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Forest Hills council approves fee relief, appointments and multiple infrastructure and equipment purchases
Summary
At its Aug. 21 meeting the Forest Hills Borough Council approved forgiveness rules for longstanding delinquent fire-fee accounts, appointed four members to a new Arts & Culture Advisory Council, raised the occupancy permit fee and authorized multiple contracts, vehicle purchases and police body cameras.
Forest Hills Borough Council voted on a package of routine and policy items at its Aug. 21 meeting, approving delinquent-account relief, council appointments and several capital and maintenance expenditures.
The council voted to forgive delinquent fire-fee accounts from 2014 and earlier in full. For accounts with delinquencies dated 2015 through 2021, penalties and fees will be forgiven and account holders may pay the face value of the debt within 30 calendar days of notification; accounts with delinquencies from 2022 forward will be billed without modification. President Martin said the measure aims to resolve long-standing balances while making collection practices manageable for residents.
Council approved multiple appointments to a newly created Arts & Culture Advisory Council. By voice vote the council appointed Phoebe Marshall, Nick Smirk, Gail Harper and Nina Soisy to three-year terms through Aug. 31, 2027 and noted additional openings remain for the panel. President Martin and Mayor Porco thanked the Forest Hills Community Alliance for recent volunteer work on the borough bandshell project and invited residents to apply to the new committee by contacting Manager Seth Abrams.
On fees and finance, council increased the occupancy permit fee from $60 to $75 in accordance with the borough's agreement with Turtle Creek Code Inspection Services. Finance also approved routine bill payments for June and a $324,400 payment to Seens from the ESCO fund pending completion of corrections to the pool lodge air conditioning units.
Public works and asset actions included ratifying the purchase and installation of a fleet EV charging station at a cost not to exceed $8,000 to support current and future electric police vehicles, and ratifying sales of surplus vehicles through Municibid (a 2008 Ford F550 to Richard Birchfield for $10,600 and a 2008 Ford F350 to Matthew Lutz for $425). The council also approved hiring Nolan Drew as a public works laborer effective Aug. 26, 2024.
All motions recorded in the meeting were carried by voice vote. The meeting adjourned by acclamation; an executive session on personnel and contractual matters was announced to follow.
Ending — The council did not schedule additional public hearings on these items at the meeting; implementation steps (notifications, billing adjustments, contract execution, and grant receipt for body cameras where applicable) were delegated to borough staff.
