TimesLeader.com

Factoryville fighting back at vandalism

Mauri Rapp Abington Journal Correspondent

With ongoing incidents of vandalism in the borough, Factoryville’s Borough Council has decided to get even tougher on crime. On May 13, the council discussed installing signs that prohibit loitering in the borough’s public parking lots, and Borough Solicitor Paul Litwin agreed to develop an ordinance to enforce it. Also, the borough will upgrade cameras at the public parking lot and Christy Mathewson Park at an estimated cost of approximately $6,000, and will request an increase of patrols to the area of Ray’s Supermarket on College Avenue by Overfield Township’s police department, which contracts with the borough for police coverage. Council agreed to seek grants to pay for the new cameras. The planned ordinance and enforcements came on the heels of reports of damaged cars and park equipment as well as graffiti and a recent break -in at Ray’s Supermarket.

Also on Wednesday, Litwin said he was in the process of drafting an ordinance that would require all landlords in the borough to provide an annual report of tenants renting from them in the borough. Litwin said the purpose of the report would be to allow the borough to enforce ordinances that limit the number of tenants living in certain dwellings as well as enable the borough to collect taxes that may be owed to them from tenants. The fine for not reporting a tenant to the borough will be $600. “It’s not going to come to that, though,” said Litwin, who added that landlords in violation of the ordinance would receive three letters informing them that they had not complied with the ordinance, plus a fourth notice informing the landlords that they will face fines if they do not comply.

In other business, Administrative Coordinator Liz Ratchford reported that the borough would seek money through stimulus funding from the Department of Environmental Protection for LED traffic lights. The traffic lights would replace existing lights along Routes 6 and 11 and, according to Ratchford, would be approximately 25 percent more efficient than the current lights. She said that a grant from DEP would require a 50 percent match from the borough, but that energy savings will pay for the borough’s match within a few years. Ratchford expects the LED lights to cost approximately $10,000. Also, the borough will seek grant funds to obtain a small hybrid dump truck.