Coplay Borough Councilman Steve Burker led a park and recreation committee meeting Feb. 24 with his committee peers, fellow Councilmen Mark Molitoris and Carl Luckenbach.

The committee decided to move forward on a recommendation to borough council to open Coplay’s Parkway Pool for the 2021 season.

Tiffany Benson, the pool manager for the past two years, noted there are lifeguards available to staff the pool. She said she hopes council will reappoint her as pool manager for 2021. She reported time is of the essence, as planning and hiring need to happen soon.

Burker mentioned there is also a need for someone, or a group, to run the pool concession stand.

Other challenges noted are lifeguard certification and wages and cleaning the pool areas to keep the environment safe for the guards and patrons.

The park and recreation committee has struggled to keep citizen members. Currently, there are no members on the five-person citizen board. At the meeting, however, three people stepped forward to join. Three members are needed to have a quorum to conduct business.

Those who applied for appointment are Benson, an administrative assistant for Coplay Borough; Wes Christman, president of Coplay Sports; and Keith Sodl, longtime borough resident.

One challenge is Christman resides in Whitehall. There is precedent to have a person residing outside of Coplay occupy a seat on the park and recreation committee. It will ultimately be borough council’s decision.

The three applicants attended the meeting and hope to be appointed to the committee at the next council meeting. All three indicated they have a passion for the Coplay park and recreation activities for youth.

In another matter, Burker floated an idea to hold an artist demonstration event at the borough’s Community Plaza. The idea stimulated a brainstorming session. The idea is to allow artistically talented Coplay residents to demonstrate their talents. Artwork may be on sale for visiting patrons.

The event could be held, perhaps on a Saturday, at the plaza, it was said. It would be a mini-arts festival.

Discussion continued, suggesting the mini-arts festival could be held on a Wednesday evening when the summer music events are held at the plaza. Joining with the music event might attract more attendees, not only to the music, but also to the arts demonstration.

The summer music series is tentatively planned for every other Wednesday, possibly beginning in June. No firm start date was decided.

A parent affiliated with a Northampton swim club requested the possible use of the borough pool. She said the club may want to use the pool for swimming practice and possibly for meets.

No action was taken on the request, pending additional information.

The next Coplay park and recreation meeting is 7 p.m. March 17. Visit the borough’s website, coplayborough.org, to retrieve the call-in and access-code numbers.

Two openings remain on the citizens committee. Those interested are asked to call the borough office at 610-262-6088 to apply.