Solicitor Patrick M. Armstrong reported at the Sept. 19 Macungie Borough Council meeting, the borough is adopting an updated defined benefit pension plan ordinance amendment for new employees, rather than the existing defined benefit pension plan.

The new pension plan would be a balanced account managed by Merryl Lynch and would match the first 3 percent invested by new employees. The new pension plan was adopted by unanimous vote.

Authorization was approved for the advertisement of The Cotton Street one-way ordinance; if adopted, this would make Cotton Street one way starting 120 feet from Church Street westbound.

The Service Electric franchise renewal agreement had four major changes under the proposed agreement. There will be no professional service reimbursement agreement, Internet and static IP will be provided to the borough, free cable to all borough buildings and an additional IP address will be available to police. The borough will receive 5 percent of the gross revenue under this agreement and will allow for the waiver of routine permit fees to Service Electric. The motion to advertise the agreement was approved by unanimous vote.

A motion to advertise the ordinance to allow for ceremonial flag burning and the waiving of the per capita tax for stationed active members or those activated to full-time duty as a reservist was accepted by unanimous vote.

Mayor Gary Cordner reported a police patrol car originally slated for decommission will have its markings removed and be used as a shared use vehicle for the borough, fire company and the police to use to get to and from training, meetings and functions. The vehicle would likely fetch a modest $2,700 if sold according to Kelly Blue Book value and the mayor advised, it would just make more sense to keep it to fulfill the fire department and police departments needs.

Cordner also reported in an effort to make Church Street safer, VASCAR lines have been placed for Church Street speed and truck enforcement.

The issue of the use of retarder brakes on Main Street gained some insight, as Ryan Kern of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation reported the grade is indeed steeper than the maximum of 4 percent by the cemetery, but does level out in places. The length of the grade will be measured for the next meeting. If the grade is greater than 4 percent for over 500 feet, it would not make the criteria for a possible noise ordinance through PennDOT to limit the use of brake retarders.

The position of junior council member is being granted for two individuals who have jointly requested to hold the position for educational purposes. Valeria Cordner and Renee Martin were approved by unanimous vote.

The mayor also reported a scheduled DUI checkpoint was successful in apprehending seven DUI suspects. The checkpoint stopped around 300 to 400 cars.

Graffiti has been reported and is scheduled for removal at the Brookside and Macungie Memorial parks; the vandalism was reportedly minor.

A discussion was held on the Halloween Parade. The mayor was informed PennDOT asked the fire department to guarantee trucks over a certain height or weight would not be sent down East Macungie Road and Brookside Road because of buried pipelines on Brookside Road and a bridge on East Macungie Road. While the fire department cannot guarantee such a thing, they will talk to PennDOT to resolve the matter.

Borough Manager Chris Boehm reported she is looking into a possible sewer ordnance requiring the inspection of a property’s lateral line prior to the sale or transfer of property.

Lower Macungie, Upper Macungie and Alburtis all have similar requirements and if the inspection is not done at time of sale, appropriate funds would have to be put in escrow. Members of council agreed such a ordinance would be a good idea and stated a rough draft would be put together for the solicitor to review at a later date.

The Lehigh County Authority has finalized 2015 billing and Macungie has received a credit of $52,783 which will be put toward the first quarter 2016 payment.

The Main Street Streetscape plan has had a few options brought to light to save some money. On Pine Street, $30,000 can be saved by utilizing more efficient drainage techniques, the sidewalk can simply be recessed over an area with a suspended metal grate above it to allow for water to pass through and stamped pavement for the crosswalks could be skipped in lieu of simpler “piano key” style crosswalks which would save the borough a significant amount of money. Pending completion of Cotton Street, council will discuss the topic in October when new information is available.

Semmel Excavating is working on Cotton Street and a new traffic light being installed in town came in costing significantly less, saving the borough more than $30,000. Cotton Street is scheduled to be completed by Sept. 30.

Permission for a quiet zone study to be done by Norfolk Southern was granted for the Main Street crossing and at a private crossing south of the Main Street crossing which would stop the trains from blowing their horns at crossings within the zone. Additional safety measures may be required and this study will determine those measures.

Cordner questioned the safety of such a thing, citing a recent accidental death of a pedestrian who did not hear the train. Greg Hutchinson motioned to approve the study; John Yerman seconded the motion. Roseann Schleicher and Chris Becker voted against, and in a rare moment, the mayor was called in as a tiebreaker, voting in favor of the study.

Resolution 2016-19 which would give the authorization for Emmaus Borough to be a library sponsor for the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund Grant for the proposed children’s wing at the Emmaus Library was motioned by Yerman, seconded by Hutchinson and adopted by unanimous vote.

The bid for curbside leaf collection was awarded to EMI Landscaping.