Although Macungie Borough Council cannot and does not comment on litigation developments regarding the GPS units in police vehicles, there was some discussion at the May 6 meeting on a virus that could be compromising police security.

Business owner Tim Romig, of 50 Race St., Macungie, applied for copies of emails sent from Chief of Police Ed Harry to Mayor Rickie Hoffman as far back as January. Harry advised the mayor he had received spam emails from the mayor's email address. Romig's concern is with the mayor's personal computer, one of two computers to which the GPS data regarding police locations and other sensitive information is uploaded.

Romig brought these emails to council's attention demanding to know if the safety and security of the police officers had been compromised.

Council president Chris Becker acknowledged to Romig he had a fair point and promised to follow up with the mayor on the virus question as well as others still pending from Romig's previous addresses to the mayor.

"You voted in haste," Romig insisted to Becker, "and you didn't think this through. This council needs to take action because of financial issues and the safety issue of our officers."

Borough Manager Chris Boehm announced Macungie received a Lehigh County Revitalization Grant in partnership with the town beautification committee, who will match the grant 50/50. The grant will allow the borough to replace some poles on Main Street used for hanging Christmas lights, but Boehm said they may lose some poles depending on what PPL says after looking at them. Some poles may have to be removed and not replaced if they interfere with PPL lines.

Macungie may apply for other grants to begin the process of revisiting the Main Street Streetscape Plan. Becker has been actively pursuing the project in the interest of boosting local businesses, which he believes "have the biggest stake in the borough."

The cost to update the plan was originally estimated at $4,900. Becker found a grant from the Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce that will provide $2,000 and another grant for $2,000 from Lehigh County Revitalization. Barry Isept Associates managed to lower the cost of updating by removing from the plan some items for later consideration. Becker and Boehm said they can get the cost down to $4,000, within the scope of the grants if awarded.

"What direction is Macungie going?" Council member David Boyko asked. "New Hope? Downtown Lititz? What is the feeling? What is the goal?" Boyko is concerned about a popular opinion it is difficult to do business in Macungie.

Becker admitted his primary concern was traffic calming. He wants the businesses on Main Street and the general public to get involved, particularly in a committee to start formulating ideas.

In response to Boyko, Boehm said the Devine School project on Lumber Street has begun to attract a lot of positive attention to the borough, including a microbrewery interested in locating there.

Bids received April 29 for resurfacing certain streets in Macungie were rejected by council for being over budget. The highest maxed out at $38,806 for bituminous fiber; the others were for seal coating applications. The bids specify use of three different applications, a single seal coat, a double seal coat and bituminous fiber on Village Walk Drive and part of West End Trail.

Peter King, a representative of Bosch-King Company, lodged a formal protest with the borough, saying it was unfair to award the bid based on language in the request that required bid response on all three applications. The bid was not awarded to anyone; King recommended the borough change the language of its documentation to encourage bidding.

The type of material stated in the bid is a tricky subject; resident Marvin Moyer insisted it is inferior product and will only result in breakage and cracks in the road surface, as has happened on Brookfield Drive and Village Walk already. Borough Hall has acknowledged this, saying the applications did not hold up as council expected. Becker listened to Moyer's argument but persisted in that council was only rejecting the bids because they were over budget, and that the topic was still open for debate and consideration. The materials specified in the bid are there according to PennDOT regulations. Becker said they will probably bring in the borough engineer and a PennDOT representative soon to discuss it further.

Borough council approved a motion permitting the sale of a 1991 F250 pick-up truck currently in use by Public Works and a 2005 Chevrolet Impala belonging to the police department. The Impala needs to be stripped first but the truck is in such a state of disrepair mechanics told the borough it would not be worth fixing. Boehm will use Municibid.com to list the vehicles and wait for offers.

Betty Silfies Sherwood was appointed to the planning commission after more than a year-long vacancy. The position's term will expire in March 2014.