Council Meeting Minutes 2024.08.19

RUTLEDGE BOROUGH COUNCIL AGENDA

August 19, 2024

7:30 PM Council Meeting

Pledge of Allegiance

Roll Call Jody Roberts Excused, Sue Hunt, Heidi Sentivan, Ken Torres-Zickler Excused, Andrea Juarez, Sean Sheehan, Vaughn Johnson, Mayor Gamal Sherif, Solicitor Carl Ewald Excused, Borough Secretary Janet DiIorio.

Approval of Agenda

Heidi motion, Andrea second.

Public Comment:

None

Tax Collector’s Report:

None

Discount period for school taxes end August 31^st. School taxes were sent out twice, be sure to pay the correct (second, gold).

Per Capita Tax is not paid by mortgage and residents must pay this independently.

Mayor’s Report:

Swarthmore Police Department – monthly report -July 13, 2024 thru August 16, 2024.Entire report in shared folder
- Officers continuing to complete details locally on Swarthmore, Linden, and Morton to create strong impression of police presence and drive down speeding.
- Additional focus of failure to stop within the Rutledge Borough.

Approval of Minutes:

2024.08.05 Meeting Minutes
- No Corrections. Motion Sean, Second Heidi. Vaugh abstain.

Activities:

Next Activities Meeting 8/28/2024 @ 7:30PM in Lower Borough Hall
Borough Wide Yard Sale Saturday 9/7/2024
Volunteers needed for Fourth of July 2025 to manage Parade and Judging
Borough Happy Hour, Date to be finalized but targeting Friday, 9/13/24
- Suggested to move as it coincides with SHHS Football
Activity Donations still being accepted, these fund local events such as Tree Lighting, Spring Celebration, most of 4^th of July, Luminaries, Happy Hours, etc.

Parks & Property:

Zoning Hearing Board: Monday, 9/9/2024 at 7:30.
- Advertised once with second advertising this week. Solicitor and Court Reporter will be present. Letters will be sent to residents based on proximity to the zoning request.
Phase 3 Gather Space: Pricing Set and expected back to Borough by the end of month. Depending on results, we will move to bid phase.
Phase 2 DCNR Review: Need additional mulch and mulch raking for this to be approved.
Additional mulch needed for playground. Janet will order mulch and have maintenance spread it at Triangle playground

Personnel:

Public Safety:

Sewer:

Streets:

Building:

Vote: Publish revised public version of the Building Committee Request form to the Borough Website.
- Sean Motion, Andrea second. All approved.
Vote: Approval of request from MRFC to use Triangle Park on 9/14/2024
- Andrea motion, Heidi second. All approved.
Vote: Approval of request from Building Committee to use Lower Hall on 9/23/2024
- Vaugh motion, Sean second. All approved.
Information Sharing: Next Steps for Borough Hall Project. September 23^rd session will be an open meeting to discuss the results of the survey and design thinking session and continue the conversation about our potential future uses for borough hall. This session will showcase some of those visions.
Information Sharing: Preliminary phases of reviewing Property Maintenance Code formalizing inspections. Rutledge is currently on the 2018 property maintenance code and there is an updated version available that will be reviewed as part of this process.

Communications:

Final Reminder: Any news for physical newsletter must be to Communications Committee by EoW (8-23-24)

Finance:

Action: Approval of Bills and Distribution

Heidi Motion, Vaugh Second. All approved.

Ordinance:

Discussion: Additional support needed to gather documents for Digital Code Hosting efforts

· Roughly 20 years of ordinances, etc. needs to be sent to our digital code host. Seeking support to review ordinance drawers as well as all meeting minutes.

Trash & Recycling:

Next Yard Waste September 6th
Vote: Approve Recycle Right eWaste Collection on Sunday 9/8/2024, 9AM-12PM (partnering with Swarthmore Borough).
- Andrea motion, Vaughn second. All approved.
Discussion: PRC Traveling Glass Bin – split with Swarthmore
- Looking at a three (3) month partnership with Swarthmore, housing the six (6) ton collection site in Swarthmore
- $75 per haul for each municipality (Swarthmore and Rutledge evenly split). It is possible to limit the number of hauls.
- 904 grant split is open to discussion, evenly or proportionate to residents.
Discussion: RFPs for Sanitation & Recycling
- Recommended to add language for co-mingling of trash with proportionate billing from solid waste authority. Benefit as our borough does not fill a truck which increases costs for haulers.
- Recommended to notify all Delaware County haulers that the bid is open once it is open.
- Notable additions: increased fee for incomplete service, additional language for missed recycling, additional months for yard waste.
- Recommended that we are permitted to request audits from time to time in regards to operational data and tonnage.
- Reports/Billing: Does “necessary reports” cover that we can request operational data?
- Day of the week will not be specified, but keep “each week on Monday, unless otherwise negotiated” for trash.
- Updates will be made based on discussion and planned for vote to advertise in next business meeting.

Borough Commissions:

Shade Tree
Planning Commission
Discuss: Progress communication for Comprehensive Plan and LCAP
- Planning matrix to support as communication tool for how we are working toward Comp Plan and LCAP goals.

Public Comment:

Old Business/New Business:

1. New Business: Borough Office will be closed next week for summer vacation. Immediate assistance can still email. Permits will be collected from Catania for the week.

2. New Business: Permits must be paid in cash or check and change has been difficult to provide. Request to consider small petty cash fund.

3. New Business: Janitorial work has been completed in upper and lower halls but office work is postponed until paperwork can be properly filed. Nothing can be destroyed or shredded until a vote approves the action.

4. Old Business: Upper Hall floor resurfaces bids continue and another strip and resurfacing quote will take place soon.

Adjournment

Sean motion, Heidi second.