The first order of business at the Susquehanna Depot Council meeting held on September 13th was to appoint Ann Stewart as the new Borough Secretary/Treasurer.  Ms. Stewart has been working for the Borough since March 23rd of this year on a temporary basis.  Council members approved her current rate of pay and hours, and passed two resolutions adding Ms. Stewart to all existing bank accounts and naming her as Chief Administrative Officer for the Borough’s Police Pension Plan.

Borough Council also passed a resolution to establish a bank account for Ira Reynolds Riverfront Park, to be used for all expenses pertaining to the park in the future stated Council President Joseph Varsik.

One of the Borough’s residents questioned whether the Borough still owned the lot next to the Legion.  The reason for his question was he would like to put a spider in the lot.  President Varsik stated the Borough did own the property at the current time, but it will be transferred to the Legion in the near future.  He suggested the resident contact the Legion to ask permission.

President Varsik stated the Borough’s Solicitor, Michael Briechle recommended Council pass a resolution confirming the sale of 1248 Main Street to the American Legion in the amount of five thousand dollars.  The Legion supplied the Borough with an offer at Council’s meeting on June 14th, which was accepted at the July Council meeting for the sale of the property. 

Other business included accepting the Minimal Municipal Obligation for the Police Pension Plan for 2018, accepting Hinds Oil bid pricing for fuel oil, and recognizing the Susquehanna School District Homecoming Parade to be held on Saturday, September 23rd.

Council members spoke for several minutes on the dilemma the park is causing on the location of the Borough’s storage space for antiskid material, brush and leaves.  Several ideas were passed around and Council will need to find a solution before too long.  Kevin from DPW stated the next program, now that the roads are completed, is leaf pick-up. 

Mayor Nancy Hurley stated the Narcan and Camera Policy would need to be adopted.  Council stated they haven’t received an approved copy from Michael Briechle as of this date, and they will need to review it before they could adopt it.  President Varsik stated he would get in touch with the Solicitor and hopefully Council will receive the policies before the next meeting.  Mayor Hurley said it was very important they achieve this as soon as possible.

Police Chief Creamer stated he received a quote to have the rear window of the Dodge Durango repaired after a prisoner put his foot through it and climbed out.  The damage will cost two thousand, two hundred and ninety-nine dollars.  President Varsik asked if this was turned into the insurance company; Chief Creamer stated no.  President Varsik said to contact the insurance company to see if they had a particular place they needed to take the vehicle to be assessed; this way the Borough would only be responsible for the deductible.  Council motioned and unanimously approved to have the Durango fixed through the insurance company.

In order for this not to happen again, Chief Creamer obtained prices for bars to be placed over the rear windows of the vehicles.  The lowest price he was able to find was two hundred nineteen dollars and ninety-five cents for a set of two.  He said they would need two sets one for each of the vehicles.  Council motioned and unanimously approved purchasing two sets of bars.

The floor of the garage is cracking and Chief Creamer obtained a price to have a clear coat sealer applied.  He said the back-fill was creating the damage to the floor.  Council members stated maybe they should try to repair it first with a larger pipe. President Varsik instructed Chief Creamer to put the clear coat sealer on his budget for 2018.

The Police Report provided by Chief Creamer consisted of ninety incidents during the month of August.  The highest reported was thirty-six traffic stops, followed by seven responses to theft, six responses to harassment, five miscellaneous and five suspicious vehicles.

Councilman Roy Williams supplied Council with the Code Enforcement Officer Report consisting of fifteen property complaints, thirty-four requests, three calls regarding the Street Department, twenty-nine general inquiries, thirty-four Notices of Violations issued, fourteen Citations issued, three Building Permits issued, two Condemnations, two Demolition Notices, and one Rental Application.  He informed Council he would need to attend a Building Codes Officer recertification, which is a requirement every three years. The training will be held this year at the PA Construction Codes Academy in Williamsport.  The class will be November 6th through the 10th at a cost of three hundred seventy-five dollars. President Varsik said Councilman Williams would need approval for the class and also for four nights in a hotel, food and mileage that Council unanimously approved.

This is the time of year people should be checking their carbon and smoke detectors to make sure they are working stated Councilman Williams.  He said people who have wood stoves should have their chimney’s cleaned yearly as it's very important they take these preventative measures.

Councilman Williams stated he would be sending out notifications of Ordinance 455 as a warning to inform people depositing leaves, debris, limbs and snow on the streets will submit them to a fine of fifty dollars and each subsequent offense will cost them an additional fifty dollars.  He stated depositing debris on the streets causes drainage problems to the system and creates flooding.

Already some of the highest in the country, Lyme disease cases in Pennsylvania continue to rise, bringing increased public interest even as summer grinds to a close.

Part of a continuing effort to push out information on the topic, the Montrose Lyme Support Group will hold a free seminar Sept. 30 at the new Susquehanna County Library.  The seminar is designed to explain just what Lyme disease is, help in avoiding the disease and what to do and look for if an infection occurs.

The seminar will feature two expert speakers on Lyme disease, informational brochures and other resources.  The event begins at 10 a.m. and is free and open to the public.

The event's message hits home for one of its chief organizers, Robin Arnold,  Lyme disease sufferer turned educator.  Arnold is the sister of Susquehanna County Commissioners vice chairman Elizabeth “Betsy” Arnold.

Arnold led the listener down a long list of maladies involving constant pain, fatigue, disorientation, balance and vision problems she suffered through years of doctor's visits culminating in a 2009 Lyme disease diagnosis.

“By that time I could barely even walk or even brush my hair,” she said.

Arnold said she began having health problems in the mid-1970s including rashes since high school.

“They really didn't know what was going on,” she said. 

Arnold blames the years of delay in properly diagnosing her condition on disagreement in the medical community – which she refers to as “The Lyme Wars” – over how to properly diagnose Lyme disease and how to treat it, issues she racks up to “politics.”

The “politics” Arnold refers to is a difference in opinions between two organizations, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), on whether treatment criteria established by the Centers for Disease Control is the only and best way to treat Lyme disease.  The CDC's criteria relies on blood tests while the ILADS approach favors reliance on the judgement of the treating physician.

“They won't come together and work together,” Arnold said.  “Therefore people go without the treatment that they need and what happens is that we have a lot of sick people in our country,” Arnold said. 

Health care practioners who do not follow CDC criterias have found insurance companies refusing to cover claims, leaving patients with insurmountable bills and some doctors with lawsuits, explained one of the event's speakers, Tiffany Griffiths, a clinical psychologist and herself a Lyme disease survivor.

Some of the confusion, Griffiths said, could be settled if both methods of treatment were accepted and taught by medical schools. Commercial blood tests for Lyme disease are known to be inaccurate, she said.

“Really all we've been asking is for the two standards of care to be taught at medical school so they understand that there are two camps here,” she said.

Another problem, Arnold pointed out, is that many physicians won't acknowledge their patient has Lyme disease unless the bloodwork tells them so. Looking for an explanation, they conclude their patient is having imaginary symptoms. 

“And then when you're trying to get help and people are telling you, 'It's all in your head,' and yet you're physically sick and you're losing your hearing and your eyesight, it's terrifying,” she said.

“So there are a lot of peole who are paying a lot of money out of their pockets that are not covered by their insurance companies,” she said.

Griffiths said she had similar experiences even with her colleagues.

“The common go to is to go to fibromyalgia because there really is no test,” she said.

“I saw that in my conversations with my colleagues.  They're very dismissive of the possibility of a chronic lyme diagnosis,” she said.

“Even today there are two schools of diagnosing it,” said Phyllis Konstas, another event organizer and a founder of the Montrose Lyme Support Group.  “There is a conflict between the two of them as far as diagnosing Lyme,” she said.

The CDC and IDSA's reliance on bloodwork to the exclusion of other testing methods makes no sense to her.

“There is no test for a headache, there is no test for fibromyalgia, but people are diagnosed with both,” she said.

But one thing on which both sides in the Lyme disease treatment debate agree is that the number of cases continues to grow nationwide, with Pennsylvania leading the field.

According to statistics provided by the state Department of Health, Pennsylvania has led the nation in confirmed cases of Lyme disease for three straight years and for the first time deer ticks have been found in each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

The department's 2014 Lyme disease report released in June showed 7,400 cases of Lyme disease compared with 5,900 in 2013, a 25 percent increase over the prior year.  Similar statistics put out by the CDC show 7351 cases in 2015.  Earlier this year the department predicted Pennsylvania would again lead the nation in Lyme cases.

But ILAD, which calls Lyme “the fastest growing infectious disease in the U.S.,” and other professional associations such a the Lyme Disease Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Inc., have said they believe the CDC's estimate of 300,000 new cases nationwide in 2012 was too low.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that is caught when an infected tick bites you.  It is most common in the Northeast, the Upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest stats.  Flu-like symptoms, bodily aches and pains can begin between between 2 and 30 days from infection.

According to informational pamphlets provided by ILADS, lab tests for Lyme are considered reliable less than half the time and that is only if the lab performs specific tests.  If found early, commonly used antibiotics such as doxycycline or amoxicillin are usually prescribed.

As a result of recent studies which have shown that one third of psychiatic patients showed signs of exposure to Lyme disease, ILAD has also begun recommending patients be seen by a neuropsychologist.  Nervous system disorders, which can include memory loss and partial facial paralysis known as Bell's Palsy have been found in 15-40 % of late stage Lyme disease patients.

Lyme disease is hard to diagnose because many of its early symptoms also appear in many other common illnesses.  One frequently mentioned symptom, the characteristic “bulls eye” skin rash, actually only occurs in fewer than 40% of patients, Lyme disease test kit manufacturer IgeneX Inc. notes in its literature.

 Lyme is also made more difficult to suspect or detect as many people simply don't recall having been bitten and spotting a tiny tick on your body can be difficult.  If found on the body, ticks should be carefully removed with tweezers or a special tool.  Consult your family physician. 

About 30% of patients infected with Lyme disease are also infected with other tick-borne diseases such as bartonella, which is sometimes mistaken for Lyme disease.

Powassan, another tick-borne disease, is also on the radar.

In July the state Department of Health announced that an elderly Susquehanna County resident was diagnosed with only the second case of Powassan virus in Pennsylvania, with the first having been diagnosed in Lackawanna County in 2011.  More than 100 cases have been documented in the United States, mostly in the northeast and Great Lakes regions.

Resident Derwood Arnold attended the meeting to ask Lanesboro Council members what the requirements were to obtain a variance to place a shed closer to his neighbors’ property line than the permitted fifteen feet. He said his neighbor didn’t have any issues with the location he chose.  Mayor Chris Maby informed Mr. Arnold he would have to provide a sketch of the property with dimensions on how close the shed would be to the property lines and other structures during Council’s monthly meeting on September 12th.  Mayor Maby said he would need to provide a notarized letter from his neighbor stating she saw the sketch he was submitting to Council and had no issue with him encroaching upon her property line.

Mr. Arnold asked Mayor Maby if he was able to find out any more information on his previous request to build a wall on his property so he would be able to build up his yard with fill, and also place a three-car garage on a pad.  Mayor Maby stated he did speak with the Borough’s Solicitor, Myron Dewitt and unfortunately he would not be able to complete that project.  He stated it pertains to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requirements.  The Borough has an Ordinance stating no new buildings and no expansion on existing structures.  No fill is permitted without a study provided by an engineer, which would be very costly.  Mayor Maby stated if Council approves any of these stipulations everyone in the Borough would loose their federal floodplain insurance. 

Another resident who recently moved into town inquired about a piece of property behind her house that she would like to purchase for children to play on.  Mayor Maby stated that particular piece of property was purchased by FEMA, and is not permitted to be sold, stipulating the Borough must keep it mowed and cleaned but they cannot sell it.  Mayor Maby said it could be leased, but the requirements are for the land to stay forever clean, forever green, or developed into farmland.

Council received an invoice from Harmony Township for the work conducted in the Borough.  Harmony Township Street Department cleaned out the basin in the parking lot, purchased pipe and a coupler to be installed on Barnes Avenue, ditched and graded a road during the heavy rains for a price of two thousand, eight hundred and thirty dollars.  The pipe was the highest cost reflected on the invoice.  Also invoiced was cutting back the brush on roads requested by Council in the amount of one thousand, three hundred and twenty-five dollars.

Mr. Arnold and Council discussed for several minutes the smell of burning garbage, with smoke billowing out and filling the whole town with fog.  The smell of rubber and plastic could be identified, and Police Chief Jim Smith will be investigating with his officers.  Councilman Rockwell said he wasn’t able to breathe, since it was an awful smell.

Chief Smith provided the monthly Police Report to Council and the Mayor stating there were six traffic citations, twelve traffic warnings, nine incidents, two hours of court time and twenty-seven school hours in Lanesboro during the month of August.  Four traffic warnings and one traffic arrest was made during the thirteen hours spent in Thompson Borough.

Chief Smith reported he obtained an estimate in the amount of three thousand dollars to paint the Ford Police vehicle.  He stated it would cost an additional one thousand to repair the speedometer, shocks or bushings and the windshield wiper transmission.  Chief Smith said he didn’t think it was worth spending four thousand dollars to repair a car that was almost ten years old, with sixty-seven thousand miles on it when they could purchase a newer car for less money using a Municipal Bid site.  He said he looked into a grant for a new car and the grant would provide them forty to seventy percent of the purchase price.  Chief Smith said he was working with a representative from the Northern Tier Regional Planning & Development Commission to apply for the grant.  He suggested they purchase one car with the grant money and another car from the Municipal Bid site, once they found a good deal.

Mayor Maby informed Council he received an update regarding the sidewalk project from Bobbi Jo Turner, Susquehanna County Housing and Redevelopment Authority. Ms. Turner reported the bid request should be printed in the paper the week of September 17th.  He said the bids should arrive before Council's next scheduled meeting on October 12th and they will be able to award the bid during that meeting.

A picnic table at the park was totally broken due to the wood rotting, and maybe a helping hand.  Council President Dan Boughton said he would take care of it.

Secretary Gail Hanrahan sent a request to Council and the Mayor to find someone else to process the sewage billing and collections.  A meeting was set up to consult with Roger Holleran of Tri Boro to see what they could offer in terms of service, and what additional cost, if any, to the customers.

Mayor Maby and Council discussed people they could contact to provide them with an Elevation Certificate in order for them to obtain a cap for the insurance rates.  Mayor Maby stated it was in their best interest to obtain this certificate.

The next Borough Council meeting will be held on October 12th.

Montrose teachers, nearing their second year of work without a contract said last week they were “very close” to getting one.

But after meeting with school board members some questioned how close they really were and if they were even on the same page.

The question of just how close - or far apart - the two sides appeared seemed to center on two painfully familiar topics:  money and conversations about it.

Union members told the board that chief negotiator John Audi told them the teachers and the board were still $183,000 apart, but board members questioned what exactly the $183,000 represented.

“Is that annual or is that over the five years?  It does make a difference,” asked Finance Committee chairman Paul Adams.

Montrose Education Association head Teri Evans, who said she believed the $183,000 represented a five year figure, pleaded with board members, saying her union had made all the concessions they could and were “almost on their knees” asking what else they could offer up in trade.

Evans, whose thoughts were joined by others in the teachers’ union known as the MEA, said that some crucial parts of the negotiations may not have been accurately communicated to board members through third parties.

“I got real fears; I got real concerns that you’re not hearing how affordable our proposal actually is.  What we have on the table is actually going to save money,” she said.

Evans noted that negotiations between the district and the MEA cost the district $1,700 a day or, as of the time of her remarks 20 days after their last meeting, $34,000.

Audi did not attend last Monday’s meeting at the Choconut Valley Elementary School.

Not all school board members typically attend negotiation sessions and Evans invited them to come to the next one, scheduled for Monday the 25th.

“I want you all to be there.  Be my guest,” she said.

But when flat out asked if she would immediately agree to public negotiations, Evans stopped short.

“I can’t say,” she responded.

“Why not let it all be all be open?” asked Gloria Smith, another Montrose Area School District, or MASD, Finance Committee member.

“But it’s not going to solve it.  It’s not going to work,” Evans said.

 While not all MASD or MEA members attended each negotiation session, all union members have been kept up to date, Evans said.

“The difference is that you can ask any of our members.   They know exactly,” Evans said.

Smith, another Finance Board member, also invited teachers to attend. 

Last March MEA members filled a picket line after contract talks with the MASD stalled.

In late June, the MASD made public on the district’s website details of its negotiations with the MEA, claiming it was offering a 3.64% jump for 2017-2018 which Evans said really amounted to only a 1.78% raise.  Before that June meeting the MEA took out a full page ad in a local publication highlighting similar points and asking for a compromise.

Last week some dissention concerning the public discussion about the reported $183,000 gap appeared among board members.

“We’re not going to get into negotiations,” said board chair Doug Wilcox.

“I’m delineating a point,” responded Adams, who spoke out about favoring public negotiations.

“Did you not state what your opinion was?” Wilcox shot back.

School board members have repeatedly said that they would prefer to have pubic negotiations but that the union has refused.  For her part, Evans has said previously that the MASD never before formally asked the MEA to take negotiations public.

Bridgewater Township resident and former board member Greg Scheer turned to face that portion of the audience predominantly made up of MEA members and shared his recollections of the negotiations which began almost two years ago.  Scheer urged the teachers to agree to public negotiations.

“I am for that because I am a resident and I am a taxpayer and I want to know what’s going on in my district.  You should too,” he said.

Last Monday’s meeting came on the heels of last month’s contentious meeting where MEA members holding volunteer positions resigned en masse saying that they wanted to devote their time strictly to classroom work.  The district has since advertised and filled most positions.

The union’s move was made at the end of a long meeting filled with angry statements from the union, members of which have complained about increases in health care costs, and hotly refuted accusations from the school board, which is comprised of volunteers who show signs of their reactions at having been dragged into protracted contract negotiations.

Much of the frustration generated by that meeting stemmed from arguments over the district’s refusal to tap an unexpected $800,000 health insurance refund the district received in April which teachers wanted used to resolve their contract.

District officials have refused, saying that it must be reserved for other long term needs, such as state-mandated pension funding.  District officials have repeatedly advised union members that the district faces a looming $600,000 deficit which Finance Committee chairman Adams has said he expects to mushroom to $1 million.

Under the district’s latest proposal some teachers stand to lose thousands in income over the course of their careers.  School officials respond by saying that they are responsible to the taxpayers and their children, the students, who also deserve improvements in the school’s curriculum and overdue technology updates.

Two other issues affecting negotiations are the district’s decision to establish and fill the new $90,000 position of director of curriculum and initiate discussions on a memorandum of understanding on a new compensation package with district administrators before having resolved the MEA contract.

“The pain is coming and the longer we wait the worse it’s going to get,” Adams said last Monday.

After most of Oakland Borough’s Council meeting held on September 14th was addressing questions by residents pertaining to who owned the section of Third Avenue after the pavement ends, there still weren’t any answers.Tim, who owns several lots past the pavement on Third Avenue brought in a map created by Edward Holleran in April of 1945 showing Third Avenue continuing past several lots in a subdivision.  Oakland Boroughs Solicitor Myron DeWitt stated the Borough would have had to adopt the map and there is no documentation Borough officials can find supporting that fact.

Mary, who also owns property right past the pavement stated she invested a lot of money to create a driveway on a portion of the right-of-way easement, and grooming the bank.  She is very concerned if a road goes in how is that going to affect her property that she’s been taking care of for the past seven years.

Eric is also concerned, since he doesn’t want to be landlocked and would like to know what steps Tim is considering to make the property accessible.  He said half of the right-of-way is level, and the other part is sloped.  Grading the level part, or building up the steep part will change the natural flow of the land creating multiple issues. He currently does not have any plans for his property, but for the future he needs to know how the situation of the property access is going to be rectified.

The residents questioned Solicitor DeWitt if the Borough still owns the road, can they still use it.  He stated by law there cannot be any land locked property, and they need to find out if the Borough Council adopted the land.  After examining the map of record, Solicitor DeWitt said it was fairly straightforward; by law if the Borough never accepted the continuation of Third Avenue for public use, and they never opened it to the public they are not responsible for it. In his opinion the recorded map considers it an easement to be used by landowners because there is no documentation of the road being adopted.

Tim stated he has hired Kempa Land Surveying to conduct a survey of the road, and he will be staking the property, but once that is completed he questioned what are his next steps.  Solicitor DeWitt stated if they cannot find documentation supporting adoption of the road the landowners could work together to figure out a solution.

Moving on, Councilman Dave Dibble questioned an invoice on the monthly bills pertaining to sidewalk maintenance.  After Council spent several minutes speaking about paying a bill that should be the property owner’s responsibility, a sidewalk committee was created to review the old ordinance, and create a new one that would be enforceable.

A Codes Enforcement Class will be offered in Williamsport, November 6th through the 10th and Councilman Dibble recommended Shane Lewis, the Borough’s Code Enforcement Officer attend the class.  Since Mr. Lewis did not attend the meeting, Council could not make a motion to approve payment of this class until they spoke with Mr. Lewis to see if he was available to attend during those dates.

Council unanimously approved purchasing No Parking Signs to be installed on Westfall and River Streets.  People are currently parking close to the stop sign and creating a hazardous situation for drivers not having a visual around the cars as they are approaching the intersection.  Once the signs are installed there will be no parking thirty feet from the stop sign.

Councilman Doug Arthur informed Council there was a leak between the water main and the concession stand, which needed to be repaired.  Council approved having the repair made as soon as possible.

The next scheduled Council meeting is October 12th at 7:00 p.m.

Susquehanna County Commissioners, on a 2-to-1 vote last week passed a new non-smoking policy for all county owned buildings.

Commissioner’s head Alan M. Hall said that last Wednesday’s move was spurred on by the discovery of people smoking on a third floor fire escape in the Susquehanna County Courthouse.

“Yesterday we found that there were people on the third floor fire escape taking a smoke break, which is definitely a safety issue as well as an issue with smoking in its entirety,” Hall said.

“The fire escape is not designed for a smoking pit or for a gathering of people. It is designed for emergency exit from the building, let alone we compromise security by people going in and out of an emergency exit,” Hall said.

Hall also noted that the fire escape is located right over a brand new rubber roof which could be damaged by discarded cigarette butts.  Hall also said that he worried about a possible fire hazard resulting from people depositing hot cigarette butts in office trash cans.

Hall and commissioner Mary Ann Warren voted to approve the measure while commissioner Elizabeth “Betsy” Arnold voted against it, saying she wanted more time to consider the issue.

“If someone falls off that and sues the county, I guess that will be a good thing,” Hall said after the vote.

Hall said that the commissioners will put together a policy and make it available to the public.

Hall said that he approached courthouse employees about the smoking and was told that unless there was a sign that said they couldn’t smoke they would continue puffing away.

“At county facilities we’ve always had a policy that they couldn’t smoke in the building, but apparently that wasn’t good enough,” Hall said.

Susquehanna County’s move follows one made (also last week) by Tioga County commissioners who declared the Wellsboro Town Green smoke and tobacco free. Citing concerns over the dangers of second hand smoke and littering resulting from smoking, Tioga County commissioners began considering the issue last summer.

The Wellsboro Town Green, the site of the familiar “Wynken, Blynken and Nod” statue, is a popular destination for visitors out for a stroll and also serves as the setting for local social and cultural events.  Tioga County owns and maintains Wellsboro’s Town Green.

This Reporter was told by a source in the Susquehanna County Courthouse that the people seen smoking there were jurors, not employees, and as such have been allowed to smoke there for the last 25 years. The person also offered that since they are jurors, who once they are sworn in are not to have unauthorized contact with lawyers, defendants, etc., they have been allowed to smoke on the fire escape.