[0:00] everyone I call this meeting of L Del burough Council for January 4th to order

[0:04] can we all rise for a pledge of allegiance and a moment of silent

[0:11] meditation flag United States of America to the

[0:19] stands indivisible andice

[0:28] all

[0:36] roll call please lean angelio present D Bernell

[0:41] present Carrie Hawkins Charlton present Rich deorio Jr here Mary Fuller here

[0:48] Jack Hansen here Steven malary present Jason vaname here Tom work here mayor G

[0:56] Andrew Eckley here thank you good evening everyone

[1:01] happy New Year welcome back uh to welcome to

[1:05] 2017 um before we get started I want to remind everyone that we are uh we are uh

[1:10] at last live um with our video recording equipment um this uh this meeting will

[1:18] be fully video record video and audio recorded um everything you do everything

[1:23] you say uh Etc will be uh under scrutiny um and uh we'll ultimately be posted on

[1:30] our website we aren't yet live with our cable access channels uh those will be

[1:34] coming later um hopefully not in the near too distant future um so I just

[1:39] want to say for folks in in the public if you do come up um you you want to

[1:43] come up to this Podium over here to my doesn't really matter okay either Podium

[1:48] is fine apparently um but we will want you to definitely state your name uh and

[1:53] address for the record uh can't have shouting from the from the audience at

[1:57] this point otherwise we'll we'll miss that opportunity on the cameras um

[2:01] that's all I'll say about that uh we'll get started uh taking us out admin and

[2:05] finance councilman vaname thank you Mr President uh after approving the minutes

[2:10] from uh last month's meeting we discussed our financial reports got an

[2:15] update uh don't quite have all the end of year numbers in but it looks like we

[2:19] will have uh a considerable Surplus in the uh

[2:24] revenues uh with with a real estate transfer LST and E taxes all showing uh

[2:31] above budget uh coupled with uh expenditure showing a pretty large

[2:38] number below budget there's a couple transfers yet to make before we get that

[2:42] number finalized but uh all in all the budget we are in good shape from last

[2:46] year's uh from 2016 uh we asked there was a question

[2:51] about the open gov uh portal on our website and that is currently being

[2:56] updated and should should hopefully be up to date within the next couple of

[3:01] weeks um moving on to business items uh the the one recommendation we will be

[3:08] bringing to council is approval of the Landscaping bids for maintenance and uh

[3:13] grass cutting and trimming for several properties throughout the burrow uh the

[3:18] the bids were done for a three-year uh term this time with the winning the the

[3:25] bid that we are recommending coming from uh biasi Landscaping uh 3 years for a

[3:32] total of $136,800

[3:35] uh we had a we had an item on there about approving check signers but we

[3:40] didn't quite get all the necessary information in in time so we uh pushed

[3:44] that off till to February uh under old business we had an

[3:49] update on the uh trash removal specifications that specification has

[3:54] been completed uh with the uh recommendation

[3:59] to send that out to bid on the 19th of this month and the council members will

[4:06] get a copy of that bid for their perusal um we were reminded that uh we

[4:12] have already approved uh advertisement and or or what

[4:17] is it development and advertisement of that bid so

[4:22] um so so Council will see that bid uh the public will get a um the scope of

[4:29] work put on the website so that they would be able to Peru that as well uh

[4:34] and again it is to get a bid to see what the numbers would be uh to if if we in

[4:39] in fact decide to go that route

[4:43] um under new business we are looking at uh some potential savings by uh shopping

[4:52] insurance carriers for liability and property insurance um we could

[4:57] potentially realize a great saving on insurance through the Delaware Valley uh

[5:03] Insurance trust which we are a member of and use currently for uh our workers

[5:08] comp and health insurance they also offer um property and liability

[5:15] insurances uh we use a different carrier for that currently uh but we have asked

[5:20] staff to uh look into to our options to see if we could realize the savings

[5:26] there so they will will pursue that over the next

[5:30] uh it'll take several months to to actually uh get through that

[5:35] process um under uh some other things under I guess

[5:42] old business uh we do have a potential the settlement date for the 311 building

[5:49] uh is is scheduled for tomorrow so uh barring any unforeseen

[5:54] complications uh that settlement will happen

[5:57] tomorrow uh we were uh again we have asked for uh current

[6:04] updates on our professional reports from our various professionals that the buau

[6:10] uses um and the HR position staff is currently kind of in the final stages of

[6:17] interviewing uh hoping to get down to uh a selection the vetting process and and

[6:25] looking that maybe by the end of January we might uh be able to agree with

[6:29] someone on that position so that's coming uh one other one last thing under

[6:34] new business uh a grand opportunity uh through the growing

[6:39] Greener organization uh it's a grand opportunity that would provide funds for

[6:44] a design on um one of the projects that is part of the ms4 plan uh that we had

[6:53] to develop uh early in 2016 uh that that actual plan and now uh

[7:01] approval for that has been pushed off till later 2017 but this grant

[7:07] opportunity is is kind of time sensitive and it would provide funds for uh the

[7:12] design process of a project that is in that plan um so we have asked staff to

[7:18] pursue that grand opportunity It's a grand opport uh hoping to get about

[7:24] $100,000 uh with about a 15 to 20% match on that the the planning phase of this

[7:30] project uh looks to be about $120,000 so if we can get that plan taken care of

[7:35] and shovel ready that puts us in a better position uh come September when

[7:39] those some of those other plans are adopted and uh so we think it's a it's a

[7:45] good thing and it would the pl the project that they're looking at is

[7:49] stream Bank stabilization in the Whites Road Park

[7:52] area um that concludes my report thank you councilman van Dame any

[7:58] questions for admin Finance one quick question Mr President

[8:03] yes the HR Personnel um is the per once we hire or if we hire an HR department

[8:09] head um what other what other multitask is that that person going to be doing

[8:15] besides just HR job in other words job description

[8:22] itself um I'm not going to do very well answering that question other than to

[8:26] say I know there's a pretty full job description for that position um and I'm

[8:30] going to look in Jake's direction for anything he wants to add yes we we can

[8:35] furnish that job description okay as far as you know what would be expected you

[8:39] know of uh the HR Personnel okay um you know but you know what we expect uh that

[8:45] person to be okay is a full member of the uh the management team okay uh help

[8:50] us you know develop uh um you know develop the the HR you know evaluate our

[8:57] existing um uh um information you know as it as it relates to HR and then

[9:04] develop uh uh a uh a plan for moving the HR process uh you know forward and and

[9:13] and making that a a um a um ongoing part of you know the bur the you know the

[9:21] Burrow's operations okay um you know as to um you know uh what other duties okay

[9:29] they they would obviously the duties would still largely re relate around um

[9:35] you know looking at at contracts benefits okay uh you know looking uh to

[9:41] make sure that we stay current with uh uh the various laws that are you know

[9:46] almost changing daily okay uh so that you know we are um you know um I'll say

[9:55] right up with the you know with the Curve as far as you know where we we

[10:00] where we need to be uh compliance wise okay ultimately you know they would be

[10:05] assisting you know with uh you know uh input into the budget they'd be

[10:10] assisting with input into contracts um you know there's um you know um uh

[10:18] there's there's more than enough uh to keep them busy you know like the rest of

[10:22] us uh you know um probably more than 40 hours per

[10:28] week than thank you Jake thanks Jake any other questions admin for admin and

[10:34] finance One n here Mr President um Jason did you mention that the biasi

[10:39] Landscaping contract uh was for three years did okay all right I wasn't I

[10:44] wasn't sure all right thank you anyone

[10:50] else all right thank you very much moving on Code Enforcement and land

[10:53] planning councilman angelio thank you Mr President um after approval of our

[10:59] December meeting minutes we moved into our committee business items uh Mr Ernst

[11:04] Pro provided a uh discussion points on electrical permits what you need to know

[11:11] what we go through here in the burough of Landsdale um just some of the small

[11:15] discussion points a very large volume of permits that are applied for are never

[11:20] picked up uh that becomes very very costly for John's Department to track

[11:25] them down did the work get done has it been completed has it been post inspect

[11:29] action so that he can close the permits um informational for people is that

[11:37] while we provide permits for electrical work we do not inspect the work for

[11:41] proper completion that requires an independent Agency for the final

[11:46] inspection for uh that it all follows guidelines building code that it's

[11:52] safely done post inspection by that independent agency John's uh group will

[11:59] go go in inspect make sure it is properly tagged and stickered so that

[12:02] they can close the permit um it was a actually was

[12:06] fantastic discussion we had a lot of uh public input and um was very well

[12:11] received John I think and thank you for that uh that presentation we spoke about

[12:17] our budget activity um John's department has um

[12:21] outperformed uh every year more permits um but one of the areas that it doesn't

[12:26] outperform is less citations less complaints so um through a comprehensive

[12:33] um effort of Outreach to the community John's group has done a a fantastic job

[12:38] of educating people what needs a permit what doesn't need a permit people are

[12:42] more educated John's department has less issues to deal with where they can focus

[12:47] more on what they need to focus on as opposed to chasing people down they can

[12:52] develop you know Progressive platforms for people to be able to easily uh

[12:56] acquire permits Comm uh Planning Commission report we um on January 16th

[13:05] there will be a presentation about the Madison Street widening project this is

[13:09] not the Equis project for Madison parking lot this is primarily on the

[13:14] street widening that street to allow for additional parking it's um the street

[13:19] that abuts the back end of the Main Street stores for those that don't know

[13:23] I'm not sure who wouldn't know where Madison Street was um it'll also so you

[13:29] know work in conjunction with that ongoing Equis project The Equis project

[13:34] itself um as an update is in land planning uh currently they're going

[13:40] through the process of having their project approved for um beginning which

[13:46] would will be nice this has been a a long project it'll be nice to see this

[13:51] project come to fruition uh there will be also be a presentation on the 16th um

[13:56] 32 East blae Street this has been a long ongoing project too the U the the

[14:03] individuals that are developing this project will continue moving

[14:07] forward um all business except the parking garage just a scheduling update

[14:12] a prospective opening end of February beginning of March there's been some

[14:16] minor delays primarily concerning elevators um we spoke about potential

[14:21] new ordinances curb sidewalk and house number inspections um usually or what

[14:27] we'd like to think done when a house is being sold to protect the new owner make

[14:32] sure all the information is from the old owner to the new owner so nobody gets

[14:36] any surprises when they when they buy a new home we will be having a a

[14:41] presentation uh by an individual who would like to present some some

[14:45] arguments um against and of course before we go through with developing any

[14:50] kind of ordinance we want to we want to research it we want to talk about it how

[14:53] it affects people dayt day uh we also spoke um about the a potential medical

[15:00] marijuana ordinance uh we're being very proactive on this because this is

[15:05] something that is coming um we have a model ordinance that has been sent to

[15:09] our solicitor to look over it see if it suits land the community who we are and

[15:16] and what we do here um we also talked about an ordinance revision uh for

[15:21] accessory building definition currently in

[15:25] Landsdale Lots um we're limited to two accessory structures

[15:30] uh in most yards now it would seem kind of silly but a patio a paved patio is

[15:37] considered an accessory structure so what we want to do is we want to look

[15:40] and make sure our ordinances are not overly binding

[15:45] or that they work for the people that that live here so that they can do

[15:48] things with their homes and not have undue hardship uh new business zoning

[15:53] hearing board 623 Columbia Avenue there was uh the zoning hearing board herd uh

[15:59] about a non-conforming porch being built into an enclosure that was habitable

[16:04] space um it basically it uh kind of projected into a sidey yard which is not

[16:10] permitted at this point however they were uh approved for that um structure

[16:16] Hill Hill Crest shopping center two additional pad sites and parking has

[16:20] been approved um for future development in that location the January 17th uh

[16:28] zoning hearing board meeting has been cancelled we had a lot of public comment

[16:32] uh some interesting things concerning some of the things we spoke about prior

[16:36] and some some new ideas it was a well attended and uh exciting meeting I

[16:42] invite you all to join us in a few weeks to come out so I know it doesn't compare

[16:47] to parks and RM but we don't have fireworks there but we do have a lot of

[16:54] fun and that is the end of my report thank you Council angelio any

[16:59] questions for code enforcement anybody all right thank you

[17:05] very much moving right along uh Communications Commission councilwoman

[17:09] Hawkins Charlton thank you Mr President happy New Year everyone uh we actually

[17:14] had a really productive meeting last night uh we started with a Civics 101

[17:18] schedule uh based on our feedback from previous sessions we've changed the

[17:22] format to monthly Workshop instead of 3 weeks at a time uh the first Workshop

[17:27] will be held on Tuesday January 31st and that'll be the legislative branch where

[17:32] we talk about how the council functions what our our appointed officials do for

[17:36] us as well as how of our meetings are structured there's only 10 spaces left

[17:41] so uh email Tracy uh to sign up um I believe there's information on the

[17:47] website yes so if you want to sign up you can go there uh the next workshops

[17:52] in the pipeline um will be the police on February 28th and then in March they'll

[17:58] be we'll get to visit judge Ed LaVine and his council chambers um which was a

[18:03] real big hit the last time we did it uh We've also talked with various

[18:07] department heads um and hopefully we'll get a behind thes scenes tour coming in

[18:12] uh the later spring months uh so those dates will be coming up next uh we also

[18:17] talked about the website we took a look at the metrics and statistics for the

[18:22] burough website for the past year and there are a few items that we found

[18:25] interesting the most searched keywords were job employment and poll the most

[18:31] frequently visited Pages were the calendar Utility payments and the white

[18:36] Whites Road concert series uh the majority of site traffic to our site

[18:41] came from Facebook search engines and job employment sites um we also

[18:47] discussed the meeting of the meeting recordings as D Denton mentioned we're

[18:51] now recording and we'll be posting work session and business meetings on the

[18:55] burough website we'll also be posting those recordings on com and Verizon

[18:59] channels uh we have the equipment ready but we're just waiting for training to

[19:04] to get set up on those um also with the meeting recordings we talked a little

[19:08] bit about programming um what else we want to showcase besides just our

[19:13] meetings um so if anybody has any comments on that please uh send Tracy

[19:18] and I an email um possible options are um ongoing development projects um

[19:25] howtos for various departments um you know some of our burrow events

[19:30] throughout the year uh we also started talking about the editorial calendar how

[19:35] to ramp up our media coverage for the burrow um and capitalize on all the

[19:39] events we have H happening in landale um it's at the beginning of the year so

[19:44] it's a great time to uh start to reach out to those new sources and let them

[19:48] know that what we're doing in lale and hopefully they'll come out and give us

[19:52] some press maybe along the way uh also we are looking into Poss possibly a

[19:59] video production intern

[20:03] uh uh we talked about how the demands of this new video uh channel uh is is

[20:10] putting some burdens on our current staff um and maybe maybe having an

[20:16] internship or potentially multiple internships will help us assist uh

[20:21] communic communication efforts for the burrow we'll also look at various

[20:25] Colleges and Schools as well as potential qualified candidates from

[20:29] other areas of the community and that sums up my report does anybody have any

[20:35] questions any questions for communication yes now just a comment uh

[20:39] you really want our ideas on how we can Jazz up the station Tracy and uh Carrie

[20:45] I'll send you some ideas sure go ahead we could do some kind of uh Council act

[20:51] or you know we can you never know already on the

[20:57] list I I do like to hear that uh pool and Whites Road you know that's that's

[21:04] it shows you that uh you know not that I'm prejudiced or anything about the

[21:09] parks and recck system but uh it's important to communities and it our

[21:15] website proves that thank you any other questions for

[21:21] communications all right thank you very much Carrie moving on economic

[21:26] development councilman vaname thank you Mr President president uh so at our

[21:30] meeting we had a presentation from Pam Kelly who is the CEO of the uh pens

[21:35] Suburban Chamber of Commerce of Greater Montgomery County uh she came to us with

[21:40] a proposal to help uh facilitate and organize a business group here in

[21:46] Lansdale uh they currently actually do this in skip back and lower gnid uh to

[21:51] some degree a success we've been trying to

[21:55] organize some some type of Lansdale business Association for some time now

[22:00] and for different reasons it's it's uh nobody's really picked it up and run

[22:04] with it so Pam has agreed to uh come in and try to Foster that program we are

[22:10] waiting to hear from her on a couple dates to get that started but we are

[22:14] hoping to start that uh by the end of this month uh if not early next month uh

[22:20] she's agreed to run a 12-month program uh it would be free to anybody that's a

[22:25] current member of the Chamber of Commerce and uh a nominal annual fee for

[22:31] uh non chamber members uh they would provide you know monthly agenda and

[22:35] support to these meetings and then hopefully the business Community can

[22:39] grow uh that Association out of this program uh the the group thought that

[22:45] that would be a a great thing here for the businesses in Lansdale there's

[22:48] definitely a need and a desire so uh we're going to see what we can do to get

[22:53] that going um other than that we welcome one new business in November uh Visiting

[22:59] Angels over on Vine Street and uh we reviewed the caners as

[23:05] the business of the month of December and coming up this month Mr Ray Liberto

[23:09] will be presenting the business of the month the only other thing I have the

[23:14] report on I don't know if Mary will get this in her report but the uh folks that

[23:19] ran the Christmas tree display uh by the cougle ball uh wanted to report they had

[23:24] over a thousand people sign in and it was a very successful uh even though it

[23:29] they got shortened by a day it was still a great great thing to do in a great

[23:33] location so help helped contribute to uh the the season here in Lansdale and that

[23:39] concludes my report thank you Mr vaname any questions

[23:43] for EDC all right moving right along

[23:46] electric committee councilman D Gregorio thank you Mr President um the approval

[23:51] amendments 30-0 our our committee business items first was the uh purchase

[23:57] of the rear yard buggy from the machine that we were talking about this past

[24:02] year the machine was earmarked for $175,000 but it came through coars with

[24:09] 13185 from alte Industries this will be coming to in the next uh business

[24:14] meeting for consideration for purchase second would be the uh line switch gear

[24:19] update uh the the gear is actually 98% completed and ready to energize

[24:25] tomorrow next is the um maintenance sub station excuse me the main substation

[24:31] maintenance um there's been concern about the um security with our

[24:35] substations and our facilities um our our committee was talking about possibly

[24:40] looking into a security systems to protect and keep an eye on on our U

[24:46] infrastructure with our electric so that's that is uh in process with our

[24:51] committee and also uh Andy's talking to uh other people about uh ideas and specs

[24:57] and stuff like that next would be the uh

[25:01] 2016 um things that we uh did this year with the electric first would be the

[25:06] main substation breaker the 145,000 volt and the 345 volt Breakers next would be

[25:13] the phase one and the Aline green project next would be the uh

[25:19] dvrpc LED um light project that that's what we did last year next would be the

[25:27] fiber equip equipment and training for Phase 2 um the guys are getting uh more

[25:33] guys are getting trained on the fireberg equipment and we will be in a process

[25:36] about doing more fiber this coming year uh 2017 like I said um our goals would

[25:43] be the repair and upgrade the main substation equipment uh replace the

[25:48] substation in preparation for the Madison parking

[25:51] development um next would be the purchased to install 2,000 more um RX

[25:57] meters that we talked in the past and finally another we're talking about the

[26:03] IR the heating system in the uh service building of the electric Department

[26:07] about getting a new heater system so we're in a process about investigating

[26:13] that situation Department operations finally

[26:17] septic garage is work has completed in the garage next would be the meter

[26:22] replacement the creu are like I said we're um changing meters

[26:26] out and finally the CPR certifications the entire crew was recently recertified

[26:32] in CPR training um it's great that we have a safety coordinator and the guys

[26:37] are getting their certifications for that situation too to keep everybody

[26:42] safe finally the new business the power blip this morning at 7: a.m. was due to

[26:47] PP now fault line in hfield that affected our main line power was

[26:51] restored in a matter of seconds and that was end of my report

[26:56] any questions from Council yes yes uh you mentioned that piece of

[27:02] equipment you called a backyard truck something back backyard machine

[27:07] yes backyard machine and we estimated it at

[27:13] 175,000 and we found it that we could possibly get it on co-star for 131 yes

[27:19] yes Mr hansome I like that thank you it's a a great machine um with a we have

[27:24] a lot of telephone poles in our backyards in our uh burrow and having

[27:28] this machine is is going to help tremendously with the labor with our

[27:33] electric department just because it's in Ace it won't tear up a lot of people's

[27:37] Lawns it's it's smaller um it's smaller used meaning that has a has a bu bucket

[27:43] attachment to it so alignment can actually go up in the air um also we

[27:47] take the bucket out it also can set a pole move a pole um it also has

[27:52] hydraulic lines for jackhammering so it's a very multi-purpose piece of

[27:57] equipment that the bar would definitely could use and help our uh Manpower and

[28:02] our electric Department keep up the good work and keep saving us money thank you

[28:07] Mr thank you any other questions for electric

[28:12] committee all right thank you very much Rich much

[28:16] appreciated uh let's see Library committee vice president Fuller here

[28:22] thank you Mr President your favorite report of the night uh we had no

[28:26] committee meeting in January AR uh we are due for a library Board of Trustees

[28:32] meeting next business meeting which is January 18th uh and our next committee

[28:38] meeting will be Monday February 6th but um thank you very much and you

[28:44] can keep us going with parks and Rick thank you Mr President uh suggestion for

[28:48] opening these meetings now with the cameras I think you should start it with

[28:53] live from Lansdale it's Wednesday night and just just thrown that I'll take it

[28:58] under consideration thank you uh as all committees do uh we did like everybody

[29:04] else and approved our minutes so I'll I'll note that as well so you don't

[29:08] think parks and wck is lack in doing that uh we discussed a few requests that

[29:15] are um that we're researching to move to council should they be necessary uh one

[29:21] is the potential use um by the USA US Tennis Association

[29:28] um potential rental of three of our courts on a couple hours uh in on

[29:35] Saturdays from late April early May for 8we courses for kids we'll move that

[29:41] forward as we do some more research and decide if um the user is interested in

[29:47] renting and agrees to the price that that we will set forth uh the other

[29:54] request that is um in the research phase in the the park system is a request uh

[30:01] for soccer field usage um and this would be for the Merc soccer program uh

[30:07] currently uh I think we're aware MC is selling some of its property they would

[30:13] not have a soccer field they do have an employee soccer program so they are

[30:18] researching local municipalities uh for the potential use

[30:23] of uh soccer fields again if the fit is right uh we'll come before Council uh

[30:29] with a suggested um use and price so more more to come on that as

[30:36] necessary uh we had several successful programs following our last meeting and

[30:42] uh in keeping with all the holiday um hij Jinks here in the burrow uh we had a

[30:48] successful Charlie Brown Christmas concert over at pendale Middle School uh

[30:53] decently attended can always use more there I know it's a busy time of year

[30:58] but our thanks to obviously the school district the Eric mtel quartet and

[31:05] everyone who attended and enjoyed that program in December uh we also thank uh

[31:10] Alan gold and Ellen Price Malloy who once again put together a very

[31:15] successful manure lighting program on December 26th uh was one of the most

[31:22] highly attended events of that nature um so having it two days after the start of

[31:29] Hanukkah didn't seem to affect actually the weather cooperated there were 16

[31:34] horns of Hanukkah applying and uh overall the night was very successful uh

[31:41] the Santa house was also successful uh help uh with the the being so close to

[31:47] the trees I'm sure the tree display in the Santa house uh that was always my

[31:52] particular dream and goal to have those two uh holiday events close enough to

[31:57] each other that people could easily uh go back and forth and appreciate the

[32:02] both of them so thanks to uh all of Santa's helpers who were on hand and um

[32:10] and helped do Santa's bidding to all the children uh who so chose to visit with

[32:16] him uh we are now gearing up for spring and summer programs and I'll keep you of

[32:22] course apprised of them as we move forward uh maintenance activities uh

[32:28] tradition you know typical ongoing maintenance for this time of year in

[32:32] addition to that we are looking at some valve issues at Whites Road pool and

[32:37] looking into taking care of uh make sure everything's in proper working order uh

[32:43] our budget closed out in good shape for 2016 uh we're happy to report that uh

[32:48] the parks and wreck department did not exceed its uh budget in expenses but it

[32:54] did exceed its budget in revenues so so we're we're very happy with that uh on

[33:02] in Old business uh Liberty Bell Trail update uh the bids um are due by uh

[33:11] January 12th and this is the section of the trail that runs from Andale green to

[33:17] uh Hancock road to behind Andale green that stretch um so potential biders have

[33:25] until 11:00 um Friday morning the 6th to

[33:30] submit any questions uh bids are due by 11:00 a.m. on the 12th so by next this

[33:37] time next month maybe we will have some reports on on how that um how the

[33:43] bidding went uh we did touch uh briefly on Skate Park update um Carl is uh

[33:52] researching the Tony Hawk foundation and whether or not um the criteria has

[33:58] loosened up some on that so we're looking into uh having seeing if we can

[34:03] get some money there which we could put against the current grant that that we

[34:09] have um so we'll keep everybody posted on that uh we did uh have some um some

[34:17] of the residents who spoke during public comment regarding this issue uh our goal

[34:24] as the parks and recck committee is to have a decision on location uh by this

[34:29] time next month we'd like to uh have a recommendation our hope is to have a

[34:34] recommendation for Council uh coming out of our next committee meeting which

[34:40] would be the first Wednesday in February

[34:44] so um we talked about the uh

[34:51] grandstand project uh the bid packages are right now being reviewed vied by

[34:58] Chris fio and Chris conle uh we are on target our goal was to have them out

[35:03] late December sometime in January we're still on track with that um so that that

[35:10] should go out later this month our long-term goal of course is to have the

[35:14] grand stand uh renovated by the beginning of this year's baseball season

[35:20] so we're still on track to accomplish that uh we reviewed we reviewed and

[35:26] discussed our park bench sponsorship and donation program uh as we move forward

[35:33] with that uh Carl has given the committee some uh recommendations and uh

[35:38] some specifications for what other communities do uh Justin Smith has

[35:44] graciously he's our our resident GIS Guru uh has mapped out all the

[35:50] existing benches in each of the burrow parks and what kind of benches they are

[35:57] because as we move forward if people want to um donate a memorial or honorari

[36:04] honorari not a word uh a bench to honor someone they will um be consistent with

[36:12] what's already in the park we're also looking at um a plaque program as well

[36:19] uh there is a a specific request already in front of us to put a plaque on a

[36:25] specific park bench in system so we will come up and make sure come up with a

[36:30] plan to make sure plaques are also consistent and we will share all the

[36:35] details of the length of the program and the charges surrounding that as we move

[36:43] forward

[36:48] um we discussed pool policies under new business uh Carl will be meeting with uh

[36:58] pool managers and and those uh stakeholders in in that area uh to

[37:04] discuss maybe reconfiguring a few of the policies perhaps uh not the least of

[37:11] which could include um uh revising pool hours uh admissions

[37:18] who we allow in and what type of ID they would have to present uh relaxing the

[37:24] number of guests per member that you would be allowed to bring to the the

[37:27] pool the age of uh a child that you can drop off

[37:32] unaccompanied uh that kind of Works hand inand with the insurance piece that

[37:37] Jason talked about if we move to a new carrier we that may have to be changed

[37:42] for insurance purposes um and and that um outside of the public comment uh most

[37:51] of which uh surrounded the skate park that concludes our report thank you

[37:58] thank you very much any questions yes Mr Hansen I just want to say I really like

[38:04] what I'm hearing here tonight you said you did not exceed expenses and you did

[38:09] exceed revenues I applaud the forks and Rec Department thank you very much I

[38:14] appreciate that thank you I'd say I work hard at that but I gotta yeah give props

[38:20] to that guy over there it's not on camera that's right

[38:23] right Mr President yes sir um I actually witnessed

[38:28] how that happens and how Carl does it and I don't know how he does this either

[38:32] through extensive study review of past uh statistics Carl was able to set up to

[38:39] Santa house see every child over a multitude of days whoever wanted to see

[38:44] and sit with Santa hand out a little goodie bag and at the end of a multitude

[38:49] of weeks and couple of hundred kids managed to have one Surplus bag one so

[38:57] I'm not sure what kind of Witchcraft you use say cook your numbers Carl but

[39:01] definitely it was absolutely a Christmas miracle very good well done

[39:06] sir

[39:10] Joan all right so really Joanne deserves all the credit s a senior elf she was

[39:15] absolutely wonderful and uh she certainly enjoys it my credit goes out

[39:20] or my my Thanks goes out to her too so I I guess that goes that proves

[39:26] the point that behind every good

[39:31] man all right now that the video cameras are on yeah okay all right well done

[39:37] well done uh any other questions for parks and

[39:40] W all right thank you very much moving right along Public Safety councilman

[39:45] work thank you Mr President uh three items of note from the public safety

[39:50] meeting this evening uh first an update on the commercial vehicle parking

[39:56] ordinance um we have now completed the vetting process of that ordinance and

[40:02] are prepared to uh send our um our proposed changes onto the burough

[40:09] solicitor uh for the uh crafting of a draft uh and just as a quick highlight

[40:15] um of those changes um they include restricting parking of the following

[40:20] Vehicles overnight uh it would include commercial vehicles uh 1,200 lb and over

[40:26] 12,000 oh 12,000 lb over thank you it's a little

[40:31] light 12,000 my Prius was in trouble yeah yes my Honda's in trouble uh motor

[40:39] homes RVs and campers uh any unattached trailers uh and then any commercial

[40:45] vehicle that's solely designated to transport um cargo or goods and then of

[40:50] course there will be exemptions uh that will be included in that to includeed

[40:54] construction equipment in an active Zone Fire equipment uh Etc so uh stay tuned

[41:01] uh that will be forthcoming for uh our review as a full counsel uh second item

[41:06] was uh we addressed an appeal of a handicap parking request at 1032 popler

[41:12] Street uh uh last month we had denied this request based on information we had

[41:17] there was adequate off street parking however um residents did appeal uh Chief

[41:23] mcdy did a site visit spent a fair amount of time with the resident

[41:28] uh and determined that there really is a significant need there uh so he did

[41:33] recommend that we uh reverse that and approve and we have so that will be

[41:38] forthcoming for final approval uh later in the month and then finally we had a

[41:42] visit from the folks uh from the Hometown Heroes walk um seeking approval

[41:48] for uh the walk on Saturday May 13th uh again uh initiating at Trinity

[41:54] Lutheran uh a 10: a.m. start and we did as a committee uh approve to

[42:01] save that date as a side note they are the first event of the year uh subject

[42:07] to the new events ordinance that uh we recently passed so uh final approval is

[42:14] is subject or contingent upon um uh approval of that application which we

[42:19] will expect will happen uh as well as all the regular Insurance Etc so unless

[42:25] there are questions concerns is my report yes sir only one thing Tom you

[42:32] didn't mention the fact that our committee was the first committee to get

[42:37] these new lapel pens from our chief and the whole commit is f on that Tracy can

[42:44] you can you zoom in on the new on they've been loing these pins over me

[42:47] for the last 20 minutes I we we better get these pins and we thank you Chief

[42:51] they're they're they're wonderful and amazing thanks Jack

[42:57] all right any questions for Tom fantastic lastly Public Works councilman

[43:03] malary thank you Mr President after approving our minutes we jumped right

[43:07] into our business items uh 2016 roadway and utility Rehabilitation project

[43:12] that's Crestview durstein and the Force main sanitary sewer laterals were worked

[43:17] on along Crestview Road um and sanitary line and manhole were installed on East

[43:22] Fifth Street at the vacant lot between Crestview and Lansdale Avenue uh there

[43:27] will be a request for payment number one and we actually did vote on that and in

[43:32] the affirmative for the amount of

[43:56] $144,300 Church Road and then some areas on Cherry Street the intersection of

[44:00] Wicken Avenue and Highland Avenue and then finished up on both sides of

[44:04] Highland as well the burough was responsible for Paving or paying rather

[44:08] for the black top which came in at

[44:17] $4,618.00 total for this project is

[44:24] $96,900 budget for what we had budgeted for at

[44:29] $100,000 so we got a lot of work done um and it also came in under budget so this

[44:35] project has been closed out from our agenda um we next spoke about the nap

[44:40] Road Bridge uh the wayfinding signs were installed the week of December 19th so

[44:45] if you haven't seen them go take a look go walk by see how they are uh see if

[44:50] there's any Resident feedback from that and uh we can also close this project

[44:54] out from our agenda uh next we spoke a little bit on

[45:00] the wastewater treatment plant and so there weren't any uh Merc flow numbers

[45:07] for this month but Dan did give us a good number and he says since we've

[45:11] actually started taking uh Wastewater from Merc we've done uh about 500

[45:17] million gallons of waste waterer from them and that's uh from

[45:21] 2013 is when we started that so that was a an impressive number uh none L um we

[45:28] then spoke about the TMD alternative um so that is for the Wicken tmdl

[45:33] alternative uh the next meeting for that is th the second Thursday in February um

[45:38] subcommittees are being formed um and there was a name change for the group

[45:43] actually it is now being called the Wicken clean water

[45:47] partnership and the plan will be called the Wicken water quality improvement

[45:54] plan and then spoke a little bit about the ms4 um Jason really touched on that

[46:00] so I'm not going to go any further on it um unless there's questions um as far as

[46:06] the budget is concerned we did start talking about um looking into getting

[46:11] some prices for a six wheeel dump truck and uh also a small bucket truck and uh

[46:17] we'll be getting some more information on that next month and that is in our

[46:21] Capital um capital budget for that um in Old business

[46:27] um the hometown hero banners have all been removed from the polls uh they're

[46:32] packed up into the dock boxes provided by Anon Ed shuring and picked up by lale

[46:38] Warehouse on December 29th and to be stored over the winter months and also

[46:45] uh further old business we got some correspondents from pendot that North

[46:50] Broad Street is scheduled and this is in writing to be paved this year

[46:54] 2017 and uh as we get any more information I'll keep you all

[46:58] posted uh furthermore in Old business um survey work was completed uh by by the L

[47:05] Lansdale Abington hospital um and we identified uh where our easement needs

[47:11] to be for the forc main work that's there and basically that area that we're

[47:15] talking about is where the burrow line is and where the hospital property is

[47:19] and there's residences along that area we need to do the survey to see where we

[47:23] needed to run the work for the Force main that needed to be there and where

[47:26] the easements needed to go so the next step is actually getting those easements

[47:31] done um let's see after that oh the last

[47:38] thing I wanted to mention in Old business was our sludge truck that we uh

[47:42] want to sell on municibid actually uh got a bid for

[47:48] $61,000 which was uh I think we initially thought it was going to be

[47:51] around 35 so uh definitely much more than than

[47:56] we expected so hopefully we'll we'll confirm that soon

[48:02] um on let's see on new business uh the Christmas tree pickup will be Saturday

[48:08] this coming Saturday January 7th so please have your Christmas trees out and

[48:13] any uh decorations that are left on them will be coming onto the Public Works

[48:20] tree I think for next year's tree display is that correct okay perfect so

[48:26] if if you're Miss in an ornament you might find it on the holiday tree

[48:29] display um let's see in public comment we did have a resident come from Shaw

[48:36] Avenue to discuss uh the snow removal practices from our large storm that we

[48:40] had last year um and to see how possibly we could um alter or or um change our

[48:49] snow removal practice on that street so uh we did address some concerns and

[48:53] we'll be in contact with that Resident as as the winter prog dresses and uh

[48:58] we've had some ideas of how to make sure that residents are aware of what streets

[49:03] were plowed um and when they might be plowed and also telephone numbers to

[49:07] call uh if they haven't been plowed um other than that unless I'm missing

[49:13] something that ends my report well done sir thank you all right

[49:18] any questions for Public Works yes Mr Hansen I just have to say we've really

[49:23] thrown down the gauntlet tonight on saving money money so let's all keep it

[49:29] up let's keep it up thank you 12 more months and we're not going to have any

[49:32] budget problems at all next year thank you all right

[49:37] excellent uh that concludes our reports uh announcements we'll uh we'll do it in

[49:42] an orderly fashion to my left coming this way

[49:45] anyone all right to my right going in this direction yes go for it okay uh

[49:51] January 11th just to remind everyone is the international Spring Festival

[49:56] kickoff dinner uh all of you should have received an invitation if you can make

[50:01] it I highly recommend it great food and a little Glimpse at what a great day uh

[50:07] the event will be when it is held officially in in April um and since I

[50:13] didn't have a library report I'll plug the library a little bit always a lot

[50:18] happening there uh there's a day off a school coming up in January library is

[50:24] always a popular place on those days plent of programs Day evening weekends

[50:29] movies Book Sales cribbage game nights uh all kinds of clubs you can join so

[50:36] take advantage of your local library thank and and I will add sorry

[50:41] uh John welcome aboard uh everybody's making you look really good the admin of

[50:47] Finance meeting ended not only on time but early people are saving money so uh

[50:54] you know keep it up anyone else to my right yes Mr dorio

[50:59] thank you Mr President hey just a a word of note about U with the weather and in

[51:03] climate weather with the snow look out for your neighbors if neighbors need

[51:07] help shovel and snow or anything look out for the Aly and like I said reach

[51:12] out and help people thank you thank you very much anyone else all right uh

[51:18] public comment do we have anyone this

[51:23] evening Dan Dan you have public comment go for it come on

[51:30] up this is unusual during a committee meeting but I I want to give credit to

[51:35] Bob Miller who drove the truck almost the entire time that uh we've had it he

[51:40] took really good care of it and I think that's one reason we receive so much

[51:45] money for it thanks we were talking about the sludge truck in case anyone

[51:49] was confused yeah we sounds like we got 30 around $30,000 more than we

[51:53] anticipated so G so excited yeah I yeah I've never for for the record I've never

[51:59] seen him stand up and say anything in public comment either

[52:03] so this is a this is a first a night of Firsts wonderful do we have any uh other

[52:08] public comment Mr President I'm just curious Dan do you think that um Dan are

[52:14] we getting extra money for that truck because you're selling it loaded or

[52:20] unloaded just curious be careful how you answer little

[52:24] extra in the bed you know all right any serious public

[52:31] comment all right very good thank you thank you very much everyone we are

[52:36] adjourned no exactly

Council Work Session January 4, 2017

Transcript