In an informal discussion about Brookside Park at the May 18 Macungie Borough Council meeting, council agreed to authorize the Public Works department to remove some of the more damaged equipment from the site, and began talking about potential costs for re-outfitting the playground. The problem was raised by a concerned resident of the Ridings.

The material being removed from the site is already restricted with caution tape and visibly damaged. Council President Chris Becker, who inspected the site, reported the swing set seems at least to be usable.

Becker did research and came up with a general figure of $15,310, only to provide updated equipment "in kind" with that already extant. That does not include the pavement of the basketball court, which is in bad repair. Numbers can run much higher, Becker reported, for more elaborate equipment.

Currently the borough has some money set aside in a parks and recreation fund, estimated roughly under $8,000. It was not determined whether this could be used toward refurbishing the park, but council could put a number in the budget for next year and look to raise additional funds through donations.

John Murphy, who raised the issue at council's last meeting, had said a GoFundMe website had already been created to generate funds for the project and local awareness.

Borough Manager Chris Boehm also mentioned the public works department recommended moving the play area more to the front, to increase visibility for both the neighborhood and police.

Boehm urged the creation of a neighborhood committee, which would establish local interest in design of the playground and encourage residents to "take ownership" of the small park. The committee could also be involved in raising funds for the equipment.

After some urging by Becker, council agreed to deny the request of a police officer to carry over unused vacation time past the expiration date of June 30 in favor of paying out the officer's time, largely for the sake of scheduling difficulties.

The police department has suffered a round of long-term injuries which have taken three officers off duty for lengthy periods of time, making scheduling in contracted vacation times difficult for the police chief. Becker hopes that by paying out the vacation time, council will create a precedent whereby officers will be encouraged to take a cash sum instead of unused vacation days at the end of the fiscal year.

The unused time in question amounts to 48 hours, left over from 2014.

The agreement will be signed between the Town Beautification Committee, Macungie Memorial Park and Macungie Borough for the installation and maintenance of four new street lights on Lehigh Street. The lights themselves are funded in part by an anonymous donor, who is covering the electric bill and three of the lights as well; the remaining light is provided by the Town Beautification Committee.

The borough's involvement in the agreement includes installation by the public works department, which, Becker said, could get complicated and involve sidewalk work to put in the concrete foundations of the lights.

Council agreed to move forward with payments to Alan Kunsman Roofing and Siding for work done on the Macungie Institute and Borough Hall, in the amount of $79,202.33. The bill is slightly over budget– about $20,000, due to an unforeseen damaged area of the gutter at the Institute.

Boehm will submit the bill to the insurance company again but can't make any promises about getting more money.