Fountain Hill Borough Council managed to meet Feb. 4 after being cancelled the night before for the snow storm and before the icy rain later that evening.

Connie Skelly Potts, resident of Graham Street and member of the Zoning Hearing Board, came to the meeting to complain about PPL's extensive tree trimming and telephone pole replacement along her street. She said PPL workers had been doing work since "the second week of January" but that she and her neighbors had "not a letter, no notice at all that this was going on".

Council President Larry Rapp told Potts the borough had not been notified, but that he would get a meeting with PPL so residents could be informed of their plans. Councilperson Fred Capuano responded that the utilities often do maintenance without notifying the borough and speculated that PPL was improving their infrastructure to prevent the frequent power outages borough residents experience in inclement weather.

Suzanne Poroszlai, of the Fountain Hill Shade Tree Commission, said the trimming had made Graham Street "a mess" and that trees and branches are lying all over the place. Potts agreed, saying, "We are all taxpaying citizens; we just want to be informed."

In an effort to keep borough residents informed, the Fountain Hill Police Department is administrating a new system that will send emails and text messages about crime trends, recent events, snow emergencies, road closures, and school closings, according to a flier distributed at the meeting .

Executive Administrator Rick Prill said the program is completely free of charge and that people only need to provide their information on a website. Councilperson Carolee Gifford recommended putting a link on the borough website and Mayor Jose Rosado said the council should look into including information in water and sewer bills.

Borough residents can register online at www.nixie.com and can call the Police Department at 610-437-5252 or email Investigator Justino Arroyo at jarroyo@fhpolice.org.

Representatives from the Bacchanalia Committee and St. Luke's Hospital who were scheduled to make presentations to council were deterred by the frigid night, but Boy Scout Jonathan Miller came to observe the meeting to fulfill a requirement for his Citizenship in the Community merit badge. Miller, a First Class Scout, characterized the meeting as "peaceful" saying he found the meeting interesting and plans to attend another meeting soon.

Councilperson Douglas Trotter, Chair of the Finance Committee, congratulated the Fountain Hill's department heads and accountant for coming in $280,000, a full 13 percent under the 2013 budget. Trotter said, "We managed our budgets well, which in these times is not easy to do," and that he hoped to continue the fiscal responsibility in the current year.

The Delaware Avenue Reconstruction Project came in $55,260 under budget according to Rapp. Gifford was happy to make the motion for Resolution 2014-14 revising the final payment for highway materials to reflect the savings. It passed with no opposition.