Officers and members of Coplay Athletic Club attended the July 6 Coplay Borough Council workshop meeting.

The Coplay Athletic Club pays rent every six months to secure use of the gym for its members. The gym facilities are on the second floor of the borough municipal building, 98 S. Fourth St.

Due to COVID-19 regulations and guidelines, the building was closed to the public until April of this year. Therefore, the members did not have access to the gym equipment for four months in 2021 alone.

As a result of the shutdown, membership renewals have decreased. Coplay Athletic Club officers, including President Randy Bachman, asked if borough council would consider waiving the rental fee for the last six months of the year in order to give club members a chance to come back and renew their memberships.

Councilman Charles Sodl asked if the Coplay Athletic Club officers had an action plan they would implement to drive the membership up again. The club officers stated they are trying to reach members quickly to work on securing renewals.

Mainly, communication is done by telephone. Councilman Rick Kern suggested they create an email address for the athletic club where members can reach out with questions pertaining to renewal more easily.

Before COVID-19, the club had approximately 100 members. Now, the number of athletic club members ranges somewhere between 50 and 75.

The club officers stated the summer months are notoriously a light time for members to join and work out at the facility since most people are exercising outside using the local trails. Also, some members have invested in home gyms because of the pandemic.

After much discussion, Sodl recommended Coplay Athletic Club come back to next week’s meeting with a definitive plan regarding how they will boost renewals for the future and better manage the membership status.

In other business, Coplay Police Chief Vince Genovese noted the complaints pertaining to fireworks this past holiday were down this year from earlier years. There is a 10 p.m. curfew regarding the lighting of fireworks.

Council was presented with the details of several estimates for painting the rooms and replacing the floor in the police station. These will be voted on at the July 13 meeting.

Discussion arose concerning hiring an assistant zoning officer as backup for when Ronald Helman, zoning officer, is unavailable or on vacation. Council agreed it would initiate a plan to engage an alternate officer when needed.

Kern gave council members a diagram of the new plan for the Saylor Park playground. There will be five new pieces of equipment replacing what is currently there. The goal is to have the equipment installed by the end of October.

The borough received a bid for $5,200 on the 1986 Mack Pumper firetruck it has for sale. The decision to approve this bid will be voted on at the July 13 meeting.