niedbala@observer-reporter.com
WAYNESBURG - Waynesburg council, which has been considering building a skate park for borough youth for more than a year, discussed Monday what might be the best location for the park.
The borough, which earlier received a $25,000 state grant for the skate park, has been considering building it at the Central Park playground.
Borough manager Bruce Wermlinger told council Monday that he had inspected the Central Park location. To build the skate park there as proposed, he said, would require excavating a bank and constructing an 8-foot high retaining wall 180 feet long.
Wermlinger asked council to consider perhaps placing the skate park at Meadow Lark Park. More room is available there and this could allow for a larger skate park, he said.
Mayor Blair Zimmerman also said Meadow Lark might be a good location because the site is flat, which would allow the park to be built sooner. One drawback is the park is secluded and security might be a problem, he said.
A question also was raised about whether young people would be able to get to the Franklin Township park easily.
Borough solicitor Farley Toothman suggested council may want to keep its options open. With the proposed construction of the railroad overpass on Morgan Street, property might become available on the borough's south side, he said.
Wermlinger said he had raised the issue only for council to consider. He noted that the grant does not have to be spent until June 2010, but wants to at least "start the ball rolling."
Wermlinger gave a report on the streetscape project. He noted officials recently learned federal grant money could not be used to dig trenches under the sidewalk to install conduit necessary to eliminate overhead utility lines.
The project faces a shortfall of about $500,000 for burying utility lines and is now discussing the project with the utility companies. Wermlinger said he hoped in about a week to know how much money will have to be raised locally for burying utility lines.
Council received bids for the sale of a 2001 Crown Victoria police car, a 1997 Ford diesel dump truck and for 13 tons of wood pellets for a wood-pellet stove.
It authorized the solicitor and Wermlinger to review the bids and award them to the highest bidders.
The apparent high bid for the police car was $812 from Rogers Auto Sale of Rogers, Ohio; for the dump truck, $11,761 from George Keener; and for the wood pellets, $160 a ton from John Black of Jefferson.
The borough also advertised for sale two wood-pellet stoves which it purchased in 2004 for $2,500 each. No bids were received for the stoves. The borough will now accept private offers for them.
Council received a request to vacate two paper streets, Short Alley and Rinehart Street, each between Third and Fourth streets. Wermlinger was authorized to investigate the matter.
Council agreed to a request to enforce a two-hour parking limit on the east side of Morgan Street, between Greene Street and Strawberry Alley.
Vehicles can now park in those spaces all day. Residents had asked for the change to open those space during the day.
Council agreed to additional fines for those who have delinquent parking tickets. The fine for those who have not paid a parking fines after 10 days and upon the issuance of a notice will increase by an additional $5.
The fine for those who fail to pay a parking fine 10 days after the issuance of the notice will increase an additional $5 and a citation will be filed with the district judge.