At Coplay Borough Council’s regular meeting March 14, council members gave the go-ahead to pursue a Keystone Communities Program grant.

“This is just the application, but we are working closely with our elected state officials to help us secure the grant,” Councilman Stephen Burker said.

Burker indicated he is confident the borough can make a case for the grant.

“We have received a lot of assistance from the state on our applications,” he said after the meeting. “This grant will help us complete projects that will benefit the borough.”

The borough recently received a $200,000 matching grant to make major improvements to Saylor Park.

In other business, council authorized the public works department to hire Matthew Stoisits as a temporary part-time employee. He started his position March 20.

Councilman David Royer reported on an excellent job done by public works crews in clearing the snow from the recent storm. All streets in the borough were passable by the evening after the storm, he said.

“In addition to our crews, [Coplay-Whitehall Sewer Authority] chipped in a truck and an operator to help us out,” Royer said.

Burker indicated the scoreboard at Sammy Balliet Stadium is expected to be dedicated June 24. This is a slight delay from the original announcement.

The billboard was sponsored by Coca-Cola.

There was some discussion on the shared maintenance responsibilities between Coplay Sports and the stadium. According to Burker, all the details are worked out.

Coplay Sports has a bill for $16,000 to make improvements to its field. Burker asked council for assistance in paying it. Some members of council who made improvements to the field in prior years thought the cost was out of line with their expectations. Burker will get the details and tasks that went into the estimate for repairs.

With all the road work underway to improve the main sewer lines, existing sidewalks and curbs were damaged and need to be replaced. Replacing sidewalks and curbs is normally a homeowner’s responsibility, but council agreed to waive permit fees for curbs and sidewalks on South Front Street and Hokendauqua Street.

Council was prepared at the meeting to question the status of the feral cat committee, based on complaints from residents about the increased number of feral cats in the borough. Members of the committee were unable to attend because of the weather. The meeting was rescheduled for council’s workshop session April 4.