Tom Curtin Announces an $860,000 Chester County Grant

Just last week Tom Curtin, Chair of Parkesburg's Progress & Development Committee, learned that the Chester County Department of Community Development had awarded Parkesburg two grants in support of the Westminster Place Project on First Avenue across the street from the Fire Company.

According to Curtin, the grants are for $752,795 for a mixed use building with $111,205 to support the Senior Housing component.

In announcing the award Curtin stated “In addition to the obvious benefit of having a new, environmentally friendly building, this project will create new energy on First Avenue giving a boost businesses, churches and community activities in the downtown area. The grants will allow us to improve the streetscape, replacing sidewalks and street access in the area, finally replacing a former industrial site with a building we’ll all be proud of.”

Westminster Place at Parkesburg, to be located at 320 West First Avenue slows the Borough to continue progress in revitalizing First Avenue. The 51 one bedroom units, and 21 two BR units will provide affordable living for persons 55+ in age who meet the income restrictions. The building will supply 3,100 sq. ft. of new neighborhood commercial space and is within walking distance to shops, services and public transportation.

This represents a total project investment in Parkesburg of 17 million dollars. The County’s $864,000 are provided from two county sources, the Home Trust Program which is supported by HUD and the HTP program which is funded from fees from developers. In addition, there is a $4,600,000 commitment from Presbyterian Homes, Inc., who will own and operate building at completion. Curtin says the project will be completed by 2010.

Minutes of the October 15, 2007 Borough Council Meeting

PARKESBURG BOROUGH COUNCIL

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by President Kenneth Knickerbocker.
The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag by all present.

Council members present were: Kenneth Knickerbocker, Sheri Melton, David Jones,
Willard Marsh, Virginia Miller and Thomas Curtin. Also present were Mayor John Hagan,
Borough Manager, L. James Thomas, Secretary, Wendy A. Keegan, Solicitor John Carnes,
Police Chief, Brian Sheller and Zoning Officer Thomas Lowry.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA: After two minor changes to the agenda, adding a finance
committee report and parking under New Business, a motion to approve the agenda was
made by David Jones and seconded by Thomas Curtin. All in favor.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A motion to approve the minutes of the October 1, 2007,
Regular Meeting was moved by Sheri Melton and seconded by Virginia Miller. All in favor.

TREASURER’S REPORT—Wendy A. Keegan
A complete copy of the September 2007 Treasurer’s Report is on file in the Borough Hall.
A motion to accept the September 2007 Treasurer’s Report was moved by David Jones
and seconded by Thomas Curtin. All in favor.

APPROVAL OF BILLS: A Motion to approve the bills submitted was moved by David
Jones and seconded by Willard Marsh. All in favor.

APPOINTMENT OF COUNCIL MEMBER
• A motion to appoint Nancy Gauthier to fill the vacancy on Borough Council
created by the resignation of Joseph Reilly on September 17, 2007 was
made by Sheri Melton and seconded by Virginia Miller. All in favor.
• Mayor John Hagan swore in Nancy Gauthier as council person to fill the
position created by the resignation of Joseph Reilly.

PUBLIC COMMENTS (Agenda Items Only):
None

PLANNING COMMISSION/SUBDIVISIONS:
• A motion to adopt Resolution No. 2007-37 – A Resolution for Plan Revision
for New Land Development was made by Willard Marsh and seconded by
Nancy Gauthier. All in favor.

FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT—David P. Jones
A copy of the Finance Committee Report is on file in the Borough Hall.
• Christopher Crockett of W. First Avenue asked about the income and
expenses for the police contracts
• Chuck Persch of Rosemont Avenue asked if the contracted municipalities
were paying their share of the police benefits

BOROUGH PRIORITIES—Kenneth Knickerbocker
Mr. Knickerbocker handed out a list of priorities for Borough Council to address in the
coming months. They are as follows:
A Priorities
Police Contract
Police Service Pricing
Zoning Ordinance Update
Storm Water Project
2008 Budget
Rental Ordinance
Selection of and transition to a new engineering firm
Trash to Tax Billing
General Election and Transition to new council
Housing Developments – Quarry Property – 320 Units
Housing Developments – Crystal Springs – 120 Units

B Priorities
Transition Borough Hall to the Fire Company
Police Chief’s Contract
Soundproofing the Great Room
Park Rebuilding
Removing State Street Bridge abutment
Removing East Bridge Street
Renovating West Bridge Street
Street & Sidewalk Plan
Parking ordinance
Acme Plaza
New Library Building
Arms Parking Lot
Train Station Revitalization
School Board Tax Summit
Emergency Management Planning
Housing Developments – West Main Street – 100 Units
Housing Developments – Lindell Village – 40 Units
Housing Developments – Knoll – 80 Units
Housing Developments – HDC – 80 Units

DEPARTMENT REPORTS:
MANAGER’S REPORT—James Thomas
The revisions to the Zoning and Subdivision and Land Development Ordinances are
ongoing;
Bids are out for the storm water grant project;
Phase 2B of Parkesburg Knoll has begun;
The final plan for Crystal Springs has been submitted. The plans include the breach of the
dam and the elimination of the pond;
Leaf collection has begun and yard waste pick-up has been suspended until next spring.

FIRE CHIEF’S REPORT—Richard Klingler, II
A complete copy of the Fire Chief’s Report is on file in the Borough Hall.

POLICE CHIEF’S REPORT—Chief Brian Sheller
A complete copy of the Police Chief’s Report is on file in the Borough Hall. The Citizens
Police Academy will begin in January. Applications will be taken in November.

PUBLIC WORKS REPORT—Thomas Curtin
No Report.

ZONING OFFICER’S REPORT—Thomas Lowry
A complete copy of the Zoning Officer’s Report is on file in the Borough Hall.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT REPORT—David Jones
No report.
MAYOR’S REPORT—John P. Hagan, II
A complete copy of the Mayor’s Report is on file in the Borough Hall.
PABA—Betty Wilde
Mrs. Wilde reported that Grand Sport Auto is donating a Christmas Tree.
SOLICITOR’S REPORT—John S. Carnes, Jr., Esquire
A complete copy of the Solicitor’s Report in on file in the Borough Hall.
ENGINEER’S REPORT—Jeffrey Hunt.
A complete copy of the Engineer’s Report is on file in the Borough Hall.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
• Engineering Update—Council has interviewed 4 engineering firms to handle
the engineering, zoning and code enforcement duties. They have narrowed
the choice down to 2 firms. David Jones suggested to hold off on a decision
until the new member of council can review the information and be included
in the decision making. All agreed.
• Parking Update—Thomas Curtin is working on a Resolution amending the
Parking Ordinance to include restricting the time limit on N. Church Street,
Main Street and West First Avenue. It will be discussed at the next meeting
NEW BUSINESS
• Mr. Knickerbocker requested the priorities be placed on the agenda for next
meeting for committee assignments;
• Virginia Miller asked if Council would consider a Junior Council Member
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
• Ed Murray of N. Church Street commented that the 72 hour parking
ordinance would not be fair to the citizens residing along N. Church Street;
• Phyllis Miller of N. Church Street commented on the poor snow plowing
along N. Church Street; Ms. Miller also stated that the storm drains have
never been cleaned along N. Church Street;
• Chuck Persch of Rosemont Avenue asked if the trash fees would be part of
the tax millage.
COUNCIL COMMENTS:
• David Jones commended Thomas Curtin on his efforts regarding the
revitalization, the parking ordinance and the trash ordinance.
ADJOURNMENT:
With there being no further business, a motion was made by Sheri Melton and seconded
by Nancy Gauthier to adjourn the meeting 9:30 p.m. All in favor.

Respectfully submitted,
Wendy A. Keegan
Borough Secretary

Favorable Coverage in The Daily Local News

Did you see the article in today's Daily Local News?! Thanks to David Jones, Jim Thomas and Wendy Keegan for watching our Borough's bottom line so closely.

Here's the article:

Parkesburg Hopes To End Year With A $350,000 Surplus

By Karen Neuhauser Ruppert

Special to the Local News

PARKESBURG — The Borough will end 2007 with a surplus of about $356,000, according to Council Vice President David Jones, who also chairs the borough’s finance committee.

The surplus is a significant change from the beginning of the fiscal year, which the borough began with a $212,000 deficit. Jones shared the news with council recently at its regular monthly meeting.

Jones commended borough secretary Wendy Keegan and Borough Manager Jim Thomas for keeping spending 14 percent under budget. He also passed out copies of the first draft of the borough’s 2008 budget, which is about $2,000 from being balanced, if Phase II of the park revitalization is not included.

For residents, the news means there will be no tax increase projected for next year.

“We feel borough residents need a break from (tax increases) at least for a year,” Jones said. “They’ve been hit pretty hard for a number of years.”

Jones said council’s focus has been on trying make the borough become more fiscally responsible. He believes the borough should be able to offer more support to the library and fire department in the future, and that it might not be necessary to raise taxes to do so.

One item in the budget still in flux is the police budget. According to Jones, the borough is still negotiating with Honey Brook Township, and it is uncertain whether Honey Brook will renew its contract for police services. Also, the police contract is still being negotiated.

Included in the draft budget is a 4 percent salary increase for the police officers, as well as a 12 percent increase for benefits for the officers. The borough projects that the costs of benefits for its 17 borough employees, which includes administrators, police employees and streets department employees, will be about $521,000 next year.

Another budget item needing to be resolved is the park revitalization.

Phase II, which was to start this year, was postponed due to lack of funding. Although the majority of the $550,000 cost of that portion of the project was to be covered by county funds, there were two parts that could not be resolved in the 2007 budget.

First, the grant stipulated that the borough had to pay $50,000 toward the project. Second, the grants are reimbursements, so the borough would have had to pay the entire amount of the project then wait for reimbursement from the county.

Tom Curtin For Borough Council

Since his appointment at the beginning of 2006, Tom Curtin's leadership of the Progress and Development Committee have resulted in the creation of a LERTA economic incentive program to bring new business construction to Parkesburg.

Now he’s leading a new effort to create a new First and Main Project to revitalize the business district and improve Parkesburg’s appearance on Rt. 10.

His efforts will bring a better balance between the rights of property owners and the public interest.

He created the plan for this past summer’s successful Summer Camp in Minch Park.

His work on Streets Committee has developed the first plan to repair streets and sidewalks systematically in years.

There is much more to do - Curtin’s experience in economic development, urban planning and information technology will help us get there!

Tom's Goals

Make the First and Main project happen. The program he recently outlined to PABA and Borough Council will include street and side walk renewal, facade improvements and rehabilitation, removing irretrievably decayed buildings. The program will focus grant dollars on making the centers of our town cleaner, safer, attractive places where residents can shop, dine and enjoy themselves.

Budget and follow through on an annual infrastructure improvement project, paving a few streets every year so that we don’t waste money on un-ending patching and emergency projects.

Improve rail service and the train station creating a pleasant place to wait and a nice coffee house experience.

Use the LERTA program he wrote in Parkesburg to complete the missing pieces in our revitalization plans.

Tom Curtin is an asset on Borough Council. I hope you'll join me in voting for Tom Curtin on November 6th.

Borough Council Priorities

October 15, 2007

At Monday's Borough Council meeting, I handed out a list of all the projects Borogh Council is currently focused on. The list, which was put together at the urging of Vice-President David Jones, is meant to help council stay focused on its highest priorities.

Here's the list:

A Priorities

• Transition Borough Hall to the Fire Company
  
• Police Contract
• Police Service Pricing
• Zoning Ordinance Update
• Storm Water Project
• 2008 Budget
• Rental Ordinance
• Selection of and transition to a new engineering firm
• Trash to Tax Billing
• General Election and Transition to new council
  
• Housing Developments – Quarry Property – 320 Units
• Housing Developments – Crystal Springs – 120 Units

B Priorities

• Police Chief’s Contract
• Soundproofing the Great Room
• Park Rebuilding
• Removing State Street Bridge abutment
• Removing East Bridge Street
• Renovating West Bridge Street
• Street & Sidewalk Plan
• Parking ordinance
• Acme Plaza
• New Library Building
• Arms Parking Lot
• Train Station Revitalization
• School Board Tax Summit
• Emergency Management Planning
• Housing Developments – West Main Street – 100 Units
• Housing Developments – Lyndell Village – 40 Units
• Housing Developments – Knoll – 80 Units
• Housing Developments – HDC – 80 Units

Check back frequently as the list will be change frequently. For instance just yesterday one item, the transition of the old borough hall to the Fire Company, was moved to the "A" priority column due to a response received from the Fire Company to the proposed Agreement of Sale discussed back in August.

Our next step will be to finalize the list at our next council meeting on November 5th and to assign each project on the list to specific individuals or committees.

If you have a question about an item on the list or want to add an item that seems to be missing, its a great time to pick up the phone and call your favorite council person!

Get involved! Keep Parkesburg moving forward!