ROCKLEDGE BOROUGH COUNCIL
COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
OF January 9, 2006

The Rockledge Borough Council met at 7:30 p.m. on January 9, 2006, at the Rockledge Borough Hall. After the prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance were recited, the roll was called as follows: Mr. Denelsbeck, Mrs. Walz, Mr. Mori, Mr. Beady, Mr. Kelleher, Mr. Caffrey, Mr. Casey and Mayor Costello.

Mr. Caffrey stated he had an item to be added to the Public Service Agenda regarding tenants registering with the Borough.

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

Mr. Mori motioned to adopt the minutes from the December 12, 2005 meeting. All were in favor.

Law and Planning:

Mr. Beady made a motion to accept the monthly Building Inspector’s Report. All were in favor.

Public Service

Mr. Caffrey stated he came across an article written about Bedminster Township requiring that apartment owners have their tenants register with the municipality. This would be a benefit from a safety point of view as if there were a fire or emergency, there would be contact information. Another upside to this was that when Bedminster Township started doing this, they found out that some of the tenants were not paying the earned income tax. Mr. Denelsbeck instructed Mr. Truman to look into this and report back at the January 30 meeting.

Finance

Mr. Casey motioned to accept the monthly bills, mercantile tax report, financial report, and tax collector’s report. All were in favor.

Mr. Denelsbeck stated that as of December 31, 2005, the General Fund balance was $84,000 which is in line with the projection. The Capital Reserve balance was $138,605, a little bit higher than the projection. Highway Aid had $24,500, a little above the projection. Police Pension had $1.12 million dollars, which is about where it should be.

Public Safety

Mr. Mori made a motion to accept the Police, Fire Marshal, and Fire Company Reports. The Second Alarmer’s report is not present. All were in favor.

Chief Leary announced on January 12 at 9:00 a.m. at Springfield High School there will be a walk through and familiarization process for our major emergency management drill to be conducted in April of this year. Chief Leary extended an invitation to Council members to attend if they so wished.

Streets, Lights, and Sewers

Mr. Kelleher motioned to accept the Streets Department and Streets Opening Reports. All were in favor.

Mr. Kelleher asked Mr. Truman if any of the bills had been paid for the plumber and drain cleaning services at 117 Fox Street. Mr. Truman answered that these bill had not yet been paid. Mr. Denelsbeck stated that the Borough is liable for the full bill.

Mr. Kelleher stated that the issue of purchasing a cell phone for Mr. Ovack has been raised. At the present time, the only way to reach Mr. Ovack during the day is by contacting his wife, who then tries to track him down as his work cell phone does not accept incoming calls. Mr. Denelsbeck instructed Mr. Truman to price this out with some minute restrictions.

Mr. Kelleher brought up the idea of purchasing a digital camera for the Borough. This would allow the Streets Crew to take digital pictures of sewer backups so that there is proof of where the backup has occurred. Mr. Denelsbeck instructed Mr. Truman to get prices on some digital cameras.

Recreation

Mrs. Walz mentioned that FoxRok Cheerleading has requested some gym time in October and November for practices. Mr. Denelsbeck stated that someone needs to be named as the designated scheduler for the gym. Mayor Costello asked if FoxRok supplies proof of insurance. Mr. Casey stated that FoxRok does provide proof of insurance to the Borough. Mr. Denelsbeck stated that all requests to use the gym should be put in writing. Mr. Kelleher stated that the Director of Cheerleading would put something in writing regarding this request.

Property

Mr. Beady had nothing to discuss at this time.

Personnel

Mr. Casey made a motion to hire Jim Rahill as a new Streets Crew employee. He has been interviewed and passed a background check. All were in favor.

Mr. Denelsbeck announced that Borough Council met briefly before tonight’s meeting to discuss a Streets Crew personnel issue.

Public Comment

Mr. Denelsbeck asked for public comment. Mr. Naudascher asked when Christmas tree collection would begin. Mr. Denelsbeck stated that they started today and they would continue collecting on Mondays with yard waste.

Mr. Goldberg asked why Abington did not pick up the paper recycling. Mr. Denelsbeck answered that Abington would be picking up paper recycling tomorrow as they were also picking up Christmas trees today.

Respectfully submitted,

Grace Metzinger
Assistant Borough Manager