Greg Scheer, the New Milford Borough Codes Enforcement Officer, spent a good fifty minutes providing Council with an update of his activities during the Council meeting held on November 3rd. Mr. Scheer had assured Council even though he hasn’t attended a meeting in a long time, or provided any official reports he’s been very busy in the Borough.
A Dollar General store planning to come to the Borough was waylaid for a time; Mr. Scheer explained since he had a map that designated the chosen area as R-1 (residential). He was then given another map that clearly marked the area as C-1 (commercial) designated. Mr. Scheer said he is in touch with the group conducting the survey and design; everything is good so far and moving along.
The nail salon has been approved and is good to go, Mr. Scheer reported. He also reported that an apartment conversion that has been requested would need some more time for him to research whether or not it should obtain a variance.
Mr. Scheer gave Council some documentation on a training session he attended for the EPA Lead Paint Certification. He informed Council all Contractors who are working on a house that was built before 1978 needs to hire a Lead Abatement Worker. The EPA’s fines for a contractor working on a home built before 1978 will incur a fine of thirty-seven thousand dollars.
Mayor Scott Smith thanked Eleanor Lempke and her helper for planting daffodils in the park. Mrs. Lempke said they planted one hundred bulbs and she has two hundred more to go. Mayor Smith said he wanted to thank the fire department for another great parade and Council remarked how wonderful the Blue Ridge School Band was.
Councilwoman Gulick reported Santa in the Park was going to be held on Saturday, November 26th from 11-1.
Council wrapped up the meeting at 8:30.
Lanesboro residents won't be seeing any 2017 tax increase-or sewer rate increase, for that matter-if all goes as expected at December's monthly meeting. Mayor Chris Maby rolled out the borough's proposed budget for 2017 at Lanesboro's Tuesday, November 1, meeting. The borough's 2017 budget is balanced at $130,164, up just over $4,200 from the 2016 budget. Most of that increased spending is allocated for a $.50 per hour pay raise for the borough's police officers. Higher revenues to pay for the modest hourly increases are projected to come from increased collections of delinquent real estate taxes and real estate transfer taxes.
The borough's draft budget, approved at November's meeting, is available for review at the borough office, as well as online at the borough's website: http://lanesboropa.com/. Final approval of the draft budget will be voted on when council holds its next monthly meeting.
Present for the November 1 meeting were Council President Dan Boughton and Council members Christen Beamer, Dave Glidden, Dale Rockwell, and Tom Nitterour. Also present: Mayor Maby, Secretary/Treasurer Gail Hanrahan, and Police Chief Jim Smith.
Beside the discussion of the overall budget and its line-by-line analysis, there wasn't much else to be said. Chief Smith presented the Police Report for the month of October 2016. It showed 30 traffic stops resulting in 10 citations and 20 warnings for the following reasons: Speeding Violations (17), Equipment Violations (8), Inspection Violations (3), Careless Driving (1), and Stop-sign Violation (1). LPD also provided inter-governmental non-arrest assistance eight times during October. Five assists were to Susquehanna Borough PD, two to Great Bend PD, and one to Montrose PD. Overall, LPD put in 198 hours of police coverage, which included four hours in court, and 15.5 hours billed to Thompson Borough. SCSD campus police patrol clocked in at 152 hours.
Lanesboro Council received one correspondence item of note-a heartfelt "Thank-you" note from Oakland Borough Council. Oakland officials thanked Lanesboro for their hospitality in permitting them to meet at the Lanesboro Community Center for monthly meetings the last number of years. Oakland officials further notified Lanesboro that henceforth, as of November 2016, Oakland council meetings would be held at their new borough building located at 380 State Street in Oakland. As a further expression of their appreciation a monetary donation was enclosed.
Lanesboro officials were quite naturally appreciative of Oakland's expressions of gratitude. But, at Mayor Maby's suggestion and lead, Lanesboro Council unanimously agreed to return Oakland's monetary donation with a "Thank-you" of their own for Oakland's past and ongoing reciprocal inter-governmental support of Lanesboro Borough. Lanesboro officials praised Oakland Borough for all Oakland's supportiveness in making the Tri-boro area a great place to live.
Lanesboro's next monthly meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 13, 2016.
Thompson Township Supervisor’s meeting, held on November 2nd was comprised of normal business affairs and all Supervisors were in attendance.
All the trucks were inspected, and the installation of spreaders on the Ford and International trucks were completed reported Supervisor Komar. He said they started cleaning out the ditches, but completed only one before they had to go out and clean up all the trees from the ice storm on October 27th. Supervisor Komar said they are going to continue with the ditches until the snowy weather arrives.
Supervisor Wadman said they purchased a few pieces of equipment over the past month. A 20 KW GenX generator was purchased and installed at a cost of fifty-two hundred dollars. They also purchased a used John Deere riding tractor for five hundred, and a four-year-old Flink salt spreader from Jackson Township.
Supervisor Jenkins gave a report on the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) seminar she attended at the Carbondale Grand Hotel and Conference Center. She said it was very interesting but most of the responses they covered were big city happenings, which doesn’t relate to rural PA.
Joe Hunt and Associates (JHA) issued one permit for the month; a building permit by Way Lake reported Supervisor Wadman.
The Supervisors approved heating and diesel fuel bids to be advertised in the paper for the 2016 – 2017 season.
The final motion of the night was to accept the fire contract for 2017, which was the same as the prior year with the Thompson Hose Company. Ambulance service will be provided by Barnes Kasson Hospital. The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 p.m.
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 7th at 7:00 p.m. All residents are urged to attend.
