MARTINSBURG BOROUGH COUNCIL MINUTES
OCTOBER 2, 2006
The regular meeting of the Martinsburg Borough Council was held on Monday, October 2, 2006, in the municipal building. The meeting started at 7:10 p.m. with prayer by Randy Stoltz and the Pledge of Allegiance.
ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT: Mayor Donald C. Greenleaf, President Robert Carper, Vice-President Brian K. Gahagan, Pro-tem Nathan P. Ormsby, Councilman Christopher E. Brooks, Councilwoman Doreen Easly, Councilwoman Suzanne McNally, and Councilman Sheldon O. Smith
ALSO PRESENT were Manager Randy Stoltz, Borough Secretary Jane Staily, Chief Kerry Hoover, Attorney Frederick Gieg, Jr., Attorney Cathy Miller, Richard Brantner, Jr., Sgt. Justin Davis, and Dan Horton of the Morrisons Cove Herald.
The MINUTES of the regular meeting of September 5, 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 September 2006 as written.
The LIST OF BILLS for September 2006, check nos. 3326-3371 in the amount of $59,095.02 was approved on a motion by Doreen Easly, seconded by Sheldon Smith. The motion passed unanimously.
Chief Kerry Hoover presented the police report as written. The next neighborhood crime watch meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, October 10, at 7:00 p.m. Fire Chief Randy Acker will be the guest speaker. Chief Hoover has been working on the police website. A case solvers page has been added. Changes to the web site are made through the Front Page program. Various forms for the borough will be posted on the site. A counter was added to see how many people are visiting it. Chris Brooks had some helpful suggestions to separate the police site from the borough’s site.
Manager Randy Stoltz presented his report. borough crew spray primed the borough garage on Sept. 7; the garage was painted on Sept. 8 – it took 25 gallons of paint; the sidewalk and driveway approach at the town center parking lot was done by Dwayne Smith – waiting one month to let it totally cure before letting anyone on it; lines were painted on the lot on September 15 – the lot is already getting a lot of use; Martinsburg experienced an eight-hour power interruption on September 13th when Penelec replaced the pole on S. Market St.; the new tailgate spreader was installed on the truck; the reservoir was cleaned on September 20th – it is maintained for emergency use only; the final inspection of the SprinG Street Ditch project was conducted on September 27 – some of the money grant received for the project may be approved for use on the storm water project done at the town center parking lot; a Downtown Revitalization meeting is scheduled for October 4th at Rex and Dotty Hershberger’s house; something to be thinking about at budget time - would like to plan to pave the town center parking lot either through grant money or through the borough budget; the first draft of the community map has been received to be proofread and returned.
Attorney Gieg reported that once he receives the documents to be signed by the Overs and the McGraws on the town center parking lot it can be recorded.
The USDA needs verification that Martinsburg is a municipal corporation. Attorney Gieg wrote an opinion letter stating this for them to complete the Spring Street Ditch project.
On authority business, Attorney Gieg is still waiting for Charles Kanode and Rodney Metzler’s engineer P. Joseph Lehman to get back to the authority regarding having the water and sewer lines in their development dedicated over to the authority.
Attorney Cathy Miller reported that the agreement and the ordinance on September 8th to take over the small portion of E. Christiana St. A copy was also sent to Highway Liquid Fuels to show that it was taken over by the borough.
Met with Chief Hoover and Manager Stoltz to review the Nuisance Ordinance. They would like to do an amendment that addresses the abatement issues regarding tall grass and weeds. They would also like to address in the amendment those with three or more openly stored vehicles. Council on a motion by Chris Brooks, seconded by Suzanne McNally, approved to advertise the amendment to Nuisance Ordinance No. 439 as Ordinance No. 2006-563 subject to Chief Hoover and Manager Stoltz approving the amendment. The motion passed unanimously.
Nathan Ormsby reported that he was unable to attend the last meeting of the Martinsburg Municipal Authority.
Attorney Gieg reported that he had been working free of charge for the Martinsburg Volunteer Fire Department on purchasing a property. The fire department was prepared to purchase the property outright but the seller requested that it be paid for over a five year period so Rick helped them set that up. He also attended a deposition with Randy Acker. Council was very appreciative of his generosity towards the fire company.
Jane Staily presented 2007 Draft Budget No. 2 showing General Fund revenues of $598,931 and expenditures of $598,488 reflecting no millage increase. A 5% overall wage increase was incorporated into this draft. Police fines appeared to be budgeted higher than average. Chief Hoover requested that the patrolmen category be budgeted closer to $24,600 to reflect raises. He will submit his purchases request from the equipment fund for next month.
Council on a motion by Nathan Ormsby, seconded by Chris Brooks, authorized to open a separate checking account for the building maintenance fund. The motion passed unanimously.
Chris Brooks volunteered to research the borough phone billing accounts in an attempt to get the most economical plan.
Jane Staily will be contacting Dave Frederick to see if he has any foresight this early on the upcoming health insurance rates for next year.
[Doreen Easly left at 8:02 p.m.]
Chief Hoover reported that the police vest grant was denied this year. He will be checking on the reason for the denial and to see if he can reapply. Council on a motion by Chris Brooks, seconded by Sheldon Smith, authorized Chief Hoover to order as many vests for the police department anyway not to exceed $3,600 to be purchased this year. The motion passed unanimously.
Council would like to approve the 2007 budget at the regular meeting in December to avoid a year end special meeting if possible.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:24 p.m. on a motion by Chris Brooks, seconded by Nathan Ormsby. The motion passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
M. Jane Staily
Secretary