The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.
Council voted to approve payment of $56,250.62 in paid bills and $9,246.98 in unpaid bills; as well as $2,145 in unpaid highway aid bills.
In May former Council President Krystle Bristol resigned. Her position on Council was incompatible with the position of Bradford County Auditor, to which she was recently appointed. Council took applications for the vacancy, and two were received, one from Will Hawrlyo of Golden Oak Inn and the other from Dave West.
Mrs. Seymour made a motion with a second by Mr. Hodlofski, to appoint Mr. Hawrlyo to the vacancy. The motion was unanimously approved.
Mr. Close reported that the ARLE red light project at Troy's main square is "close to completion." "There are some touch touch-up things," he said, adding that the LED luminaries have been installed but have not been energized yet because they may not be allowed by the Commonwealth. The project will be evaluate for a couple of months before the warranty period begins.
Council allocated up to $2,000 for a preemptive device to allow the fire department, police and emergency traffic priority in the intersection. The Fire Department also is doing its own research on such devices.
Mr. Wisel emphasized "This is not a system to catch people running red lights." Mr. Close agreed, saying that the ARLE project uses funds collected from the red light cameras in Philadelphia. He said that the Commonwealth authorized the project in Philadelphia on condition that some of the money be used to upgrade traffic lights in other communities. He stated that the Troy project will not have cameras and will not record license plates.
When fully operational, the project will monitor lane traffic and will adjust the timing of the light accordingly.
The Paine Street project has a completion date of August 15 and the Eureka Bridge project will get underway on June 28 and is expected to take four weeks.
Chief Morelli told Council the Borough still is looking for qualified candidates for the police force. He thanked the Troy Vet's Club organizations for a donation of $6,500 for a mobile personal computer for the force. "Their response was just sort of phenomenal," he said, thanking the Veterans' groups. Council also expressed thanks for the donation.
There was one public comment. Ron Young spoke about pedestrian safety in the Borough, and pointed out issues with crosswalks on Fenner, Main Street and Elmira Street.
Using a chart he had made, plus photographs he had taken, Mr. Young illustrated the situations he said were most dangerous for pedestrians. He said that all the striping needs to be repainted, and asked that orange traffic cones be added on the striped triangle island, with portable signs denoting "yield to pedestrians," as well as additional signs posted on existing poles. He also suggested that in the interests of pedestrian safety, at least one parking space should be abolished. Mr. Young had taken a considerable effort on his proposal and Council and Mr. Close were impressed with his presentation.
Mr. Close said, "I appreciate your work, and we agree" [that the problem areas exist], but added, "We can't put up signs on state roads without PennDOT approval, and they will not allow a crosswalk without handicapped accessibilty…mid-block crosswalks are not authorized." He said that Canton Street and Elmira Street are state roads and advised Mr. Young to contact PennDOT, but warned him that the state "probably will say 'use the push button' [at the main square] and not use any other crosswalk." Mr. Close said, "We wanted a traffic light at Fenner, but PennDOT wouldn't allow it." He said that "The parking spot at C & N Bank will go away. We talked about blocking off the spot at Dollar General, and closing it off and making a drive-by lane. The store owners were adamantly opposed," Mr. Close said.
After some more discussion, Mr. Young encouraged Council to take action and asked "How much trouble would you get in if you went ahead and did it?" Mr. Close again agreed with some of Mr. Young's solutions but said, "The law and PennDOT won't allow it…[most of these situations ]will go away [through PennDOT actions…I don't disagree [with you] but our hands are tied. I will take [your recommendations] to PennDOT."
Mr. Young noted that Towanda, Canton, Sayre, Ulster, Athens and Milan all have signage such as he described, but Troy does not. "It is an interesting comparison," he said.
Mr. Close noted that traffic studies were needed in order for signs to be erected. After some more discussion, Mr. Young said, "I think it's a shame you can't do what needs to be done."
Council held an executive session after the meeting to review applications and resumés for full-time and part-time police officers. No action was taken at tonight's meeting.