December 17, 2018

December 17, 2018 Council Workshop Meeting
212 Unity Terrace
Rutledge, PA 19070

Meeting was called to order and Pledge of Allegiance recited at 7:08 pm.

Roll Call, present: Council President Heidi Sentivan, Vice-President Jody Roberts, Marie Govannicci, Ken Torres-Zickler, Samantha Newell, Christine Gradel, Lindsay Reed, Mayor Kevin Cunningham, Solicitor Christine Reuther, Administrator Barbarann Keffer

Public Comment: None

Minutes: November 19, 2018 minutes approved unanimously (SN/CG).

Trash & Recycling: 2019 Trash & Recycling holiday calendar will be in the next borough newsletter.

Communications: The “e-letter” will go out again this weekend with new formatting. The Communications Committee will meet in January on Thursday, January 14 and a possible newsletter will be out in February.

Parks & Activities: Swarthmore has been allowing JM to dump the leaves from the park. MG thanked Council for helping to set up the luminaries. Pick-up for luminaries will begin at 10 am on Christmas Eve; she also thanked the fire company which allowed use of their space for this project.

LR is finalizing movie night and is trying to do a different activity each month. The Snow Jam will be January 24 in the upper hall.

Planning: SN and the committee have been working on the shade tree ordinance and will sent the changes to Solicitor CR.

JR announced that the Planning Commission will be meeting the third Monday of the month (holidays permitting) because Council will be meeting the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month.

Public Safety: LR read the MRFC report (in binder). Santa will start to drive around Rutledge around 5 pm on Christmas Eve.

Two members of the MRFC who are Rutledge homeowners qualified for the Volunteer Firefighter Tax Credit.

Finance: Bills List (disbursements) approved unanimously (HS/KT-Z). The final budget is ready. JR gave special thanks to LS for her assistance.

Ordinance No. 2018-1 which sets the 2019 tax rate and the sewer and trash fees was approved unanimously by a roll call vote (HS/SN).
The 2017 Audit was completed. HS thanked LS and Paul for their work on it.

HS and CR met with people from Catania Engineering (CE) to sort out past billing situations and to update the permitting fee schedule. CR is working on a letter to close out the unresolved 2015-2017 bills. CE will formalize an agreement with Rutledge on permits, U&Os, apartment license inspections, etc.

Motion to approve a cap of $7000 for the unresolved Catania bills (KT-Z/SN), passed unanimously.

Motion to increase the U&O and apartment inspection fees to $100 (MG/KZ-T), passed unanimously.

Other sections of the fee schedule will be worked on in January.

Motion to approve to adopt the budgets for the General, Sewer and Gas Funds, Resolution 2018-12, passed unanimously (KT-Z/MG).

CR suggested that a motion should be made to amend Ordinance 2018-1 to include the new U&O and apartment inspection fees. Motion passed with a roll call vote, all in favor.

Streets: JM has a list of potholes and they continue to be a problem in a couple of areas. HS will reach out to Aqua about Swarthmore Avenue.

Sewers: Council requested that any resident interested in filling Rutledge’s appointment to the Central Delaware County Authority submit a resume. This request will be on the borough website soon.

Copies of the cancelled checks for Phase I & II were submitted to the state to close out the grant. There is a massive sinkhole on a property on Swarthmore Avenue, caused by a lateral.

There was discussion of an ordinance which would require a U&O prior to sale of a house as a way to detect broken laterals.

Building: There was discussion on the purchase of new round tables for the upper hall and long tables. The approximate cost is $3600. JR and LR questioned where the new tables could be stored. This discussion will be revisited in January.

Code upgrade items (remote thermostats, flagpole lights) were discussed.

Mayor: SPD Chief’s November report was read by Mayor Cunningham. MC also thanked the SPD, MRFC, the Silver Tongues and more groups for their help with the Tree Lighting Ceremony.

Tax Collector: Report read by HS.

Public Comment: none

Old Business: A formal agreement has not been written by Chambers Presbyterian. Motion to enter into a 1-year agreement with Chambers Presbyterian pursuant to their parking lot availability for borough hall rentals events; the Borough will assume responsibility for cleaning the sidewalk and parking lot subject to a satisfactory agreement. (Effective upon execution or the first snowstorm, whichever comes first, and the delivery of necessary insurance certificates). Motion carried unanimously (HS/MG).

New Business: Motion to adopt and to advertise the 2019 Council, Planning and Shade Tree Commission public meetings approved unanimously (SN/KT-Z).

Motion to approve the DCNR Budget Request Form (RD #24), passed unanimously (HS/MG)

Motion to Adjourn, 8:24 pm (HS/SN).


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