In an effort to streamline the process and penalty of a homeowner for a variety of transgressions, Bath Borough Council enacted a quality of life ordinance at its June 1 council meeting.

Under a typical quality of life ordinance, a number of conditions on a property are subject to a monetary fine, including nuisance remediation. These include conditions that constitute a danger or potential danger to the health, safety or welfare of citizens of the municipality or causes blighting of a neighborhood.

A quality of life ordinance allows for a rapid response. The goal is to solve a potentially dangerous situation as soon as possible.

“The quality of life ordinance is a tool to cut to the chase and solve an unsafe condition as soon as possible,” Bath Borough Manager Bradley Flynn said.

Bath’s ordinance includes 14 potential violations. They are open burning, animals running at large, Paw Park violations, keeping animals, fireworks, motor vehicles, outside nuisances, waste, recyclables, leaf waste, snow and ice removal, ice and snow shoveled into a street, weeds and grass and violations of the building maintenance code.

A code enforcement officer will contact the homeowner to fix a problem with the property. The homeowner is then given a period of time to respond. A fine can be given to the homeowner after the remediation time elapses.

“If a resident receives a ticket, they have 10 days to pay the fine or call for a review hearing,” Flynn said.

Flynn pointed out the quality of life ordinance does not eliminate the other ordinances on the borough’s books addressing nuisance violations. And, 60 days from the ordinance approval, tickets issued will not carry a fine.

Tickets will be sent to the homeowner’s or property address. Tickets escalate if the issue is not resolved.

The ordinance has been discussed by council over a year before its enactment.

In other borough business, resident Phil West expressed a concern that trash cans picked up automatically by Advanced Disposal may get damaged in the process. He questioned who would pay to replace a garbage can damaged by Advanced.

Since Advanced provides the cans and if the can is damaged by Advanced’s automated pickup process, the company would have to pay for the can replacement, council President Mark Saginario said.

In another ordinance passed by council, two streets were approved as one way: Washington Street to East Main Street and Poplar Street by East Main to Pearl Street. This change was to preserve parking on both sides on the street.

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation informed the borough there are line-of-sight issues with these two streets, which is why the borough changed them to one way.

The next Bath Borough Council meeting is 6:30 p.m. July 6. If Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf places Northampton County in the green phase, the meeting can be held at borough hall with masking and social distancing. Otherwise, the meeting will be conducted over Zoom.