CLARKS SUMMIT — Borough council members discussed the possibility of adding as well as changing the location of several handicapped parking spots in the borough during a regular meeting Jan. 2.
Councilmen Pat Williams and Frank Besten met with Mayor Herman Johnson and George Carros, the borough’s meter enforcement officer, after Carros expressed concerns regarding the availability of handicapped parking in town.
There is a handicapped spot on Zimmerman Street, but it’s on a hill.
“There is also lateral parking and if you’re handicapped, that’s something you don’t want,” Besten said. “We came up with some spots and the two things we were looking for are easy access to park the car and level pavement.
“We’re trying to find the easiest way for people who are handicapped. I think it’s a nice thing to do.”
A suggestion was made to eliminate the spot on Zimmerman and add a spot in front of Northeast Title and Tag on South State Street. Council members also discussed moving the handicapped spot in front of Paul’s Barber Shop on South State to the other side of the street as well as possibly eliminating or moving the handicapped spot in front of PNC Bank on South State Street and adding a handicapped spot by Tattoo You & Body Piercing on Depot Street.
“We talked about moving it down a couple stalls, but we never really came to a definite answer,” Johnson said of the PNC Bank spot. “I’ve seen pickup trucks pull in and it makes the road a little narrow. If someone is walking on the sidewalk, they don’t have room.”
Clarks Summit Chief of Police Chris Yarns questioned the suggestion of possibly having two handicapped parking spots in the same plaza.
“My only concern is that when you have two handicapped spots that close to each other, you start eliminating parking for others and there is (already) handicapped parking behind the bank,” Yarns said.
Johnson would like lines to be painted for each meter stall in the borough to prevent vehicles from overlapping into other spots.
“The main reason is for safety, especially coming down State Street,” he said.
Williams suggested striping Lackawanna Trail and certain parts of Center Street, specifically near Helping Hands Learning Center.
Per Borough Manager Virginia Kehoe, no bids were received for the potential purchase of the borough building by the 3 p.m. deadline on Jan. 2. According to solicitor Kevin Hayes, the minimum bid was set at $250,000.
Dave Jenkins, Chair of the Grant Committee, announced the borough received a $5,353.91 rebate from PPL Electric Utilities from the borough’s LED streetlight conversion in the spring of 2018.
According to Recycling Chair Bob Bennett, J.P. Mascaro & Sons will supply the vehicle and operator for the borough’s Shred Fest event on April 27.
Members of the council voted 7-0 to appoint Gregg Kozar to a seat on the Abington Area Joint Recreation Board, Wayne Miller to a seat on the Abington Regional Wastewater Authority, Ed Yasinskas to a seat on the Planning Commission and Mark Taffera and Molly Philbin to two seats on the Shade Tree Commission. They are all incumbents whose previous appointments expired on Dec. 31, 2018.
