MINUTES

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS LOWER ALLEN TOWNSHIP

REGULAR MEETING JUNE 12, 2023

The following were in ATTENDANCE:

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS	TOWNSHIP STAFF
Dean W. Villone, President	Thomas G. Vernau Jr., Township Manager
H. Edward Black, Vice President	Erin Trone, Assistant Township Manager
Joshua Nagy	David Holl, Director of Public Safety
Jennifer Caron	Rebecca Davis, Public Works Director
Charles Brown	Richard Grove, Finance Director
	Steven Miner, Township Solicitor
	Nathaniel Sterling, Administrative Secretary
	Julie Echterling, Recording Secretary

President Villone called the June 12, 2023 Regular Meeting of the Board of Commissioners to order at 6:00 pm.  He followed with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.  He announced that Proof of Publication was available for review.

MEETING MINUTES
Commissioner BROWN made a motion to approve the minutes from the May 22, 2023 Regular Meeting of the Board of Commissioners.  Vice President BLACK seconded the motion.  Motion carried 5-0.

PRESENTATION:  Promotion of Alex Milletics to Corporal
Director Holl spoke of the Corporal promotion process.  He noted that five Officers were on the list and Officer Milletics was the number one candidate after the testing and interviews.  District Justice Delozier swore in Officer Alex Milletics to Corporal.  The Board congratulated him and thanked him for his service.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION:
There were no requests from the audience.

CONSENT AGENDA
President Villone advised that any Commissioner, staff member, or anyone in attendance could request any item on the Consent Agenda be removed for further discussion and asked if there was such request.   Commissioner Nagy asked that the item for the payment to Solar Renewable Energy, LLC be taken off the Consent Agenda so that any discussions could take place.

President Villone elected to act on the Solar Renewable Energy, LLC invoice first. He asked if there were any questions or discussion about this item.  Commissioner Nagy indicated that, due to the size of the payment, he thought it appropriate to act on that issue separately.  Commissioner NAGY made a motion to approve a payment of $500,000 to Solar Renewable Energy, LLC for initial payment on solar panel arrays.  Commissioner BROWN seconded the motion.  Motion carried 5-0.

Commissioner BROWN moved to approve the remaining Consent Agenda item, the Check Register of June 3, 2022, in the amount of $700,245.94.

Commissioner CARON seconded the motion.  Motion carried 5-0.

PRESIDENT VILLONE
Manual Check List
Commissioner NAGY made a motion to approve a Manual Check for payment in the amount of $425.00 to Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott.  Vice President BLACK seconded the motion.  Motion carried 4-0-1.  Commissioner Caron abstained as she is employed by Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott.

Public Safety Officer (PSO) Robert Griffin-Probationary to Regular Status
Director Holl discussed the hiring and satisfactory probational period for PSO Robert Griffin.  He successfully completed his probationary period on May 28, 2023.

Commissioner NAGY  made a motion to move PSO Robert Griffin from probationary status to regular full-time status, effective May 28, 2023.  Commissioner BROWN seconded the motion.  Motion carried 5-0.

ANY BUSINESS PERTINENT TO THE TOWNSHIP
Ms. Cathy Leppo, VFW Post 7530, provided a handout to the Board for the Banner Program.  The Banner Program displays current and past military members’ pictures on poles throughout the community.  Mr. Paul Shover, veteran with VFW Post 7530 spoke about other municipalities that participate in this program.  The Board thanked them for their service and for bringing it to them.  Solicitor Miner asked how they are getting around the penalty associated with posting things on utility poles. Ms. Leppo stated she called PPL and they gave her permission.   President Villone asked staff and the Solicitor to work together and advise the Board on how they can participate in this program.  Vice President Black noted he is a member of the VFW and asked if that would create any issues and President Villone indicated it would not.

Mr. Joe Swartz, 1706 Letchworth Road, stated he likes the Banner program and thought they could reach out to the neighborhood organizations who could help with the placement of the banners.  He spoke about the upcoming meeting for the Library and how they would be talking about how to implement the pickup/drop off program with the Township for library books.  He thanked Mr. Sterling for providing firefighter recruitment posters which he placed in the Library.  President Villone noted that many residents probably don’t realize they can use the library as it is not in the Township.  Mr. Swartz noted there is a lot of competition for people’s attention and they will be discussing that during their June meeting.  The Board thanked him for his service as the liaison to the Library for the Township.

FINANCE DIRECTOR
Issuing RFP(s) for Pension Investment and Custodial Services
Mr. Grove spoke about the Township pension services provided by Huntington National bank, which was acquired by OneDigital in April.  Starting on July 1, 2023 our services will transfer to OneDigital.  He spoke of his concerns with OneDigital in relation to Act 44, which requires a specific RFP process to be followed for pension services.  He stated that Huntington refused to provide a legal opinion stating that this transfer doesn’t violate Act 44.  The Pension Committee recommended that an RFP be issued for these services.  Solicitor Miner agreed with the need for a legal notice and going out for the RFP.  Discussion ensued.

Commissioner CARON made a motion to advertise the legal notice to move forward with the Act 44 RFP process.  Commissioner BROWN seconded the motion.  Motion carried 5-0.

COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Security Reduction -SLD 2021-10 – Lark Meadows
Mrs. Trone indicated an inspection was completed in May of the Lark Meadows sitework and a reduction in security was recommended.

Commissioner NAGY made a motion to approve Financial Security Reduction No. 2 request for SLD 2021-10 Lark Meadows for a new amount of $142,839.46 and a new expiration date of June 12, 2024.  Commissioner BROWN seconded the motion.  Motion carried 5-0.

LD-2023-03 Interstate Towing- 1120 St. Johns Road
Mrs. Trone showed the location of the proposed expansion on the map.  She stated they are putting in a new garage.  Mr. Mike Wade, Interstate, spoke about the need for the garage for storing items inside versus outside.  The expansion would be a 70×80 garage.  He stated they are asking for four waivers with their plan.  Mrs. Trone noted that the Planning Commission recommended approval.

Commissioner BROWN made a motion to approve a waiver from Section 192-57.C.8, requiring curb to be provided along the road frontage.  Commissioner NAGY seconded the motion.  Motion carried 5-0.

Commissioner BROWN made a motion to approve a waiver from Section 192-57.C.P, requiring a sidewalk to be provided along the road frontage.  Commissioner NAGY seconded the motion.  Motion carried 5-0.

Commissioner BROWN made a motion to approve a waiver from Section 192-57.B2.h.2 and 192-57.C.13.c.1 requiring additional right-of-way and cartway be provided along the frontage of St. Johns Road.  Commissioner NAGY seconded the motion.  Motion carried 5-0.

Commissioner BROWN made a motion to approve a waiver from Section 192-58.C requiring street trees be provided along the frontage of St. Johns Road.  Commissioner NAGY seconded the motion.  Motion carried 5-0.

Commissioner BROWN made a motion to approve LD-2023-03 Interstate Towing- 1120 St. Johns Road with the following conditions:  All certificates be completed (192-37) and a signed and sealed cost estimate, financial security, and Financial Security Agreement are provided.  Commissioner CARON seconded the motion.  Motion carried 5-0.

Critical Errors and Conflicting Street Addresses in the Next Gen 911 GIS System
Mrs. Trone discussed the process of Cumberland County migrating to a new GIS system called Next Generation (Gen) 911.  The county identified common critical errors that the new system can’t accept, including mobile home parks with the same address.  She stated to fix this problem, each mobile home will need a separate address and not just a lot number.  She provided a list of three in the Township and the proposed new names for the streets and each home.  She noted that the Board will need to approve this as an ordinance because of the address changes.  They will notify the residents by letter.

Commissioner Caron asked if there could be a public outreach/meeting to provide this information to the public.  The Board spoke of the possible confusion for residents and reaching out sooner versus later.  Director Holl spoke about this coming from PEMA and how this will increase the ability of emergency services to find addresses and respond.  Mrs. Trone will draft the letter and have it come from the Board, Director Holl, and the Township Manager.  Mr. Vernau noted that the County should be at the public meeting.

PUBLIC SAFETY
Promotion of Laurie Nissel to Police Records Supervisor
Director Holl spoke of Linda McCool’s retirement and the need to replace her position.  Mrs. Laurie Nissel has expressed interest in the position.  He is recommending the promotion of Mrs. Nissel prior to Mrs. McCool’s departure for a seamless transition.  In addition, they will need to replace Mrs. Nissel’s position of Full-time Police Records Specialist.  He spoke about the competitive market rates and increasing the starting salaries of both positions.  He noted the Police budget has enough in it to cover this addition.  Mr. Vernau noted that these positions and salary will be in a resolution form for the Board to approve at the next public meeting.

MANAGER
Survey of Capital Region COG members on non-uniformed defined benefit pension benefit calculation period
Mr. Vernau spoke about the lookback period for the Township, which is the highest five out of the last 10 years and how they only count full years worked.  He did a survey as requested by the Board and out of the 40 COG members, 13 responded.  Of those 13, three no longer have these plans, two are like the Township’s, one uses the last three years, and six use the last 36 months and one other uses a 60-month lookback.  He noted that changing the Township’s lookback would be an additional $28,000 annual contribution, which is a 4% increase.  President Villone spoke of the advantage of spreading the retirements throughout the year versus at the beginning of the new year.  In addition, he noted that the Pension Committee sent this recommendation to the Board.  Mr. Vernau spoke of the options of reducing the lookback period based on the COG survey.  He noted that advertising for Ordinance 2023-03 can be on the next agenda to advertise the ordinance.

COMMISSIONERS REPORTS
Director Davis congratulated Mrs. Barbara Arnold for obtaining a grant from American Water.  She spoke about the work being done at the LA Community Park and the great improvements.

Mr. Vernau spoke about the West Shore School District book mobile that will be here on June 22^nd and at Fun Fort in July.  He noted that both he and Mrs. Trone would be on vacation at the next meeting.  President Villone asked Director Davis to fill in for them at the next meeting.

Commissioner Nagy spoke about the CCP25 Radio project which is in the final stages.

Commissioner Brown thanked VFW for being here tonight.  He spoke of the LA Community Park and how great it looks in addition to the public safety issues which were addressed with the trimming of the trees.

Vice President Black thanked Public Works for their work on the park.

President Villone thanked everyone for a great meeting.  He congratulated Mrs. Arnold on the grant and agrees with the improvements to the park.  He spoke about the storm last week and the great job Public Works and Public Safety did with the trees down and getting roads opened.  He appreciates that they are ready to be called out anytime to service the residents of the Township.  He congratulated Corporal Milletics on his promotion and noted what a great mentor Captain Crone is for his officers.

ADJOURNMENT OF MEETING
The Regular Meeting of the Board of Commissioners adjourned at 7:31 pm.