This Meeting was recorded for Accuracy
Meeting was opened by Lou McLaughlin, President at 7 PM.
Present: Solicitor Michael Smith, Keith St.Clair. Gladine McMaster, Dan Short, JR, Sue Bartow, and Lou McLaughlin, Clark Baird- Mayor
Absent: none
Public Attendance: Heidi Speidel and Gwen Kovac
Old Business:
Approval of June minutes
Sue mentioned the Dollar Store. Page 4 of 6. The store is across from the bus turnaround and not at the turn around itself. Lou said it has nothing to do with the Borough.
Heidi Speidel wants the minutes to reflect that she was not there representing the Fire Dept but for herself only. After review of the minutes the change was not made because the minutes state Heidi was there for her home business usage. Nothing was printed about representing the Fire Dept.
Sue asked about the list of permits that John had asked for that was presented last month and wanted to know why it was not in the minutes.
Pat said she had asked for a copy during the meeting and Sue did not give to anyone but Michael. After the meeting was closed, again Pat asked for a copy and was not given one. The next day Sue put a copy in the mailbox. Since it was not presented the day of the meeting the list was not put into the minutes.
Motion was made by Dan Short and 2nd by Gladine to approve minutes, all in favor motion passed
Approval of Treasurer Report
Sue asked about the top soil that was purchased by the Borough for $34.98. Pat said the workers used it for the lower ballfield, filled in some holes and also for the upper park area where a truck tore up the ballfield up there. Sue wanted to know who authorized it. Lou spoke up and said he told the workers to get the top soil for the lower ballfield area.
Motion was made by Gladine, 2nd by Keith to approve treasurer reports, all in favor motion passed.
Solicitor Report:
Michael stated he had no solicitors report prepared.
He did state that he looked into the permit questions which was presented to him last month by Sue.
Michael's comments was "Is council able to ask for permits from FAVOR" response was "Yes council can ask - but not sure if FAVOR had to comply with the request. Under the construction code it says Local Building Code Ordinance can ask for the items. If the borough does not have an Ordinance they can ask the Dept of Labor and Industry to contact them for questionable permits to ensure they have all of them. Council can ask first and if they don't provide then we can contact Dept of Labor and Industry and get them involved.
It was asked if Michael could send FAVOR a formal letter asking them and what would happen if no response was to take place.
Keith was asked if he saw the permits. Keith commented that he did see permits on the wall but did not look closely to them. He also said they did food bank, and AA meetings which he did not know before.
He spent over an hour up at that location. I was truly impressed. His personal opinion is council needs to go up there rather than her come down here. I did not see anything that would let me believe that they were into needle exchange and stuff up there.
Pat asked to speak as a concerned private citizen and tax payer. She said that it seems we are picking on FAVOR and no one else. We do not ask for copies of occupancy permits and other licenses from any other business in town nor do we have records of any. If we are to pursue asking for the permits from FAVOR then we should be doing the same for all businesses in town. In my opinion, this is harassment toward FAVOR and they could start a lawsuit against council for this.
Gladine stated that it is not council but concerned citizens in town asking for those items.
Pat's comment was then if the concerned citizens of town wish to see those items then they just need to go up to K & K and ask to see the permits on the wall.
Sue and Gladine both commented that the concerned citizens will not go into K & K and that they will not do business with her anymore.
Gladine said her opinion doesn't count. They are telling me what my opinion should be.
Clark asked where are all those people who are complaining. Why are they not at the meeting.
Sue commented that on Wednesday June 26th she got a phone call asking if Sue had another phone number for Mellissa. There are several people sitting in front of her drug store doing it, and three children had just walked up the street. Sue said she would get hold of Jeffery. Jeffery came up. They were shooting up in front of the store. Sue came up the street and Jeffery ended up talking to them and then took them somewhere.
Clark asked what that had to do with FAVOR church. It could have been down the street in another location. Everyone thinks because FAVOR church is there that it comes from there.
Sue said now they are handing out fentanyl strips so they can test the fentanyl before taking it to make sure there is nothing else in the drug.
Gladine mentioned that Jeffery has had people for years hanging out in the stairwells of the old fire hall doing drugs and he has had to chase them off. When he catches them he sends them on their merry way.
Lou said he will stop by to see the items in question. Michael in the mean time can send a nice letter to her requesting information.
Public Comment
Gwen asked to have a permit to close certain streets and ally's for the Watermelon Crawl event coming up. Pat said the permit was given to John last month when he attended the meeting. Gwen said she doesn't speak to him and did not know.
Heidi Speidel again asked about the Ordinance for business in town. Pat said we have not even considered doing an ordinance, and if we did then it would have to be posted in the newspaper for 30 days prior to approval.
Heidi also wanted the council to open up the one way street from Market to Washington at 6th Street and also the one way from Market to Washington at 3rd street and make them both two way.
Council informed her that it could not be done because both streets are narrower than the rest of the streets. We would have to have no parking on both sides of the streets and it would not be fair for the residents who live on those streets.
Lou said Heidi was posting on social media that council was laughing about people running stop signs. He takes offense to this remark. There is no one on council laughing, so don't bawl council in social media. That's what Kim did when she first came down here. She said Bolivar was a NO Law Town. This stuff upsets me.
Heidi said on a positive note, that she wanted to thank the band last month for continuing to play during that rain storm.
Old Business:
Update on clean up days.
Pat said we brought in $215.00 and also collected $115.60 for scrap metal. The dumpster was $500 so we still did not make any money.
Any other old business to discuss.
Pat said she received an update from Keith Vasas on the LSA Grant application. It seems this fall it will be put on the agenda for approval or denial. He also suggested that council contact our State Representative and ask for their written support to help get us the grant for the roads.
Sue said maybe we could have Leslie Rossi as a guest speaker. Possibly in August. Sue to contact her.
Keith also said he has heard nothing about the CDBG from Sept 2023.
New Business:
Resolution # 2024-2 - destruction of records
Pat presented council with a resolution to destroy records from 2016 since it has been 7 years.
A list of items that were destroyed per law were:
Bank statements after 7 year - destroyed 2016
payroll records 4 year requirement -destroyed 2016
right to know requests after 2 year requirement - destroyed 2021
quarterly tax filings & w-2's 4 year requirement - destroyed 2016
cancelled checks 7 year requirement - destroyed 2016
liquid fuels bills and regular bills 7 year requirement - destroyed 2016.
All council members need to sign off on Resolution.
Street closure for Brickfest:
Pat asked for the following streets and alley's to be closed.
2nd St to 5th street on Lincoln
3rd & McKinley to 5th & McKinley
3rd street between McKinley & Lincoln and alley between McKinley & Lincoln
5th St between Lincoln & McKinley
Block off 3rd 4th& 5th St at Lincoln St and 3rd & 4th Street at McKinley St
Road to close on Friday August 9th at 9 PM until August 10th ad 10 PM for Brickfest.
Sue motion to close the streets, 2nd by Lou , all in favor motion passed.
Pole saw for workers (Keith)
Keith asked if the Borough would purchase a pole saw for the workers with different attachments. Discussion on this was to get pricing from Pristows, Debnars, and Andrews for the next meeting.
Any other business to discuss.
Lou mentions about the shrubs at the lower park. The workers requested to have them taken out because of the hornets that like to build nest in the shrubs. Don is highly allergic to bee stings and need to carry an Epi -pen at all times. Paul also has been getting stung. The other reason is because it is difficult to try to mow around each shrub and trim.
Dan made motion to cut down and take out 2nd by Sue, all in favor motion passed.
Sue is requesting the Borough to send a Letter to Janet Hall pertaining to her garage that fell in since it is a hazard and can harbor animal and bug infestation. She read a letter that was sent by Council to Kathleen McClellan several years ago when she had a fire at her property and it was a health and safety hazard.
Council asked Pat to send a similar letter to Janet as well giving her 10 days according to the 2005-4 Ordinance before council will step in and take over the cleanup and place a lien against the property.
Sue mentioned also hedges at 8th & Lincoln, the Deyarmin house needs cut back. Obstructing traffic.
Mayor report:
Clark received a complaint on burning on a Sunday. He spoke to the resident concerning this and they complied and put out the fire. He again told them about burning on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. He also told the residents that a council meeting was this Thursday and if they had any concerns they could come to the meeting and voice their concerns.
Old stumble inn property was sold and the grass and weeds are being taken care of.
Clark talked to the neighbor beside the FAVOR (Old Methodist Church) about the privacy fence they put up. The owner stated they had a problem with vehicles from FAVOR parking on her property and also said she put it up for (Precautionary) reasons in case someone might drop things out of their pockets and her kids might pick it up. Also said people were doing drugs in front of drug store.
Street Commissioner Report:
Put 64 Hours on Kubota
Truck has 2510 miles
got 40 of diesel fuel on 6-19
used 11 gallons regular gas on 6-19 and again 4.6 gallons on 6-22
Sewage Report
Sue said last night. Still holding head above water.
Parks & Rec
Pat said we have an upcoming concert on July 21 and also Brickfest August 10th. Would like to have council support for both.
Nothing else to report. Dan motioned to adjourn at 7:49 PM 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion passed.
Respectfully,
Patricia Betts
Secretary/Treasurer