The June 5 meeting of the Macungie Borough Council focused on a resident’s issue with his neighbor’s construction company and the ongoing community concerns involving the fire department.

Macungie resident Dave Fatzinger discussed an ongoing issue with the number of construction vehicles parked on his neighbor’s property. His neighbor allegedly frequently parked three or four vehicles from his construction company on their property. Council said some of the issues discussed were private property disputes while others were zoning disputes. Council President Chris Becker was thankful Fatzinger brought pictures of the vehicles.

“Pictures add credence to the entire issue,” Becker said.

Becker added the zoning officer needs to have better instructions on what time of day to look into Fatzinger’s neighbor. They will need to come by early in the morning or in the evening to see the vehicles in question, as during the work week the vehicles are taken to project sites. Currently the zoning officer is passing by the neighbor’s house between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. and not seeing the vehicles.

Macungie business owner Tim Romig had questions about fire department certification paperwork he had spoken about in a previous meeting regarding the fire department. There was a question about whether Becker had signed the document. Romig claimed he was able to get a copy of the document and it appeared to have Becker’s signature, not block text as was previously believed.

This caused Romig to raise the question of possible identity fraud if someone else signed Becker’s name on the document in question. Borough Council Member John Yerman said he wanted the discussion tabled because he and fellow council member Roseann Schleicher had not finished looking into the document.

“There appears to be one thing being said and another thing being done when it comes to the fire department,” Romig said.

As a business owner working in a multi-story building, Romig was concerned when he heard the fire department was selling its ladder truck. Becker said his biggest goal is to keep the fire department in Macungie.

“Everyone needs help from time to time,” Becker said. “Everything is solvable if we work together,” he continued.

The borough council also discussed transforming street lights from low density sodium lights to LED light. PPL said the change would lead to an increase of about $80 a month on the borough’s bill.

The borough council was curious whether this would be $80 a month per light or $80 a month to replace all the lights in the borough. They also wondered how long the payment would continue.

A payment of $94,452.98 to Standard Pipe Services was approved unanimously. A $639,301 bid recommended to Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for the Main Street Streetscape and Church Street traffic light project came from Marino Corporation and was approved. The borough decided to redirect $50,000 from the capital fund to be used in the streetscape project. Council also unanimously accepted funds from TAP Grants.

Council discussed the issue of two members who have been chronically missing meetings. They talked about sending a letter asking council member and emergency management coordinator David Boyko to begin attending meetings again or resign his position. They also sent a letter to council member Marvin Moyer with similar wording to Boyko’s letter.

The meeting included the discussion of a seasonal maintenance staff hire. The person chosen for the position was Mackenzie Ward. This position would be up to 40 hours a week and pay $10 an hour. Responsibilities would include lawn cutting, landscaping and line painting.

The meeting ended with an executive session.

Macungie Borough Council meets on the first and third Mondays of each month. The next meeting will be 7:30 p.m. June 19 in Macungie Borough Hall.