5,813).

Our Borough Manager, Dave Jarrett, restarted the Christmas parade program in 1999, and it has been bigger and better in each successive year under his leadership. Some people think it is Sayre Borough production, but it’s pretty much a”Dave” production, through the Sayre Community Corporation.

Mayor Denny Thomas served as the parade’s grand marshal. State Rep. Tina Pickett was the parade’s honorary grand marshal. Per the Morning Times coverage in the November 24th edition:

Also taking part in the parade were rising star Joey Page; the Sayre Borough Police Department; the Valley Salvation Army; the Sayre Borough Parade Committee; People’s State Bank; state Rep. Tina Pickett; the Borough of Sayre; the Sayre High School marching band; the Sayre Fire Department; the Valley Kiwanis Club; the Pat Haggerty Dancers; the Chemung Fire Department; Guthrie Healthcare System; the Penn-York Highlanders; the Athens Borough Fire Department; Greater Valley Emergency Medical Services; the Athens Township Fire Department; East Sayre Neighborhood Watch; Stray Haven Humane Society; the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce; the Sayre Sons of Italy; St. John Lutheran Church; Boy Scout Pack No. 19; Costume Capers; the Tioga Fire District; the Waverly-Barton Fire Department; Citizens and Northern Bank; North Rome Christian School; Bradford County commissioners John Sullivan and Mark W. Smith; Magisterial District Judge Michael Shaw; Chris Z. Sutton’s Towing; the Valley Chorus; Dance Magic Academy of Waverly; the Six Pines Service Unit of the Girl Scouts; the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce; His Tabernacle Family Church; RC Horton Electric; and the Litchfield Fire Department.

Santa Claus traveled in the parade on a fire engine from Engine Co. No. 1 and stopped at Howard Elmer Park to meet with, have his picture taken with and hand out gifts to the children.

The first 250 children under the age of 12 who stopped to visit Santa Claus received a gift bag that was provided through the generosity of the parade’s many sponsors. Special gift cards will be given out at random during the visit with St. Nick.

Howard Elmer Hose Co. No. 4 assisted with the planning and coordination of this year’s parade.

Budget Crisis?

The Morning Times published an article in their November 22nd edition entitled “Daly, Thomas weigh in on budget crisis.” (Thomas is Mayor Denny Thomas. Mayor Thomas is a former councilman having served on the council for the most of the last two decades). The author, Warren Howeler, asked Mayor Thomas and I three questions, noting that we were silent during the discussions that led to the failure to advertise the budget and the tax ordinance.

The three questions were (1)Were you surprised about the outcome? (2) The borough really has two options to make up the $103,849 that still needs to be eliminated — cut the money that was going to be transferred to capital reserve or eliminate employees. What are your thoughts on these two subjects and do you support either option? and (3) Are there any additional comments you would like to make on this issue?

Here are my responses, which were printed verbatim in Warren’s article:

1) Were you surprised about the outcome?

I was very much surprised since the outcome given the fact the Admin committee unanimously agreed at the November 7^th meeting to recommend a 1 mill increase in the real estate tax and $13/quarter increase in the sewer rate. Why they changed their minds or why they turned their backs on their decision is a mystery to me.

2) The borough really has two options to make up the $103,849 that still needs to be eliminated — cut the money that was going to be transferred to capital reserve or eliminate employees. What are your thoughts on these two subjects and do you support either option?

These are the only two options as I see it and I support neither option.

I believe we have the minimum number of personnel necessary for the Borough to continue to provide the services and programs I believe they want. Some of my colleagues have suggested that we need to cut personnel, but they have not been able to answer Borough Manager Jarrett’s challenge to identify which programs and/or services they want to cut to achieve that goal.

Maintaining an ongoing capital reserve program is most sensible action we must take and should not be compromised. If it accomplishes nothing else, these funds are used to reduce or eliminate the need to borrow, thereby saving interest costs over the long term. It does provide an easy, immediate solution to avoid a tax increase, but at what cost? Eliminating capital reserve activity in the next fiscal year is irresponsible and must never be considered. It hasn’t worked before and it won’t work now.

3) Are there any additional comments you would like to make on this issue?

I am bothered by the lack of trust in our Admin staff. They, in absence of any direction from Council, filled the leadership vacuum and developed a budget they felt was necessary to continue to operate the borough and its services at the level they believed necessary. As they are the people who are in daily contact with borough operations and residents, their viewpoints and the budget they prepared have a lot of credibility with me. The Public Works Committee made some substantive cuts at the October 22^nd meeting, hopefully cuts that won’t compromise our operations and I congratulate them, but I do not believe further cuts are possible without serious impact.

I am bothered by the lack of historical perspective. This council raised taxes twice in the last ten years, with the rate rising from 8.00 mills to 9.92 in FY 2007. This is damn good record. Compared to our neighbors, I believe we are providing more services for the cost. (2007 rates for our neighbors, Athens’ rate was 13.75, South Waverly’s was 11.50, the township was 10.00; Bradford County was 10.63 mills, and let us not forget the Sayre Area School at 40.50 mills).

I am bothered by the idea that the borough should use its budget to offset the increases in the cost of living that affect us all – presumption being the borough is immune to the same pressures. The supposition that we are reducing residents’ standard of living because of a tax increase is preposterous as we are providing the services and programs that directly impact that standard of living, e.g., police and fire protection; refuse collection; the recycling program (which we hope to substantially improve in 2008, depending on the success of our grant application); the borough parks; the sewer infrastructure program that improved the worst sections of our sewer system; flood protection system; and our annual road paving program, to name a few.

I am bothered by comments made during these budget discussions and at earlier meetings. Some of those comments directly impacted the moral, and probably the trust, of our employees, the very people we depend upon.

Finally, speaking for myself, I am retired military and living on a fixed income with annual cost of living adjustments that never have kept pace with the cost of living. I do not like the idea of paying more taxes, but I will pay for services I want, and the borough is providing them. I think it is money well spent. The propose tax rate increases my taxes by $32, hardly an amount that breaks the bank.

Here, quoting from the Morning Times, is Mayor Thomas’ comments:

The final decision on the budget does lie in the hands of the members of the borough council, said Thomas.

“I know that they are looking out for the taxpayers just like I am,” said Thomas.
Thomas said he is worried that the borough will fall into the same trap that Bradford County found itself in a couple of years ago where it didn’t raise taxes over a long period of time and then was forced to raise the millage by 3.5 mills in order to balance its budget.

“I would be in favor of doing a little bit at a time, maybe a mill at the time,” he said. “We’re running a business and we can’t run at a deficit.”

Thomas said he would not support the elimination of any money being transferred next year from the general fund into capital reserve.

“We have a fire truck to pay for in 2014,” he said. “We’ve been putting money away for that.”

The new fire truck that Thomas is referring to is for the Wheelock Hose Co. in Milltown.
The borough is also putting money away for a new police car a couple of years down the road, said Thomas, noting that the municipality did benefit from a donation from Guthrie Healthcare System that paid for the department’s newest vehicle.
“I’m not in favor of going into our capital reserve,” he said.

“It is up to them (the council) if they want to continue on or not,” said Thomas. “I really don’t think that one mill is that bad and I’m going to say what I said earlier – I don’t want this to be like what happened in Bradford County a couple of years ago where it went no tax raise and no tax raise, and all of sudden we get hit with a 4 mill tax raise.”
Thomas also noted that he doesn’t believe that department heads will be able to trim their budgets back to where they are this year.

“We cut the budget one time, and then they came back and we cut it,” he said. “We all sat there and there was nothing else we really could do. A lot of this in the budget is contractual with the unions and our employees. So I don’t know what they’re looking to do this time. I imagine they could go back and get a little bit more, but I don’t think they’re going to get another mill.”

Council Meeting – November 2007

Sorry for the late posting, but I’ve been reloading the operating system and various sundry programs onto my tablet for the last week.

This month’s council meeting was held on the 19th. After the usual actions (minutes approval, authorizing paying the bills, and reviewing committee reports), the council:

• Accepted Mrs. Mary Muffley’s resignation from the Planning Commission. Interested applicants must submit a letter of interest no later than noon on December 17th.
• Approved Howard Elmer Hose Company’s reservation request for Sayre Riverfront Park on June 28-29, 2008, for their annual car show.
• Approved Ms. Bonnie Maio’s request for the same park on September 27, 2008, for the Sayre High School Class of 83 reunion.
• Approved Ms. Katelyn Howland’s senior project. She will install a scoreboard at the girls’ softball field in Riverfront Park.
• Authorized advertising a request for proposals (RFP) for a “needs” assessment for the Department of Public Works building, pending final review by the Public Works Committee.
• Authorized advertising an ordinance adding language concerning need for food vendor licenses to Chapter 117 (Parks) of the Borough’s Code. This is essentially an informational ordinance, as the matter is controlled by state law.
• Included in this motion was an update to another section of our code establishing that no permits are required for certain activities in the parks. I’ll add more info when I finally see the ordinance.
• Council also authorized a payment of $214.00 to one Mr. Ferguson who claimed the roadway/driveway construction on Stevenson Street resulted in conditions where he lost two “jacks” used on his camper.

We heard from one citizen, a resident of Sayre’s East Side who raised a number of issues relating to code enforcement and zoning with respect to his neighbor’s property. I promised to look into the matter for him, but it does look like this is a neighbor-on-neighbor dispute. He has complained to anyone who will listen to him at all levels of government. Ironically, I pointed out to him that he can talk to whoever he wants, but unless he makes us aware of it, there is nothing we can do. I did advise him that my investigation may result in a finding that doesn’t support his position.

The biggest surprise of the evening was our failure to authorize advertising of the 2008 tax ordinance and public display of the 2008 budget. The Administration Committee had recommended that council take such actions at its meeting the week before. However, when the matter was brought to the table, everyone backed down, including the three members of the Admin committee. I apparently was the only one who was ready to vote on the issue. So the matter will be discussed again at a budget workshop scheduled for this coming Wednesday.

DEP Meeting – Chesapeake Bay 2000

This a follow-up to my earlier post, Surprise!

I presented the information we received from Doctor Musto at the Administration Committee meeting held on September 19th. Needless to say, there was an immediate reaction. Somewhat emotional, somewhat hyperbolic (this was in a period before an election, after all). It was duly reported in the local newspaper, The Morning Times, and duly read by DEP in Harrisburg. (It was also noticed by the Pennsylvanian delegation to the Chesapeake Bay Commission!)

DEP sent us a letter explaining the commonwealth’s Chesapeake Strategy and offered to come to the Valley and discuss the matter with us – an invitation that I quickly extended. That meeting occurred this morning and lasted for and hour and a half. Bob Hawley and Rich Adams from the DEP Northcentral office in Williamsport represented DEP. They are Environmental Program Managers, working in the Water Management Program and the Watershed Management Program. Representatives from the Sayre Borough Council, Athens Borough Council, Athens Township Board of Supervisors, the VJSA, the Athens Township Sewer Authority, South Waverly Sewer Authority, and South Creek Township attended. Also present was State Representative Tina Picket.
It was a very good meeting. Very good questions were asked and answered. My concerns were:

• Buying credits to reduce costs? This option is similar to trading air pollution credits in the power industry. It isn’t an easy topic to describe here, so let me point to some useful resources: the EPA describes water quality trading here, and the Environmental Trading Network lists links to many publications on the topic here. DEP has a web page here. At present, DEP is working out the details and policies to govern nutrient trading. So there is some gray area here.
• Upgrading our sewer plant will result in higher sewer fees, making us unattractive to any businesses looking for work sites. The immediate focus in on the Susquehanna watershed, but in time, the water quality standards will apply to the entire commonwealth. Every facility discharging into any body of water in the commonwealth will have to meet the same discharge restrictions as those of us in the Chesapeake watershed. The deadline for them wasn’t mentioned.
• Certain entities are exempted from compliance with the new water quality standards. This is false. Everyone who discharges into the Chesapeake Bay watershed must comply with each state’s water quality standards. Some entities may have received extensions to their deadlines, but sooner or later, they must comply.
• Funding. How are we going to finance our share of the upgrade to the sewer plant, which according to initial estimates is $7.2 million? This is an issue that the commonwealth is working hard to answer. One of the points Messrs. Hawley and Adams made was that construction of a new hard facility may not be necessary as technological solutions come to bear on the problem. Their point seems to be now that this issue is receiving attention, there are entrepreneurs who have or will have innovative solutions that could reduce end user costs.
• Timing. The VJSA must have a concept and plan by 2010 for DEP review, and must implement that plan in 2013. Depending what needs to be done, DEP may extend that deadline, but I suspect it will not be for a long period of time.
• Non-point pollution sources (land, farms). These entities are not being ignored. Pennsylvania is addressing these pollution sources. For more info, go to DEP’s Nonpoint Source Program page.

So, we have a lot of work ahead of us and one more topic I have to master.

Equipment Demonstration

Sayre Borough started a major upgrade of its recycling program earlier this year as a result of an Act 101 of 1988 compliance inspection from the Department of Environmental Protection. One of the facets of this program is composting. To date, organic material was simply dumped on the Department of Public Works (DPW) lot and left there. Now and then, when time permitted, the DPW guys would turn the piles to encourage composting, but little else was done. One of the recommendations form the inspection was to get equipment to separate the compost from the rocks, pieces of wood, trees and other materials.

Today, I attended a demonstration of one such machine (photo at upper left), which is called a trommel. The material is dumped in the top of the machine where it enters a rotating screen drum.

The fine material falls through the screen onto a conveyor belt that dumps the screened material out on one end (photo at right) while all the rocks, garbage, and uncomposted materials fall out on the other end.

The screened material looks to be very good compost and should make a good product. I don’t know what we will do with the trash material (photo at lower left) that it removes. That stuff is an odd mix of organic material (pine cones, pieces of wood, etc) and garbage.

We hope to rent it for at least a month, if it isn’t too costly, and tackle all the piles of material on the DPW lot. We estimate that we will need at least one person for that time to clear the facility. For its size, it seems remarkably easy to operate – it comes with a remote control so the back hoe operator can work from the cab of the machine while controlling the trommel.

October 22, 2007 Council Meeting

Belatedly, here is a summary of actions from the October council meeting:

• We hired Mr. Corey Williams as a per-diem part time police officer at a starting rate of $10.74/hour. We use part time police officers to cover up when full time officers must report to court for trial testimony, training, or vacation.
• We approved the purchase of storm interior windows for the Sayre Historical Society museum for $9,900. This is funded through a grant that is run through the borough’s books.
• We approved pay request #11 for $6,044.16 to Chicago Construction for their work on Phase 1 of our sewer infrastructure project.
• We also approved pay request #2 for $72,998.60 to G. Devincentis for the West Street sewer project.
• And we approved pay request #2 for $13,862.57 to Vacri Construction for the North Lehigh Avenue Sewer Pump station upgrade.
• We approved an agreement with Chesapeake Energy to allow them to conduct seismic testing at the former airport property in Athens Township.
• We approved street closings and no parking along the Sayre Borough Christmas parade route and approved vending rights solely to nonprofit organizations.
• And we approved a service contract with Conquest Seismic, which is supporting the Chesapeake Energy project above.

Surprise!

The Borough Council presidents of Sayre, Athens, South Waverly, and the Athens Township board chairmen meet quarterly to discuss issues of interest to our communities. Our last meeting was in September 2007 and our guest was Doctor Musto, chairperson of the Valley Joint Sewer Authority (VJSA). By the way, Dr. Musto is a local dentist and a former member of the Sayre Borough Council, having served during the 1980s.

Dr. Musto informed us that the VJSA plant must undergo significant changes in the next five years in order to meet the requirements levied by the Chesapeake Bay 2000 agreement.

Background: In June of 2000, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,the State of Maryland, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Chesapeake Bay Commission, signed Chesapeake 2000 (available here as a PDF file), a new Agreement for restoration of the Chesapeake Bay.

The signatories pledged to achieve over 100 specific actions designed to restore the health of the Bay and its living resources. These actions, called the Chesapeake 2000 commitments, are grouped into the Agreement’s five major categories:

• Living Resource Protection and Restoration
• Vital Habitat Protection and Restoration
• Water Quality Protection and Restoration
• Sound Land Use
• Stewardship and Community Engagement

What Dr. Musto presented deals with the third item, water quality. In order to meet the requirements of this agreement, entities along the Susquehanna River must reduce their nitrogen and phosphorus discharge. The current design of the sewer plant cannot meet this requirement without major upgrades. The initial estimates for this overhaul are about $14 million, making Sayre Borough’s share at about $7.2 million. This is the best estimate at this time – the VJSA won’t put it out for bid until FY2009. Oh, they have to overhaul the plant while keeping it online to serve the Valley.

Here is more information on the Chesapeake Bay Program. It’s a worthy goal and much needed, because if the Bay is clean, our river is clean!

Chesapeake 2000 (web site)

The Chesapeake Bay Program (web site)

Chesapeake Bay Commission (web site)

Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay (web site)

Chesapeake Bay Foundation – Pennsylvania (web site)

Department of Environmental Protection – Chesapeake Bay Program

Re-elected!

My colleague, Henry Farley was the top vote-getter in the election, receiving 853 votes. Bob Dydynski, newcomer, was second with 821 votes. Bob Cerutti followed with 738 votes while I came in at fourth place with 671 votes. Dan Spears received 596 votes at fifth place and didn’t win a seat.

I’m surprised I won. I didn’t go out of my way to advertise the fact I was running for re-election. Also, I raised the issue of the Local Services Tax prior to the election. Some wags suggested that would lose the election for me, but it needed to be raised. I discussed the LST in an earlier post.

So, four more years.