Tyrone Borough Council held meetings on Monday, May 7 and Monday, May 14. There were a number of items discussed at both meetings.
The May 7 meeting was called to order at 7:10 p.m. All council members were present for this meeting except for Council Member Don Boytim.
One of the items addressed at this meeting was to accept the resignation of part time police officer Andrew Crist. Officer Crist has accepted a full time position with the City of Altoona.
Due to the untimely passing of Emergency Management Director James Beckwith, the Borough Fire Committee recently held a meeting and interviewed for the position. The Fire Committee recommended Jeffrey (JR) Watson for this position and Borough Council approved hiring Watson as the new Emergency Management Director.
A representative from GAMESA was present to advise Council of the wind farm studies that have been going on for the past several months. It was reported to Council that the testing is still ongoing, but the testing to date shows that this area is a viable location for windmills. GAMESA would like to install 12-15 windmills on the Borough property on Ice Mountain. There will be a meeting of public input on this issue in the future. GAMESA would like to begin discussions regarding a lease with the Borough. Council requested that Borough Staff and the Borough Solicitor begin reviewing this.
Council Members approved that Council grant use of Reservoir Park for the Tyrone Regional Arts Council’s summer concert series that will run every Sunday at 6 p.m. from July 8 to August 26.
Council approved the sale of the police car they are replacing. One bid was received from Grace Quality Used Cars at a bid amount of $2,828.
It was also reported that Borough Staff has met with Tyrone Elementary School officials regarding the YMCA summer program and the use of the Tyrone Community Pool.
The May 14 meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. All Council Members were present.
Council heard from Logan Harper, a Boy Scout completing an Eagle Scout project in Soldiers Park. He will be installing an additional bench and a picnic table in the park. Harper asked if the Borough will need to be present for the construction of the project. Borough Manager Sharon Dannaway said she will arrange everything with the highway department. Harper also asked if he could paint the existing benches to match and Council Members granted him permission to do so. Council also stated that they appreciate what he is doing.
In 2005, Leadership Blair County chose to replace and landscape the Tyrone Rail Stop. This group requested to come back and refurbish their project. Council approved Leadership Blair County to come back on May 23 to work on this project.
Borough Council opened bids on May 3 for a number of items. The Borough granted bids for all Sewer Plant Materials, Water Plant Materials, Transportation of Ash, Lime, and Bituminous Patching Material. They have decided to look at bids for stone further and award the bids for this at the June 4 meeting.
Borough Manager Sharon Dannaway explained to Council that the Borough is in need of a new email/web/file server for their computers. She said that the current server is past its prime and no more spare parts are available. She stated that if the server goes down one more time, the Borough will be facing a two or three week time frame without internet. Finance Director Phyllis Garhart said this is used on a weekly basis to file payroll information with the state. It is not in the original budget, but they can take some funds they have for the building to pay for it.
Council members asked if the server could be placed on a replacement schedule so the Borough could budget for it every four or five years. Garhart said that it was brought up to Borough Council before, but could not get a consensus of Council to do this. Council member Jen Bryan requested that the replacement of the server be placed on a replacement schedule and Council agreed. Council approved the purchase of a new email server, with all Council Members voting in favor except for Council Members Don Boytim and Steve Hanzir.
The list of proposed streets that the highway department presented to Council was reviewed. A few council members requested that some others also be considered since there is extra funds to do so. Council agreed to wait until their next meeting to approve this.
