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January 3, 2012
EAST PETERSBURG BOROUGH COUNCIL
REORGANIZATIONAL MEETING
TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2012, 7:00 P.M.
Call to Order - Mayor Geoghan
Elected Officials Sworn In By Mayor Geoghan
Adam B. Gochnauer - 4 yrs.
Mary C. Armstrong - 4 yrs.
Gregory S. Bucher - 4 yrs.
Connie L. McElwain - 4 yrs. Connie not available, will be sworn in at a later date
Election of Officers:
It was moved and seconded (Mary Armstrong/John Wolf) to nominate Cappy Panus for President of Borough Council. Unanimous approval
It was moved and seconded (Mary Armstrong/Tom Huber) to nominate John Wolf for Vice-President of Borough Council. Unanimous approval
It was moved and seconded (Mary Armstrong/Greg Bucher) to nominate Tom Huber as President Pro Tem. Unanimous approval
It was moved and seconded (John Wolf/Adam Gochnauer) to nominate Greg Bucher as Chair of the Vacancy Board. Unanimous approval
Reorganizational meeting adjourned at 7:08 P.M.
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
OF THE EAST PETERSBURG BOROUGH COUNCIL
The meeting of the East Petersburg Borough Council came to order at 7:09P.M. with the following members of Council and employees present:President Cappy Panus,Vice-President John Wolf, Tom Huber, Greg Bucher, Mary Armstrong, Adam Gochnauer,Mayor Jeff Geoghan, and Borough Manager Robin Hemperly and Public Works Superintendent Herbert Mattern.Absent: Connie McElwain
Call Regular Meeting to Order 7:09 P.M.
The Pledge of Allegiance was given.
It was moved and seconded (Adam Gochnauer/John Wolf) to accept the minutes of the December 20, 2011 Borough Council Meeting. Unanimous approval.
Attendees –See attached attendance list.
Bill Payment Review.
Visit From: None
Comments from Citizens: None
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January 3, 2012
Mayor's Report: Mayor Geoghan said for November 2011 received 83 complaints in the borough. There were 14 criminal investigations with 2 misdemeanor/felony arrests, 9 summary arrests, one incidents involving guns, 64 calls for service, 5 vehicle accident investigations with no fatalities and one injury. There were 13 traffic citations. Year to date there were 978 complaints in the borough, 182 criminal investigations with 24 misdemeanor/felony arrests, 42 summary arrests, one incident involving guns, 736 calls for service, 60 vehicle accident investigations with no fatalities and 10 injuries. There were 233 traffic citations issued year to date (end of November).
Reports from Appointed Officers:
a)Borough Manager Report – See attached.
Ms. Hemperly announced that she interviewed two people for the crossing guard position and the one that she would like to hire is Georgie Lapp who is an East Petersburg Borough resident. She has a child that goes to the school. Ms. Hemperly then asked council to give thought to the other one being an alternate crossing guard. Council agreed, if an alternate was needed the Manager could hire.
The other thing Ms. Hemperly said, outside of her report, the Hempfield School District is asking permission to be able to use Code Administrators instead of Commonwealth Code to do the inspection of the new school. We appoint Commonwealth Code to use but they are saying that they can save money if they go with Code Administrators. Greg Bucher said he doesn’t like that idea because why should they be an exception to something that we make everybody else do. We have somebody that comes in our town that regulates what anybody does on any building why would we make them the exception to that rule because if somebody else comes in and says they can save money then why wouldn’t they be allowed to do it. Not a good precedence to follow. Robin said Ed’s going to get a cost from Commonwealth. Robin said she explained to the school that if a developer were to come in she would have told them no right away. There is a reason we have the company we select. Bucher said if we do it once and don’t do it a second time that leads to appeals and that leads to clerk time.
- It was moved and seconded (Tom Huber/Greg Bucher) to disapprove the request of Hempfield School District to be able to use Code Administrators instead of Commonwealth Code to do the inspection of the new school. Unanimous approval.
b)Public Works Superintendent's Report - See attached
c)Zoning Officer Report – Not available. Will have both at next meeting.
Committee Reports:
Administration:
a)Fire Company Report – Chief Rohrer reported for the month of December there were a total of 37 incidents with 410 responding personnel, and 162.3 staff hours. We had 76 personnel attend training for 176 hours of training.
b)EMA Report – Announced that Diane and Richard Garber have a baby girl, Bethany Grace, born Christmas morning. All doing fine!
Public Works:
Unfinished Business: None
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January 3, 2012
New Business:
1)It was moved and seconded (Tom Huber/Greg Bucher) to tentatively approve the following appointed service organizations. Unanimous approval.
(a)Solicitor - 2012 - Barley, Snyder, Senft & Cohen - Michael W. Davis
(b)General Engineer - 2012 - RAV Associates
(c)Water Engineer - 2012 - Arro Consulting Inc.
(d)Auditor - 2012 - Trout, Ebersole & Groff, LLP
(e)Zoning Officer – 2012 – Edward Fisher – Light-Heigel & Assoc., Inc.
(f)Code Compliance Officer – 2012 – Andrew Nelson – Commonwealth Code Insp. Service, Inc.
2)It was moved and seconded (Greg Bucher/John Wolf) to appoint Adam B. Gochnauer to Hempfield Area Recreation Commission as council representative for the year 2012-2013. Unanimous approval. Tom Huber said just as a point of reference for everyone, we have two representatives to HARC. Adam had been the resident representative and Kevin Harley had been the council representative, Adam’s taking over Kevin’s spot so if anyone here or if you know of anyone that is interested in sitting on the board, talk to Adam. Cappy said it is a monthly meeting, Tuesday’s.
3)It was moved and seconded (Greg Bucher/John Wolf) to approve the release of the Letter of Credit for Village Commons. Unanimous approval.
4)It was moved and seconded (Greg Bucher/Tom Huber) to approve Ordinance #262. Unanimous approval.
5)It was moved and seconded (Greg Bucher/John Wolf) to approve Resolution #653, Accept Police Officers. Unanimous approval.
Announcements:
Meeting Adjourned7:32P.M.
After the meeting adjourned council went into Executive Session from 7:42 P.M. until 10:09 P.M.
Respectfully Submitted,
Virginia A. Groff, Recording Secretary
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February 7, 2012
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
OF THE EAST PETERSBURG BOROUGH COUNCIL
The meeting of the East Petersburg Borough Council came to order at 7:09 P.M. with the following members of Council and employees present:, Vice-President John Wolf, Connie McElwain, Greg Bucher, Mary Armstrong, Adam Gochnauer, Mayor Jeff Geoghan, and Borough Manager Robin Hemperly and Public Works Superintendent Herbert Mattern. Absent: President Cappy Panus, Tom Huber
Call Regular Meeting to Order 7:09 P.M.
The Pledge of Allegiance was given.
It was moved and seconded (Greg Bucher/Adam Gochnauer) to accept the minutes of the January 3, 2012 Borough Council Meeting. Unanimous approval.
Attendees – See attached attendance list.
Bill Payment Review.
Visit From: Kathy Gray TRAN (Tax & Revenue Anticipation Note) Loan – Ms. Gray said council should consider the Resolution that was sent electronically. The Resolution, the whole purpose of the TRAN is to borrow against taxes in the current tax year. In other words it is a cash flow device. Business would call this a line of credit but you can’t do a line of credit as a municipality. So this is like a line of credit but this is borrowing against taxes and revenues. The state limit would be 85% of the taxes and revenues to be collected in the year. The trick with these is they must be paid off by December 31 of the year in which you borrow. So this maturity on this note is December 31 2012. The amount is $400,000. You may have seen a certificate of taxes and revenues that was circulating as well; you actually have more than that coming due in terms of taxes and revenues but Robin has calculated that $400,000 is the max you would need to hold you until the revenues actually come in. And the point of this is to pay it off as quickly as you can. The title of the Resolution: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING A BORROWING IN ANTICIPATION OF CURRENT TAXES AND REVENUES AND THE ISSUANCE OF A TAX AND REVENUE ANTICIPATION NOTE; ESTABLISHING THE FORM OF SUCH NOTE; APPROVING AND ACCEPTING A PROPOSAL OF FULTON BANK, N.A. (THE “BANK”) TO PURCHASE THE NOTE AND AUTHORIZING THE NEGOTIATED SALE THEREOF TO SAID BANK; AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING CERTAIN OFFICIALS TO DELIVER A CERTIFICATE AS TO TAXES AND REVENUES TO BE COLLECTED, TO CAUSE TO BE MADE THE FILINGS REQUIRED BY LAW TO EXECUTE AND DELIVER THE NOTE, AND TO TAKE SUCH OTHER ACTIONS AS MAY BE NECESSARY OR DESIRABLE.
Ms. Gray said she needs two different motions, a motion to approve the resolution and it requires a roll call vote because Robin will need to take the roll call and then fill it out on certificate. The second action is to approve the draw amount of $100,000.
It was moved and seconded (Greg Bucher/Connie McElwain) to approve the Resolution for the Tax and Revenue Anticipation Note with Fulton Bank. Unanimous approval. (Mary Armstrong yes, Greg Bucher yes, Adam Gochnauer yes, John Wolf yes, Connie McElwain yes.
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February 7, 2012
It was moved and seconded (Greg Bucher/Adam Gochnauer) to approve the Resolution to draw $100,000 off the note at closing. Unanimous approval.
Ms. Gray asked if the meeting could be recessed until they had time to sign the documents.
John Wolf called for recess at 7:12 PM
John Wolf called meeting to re-convene at 7:14 PM
Comments from Citizens: Mr. Nolt asked if that was a one- time deal. Ms. Gray said yes, for this year. Mr. Nolt asked if they could do it every year. Ms. Gray said they could if they wish to.
Mayor's Report: No January report at this time.
Reports from Appointed Officers:
b)Borough Manager Report – No questions for Robin and no comments.
d)Public Works Superintendent's Report – Herb reported on the Performance Evaluation from DEP; instead of getting the big lengthy report in paper a month after DEP is now having a class that any public official can attend they will actually go over our whole inspection of our complete water system that they inspected and then also give us a paper report. Herb said he would like anyone who can come February 22 at 9:30am in the community center. Herb mentioned training for Municipal Officials concerning Source Water Protection, through PSAB, is available.
e)Zoning Officer Report – December and January reports. Greg Bucher noted that the school, which was concerned that the borough would not allow them to pick their own inspector, is going to use the same inspector as the Borough.They are going to save tens of thousands of dollars on the project and they are going to use the same inspector in West Hempfield (Farmdale).
Committee Reports:
Administration:
c)Fire Company Report – Chief Rohrer reported for the month of January there were a total of 26 incidents with 313 responding personnel, and 154.03 staff hours. We had 100 personnel attend training for 133 hours of training. Four responses in the borough.
Chief Rohrer also reported the 2011 Annual Report. In 2011 there were a total of 532 incidents. Total 5998 responding personnel for a total of 3847.69staff hours, 1073 personnel attend training, for 4020 hours.
d)EMA Report – None
Public Works:
Unfinished Business: None
New Business:
a)East Petersburg PTO – Spring Festival - It was moved and seconded (Mary Armstrong/Connie McElwain) to approve the use of the borough park for the East Petersburg PTO Spring Festival. Unanimous approval.
b)HARC – Summer Playground Program – Tabled
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February 7, 2012
c)Review and Approve the LCCTC Agreement for Construction on Comfort Station. Tabled
d)Appoint Citizen Representative to HARC Board – Greg Bucher said it came to his attention that people on the HARC Board get free memberships and he feels this is not right, that is no different than the stuff going on in other communities, if you’re here to volunteer to help your community you do not get perks and special privileges that nobody else gets.Tabled
e)Emich Agreement – Review and Approval for Citizen Gardens – Greg Bucher said we should take the actual cost of plowing the plots and divide that by the number of gardens we bill so we break even. We’ve been losing money off this for years. It was moved and seconded (Greg Bucher/Adam Gochnauer) to approve the Emich and Ober holding agreement provided that we break even on the costs of the garden plots. Unanimous approval.
f)Appointment to Vacancy Board – Cannot be a Council Member. – John announced that if there is anybody interested on being on the vacancy board to please let Robin know. - Need to put on March Agenda.
Adam Gochnauer reported that the pool committee, which council asked to be formed to talk about the pool, will come before council next month to present a proposal on how they are going to manage the pool and finances. Robin said she will remind them.
Council members discussed the Committee Meetings, Public Works and Admin. Adam said he believes anything that is brought before the committees can be brought before council. He thinks having these two extra meetings are a waste of people’s time and effort.
It was moved and seconded (Greg Bucher/Adam Gochnauer) to proceed forward to combining our committees into one work session with the guidance of Robin and our solicitor. Unanimous approval.
Announcements:
Jeff Geoghan read a press release that council put out concerning the budget: “During the month of January 2012 the borough council, borough manager and Mayor of East Petersburg Borough took aggressive action to achieve the goal of reducing spending by $125,000 as promised in the 2012 budget negotiations in December of 2011. Although the borough real estate tax was raised by ½ mil, the council had pledged to reduce spending by an equal amount. In an executive session attended by all parties expense reductions were identified 2012 fiscal year and agreed to unanimously. These included elimination of funding for community organizations, and non essential recreational grounds programs. The elimination of one general maintenance position, the freezing of all wages for employees and cuts to non-essential administrative services as well as elimination of contracting of outsource services that will be performed by borough staff. The borough manager is still in the process of reviewing service contracts including insurances and utilities. The job responsibilities of the eliminated position will be distributed among the remaining borough employees. The annual police contract with Manheim Township was maintained at 2011 rates for 2012. Looking to the future the executive session planned out a series of quarterly spending reviews and an earlier start to the budget planning process annually.“ This press release is going to the Lancaster County Press. For more press info contact Robin Hemperly, Borough Manager.
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February 7, 2012
Greg Bucher said he would like to thank Robin for all the hard work that she is doing for our community. A quick example, one that really impressed me is the Boy Scout Christmas Tree Mulch that is done every year.We were paying our trash hauler to haul away the mulch that was left over rather than using it in our park. I just want to commend her on a job well done so far.
Mary Armstrong commented that the reason that mulch isn’t used is because it is too acidic; it will kill anything that you put it on. Robin said there are some places it can be used.
Meeting Adjourned 7:48 P.M.
Respectfully Submitted,
Virginia A. Groff, Recording Secretary
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March 6, 2012
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
OF THE EAST PETERSBURG BOROUGH COUNCIL
The meeting of the East Petersburg Borough Council came to order at 7:09 P.M. with the following members of Council and employees present: President Cappy Panus, Vice-President John Wolf, Connie McElwain, Tom Huber, Greg Bucher, Mary Armstrong, Adam Gochnauer, Mayor Jeff Geoghan, and Borough Manager Robin Hemperly and Public Works Superintendent Herbert Mattern. Absent:
Call Regular Meeting to Order 7:09 P.M.
The Pledge of Allegiance was given.
It was moved and seconded (McElwain/Bucher) to accept the minutes of the February 7, 2012 Borough Council Meeting. Unanimous approval.
Attendees – See attached attendance list.
Bill Payment Review.
Visit From: Terry Shreiner, Director of softball presented to council a request to use the field by the pool, one that is used for softball and another one that is supposed to be used for baseball but hasn’t been used in a couple of years. They would like to upgrade the field and get it in playable shape. That includes fixing the benches, putting a net up so the balls don’t go into the pool, getting the outfield rolled and maintaining them. It was moved and seconded (Bucher/ Armstrong) to let the softball league is allowed to use the field in conjunction with Mr. Mattern helping them find the appropriate place for the shed and backstop. Unanimous approval