MARTINSBURG BOROUGH COUNCIL MINUTES
August 6, 2007
The regular meeting of the Martinsburg Borough Council was held on Monday, August 6, 2007, in the municipal building. The meeting started at 7:00 p.m. with prayer by Randy Stoltz and the Pledge of Allegiance.
ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT: Mayor Donald C. Greenleaf, President Robert A. Carper, Pro-tem Nathan P. Ormsby, Councilman Christopher E. Brooks, Councilwoman Linda K. Smith and Councilwoman Doreen Easly
ALSO PRESENT were Manager Randy Stoltz, Borough Secretary Jane Staily, Attorney Cathy Miller, Chief Kerry Hoover, Patrolman James Layton, Richard Brantner, Jr. Mike Parisi and Kris Quigley of the Hollidaysburg Ambulance, and Sharon Snyder of the Morrison’s Cove Herald.
The MINUTES of the regular meeting of July 2, 2007 were approved on a motion by Chris Brooks, seconded by Nathan Ormsby. The motion passed unanimously.
The FINANCIAL AND TREASURER’S REPORTS were presented for July, 2007 as written.
The LIST OF BILLS for July 2007, check nos. 3757-3821 in the amount of $80,832.40 (including a $45,000 PLGIT Investment) was approved on a motion by Doreen Easly, seconded by Nathan Ormsby. The motion passed unanimously.
Mayor Donald Greenleaf reported that he participated in two parades: Agricultural and the Fireman’s parade; verbally thanked the potentate for the Jaffa Shrine units; verbally thanked the Altoona City Fire Department Color Guard - sent a letter to the Altoona mayor thanking the city for the fire department’s color guard participating in the parade – a copy was sent to the Martinsburg Volunteer Fire Department; received the corrected copy of the citation in recognition of the 175th Anniversary from Senator Eichelberger’s office – delivered a copy to the borough office; along with the police department, visited several residences and businesses concerning grass and weed ordinance violations; sent e-mail to the editor of the Morrison’s Cove Herald asking that the letter be published in the proper weekly edition, thanking the property owners for their response to tidy up their properties and making note that the majority were complying – the letter appeared as desired; and asked Representative Rick Giest to have announced prior to the start of the Tour De Toona bicycle race that the borough is celebrating their 175th year as the oldest borough in the county – the announcement was made just prior to the first race – rode in the police cruiser with Chief Hoover during the 2nd and 4th race.
Chief Kerry Hoover presented his police report as written. The next neighborhood Watch meeting will be held next Tuesday evening. Deputy Chief Mitch Cooper will be the guest speaker discussing gang activity in Blair County. The National Night Out Against Crime festivities will be held on August 7, from 6-9:00 p.m. at the Duncansville Antique Depot. John Stuckey Ford called Friday informing Chief Hoover that the new police cruiser was shipped and should be ready in 2-3 weeks after the decals, lights and radios are installed. The hold up was a recall on the front wheel bearings. Three of the nine duty weapons reportedly malfunctioned this year – East Coast Guns was contacted regarding the malfunctions and will be replacing the weapons with Smith and Wesson M&P .40 caliber pistols at no charge to the borough – council was thankful that the department was dealing with a local vendor. A 223 caliber patrol rifle was seized by the department during an arrest one year ago and through the court order the case judge placed the rifle into the possession of the Martinsburg Police Department for
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police use. The gun is worth about $600. It would take another court order to dispose of the gun. The officers will be trained on the rifle before it is utilized. It will not be carried in the patrol car on a regular basis. Chief Hoover has been receiving a lot of people showing up at his residence to file police reports on his off duty hours – all reports should either be filed with the officer on duty or with 911.
Manager Stoltz reported that he was parade honoree for the Agricultural parade – thanked Hollidaysburg Ambulance for being there; Penelec’s scheduled power outage on July 5th went well; sprayed weeds on July 11; went to New Jersey with some of the authority members to tour some nitrate removal systems; made some water and sewer taps at 110 E. State Street on July 17 and 24th; wrote a thank you to the Senator Greenleaf and Senator Eichelberger for their citation in recognition of our 175th Anniversary; Martinsburg hosted its eleventh Tour De Toona Bicycle Race; Creslow Construction started the S. Mulberry St. water line replacement project on July 30 – it is in the contract for the sub-base to be topped; the beautification committee cleaned up the 100 block at town center – borough supplied a truck and some trash bags; sprayed weeds on August 1; the Cove Area Regional Digester has its pilot plant assembled at the Rodney Metzler Farm. It will be in operation for two months and will be open for touring soon – a 30 minute documentary was done on the digester and will air on PBS hopefully within a month.
Mayor Greenleaf mentioned that Penelec has not yet removed the safety cover placed on the lines when the roofer was in. Manager Stoltz called them over a month ago to let them know we were done with it. Mayor Greenleaf was concerned about the rental cars to be brought in on the property where soil tests were taken where the old oil/gas tanks were removed. The old feather petroleum property had soil tests taken there also.
Attorney Cathy Miller had Ordinance No. 2007-568 advertised for consideration for adoption this evening as a formality for collecting delinquent realty transfer taxes. On a motion by Chris Brooks, seconded by Doreen Easly, council adopted Ordinance No. 2007-568 providing for collection of delinquent realty transfer tax. The motion passed unanimously.
Nathan Ormsby attended the meeting of the Martinsburg Municipal Authority on July 19. The authority board has a big decision to make regarding nitrate removal from the drinking water, which has not been made mandatory just yet.
President Carper mentioned that he was proud of the borough crew for the good job they did on the cleanup of the streets for three separate events this summer. The police department and the ambulance crew is also to be commended. Attorney Cathy Miller commented how well the council members work together and get things accomplished. That cannot be said for all of the municipalities that she covers. Chief Hoover thanked the Hollidaysburg Ambulance for being so close by with their bicycle unit during the Tour de Toona bicycle race.
Doreen Easly reported that the next meeting of the 175th Anniversary Committee will be on Monday, August 20th at 7:00 p.m. She was requesting that council consider donating the cost of the cake for the September 22nd event. This event will be held in conjunction with the Martinsburg Fire Company, St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church and the Church of God. They are planning to have puppet shows, clowns, pork BBQ by Jim Blattenberger, firehouse chili, Christian Rock Bands, a popcorn machine, horse shoe pitching, a dunking machine. This picniclike event was geared to the youth and should be a lot of fun. They are planning to close E. Penn Street from 12-5:00
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p.m. for the event. On a motion by Nathan Ormsby, seconded by Linda Smith, council agreed to pay the cost of the cake for the event. The motion passed unanimously. Doreen will get the necessary information on the event to Chief Hoover to be posted on the borough’s website. The 175th Anniversary Committee is hoping to donate one-half of the money left over at the end of the event to go towards a new borough sign and the other half to be donated to the fire company.
Manager Stoltz received some information from Image Signs and passed around a picture of two of their signs available. One sign was lighted and other was made of high density urethane sign foam. Council found the urethane sign most favorable. Manager Stoltz will get more information on the colors available and try to get some pictures of other signs they have made.
Linda Smith reported on the highlights of the last Revitalization Committee meetings held in July. More donations have been received for the project; thank you notes were written to all those who donated flowers and materials; they are hoping to get a community block grant to help with making the sidewalks safer; Carol Gartland presented the committee with a drawing of a mural for consideration for town center; checking into some cement planters with small trees and lights for the entranceway to the town center parking lot; a cleanup day for the town center area was held on July 31; the next meeting will be held on August 13 – the committee will be traveling to Tyrone to see their beautification project; and Linda gave Manager Stoltz a copy of the committee’s minutes to put on file. Mayor Greenleaf mentioned that Mr. and Mrs. C. J. Terrano were interested in being on the revitalization committee.
This month’s “Yard of the Month” winner is Leroy and Mary Kay Smith of S. Market Street. A photo for the newspaper will be taken tomorrow.
On a motion by Nathan Ormsby, seconded by Chris Brooks, Trick or Treat Night for the Borough of Martinsburg was set for Thursday, October 25, from 6-8:00 p.m. The motion passed unanimously.
On a motion by Chris Brooks, seconded by Nathan Ormsby, council approved to pre-buy $9,500 of heating oil for the 2007-2008 season at $2.699 per gallon from Barkman Oil Company. The motion passed unanimously. Deliver period is from September 1, 2007 thru April 30, 2008.
A brief executive session will be held after the adjournment of the meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m. on a motion by Nathan Ormsby, seconded by Chris Brooks. The motion passed unanimously.
Mayor Greenleaf inquired if council was interested in re-establishing the annual Christmas parade because Herb Burns was interested in starting it back up again. The parade was always focused around the police department’s Toys for Kids program. In the past the police officers themselves were never very involved in the parade itself. Council would support Herb if he was interested in putting one together again.
Respectfully submitted,
M. Jane Staily
Secretary