YOE
BOROUGH PG. 1
The
regular monthly meeting of Yoe Borough Council was held on April 2, 2013
at the Yoe Borough
Municipal Building 150 North Maple Street ,
Yoe , PA.
order at 7:03PM by Council
President Sam Snyder followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Council members in attendance:
Sam Snyder
Seth Noll
Tom Allar
Barry Myers(arriving at 7:34PM)
Wendy Coble Tyson
Regan Strausbaugh(arriving at
7:04PM)
Others in attendance:
Randy Stambaugh,Dallastown
Cougars
Sandy Sterner,
Secretary-Treasurer
Dana Shearer,Maintenance
Supervisor
Steve Malesker,Engineer
Seth Springer, Sitting in for
Borough Solicitor Charles Rausch
John Sanford, Mayor
Minutes
Councilman Snyder asked if
everyone had an opportunity to look at the minutes from the prior meeting. Any
additions or corrections? A
motion was made by Councilman Noll to accept the meeting minutes of March
5, 2013. The minutes were
seconded by Councilman Allar. All in favor.
Councilman Snyder said let the
record reflect that there is a
quorum here, at the time the meeting opened. And we just make note if when
additional council members come
in.
Visitors
Councilman Snyder asked if any
visitors would like to be recognized?
Randy Stambaugh from Dallastown
Cougar Baseball. I am here to talk about the ball field. Things that
we would like to work on with
Yoe’s cooperation to upgrades and maintenance. Basically what we’d
like, the Cougar Organization I’m
here to represent, we were talking to Dana about doing some
maintenance up here. We would
like trim some of your trees down, Dana had mentioned something about
from the left field side to
centerfield outside the fence. Take those downs. I am also tied into Old
Timers,
I can get a lot of volunteers,
come down to help. Dana said he can help us shut the down the roads to
get those trees down and get them
out of there. They have caused problems with damaging the fence. So
we would like to see if we could
take care of that. We were talking about doing it around April 20th.
Visitors(cont.) Page
2
We also talked to Dana and Seth
too, we’d like try to get water on this field. Get water on this field,
to keep the dirt from blowing
down and improve the quality of the field. We talked to Dana about
trying to hook into the meter
right off the right field foul line. I am working on trying to get a volunteer
to try to help us dig that and
donations to donate time and money. So we could get water. The issue
is how do we deal with the water
as far as who will pay for it. Would Yoe be willing use the water on
the field etc? Mr. Shearer said
that’s the meter pit for this building. Mr. Stambaugh said with that,
we would like to get a shed up
here this year if possible, we would like to put the shed on a cement
slab and run the water close to
the right field, first base. At least first base so we can water the
field quickly. So, we could store
equipment, maybe a small lawn tractor. We want to repair the fences
as they stand now, especially the
back stop. The bottom is all tore up. We are going to get someone in
to wire it up this year. We got a
price for just the back stop is $9000.00, to replace the fence all around the
field is about $21,000.00. That
is a capital improvement, I think we should go back and talk about.
Ways that we can do it in cooperation with Yoe Borough, to try to get it taken care of. We had some
Ways that we can do it in cooperation with Yoe Borough, to try to get it taken care of. We had some
capital money issues in our
budget, we were unable to replace the back stop this year. We are going
to fix it up so its safe. The
Cougar organization is doing repairs to the backstop and fencing, whatever
we need to do, we will help. The
only I ask, when I was talking to Dana about the trees, he said
he would be able to get a chipper
from Red Lion, I’ll haul away all the big stuff. If you could just
chip that stuff up. If Yoe is
willing to do that, I’ll provide the manpower to do that. The bigger issue
is the water, and I can come back
at a later date to talk about it. We can lock it up. Put a shed on the
foundation. Councilman Noll said
are you talking about one of the frost free that goes down and has
a handle that latches? Mr.
Stambaugh said yes. That is kind of what we are hoping to do. We would
like to cut the lip down between
the infield and outfield. We would also like to talk to Seth. We have
a couple of Scouts that
interested in doing work at the Yoe Ball Field. The playground equipment
and maybe a little roof over the
stands. Talk about it. We really want to take down the trees. The big
thing is the fence. We would like
to talk to you on a later date, to see how you feel. Councilman
Strausbaugh said there are trees
back there to be taken down, but there are a lot of American Holly.
Mr. Stambaugh said we are only
doing it from the left field foul pole towards center field. Mr.
Shearer said like I said before,
if I can save them I will but my goal here, for $20,000.00, that
fence is shot and it is major
safety hazard. Every time one of those locusts come down it increases
the damage. And I’m all for
trees, but we have to do something. If we allow them to play on that field,
we are responsible for making
sure that those kids don’t become hung up on that fence. So. If the
tree can stay it will, if its
going to impede my fence, its gone. Mr. Stambaugh said if we are going
to put $20,000.00 into a fence,
we don’t want a tree falling on the fence. That was our big issue.
Councilman Noll said I think I
would recommend that council take down the trees, the only question
I would have, do we all feel
comfortable with the insurance coverage between the two groups since
they are providing that type of
labor, if everyone is covered. Do we have a sufficient certificate of
insurance? The secretary said I’d
have to check on that. Councilman Noll said does that cover
the people doing the work if they
are injured. The secretary said it states Dallastown Cougars on it.
Mr. Stambaugh said I’d have to
check on that. I just talked about it a week or two ago, you can take
those down. Mayor Sanford said we
ask that Yoe Borough be named additional insured so it covers both parties.
Councilman Noll said it’s a great
project, but our fiduciary responsibility has us asking those types of
questions.
Mr. Stambaugh said I understand
that, I just need to know what you need me to do. The secretary said
the first thing I need, from Pat,
is the signed letter back, that I sent over a month ago, that I haven’t gotten
back yet. Second I need you to
check to see when your new insurance comes due, I think its right before
Visitors(cont.) Page
3
that April 20th date,
I need that in hand definitely before, we need to be named as additionally
insured on
that liability insurance
certificate. Mr. Stambaugh said okay. Councilman Noll said as far as the rest
of it,
my opinion, if they want to put
the water line in, put the labor and material into it, just let us know. Mr.
Stambaugh said about the
permitting, what happens. The secretary said Dana would have to contact the
water authority. Mr. Malesker
said or go to the water authority meeting next Wednesday. If there is
anything installed its going to
have to be inspected. Mr. Stambaugh said we just didn’t know, with all this.
Mr. Malesker said as long as you
contact Joe, if there is something modified, so they know, as an as built,
if there ever is a leak. Mr.
Shearer said that would be on our side of the meter. Mr. Stambaugh said we need
to know. Councilman Snyder said
my only concern about the meter, because I know its going to require
permitting, you say you have a
lot of volunteers that are willing to put it in, its going to have to go into
code, depending on where it’s at,
it may have to go down five to six foot. To get your actual angle.
Now you are talking back hoes
maybe. Mr. Stambaugh said that is what we are going to bring in, I have
a friend to bring in the back
hoe. We will do what we need to do. Councilman Noll said if Dana is willing
to work with you to take care of
that. Mr. Shearer said this is something, that we’ve talked about before.
Their problem is two fold, the
slope of the field, when it rains hard, it floods towards home plate and
towards the third base dugout.
And it washes their material away, or when it gets dry the wind blows it
away because there is nothing to
stop it. There has been several times when we’ve had dry weather, when they
contacted the fire company to
bring the fire truck to try to water it down. Mr. Malesker said something
like that, its going to get
credits for MS 4. You are conserving the soil. Mr. Shearer said and they go
through
at least one truck load of
diamond tec every year. Its specialized infield dirt. Councilman Snyder said
when
you are talking about watering
that, do you have any idea of how often, or how much. Mr. Stambaugh
said in a dry time, it would
probably be watered every day. The dirt of infield, it blows away. Just enough
to wet it down, hose it down.
Helps it mat down. If its raining, or rained recently, we won’t have to water
it.
Councilman Snyder said the only
thing I’m concerned about, this is an unknown factor as far as how much
water is going to cost, and we
don’t have it budgeted for. What I was wondering is, say you have it installed
and its going this year, we don’t
say too much about it. And we see that we used $10,000.00 worth of water.
If we come back next year and say
we have to put a restriction on this, we can’t afford $10,000.00 a year.
What would your thoughts be, if
we came in an said we can only allow you to water once or week or something
like that. Mr. Stambaugh said
some water is better than none. What we’re trying to do, is have fund raiser,
maybe we can get donations and
have a fund raiser. How far we take it, how much it costs, and all that stuff.
That is unknown, I don’t know how
much that line is going to cost or the materials. We have to figure out
where we want it. If we place a
shed on the concrete, if we put the water beside the shed, at least that is
close enough to get water to the
field. I was kind of first, we want to run the water right down to the first
base dugout. If we can put a shed
there, and run it to the shed, that kind of eliminates the cost of some pipe.
If the trees are down in left
field. We are going to put up some temporary fencing. I have volunteers that
would love to level out the field
a little bit but you would need to shut the field down for about eight months.
We updated the dug outs last year.
We really need to fix the fence. Cut down the trees, block the road
and get the chipper. Get the
trees down. Councilman Strausbaugh asked if the kids want to play ball, how
many thousands of dollars we
would need to spend? Councilman Noll asked us, Yoe Borough? They
are providing almost everything,
the chipper is borrowed. Not much. I look at it, its technically ours,
and are we allow them to do it,
or are we going to spend a lot of money to do it. Councilman Strausbaugh
said you are looking at a ball
game, how many thousands of dollars are you going to spend for
a game to play there. They can
play anywhere. Mr. Stambaugh said we have the York Area Rec League
on Sundays. Said if we did
capital improvements, we would have some sort of agreement that we have
Visitors(cont.) Page
4
exclusive rights to the field.
Mr. Shearer said with the discussions we’ve had, they should have some sort of
long term commitment from us.
Instead of the year to year renewal. That if we can give them something
long range, especially if we are
going to rely on them for a lot of the capital improvements to go into fixing
that fence. We only talking about
trees from the left foul pole up Yoe
Drive
any of the trees that are on the
neighbor’s property. A lot of those are in just as bad of shape or worse and go
out there and walk that fence,
see how much damage there is to that fence. That fence is not that far off of
the
property. We talk about a new
fence being a little further in towards the foul line. We’re still going to
have
issues with fencing out there.
Put in the new fence, I can see somewhere along the line have a claim to
the neighbor. Councilman
Strausbaugh asked is fence necessary? Mr. Shearer said it probably wouldn’t be,
but then their down there in the
neighbor’s wood patch, picking out balls. How many times has there been
complaints about people on their
property? Councilman Strausbaugh said $21,000.00 for fence to play a game?
Councilman Noll said but if
they’re going to pay for it. Mr. Stambaugh said that’s pretty much it. Work
with
Dana. Councilman Noll said when
you have everything together on the water line issue, come back and see
us then. A motion was made by
Councilman Noll to allow Cougars to take down the trees providing the
use agreement is back by that
date, and all the insurance is in place with Yoe Borough named as additional
insured. The motion was seconded
by Councilman Strausbaugh. All in favor. Councilman Snyder said
motion carried, very good. Mr.
Stambaugh said thank you very much.
Solicitor’s Report
Attorney Springer said a few
emails sent to Councilmen Snyder and Springer.
Attorney Springer said recap it,
I talked to Mike Danko at the Army Corps of Engineers, around 3PM this
afternoon. He said 2/3’s of the way
done drafting the letter and it expects it done and upstairs by the end
of the day tomorrow.
Unfortunately that is a week after I had hoped it would have been done. Its
being
done. But that’s the status of
it, that’s where the conservation easement is. We got the landowner’s
agreement to Jake Romig, I passed
that around. No comments then that’s ready to go. Steve Hovis and
I should be working on the second
inter municipal agreement. I want to have that done by the end of
the week. We can’t start the project
until we have that authorization letter from the Army Corps of Engineers.
Now I did speak with AARC, they
told me, they are looking at finishing up the York Township
the project this week. So we are
really cutting it close. So that is the status of the Millcreek Wetland
Mitigation project. When I met
with Steve Hovis, about setting up the escrow account. York Township
has this about getting this
escrow agreement in place. We’ve run into a problem with PA DEP, any
sort of escrow account we set up
and the billing to the escrow account, has to reference Yoe Borough. It has
to be sufficient so that Yoe can
get reimbursement through the grant that they have been awarded. Now included
in the email that I sent earlier,
was Attorney Tubbs and Jineen Boyle from Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection. I have
them in the loop and Steve Hovis and I are going to knock out the escrow
agreement, incorporate the second
inter municipal agreement and after we have the structures set shoot it
back up with DEP, this is what we
are looking at in writing, is it sufficient as to allow Yoe get reimbursement
through the grant program. If I
get a yes, that’s done. Hopefully by the time that gets down, I’m confident
that the conservation easement
and the authorization letter from Army Corps of Engineers that will be in
our possession. Then we can
proceed with the project. Councilman Allar asked if they have to stop
work to work on the wetlands is
that going to add cost to the project? Attorney Springer said oh yea,
if they have demobilize and
remobilize, they said that was never anticipated. Councilman Allar said that
Solicitor’s Report(cont.) Page
5
comes from the contractor then. I
knew Danko was not going to allow this, back in October I talked
to three attorneys then,
fortunately you are getting it done. But I needed to get an answer, I don’t
know
why it took seven months to get
it done. Attorney Springer said I can’t answer that, there were things
hung up on other sides. But
anyways, the discussion that I have had with Mr. Danko, seem positive.
The conservation easement that
I’ve already submitted to him, looks good. He’s already sent it upstairs,
they’ve already giving the
approval. All the changes have been made. Now they are knocking out
this authorization letter. It
looks like everything is going to progress through. Now can he call me
tomorrow and say, everything is
falling through, yeah sure. And I wouldn’t know that at this point,
but I have to trust, and I have
to believe that he is representing himself truthfully and that this will
be upstairs by the end of the day
tomorrow, this authorization letter. I assume with the conversations
that I’ve had with him, that he’s
talked to the guys upstairs about this project and they’re going read
over, maybe make a couple
suggestions for changes or will be good as is, and then we’ll get it.
Councilman Allar said as you know
the government doesn’t move very quickly. Attorney Springer
said I talk to him a few weeks
ago, it was I have this really big project, I’m going to try to get this
thing done by last week. Then
this really big project, which millions of dollars, doesn’t make any
difference to me, he said that
came in front of us, he wasn’t able to work on the authorization letter.
Then there was another project,
emergency that came up. In any case, I’ve been talking to him, pretty
much once very few day. My last
conversation was today and he said he was two thirds the way done,
he is working on it, almost done
it. He said I tell you it will upstairs by the end of the day tomorrow.
Councilman Allar said the cost
per the original contract, covered by the two grants, we haven’t allocating
more? Attorney Springer said Jake
Romig said that was bid, it was bid as one whole project, they
wasn’t to be any change orders.
So that said, I talked to Steve Hovis, well, they were never contemplating
remobilization. Councilman Snyder
said Seth Springer did a good job in trying to coordinate this,
get everybody on the same page,
and get a daisy chain going, all these emails, so everybody knows
what everybody is doing and where
we stand. When Steve Hovis responded back to his original
daisy chain, it was the two
issues, 1. we want our twenty nine nine and 2. we expect Yoe Borough
to pay for any overages because
of demobilization and mobilization again. I sort of responded
back for Seth, I had the benefit
of knowing what Seth was doing with Elizabeth Heathcote, I knew
what Seth Springer knew with the
Army Corps. So I said I would respond back to everybody.
I told him, let’s not confuse the
two issues. I can say on the record here, my personal opinion,
ahead of time before they bid the
project out. Seth Noll and Tom were both at the preconstruction
meeting before the work took
place. And when they were informed that this paperwork in place, so
therefore its my personal opinion
that they fully undertook this on their own, knowing full well what
needed to be done, they are
putting Yoe Borough at this disadvantage. We didn’t cause this overage.
They are going to argue about
them sitting on this easement agreement since last year. Clearly our
records show, at least
communication was done back to his council. I don’t know what communication
you had back with them. But at
least you communicated back with this council, that these agreements weren’t in
place and Steve Hovis was sitting on them. I have numerous emails from between
Nicole and then when Charlie
took over, before you got on,
that he would contact Steve Hovis right after the council meeting, saying where
are we at with these, no
response. Attorney Springer said there is a chance this might not be an issue,
there
is chance that we’ll get the
authorization letter, have the agreement signed and AARC will still be on the
site.
Until it becomes an issue, I mean
really, we don’t have any choice, its not like we are going to pull out,
Solicitor’s Report(cont.) Page
6
we’ve gone past the point of no
return. It’ll happen, its just matter of, let’s get it done as soon as we can.
That is why I have been bugging
Mike. Mike Danko knows and we know we can’t start this project until
we get that authorization letter.
Councilman Allar said the only contact I had with Steve Hovis was,
same day as the preconstruction
meeting, in February. I went down to his office. Face to face, I said
where are we at on this thing. He
said that very morning, he had a meeting with Charlie,they worked
everything out. I wasn’t going
into details, he had already talked with Charlie. Had a MOU worked out,
had the conservation thing worked
out. That went on six weeks ago. Councilman Snyder said I got him
off that issue because as long as
everybody does what they need to do, and this project gets accomplished
then that’s not going to be an
issue, that’s how I got him off the subject. Discussion continued. Councilman
Noll said in all of your
research, what happened here, it just seems like the legal side wants to one
thing
for York
Township and York Township
everything in the future, how to
handle? Attorney Springer said do that email chain, had we done that from the
beginning I think it would, at
the very least it holds a record that you can go back, hey, we went this up,
this
is your email address. I think it
would have helped, the first inter municipal agreement was, after talking to
Jake Romig, was impossible to comply with. We couldn’t have given them the money, we never go it, it
Jake Romig, was impossible to comply with. We couldn’t have given them the money, we never go it, it
was a reimbursement program, so
it made no sense to begin with. There were typos in it, and who was it
that prepared it, it was a third
party that prepared it. Jake Romig, apparently, we didn’t prepare it, York
Township didn’t prepare it, so it
kind of got off on a sour note from there. Then there was some confusion
with the Army Corps of Engineers,
everytime I talked to them, the latest time, they said well do you really
want a conservation easement it
sounds like you want a declaration, send me a declaration. I looked up
the declaration and I don’t know
about this. I called the Army Corps of Engineers legal and they said no,
no, you want a conservation
easement. Not having everybody on the same page. And that was the big issue,
once you have everybody on the
same page, it helped out a lot. For instance, up to a few weeks ago I
never spoke with AARC, finally I
talked to Lee Erwine. He is going to still be on sight with the project
this week. Whereas we thought
they were going to be wrapping up a couple weeks ago, it was a break down
of communication, major part of
it. You really have to be tenacious when getting these contracts knocked
out, it just seems a lot of the
other parties just lose interest, for lack of another word. Councilman Allar
said Jake had told me that the
original start date had been in May. And then they got a hole in their
scheduling. Apparently they
notified the township and Mr. Miller, the guy in charge. They said yes, go
ahead, almost on an emergency
basis we had a pre construction meeting, very quickly. Attorney Springer
said that shouldn’t happened, I
didn’t know that. There is one issue, rather than talking about what has
happened, you guys need to talk
about what’s going to happen. I think when speaking with Jake Romig,
there was something between Yoe
Borough and Kinsley Construction, that they were to maintain the
last sight, which is what got us to where we
are now. Jake, and I don’t know if this is true, Jake represented
to me and Charlie who was at the
meeting, that Kinsley was going to maintain this sight for five years.
I don’t know if that is true or
not, you guys have to figure out who is going to maintain this sight because
you don’t want to happen to this
sight, what happened to the last sight. Councilman Allar said I know
what he is referring to. Attorney
Springer said okay, I say get it in writing. Councilman Allar said okay,
because of the permits, and not
taking care of the original wetlands, that is how we got into the cease
and desist order. I went to
Kinsley, and talked to Chris. One of the problems was, and I pointed it out
to Chris that the sub contractor,
Kinsley hired when this was built, did not have a crew on how to deal
with wetland inspections. They
never gave any reports, and the ones they did were not acceptable.
Solicitor’s Report(cont.) Page
7
And they put in the wrong species
in the basin. I told Chris that from a legal standpoint, however, they
have been professional and
respectable. And he agreed that they would reimburse Yoe Borough for
the inspections. Which I was
going to have Jake do, because he knows how to do these things, he
knows how to do the reports, he
knows Danko, DEP deal. I asked Jake to come up with an estimate.
I haven’t mentioned it, because
we aren’t at the point yet. We haven’t planted anything, the first
inspection is six months after
the planting. We are talking about something, that isn’t going to take
place to probably the fall. And
Chris said yes, they will reimburse us in the area of $7000.00. This is
five year inspection we are
talking about. We will have control, we will have an individual that
finally knows what he is doing,
doing it. Attorney Springer said I know Kinsley is good operation, I want
to make the point that, seeing
how this project has gone thus far, I would definitely recommend having
something in place, it seems like
in the next couple of weeks this is a go, this is going to happen. They’re
going to do the wetlands
mitigation on this Mill Creek property, then after that, I would recommend
having something in place. And
whether it was Chris from Kinsley, I don’t know. Whether you want to
go that route, I don’t know. But
I would definitely have a plan so this doesn’t happen again. Just want
to mention that, put it on the
record. Councilman Snyder said one thing, so we can this thing moving
along, do I have a general
motion,to sign easements, documents anything of necessity that comes up
between now and the next council
meeting to effectuate this. Councilman Noll made a motion. It was seconded by
Councilman Strausbaugh. All in
favor. Councilman Snyder said motion carried.
Attorney Springer said going to
the closing on the Reidel property. I did contact Bankenstein’s office today,
talked to his property paralegal.
And basically I want to get some dates when you can sign and have closing.
Setting that up now. If you want
to give me the dates now, tonight or tomorrow morning. Only you will
need to be there. I need to get
back to them with some dates. A motion was made by Councilwoman Coble
Tyson to have the secretary
release the balance of the funds for closing on the Reidel property to the
solicitor.
The motion was seconded by
Councilman Allar. All in favor. Councilman Snyder said motion carried.
Attorney Springer said I spoke
with some representatives from the Redevelopment Authority of Philadelphia
regarding conservatorship. They
are in the opinion, its not worth the paper its written on. And that would
explain why there aren’t many
people doing it. I also spoke to Don Hoyt, who sits on the Redevelopment
Authority of York Board and asked
him about eminent domain or condemnation. And he said typically
its about $2,000.00. Its not
nearly as much as I thought. The Redevelopment Authority recoups those
costs when they sell. That said,
you don’t really know that when they have the tax sale that there is someone
who comes in and buys the
property. So its up to you guys if you want to wait and see or if you want have
a representative at the sale.
Councilman Snyder said cause if he decides to fight a condemnation, put it
this way he comes up with
$2,700.00 to pay back fines, but he can’t pay $200.00 to mow his property.
It wouldn’t surprise me if we
didn’t try a condemnation and he comes up with the money for a lawyer to fight
it.
So, and then you have more than
$2,000.00 in it. Attorney Springer said well yes and no. If he was fighting,
he would have a board of view. At
the board of view, you have to give them fair value, it would come down
to the appraisal. Councilman
Strausbaugh said I talked to Cynthia at the Housing Alliance, I didn’t bring it
up that was our recommendation,
but she said to see if we can buy it at the bank sale. Our cheapest way
around to have it free and clear.
Councilman Snyder said if we have a ½ mill tax increase, we can take it out
of long term savings, and put it
back in next year. I was here when the mail carrier was here, he did say
they posted the mail box. So
they’ve stop mail delivery. Councilman Noll said he ripped it down that
Solicitor’s Report(cont.) Page
8
afternoon. Councilman Strausbaugh
said apparently he’s there almost everyday. Councilman Snyder said
I think they are holding
everything up at the post office. If they are vacant, its legal just to go up
and post
the property. Councilman Allar
said again, his legal residence is in Yoe Borough. Councilman Noll asked
how long does condemnation take,
we have a tax sale coming up? Councilman Allar said let’s look at
the steps of condemnation, there
is a lot of costs there. We can petition the court, to waive all the taxes
and liens, Court of Common Pleas
to give us that relief. However, there is what is called a Board of
Viewers, which the court
appoints. They will have access of the property. Then there will be a just
compensation
hearing. Now at that point, if
they come back and say the house is worth, $20,000.00 and the land is worth
75, then we going to have to
compensate him for a $100,000.00. Attorney Springer said I don’t think that
would happen. Its true, you do go
in front of a Board of Viewers at the same time, they tour and inspect the
house, an appraiser goes with
you. The few Board of Viewers that I’ve gone too, the appraisers measure
the value of property by compass
square footage. The properties are not appraised high at all. Councilman
Allar said I’m saying that
whatever comes out of that compensation hearing, we’re expected to come up
with that money. Councilman
Snyder said they could appraised it at $15,000.00 for the land, assuming
you tear down the building. The
lot would be worth $15,000.00. Attorney Springer said but they take
in that the building will be torn
down. Councilman Snyder said the point that Tom is trying to make, that
it will probably be cheaper to
get it at tax sale for $6,000.00 than a condemnation. Councilman Allar said
we’re not going to get it at
$6,000.00 at tax sale, the taxes are already over $9,000.00, $1000.00 are
Yoe Borough’s. That doesn’t count
for 2013. You are talking county and school, you are going to be up
at $13,000.00, there is interest
added every single month, six month’s before the sale. So that has to be filled
in,
there is $300.00 administrative
cost, they are going to be checking state and federal, there may be liens, he
maybe not paying income taxes.
Whatever that figure is, thirteen, fourteen thousand, that is where the tax
bureau says we won’t take a bid underneath that. What happens after that, we
may own it, but we have to be faced with
boarding it up, secure the
building, demolition cost, rehab cost. Or give it over to the habitat. Attorney
Springer said what I’m hearing
is, over $10,000.00 to buy it at the tax sale and I don’t think its going to
reach
that through condemnation. If you
take it through condemnation, you can hold it and give it to habitat.
Councilman
Allar said it depends on what the
compensation hearing comes up with, it’s a crap shoot. We don’t have an idea.
The land may have a value. Councilman Snyder asked if you
start a condemnation proceeding like that, and
we get to that hearing and they
say they want $20,000.00, you can walk away from the condemnation then.
Attorney Springer said you can
withdraw at the appraisal. The board would do the appraisal. You could say
didn’t know it was worth that
much. Councilman Myers said I thought you have to pay some fees. Councilman
Allar said its about $4,000.00
court cost. Attorney Springer said the figure I got through Don is two.
Councilman
Strausbaugh asked if we withdraw
are we back to square one? Attorney Springer said lets look at this way,
we go through the board of
review, the appraisal comes back and it says worth a lot of money. That’s after
they have already factored in the
demolition costs, and any other costs for maintenance of the property.
Then you still have a property for whatever reason is worth a lot of money. Because that’s what its appraised
Then you still have a property for whatever reason is worth a lot of money. Because that’s what its appraised
at. Councilman Allar said I don’t
know if it’s the borough’s purpose to get into land speculation. Attorney
Springer said I don’t think it’s
a land speculation, you are having a problem that you have to deal with.
That’s why eminent domain and
conservatorship and all these things. One thing I forgot to add in doing,
I am doing a CLE tomorrow on
blighted properties. I hope that yields something else. But for now the
research I have done, the effective way is eminent domain. That’s because a
conservatorship hasn’t been tried, can’t say, what it
is going to cost. Councilman
Snyder said plus you end up giving it back to them. Attorney Springer said you
could.
Councilman Allar said you
probably talked to Judy Beckman with the Redevelopment Authority down there.
Solicitor’s Report(cont.) Page
9
Attorney Springer said I believe
I did. Councilman Allar said I talked to her and I also talked to several
attorneys
who have actually done this and I
also talked to Butler County Redevelopment. The thing is, you are probably
talking about fifteen properties that have gone from A to Z. They are very high
on it. Last month we talked about getting
something on the back end, they
are telling me that we can get something on the back end. Attorney Springer
asked
are we talking about
conservatorship? Councilman Allar said conservatorship, we would first of all,
we would
condemn the property through the
maintenance ordinance. It would be easy to do. We would file for the
conservatorship, again through the Court of Common Pleas, we would ask the
judge for release from all
taxes and liens. Now, as part of
that, we would submit the plan. We had to show what the end user is going to
be.
If we would have a MOU with the
habitat. This is fairly attractive to a judge because it clearly not only are
putting the property back on the
roles,we’re helping a family, we’re helping the neighborhood, all these
kinds of things looks good to the
judge. Now here is where some of the differences are. There are no just
compensation hearing, we are
giving conservatorship, we control the property. He is not, he does not
control the property. There is no
payment to him at this point. Attorney Springer said he is still directed
owner.
Councilman Allar said that’s
right, but that’s all, looking at how much is this going to cost us. Now, at
the
end, after, at some point the
judge will have a new deed issued for the final user, which will be whoever the
family is that habitat finds. At
that time, the property, is a sale. The habitat is selling this. Now after all
the costs and fees are added up
with the habitat put into it, what Yoe Borough put into it, what we paid
to board up the property, what we
paid in legal fees, the liens and taxes which were wavied, they are still
thrown in there as a cost. Now if
there is anything left, then he gets that. They say that usually there is
nothing left. So he gets nothing
out of this. We keep good records of this, and we do approve the value
of the property. Its very likely,
that we may be compensated for all or most of our costs. We certainly won’t
have taxes and we certainly won’t have to do any just compensation board.
Attorney Springer said that’s true but
you are again talking about
breaking into a new trail. Doing everything from scratch. Councilman Allar said
not quite. Attorney Springer said
in York County
the judge or his clerk, is going
to check the precedence of these other counties and these other Courts of
Common Pleas, which already have
passed muster. Attorney Springer said no, we would want to do that
for them.Councilman Allar said
however, the precedence will be laid out before then. And there is ample
precedence, people that I talked
to, I’m not talking to a redevelopment authority who is looking up on
high and doesn’t understand the
legal steps and mine fields. I talked to the attorneys, that I think you need
to talk to. They are saying its
totally different, its not a big deal. In fact the Butler County
it was the redevelopment
attorney, he said I’ve done about eight projects, and its cost about $2,000.00
in legal fees
per project. Their attorney goes
bang bang bang and done. Attorney Springer said that’s what the eminent
domain/condemnation would run but
the difference, you take the property and it ends up costing you$5,000.00 and you
end up selling it for $15,000.00, you keep that ten. When you go through the
conservatorship, it goes down
the list in superiority, and you
just pay off costs. Councilman Allar said what I’m trying to say that in
a conservatorship we have total
control, all with the property, we know what the costs are going to be,the
only cost we have is legal fees,
and we may actually get some of that back. Attorney Springer said on plan,
that’s the plan. Councilman Allar
said I’m counting that as part of the legal fees. That goes with the petition,
which of course will be a legal
petition. Attorney Springer said he fight a conservatorship just as mauch
as could fight an eminent domain
and the judge, if he doesn’t fight, might not accept it. You really have
to, its hard to go into, if it
hasn’t been done before, its hard to say, as long as we have all this stuff, we
should be good but that’s why I
talked to Judge Linebaugh and I wanted to know, if we go forward,
what do you want to see cause
that is what I’m going to show you, exactly what you want to see.
Solicitor’s Report(cont.) Page
10
The people that I talked to in Philadelphia
to some of the attorneys and an
authority that has been successful at it, and get their point of view
on it. Because if you talk lawyer
to lawyer, rather lawyer to administrator, you might be a whole
different ball game. Attorney
Springer said I’d like, all the attorneys that I have spoken with, have said
that they have not pursued it, it
didn’t seem to make sense. Councilman Snyder said really with the
condemnation, we could still turn
it around the Habitat of York. Councilman Allar said that’s true.
Discussion continued. Councilman
Myers asked if we contacted one of these house flippers and said
you come in and fix it up and we
split the profit, could we do that? Attorney Springer said I wouldn’t see
why not. Councilman Myers said
pay the bills off and split the profit, make a legal deal with a contractor.
Councilman Noll said the Borough
Code wouldn’t like that. Councilman Allar said the redevelopment
authority sent a letter out, this
is in Goldsboro
sent a letter to a homeowner
saying we are willing to offer you this much money, if you don’t accept
within sixty days, we are going
to start eminent domain proceedings. Discussion continued. Councilman
Allar said we can control the
situation, we don’t have to rely on a hearing. Discussion continued. Councilman
Allar said I don’t like that we are discussing this in open session, we should
have gone into executive session, we
are talking legal matters.
Attorney Springer said we are talking in generalities, we are going to be
discussing
other properties. Councilman
Snyder said take this information back to you, check out these other names.
Attorney Springer said I’ll get
the names off of Tom. Discussion continued.
Councilman Snyder said the first
item is Resolution 2013-03. Everyone had an opportunity to look over
through email. A motion to
resolve Resolution 2013-03 by Councilman Myers. The motion was seconded
by Councilman Allar. In favor:
Councilman Snyder, Councilman Myers, Councilman Allar, Councilman
Strausbaugh, and Councilwoman Coble Tyson. Opposed: Councilman Noll. Councilman Snyder
Strausbaugh, and Councilwoman Coble Tyson. Opposed: Councilman Noll. Councilman Snyder
said let the record reflect the
resolution passes.
Councilman Snyder said along with
that. Sandy
requested that the fire company
should be providing us on an annual basis list of their events that they
are proposing for the upcoming
year since the borough provides the workers comp. A list of approved
events. Mr. Shearer spoke with
Scott Cain for the listing. Councilman Snyder said just to put you on
notice, nothing is formalized,
Doug had indicated that we are good from June until next year, its more
than likely that after next year,
that worker’s comp for the fire department will likely double in price.
If its offered at all for the
borough at all. Councilman Myers said you should talk to your representative,
I was just at a meeting, that
they brought that whole subject it and they are saying its all because of
this cancer thing. So far they
have had one thing out of the whole state, and now the state is getting
involved, sounds like there is
going to be a lawsuit with the insurance companies. They are taking
advantage of the situation, and
that is not happening. They are scaring everybody, such as us, you
just said it, they told you. Its
crap. Councilman Snyder said he just had to make a mention, he wanted
to put that on the radar. Mayor Sanford
went out and got their own
insurance. The secretary said there are three municipalities that Doug knows
of that have dropped workers comp
for the fire companies. Lower
Windsor Township
self insured through a trust and Spring Garden
the boroughs and township, they
are to provide the workers comp. Councilman Myers said you
are still responsible. Mr.
Shearer said York
Township
Solicitor’s Report(cont.) Page
11
is still there. Councilman Myers
said the municipality can not just say, we aren’t going to pay
your workers comp. In that
meeting, the state is looking at taking it over. What our guy from
Seth Grove was on the insurance
thing. Mr. Shearer said the insurance industry helped to craft
this legislation. There were a
few more claims than they anticipated.
Councilman Snyder said we did
receive our annual audit. That is taken care of. Along with the audit,
there was the Communication for
Internal controls and related matters , that is for council’s eyes,
gave us suggestions for internal
controls and organizational structures. As well as the financial
responsibility report that was
submitted. They didn’t see any major problems. That is a matter
of record.
Councilman Snyder said on our
CDBG, that contract from the county on February 15th, to URDC.
At our February meeting, a motion
was made to sign the contract when it came in. We haven’t received
the contracts back yet, I
contacted county, they said it was already sent out. We are waiting to hear
back from Mr. Schmel.
Engineer’s Report
Mr. Malesker said the major thing
I have is if Broad Street
okay with the materials/equipment
bid, can you think of any other equipment you may need. I think
Dallastown Borough is going to
add the track hoe. Need for sewer things. As far as bituminous,
we will add whatever quantity.
Step it off. I’ll need approval to advertise this, this is dependent
that Dallastown has approval to
advertise this next week. I’ll have bids for May meeting, then
contracts go out. Bituminous
Paving of York is no longer in business. Kinsley and Building Products
of York
higher than last year. If you
wanted to, your contract goes through June, you could get Broad Street
paved at this year’s prices as
long as they’ll honor the current contract. Councilman Snyder said
if we gave them the work to do in
May. Mr. Malesker said getting with Fitz and Smith.
If the invoices, have a different
name on it, since the change, the solicitor of Dallastown, said
PENN DOT will know, they are
going to have knowledge of it. Councilman Myers said
get the agreement with the state
and have it on file. A motion was made to advertise for the
2013 Equipment and Materials Bid
with Dallastown by Councilman Myers. The motion was
seconded by Councilman Allar. All
in favor. Councilman Snyder said motion carried. A motion
was made to proceed under this
current contract with the repaving of Broad
Street
The motion was seconded by
Councilman Myers. All in favor. Councilman Snyder said motion carried.
Mr. Shearer said he will call
Fitz and Smith. Discussion continued. With that we would also like you
to approve paving Mason Avenue Water Street
That was part of what we talked
about last year, once we did the bridge work down there, we need
to pave over the bridge and I
wanted to include the section from the bridge up to Water. A motion
to include that portion of Mason Avenue
by Councilwoman Coble Tyson. All
in favor. Councilman Snyder said motion carried. Mr. Malesker
said you’ll get a project number
from Gary Tipton. That too will be done under the current contract.
Engineer’s Report (cont.) Page
12
Mr. Malesker said we still
haven’t heard back from sending the Emergency Action Plan back in January.
We haven’t received comments on
that, I am going to keep it on the report until then.
Mr. Malesker said one of the
conditions that York
Township
tree to be trimmed. Dana did take
care of that. Councilman Allar said I talked to Jake, he’d like to a meeting
out
there on the erosion controls. He
wants to have the meeting now. I think Dana, I’ll be there, Jake,
yourself and Seth. Mr. Malesker
said I’ll get something set up. Councilman Allar said get a copy
of the grant application that
Jake sent in. Mr. Malesker said I asked for a copy and haven’t gotten it yet.
Councilman Allar said it’s a good
plan, we can probably use it again.
Maintenance Report
Mr. Shearer asked if there are
any questions on his report.
Councilman Snyder said you didn’t
mention anything about the handicapped parking. Mr. Shearer it was
listed on last month’s report,
and its posted. The way the ordinance reads you don’t need a study since
its on the street.
Councilman Allar said this
complaint on 53 Church. Mr. Shearer said the current tenants of one of the
units are complaining about fire
accessibility. The tenant of one of the units we had problems with before that
Norm Strenger had gotten involved with, had some questions. She invited us, to
look at her unit. The issues that
were solved with Norm, were still
there, and Norm basically says, he has to research that, that isn’t how
he remembered it to be when he
approved it. So right now I am waiting to know for sure, to know how
to word the letter. Basically its
means of egress, there are doors where there shouldn’t be doors according
to Norm. With the first tenant, Apartment 1
Councilman Allar said this
inspection rental fee list, are we current on inspections? Mr. Shearer said
there is a bunch that I need to
schedule. I got to make time.
Councilman Allar asked when are
you planning on doing crack sealing? Mr. Shearer said in the near future.
The machine didn’t work from
Dallastown last fall. Red Lion has the same machine, our sealant is the same
as what they bought.
Mr. Shearer said one thing, that
was a news article from the state township association website. There was
a bill recently introduced, to
put a three year moratorium on the prevailing wage. I would recommend you contact
your representative to support
this. Discussion continued.
Mayor Sanford asked if anyone
knows of an act passed that we as a government entity, when we buy something
it has to be totally American
made. Mr. Shearer and Councilman Myers said they didn’t see anything like that.
Council asked for a copy of that.
Zoning Officer’s Report Page
13
Councilman Noll said I’ll pass
this around, number of letters and all the stuff that is going on. You’ll
notice
that the properties are cleaned
up on Main Street George
Street
sent a letter out. Discussion
continued. Councilman Snyder said the ordinance says temporary signs can
only be put up for 60 days.
Councilman Allar said can Patti,
really doing good at getting these letters out, can she put them in the borough
file? Rather than at her house.
Councilman Noll said Sam and I have talked to her and its under way. Councilman
Allar said we want to have a
documented history. Councilman Snyder said after last council meeting, we got
the invoices for the properties
that were cleaned up. The bills were sent out regular and certified mail.
In order to find out the
timeframe originally notified for, she needed the actual letter. So I emailed
Patti,
and said to have a central
location to have those letters. Dan might need the information to issue
permits.
Patti said she understood that. I
left it for Seth and Regan to add ideas. Next month you may want to
think if they didn’t pay the
bill, you may want to lien the properties. Now we are getting into the mowing
season, some of these you know
they are not maintaining. If we are going to lien the properties for
the clean up, get on a monthly to
six weeks basis, mow those properties, come September lien for
all actions. Think about it. She
has to notify them to mow. Councilman Myers said we should tell her
to get three quotes for mowing so
she knows. Councilman Noll said its time to shoot her an email, to
get together again. Councilman
Snyder said I would think if you notify them an annual notice. Councilman
Myers said the judge told her,
you have to make that same notice each year and to develop a track record.
Councilman Snyder said we have
time to think about it for next month, that will give her time to get some
pricing together. Give her time
to cite them, so we can get them on a schedule.
Emergency Management Report
Mayor Sanford said I have nothing
to report.
Mayor’s Report
Mayor Sanford said I forwarded an
updated report for February which I did not have available last month.
Information on March and February
police report also.
Councilman Snyder asked about
NFDC, webhosting is due for next year at $140.00. The mayor was in contact with
the gentleman on the mayor’s office in Baltimore
It is still going to take a
couple months to get this through. I have asked Sam to approve it tonight not
to
exceed the $140.00. And I’ll do
what I can do.
Secretary’s Report
The secretary said we did receive
our liquid fuels monies for $19,029.74.
The office will be closed April
12, 2013.
Secretary’s Report(cont.) Page 14
Councilman Snyder said we did
receive a thank you from the Red
Lion Senior
Center
contribution.
Councilman Snyder said I mentioned
the talk Sandy
Councilman Snyder said we
received the first quarter time reliability report from Yoe Ambulance today.
Unfinished Business
Councilman Allar said we got a
copy of this from PSAB on blighted properties, for $40.00, we
can take advantage of the
research done for blighted properties and I am just wondering if Seth
Springer would want to take
advantage of this. I have seen this several times now. I was going to
suggest this be forwarded to Seth
Springer. Councilman Snyder said I saw that, it starts at
twelve noon. I didn’t want to
commit to it.
Councilman Snyder said I wanted
to bring to the attention of Jake Romig. We received another email
to the state, he is not filing
the required quarterly report. Councilman Allar said I talked to
him, and he is going to send them
to the state and to the borough. He is not great with paperwork.
Discussion continued.
New Business
Councilman Noll said we have a
copy in here for the 2012 code books for international property
maintenance code and Dana has a
copy. Plus Dana has a copy of the 2012 Fire Code. I gave him
copies, we went over into a new
book for ADA
Councilman Strausbaugh said I
talked to the Housing Alliance, they are going to get back to me.
A lot of references and contact
info. I’ll get back to you next month.
Mayor Sanford said we received a
notice from Stan Saylor’s office about Springwood being
closed for bridge repair.
Payment of Bills
A motion was made with notation not
to exceed $140.00 on the bill webhosting for NFDC, to pay
the bills as listed with the note
by Councilman Myers. The motion was seconded by Councilman
Noll. All in favor.
Adjournment
A motion was made by Councilman
Strausbaugh to adjourn the meeting at 9:12PM. The motion
was seconded by Councilman
Snyder. All in favor.
