Alburtis Borough Council met April 26 where a highlight of the rather short agenda was a presentation from Ott Consulting on Bicentennial Village.

The meeting began with a residential complaint about a neighbor and the police. The resident felt Alburtis police were not supporting them and taking the side of the disruptive neighbor. Mayor Kathleen Palmer said she was aware of the situation and has been seeking a resolution with the police. Another council member said this neighbor had been a problem for years. Ultimately, council advised the resident to make an appointment with the police chief. There were no other public comments during the evening.

Next was the presentation by Jeffrey Ott and Mike Preston from Ott Consulting. It was an update on the upcoming rehabilitation project for Bicentennial Village. It is being supported by the Pennsylvania Multimodal Transportation Fund Program. This is a program providing grant money for transportation related projects in the state. The objective of this project is to promote pedestrian traffic in the area and to Lock Ridge Park. The sidewalks are in “bad condition” which is discouraging use of them.

The project involves replacing the existing sidewalk, vertical curb and driveway aprons within Bicentennial Village on Lockridge Lane and part of Second Street. There will be 82 impacted properties.

The total grant money awarded for the project was $1,452,254. With this amount, Alburtis Borough incurred no cost besides engineering and smaller additional fees.

Ott Consulting will hold a resident meeting to provide information to anyone interested. Borough council will be reaching out to the community and will be working alongside residents to help them understand the scope of the project. The planned meeting date is somewhere near the end of May. More information will be shared soon.

Ott Consulting still needs to finalize a few more plans for the project. It is estimated to take anywhere from six to nine months to complete. They are expecting to start this project in the spring of 2024.

Next, the previous meeting minutes, bills for payment and fiscal consultant’s report were approved. The bills totaled $51,736.03.

The meeting then moved to the administration portion.

Council approved the distribution of the second payment to Blooming Glen Contractors for the completion of the Pump Station Improvements Project. The amount totaled $1,327.65.

Next, council approved the next steps for a School Street project similar to the work being done on Lockridge Lane; however, the scope is far less.

The last item was about the Emmaus Rotary Club. Borough Manager Stephen Nemeth attends their monthly meetings. Nemeth came to council seeking community service ideas for the area. Council liked the idea and will come back with some potential items.

The meeting was then adjourned.

The next Alburtis Borough Council meeting will be held 7 p.m. May 10 at Alburtis Borough Hall, 260 Franklin St.