Plum Council Notebook: June Work Session

Here’s a roundup of issues discussed at the Plum Borough’s June 6 work session:

Highlands Housing Plan Modification

Assistant borough manager Greg Bachy presented council with the planning commission’s recommendations to approve modifications to the Highlands housing development.

The modifications would replace a number of quad homes with duplexes.

The change would take the number of total homes down to 200 from the 204 originally planned back in 2005.

“It’s just a different product that they want to sell there because the other is not selling,” Bachy said.

Solid Waste and Recycling Ordinance

Officials discussed an amendment to the borough’s solid waste and recycling ordinance to keep it consistent with the practices of new waste collection provider Allied Waste.

Among changes that the Scottdale company brings to the borough are single stream recycling, weekly—instead of biweekly—recycling and five days of pickup, as opposed to the previous single-day sweep.

The garbage and recycling ordinances could be combined into one, officials said.

Elicker Road/Leechburg Road Traffic Study

Council discussed Pennsylvania Department of Transportation findings that a three-way stop sign was not warranted at the intersection of Elicker and Leechburg roads because there haven't been enough traffic accidents at the location.

PennDOT officials suggested the borough could add a sign warning drivers that oncoming traffic doesn't stop. The department also could provide the specifications of the sign to the borough, according to Bachy.

A traffic study had been conducted at the request of a resident.

Purchasing-Related Policies

The borough might amend one policy and add another.

A proposed amendment would allow for the assistant borough manager to sign and process purchase orders for the borough.

Borough manager Mike Thomas said the amendment was a minor one. If added, it would be to reflect the addition of the assistant borough manager to the borough’s staff.

The addition of an Information Technologies procurement policy would require department heads and ultimately, the borough’s IT manager, to review software purchases.

If put into place, the policy would be designed to ensure that software that is incompatible with existing computers and programs would not be purchased.