MARTINSBURG BOROUGH COUNCIL MINUTES
FEBRUARY 5, 2007
The regular meeting of the Martinsburg Borough Council was held on Monday, February 5, 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 Doreen K. Easly and Councilwoman Suzanne B. McNally
ALSO PRESENT were Manager Randy Stoltz, Borough Secretary Jane Staily, Attorney Frederick B. Gieg, Jr. and Attorney Cathy Miller, Richard Brantner, Jr., Chief Kerry Hoover, Sgt. Justin Davis; and Dan Horton of the Morrisons Cove Herald.
The MINUTES of the regular meeting of January 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 December 21-31, 2006 as written.
The LIST OF BILLS for December 21-31, 2006, check nos. 3514-3529 in the amount of $2,486.43 was approved on a motion by Doreen Easly, seconded by Chris Brooks. The motion passed unanimously.
The FINANCIAL AND TREASURER’S REPORTS were presented for January 2007 as written.
The LIST OF BILLS for January 2007, check nos. 3530-3562 in the amount of $10,591.65 was approved on a motion by Doreen Easly, seconded by Nathan Ormsby. The motion passed unanimously.
Mayor Donald Greenleaf reported that he received a communication from a Pennsylvania Senator, but he wants to first present it to the 175th Anniversary Committee board regarding a possible participant in the agricultural parade.
Chief Hoover presented the police report as written. January was busier than usual. Attended a meeting on January 5th of the Blair County Chiefs of Police to discuss a new program called “Operation Our Town” – created by business owners to try to clean up the whole county crime-wise as well as the living conditions. All but one of the new vests were received. Three new portable radios were received – the portables purchased were of better quality than originally quoted but cost the same as budgeted. Training is needed for the lap top in the cruiser. The next Neighborhood Crime Watch meeting was planned for February 13 – Mark Miller of the Deputy Sheriffs Office will be the guest speaker and will be bringing his canine drug dog. The 2006 UCR statistics reveal that there was an overall crime increase of 9.4%. The department will need $250 to have the visual alert program installed into the second lap top so it can be installed the same time as the first one. Council on a motion by Chris Brooks, seconded by Doreen Easly authorized to pay the $250 from the Equipment Fund to have the Visual Alert program installed into the second lap top. The motion passed unanimously.
Manager Stoltz mentioned that Councilman Sheldon O. Smith passed away. He was probably one of the most community minded people he knew. It was the consensus of all those present that he will be sadly missed.
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Manager Stoltz reported that thirty-five Christmas trees were collected on January 9; the community maps were delivered to residents by the Boy Scouts; two of the Cove Area Regional Digester committee members met with Rodney Metzler to discuss placing a trial pilot digester on his property – it will be 1/50 scale (only 300 gallon tank) – tours of the pilot site will be given; attended emergency management training on January 23 in Altoona; attended a meeting on building code changes; attended a water operator’s training course in Bedford; and attended pesticide training in Somerset.
Suzanne McNally mentioned that she received a lot of compliments on the recently delivered community map. She has also been hearing a lot of concern about the upcoming water rate increase to help defray the anticipated costs of nitrate removal from our drinking water. Some are asking what the local farming community is doing to reduce the nitrates they are expelling into our groundwater.
Manager Stoltz passed out a rate schedule for the council to see. The water rate will be increasing from $2.85 per 1,000 gallons to $4.30 per 1,000 gallons effective March 1, 2007. The last increase was in 1995. The authority will be ineligible for any grants if their rates are too low. Attorney Gieg commented that the authority has been balancing their water budget with capital reserve money for the past few years and that the rate increase was necessary. Councilman Ormsby was also in agreement that the increase was a prudent move made by the authority.
Attorney Cathy Miller reported that the 911 Ordinance has been properly advertised and was ready for adoption this evening.
The loss of Sheldon Smith has created vacancies on the following boards: Council; Well Head Protection Committee; Revitalization Committee and the Spring Cove Development Planners. Chris Brooks volunteered to replace him on the Well Head Protection Committee and the Revitalitzation Committee.
Doreen Easly reported that tickets were on sale for the spaghetti dinner on Saturday, February 17. Proceeds will go towards the upcoming events in celebration of the 175th anniversary of our town. She was contacted by the Altoona Mirror and an article on the 175th Anniversary was printed in their paper. They will be putting something in each month until the celebration is over. Doreen and Suzanne will be attending the Boosters meeting on Thursday to discuss the upcoming celebration events.
Ordinance No. 2007-567 was advertised for consideration for adoption at this meeting. The ordinance is to provide uniform standards for the naming of streets; fabrication, erection and maintenance of street name signs; establishing a street address numbering system; address posting requirements and enforcement procedures to better enhance the blair County 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Systems. On a motion by Chris Brooks, seconded by Nathan Ormsby, council adopted Ordinance No. 2007-567.
Council was in the process of considering reimbursement to the full-time police officers for their personal cell phone use on a long-term basis.
In regards Sheldon Smith’s death, council will be accepting letters of interest from any borough residents interested in fulfilling the remainder of his unexpired council term ending December 31, 2007. The requirements will be as mentioned in the borough code. Letters must be received by March 1, 2007. Copies of the letters received will be included in the packet for council to
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FEBRUARY 5, 2007 - PAGE 3
review before the next meeting on March 5th. The vacancy will be posted on the borough’s web site as well as mentioned in the newspaper.
Manager Stoltz suggested council consider a donation to the Boy Scouts in appreciation for delivering our community maps to borough residents. The deliver of the maps saved the borough $300-400 on postage. Council on a motion by Nathan Ormsby, seconded by Doreen Easly, approved to send the Boy Scouts a $100 donations to their local chapter. The motion passed unanimously.
Council on a motion by Nathan Ormsby, seconded by Suzanne McNally, authorized Chris Brooks to replace Sheldon Smith as one of the four check signers for the borough’s checking accounts with Omega Bank and PLGIT. The motion passed unanimously.
Chief Hoover reported that the entire police department attended the Sheldon Smith funeral and lead the procession to the cemetery.
There is still a lot of food left in the food bank to be distributed.
There will be an executive session following the regular meeting this evening to discuss legal matters.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:10 p.m. on a motion by Nathan Ormsby, seconded by Chris Brooks. The motion passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
M. Jane Staily
Secretary