Several new hires and borough ordinances were announced during the Dec. 6 Emmaus Borough Council meeting. But first, the meeting began with personal appeals from borough residents.

A resident stepped to the podium to complain about stormwater flooding his basement.

Next, Mark Ruth requested borough council reconsider adding 25 to 29 N. Third St. to Ordinance No. 1217, which is taking parking restrictions away from 31 N. Third St.

Ruth owns the apartment building at the location. He feels his tenants deserve to have the parking restrictions removed in front of their building as well. If the restrictions can’t be lifted, then he requested parking permits be issued to his tenants so they will not get ticketed.

Councilman John Hart said he would assist Ruth and asked him to attend the upcoming public safety meeting.

After Ruth’s statements, several local small business owners made statements opposing the three-hour parking limit included in Ordinance No. 1219. Right now, the parking limit is set to two hours. Many felt the three-hour limit would be a mistake.

Many of the business owners said they have a quick turnaround rate and felt the longer parking limits could threaten store traffic. There was no statement from council following the rounds of public protest.

State Rep. Milou Mackenzie, R-131st, was in attendance for special presentations. She offered services from the state and said anyone and everyone is welcome to stop in her office for assistance.

There were three agenda items in communications.

Brent Stringfellow resigned from the planning commission. He accepted a position at the University of Texas-Austin as their director of campus planning.

Next, Faith Presbyterian Church requested the use of Triangle Park for a Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. The event will take place 11:30 p.m. Dec. 24 to 12:10 a.m. Dec. 25. The event has been held annually since 2012. This was approved.

The final item was a letter from Ruth concerning Ordinance No. 1217.

In unfinished business, Ordinances No. 1216 through 1219 were read.

Ordinance No. 1216 removes prohibited parking for parts of the west side of Seventh Street. Ordinance No. 1217 removes the parking restrictions at 31 N. Third St.

Ordinance No. 1218 is a process public safety has been working on for the past several months. This is to allow for Emmaus emergency vehicles to safely travel through certain parts of the borough during declarations of snow and ice emergencies. This is an amendment to a past ordinance.

Ordinance No. 1219 was the hot button topic of the night. Hart, chair of public safety, explained the new three-hour parking limit for downtown parking. He said Emmaus received numerous written complaints from business owners about the two-hour parking limit.

In June of 2021, a survey was taken from 46 Emmaus business owners. That survey pointed to a need for a longer time limit for Emmaus downtown parking. Additionally, the Emmaus Police Department was tasked with talking to local business owners and gauging their thoughts on the parking situation. They gathered business owners wanted either three-hour parking or 30-minute parking.

After his statements, Councilman Chris DeFrain made a request of the business owners in attendance. He requested they take videos of when the downtown parking is full and send it to him. He said if there are videos of full parking, then he will change his mind. However, he did not believe it will happen.

DeFrain also noted there will be more signage placed around the borough.

Councilman Chad Balliet closed with his statements. He was very against the three-hour limit and added local resident Nicholas Tranguch took a survey of all downtown business owners on the parking situation. In that survey, not one time was a three-hour limit mentioned. Most businesses felt only a 30-minute limit to be necessary.

Balliet wanted council to table the discussion until the parking time limits were negotiated again.

Hart would not rescind his vote, so council could not table Ordinance No. 1219. Council was extremely split on the topic. In a 4-3 vote, council voted against approval. The ordinance will go back to the drawing board.

In new business, Ordinance No. 1220 was approved by council. This ordinance addresses funds for the borough’s building renovation project. The project consists of “construction of a new borough hall, various streets and sewer facilities improvements, as well as other necessary capital improvement projects of the borough.”

This authorizes and directs the issuance of its General Obligations Bonds, Series of 2022, in the maximum aggregate principal amount of $20,985,000 to the borough. This is only an upper limit and not the total amount. Next, Ordinance No. 1221 was read which levies taxes for the fiscal year 2022 for the Borough of Emmaus at the rate of 7.7115 mills. This resulted in an average tax increase of $40 to $50 per household.

Ordinance No. 1222 dealt with water rates in the borough. The average household rate will raise $49 per year. It was said this is still the lowest water rate in the Lehigh Valley.

Ordinance No. 1223 establishes a special road fund for the borough. This was put in place for future road projects.

Ordinances 1221, 1222 and 1223 were approved by council.

In the mayor’s report, Mayor Lee Ann Gilbert said the Emmaus Police Department’s No Shave November fundraiser was a success. The department raised over $1,500.

In public works, Councilman Roy Anders announced Stanley Rugis was hired as the public works director. He is a previous public works director from the Reading area. He will be starting in late December.

Wayne Lawler was appointed to the arts commission during community relations, planning and development.

Borough Manager Shane Pepe had several items in his report. Borough employees Craig Deppe and Victoria Schadler are both retiring at the end of the year. Pepe said Schadler was a borough employee for 43 years.

“I personally thank her for everything that she’s done. She was a leader in that department when that department needed a leader,” Pepe said.

Following this, Pepe promoted Logan Schwartz, Ryan Crawford and Noah Carl to the rank of master firefighter in the borough.

The next Emmaus Borough Council meeting will take place 7 p.m. Dec. 20. The meeting will be held in person at Emmaus Borough Hall, 28 S. Fourth St.

Following the Dec. 20 meeting, Emmaus Borough Council meetings will be held via Zoom or at St. John’s in Emmaus. Renovations of borough hall begin January 2022.