Alburtis Borough Council discussed future expenses, plans and projects at its Aug. 26 meeting.

Mayor Kathleen Palmer initiated the meeting by informing council Police Chief Robert Palmer would like to purchase two guns, around $400 to $450 each – one as a replacement and one as a backup. She explained Palmer allocated money in the budget for the purchases. Council carried a motion to permit the chief to purchase the guns.

Council then carried motions to approve meeting minutes from the Aug. 12 meeting, bills for payment and the fiscal consultant’s report.

Upon opening the discussion to public comments, resident Chad Atkins inquired about a potential neighborhood yard sale. Borough Manager Sharon Trexler replied residents could hold a yard sale to make up for the loss of the holiday festival this year.

Councilmember Sherryann Oels then asked council about holding the “Breakfast with Santa” event this year. Oels believes the event possesses enough room for individuals in attendance to spread out enough to follow social distancing guidelines but would still like to hold the event as a positive release from the disruption COVID-19 brought to the community.

“We’re going month by month right now,” Oels said. “We can’t take everything away from the kids. We’d like to give them a little something.”

Council then moved forward to discuss the idea of installing bollards on South Main Street to deter truck drivers from driving over land or damaging property.

Oels, who resides nearby, explained that while not all truck drivers damage the property, some can cause significant damage such as hitting mailboxes.

Councilmember John Aleszczyk remained skeptical about the idea and proposed installing signs instead. However, councilmember Hector Vasquez explained if the borough purchases and installs the bollards, any truck drivers that damage them would need to pay for repairs, which could also dissuade them from driving close to property.

President Ron DeIaco decided to table the discussion until the next meeting.

Trexler delivered an update to council about the ongoing work blacktopping Ash Alley. She reported engineer Donnie Derr is “moving quick” with the improvements and plans to continue as far as possible, time and money permitting.

Trexler also explained the resident with mailbox issues reached out to her and informed her the contractors that installed the mailbox plan to fix it. The resident said they will contact the borough within the next two weeks with a specific date.

The East Penn Chamber plans to hold a luncheon later in September and Trexler asked if any council members would like to attend and deliver a synopsis for the borough. Vice President Steven Hill said he could potentially attend, as did Trexler who also plans to attend the Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Association.

DeIaco informed council Zoning Officer David Kutzor officially resigned. Council carried a motion to accept his resignation. DeIaco wished Kutzor well in his endeavors after parting from his role of zoning officer for the borough.

Lastly, Vasquez brought up concerns about baseball games and those involved adhering to social distancing guidelines pertaining to usage of the dugouts. Hill explained he witnessed them following the rules and Oels confirmed only the coaches use the dugouts while remaining socially distanced.

Council intends to hold a budget meeting 7 p.m. Sept. 9.