Resident pleads for police help on Cherry Street

            With the changeover in trash collection occurring next month, East Greenville Council spent some time discussing aspects of the transition at its meeting on Monday night.

            In January, Whitetail Disposal will begin collecting the borough's trash and recycling using toters. Member Melissa Leinbach announced that the borough is out of trash bags and that some of the toters have been delivered to the borough.

            The toters, 96 gallons each for trash and recycling, will be distributed to residents between Dec. 27 and Dec. 30.

            Trash day in the borough will also move to Wednesday each week starting on Jan. 5, and the borough will no longer distribute bulk stickers. Arrangements for the pick-up of large items will be made directly with Whitetail.

            Borough officials are urging residents to read the requirements for trash collection and recycling, including the proper placement of totes, on the East Greenville and/or Whitetail websites.

            The new method of collection necessitated an amendment to the ordinance covering garbage and recycling collection.

            The council also unanimously   passed the 2022 budget and a real estate tax hike to a millage rate of 6.75, up from the 6.25 rate that has been in effect since 2017. The members also approved a bid of $7,375 by Gillespie Electric to wire the police garage.

            A resident of Cherry Street asked council to increase the overnight police presence in that neighborhood citing car break-ins and vandalism.

            "Cops know about the stuff that goes on up at 2nd and Cherry, but nothing's being done about that," said the resident, implying that drugs are being sold out of a couple of houses in the area.

            The resident said that state police response times are inadequate to address the problem and implored the East Greenville police to establish more of a presence.

            "I'm going to do whatever I got to do to protect my home, but I don't want to take it to that extent," said the resident.

            "We have more police coverage now than we did before," council President Angie Fegely said. "The chief is the one who actually does the scheduling based off of what is going on within the community."

            Fegely added that a concerted effort is being made to have two officers on duty at the same time based on what is going on in the United States in general and locally.

            "We've had a couple of instances right here in East Greenville where we needed to have two or it would have gotten ugly," she said.

            Fegely promised to take the resident's concerns under consideration.

            Jim Fry – the borough's administrative manager and code enforcement officer – put to rest, at least temporarily, a rumor that the Upper Perkiomen Community Church, located at 258 Main St., has requested the elimination of the five-minute parking restriction in front of its building.

            The proposal would negatively impact theater goers being dropped off at the Grand Theater and pick-up orders at Java and Friends.

            Andy Grossman, the owner of Java and Friends, pointed out that his establishment has evolved into a mostly take-out business with the restrictions caused by COVID-19.  "The hindrance that taking those parking spots away would cause for our business would probably cause us to rethink our business."

            Fry acknowledged that he has had informal conversations with a resident about potential changes, but no formal proposal has ever been made. Fegely labeled the notion "hearsay."

            Before the regular meeting, council held a 50-minute executive session to discuss personnel and legal matters.

            The next council meeting is scheduled for Jan. 3.