Strasburg Borough Council

February 14, 2023 Municipal Brief

At the February 14, 2023 Strasburg Borough Council meeting, Borough Council 1) adopted Resolution 2023-5 to amend the existing Articles of Incorporation for the Authority and 2) appointed Pete Kingsley Jr. (certified building inspector) and Eldon Stoltzfus (registered architect) to the Historical Architectural Review Board. 

The Borough Manager reported that 1) The Authority continues its deliberation on the sale of the sewer system and has paused the formal inquiries to purse dialogue directly with LASA, who is the public authority that had expressed interest.  They continue to work with DEP and their Technical Assistance Unit to look into options to replace the lost water source at the Old Springs.  2) The Eshelman Run Streambank Stabilization Grant was closed out and we received $164,710.58 which allows us to meet the DEP MS4 warrants.  3) We are working on Stormwater Phase 1 and the engineering is almost complete.  The Engineer is working on joint highway occupancy permits to include the Authority’s water project.  The Borough Manager continues to work with the key stakeholders to obtain buy-in.  4) According to the court’s public docket, the LGH contempt hearing that was scheduled for February 6, 2023 has been indefinitely continued based upon the parties working on agreement.  5) Quarry View Construction has withdrawn their full-price offer for purchasing the old Strasburg Elementary School and has made a significantly lower offer based on their estimated construction costs due to asbestos mitigation and necessity to install fire suppression.  He has fielded several inquiries from other prospective developers.  6) The ceiling tiles were replaced in the front office and will be replaced in the police department next week.  7) Borough Council approved by consensus to allow the Borough Office to continue the summer working schedule of 7 am to 4 pm Monday-Thursday and 7 am to 1 pm on Fridays from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  8) The amount of cyber attacks on the Borough’s system increased 600% within the last week.  The Borough’s IT Consultant stated that is consistent with what he is seeing across all his customers.  Employees were reminded to maintain diligence with screening and not opening suspicious emails. 

The Police Chief reported for the month of January 2023, the Police Department had 368 calls for service.  There was one criminal arrests, 28 speeding arrests, 50 other traffic arrests, two parking tickets, 22 traffic warnings, and three accidents.  The Strasburg Borough Police Department also:  participated in the Bleed Blue Challenge in January and February and held a blood drive at the Strasburg Fire Company on February 1; Chief Ferretti and Officer Klunk participated in a Railroad Safety, Communication, and Extrication training; Alex Mann completed a ride along on January 10, 2023 to raise Autistic Awareness; began planning for the first annual National Night Out in August; and hired Kayla Garver as a part-time Police Clerk. 

Consent agenda items were payment of the bills, adopting the Fee Schedule Resolution 2023-2, approving a Fire Police Request from Bart Township, adopted Resolution 2023-3 for Borough Records Retention, adopted Resolution 2023-4 to join PLGIT, and to appoint J.R. Johnson to a 6-year term on the Civil Service Commission. 

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For additional information on this press release, please contact Borough Manager Steve Echternach at 717-687-7732 or echterns@strasburgboro.org