PALMER TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
GENERAL BUSINESS MEETING
AUGUST 28, 2007
A general business meeting of the
Palmer Township Board of Supervisors was held on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 at
7:00 p.m. in the Community Room of the Palmer Library with all Supervisors in
attendance. Also in attendance were the Township
Manager, Director of Public Services, Planning Director, Police Chief, Community
Center Director, Township Solicitor and Attorney
2. APPROVAL
OF DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS – AUGUST 28, 2007
INFORMATION
The report will be provided at the meeting.
DISCUSSION
On motion by Mitchell, seconded by Smith, and agreed by all, the Board approved the disbursement of funds for August 28, 2007.
3.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES – AUGUST 6, 2007
DISCUSSION
On motion by Panella, seconded by Mitchell, and agreed by all, the Board approved the minutes for August 6, 2007. Lammi abstained because he was absent at the August 6, 2007 meeting.
4. BUSINESS, INDUSTRIAL, AND PROFESSIONAL GROUP - ELECTRONIC SIGN PRESENTATION
INFORMATION
Representatives
of the BIP will be making a presentation regarding a proposed community
electronic sign at
DISCUSSION
Lammi said the BIP was looking to do a
community project and they discussed replacing the Lions Club sign at Five
Points. Lammi said the BIP put a
presentation together for the Board to review and introduced Gerry Kemmerer to
present the information. Kemmerer said
the BIP felt there was a need to promote all the day to day activities that go
on in the township. Kemmerer said currently
the Lion’s sign is a manual sign that can only promote one event at a time. The BIP discussed their thoughts with the
Lions Club and they are in agreement to upgrade the sign. Kemmerer said the BIP received an estimate of
$30,000 for an electronic sign. The BIP would
like to know if the Board of Supervisors would be willing to fund 50% of the
cost. Kemmerer said the Lions Club has
agreed to pay $7,500 and the BIP would pay the other $7,500. Kemmerer said the BIP would act as the
project manager. Kemmerer said the Board
of Supervisors will need to determine if there are any zoning issues related to
the sign.
Colver asked if there is electricity at
the site now and if they had any idea of the monthly cost for the electricity. Kemmerer said there is electricity there but
they didn’t know the cost. Colver said
the township will inherit an electric bill and a phone bill every month. Lammi said one thought was to have a sponsor
of the month that could cover the electricity charges and just flash the
sponsor’s name of the month. Colver
asked for the time frame a message would appear. Lammi said Penndot has a regulation to follow
regarding timing. Colver said he is fine
with the concept. Smith said guidelines
will need to be set up about what type of information can be displayed on the
sign.
On motion by Lammi, seconded by Panella,
and agreed by all, the Board approved the electronic sign concept and agreed to
budget $15,000 in the 2008 budget.
5. DISCUSSION
REGARDING COMMUNITY CENTER SCHEDULING
INFORMATION
The Board needs to discuss the scheduling priorities, overall mission,
and philosophy of the operation of the
DISCUSSION
Jeff Young, Mark Knox, and Cheryl Nielsen
were in attendance. Young said last year
basketball and wrestling were initially scheduled in the community center on Tuesday
and Thursday nights. Young said the
community center had asked to flip and we agreed to use the multi-purpose room
those two nights. Young said by doing
so, it knocked off three practice spots.
Young said last year we had 11 practice times and Saturday and Sunday
from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Young said we had
a committee meeting with representatives from the Athletic Association, the
Recreation Board, and the Director of the Community Center and the Township
Manager. Young said we resolved some
issues at the committee level but came across a stumbling block where the
township recreation program needs additional time slots for basketball and
wrestling. Young said the Recreation
Board and the Athletic Association would like the Board of Supervisors to
readdress the use of the community center.
Young said typically teams get two practice times each week in addition
to their game times. Young said Barry
Fulmer asked for 26 slots and I thought that was a bit much, so it was cut back
to 22 time slots. Young said one option
discussed was to have 16 practice times in gym II and 4 slots in half of a gym
on Monday nights, which will give us 20 slots.
The other half of the gym would be used for tae bo, jazzercise, or
wrestling. Young said when we took that
recommendation back to the committee they didn’t like the half gym option
because there would be a noise issue. Young
said we also want to change our Sunday gym times from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. to 12 p.m.
to 6 p.m. Young said we found no one can
utilize the gym on a Sunday morning due to church.
Young said there are dollars and cents associated
with this; if we are given this additional time, something has to give. Mitchell asked how much money will we be losing. Anckaitis said he doesn’t know if we can put
an exact dollar amount on it. Young said
the average income generated for jazzercise for a year was $4,300. The average for tae bo
and spin class were $3,700 per year and Laura Smestad’s
classes averaged $7,100. Mitchell asked
how much do we pay the schools for those slots in
janitorial fees. Young said $180 a week. Colver asked to hear the township and community
center’s recommendations.
Anckaitis said everything he heard Young
say he believed to be correct. Anckaitis
read a paragraph of the community center mission statement to the Board that is
used for the capital campaign. Anckaitis
said the group that crafted the mission statement was very careful not to state
the use of the center was solely for athletics in the mission statement. Anckaitis said as Young stated earlier,
depending on the outcome of this discussion tonight, maybe this mission
statement needs to be changed. Anckaitis
distributed a memo to the Board of Supervisors that outlined the way the gyms were
used last year along with four different options to address the Athletic
Associations request for more gym time this year. Anckaitis said this year the AA will gain four
hours and fifteen minutes just by not giving back the Tuesday and Thursday
night’s they allowed the community center to use last year. In addition to that they are requesting five
more hours in gym I during Monday through Thursday. Anckaitis said these are the three prime
hours each day, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., that total 12 hours Monday through
Thursday. Of those 12 hours, they want
five hours of that time. Anckaitis said
he agrees tae bo and basketball can’t share a gym because the tae bo classes
are too loud, but certainly basketball and wrestling could share a gym. Anckaitis distributed graphs outlining four different
options that showed the times the gym would be used by both the AA and the
community center. Mitchell said we have
more kids in the township entering the programs and we need to give them
activities to do and keep them off the street.
Young said they will use 4:15 p.m. slots all year and use Friday night
slots all year. Anckaitis said we will
be cutting off resident programs just when they are starting to take off and
get people into the center. Anckaitis
said he would hate to see the township abandon the ship on the way we all
agreed to run the center. Anckaitis said
the community center also refunded money to
Anckaitis said all the points have been
made and the Board needs to make a decision tonight. We’re holding off scheduling because of this
issue. Lammi said he agreed with
Mitchell that we have more kids to accommodate and he did not feel we will ever
break even on funding the center, but part of the mission was selling the place
as a community center. Lammi said we
need to be able to continue the township recreational programs for everyone in
the township that are funding the center through the taxes they pay. Lammi said
he does not feel that the staff should feel the primary goal is to bring in
money, and if a program needs to be cut that is fine. Smith said they already almost lost the
wrestling program and he takes the phone calls regarding all the problems. Smith said he participated in rolling mats
out every day and night. Smith said he
would like to see the wrestling program continue. Smith said he knows the township manager and
the community center director are doing a great job to fill the center with
activities, but if it means a program has to go to allow the youth to use the
facility, he is for it. Smith said we
need to utilize the schools as much as possible without costing us tax
dollars. Panella said she agrees but
from the first day the plans came in it was going to be a community center not
a youth center and it takes a compromise on both sides to make it work. There are other options besides having gym I
and II used all the time. Panella said
before there was a center you had basketball teams and they had other places to
practice. Panella
said she did not like other residents of the township becoming second class
because they are over 18. Those people
should have a place to go also; they are residents of this community. Panella said she wanted things for senior
citizens, active adults, as well as 20 to 30 year olds and 6 to 16 year
olds. It is a community and it is not
just made up of the perfect family with 2.5 kids. Panella said yes I am worried about gangs and
kids getting in trouble, but this is a community center and the Athletic
Association and the Recreation Board need to bend a little so grownups can play too.
Mitchell said he agrees with Panella to some extent but said before we
make a final decision he would recommend the committee get back together to
come up with a schedule before the next Board of Supervisors meeting next week. If they can’t make a decision this Board will
make a decision for them. Mitchell said
his decision is to go with the kids.
Lammi asked if they could ask the instructors and participants of the
other programs if they could change dates and times. Young said they could use gym II Monday
through Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.
Colver said hash this thing out and if we have to make a decision the
Board will make it next Tuesday night. After
further discussion all groups represented agreed to go with option I, giving
the Athletic Association gym II from 5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m., Monday through Thursday.
Anckaitis read minutes from the last Recreation
Board meeting regarding a statement made about purchasing wrestling mats. Anckaitis said it was initially agreed the Athletic
Association and the township would split the cost of new Resilite mats back when
the community center was being built. Anckaitis
said the community center recently received a grant from Senator Wonderling’s office for mats for a tumbling program. Anckaitis said the grant was specifically
written for the tumbling mats and it had to be spent on those mats. Anckaitis said another issue in the minutes was
the discussion regarding the time slots for basketball. Anckaitis said it stated they lost time slots
for basketball. Anckaitis said that is
not true. The Athletic Association gained
time slots because they are not giving the center the times they allowed them
to use on Tuesday and Thursday nights like they did last year. Young said the minutes are in draft form and haven’t
been adopted.
Nielsen said other townships that have
community centers give reports to their Recreation Board for review. The Board agreed to have the monthly report
that is given to the Board of Supervisors also sent to the Recreation Board
each month.
6. VILLAGES OF MILL
RACE, PHASE I, ALTERNATE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE
INFORMATION
The Board needs to approve/disapprove the alternate maintenance schedule.
DISCUSSION
Steve Goffredo was present for the
developer. Jensen said we did a
maintenance walk through two years ago regarding Phase I and things were held
up due to the detention pond. Jensen
said Steve Goffredo is asking for a maintenance inspection and release of
security from the Phase I maintenance account.
Jensen said they never got into maintenance because of the park,
flooding, and the detention pond. Jensen
said we had a meeting with the township solicitor and the developer’s
representatives and agreed to recommend putting the park into maintenance. Jensen said the township will still be
holding money for the park. Bruno said the
only things we will need are a revised security letter of credit and a signed
maintenance agreement. Lammi asked if
the park will then be turned over to the township. Jensen said when everything Chuck stated is completed
it will be turned over to the township.
On motion by Lammi, seconded by Smith, and
agreed by all, the Board approved the developers request to have all public
improvements accepted by the township and not be subject to a maintenance
period, with the exception of the open space recreation areas and the ecological
filter, which will be subject to a maintenance period.
7. 2002 BOND SERIES
CLOSE-OUT DISCUSSION
INFORMATION
The
township manager is recommending the Board approve signing the job arrangement
letter, contingent upon satisfactory review by the township solicitor, to hire
Mary Ann Esposito to complete a five year rebate report for the 2002 Bond
series.
DISCUSSION
Anckaitis said Mary Ann Esposito came
highly recommended by Gary Pulcini to complete this report.
On motion by Panella, seconded by Mitchell,
and agreed by all, the Board approved hiring Mary Ann Esposito to complete a
five-year rebate report for the 2002 Bond series. The motion was amended by Panella, seconded
by Mitchell, and agreed by all, to include: subject to satisfactory review by the
township solicitor.
8. PERSONNEL HANDBOOK
DISCUSSION
INFORMATION
The
township manager is recommending we contract the Davison Group to do the update
to our personnel handbook rather than having a committee of the solicitor,
manager, and two board members as originally proposed. If the Board agrees they need to approve the
proposal, subject to the solicitor’s approval, submitted by the Davison Group.
DISCUSSION
Anckaitis
said awhile back we discussed setting up a committee to update the
handbook. Anckaitis said he asked for two quotes from
our labor attorney and also from the Davison Group. Anckaitis said after seeing what the Davison
Group can do, he feels it would be worth hiring them to do the project. Anckaitis said we all know how hard it is to
coordinate schedules of everyone involved and it would most likely take a
committee over a year to complete the project.
Anckaitis said the Davison proposal states a price of approximately $6,500.
Colver
asked how soon before the Davison Group could start. Anckaitis said he thinks they could start as
soon as we give the go ahead. Colver
said he might bill us after the first of the year so we can put it in next
year’s budget. Anckaitis asked if they need
to bill this year - is the Board okay with taking the money out of the
operating reserve. The Board agreed that
was fine.
On motion by Lammi, seconded by Panella,
and agreed by all, the Board approved hiring The Davison Group to upgrade the
township personnel handbook as outlined in their proposal.
9. CONSTRUCTION BOARD
OF APPEALS DISCUSSION
INFORMATION
The
planning director is recommending the Board approve hiring Nick Noel as the
attorney to the Board of Appeals at the same rate he receives as the Zoning
Hearing Board attorney.
DISCUSSION
Jensen
said with the recent incident of calling the Board of Appeals together it was
agreed to try to better organize the board.
Jensen said it was decided there should be an attorney representing the board
to help them with guidance. Jensen said she
spoke with Attorney Noel today and he will check to make sure there is no conflict
of interest since he represents another board in the township. Jensen said he is interested as long as no
conflict exists.
On
motion by Smith, seconded by Panella, and agreed by all, the Board approved
hiring Nick Noel as the solicitor to the Board of Appeals at the same rate he
receives as the Zoning Hearing Board solicitor.
10. TOWNSHIP
ENGINEER CAPITAL PROJECTS UPDATE
INFORMATION
The township engineer will update the Board on the status of all
capital projects.
DISCUSSION
The township
engineer was absent. Tom Adams, Public
Services Director said work is progressing on the
11. PUBLIC COMMENT
Jeff Young said he talked to Barry Fulmer
and the 5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. time slot, Monday through Thursday, will work
for the Athletic Association. Young also
thanked the Board for Community Weekend and for allowing
12. REPORTS
Solicitor
·
Bruno had an extension agreement for Knobhill requesting
an extension until December 31, 2007 to complete public improvements. On motion by Mitchell, seconded by Panella,
and agreed by all, the Board authorized the Chairman to sign the agreement.
·
Bruno had an extension agreement for Parkview
Estates, Phase III, requesting an extension until December 31, 2007 until their
maintenance agreement needs to be in place.
On motion by Panella, seconded by Mitchell, and agreed by all, the Board
authorized the chairman to sign the agreement.
·
Bruno had an extension agreement for the Villages
of Mill Race, Phase II, requesting an extension until November 30, 2007 to
complete public improvements. On motion
by Mitchell, seconded by Panella, and agreed by all, the Board authorized the
Chairman to sign the agreement.
·
Bruno had an extension agreement for the
Villages of Mill Race, Phase II, requesting an extension until November 30,
2007 to complete public improvements. On
motion by Panella, seconded by Mitchell, and agreed by all, the Board
authorized the Chairman to sign the agreement.
·
Bruno said Starlite Estates is in a position to
enter into their maintenance period and he had proposed resolutions to accept the
detention basin, roads in the subdivision, and a resolution to enter into two storm
sewer easement agreements. On motion by
Smith, seconded by Mitchell, and agreed by all, the Board authorized the
Chairman to sign the resolution accepting the detention basin left of
·
Bruno said the Hay Terrace South developer has
not completed public improvements on the project. Bruno said the developer is requesting an
extension of time to enter into their maintenance agreement until December 31,
2007. Bruno noted the letter of credit for
the project goes until 2008 but there has been no cooperation in signing the extension
agreement. Bruno recommended a motion be
made to authorize the solicitor to make a demand on their letter of credit
unless the matter can be resolved with Mr. Strausser. Bruno also noted there is a letter that was generated
by the township engineer that notes the three areas that need attention. On motion by Mitchell, seconded by Panella,
and agreed by all, the Board authorized the solicitor to make a demand on the
letter of credit if the items can not be resolved.
·
Bruno had an extension request from the
·
Bruno had an extension request from the Crossroad
of Nazareth, LLC, for a 90-day extension.
On motion by Smith, seconded by Lammi, and agreed by all, the Board
approved the 90-day extension request.
·
Bruno had an extension request from Lazlo Custom
Kitchens requesting an extension until January 27, 2008 to enter into an agreement
with the township. On motion by Smith, seconded
by Lammi, and agreed by all, the Board authorized the Chairman to sign the extension
request.
·
Bruno had a resolution regarding the
·
Bruno had signed easement agreements from the
Eberts related to the Greenwood Avenue Project.
On motion by Lammi, seconded by Smith, and agreed by all, the Board
authorized the Chairman to sign the easement agreements.
·
Bruno said Arthur and Alla Merces
are very close to a resolution regarding their property related to the
·
Bruno said the
Manager
· Anckaitis reviewed a packet of guidelines that Dan Lichtenwalner put together for residents outlining fence and deck guidelines, and fence and wall guidelines. Anckaitis said Dan did a great job and they will be helpful to the residents. Lammi asked for a copy so they could be added to the township website.
· Anckaitis said on August 14th the township received the final distribution of the 2006 surplus of health insurance premiums in the amount of $865. Anckaitis said the total received for the 2006 surplus is $13,848.
· Anckaitis gave the annual Charitable Organization Registration Statement for the capital campaign for the community center to the Chairman for his signature.
· Anckaitis said he met with Tom Stitt yesterday regarding things the township was storing up against a fence at the public works facility. Anckaitis said he asked Stitt where we stand with this whole property issue. Anckaitis said while they were there a drill truck pulled in to drill a well that DEP required on the estate property. Anckaitis said it will be re-tested in 90 days and if both test results are a non-detect Stitt can file a close out report and then DEP will have to respond. Anckaitis said Stitt said it is possible that it could be resolved in six months if the test results are non-detect.
· Anckaitis said if you remember Craig Moyer worked for the Swarthmore Group, then the group dissolved and he went with National Penn Investor Trust Company. Anckaitis said Gary Pulcini always said we hired Craig, not the company he worked for. Anckaitis said Craig is now a partner with another group and if we want him to continue managing the little amount left in our fund we would need to write a letter to National Penn to relinquish the duties to Craig. On motion by Panella, seconded by Smith, and agreed by all, the Board approved moving the funds to Stone Ridge Investment Partners, LLC.
·
Anckaitis thanked everyone involved with
community weekend including Jeff Young. Anckaitis
said community weekend is certainly something this community can be proud of. It is a wonderful event.
Planning Director
· Jensen said Commerce Bank went before the Zoning Hearing Board regarding the need for a variance to not blast a stone wall for the parking area. Jensen said the Zoning Hearing Board granted the variance and she will handle the change to the final plan administratively.
· Jensen said Milford Street Self Storage was approved within the last year and within the last two weeks they called her and said they will not be able to swing a self storage on the property. Jensen said one of their alternatives was an adult apartment building. Jensen said she suggested that would not work since surrounding properties are industrial.
·
Jensen said Dave Woglom from the
·
Jensen asked for comments regarding the upcoming
Zoning Hearing Board agenda. Colver
noted the class of 2004 from
· Jensen had one litigation item for executive session.
Public Services Director
·
·
·
Police Chief
·
Fretz said Sue Siegfried participated in the
·
Fretz said
· Fretz said community weekend went very well. Fretz said there was not a lot of gang activity and it had a lot to do with the types of bands that were there. Colver said the main four or five officers that worked the weekend did a great job.
Supervisors
· Smith said he wanted to parallel off of everyone about community weekend. It was an unbelievable weekend.
· Lammi said the night of the fireworks a family from the Borough talked to him about what a nice event community weekend is. Lammi said after the evening ended the gentleman came over and thanked me for the township event.
·
Lammi said he attended a COG convention Saturday
in the Pocono’s and Fire Commissioner Ed Mann was there. Lammi said Mann indicated the grant program
was going live today and they increased the grant amount from $15,000 to $30,000.
· Colver said at the fire department meeting last night it was reported that the new truck has made its way to the local company and is expected in the township by the end of this week.
· Colver thanked everyone involved for community weekend. Colver recommended the township manager draft a letter to the fireworks company telling them how pleased we were with their people and the display. Colver said we all know people would like to have the fireworks every year, but that is to be discussed at another time. Colver said having fireworks every year is bigger than just the fireworks. It involves five other fire departments, additional police requirements, and additional work for the parks and public works departments.
· Colver has one personnel item for executive session.
On motion by Panella, seconded by Mitchell, and agreed by all, the meeting was adjourned at 9:55 p.m. with one litigation and one personnel item for executive session.
Respectfully submitted,
Robert G. Anckaitis
Township Manager