Connellsville to take part in spring summit
CONNELLSVILLE — The city will again join with neighboring communities in March to discuss ways to work together and solve problems being encountered by the struggling municipalities.
City Council agreed this week to participate in the March 22-24 summit, which will take place at the Laurelville Mennonite Church Center in Mount Pleasant.
“(The summit) has been a huge benefit to the city and other communities,” said Councilman Brad Geyer. “We all have the same problems with tight budgets, unfunded state and federal mandates, police and street departments, and this gives us the opportunity to talk about how everyone handles those issues.”
Five municipalities took part in the 2011 summit, including Mount Pleasant, Everson, Scottdale and South Connellsville boroughs along with the City of Connellsville.
The event included several guest speakers to discuss health and safety matters, revitalization of business districts and the development of bike trails, along with other topics.
Geyer said that an agenda has yet to be established for the 2012 summit.
“We’re still in the beginning stages for the conference and awaiting to hear which municipalities will be taking part,” he said. “Once we have the participants, then we’ll start the planning process.”
Turning to other matters, council also conducted the following business:
n Set 2012 meeting dates for Jan. 18; Feb. 15; March 21: April 18; May 16; June 20; July 18; Aug. 15; Sept. 19; Oct. 17; Nov. 14 and Dec. 19. Meetings will be held in council chambers and begin at 7 p.m.
n Approved Penn State student Tyler Burd as an intern for the city police department.
n Introduced a stormwater management ordinance, municipal pension plan ordinance and city employee pension plan ordinance.
n Entered into a four-year agreement with certain city administrative workers represented by United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union AFL-CIO/CLC on behalf of Local Union 13836-23. Geyer said that the details of the contract would be released after both sides had signed the document.
n Adopted The International Property Maintenance Code for the city.