Council Meeting

President Michael Birkner called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM with the following Councilors present: Mr. Jacob Schindel, Mr. John Butterfield, Mrs. Susan Naugle, Mr. Graham Weaver, Mr. Charles Teague and Mrs. Claire Lewis. Mayor William Troxell was present. Mrs. Becky Brown and Mr. Kyle Leinbach were absent. Staff present are as follows: Manager Florence Ford, Solicitor Richard Thrasher, Planning Director Scott Dellett, Public Works Director Dan Hilliard and Finance Director Ramona Overton. Borough Secretary Sara Stull was absent.

Others present included: Ms. Darlene Brown representing PICPI; Mr. Stan Clark, 915 Fairview Avenue; Mr. Steve Hemler; Mrs. Judie Butterfield 999 Sunset Ave.; Mr. Mr. Larry Reed; Mr. Roger Heyser; Mr. Wesley Heyser 226 N. Stratton St.; Mr. Ken Kime 300 Hanover Street; and Mr. Scot Pitzer, 59 York Street.

Representing the press was Mr. Jim Hale of the Gettysburg Times and Ms. Lillian Reed with the Evening Sun.

President Birkner announced an executive session of the Borough Council was conducted immediately prior to the adjournment of its regular meeting held on July 8, 2013 consistent with Sections 708(a)(1), 708(a)(2) and 708(a)(3) of the Sunshine Act for the following purposes: (1) to discuss matters involving the possible employment of a prospective employee of the Borough of Gettysburg; (2) to receive information related to the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement with the Teamsters Local No. 776; and (3) to receive information and to consider the possible purchase, sale or lease of real property of the Borough of Gettysburg.

There will be an executive session of the Borough Council conducted immediately prior to the adjournment of tonight's Borough Council Meeting consistent with the Sunshine Act to discuss personnel matters. 

Moved Mr. Teague, seconded Ms. Lewis to approve the agenda as presented. Motion approved unanimously.

Moved Mr. Butterfield, seconded Mr. Schindel to approve the minutes of July 8, 2013 as presented. Motion carried unanimously.

Special presentation:

Ken Kime, Roger Heyser and Wesley Heyser representing Gettysburg Fire Department - Possible Fire Tax. Ken Kime presented the Council with information outlining the services provided by Gettysburg Fire Department. Mr. Kime stated that the Fire Rating has improved due in large part to the level of service that Gettysburg Fire Department provides to the community. The Fire Department is meeting with area municipalities to ask the respective municipal leaders consider imposing a .25 mil Fire Tax. At the present time the Gettysburg Fire Department's General Fund totals $954,000 per year. Volunteer firefighters save the tax payers of the community a large sum because a professional fire fighting force is extremely expensive; often more expensive than police forces. The implementation of a .25 mil fire tax would help reduce the amount of times the volunteers do fundraisers such as feeds, carnivals, etc. At the present rate, the volunteers dedicate more time to fundraising than they do service provisions. The Council was receptive to the Gettysburg Fire Department and told them they will consider the implementation of a fire tax during their budget discussions this upcoming September to help support the dedicated volunteers of the Fire Department. 

Public Comment:

Steve Hemler asked about his Public Records Request and why he did not receive an answer yet. Solicitor Mr. Richard Thrasher responded that the Borough evoked the Thirty day clause in an attempt to gather the data Mr. Hemler requested and that there was still time left to get the request completed. 

Moved Mr. Schindel, seconded Ms. Lewis to approve all bills and payrolls for the month as presented. Motion carried unanimously. 

Moved Mr. Schindel, seconded by Ms. Lewis to authorize reimbursement of the $1000.00 permit application fee to Nancie Gudmestad due to the parade cancellation. 

Ms. Gudmestad stated to Council that the actual total permit fee was $1030.00. President Birkner then asked Mr. Schindel to revise his motion to reflect the total fee of $1030.00.

Moved by Mr. Schindel, seconded by Ms. Lewis to authorize reimbursement of the $1030.00 permit application fee to Nancie Gudmestad due to the parade cancellation. Motion carried unanimously.

Mr. Weaver asked about the motions on the agenda concerning the Pension Fund Transfers and why the agenda went out of sequence. Mr. Birkner replied that we will be discussing the transfers in the executive session and should Council move on those items it will do so after the executive session and before the adjournment. 

Mr. Butterfield introduced the next motion concerning the parade fees. The existing parade fee of a flat $1000 has not covered the costs of planning, administering and staffing for many of the parades. Chief Dougherty stated that many of the parades have been costing the Borough upwards of $1500 per parade and that we are not covering our costs. Ms. Darlene Brown asked about the upcoming Halloween Parade because they have already paid the fee for it. Ms. Ford explained the new fee will not go into effect until after it is adopted and all parade fees paid in advance are not required to pay the new fee. 

Moved Mr. Butterfield, seconded Mr. Schindel to amend Resolution No. 031411-1 designating the parade fees from being $1000.00 to a fee based on the hours worked for a special event; Special Event Ordinance No. 1389-11 enacted on March 14, 2011. Motion carried unanimously. 

Mr. Butterfield told the Council about the meeting with the Federal Highway engineers that took place on July 31st. He said there were some issues concerning the overhead utilities and asked Ms. Ford to explain it. Ms. Ford advised Council that the overhead utilities such as Met Ed and Century Link are not eligible for the 50% reimbursement for the movement of their poles. There are a total of 16 utility poles that need to be relocated. Ms. Ford explained that the Council has three choices as follows: pay the entire cost to relocate the poles along the proposed curb line at a cost of approximately $500,000, leave the poles where they are and basically have a 5' sidewalk on each side of poles and when funding becomes available, relocate the poles; or allow her and the Borough Engineer to apply for the Eastern Public Lands Access Grant. There is a match portion to the grant, however, we can use our current grant funding and apply that as the match. The Council concurred that Ms. Ford and Chad Clabaugh apply for the Access Grant. The second issue surrounded the certification of the 90% design which has to be signed off on by September 15th. Ms. Ford advised that if the Borough does not certify the plans, then the construction funding would be lost. She advised to move forward with the certification of the plans and should funding not become available for the utility pole relocation, then make the decision on what the BID and the Borough wishes to do prior to construction. 

Moved Mrs. Naugle, seconded by Graham Weaver a motion to approve and authorize the issuance of a Certificate of Appropriateness for Items A (141 South Stratton Street) and C (75 Springs Avenue), as set forth in the minutes of the July 17, 2013 meeting of the Historic Architectural Review Board ("HARB) consistent with the findings and recommendations of HARB set forth therein. Motion carried unanimously.

Moved Mrs. Naugle, seconded Mr. Butterfield to schedule the second of two public hearings for the Borough's 2013 Community Development Block Grant program at Council's Community Development Committee meeting at 6:45 p.m. on Monday, September 9, 2013 in Council Chambers. Motion carried unanimously.

Mrs. Lewis reminded the Council that the next College Community Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 25th at 5:00 PM.

Moved Mrs. Lewis, seconded Mrs. Naugle to reappoint Marion Ruff to the Code Enforcement Appeals Board for a five year term expiring in February 2018. Motion carried unanimously.

Moved Mr. Schindel, seconded by Ms. Naugle to appoint Gary Shaffer, Sarah Kipp, Judith Butterfield, Tammy Myers and David Rice to serve on the Comprehensive Plan Committee. Motion passed 6 aye votes with Mr. Butterfield abstaining. 

Moved Mr. Schindel, seconded Mrs. Lewis to accept the J.P. Harris Tax Exoneration report for tax years 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, and 2003. Motion carried unanimously.

Public Comment: Ms. Darlene Brown asked if the Borough will give parade applicants an estimate of the permit fees prior to issuing a permit. Ms. Ford responded that all applicants get an estimate of their costs before they are required to pay the permit fees. She suggested that Ms. Brown meet with the Chief during the planning of their parades and that Chief Dougherty will provide an estimate of the fee based on the applicant's submission of the parade permit application. 

Executive Session:

President Birkner announced that an Executive Session of the Borough Council will be conducted prior to the adjournment of the regular meeting consistent with Sections 708 (a)(2) and 708 (a)(3) of the Sunshine Act. The Executive Session began at 8:53 PM. The Council reconvened after the Executive Session at 10:20 PM.

Moved Mr. Schindel, seconded by Mr. Weaver to authorize the Borough Manager to solicit bids for a Consultant to review the 2012 budget and make recommendations regarding future practices and procedures. Motion carried unanimously. 

With no further business to come before council moved Mr. Schindel, seconded Mr. Butterfield to adjourn the meeting at 10:24 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Florence A. Ford, Borough Manager