LEWIS RUN — Lewis Run Borough gathered for its monthly meeting Tuesday, March 14, and addressed many agenda items.
One resident, John Coder, asked Mayor Jason Campogiani if he was giving up the mayor position. Campogiani responded, “No, running for council, if I don’t win, staying here.”
Other public comments, prior to the regular meeting included clarification on paid council membership, a resident asked, “If a council member doesn’t show, do they still get paid?” And the response was that they do. The resident asked if that was state law, and received a response that it was, that a member could serve all four years, not show, and still get paid. However, certain exceptions were noted.
During the mayor’s report, many topics were discussed and the bid for the dugouts was accepted.
According to Campogiani, February’s meeting of the resident/council task force got together to discuss the $20,000 grant that was received for parks and recreation; however, the same night, the dugouts collapsed. The task force redirected their efforts and sent out for quotes to redo them. They received three back: Jim Siffrin at $21,915; Chapman at $11,980; and Mike Gleason at $19,542.
All voted in favor of Gleason after considerable discussion. Although it appeared that Chapman was the lowest bidder, that quote was for one dugout and would reuse the roof and not redo the floor; whereas both Siffrin and Gleason would be tackling both dugouts, new floors and new roofs. Gleason ended up the lowest bidder.
Other projects are on the wishlist and will be discussed further at the next task force meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m. One of which is for new scoreboards and how to fund them. Many options are on the table. At last check, the playground padding came in at $114,000 for poured rubber, which is too expensive for the borough, but there may be other options. And, Campogiani added a projector, laptop, and screen to the wishlist for meetings.
It was asked if the borough had any funding in the budget to assist with any of this. The response was not this year because of the bridge project. Until the borough knows in April whether they will receive multimodal funding, there won’t be any extra in the budget.
The borough received a letter from McKean County regarding the Act 13 Grant application stating they did not receive funding. The borough will apply again next year. A councilmember explained that the county only had so much money and they awarded it to a township that was working on a bridge. “We have to explain what money would be used for and there was a higher priority than ours,” he stated.
In other business matters, changes to garbage rates are now in effect in the borough. Rates have not changed since 2013 and notices of rates have not gone out to residents since 2021. Motion to charge for furniture and excessive garbage passed unanimously after Jenna Zewick explained that she checked around with other communities and, no, the borough can’t make changes once a budget has gone through. This means that more changes to the rates will occur in 2024. The information was posted on Facebook and placed in the post office. Residents must pay in advance at the Lewis Run Borough office prior to pick up, and confirmations of payment will be made before the refuse is retrieved. The rates are as follows:
Couches — $30.00
Recliners/Chairs — $20.00
Additional furniture (end tables, coffee tables) — $10.00
Mattresses — $10.00
Televisions up to 31” — $15.00
Televisions 32” and up — $20.00
White goods — $10.00
Electronics — $10.00
Limit 4 garbage bags, max. 20 lbs.
Additional bag charge — $2.00
An item that silenced the room, briefly, was establishing work sessions. Zewick stated that she spoke with Shelley and confirmed that council can have them, what they are for, and that the public would be allowed to attend.
There was pushback from at least one council member who stated, “This is a business here.” He went on to explain that the borough pays the secretary and this would possibly cause overtime.
Earlier in the meeting, the motion to accept the financial report from Haines & Company was rushed at the council meeting. The Council President Irv Swartz told members they were not going to get through it that night but they have to have the motion to accept. He was asked if it was going to be tabled and said no because it is due to DCED at the end of March. However, Haines & Company will up in May to go over it.
It was brought up that matters of this nature should be discussed in a work session. There was no time to read the report before accepting it.
Zewick sounded undeterred and explained when the work sessions were needed, “These meetings are rushed, we could sit down and take our time and discuss these items, like the ticketing we would have time to talk about it in front of the residents and then take care of business at the monthly meeting — budgets as well, we don’t do our own budgets.”
A long discussion about budgets commenced. The result was more understanding about the bigger picture, such as when the City of Bradford and Casella and others submit their budgets often after the borough does, which can cause issues in planning. Council members and department heads are encouraged to sit down with the secretary on all budget matters.
The Lewis Run Volunteer Fire Department reported eight calls for the month. They also put out a reminder of the Gun Show this weekend and the Vendor Show scheduled for next weekend.
A resident asked when the department would be replacing the American flag, “I have asked you for one for a long time. What if one of the men died?” Don Mason, chief, stated he would have one put up.
The next meeting will be held Tuesday, April 11 at 7 p.m.
