[3:33] Good evening everybody. The time is now
7:03 p.m. I'd like to call this regular
[3:37] voting meeting to order. Today's date,
Tuesday, September 8th, 2026. I'll rise
[3:41] for the pledge of allegiance, please.
[3:45] To the flag of the United States of
America and to the stand
[3:53] indivisible with liberty and justice for
all.
[3:59] » Thank you. Roll call, please. Michelle
>> Mr.
[4:03] » President,
>> present.
[4:06] » Mr. Lynch,
>> Mrs. Harris,
[4:09] » here.
>> Mr.
[4:11] » President, Mrs.
>> here.
[4:15] here.
>> Here.
[4:18] » Okay. Agenda item number four. We have a
presentation from Mark D'Angelo, West
[4:22] Jefferson Hills Historical Society
regarding Lo's Cemetery.
[4:32] I'm just going to read this if that's
okay since you had the packet uh ahead
[4:35] of time and then you could kind of
follow along and then if there's any
[4:39] questions or comments or anything you
want to ask me at the end I'll be more
[4:43] than happy to answer them or if you want
to set up a meeting afterwards whatever.
[4:48] Okay. My name is Mark D'Angelo with the
West Jefferson Hills Historical Society.
[4:53] Thank you for allowing me to speak to
you this evening. For those of you not
[4:57] aware of West Jefferson Hills Historical
Society, we operate out of a small room
[5:01] actually where that door is open. Uh
located behind Council Chambers, it is
[5:06] our mission to discover, chronicle, and
preserve the history of West Elizabeth,
[5:10] Pleasant Hills, and Jefferson Hills. We
are a nonprofit organization and rely on
[5:15] funds from member dues, individual and
corporate donations, and grant money
[5:20] that may be available. We are actively
pursuing all these revenue sources
[5:24] currently to support the our most
ambitious project to date, the
[5:28] preservation and rehabilitation of Lo
Cemetery located off of Walton Road.
[5:34] The main focus of our Lob Cemetery
project is locating and identifying
[5:38] unmarked grave sites on and off the
cemetery grounds. There are over 929
[5:44] graves at Lobes with only about 50 or so
that have headstones, many of which are
[5:49] unreadable or damaged. Included in these
929 graves are 31 military veteran
[5:55] graves that date back to the
Revolutionary War. Of these 31 veterans,
[6:00] 18 have headstones, seven of which are
unreadable, and there are 13 veterans
[6:05] that are buried somewhere on the grounds
in the cemetery, but not identified. We
[6:10] have already applied through the
Veterans Administration
[6:13] for four new veteran headstones. We have
received approval for three and the
[6:18] fourth is still pending and we will
continue to ask for replacements as we
[6:23] research and obtain the required data
for the VA applications.
[6:28] We began our project in December of 2026
when we met with the Pleasant Hills
[6:32] American Legion Post 712 and they helped
us with the funding to complete the
[6:37] lobes cemetery survey which is shown on
page five of your packet. The survey was
[6:42] completed on June June 12th of this
year. What we found and suspected for
[6:47] quite some time was that there are
graves and headstones that are not on
[6:51] cemetery property. For example, the
Maple family plot is not on cemetery
[6:56] grounds, but on the property of Ruth
Hirs, along with the graves of veterans
[7:00] Murphy Caldwell and William Foster. Mr.
Caldwell is the first headstone you see
[7:05] when you're walking up the cement path
in front of the cement pavilion. Veteran
[7:10] William Foster is the headstone in the
photo on page six of the packet. and the
[7:15] Maple family is to your right once you
go up the walkway on the back side of
[7:19] the pavilion, also pictured on page six.
In fact, the cement pavilion, the
[7:24] basketball pickle ball courts, according
to county records, are not on Burrow
[7:28] property, but on the properties of Ruth
Hirs and Edward Beetle. The cemetery
[7:32] property was deed to Jefferson Hills
Burrow in 1932 by Edward Beetle and
[7:36] Bernett Bernay Samuels, and the burrow
has maintained the grounds ever since.
[7:42] So we have established that there are
graves off cemetery property and on
[7:46] private property property most notably
the property owned by Ruth which is
[7:51] partial 1274-m300.
[7:55] However, we suspect that there are also
graves on the property of Edward Beetle
[7:59] which is parcel 1274-m
as well. Both of these properties are in
[8:05] taxers and both have been put up for
sheriff sale twice with no buyers. We
[8:11] would like to propose that the burrow
make an effort to obtain these
[8:13] properties so that any identifiable
headstones like Mr. Caldwell, Mr.
[8:17] Foster, and the Maple family are
protected and any nonidentified graves
[8:23] can be located and also protected. We
currently have Len Stros Stroir from
[8:28] Omega Mapping Services interested in
doing ground penetrating radar to help
[8:33] us identify all the grave sites with the
burrow's permission.
[8:37] I have included in your packet three
maps showing the Hurst property, page
[8:41] two of the packet, the Beetle property,
page three, and the combined footprint
[8:46] of these properties combined with Lope
Cemetery, which is page four. I have
[8:50] also identified two parcels that the
burrow currently owns, parcel 1273-J-149
[8:58] and 1273-J-161
[9:02] along the abandoned section of State
Street. In between the parcels is the
[9:06] Gats Dozi property which is 1273-J-151
[9:12] which is also in taxers.
The historical society has applied for
[9:16] help through the vacant land recovery
program of which the burrow participates
[9:21] to purchase the hir and beetle
properties but the parcels are too large
[9:25] to meet the criteria of the program. So
we do not qualify for assistance in
[9:29] obtaining these parcels. To date, we
have not been able to reach anyone from
[9:33] the Hirs, Beetle, or Gastic families or
their legal representatives to discuss
[9:38] options for obtaining their properties.
So, we are asking for the burrow's help
[9:43] in securing these properties. as
mentioned previously to protect any
[9:47] graves off the cemetery grounds as
identified by the recent survey. By
[9:51] securing the Hers and Beetle properties,
you will have an extension of Lobe
[9:55] Cemetery combined with the two Jefferson
Hills parcels and possibly the Gadget
[10:01] Dosic property to create the potential
for a large park, maybe a historic park
[10:06] adjacent to the cemetery. In 179, I'm
sorry, um, the Lobe Cemetery and
[10:13] surrounding areas rich in historical
events as early as 1777 when the
[10:18] Yohagenia County Courthouse was
established on land overlooking the
[10:21] cemetery. In 1794, General Morgan took
up quarters
[10:26] in the courthouse
and his soldiers were camped at the Old
[10:31] Mississippi Glass Company site during
the Whiskey insurrection in 1794.
[10:36] There is even a mass grave of Whiskey
Rebellion soldiers that died of illness
[10:39] somewhere in Loes. We think we know
where it is that we hope to uh put a X
[10:45] on the mark on the map for that
location. This mass grave secured Loes,
[10:50] a spot on the national list of historic
places because it is the only known
[10:54] cemetery in the country where federal
troops from the Whiskey Rebellion are
[10:58] buried. Historical tourism is on the
rise and we have a plethora of history
[11:04] right around the Lobbe Cemetery area
that could be marketed. The influx of
[11:08] folks interested in our local history
could also help local businesses around
[11:12] Flor and West Elizabeth. If you really
wanted to dream big,
[11:17] you could create a replica of the
Yohageni County Courthouse on land above
[11:21] the cemetery. The courthouse has two
stories, was 24 feet x 16, and from
[11:26] there with some landscaping, you would
have a great view of lock 3 in the
[11:29] Managa River Valley, the same vantage
point that they would have had back in
[11:34] 1777.
All we need now is your assistance to
[11:38] help us preserve and rehabilitate Lo
Cemetery and to protect all the grave
[11:42] sites around the cemetery. Edward Beetle
and Bnee Samuels Samuels entrusted you
[11:47] with this task and with a little more a
little more help, some planning and
[11:51] effort, we could also create a park
around the cemetery that everybody can
[11:55] share and enjoy. The West Jefferson
Hills Historical Society thanks you in
[11:59] advance for your consideration of our
request. Thank you.
[12:02] » Thank you, Mr. D'Angelo, and thank you
all for attending from the Historical
[12:06] Society as well. Um, we I I certainly
like like your outlook and everything
[12:12] that you're proposing. Um, I I've been
well aware I think some members on
[12:17] council have been well aware that we
don't own some of the property that is
[12:22] already at Lobes and that came about
whenever um I would say about five or
[12:27] six years ago, people wanted to do some
pretty big things with the basketball
[12:32] courts and the pickleball courts. And as
far as us just maintaining, it's not
[12:37] even our property. I think everything
was done with a smoke and a handshake
[12:41] back in the day. And that's kind of how
it's it's maintained that um that
[12:46] persona down there. So um we've actually
had the solicitor and um Mr. Glister is
[12:52] going to give you guys a little bit of
background on how you know we're kind of
[12:56] in the same boat as you. We have reached
out to those land owners before and to
[13:01] no avail. there has not been any kind of
communication and that was just simply
[13:06] to make sure that we were not
trespassing on anybody's land when we
[13:09] were trying to maintain it and take care
of it. Um so Mr. Glister is going to
[13:14] tell you um get you up to speed on what
we've done in the past so far.
[13:18] » Well, I think you and I already talked
about this. We had bet a little bit, but
[13:21] just for the public to know, as
[clears throat] uh Councilwoman Stephie
[13:25] mentioned, the the ownership down there
came to light a couple years ago when we
[13:31] were looking to do some improvements.
And uh you know, I was surprised that,
[13:36] you know, we were able to get in touch
with Evan Beetle. That's where I gave
[13:39] you the the contact for the attorney for
the estate and that was just, you know,
[13:42] three or four years ago. So, it's it was
disappointing. I thought that for sure
[13:45] was at least be one we could be get in
touch with. But outside of that, the
[13:50] there's the the only thing we could
really find in writing was the um for
[13:56] the gas company. There was a a letter
basically saying we can use it if we we
[14:01] maintain the land, but it doesn't really
address the ownership issue. And the
[14:04] letter was from like 1967. So, um, so we
we spent some effort, uh, trying to to
[14:10] find some stuff, but it's been a couple
years since we we, you know,
[14:13] » really dug deep
>> dug deep into it and but this is still
[14:16] something that's on their list. It's on
my dry erase board down there, uh, for
[14:20] for a while now to try and get this this
resolved. So, um, I think we'll talk and
[14:24] and we'll we're going to try to pick
this back up again and see if we can't,
[14:27] you know, get to the bottom of this and
get some success there because it is it
[14:31] does make sense. I mean, when you look
at all that, it it would make sense for
[14:34] for us to have it. It would also benefit
the historical society as well. So,
[14:37] » yeah, it would take basically a 2 acre,
two plus acre cemetery into almost a
[14:42] 12acre park.
>> Yeah.
[14:43] » And I know when I was on the
comprehensive committee a couple years
[14:46] back, that was a big push to get more
parks more, you know, and I've been down
[14:51] there, I've spent many, many hours down
lobes, and there's not many people that
[14:55] participate
>> in in that park.
[14:58] » No, I know. We go down, my family goes
down there, play pickle ball, and you
[15:01] can always get right on the courts. And
just to give you an idea, um,
[15:06] the camper property, which was Charles
Withers before it was campered, is up
[15:10] for sheriff's sale as well. And I mean,
just to give you an idea of what the
[15:13] cost of that, $1,800.
>> So, I mean, I think if we went to
[15:17] sheriff's sale or if you even did back
taxes, I think you can get these
[15:22] properties relatively cheap
>> at a minimum. Yeah.
[15:25] » Yeah. So yeah, but I thank you for your
time and I'm more than willing to meet
[15:28] with any or all of you uh whenever you
would like to discuss further and uh we
[15:33] appreciate everything you do for us.
Thank you.
[15:35] » I do have a question for you. Would you
be open to presenting this to all to the
[15:38] EAC the environmental advisory council?
>> Yeah, I could do that. Sure.
[15:43] » We have we'll reach out to you on that
because I think from this and the
[15:46] acreage and all uh there'd be very
interest in that.
[15:49] » Okay, great. Thank you for your time.
Thanks.
[15:52] » And Mr. Mr. Havvertock on the different
lots shown on the map. Do we Is that
[15:57] something we uh page four?
[16:06] » Is that something we can maybe look at
seeing how many of these lots are uh
[16:10] taxes in the rears
>> and seeing how what all on just how much
[16:15] [clears throat] is actually you know
being paid how much been sitting idle
[16:18] for a long time. That may help with
analysis also.
[16:27] I'll be talking to that gentleman on
which specific lots.
[16:33] » Thank you.
>> Okay.
[16:37] » Okay. Um number five, reports from
burough boards and commissions.
[16:43] Number six, reports fire chief.
[16:49] » Good evening.
[16:54] I'll be doing the report tonight for uh
Chief Bendig while he's uh away. I am uh
[17:00] Dan Castavni, a captain for Jefferson
Hills Fire Rescue. I'm currently the on
[17:04] shift supervisor.
Uh Chase wanted me to provide a quick
[17:09] update on the uh Arnon Drive incident a
few nights ago.
[17:14] uh Alageney County Emergency Services
report uh received a 911 call for a
[17:18] house on fire at 10:35 p.m. Uh it was
then dispatched to us at 10:37 p.m. Um
[17:26] both of our engines were in route along
with mutual aid at 10:38 p.m. a minute
[17:31] later and then on scene at 10:46 uh an
8minute travel time. Uh crews arrived to
[17:38] a two-story uh residential structure
with fire showing from a attached garage
[17:43] and also a car on fire in the driveway.
Uh 180 chief established the command and
[17:50] firefighters uh used two hand lines, one
in the garage and one in the front door
[17:55] to uh knock the bulk of the fire back in
about 5 minutes from arrival time. Um
[18:01] the fire was marked under control
approximately 35 minutes later after um
[18:06] the extension was found throughout the
house. Um Alageney County Fire Marshall
[18:11] is investigating the fire and Chief
Bendic will have a further update next
[18:16] month uh for that fire. Uh he just
wanted me to go over a few uh quick
[18:21] notes. Um, our in incident summary
report for last month was uh 69 total
[18:26] incidents, 17 of which were overlapping,
meaning we got multiple calls during an
[18:31] incident. Uh, we gave mutual aid 13
times and we received mutual aid three
[18:38] times. Two of those were lightning
strikes during uh the storms throughout
[18:42] last month that uh were called in as
possible house fires.
[18:47] Um, our average turnout time is a minute
5 seconds. Our average response time is
[18:53] 6 minutes 22 seconds.
And then a quick note on the uh
[18:57] certifications earned. Uh Jefferson
Hills Fire and Rescue was uh certified
[19:02] by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
uh state fire commissioner as a 100%
[19:07] participating department. This
designation signifies our com uh
[19:11] department's commitment to a higher
standard of service through nationally
[19:15] recognized and sanctioned uh
professional qualification standards.
[19:19] Out of approximately 2400 fire
departments in Pennsylvania, only 49
[19:24] carry that designation.
And that is all I got for you if there's
[19:28] any questions.
>> Okay.
[19:29] » Thank you.
>> Thanks.
[19:31] » Thank you.
[19:36] » Okay. EMS is not present. Uh consulting
engineer, finance officer, Mr.
[19:40] Habertock.
>> I have nothing to add tonight.
[19:48] public works director. Yes. Go.
>> I have a question. Mr. Habertock, when
[19:52] are we going to start working on the
2027 budget? Just so we know. Or did you
[19:56] already start?
>> Okay. All right. And um I thought maybe
[20:02] you should give a little update about
the fact that in your budget we already
[20:06] got 69% of the taxes
turned in. that I think that
[20:13] » that warrants something.
>> Of the current of the current year's tax
[20:16] collection, we have um outsourced to
Jordan Tax Service and as of today,
[20:21] they've they've already collected 69% of
our anticipated tax revenue. So, it's
[20:26] going well for the bureau.
>> Yeah.
[20:31] » Okay. Thank you. Uh police chief,
>> I have nothing to add to my report
[20:35] unless there's questions.
>> Madame Mayor.
[20:40] » Yeah. First of all, I just like to
congratulate the fire department on that
[20:43] achievement. It's amazing. And also,
thank you very much for all the hard
[20:47] work you guys did on the Arnoni fire.
Um, I was away this past weekend, but it
[20:52] was right behind my house and my
neighbors. Couldn't have been more
[20:55] pleased on how everything went. So,
kudos and thank you to you guys. That's
[21:00] all.
>> Thank you, Manager Glister.
[21:03] » I have nothing further tonight unless
there's any questions.
[21:08] And madam solicitor, uh, I have nothing
to add to my written report. Okay.
[21:13] » All right. We'll move into burough
resident taxpayer comments on agenda
[21:17] items. [clears throat]
First one I have is Amy Pritchard.
[21:31] Hello. Good evening. My name is Amy
Pritchard and I live in T Plan. Um, I've
[21:35] been chosen on behalf of our neighbors
to who have previously spoken about the
[21:41] adoption of the comprehensive plan.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak
[21:46] with you once again about the motion to
adopt the resolution 20-2026
[21:51] adopting the burrow of pleasant
Jefferson Hills comprehensive plan as
[21:55] the official comprehensive plan of the
bureau. At the June 8th meeting, the
[21:59] vote was tabled to develop, adopt, and
implement the Burough of Jefferson Hills
[22:03] comprehensive plan so that revisions
could be considered after meeting with T
[22:06] plan residents. Due to unforeseen
scheduling conflicts, that meeting was
[22:11] postponed for two months. We did not
hold anyone personally responsible for
[22:15] those delays and completely understand
that when trying to coordinate meetings
[22:18] with multiple people, the stars don't
always align. When the meeting took
[22:22] place in August, it was very productive.
And Mark Ryenbach, the burough uh
[22:29] um the engineer for um
>> Gateway,
[22:34] » thank you.
>> The gateway engineer was very
[22:38] productive. He incorporated the agreed
upon changes into the comprehensive
[22:42] plan. And when we received that revision
on September 1st, we were really pleased
[22:46] with the end result of our
collaboration. It was really
[22:50] wellreceived. Everyone really liked how
it turned out. Um the only question that
[22:54] we had had that day was on the
comprehensive plan date which says March
[22:59] 2025. We question whether the date would
change to reflect the revisions that we
[23:04] had made. Um the reply was that we
received that the date is simply
[23:11] identified as the latest version of the
written comprehensive plan document
[23:15] itself. So, it really didn't mean that
we were attempting to move forward with
[23:18] an earlier version of the TA part
concept or without incorporating the
[23:23] changes that we had discussed. Um, I
don't know if it was verified with the
[23:28] planner or not, but I wanted to um just
see if that was uh something that had
[23:33] been verified with the planner to see if
we can get the dates up to date or if
[23:38] that was just the date on the plan. Um,
but we were told that to be clear there
[23:44] is no intent to circumvent or disregard
the discussed revisions that the updated
[23:48] T park exhibit is the version intended
to accompany the plan moving forward.
[23:53] Um, unfortunately I was unable to attend
the meeting on September 2nd um that
[23:59] public hearing and burough meeting due
to flying from a business trip. However,
[24:03] I was able to watch the meeting and um
Mr. Glister stated the updated te park
[24:08] plan needed revisions to the previously
prepared cost estimate and then those
[24:13] costs needed to be incorporated in the
comprehensive plan. That would require
[24:17] some additional work for the burough
engineer coordination with the planner
[24:20] at pashik um which would not be
completed in time for the September
[24:24] voting meeting which is tonight and
that's why it was suggested to be
[24:28] removed from the agenda. Now, I did see
on item number 27 that there were um
[24:35] $8,500 in T park plan modifications. Is
that something that will include
[24:44] everything
that was discussed at that meeting or is
[24:48] it just the um
finance aspect of that on the agenda 27?
[24:56] » That's just for the revising. That's for
Gateway to revise the plan and update a
[25:00] cost estimate.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[25:04] And while we can appreciate some council
members pushing to adopt the earlier
[25:08] version rather than formally documenting
these revisions and ensuring the
[25:12] appearance of the final draft, doing so
would disregard the collaborative work
[25:16] completed by Gateway Engineering, Mark
Ryenbach, Burough Manager, Mr.
[25:20] Blistister,
President Stephie Pashik, and the
[25:24] residents, as well as the commitments
made by council members. If important
[25:28] cost estimate revisions aren't included
in the comprehensive plan, what will
[25:32] that do for future grants? Council,
burough officials, and the community
[25:36] residents have come together to create a
better plan for everyone involved, and
[25:39] everyone knows this process takes time.
If the current revision is adopted
[25:43] without the agreed upon changes, and
some or all of council members do not
[25:47] return for the next term, the incoming
council may not receive the revised
[25:51] plans or have a clear record of the
changes discussed, agreed upon, and
[25:54] promised to the residents. Prematurely
adopting the comprehensive plan without
[25:58] the revisions is irresponsible and would
undermine transparency and trust in Bur
[26:03] decision-making. It signals to the
residents that commitments made during
[26:06] public meetings are not reliable. The
responsible course is to hopefully
[26:10] postpone adoption until October. So the
plan contains a clear, precise, correct
[26:15] proposal that makes all changes very
clear to future council members. Sorry I
[26:19] went over.
>> That's okay.
[26:20] » Can I address something really quick?
>> I appreciate it.
[26:23] » Do you know the plans for T park aren't
in the comprehensive plan? That's not
[26:26] what the comprehensive plan means.
>> The comprehensive plan would just say
[26:31] we're focusing on bettering our parks.
The comprehensive plan it in and of
[26:36] itself doesn't say how
>> those are all done outside of the
[26:41] comprehensive plan with the guidance
from the comprehensive plan. Doing those
[26:45] things at T park or those revisions have
nothing to do with the comprehensive
[26:49] plan other than the con excuse me the
comprehensive plan saying that we're
[26:54] going to focus on those things. So why
so inclusive drawing of the park with
[26:59] multiple fields showing that in that
>> because that's part of the process but
[27:03] that's not that has nothing to do with
the comprehensive plan in of itself. The
[27:07] comprehensive plan doesn't say, "Hey,
we're moving in on T on T Park. We're
[27:11] going to do this. We're going to do
this. Vote on this." And that's what
[27:13] we're doing with T Park. Correct. Even
if we adopt the comprehensive plan,
[27:17] everything is still up for debate,
change, modification, input.
[27:23] » Um, nothing nothing that's happening
from Team Park directly
[27:29] comes from that plan or your your Te
plan isn't incorporated in the
[27:33] comprehensive plan. That's not how that
works. So all those drawings that are of
[27:38] T park that are in that comprehensive
plan on I can't remember
[27:42] » that's not part of that's not the
comprehensive plan. That's not those are
[27:46] just those are those mandates are
directed by the comprehensive plan that
[27:50] just says we are going to focus a lot of
our resources
[27:55] » on recreation
>> on recreation. It doesn't say we're
[27:59] putting that in the comprehensive plan
and then it's going to be done.
[28:02] [clears throat] If we vote on the
comprehensive plan, that's just a
[28:04] guideline for us to focus on the things
that our constituents said in the survey
[28:09] needed to be focused on. So, a lot of
the people wanted more recreation. So,
[28:14] that's what we're focusing on. Whether
or not we passed that comprehensive plan
[28:20] has nothing no bearing on what we're
going to do to T Park. That is all
[28:24] subject to planning the way we've been
doing it. If we put off the
[28:28] comprehensive plan any longer, we don't
have that as a guide to move on with the
[28:33] other things that we want to do.
>> We're only waiting a couple weeks to
[28:37] have everything.
>> This has already been this has been
[28:39] months and months and months in
planning.
[28:42] » But T park shouldn't wouldn't hold up
the comprehensive man. It shouldn't hold
[28:46] up the comprehensive plan.
>> That is correct. It shouldn't hold it up
[28:48] and it in my opinion it hasn't held it
up because it's moving forward. Whether
[28:52] you see steps that it has moved forward
or not,
[28:55] » it really truly has. and the
collaboration between
[28:58] » that's f but that won't stop once we
adopt a comprehensive plan
[29:02] » the the [clears throat] pictures in
there were very very preliminary hey
[29:06] here's a potential we can do it has
nothing for implementation
[29:11] » the value that you know have everyone's
embraced the with the t plan process
[29:15] going on that's the value that that's
the implementation
[29:20] comprehensive plan is basically the
start of a conversation but pictures
[29:25] there's diagrams and all that.
>> So that won't be included in the
[29:29] comprehensive plan if you adopt it.
Those pictures and all the ballparks,
[29:33] » those pictures, that's a guideline and
that it was it was um
[29:37] » we don't want to have this over and over
again.
[29:39] » I understand. But with the help of our
engineer, they were showing us the
[29:43] potential of what could possibly go into
property that the bur already owns.
[29:48] Nothing is like set in stone. Those are
all just possibilities. And then as you
[29:54] have already been a part of, they've
taken in your consideration. They've
[29:58] changed that.
>> So nothing is set in stone. That's just
[30:02] laying out a goal for us to be able to
kind of like frame things around
[30:07] » and for us to be able to apply for
grants down the road. We have to have a
[30:11] plan in place or they won't even
acknowledge us for potential grants that
[30:15] are available.
>> Right. So that's why I was hoping that
[30:17] all of that could be incorporated
because the from what I was
[30:20] » but one major
>> hearing that it wouldn't be like the
[30:23] cost estimates and things wouldn't all
be
[30:26] » complete by tonight's meeting.
>> But even the the costs that are in there
[30:30] that's even changing with inflation like
that.
[30:33] » It's all exclusive. We're doing a T
park. It's exclusive of the
[30:36] comprehension plan. has technically
nothing to do with it other than the
[30:40] comprehension comprehensive plan is
saying we're going to focus on areas of
[30:45] recreation.
I mean they we they put up a last year
[30:49] when they came and showed us the you
know a community center was $35 million.
[30:56] That's thanks for showing us but we're
not doing that even though it was in
[31:00] there. We're not doing a $35 million
community center.
[31:05] The major concern I heard in your um in
your comment is that you are concerned
[31:12] for change of council in the future.
What if this isn't in the comprehensive
[31:16] plan? Um there's no guarantees in local
government at all. And the next council
[31:23] that comes in can take that
comprehensive plan and shove it down the
[31:26] toilet if they want. Unfortunately,
um the next council that comes in can
[31:31] say we're not going to utilize that
grant that they already secured because
[31:34] we think that money is better spent
elsewhere and we spent a long time
[31:38] securing those grants, paying our grant
writer to secure those grants,
[31:42] » right?
>> We can't guarantee anything in the
[31:45] future, but that's why this is a guide.
And I think that's one of your main
[31:50] concerns is that there is no guarantee
in that comprehensive plan. and you want
[31:55] a guarantee, but we're taking the T park
plan piece by piece. And I think since
[32:01] there is no overturn on council anytime
soon, I like the fact that we're taking
[32:05] that plan piece by piece and we're
>> absolutely
[32:09] » working with you guys and we're
utilizing what we discuss and
[32:14] implementing it in a phaseonphase basis
instead of having that big outlook on
[32:19] things because the cost estimates we
have already, they're five months old
[32:23] and they've already changed,
>> right? You know, the the comprehensive
[32:26] plan we started five years ago and so
much has changed in it already and by
[32:31] law we're required to have a new
comprehensive plan every 10 years. So
[32:34] now we have five years to take what
we've paid for, you know, what we are
[32:39] going to vote on and and use that as a
guideline. I completely understand your
[32:45] concern, Amy. I really do.
>> Um it's just like I always say, I don't
[32:50] know how staff can work in local
government because there's no
[32:52] guarantees,
>> right?
[32:54] [laughter] I I wouldn't be able to do
it, you know. Um, so I I I had listen I
[33:01] voiced my concern in the last meeting
about moving forward and I didn't I
[33:05] certainly didn't want Mr. Glister to
lose your trust or the resident's trust
[33:09] and t
>> I think we're going to you know I know
[33:12] we're going to hold up our end of the
bargain because it was a great plan that
[33:15] we all came to. It was your idea about
moving the parking and everything. Um, I
[33:20] think we just have to have I hate to say
it, but there has to be trust there.
[33:24] » Absolutely.
>> Yeah. I can't speak for my fellow
[33:27] councilman, but again, as you and I had
a wonderful conversation,
[33:32] I billion% uh support what all has been
developed and gone through with deep
[33:37] plan. That's where I'm saying those two
different swim lanes.
[33:40] » Right
>> here is it blueprint. When I look at
[33:43] that is not a living document. It's a
photograph. So it's a photograph
[33:49] comprehensive plan of four years of
work. Is this good or bad? You know, do
[33:53] we as a burrow from the residents want
to invest in our recreational and the
[33:58] other items in that?
>> Right?
[33:59] » That's over here. That started the
dialogue saying, hey, we appreciate
[34:05] what's going on with T plan. We have
concerns and now we've been doing a
[34:10] wonderful uh uh process of the
interaction together to find even a
[34:15] better plan for T park. That is what we
vote on. We're voting we're not voting
[34:19] on a comprehend plan saying that's the
picture that we're voting on and the
[34:23] only thing we're voting on. We're going
to be voting on a future all the work
[34:27] between yourselves, our engineers and
Mr. glister and all that saying here's
[34:33] how together we want T park to become
>> and that's what I'm supporting 100%.
[34:39] » But that's you know we got to get this
thing out and because that's got to sit
[34:42] with Alane County so long before it'll
come back.
[34:45] » That's our main concern is the time that
it takes at the county. It's not that
[34:49] we're trying to rush it through because
of anything on the burrow side. It's the
[34:54] it is the county,
>> right? you know, and then you if it's
[34:58] not there there may be some things that
in there that we need to move forward on
[35:02] grant-wise and if it's not implemented
or approved by the county that we don't
[35:07] have that as a guide to go off of e
either I I can't speak for the grant
[35:10] writer but I know that there are a lot
of things that have to be in place in
[35:14] order to secure the the grants and
sometimes an implemented comprehensive
[35:19] plan is one of them.
>> Right. Thank you for explaining
[35:22] everything. Appreciate it.
>> Yeah.
[35:24] » Thank you. Thank you.
>> Okay, next is Lisa.
[35:35] » Thank you. I wanted to do two quick
things tonight. First of all, I wanted
[35:39] to thank council um the solicitor and
the bureau manager for listening to the
[35:45] citizens and holding the public hearing
about the lease and also for hiring John
[35:50] Smith to put some extra eyes on the
lease based on his years of experience
[35:55] and I really appreciate that. I I think
that that you know just helped better
[35:59] the process. Now me personally, do I
want to see the bureau sign a lease? No,
[36:03] absolutely not. However, I ask you to
trust John Smith and you did and so now
[36:08] I have to trust John Smith gave you good
advice and if you adopted the changes
[36:14] and the revisions if any that he offered
then I will trust the process. So I just
[36:19] wanted to say thank you for doing that.
Um, the second thing is I'm going to be
[36:24] emailing tomorrow to the bureau manager
and president of council a link to a
[36:29] report that our organization the
environmental integrity project released
[36:33] and it's data centers. And two weeks
ago, Governor Shapiro, you heard him
[36:38] say, "We're going to allow data centers,
but they can't use the grid. They can't
[36:44] impact rateayers, but they have to bring
their own power source." Problem. big
[36:50] problem.
Those power sources, this report will
[36:54] show you are what are be are called
behind the meter gas power plants.
[36:59] They're completely powered by fracked
gas.
[37:03] And I have shared with several of you
that I have it from a very reliable
[37:07] source that the data center companies
have drawn a circle around Jefferson
[37:12] Hills and they want Jefferson Hills as
one of their primary locations in
[37:16] Alageney County. So, I'm also going I
did share with uh president of council
[37:22] and burough manager an ordinance that
John Smith wrote. Um it is when you see
[37:28] it, it says Twilight Burrow, but it is
was written by John. Um and it is
[37:32] specific to the energy sources for data
centers. And I know thank you again for
[37:37] being proactive about talking about
getting a data center ordinance, but I
[37:41] would also encourage you to look at that
if you do have questions. Of course,
[37:45] John is the author of that. he can help
you. But I just always want to be
[37:49] protective of people's health. You know,
we don't want to stop technology, but we
[37:54] also don't want to become ground zero
for something that is going to alter.
[37:59] You know, you have a vision with your
comprehensive plan, which is awesome. I
[38:03] know a lot of hard work went into that.
I want to make sure that that vision
[38:06] stays true to what you want. But I just
again very reliable source ask me if I
[38:11] had the year of Jefferson Hills Council
and to please alert you that they are
[38:16] looking at Jefferson Hills quietly.
They're hiding, you know, below the
[38:19] radar right now. Now, our organization
has a list and we I've put Jefferson
[38:24] Hills on it. Um we are grant driven. We
help um with the state side of things,
[38:30] the permitting side of things. I can
also help locally. Um, it's no cost to
[38:34] the burrow, but I did add Jefferson
Hills to our watch list and I will keep
[38:38] you informed if I do hear anything else.
But again, just asking as you always
[38:43] seem to do is be proactive and take a
look at that energy power sector part of
[38:48] it because when I heard the governor say
that, that's exactly what he meant. So,
[38:53] thank you again for anything that you
can do on the the plus side to move
[38:57] things forward on that. And if you have
any questions or if I can be of help in
[39:00] any way, just let me know.
>> Thank you, Lisa. Thank you.
[39:03] » Yeah, I'm gonna have um Mike and I
looked over the information that you had
[39:07] sent us. I'll have him send that out to
the rest of council and mayor just
[39:10] because I don't think we we didn't do
that. We were involved in the in getting
[39:15] Mr. Smith on board and being at the
meeting and everything um so that
[39:18] council can look over everything that
you sent. And um appreciate your
[39:22] comments about Mr. Smith as well because
there were people in the group that
[39:26] stood up and verbally said we're really
happy he was here and we were happy that
[39:31] Mr. Moore did his presentation and
believe it or not, they they actually
[39:36] felt more confident about the process.
So, um, appreciate you saying that.
[39:43] » Thank you.
>> And also, I want to apologize. I was not
[39:45] here last week. My my elderly mom had
surgery that day
[39:49] » and I was not able to be here, but did
want to take a minute to say thank you.
[39:53] » Sure. Hope she's doing well.
>> Thank you.
[39:56] » Okay. Um, next is Ra, I believe. Do you
want to speak or do you want me to read
[40:01] it?
>> Okay,
[40:03] » you pretty much answered everything.
>> Okay,
[40:05] » I'll read it. Um, Ra Patton 6045 Willm.
I am submitting this statement regarding
[40:11] TE Park. An agreement on the plan for TE
Park has already been established.
[40:15] However, for those agreed upon changes
to be binding, permanent, and
[40:18] enforceable, they must formally
incorporated be formally incorporated
[40:22] into the town's comprehensive plan.
Bypassing the comprehensive plan leaves
[40:27] critical details vulnerable to future
misinterpretation or alteration.
[40:31] Updating the comprehensive plan first
ensues ensures that the community is
[40:36] agreed upon vision is legally protected,
fully transparent, and aligned with our
[40:40] long-term goals. For those reasons, I
respectfully request that the council
[40:44] table any final action on this matter
until the October vote voting meeting.
[40:48] Taking until October allows the
necessary time to properly in integrate
[40:52] these updates into the comprehensive
plan. So everyone is moving forward with
[40:56] a complete, accurate and official
record. Thank you for reading this into
[40:59] the record and for your consideration.
Sure you don't have any questions?
[41:03] » Okay.
[41:06] Okay. Um
next the last agenda item is Jeffrey
[41:12] Melville Steltzer um 733 Waterman Road.
Dear council members, I'm writing to
[41:18] express my strong support for the
proposed EQT Energy Development Proposal
[41:23] 17. I encourage you to approve this
project for the benefit of our
[41:27] community.
[41:31] Okay.
All right. We'll move on to agenda item
[41:34] number eight. Motion to approve the
monthly bills.
[41:37] » Motion.
>> Motion by Councilman Bence.
[41:40] » Second.
>> Second by Councilwoman Buccy. All those
[41:42] in favor say I. Any opposed?
Motion carries. Number nine. Motion to
[41:48] approve the monthly payroll.
>> Motion.
[41:50] » Motion by Councilman Bence.
>> Second.
[41:53] » Second by Councilwoman Rido. All those
in favor say I. I.
[41:57] » Any opposed?
>> Motion carries.
[42:00] » Number 10. Motion to approve minutes of
agenda meeting August 5th, 2026.
[42:06] » Motion.
>> Motion by Councilman Ben.
[42:09] » Second.
>> Second by Councilwoman Mirez. All those
[42:11] in favor say I.
>> Any opposed? Motion carries.
[42:16] Number 11. Motion to approve minutes of
regular meeting August 10th, 2026.
[42:21] » Motion.
>> Motion by Councilman Bence.
[42:24] » Second.
>> Second by Councilwoman Rido. All those
[42:26] in favor say I. Any opposed?
>> Motion carries.
[42:31] Number 12. Motion to hire Blank to the
position of in-house burough engineer.
[42:36] » I'd like to motion to hire Leonard
White.
[42:38] » I'll second.
>> Motion by Councilman Ben to hire Leonard
[42:41] White. Second by Councilwoman Maris. All
those in favor say I. I.
[42:46] » Any opposed?
>> Motion carries. Congratulations to Mr.
[42:49] White.
>> Number 13. Motion to adopt the blank
[42:54] flag design as the official flag of the
Burrow of Jefferson Hills.
[42:58] » I'll make a motion to adopt option
number two.
[43:00] » I'll second.
>> Motion to adopt option number two by
[43:04] Vice President Pollock. Second by
Councilwoman Merz. All those in favor
[43:08] say I. Any opposed?
>> Motion carries.
[43:13] Number 14, motion to ratify the
retainage of Smith's Butts LLC regarding
[43:19] the EQT lease review.
>> A motion.
[43:22] » Motion by Councilwoman May. Second by
Councilwoman Rido. All those in favor
[43:26] say I. I. Any opposed?
>> Motion carries.
[43:34] Number 15. Motion to authorize the
proposed leasing of burough owned oil
[43:38] and gas mineral rights for parcel number
883-R250
[43:44] and parcel number 10005-R1000
[43:48] to EQT.
>> A motion.
[43:50] » Motion by Councilman Bence.
>> I'll second.
[43:53] » Second by Councilwoman Mirez. All those
in favor say I. I. [clears throat] Any
[43:57] opposed?
>> Opposed. Oppos.
[43:59] » Roll call, please. Michelle.
>> Mr. B.
[44:03] » Yes.
Mrs.
[44:06] » No.
>> Mr. Lynch.
[44:09] » Mrs.
>> Yes.
[44:12] » Mr.
>> Yes.
[44:14] » Mrs.
>> No.
[44:16] » Mrs. Steph.
>> Yes.
[44:19] » M. Madam President, can I make a
comment, please? Um, while I am thankful
[44:22] that we did employ John Smith to um,
ensure those safeguards for this lease,
[44:28] um, what I am a little displeased with
is the time that we got all of this
[44:33] information given to us. Um, it would
seem just very rushed to me. Um, but
[44:39] otherwise, I feel confident in the
decisions that John Smith has made for
[44:44] our burrow. But with that, I would like
to make a motion
[44:48] um
on the floor to
[44:54] reserve or earmark 35% of whatever funds
should come in from EQT in order to
[45:00] protect us in the future from any sort
of incidents that may occur um
[45:07] problems, uh resident um mishaps
because, you know, we were given a
[45:13] presentation And yes, accidents can
happen. And I would just feel more uh
[45:20] secure in knowing that we earmarked
a a substantial amount of that money
[45:26] towards any incidentals that should
arise in the future.
[45:30] » Can I just comment on the procedure?
>> Sure.
[45:32] » I think if you're going to amend the
agenda with an additional motion, you'd
[45:35] have to make it a motion to amend the
agenda and then have a second and have a
[45:38] majority vote. And if so, then you could
make your motion.
[45:41] » Okay. So a motion to amend the agenda
would be
[45:44] » I would like to make a motion to
a amend the agenda
[45:50] » and [snorts] add that we could earmark
35% of revenue that we receive from EQT
[45:55] into a special fund in case of
incidentals or future implications that
[45:59] could arise.
>> Motion by Councilwoman Rido.
[46:04] » I'll second it.
>> Second by Councilwoman Buussy. Um before
[46:07] we vote, I would just like to
>> You're just voting on amending the
[46:09] agenda to allow the motion. That's what
you're voting on.
[46:12] » Okay.
>> Okay.
[46:13] » Then she would make if that's okay, then
she'd make the specific motion just like
[46:17] we're doing down here in 19 and 20. You
make the specific motion to amend and
[46:20] then you can do the new motion.
>> Okay. Um all those in favor to amend the
[46:24] emotion the amend the agenda.
>> Say I.
[46:29] » I.
>> I. I'm fine with it.
[46:34] » Any opposed? Sorry.
>> No. No.
[46:37] » Roll call, please. Michelle.
>> Mr. B. No
[46:44] » Mr. Lynch.
[laughter]
[46:49] » Yes,
>> Mr. Pen.
[46:52] » No,
>> Mrs.
[46:54] » Yes,
>> Mrs.
[46:57] » Yes.
[47:00] » Is Is there discussion after she puts
the motion on the floor? No.
[47:05] » Yes.
>> Yes.
[47:07] » So, madam. Okay.
>> Yeah. If may I make [clears throat]
[47:10] comment?
I mean how when can I make motion the
[47:15] agenda or on the on the actual motion?
>> On the actual motion.
[47:18] » Okay. After
>> Yeah. So go ahead.
[47:21] » I can understand and then adding the
additional motion to go through. I think
[47:27] the next step will be something that I
don't think will be worthwhile to do
[47:31] that in a quick motion of what
percentage and all that. Uh that's my
[47:36] only concern. I have no problem having
that discussion. I think having that and
[47:41] having that number right here in a very
cool situation uh is not beneficial.
[47:46] » I agree.
>> Would you uh say that you want a sl a
[47:53] sliding scale?
I don't I would say I think this is
[47:58] something that we should be on next
month's agenda
[48:01] uh for the inferact type of conversation
to have in a normal in front of
[48:05] everybody.
>> How'd you get to 30%.
[48:09] » It's just a small fraction of what we're
getting in case you know I mean
[48:14] » 30% is a small fraction. It's 30%.
>> I mean just Mr. Smith alone his charges
[48:21] if something should happen or an
accident should happen and that's burrow
[48:25] property that we're leasing.
>> Did you read the lease?
[48:28] » I did read the lease very thoroughly.
>> And then what do we do with the money
[48:31] besides that? We just leave it there.
>> I mean that's things I guess that need
[48:36] to be
>> right. That's that's my whole point.
[48:38] Like what why did you want to motion
that today?
[48:40] » Because I feel it's important that we
have that in reserves because it's
[48:43] burrow property that we're leasing.
>> I get that. But why did you want the 30%
[48:47] motioned and voted on today without
having that discussion?
[48:54] » I just
>> I'm you want us to vote on 30%
[48:58] of the money, but you didn't want to you
don't have like tell us why.
[49:02] » I want to safeguard our residents. We
have a fiduciary duty to do so.
[49:06] » I get that. But why 30%? Where did you
where's all the
[49:09] » It seems like a fair amount to put away
to to ensure that something if something
[49:12] should arise but you don't have any
evidence. by 30%.
[49:16] » It's almost like insurance. We also have
the insurance liability behind that.
[49:21] » There's no research. There's no
conversation. There's no It hasn't been
[49:25] brought up to anybody.
You empowered yourself to come up with
[49:29] 30%.
For no reason.
[49:33] Why can't we do all that with 10%. Who's
to say?
[49:36] » And that's why I'm saying that
>> that's why I voted no. I prefer to have
[49:40] that as a regular agenda item with time
to be be able to investigate that.
[49:45] That's that's my viewpoint.
>> I'm not denying the thought of that.
[49:50] » But
the number just a reminder that we
[49:53] currently have a 40% reserve policy for
unforeseen events.
[49:57] » Can you speak into your microphone?
>> We currently already have a reserve
[50:01] policy in effect that we maintain in
cash 40% of unreserved funds across the
[50:06] entire size of our budget. So just
throwing that out there. We do have that
[50:10] now.
>> And that 40%
[50:14] equate that in dollars
for the public so they know.
[50:18] » Well, it's 40% of the the total budgeted
expenditures for a year. So if we spend
[50:26] » $8 million,
>> it's not.
[50:29] » So the actual budget, let's say the
general funds 13 million spent in a
[50:33] year,
>> 13 plus sewer
[50:34] » times 30%.
>> We keep cash of 5.2 2 million and we are
[50:39] within compliance. We have more than
that currently.
[50:44] » I would suggest just for procedure since
the motion to amend the agenda was
[50:48] successful. I think that Mr. Rito should
make her motion and then see if there is
[50:51] a second and then you vote on it one way
or another and if it's it's voted down
[50:55] you could certainly put it on next
month's agenda or whatever you choose.
[50:59] » Well, maybe in the meantime we can talk
about a fair amount or a percentage that
[51:03] we think would be adequate. um
>> or why we even need it.
[51:09] » I just feel it's necessary.
>> I think a vote should be put on the
[51:12] floor to see if council wants to pursue
needing it, whether it's 10%, 35%,
[51:20] whatever the case may be. So, I think
the next step would be to make your
[51:25] motion.
[51:31] » I just did make a motion.
>> But now you have to say, I'd like to
[51:34] make a motion. We only amended the
agenda. Now we have to do now we have to
[51:39] do the the actual what you want.
>> Well, while we're discussing here in a
[51:42] public meeting, is there an amount that
we think would be reasonable
[51:47] or fair?
>> We have $5.2 million.
[51:50] » I understand that. But we have a lot of
projects, all right, that we want to
[51:55] complete. And it seems like,
you know, uh, we have that money because
[52:04] people save that money. And that's
taxpayer money. That's all taxpayer
[52:09] money. So if we want to put a little bit
aside
[52:15] to ensure
as a insurance policy, I I understand
[52:20] that you might want to have that number
adjusted, but I also agree that we could
[52:26] have that number adjusted, but I do
believe that we should earmark some
[52:29] money in case of some incidentals that
are on the burrow in which we would have
[52:36] to retain Smith butts again or
any other situation arises.
[52:47] I personally saw his I read his amounts
and they're they're
[52:55] pretty hefty amounts that he is charging
because he isn't a specialist.
[53:02] Brian, do we have insurance when if it
comes to this? Is there an insurance
[53:07] policy we have that would pay for
litigation if something were to go
[53:11] wrong?
>> The lease provides that anything that
[53:15] goes wrong that is not our fault, we are
not responsible for and Mr. Smith stated
[53:20] that in his presentation
>> reiterated that.
[53:22] » But what if something happens?
>> But then then why would we retain him
[53:25] again?
>> It is our fault.
[53:27] » But what then why would we retain him
again?
[53:29] » Well, then we would find someone else.
But my point is what if something
[53:31] happens and it is our fault? My only
concern is this is burrow property that
[53:35] we are leasing and I would feel
I would feel better for the residents if
[53:42] we put away some money just in case
there was an issue
[53:48] » in case we did something wrong like what
>> we leased burrow property
[53:53] » right underneath burough property
>> I understand that.
[53:59] Yeah, I
>> Yeah, the liability provisions are very
[54:02] very advantageous to the bureau.
>> Yeah, I mean I read the contract.
[54:06] » I also did read the contract, too.
>> Doesn't look like you understood it.
[54:12] » Really?
>> I mean, 30% is a lot of money.
[54:17] » You want to sit up here and tell us
we're going to spend 30% of that or just
[54:20] put that nowhere? It won't be worth
anything in 10 years.
[54:25] We got stuff to do with this stuff, with
this money. We can't just sit on it.
[54:28] » I didn't say
>> Mr. Benz. I'm not gonna
[54:32] » You want it earmarked for a specific
purpose so it'll just sit there
[54:37] » and you want us all just to rush to it
at 30%. The initial payment's over
[54:42] $100,000.
[54:45] » So you just want
>> you think that we could come to a
[54:48] rational decision amongst council and
decide on some sort of number and a
[54:52] timeline. Well, dropping it right now,
that's not any kind of rational decision
[54:58] at all. It's very rational.
[55:06] » So, the motion made
>> racking my brain% Is there a motion on
[55:10] the floor?
>> Motion has not been submitted yet.
[55:13] » Yeah.
[55:19] I just have to say like like Karen
mentioned, we have a lot of projects
[55:23] that need to be done. Yes, Mr. Habertock
said, we do have a healthy reserve fund.
[55:27] We have a lot of projects that need to
be done. And in the same breath,
[55:32] you voted down some revenue as well.
[55:38] » True.
[55:42] It was a very difficult and personal
decision, but it's still my decision as
[55:46] a council member nonetheless.
>> Bring the motion
[55:49] » to each their own, of course. But I'm
stating
[55:52] the obvious that, you know, it is
revenue that's also going
[55:56] » someone like to recommend an amount for
us to possibly earmark that could be
[56:02] acceptable to all of council. I'd like
to recommend a discussion about what
[56:06] would be appropriate if
>> the avenue you want to go
[56:11] » the appropriate where do we discuss this
we can discuss this at a later date
[56:15] » I'm not sure of the protocol but I would
be glad to have that discussion but I
[56:20] feel that it is important
>> should be if it's an item and it should
[56:24] be an item for October's agenda for
proper discussion going on
[56:31] uh particularly that procons to the
whole And that's we're dropping it right
[56:35] here in a second. I can't support that.
>> Yeah. If you drop that now, it kind of
[56:39] dies.
>> But [snorts] I'm saying
[56:41] » if we vote against it, it dies. If you
want to bring this up at a later date
[56:45] and discuss an appropriate amount or
something that we could look into, maybe
[56:50] that's something we
>> That's fine. If I can have the assurance
[56:53] of council that we can have that
discussion, we
[56:55] » we can always have that discussion. But
dropping 30% on everybody, that's just
[57:00] not
>> solicitor. Is that something in the
[57:02] future public meeting that needs to be
discussed in public?
[57:05] » You could Yeah. Right. In an agenda
meeting and when you have your
[57:08] discussion, it could certainly be a
topic for discussion. And I I obviously
[57:12] can't provide any advice. I don't know
if there are any rules or guidance on
[57:16] this. I don't know. I think you might
want to just ask around to see if there
[57:20] are any suggestions, restrictions
because without having advanced notice,
[57:24] I don't know.
>> But if you kill it now, then it's done.
[57:28] Like [snorts] if you propose it now,
motion it now, and it gets and it gets
[57:32] voted down, you're not going to have
another option. Well, why can't she
[57:37] adjust her motion to say, "I would like
to have a motion to at the next month's
[57:45] agenda meeting to have a discussion on
the possibility of earmarking a a
[57:52] percentage of
the revenue for insurance purposes." You
[57:58] can do that. I don't
>> That would be way more appropriate that
[58:00] on the
>> agenda. That's be way more appropriate.
[58:02] » Have to be a motion. No, I mean it was
just stuff any month.
[58:06] » I I go to the pre-aggenda meetings.
>> Um any month council knows that they can
[58:11] have anything put on the agenda. So
since we're having this conversation
[58:14] now, obviously Mike would, you know,
mark that as a note and put it on the
[58:18] agenda. I don't think she needs to make
a motion now just to have a discussion.
[58:22] Correct me if I'm wrong. right
>> for the October meeting.
[58:28] » Yes, please.
>> Okay.
[58:30] » So, we have a motion acted right now for
item [clears throat]
[58:36] » to discuss.
>> So, do how do we withdraw that now
[58:41] » or how do we let it?
>> I wouldn't worry about it. The motion
[58:44] the agenda was not amended and it's
fine.
[58:48] » Okay. Until later 19 and 20 then it's
amended.
[58:51] » Okay.
>> Later on the agenda.
[58:53] » Yeah. And I don't know if I'm at the
right spot, so you can tell me if I'm
[58:58] allowed to speak right now, but I voted
no. And I'd like to state my reasons for
[59:03] voting no. Do I do that right now? Is
this over now?
[59:07] » I believe so.
>> Okay. Uh
[59:11] my reasons for noting uh voting no on
agenda item 15 are as follows. Gilhal
[59:18] Park acreage and Peters Creek acreage
together are a combined 31 acres of
[59:23] public land owned by Jefferson
Hillsboro.
[59:27] These parcels of land, this parcel of
land that is identified as Gilh Hall
[59:31] Park was donated to Jefferson Hillsboro
by the GBU for $1.
[59:38] The deed specifically states that the
only use of the land will be for
[59:43] recreational purposes.
Jefferson Hills Burough Councils, past
[59:48] and present, have abided by those
stipulations and have recently committed
[59:53] to upgrades to the park. They have
agreed to leave the historical building
[59:58] intact while adding a new dimension to
its appearance and functions.
[1:00:04] An updated playground and plans to add
field usage are moving forward along
[1:00:09] with the redesign and renovation of the
building. The building would be able to
[1:00:14] host parties and meetings with more
accessibility to the structure and
[1:00:19] improved parking accommodations.
The cost of this project was originally
[1:00:24] at 1.2, then went to 1.5, and in time it
might be $2 million.
[1:00:31] Gil Hall Park will serve residents of
all ages with this new structure and the
[1:00:35] basketball court, pickle ball courts,
fields, and playground.
[1:00:40] on the EQT website for philanthropic
gestures and giving back to the
[1:00:45] community. One of the first pictures I
located was of children playing on a
[1:00:51] playground.
However, it was never discussed and no
[1:00:56] monetary donations have ever been
suggested or allocated for this project.
[1:01:01] EQT has become the number one domestic
oil and gas company. It certainly could
[1:01:07] have made a sizable and can still in the
present time make a sizable charitable
[1:01:12] donation to this project to benefit the
JH community and the 500 JH residents
[1:01:19] who have signed leases
and the burrow's JH community
[1:01:24] recreational development of the Gil Hall
Park site. Thus far, no offer of any
[1:01:30] donations have ever been made.
The second parcel of land is located on
[1:01:36] Peters Creek Road. This road has been
awarded a grant of $550,000
[1:01:42] to clean and add storm drains and repave
the road since it is identified as a
[1:01:48] potential flood area. This area is used
for walking, enjoying nature, bicycling,
[1:01:54] and fishing.
Peter's Creek and the Montour Trail have
[1:01:58] maintained is maintained by volunteers
from both the Montour Trail Association
[1:02:03] and the Triangular Association
Triang Tri-State Angular Association.
[1:02:09] Recently, JH Burrow purchased the land
at the intersection of Gil Hall Road and
[1:02:14] Peters Creek for additional parking.
This [snorts] area is another site that
[1:02:18] would have benefited from some sort of
charitable consideration of a donation
[1:02:23] from EQT.
Dr. Judith Kaufman expressed her
[1:02:29] concerns at the hearing regarding
possible negative health issues on
[1:02:33] children and adults visiting the
property. No baseline data for
[1:02:37] longitudinal health studies regarding
negative effects on fracking on the
[1:02:42] public have occurred. Currently, JH
Burrow operates a summer recreation
[1:02:47] program at the Gil Hall Park site for
many children. Teenagers and adults
[1:02:53] frequently play pickup basketball games
and pickle ball games on that property.
[1:02:58] Additional fields are being added. This
site is currently used for graduations,
[1:03:03] baptisms, communions, and birthday
parties. with the renovations of this
[1:03:08] building and the acreage and increase in
the J Jefferson Hills public usage of
[1:03:13] this land increases.
I do agree with the protections that
[1:03:19] were added to the EQT lease by John
Smith and I certainly appreciate him
[1:03:24] working in conjunction with our
solicitor.
[1:03:28] All right. on the many sections such as
the spring or well damage, the hold harm
[1:03:34] clause, the no storage right clause, the
unit size leg uh limitations. His
[1:03:40] deletions and additions have made and
allowed the JH burrow greater and more
[1:03:45] stringent protections.
But however, due to the numerous
[1:03:49] concerns that I have regarding fracking
under burrow public property, I have
[1:03:54] voted no on agenda item the 15. Thank
you.
[1:03:58] » Thank you. And Councilwoman Buuci, I I
understand and agree with 90% of what
[1:04:04] you just said. What I don't understand
is when when you're discussing donations
[1:04:09] and monetizations being given, we've had
a month. Why didn't you bring this up?
[1:04:14] just thought because this has been very
fast and I would the first to say I
[1:04:19] thought well I'm going to go on EQT site
and see what they're do if they are
[1:04:25] philanthropic because I have been
thinking about this that even
[1:04:32] steel barons made significant
philanthropic donations such as the
[1:04:38] Carnegi Libraries and the Frick Museum
and the Fipps Conservatory All right.
[1:04:44] This is a num this is the number one gas
company. I didn't realize that. All
[1:04:48] right. So, I think that they could make
some donations here. when I see on their
[1:04:54] website that they have made donations
and this is a play this is a
[1:05:00] recreational uh playground just like I
saw on the screen and that's the reason
[1:05:06] why
[1:05:12] » if I may make a comment.
>> Sure.
[1:05:16] » Council uh Councilwoman Pusy I 100%
agree with you on those items.
[1:05:22] What I've seen in my brief time here and
as a lifelong resident of this burrow,
[1:05:28] Jefferson Hills has a negative uh
reputation with businesses.
[1:05:35] You know, here's EQT, which is, you
know, they do maintain stuff on there.
[1:05:41] Uh I've reached out myself personally
with US Steel and other companies to
[1:05:44] help in different areas. But that's part
of like with EAC
[1:05:51] and how do we reach out to our resident
or businesses of this bureau
[1:05:57] you know do we how do we ever contact
when do we actually embrace them when do
[1:06:02] we say hey how you been doing across the
board I mean it's not just one item of
[1:06:06] EQ it's across the board with all these
companies of participation that was one
[1:06:10] of the conversation I had with the the
AAC excuse me the EDC excuse
[1:06:16] is large corporations always have monies
for
[1:06:23] communities
[1:06:28] and you again with your guys' time four
years ago and other councils and all
[1:06:32] that we don't have a really a way or we
have had a practice of being like hey
[1:06:38] can you guys help us
look at the existing industrial stuff
[1:06:42] along the M River right
Look at some of the other large
[1:06:47] companies we have in the burrow. Do we
ever embrace them, talk to them, or even
[1:06:51] say anything except for sending them a
tax bill?
[1:06:55] » Fasci
among a few others, I guess.
[1:06:59] » But meaning very much about meaning it's
it's a small scale. You know, we do not
[1:07:04] make a good relationship with folks out
there.
[1:07:07] » We got change at
>> I 100% agree.
[1:07:11] » Right. And that's back to I've been
struggling is again with the
[1:07:14] conversation with ED EDC. How do we
start embracing that? How do we change
[1:07:18] our reputation? How do we say again
Jefferson Hills is open to move forward?
[1:07:24] We're still stuck in the past and you
know these good parts and that's even as
[1:07:28] we looking with the hockey we had some
small folks out there but we got to find
[1:07:32] a way to get out there and publicize is
saying hey we got 13,000 great residents
[1:07:36] here. We got 13,000 residents who have
money in their wallet. We have 13,000
[1:07:42] residents that spend their dollars
everywhere except for Jefferson Hills.
[1:07:47] We have all these businesses and all
that and we don't have that relationship
[1:07:51] built.
>> That's what we're trying to work on.
[1:07:54] » I will make a note though, this is quite
a nefarious company to welcome as they
[1:07:59] have been in and out of court
over the past decade over a lot of
[1:08:05] situations that have gone ary in
communities.
[1:08:09] » 100% agreed. but they're here.
And that's, you know, I just I
[1:08:16] appreciate the thoughts and all that,
but again, I think of stuff differently.
[1:08:20] It's like, yeah, we want to protect
these two small lots of the burrow,
[1:08:25] but if there's an accident,
it's not just going to be refined in
[1:08:30] just the dotted lines on a paper map. It
may be 20 lots around that the section
[1:08:36] where
>> and those residents may have already
[1:08:37] signed leases, right, as well. and they
are not going to have that level
[1:08:41] granularity
that we've had. We started off with good
[1:08:45] level of granularity beforehand and we
got it even better, but I'll bet a very
[1:08:50] strong dollar that a lot of the
residents do not have anything close
[1:08:55] to what we have. So, if there's a
problem, it's not just going to be our
[1:08:59] little our little parcel of ground. It's
going to impact a lot of other folks.
[1:09:04] » Could I just add to that, too? Um, in
regards to my yes vote, um, the fact
[1:09:09] that Solicitor Smith had made who
everybody recommended, I didn't know him
[1:09:14] before the public hearing. I'm so
grateful that you all did recommend him
[1:09:18] coming because I felt thoroughly
educated by the information he had to
[1:09:21] share. Um, he had said our solicitor did
such a fantastic job um, with the lease
[1:09:27] agreement and the fact that it was a
non-surface
[1:09:31] drilling. he said covered and he said it
covered any environmental concerns that
[1:09:36] he had. So the fact that he said that um
along with the other remarks that were
[1:09:41] made that that eased my any concerns
that I had were eased at that point um
[1:09:48] and you know the issues that you know
people were concerned with uh Peters
[1:09:52] Creek. There's already uh what is it?
Five pipes.
[1:09:55] » Mhm.
>> Five pipes already drilled beneath
[1:09:57] Peters Creek. Um one and a half miles
from it below. Right.
[1:10:04] » Yeah. Below.
>> Yeah.
[1:10:08] Um and they also said any spills I'm
sorry, Rick Moore's um presentation, any
[1:10:14] spills will not affect Peters Creek. Um
I don't know. All three presentations
[1:10:20] that we had I thought were very well
done, very well educated and um I feel
[1:10:26] comfortable with my vote in that. So
>> same. I certainly had a number of
[1:10:31] reservations um going into this right
>> and with
[1:10:37] ascertaining Mr. Smith's help and um and
the presentation by the EAC. Um it
[1:10:42] certainly relieved.
Listen, I go through life with a lot of
[1:10:46] whatifs as well and it c anything can
happen, but you narrow down the the
[1:10:53] educational value that we got from those
presentations. Mr. Smith basically
[1:10:57] looked at us and said we would be silly
not to sign a lease in a nutshell. Um
[1:11:02] because of the fact that our parcels are
surrounded by so many residents who
[1:11:06] probably I mean EQT gave the number
already of how many leases they've
[1:11:10] already had signed by residents. 500
>> that that are going to that are going to
[1:11:14] be impacting around these parcels.
>> So for me it was a matter of the money
[1:11:20] or not.
>> Right? This wasn't a vote whether we
[1:11:23] were allowing
them in our burrow. It was whether or
[1:11:27] not we are going to take revenue for
them to do what they're already going to
[1:11:31] do regardless.
And I think that we have that
[1:11:35] responsibility too to take any possible
revenue that we can for the bureau.
[1:11:44] » Um, thank you all for the conversation.
So, we will make sure to put that agenda
[1:11:49] item on next month's agenda for
discussion.
[1:11:53] Um, okay. Number 16, [clears throat]
motion to authorize the preparation and
[1:11:57] advertisement of an ordinance amending
the Burough Code to update noise and
[1:12:00] vibration regulations.
>> Motion. Motion by Councilman Ben, second
[1:12:04] by Counciloman Rece. All those in favor
say I. I.
[1:12:07] » Any opposed?
>> Motion carries. Number 17. Motion to
[1:12:11] approve quote number 8162026
from Graham River Production in the
[1:12:15] amount of $5,800
for the purchase and installation of a
[1:12:19] projector for the community room.
>> Motion.
[1:12:22] » Motion by Councilwoman Buccy. Second,
second by Vice President Pollock. All
[1:12:26] those in favor say I. I.
>> Any opposed?
[1:12:29] » Motion carries.
>> Number 18. Motion to distribute $280,000
[1:12:34] to the Jefferson Hills Public Library
for the 2026 contribution form
[1:12:39] or contribution from the Burrow of
Jefferson Hills.
[1:12:41] » Motion.
>> Motion by Councilwoman.
[1:12:44] » Second.
>> Second by Vice President Pollock. All
[1:12:46] those in favor say I. I.
>> Any opposed?
[1:12:49] » Motion carries.
>> Number 19. Motion to amend the agenda to
[1:12:53] address the purchase of a 10-tonon truck
from Elizabeth Township.
[1:12:57] » Motion.
>> Second.
[1:12:58] » Motion by Councilwoman Buy. Second by
Vice President Pollock. All those in
[1:13:02] favor say I. I. Any opposed?
>> Motion carries. Number 20. Motion to
[1:13:07] authorize the purchase of Before we go
into that, Mr. Haverstock, would you
[1:13:11] mind um explaining what this 10-tonon
truck was going to replace?
[1:13:17] » Yes. So, Elizabeth Township reached out.
They're selling three 10 ton trucks. Um
[1:13:23] I called the public works director and
he and the mechanic went over and looked
[1:13:26] at them. um said it would be great fit.
They're in great shape. There's to
[1:13:31] purchase one of them and then we will
get rid of two of the current old
[1:13:35] one-tonon trucks. One immediately and
one at the end of this winter.
[1:13:40] » Thank you.
>> Okay. Number 20. Motion to authorize the
[1:13:44] purchase of a 10-tonon truck from
Elizabeth Township in the amount of
[1:13:47] $52,500
plus two weeks of vac truck service.
[1:13:51] » A motion.
>> Motion by Councilwoman Buucy, second by
[1:13:54] Councilman Bence. All those fa in favor
say I. I any opposed?
[1:13:59] » And I'd just like to make a comment. Um
I would I appreciate the fact that our
[1:14:04] uh finance director uh took advantage of
that and because we have money in
[1:14:10] reserve. All right. Cash is king and
we're able to make some of these things
[1:14:17] happen.
[1:14:21] Number 21. Motion to accept the quote
obtained on behalf of the bureau by its
[1:14:25] broker of record, Duncan Insurance Group
from Selective Insurance for the Bureau
[1:14:29] of Jefferson Hills 2026 insurance policy
renewal in the amount of $32,824.
[1:14:36] » A motion.
>> Motion by Councilman Bence.
[1:14:38] » Second.
>> Second by Vice President Pollock. All
[1:14:40] those in favor say I. I. Any opposed?
>> Motion carries. Number 22. Motion to
[1:14:46] renew the contract from Ford Office
Technologies for the rental and service
[1:14:50] of copy machines for 36 months in the
amount of $993 per month or $11,916
[1:14:57] per year.
>> A motion.
[1:14:59] » Motion by Councilwoman, second by
Councilman Bence. All those in favor say
[1:15:03] I. I.
>> Any opposed?
[1:15:05] » Motion carries. Number 23. Motion to
approve application for payment number
[1:15:10] one and final from Minfield Demolition
Services LLC in the amount of $32,500
[1:15:16] for work completed on the year 50 CDBG
demolitions subject to the receipt of an
[1:15:21] invoice from Shayog.
>> A motion
[1:15:24] » motion by Vice President Pollock.
>> Second
[1:15:27] » second by uh Councilwoman Buucy. All
those in favor say I.
[1:15:31] » Any opposed?
>> Motion carries. Number 24. Motion to
[1:15:36] approve application for payment number
one contract A from Tresco Paving
[1:15:39] Corporation in the amount of $476,7714
[1:15:45] work completed on the 2026 road program.
>> Motion
[1:15:49] » motion by Council Councilman Bence,
second Vice President Pollock. All those
[1:15:53] in favor say I. I.
>> I.
[1:15:55] » Any opposed?
>> Motion carries. Number 25. Motion to
[1:16:00] approve application for payment number
one contract B from Tresco Paving
[1:16:03] Corporation in the amount of $513,62.84
[1:16:08] work completed on the 2026 road program.
>> A motion second.
[1:16:14] » Motion by Vice President Pollock, second
by Councilman Bence. All those in favor
[1:16:17] say I. I. [clears throat] Any opposed?
>> Motion carries. Number 26. Motion to
[1:16:22] authorize the preparation and
advertisement of the Caster Farms
[1:16:25] acceptance ordinance.
>> Motion. Motion by Councilman Bence,
[1:16:29] second by Vice President Pollock. All
those in favor say I.
[1:16:32] » I.
>> Any opposed?
[1:16:34] » Motion carries.
>> Number 27. Motion to approve work
[1:16:38] authorization dated August 26, 2026 from
Gateway Engineers Incorporated for
[1:16:43] redesign and bidding services for Te
Park improvements phase one project in
[1:16:47] the amount not to exceed $8,500.
>> A motion.
[1:16:51] » Motion by Vice President Pollock.
>> Second.
[1:16:53] » Second by Councilwoman Bucci. All those
in favor say I.
[1:16:56] » Any opposed?
Motion carries.
[1:17:00] Number 28. Motion to adopt resolution
20-2026 adopting the Burough Jefferson
[1:17:05] Hills comprehensive plan as the official
comprehensive plan of the burrow.
[1:17:09] » Motion.
>> Motion by sorry, Councilman Bence.
[1:17:12] » Second.
>> Second by Vice President Pollock. All
[1:17:15] those in favor say I. I. Any opposed?
>> Motion carries. Number 29. Motion to
[1:17:21] approve work authorization dated August
27th, 2026 from Gateway Engineers
[1:17:26] Incorporated for the civil engineering
services for the evaluation of the
[1:17:29] intersection of Waterman West and
Cochran Mill Road in the amount not to
[1:17:33] exceed $6,000.
>> I'll motion.
[1:17:37] » Motion by Councilwoman Buucy, second by
Vice President Pollock. All those in
[1:17:41] favor say I. I.
>> Any opposed?
[1:17:44] » Motion carries.
Number 30, motion to approve the
[1:17:48] developers agreement regarding the Oilio
plan. Number one, sanitary sewer
[1:17:52] extension.
>> A motion.
[1:17:55] » Motion by Councilman Bence.
>> Second.
[1:17:58] » Second by Vice President Pollock. All
those in favor say I. I. Any opposed?
[1:18:03] » Motion carries. Number 31. Motion to
advertise the public hearing for
[1:18:07] conditional use application number
CU-1-2026
[1:18:11] for 1450, Route 51, parcel number
766-J-80
[1:18:17] on October 7th, 2026 at blank time.
>> A motion.
[1:18:23] » Do we want to put a time in there?
>> Did we already think?
[1:18:26] » So, I took a look at the the application
and I took a look at our zoning
[1:18:30] ordinance and talked to Mark Reese a
little bit about it earlier today. So,
[1:18:34] this is categorized as an indoor
recreational facility and there are 10
[1:18:38] conditions associated with that. So, at
face it doesn't seem like uh
[1:18:45] like we need a whole hour, but you just
sometimes you never know how those go.
[1:18:48] So, yeah, I'd almost rather still do six
just to be safe. Okay, that's just my
[1:18:52] recommendation.
>> We can do six.
[1:18:54] » I second.
>> Okay. Motion by Councilwoman MZ for 6
[1:18:57] PM. Second by Councilman Bence. All
those in favor say I.
[1:19:01] » Any opposed? Motion carries.
Number 32, Burr Resident Taxpayer
[1:19:07] comments on non-aggenda items. I do have
one here.
[1:19:12] This is from Meg Dippled and Jeremy
Chabers, 801 Sha Court. Jeremy
[1:19:17] [clears throat] and I are new residents
of the Jefferson Hillsboro 801 Shan
[1:19:20] Court 15025 and are excited to be in the
neighborhood. Traveling in the area has
[1:19:25] brought up some concerns for us, our
family, and our friends coming to and
[1:19:28] from. Many of us are deaf or heart of
hearing. As licensed drivers, we're
[1:19:33] unable to hear honks and horns to safely
navigate the tunnels. Some of us are
[1:19:37] bicyclists, so that is concerning to us
as well. Title two of the ADA, equal
[1:19:43] access to public services. Title two
mandates that local governments ensure
[1:19:47] their services, programs, and activities
are accessible to individuals with
[1:19:50] disabilities. Requiring a driver to rely
on auditory cues listing for a horn to
[1:19:55] safely navigate a public roadway
excludes deaf and heart of hearing
[1:19:59] drivers from safe passage.
While ADA guidelines focus heavily on a
[1:20:04] pedestrian pathways like accessible
pedestrian signals, forcing drivers to
[1:20:08] use hearing as a primary safety
mechanism directly conflicts with equal
[1:20:14] access principles. We saw that the
waterman and co um Cochran Mill were
[1:20:18] going to be dis considered for
evaluation. And while we do not yet
[1:20:21] understand what that entails, we wanted
to bring the following to your attention
[1:20:25] for the betterment of our community.
Waterman tunnel at Cochran Mill
[1:20:29] intersection. This tunnel expects you to
use your horn and listen for others
[1:20:32] prior to entering. There is no stop or
yield sign approaching the intersection
[1:20:36] on either side. There is no convex
mirror or visual signaling system to
[1:20:40] allow deaf and heart of hearing drivers
to navigate through this tunnel safely.
[1:20:44] For comparison, the Stilly Tunnel at
Cochran Mill intersection has a convex
[1:20:48] mirror that allows drivers to see the
other side of the tunnel. The Piney Fork
[1:20:53] tunnel near the Greenman Tunnel, Montour
Trail. The tunnel here expects you to
[1:20:57] use your horn and listen for others
prior to entering with your vehicle. As
[1:21:01] a deaf bicyclist, I am unable to hear
vehicles enter from the other side of
[1:21:05] the tunnel and enter this tunnel
blindly. There can be a mirror or light
[1:21:10] signaling system for both vehicles and
bicyclists to benefit from for their
[1:21:15] safety. Snowden Road was closed at the
time of our move. So, if there is a
[1:21:20] tunnel there, we'd like to we'd like
that to be evaluated for ADA compliance
[1:21:24] and accessibility as well. We will
appreciate guidance on next steps we can
[1:21:29] take to continue to voice our concerns
until they are addressed.
[1:21:34] » I'd like to talk a little bit about
this. So, [clears throat]
[1:21:37] more specifically, I'd like to address
the uh agenda item number 29 uh the work
[1:21:42] authorization for Gateway because that's
sort of I think helped prompt this uh
[1:21:46] from the resident and I didn't get an
opportunity or or I missed it last last
[1:21:50] week to give a uh give an update on on
what that was for. So when we were doing
[1:21:54] the vehicle size restriction studies
with Gateway um a year or so ago, uh one
[1:22:00] of the some of the feedback we were
getting was was similar to the geometry
[1:22:05] and this uh single lane tunnel which is
owned by the railroad
[1:22:10] and what we could do to to make that
better. And uh that's something I talked
[1:22:15] with the traffic engineer from Gateway
Kyle Brown about you know what are our
[1:22:19] options here because uh and it sort of
went hand inand with the Stilly tunnel
[1:22:23] uh you know trying to get you Still is a
little wider but um but you know there's
[1:22:29] really you're sort of limited what you
can do there. Uh we we had discussions
[1:22:32] on you making Stillia one way down and
Waterman West one way up. While that
[1:22:37] would solve the problem that would not
be very popular for you know residents
[1:22:41] that have lived in that area for a
while. And one of the other ideas that
[1:22:44] uh Kyle threw out there for the Wireman
West tunnel specifically uh we don't
[1:22:47] think this will work for Philly tunnel
is uh turning it into a uh signalized
[1:22:54] intersection. So you'd queue up traffic
on Cochenville Road and uh up Waterman
[1:22:58] West as well. And it gets a little bit
of into a little bit of a gray area
[1:23:02] because even though Waterman West is a
you know burrow road and Cocker Mill is
[1:23:07] a county road, it still requires Pendot
approval. So Pendleot still has
[1:23:12] ultimate, you know, authority or
jurisdiction over any new proposed
[1:23:17] traffic signals, uh, even if it's not on
one of their roads. So Kyle had some
[1:23:21] discussions with, uh, Pendot about this
and, uh, they weren't necessarily
[1:23:26] opposed to this concept and, uh, but
they we need to get some more
[1:23:30] information for them to make that
decision. So you this work authorization
[1:23:34] is to uh, do some additional traffic
analysis down here. Uh we'll probably do
[1:23:39] some um some traffic counts as well uh
to get a better idea of what we're
[1:23:44] seeing come in there, some collaboration
with the county also. And uh the idea is
[1:23:49] to to sort of square up what this would
look like with PennDOT and then also
[1:23:54] develop a cost estimate because
intersections are not cheap as one can
[1:23:59] imagine. They're definitely a couple
hundred thousand. So, we're doing this
[1:24:03] in uh well in advance of a multimmoal
grant that we'll pursue again uh you
[1:24:08] know next year. Uh this year the
multimmoal grants we were we have two
[1:24:11] years ago we went for uh Peters Creek
Road which we got the $550,000 for to
[1:24:17] pave Peters Creek Road and then this
year we applied to do some paving on
[1:24:22] West Brew. Uh presumably next year
though uh we'll we'll be uh looking for
[1:24:27] another project then this is something
that you know I've been down there I've
[1:24:30] I've turned into that tunnel many of
times and you know it's uh I think
[1:24:34] that's something that we could improve
as well. So that's what that specific
[1:24:37] work authorization is for. Uh just
regarding the overall uh comment we got
[1:24:42] um for clarification purposes, the Piny
Fork tunnel is in South Park
[1:24:47] » and uh the Snowden tunnel, I don't think
it's even open, but that's I think when
[1:24:52] they did the turnpike that that was that
was abandoned. I think right now it's a
[1:24:55] fishing pier uh down in South Park. So
you can they question though.
[1:24:59] » Wouldn't wouldn't ADA compliance only
strengthen our position on that?
[1:25:05] » I mean we could bring them into the fold
>> for with PENDOT.
[1:25:08] » Yeah. I mean, yeah, for any of that,
>> um, a lot of the expense we could
[1:25:12] probably push off on them, too.
>> Mhm.
[1:25:14] » I mean, I don't know about threatening
litigation or anything, but I mean, they
[1:25:17] have a valid
>> and the railroad. We've had this
[1:25:19] conversation about the railroad.
>> The sign is just there. I mean, [snorts]
[1:25:22] » yeah,
>> it's actually just telling us there's an
[1:25:24] issue there. That's sometimes like we
talked about the concave mirrors that
[1:25:29] just is showing everyone there's an
issue here that
[1:25:32] » we're trying to solve with a mirror
which
[1:25:35] » doesn't really solve anything because
once that mirror breaks or damaged
[1:25:38] » liability
>> things go crazy then they're like why
[1:25:40] don't you fix the mirror? Well
>> fix
[1:25:44] » yeah it just the liability is there.
we're trying to do it the right thing by
[1:25:48] advising our, you know, the residents
and stuff, but in the end, you're just
[1:25:53] pointing out that there's an issue there
>> a lot with a lot of that.
[1:25:56] » And I hate to say that, I mean, every
every single issue that she pointed out
[1:25:59] here is not going to have a very quick
>> turn for especially if it has to deal
[1:26:04] with PENDOT and grants and things. But I
mean, with the ADA thing though, I mean,
[1:26:08] if they they're on board and they want
to push that, I mean, through litigation
[1:26:12] or whatever, I'm sure there's
some,
[1:26:16] you know, people out there that do that
for, you know, a living that, you know,
[1:26:22] fight. Burough manager Glister and uh
President Stephy, I think that it would
[1:26:26] be beneficial if you would contact
Representative Kuzma
[1:26:31] » and he had they have a direct link with
PennDOT and say that we have a resident
[1:26:38] who is deaf. They cannot hear that horn
going through there. And at least they
[1:26:44] could, it might be temporary, but at
least they could put the mirrors up
[1:26:48] » and they could do something while these
people are traveling there. But if you
[1:26:53] would contact them, I know they have had
much faster results.
[1:26:57] » Okay.
>> With PENDOT.
[1:26:59] » Okay.
>> Well, that was one of the other things I
[1:27:01] was going to add is that we'll
definitely um you know, we appreciate
[1:27:03] this being brought attention uh to our
attention and uh you I do plan on
[1:27:07] reaching out to Kyle Brown from Gateway
to see what his thoughts are, see if
[1:27:10] he's run into this because he's familiar
with some odd intersections. So, we can
[1:27:14] add uh you know, Kusma's office to that
list as well. But we'll see what the um
[1:27:18] you know there's what our options are
and um and then also to the point of the
[1:27:23] mirrors you know we we do follow
Pendot's guidance on that as well and
[1:27:27] that we do not um you know install any
new mirrors anymore just because of the
[1:27:31] liability associated with them. And it's
also you know this tunnel creates an
[1:27:35] interesting scenario as well because the
the road below the tunnel belongs to us.
[1:27:39] The tunnel itself belongs to the
railroad and then the road we tie into
[1:27:43] on the opposite side of the tunnel is a
county road. So, there's going to have
[1:27:45] to be some uh some coordination as well
between those entities. Maybe not so
[1:27:49] much the railroad, but definitely the uh
the county and the burrow. Um which is
[1:27:53] all which is uh you know, good timing
because I do have a county or a meeting
[1:27:58] with the uh um Jean Statler from the
county. She's head of roads in Alageney
[1:28:03] County. I have uh a meeting with her
later this week. So, I can add this to
[1:28:06] our agenda to discuss. But um
>> yeah, I just want to touch on that that
[1:28:10] we'll we'll take a look into it, see
what uh you know what the implications
[1:28:13] are, what how this is handled elsewhere.
And um
[1:28:16] » and in the meantime, let's see if there
is something temporary that we can
[1:28:19] provide.
>> Yep. Don't ride your bikes in Waterman
[1:28:22] Tunnel. That's
>> Yes.
[1:28:24] » I did see a biker come out of there and
it was startling.
[1:28:30] » Council Ben doesn't like bikes.
>> No, I like bikes [laughter] fine, but
[1:28:33] seeing a bike rider come out of the
tunnel the other day, I was like, whoa.
[1:28:37] That's something I wouldn't
>> recommend.
[1:28:40] » I wouldn't recommend for anybody to be
honest.
[1:28:42] » I was going to add that with see if the
chief had any additional guidance on
[1:28:45] that.
>> Yeah, chief.
[1:28:46] » I agree with that.
>> Yeah, I mean the other way.
[1:28:49] » Go down Gil Hall all the way to Pont 24.
>> You know that that would be my
[1:28:53] recommendation. Y
>> it's dangerous for cars going through
[1:28:55] there, let alone bikes.
>> Yeah,
[1:28:58] » no doubt.
>> Okay, general business. We're going to
[1:29:00] start with Vice President Pollock.
[1:29:05] » That's catching me off guard. Good. Very
good. [laughter]
[1:29:08] Um, again, great interaction with our
residents. You know, this is what it's
[1:29:13] all about. Lisa, appreciate again your
help and guidance with everything. Um, I
[1:29:18] [clears throat] would like to pass on
some sad news
[1:29:21] uh with the passing of Michael Doc
Kohish. Doc was a lifelong resident of
[1:29:26] the burrow in 1964, graduate of TJ. Dark
served on council for 12 years. Mayor of
[1:29:33] the Burough also knew him as a TJ boy
soccer coach for 34 years and he's
[1:29:39] ending with a record of 465 wins, 192
losses, and 41 ties. My condolences to
[1:29:46] his wife Helen and to his son Michael.
That's all.
[1:29:49] » Thank you.
>> Um, Councilwoman Marz,
[1:29:53] » also Lisa, thank you for all of your
continued information. Um, we really
[1:29:59] appreciate it. Um, and just a comment.
I'm sorry.
[1:30:02] » It's a good team.
>> I'm sure. Yes, we we're grateful. Thank
[1:30:05] you. Um, and just a comment about the
presentation um on lobes. I know Mr.
[1:30:10] D'Angelo already left, but um a thank
you to him and all the members of the
[1:30:15] historical society and their dedication
to um preserving our veterans grave
[1:30:21] sites. I commend them for that.
>> Certainly, Council Marc.
[1:30:26] » Thank you. Um, just for the record, I
want you to know that I did thoroughly
[1:30:31] read this lease uh over the weekend and
spent a lot of time evaluating every
[1:30:37] step of this. And I've also read many
other leases in collaboration with Lisa
[1:30:42] and I. We've worked together for many
years now. Um, I did not take this
[1:30:48] decision lightly and put in a lot of
homework. And also my yes vote for the
[1:30:53] comprehensive plan is hopeful that you
will continue to work with our residents
[1:30:56] in T park which I'm assured that we will
do so. And um a thank you to Mr.
[1:31:04] D'Angelo and the historical society for
the information and their efforts to
[1:31:09] help uh with the cemetery and the
property moving forward.
[1:31:14] And lastly, um,
my sympathies to Helen and Michael as my
[1:31:20] dad was a very good friend of Docs and
our family and it is very sad news and
[1:31:27] my heart goes out to the entire family.
That's all I have. Thank you.
[1:31:31] » Thank you, Councilman Benz.
>> Nothing for me. Thank you,
[1:31:34] » Counciloman Rto. I'm sorry, Buy.
>> Uh, thank you. I'd also like to thank uh
[1:31:41] both Lisa and Mr. D'Angelo for their
presentations.
[1:31:46] Uh, I would also like to thank all of
the members of council for being
[1:31:52] respectful and allowing people to have
diverse opinions. This is how we
[1:31:58] continue to grow and how we continue to
move forward.
[1:32:02] And I would like to consider having this
and that it was one of the reasons why I
[1:32:07] asked uh Mr. Haberstock about the
budget. [clears throat] I think when
[1:32:11] people came to answer about the
comprehensive plan, they may not have
[1:32:17] been aware that this building was built
in 1990
[1:32:21] and as a result of that, it needs some
overhaul.
[1:32:26] And you know, they didn't write, well,
let's get a new roof. Let's get a new
[1:32:30] air he air and heating con uh cooling
system. Let's fix the front windows that
[1:32:36] fog up, etc. So since that's not even a
consideration in the plan and the budget
[1:32:45] is coming up, I would like to maybe put
on next month's agenda that we have a
[1:32:51] motion to start a capital improvement
plan because this is more structural.
[1:32:58] All right? And
many employees in this building have
[1:33:03] told me that both the roof and the air
and heating cooling system are held
[1:33:08] together with three things. Band-aids,
bubble gum, and duct tape. And I think
[1:33:14] we need to address that, you know, to
have a plan for years out. And it's it's
[1:33:22] also going to have us have to s uh apply
for RAD grants because they start that
[1:33:28] you have to spend a minimum of $1
million and you might have to match
[1:33:33] that. So, I think we need to start
thinking too about our capital uh plan
[1:33:39] projects in addition to recreation
because a roof doesn't last 36 years and
[1:33:47] not need some maintenance on it or
something to happen. So, I'd like to
[1:33:52] publicly say that and if that could be
put on the agenda to form a committee
[1:33:56] and to start working on that.
And my condolences to Doc's family,
[1:34:03] Helen and Michael. They are also friends
of mine and we will miss him terribly.
[1:34:08] Thank you.
>> Thank you. Yeah, we talked extensively
[1:34:11] about the um the actual burrow building
today in our finance committee with
[1:34:16] Councilwoman Merz and Vice President
Pollock as well with Mr. Haverstock and
[1:34:19] Mr. Glister. Um we certainly see
what is potentially happening around the
[1:34:26] staff and around us. Um I I don't
necessarily know if we need do we need
[1:34:31] another committee for the capital
improvements?
[1:34:33] » Well, it could even be on council. You
know, you know, because the the average
[1:34:38] citizen isn't going to know about this
structure. All right. [snorts] But, you
[1:34:43] know, we could maybe some people might
want to. I I I'm not sure, but I know I
[1:34:48] think that we need to have some kind of
plan for this because it's costly.
[1:34:52] » I certainly think grow up one though,
right? Not a capital one.
[1:34:58] » Yeah, we had a renovation plan um done
by MLAN.
[1:35:02] » That was a red.
>> Yeah, the um
[1:35:04] » we're talking maintenance.
>> I don't I think
[1:35:08] uh that's a lot of um
irons in the fire with doing another
[1:35:14] commit. I'd certainly go on the um on
the advice of staff, you know. So,
[1:35:20] you're talking about a committee that
you want to either have counsel.
[1:35:24] » Yes. Identify things that need to be
done in the I we already do that
[1:35:28] » and prioritize and prioritize what are
we going to do first, second, third. We
[1:35:33] need to have I asked for that. I wanted
to know what what is our priorities
[1:35:37] here.
>> Okay. I think council we should decide
[1:35:40] that. I think that should be decided
>> as [snorts] a whole. Um and we can
[1:35:44] certainly do whatever we need to do to
spell that on out on the agenda and have
[1:35:49] those conversations for sure. The only
thing is if you have a capital
[1:35:53] improvement plan, you get a lot more
grant money,
[1:35:57] » you know. So that's why if we just put
it in a plan,
[1:36:00] » Yeah.
>> then it's more beneficial for us.
[1:36:03] » That's fine. Yeah. I think that would be
great for us to um contribute as a whole
[1:36:08] um with staff's
guidance. Were you going to say
[1:36:14] something? You're grabbing. No, I was
just going to say the direction
[1:36:17] [clears throat] from today is that, you
know, Brian and I are going to work with
[1:36:19] Kevin Turkel, the architect that's
working with us in the GBU uh regarding
[1:36:24] um the roof just with all the rain we've
had in August, the you know, 11 plus
[1:36:28] inches and we've had to expose some
issues here that we know we've had, but
[1:36:32] it's they've it's really exposed some
and uh we're going to talk to them about
[1:36:37] getting a start putting together a scope
and cost for that. I think that would be
[1:36:40] priority number one. HBAC number two.
But um we're going to start actually uh
[1:36:44] rather than hypothesizing or discussing
it, start actually putting in numbers
[1:36:47] and scope to it so we can start pursuing
grants for that purpose.
[1:36:51] » Yeah.
>> That way we know where we are
[1:36:53] financially too.
>> Okay. All right. I don't have anything
[1:36:57] for discussion. So with that, I'll take
a motion to adjurnn. Motion.
[1:37:00] » Second.
>> Motion by Councilman Bence, second by
[1:37:03] Vice President Pollock. All those in
favor say I. I. Meeting adjourned at
[1:37:06] 8:37 p.m.