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Murrysville council approves easements, escrow releases, insurance renewal and a 3% COLA in unanimous votes
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Summary
At its March meeting, Murrysville council unanimously approved several ordinances and easements for utility and sewer projects, released remaining school escrow funds for two Franklin Regional School District projects, renewed municipal insurance, and approved a 3% COLA for eligible retired uniform-plan members.
Murrysville council used voice votes to approve a package of routine and project-specific measures, including easements for utility and sewer work, the release of school-related escrow funds, renewal of municipal insurance and a 3% cost-of-living adjustment for eligible retired members of the uniform pension plan.
The council approved renewal of the borough’s property, casualty and auto insurance with Municipal Risk Management (MRM) and public-officials and police-professional liability coverage with Greenwich Insurance for a total premium of $169,456 for the policy year running April 1, 2025, through March 31, 2026. Chief administrator Michael said staff solicited quotes and that MRM’s combined premium rose 1.84% compared with the prior year; Michael also noted the borough received a $17,800 dividend from MRM for the 2024 policy year.
Council approved ordinance 1099-25 granting West Penn Power a right-of-way and easement across municipal land at Duff Park to install a utility pole and underground conduit to supply power for the park’s new restroom and to support security cameras, a step staff said is necessary for the restroom project. Two related ordinances (1100-25 and 1101-205) grant FTMSA easements for lateral sewer lines as part of the Haymaker Run interceptor project; staff described those easements as necessary to address recurring sewage issues in the affected area.
The council also approved the release of escrow funds held under separate agreements with the Franklin Regional School District. For the project tied to a post-occupancy traffic study (developer’s agreement dated 07/03/2019), staff said a Trans Associates Engineering study completed in December 2023 found no off-site traffic improvements were required and that on-site queuing issues had been addressed; staff recommended release and council approved the request. Separately, council added and approved item 15e, releasing remaining funds held for Sloan School site work under an escrow agreement dated 08/05/2019. Staff said the original site-work estimate was about $5.6 million and that the borough requires 110% financial security; the transcript records prior releases of $4.2 million on 02/03/2021 and describes the remaining amount in the record as $1,949,000 (also referenced conversationally as about $1.9 million). Staff recommended release and council approved the motion by voice vote.
Council also approved an annual advertisement to solicit bids for road materials, signs and line painting for the 2025–2026 season. All the motions recorded in the meeting were approved by voice vote and described in the record as unanimous.
Quotes from the meeting reflect staff recommendations and explanations. Michael said, regarding insurance, “we did reach out for quotes… with MRM, it only went up 1.84% compared to last year,” and, regarding the Sloan School escrow, that “the school has completed all of the site work as we’re aware… so they are asking that municipality release these funds.”
Next steps: the ordinances become part of the borough’s record as approved and staff will execute the necessary documents for the FTMSA project and process the escrow releases for the school district projects. The council set public hearings for two separate zoning/land-development items (a Verizon cell tower and a parking-lot matter for Mr. Handyman) at the April meeting.
