VANDERBILT - Drop-off recycling will soon arrive in Vanderbilt.
Borough council unanimously approved placing a container at the DL&V fire hall. Fayette County county manager Warren Hughes sent a letter informing the borough that the container, provided by the county and 90 percent financed by the Department of Environmental Protection, will be eight feet long and six feet wide.
The borough will incur no cost for the container.
The container has two chambers - one for newspapers and one for glass bottles and jars, aluminum and tin cans, and plastic pop, water and milk containers. A pick-up schedule will be determined when the container is delivered. If the container is three-quarters full, the county will empty it, even if ahead of schedule, according to borough secretary Mary Jane Winterhalter.
The container will arrive as soon as the fire department approves its placement.
Mayor Joe Ambrose reported that the borough has more than $19,000 in dividends from the $28,500 Harold Miller Trust Fund, which must be used primarily for beautification of the borough building and then for beautification of the borough.
In other business:
Council unanimously voted to install a Watch Children sign on Fairview Avenue at Brady Alley.
Borough worker George Gillespie will measure Bank Street at Sweet Pea's mini mart and paint lines defining the edge of the road, which some drivers have confused with the store's parking lot.
Ambrose thanked Gillespie and his young summer program workers for hand painting faded street signs, curbs and guide rails throughout the borough.
Council member Jack Washabaugh reported that a 30 by 12-14 foot pavilion at the borough playground, near Vanderbilt United Methodist Church, is being designed by an architect. Council approved the project several months ago. Boy Scouts will build all of the structure except the roof. Washabaugh hopes adults will volunteer for the project, which may not begin until the spring. Until the plans are complete, he will not know the cost for the materials. A gazebo may be added to the playground in the future.
Council voted to ask West Penn Power for electrical drops and meters for three streetlights the borough already possesses. The lights will be installed on borough property on Main and Walnut Streets, where benches and bushes have been placed. The cost will be borne by the Miller Trust Fund. Council member John Addis Jr. cast the dissenting vote.
Council requested that Winterhalter research the costs of a new table for council chambers, to be paid for under the Miller Trust Fund. Addis cast the dissenting vote.
Solicitor Michael Macko will examine the borough code to determine whether council can authorize a donation to Fayette EMS, a non-profit corporation. Fayette EMS sent a letter requesting a donation of $1 for each Vanderbilt resident, a total of $553.
The borough's refuse collection will be put out to bid next month, with the stipulation that the hauler not charge to pick up garbage at the borough building, the fire hall, and the playground. The contract will be effective Jan. 1. Macko said that the current hauler, Geary Refuse, is behind in franchise fees and the money owed will be deducted from Geary's surety bond.
