Police presence credited for Great Bend’s calm Fourth

BY PAT FARNELLI

Great Bend Borough Council was pleased to report an orderly Fourth of July celebration at its meeting Thursday.

There were several fireworks displays and other observances, but all was calm by10:45 p.m., thanks in part to police presence, it was noted.

Joe Collins did a fireworks display on July 3 as well.

The next big event will be Great Bend Days, and a bucket brigade will be featured on Saturday, July 21 to support the fire company.

The Great Bend Police Department was busy over the past month, and hours were very high. All of the police radios will have to be reprogrammed by Aug. 15, said Councilman Jerry MacConnell.

JJ Lomax, Robert Bastek, and Thomas Sheehan were hired as police officers for $10 an hour.

New tires were purchased for the police car.

An $80,000 five-year loan was received from Peoples Neighborhood Bank at a rate of 2.75 percent. The loan is for the repairs to Washington, Church and Hayes streets.

The drainage work on Church Street is already completed.

Bids were opened for “Crack Seal” application, and the low bidder for all of the streets totaled together was Bother Construction of Binghamton, at $19,350.

Rather than budgeting to do all of the streets at once, MacConnell suggested doing half of the streets this year, and the rest next year. The council approved this motion, and the streets to be worked on will be chosen this week.

MacConnell said that the estimate for sealing all of the streets was less expensive than the last time it was put out for bids. “I truly believe it saves the streets themselves,” he said.

Catalogs were received for playground equipment.

Solicitor Frank O’Connor suggested contacting newspapers for a feature article to be written requesting donations or funding for better equipment. So far, most of the equipment advertisements seem to be either not what the council wants, or huge and expensive.

The present playground includes a broken slide that is no longer available from the company from which it was purchased. Borough secretary Sheila Guinan said that a replacement slide can be molded to order.

Kirk and Dave Hinkley of ProSeal were mentioned for the volunteer work they contributed for the playground. They noticed the shabby state of the play area, and donated “free grass” as well as painting lines.

A letter will be sent to ProSeal thanking them for their efforts on behalf of the borough.

There is still a problem with standing water on roads coming from Route I-81.

The borough’s 2010 approved budget report was sent to the Public Utility Commission for reimbursement of the impact fee collected under Act 13.

The Hallstead Great Bend Joint Sewer Authority submitted its monthly minutes and budget. Bret Jennings said that 25 percent of the bill in the budget is due from New Milford Borough, a customer of the Authority. Jennings said that enough changes have been made at the sewer authority to require new plans and permits to be submitted to the Susquehanna County Council of Governments.

A sample floodplain ordinance was received from the Department of Community and Economic Development that needs to be reviewed, corrected, and sent back to DCED for final review before the borough passes the final ordinance.

There was a complaint about a group which rented a park pavilion. Someone from the group drove through an area by the concession stand where a group of baseball players were standing. Guinan said that the rental agreement allows the lessee to unload and unload. It was suggested that the borough erect a “No vehicles past this point” sign for safety reasons.

A Birchard Road resident attended the meeting to complain about a neighbor with three foot high grass in the yard, garbage, and skunks. He provided council with photos for evidence.

Great Bend Borough Council meets the first Thursday of the month at7 p.m.