March 15 Baldwin Borough Council Meeting Notes

The  Council approved a five-year contract with the General Laborers and Material Handlers, Local Union No. 1058, at its meeting Tuesday night, March 15.

“We’ve been working on (this agreement) for a long time,” Solicitor Michael B. Lederman said, “and it includes a five-year contract.”

The contract is an agreement between Baldwin Borough and its 11 full-time public-works employees. The contract goes into effect retroactively, starting on Jan. 1, 2011.

The new agreement between the borough and the union calls for a 3-percent increase in hourly wage for the workers each year over the length of their contract, which is in effect through 2015.

Workers have been split into three categories — skilled laborers, such as backhoe and road-grader operators; semi-skilled laborers, such as commercial drivers and other equipment operators; and unskilled laborers, such as general-maintenance employees.

Skilled laborers will earn $22.90 per hour in 2011, and, with the 3-percent increase, that wage will increase to $23.58 per hour in 2012, $24.28 in 2013 and so on.

Semi-skilled and unskilled laborers are starting at $22.65 and $22.37 this year, respectively.

, who represents the 38th Pennsylvania House of Representatives District, which includes Dravosburg Borough, Glassport Borough, Liberty Borough, Pleasant Hills Borough, Port Vue Borough and parts of the City of McKeesport, West Mifflin Borough and Baldwin Borough, addressed the Baldwin Borough Council on Tuesday.

Kortz shared his concerns about the .

“It’s a very dire budget indeed,” Kortz said, “and if this thing were to pass, there’s going to be severe negative consequences.”

He went on to share that funding for the  is slated to be cut by $1.1 million.

The Pennsylvania State Education Association reports that the B-W School District stands to essentially lose $1,555,278 in state funding under Corbett’s plan, down from $10,356,550 in 2010-11 to $8,801,272 next fiscal year.

Kortz said that the more-than-50-percent in cuts to the educational system were “draconian.”

“Gov. Corbett failed to address Pennsylvania’s dire transportation needs,” he said. “Thirty-two thousand of our bridges in Pennsylvania are structurally deficient, and we also have 10,000 miles of roads crumbling.

“The governor made these big cuts while giving a big pass to big business. He failed to address the business-tax loopholes.”

That included a $300 million online-sales loophole, he said.

Two heated debates took place at this meeting during the borough’s Parks and Recreation report.

The first topic of those was over fees for use of the borough’s ball fields.

Councilman Edward Moeller asked Borough Manager John M. Barrett to present his view of this issue.

After some discussion, the council and Barrett settled on fees of $35 per hour for use of the ball fields during daylight and $65 per hour for nighttime use. The increased nighttime fees were due to the need for lighting.

“We’ll have to take a look at this (fee structure) to make sure it’s not overly burdensome,” Barrett said.

However, the council approved the fees as presented.

A larger debate was over charging fees for use of the municipal complex’s basketball courts. Resident Nancy Zewe had asked to rent the courts for a graduation party on July 3.

Moeller recommended that a fee be charged.

“This revenue would go toward maintenance of things like fencing and lighting,” Moeller said, “things we haven’t been able to put in the budget.”

Councilman John Ferris said that he did not understand why the council waived fees for organizations like Mercy Behavioral Health while charging borough residents like Zewe.

“I think the fees are getting out of hand,” Mayor Alexander R. Bennett Jr. said.

The council voted on whether to charge Ms. Zewe to rent the basketball courts. A motion to do so passed with Ferris as the lone dissenter.

Some good news came during the meeting’s public safety report, as Baldwin accepted the Pennsylvania American Water Company’s $1,000 grant for the Baldwin Borough Emergency Management Council, to be used by the borough’s firefighters.

Toward the end of the meeting, Police Chief Michael Scott shared that the will be participating in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Drug Enforcement Association’s upcoming National Take Back Initiative, aimed at reducing pollution caused by the disposal of drugs.

People may bring prescription drugs that they no longer need to the borough’s auditorium on Churchview Avenue from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 30.

“It used to be we would pour our expired medication down the drain,” Scott said, “but now, we have the concern of what’s in the water system.”