Coplay Borough officials Tuesday night questioned the relationship between code violations and the Coplay Feral Cat Committee.

"I had to condemn a house last week," said code enforcement officer Ron Helman at council's workshop meeting. "It was just unsanitary to live in."

He said this home is one of several that have been involved in "ongoing issues" with property maintenance and zoning over the past several years.

"It comes back to this cat feral committee. Is it a committee? It is an organization? I don't know," Helman said, acknowledging he may not have said the correct name of the group. "I had a complaint for a house. There's a dozen cats in there. And it has something to do with this cat ... committee."

Helman said some of the homeowners involved have been fined and their cases sent to the magistrate. Allowing these situations to continue – despite repeated legal action – isn't fair to neighbors and the community.

"I can't go around condemning all these houses. I want to see how we can actually resolve this situation," he said. "There's got to be a better way."

In response to a question from Council President Lou Bodish, Helman said borough ordinance allows no more than five animals in the R1 residential zoning area, where the complaints are centered.

"I understand they're trying to do something good for the animals and for the borough," Bodish said. "But if we have ordinances and we have laws. They've got to abide by them.

"I don't like government getting involved in everybody's life," said Councilman Charles Sodl. However, he said, it's "sad" that a government has to condemn a home because of unsanitary conditions. He would like to find a way to enforce zoning and property maintenance ordinances in order to avoid having to condemn homes.

Police Chief Vincent Genovese said feral cats are a problem in the borough and the Feral Cat Committee was organized to trap, neuter and release them. Such programs prevent feral cats from breeding, helping to keep populations in check. At one time the committee's work was "held up in the county" as a good example for other municipalities, said Genovese.

"I think with what we're at now," he said, "they're not releasing the cats."

Councilman Bill Leiner Jr. said the Feral Cat Committee was started in 2005 under the auspices of the Coplay Town Watch. Since then, the group has spayed or neutered about 100 cats. But that doesn't mean the violations are connected to the committee's work.

"There's no excuse [for the unsanitary conditions]. The feral cat committee has no role in these situations," Leiner said.

Genovese said he likes the idea behind the committee and its work but said he wants address the current problem.

"How do we find out who's on the Feral Cat Committee?" Genovese asked. "Who's in charge of the Feral Cat Committee?"

"I'm the chair," Leiner said.

"Ok, so who is on the committee?" Genovese asked.

Leiner named two people. After the meeting, he confirmed one of the two is the owner of the home that was condemned.

Helman said at one point during the meeting that both of the people Leiner named had been cited, although this is the first time he has ever condemned a home.

Genovese asked if the committee members had stopped releasing the cats.

"I don't know the circumstances. I don't know what's going on," Leiner said. "I don't go in these folks' houses. I don't know who violates the law."

When pressed by Sodl to answer whether feral cat committee members were releasing the cats as intended, Leiner maintained he did not know.

Being a member of the committee "does not give you license to violate the law," Leiner said.

"Before we get to [where] a person has eight or 10 cats in a house, how does that committee stop that from happening?" Sodl said.

"That's not the committee's charge," Leiner said.

Keeping cats in unsanitary conditions is not a part of the committee's work but rather a poor decision made by individuals, Leiner said. If members of the committee have 10 or 12 cats, he would not necessarily know about it.

"That's hard for me to believe," said Bodish. "But that's my opinion."

"It just can't go on," said Sodl.

Bodish asked if borough ordinance allows someone to do the committee's work in the R1 residential district if it means holding more than five cats at a time.

"If they are really part of the community, they will abide by the laws," Bodish said.

"It's not a business. It's a service that's being provided by a volunteer group," said Genovese.

"I can't say that the person we're discussing now actually is keeping feral cats," he said, acknowledging that he did initially assume that was the case.

The group's existence has been a positive for taxpayers because the borough has not had to pay someone to handle feral cats. However, the current committee members don't seem to be doing the job correctly, he said. If new committee members can take over and handle feral cats properly, future situations can be prevented.

In the past, the Town Watch has removed officers who violate the law, Leiner said.

"In all likelihood, action will be taken," he said.