North Catasauqua residents who have not paid their garbage bill for 2013 will have liens put on their properties, following a unanimous vote by the borough council at its meeting last Tuesday.

The vote came following a request by borough Treasurer Annette Englert for permission to forward the unpaid accounts to borough Solicitor William McCarthy to process.

Englert told The Press after the meeting that of the 1,250 properties billed by the borough for refuse pickup, 48 have not been paid. This amounts to an estimated $60,000, she said.

In other business, council members discussed what to do about water drainage problems in the borough during heavy rainfalls.

Council President Joseph Keglovits pointed out installing a new storm drainage system would be very costly.

"If you want to do the whole borough, you're looking at a million dollars," he said. "You're looking at a major, major project."

The discussion had begun with a reference to water running down Main and Green streets.

"In normal rains, the water goes into catch basins and it's taken care of," Keglovits said. "That was a pretty hard rain we had yesterday."

He said long-range planning would be in order to solve the problem on Green Street, and he reminded the council that heavy truck traffic expected when the Hokendauqua Bridge reopens in a year will also take its toll on borough streets.

Councilman John Yanek said that is a good reason to begin planning now.

Keglovits said consideration could be given to installing strategically placed catch basins.

Also during the meeting, the subject of leaf pickup was brought up by Yanek, who recalled a decision by the council last year to create and post a leaf pickup schedule so residents know when the street sweeper will collect along their street.

Parking problems have arisen in past years when residents piled leaves at the curb long before the sweeper was due to return to their street.

Residents can expect a leaf collection schedule to be posted this year.

Further discussion about the hiring of a public works supervisor was also on the agenda. At the previous council meeting, the council decided the borough public works committee would speak to the two part-time road crew employees to ask if either of them is interested in being considered for the full-time supervisor position.

For the last two and a half years, Tommy Kish and Michelle Romito have been supervised by Police Chief Kim Moyer, who added road crew planning and supervision to his public safety duties. However, the council has decided it is best to add a full-time supervisor position to the department now.

After some discussion, the council agreed they are looking for a hands-on leader, not a high-dollar department manager.

"We need to define what we want and review the employee to give them direction," he said.

In the absence of borough Police Chief Kim Moyer, Sgt. Scott Grube reported on police issues at the council meeting. He said the several part-time police officers approved by the council were not yet on the job because state certification is still outstanding.

Also at the meeting, Councilwoman Cherie Gebhardt, also a North Catasauqua Recreation Committee member, informed the council that a member of the Old Home Week (OHW) Committee had attended a rec committee meeting to discuss an OHW reunion being tentatively planned for next summer.

Ben Ferenchak had attended the meeting to obtain information about what kind of an event would be allowed at the park.

He said he would like to get sponsors for a beer tent at the reunion. Rec committee members told him responsibility for liability, if alcohol is served to reunion attendees, will rest with the sponsors of the event, and not with the park or the borough.

North Catasauqua Betterment Committee members had looked into the possibility of providing beer at a public event at the park last year and found the cost of liability insurance to be prohibitive.

Councilman William McGinley commented he thinks when the Old Home Week Reunion Committee finds out the cost of the insurance, they will change their plans.

Old Home Week activities will take place at the same time as the July 4 J4 Celebration at the North Catasauqua Park in 2014. The OHW committee will have to come to the council to obtain approval for final plans they make for park activities.