The Borough of Alburtis convened for its regular meeting Nov. 29. Present at the meeting were President Ron DeIaco, Vice President Steven Hill, Second Vice President Hector Moss, John Aleszczyk, Mehmet Birtek, Chad Atkins and Ashlyn Rivera.

Mayor Kathleen Palmer reported the Alburtis Area Community Center is requesting people not park in the lot for over 24 hours. If so, the vehicles will be towed.

Council then approved the minutes of the previous meeting held Nov. 8 and reviewed and discussed the bills for payment due Nov. 29. Aleszcyk expressed his distress on the engineering costs. Ultimately, the bills were approved. The fiscal consultant’s report was approved as well.

The Macungie Ambulance report showed nine calls from Alburtis in October. To start the administration portion of the meeting, Lehigh County Authority Representative Liesel Gross delivered a presentation on the problematic situation with the Kline’s Island Sewer System. This system serves the borough, as well as many other municipalities within the Lehigh Valley.

The reason for this presentation is LCA is visiting officials in 15 municipalities in Lehigh County to discuss the future of sewer service in the region.

Per the LCA’s news release, “These municipalities are interconnected through a decades-old network of nearly 1,000 miles of underground pipes that send the communities’ wastewater to the Kline’s Island Wastewater Treatment Plant in Allentown.

“... Since 2007, federal and state regulators have been coordinating with the municipalities to develop solutions for the region’s aging sewer infrastructure and dwindling system capacity that is needed to support economic growth.

“This lengthy planning process may be coming to a conclusion soon and LCA is facilitating conversations with all municipalities about the projects needed to address these system challenges. At its core, the plan will be focused on alleviating sanitary sewer overflows that occur during rain events and ensuring that both current and future citizens have access to reliable sewer service for the foreseeable future.”

Gross highlighted current cost estimates to address the sewer system issues is approximately $600 million over the next decade. They have been working on sewer planning since 2007. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection made it clear that addressing these issues is no longer optional.

Next, council approved the meeting schedule for the upcoming year. There will be no change from previous years. Council meetings will continue to occur on the second and last Wednesday of each month.

Council passed Resolution No. 2023-17, appointing an independent auditor. Christopher S. Basile, CPA, was named the auditor for the borough for the fiscal year 2024.

The meeting was then adjourned. The next meeting will be held 7 p.m. Dec. 13 at Alburtis Borough Hall, 260 Franklin St.