By Steven Hoffman

Staff Writer

At the West Grove Borough Council meeting on Oct. 2, Richard Turkington received an award from the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs for more than two decades of service on borough council.

When he presented Turkington with the award, council member Mark Johnson praised Turkington’s contributions to the town, saying that he was instrumental in getting the new municipal building constructed.

“He recognized that we wanted to keep the library in the borough,” Johnson said.

He added that Turkington considers his work on borough council as volunteer service to the community, and doesn’t want or expect any credit for that service.

“That says a lot about your character and personality,” Johnson said to Turkington.

In other business, borough council agreed in principle to offering non-uniformed employees a contract that will include raises of 4 percent, 3 percent, and 3 percent over the next three years. These figures will be incorporated into the proposed 2014 budget.

Borough manager Sharon Nesbitt said that the budget for next year is still looking good, with no tax increases expected. Grants that the borough has received have helped.

“We did really well this year,” Nesbitt said. “Our budget is in good shape.”

The borough will likely be fined $15,000 by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection for high phosphorus levels.

Borough officials will meet with the DEP and hope that the fine won’t be imposed because West Grove has been working to solve the issues.

“When the problem first arose, we started sampling effluent to identify where this phosphorus is coming from,” said Tim Nichols, the superintendent of the Public Works Department.

“We’re spending money trying to fix the problems,” added Johnson.