The Bath Borough Council met Monday, March 10 to hear presentations from two individuals running for official county positions, provide committee reports and discuss various motions and resolutions.
First, candidates running for official county positions in the upcoming election introduced themselves to council and residents.
Running for Northampton County Court of Common Pleas judge, Robert Eyer is the county’s first assistant district attorney. During the 30 years he has practiced law, Eyer has handled criminal defense, civil, business, estate, municipal zoning and planning, divorce, child custody, juvenile delinquency and dependency matters, worked as a prosecutor and court administrator for thousands of asbestos cases and was named chief public defender in 2014.
“All of those things are all of the things that a judge needs to have experience with when that judge takes the bench, and I have spent the last 30 years of my career doing just that. … And if you look at the length and breadth of my career as a lawyer, it really shows a devotion and a commitment to public service,” Eyers stated.
Eyer currently resides in Allen Township and intends to cross-file on both Democrat and Republican tickets in the upcoming primary election on May 20.
Running for magistrate in Magisterial District 03-3-02 that encompasses Bushkill Township, Chapman Borough, Bath Borough, Wind Gap Borough, Stockertown and parts of Plainfield and Moore townships, Robert Kemmerer has been a lifelong Nazareth-area resident where he graduated from high school in 1997 before attending East Stroudsburg University and graduating with a degree in sociology/criminal justice in 2004. Living in Bushkill Township for almost his entire life, he currently resides there with his wife and daughter.
Kemmerer began working in Northampton County courts as a probation and parole officer, transferring to the DUI division in 2007 and then pre-trial services in 2018. Kemmerer also took over as pre-trial services department director in 2020, worked with Northampton County to create a risk assessment program to reintegrate low-level offenders back into the community safely and was chair of the Criminal Justice Advisory Board. In order to run for political office, Kemmerer resigned from his position on Feb. 14 but currently serves on the Bushkill Township Environmental Advisory Council and is a trustee for the Nazareth Moravian Church.
During reports, it was announced that the borough’s code enforcement line will now only include one line (484-861-7030) for residents to call, text and send photos, although complaints regarding local regulations such as parking, overgrown lawns, abandoned or unregistered vehicles, property maintenance and garbage can be submitted online through the borough website as well.
It was also announced that a fourth Public Works employee was hired, and residents were advised to not touch any of the dead turkey vultures that were recently spotted in the borough due to the recent spread of type A H5N1 avian influenza, also known as bird flu. If spotted, residents are encouraged to report them to the Pennsylvania Game Commission by calling 1-833-PGC-WILD (1-833-742-9453), by emailing pgc-wildlifehealth@pa.gov or by using the online Wildlife Health Survey tool.
Councilwoman Lauren Bullsnake then suggested council consider painting a red box around the intersection at the Center Street and South Walnut Street intersection where the fire department exits from, so that cars do not block the road or delay the fire department from their route when there is a fire or ambulance call. Council unanimously approved permission for the borough engineer to apply for a highway occupancy permit from PennDOT to move forward with the project.
Additionally, Bullsnake suggested that council revisit the idea of installing cameras at certain intersections due to traffic and pedestrian signals continuously being hit by vehicles since it is becoming very costly for the borough to keep fixing them.
In other news, council unanimously approved a resolution for the borough’s annual State of the Borough Address as an internal policy and adoption of the 2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan update.
Council also unanimously approved a SALDO application extension for 522 E. Northampton St. through July 31 for stormwater testing.
Next, council unanimously approved several motions, which included entering into an agreement with HERA Registration to manage the borough’s foreclosure properties; adopting a Commercial Driver’s License Training Policy that will allow borough employees to obtain their CDL at the borough’s expense if the training is included in the current budget, but will require reimbursement if the employees quit before a certain number of years; adopting the Office Administration Policy as an internal formality for office staff in regard to job descriptions; adopting amendments to the Public Works Shift Differential Policy; awarding the 2025 lawn care services bid to Strauser’s Nature Helpers for $27,837, which is a different contractor than the borough went with the last few years due to the requirement that they must choose the lowest responsible bidder; and authorization for the borough to move forward with an official borough map and slight updates to boundary errors of the official zoning map and official overlay district map. The official borough map will include property lot boundaries and existing roads and can be used as a tool for the borough to plan for the development of potential roads by identifying proposed future roads on the map. The map can also be used to show existing features such as basins, parks, railroads, easements, and more if council chooses to add them to the map.
Council also approved a motion to allow the borough manager to negotiate the purchase of real property belonging to Joseph Homay containing approximately 0.50 acres of vacant wooded land, located off of Creek Road, pending the outcome of a property appraisal and review of property documentation. The property was appraised at $1,000 and Homay countered the offer at $2,500. President Frank Hesch suggested offering Homay $2,000 for the property, but the rest of council agreed upon $1,500.
Upcoming events that were announced at the meeting included the fire department’s annual Easter egg hunt on Sunday, April 13 at Keystone Park; the Pa. State Police child safety seat check/install on Monday, May 19 from 2-8 p.m. in the borough’s municipal building parking lot; the 2025 community-wide yard sales at residences and businesses on Saturday, May 3 and Sept. 6 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (yard sale permit fee waived for these dates only and no sales are permitted in the parks); and Mayor Mirabito’s 2025 summer splash nights will be on Thursday June 5, July 10 and Aug. 7 from 6-7:30 p.m. at Firefighters Field, 300 N. Chestnut St.
The next Bath Borough Council meeting will be held on Monday, April 14 at 6 p.m. in Borough Hall, located at 121 S. Walnut St.
