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Council halts parking on residential side of Bedford Street; tables Knox Box.
At the March 2 Clarks Summit Borough Council meeting, Junior Council member Shalimar Darling, second from left, was presented with EMA Institute certificates. Shown, from left, are Councilman Patrick Williams, Darling, Council president Gerrie Carey and Mayor Harry Kelly.
At the Feb. 22 Clarks Summit Borough Council meeting, Junior Council member Jon Johnson, center, was presented with EMA Institute certificates. Shown are, from left, Councilman Patrick Williams, Johnson and Council president Gerrie Carey
Abington journal/ T’Shaiya Stephenson
CLARKS SUMMIT – Council members voted to table one ordinance and agreed to accept another at the March 2 Clarks Summit Borough Council meeting.
Council voted six to zero to table a proposed Knox Box ordinance. The draft ordinance stated that, if passed, the ordinance would require the “… installation of a fire department -approved Knox Box at all commercial, institutional and industrial building as well as newly constructed or converted residential buildings with four or more apartment or dwelling units.”
Borough Manager Virginia Kehoe described a Knox Box as a device that would be installed and hooked up to a Communications Center. “If there is a fire or an emergency in that building, the fire company, or the ambulance or the police could call the Comm. Center, the Comm. Center could release the latch on it and inside would be a key to all the units so you could get in without breaking down doors or windows.”
Kehoe said that all actions involving Knox Boxes would be monitored by the Communications Center.
Council President Gerrie Carey was the first council member to propose tabling the ordinance. “… We had a lot of pros and a lot of cons. I think that there’s an awful lot of information out there that we’re not aware of. If council is comfortable, I will recommend that maybe we table it…”
Council member Herman Johnson agreed. “ …I’m glad to hear it is being tabled, but I think it should be probably turned over to the Safety Committee. And I think the Safety Committee should get with the business people and the Fire Chief too, and sit down and hash this out. And then come back with a recommendation to the rest of council. And then maybe we can vote on this and put it to rest one way or the other.
Clarks Summit Borough Police Chief Lou Vitale pointed out one drawback of the Knox Box. “… Suppose the fire company opens up this business and they see contraband. Somebody may say because you’ve enacted an ordinance, you’ve now forced me to open my building up and it would be an illegal search if something is found. That’s one thing to look at.”
Approved at the Wednesday meeting was an ordinance to begin a parking ban on one side of Bedford Street. The ban features no street parking on the residential side of the street, and no parking from the corner of West Grove Street to 20 feet past the fire hydrant.
According to Carey, residents of Bedford Street submitted a petition about the parking situation asking for the ban.
Following up a discussion from the Feb. 22 council meeting, members discussed the issuing of burn permits by the Borough Office, rather than the Fire Department. The current burn permit ordinance states that the fire chief or his designee has to approve a burn permit.
Kehoe made a suggestion that the Clarks Summit Fire Chief, Jake Hoinowski, establish Lori Harris the designee. Harris is the Code Enforcement Officer, according to Kehoe.
Borough Solicitor Pat Rogan said he would like to review the burn permit ordinance as it currently stands to see what can be done.
A borough ordinance put into effect three years ago stated that every three years the board must evaluate the provider of the police pension. The manager of the pension plan is ASCO Financial and the administrator is AFG Pension, according to Kehoe.
Johnson said council members are not suggesting the pension plan run is incorrectly or that they are seeking another plan manager. “We’re not saying the present company is doing a good job or bad job. It’s just we want to see what’s out there.”
Council member Kathy Drake said the current provider is doing well. Johnson suggested that a committee be formed to handle the evaluations. Council member Jim Burke will chair; Johnson and Drake will be on the committee.
Also at the meeting, it was voted that Kehoe could release the Act 537 Sewage Facility plan for public view. The drafted plan is approximately 862 pages, according to Kehoe. The public is allowed to view the draft at the borough building or when the electronic version is loaded onto the Clarks Summit Borough Website, www.clarkssummitboro.org/.
Council will meet March 29 at 7 p.m.