July 15, 2024
CALL TO ORDER Council in regular session was called to order at 6:00 p.m. in council
chambers. President Mitcho presiding.
PRESENT Gregg Mitcho, President
Jeanne Miller, Vice President
Robert “Doc” Orr
Tim Knapp
George Drushel
Jim Simonelli
Robert Stubenbort, Borough Manager
Peter Burton, Mayor
Joseph Yochim, Solicitor
Mark Corey, Engineer
Kevin Rafferty, Chief of Police
Dennis McDonald, Public Works Supervisor
ABSENT Doug Wright
VISITORS Ginger Cinti, Lake City Council
Michael Stafford, WCNJ
Laura DiPasqua
Fred Carlson
Tammy Kephart
Larry Russell
MINUTES Motion by Councilmember Drushel to approve the June 17, 2024 council meeting minutes. President Mitcho said that there is one correction. The paper shredding event filled five bins of paper and no mention was made of the number of participants. Seconded by Councilmember Knapp. All in favor to approve the minutes as corrected. Motion carried.
BILLS Motion by Councilmember Drushel to approve payment of the bills. Seconded by Councilmember Simonelli. All in favor. Motion carried.
COMMUNITY REPORTS Tammy Kephart lives at the corner of Miles and Lake Street and is requesting permission from Council to establish a Lending Library Box in her front yard. After a brief discussion council tabled the issue.
Nikki Moyer from “Light Up Hope” was unable to attend the meeting to report on her use of the Girard Borough Municipal Pool for the fund raiser for her charity. A report was submitted, and the charity raised $117.00 at the event.
COMMITTEES President Mitcho reported that in the month of June, A. F. Dobler Hose responded to twelve mutual aid ambulance transports from outside of our district. Fifty percent of the service calls were responded to in June. A. F. Dobler will have a team in the Dan Rice Bed Race. The Dan Rice Chicken Barbeque will only be on the Friday of Dan Rice Days this year. The ladder truck continues to need parts replaced and will be out of order for the next week. President Mitcho read a list of other fire vehicle repairs. A, F. Dobler Hose will hold a Cornhole Tournament July 27, 2024 at 1:00 pm.
Councilmember Simonelli attended a cross country meeting concerning the grooming of trails at Water Works Park. Mr. Russell will contact the borough to get wood chips delivered to trail heads so volunteers can have them available.
MAYOR/POLICE Mayor Burton thanked Dennis McDonald for getting everything ready for the Bock Party. The Mayor mentioned that he is on the board of the historical society and they are having a meeting at the Yellow House tomorrow night that it is not open to the public. They will park at the fire hall for the meeting. The Mayor mentioned that street signs from the late 1800s were recovered from the garage at the White House and would make a nice borough lobby display. The Mayor thanked the police for finding his sons dog and getting him home safely. Chief Rafferty said that at the last meeting two more part time police were approved for hire. The Civil Service list had only one name and so a Civil Service Test is needed to hire the second part time officer. The Public Safety Dispatch reminded Chief Rafferty that the agreement with the 911 Center does not cover non-emergency calls. Manager Stubenbort suggested using the on-duty officer cell phone. President Mitcho asked Chief Rafferty if the police department had many calls for the 4th of July. Chief Rafferty said no. Chief Rafferty explained the state fireworks law to the Council and Mayor. Councilmember Drushel asked Chief Rafferty if the police would be fully staffed after hiring the two part time officers. Chief Rafferty said that one part time officer is on leave for the rest of the year. So, the five full time can fill the schedule but call offs or vacations are covered with full time officers. At this time, we do not know how many part time will be needed in the future to cover everything. Councilmember Drushel asked if we hire one more then will we need to hire one next month then one the month after that. Chief Rafferty said that council approved hiring two at the last meeting and that is all that is being requested at this time. President Mitcho mentioned that the police provide incident reports to Council every month. And after reading the reports for years the numbers recently are getting higher and higher. President Mitcho asked if we are at a record number of incidents. Chef Rafferty agreed that the incidents are high. For calls responded to as of July 15, 2022 we were at 1279 for 2023 that jumped to 1527 and this year to date 2170 calls. The call rate is almost double what it was two years ago. Councilmember Simonelli asked what category has the worst jump. Chief Rafferty said all of them. A lot of it is increase in ordinance enforcement and mental health calls, a lot for fraud calls, computer crimes, phone scams, a lot of it is the officers making more traffic stops in the borough so its not all more calls coming in but the officers actively making traffic stops and that increases calls. Those calls have almost doubled in two years. President Mitcho asked Chief Rafferty if he is overwhelmed. Chief Rafferty said that traffic arrests are up, criminal arrests are up and that he monitors the volume of other municipalities with police departments and the only departments with more calls, year to date, are Erie and Millcreek. We are above Edinboro, Corry, North East, Wesleyville and Lawrence Park. All of those departments have eight to nine full time officers. We have more calls then they have. President Mitcho thanked Chief Rafferty for all that he does for our community.
WCEMA Councilmember Orr said that the Red Cross will have a drill in Corry on May 22, 2024. The Solar Eclipse event was without any issues. Phil Jackson was hired as the new EMA Logistics Manager. Shawn Wroblewski EMC is being considered as an employee of the WCPA. Currently Mr. Wroblewski is working as an independent contractor.
ENGINEER Girard Borough Engineer Mark Corey P. E. explained that after evaluating the ADA curb ramps being installed some changes make sense. Several trees will be removed so that the sidewalks directly leading to the ramps can be slopped correctly and be used correctly with the ramps. A total of five trees that are close to the intersections will be removed.
RECYCLING President Mitcho mentioned that we turn our glass recycling bin about every two to three weeks. Last month the hauling fee was raised from $50.00 to $70.00. President Mitcho called the hauling company and was able to convince them to keep the hauling fee at $50.00. Glass recycling is consistent at 6000 pounds per month. Our community is respectful of the program and very little contamination is put in the glass collection.
BOROUGH POOL The July 4th Free Hotdog promotion resulted in the distribution of 100 hotdogs to pool customers and everyone had a great time swimming.
Next is the Dan Rice Days nighttime movie 8-10PM.
The extra night swim 8-10PM is open pool, no movie and the date is to be determined.
WATER WORKS PARK Led by Erie County Forester, Steve Laskowski, eleven volunteers pulled the invasive plant, Japanese Stiltgrass, from the main trail in Waterworks Park, on Thursday June 27.
Members of Weed Warriors, who regularly pull invasive plants on Presque Isle, Interns with Girard Borough, and Girard Council person Doc Orr, spent a pleasant morning improving Waterworks Park.
ECAB PICNIC The Erie County Association of Boroughs summer meeting is July 17, 2024 at the Albion Borough Park. The meeting starts at 6:30 pm.
PROJECTS AWARDED CDBG ADA Ramps Mechanic Street. Awarded to XL Excavating. This project began the last week of June. Five trees will be removed in order to install the ADA ramps to be most beneficial for our community.
Eagle Eye Industrial Services is almost done with the Westgate Tank Painting Project. This project began the first week of July.
Lourdes Drive Culvert Project. The culvert project will start July 22, 2024.
Regionalization of Police Project still has Girard Borough, Girard Township and Lake City Borough showing interest. The DCED has not issued a start date for the consultant to begin reviewing the information.
CODE OFFICER Grace Kizina started as Girard Borough Code Officer on July 1, 2024. Her main concentration has been Mechanic Street. Twenty-nine violation letters have been sent out calling for the replacement of ninety-seven square of sidewalk. Councilmember Miller said that the Downtown Inc. had grant money for Olin and Mechanic from Main Street to the tracks. Councilmember Miller suggested that the Downtown Inc. send a letter to let residents know of the grant money. Mayor Burton said that the eligible homes were notified of the grant. The next grant is Rice Avenue from Main to Hathaway and Church Street. Penn may also be included. Mayor Burton mentioned that Gary Miller on Main Street has made a good effort to cut the grass and remove the high weeds from his property. A new window will be installed in the building before Dan Rice Days. Gary Miller would like to avoid going to the District Justice and wants to know how to avoid a hearing. Chief Rafferty said he would take care of it for the Mayor.
MAIN STREET LINE
PAINTING We are working on pricing to have laminated parking lines on Main Street. The lines would most likely be installed with the crosswalks.
LIONS CLUB The Lions Club donated another bench to the borough. Every bench the Lions receive represents 1,000 pounds of plastic donated.
OVR HELP The Occupational Vocational Rehabilitation job training employees are painting the courtyard fence and hope to have it done by Dan Rice Days.
INTERCEPTOR 2016 Ford Interceptor went to Erie Auto Auction with a $5,000.00 reserve price.
PUBLIC WORKS
EMPLOYEE Terry Jackson will start employment with the Girard Borough Public Works Department on July 29, 2024. Motion by Councilmember Simonelli to approve hiring Terry Jackson as a full time Public Works Department employee starting July 29, 2024. Seconded by Councilmember Knapp. All in favor. Motion carried.
WATER
DEPARTEMNT
EMPLOYEE Josh Olesnanik will need to be approved by Council as a new Water Department employee. Josh Olesnanik will start July 29, 2024. Motion by Councilmember Simonelli to approve hiring Josh Olesnanik as a full time Water Department employee starting July 29, 2024. Seconded by Councilmember Orr. All in favor. Motion carried.
COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilmember Drushel reported that the Pool Committee got together to talk about pool issues and future projects. New pool furniture, replacing the pool surface, water furnace and hot water tank for the club house were mentioned. Councilmember Drushel mentioned that the Air B&B Ordinance Committee needs to get together. Councilmember Drushel would like council to enact an ordinance to prevent Main Street buildings zoned C-1 from converting first floor businesses to apartment rentals and have restrictions for business signs in the commercial district. Councilmember Drushel said that the Auto Zone on Main Street has high grass.
Councilmember Miller said a softball tournament took place on the weekend and all appeared to be good. The West County Communications Center Board did not have a quorum for their last meeting, but the board is talking about moving the meetings to a 6:00 pm start time. Councilmember Miller would like the committee to get together to finalize the boat and trailer ordinance. It was decided that the camper/trailer ordinance committee would meet to finalize the camper trailer ordinance for the next council meeting. President Mitcho approved a change to the committee to replace Councilmember Simonelli with Councilmember Knapp. Councilmember Miller asked the Mayor to have the grant meeting for eligible residents as soon as possible. The Mayor agreed and said a tentative date is July 30th. The Erie Community Foundation grant was awarded for $80,000.00 for the Hotel Park Grant. Councilmember Miller asked if Park Drive was covered under liquid fuels. Mr. Stubenbort said that the road is not covered by state liquid fuels. Councilmember Miller asked if the speed detection device records the speed. Chief Rafferty said that it shows the speed, but it is not recorded.
President Mitcho said that Mr. Chuck Roney and Councilmember Orr have done a great job building picnic tables and park benches for the borough including the benches surrounding the softball fields.
It was decided that the camper/trailer ordinance committee would meet to finalize the camper trailer ordinance for the next council meeting. President Mitcho approved a change to the committee to replace Councilmember Simonelli with Councilmember Knapp.
Meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m. for a five-minute break before going into executive session.
EXECUTIVE
SESSION At 7:38 p.m., President Mitcho asked for an executive session to discuss personnel and legal matters.
REGULAR
MEETING The regular meeting was called back into session at 9:10 p.m.
No other issues were discussed.
ADJOURN Motion by Councilmember Orr and seconded by Councilmember Simonelli to adjourn at 9:12 p.m. All in favor.
Robert A. Stubenbort
Borough Manager