When the Catasauqua Borough Council identified the borough streets in need of repair at the July executive workshop, projected costs for the repairs exceeded the budget allocation by $24,000. During last week's deliberations, some streets were removed from the program to bring the costs in line with the budgeted amount.

However, at the Aug. 5 council meeting, Councilman Eugene Schlegel made a motion to repave all the streets identified by the public works department and to pay the extra charges out of the borough's reserve fund.

"We may as well bite the bullet on these streets," he said while making the motion. "We can't keep putting off necessary repairs. They will just continue to come up again every year." Council agreed and approved the expense.

At the workshop meeting, Catasauqua Borough Public Works Director Jeff MacHose had listed seven streets he hoped the borough council would approve for repaving this year.

The cost of repairing all seven streets exceeds budget allocations by an estimated $20,000.

At the workshop, MacHose and council members had narrowed the selection down after discussing which projects served the most residents and which roads were in the worst shape.

Council had agreed there was enough money in the borough budget to pave Circle Drive to Tioga Street and Delaware Avenue. Pine Street will be revamped around St. John Street.

Milton Street and 15th Street, which were on MacHose's list, did not make the original cut but, as a result of the Aug. 5 vote, will now be on the repaving list.

Hanson Aggregates was the low bidder for the road work.

Street repairs are bid on a unit basis – that is, there is a set price for milling a square foot of roadway, another price is set for asphalt, etc. Adding extra streets increases the total paid to the contractor, but does not require a rebidding of the contract. The final price is calculated on the amount of work done.

The project's budgeted cost is based on work estimates made by public works department and the borough manager.

As an adjunct to the pricing, council passed an add-on to the contract that allowed the contractor to adjust the pricing if the cost of asphalt increased significantly.

***

In other council business, Councilman Alfred Regits asked for a list of candidates from the Civil Service Commission to fill two vacancies on the police force. The prior list was contested by one of the candidates who had not been not selected. The candidate not selected had the right to appeal the decision.

"The candidate did appeal the decision to the Civil Service Commission, and in my reading of the rules, his action satisfies the appeals process," Dimmich said. The borough is now free to select candidates for the open positions, he said.

According to Police Chief Douglas Kish, two of the candidates on the list have now accepted positions with other municipalities.

Regits requested a new list of candidates and Kish reported background checks have not yet been completed for additional candidates.

Also at the meeting, Councilman Brian McKittrick asked for the status on the Silver Manor. The property was severely damaged by a fire in May.

Goldfeder said the borough is still working with the owner.

In council discussions held immediately after the fire, council members asked for a review of the borough's ordinances on rooming houses.

Also, the council passed a resolution to adopt the Lehigh Valley 2013 Hazard Mitigation Plan. The revised plan will enable the borough's emergency services to provide and receive assistance from surrounding municipalities in the event of a hazardous incident.

Council also unanimously adopted procedures outlined by the state which govern the hiring of professional services for pension plans.