Borough Council Roundup

Hello folks . . . here are the highlights from last night's council meeting.

1. Traffic Signal - 8th and Main Street. Mr. Chrin was in last night and proposed to Council that they assume responsibility for the installation of this signal. We have been holding money in escrow from the Tatamy Hunt developer for the installation of the signal, which, if all parties agree to Chrin's proposal, would be applied toward the project. There are some legal agreements that need to be worked out, but it looks like things are moving forward in this regard. Speaking of Mr. Chrin, things are moving along nicely with the Porsche project (in the Palmer portion of the development), and I believe they will be starting the building foundation in the very near future.

2. Street Lighting - Tatamy Hunt. Well, I thought we were close to resolving this issue, but once again it appears we're back at square one. The developer of Tatamy Hunt presented us with a few options on Friday afternoon that they received from MetEd. Apparently now it seems that since MetEd didn't install the lights, they won't accept the ownership of them, all they'll do is maintain them (e.g. lamps and photocells), should anything go wrong with them (internal workings, ballasts, underground wiring, etc.) we (the borough) would be responsible to repair them. Unfortunately we're not in a position to do that financially, so we're faced with a few options: i) get a cost to rip out the existing lights and have MetEd come and install new ones. In my opinion this is not a good use of resources (time, money, materials or people, nor would it get the lights turned on any faster); ii) come up with a cost figure to assess the developer for any future repair work that may need to be done and invest that money in an interest bearing escrow account; iii) deal with the issues as is and contract with MetEd to have the lights turned on and worry about future costs later (not a wise idea). The borough solicitor and engineer will be working with the developer to establish the cost figures and determine the next steps. Hopefully we can work all this out this month. Stay tuned . . .

3. Potential Jake Brake Ordinance. Blog Reader Shawn emailed this to me yesterday:

It would be nice if the town would consider installing a sign for trucks not to use jake brakes while passing Tatamy Hunt in the early hours of the morning.

Well Shawn, I brought this up for discussion and the engineer will be getting us some information on drafting a potential ordinance for review. Apparently this restriction requires approval by PennDOT, but we all think it is a good idea. Thanks for the suggestion!

4. Borough Website. Still under construction but making progress. I hope to have it wrapped up this month. I'll announce it here.

That's about it. See you around town!