Reynoldsville council given a petition, names new council member; pool asks for volunteers

The Reynoldsville Borough Council met in regular session on June 15 and received a petition calling for the borough to put a police officer back on the street

The petition was presented by Rick Keller, the area representative for the Teamsters Local #110 which represents the police department.

The petition, he said, included the names of 791 borough residents and an additional 110 signatures from people who shop or work in the borough. The petition called for the restoration of the police department. It also included a sentence where the signers agreed they didn’t want to rely just on State Police coverage.

The topic was not talked about any further until just before the council went into an executive session after completing regular business.

When asked about the status of the department, Council President William Cebulskie said he has contacted the Punxsutawney Police Department to discuss regionalization but has not received a return call. He also planned to talk to Sandy Township.

After some further discussion, council member Ralph “Tucker” August called for action to be taken on the petition to assure residents the council supported a borough police department. Cebulskie suggested turning the matter over to the police committee for possibly hiring someone.

Keller stated his opinion that no other police department was interested in joining. He also said there was a call recently where the State Police in DuBois could not respond so the call as transferred to the Punxsutawney-based State Police who took 27 minutes to respond.

Keller also reminded council about former officer Tammy Murray (who was at the meeting) whose hours were cut last year and then eliminated in this year’s budget.

“You know yourself that Tammy has seniority here, we have a labor agreement here and she has the right to be called back if you start your police department,” he said. He added that he was putting the council on notice that due to the labor agreement Murray has the right to come back to work.

“I hope you don’t violate our agreement,” Keller told council.

The discussion that began after the regular business and before the executive session didn’t end there. Borough resident Brian Maxim, who began by expressing his support for the police department restoration, called into question code enforcement, which led to a heated exchange with council member and Code Enforcement Officer Nichole Walk. It wa shortly after that the council went into executive session.

New council member

During the regular session, council approved a motion to appoint Max Smith to the seat vacated by Robin McMillan. He was one of two letters submitted to council for the seat, but the other unidentified person withdrew. That term is up at the end of this year.

Smith ran a successful write-in campaign for council in last month’s primary for the both the Democratic and Republican ballots, as did Kyle Gordon.

Reynoldsville pool benefit

During the public comments at the beginning of the meeting, Reynoldsville Pool representative Jack Matusky informed council of the upcoming Walmart sale to benefit the pool. It is scheduled for July 10 at Jeff Tech.

Six tractor trailer loads of items will be dropped off at Jeff Tech on Wednesday June 23 and Thursday June 24. Volunteers are needed to help unload the items and take them into the gym. He asked the volunteers to be there by 10 a.m. each day.

“This whole community benefits from the pool. If we lose the pool we lose a lot,” Matusky said.

The pool has been raising funds to offset the costs of much-needed repairs. One grant was received, but another grant was denied, and the search for funding continues.

“This truckload of merchandise sale is going to be a big boost, it’s going to give us a good chunk of money,” Matusky told council.

For those who need more information about the truckload sale preparation on June 23 and 24 can contact Matusky at 814.771.5601.

Other actions

Borough resident Meghan Yohe attended the council meeting to answer questions about the chickens and ducks she has on her property. Council determined she was in compliance with the borough ordinance.

At the request of Councilman August, council reviewed three quotes for a new zero-turn mower used by the borough crew. The current one is 15 years old he said and is having a lot of problems.

After some discussion, the council approved purchasing the mower from Walker and Walker Equipment of DuBois for $9, 059.