CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — It’s official. Clarion Borough has a new Storm Water Authority.
Clarion Borough Secretary told Borough Council Tuesday night that he had just received an email before the meeting from solicitor Lee Stinnett of Salzmann Hughes, P.C. Attorneys at Law, of Harrisburg.
“Authority documents were filed last week on June 30 with the Commonwealth and the Bureau of Corporations,” said Hall about the email. “The Storm Water Authority of Clarion Borough is officially in existence in the state of Pennsylvania.”
Property owners, including non-profits such as churches and Clarion University, could see new fees or taxes trickle down with a new Storm Water Authority. Although there is now an authority, no decision has been made about fees or taxes.
Stinnett addressed Council at a November 2015 meeting about the possibility of the Department of Environmental Protection legislation mandating better control of storm water following directions from the federal government and noted that some Pennsylvania communities are investigating the establishment of separate authorities that could establish taxes or fees apart from the municipality.
Assessment of the fee would be based on the amount of stormwater generated by the property or the amount of impervious covering such as roofs and parking lots.
For more details of the November meeting, read exploreClarion’s coverage at https://www.exploreclarion.com/2015/11/23/clarion-stormwater-authority-could-charge-fees-to-fund-repair-of-aging-system/.
Local Debt
Clarion Borough Council Tuesday night adopted several measures to comply with the Local Government Unit Debt Act (LGUDA) administered by DCED, including a new Debt Service Fund.
The new account will make debt principal and interest payments on outstanding loans with Clarion Borough, including the transfer of $26,566.52 to the fund for payments for a police vehicle and front-end loader loans. A debt service checking account was also established with S&T Bank.
LGUDA also provides the procedure for Pennsylvania’s local government units to issue debt and tax anticipation notes. The Act also provides the borrowing limits for the local government units.
Ron and Shawn Corcetti’s request for a simple subdivision of property owned on East Main Street was approved. The couple initially planned to build housing on all of the land purchased with the old Agway property, replacing the Agway building with townhouses. Corcetti did build some townhouses on the property, but with a decline in the rental market in the Clarion area, a decision was made to maintain the Agway building as commercial property. The subdivision essential returns the property to commercial and residential for the two new divisions.
A simple subdivision request from Arthur Shingledecker was also approved.
In other action, Council:
• Rejected all bids for asphalt pavement restoration related to the Second Avenue and Wood Street Storm Sewer project. Hall said that the only two bids were much higher than anticipated.
• Approved Clarion County Coalition For Suicide Prevention’s special event request for a Walk to Raise Awareness to be held September 8.
• Approved United Way of Clarion County’s special event request for a 5k and 10k Race to be held September 24.
• Approved the AAA Life Service’s special event request for a 5k Run/Walk to be held October 8. Hall indicated the walk would be held near Clarion University and AAA’s office on Greenville Avenue.
• Approved Spec. Ross McGinnis VFW Post 2145’s special event request for Patriot Day Services to be held September 11.
• Attending the meeting were President Carol Lapinto, Keaton Macbeth, Rachel Roberts, Earl Zerfoss, along with Mayor David Walters.
