President Bittner Called the Meeting to Order

Regular Meeting of Council, California Borough, December 11, 2008, California Municipal Building, 225 Third Street, 6:30 P.M.

President Bittner called the meeting to order.

PRESENT: John Difilippo, President Jon Bittner, Walter Weld, Anthony Mariscotti, Sheila Chambers, Mayor Casey Durdines ABSENT: Vicki Gallo, Shelly Roberts, Julie Gallo-Junior Councilperson Ms. Roberts is not in attendance due to illness.

A moment of silent prayer was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

ADDITIONS OR CHANGES TO AGENDA Mrs. Chambers – add Route 88 2 underground fuel tanks PennVest Requisition No. 8 The agenda would stand approved as printed and amended.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES Difilippo/Roberts motion to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting of November 13, 2008 duly carried.

PUBLIC COMMENT ON THE AGENDA Mr. Maddiex Mr. Maddiex commented on reflectors to outline the hydrants for the road program. Mr. Bittner stated these comments are for specific item on the agenda. Regarding Ordinance 512, Mr. Maddiex was concerned about the power that the Mayor would give up. The Mayor stated he would be willing to give up zero power. The provision in the ordinance gives him permission to do so if he so desires with the permission of Council.

SECRETARY/TREASURER’S REPORT – Elizabeth Pfrogner Ms. Pfrogner read the accounts balance and accounts payable as of November 30, 2008. Difilippo/Chambers motion to accept Secretary/Treasurer’s report duly carried.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT – Jon Bittner CONTINUE MEETING – DECEMBER 30 AT 6:00 P.M. This meeting would be continued to December 30th at 6:00 P.M. to adopt the budget and any other business to come before Council at that particular time.

GENERAL CODE – ORDINANCE CODIFICATION Mr. Bittner stated there is a contract with General Code for ordinance codification. They increased the maintenance fee by $300+ so it would be well over $1,100. The Borough received fifteen bound copies a few years ago at a cost of $15,000. They are getting cost prohibitive. Ninety percent of the time when something is looked up the original ordinance has to be dug out. A ninety-day period is needed to cancel this contract. Chambers/Difilippo motion to cancel the Borough’s contract with General Code and give them ninety days notice duly carried with all members stating aye.

SET MEETINGS FOR 2009 The first Thursday of the month has always been the committee meetings and the second Thursday of the month the regular meetings. The only conflict this year is January 1st, the first Thursday of January. The committee meeting could be moved to December 30th since Council would be here. Chambers/Difilippo motion that the Borough committee meetings would be the first Thursday of every month and the regular meetings would be the second Thursday of every month with the exception of the January committee meeting would be held on December 30th at 6:30 P.M. Motion duly carried with all members voting aye.

SENATOR KASUNIC – 12/15 AT 3:30 P.M. – 2 COMMENDATIONS Senator Kasunic would be here on the 15th at 3:30 P.M. to present two commendations to two police officers.

PHASE II OF ACT 167 STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PLAN – 1-26-09 The Phase II of the Act 167 Stormwater Management Plan meeting would be held at the Washington County Fairgrounds at 5:00 P.M. on 1-26-09. The Borough Solicitor and Engineer have been notified and any Councilperson interested could go also. All Council received notification. BOROUGH LOTS Through the efforts of Mr. Difilippo and the University, it was found that the Borough does own the two lots by Beazel Street. Mr. Bittner saw a deed and a drawing. Difilippo/ Weld motion for Fayettee Engineering to survey both of those lots so the Borough knows what they own there. On a roll call vote motion carried with all members voting yes.

CURTAIL SPENDING – ALL DEPARTMENTS The Borough is in good shape, but it is not known what the Governor would do with the Borough’s State funding such as Liquid Fuels. So, Mr. Bittner would like all department heads to notify their personnel to curtail spending. For a big expenditure run that through the department head and bring it back to Council. Council wants to keep the reins on the budget for the first couple months, to see what funds would be coming in from the State. Mrs. Chambers questioned an executive session on a legal matter. Mr. Bittner stated there would be an executive session at the end of the meeting on a legal matter.

SURVEYS Mr. Bittner stated there has been a cooperative effort in starting a partnership with the university. Mr. Hasbrook, the university’s representative stated that the last couple months have been spent working on a partnership. One of the things they felt they should do was put together a survey, which the residents of the Borough, the residents of California University, faculty, staff and students could complete. Members of Council have tested it as well as members of the university. They are ready to go live tomorrow if Council approves that this evening. It will help determine priorities of what needs to be addressed. He thinks the opening comments by Mr. Bittner are most appropriate. “The following survey is a joint effort of California Borough Council and California University of PA, as neighbors and partners California Borough and California University must strive to maximize resources and amenities that are common to both organizations. Therefore, for it to be most affective and efficient, the perception must be understood of the many stakeholders. It is asked that the survey be taken that would help guide the borough and university as they strive for improvement.” The survey is on line for the next month. The URL address would be available at the public library, university library, Borough Building and would be put in the paper. Mr. Mariscotti asked if that could be linked to the Borough web site. Mr. Hasbrook stated it is through the University’s Survey Pro, they collect the data and it is then run through the University’s system so the bars the graphs and all the data collection would be done and the University and Borough would get the final report.

PUBLIC HEALTH – Mrs. Chambers MONTHLY SEWAGE REPORT Mrs. Chamber read the sewage report for November 2008.

CROFTCHECK FAMILY DEVELOPMENT - WALMART Mrs. Chambers stated the Borough is working with the Croftchecks on a development agreement. As this becomes finalized she would let everyone know. That is ongoing.

RT. - 88 UNDERGROUND FUEL TANKS Mrs. Chambers was told that two underground tanks were found on Rt. 88 in the PennDot right-of-way, blocking were the Borough wants to run a sanitary sewer line. This has to go through ER&R who was doing the environmental remediation, talk about who is liable and who is going to pay for this. Mrs. Chambers discussed this with Mr. Melenyzer, who thinks a committee should be put together to do some negotiations, including Mr. Melenyzer, Mr. Bittner, Mrs. Chambers and Mr. Brower, the Borough Engineer. Chambers/Difilippo motion to do this to deal with these two so called orphan tanks in the middle of Rt. 88. Motion carried with all members voting aye.

PENNVEST REQUISITION No. 8 Weld/Mariscotti motion to submit PennVest Requisition No. 8 in the amount of $177,369.25. It is work that Tomko has done on laying a sewer pipe. On a roll call vote motion carried with all members voting yes. Difilippo/Weld motion to accept Mrs. Chambers report duly carried.

PUBLIC HOUSING – Ms. Roberts As Ms. Roberts was absent, there was no report on Public Housing.

PUBLIC SAFETY – MRS. GALLO As Mrs. Gallo was absent, there was no report on Public Safety. PUBLIC WORKS – MR. WELD 2009 STREET PROGRAM Mr. Weld stated the streets for the 2009 Street Program are proposed and dependent on financial. Pave Pennsylvania Avenue to Union Street to the end of Pennsylvania Avenue by the Italian Club, Shutterly Street, from Zulu to Pennsylvania Avenue and Hillcrest Drive, part. Seal coat Short Ridge Road and that is from last year’s program. Mr. Bittner stated the PennDot representative would look at that. Difilippo/Chambers motion to approve Mr. Weld’s report duly carried.

FINANCE – MR. DIFILIPPO & MR. MARISCOTTI ADOPT 2009 PROPOSED GENERAL FUND BUDGET Difilippo/Chambers motion to adopt the 2009 proposed general fund budget, total projected income $1,274,174.00. Total projected expenses $1,274,174.00 duly carried.

ADOPT 2009 PROPOSED SEWER FUND BUDGET Difilippo/Chambers motion to adopt the 2009 proposed sewer fund budget, total projected income $1,809,250.00. Total projected expenses $1,969,860.00 duly carried.

ADOPT 2009 PROPOSED HIGHWAY AID BUDGET Difilippo/Chambers motion to adopt proposed Highway Aid Budget, total projected income $127,273.88. Total projected expenses $127,273.88 duly carried.

Mr. Difilippo noted that there has been no tax increase from 1995 to 2004. In 2005 2 mills increase was for the Recreation.

ADVERTISE THE 2009 PROPOSED BUDGET Difilippo/Chambers motion to advertise the 2009 Proposed Budget. On a roll call vote motion with all members voting yes.

ADVERTISE 2009 TAX ORDINANCE NO. 513 Mariscotti/Difilippo motion to advertise 2009 Tax Ordinance No. 513. On a roll call vote motion carried with all members voting yes.

PAYMENT OF BILLS Mariscotti/Chambers motion to approve payment of the bills. On a roll call vote motion carried with all members voting yes. Chambers/Weld motion to accept the Finance Report duly carried.

JUNIOR COUNCILPERSON – MISS GALLO Miss Gallo was absent this evening.

ENGINEER – MR. BROWER Mr. Brower had nothing to report this evening.

MAYOR’S REPORT – MAYOR DURDINES OPEN RECORDS & RIGHT TO KNOW LAW (OPEN RECORDS OFFICER) Mayor Durdines stated there are significant changes effective January 1, 2009 regarding the Open Records and Right to Know Law. The changes make records more accessible to the public. To comply with the open records law, municipalities have to designate a single point of contact, the open records officer, for all open records requests. They recommend that it not be an elected official, that it be an appointed official. He would like to appoint the Assistant Secretary Treasurer, Shirley Evans or if Council desires another employee. He has not spoken with Ms. Evans about this. He feels that Ms. Pfrogner is burdened enough with other responsibilities. Chambers/Difilippo motion to appoint Shirley Evans to be the Borough’s open records officer. Under discussion, the Mayor stated he would update Ms. Evans on the changes in the law since he took the class on it and is the open records officer for Windber. Mrs. Chambers asked if this could be put on the Borough web site. The Mayor stated one of the provisions in the law is that the policy, who the open records officer is and what the appeals process is if a request is denied be posted publicly in the lobby and on the web site if the Borough has a web site. On a roll call vote motion carried with all members voting yes.

APPLICANT FOR THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION Mayor Durdines received an applicant for the vacancy on the Civil Service Commission. There is a letter in everyone’s packet from Connie Johnson requesting to be appointed to the Civil Service Commission. Difilippo/Weld motion to appoint Connie Johnson to the Civil Service Commission. Under discussion Mr. Bittner stated she would be filling the position of Amy Todd, who resigned. The length of the term would have to be found out. On a roll call vote motion carried with all members voting yes.

BARC STEERING COMMITTEE If the Borough wants to have an official designation of someone to sit on the Brownsville Revitalization Corporation Steering Committee, Mayor Durdines would like to fill that spot and thinks Mrs. Chambers expressed an interest. Mrs. Chambers would be glad to. There were no objections to this.

FINES INCREASE – OPEN CONTAINERS Mayor Durdines stated the fine in the open container ordinance is around $25.00, which he does not feel is a sufficient penalty for that given the disruption that is often associated. So he would like to authorize the solicitor to prepare an amendment to the open container ordinance to increase the fine to $100.00. Difilippo/Weld motion. On a roll call vote motion carried with all members voting yes.

CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY – EVENTS AND EXHIBITS The Mayor congratulated the California Vulcan football team for another excellent season. They made it to the semi-finals two years in a row. California University is being featured in the national building museum in Washington, DC in an exhibit about green energy because all the new residence halls are being heated and cooled with geothermal power. This is bringing positive national attention to our community so they need to be recognized for those efforts. Mrs. Chambers asked Mr. Brower if green building is something the Borough could consider for the sewer project. Mr. Brower stated that could be looked at, it could be designed for energy efficiency, it is a pretty involved process to certify these buildings. Difilippo/Chambers motion to approve the Mayor’s report duly carried.

SOLICITOR’S REPORT – Attorney Agrafiotis in Attorney Melenyzer’s Absence ORDINANCE NO. 512–CREATING THE POSITION OF BOROUGH MANAGER Attorney Agrafiotis stated Ordinance No. 512 was advertised in the Herald Standard last Thursday making Wednesday seven days before potential adoption. This creates the office of borough manager, it has language on how they appoint for the term of office, how to remove, with some broad qualifications, once the position is advertised if it is advertised, Council could see fit to put in whatever qualifications they wish. Because the ordinance is in place it does not mean there has to be a borough manager. It requires a surety bond from anyone who gets the position, amount to be determined and the option is up to Council to determine a fair amount on that. The salary could be fixed by Council by ordinance or resolution. The borough manager is given broad powers. Several have been enumerated on in the ordinance. There is the ability of the Mayor to delegate powers to the manager. Mr. Agrafiotis has heard Mr. Durdines state he is not willing to do that. There are limits on the Borough Council. Council is barred from going to any subordinate of the borough manager other than asking questions. Any question further than that Council must go directly to the borough manager. The ordinance provides for an acting manager if the borough manager becomes ill or absent from the job for longer than two weeks. Council has to approve the fill in. The ordinance could be amended by resolution, could be abolished by ordinance and if approved tonight shall become effective immediately. Mrs. Chambers stated there was no money provided in the budget for 2009, it was never brought up. Also, the word “he” could not be used. Mr. Agrafiotis apologized. It is in there as a he or she. Mariscotti/ Difilippo motion to adopt Ordinance No. 512. On a roll call motion defeated with Mr. Bittner, Mr. Mariscotti voting yes and Mr. Weld, Mrs. Chambers, Mr. Difilippo voting no.

RESOLUTION 08-109 – ADJUSTING TAPPING FEES & INSPECTION FEES The Borough’s current sewer use ordinance is Ordinance No. 480, which has been amended several times by ordinance and resolution. This resolution would amend schedule b from Ordinance No. 480. It is going to increase the amount of inspection fees for connection, for construction of any kind of facilities and also change the amount of the tapping fee. It was $1,500 but now it is going to be per equivalent dwelling unit. The definition of that is added to the ordinance which means one equivalent dwelling unit or EDU or the amount of wastewater generated by an average single family residence. So if generating more than that it would be $1,500 per EDU. It also provides new provisions to schedule b from ordinance No. 480. The most important one is that it could be considered Borough acceptance of sewage from individuals, companies or any entities for treatment of sewage in the Borough’s sewage system if they are sending it from outside the boundaries of the Borough. It gives the Borough the permission or ability to accept it on a case-by-case basis and the Borough has the sole discretion to refuse any sewage from outside the Borough limits. Also the individual company or entity would pay additional assessments, tapping fees, inspection fees and other charges in excess of those paid by Borough residents. It also gives the Borough the right to require any new users or any users to supply estimates of their EDU’s for review by Mr. Brower and the Borough has the right to review those within in twelve months to verify the estimate usage. Chambers/ Weld motion to approve Resolution 08-109. On a roll call vote motion carried with all members voting yes.

WAWRO #2 SUBDIVISION A.K.A. SANDY & ALAN FERRY SUBDIVISION The engineer and solicitor’s office, have approved the plan of the Subdivision Wawro #2 also known as the Sandy and Alan Ferry Subdivision. It is a minor subdivision. Attorney Melenyzer provided a letter to Mr. Large on December 8, 2008 approving the legal requirements from ordinance No. 475. Weld/Chambers motion to approve the Wawro #2 Subdivision a.k.a. Sandy and Alan Ferry Subdivision. On a roll call vote motion carried with all members voting yes. Chambers/Weld motion to approve the solicitor’s report duly carried.

OLD BUSINESS There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS There was no new business

RECOGNITION OF CITIZENS Mr. Maddiex Mr. Maddiex stated in the past, it was discussed putting reflectors in the road to designate where fire hydrants are and asked if this could be considered in the upcoming street program. He asked for updates on the Streetscape Program from Union to Mechanics Street. Mr. Bittner stated things are coming very close to being in line. He questioned the stop light by the new fire hall. Mr. Bittner stated that is on agenda for the first part of the year. PennDot would be contacted before the Borough commits to that particular light. Mr. Maddiex wished everybody a Merry Christmas and congratulated everyone who graduated from the University.

Mr. Hasbrook Mr. Hasbrook stated the survey would be online tomorrow at noon. Mr. Bittner provided the URL address. For those who do not have a computer at home could go to the public library or the university library. Their computers would be available to do the survey.

Mr. Warton Mr. Warton asked if the Borough was any closer to approaching the problem with the sewage collection as far as low income, senior citizens, fixed income people with what they can do about this in the future. Mrs. Chambers stated twenty dollars a month is less than a dollar a day for sewage. The debt service could not be adjusted right now. He stated utility companies have a low income, fixed income subsidy type issue. Being that this is a privately own institution citizens cannot get help from charitable institutions. Mrs. Chamber stated Council has contacted all elected officials on the state level and there is unfortunately nothing out there. If someone has a real problem they could come to Council. A hardship committee has been put together. There would be a form that Ms. Evans would give. Mrs. Chambers would review that and see what could be done. He suggested outsourcing services to low income families not covered by the street and police departments under the labor contract. Then stated the Borough seems to on the national average way behind par on the cable franchise agreements. The Borough should have been negotiating about six months ago. Mr. Bittner stated the last time he dealt with the cable company there is not much negotiations that go on. Mrs. Mariscotti was on then. She and Mr. Bittner went to Bentleyville, talked to those people. They found it was they don’t come into our territory, they don’t come into ours. Mrs. Mariscotti had an attorney come in that was renowned throughout the state and some of the advice that he gave her which was quite expensive did not get them from where they were on their own. They found it to be a very difficult thing to deal with them. He now sees Verizon and others coming on the scene and that may give the Borough a little more lead way in the next negotiations. He does not think that Verizon TV is in this town. Mr. Warton stated no because of the cable franchise contract. They offer bundled services with satellite. They are offering a complete package that is very comparable to the cable company’s offer. Mr. Bittner was told at a Borough Convention that Verizon was going to the large cities and then come into the smaller communities after that. Mr. Warton feels the Borough could be making more revenue. Mr. Bittner suggested he sit down with Council some time and talk about this. Mr. Bittner asked if he would help the fire department link to a web site. Mr. Warton would be happy to.

Mr. Maddiex Mr. Maddiex asked about the monument at the library regarding John Mariscotti. Tony Mariscotti would take care of that.

This meeting would be continued to December 30, 2008 at 6:00 P.M. for the adoption of the budgets and any other business that might come before Council. At this time Council went into an Executive Session to be reported on at the next meeting. The Executive session is on litigation with a couple of contractors.

______Elizabeth Pfrogner Secretary/Treasurer