California
Council to discuss school resource officer contract CALIFORNIA – Members of California Borough Council will be meeting with California Area School District superintendent Linda Mancini next week to discuss the school resource officer contract.
Mayor Casey Durdines raised the issue at Thursday’s borough council committee meeting.
“Right now I’m comfortable with the current agreement,” Durdines said. “My intention would be to have Officer (Rick) Encapera there again.”
Councilwoman Shelly Roberts said the old contract called for two part-time officers to fill the school position, which would mean that neither the borough nor the district pays for any benefits and the district picks up the salary.
“So will the school district pick up some $40,000 a year and $12,000 in benefits?” Roberts asked.
Durdines proposed that if the district is asked to cover the benefits that the amount be prorated, since the SRO only works in the district nine months a year, with some partial weeks during that time. Former councilman Artie Harris said that benefits were prorated in the past if a full-time officer served as the SRO.
Durdines also noted that a part-time officer that was assigned to the district last school year quit for a county job a few weeks into the first semester. The borough ended the year with a full-time officer in the position, which Durdines said provides more consistency in the job.
“You’re not only providing security for the school, you’re also providing additional security for the community,” Durdines said.
Mancini said the district would work with either a full-time or two part-time officers, but does want consistency for the sake of the students.
In other matters, engineer Art Brower of Fayette Engineering reported that his company is continuing to work on right-of-way agreements with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and private property owners for the Malden/Granville sewerage project. Brower said that all of the property owners were contacted about the right-of-ways about six weeks ago, but so far only a third have completed the necessary agreements. Brower said letters have been sent giving the property owners until July 8 to sign the agreements.
“Sometimes if you don’t put a deadline on these things people don’t respond. We need to have these right-of-ways before we can award bids,” Brower said.
Brower said the council also needs to decide what it intends to do regarding a parcel of land owned by the Student Association Inc. at California University of Pennsylvania that is needed for a pump station. The university has offered a one-for-one swap with the borough for a parcel on the edge of campus needed to complete the campus road system, but the council has not yet decided whether it wants to sell the property or lease it to the university. Brower said that issue also needs to be resolved prior to the awarding of the construction contracts.
Code enforcement issues were also raised. A meeting will be held this coming week with university officials regarding dormitory inspections and the fee structure for those inspections.
Council also discussed problems with residents putting garbage out for trash pick up all week long.
The borough ordinance calls for trash to be put at the curbside no more than 24 hours before the scheduled pick up.