This meeting was recorded for Accuracy

Meeting opened by Lou, McLaughlin,President at 7 PM

Attendance: Keith StClair, Ron Betts, Lou McLaughlin, Sue Bartow, Jeffery Miller, Clark Baird

Absent: Gladine McMaster

Public: Dan Short JR, Zach Burtop and Cassandra Lester, Keith Vasas from CME Engineering

Approval of Minutes from Feb 3 2022

Motion to approve made by Sue, 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion passed.

Treasurer Report. Sue asked what the refund was from municipal claims from FWF. Pat said it was because we had no workers comp claims this past year.

Sue asked what the tax collector assessment was. Pat said in December when the county tax collector committee met they revised the procedures and that was our portion we had to pay for the revisions on the tax collectors.

Motion to approve treasurer report made by Keith, 2nd by Sue. All in favor motion passed.

Solicitor report - nothing at this time.

Special Guest- Keith Vasas

Keith said he was submitting the documents for the new grant. He had to change several items such as cost and the wording pertaining to this type of grant. He updated the map also to show the priority sections, and cost estimates to come out to $1,000,000. He talked to Greg Welker from DCED and he also suggested that we do a 3% match which would be $30,000 and we will have a better chance to get, even though there is no match required. There will also be a $100 entry fee. Discussion was made between council members on the match money. Sue wanted to make sure we did not have to produce $30,000 up front when we send in for the grant. Keith said we still need you to act on the Resolution for this project. It needs to go with the grant application which is due by March 15th. Motion made to approve Resolution #1 of 2022 making application for Local Share Program Grant for $1,000,000.00 and also to match $30,000 if necessary made by Sue 2nd by Keith all in favor motion passed.

Public comment: No one had anything to say

Old Business

Update on approval for truck.

Pat said the paperwork came through and we were approved. Spoke to Chuck from Laurel Group. He said he is going over the truck and inspecting and will deliver on Monday around 9:30 AM We have the plates and registration already.

Clark asked if we are going to put Greg back on full time. Lou said April 1st unless he is needed before hand.

Update on Resolution for Local share Grant.

Pat said this is what Jeffery is working on now.

Update on Garage Door Issues.

Allstar talked to Gladine and Greg and they wanted Greg to do some adjustments on the door. When they came down they finished adjusting and charged us for the service call.

HOP permit form 1st and Lincoln Street

Pat said McCormick Taylor went into the account I set up and he processed the request and necessary documents to get the permit There is a 2 week waiting period for them to look over and request and give feedback. Hopefully we will have something back from PENNDOT with their approval.

Sue wanted to know what was going on at 1st and Lincoln Street. Pat said that is where the HOP permit request needs to be done. Sue did not know we had a 1st Street.

New Business

Westmoreland County Borough Association banquet April 29

Pat said they serve good food. Ron and she goes every year since our Borough is a part of the Association. We cannot do it this year and wanted to know if anyone else would like to attend. No one was interested.

Contracts for 2022 CDBG phase 2

Lou signed the needed couments so Pat could send back to county to release the phase 2 CDBG grant funding early.

Fire company street closure for carnival

Carnival to be held on July 14, 15, and 16th. Parade will be on July 15th. Requesting documents to apply for PENNDOT permit to close Market Street since this is SR259.

Ron motions to sign contracts and close the streets, 2nd by Lou all in favor motion passed.

Liquid Fuels funds received for the amount of $18,315.21

Pat said it was $358 less than what they said we were getting back in September.

Tar and Chip bid request for streets.

Council said to hold off - contact Rick Skovensky on this. He can lay out the streets that we are not working on and are bad. Jeffery asked if we could rent a machine (hopper) to tar and chip ourselves.

Lou asked Pat to contact Rick to see if he will come down and look.

Assign team for skidsteer replacement- Lou

Jeffery suggested to council to decide what we want, what we need, and check on costs. We really need to see who we can get to fix the bucket so the stuff loaded doesn't come right back out. Lou said he will also check with Quaker to see if they have a bucket laying around.

Keith said he would look into it.

Grant Seminar- Greensburg Monday March 14th

Letter came from House of Representatives on a grant seminar. They are asking for 2 people from each municipality to attend. Pat said she and Aaron are going. Aaron representating the parks.

Pat made council aware that we have 8 grants going on right now. 3 for parks and 5 for Borough. Sue asked about the "dirt and gravel grant" Pat said we haven't seen anything on it yet If and when it comes up again then someone would have to attend the training class again. Greg, Ron and my certification is up. They last for 3 years. Someone would need to go again before we could apply for another Dirt and Gravel Grant.

Audit completed by Singer Accountying- documents need signed.

Pat said audit is complete and each council person has results. Full audit is available for anyone who would like to see the entire documents.

Any other business?

Ron gave the Borough an envelope containing $74.16 for copies that Sue made of Greg's time sheets over the past 2 years. Lou said that if it is for Borough business then it is not needed to be paid. He told me to give it back.

Lou said we should get a load of stone. We should get about 5 tons of 2B gravel since we now have the truck. Lou said we could haul a couple truck loads.

Mayor Report.

Clark asked what ever happened to the Mayor salary. Jeffery said when Tom took office he donated back for tools. Pat said we did away with the tool fund and nothing was ever done with it again.

Also between Lincoln and Washington St on 5th Street. Lady is parking on the no parking side of the street. There are no signs there and they need to be put back up. Jeffery said if it is in the Ordinance then we need to put it back up. Jeffery checked the Ordinance and said it is not lised.

Also there are pools in town and the covers are dirty and green water. The homeowners need to maintain the green water and liners falling in. He is complaining and we need to put a sign up on this issue before this becomes an issue. The letter should be for all pool owners.

Street commissioner Report

15.5 gallons of diesel fuel was purchased for skidsteer. Greg has been working on the roads by cleaning out some of the drains when he was working. No gas for truck since we had no truck last month.

Sue wanted to know if the time clock is broke again. Is there a reason why the time sheets are hand written in. Sue asked how long the career link people work each week. Pat explained the student's hours and who the boss was.

Sue said they were only here for 4 hours last week when Allstar came for the garage door repair work. Pat said when they are here they are not allowed to do drains, not allowed to drive vehicles and not allowed to lift heavy items and need to be supervised at all times by their boss.

Sue gave some papers to Jeffery. She made copies for him. When Clark was appointed to Mayor position is that until the next election or for a 2 year term. Jeffery said there is a provision in the code for so many days before the Primary Election to determine whether it will be a 2 year or a 4 year term.

Sue said Gladine had a paper that said since Keith was voted in and Clark was appointed then he should be for a 2 year term. The minutes should then be changed to reflect a 2 year term.

Also you had an executive meeting between the re-organization and regular meeting. Lou interrupted Sue and said that this should have been discussed under old business. Sue said she was waiting. Aren't executive meetings for personnel matters and not this. Jeffery said this was for personnel and anything other than that should be held in public.

Lou said Sue wanted to know why Clark was appointed Mayor. Sue stated that you took him in and when you came out Clark was appointed the Mayor. If you were discussing personnel should that person have been in the meeting. Sue said she was glad Clark is in there and maybe he can steer us in the right direction. Jeffery said in his experience and from other councils it is not uncommon to have executive meetings and have that person in there to discuss certain things.

Back months ago before the salt bins came in, I got notification that the size was cut down. We the board decided on the size. When the salt bin was put in the size was cut down. We did not decide to do this. Lou said he made the decision since we were not spending money. She said PSAB said we could not do this. He said to call Ethics, he was tired of hearing that. Sue said she has a right to speak. She showed Lou the email that said we could not do this, we have to have a meeting to change. Sue said it doesn't matter because we voted on a certain size. Lou said then have me arrested. She was not going to have him arrested bur you can't make decision when the board voted on this stuff differently. In the minutes it was recorded we spent $4300 and not $4700 but on the treasure report check # 3152 showed $2340 we spent. You have these descrepancies in the minutes on that stuff, Lou said bring us all up on charges then.

Sue said another thing according to PSAB, I have been keeping track of this. She also has been working on Ethics things that have been bothering me. The out bursts against me at the meetings, the SOP for the worker which we were told about before and discussed at the meetings before. We had an interrogation about the truck issue. This man was interrogated 3 times about this and then decided to 2nd the vote.

That is not right. Gladine sat across the table and interrogated Ron several times and said to him"Are you going to back me up on the truck". " I did all this work for nothing." That is wrong. Back in November we bought a tarp. It was not even retroed in the minutes. We cannot just buy stuff. The meetings need to be conducted properly and we are not. Jeffery said everyone needs to have their say whether it irritates everyone. Jeffery said it isn't illegal but it is not appropriate. It is not an ethics violation. It is not helpful to yell at each other but it is not an ethic violation. Sue said there are a few items not just the tarp that was not voted upon. Jeffery said it you know there is a problem then take care of it then and not months later. Why did you not take care of it? You are not fixing it then you are saving it up and harping at it for months and months. You are nit picking at everything. It is not appropriate to hold it for 6 months and then ask for the minutes to be fixed.

We had a situation here months ago at Boones. The worker was cussing and Keith said he would bring it up. Sue said we have no SOP. I asked to see a paper one day and was told there was not one on unemployment. Sue gave an example that she wanted to do something about Ron being Street Commissioner and Gladine and Keith both said we should do something. We can re-orgainze anytime. Then we were talking about the worker one day. It was said he is a glorified grass cutter. Jeffery said it boils down to the majority of borough council doesn't see it that way.

I have another item that needed to be brought directly to Gladine and it was not in the minutes. Sometimes all stuff is not in the minutes. It was about taxes. I have every right to appeal my taxes. She didn't say my name but I know she meant me when she wanted to appeal the tax changes. I have mobile homes and not stick buildings. Jeffery asked why this is wrong for someone to voice their opinion. It is not an ethics violation. How can we say that is a problem because she would want to do this or that? Sue said she will never be friends with her again. Then she said about the money. The town is going to lose more money. Well excuse me, if you are worried about the few dollars you will lose on my appeal then why did you not take the $60,000 truck instead of the $90,000 truck.

Jeffery said it is not illegal and to say the Borough is doing something wrong. Sue said this is something I got back from PSAB and what they said. I did not do anything yet about the Ethic committee. Jeffery said if we are doing something wrong then we need to fix the problem. Sue said she doesn't know until a meeting.

Lou said he would like to say something. He is tired of dealing with stuff from 4 or 5 months ago every month coming in here. It could have been done with old business at the time it happens but he doesn't want to hear about it again and again.

Sue said Ok, is there a reason why the time clocks time is hand written and not stamped. Pat said the time sheet she is talking about is the time when the third party came to plow the streets. Sue said no, the most recent one. Lou said just remind Greg he has to stamp in and out and not have the time hand written.

Sue said Keith was at my house months ago and I showed him that I had a return from State Ethics we need to follow through. Jeffery said it is like a Salem Witch Trail every week. It needs to stop.

Parks & Rec

Held a rippy party fundraiser February 19 at Legion and made $2400. Was a success. We applied for several grants for playground equipment, basketball court fixing and electric upgrades.

Nothing else at this time.

Motion to adjourn made by Sue 2nd by Lou at 8:45 PM

Resectfully,

Patricia Betts

Secretary/Treasurer