Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

Bellwood Borough Council conjured Monday evening for its monthly meeting. Prior to the meeting, council held a public hearing on the Conrad property located at 802 North Cambria St.
The public hearing was held to address whether or not the property, owned by Harold and Veronica Conrad, should be red tagged due to unsafe structural issues.
“Basically, the property was identified as being unsafe,” said council member Patty Krier. “We expected two-fifths of the building was going to fall down, so we conducted an inspection with an engineer.”
The engineer who conducted the inspection was Paul McQuaid of Morris Knowles & Associates, Inc.
Krier continued, “He identified all the problem areas of the building and we (the borough) called a red tag hearing on it. We identified it as a building we should red tag and notified the owner that it needs to be demolished.”
The building can’t be structurally corrected and still be appropriate according to borough council. The Conrad’s have agreed to tear down the property within 10 days.
Borough council also addressed an issue concerning a street light located on North 9th Street and Logan Street. The borough found that the light is in Antis Township, but the borough has been paying the bill.
Council member Tom Lechner said the borough line runs on the east side of the street, but the light is on the west side.
“I got the pole number and checked with Wayne Fox from Penelec, and according to the pole number the light is in the township and the borough is paying for it,” said Lechner.
Lechner also stated that in the same area there are three other lights that could possibly fall in the same situation. One light is located on 1st Street, one is on 5th Street and the other light is on 6th Street, which all runs along West Logan and on the township’s side.
“Those three, Fox hasn’t got back to us on yet so we don’t know for sure who’s paying the bill on those,” said Lechner. “But, we are almost positive the borough’s paying the bill on those also.”
Borough council plans on notifying the township on the issue because it doesn’t want to have hard feelings between Antis Township and the people of the township. Council will let the township know the light on North 9th Street and Logan Street is paid by the borough and take action from there.
“We’ll let the township come back to us and see what they want to do with it also,” Lechner noted. “We won’t take action on any of the lights until we know for sure where those other three are at.”
Council members also approved the bid for a new 2003 pick up truck to replace the 1985 Chevy dump truck from the Piggyback Program to be paid for out of the Equipment Fund.
The new 2003 Ford Super Duty F-350 SRW truck will cost the borough $24,551.75, but according to Bellwood Borough Council President Wayne Snare the new truck is greatly needed.
“The old truck is rusted out because of salt,” said Snare. “It’s an ‘85 and we got our years out of it – it’s done its job.”
The borough is also buying a new salter at the price of $399.99. It is a 55-gallon Truck Mount Spreader, by which council decided it was appropriate to purchase it for benefiting the community and its roadways.
Council also motioned to release the 2002 funds of $6,500 to the Bellwood-Antis Public Library. In related business, council issued a $500 increase to the library for 2003. Library representative Hazel Bilka approached council for the increase by which was granted. The library will receive $7000 in 2003.
“I think it’s definitely worth it,” said council person Krier. “The library’s a great asset to the community and it provides a lot of services for all of our citizens. I definitely think we should fund them as much as we possibly can.”
In other business:
• Council adopted the 2003 General Fund Budget in the amount of $402,832. Council also modified the 2002 General Fund Budget from the 2003 budget worksheet.
• Council released funds in the amount of $500 to the Clubsmen Association for the Children’s Christmas party and the Halloween Parade.
• Motion was passed to set the council meetings for 2003 to be held on the first Monday of every month, except September (due to Labor Day) when the meeting will be held on the first Tuesday. The time will be set at 6:30 p.m.
• Motion was tabled until next month to release the 2002 funds of 1.5 mill to The Volunteer Fire Company ($7218).
• Council passed the transfer $4000 into the Police Car Fund.
The Daily Herald will continue coverage of last evening’s Bellwood Borough Council meeting Wednesday, Dec. 4. The Workers Compensation renewal and Ordinance No. 456 setting the tax millage rate for the year 2003 will be some of the issues addressed in Wednesday’s paper.

By Rick