Brad Yoast of Hanover engineering addressed Fountain Hill council Dec. 7 to answer questions about an upcoming sewer inspection. Yoast revealed that the inspection will start sometime after the holidays and that three and a half months is the allotted time to complete the work. This is a preliminary project to doing maintenance on the entire sewer main system and all the manholes in the borough.

Many residents of Fountain Hill are taking part in the Christmas house decorating contest. Mayor Carolee Gifford expressed her excitement for the event and asked that residents to be mindful of safety measures. The request to extend COVID-19 Emergency Ordinance was approved to last until Feb. 1, 2021.

Following up from last council meeting, Police Chief Edward Bachert reported that upon the next police committee meeting, there will be a discussion of the pros and cons on the possibility of body cameras for the police department. Bachert said the cost is approximately $26,000, but also, the current cameras in the police cars are old and need to be replaced. Therefore, it will be a $40,000 venture if it is decided to purchase cameras for the department. Bachert concluded that currently he has not had any complaints to the extent where body cameras would be needed by Fountain Hill police.

Borough attorney Peter Lehr gave an update to former Deputy Fire Chief Rich Rolen asking to be reinstated to the department after being dismissed in October. Rolen argued that this is a council decision according to a Fountain Hill Council ordinance. At a previous council meeting, Lehr explained to Rolen that the council has not exercised any authority in this type of decision making in a number of years. Because of this, the council chose to continue being uninvolved in the process. After pushback from Rolen at the last meeting, council decided to further review the ordinance. On Monday, Lehr stated that council will be repealing revisions of the ordinance that gave council authority in the matter.

After an inquiry about whether Toys for Tots was going to be happening again this holiday season, Police Chief Bachert responded that for this year, the police will instead use the organization Helping Hands to assist getting toys for Turning Point, a charity of the Lehigh Valley.

The next meeting is scheduled for tonight at 7 p.m. in borough hall.