Council to Consider Waiving Permit Fees to Broad St. Residents

There was much ado about sidewalks at Emmaus Borough Council’s regular meeting Monday night.

First, an agenda item pointed to the possibility of the Borough waving permit fees for curbing and sidewalk installation to the Broad Street residents affected by the improvement project there.

Second, at issue was raising the fines the Borough charges residents for failing to shovel snow from their sidewalks.

Last Friday, Feb. 18, the Borough opened bids for the Broad Street project that calls for utility replacement, road base rebuilding, street resurfacing, median construction, street lighting, and curbing and sidewalk replacement as necessary.

Typically, residents must pay for sidewalk and curbing improvements to their properties, and in order to get that work done, homeowners must also get a permit.

Council Member Brent Labenberg said that Borough Manager Craig Neely and Public Works Director Jeff Clapper suggested that the Borough might waive those fees for this project.

The Broad Street project had some residents complaining about the burden of paying for new sidewalks in a project that was essentially thrust upon them by the Borough. Labenberg thought the idea of waiving the fees might have come up because the project is emotionally charged for some residents and that perhaps waiving the fee would be a kind gesture by the Borough.

The fees amount to $.50 a linear foot plus 10 percent of that total as an administrative fee.

Labenberg, however, said he is against waiving the fees.

“If I moved into a house and the sidewalks needed replacement, I’d have to pay the fees like everyone else,” he said.

He said the homeowners are going to benefit from the improvement project and for that reason he didn’t see the need to make exceptions.

Council Member Michael Waddell, chair of the General Administration Committee, said he is open to discussion about it, but is afraid waiving the fees might set an unwelcome precedent.

“What would happen with the next project ... they could say, well you waived the fees for Broad Street, why not here?”

Waddel, Labenberg and Council Member Wesley Barrett will discuss the options Wednesday morning during their General Administration Committee meeting. A decision about waiving the fees or not will be made at the March 7 Council Meeting.

And it's still not too late to be thinking of snow. James Farnsworth, the Borough’s Code Enforcement Officer, sent a letter to council members urging them to raise the fees assessed residents for violating the Borough’s snow removal ordinance.

The current fines, according to the ordinance, are $25 for the first offense, $50 for the second and $100 for the third. In his letter, read aloud by Council President Lee Ann Gilbert Farnsworth recommended raising the fees considerably, to as much as $150 for the first offense.

The information presented suggested that $25 doesn’t come close to covering the cost of having a code enforcement officer issue the citation in the first place.

Gilbert referred the matter to her committee, Public Safety, which will discuss the matter at its March 10 meeting.

In other business, Gilbert is inviting Police Chief David Faust to the next Budget and Finance Committee meeting to continue discussion of part-time officer wages

At a council meeting Jan. 3, it was figured that Emmaus Police Officer William Bryfogle, Jr. earned about 25 cents during the minute 10 bullets were fired at him that morning of the KNBT Bank robbery on Dec. 30.

Council wanted to look into increasing the pay to part-time officers, and at its Jan. 17 meeting postponed further discussion because it was determined that Borough part-time officers already make competitive wages, compared to other municipaities in the area. But the subject is still alive.

The Budget and Finance Committee will meet March 7, before the regular council meeting, to discuss the issue with Chief Faust.