An Alburtis Borough Council meeting was held Oct. 11 at the Alburtis Area Community Center with a large audience in attendance. This was due to the town hall discussion on the Bicentennial Village Project.

State Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-16th, was in attendance to visit the borough and introduce himself to council and residents. He is a Breinigsville native. Coleman touched on an ongoing investigation involving the state government and the unlawful sharing of Pennsylvania resident information.

The meeting then began with a call to order.

The Alburtis police report showed 152 incidents for September. There were 81 reported truck stops, which is the highest amount for the year. Councilman Steven Hill commented, “People are complaining about truck stops. But I want to highlight the amount of stops this past month. The police are doing a good job.”

Dating back to the previous meeting, the bills for payment totaled $76,666.46.

The treasurer and engineer reports were approved without discussion. The meeting then moved to public comments. There were no comments in this portion of the meeting.

The meeting then moved to administration.

First, was the Bicentennial Village bid award. This was the reason the meeting was moved to the AACC. The bid highlighted was Construction Masters Services, LLC.

The total grant awarded for this project is $1,452,254.

The base bid, which includes only Lockridge Lane and East Second Street, amounts to $1,148,318.90. However, there are allowances totaling $246,883.18, which brings the total expenditures to $1,395,202.08.

Councilman John Aleszczyk pointed out there are also unaccounted engineering fees.

The alternate bid includes Roberts Street; however, this would come at an additional cost of $449,353.10. It was pointed out by Councilman Hector Moss that Borough Manager Stephen Nemeth is actively searching for more grants.

The council was very split on the project with some wanting to push forward with the improvements and some fearful of rising costs for the project or an increase in taxes.

After a split vote of 3-3 and an abstention, Mayor Palmer voted yes for the project, approving the Bicentennial base bid. It was then voted 5-2 in approval of Construction Masters Services.

The estimated start of the project is Spring 2024.

In other meeting news, Ordinance 582 was read and approved.

This amends the Borough of Alburtis Nonuniformed Employees Pension Plan by revising that a new full-time nonuniformed employee, who meets all other plan requirements, will now be eligible to receive his/her first employer contribution to the plan based on his/her compensation for the entire first calendar year after the year in which he/she commenced services rather than the second calendar year after the year in which he/she commenced services.

Beth Kuhns, the treasurer from the AACC, requested additional road closures for the Halloween Parade taking place Oct. 28. The additional road closure will be Third Street from Main Street to Walnut Street starting 4 p.m.

The meeting was then adjourned. The next meeting will take place 7 p.m. Oct. 25. The meeting will be held at Alburtis Borough Hall, 260 Franklin St.