MARTINSBURG BOROUGH COUNCIL MINUTES
NOVEMBER 6, 2006
The regular meeting of the Martinsburg Borough Council was held on Monday, November 6, 2006, 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 Carper, Pro-tem Nathan P. Ormsby, Councilman Christopher E. Brooks, Councilwoman Doreen Easly, and Councilman Sheldon O. Smith
ALSO PRESENT were Manager Randy Stoltz, Borough Secretary Jane Staily, Attorney Cathy Miller, Richard Brantner, Jr., Sgt. Justin Davis, and Dan Horton of the Morrisons Cove Herald.
The MINUTES of the regular meeting of October 2, 2006, were approved on a motion by Nathan Ormsby, seconded by Doreen Easly. The motion passed unanimously.
The FINANCIAL AND TREASURER’S REPORTS were presented for October 2006 as written.
The LIST OF BILLS for October 2006, check nos. 3372-3413 in the amount of $61,585.92 was approved on a motion by Doreen Easly, seconded by Nathan Ormsby. The motion passed unanimously.
Mayor Greenleaf read his written concern and proposal stating that some area properties needed to clean up their leaves. Council sympathized with the situation and suggested that citizens should clean up their leaves out of respect for their neighbors, but felt there was not much they could do because the blowing leaves were an act of God. Council did have a concerned about the leaves blocking up the storm sewers.
Sergeant Justin Davis was present in the absence of Chief Hoover and presented the police report as written. He highlighted the report: most of the activity in October took place in Huston Township; Trick-or-Treat night went well – there were only a few minor incidents – in addition to the police department, a lot of volunteers were out patrolling the streets including the Martinsburg Volunteer Fire Company; the vest grant was approved on October 19th; Councilman Brooks was working with the police department on their wireless technology; the borough’s website was being utilized by people already; Manager Stoltz and Chief Hoover have discussed the amendment to the nuisance ordinance; the 2006 Toys for Kids program was in full swing – the department will be trying to complete the toy give away early in December this year; the next Neighborhood Crime Watch meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 14th at 7:00 p.m. in the Jaycee Room – Chief Hoover will be the guest speaker – there will not be a December meeting.
Sergeant Davis reviewed the police department’s list of requested items/equipment to be included in the 2007 budget which included the following prioritized as follows: new cruiser, cruiser equipment and decals, portable radios, MS Office for laptop, file cabinets, laptop mounts, new computer for the duty officer, wireless supplies for laptop, annual subscription to a wireless connection, Metro for the laptop, and a new copier. Justin reviewed a list of things they were having problems with on the old police car.
Manager Stoltz reported that an improvement should be made to the first line of the amendment to the nuisance ordinance to help cross reference it with the prior nuisance ordinance numbers; attended a meeting of the downtown revitalization committee at Rex Hershberger’s; representative of the Penna. Rural Water was in on October 5th to help us with water leak detection – our water pumpage is down since the leak repairs were made; put one-way signs up on town center parking lot – the lot is already getting a lot of use - not planning to light up the town center parking lot before winter – it should be wired prior to paving; been running the street sweeper to pick up the leaves; the roof over the ramp in the back of the municipal building was repaired; and on November 1st sent back the fourth draft of the community map.
Attorney Cathy Miller reported that the amendment to the nuisance ordinance has been properly advertised and is ready for adoption.
Sheldon Smith attended the town center revitalization meeting at Rex Hershberger’s. The committee is doing a study to see what it would cost to replace about 35 overhead utility lines by putting them underground to see if it is cost prohibitive. Grants for the project were also discussed.
Received a letter from the state house of representatives regarding the cable choice and competition act. There is contradictory information between what this letter states and what the Pennsylvania State Association of Borough’s has been recommending borough’s to do to save their franchise fee income. Also received correspondence from Verizon on the issue.
Chris Brooks analyzed the borough’s annual phone costs. The borough could save about $500 annually by switching all of the borough’s long distance service over on to one bill with Embarq. Each phone number will still receive a listing in the phone book. The benefits of making the switch should out way the extra bookkeeping it will take to separate the bill for budgeting purposes. Council on a motion by Chris Brooks, seconded by Nathan Ormsby, to have all of the phone numbers combined on one bill with Embarq. The motion passed unanimously.
Mayor Greenleaf was open to suggestion on how to find out more about the twenty-four member advisory committee that he is a member of. Manager Stoltz suggested he contact the Blair County Planning Commission.
Manger Stoltz reported that the Well Head Protection Plan was resubmitted with answers to their questions.
Doreen Easly reported on the activities being planned for the 175th Anniversary celebration. A spaghetti dinner fundraiser is scheduled for February 17th at the Martinsburg Fire Hall. The Traditions and the Village Closet are also selling the fundraiser T-shirts. She expressed her appreciation to Chief Hoover for making the display posters for the T-shirt sale. The next meeting was scheduled for the December 18th at 6:30 p.m. in the Jaycee Room. Manager Stoltz’s mother prepared some sample door stops commemorative of the 175th Anniversary of our town as a possible fundraiser idea. Only one design was chosen to be reproduced for sale.
Borough Secretary Jane Staily presented Draft No. 3 of the 2007 Budget. The general operating fund was shown balanced at $600,050 with no tax increase. Few changes were made to the Equipment Fund budget to reflect the purchase of a new cruiser. A motion was made by Nathan Ormsby, seconded by Chris Brooks, to transfer $10,000 immediately from the general operating fund to the Equipment Fund for building maintenance (later to be transferred to the building maintenance account with PLGIT when it is officially set up). The motion passed unanimously.
Chris Brooks suggested that a line item be included in the budget for washing the cruisers when the weather prohibits washing it outside. It was suggested that the police department could make arrangement with the municipal garage to wash their cruisers indoors there when the weather is bad. The garage is heated and is equipped with a power washer.
Council on a motion by Nathan Ormsby, seconded by Doreen Easly approved to advertise the 2007 Budget as presented with the few changes made to the Equipment Fund for a 10-day public inspection for consideration for adoption next month. The motion passed unanimously. There was no tax increase incorporated into the budget.
Ordinance No. 2006-563 was properly advertised as for the protection of the public health; defining nuisances and declaring certain conditions, places and things to be nuisances and prohibiting the same, and providing for the abatement thereof and penalties for the violation thereof, and repealing and amending parts of Ordinance Nos. 1985-439 and 1964-292. A minor change was made to the actual ordinance itself by changing the description of the ordinance from “amending parts of previous ordinances” to “amending parts of Ordinance Nos. 1985-439 and 1964-292” to make it more definitive. Council on a motion by Chris Brooks, seconded by Sheldon Smith, adopted Ordinance No. 2006-563. The motion passed unanimously.
The Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System has announced that excess interest awards are available based on the 2005 performance. Several options are available to allocate the interest. Council on a motion by Chris Brooks, seconded by Nathan Ormsby approved to disburse the excess interest as in previous years. The allocations will be disbursed to all participating employees currently employed with the borough pro-rated based on total wages earned to date from each member’s date of eligibility into the pension plan: Uniformed Plan $2,200 and Non-Uniformed Plan $1,503. The motion passed unanimously.
A motion was made by Doreen Easly, seconded by Sheldon Smith to donate $200 to the Toys for Kids Program for 2006. The motion passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:57 p.m. on a motion by Chris Brooks, seconded by Nathan Ormsby. The motion passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
M. Jane Staily
Secretary