During the April 15 Catasauqua Borough Council meeting, council members approved a resolution amending the borough’s schedule of fees.

Changes include increasing the building and zoning permit application fee and the health inspection license fee; establishing residential and commercial building permits and inspection fees; setting the fees for residents utilizing the trap, neuter, release program; removing sections related to the municipal pool fees; and reworking the section on renting tennis courts.

Additionally, council approved the advertisement of the amended ordinances related to the police chief and to remove him from the Civil Service Commission. According to Solicitor Charles Smith, these amendments will update language to get rid of ambiguity in the ordinance. He noted it is important to keep these ordinances clear.

The engineering representative reported the second round of bids came in for the inflow and infiltration project. The project originally went out for bid earlier in the year. The only bid received exceeded the $250,581 grant funds the borough received for the project. Council voted to reject the offer and rebid the project, with some adjustments, during the Feb. 19 meeting.

This time, the project received four bids, but they all continued to exceed the grant. It was noted the lowest bid was from the sole bidder in the previous round. However, the amount was higher than before. When asked about the increase, the bidders cited safety concerns with the current Race Street construction project. The recommendation from the engineering team was to reject the bids again and adjust the scope of the project to avoid Race Street.

Council approved the rejection of the bids.

It was also noted the wastewater treatment plant project is expected to open for bids soon. An update is expected at the next meeting.

Councilman Gene Schlegel reported he has pictures of damage he noticed on the Race Street bridge, reportedly from trucks hitting a corner area. He said he will send them to the engineers to investigate.

Borough Manager Glenn Eckhart also mentioned work will be starting shortly to fix the sinkhole that opened earlier in the month on Walnut Street.

Councilwoman Kim Brubaker asked the engineering representative about the possibility of adding a bike lane to Front Street since they are looking to rework a section of the street.

Council President Howard Cunningham reported proposals are due by June 10 for the Iron Works project. Identification of the preferred developer is expected by July 3. He noted borough staff, the engineer and project team are working on preliminary design and environmental clearance procedures, as required by the Multimodal Transportation Fund grant the borough received for work along Front Street in the area of the Iron Works site.

Council members voted to adopt the River Central Multi-Municipal Comprehensive Plan.

“This saves us money,” Eckhart said, while detailing the overall affect of approving the intergovernmental cooperative agreement.

In response to a question by Councilwoman Jill Smerdon, Councilwoman Tara Nicholas reported this agreement will not affect any of the work being done at the Iron Works site.

Nicholas also noted there are still vacancies on the zoning hearing board and the planning commission.

Jason Kern, president of George Taylor House Association, presented the group’s 2023 financial report to council. He also reported the association members finished redoing the exterior of the summer kitchen during 2023. They plan to work on the interior during 2024. The organization is also looking ahead to 2026 and the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Kern noted he is interested in working with council and the engineer to identify and apply for grant funding.

Resident Sean O’Boyle revisited the issue of creating a school zone to help protect students from speeding vehicles. O’Boyle has been working on this issue for a while now and reached out to numerous entities including Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Catasauqua Police Department, borough council and Catasauqua Area School District Board of Education.

Previously, council reported they had applied for a grant to create the school zone. O’Boyle asked council April 15 for an update.

According to Eckhart, the application was denied. He noted they can reapply and would discuss any next steps with borough Engineer Vanessa Nedrick.

Another resident approached council to ask for clarification about police overtime numbers. He noted there were some numbers he found suspicious in a report. It was explained to him that different officers have different rates of pay. Additionally, some overtime rates are time-and-a-half and some are double time. Eckhart said he would look into the report to make sure the numbers being reported are accurate.

The next Catasauqua Borough Council meeting is set for 7 p.m. May 20 at the municipal complex, 90 Bridge St.