Major Bread and Milk Alert in Effect

Don't say you weren't warned. Please remember to move your cars off the Snow Emergency Routes to allow our road crews safe passage to clear the streets properly. Once the snow is over, and the roads have been plowed curb to curb you can put your cars back. I know it's inconvenient, but we all benefit in the end. Thanks in advance for your support.

From the National Weather Service:

WASHINGTON...MORRISTOWN...BETHLEHEM...EASTON143 PM EST THU FEB 4 2010...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM FRIDAY TO 7 PM ESTSATURDAY...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOUNT HOLLY HAS ISSUED A WINTERSTORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PMFRIDAY TO 7 PM EST SATURDAY.A STORM SYSTEM DEVELOPING OVER THE GULF OF MEXICO TODAY WILL PASSOFF THE CAROLINA COAST FRIDAY NIGHT AND THEN CONTINUE TO THENORTHEAST ON SATURDAY. SNOW FROM THIS SYSTEM WILL OVERSPREAD THEREGION FROM SOUTH TO NORTH FRIDAY AFTERNOON...THEN CONTINUETHROUGH MUCH OF SATURDAY. SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL TOTALS OF 8 TO 12INCHES ARE EXPECTED OVER THE WARNING AREA. STRENGTHENING WINDSFRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY MAY CREATE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOWWHICH WILL CAUSE ADDITIONAL HAZARDS.A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW AREEXPECTED. CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS FROM YOUR NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

Borough Council Roundup - 1/4/2009

Well - the first Council meeting of 2010 was held this evening. Mayor Duignam opened the meeting, and swore in our newly elected officials, Hazel DeReamus (new to council), and Bob Hayes, who was re-elected to another four-year term. Unfortunately, due to illness, Mike Racz was unable to join us tonight, but Mayor Duignam will make sure Mike is sworn in properly in the next day or so.

The first order of business was to elect a council president. After much deliberation (well, there really wasn't that much deliberation - hell, there was hardly any discussion) I was nominated by Stuart Albert and elected by my fellow colleagues on council as your new Tatamy Borough Council President this evening. It's an honor that I do not take lightly, and I will do my best to make sure that, at the end of the day, we do what's right for the citizens of the Borough of Tatamy. Stuart Albert was once again re-nominated as Council Vice President.

Once that was completed, we had an executive session to discuss some personnel issues.

Coming out of that executive session, the following personnel changes were approved, effective as of January 1, 2010: The hours of the borough secretary and treasurer will be set at 30 / week, making these positions part-time. They will no longer participate in the full-time benefits program (e.g. vacation, sick, personal time). If they are scheduled to work on a holiday and the office is closed, we will pay them the hours for holiday pay. This will result in a significant cost savings to the borough. I have asked the finance committee (now headed by Hazel DeReamus and Bob Hayes) to report back to council next month with the amount that this change will save us moving forward.

Other appointments confirmed tonight include those of the Solicitor (Elviria LaBarre), Engineer (Hanover Engineering; Bob Mack and/or Brien Koecher); Building Code Inspector (Keystone Engineering); Zoning Officer (John Soloe). The only outstanding appointment remaining is that of the auditor. We have tabled that until next month at the earliest.

Other than that - it was pretty much business as usual. Some other highlights:

1. Dale Fern presented an update to the Residential Rental Property Inspection Program, to include announcing a public meeting to review the new program on Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 7:30PM. This meeting will be advertised. If this program affects you, as a landlord OR as a tenant, I highly recommend you attend.

2. We approved an ordinance increasing the mayor's salary. For the life of me I can't remember how much it was, but trust me - for what he does, it's not enough.

3. The mayor reported that the police department handled a total of 1,233 incidents last year. A special "Thank you" to the police department for taking care of us and making sure that we're safe.

4. Speaking of the police department, they had a great turnout this past Christmas with the "Visit from Santa" program. Collaborating with the Fire Department (we had two trucks on this year) - Santa was able to visit quite a few homes and put smiles on the faces of a lot of children.

That about sums things up. As always, please email me or drop a comment here if there's something that you need help with, or if there's anything that you have questions on.

Stay warm - according to the weather folks, it's looking to be quite cold for the foreseeable future. It is winter, after all.

Council Meeting - Monday 1/4/2010

2010 - wow -- it seems so strange writing 2010. In any event, enough rambling. Don't forget, tomorrow night, Monday, 1/4/2010 is our monthly Council Meeting. It begins at 7:30PM at the Borough Hall.

The meeting will open with the swearing in of newly elected councilwoman Hazel DeReamus, and the swearing in of Bob Hayes and Mike Racz, who were re-elected to new four year terms.

We will then begin the reorganization - a new council president and vice president will be nominated, and then we will begin the re-appointment of all the other folks who take care of us - solicitor, secretary, treasurer, engineer, road foreman, etc.

Following that, it's business as usual.

I hope to see you at tomorrow night's meeting. If you don't attend any others, please come and show your support for the folks who YOU recently elected, and witness their swearing in.

Happy New Year! Here's to a great 2010 (and beyond) for Tatamy!

Happy New Year Everyone!

It's hard to believe that 2009 is drawing to a close and that 2010 is now less than two hours away.

Thanks, as always for the emails, comments and suggestions, and keep them coming next year.

Monday night's council meeting starts at 7:30PM. A few things worth noting:

1. Council reorganizes at this meeting. A new president and vice-president will be appointed, along with the confirmation, or reconfirmation of the various appointments (secretary, treasurer, solicitor, engineer, etc.).

2. We welcome to the Council table Hazel DeReamus who won a seat on Council this past November. Hazel brings to council a world of experience in the area of finance and finance administration, having been the local tax collector (both real estate and earned income tax) for many many years. Hazel is a great addition to council and I look forward to working with her.

3. Returning to the table this year having been reelected to a second term is Bob Hayes. Returning for what I believe is a third term is Mike Racz. Welcome back guys and congratulations (again) on your win.

4. Sadly, not returning to the table is outgoing Council President Bob Fisher who lost his bid for reelection this past November. Bob served many many years on Borough Council. Thanks for everything that you've done over the years Bob. Bob's not going too far - he's accepted a position with the Tatamy Borough Sewer Authority.

I understand that a lot of you are upset over the fees that we have been billed for the trash pick-up. Unfortunately, we're three years into a five-year contract. Next year I hope that we will be looking at many other options for trash pickup to hopefully manage the cost and bring it down to a more manageable level. I will say, however, that the amount of money that we pay (about $350/year) is in line with what a lot of other folks around the area are paying. The one benefit that we Tatamy residents have over those other folks is that we can literally put almost ANYTHING out at the curb and the trash hauler will take it. The other folks can't. Most haulers won't accept yard waste any longer. That's something that will seriously need to be considered when contract negotiations begin again. Do we want to pay to have the ability to put anything on the curb? Do we want to pay a reduced rate and only be restricted to certain items? How about a "per-bin" rate (e.g. we supply you with a bin and if it fits in the bin, we'll take it, but anything extra you have to pay for). These are things that will need to be considered, and I will be asking for your input.

Thanks once again for your valued support over the past year, and, on behalf of my children and I, our best wishes for a Happy, Healthy, Safe and Prosperous 2010. I look forward to working FOR you in the coming year.

Here's my son Jordan, and Tax Collector John Nadolski's son John on their mountain of snow on my front lawn following last week's snowfall. Thought I'd share this.



Happy New Year everyone!

Bread and Milk Alert (oh, and please move your car)

It's looking like a true Bread and Milk Alert is in full force. Our friends at AccuWeather and the National Weather Service are predicting a measurable snowfall tomorrow into Sunday.

As a friendly reminder, please make sure that you remove your cars from the Snow Emergency Routes to allow our road crew to do their job and clear the snow.

Send me your snow photos. I'll share them here.

Be safe!