The fourth regular meeting of the Hamburg Borough Council for 2003 was held this evening at the Hamburg Municipal Center with President Rick Boyd presiding. The meeting was opened with Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and a Prayer.

Members Present – Richard Boyd, Roy Heffner, Leon Balthaser, Charles Figard, Dale Schlenker, Jeanette Heckman

Members Absent – Diana Edwards

Also Present – Kim Y. Berger, Recording Secretary, Lynda Albright, Borough Manager, Mayor Roy Del Rosario

Visitors – Nikki Murry (Item), (Reading Eagle), Kimm Montone (Pottsville Republican), James Gilmartin, Thomas Zelinsky, John Sterner, Peggy Sterner, Richard Kunkel, Martha Bertolet

A motion was made by Charles Figard and seconded by Jeanette Heckman to approve the amended agenda.

ROLL CALL: AYES – R. Boyd, R. Heffner, J. Heckman, C. Figard, L. Balthaser, D. Schlenker

NAYES – None

NONE

A motion was made by Dale Schlenker and seconded by Roy Heffner to approve the minutes of the February 10, 2003 meeting.

(One correction on page 282 under members present – Diana Edwards was not present.)

ROLL CALL: AYES – R. Boyd, R. Heffner, J. Heckman, C. Figard, L. Balthaser, D. Schlenker

NAYES – None

A motion was made by Roy Heffner and seconded by Charles Figard to approve the following reports: Borough Manager's Report, Public Works Supt. Report, Water/Sewer Supt. Report, Office Manager's Report, Treasurer's Report and Engineer’s Report.

ROLL CALL: AYES – R. Boyd, R. Heffner, J. Heckman, C. Figard, L. Balthaser, D. Schlenker

NAYES – None

Kim Berger, Office Manager and I attended a seminar regarding the implementation of a new regulation with regard to employees referred to as HIPPA, which stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. We are required to have this in effect by April 14, 2003 and are currently working on having this policy prepared.

June Hilbert, Recreation Director and I interviewed additional applicants for the park and pool summer season.

Keith Brobst, Water/Sewer Supt. and I met with Dr. Hudock relative to an extremely high water and sewer bill. Discussed possible leak and or meter problems.

I received several calls during the month regarding water leaks which were fairly significant; in addition, we had water loss in two of the vacant buildings in the Borough. Much time was spent by borough personnel, as well as outside sources in an attempt to repair these lines. Water/Sewer Supt. has covered these items in more detail in his report.

Kim Berger and I also attended a seminar of the Main Street/Business group regarding a possible web page, which could accommodate both business and municipal government.

Greg Unger of SDE, Keith Brobst and I met with Jeff Schlappich, owner of Schmeck’s Family Restaurant to discuss his sewer use. Mr. Schlappich feels he is being penalized for sewer that is not going into the sewer system. Greg offered some alternatives, which he could apply at his expense, however, Mr. Schlappich has decided not to go any further.

Spent time speaking with other managers regarding personnel procedures, rules, regulations, etc. in an attempt to update those we currently have in effect. I truly hope to have this accomplished during the course of the year.

Kim and I met with representatives of the State Workers Comp Insurance, the Borough’s new Workers Comp. Carrier, to discuss various issues and procedures regarding form preparation, claim handling, etc. Also discussed the implementation of a possible loss prevention program. Will be meeting with another representative in the future to discuss further.

Due to the major snowstorm in February, a snow emergency was called. Crews worked almost around-the-clock and outside sources were called in as well. Due to the lack of funding available, either locally or federally, we were unable to have the snow removed from the streets.

During the snowstorm, we lost one of the borough vehicles due to a fire in the electrical system. We are currently working on obtaining prices through the state contract as a means of replacing this vehicle for the crew.

John Leonforte, Code Enf. Officer, Dale Schlenker and I met with representatives of Remax regarding a zoning situation for placement of a doublewide trailer in the Borough.

Met with a representative from Santram Associates to look at the door hinges in the municipal offices and council chambers with regard to the problems we are having with opening the doors. It has been determined that the hinges are not the problem, but that the building continues to settle. It was suggested to have the crew shim up the doors as a possible solution to the problem.

Attended both the Uniform and Non-uniform pension meetings to review the last two quarters of 2002. Needless to say, both sustained loss, with the greatest loss to the Non-Uniform plan. We are looking at other alternatives to offset this loss.

Met with Faith Phillips of the County Court Administration to tour north side of the second floor of the municipal center as a possible relocation for the District Justice.

Had several meetings during the month involving personnel, as well as building/zoning issues.

In addition to two council meetings, attended Personnel, Property, and Authority meetings.

If anyone has any questions regarding my report, please feel free to ask.

Following my report are the activities of my staff for the month of February, 2003.

Lynda G. Albright
Borough Manager

Meter changes continue to be performed.

The 6" water main was repaired at 5^th and Chestnut Streets. The crew also helped at the 8" water main at 4^th and Pine Streets.

GENERAL WORK

There were a lot of street sign repairs that needed to be done after the storms of December, January and February.

On the very cold days when no plowing needed to be done, work begun on the lawn mowers and other equipment for spring.

The winter continues to be unrelenting. The blizzard of February 17, 2003 hit us hard and the aftermath was just as severe. We continue to clear snow from intersections and parking lots. With the heavy rain that was expected on February 22, 2003, inlets were cleared. The cold temperatures, heavy rain and snowmelt increased the problems with potholes that have plagued us. We continue to work on cold patching the areas that are the worst. This is in an effort to do a "temporary fix" until warmer weather approaches and the holes permanently fixed.

Richard L. Pickel
Public Works Superintendent

Water & Wastewater Superintendent’s Report February 2003

Wastewater

Flows have been very high during February due to the heavy snow and then rain and warmer temperatures. The snowfall of the 17th caused the landfill to be closed for several days forcing us to haul several loads of liquid sludge. Temperatures continue to make settling poor in the aerobic digester. Still treatment remains good and there is nothing unusual happening.

The Edenburg pumping station has gone into alarm several times in the last several weeks in spite of the grouting of several manholes and repair of some in-line leaks. The engineer tells me the "lining" of the other manholes requires several days of 40 degree temperatures and being able to get the manholes dry.

The pumps and piping at the Pine Street pumping station are being painted. We are also looking at replacing the doors on the wet well at Pine St.

I received a call from Tim Peters of Peters Bros. Meat Market asking to dispose of the Market wastewater at the Wastewater Treatment Plant until the Lenhartsville Plant is on line. After consulting the Engineer and The Authority I told him we would try it. That has not yet started.

Water

I received a call on Sunday February 2 that there was water coming from the Wright’s Knitwear building at 2nd and Pine. Almost immediately after that call I was informed there was water coming from the Exide building also. When I got to 2nd & Pine Union Fire Co. No. 1 was on site. I turned the water off to the main that feeds the sprinkler at Wright’s and closed the main that feeds the Exide service on 2nd St. I spoke to representatives of Exide and the leak in their building was repaired the same day and service was restored. The main on Pine St. which serves the building at 2nd and Pine remains closed. 5:00 A.M. the following morning Officer Mengle called saying that there was, once again, water coming from the Exide Building. Once again the Fire Co. was on site. I turned the water off to the sprinklers. To my knowledge these sprinklers are still off line. As you may recall, the Fire Co. called the county Haz-Mat team for this leak. Representatives of Exide were on site and were aware that the water was off.

On February 5 the 8" water main suspended from the 5th St. bridge was leaking. A contractor was called to make the repairs. The condition of the steel pipe left the repair leaking. In the process of turning the water off we discovered a 6" steel main going under I-78. Unfortunately this was also leaking. The Borough crew was called in the repair it. Upon putting the 6" main into service there was considerable dirty water. This was flushed out of the system and Coliform sampling was conducted throughout the area. All samples were clean. Since that time, through consultation with the Engineer, the 8" main was put back into service and we are periodically checking to make sure it does not start leaking. This main is scheduled for replacement with PaDOT’s 5th St. bridge project. In a related project, we excavated around the valve on the south side of the 5th street bridge because the way things worked while turning the water off to make repairs didn’t make sense. We found that the valve we were turning was on the 6" main and the valve on the 8" main was buried under 5" of macadam. An extension was put on the valve box and the valve added to the index map.

11:00 P.M. February 20, Officer Mengle called about a sink hole at 4th and Pine Sts. That sink hole became a leaking water main that took over 20 hours to repair. While on that repair the Borough Office reported a 30 PSI pressure drop. Investigation showed water flowing from the Water Filtration Plant at over 1100 gallons per minute. After several hours of looking the leak was found coming from the Exide building. Water was turned off to that block of S 2nd St. and an Exide representative was contacted. Service was restored the following Sunday.

I met with Susan Werner of PaDEP in regard to the annual water supply report, permit numbers and yields.

We are scheduled for a Filter Plant Performance Evaluation March 23 & 24. You may recall this was scheduled previously and was cancelled due to a physical problem at the Plant.

All production, except for several thousand gallons from Well 5 on the 21st, was from the surface source.

Respectfully Submitted

Keith L. Brobst
Water/Wastewater Superintendent

During the month of February, I attended one Council meeting, one EMA meeting, one EMA training session, one pension meeting, one meeting with the Main Street Committee and Business Association and one staff meeting.

In the first two weeks of February I spent a lot of time with the auditors, answering questions and researching information.

As always, the web page continues to be updated as well as the municipal access channel.

As you know there was a major water leak under the 5^th Street, the office staff assisted in researching information about this. The next morning, there was a leak at Chestnut and 5^th Street. I took pictures while the crew was on site. There was also another major break at 4^th and Pine Streets.

The new officers were hired and their information posted to the computer. Calculations of their salaries was performed.

Snow emergencies were called and the information was placed on the municipal access channel and faxes sent to the radio stations.

Letters were sent to the park and pool personnel.

I performed some on line emergency management tests and received passing grades on all of them. (100% and 95%).

Lynda and I met with representatives from the State Workers Insurance Fund.

Season ticket applications and information was printed and copied for mailing. These will be mailed the first week of April.

The trash and recycling pamphlet has been updated. An ordinance was prepared for Lynda to review regarding parking along Pine Street.

There have been several vehicle incidents. One was the 1992 truck caught on fire during the snow storm of February 17, 2003. I dealt with the insurance company on almost a daily basis as well as took pictures for insurance purposes and emailed them. Then on February 21, 2003 while doing patching in a blocked off roadway, our 1996 pick up truck was struck by someone who went around the barricades.

There were various workman’s compensation claims that had to be reported and that I have been dealing with.

Worked with SSI regarding a problem with a sewer issue.

After the auditors left, the office staff went through the files and organized them for storage and gave John his office back.

Met with our engineer regarding utility billing issues.

Numerous letters were sent regarding junk cars, bills for meters, memos to employees, sewer vent caps etc.

Time was spent compiling expenses from the snowstorm.

The water leak index has been updated and everything appears to be in good order. The computer program has also been updated.

Respectfully submitted,

Kim Y. Berger
Office Manager

NONE

On the recommendation of the Property Committee, a motion was made by Roy Heffner and seconded by Dale Schlenker to authorize the purchase of a new chainsaw, brush cutter/string trimmer and a push mower for the borough crew at a discounted rate of $844.62.

(Question: Councilman Balthaser asked where they would be purchased. Councilman Schlenker stated from Ark Rentals in Orwigsburg.)

ROLL CALL: AYES – R. Boyd, R. Heffner, J. Heckman, C. Figard, L. Balthaser, D. Schlenker

NAYES – None

Mayor DelRosario presented an award to Officer Schwoyer for lifesaving whereby he resuscitated Mahlon Becker after attempting suicide. Unfortunately, Mr. Becker succumbed.

Mayor Del Rosario presented the gallantry star to Chief Zelinsky and Officer Rodger Gehring for the arrest of two individuals who attempted to burglarize Jack D’s Restaurant.

On the recommendation of the Finance Committee and Property Committee, a motion was made by Roy Heffner and seconded by Dale Schlenker to purchase a 2003 F-350 pick up truck and plow at a cost of approximately $15,000 and also to approve the purchase of a cinder spreader at a cost of approximately $4,200.00.

(Councilman Balthaser asked if they would be purchased through the state contract and Manager Albright stated that the truck and plow would be through the state contract, however, is unsure of the cinder spreader.)

ROLL CALL: AYES – R. Boyd, R. Heffner, J. Heckman, C. Figard, L. Balthaser, D. Schlenker

NAYES – None

ROLL CALL: AYES – R. Boyd, R. Heffner, J. Heckman, C. Figard, L. Balthaser, D. Schlenker

NAYES – None

A motion was made by Dale Schlenker and seconded by Charles Figard to accept the resignation of Diana Edwards from Council with regret.

ROLL CALL: AYES – R. Boyd, R. Heffner, J. Heckman, C. Figard, L. Balthaser, D. Schlenker

NAYES – None

Councilwoman Heckman stated that anyone who is interested in serving in the vacant council seat shall submit a resume and letter to the Borough Office by March 17, 2003. There will be a special Personnel meeting scheduled for March 24, 2003 at 6 p.m. Interviews will take place at that time.

A motion was made by Charles Figard and seconded by Roy Heffner to approve payment of invoices totaling $154,386.59

ROLL CALL: AYES – R. Boyd, R. Heffner, J. Heckman, C. Figard, L. Balthaser, D. Schlenker

NAYES – None

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m. on motion of Jeanette Heckman and seconded by Charles Figard.