Aug 25, 2010 By Rebekah Sungala 2 min read

MASONTOWN – Masontown Police Department will partner with the state Department of Transportation (PennDOT) in implementing a project aimed at getting people to buckle their seat belts. At Tuesday’s meeting, borough council voted 6-0 to approve a contract with the state that will allow the police department to participate in the Buckle Up PA program.

Buckle Up PA is funded by PennDOT and is dedicated to raising the seat belt usage level through increased enforcement, public awareness and education.

The partnership is comprised of municipal police departments, state police, PennDOT, the U.S. Department of Transportation and community groups and organizations.

Borough police Chief Joe Ryan said PennDOT will pay officers’ overtime for roving patrols and to hold checkpoints to enforce seat belt usage.

Council members Harry Lee, Bob Brown, Edward Gulino, Kay Rendina, Joseph Stillwagon and Mike Washko voted to approve the contract. Councilman Frank McLaughlin was absent from Tuesday’s meeting.

Mayor Toni Petrus thanked council for supporting the program and said it will benefit the borough.

In other matters, council acknowledged that several roads in the borough need paved and asked residents for patience.

Council members discussed the matter after a resident complained about the deplorable condition of Commercial Avenue.

Lee said the borough uses state liquid fuel money to pave roads and that a number of roads are paved every two years. The borough uses a two-year paving cycle so that enough liquid fuels money can be collected to pay for a decent size project.

“We can’t pave the whole town at one time. We will fix the roads as best we can as soon as we can,” he said.

Lee said the borough does the best it can with the money it has, noting that rising costs of paving materials make it difficult to do a lot of paving.

In other business, council said a vacant seat still exists on the borough recreation board. Any resident wishing to serve on the board is asked to send a letter of interest to the borough at 2 Court Ave., Masontown, Pa., 15461.

Council also announced that water will be shut off Sept. 7 to any residences that have outstanding and delinquent water bills of two months or more.

The next council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 14 in the borough building.