At a meeting held Dec. 2, North Catasauqua Borough Council continued a discussion about updating security systems at borough hall and at North Catasauqua William J. Albert Memorial Park.

New surveillance cameras will provide the borough with a 360-degree view of the park. Borough hall and the police department will also be thoroughly covered by cameras and new lock systems.

At a previous meeting, council voted to take a contract with Altronics Security at an approximate cost of $60,000, but it was since discovered the rate did not include the WAVE Plus system the borough intended to receive. The cost including WAVE Plus is now more than $71,000, so council agreed to raise the amount it intends to seek financing for to $75,000 to account for an additional camera if needed.

WAVE Plus will allow immediate alarms to be sent across the radios, phones and emails of police department and borough employees in an emergency and link them to the other security systems.

The borough is preparing to advertise its intent to secure financing for the contract, but borough council President Pete Paone received authorization from council to sign the agreement with Altronics before financing so installation can begin sooner.

Borough Treasurer Annette Englert announced she asked BB&T Bank to open a fraud investigation. In the past two weeks, it was discovered two checks that were sent by the borough to Northampton County - for the sewer and general funds - were somehow deposited by an unknown third party.

Northampton County alerted the borough of the outstanding bill, but the borough knew the checks had been sent. It was then discovered the checks were deposited at a Fulton Bank, which Northampton County does not use, and they were not notarized by the county’s official stamp.

Interim Police Chief Chris Wolfer asked council to consider adding a detective position to the police department sometime in the next two years. Currently, North Catasauqua officers are burdened by an excess of investigative work, which they are not all properly trained to handle. Without a dedicated detective to handle the bulk of investigative work, officers are forced to stay in the office rather than patrol the borough.

Wolfer would prefer to train and promote a current officer into just such a position and hire a new officer to fill the gap, rather than hire a detective from outside of the department.

In an update regarding recent vandalism at the park, Wolfer assured council the police department is coordinating with area schools to identify the suspect who was captured on security camera footage.

Presuming the culprit is a minor, Wolfer explained that with a graffiti charge, the person will be tried as an adult in juvenile court. Response, cleanup and investigation into the vandalism have quickly produced a high bill for the borough, so Wolfer intends to pursue full restitution and account for all costs.

Paone informed council its application for a $1.3 million multimodal transportation grant to complete the Catasauqua/North Catasauqua stretch of the D&L Trail had been declined. However, North Catasauqua was given two grants from Northampton County to install shade structures at the park and to conduct a trail connection study.

Paone went on to say he met with Keystone Engineering and W2A Design to discuss “efficiently meeting the needs of the borough going forward” in terms of renovations and construction for borough buildings.

At this time, borough council has not scheduled a second meeting for December. The next meeting will be held Jan. 6, 2020, starting with a reorganization meeting 6 p.m. that will be followed by a regular meeting.