DALTON — At the Dalton Borough Council meeting, May 14, Aaron Holzman in his mayor’s report announced that the Memorial Day services are canceled in the downtown area. He asked for a list of names of the remembered fallen heroes to be posted on either Dalton’s website or Facebook page. Councilman Albert Propst said that there is no website for Dalton yet but will put the names on the Facebook page. Holzman announced that the memorial services in Factoryville and Nicholson have been canceled as well.
Also, Holzman mentioned that Council has enough money in the budget for a salt shed. He said that he wants to talk to the Dalton Fire Company about the shed’s location. President Bill Brandt asked Holzman if the fire company was interested in selling the piece of land. Holzman replied that he asked them last year and expressed interest. Brandt suggested to see if the fire company would sell the piece of land.
“That would be the least expensive and more prudent if we could isolate that and purchase maybe a piece of that land there,” he said.
Propst said that he had a handful of complaints about noise because the whole upper shelf of Dalton echoes with the sounds of trucks coming in and placing the salt in the shed. He said that it’s something to consider. Holzman said that Council should make the decisions about the salt shed by the end of June.
In his solicitor’s report, Frank Block mentioned that Council is moving forward with the tax anticipation loan, which should be closed next Monday or Tuesday. Brandt said that residents decided to pay their taxes for the year instead of quarterly; therefore, the cash flow in the general fund is up to $180,000. He said that it includes $51,000 from the state and liquid fuels.
“We’ll get that tax anticipation loan, and hopefully we may not even have to use it if things come together,” he said. “But we know what’s going on out there. We money’s tight with everybody so that’s why we do what we do.”
In his law and legislation report, Councilman Len Peters deferred the issue about the property maintenance ordinance to Bolock.
Bolock said that Councilman Jim Fitzpatrick asked if Council has legislative ordinances dealing with the vacant structures in Dalton. He said that Council doesn’t have legislation but found a couple of registrations that are inactive by other municipalities and printed one of them. He mentioned that Council gas a dangerous structure ordinance but never used it.
“We will have questions raised about property maintenance ordinances dealing with the details of (how) people keep their residential/commercial properties,” he said.
Bolock suggested discussing this matter with engineer Rich Sopko and his group if they are prepared to take care of the enforcement. Brandt agreed to spearhead the ordinance.
In his public works report, Brandt said that someone is cutting the grass in town. He said there are no large projects at this time. He said that Council wants to do lawn care themselves in order to save money. Fitzpatrick asked if Council allotted any money to fill potholes on the roads including Miles Street. Brandt replied that Council doesn’t have any current plans but will discuss it.
In his health and safety report, Councilman Marty Fotta asked how to set a committee with residents involved. Brandt suggested for Propst to put an ad on Facebook. Bolock added that interested volunteers can go to the planning commission.
In his zoning/planning report, Propst announced that he received input for the ‘Welcome to Dalton’ sign contest. He said that the designers will out a final package together. He mentioned that he’ll talk about getting old decals offhand putting new ones on the sides of Council’s trucks.
In other business, Propst said that a cleanup on North Turnpike Road has been canceled due to COVID-19.
