ROCKLEDGE BOROUGH COUNCIL
COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
OF March 27, 2006

The Rockledge Borough Council met at 7:30 p.m. on March 27, 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. Kelleher, Mr. Caffrey, and Mayor Costello.

Mrs. Walz made the following change to the agenda: motion tabled regarding hiring more basketball aides.

Motion was made to adopt the agenda. All were in favor.

Law and Planning:

Mr. Mori motioned to adopt Resolution 2006-01 to allow the Rockledge Volunteer Fire Company to perform activities under Workers Compensation. Mr. Denelsbeck read this resolution aloud. All were in favor.

Mr. Mori motioned to adopt Resolution 2006-02 authorizing the Borough to recognize the Rockledge Volunteer Fire Company as the Borough Fire Company. Mr. Mori read the beginning of this Resolution aloud. All were in favor.

Mr. Mori motioned to adopt Resolution 2006-03 to apply for the Montgomery County Community Revitalization Program Implementation Grants. Mr. Mori read this Resolution aloud. Mr. Truman stated this is 2006 Phase III for Montgomery Avenue to Shady Lane. All were in favor.

Mr. Mori motioned to adopt Resolution 2006-04 authorizing an intergovernmental agreement with other Montgomery County municipalities for legal services to negotiate a model agreement with Verizon for cable service. Mr. Bresnan did review this resolution. All were in favor.

Finance

Mr. Caffrey motioned to increase the Fire Marshal and Assistant Fire Marshal salaries. Mr. Denelsbeck stated their current salaries are entirely too low at $11.00 and $10.50 per hour respectively. For 2006 the Fire Marshal is budgeted to make $18.00/hour and the Assistant Fire Marshal is budgeted at $14.00/hour. Mr. Denelsbeck asked if there were any questions from the table or audience. Mr. Naudascher felt this sounded like a big jump and asked what the last increase was. Mr. Denelsbeck stated that there has never been an increase and it is a budgeted item for this year. All were in favor of these pay increases.

Public Service

Mr. Caffrey had nothing to discuss at this time.

Public Safety

Mayor Costello asked that Council and Mr. Bresnan review a sample resolution he provided them that is required by FEMA regarding Emergency Management. Mr. Bresnan told Mr. Denelsbeck he would review this tomorrow.

Chief Leary stated he is currently interviewing candidates for 2 part-time police officer positions due to the resignations of Officers Coyle and Todd.

Streets, Lights, and Sewers

Mr. Kelleher stated that quotes were received for the maintenance of the sanitary sewers. Mr. Denelsbeck said there is $5,000 in the Capital Reserve Fund and $5,000 in the General Fund for sewer maintenance and repair. The quotes we received were for about $2,000/day. This would be for video inspection of the sewers and cleaning as they go along. Mr. Denelsbeck asked if we had video of all of the sewers. Mr. Kelleher stated this had not been done in years. Mr. Kelleher will contact Mr. Truman this week to decide on what quote they would go with.

Mr. Kelleher stated he would also like to obtain quotes to permanently fix the Shady Lane sewer pit that they recently did a patch job on.

Mr. Kelleher made mention of the undercoating on the truck. This will be a pricey job, but can be done. The rest of the truck is getting older and we would basically be buying some time by doing this as it is a 12-year-old vehicle. Mr. Denelsbeck instructed Mr. Kelleher to get some prices for a new truck.

Recreation

Mrs. Walz made mention of the quotes received for redoing the tennis courts at the S. Sylvania playground. Mr. Denelsbeck stated he would rather wait until we had the money to make it a tennis court; these quotes were for black-topping the courts.

Mrs. Walz asked Mr. Kelleher what he thought about the condition of the ball field at S. Sylvania, specifically the outfield. Mr. Kelleher stated that it will take some work to get it fixed. It is pretty torn up and muddy at the present time. Mr. Kelleher will contact FoxRok and see if they can help in fixing it up as they will be using the field for girls softball.

Mrs. Walz announced that the Basketball program started last weekend. It is running on Saturdays and Sundays from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the gym at the Borough Hall. There has been a good turnout so far.

The Easter Egg Hunt is on Saturday, April 8, at 10:00 a.m. at S. Sylvania Playground. Rain date is Sunday, April 9 at 1:00 p.m.

Property

Mr. Denelsbeck stated that the daycare (Creative Beginnings) located on the upper floors of the Borough Hall have agreed to pay half the price to re-carpet the first level lobby and stairs. A decision needs to be made whether the lower level lobby should be carpeted or tiled. An estimate of $3,600 was received to carpet the steps and tile the lower lobby. An estimate of $1,298 was received to replace the tile in the lower lobby with carpet. Mr. Mori asked if this has been shopped around at all. Mr. Denelsbeck feels that on little projects such as this, a few other quotes would need to be obtained, but generally would like to go with the area businesses who pay the taxes. All were in favor of carpet. Mr. Denelsbeck instructed Mr. Truman to obtain two other quotes.

Mr. Denelsbeck referred to the sample pictures of furniture received for furnishing the lobby with the grant received from Willow Grove. All were in favor of going with the sample from Hon Office Furniture.

Mr. Kelleher mentioned the quotes received for a security system for the Borough Hall. Mr. Truman stated that when he spoke to ADT who currently monitors the fire alarm system, they did not offer any discount to also monitor the security system. Mr. Denelsbeck suggested Mr. Truman tell ADT that if they cannot offer some kind of discount, then we would be shopping the whole job out to another company.

Personnel

Mr. Denelsbeck announced there would be an Executive Session after the meeting tonight to discuss a personnel matter.

Public Comment

Don Goldberg, 146 Park Avenue, stated that the Borough Office is still listed on the Rockledge Plaza sign. Mr. Denelsbeck stated it has been requested this be removed several times.

Mr. Kelleher questioned the Gabby’s Gifts and Collectibles sign. Mr. Denelsbeck stated that one end of the sign was actually cut off and that it is now only protruding as far as it is allowed. Mr. Denelsbeck made mention of the Temple Banner recently hung outside of 120 Huntingdon Pike. This will need to come down as it is against the sign ordinance.

Mr. Goldberg suggested a sign be placed at Park & Huntingdon Pike noting where the Police Station is located.

Mr. Aungst announced that the Planning Commission meeting scheduled for tomorrow evening regarding Wachovia Land Development has been cancelled.

Mr. Aungst asked what the original purpose was for all of the space directly outside of the Borough Office and who would be using the furniture that will be purchased for this area. Mr. Denelsbeck stated that this was envisioned as a lobby area for residents to sit in while they are waiting to see the tax collector.

Mrs. Ivey asked if something couldn’t be done to prevent the S. Sylvania field from becoming so muddy. Mr. Denelsbeck stated that we have to get back in the habit of maintaining the field. It is being used more now that FoxRok is playing on it almost every night and it needs to be maintained on a regular basis.

Mr. Mori motioned to recess to Executive Session. All were in favor.

Respectfully submitted,

Grace Metzinger
Assistant Borough Manager