At the July 1 Northampton Borough Council meeting, three residents addressed council about a situation they felt is unsafe at the pool.

One of the attendees described herself as a nurse for about 50 years. She provided council with alleged online pictures of what she described as wounds on a swimming pool attendee’s leg. She alleged the person in question had a leg wound she said was bandaged with an allegedly puss-laden and oozing wound. The resident noted this person should not be allowed to use the public pool until they are well.

She provided council a brief tutorial about skin infections.

Council President Julia Kutzler said the situation will be addressed. Assistant Borough Manager Jerry Serensits noted the pool water is tested every two hours, and a person could be asked to attain medical clearance to enter the pool. Serensits agreed the situation will be addressed.

A second resident said a person with this alleged condition should not be allowed to use the public pool. He went on to ask how they would feel if they were hosting a personal pool party and someone showed up in that condition.

Kutzler repeated the alleged situation will be addressed, adding this is the first time council was hearing about this issue.

Municipal pools are regulated in Pennsylvania under Chapter 18: Public Swimming and Bathing Places.

The state swimming and bathing places regulation states, “Persons with signs of illness or disease or with skin rashes or sores or with bandages shall be excluded from public bathing places, except when certified by a physician not to have a disease in a communicable stage.”

Council and borough management said they would look into the matter now that they were alerted to the alleged situation.

In other business, council approved the purchase of a new command truck for the Northampton Volunteer Fire Department by a 4-3 council vote. The cost of the command truck is $60,000. The funding would be through the borough’s fire tax fund.

Some on council felt the truck was not needed at this point or were concerned about increased taxes.

An offer to place a nonbinding bid for a building owned by the Northampton Area School District at 2014 Laubach Ave. was approved. To place the bid, council approved entering a buyer-brokerage agreement with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate.

The agreement allows the borough to establish formal representation with an agent and ensures the agent acts solely in the borough’s best interest. The agreement is at no cost to the borough.

Councilwoman Bonnie Almond, in her fire and health report, noted there will be discussions to potentially eliminate the Northampton Health Board. She said the state covers much of what the local health board does. The plan is to discuss the matter in depth at the July 16 council meeting to make a decision going forward.

There was discussion by council members, the mayor and administration, all expressing frustration about the few homeowners in Northampton who choose to not keep their properties’ external appearance in concert with borough ordinances regarding high weeds, high grass and blowing/sweeping grass trimmings into public streets.

All homeowners and landlords are alerted that, if the out-of-ordinance situation continues, the code enforcement officer will be fining those in violation of the law.

The next Northampton Borough Council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. July 16 at the municipal building, 1401 Laubach Ave. It is a hybrid meeting, with both in-person and virtual options. Visit northamptonboro.com to review the meeting’s agenda and to access the meeting virtually.