Mayor gives go ahead on signal

BY STACI WILSON

A traffic signal maintenance agreement between Montrose borough and PennDOT was approved after Mayor John Wilson cast the tie-breaking vote.

Council members Craig Reimel and Randy Schuster voted in favor of signing the agreement.

Tom Lamont voted against the move and Sean Granahan abstained from the vote, bringing the matter to mayoral resolution.

Council president Todd Chamberlain was not present at the meeting and currently there are two, unfilled vacancies on borough council.

An earlier version of the maintenance agreement had been passed by council at the May meeting, but PennDOT sent a revised agreement to the borough.

The revision, according to council members’ discussion, added to the agreement Right-to-Know law and Americans with Disabilities Act information.

The traffic signal agreement is tied to the Route 706 Betterment Project. But the borough has not yet come to terms with PennDOT over the drainage agreement needed for the project to progress.

Granahan and solicitor Marion O’Malley said there are still questions about some of the wording in the proposed agreement.

Granahan said the borough wasn’t interested “in having the street department become de facto PennDOT employees.”

He explained that with the way the agreement is worded, if the state agency deemed there was work that needed to be done and it wasn’t done in PennDOT’s time frame the state could withhold liquid fuels money from the borough.

The council has been advised to submit questions about the agreement to the state but have not been given a direct contact number to speak with someone in the legal department regarding the pending agreements.

Council also discussed the upgrades necessary for the Montrose Municipal Authority. The authority is seeking about $10 million in funding to make those upgrades and the borough is part of the financing strategy.

Municipal Authority solicitor Patrick Dale was present at the meeting and also was part of a conference call with O’Malley, Granahan and the bond council for the project.

Granahan also reported that he met with Authority chair Pat Ely, the project grant writer and engineer who explained to him that the existing building cannot be retrofitted to meet the necessary upgrade criteria.

Granahan said the biggest sticking point for the borough was that the state expected the borough to withhold money from its budget in case the authority defaults on the loan.

More investigation into possible alternatives to having the borough liable for the full $10 million are being looked into by the bond council.

Daly told council the authority wanted to get the financing underway. “We are under the gun from the EPA,” he said.

Daly said that if financing does not require the borough guarantee, the municipal authority will move on its own.

Daly said that if the authority is to receive the 3.35 percent loan rate, the financing needs to be closed by the end of July.

The Kiwanis-Lions-Rotary Clubs were given permission to hold the annual July 4 festivities in the borough.

Upon a request from emergency services, council agreed to post “no parking” on both sides of Prospect St. during the Independence Day celebration.

Mayor Wilson reported he has received complaints about motorists making U-turns in the middle of Public Ave.

Police chief Dale Smith noted U-turns were only allowed on the top and bottom of the avenue and drivers should not cross the double yellow line to make a turn or park.

Council will not hold its regularly scheduled second meeting in June. The next meeting will be Tuesday, July 5 at 7 p.m. in the borough building on Cherry St.