Volunteer Fire Company, Kid’s Safety Top Brookville Borough Council Meeting

BROOKVILLE, Pa. (EYT) — There were a number of things discussed at Tuesday night’s Brookville Borough Council meeting, but the volunteer fire company and children’s safety topped the list.

Public Safety Committee chair Steve Hoak spoke at length about the fire company.

“Paying firefighters is not a dead issue,” Hoak said. “We continue to discuss it. Stay tuned.”

“We are still responding to calls, and we haven’t missed a call. Dwindling firefighter numbers aren’t just an issue here, our congressmen are talking about it, too.”

Council member Dave Ferringer said he would like to see the council meet with the firefighters, if it is possible.

“It’d be nice to meet and see how our coverage is, the inner workings of it all, a question and answer if you will,” Ferringer said.

Hoak said he would work to set up some meetings.

Bill Kutz, council president pro-tem, suggested a consolidation of fire companies.

“Given the fact we have low numbers in our company, I think it’s good to talk about merging with Pine Creek. They’re only a mile away,” Kutz said.

“I’m not saying a merger would be a bad thing, and we’ve talked about it, but it would be a great deal of work to do it,” Hoak said.

On another subject, Brookville Police Chief Jason Brown talked about speeders on Madison Street.

“We have some residents there who are concerned with how some people are driving there,” Brown said. “They’ve put up hand-made signs. When I went down there, I saw a number of very young kids, five and under, who live and play there.”

Council directed Director of Public Works Dave Vallosio to get and set up “Child at Play” signs in the affected area, between Pickering and Franklin streets, on Madison.

Also, Borough Manager Dana Shick brought up the idea of reducing the twice-monthly meetings to one.

“We’ve been discussing this quite a bit lately,” borough president John Blazosky said. “We started meeting twice a month back in 1996 – because of all the problems with the flooding.”

Council member Karen Allgeier asked whether the inordinate amount of bills that were paid at each meeting would present an issue.

But, after much discussion, council voted to have Shick pay the reoccurring bills without council’s okay.

Blazosky said council would continue to look into reducing its meetings to once a month.

Also, Herb Landes of the Jefferson County Conservation District addressed the council that the district had received a $3,000.00 grant from the Pa. Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to educate students about how to prevent water pollution by non-point sources and that camps would be held at Walter Dick Park in the borough.

On Tuesday, August 16, a watershed camp will be held for students in grades 1 through 5 for about 25 students.

Then, in October, watershed educational signs will be placed in the park. Landes said next May, a watershed camp for about 30 students in grades 9 through 12 will be held. They will study factors that impact the North Fork watershed.

Landes thanked the council for their sponsorship of the grant.

Also, Longview Park will be the site of two special events in July.

Art in the Park, set for June 11, was rained out. It will be held on July 30.

Zion Church will hold Church in the Park on July 24.