ROCKLEDGE BOROUGH COUNCIL
COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
OF OCTOBER 24, 2005

The Rockledge Borough Council met at 7:30 p.m. on October 24, 2005, at the Rockledge Volunteer Fire Company. After the prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance were recited, the roll was called as follows: Mrs. Walz, Mr. Mori, Mr. Beady, Mr. Kelleher, Mr. Caffrey Mr. Casey, and Mayor Costello.

Mr. Mori made a motion to adopt the agenda. All were in favor.

Law and Planning:

Mr. Beady had nothing to discuss at this time.

Finance

Mr. Casey had nothing to discuss at this time.

Public Service

Mr. Caffrey discussed the idea of having pictures of each council person on the web site. Mr. Truman will take the pictures in the near future. Mr. Caffrey announced that work has begun on the Fall/Winter Newsletter.

Public Safety

Mayor Costello and Chief Leary thanked Mrs. Ivey for helping out at the Halloween Party held on Saturday, October 22.

Streets, Lights, and Sewers

Mrs. Walz stated that since Mr. Kelleher was not present, the items on the agenda regarding the new Streets Department policy and snow removal policy would be tabled until the next meeting.

Recreation

Mrs. Walz brought up the possibility of a Winter Recreation Program and the use of the Community Center Gym for this purpose. She also asked if the gym will continue to be rented out to athletic groups and if so, should a fee schedule be established. Mr. Casey stated that non-profit groups such as Fox-Rok should not be charged a fee to use the gym. Discussion followed regarding the need for groups to be cleaning up before they leave. Mr. Mori suggested that an officer could patrol this to make sure that groups are leaving the gym the way they found it. It was also mentioned that a schedule would have to be posted. Mrs. Walz stated that after she gets the current gym schedule she would like to meet with the Recreation Committee to draw up a fee schedule for groups other than non-profit. Mayor Costello mentioned that the Girl Scouts who used to meet in one of the meeting rooms could possibly now hold their meetings in the gym. Mr. Mori stated that he feels a standard operating procedure should be developed regarding who will get priority to use the gym. Once the Winter Recreation Program is established and we know what days the Borough will be using the gym, then perhaps Fox-Rok should be next in line to pick their days, and so on.

Mr. Naudascher stated that he feels the gym needs to be rehabbed if it is going to be used on a regular basis. The public will also need to have use of the bathrooms. Mr. Truman is looking into finding a grant to fix up the gym.

Mr. Beady suggested that the money collected in gym rentals be paid to someone who will oversee the use of the gym. Mrs. Walz stated she would like to have a separate supervisor for this purpose.

Mr. Truman asked Mr. Bresnan if the money collected in gym rentals could be used toward the gradual rehabilitation of the gym. Mr. Bresnan stated this should not be a problem.

Property

Mr. Beady had nothing to discuss at this time.

Personnel

Mr. Truman mentioned that he spoke to Mr. Denelsbeck about compensating his friend, Jim Raymond, for his help during the move of the Borough Office. Mr. Denelsbeck said that Mr. Raymond would have to be hired as an employee at the rate of $10.00 and pay him for the six hours he worked. It was agreed that he should just be paid as a vendor and would not need to be officially hired.

Public Comment

Mr. Beady asked if anyone has checked to see if all of the streets have been sealed properly since the paving is now complete. Mr. Truman stated that Mr. Ovack would be performing that task this week. A sub-contractor was out to take a look at all of the curb complaints. Once the rain has stopped, they will begin work on fixing the broken curbs.

Mrs. Walz asked for public comment. Mrs. Ivey asked if all renovations were complete on the Borough Office and Police Station. Mr. Truman answered that there are still some small punch-list items to be completed. The bad weather over the past three weeks has hindered them from completing all of these items. Mr. Truman elaborated on the list of items still need to be completed. The scheduled completion date is October 28. Mr. Mori asked if they also had to have the punch-list items completed by October 28 also. Mr. Truman believed this date did include the punch-list items. We still owe them around $180,000, so Altchem has a vested interest in completing the work as quickly as possible.

Mr. Goldberg stated he noticed a 12-14’ gap on Abington Avenue where the street is not sealed as he believes a car was parked there when they were doing the sealing of the streets. He also believes that some of the leaves are adhering to the areas where they were sealed. Mr. Truman stated there is nothing that really can be done about the leaves falling into these areas. Mr. Truman will make Morrissey aware of the areas that were not sealed. Mr. Mori commented that he noticed that they seem to drag the tar bucket down the center of the street and there are big puddles of tar right in the middle of the road. Some of the trails of tar are even up on the sidewalk. He feels this was very unprofessional.

Mrs. Ivey commented on how nice the Halloween Party was. She commended Chief Leary, Officer Weinberg and Mayor Costello for their hard work.

Mrs. Ivey stated that the green light at Church Road and Huntingdon Pike (turning off of Robbins) is not bright enough to be seen. Mr. Truman will look into this.

Mr. Mori made a motion to adjourn to Executive Session to discuss a personnel issue.

Respectfully submitted,

Grace Metzinger
Assistant Borough Manager