Council updates: senior-center bids exceed estimates, PennDOT letter approved, multi‑modal grant to be voted at work session

At the July 1 meeting, council members received an update on a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) project for the borough senior center. Staff reported that bids for the work returned much higher than the estimates prepared by Highland Associates and above the budget that had been set aside; as a result, there was nothing ready for a vote and the council asked staff to consider options such as rebidding or scope changes.

During the consent portion of the meeting the council approved a motion to authorize the police association to purchase a retirement gift for Chief Yarns and voted to send a planning‑commission‑drafted letter to PennDOT regarding State Street with the recommendations articulated by the planning commission. Both consent votes were approved by voice.

Separately, borough engineers are preparing a multi‑modal grant application (covering four streets) that must be submitted by the end of July; the resolution authorizing the grant application was not ready for this meeting, so staff requested the council recess and vote on the resolution at the upcoming work session to meet the submission deadline.

Solicitor Krolak reported coordination with property owners on a locked‑out parcel and discussed an older tree/property boundary issue dating to the 1980s; council asked the police department to watch for after‑hours park activity and enforce existing dawn‑to‑dusk signage.

No executive sessions preceding the meeting were reported.