Public Address to Council:
Marta Driscoll from CHNA brought up two upcoming clean-up events happening in Chester Heights at the end of the month and asked the council to share the information on their Facebook page.
First is the Valleybrook Road Clean-up scheduled for March 28th from 9am-12pm and the second, is the CRC Creek clean-up happening on April 4th.
Also announced was the Rachel Kohl Library 40th Anniversary Dinner taking place on March 25th at Il Granaio.
Marta also raised the issue of the budget discrepancy of 2.2% between what can legally be collected and what is included in the budget as Real Estate Revenue. President Baum instructed her to forward his question in writing to the Finance Chair, Steve Cocozza who was absent from tonight's meeting.
FUN FACT the total current assessed value for Chester Heights is $215,720,129. Our borough tax rate is .85 mills. The total budgeted real estate tax should be $183,362 but it's $187,452 per published budgets. Therefore the 2.2% discrepancy.
Reports (not in order given):
Add'l Comments:
Councilwoman Clarke is staying on top of our development issued and she noted that a school board member reported that from the 44 homes occupied in the Brookfield development there were 24 new students for the Garnet Valley School District. That's a 55% student rate. Based on this rate if the Powell Property were permitted to build the 52 house development would yield closer to 28 new students, not 15 as predicted.
Councilwoman Lim asked to test the park soil fo lead. This was tabled until the next meeting to evaluate if other components of the soil should also be tested.
Councilwoman Lim stated there was some confusion with the commitment the borough made to fund the recycling at the Post Office. She's in contact with Opdenaker and is sorting through the details.
Councilman Frisker reported that The Emergency Management Coordinator is updating our emergency plan and to be reviewed by the council.
Road Ways:
Councilwoman Clarke reported that her contact at PennDot stated that Llewelyn Road is scheduled for "sectional mechanized repairs" in late May 2020 and inquired about the stormwater culverts at 296 Llewelyn Rd and if they should be addressed before the road is paved. The borough engineer agreed that the property will need to be reviewed for drainage prior to PennDot beginning road work.
Borough Engineer requested approval to award a contract for the removal of 5 trees on Heather Lane ($3400 contract awarded to TreeGuys) which will be completed in about 3 weeks. After this work is completed, the Borough will seek bids to complete the repairs to the water storm sewer system on Heather Lane since he anticipates the work will exceed the current bid thresholds.
Borough engineer asked the council to consider Ivy Rd. for the repair of potholes that have been reported. Here is the 2016 Schedule for road repair showing Ivy Lane to be addressed in 2020.
A No U-turn Sign is in stock and will be placed at the Stoneybank Rt. 1 Intersection.
Village of Valleybrook PECO/AQUA to begin water main work on March 11th. The length of the project is unknown.
Work along Smithbridge Road was also reported. This will include an entry into the High School, Walking Trail which you can preview on March 10th at Concord Township from 7:15PM - 8:30pm, and let's not forget the NEW Roundabout at Smithbridge road and Kirk Rd. Detours will be posted to other sate roads, but you can imagine the mess as they close this down for 6 weeks in the summer of 2021. We will share more info when we get it (or you can join our group and share what you know).
Finance Committee:
The Chair was not at the meeting and the report was given by Laura Lim.
2020 Workers Comp and General Liability Insurance Policy - Policies were approved for renewal at $8762 for WC and $7098 for GL. The WC renewal was being backdated as the borough missed the renewal deadline of 2/9/2020.
2019 DCED Financial Report and Annual Audit - The Audit was submitted and the council had agreed to post it on their website for easy access.
During Comments, Councilwoman Clarke noted that she had been contacted by the County Council about uncollected liquid fuels revenue. The borough engineer confirmed and will address the issue by requesting the funding for next year.
Mayor’s Event Committee:
Easter Egg Hunt - April 5th, 12pm-2pm **Rain or shine**
Arbor Day Event - April 24th - A White Dogwood Tree will be planted to honor Mayor Stacey Smith. The tree and the labor will be donated by Scott's Landscaping
Recycling event, Movie Night and a Fall event to kick of 75 years as a Borough (that's right we are 75 years old this year) are in the planning stages. Dates will be provided as they become available.
Council went into a super-secret Executive Session/Related to Real Estate. Just kidding this is normal for Real Estate matters.
Next Work Session – March 23, 2020•
Next Regular Council Meeting – April 6, 2020