Two months after a Montgomery County Common Pleas Court judge ruled in favor of East Greenville in a police dispute with Pennsburg, the borough has yet to receive its restitution. On Monday, East Greenville council took action to make sure it gets paid.

            The members voted unanimously to direct Solicitor Michael Peters to begin the process of enforcing the judgment. Peters said he hoped it would not be necessary.

            "I would prefer to work this out amicably," the solicitor said after the meeting.

            On May 18, Judge Jeffrey S. Saltz ordered Pennsburg Borough to pay East Greenville $83,553.75 in restitution for the equipment it kept following the dissolution of the Upper Perk Police Department. In a three-page decision, he ruled that Pennsburg's decision to keep the equipment for its police department constituted a breach of the parties' agreement.

            During the meeting, Peters told the members he would do his best to avoid potential legal expenses for the borough. He said his first move will be to send a letter to Pennsburg as a courtesy.

            After the meeting, the solicitor explained that he could ask the court to force Pennsburg to pay his municipality if it otherwise refuses. He said the judge did not set a deadline for Pennsburg to make the payment.

            The awarded total accounts for 45 percent of the value of the equipment retained by Pennsburg following the July 1, 2017 dissolution of the Upper Perk Police District, according to Saltz's decision. It states that the dissolution agreement provides two alternative courses of action: either a sale of assets (presumably with distribution of the proceeds) or a distribution of the equipment and other assets in kind.

            "Contrary to this requirement, Pennsburg simply retained the equipment for itself," Saltz wrote on page three of the decision.

            Representatives of Pennsburg have not made plans to send East Greenville the funds, according to council President Diane Stevens. During a series of text messages following Tuesday's council meeting, she explained that its members will need to discuss how to proceed.

            Pennsburg Council – which filed the civil case six years ago against the neighboring municipality – did not appeal the decision based on the advice of its solicitor, according to Stevens. She wrote in a text message that the money would be paid out of borough funds.

            "It's not budgeted," Stevens wrote two months ago in a message.

            After Monday's meeting, Peters said it was extraordinary that the issue was ruled on by a judge. He said most disputes between municipalities are settled before they get to trial.

            In other news, Mayor Stephen Wescott introduced the East Greenville Borough Police Department's newest officer to council. Michael Altomare, a part-time officer, previously worked for the Marlborough Township Police Department.

            Altomare, 34, from Telford, is a graduate of Temple University and the Montgomery County Police Academy. He thanked the members for the "honor and privilege of working in East Greenville."

            President Angie Fegely was absent. Vice President John Dingler ran the meeting that lasted 71 minutes.

            In June, the municipality's police department responded to 93 incidents. Traffic accounted for most of those incidents at 23. It also includes 14 for public service, six assists and three thefts, according to information collected by Chief Randy Morris.  They include two incidents each of parking and animals, as well as one each for an accident, narcotics and vandalism. The document, posted on a bulletin board outside the meeting room at the borough office identifies 40 incidents as "other."