Minutes-Milford Borough Council Meeting 3/4/19

REGULAR BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING
MARCH
MARCH 4, 2019 MINUTES

ROLL CALL – President Frank Tarquinio called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM
PRESENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS NANCY SCHOENLEBER, PRES. FRANK TARQUINIO, VP MEAGEN KAMEEN, ANNETTE HAAR, ADRIANE WENDELL, TREASURER GREG MYER, SOLICITOR ANTHONY MAGNOTTA, AND SECRETARY PAMELA AHLSTRAND. COUNCIL MEMBERS ROB CIERVO AND KATRINA FOSTER, AND MAYOR SEAN STRUB WERE NOT PRESENT.

ADOPTION OF AGENDA/MINUTES- By motion of Kameen/Wendell, the agenda for the March 4, 2019 regular meeting was adopted;
By motion of Wendell/Kameen, the Minutes from the February 4, 2019 regular Council meeting and the February 13, 2019 Special Council meeting were unanimously adopted. The adoption of the minutes of the Special Council meeting held on February 27, 2019 was carried to allow Council members time to review the minutes. (Question from the public- Peter Cooney- about the scheduling of the special meeting; Secretary Ahlstrand explained the notice requirement, etc. Said it was also posted on the website and the door of the Boro Hall. Had to be held prior to the deadline for a grant application.

PUBLIC HEARING:
1. ADOPTION OF CODE- GENERAL CODE Council President Tarquinio explained the re-codification of the Borough Code, Zoning Ordinances, and SALDO were complete, ready to be adopted. Solicitor Magnotta opened the hearing, noted that it was properly advertised in the Pocono Record, as well as in the Pike County Dispatch, with a copy of the Code having been made available to the public at the Borough Office, on the website, and at the Dispatch. Kameen asked about the changes being presented, had the public (and Council) had enough time to review. Wendell said that a copy of the proposed changes were made available to the public on the website, and had been discussed numerous times at public meetings for the last year. No other comments/questions. BY MOTION OF WENDELL/HAAR, THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS CLOSED. BY MOTION OF WENDELL/HAAR, THE PROPOSED CODE PREPARED BY GENERAL CODE WAS UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED BY THE COUNCIL. SECRETARY AHLSTRAND WILL HAVE ORDINANCE SIGNED, AND WILL ADVERTISE AS NECESSARY.

SPECIAL EVENTS:
DVYSL – Opening Day (Ballfield) April 13, 2019 – Annette Haar explained had a meeting with the league president; discussed run-off, removal of black top to alleviate; discussed parking (which was changed to only one side of 3rd St), drying agent (needs more info). BY MOTION OF HAAR/SCHOENLEBER, COUNCIL VOTED TO APPROVE OPENING DAY CEREMONY AS A SPECIAL EVENT. PERMIT SIGNED.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Law & Zoning: Wendell – Nothing additional
Finance & Budget: (Kameen) – No report
Parks & Recreation (Haar) – Proposed vacating a portion of E Ann St. and annexing to Barckley Park; Has a letter from Adrianne Wesol, Executrix, adjacent property owner, stating she has no objection and does not object to abandoning the gravel pathway. Also spoke to Lynne Ann Walsh, adjacent property owner, who does not object to the vacating of the unopened portion of E Ann St. (She was to attend, but had something come up). Kiley & Associates, Borough Engineers, are preparing a survey and metes & bounds description. BY MOTION OF HAAR/SCHOENLEBER, COUNCIL VOTED UNANIMOUSLY TO ADVERTISE FOR AND HOLD A HEARING AT THE APRIL 1, 2019 MEETING TO VACATE THE UNOPENED PORTION OF E ANN ST., AND ANNEX IT TO THE PROPERTY OWNED BY MILFORD BOROUGH KNOWN AS “BARCKLEY PARK”.
Additional report from Parks & Recreation – Josef Fiegelson (Kindred Spirits) would like to propose a band shell in Ann St Park; meeting with him further, and with Mike Zimmerman (Recreation Committee). PCP&L met on site at Barckley Park about pole- will replace, run wires higher (or underground) so that view of the river would not be impeded.
Borough Property (Ciervo): No report, Ciervo not present
Streets & Light (Ciervo): No report, Ciervo not present
Tech: (Wendell): No report
Insurance: (Kameen): No report.
Communications: (Foster): Doing a press release, created post card to be delivered door to door for people to sign up for email. Question from Kameen about “robo calling”.

MAYOR’S REPORT: Mayor Strub was not present. Chief McCormack gave violations report (attached). Total mileage 2087.
Chief asked about 911 signs- difficult to find properties at night, in the dark. Should be uniform, reflective. Asked if Council could do research. Councilperson Haar said they will try to come up with a proposal for the next meeting.
Evidence locker is in; received $2000 grant for equipment from Walmart;All officers updated in CPR & AD; Discussed MACH program- can run criminal history along with license plate info. Free trial, will find out cost going forward; FTO trained; Looking to host basketball tournament (with DVSD) as community outreach; starting shadow program; 2 more cameras being installed at Borough building (already have cameras, just need to pay labor); bike helmet program- proposing issuing “mock tickets” to kids not wearing helmets- act as a warning. Will provide helmets if they don’t have one. If caught again without a helmet, get $50 “ticket”- payable by community service. Haar asked about skatepark- Chief said should wear, but no law. Kameen asked where helmets come from- Chief said program that donates them. No cost.
Updating alarm registry for residents. Sending letters out. Ahlstrand said Borough has a form that residents are supposed to complete, but usually don’t.
Doing car seat training; Officers will be doing car seat checks, going to daycares, etc. to conduct training. Question from Pete Cooney (Public) about calls from Milford Twp. – Chief does not have numbers, but only once in a while, and only as a backup for State Police if they can’t get there.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer Greg Myer – Received Liquid Fuels disbursement- $43,072. Will add to existing for paving project, etc.
Borough is $1000 over budget at present time. Tax collector – $23K collected so far (ahead of last year). Meeting at Myer’s office on March 27th 1:00 pm with Matamoras regarding purchase of new garbage truck (possibly next year); applying for LSA grant in September.
BY MOTION OF KAMEEN/SCHOENLEBER, TREASURER’S REPORT WAS APPROVED BY COUNCIL AS SUBMITTED.

NEW BUSINESS:
Certificates of Appropriateness – ARB:
Pike County Commissioners – Generator Enclosure (Courthouse 2018-9)
Pike County Commissioners – Sally Port (2019-2)
305 Broad – Jorgensen, et al (2019-3)
219 Broad – Artisan Exchange – cameras – (2019-4)
BY MOTION OF HAAR/WENDELL, COUNCIL APPROVED RECOMMENDATIONS OF ARB IN ISSUING CERTIFICATES OF APPROPRIATENESS FOR ALL APPLICATIONS.

OLD BUSINESS:
-Ambulance service update: President Tarquinio said meeting with Commonwealth (new owners); they said not providing free ambulance service. 7 municipalities still trying to come up with a solution. Could charge a tax starting next year. Looking at having crew at the fire station for 12 hr shift not manned by volunteers; at present, no ALS in Pike County. Question from Jon Kameen- why is County not doing anything? Tarquinio said the County feels that safety issues are the responsibility of each individual municipality.
-Central Sewage update – Meeting next week on sewer; will survey 15 properties in the Borough; study by LHR Engineering. Will have open meetings to explain process. Michael A (Public, resident, Water Authority) said that if more than half the systems failed, could mandate hookup of all residents to central sewer. Tarquinio said study is just to determine feasibility from an engineering standpoint. No costs, etc.
(Resident from 6th St asked about having a plan in place to periodically fill in holes with gravel to prevent runoff until roads are regraded)
-Final Cost of Building move – (See attached) – Tarquinio compiled a list of ALL capital expenses so far this year (Note- some were in the budget). For building move, he came up with $20,747 total. $4800 of that coming from Police donations, per Mayor. Found out during last power outage that there is a generator, but it does not operate the entire building. Getting estimate from CRL Electric to install new transfer switch.
Tarquinio said that with new codification, will have to purchase street signs to indicate “no thru streets” and one way streets. Should be able to get LSA grant.
Need to decide what to do with upstairs of Borough Hall, as well as old Borough office building. Kameen suggested they get someone to give a quote.
Tarquinio invited public to come to see new Borough Office. Open house on Friday and Saturday from 1-3 pm. Question from Bill Kiger (Historic Trust) about cost of sign- Tarquinio said that Historic Trust agreed to pay $3000, Boro to pay the balance ($1500).

PUBLIC COMMENT:
– Valerie Meyer – Request for Puzzle ribbons for Autism Acceptance Month – Ahlstrand noted that Safe Haven brought in a letter today requesting to put teal colored ribbons up on street lights; said they did it last year. I explained they did not, that Autism puts up ribbons in April, Safe Haven does purple ribbons in October. By motion of Wendell/Haar. Autism ribbons approved; Safe Haven denied.

ADJOURN: By motion of Haar/Wendell , meeting adjourned at 7:34 PM

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Subscribe to Milford Borough Email List

Keeping out residents safe and informed is always our first priority. 

(This is a Milford Borough maintained email list, and is separated from “Code Red” alert list.)