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Votes at a glance: Emmaus council approves appointments, payroll/bill list, policy and personnel actions
Summary
Emmaus Borough Council approved appointments, commission reappointments, an updated parks rental policy, the January bill list and several personnel actions at its Jan. 6 meeting.
Emmaus Borough Council recorded the following formal actions during its Jan. 6, 2025 meeting. Where the transcript recorded movers or seconders, that is noted; the meeting used voice voting for several items and recorded results as "ayes" in the assembled record.
Votes at a glance
- Appointment of Christopher (Chris) Dufresne to vacant borough council seat: motion by Councilman Limburg; second by Councilor Watt; adopted by voice vote. Dufresne was sworn in the same meeting.
- Reappointment/appointments to boards and commissions: motioned and approved (motion by Councilman Limburg; second by Mr. Anders in at least one case). Specific confirmed appointments in the meeting record included: Vince Transgutch to the Veil Service Commission (term to Jan. 1, 2031) and Chris Thompson reappointed to the Community Garden Commission (term expiring Jan. 1, 2028). Other new applications (for Recreation & Entertainment and Arts Commission) were referred to committee for review.
- Resolution 2025-1 (appointment of officials for terms expiring Jan. 5, 2026): Council approved a list of designated borough officials including department heads, solicitor, engineers, pension consultant and other officials. Motion to approve by Councilor Brown; second by Councilman Lisonbee; result recorded as 7 ayes.
- Parks, Recreation Facilities Use and Rental policy (updated): Motion to adopt moved by Councilman Anders; seconded by Councilor Brown; policy adopted by voice vote. The policy establishes refundable deposits and enforcement provisions and will be implemented by parks staff, with council noting refunds/timeframes may be revisited.
- Resolution 2025-2 (bill list): Council approved the bill list and payroll totals presented at the meeting. Motion by Councilman Ladenburg; second by Councilor Watt; result recorded as 7 ayes. The bill list shown in the packet totaled $432,832.51; payroll and payroll taxes were also included for a combined total presented to council in the meeting packet.
- Personnel actions reported/approved: Borough manager announced hiring of Michael DuProw as a part-time firefighter, termination of an EMS employee (Aaron Wertz) and promotion of Jermaine Hassett to a public works group leader role; a separate motion approved retaining full-time employee CJ Wesh following successful probation (motion by Councilman Ladenburg; second by Councilman Anders; result recorded as 7 ayes). Chief Jason Apgar's entry into a deferred-retirement option program (DROP) was acknowledged and described; the chief remains employed under the program and must retire by a deadline noted in the personnel discussion.
Why it matters: The votes finalize leadership and administrative appointments for the borough, implement a parks policy affecting rentals and events, and dispose of routine financial business for January. Several of the items affect upcoming budgets, staffing and committee assignments.
A note on procedure: Many votes in the transcript were taken by voice and recorded as "ayes"; the transcript does not include a full roll-call tally for each motion. Where vote counts were summarized in the record, they are listed above.
