Coplay Council gets a lesson in government responsibility

by Paul Cmil

At its regular meeting on June 9, Coplay Council received more input on how the street cleaning operation was handled in the borough. In prior meetings, Council President Louis Bodish explained the problems with the annual street cleaning and problems encountered by Public Works. Richard Hamscher took the podium to explain the deeper problem.

The basis of the complaint was a ticket Hamscher received. "When the streets were cleaned in the past, they cleaned Fifth Street and then Coplay Street. I moved my car to Coplay Street. But they changed the process and did Coplay Street first. They gave me a ticket for blocking the street," he said. What upset Hamscher the most was the sweeper had not come by and he was going to move his car, but the officer wrote the ticket anyway.

Hamscher claimed that he appealed the ticket to Police Chief Vincent Genovese, but the chief declined to take any action. According to Hamscher, Genovese told him to take the matter up with council. Bodish informed him that there was nothing council could do to rescind the ticket. Bodish reported that the number of tickets written during the street cleaning debacle was not unusually high.

"In the past, a police car would drive the street and announce that the street sweeper was coming and we would have enough time to move our cars," said Hamscher.

Hamscher claimed the incident was indicative of the decline of relations between the police and residents. "They don't seem to get it that they are supposed to serve us. When we had one officer in Coplay, he would check inspection stickers on cars and alert us before the sticker expired. Now, police are on the road the first of the month to find expired inspection stickers so they can write tickets," he said.

Hamscher questioned why the police force keeps expanding. Bodish said it was a function of the society we live in, but Hamscher disagreed. "This town is not much bigger than it was 20 years ago when we had one or two officers. And we had a lot more businesses in town then. The residents want the borough crime free and work with the police. But we don't even know them."

After the meeting, Mayor Joseph Bundra talked with Hamscher. When the officer who wrote the ticket came out of the police office, he told Hamscher to talk to Chief Genovese about the ticket. At Bundra's suggestion, Hamscher will take the matter up with the local magistrate.

Mayor Bundra reported that a meeting will be held on June 17 to further discuss the kilns. The public meeting is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. at the municipal building and will be followed by a tour of the property. County executives and a professor from University of Pennsylvania are expected to attend. More importantly, cement executives are expected. It is the cement executives who have the wherewithal to get kilns repaired.

In other action, council approved the purchase of a bucket truck for $6,200. Councilman William Leiner voted against the purchase. "I don't think we should turn something over to the streets department that is eligible for antique license plates," he said after the meeting.

Councilman David Royer presented council with options on how to cure heating problems in the municipal building. None of the news was good and council will review its options.

Borough Secretary Sandra Gyecsek, announced that the borough tentatively received a grant approval from the county for $67,000 to repave Front Street. The matter will be brought up at the next commissioners meeting. Coplay will have three councilmen in attendance to answer questions before and during the meeting.