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Sept 5

Regular 

Meeting 

​​​​​​​Minutes

This Meeting was recorded for Accuracy

Meeting was opened by Clark Baird President at 7 PM


Present: Clark Baird, Ron Betts, Sue Bartow, Calin Gropp, Solicitor Jeff Miller, Lou McLaughlin


Absent: Mayor Tom Pickup


Public Attendance – Alex Ashcroft - Ligonier Echo, Dan Short, JR, Pam & Joe StClair, Kyle Fritz - EADS Group, Melissa Miller, Keith Vasas - CME Engineer Group, Keith Gindlesperger - H L Lenz Group, Tyler Pickup, Everett Saxton, Monica Pickup.


Approval Aug regular meeting minutes. Motion to approve made by Ron, 2nd by Lou. All in favor, motion carried.


Approval of Treasurer Report. Sue asked what is a tax certification?  Pat explained this item to Sue. Sue also asked what the EFW was from Deluxe. Pat explained that was the cost for payroll checks to be made. Motion to approve treasurer report made by Lou, 2nd by Clark, all in favor, motion carried.


Solicitors Report. None at this time.


Special Guest - Dave Ling - for Code Enforcement Officer not here again. Lou to check again with him... StClair has him, and New Florence is also trying to get him.


Special Guest- Tyler Pickup - spoke concerning earning his Eagle Badge for Scouts. Presented a list of items he would like to work on to earn his badge. Items were fix metal picnic table, repair pavilion, purchase real garbage cans, make a well-defined play area, repair play structure, get a better plaque (Diane Pickup), make a path leading to track/park, get rid of graffiti, repair t-ball benches, clean up overgrowth. Clark asked Jeffery if there would be any legal problems with this. Jeffery said have him supervised with Parks & Rec. Plan on starting it this month and would like to have completed by middle of October.


Clark asked if both other speakers would mind if they would step out so there would be no conflict of interest. Jeffery said that was not necessary.


Special Guest Speaker: Kyle Fritz from EADS Group. Approx 2 miles of pipe measuring 12 to 30 inches. Outflow at creek. $150 per foot. Looking at 1.5 Million for storm water system. Approx Service fee of $60,000 to design the entire system, which is 3.6% of construction cost. If they do all percentages would be higher. Looking to breakup into chunks $85,000. Penn Vest and Local Funding is entirely different. Lou commented we would be breaking up into chunks.  Not all projects have the same utility costs. $85,000 initial agreement. They would design project. They would have inspectors on site during construction of each section being done.
We would also send out public notices to everyone with our number, so the Borough would not be burdened with phone calls. We do interim financing, would be a line of credit. That would cover our upfront fees. Design services are going to have to be set aside and done in increments. That is the only way we can afford the project according to Jeffery. Approx $8,000 per month for a loan. We definitely cannot afford that.


Special Guest Speaker - Keith Gindlesperger - H L Lenz Engineer firm. Base expense will be $15,640 to design the storm water system. Propose a conception phase that is why our costs is much lower. Narrative, planning, and cost involved. We discuss the budget, understanding the sources of grants and what we can possibly get for you.


Special Guest Speaker - Keith Vasas- CME Engineering.

Wants to use their drone to get areas that normally don't show on a regular aerial map (eg. water flow) areas. He to use USDA Commonwealth Financing fund, Penn Vest, CDBG, and other grants. We get the concept, cost and paying for first, then start the project. Estimated cost for their fees are $63,700. We can also tie into the areas you have already completed into the new system and then add from there. Penn Vest has a simulator you can plug into to see where you fall into the cost involved based on your situations. Application funding system, usually covers 50% of costs and you can have more than one grant to fund the project. Put main line runs first down to the river to help with the flow of water. Some grants will cover 80 % to 100 % of the project. Take each street and look at where new drains and inlets are needed, if flooding is involved and how to take care of the problem. Flooding is good because the grants are more likely when flooding is involved.

Public Comment. Joe StClair. Camered the pipe at his location. Roots throughout pipes and crushed lines. Line plugged on both ends. Camera cost was $185.00 = they would like Borough reimbursement for the cost. They suggested to plug the line toward Pam's and direct water to other 2 lines which are higher in the storm drain. Clark asked if Borough approved for them to have it camered. Sue claims we had in prior meeting we would pay for camera if it was our problem. Pat said we only made mention to use dye to see where water is going to, nothing was said about Borough paying for a camera. Pam would like to finish her house and cannot do so at this time because of the pipe blockage. Lou said he could not believe they did not eel the drain. Lou would like to have it eeled first before considering sealing up the drain.  Randy Smillee has an eel that can be run through. Lou to check and get it eeled first. After it gets eeled we can then determine if it is rain water or not. Calin and Lou have both worked with Randy. Lou to see if interested in doing it.


Boone nothing.


Everett nothing, then changed his mind and decided to complain about the boat ramp concrete. Pat sent the question to Conservation District and received an answer. Mr. Crounour said he instructed the contractor to not smooth the ramp out. He said it looks more natural.


Update on garage grant transfer to a replacement truck. Pat received

e-mail back from Keith Lehman who said Harrisburg said no. We cannot change the scope of the funding. So we lost the grant for the garage.

Comcast Renewal update. Jeffery said nothing back yet.


Update on Dirt and Gravel Grant. Pat said she has not heard anything on the funds yet.


Update on the CDBG road grant. Pat said she spoke to Clark on this grant. Clark suggested to go ahead and submit for a 2020 grant. Council agreed to contact McCormick Taylor to ask to submit for the 2020 CDBG grant as well. Grant is due Sept 30.


Update on Dirt and Gravel Grant. Pat said she found out we needed a traffic study done before the funds could be released. Ron completed the traffic count for a 2 hour and 24 hour time frame and submitted to Conservation district.


Update on Boat Ramp project. Grand opening is planned for October 4 at 11 AM. They to have Mike Reese, Conservation District, Pittsburgh Foundation, and Western Pennsylvania Conservancy there as well as someone from the Borough. The sign for the Boat Ramp is being made up and they would like the Council input before submitting to be made.
Update on ATM Machine. Somerset Bank finally ordered our machine and materials and they apologized for not having it started yet but assured us we will like it once it gets started.
Update on 2nd and McKinley Street issue. Project has been approved through Liquid Fuels to use the funds. Rick stated that since Bill Hughes is on contract with us then we now must purchase the supplies and pay for them. Any supplies not used for project must be left with borough to use for future projects. Bill can order supplies but Borough Must pay for them.


New Business:


Received reimbursement for $283.81 for the Hollick property lien for 2016. 2017 and 2018 and 2019 was never recorded with county. We lost $333.81 because of this. Jeffery could not explain why 2017 and 2018 were not liened.

Pat said she only has one other property that needs to be recorded.

Upcoming work session for 2020 Budget. Pat to check with Clark on several sessions for October on Saturdays.


Wages for temporary employee. Sue called executive at 8:25 for personnel.
8:30 Council returned. Michael will be coming back under Career Link. So we will not need to discuss wages at this time.

Sewage report: nothing at this time.


Mayor report: Nothing to report.


Street Commissioner Report:
Ron said we need to replace stop signs. We need 10 at $11.25 each for reflective stickers. The signs themselves are $49.98 a piece. With shipping cost is $142.50 Lou motion to pay and order for stop signs and Calin 2nds. All approved motion carried. Also ordered four - do not enter signs at a cost of $102.00
Greg would like to remove every other shrub at Lower Park so he can use the riding mower. Currently he has to use the push mower and takes longer to do. Everett mentioned there are several shrubs that are already gone. Everyone seems to think they were put in as a barrier to prevent cars from driving through the area. Sue said we have until spring to decide to do this.
Zero turn 15.7 hours put on used 34.2 gallons gas. Truck nothing was put in on it.


Parks & Rec. Movie was scheduled for this Sat Sept 7, but was cancelled due to other conflicting events. Pat also said we received our Ligonier Endowment grant in the amount of $5100.00 to be used for upcoming events and projects that have been scheduled to take place.

Sue said we need to retro - active the approval of 2 tires for the zero- turn for a cost of $144.50 Lou motion and Calin 2nd, all approved motion carried.


If no other borough business we need a motion to adjourn. Lou motioned and Calin 2nd. All in favor motion carried at 8:45 PM.


Respectfully,

​​​​​​​
Patricia Betts
Secretary/Treasurer