December 2007 Council Meeting.

The night’s activities began with a required public hearing for our 2008 Community Development Block Grant application. I didn’t take any notes on it as I usually wait for the formal document. There was discussion of how we could apply the CDBG program to our sewer infrastructure projects.

This was the last meeting for this council. We said good bye to two long serving members, Mrs. Barbara Ault and Mr. John Stetz. I met Barbara shortly after my sister was hired by the Borough in early 1996. Over time, she started suggesting that I should run for a seat on Council, something not even remotely on my horizon. However, she, and several others (probably at her instigation) began working me over to convince me this was a good move. What can I say other than here I am.

Mr. Stetz served in some capacity as a councilman since the earl 1960’s, when he served on Council with his father. He had some interruptions of service, but one can say he has been around for quite a while. He served as our Mayor for two years after the untimely passing of Mayor Repasky.

I wish them both well.

We have a busy agenda. After the usual housekeeping actions (minutes, financial reports, and bills), we again heard from Mr. Carnrike, 310 E. Lockhart St under our “Citizens to be Heard” time.

We first heard from him at the November meeting (which I didn’t report on at the time – there were too many unanswered questions). His issue is his neighbor and a retaining wall in front of his property. He provided photos to Council at that meeting and again at this meeting (which appear to be the same photos). He was angry that he had been working on these issues “for over a year and no one is helping.” An odd statement because, other than the Sayre Borough Police Department, no one heard of Mr. Carnrike before his appearance in November. He’s been busy calling everyone he can think off: Representative Pickett, Senator Madigan, Congressman Carney, the commonwealth’s CDBG coordinator (who asks the ongoing question: why is he calling me?), DEP, the County Commissioners, and so on. Funny thing is, when we talk to each other, we find that he is telling each audience a different story and putting words in our mouths that we never said or promised. Sigh…. The retaining is problematic. We don’t know who owns it. It is part of the bridge structure, but not the current bridge. Mr. Carnrike was informed that until we establish the ownership of the wall, the Borough cannot do anything. Our attorney is looking through County records for the transfer documents that detail the change of ownership from PENNDOT to the County. Until then, we wait and Mr. C. stews…. For a view of the retaining wall, see this picture, this one, and this one

As for the rest of the meeting:

• The 2008 budget was adopted 4-3. I was among the dissenters. This is a very bad, foolish budget with no basis in reality.
  
• The tax ordinance was adopted 4-3, raising our property tax rate from 9.92 to 10.12 mills. Again I was among the dissenters.
  
• Adopted 5-2. an ordinance amending Chapter 117, Parks, defining proof of liability insurance requirements or food vendors.
  
• Adopted 5-2, an ordinance raising the sewer rental fee for 2008 from $71 to $84 a quarter for residential properties. The ordinance also raised the rates for residents who need a grinder pump from $44 to $56, and metered rates (commercial) from $4.05/cubic hundred feet ($5.40/thousand gallons of water) to $4.80 and $6.398, respectively. This ordinance goes into effect on 1/1/08.
  
• Authorized, 7-0, advertisement of an amendment to Chapter 163, Snow Emergencies, redefining when a snow emergency goes into effect and how long it remains in effect. In this amendment, we tie the start of the snow emergency to the National Weather Service declaration of a Winter Storm or Heavy Snow Warning.
  
• By a vote of 7-0, authorized Attorney Foster to file a protest of the recently announced Aqua Pennsylvania water rate increase proposal with the Public Utilities Commission – a council ritual.
• Approved 7-0, a lease agreement with Williams Scotsman Inc., for a temporary office trailer for use as the Public Works office. This action results from serious structural and health (mold) issues in the existing poor excuse for a building.
  
• Authorized 7-0, the council present (me) to sign checks through 12/31/07, the interregnum between this council and the next one.
  
• Accepted 7-0, Mr. Robert Dydynski’s resignation from the Athens/Sayre Joint Code Agency, where he served as Sayre’s resident representative-at-large. Mr. Dydynski will join the next Council.
  
• Approved 7-0, the appointment of Mr. James Cook to replace Mr. Dydynski on the Code Agency.
  
• Approved 7-0, our annual animal sheltering contract with the Bradford County Humane Society for $1,453.25 for 2008.
  
• Authorized 7-0, moving $24,859.57 from the CDBG Economic Development line item and $22,000 from the CDBG Slum & Blight line item to the North East Street Sewer Pump Station Project.
  
• Approved 7-0, the reappointment of Mayor Denny Thomas to the Health Care Facilities Board.
  
• And finally, after a very long executive session, approved the application of Mr. Jon Foster to continue as our solicitor in 2008.

This meeting was my last one as the council president. It was an interesting experience. Maybe I’ll post my observations and experiences, still deciding on that one.

I don’t know who the next president will be; the only viable candidates are myself and my colleague Henry Farley, who coyly suggests he is not interested. Stay tuned for my report of our Reorganization meeting, scheduled for January 7th, 2008.

Our Recycling Grant Application was Approved!

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) conducted an Act 101 of 1988 compliance inspection during October 2006. Although we are still waiting for a  copy of the inspection report, the inspector left us with enough notes for us to apply for a  grant. The borough manager prepared the application and off it went in February 2007.

This past Monday (December 24th), we received notice of an excellent Christmas present: the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania awarded the Borough of Sayre a $499,590 grant from the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The grant will be used to enhance and
improve the municipality’s curbside recycling program, leaf waste collection and
composting program, and drop-off recycling site.

The entire proposal is estimated at $625,000, with this grant covering 90 percent of
these costs; we will be responsible for the remaining 10% local match ($125,410).

Our grant will allow us to:

• purchase 7,500 new recycling containers and 7,500 yard waste containers that will be stamped with the borough’s name on them and distributed to residents at no cost – we will track who get how many and if they are recycling, and will impose a penalty on residents who accept new containers and then do not use them or take them.
• purchase a brush chipper, which will greatly increase the efficiency of the borough’s brush collection program. We currently rent one.
• purchase a compartmentalized recycling truck to replace the borough’s 1991 truck. The current vehicle has had maintenance issues – the stop and go nature of the collection process is rough on vehicles and this one has served us well for a long time.
• purchase a hydraulic compactor for cardboard and a hydraulic compactor for plastics (and maybe other material, depending on what kind of machine we get). The inspector pointed out to us that when we haul our recycling to the Northern Tier Solid Waste Authority site at Burlingon, we are hauling mostly air. Compacting this material will improve local storage, make transportation more efficient, and reduce the number of trips we have to make to Burlington.
• purchase a skid-steer to help us manage the compacted plastics and our composting program.
• construct a 2,000 square foot storage facility for containers and equipment.
• make improvements to the existing yard waste drop-off facility, which is located behind the DPW building on South Thomas Avenue. Improvements include new fencing for screening and security, new lighting for late evening operations, and a new driving surface that will make it easier for the borough to clean up broken glass and control run-off.
• purchase an International truck chassis to accommodate a 13 cubic yard compactor and a Mack truck chassis to accommodate a 25 cubic yard compactor, which were mentioned above.
• finally, purchase new leaf vacuum and two boxes, which would replace equipment that is nearly 20 years old and doesn’t work very well.

The 2008 Budget, Part I.

The annual ritual of budget preparation was worse than any of the several I have participated in. Commonsense was not present at the table. Indeed, the budget was viewed as a tool to offset the economic pressures we all face at home.

Brief history: the staff begin work on the budget as early a June, if not earlier. Throughout the year, the Borough Secretary collects and files budget related correspondence in the Budget file for use during the drafting process. Usually, they have some idea as to the will (or whim) of Council by August. Not this time. So, filling the leadership gap, they prepared the first draft.

This first draft required a two (2) mill increase. Personnel costs (payroll and benefits) drive some of the increase. Rising costs of utilities, fuel materials, and insurance also contribute to the tax increase. Mostly, it was a budget to continue borough operations at the level being currently performed.

I agree with the staff, there is no fat or luxuries in 2008 Budget Version 1. Yet my colleagues reacted in horror – OK, that is hyperbole, but the reaction was far off. Apparently the Borough became destitute sometime during the year and I missed it. Shame on me.

One of my colleagues believes that further cuts can be made. Another one wants to use money in another fund to balance this budget without the tax hike. The councilman who made the latter suggestion always makes this suggestion even though he is constantly reminded that this is a very bad practice that guarantees Auditor attention. The one who made the former comment, well, what can I say. I watched him open his package and and quickly review the budget for the first time – a couple of minutes of reading and he is an expert.

The most oft-repeated comment was that the people of Sayre cannot afford a tax increase. No basis in fact, just a firm footing in emotional innuendo.

The same councilman who wanted further cuts also is very concerned about our debt load, which is now nearly $9,000,000 after this year’s much needed sewer infrastructure project. Emphasis on our debt is foremost now due to the knowledge that the sewer plant must be upgraded to meet new discharge limits for nitrogen and phosphorus (see my November post, Surprise! ). As we are responsible for about 52% of the costs of the sewer plant, concerns about debt are now paramount.

So he proposes an increase in our quarterly sewer fee, which after some discussion, was established at $13/quarter. The same man who complained loudly about a 2 mill tax increase recommended and barely complained about this increase – go figure! Of course, it probably has nothing to do with his ownership of several properties in the borough; a tax increase comes out of his rental income, while a sewer increase is probably passed on to the tenant(s), as seems to be the case in the Borough among other landlords.

So, the budget was returned to the staff with instructions to cut – no guidance, no specifics. Just instructions.

Blogging Tools of the Trade

I am new to blogging, and I’ve been researching all the tools, gimmicks, etc available to bloggers. I haven’t bought a domain space to host a blog and I haven’t purchased any blogging software (yet). However, I have been using a new product from Microsoft that came to my attention when I signed up for Windows Live services.

The product is Windows Live Writer. It’s a free product and it works very, very well. I have had absolutely no issues with it and my WordPress blogs. I haven’t tried it on other blogging services, but I expect it will work on most of them.

I pointed it at each of my blogs and it downloaded the styles and formats for each one, so you have a WYSIWYG tool. You can insert links, pictures, tables, maps, tags and videos. Additionally, you are able to manage your blog through this product.

Finally, the developers have a lot of info about it at their blog, Writer Zone. Highly Recommended.

2008 Budget Adopted – 0.2 Mill Increase, but not without some damage.

It’s over! It’s unsatisfactory, but the 2008 budget was approved by Council in a 4-3 vote. I voted against it. One of my colleagues said at the meeting that this budget was a gamble. Amen to that.

More on the topic later.

Personnel Management – the wrong way.

As you probably determined from an earlier post, budget discussions in the borough were contentious. The biggest issue however, are some of the comments against our employees  that were made during  discussions at all the meetings we had on the subject.

The most recent comment arose from a proposal for council and the mayor to forego their monthly compensation ($75/month for council, $100/month each for the Mayor and the Council President). One councilperson was so incensed by this proposal that she demanded that the employees contribute to the “cause”. That was fine as far as it went, but she didn’t stop there. She made an unfortunate reference to an employee (or employees) as “freeloaders” in front of at least two employees. I commend the member for quickly apologizing to one of those employees, but the damage was done. Before the week was out, all the employees were aware of the comment.

She usually engages her mouth before the brain. She speaks her mind, but sometimes self-editing is needed. Earlier this year, she questioned certain repairs to a police car. At the time, the Borough was discussing the purchase of a new police car, and she all but accused our police officers of deliberately sabotaging the in-service vehicle to facilitate the purchase of the new car. Thankfully, she did not attach any names to this irresponsible statement otherwise I would be writing about our experience with the grievance process. I discussed the matter with a couple of the officers. They noticed. They remember. The Police Union Contact expires in 2008 and I suspect that negotiations were be harder than usual.

All in all, when I think about it, the Borough doesn’t need at least seven people. I formed an opinion that the Council exists to screw things up. Sad, but true. Hopefully, 2008 and the addition of two new faces will see improvements.

Sorry for the absence.

Ran into unexpected computer issues with my laptop, my main blogging machine. It’s a Gateway CX2724 Tablet PC. Lately, it has been sluggish and shortly after my last post, it started acting “funny.” The pen function was practically useless and the compute would wander off to never-never land. Usually the only solution is to reformat and reinstall the operating system and programs. That has been done and it is running much better and faster.

It’s a problem with Windows machines. Something gums up the works – a poorly designed or written program; an uninstalled program that didn’t fully uninstall; or something nasty, e.g., virus, worm, trojan, etc. I’m fairly certain I had none of those, but one never knows. So here I am back in business.