The Nazareth Borough Council met Wednesday, July 5 to discuss various requests and borough reports.
During public comment, resident Becky Butz provided council with a statement regarding her representation of the Helping Hands beautification committee in the borough. Butz expressed that in previous years, Helping Hands has planted the flowers in the urns around the borough and at Borough Hall, while the Public Works Department keeps up with their watering maintenance.
However, when Butz stopped by Borough Hall on Friday, June 30 to add flags to the flowers for the parade, she noticed that the Helping Hands signs were hidden out of sight behind the shrubbery, which she said has also happened in the past. Therefore, Butz announced that the committee will only be taking care of the flowers in the 24 urns around the borough moving forward.
In other business, under public property, council unanimously approved the following motions: use of the Essroc Fields Soccer Complex by Nazareth Youth Soccer for the fall season; use of the amphitheater on various Monday and Friday evenings through November by the Nazareth Soccer Club for conditioning and training; “all day” free meter parking in the downtown area on Friday, July 14 and Saturday, July 15 for Sidewalk Sales, the Nazareth Block Party and Nazareth Day events; to provide a letter of acknowledgement to Vigilance Hose Fire Co. No. 1 recognizing their selling of beer and alcoholic beverages at the Borough Block Party downtown on Friday, July 14; the request of Carol Eisenhart for use of the bandstand in the park for a concert by “The Really Terrible Orchestra” on Saturday, August 12 from 7 to 8 p.m.; and the request of the Nazareth Moravian Church for use of the small pavilion on Sunday, August 27 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for their Rally Day Worship Service and Picnic.
Council also unanimously granted permission for Adam Wyatt to proceed with his Eagle Scout project, which will allow the placement of a memorial station near the flagpole at Council Chambers. The memorial station will provide an internet link to recorded interviews conducted with war veterans from Nazareth with interviews logged and accessible through a link to the Library of Congress. Wyatt’s project will begin after planned upgrades to Council Chambers are completed and council provides final approval for the scope of the work, the precise location on the grounds of Council Chambers and the actual type of memorial station to be used.
Under law, council unanimously approved a motion to advertise for an ordinance change that will reduce parameters for long-term parking on borough streets. Currently, vehicles may park for five days without moving and the ordinance change will reduce the time for parking without moving to 72 hours or three days.
Under environmental steering and lighting, council unanimously approved the hiring of Rapid Tree Service to trim 46 trees in the business district for a total cost of $4,600 and to take down three trees on Hickory Street for a total cost of $5,950.
Council also unanimously approved direction for the engineer to prepare the bid specifications and to properly advertise for Borough Refuse Removal. Bids will be returnable by August 31 and will be opened during the September workshop meeting. Bids will be for three years of refuse removal services with options for an additional one- or two-year contract extension.
Next, Councilwoman Laureen Pellegrino presented the fire chief reports for the months of April and May. In April, Vigilance Hose responded to 21 calls in the borough for nine fire alarms, three gas leaks, two tree problems, two wire problems, one motor vehicle accident, one burn complaint, one odor investigation, one high occupancy structure fire and one traffic control, as well as seven mutual aid calls for two motor vehicle accidents, one dwelling fire, one structure fire, one commercial structure fire, one move up assignment and one fire alarm. For April, Vigilance Hose spent 223 hours on calls, 211 hours on training, 130 hours on administrative duties and eight hours on fundraising for a total of 744 volunteer hours.
In May, Vigilance Hose responded to 19 calls in the borough for seven fire alarms, three motor vehicle accidents, two dwelling fires, two gas leaks, two wire problems, one odor investigation, one brush fire and one tree down, as well as six mutual aid calls for two motor vehicle accidents, two fire alarms, one dwelling fire and one move up assignment. For the month of May, Vigilance Hose spent 146 hours on calls, 175 hours on training, 109 hours on community service and 62 hours on administrative duties for a combined total of 492 volunteer hours.
Last, Mayor Lance Colondo provided the monthly police report for June and the fees collected for May since June’s fee collection totals were not yet available. During the month of June, the police department had 345 total police activity/calls for service with 26 crimes reported and investigated, 18 criminal arrests, six drug-related crimes, two Part 1 offenses, 136 traffic citations issued, 69 warnings issued, four reportable traffic accidents and 10 non-reportable traffic accidents. Parking Enforcement had 248 parking enforcement officer violations, 68 officer issued violations and 316 total parking tickets issued for the month. For the month of May, the borough collected $16,469.17 for fees, fines, permits, rentals, tickets and receipts.
Nazareth Borough Council will have a workshop meeting on Thursday, August 3 at 6 p.m. and the next regular monthly meeting will be held on Monday, August 7 at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers.
