ROCKLEDGE BOROUGH COUNCIL
COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
OF NOVEMBER 13, 2006

The Rockledge Borough Council met at 7:30 p.m. on November 13, 2006, at the Rockledge Borough Hall. After the prayer and Pledge of Allegiance, the roll was called as follows: Mr. Denelsbeck, Mrs. Walz, Mr. Beady, Mr. Kelleher, Mr. Caffrey, Mr. Casey, Mrs. Kehoe, and Mayor Costello.

Mr. Denelsbeck added the reading of the Ordinance amending 590 to the Public Safety agenda.

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

Motion was made to accept the October 9 and October 30, 2006 minutes. All were in favor.

Law & Planning

Mr. Beady made a motion to accept the monthly Building Inspector’s report. Mr. Caffrey questioned the two bills from Building Inspection Underwriters for the month of November. Mr. Beady said he would look into this. All were in favor of accepting this report.

Mr. Beady made a motion to adopt Resolution 2006-07. Mr. Beady read aloud this resolution to renew the Planning Assistance contract with the Montgomery County Planning Commission. All were in favor.

Finance

Mr. Casey made a motion to accept the monthly bills and tax collector’s report. Mr. Denelsbeck asked Mr. Hartey to look into the additional bill from the Cohen Law Group. Mr. Casey amended his motion to accept the monthly bills excluding the Cohen Law Group bill. All were in favor.

Mr. Denelsbeck stated that our lawyer fees have been running about $600.00/month and we charge $350.00/hearing. This fee just about covers the advertising costs. Mr. Denelsbeck asked Mr. Bresnan if we were allowed to raise our hearing fees. Mr. Bresnan answered that the $350.00 amount is in relation to the advertising costs and not attorney fees.

Mr. Denelsbeck announced that the proposed 2007 budget reflects a slight increase in expenditures of around 2% and a fund balance of 4%. There will be no real estate property tax increase, no business privilege tax increase, and no trash or sewer increase. The only possible increase that may occur is in the area of permit fees. There will be a new police vehicle for the Police Department and we will temporarily be keeping the old expedition. There will be a new fence placed on the Valley Street entrance to the Jarrett Playground and some paving will take place there also. Another set of banners will be purchased for Huntingdon Pike. Motion was made to lay the budget on the table for public inspection. All were in favor.

Public Service

Mrs. Kehoe had nothing to discuss at this time.

Public Safety

Mr. Caffrey made a motion to accept the Police, Fire Marshal, Fire Company, and Second Alarmer’s (September) Reports. All were in favor.

Mr. Caffrey read aloud the Ordinance that will amend Ordinance 590 regarding parking on Fox Street. Mr. Caffrey motioned to advertise this Ordinance and adopt it at the November 27 Council Meeting. All were in favor.

Mayor Costello reminded the public that trash is not supposed to be put out for pickup until Tuesday evenings at 8:00 p.m. There have been some recent issues regarding this in the past couple of weeks.

Streets, Lights, and Sewers

Mr. Kelleher made a motion to accept the Streets Department and Streets Opening Reports. All were in favor.

Recreation

Mrs. Walz had nothing to discuss at this time.

Property

Mr. Beady made a motion to accept one of the three proposals to install backflow devices at the Borough Hall. This is a requirement in compliance with the Federal and State Drinking Water Act. Mr. Beady asked Mr. Hartey to elaborate on this. Mr. Hartey stated this is a federal and state requirement. We have 30 days to complete the job and we have received three quotations for both the fire and domestic. Sentinel quoted the fire backflow prevention device to be $5443 and domestic would be $4240. The domestic would need to be done on a Saturday as we would have no water for about six hours so there is an additional $800 added to the domestic quote. A&S Sprinkler quoted $5690 for both domestic and fire and added $285 to perform the domestic on a Saturday morning. Simplex Grinnell quoted $7150 and included the Saturday work. All three companies are certified with Aqua to do the work and would fill out the forms to be sent back to Aqua showing that it was installed correctly.

Mr. Denelsbeck asked if anyone had a preference out of the three companies. Mrs. Kehoe preferred Simplex Grinnell. Motion was made to award the job to Simplex Grinnell for $7,150. All were in favor.

Personnel

Mr. Casey had nothing to discuss at this time.

Public Comment

Mr. Denelsbeck requested that Council and the Mayor meet with the Solicitor for a brief 5 minutes after tonight’s meeting.

Mr. Denelsbeck asked for public comment. Mrs. Ivey mentioned the banner/sign hanging on the side of the building located at 120 Huntingdon Pike advertising hockey. Mr. Denelsbeck stated that they have until the end of the month to take down this sign.

A resident asked about leaf pickup. Mr. Denelsbeck answered that leaves are to be bagged and placed at the curb. The vacuum is specifically for the leaves that fall in the street.

Mr. Wynne stated he received a request from a resident to donate a tree to the Jarrett Avenue Playground to replace the tree that was recently taken down. Mr. Kelleher requested that he be notified when the tree will be planted so he can make the Streets Crew aware. Mr. Denelsbeck stated whatever type of tree Mr. Wynne as the Chairman of the Shade Tree Commission felt was best would be fine.

Motion was made to adjourn. All were in favor.

Respectfully submitted,

Grace Metzinger
Assistant Borough Manager