This winter's seemingly never-ending snow has played havoc with countless communities, and though Freemansburg suffered no worse than the rest, council and community members discussed the need for procedural improvements next year during the March 4 meeting.

Resident Charles Derr asked about clearing parking spots on Main Street and further asked Police Chief Todd Pantuso about enforcement of unshoveled sidewalks throughout the borough.

Council President Homer "Bud" Lorrah was unclear in his response to the street issue, simply saying it's difficult for residents to keep their street uncluttered with such massive amounts of snow. Pantuso also said no citations were given out this year for uncleared sidewalks.

Derr said next time the borough should issue one citation and "put the pen down and let the grapevine take care of it."

Without a direct response to the sidewalk issue, Lorrah promised council member Jim Smith is working on updating the streets plan for next year.

Council later grilled No. 1 Volunteer Fire Department members on the progress of newly-instituted procedures intended to speed the flow of information to council and intensify scrutiny of records.

Last year council entered talks with the City of Bethlehem of sharing fire coverage, thus negating the need for a volunteer department and possibly saving the borough tens of thousands of dollars a year.

Requests made by borough solicitor James F. Kratz included department leadership's mandatory attendance at council meetings; copies of past documents such as receipts of funding by the borough; a report of firefighters' contact information, certifications and participation during incidents; and submission of copies of incident reports typically filed only with the state.

Mike Micolochik Jr., speaking for newly-installed Chief TJ Irving, who is just getting his feet wet, said there is concern over some information in reports becoming public knowledge, to which Kratz responded they might consider accepting redacted reports.

Micolochik said this is all part of a six-month probation period for the department; a confusing circumstance for the 107-year-old organization. He said whatever council's long-term intent with the directives, the department simply wants to work together to do its job. "We don't want to discontinue service," Mocolochik said, "so [we'll do] whatever we have to do to make it better."

The probation period ends in June.