Susquehanna pays off building debt

BY STACI WILSON

Susquehanna Borough paid off its portion of the municipal building – making the borough debt-free.
Council approved the nearly $15,500 expenditure at the Wednesday, Aug. 13 meeting.

The borough owns 51 percent of the building; the other 49 percent is owned by the county library with the Susquehanna branch operating from the premises.

Remaining debt service payments coming into the borough will be allocated to replace equipment in the Department of Public Works.

With the debt service payment approved, council also approved changes to its general fund – increasing amounts allocated to some line items while decreasing other areas.

In addition to the debt service budgeted expense, council also increased allocated amounts for heating costs, building repairs, and police.

Decreases to the budget were made to code violation fines, real estate debt and transfer taxes, as well as telephone, car repair and street lighting expenses.

There were also some changes to council at the meeting.

Mayor Nancy Hurley administered the oath of office to Kaylin Lindquist, who was then seated on the council.

Lindquist was appointed at a council meeting held June 18 to fill the seat vacated by Jamie Koziol at the end of the June 11 meeting.

Council had received two letters of interest for the seat. In addition to Lindqust, former borough councilman David Scales also expressed interest.

At the August meeting, another vacancy on council was created with the resignation of Roberta Reddon from her council seat.

Although she was not present at the meeting, Councilman Roy Williams offered his thanks to Reddon for her many years of service with the borough.

Reddon had been serving as council president until the June 11 meeting when council reorganized its borough officers – electing Councilman Joe Varsik as president.

DPW
Williams once again reminded residents to not mow lawn clippings into the street. The clippings cause damage to drainage – an area the DPW has concentrated improvement efforts.

“It creates more work than necessary with the drainage,” Williams said.

Despite his reminders and warnings, Williams said the clippings remain a problem and the borough will start imposing penalties for the violations.

At the July meeting, borough resident Dan Wolfe spoke about the difficulty of disposing yard waste in the town.

Wolfe returned in August with his ideas to remedy the problem.

Williams discussed the possibility of establishing a plot of land in the borough for disposing clippings and clean yard waste for mulch. The idea of setting up an area in the future for community gardens was also discussed.

Williams also reported that East Church Street was ready for milling; and both Second and Third avenues were expected to be ready for paving by Friday (Aug. 15).

Pennsylvania American Water Company will also be replacing a main line from Franklin and heading west on Main Street. That work is expected to begin after Labor Day, Williams noted.

The ongoing bridge project on Main Street is now scheduled to be completed by early October.

Police
Mayor Hurley reported that there were 59 incidents reported in the borough in the past month.

She also extended the borough’s sympathy to the family of Thomas Golka. Golka had once served as the police chief in Susquehanna.

Executive session
An executive session that lasted for over an hour was held to discuss legal and personnel matters, as well as the establishment of a borough Facebook page.

Although legal and personnel matters are purposes for a closed session under Pennsylvania’s Open Meeting Law – the establishment of an online social media page is not provided for in the language of the state’s Sunshine Law.

Demolition
Following the executive session, council approved for a curbside appraisal of 351 Prospect St. and also approved to advertise for the demolition of the property, as well as a separate quote for the demolition of the property at 207 Euclid Ave.