At the regular meeting of Coplay Council Nov. 8, borough resident Anne Killeen continued a discussion she had with council at the workshop meeting the week before.

Killeen indicated a landscaping wall on a neighboring property on Fourth Street is built into the right of way. She contends the property was surveyed sometime back, and a survey point was etched in the macadam.

“I made my measurements from the survey point,” Killeen said.

An older, wooden railroad-style landscaping wall travels along the alley. That wall, according to Killeen, was put in long ago and has been grandfathered.

“I’m not complaining about the old wooden wall. That has been there for years, and I understand. My complaint is with the new wall. It was built into the right of way,” she said.

Killeen contends emergency vehicles and cars hit the wall or drive on her property to avoid it.

Although the tradesmen setting the new wall indicated they did not need a permit, borough Secretary Sandra Gyecsek reported the homeowner did file a permit.

“The plans were submitted, approved and reviewed,” Gyecsek said.

Borough Engineer Daniel Witczak reviewed the plans to get an idea of where the problem existed. According to Killeen, there is a discrepancy of approximately 18 inches between the plans and the constructed wall.

Council invited Ronald Helman, the borough’s building inspector, to the meeting, but his work schedule did not allow him to attend. The matter will be addressed at council’s next workshop session. Council asked that Witczak also be present at the workshop meeting.

“We need to get this addressed and resolved,” said Councilman Charles Sodl.

In other action, Councilwoman Janet Eisenhauer went through the proposed budget for 2017. The budget has no major surprises. Noteworthy change includes adding an additional full-time police officer and releasing part-time police officers. The change leaves the budget about the same as 2016.

Sodl recognized that the borough’s potential future plans are not addressed.

“We have several critical issues that we need to address. We have an outdated police department. [Coplay Municipal Building] either needs repairing, or we need to replace it. We have the site on Bridge Street for our public works department that needs to be considered,” he said.

Council did call for a 0.2-mill property tax hike. The new rate would rise to 3.83 mills.

“The average-priced home in Coplay would see a $36 annual increase,” Eisenhauer said.

Sodl indicated the small increase was justified by the borough’s services.