Charles Palmer was appointed as the new chief of police at the Emmaus Borough Council meeting held June 20.

Council chambers was completely filled by friends and fellow police officers as Palmer took the oath of office which was administered by Mayor Winfield Iobst.

Palmer has been a police officer for over 30 years, 22 of which have been with Emmaus. He has been working as active chief since former chief David Faust’s retirement in March and will start his official term July 1. His salary will be $96,500.

Palmer’s first duty as acting chief was to present Richard Hontz with a “commendation for 32 years of outstanding service, in the interest of public safety while serving the Borough of Emmaus as the animal control officer.”

Hontz served as the borough’s animal control officer from June 1984 to earlier this year when he announced his retirement.

Palmer said the Emmaus Police Department and Emmaus Police Officer Association has a policy in place to commend its members.

“The Emmaus Police Officers Association awards committee, along with the mayor and I, have approved an award for achievement with a criteria being having provided outstanding service to the interest of public safety.”

Tony Jackson, director of quality improvement initiatives at the American Heart and Stroke Association, presented the Emmaus Ambulance Corps with the 2016 American Heart Association Mission Lifeline EMS Silver Performance Achievement award.

“In order to achieve this silver performance award, the borough ambulance achieved 75 percent or higher compliance score for each specific EMS quality metric for the past 12 months,” Jackson said.

A total of 565 other EMS agencies in the United States received this award. The borough is one of 69 agencies in Pennsylvania to receive this award.

In other business, resident Kaitlyn Ginnings expressed her concern about an “assault rifle store” opening up on her block. Ginnings said she and her wife have always “felt safe and comfortable in this small welcoming community where people know all their neighbors.”

Ginnings said when she found out a gun shop was opening on her block she did not feel safe for the first time since she relocated to Emmaus two years ago. She said she was hoping the vacated location would be used for another community oriented gathering place and not a “barred up windowed assault rifle store in a predominately residential area.”

“How is it possible that the borough can make so many zoning regulations and hoops for other businesses like the brewery to jump through, when there’s nothing that can be done to stop an assault rifle store opening up just two blocks away from another gun store,” Ginnings said.

She said she’s spoken to neighbors and friends about the issue, but too many of them are scared to speak out on gun control and ban on assault weapons in fear they will become a target.

Borough Solicitor Jeffery Dimmich explained the borough’s stance on the issue.

“The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, our state representatives and state legislature have passed a bill that prohibits a municipality from in anyway regulating or engaging in activities or ordinances that regulate or infringe upon gun legislation. They have basically exclusively preempted that field.”

Dimmich went on to state they “could regulate it in the sense that you can’t have a commercial establishment in a residential zone.”

Borough Manger Shane Pepe chimed in to say the problem is the building is in a downtown commercial district.

At this time the issue can only be addressed at a state level.

Pepe announced they plan on opening the community pool June 25. The pool had a delayed opening after an explosion occurred back in May. Pepe said they have new equipment to replace the old and damaged system. Insurance is covering the entire bill including loss of revenue.

Council voted to accept the bid from Stephenson Equipment to obtain new leaf collecting equipment at a price of $39,800 as well as a rear camera system and dash monitor at an additional $2,000.

Council voted to form a 2-year janitorial contract with Executive Building Services.

Council unanimously voted to accept the bid from Fulton Leasing Company in regard to a dump truck and ambulance lease with a rate of 1.92 percent. The ambulance was $161,184.26 and the dump truck was $164,746.40. The ambulance will be leased for four years while the dump truck will be leased for three years.