During their Monday, March 4 meeting, Nazareth Borough Council unanimously approved a resolution to commend and honor the Nazareth Blue Eagle Marching Band on their tremendous 2023 competition season and the five overall championships they have won.
Nazareth Blue Eagle Marching Band’s recent victory has left them undefeated since 2019 and they took first place in their division at the last four Cavalcade of Band Championships.
Mayor Lance E. Colondo presented the band and Band Director Matt Tanzos with citations that congratulated and honored them for their recent championships and terrific accomplishments at local, state and regional levels. Colondo also thanked the band members for continuing to bring pride to the borough and the district.
In other news, council unanimously approved the following public property motions relative to use of borough property: the request of the Nazareth Area Chamber of Commerce for the closure of Belvidere Street from Main Street to Broad Street on June 8 from 2 to 6 p.m. for their annual Food Truck Festival; closure of South Main Street from the Circle to Belvidere Street on July 27 for the Martin on Main event from noon to 7 p.m.; closure of South Main Street from Belvidere to Walnut Street on October 19 for the Fall Festival following the annual Halloween parade from 2 to 6 p.m.; the request of the SOAR Summer Camp for use of the park for six weeks from June 24 through August 2 with a daily rental fee of $125 for days when the camp is operational and not shut down by weather; use of the park on August 6 from 6 to 9 p.m. for the third annual National Night Out event; the request of Nazareth Area Youth Baseball for use of the park on April 27 and May 4 for team and player pictures; the request of the Childwatch Department of Nazareth YMCA for use of the park on March 29 for their annual Easter egg hunt; the request of Grace Bible Fellowship Church for use of the large pavilion at no cost on July 14 for mass and a picnic; the request of Action Karate to conduct a public Easter egg hunt on Saturday, March 23 at 3 p.m. at Bill Gold Field; use of the baseball field in the park by the Nazareth Stars Over 50 Baseball Team; the annual Rotary Club Cleanup Day in the park from 9 a.m. to noon on May 11; and a new one-year lease with Joy Supinsky and Steve Shiffert and their joint LLC for rental of the refreshment stand for the 2024 pool season with rent being $4,800 in total.
Under finance, council unanimously accepted Jeffrey Corpora’s resignation, a resolution approving the new Borough 2024 Handbook and a contract with Mette, Evans & Woodside to be the Borough’s representative as bond counsel in connection with the borough’s issuance of its General Obligation Note, series of 2024 to refinance the existing loan held by the Nazareth Regional Ambulance Corps.
Next, council unanimously approved the payments of application #1 and change order #1, 3, 4 and 5 in the amount of $128,129.85 for installation of the new firehouse floor.
Under law, council unanimously approved the following agenda items: an ordinance amending Chapter 15: Motor Vehicles, Part 4, General Parking Regulations, prohibiting parking on the north side of Walnut Street within a 22-foot setback west of Main Street and on the south side of Walnut Street within a 22-foot setback from the southeast corner east; advertisement of an ordinance that certifies vacating the portion of Park Street in the area that runs along the south side of the Kraemer building from Meadow Lane west to south Green Street; an increase of the degradation fee for street openings to $2,500 for streets that are one to four years old and to a new fee of $5,000 for streets that are less than a year old; and approval of the borough’s new fee schedule for 2024 to include the newly increased degradation fees.
Following, council unanimously approved the environmental steering agenda items, which included the appointment of Becky Bartlett to a one-year term on the Nazareth Borough Municipal Authority, the opening of the borough’s yard waste facility on March 19 and direction for the secretary to advertise the yard waste facility’s hours of operation, which will be noon to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays, with the facility being closed on Mondays and Fridays.
Next, under technology and economic development items, council unanimously approved the appointment of Robert E. Simpson to a five-year term on the Nazareth Day Commission and the appointment of Lisa Borick to the Nazareth Day Commission through December 31.
Under Public Works, council unanimously approved a resolution designating the borough signer(s) for the recently received Keystone Library Grant and a resolution certifying that the borough holds title to the library building at 295 E. Center St. with the deed dated June 13, 1966 and that the borough ensures the undisturbed use of the facility as a public library for 50 years or the useful life of the project to be funded by the grant, whichever is shorter.
Finally, under police, council unanimously approved advertisement for an ordinance that would conform to PennDOT regulations for stopping and standing in the school drop-off points near Shafer School and the Senior High School, a handicapped parking space on Mauch Chunk Street and to alter the projected rate of return on the Police Pension Plan from 7% to 6% upon recommendation from the borough actuary.
In other business, the police department had 303 total police activity/calls for service for the month of February, including 31 crimes reported and investigated, 14 criminal arrests, five drug-related crimes, six Part 1 offenses, 63 traffic citations issued, 70 warnings issued, three reportable accidents and 13 non-reportable accidents. Additionally, there were 214 parking enforcement officer violations issued, 186 officer issued violations and 400 parking tickets issued for the month.
Police Chief Randall Miller provided statistics that he was asked about at a previous meeting but did not have at that time. Miller presented that the 2023-2024 Lehigh Valley borough comparisons between one to two square miles in size revealed that Nazareth Borough has the highest call volume of all boroughs in their category, the highest number of calls per officer and the least officers per population, which has resulted in high amounts of overtime, increased wear-and-tear on supplies and vehicles and a shortage of manpower to effectively keep up with call volume and monitoring traffic.
In closing, Mayor Colondo announced the ribbon cutting ceremony for Baba Bakery at 49 W. Broad St. will be held on Saturday, March 9 at 3 p.m.
The next Nazareth Borough Council workshop meeting will be held on Thursday, March 28 at 6 p.m. and the regular monthly meeting will be held on Monday, April 1 at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers.
