This Meeting was recorded for Accuracy
Meeting was opened by Clark Baird, Mayor at 6:30 PM.
Present: Lewis McLaughlin, Solicitor Michael Smith, Keith St.Clair, Gladine McMaster, Jeffery Miller, Sue Bartow
Absent: none
Public Attendance Everett Saxton, and Mellissa Miller
Clark said re-organization meeting will consist of electing positions for 2025, completion of Ethics forms, and verifying emergency contact information sheet
Clark asked for nomination for Council President: Sue nominated Lou McLaughlin, 2nd by Gladine, all in favor motion passed.
Clark asked for Vice President nomination- Sue nominated Jeffery for the position, 2nd by Gladine all in favor motion passed.
Clark asked for Street Commissioner nominations: Sue nominated Lou for Street Commissioner , 2nd by Gladine, all in favor motion passed.
Clark asked for Asst- Street Commissioner, Sue nominated Gladine, 2nd by Jeffery, all in favor motion passed.
Clark asked for Solicitor position. Lou nominated Michael, 2nd by Sue all in favor motion passed.
Clark asked for Secretary/Treasurer position- Sue nominated Pat Betts, 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion passed.
Clark asked for Sewage Committee representatives: Clark reviewed positions, Pat said Sue's term is up for election. Sue presented Lou with a letter of interest. Gladine nominated Sue for the position for another 5 year term, 2nd by Keith, all in favor motion passed.
Bank - Sue recommend we keep S & T Bank in Blairsville, 2nd by Lou, all in favor motions passed.
Signatures on the bank account: Clark said Pat, Lou and Gladine are current authorized persons for the bank accounts. Keith motions to keep current signers, 2nd by Sue, all in favor motion passed.
Auditor: Pat said we currently have a contract for 3 years with Singer Accounting in Ligonier.
Insurance Carrier: FWF Insurance Agency Johnstown - Lou motions to keep FWF, 2nd by Keith, all in favor motion passed.
Chairman of Vacancy Board - Jeffery stated it cannot be Michael. The position calls for a electoral resident of the Borough.
Pat said it used to be Jeffery. Now we have to appoint someone. Lou nominated Keith, however Jeffery said it cannot be a council member. Pat asked Everett if he would like the position.
Gladine asked if we could appoint Myers Miller. Gladine motions to appoint Myers Miller if he accepts it, 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion passed.
Engineer: GAI Consultants, Pittsburgh PA. Sue motions to keep Keith Vasas from GAI Consultants, 2nd by Jeffery, all in favor motion passed.
EMC/EMS - Gladine motions to keep Keith on as EMC/EMS, 2nd by Jeffery. All in favor motion passed.
Tax Collector Committee Rep Backup: Sue motions to keep Kelly Coursin, Fairfield TWP Tax Collector on, 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion passed.
Motion to close Re-Organization meeting at 6:47 PM made by Lou, 2nd by Jeffery, all in favor motion passed.
Regular Meeting
Meeting opened by Jeffery Miller, Vice President, President at 7 pm.
Present:, Michael Smith, Gladine McMaster, Keith St.Clair, Sue Bartow, Jeffery Miller, Clark Baird
Absent: Lou McLaughlin, went home sick.
General Public : Everett Saxton and Mellissa Miller
Old Business:
Approval of December minutes
After review motion made by Keith, 2nd by Sue to approve December minutes with a correction on page 3 of 3- to correct customer from 653 to 53 for extending the sewage lines. All in favor motion passed.
Approval of Treasurer Report
Sue had question in the deposits from the General Fund beginning deposit balance. What is the court reported tax refund. Pat said that is from the county. It is the tax collection from them for 4th qtr.
Also page 2 of Treasurer report at payroll expenses. Don's paycheck # was 1492 and so was your paycheck number. After review Pat said Don's number was 1492 and Pats was 1493.
Sue asked about a plaque in parks that cost $1200.00 Jeffery said it was for Andy Pahach- bronze plaque.Sue also wanted to know why we purchased 72 set of lights. Mellissa said Mr. Deemer in West Bolivar make trees for the park. The lights were 75% off and she had no idea how many is needed to do all those trees. Mr. Deemer said if you get the stuff needed he will make them for Parks.
Pat said they went from $10 to $2 per box.
Jeffery needs a motion to approve the Treasurer report. Keith motion to approve, 2nd by Sue, all in favor motion passed.
Public Comment.
Everett said Lou already knows about the sink hole where the sewage goes thru the alley. Everett said it is over 4 feet deep.
Jeffery asked Everett what Lou said he was going to do. Clark mention he to call Cindy to look at it. Sue said Cindy and she were down looking at it yesterday. Kenny does the sewage work plus now the borough work. Sue said she talked to Lou today and he said he was going to talk to Kenny about possibly putting gravel in the hole until the weather breaks.
Jeffery asked if the Borough is taking responsibility for it. Sue said for now yes until we see if the Sewage Authority is responsible for it.
Jeffery asked if we knew how much it will cost us. Jeffery was not aware that we had a contract with Ken McGinnis.
Pat pulled the rates for Ken and reported to council the fees.
Clark said why don't we just fill it with gravel until the weather breaks. It is between Eckel's and Bowers in the alley. We already have cones around it.
Jeffery asked each council person what their thoughts were on this.
Motion made to put gravel in until spring made by Sue 2nd by Keith and leave cones up, all in favor motion passed.
Solicitor Report:
Michael said he is looking into the Borough Sewage Authority permit which is now expired after 50 years. Apparently we are no longer in compliance for the LSA Grant.
Michael spoke to Keith, and Pat did some research on the ordinances for the Municipal Authority. The Borough did form an sewage authority in 1974 and in 1976 joined with Fairfield TWP and West Wheatfield TWP and an Ordinance forming the Tri Community Sewage Authority. His understanding is the original apparatus of Bolivar was terra cotta pipes and now being used only for water drainage runoff.
In 1976 Bolivar Sewage Authority owned them at least until 2024 when it lapsed. Our option now is to do an Ordinance transfer the lines back to the Borough. Then the Borough would owned them.
We could also revive the authority if no more than 5 years have lapsed since it expired. Michael just wants to have a little more time to look into whether it would be better to just revive it and transfer back to the Borough or do an Ordinance. It is possible we may not have to revive it at all.
Pat's question is if the authority is revived, would we not have to re-establish positions again? This is also Michael's concern .
Jeffery said to see what happened to the Bolivar Municipal Authority. ex- to see if it had been properly closed out, and he would like to know what happens to any sewage authority after going past 50 years whether it gets revived or not. I don't think council has any interest in it. What happens to the assets. The simplest would seem to do a deed and put it back into the Borough name. We then could just send the LSA people a copy of the deed showing the Borough has taken back the deed and everyone is happy.
Michael said on top of that I am still working on the per capita issue.
Update on zero turn
Does anyone know whether it is being fixed or not. Gladine said she thought the zero turn was still up at Pristows. Pat asked when they picked it up. Gladine said she thought they already got it.
Jeffery wanted to know how confident we are that it went to Pristow's already. Gladine not sure.
No other old business
New Business:
Approval of Sunshine Notice for 2025 for meetings.
Jeffery asked if anyone has any questions about this.
Sue said we were done within 10 minutes of the re-organization. Is there anyway we can put in the notice that the regular meeting can follow right after rather than wait until 7 PM.
Jeffery said we can set the term of time also for next year.
Motion made by Sue 2nd by Gladine, all in favor motion passed.
Transfer of funds for the parks of $2500 per Ordinance
Sue motion to transfer the funds to parks, 2nd by Jeffery all in favor motion passed.
January auditing of the books to be done January 9th.
Pat said this is just to let Council know when they are being done. Pat said all taxes are paid, W-2's are complete so they are ready to go.
Transfer of fund for payroll of $20,000
Jeffery asked how much was transferred last year. Pat said at the beginning of the year it was the same amount. Pat splits the payroll twice a year.
Jeffery motions to transfer $20,000 to payroll 2nd by Sue, all in favor motion passed.
County Election Bureau Positions:
Pat received notice from the county for the upcoming elections. They show Mayor, Tax Collector and 3 council positions are up for re-election for a 4 year term. Pat also included 1 council position for a 2 year term. So, Lou, Gladine, Keith, Jeffery and Tammie will all have to go back on the ballot if they choose to do so. This means they need to get put on the May ballot for the November elections. Pat just wanted to inform those involved and remind them concerning the upcoming elections this year.
Any other business:
Sue asked Pat after the last meeting when we were doing the budget it was also brought up at the sewage meeting. as well concerning quickbooks price. She did some research on this. She spoke to several Municipalities on what they have. Sue asked me if I knew what program we have? Pat said yes Quickbooks's Premier Desktop for non profit's. Sue wanted to know how many users we have and when does it come due? Fairfield has Essentials - costs them $645 for Quickbooks and payroll around $745. So Fairfield is spending around $1200. Blairsville pays more because they have Blairsville COG. It seems it is too expensive. Jeffery asked how much. Sue said around $2100 plus $35 per month for payroll. Sue asked if we did direct deposit? Fairfield pays only additional $12 per month for direct deposit.
Pat said she uses every program in Quickbooks.
Jeffery said to give Kerry a call to see what series they are running on. Maybe we could speak about this again at next month meeting. Tri Community spends less and so does Fairfield.
Sewage Report
Sue said we talked about the line extension again, and resetting the meetings dates to every month.
Sue said Jeffery was the person to say we don't get much done with every other month. He is fine with either way though.
Street Commissioner Report:
Gladine said she has no information at this time.
Parks & Rec
Mellissa sais she just wants to make sure everyone understands. Apparently there was some discussion on who was paying for Don to go get parks some lights. He was not paid by the borough. He is laid off
and he was paid by Parks. He did not use the Borough truck. He was asked because Mellissa was not on the LAR account and Don was. The only people who are on the account to make purchases is Paul, Don, Pat.
We did not ask the Borough permission because the Borough had nothing to do with it. Don was not on Borough time, did not use the Borough truck.
If someone has a question , please don't ask Pat. Pat is the Secretary.
Clark spoke up and said the reason it was questioned because Don told him Pat asked him to go and the Borough was paying for it. That's how all that got started.
Pat said she did ask Don to go but did not say the Borough is paying for it. Pat said that you came in and asked him what was going on. In the future please call Mellissa and not Pat on matters of this because she is the Secretary. Pat did ask Don after we spoke because she knows who is on what accounts.
We have the zoo coming in June and this past month we did have a successful Christmas party.
Sue asked why did we not order the lights on line thru the LAR account. Pat said no because you have to show your driver license for proof that you are allowed to make purchases for the Borough. Mellissa had the manager standing there while she was on the phone with Pat and she explained everything again to Mellissa. The manager at Lowes was very nice and was willing to hold the lights until Don could come down to get them. She told the manager if someone wasn't there by Sunday they could go ahead and resell them.
With that Jeffery as for a motion to close the meeting.
Clark spoke up and asked if we had a Mayor's report. Jeffery said he did ask about a Mayor report, but only in his mind.
Clark said the only thing he has is someone asked him to put a notice on the bulletin board about the garbage cans laying all over the road after the trash truck comes.
Everett said the wind does this. Mellissa said they pick up trash in the morning but some people do not get them until they get home from work.
That’s all he has.
Jeffery asked about a motion to adjourn. Gladine motions and 2nd by Jeffery at 7:40 PM
Respectfully,
Patricia Betts
Secretary/Treasurer