Firefighters could be back in Aug.
A federal grant Uniontown received to recall the five remaining laid-off firefighters could be accessible on Aug. 22, city officials said. The city was awarded a $632,835 grant from the Homeland Security Department in May to recall the firemen, who have been off the job since December.
The fire department had 13 firefighters until seven were included in two rounds of employee layoffs in all departments in October 2008 and February 2009. City council said the layoffs were needed to cut spending due to a budget deficit of more than $1 million.
Council and the firefighters’ union worked out an agreement in which all seven were recalled, but they were laid off again in December.
Two were recalled in March, but five remain laid off.
At last week’s council meeting, Fire Chief Charles Coldren and Councilman Gary Gearing, the public safety director, said the grant money is supposed to be available on Aug. 22.
Coldren said that was the date that a Homeland Security liaison provided, but he has other questions about the grant and doesn’t know if the city could start recalling the firefighters on that day.
Council authorized the fire civil service commission to conduct testing to create and maintain an eligibility list for the fire department and approved a $1,288 budget to create the list.
Gearing said he hopes the testing is completed before Aug. 22. The commission is required to maintain an eligibility list and the most recent list expired, Gearing said.
Regarding the commission, council voted to re-appoint David Dzurnak as a member to June 13, 2014.
In an unrelated matter, council waived sewer and garbage collection fees owed on three properties that were sold through the Fayette County Tax Claim Bureau’s free and clear sale.
Council waived $2,230 in garbage bills and in $348 sewer fees that were owed on 129 S. Grant St., $1,491 in garbage collection and $965 in sewer fees owned on 88 Walnut St. and $411 in garbage fees owed on 121 S. Grant St.
Mayor Ed Fike abstained from the votes on the garbage collection fees.
Turning to another subject, council agreed to designate Lenox Street from Madison to Cleveland avenues a one-way, westbound street.
Fike said about 35 Lenox Street residents signed a petition requesting the change. He said the street is almost too narrow to accommodate two traffic lanes.
Councilman Philip Michael pointed out that the petition requests one-way traffic heading east.
Some residents said the petition was not correct and they want the road to be westbound only.
Gearing suggested tabling the vote on the resolution until council was certain about what the residents wanted.
In other business, council:
n- Agreed to lease an office in City Hall to U.S. Rep. Mark Critz for use as one of his district offices for $450 a month through Jan. 2, 2011.
n Accepted Ann Vallozzi’s resignation as deputy treasurer effective June 25.
n Ratified training Nicole L. Hoover for a job in the treasurer’s office from June 18 to July 2 at $10 an hour and hiring her as deputy treasurer on a probationary basis effective July 6 at an annual salary of $22,000.
Fike abstained from voting on the training and hiring resolutions.
n Ratified the hiring of Eugene Barchetti as a part-time parks and recreation worker at minimum wage on June 7.
n Approved a contract to lease a new Pitney Bowes postage machine for five years. The cost of the lease was not stated in the resolution, but it said the lease would save the city about $1,770 over the 5-year period. The current machine is 12 years old, according to the resolution.
n Re-appointed Richard Lee to the zoning hearing board through June 1, 2015.
– Announced that the Salvation Army donated $8,500 to pay for lunches for children participating in the city’s summer parks and recreation program.
– Agreed to be the primary sponsor of Fay-Penn Economic Development Council’s Downtown Uniontown Farmers Market.