Ordinance 1123 had its first reading and passed with a 6-0 vote at the Emmaus Borough Council meeting March 2.

As stated by the borough the ordinance will be "regulating the activities of transient merchants; defining relevant words and phrases; establishing a licensing program; providing the exempt persons and activities and providing for penalties for violation thereof."

According to Emmaus Borough Manager Shane Pepe, this ordinance deals with "door-to-door salesmen." Pepe said there have been a number of increasing complaints by borough staff, police and residents.

"It started where a couple of companies were kicked out of a bunch of states for fraud, another one a gentleman came in with a fake driver's license and another one a guy had a warrant out for his arrest in Florida and Ohio," Pepe said. "These are the guys knocking on your door, and there's really no regulatory program to try to address this."

Pepe said this ordinance does not include people under the First Amendment such as religious groups and political activists. "This is strictly for sales."

The ordinance also excludes groups such as the Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts who are selling products for charities.

Pepe also mentioned work is being done on a "Do Not Solicit List," which will allow residents to file a form with the borough which will make it illegal for certain people to come to a resident's door trying to sell things.

In other business, council voted 5-1 in favor of refunding the Evans Wealth Strategies refuse bill for 2011 through 2014. Acting Council President Brian Holtzhafer voted against the motion.

Evans Wealth Strategies were incorrectly billed double refuse for four years. When asked by Brent Labenberg, council vice president, why it took this long for the company to realize this, Holtzhafer said council was told by Sharon Stauffer someone else managed the finances of the business up until this year and Stauffer now handles the finances of the business and realized she was paying too much.

Councilman Wesley Barrett asked whether or not there was a statute of limitation to how far back something like this should be tracked.

"Well, in terms of whether or not the borough must refund, you can refund if you want to refund at any point in time," Borough Solicitor Thomas Dinkelacker said. "In terms of statute of limitations, I would view that the person has a four year statute of limitation to pursue the borough to any type of breach."

Council voted to exempt the Catholic War Veterans from paying the 2015 curbside refuse bill for the group's annexed building.

Cedarbrook Sportsmen requested a monetary donation of $300 to stock Furnace Dam with 200 trout for the 2015 season. Council approved the donation in a 6-0 vote.

Ordinance 1120, which will remove a residential handicap parking sign in front of 811 Chestnut St., as well as establish prohibited parking on Railroad Street, passed its first reading.

Ordinance 1124 also passed its first reading. The ordinance pertains to removing a residential handicap parking sign in front of 638 Walnut St. as well as adding a residential handicap parking signs in front of 570 Broad St. and 525 Broad St.

Chris Heckler was reappointed to the joint environmental advisory committee with a term expiring March 7, 2018.

Council approved allowing alcohol to be served at the 5-Miler race in June.