JUNE 21, 2021
CALL TO ORDER
PRESENT
ABSENT VISITORS
MINUTES
BILLS
COMMUNITY COMMENTS
Council in regular session was called to order at 7:00 p.m. in Council Chambers. President McNally presiding.
Dennis McNally, President
Peter Burton
Kathy Lyons Jeanne Miller Gregg Mitcho Robert “Doc” Orr
Robert Stubenbort, Borough Manager Robert Kremenik, Mayor
Joseph Yochim, Solicitor Mark Corey, Engineer
Kevin Rafferty, Chief of Police
Dennis McDonald, Public Works Supervisor Alfred Noble, Vice President
Shirley Hall Larry Russell
Dave Shelenberger Bev Bible
Cindy Redburn Ginger Cinti Jim Simonelli Bill Burchfield
Motion by Councilmember Mitcho to approve the minutes from the May 17, 2021 council meeting. Seconded by Councilmember Lyons.
All in favor. Motion carried. The date on the agenda will be changed from May 21st to the 17th•
Councilmember Lyons asked about the bill on page 2 from Crystal Lakes in the amount of $4,104.93 for truck #4. Dennis McDonald explained that the truck quit running and had to be towed. The high pressure oil pump needed to be replaced. Motion by Councilmember Mitcho to approve the bills. Seconded by Councilmember Lyons. All in favor. Motion carried.
Bill Burchfield from 915 Aurora Avenue spoke to council about the Pink Box located at the GAIDC parking lot. He is disappointed at how terrible it looks because people just throw items outside of the box most days of the week and heavily on the weekends. The box is supposed to be used for shoes and clothes but all different items are left there. He and his neighbors do not want to look at the mess every day. He is hoping that council will decide to have the box removed. All of the junk piled up around the box every day is unsightly and not a good look for the neighborhood. Mr. Stubenbort said if it is alright with council, he would like to take the necessary actions to have it removed. The box is provided by a foundation run by Mark Proper who is the director. Mr. Stubenbort explained to Mr. Proper that items are dropped off daily at the box. Motion by Councilmember Burton to have the Pink Box removed. Seconded by Councilmember Mitcho. All in favor. Motion carried.
Cindy Redburn spoke to council regarding being charged an extra five dollars for a pool pass because she is a township resident. Councilmember Lyons said that the Girard Borough Pool is paid for by the borough residents’ taxes. President McNally stated that each household pays $1,000.00 towards the pool in taxes each year.
Ms. Redburn also mentioned that she had an incident at Country Fair and was hoping council could direct her on where to go for this issue. A month ago she bought one gallon of gas with her debit card at Country Fair. As a result, $75.00 was taken from her bank account and held for 48 hours but then reimbursed to the account minus the 3.00 charge for the gas that was purchased. She called the debit card company and they claim this is Country Fair’s policy. The manager of Country Fair said this is what happens if you do not buy the discount card. Ms. Redburn feels that even though she was reimbursed the $72.00 it is not a good policy. There should be transparency for people when using their debit card so they know exactly what will happen.
Jim Simonelli asked if there is any news regarding the grants for Myrtle Street. Councilmember Burton said that we did not get approved for the first round on June 1’t. Councilmember Burton feels confident that we are still in the running. He and Councilmember Miller asked ECGRA to review the application again.
ADMINISTRATION FIRE/POLICE
PERSONNEL Mayor Kremenik stated that Officer Zuern will be attending training for Defense Tactics for one week.
Councilmember Lyons asked if Mr. Stubenbort could mail council a current list of our officers.
MANAGERS
REPORT There will be 93 sidewalk violations mailed to residents whose sidewalks do not meet the boroughs criteria. There are 378 squares of sidewalk that need to be replaced. The sidewalk list was professionally vetted for accuracy by George Pushcar who works for Mark Corey. Councilmember Burton mentioned that Mr. Pushcar was provided a sidewalk list and he walked around and marked all of the sidewalks in need of replacement. The borough residents will be given until Thanksgiving to find a contractor who can replace sidewalks in the spring. Councilmember Burton said that on Walnut Street at Locust there are some sidewalks in bad shape. There are a lot of people who walk to the Yellow House and he noticed they were not marked. Mr. Stubenbort said they probably did not make it onto this round. Mr. Pushcar was working from the current list. The 2021 Sidewalk Program offers $30.00 per square up to four squares for a total of $120.00. The homeowner does need to get their own contractor but if they bring in their paid in full invoice, we will reimburse them up to $120.00. The sidewalks must be done by a professional and this is stated in the certified letter that was sent to the homeowners. Mr. Stubenbort said the sidewalks that need replaced are a safety issue. The liability is on the homeowner.
ARPA The American Rescue Plan Act Pub. L No. 117-2 (March 11, 2021) provides funds allocated and distributed by states to non-entitlement units of government (Girard Borough) and will be distributed in 2021 and 2022. The ARPA funds application to receive money has been completed. Girard Borough will receive a total of $304,901.42 and the money will be distributed at $152,450.71 per year over the next two years. The money received in 2021 will be put toward the Walnut Street water tower.
AMP The new electric power contract from AMP will cover the period of January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2025 at $29.50 per MWH. In 2020 our current contract represented 32% of our portfolio at $31.90 per MWH. Mr. Stubenbort is respectfully asking council to vote in favor of formally accepting the Remaining Requirements Energy Supply Schedule Contract No.2023-0006382- SCHED, Januaryl, 2023 to December 31, 2025 at $29.50 per MWH. Motion by Councilmember Lyons to vote in favor of the new AMP Contract. Seconded by Councilmember Orr. All in favor. Motion carried.
Work began on the Girard Borough Electric Generation Project on June 14, 2021. The generation units are scheduled to arrive in August 2021. The project is still on track to be completed by the end of 2021 but if everything goes well the project could be completed by the end of October.
Dylan Fedei is attending his first Lineman Training class at American Municipal Power this week. John Snyder will soon be attending his second year in Lineman Training.
FIRE HYDRANT
UPDATE The Public Works Department replaced two hydrants on Templeton Avenue on May 25, 2021. A valve and fire hydrant were replaced on Lake Street on June 2, 2021. There have been four hydrants replaced so far this year. All of the old hydrants did not have valves so water to some homes was temporarily interrupted. The new hydrants are being installed with shut off valves.
BASKETBALL COURTS
The bids for the basketball courts were opened on June 18, 2021 and are as follows:
Lindy Paving
McCormick Construction
$77,784.00
$63,847.00
Mr. Stubenbort respectfully recommends that council vote in favor of the lowest bidder.
Poles/Backboards Bleachers
$14,300.00 COSTARS
$15,762.00 COSTARS
The Public Works Department will be responsible for the removal of the tennis court fence and two northern existing basketball poles. They will also trim back the trees along Vine Street. New lights and landscaping will complete this project. The asphalt from Vine Street up to the two northern basketball hoops will be milled and resurfaced. Jeffrey Associates {COSTARS Contractor) will be installing the basketball poles, backboards and bleachers. The total cost for the project so far is at $93, 909.00. The price of 14,300.00 for the poles and backboards includes the installation. McCormick will mill and resurface the courts and paint the lines. When we applied to ECGRA we budgeted for $125,00.00. Mr. Stubenbort has not heard from ECGRA on whether or not we received the grant. On their website the status for our project says undecided so Mr. Stubenbort will make a phone call. Councilmember Burton asked if we will be having tournaments. Mr. Stubenbort said that the hope is that we will. President McNally said we have had tournaments during Dan Rice Days. Councilmember Burton asked how soon McCormick Construction will start on the project. Mark Corey asked them if they could get the project done before Dan Rice Days and they said that it is possible. Councilmember Burton asked if council would consider not purchasing the bleachers for the project. President McNally said the bleachers are part of the original project. They have been ordered because we wanted to get the project moving forward this year and we were not sure what was going to be available. Councilmember Burton said he would rather not have the bleachers secured to the ground so we could possibly get multi use out of them. They could possibly be used for swim meets. Mr. Stubenbort said we tried this once for swim meets but it just didn’t work out. Motion by Councilmember Lyons to accept the bid from McCormick Construction in the amount of $63,847.00 for the Basketball Court Project along with the COSTARS pricing for poles, backboards and bleachers. Seconded by Councilmember Orr. All in Favor. Motion carried.
NEW LANDSCAPING
There is some new landscaping in front of the borough building. The Garden Club facilitated $450.00 worth of plants for the area outside of the Council Chamber to fill in the gap after some bushes were removed. Mr. Stubenbort thanked the Public Works Department for their assistance. Mr. Stubenbort asked if Council was in favor of paying for the plants or if they wanted to ask the Garden Club to pay a portion. Council agreed to pay for the plants.
DOWNTOWN
MAIN STREET There are fifteen items for council to review currently being discussed with PennDOT regarding Main Street.
Run a water line to the Civil War Monument. PennDOT does not have a problem with this. The borough can do it now with some paperwork involved or wait until PennDOT is ready to pave the road and we can install the water line at that time. Council is in favor.
Add at turning Lane from Main Street to Rice Avenue. The Girard Hotel will be razed leaving enough space to add a turning lane. The remaining property could be used as a grass area with trees and a monument with a plaque telling the Girard Hotel story and history. Councilmember Mitcho asked if the turning lane will be at the boroughs expense or PennDOT’s. Mr. Stubenbort said we are trading off the property for them to do the project. We are solving a safety issue in conjunction with PennDOT. We are deeding over part of the property to them as well. Mr. Stubenbort said that this project that will benefit the borough.
Councilmember Burton asked how soon we will begin the project after the hotel comes down. Mr. Stubenbort said that we will contact PennDOT right away once we have the deed and are ready to talk so they can get started on their end. Councilmember Burton asked if we wanted to start with a memorial plaque on the east side of the property or wait until PennDOT is done with their portion of the project. President McNally said there is not much we can do at that point. Mr. Stubenbort said that after PennDOT gives us their design we can proceed.
Councilmember Burton asked if there was a chance to get more handicap parking on the old hotel property. Mr. Stubenbort said there is some room and maybe we could work into an off street parking situation rather than parking on the street. Councilmember Burton feels we should look at our handicap parking on the west side of town. There are only four spaces right now and we need to improve that. President McNally mentioned that by adding one handicap space we lose two parking spaces. Adding more crosswalks would also be a great improvement. Council is in favor of working with PennDOT.
Replace the traffic light poles and masts to match the period lighting along Main Street. The cost will be more than 1.2 million for this part of the project. There are grants out there and hopefully PennDOT or the MPO is willing to work with us. This is worthwhile pursuing to achieve the period look. President McNally said that basically PennDOT will do it their way and it won’t cost the borough anything, but we would rather have period style lighting. Council is in favor.
Upgrades to current storm water outlets on Main Street. Mr. Stubenbort thinks this might not happen now. President McNally said they are putting a new road in so the timing is right. Mr. Stubenbort said that our Public Works Department is looking at the current storm water outlets and seem to think they are ol<. When we did Rice Avenue, PennDOT put in the storm water catch basins and the borough paid for them with Liquid Fuels money. President McNally said if the storm water outlets on Main Street are ok we can’t make them change them unless the borough wanted to pay for them. Councilmember Burton asked if we had any standing water on Main Street from the rain we have had lately. Dennis McDonald said yes in front of Hal’s Barber Shop because the concrete curb sits too high. Mark Corey said it was more of a physical condition issue with the storm drains on Rice Avenue rather than a capacity issue. Even if we had a capacity issue on Main Street it would not be the catch basins but rather the piping.
Crosswalks on Main Street stamped concrete to look like brick. We assume the borough would need to pay for this and we would need to know if there are any restrictions. Mr. Stubenbort sent council the information. Council is in favor.
Council is in favor.
Add entrance markers to Main Street at both entrances of Girard Borough. Mr. Stubenbort asked council if they still wanted to add new markers since we do have existing ones already. President McNally said he thought we were thinking of installing a brand new one at Main and Rice (like the one Fairview has).
Councilmember Burton said we can just move the current entrance sign located on Route 20 in front of 407 Main St, West. Mr. Stubenbort said this would not be a PennDOT issue and the Public Works Department will move them. Council is in favor.
Solar Power crosswalk signs at every crosswalk that does not have electric signals. Councilmember Miller mentioned that this is a project for Rice Avenue at the School District and not part of the Main Street project.
Add a bike lane to Route 20. Councilmember Burton said he believes Urban Vantage is looking at this idea with PennDOT as a possibility. President McNally feels this is not a good idea. We can not narrow Main Street and try to put a bike lane in front of the parking spots. Once you are out of the downtown area it might be possible. Council is generally not in favor.
Roundabout at Westgate and Main Street. Mr. Stubenbort said this will not be part of the project because the location is in the township.
Add island with trees to the center lane of Main Street on the east side of Girard from Westgate Drive going west to create a boulevard look.
Mr. Stubenbort said that trees would be planted in the center turning lane area from approximately Taco Bell to McQuillens. Council is generally not in favor.
Period lighting for the center island on Main Street. Mr. Stubenbort said instead of having the light coming in from either side there would be light poles in the island. Council is generally not in favor.
Storm Water Management design for the center island on Main Street.
Council is generally not in favor.
Curbing where needed. President McNally said this will be up to PennDOT.
Bury the utility lines all along Main Street. Mr. Stubenbort said this project Could start at about six million dollars. Council is generally not in favor.
Add a dedicated left turn signal traffic light going east and turning left onto Sunset Drive. This would make things much easier with Tim Horton’s opening this year. It would be worth asking PennDOT if they could give just several seconds to let a few additional cars through. Mark Corey said the downside is we are taking green away from the west bound traffic. President McNally said we could have a dedicated left turn signal for Sheetz as well. Council is generally in favor.
Add a dedicated left turn signal from Route 20 to Rice Avenue. When heading East on Route 20 and turning onto Rice Avenue there is not a dedicated amount of time. Council agrees that this is worth looking into.
Council agrees that Mark Corey can write grants for the Main Street Project and he can to get some of these projects moving forward and grant money coming in.
FALSE ALARMS
MAYORS CONFERENCE
Councilmember Mitcho said there are so many more home alarm systems now and they are susceptible to false alarms. We need to change the wording in our present ordinance to say “fine” instead of “service charge”. With the wording of service charge it implies that we are recovering a cost for a service that was provided. It would be impossible to recover the cost of sending two fire trucks and an ambulance for a false alarm. Fairview Township has since taken us off their pre plan but until they did, Dobler Hose Fire Department was responding to between one and two calls per week at Neurorestorative. These calls must be treated as a real life call not just possibly a false alarm. It was very expensive responding to all the calls. The fire department in Fairview now has a debit card from Neurorestorative so any time they respond to a call Fairview can automatically put it on the debit card. Most of the alarms were set off from steam from a shower. This is something that they can fix. Councilmember Mitcho feels we should set the fine at $100.00 for false alarms and raise it to another tier for repeat offenders. Mr. Stubenbort will bring the updated amendment for the ordinance to the next council meeting for a read and council can vote on it at the following meeting. Mr. Stubenbort asked Chief Rafferty if the police run into this problem. He said they have in the past with burglar alarms.
Mayor Kremenik would like to attend the 2021 Mayors Conference in Pittsburgh on July 15- 18th at Station Square for a cost of $225.00 plus expenses. Motion by Councilmember Lyons to approve Mayor Kremenik attending the 2021 Mayors Conference. Seconded by Councilmember Orr. In favor of motion: Lyons, Orr, Mitcho and McNally. Against: Mitcho and Miller. Motion carried.
POOL
Mr. Stubenbort reported that on average the borough pool will sell around 250 to 275 passes per season. At this time, we have sold 342 passes and we will need to order more.
MISC Councilmember Noble was not able to attend tonight’s meeting but mentioned to Mr. Stubenbort that he would like to see a dog park somewhere in the borough. He said that he has had a lot of requests for this. Councilmember Burton said there is a dog park next to one of his funeral homes. He said it really gets used quite a bit. He feels that the dog parks are very nice and many communities have them now. The initial cost for a dog park is the fencing plus a place for people to sit. Councilmember Burton also provides WIFI at his park. Mr. Stubenbort asked if the parks must be sprayed for tics and fleas every so often. Councilmember Burton said they do not spray. Councilmember Lyons asked if there have been problems with dogs who do not get along. He said the dog owners must sign a waiver to attend the park. Councilmember Noble had suggested to Mr. Stubenbort that the dog park could be built somewhere in Waterworks Park but left it open for council to discuss. Councilmember Burton said that not everyone might feel safe down in the park plus there is no internet. He thinks a high visibility area is better and people will feel safe.
Councilmember Burton feels this is something we should definitely put on our list. Mr. Stubenbort said the area across from the G.A.I.D.C might be a good area. We could talk to Damon Homich about this to see if he would be willing to sell or donate the land.
The new pickup truck is 2021 F350 at $40,412.00 and will replace truck 7 which is a 2005. We are lucky we ordered it when we did because of all the shortages. We will advertise the old truck in the West County News Journal to see if we get any response.
Council wished Councilmember Orr a Happy Belated 80th Birthday.
Councilmember Mitcho mentioned that there was a reference to a liquor license transfer application for Eric Barton who owns the Tree House Tavern. He did go onto the site, but it really only mentioned past fines and no information as to who purchased the license. Mr. Stubenbort said he could try and call Eric to see what he is doing. Mr. Stubenbort said it would be great if we could purchase the lot behind the Tree House.
Mr. Stubenbort removed a large sign that said “closed” that was placed on the Water Works Park sign on Lake Street. When the sign was removed it did peel off a little paint. The police are aware but there really is no way for them to find out who did this.
Councilmember Burton said he and Chief Rafferty discussed the route for the hay rides for the Summer Solstice event. They will go up Myrtle Street to the
Yellow House (farm lane) and then proceed over to Walnut Street and north to the White House where people can be dropped off for the tour. We are hoping that they come back down Walnut Street to Main Street and back to Myrtle.
Chief Rafferty said if Main Street becomes an issue with the traffic we can re route the hay rides across Locust Street. Councilmember Burton will put up signs stating that the hay rides start on Myrtle Street by the mural. Also, he will put up parking signs at Mechanic Street directing traffic to park along or on the basketball court. A sign will be placed at Wall Street as well directing people to park in the municipal parking lot. Councilmember Burton said this will be a nice event for downtown and hopes that the council will be able to attend.
Councilmember Burton mentioned that council had discussed presenting Mary Bowen with a plaque to honor her for her many years of service as the Girard Borough Tax Collector. He asked council when they would like to present her with the plaque. Councilmember Miller said since council is presenting the plaque it should be during the November council meeting.
Councilmember Burton mentioned to Chief Rafferty that he mows the property for the church behind St. John’s Social Hall and noticed there have been some kids camping out behind the Taco Bell property. The tent is still hanging in the tree and they left quite a bit of trash. Chief Rafferty will look into this.
Meeting adjourned at 8:46 p.m. for a five minute break before going into executive session.
EXECUTIVE
SESSION At 8:54 p.m., President McNally asked for an executive session to discuss personnel and legal matters.
REGULAR
MEETING The regular meeting was called back into session at 9:23 p.m.
Motion by Councilmember Lyons to continue the Borough Solicitors healthcare coverage as per the 2021 agreement. Seconded by Councilmember Mitcho. All in Favor. Motion carried.
ADJOURN Motion by Councilmember Orr and seconded by Councilmember Burton to adjourn at 9:26 p.m. All in favor.
Robert A. Stubenbort Borough Manager
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