At Tuesday night's meeting of Pennsburg Borough Council, Upper Perkiomen School Board Secretary Sandra Kassel presented the council with a crossing guard request at two locations on Montgomery Avenue. One location is at Eleventh Street and Montgomery Avenue and the other near the north entrance of the middle school on Montgomery Ave. Kassel has spoken to Red Hill borough and she thinks they are willing to help if Pennsburg is on board. Upper Hanover Township has not responded to her request, but she will be attending their next meeting.

            The discussion concluded that multiple jurisdictions are involved in the responsibility. Pennsburg officials are very concerned for the safety of students, but would like to see other municipalities assist. Mayor Lightcap intends to reach out to Red Hill and Upper Hanover to solidify cooperation between municipalities. In the meantime, volunteer fire police from Pennsburg, East Greenville, and Red Hill will be asked to temporally assist with safely crossing students.

            As the meeting continued, the floor opened to public comment. Wayne Stevens, a resident on West 8th street said that poor quality fill was used during construction on Eighth Street. Stevens stated that when he mows, rocks and debris are flung everywhere and hit his new truck causing some damage. Stevens wanted to bring the low quality of fill to the Council's attention. President Kirkwood said that the borough will look into it and thanked Stevens for bringing the matter to the Council's attention.

            Fred Shutte expressed his concern and feedback to council regarding the updated residential home business ordinance and how it will impact current and future local small business owners. The ordinance amendment expands the current language of the home-based business ordinance. The borough will advertise the updated ordinance for resident review for the October 1 Council meeting.

            Linda Shagg of Pennsburg commented that monies generated from Community Day should be allocated to a local non-profit such as OpenLink instead of putting into the generated funds toward borough budget.

            In other news, the rehab of the Upper perk Police Department is underway. Back in July, during a severe storm, the building sustained damage from flooding and sewage backup. Patrick Suter publically thanked the police department for stepping up and assisting the borough in eliminating any unnecessary costs during the rehab.

            The council and police department have been mindful of tax payer money and are committed to being efficient and economical about the restoration and remediation. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $57,000.

            The Upper Montgomery Joint Authority's (UMJA) insurance company denied the claim submitted to pay for sewer line repair. The borough's insurance has obliged their claim.  Pennsburg officials will draft a formal letter to send to the UMJA board explaining the sewage backflow damage in order to receive funding for the repair.

            The borough discussed hiring two animal control officers. Police Chief Joe Adams interviewed John and Tracy Daywalt of Pottstown. They are licensed animal control officers that come highly recommended. Their proposal includes a $1,500 yearly fee of unlimited service.

            They will address issues with domesticated animals and only intervene with nuisance wildlife if a local game warden is unable to respond. They are also willing to educate the public at community events. The couple serves 10 municipalities. Solicitor Garner and Chief Adams will go over the proposal submitted by the Dewalts and negotiate for a future contract. In the meantime, the borough is in need of animal control officers and the council decided to approve the Daywalts for last quarter at a cost of $375.00.

            At the onset of Tuesday night's meeting, Upper Perk Police Officer Matthew Boaman was promoted to the rank of sergeant and sworn in by Mayor Vickie Lightcap.  It was noted that Officer Boaman performed exceptionally well on his oral and written exams.

            Chief Adams presented his monthly incident report showing the police department responded to 398 calls of service for the month of August. Bring the total to 3,349 for 2019 year to date. There were 8 reportable accidents, 2 non-reportable accidents, 1 non-traffic citation, 19 traffic details, 10 vehicle investigations, 3 warnings, 1 parking ticket issued, 166 public service/security checks and 7 alarms calls.

            The council will be scheduling budget meetings for the months of October and September. Residents are encouraged to attend all meetings scheduled by the Pennsburg borough.

            The Council held a brief executive session concerning personnel matters. No decisions were made.