Rental Property Inspections

I cannot believe that I left this off the Council Roundup - shame on me. This is more important than the library actually as it directly affects owners of rental property in Tatamy Borough.

As you may know, for the past several months (actually close to a year now) a sub-committee of folks from both the Planning Commission and Zoning Hearing Board have been getting together and developing a comprehensive inspection program for all the rental properties in the Borough. They will be using a checklist developed in conjunction with the civil engineering firm that currently is responsible for all the building inspections in the Borough.

The committee presented a detailed report to Council last week - which included the checklist, suggested fees, and a suggestion for scheduling the inspections. Council gave the blessing to the committee to work with the Borough Solicitor and Engineer to draft the ordinance. This ordinance, because it potentially affects many people, will be read TWICE - the first scheduled reading of the proposed ordinance I believe will be at the October council meeting (10/5 - 7:30PM), with the final reading/adoption at the November council meeting (11/2 - 7:30PM).

The goal of the inspection program is to ensure that all rental properties are safe, and up to code.

If passed, it is the goal to begin inspecting rental properties I believe in Q2 of 2010.

Borough Council Roundup - 9/8/2009

Can you believe it's September already? Where did the time go? Seems like just the other day I was opening my pool, this weekend if we get a break from the rain I'll be closing it. The end of another summer season is upon us.

In any event, you're not here to listen to me lament about the weather - you're here because you're curious as to what happened this week at the borough council meeting.

It was a relatively uneventful meeting actually - though there are a few things worth mentioning:

1. The "No Through Trucks" ordinance in Tatamy Hunt (a blog reader suggestion actually) is going to be passed next month. We have received approval from Palmer Township to install some signage at their end of the development. So - once the ordinance is advertised and passed, we will post the signs and drivers will face penalties for violating them. Please be mindful that local deliveries are exempt from this policy. Thanks to the reader (you know who you are) who suggested it.

2. Trash Collection. There was a brief discussion concerning the cost of trash pick-up in the Borough, along with the administrative expense of maintaining the billing, chasing after open receivables (there will ALWAYS be open receivables) and such. I thought it might be a good idea to see if there was any way to absorb the cost into the property taxes and eliminate the separate trash bills that we receive twice a year. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the math works out - so, for now, anyway, it will stay the way it is, and we'll be billed 2x/year for our trash pickup.

3. Library. Of course I saved the best for last (gotta keep you reading . . .). Anyway, a few weeks back if you recall, I met with the Board of Directors at the Nazareth Library. Also present at that meeting if you remember was the State Librarian. I learned (along with the rest of the Directors at the Library) that the State Library Code allows local libraries only to reach out and attract communities that directly border them to become contributing members. So, in the case of the Nazareth library, that includes Nazareth Borough, and the townships of Upper, Lower and Bushkill. What about Tatamy you ask? Well - because of where Tatamy sits on an "island" if you will surrounded on three sides by Palmer Township (North, West, and South) and by Forks (East), we don't have a direct link to Nazareth, therefore Tatamy is not (and never was) eligible to be a participating member of the Nazareth Library. So where does that leave us today? Is there a library that we're eligible to be a contributing member of? According to the folks in Harrisburg, the only library that we would be eligible to join (should we choose to do so) is the Easton Area Public Library. I offered to begin discussions with them, but the general consensus of the majority of the folks on council, along with the folks in the audience (and the folks who I have received emails and feedback from) has all been consistently the same - and that's "let's keep things the way they are for now". So - those of you who want library cards are free to go to the Palmer or Easton library, pay for your membership, and the Borough will reimburse you 50% of the fee. Some day perhaps things will change, but for now, it is what it is.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Borough Wide Yard Sale - This Saturday (8/29)

Clean out the basement, clean out the attic and get all your treasures ready. The annual Tatamy Borough Wide Yard Sale is scheduled for this coming Saturday, August 29. Yard Sale Permits are NOT required for this day ONLY.

Just remember - "one man's trash is another man's treasure". I've found many treasures at yard sales.

Have fun everyone!

Library Follow-up

I would like to publicly thank Lynn Snodgrass-Pilla, John Reinhart and the rest of the Board of Directors of the Memorial Library of Nazareth and Vicinity for inviting me to their Board meeting on Tuesday night. The discussion was lively, insightful and proved to be a learning experience filled with surprises for everyone in attendance.

There was quite a bit of information that was learned. The most important of which needs to be verified before I can publicly discuss what our next steps are. For now, let me just say that this isn't finished yet, and I intend to keep learning about some potential new options and opportunities, beginning new discussions, and moving this forward.

Stay tuned to this station for further updates as they become available.

Some Interesting Library Statistics

Just a quick post today with some interesting library statistics (thanks to borough secretary Joanne Kiefer).

Since 2006 (this is as far as I've gone back in history) Tatamy Borough has spent a total of $712.50 in library reimbursements for our residents who have library cards at the Palmer (Easton) Library. The breakdown is as follows:

Membership fees for the Easton Library are $30/adult and $5/child. The borough will reimburse half of the fee.

2006: $165.00 (10 adults / 5 children)
2007: $255.00 (16 adults / 6 children)
2008: $155.00 (9 adults / 8 children)

And so far for 2009, $137.50 (15 adults / 5 children)

As far as the feedback that I've been getting from the Tatamy residents concerning this issue (thank you very much - keep it coming please) - the majority of the folks are in favor of keeping things the way they are. Here's one that I found rather interesting:

The Easton Library is a little further away but the library is bigger and the staff have been very friendly. When I just renewed my card, they reminded me of the reimbursement. It’s nice to have books available when every kid in school is assigned the same project – Easton has more resources.

I was also just reminded that several years ago (I can't remember when) there was a referendum on the ballot to support the library that the voters turned down. I'll try to get some more info on that one and post it here.

In any event - I thought these were interesting statistics and decided to share them with you. Unless I'm missing something, I can't see justifying an $11 to $14K spend /year when we've only spent just over $700 in four.

Have a good day everyone!