This is a report on the August 15, 2007 Laurel Mountain Borough Meeting. It is not the official minutes. The meeting opened on time. There was no public comment. Council members present were John, Monte, Joe, and Daneen. Secretary Taryn, solicitor Jeff and Laurel Mountain Park representative Sue were also present. Borough residents present were Craig, Sue, Adam, Amanda and Bertha. Minutes were amended. Joe moved they be accepted as amended and Daneen seconded the motion. They passed. In the absence of Mary Jane Joe presented the treasurer’s report. After 2/3 of the year almost 90% of the borough income is in. Expenses are down significantly, although we do have snow removal coming up. Taryn mentioned payment of a $2000 insurance bill to be approved. Joe noted that the police fee for the month is high due to an incident that was not coverable by routine patrol time. Joe moved to approve the payment of the borough bills. The motion was seconded by Daneen and passed unanimously. Joe also presented the police report in the absence of Mayor Jack G. Incidents investigated included an animal control, an alarm, an agency assist, a subpoena a speeding on State Road and one domestic request. There were 57 routine minutes plus an 156 minutes and eight hours in court for another incident. Daneen investigated the bids on removing a tree removed from the corner of Hemlock and Beechwood roads. She discovered the tree service offering the low bid doesn’t carry workman’s compensation insurance. Solicitor Jeff said if a worker is injured the borough could be seen as a statuary employer and a claim could be made against it. He suggested that the council choose the lowest responsible bidder. “I don’t think the risk warrants saving $50,” he said. Joe moved that the council authorize Daneen to work with Scott Matson after getting a copy of his insurance papers. The motion passed unanimously. Daneen reported Rob Kroneur hired Don Ankney to do the work on upgrading the ditch on White Oak Road. He will do it the way the department wants it done. He will begin soon. She was assured the work would be completed by the end of August. He needs to know where the water lines are before he starts working. He can get the gas line information. He’s been told not to stock pile the stone on the Herrholtz property, so he will stockpile the needed stone in the triangle area near the front gates. Daneen said she’d called the involved people about their replacing their driveway pipe, which they are responsible for. The grant will not pay for this. Daneen asked the two other members of the road committee, Monte and John, to make the calls for snowplowing estimates. She’s already talked with Berkey. Daneen also acquired five borough regulation books from Jess Stairs, one for each council member. Monte said he’d called Ligonier Township to see if the borough could get a truckload of stone to do miner repairs on the roads. He was told they don’t haul their stone themselves, they contract it out. A place in Somerset gives them the low bid. Monte will investigate having another individual haul this stone, to be stored by the park building, where Harold instructs it to be placed. Joe moved to authorized Monte to spend up to $125 to purchase the proper aggregate of stone to do miner road repairs. Daneen seconded the motion. Daneen cleaned out a ditch on Beechwood Road and another on Laurel Road. Jeff on Laurel road has picked up the task of cleaning the ditch and catch basin by his house, while Monte dug a trench for water drainage at the back entrance to the borough. Monte said he thinks there is a blocked culvert that crosses there. All our rains have been downpours that reek havoc with water drainage, he stated, and the garbage truck does more damage. We have to keep the stones out of the culverts. Daneen suggested we pick Kroneur’s brain for solutions to the drainage pipes. Daneen said her husband cut the weed growth by the back entrance pillars twice this summer to provide exit visibility. John said that last month the hemlock trees were viewed in the borough for the Adelges Tsugae bug (click on ADELGES TSUGAE INFESTS EASTERN HEMLOCK TREES for information). He said it was caught quickly so it’s not as widespread and not the crisis it could have been. He spent $1500 treating his affected trees. Daneen thanked John for recognizing the problem so quickly. Joe said council members met with a representative about the sewage treatment project. Nothing the rep said was binding, but he wouldn’t consider changing the word in one spot. The big news, from what the rep said, was that the sewage authority prefers gravity feed sewage systems over pump systems. It seems a lot of technology has evolved that allows the handling of difficult situations such as ours, and can handle it at a lower cost. Whether this holds for the next study Joe doesn’t know. Joe said a benefits assessment is not in our Rural Utility Service (RUS) grant project at this stage. Jeff said, to clarify, that whether or not a benefits assessment it done is up to the Ligonier group. One of the biggest thing is the project hasn’t been engineered yet. Daneen asked if the DEP can later say we have to do the sewage project on out own if we don’t participate. Jeff responded that its more of an educated guess that it’s unlikely the DEP will allow a system to be built around the borough and not include it. The (Ligonier) municipality is far more likely to get RUS funding buy involving multiple communities. Joe said the point is we met with him and he’s willing to adjust some things but not others. He wants to have reassurance that LMB will be treated like township residents. The rep assures us we will be but it’s from his mouth and not on paper. It’s far from finalized and we can work with him as time goes by. John said the homeowner is responsible for their tap into the sewage system. Jeff concurred that the property owner almost always goes out to property line. When Daneen noted what the project will cost each property owner is unknown, but it might be close to $10,000. Joe said by signing on we are granting the water authority the power the power to take private property. Jeff agreed there could be acquisitions of private property depending on how the construction goes. Jeff said the property owner will be compensated if he demanded it, but questioned to what extent. Joe said the key is that the owner will want property put back as close as can be reasonably expected. Daneen discussed a letter from Jess Stairs about a September 22 picnic at Ligonier Town Hall to learn about political doings. Joe said he had attended a meeting run by Regola and heard about equipment from state at reasonable prices, that they have other things that could be of interest to us. The key is on the stone---you can call the state purchasing department and ask if they have a contract with a local quarry. Fees are set on a per load basis rather than mileage, and its state approved. It’s an interesting proposition Sue presented a Laurel Mountain Park report. The pool hasn’t been open since August 9 because the pump has given out. There is currently a pump in the borough for pool use. The pool water is awful dirty. The truth is it’s not likely we will open this year. The good side is we don’t have to pay for the pump and we aren’t paying guards, but we do have an obligation to serve our members. We did get contributions from residents since our last meeting. Daneen said if the pool water clouds to the point we can’t see to bottom of the pool, it should be drained immediately because kids can’t be seen through the water. Kids climb fence. She said she’d rest easier when pump is in, that she’s terrified to have cloudy pool. Sue said the Park committee hasn’t met, but she anticipates the vote will be not to open this year but to anticipate opening safely next season. PUBLIC COMMENT AT END OF MEETING Sue indicated in a road report that the residents on Beechwood and White Oak roads were unavailable to discuss the ditch, but technically its not their ditch, but the borough’s because it’s listed on the borough map as a road. The meeting was adjourned at 8:22 p.m. | 
