A delay in revising the borough's Civil Service regulations could hamper plans to hire a new Catasauqua police officer. At the Sept. 10 borough council meeting, Solicitor Jeffrey Dimmich reported changes to the Civil Service regulations are not completed.

"It isn't an easy task. We need to balance the rules against changes in the borough code and then our changes need to be approved by the Civil Service Commission," he said.

According to Dimmich, most of the changes are completed, but the document needs to be tweaked to ensure it is complete.

The solicitor included some of the suggestions in the rules made by other municipal clients.

He recommended council wait to approve the new regulations until the latest round of changes take effect.

Councilman Alfred Regits was concerned with the delay.

"We want to be sure that we have enough time to select [a new police officer] so that they can go to training in February," he said.

Police Chief Douglas Kish noted time is running short to obtain the necessary tests and background checks if someone needs to attend the police academy session in February.

Councilman Brian McKittrick again asked that council require candidates to pay for police academy training. Present language gives council an option to pay for training.

"I think it ought to be clear to every candidate that we aren't going to be paying this expense," said McKittrick.

After some discussion, council unanimously agreed to wait for the final revision to the regulations.

In other business, Mayor Barbara Schlegel swore in Dillon Hartranft as junior councilman for the upcoming school year while his mother happily snapped pictures.

Kish reported he has received specific information from Coplay on its noise ordinance. Fossils Tavern stopped hosting weekend bands because of noise restrictions imposed by the Liquor Control Board. Regulations allow noise to be regulated by local government instead, as long as local police forces make an effort to keep the noise under control.

The Borough of Coplay faced a similar problem with the Coplay Saengerbund social club and was able to resolve the problem.

"They [Coplay] implemented a lot of things I want to see incorporated as part of our program," said Kish.

The meeting began with a report by Tom Jones, a local historian, who had been commissioned by the borough to conduct a feasibility analysis of the George Taylor House.

"The house is in good condition with 90 percent of the original structure in place," he said.

According to Jones, the quality of the structure is unusually good for homes that have survived from the Revolutionary War period.

After studying the grounds around the house and historical records, Jones concluded that Native American burial sites exist on the property.

"It also looks as if there were other out buildings on the property," he said.

Jones also specifically mentioned the possibility of a stone barn.

"There is a lot of information available on the property and on George Taylor," he said, citing some of the information he was able to get from records stored in Bucks County.

Jones specifically mentioned a detailed inventory of Taylor's estate that could help historians identify original furnishings used in the property.

Jones prepared a 200-page report on his findings and will work with the Historical Catasauqua Preservation Association to elaborate on his findings and on future plans for the George Taylor House.