The May 31 meeting of the Alburtis Borough Council involved residents’ concerns regarding one of their neighbors.

Alburtis resident Kaitlin Hummel, along with her husband and a neighboring couple, spoke at the meeting regarding issues with another one of their neighbors. The neighbor in question is raising a rooster and approximately seven chickens in her backyard. This is causing issues with both noise and smell.

According to Hummel the neighbor has said she will be getting rid of the rooster. In addition the neighbor said she is aware of the smell and is trying to get rid of it. Hummel is doubtful as the neighbor has made these comments before.

Council said the smell is due to not keeping up with cleaning the chicken coup.

“They need to stop and desist and become better farmers and better neighbors,” Council President Ronald DeIaco said.

Council members said they should focus on the health and safety issue. There will be a letter sent and the resident will have five days to remedy the situation.

There were concerns about residents altering the easement in the Hills at Lockridge neighborhood. One issue is regarding a resident who built a fence through the easement. The resident didn’t have a permit and council suggested the resident get a permit and the borough would deny the permit. Another easement issue involved a resident who installed a pipe in the easement in order to improve drainage.

“The easement should be left alone. That’s why it’s there,” DeIaco said.

There were two bids council discussed during the meeting. The first bid was for a pole building. The lowest bid for that building was $34,674. There was also a $299,000 bid for the sidewalk and curb for the Walnut Street Grant. Council felt the bid was totally unreasonable and suggested re-bidding the project.

Council interviewed six people for the part-time office position and narrowed the field of candidates to two. The position will pay $11 an hour and with a maximum of 20 hours a week.

The borough council decided on Tiffany Smith for the position. She has office experience and seemed confident during the interview.

There was discussion about the number of hours Smith would work in addition to the budget and the amount of funds the borough has. Smith was approved for the position. The only opposition came from John Aleszczyk who was concerned about Smith working too many hours and the borough not being able to balance their budget.

Despite dreadful weather, the borough’s latex paint recycling event set a record for the company collecting the paint. The borough council said there may have been even more involvement if the weather was nicer.

The meeting ended with an executive session.

The next meeting of the Alburtis Borough Council will be 7 p.m. June 14 in Alburtis Borough Hall.