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January 4th

Re-Organization 

and

Regular 

​​​​​​​Meeting 

Re-Organization Meeting January 4, 2021
This Meeting was recorded for Accuracy

Meeting was opened by Solicitor Jeff Miller 6:30 PM

Present: Lewis McLaughlin, Ron Betts, Sue Bartow, Solicitor Jeff Miller, Keith StClair, Gladine McMaster & Mayor Tom Pickup came in late.


Absent: none


Public Attendance Zachary Burtop


All positions were set up thru the Solicitor. Summary of positions are as follows.
Position of Council President - Ron nominated Lewis McLaughlin, Gladine 2nd, all in favor motion passed.
Position of Vice President - Ron nominated Keith St Clair, 2nd by Gladine, All in favor motion passed.


Sue motions to appoint Zackary Burtop as Street Commissioner, 2nd by Gladine. Keith wants to keep Ron on as Street Commissioner and use Zack as Assistant Street Commissioner. Lou also is in favor of Assistant. Gladine asked Zack if he cared if he was Assistant. Discussion was considered – Keith opposed, Lou was opposed, Ron opposed, Gladine yes for Zack, and Yes for Sue. Motion failed.
Position of Street Commissioner Lou nominated Zackary Burtop as Assistant Street Commissioner, and nominated Ron Betts as street commissioner, Keith 2nd, Sue opposed motion passed.
Position of Asst.- Street Commissioner - Lou nominated Zackary Burtop, Keith, 2nd, motion passed.
2 position of Sewage Committee is up. Sue nominated Zack for a position on sewage board. Lou 2nd all in favor. 2nd seat Lou nominated Greg for position 2nd by Ron, Sue opposed, motion passed.
Position of Vacancy Board -Sue nominated Jeffery Miller, Lou 2nd, all in favor motion passed.
Position of EMS - Sue nominated BJ Brett, 2nd by Ron, All in favor Motion passed.
Position of Secretary/Treasurer - Patricia Betts, Sue motions, 2nd by Lewis already in position and will continue motion approved
Position of Solicitor - Jeffery Miller already in position and will continue Sue nominated and Gladine 2nd all in favor motion passed
FWF Insurance – Sue motions to keep Lou 2nds all in favor motion passed
Engineer – suggested to keep as is on a case by case basis
Bank - will continue S & T Bank. Sue motions to keep Ron 2nds all in favor motion passed
Position of Tax Collector Committee and Backup will remain the same, Jessica Betts and Patricia Betts,
Sue seems to think it is a conflict of interest. Jeffery said this is a tax collector committee which meets quarterly. It is not the same as a back- up tax collector. Gladine motions to accept, Lou 2nds. All in favor motion passed.
Auditor - Singer Accounting from Ligonier - we have a 3 year contract effective Jan 1 2020
Signatures on bank account. – Currently have Gladine and Sue on account. Should we put Lewis on the account since he is the president? Discussion was made on subject. Vote is to keep current signature people on account at this time.


Sunshine Notice needs to be approved for the upcoming year. Council reviewed and agreed to keep the 1st Thursday each month and the 2nd Thursday of each month as an alternative date if needed.
Jeffery closed re-organization at 7 Pm and turned over meeting to Lewis.
Re-Organization meeting is closed. 


Bolivar Borough
Regular Meeting
January 4 2021

This Meeting was recorded for Accuracy
Meeting was opened by Lewis McLaughlin , Council President at 7 PM.
Present: Lewis McLaughlin, Sue Bartow, Mayor Tom Pickup, Solicitor Jeff Miller, Ron Betts, Keith St.Clair and Gladine McMaster


Absent: None
Public Attendance: Zackary Burtop


Approval Dec regular meeting minutes. Motion to approve made by Sue 2nd by Keith. All in favor, motion carried.
Approval of Treasurer Report. Sue motions to accept, 2nd by Keith All in favor, motion carried.
Solicitors Report. Storm Water Management Ordinance has been completed and presented to Council for review prior to next month meeting and authorize for advertisement.


2nd item was to proceed with notice to home owners on the burnt house. Notices went out and he has received the signature cards back. Discussion was made on the property and the next steps to take to court for resolving situation. Date was given by the 15th of January then take further action.


Old Business
Garage door repairs
Have 3 bids 1. Thermadoor quote - $ 3,177.39
2. Ted Moreau Garage Doors $ 3,000.00
3. All Star Garage Door $1,750.00
4. Overhead Door Company from Johnstown $ 2,285.00

Discussion was made on each company. Motion made by Lewis 2nd by Ron to go with All Star Garage Doors. Pat to contact them and set up time frame. Discussion was also made to contact Thermadoor and pay them for what is owed to them for temporary fix of doors in the amount of $743.42. Motion made by Keith 2nd by Ron. All in favor motion passed.

Logging start update.
Pat received notice from Mr. Malloy. HMI to start hauling lumber. Permits have been issued by both the Borough and Fairfield TWP. Equipment is there now and road has been graveled. Pat also have photos of entire route of borough roads before they started.


2021 CDBG income survey update. Pat said per suggestion last month from Jeffery Pat sent out a letter and an income survey for each home owner along the route with a stamped self- addressed envelope to send directly to the engineer. Pat spoke to engineer and he received all income surveys but one from Mrs. Garland. He has reviewed them and forwarded all necessary paperwork to the county for approval.


Question on sale from the proceeds of sale of police car. Pat asked what to do with the proceeds of the sale. Sue said she would like to see the funds go into a sub account for future use on the salt bin if council decides to have one built. Discussion was made and agreed to make a sub account to put the funds.


Sue questioned if we could use Liquid Fuels funds to pay for the garage door. Pat said no we cannot use. The current building has electric and a door.


Jeffery called an executive meeting at 7:15 PM on real-estate purposes. Sue also added personnel issues to the executive meeting.


Meeting resumed 7:20 PM. No decision was made .


New Business:
Next meeting February 4 at 7 PM.


Transfer of funds to payroll. Pat requesting $15,000 to put into payroll from the budgeted wages of $37,852.15 Sue motioned to transfer and Keith 2nd, all in favor motion passed.

Transfer of funds to Parks. Motion to transfer Annual $2500 to parks was made by Gladine, Keith 2nd, all in favor motion passed. Keith asked what the funds were for. Jeffery explained the Parks Ordinance.


Approval of raises for employees start date.
Small discussion was made by Lou on start date. Sue motion to start raises now 2nd by Lou, all in favor motion passed. Mayor questioned the payroll funds. Pat explained payroll comes from Liquid fuels, General Acc for Borough worker, general fund from Secretary/Treasurer, and Tax Collector.
CD Rates. Pat said all the CD's will mature on January 14th and 15th.


Received several quotes from various banks and wanted to know how Council wanted to proceed. No bank has good CD rates at this time.

In First Bank - Minimum Balance for CD $500.
6 mo interest 0.003%
2 yr 0.005%
1 yr 0.004%
They do not have a no penalty fee account.
S & T Bank - $1,000 minimum balance penalty free after 5 days 0.020%
4 yr 0.030% Minimum $500
5 yr 0.040% Minimum $500
Somerset Trust
13 mo penalty free after 7 days minimum $5000 at 0.025%
Page 5 of 6
39 month 0.005% minimum$5000
First Commonwealth Bank minimum $500
60 mo at 0. 05%
12 month 0.10%
2 yr 0.15%
They do not have a penalty free account

Discussion was considered and decision was to combine all the CD's into 1 and try to get a better rate for penalty free CD from either Somerset or S & T Bank Sue motioned to combine the CD's Keith 2nd, all in favor motion passed. Pat to check with both banks to see what could be done.

Other business to discuss: Pat presented a letter from tax collector requested a refund of overpayment of taxes to Borough. She explained when she did the report last month she mistakenly used the county fee for the Borough which created the overpayment to Borough. The funds needs to go back into the tax collector account to cover the funds in the account. Documentation was presented to show what was done. Sue motioned to refund back to tax collector the amount of $29.59. Lou 2nds, all in favor motion passed.


Letter came from election bureau, we have 3 council members, mayor and tax collector positions are due this year. In order to stay in their positions you need to get onto the May ballot. You need to contact the election bureau to see how you would go about it since the courthouse is closed to the general public at this time due to Covid.


Sewage Report: Sue stated haven't had one yet.


Mayor report: Mayor said don't get Covid.


Street Commissioner Report. Ron reported truck put 202.5 miles on truck, used 66.5 gallon gas, zero turn 0 hrs and 0 gas. Greg changed the oil in the borough truck and also greased it. Mayor asked if the truck was safe for usage on the road. Ron said the truck just got inspected and passed after truck manifold was replaced.


The skidsteer also needs the other rim replaced. The tire came off the old rim and Greg had to try to get Sowers to temporary fix until a new rim could be purchased. Ron suggested to go with Midwest Equipment which was who the Borough used before for the other side rim for a cost of $95.81 which included shipping. Sue motions to pay Midwest Equipment for amount of $100 or under, Lou 2nd all in favor motion passed.


Sue brought up to council month council approved to get skidsteer repaired. At the time no figure was given for labor costs. Sue makes motion to retro check to pay Dylan for labor costs for skidsteer. Keith 2nds motion all in favor motion passed. Ron also mentioned that the heater for the glow plug for skidsteer was replaced.


Parks & Rec. - Pat said nothing upcoming at this time. We did not do the Santa event because of Covid.

Sue asked if anything else took place on the shotgun and AED machine. Pat said the gun is cleaned and back in the safe and Pat hasn't had time to take to BJ the unit to see if he could get us a replacement battery and pads from Excela Health.


Lou asked if anything else needed to be discussed. Ron motioned to adjourn meeting 2nd by Sue at 8 PM.


Respectfully,

Patricia Betts
Secretary/Treasurer