Boro council discusses new police officer, volunteer FD and draining Edinboro Lake levels

The most recent meeting of the Borough of Edinboro council took place on Monday, from 6:30 to 7 p.m., in the borough building.

After approval of minutes from the Sept. 9 meeting, discussion moved to old business, starting with committee reports. Mary Ann Horne, finance committee, made a motion to authorize approval of bills paid Sept. 23 and Oct. 14, totaling over $164,000 and over $200,000.

Horne’s second approval authorization was for payroll paid on Sept. 13, totaling over $76,000; Sept. 27, over $72,000; and Oct. 11, over $76,000.
She also briefly mentioned an objective for an ongoing fundraising endeavor concerning the Edinboro Volunteer Fire Department.

Council member Fred Langill feels that there should be a task group focused on fire department needs such as emergency management and personnel, which would “include Edinboro, EUP, Washington Township and General McLane School District.”

Langill also mentioned that the number of volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania has dropped 85 percent, down to nearly 38,000 from where it was at over 300,000 in the 1970s.

Jumping ahead to management reports, a social media seminar took place on Monday, Oct. 7 with about 25 in attendance. They’re hoping to release condensed materials by Epic Web Studios from the presentation to local businesses who couldn’t attend. It had overall positive results.
In addition, no major issues were reported from the recent community party over homecoming weekend.

The Edinboro Police Department is currently hiring, and they have moved from 23 candidates down to eight. Final announcement of hiring will take place during the week of Oct. 21.

Pieces of work from Edinboro University’s Art 100 celebration are still on display in the council building, yet select sculptures were removed due to risk concerns. The council hopes to show more artwork from local students, ranging from college to high school, in the future.

Plans for Edinboro Lake include draining the water levels to remove silt from the storm water system. The authorization for this service expired in August, though the opportunity for the service was extended to before winter so that lake levels can rise again.

An attendee from the West Erie County Emergency Management Agency presented the council with new measures and operations, including looking over each municipality and updating the emergency plan, which will be examined and discussed at a later date.

Following this, an agreement was made to combine 116 and 188 Hickory St. due to a recommendation by the Planning Commission.

County aid was approved along with Resolution 19-2019, which involves the 2019 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application.

The final topic of discussion was a rule prohibiting smoking on playgrounds through a program called Young Lives at Play, with the goal for a penalty and further discussion in mind.

Edinboro University President Dr. Guiyou Huang was also in attendance for his first time at one of their meetings.

“I just wanted to know what is going on at the council meeting and what it is like. I know some people already, and also to get to know the other members of the council (was a goal),” said Huang, who appreciates the efficiency and atmosphere among them.

The next meeting will take place on Oct. 28, if needed, with the following one on Nov. 11.

RELATED ARTICLES