DALTON — At the Dalton Borough Council meeting, April 9, president Bill Brandt announced that councilman/zoning officer Eric Johnson is resigning from Council. He said that he sent his letter of resignation.
“It’s been a pleasure working with you,” he said to Johnson. “You’ve been an extreme asset to the community. I know you enjoyed it, and I know you got quite a lot of knowledge from it. And we really appreciate it.”
Johnson thanked everybody for their involvement.
“It’s been my pleasure,” he said.
During his final zoning/planning report, Johnson mentioned that the new welcome signs for Route 6 & 11 are currently on hold because the sign company is impacted by the closures of the businesses. He said that Councilman Albert Propst will follow up on it. He also mentioned that SAPA, due to the Coronavirus, Council’s deadline of finalizing the SAPA ordinance has been extended to a year.
Brandt said that Dalton Council is looking for a new member.
In his public relations report, Propst said that once the virus settles down, the welcome signs will be revealed and installed on Route 6 & 11. He also said that the planning commission is looking to put a sign in the downtown area. He also mentioned that Dalton’s website has been transferred over to the new hosting service.
“We’re going to start kind of getting that formulated (and) looking good,” he said. “And once that’s up, we’ll be announcing that.”
Propst said that a logo design is in the works for new stationery. He said that the people who are doing the website and logos are under the Association of Boroughs.
In his president’s report, Brandt announced an ordinance pertaining to a tax anticipation loan. He said that Solicitor Frank Bolock received bids from three lending facilities. He said that Fidelity Bank bid 2.19; Wayne Bank, 2.6; and FNCB, 2.5. He said that they took the lower rate from Fidelity Bank. He explained that it’s an open loan of up to $100,000.
“If we need it, we can pull it,” he said.
Council voted to accept the tax anticipation loan.
In his safety/grants report, Councilman Marty Fotta discussed a potential community impact plan.
“After meeting with Paul Macknosky from DCED (Department of Community & Economic Development), it was determined that we needed to kind of make a plan to see how we want to move forward with grants and prioritizing our future needs.”
Fotta said the foundation of this plan would be the zoning ordinance and comprehensive plan. He asked permission to start the process. Propst proclaimed his support of the plan.
“I’m a big supporter of it,” he said. “Whatever we need to do to keep pushing Marty forward on this. This is the future of Dalton that’s kind of resting on those hands.”
In his mayor’ report, Aaron Holzman thanked the Dalton Police Dept. and volunteers from the Dalton Fire Co. and ambulance for their work during the quarantine. Holzman asked for an update on the Trolley Trail. Bolock replied that Council signed off on the easement and the joint-use agreement.
“All of the legal documents have been signed and filed,” he said.
Bolock announced that Countryside Conservancy agreed to do certain remedial construction work on some of the stormwater facilities both around and underneath the trail. Holzman said that he would like to see Council work with the conservancy to finalize the project.
Johnson mentioned that he met with the conservancy, who told him that they want to use a portion of the Novak property and Streamside Park to continue the trail to Brookside Drive and Cherry Street. He said that the conservancy want to partner with Council.
