PALMER
TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
GENERAL
BUSINESS MEETING
AUGUST 7, 2006
A
general business meeting of the Palmer Township Board of Supervisors was held
on Monday, August 7, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. in the community room of the Palmer
Library with three supervisors in attendance.
K. Michael Mitchell and Ann-Marie Panella were absent. Also in attendance were the Township Manager,
Public Services Director, Township Solicitor, and Police Chief. No one
attended from the news media. Colver
convened the meeting and led those present in the Pledge to the Flag.
2. APPROVAL
OF DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS – AUGUST
7, 2006
INFORMATION
The
report will be provided at the meeting.
DISCUSSION
On
motion by Lammi, seconded by Smith, and agreed by all, the Board approved the
disbursement of funds for August 7, 2006.
3.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES – JULY 25, 2006
DISCUSSION
Supervisor
Smith noted he was absent at the last meeting and could not vote on approval of
the minutes. Colver said the minutes
would be placed on the next meeting agenda when all supervisors will be in
attendance.
4. FIRST
STAR BANK – POLICE
DEPARTMENT RECOGNITION AWARD
INFORMATION
A representative from First Star Bank will be
at the meeting to make a presentation to the police department.
DISCUSSION
Carol
Anthony from First Star Bank said they would like to present a recognition
award to the Palmer Police Department. Ms. Anthony said the police participated in
their community banker’s week by providing child ID cards and this is a small
way for them to say thank you. Officer
Smith accepted the award on behalf of the Police Department. Chief Fretz and Lieutenant DeMarco were also
in attendance.
5. FULTON FINANCIAL POLICE
PENSION UPDATE
INFORMATION
Bill Barrett and Elizabeth Peris from Fulton
Financial Advisors will review performance of the police pension fund for the
first half of 2006.
DISCUSSION
Elizabeth
Peris reviewed the performance portfolio for the township police pension fund
with the Board and answered questions regarding its performance.
6. T-MOBILE TOWER REQUEST
INFORMATION
Christopher
Milotich will be present to discuss new developments regarding a T-Mobile tower
at the existing tower located behind fire station #2 on Freemansburg
Avenue.
DISCUSSION
Christopher
Milotich from T-Mobile was present.
Milotich said he is responsible for finding tower sites in the
area. Milotich said they initially
showed interest in using the water tower but the Water Authority doesn’t allow
it. Milotich said we came to you a while
back asking to place a tower in the area of Old Orchard Park as our second option
and you denied that request. Milotich
said at that time the township said the tower at the fire house may be an
option. Milotich said they have since
researched that tower and location and are interested in using it. Colver asked the size of the current tower. Milotich
said he believes it is around 65 feet high.
Milotich said they would need the tower to be around 90 feet high. Lt. DeMarco said the existing tower is 80
feet and is as solid as a rock. Milotich
said he was basing this on his real
estate background not from an engineering standpoint. DeMarco said each section of the existing
tower is 20 feet, so if you add another section it would take it to 100 feet
high. Lammi said if they’re willing to
build a whole new tower, wouldn’t that be beneficial and asked if the tower
they would build would be a collapsible design.
Milotich said yes. Colver asked
who is on our existing tower now.
DeMarco said just the police department.
Lammi said we’re looking to upgrade the repeater on that existing tower. Smith said since there is a tower already
there he didn’t have a problem with this request. Lammi agreed.
Colver asked how the process would work with the police department still
using the tower. Milotich said there
would be a lease agreement. Colver asked
what powers the equipment. Milotich said
he’s told it would require the same requirements as a basic household. Milotich said T-Mobile would conduct the research
and put in the necessary equipment at their costs. Colver asked about maintenance
requirements. DeMarco said it currently
needs to be painted. Milotich said it
is currently candy stripped. Colver said
if they’re willing to do the homework and the background on their end he didn’t
see a problem with the request. DeMarco
said we need to insure that their equipment won’t interfere with our
equipment. Milotich said we should not
interfere, and if it should, we have technicians to correct the situation. DeMarco said he would recommend they put an additional
20 foot section on the tower and the police department gets the high end of the
tower and they use the 90 foot level for their equipment. Colver asked about the length of the lease. Milotich said the standard lease is 29
years. Smith said with their previous
request to us they were willing to help out with lighting in the park area, so maybe
they could assist us with the necessary police and fire upgrades that are
currently needed on the tower. Colver
said why don’t we let them do their homework and in the meantime our police
department can put together what they were going to do for maintenance and
repeater costs. Colver said since you
won’t have to build a new tower maybe we can come back together and work
something out. Milotich agreed to begin
his process and will get in touch with the township manager to see if there are
any existing drawings in the township.
7. ROCK CRUSHING AND FUEL BID AWARDS
INFORMATION
The
Board needs to approve/disapprove the bids.
DISCUSSION
Adams
reviewed the bids received and his recommendations with the Board.
On motion by Lammi,
seconded by Smith, and agreed by all, the Board approved the rock crushing bid
for Hobson Street to A. J.
Trunzo, Inc. of Bath, PA
in the amount of $22,345.
On motion by Smith,
seconded by Lammi, and agreed by all, the Board approved the bid for diesel
fuel to Farm and Home Oil Company, of Telford, PA
at a fluctuating price of $2.478 per gallon and the winterized fuel that
requires an additive, an additional cost of $0.025 per gallon.
On motion by Lammi,
seconded by Smith, and agreed by all, the Board approved the bid for the unleaded
gasoline to Farm and Home Oil Company of Telford,
PA at a firm price of $2.5450 per gallon
and at a fluctuating price of $2.5100 per gallon.
8. AUTHORIZATION
TO ADVERTISE ORDINANCE FOR APPOINTMENT OF FIRE COMMISSIONER
INFORMATION
The
Board needs to approve/disapprove advertising of the ordinance.
DISCUSSION
Bruno
said he forwarded draft ordinances to the Board and the township manager and he
will incorporate changes he received back into the document.
On
motion by Lammi, seconded by Smith, and agreed by all, the Board authorized the
solicitor to advertise the fire commissioner ordinance for the August 21
meeting agenda.
9. RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE BOROUGH OF FREEMANSBURG
JOINING THE TWO RIVERS COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS
INFORMATION
The
Board approved this request in a motion on June 5, 2006. COG requires that each
township submit a resolution indicating approval. The Board needs to approve/disapprove the
resolution.
DISCUSSION
Lammi noted two changes
that needed to be made to the resolution.
On
motion by Lammi, seconded by Smith, and agreed by all, the Board approved the resolution
allowing the Borough of Freemansburg to join the Two Rivers Council of Governments
and authorized the Chairman to sign the resolution after the two changes were
made.
10. PUBLIC
COMMENT
Robert
Gumlock, 109 Berks Street,
said he wanted to thank the township for really trying to divert the water into
the detention pond during the recent heavy rains. Gumlock said on Monday when the developer
moved the berm he made some phone calls and he would like to thank Mike Mitchell,
Bob Smith, Amanda Jensen, Tom Adams, Bob Anckaitis,
and The Pidcock Company for coming out and handling the situation. Gumlock said unfortunately we did have the
flood and we all know that the backup is what caused it. Gumlock said I know the township is working
hard at this point to straighten out the problem. Gumlock said the reality for us is we went on
a 10 day vacation and had to return early because our home was flooding again. Gumlock said this is the third time and it’s
not getting any easier as we get older.
Gumlock said having to wait for the detention pond to stabilize and the
process of waiting for the property acquisitions is a slow process. Gumlock said he hopes the project gets
started this year. Gumlock said this
project was put off despite the Starlite project being built. Gumlock said even when the bond was taken out
this project wasn’t put first. Gumlock
suggested the township do a study of all drainage in the township so you will
know where flooding could become a problem in the future. Colver offered a copy of his minutes from the
last meeting to Mr. Gumlock so he could see the township engineer’s notes
regarding the project. Colver said we
know the problem that’s down there and we’re working diligently to get the
project going. Colver said we expect to
be out to bid by the end of August.
Colver said pipe work can be done over the winter months. Lammi said he thought Dillman was working
with the developer to get the water level out of the pond quicker. Adams said the
township engineer had the developer install two pumps so after a storm they
would pump into silt sacks which would get the water out quicker. Anckaitis said as of Friday
Northampton County
said the pond could not be turned over to its final stage until some banks are
stabilized behind some homes. Anckaitis
said the developer said he has seeded the bank two times but the people who
live there are not watering the seed so it’s not growing. Lammi asked if we couldn’t put pressure on
someone to get it completed. Gumlock
said the access road is also a problem because it funnels water down across
properties. Gumlock said there was a
berm there and the developer took it out.
Anckaitis said they said it wasn’t graded properly and that’s why they
did that. Anckaitis said the township
engineer showed them the plan and how it showed storm water runoff in the area
from the pre-existing water runoff into the pond. Anckaitis said on Friday the developer’s
engineer said they would take care of that.
Tom
Rance, 123 Berks Street,
said he has lived in his home since the early 40’s. Since the Zawarski
development was built, we have an influx of people who refuse to adhere to stop
signs. Rance said they are driving too
fast. Rance said this past week I asked
someone to slow down and he told me to shut up or he’d come back and shut me
up. Rance said it’s not just Berks
Street; Mine Lane
is just as bad. Colver said three or
four years ago we did enforcement in the area and we know it is usually the
neighbors who live there that are speeding.
Rance said it’s from the new neighborhood. Chief Fretz said speeding isn’t the issue as
much as the people not stopping at the stop signs. Colver asked the police department to spend a
little extra time in the area. Gumlock
said he feels some of the traffic will improve when the whole project is
completed because people will use the traffic light on Freemansburg
Avenue.
11. REPORTS
Township Manager
·
Anckaitis introduced Russ Curtis from CGI
who he met with earlier in the day regarding the banner project. Anckaitis said he asked Curtis to come tonight
and explain the process that the Board previously approved. Anckaitis said Curtis will be picking pole
locations and meeting with businesses in the area over the next couple of days. Curtis said the program is all about the
community. Curtis said in the next day
and a half he will plot the streets and poles they would like to use. Curtis said businesses are allowed to pick
the poles they want their banner on.
Curtis said they are in over 2000 towns across the country. Curtis suggested the township keep the design
simple with bright bold colors, and since we have so many tree lined streets, to
stay away from green as the background because they will blend in. Curtis said the banners will be six feet by two
and a half feet in size. The banners
won’t have sponsor addresses or telephone numbers, just street names. Lammi asked about the cost to the businesses. Curtis said there are various packages
available to the businesses to choose from and handed samples out to the
Board. Curtis said the banners will
probably be ready to go up in five to six months once the art work is
completed. Curtis said the banners will
be put up during one night and the next morning as people are on their way to
work they will see them. Colver said
assuming the pole locations are on our primary roads they will be state roads,
and asked how that will work. Anckaitis
said I told him we own the street light poles and stop light poles. Curtis said if you want them on telephone
poles we ask you contact the phone company.
Curtis said we’ve never run into a problem in the past with using poles. Curtis said we will not put banners up in
residential areas. Curtis said if there
are businesses on one side of a street and residential homes on the other side
of the street we will put the banners only on the business side.
Ann-Marie Panella arrived for the
remainder of the meeting.
Public Services Director
·
Adams gave the Chairman
some easement agreements that required his signature.
Police Chief
·
Fretz said the state
police held their camp cadet at Lehigh
University last week. Fretz said they had 70 kids in the program
and our department again participated as we have in past years. Fretz said it’s a very good program that
teaches kids respect.
Supervisors
·
Smith said Mr. Gumlock stopped out to see him at
his business and he called the township manager with Mr. Gumlock’s
concerns. Smith said he’d like to thank
everyone that was involved from the
township for their quick response to getting the berm problem resolved.
·
Colver had one real estate item for executive
session.
On motion by Smith,
seconded by Lammi, and agreed by all, the meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m. with one real estate item for
executive session.
Respectfully
submitted,
Robert G. Anckaitis
Township Manager