Regular Meeting of California Borough Council, August 9, 2012, 6:30 Pm

Regular Meeting of California Borough Council, August 9, 2012, 6:30 pm

President Bittner called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm

ATTENDANCE: Mr. Alfano, Mr. Bittner, Mr. Difilippo, Mr. Glab, Mrs. Gutosky, Mr. Mariscotti

ABSENT: Mr. Encapera, Mayor Durdines

MOMENT OF SILENCE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

ADDITIONS OR CHANGES TO AGENDA Mr. Alfano added – Vacancy on Zoning Hearing Board Mr. Glab added – 4th air card line for the police department laptop computers

ADOPT AGENDA – Mr. Bittner stated the agenda will stand adopted as printed & amended.

PUBLIC COMMENT No public comment at this time

MINUTES: Motion by Mariscotti/Difilippo to approve the minutes of the Special Meeting of July 5, 2012 duly carried with all members present stating aye.

Motion by Mariscotti/Difilippo to approve the minutes of the Continued Special Meeting of July 10, 2012 duly carried with all members present stating aye.

Motion by Difilippo/Mariscotti to approve the minutes of the Regular meeting of July 12, 2012 duly carried with all members present stating aye.

Motion by Difilippo/Mariscotti to approve the minutes of the Continued Regular meeting of July 19, 2012 duly carried with all members present stating aye.

Motion by Difilippo/Mariscotti to approve the minutes of the Continued meeting of July 23, 2012 duly carried with all members present stating aye.

SECRETARY’S REPORT – MS. EVANS Ms. Evans read the account balances & accounts payable.

Motion by Gutosky/Mariscotti to approve the Secretary/Treasurer’s report duly carried with all members present stating aye.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT – MR. BITTNER

EXECUTIVE SESSION Mr. Bittner reported that the executive session held on August 2, 2012 was for personnel.

STREETSCAPE- BAIANO CONSTRUCTION PAYMENT Motion by Difilippo/Mariscotti to authorize payment to Baiano Construction in the amount of $45,464.71 for progress billing #1 and #2 for the Streetscape project from the reimbursements received from Penndot and the Redevelopment Authority duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.

STREETSCAPE INSECTION SERVICE CONTRACT Mr. Bittner stated that he and Tom are going to meet with Mackin Engineering and a representative from the Dept. of Transportation because they have asked for an increase in the inspection contract. Hopefully we can work out some type of an agreement, but he will report back at the continued meeting of either a success or non-success.

1 RESOLUTION – NAMING CAHS STADIUM AFTER JIM UNDERWOOD Mr. Bittner stated it was discussed at the committee meeting getting a resolution adopted supporting the naming of the High School Stadium in honor of Jim Underwood. So if council would like to authorize that now we can have someone draw that resolution up. Under discussion Mr. Glab asked if Mr. Petroff took any teams to the championships. Chief Encapera responded yes he did, but they were runners up that year. Mr. Glab stated although Mr. Underwood won once Mr. Petroff in two different eras came up as the runner up. In his mind that is just as impressive. Mr. Alfano stated that Mr. Underwood was Mr. Petroff’s mentor you have to keep that in mind as well.

Motion by Mariscotti/Difilippo to have a resolution drawn up in support of naming the High School Stadium after Jim Underwood duly carried on a roll call vote with Mr. Bittner, Mr. Difilippo, Mrs. Gutosky, Mr. Mariscotti, and Mr. Alfano voting yes and Mr. Glab voting no.

PUBLIC HOUSING REPORT – MR. ALFANO

RIVERTOWN ACTION TEAM SUMMARY Mr. Alfano stated that we are fortunate in that we are being considered for some grants through different foundations and so forth. He has put colored copies in everyone’s packet and this is just an example of signage that river town communities are going to get a grant for to have common signage to distinguish all recreation areas and directions to the recreation areas and so forth. He’s not exactly sure how much signage each community is going to get but each community will get a substantial amount and then there will be the ability to buy additional signage at some point. They also are putting out a booklet that is called small business resources and there is going to be reference materials for anyone that is interested in putting in a business or improving their business within the river town corridor. It will be available and they will be here at the borough building for anyone interested in picking one up. There is another grant that is going to be available through river town action for businesses along the corridor who want to improve their fronts. They can get a match up to $5,000.00 to put a new façade on their buildings. Council and the Recreation Authority have been chosen to receive a $20,000.00 grant from the Benedum foundation for a master site plan study for the loop trail and the development of the river front and Rotary Park. We’ll talk more about that but there may be a major need for additional funds but he doesn’t know yet.

RIVERFEST – WYATT PARK Mr. Alfano announced there will be a river fest next weekend that will take place Saturday and Sunday down at the Public Library area and Wyatt Park. They will have a bike race that is going to be a state qualifying race for bicycles on Saturday. They will have vendors, live bands and that sort of thing for two days. Mr. Alfano stated there has been a substantial clean up there and you have a clear view to the river now. He received a change order request from Treecision who is doing the work and it is for $6,500.00 and the Recreation Authority has authorized that change order. What they would like to do is ask the Borough if they would like to participate with a 50/50 split with a $3,250.00. It is not that they don’t have the money to do it but they are trying to position themselves as borough as recreation authority to be looked upon more favorably for future grants. The more participation we have from local organizations the better off we’ll be positioned. So he is asking council to think about it and he will bring it up again at the continued meeting.

CAL U INSPECTION FEES Mr. Alfano stated that he has sent some correspondence to our solicitors and unfortunately it didn’t get there in time. As we were going over the billing for California University Lori brought to his attention that we may or may not be in compliance because we made the motion that set fees for HMT to collect so now we are asking the solicitors if we need to do another ordinance or whatever we would need to collect the fees for borough since we brought it all back in house. Mr. Melenyzer asked why a company was ever named in the first place. Mr. Alfano stated he just wants it fixed. Mr. Melenyzer stated they will look at it and see what is needed.

CONDITIONAL USE HEARINGS Mr. Alfano stated there were some questions raised whether the advertising got in on time and for whatever reason but we re-advertised and are allowed to have the conditional use hearings next Thursday the 16th in council chambers at 5:00 pm for the 2 two conditional uses. Mr. Agrafiotis stated one of them may not happen because the person will be on vacation. Mr. Melenyzer stated if that is the case we need to send them a letter so they understand that the hearing is taking place and if they are going to be out of town and cannot attend have them sign something and send it back to us to document in our records that they had a hearing opportunity and rescheduled but that they are requesting an extension of time. Mr. Alfano stated he is surprised because they are under a time crunch to get this approved for the fall semester, but it doesn’t matter to him. Mr. Melenyzer told Mr. Agrafiotis to send a letter to them; between him and Petro it will get done.

ZONING/CODE ENFORCEMENT UPDATE Mr. Alfano stated just to let the public know these guys have been really busy. They have gotten all the units completed at the University which is a substantial number, appx. 1,000 units. There are 881 units in the borough that need to be inspected, 546 were inspected as of this morning. There will be 24 additional units inspected before the weekend and 68 scheduled for next week. There are a lot of people that just don’t respond. They have sent these letters out to every property owner that has rentals so they will be catching them up here shortly. They did send a reminder letter out that he has a copy of stating that they cannot occupy the properties legally after August 24th. Anybody that is listening should call the office and schedule an inspection soon. They have 14 various code violations and complaints that they’ve been following up on and a running narrative of what the follow up visits have resulted in and most of them have been resolved but a couple are going to court. As of July 31, 2012 they took in $26,324.25 for July which brings the total to $56,868.80, so that total is getting up there pretty good and it doesn’t include any of the college inspection fees.

ZONING HEARING BOARD VACANCY Mr. Alfano announced that there is vacancy on the Zoning Hearing Board for John Gutosky’s seat and Mr. Gutosky has submitted a letter requesting to be reappointed.

Motion by Alfano/Mariscotti to re-appoint John Gutosky to a three year term on the Zoning Hearing Board that will expire August 2015 duly carried on a roll call vote with Mr. Difilippo, Mr. Glab, Mr. Mariscotti, Mr. Alfano, and Mr. Bittner voting yes and Mrs. Gutosky passing.

PUBLIC WORKS – MR. MARISCOTTI

STREET DEPT. UPDATE Mr. Mariscotti gave a brief update on the street department operations. They have been painting curbs, stalls, and crosswalks in town, milled on Short Ridge, and cleaning out catch basins and ditch work out in the country.

PAVING PROJECT UPDATE Mr. Mariscotti announced that the paving projects on Edwards, Chalfont, and Cross Ridge are completed and tar and chip should start in a week or two. There was sink hole on Third St. that was fixed and a water break on Seventh St. that needed attention.

BOBCAT PURCHASE Mr. Melenyzer stated he didn’t get the quotes back from the lady about the financing so he will have that for the next meeting.

PUBLIC SAFETY – MR. GLAB

AIR CARD FOR LAPTOP Mr. Glab stated we need to add a line for the fourth air card for the police department laptops at $80.00 a month. Initially we had 3 laptops and have acquired a fourth laptop so we need the additional line for communication abilities.

Motion by Glab/Difilippo to authorize activating a fourth air card for the police department duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.

FINANCE – MRS. GUTOSKY Motion by Gutosky/Mariscotti to pay the bills as presented duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.

3 PUBLIC HEALTH – MR. DIFILIPPO

UPDATE ON TAP INS Mr. Difilippo stated he is looking at four people that have not responded and he understands that citations will be issued tomorrow.

DELINQUENT SEWER ACCOUNTS He stated that tomorrow is the last day and then we go back to status quo and we’ll proceed with terminations to collect the rest of those.

PERSONNEL – MR. GLAB

SHANNON KRATZER Motion by Glab/Difilippo to extend Mr. Kratzers probation another six months, no raise increase, but all his benefits will be effective Sept. 1, 2012 duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.

MAYOR’S REPORT – MR. DURDINES Mayor was absent – no report given

Mr. Bittner announced that Fayette Engineering has undergone some changes in their organization and Art Brower is no longer with Fayette Engineering, Russ Mechling has taken over as interim president and Troy Williams will be our contact person on our sewerage project and Troy has been working with us all along he’s just been in the back ground but now he is making his public debut this evening.

ENGINEER’S REPORT – TROY WILLIAMS MAIN PUMP STATION Mr. Williams stated the dialers were having some issues but are reprogramed as of last week they were tested and the phone service to them is corrected also. The demolition of the existing pump stations since the new one is up and running will be scheduled for demolition. They have contacted West Penn Power to discontinue electrical service and if that gets taken care of by Monday then Greensburg Environmental is planning on getting in there and doing the work asap. They have submitted a right of entry permit to the railroad and have not heard anything formal back yet. Mr. Bittner asked him to let council know when that is happening so he and Doug and Ron and some others can have a little celebration down there.

PENNVEST Mr. Williams stated the package they submitted to Pennvest has been temporarily approved by them and we need to make a formal submission of the paperwork. He and Art had been working on that extensively with Larry Gasperado and he has forwarded copies of that to Keith for a formal review so if it is okay with Keith we can go ahead with the formal submission. Keith stated he has received that and requested that he be kept informed as it progresses. Mr. Williams asked if it is okay to submit the formal paperwork to the funding agency. Mr. Melenyzer stated it is good to send and if any questions come up let him know.

SEWER PLANT PROJECT Mr. Williams stated there has been a rough draft prepared and Art has taken a look at it and requested that he make a few changes and once the changes are made they would like to put that on the street the last week of August or the first week of September so they can start getting the ball rolling on this project. He would like the approval to do the advertisements. Mr. Melenyzer stated he doesn’t have a problem with that but we need to review it to see if it is enough of a savings to move forward with the pre-purchase. Mr. Mechling stated they can do that. Mr. Melenyzer stated yes he was going to break that down and give an anticipated savings to see if it is worth it. Mr. Mechling stated there is a significant savings because every time a contractor bids a piece of equipment he puts in his own mark up and they are doing away with that cost.

4 Mr. Melenyzer stated that council still holds the right to reject all bids if they so choose.

Motion by Alfano/Glab to authorize the engineer to send out the RFP’s for pre- purchasing the equipment for the sewer plant duly carried on a roll call vote with Mr. Alfano, Mr. Bittner, Mr. Difilippo, Mr. Glab, and Mr. Mariscotti voting yes and Mrs. Gutosky voting no.

PEACH ALLEY REMEDIATION Mr. Williams stated the Peach alley remediation was attached to their engineers report and was a draft of the preliminary done for cost estimates for the two methods of repair on peach alley. One being the Cast In Place the whole line or dig and replace the entire line. They are not looking for a motion at this time but he wants council to think it over and we can discuss it at next month’s meeting. Mr. Bittner stated he would like the guys at the sewer department to sit down and discuss this with the engineers and council also.

MANHOLE ON THIRD ST. He stated that the Streetscape manhole that was uncovered on Third St. just north of Union has been replaced by the contractor without any expense to the borough.

SOLICITOR’S REPORT – MR. MELENYZER & MR. AGRAFIOTIS

CURATIVE AMENDMENT Mr. Melenyzer stated they have done something with regards to preparing an ordinance for the consideration of council on the amendment of the zoning ordinance to allow in the institutional district and more particularly in the convocation center the sale of beer and wine. It will be limited to those two items and there are a number of conditions that are proposed and we need a public hearing. Normally you have a 30 day period with the County Planning Commission which he thinks they will waive because there is not much they will contribute to this amendment to the ordinance. If they waive it council in order to expedite the matter could then have a date for a public hearing. If they so desire they need to vote to do that and you can schedule it after we know what the county is going to do. Mr. Bittner asked when council could formally adopt that. Mr. Melenyzer stated you go through the public hearing with a stenographic record and if anyone brings up something to council that is new to that issue that council thinks needs added to cover it then council can make those changes and then have another public hearing and then go from there. After the public hearing if everything is satisfactory with council they hold a meeting and vote to adopt it if they so desire. But we have to a have a public hearing and as long as there are no substantial changes that are needed you do not need another hearing.

Motion by Glab/Gutosky to authorize the Solicitor to schedule a public hearing for the amendment to the Zoning Ordinance duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.

CHARLEROI FEDERAL REFUND – LAT E CHARGES

Mr. Agrafiotis stated that he was contacted by Charleroi Federal Bank of Charleroi and they had submitted a letter requesting the late fee of a house that was foreclosed on be waived. They were told that council would be reviewing all the delinquents and sending out letters and it would be addressed at that time. The man who requested this was on vacation and his associate paid the entire balance including the late fee. So now they are requesting a refund of the late fee in the amount of $723.07.

Motion by Alfano/Difilippo to refund the late fee in the amount of $723.07 to Charleroi Federal duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.

OLD BUSINESS No old business at this time

NEW BUSINESS Mr. Glab reminded council that there is Local Share Account meeting Wednesday, August 15th at 2:00 pm at the Donora Municipal building for this up and coming round of LSA monies requests. Mr. Bittner asked council to think of what they want to do with that LSA monies and he has talked to Kerry Fox hoping they would jointly do something 5 with us on Technology Drive. He told council to take a ride on Technology Dr. and see how horrendous is it.

Mr. Bittner offered on behalf of the council and employees condolences to Ryan Encapera on the passing of his mother this week.

RECOGNITION OF CITIZENS

SOPHIA BELL – REQUESTING MECHANIC STREET COURTS Ms. Bell stated she is requesting the use of the Mechanic Street courts for a three on three basketball tournament for ages 15 and up. It is going to have a Save our Streets theme for the youth. It will be a one day event and food will be provided. There will be a balloon release for victims of violence. Some ex-celebrities will be involved with this as well. Mr. Bittner asked who the sponsoring organization would be. Ms. Bell stated it is individuals as well as Team Humanity, it is a foundation in Brownsville that helps the youth and we’re trying to tie in youth everywhere with the basketball tournament. Mr. Alfano asked what the date is. Ms. Bell stated she is looking at the last weekend in August if possible. Mr. Alfano stated there is a facilities request form that is through the Borough’s Recreation Authority and you need to fill that out and submit it. She stated she had one sent to her but it said Rotary Park on it. Mr. Alfano advised her to cross out Rotary Park and put Mechanic Street courts and then mail it in. Mr. Glab asked where the participants would be from. Ms. Bell stated she didn’t place a boundary restriction on it. Mr. Glab stated we would need proof of insurance also. Ms. Bell stated she will submit a certificate once she receives it.

SANDY DIXON Mrs. Dixon stated she is here to talk about the sewage on Highpoint Drive. She does not want it and some of her neighbors do not want it. She doesn’t think some of the people up there know it is being considered. It was not in their paper. Mr. Bittner stated there has been no vote on it. It is a preliminary study just to see if it is feasible to do. He added that since she came tonight to express her feelings it might behoove council to have a public hearing before we would consider doing that.

MIKE SEARS Mr. Sears stated from the commissions prospective good things are happening such as the opening of new businesses and the new hotel in the Technology Park. He added that the commission stand vigilant.

VERNON WILLIAMS Mr. Williams stated that he is the largest property owner on Highpoint on Drive and he would like for council to have a public meeting prior to deciding on sewering Highpoint Drive to get everyone up there involved.

CONTINUED MEETING Mr. Bittner announced this meeting will be continued until next Thursday, August 16th at 5:00 pm for a conditional use and any other business that may come before council at that time.