Coplay Borough Council received more input on how the street cleaning operation has been handled in the borough at the June 9 meeting.

In prior meetings, Council President Louis Bodish explained the problems with the annual street cleaning and issues encountered by the public works department.

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," Hamscher said. "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."

What particularly upset Hamscher was the sweeper did not come by. He said 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 Genovese 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. He added that the number of tickets written during the street cleaning 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," Hamscher said.

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," he said. "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."

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," Hamscher said. "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 police headquarters, he told Hamscher to talk to Genovese about the ticket. At Bundra's suggestion, Hamscher will take the matter up with the local magistrate.

In other business, 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.

Also during the meeting, Councilman David Royer presented council with options on how to solve heating problems in the municipal building. Council will review its options.

Borough Secretary Sandra Gyecsek also announced that the borough tentatively received 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.