Approximately 12 citizens of Alburtis with questions and concerns about mailboxes in the borough, attended a special meeting at Alburtis Borough Hall Oct. 15.

The residents wanted answers to their ongoing concerns about the problem of mailboxes supported by rocks or cemented in or planted in dirt in trash cans or buckets and put in front of their homes or apartments because the post office delivers on one side of the street only, their side.

According to Council President Steve Hill, the Alburtis postmaster was invited to the meeting but was not able to attend.

Susan Hercek, a resident of Main Street and owner of Old Vic Art Gallery & Frame Shop, spoke about the situation on her property and told of inquiries she made at the U.S. Postal Service and Alburtis Post Office about neighbors putting a mailbox in a bucket of rocks on her side of the street.

At first she was informed residents were told they had to ask her permission to put their mailboxes in front of her home and then the residents were told they did not have to ask her permission. Hercek did not blame the residents, as it is the post office making rules and regulations and all the people want is their mail to be delivered.

Hercek spoke of the work the Revitalization Group, the Main Street Program and Street Scape programs have done to help beautify Main Street, grants and of her liability concerns. Hercek wanted to know who would be liable if someone ran into the mailbox on her property and, because it is not anchored to the ground, it hit somebody. She also asked who is responsible for maintaining the mailboxes on her property.

Hercek also asked about mailboxes at apartments. An unanchored mailbox is a real danger because if it is hit by an automobile it can become a projectile and hurt someone, Councilperson David Lehr said.

Solicitor David Knerr told Hercek people have the right-of-way and right-of-passage on sidewalks, like vehicles have the right-of-way in the streets. He explained the responsibilities of property owners, the police department and the borough and said Congressman Charlie Dent, R-15th, was told about this problem but can do nothing, as it is a federal issue. Knerr said all residents can do is try to get the post office to do something.

"The problem the post office has is they are required by law to provide service no matter what," Knerr said. "They [the post office] are in a tough bind because of rules Congress has set forth. Residents have to meet the requirements or the post office will not deliver the service.

"Right-of-way, according to PA, is where you own to the center of the street whether or not it is on your deed. Fee Simple, in that land, is subject to the right-of-way. Right-of-way is like an easement. You have very little say of what goes on in the right-of-way in the streets but you have more to say about what goes on in front on your street. You have rights in that land but it is subject to others. Other people have rights in the right-of-way. They are liable for what they do in the right-of-way. What they do, you are not liable for. The borough has some control, they can regulate how you use it and there are 'reasonable police powers,' like parking. The borough has less power in the sidewalk than in the street."

During the meeting, it was discussed residents have a responsibility to maintain their property and the borough has a responsibility to make sure people do. If they don't, the borough and property owner can be sued. The borough can be sued because they didn't make the person maintain it.

"The borough does have use rules on the books and could go along Main Street and notify people they are non-compliant. This would mean people would have to anchor their mailboxes, but people cannot stop their neighbors from putting mailboxes on their sidewalk. Council must deal with everybody's interest, not individuals," Knerr said.

Hill said he is aware getting rid of the buckets and anchoring them would solve the problem, but some of the people have no way to anchor their mailboxes or the ability to deal with it.

"We are going to get blasted anyway. Other people are going to be impacted by this," Hill said.

To this Knerr said having things in the sidewalk is a problem and they should be anchored to the ground.

Debbie Ernst, manager of Bender Property Management, owners of apartments in the borough, asked Knerr questions about mailboxes for their tenants and wanted someone to tell her where mailboxs can be placed. Hearing the location, Hill and Knerr said they could be put across the street.

"Landlords and tenants could have something in their lease about mailboxes. But this is out of our hands," Knerr said.

Knerr said the real problem is the way the post office delivers the mail.

"There is nothing we can do about this. We have no power of how they deliver the mail," Hill said.

Resident Carol Bauder, who raised the issue at the Aug. 13 borough council meeting, presented a petition and said she was present to support everyone and the mailboxes were in buckets because of the cost of putting bolts in the sidewalk.

Other citizens brought their mailbox and delivery problems to council members who listened and answered their questions.

Since 1993, Hill said he has been dealing with this problem every few years and this was about the sixth meeting about mailbox problems he has attended. Hill and Knerr both said they want to help the residents, especially those who really have a problem.

To enforce the rules the borough has to send out letters and has the power to make landlords put cluster boxes in, put up permanently placed boxes, and put up "no parking" signs where people park in front of mailboxes.

"We are leaning toward permanently placed mailboxes," Hill said and asked Knerr to research the prospect.

Hill thanked everyone for coming and assured residents they will be working on solving this problem.

In other business, Solicitor David Knerr advised council he filed the unit clarification petition with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board to have Police Chief Robert Palmer removed from the bargaining unit.