Scottdale Borough Manager Angelo Pallone this week questioned council about the protocol for handling complaints regarding code enforcement issues.

Council in June agreed that code enforcement would be complaint-driven and voted to accept a complaint form.

Pallone said on Monday that council never specified if it is mandatory to fill out or sign the complaint form in order for the borough to look into an issue.

“I have no problem telling people they have to come in and fill out the form, but we can't force them to sign it,” he said.

Councilman Bud Santimyer said no one in his ward must fill out a “piece of paper” when they file a complaint.

“They can call me or email me at any time, and I will look into it and fill out the complaint form for them if I have to,” he said.

Council President Andy Pinsky said he felt a lot of the complaints can be trivial and stem from disagreements between neighbors.

“If someone has an issue, I believe they should be willing to put it down on a form and submit it to the proper channels of government,” he said. “It's the anonymity complaints that create issues.”

Pallone agreed that the form should be filled out, if only to show there is no bias in addressing complaints.

In the end, council agreed that if someone calls in a complaint but doesn't want to fill out a form or sign their name to a form, Pallone should call the council member from the resident's ward to check into the validity.

In other business, council said a request from the Regional Trail Corp. for the borough to approve an easement on borough property along Stauffer Run to accommodate hikers and bikers needs more research.

Pallone was concerned with wording in the contract that may indicate that the borough would lose its right to access the area for any reason, including maintenance to Stauffer Run and Jacobs Creek.

Doug Coffman with Widmer Engineering said Westmoreland Fayette Municipal Sewage Authority has some lines in that area and are looking at a project to replace an interceptor there.

A committee of council members Alesia Chiaramonte, Jack Davis, Santimyer, Pallone, along with Coffman and Jacobs Creek Watershed Association board president Mike Barrick, will schedule a meeting with officials from the trail group to discuss the document.

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