Full agenda for Kennett Square Borough Council includes sewer agreement discussion
08/07/2018 03:17PM ● By Steven HoffmanKennett Square Borough Council's agenda on Monday night included everything from a presentation on a recently completed feasibility study to a series of HARB application approvals to a discussion about finalizing a new sewer agreement between the borough and neighboring Kennett Township.
The feasibility study focused on potential sites for a new borough administration building and police station, including whether space for the borough administration offices and a police station could be incorporated into the plans for the parking garage expansion. The feasibility study also looked at a number of different options for places where an administration building and police station could be located, primarily focusing on properties that the borough already owns. Kennett Square Borough officials will review the results of the feasibility study.
Also at the Aug. 6 meeting, Kennett Square Borough Council briefly discussed a new sewer agreement with Kennett Township, but the issue was tabled until a later date.
“We've been working with the township to revise the agreement for about a year,” borough manager Joseph Scalise explained to borough council. Scalise noted that Kennett Township is looking for some increased sewer capacity to accommodate new residential and commercial connections, so it was a good time to revise the agreement, which was first established sometime around 1978 and has been updated periodically. Several council members had questions about the agreement, including whether Kennett Township might pay for some of the upgrades to the wastewater treatment system that are currently needed, so it was decided that the best course of action would be to table the matter for now.
Council member Wayne Braffman, who serves on the borough’s Finance Committee, said that the committee recently reviewed a report about the current year's budget at the halfway point, and the borough’s expenditures are trending lower than what was budgeted and the revenues are coming in slightly higher than what was budgeted. Overall, Braffman said, the borough is about $40,000 ahead of what was budgeted when the revenues and expenses are combined.
“We're in pretty good shape at the halfway mark of the year,” Braffman said.
Mary Hutchins, the executive director of Historic Kennett Square, informed borough council that the organization is going to be looking for people to fill four positions on the board of Historic Kennett Square for 2019.
Braffman said that it would be nice if some of the new board members lived in Kennett Square Borough. The borough is going to spread the word about the upcoming vacancies on Historic Kennett Square’s board to help spread the word about them.
Borough council voted unanimously to award a professional services contract to EDiS for work related to the proposed parking garage expansion project.
Borough council approved the demolition of a building at 120 South Willow Street. The demolition of the building is necessary to make way for the new library that is going to be constructed.
HARB applications for a fence at 217 South Willow Street and a sign at 116 South Broad Street were approved by council after the applications had been reviewed by the Historic Architectural Review Board.
Borough council also approved a special event application for the Kennett High School Homecoming Parade for Sept. 28.