At the Oct. 17 North Catasauqua Borough Council meeting, police Chief Chris Wolfer read recommendations to the council regarding a suggested update to the state dog law in response to the recent issue with a pair of dogs in the borough.

North Catasauqua residents filled council chambers Oct. 3 to voice concerns about a pair of dogs that have been running loose in the borough. The police department responded to two incidents of the dogs allegedly attacking people and domestic pets in the area of Willow Drive.

Legal procedures have reportedly been started to have the dogs classified as “dangerous dogs” through the state. There is a state law in place that prohibits the police department from taking the dogs from the owners without a hearing.

According to council President Peter Paone, the law is written in a way that the police have to catch a dog while it is out in order to hold it. If the owner gets the dog first, the police cannot take it.

An Oct. 7 meeting was held at the office of state Rep. Zach Mako, R-183rd, regarding the issue, and Wolfer emailed Mako’s office with a suggested update to the law.

Wolfer’s recommendations included authorizing the police to temporarily house any dogs suspected in biting incidents even if they need to be taken from the owner, provided that the police take care of the dogs as long as they hold onto them and owners hold the police harmless if something happens to the dog while in custody.

The recommendations were read to the council members without any major responses.

Paone and Wolfer thanked Mako and his staff for meeting with them.

“We both thought Rep. Mako was exceedingly generous with his time and appreciated the effort to help to rectify the situation,” Paone said.

In other business, fire Chief Roger Scheirer reported the approval of one candidate passing the Civil Service Commission test to replace an officer who recently left the department. Council approved the hiring.

Wolfer also requested and received approval to pursue a no-match grant for the purchase of seven license plate readers.

Engineer Dave Kutzor was present to discuss the findings from the recent basement inspections near the Hunter Street pump station. An abnormal amount of flow from the pump station was reported into the sanitary sewer. Upon recent basement inspections, several homes were found to have floor drains and/or sump pumps that discharged into the sanitary sewer, and Kutzor plans to inform council of available steps for the borough to remedy the issue.

Typical sump pumps are rated at approximately 10 gallons per minute, and six of them running together during rain events cause more than twice the normal flow from the pump station into the sanitary sewer, which causes the borough’s sewer bills to be higher.

Treasurer Annette Englert compiled the budget forms and asked the finance committee to pick a date to meet and discuss the budget. Englert asked all departments to approve spending before making purchases as the current year’s accounts are very tight due to late reimbursements on grants.

In the office report, Tasha Jandrisovits reported the approval of ordinance 438, adopting the updated Uniform Construction Code. Council voted to approve three members to the appeals board for permitting decisions.

A phased approach to transferring the email system was recommended, with the borough email and counsel president’s email transitioning to Office 360 and other borough emails moving as the budget allows.

“The system is currently losing emails,” Paone noted.

Councilmember Mark Gioielli asked about the impact to the budget and asked that money be set in 2023’s budget to reflect this. The current billing system used by the borough may roll out for 2023 and allow window payment by credit card.

Councilmember John Yanek received approval for the Jess Finn Fest to be held July 2023 at North Catasauqua William J. Albert Memorial Park.

Councilmember Jessica Cope asked for an update on the traffic study at Fourth and Buttonwood streets. Training was requested to teach North Catasauqua personnel how to do the survey. They would like to do it in one joint session.

An estimate for the Main Street Greenway came in at $559,000, and Paone is still waiting on the costs on the study of the lock wall on the trail. Lorne Possinger, of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, recommends looking at funding in the spring rather than the current round for the lock wall.

The available grant for the greenway is a 20% matching grant, which means the borough will be responsible for more than $100,000. Due to budget constraints, it was decided to not seek the grant at this time.

Ordaining the road constructed from Main Street to the trail head as Moyer Way was discussed. A map and a description of the boundary from the Keystone engineer were expected to be prepared last week.