The ink is drying on a pile of paperwork needed to finalize the borough's purchase of the FL Smidth property on Front Street.

The land was officially transferred to the borough June 28.

"We had a lot of technical problems with the title," borough Solicitor Jeffrey Dimmich told council members at the July 8 borough council meeting. "The deed is recorded, exemptions are filed and the property taxes and transfer taxes were paid."

Following a motion by Councilman Vincent Smith and a vote of approval by the council, the borough will be accepting bids from professional planners to present a site development plan for the property.

"We could build off the plan presented by Stillman Farmer last year," Smith said.

The plan, according to borough Manager Eugene Goldfeder, would give developers interested in building on the land an idea of the borough's desires for the property.

"It is similar to a development plan and is intended to show the best highest and best use for the land," he said.

Council President Brian Bartholomew asked borough Police Chief Douglas Kish to increase patrols in the Front Street area to prevent theft on the property.

In other business, council unanimously approved a resolution on the use of telephone conference calls for members during council meetings.

"The borough has allowed council members to attend meetings by conference call for several years," said Solicitor Jeffrey Dimmich. "The resolution clarifies the circumstances that allow a member to use the speakerphone to attend a meeting and complies with a new state mandate."

While the resolution is new, it seems nothing much will change from the past.

"We have been in compliance with these new rules each time a council member used the speakerphone to attend a meeting," Dimmich said.

The new state rules are basic. The council member on the phone must be able to be heard over the speaker and must be able to hear comments from other council members and the public.

The added regulation is that a member on a speakerphone cannot constitute a quorum unless someone else leaves the meeting.

"If there is not a quorum physically present, a council member on the speakerphone cannot be counted to make quorum," explained Dimmich. "But if a quorum is present and one of the members needs to leave, then the council member on the speakerphone can be considered part of the quorum."

The resolution also identifies permitted reasons that someone may use the speakerphone to attend a meeting: Illness or disability, care or birth of a newborn, emergency and family or business travel. "The categories are not well defined and give a lot of latitude," Dimmich said.

Also at the meeting, council members had a detailed discussion on the borough's insurance policy coverage. After a discussion on the value and details of the competing insurance packages, with counterpoints made by each of the insurance companies represented, council elected to split its workers' compensation and regular insurance needs.

Brown and Brown, the borough's sole insurance provider for 15 years, will continue to manage workers' compensation using Susquehanna Municipal Trust.

"Most workmen's comp is handled by a trust that is responsible for the actual payouts," said Goldfeder after the meeting.

The borough's standard insurance needs will be handled by WSA Insurance and the sponsoring agent is the John Yurconic Agency. The new approach reduces the borough's insurance costs.

Also at the meeting, the council awarded the $66,098.09 curb-cut program contract to Advanced Excavating and Snow Removal, LLC. Council appointed Joshua May to the Planning Commission for a term expiring May 2014.