At its workshop session Tuesday, Coplay Borough Council debated adding surveillance cameras to watch over the community plaza.

“We have tolerated enough vandalism at the gazebo ... graffiti on rocks out front. Someone took the banner,” Councilman Stephen Burker said.

Burker and Councilman Charles Sodl joined police Chief Vincent Genovese and met with Bill Loy, the owner of Sam Owens Restaurant, to discuss a plan. Loy offered the borough the use of his surveillance system if the borough would foot the bill for additional cameras.

“We would have three cameras, even four, that would run off his system - HD cameras. With a software package, we can direct the monitors right to the police station,” Genovese said.

And it would be quick. Sodl took a straw vote and found council approved.

“We can order up the cameras now, vote to approve it next week and have it under surveillance by Wednesday,” he said.

Loy has cooperated with the borough before on several projects.

“We have a community-backed investment in the community plaza. We don’t want to see it marred,” President Louis Bodish said.

The cost is estimated at $750.

“We lost that much repairing the graffiti,” Burker said.

The plan is scheduled for a vote at council’s regular session July 18.

“With those cameras, we can cover the plaza and the areas up and down Chestnut (Street),” Genovese said.

Coplay is putting on a concert at the community plaza July 19.

“We don’t know how it will turn out, but we want to get the community out during the summer,” Burker said.

The concert will start 6 p.m. If planning to attend, bring a chair and blanket.

In other news, Colson and Claudie Jean-Louis of 145 S. Seventh St., asked council to consider waiving a street opening fee of $1,000. Jean-Louis is converting their home from oil to gas. The fee is imposed on repairs to newly resurfaced streets.

“We set the fee, so we can be sure UGI put the street into ‘like new’ condition,” Sodl said. “We should keep to our plan.”

The option will be voted on at council’s next meeting. The mood of council is to deny the request.

Also at the meeting, Mayor Dean Molitoris reported on the progress of the borough’s feral cat committee.

“I continue to receive complaints that no one is responding,” he said.

Molitoris went on to detail an incident where a resident called in about kittens. The committee did not initially respond. After repeated requests, the group promised to send out someone. As of the July 11 meeting, the resident was still waiting for someone to remove the now almost adult cats.

“When they came to council back in April, we gave them a green light to continue, but we were looking for reports and updates,” Sodl said. “That’s why we did this. It’s time to move on.”

Moving on, in Sodl’s mind, is to get a no-kill shelter to take over. The borough had a proposal on the books. It will be reviewed, updated and voted on at the next meeting.

Additionally, Burker reported on the upstart Aqua Zumba program at the pool.

“We restarted Zumba in June. It’s been very successful. At the last session, there were almost 100 people there,” he said. “The social media posts about the program went viral.

“At Zumba class, there might be four from Coplay. They are coming in from all around us,” he said.

Burker credits the instructor, Pedro Ayala, for attracting the class. The classes are 6:30 p.m. Mondays and every other Friday.

“We were the only place that offered to allow the attendees to pay by the lesson. Everyone else wanted a $50 fee up front from each ‘Zummer.’ This is a great option for those who want see what Zumba is like,” Burker said.

Burker also asked council for a special commendation for lifeguard Paul Helman. A young teenager went down the water slide at the deep end of the pool. He did not know how to swim. Helman recognized his distress quickly and pulled the lad to safety.