At the end of the June 10 Bath Borough Council meeting, James Kratz, borough solicitor, announced his departure from serving the borough as soon as council can nominate and select a replacement. Kratz spent more than 20 years serving Bath but said he wants to spend more time with his two children.

“I enjoyed very much working with Bath,” Kratz said.

Kratz said he was impressed with council actions over the years, such as when it coordinated the purchase and renovation of the new borough hall and the aggressive road plan that was completed.

Kratz then addressed the Right to Know requests largely submitted by one resident, which have reportedly plagued council and the taxpayers in excess of a year. Kratz asked Bath resident Michael Long, who was present at the meeting, to reflect on his aberrant behavior of submitting reportedly frivolous Right to Know requests, which have cost borough taxpayers thousands of dollars.

Council debated the feasibility of finding the money to purchase a dump truck for the public works department. After a long discussion, council approved the purchase of a 10-ton Mack truck at a cost of $277,180.

The borough received grant funding of $189,970 for the truck. The shortfall for the truck was about $87,000. The roll call vote was 6-0-1 to buy the truck. Council decided to use the borough’s liquid fuel funds account to fill the $87,000 funding gap.

The personnel, finance and administration committee requested all council members leading borough committees submit their 2025 budget requests as soon as possible, so the 2025 draft budget can be completed.

The environmental steering committee reported it has agreed to rename the committee to the environmental advisory committee. Council approved the name change.

The parks and recreation committee reported there may be a $1,600 surplus in the 2024 budget for each of the parks.

The community and economic development committee said Old Home Weekend is coming up in August, and three live bands and a movie are planned.

Bath Mayor Fiorella Reginelli Mirabito said the all terrain vehicle issue was relayed to the Pennsylvania State Police. She noted that when the illegal ATV riders are caught, they will be cited.

She implored residents to call the PSP non-urgent number if they see anyone driving an ATV on a street or in fields.

Council approved a motion to publicly advertise a MS4 committee meeting, which was to be held June 24 in the gymnasium at George Wolf Elementary School. The purpose of the meeting was to update and solicit public comment about the borough’s MS4 program and the financial impact of the state-mandated program.

Resolution 2024-006 was approved, adding public works employees as parking code officials.

All resolutions and ordinances can be viewed on the borough website.

Bath Borough Fire Department’s report detailed 35 fire calls for May and 142 total calls for the year so far.

A plan was mentioned to fix the borough clock at Monocacy Park. One council member balked at the price to fix the clock. Another joked the clock is currently accurate twice a day. The mayor said it needs to be fixed as “the office gets about 53 calls a week” by residents saying the clock’s time is incorrect. The clock is expected to be fixed in the near future.

The next borough council meeting is set for 6 p.m. July 18 at borough hall, 121 S. Walnut St.