KULPMONT - After years of debate on what to do about a new borough complex, council has voted to purchase the former East End Fire Company social hall to use as its new borough building and police station.
The news was discussed at Tuesday night's regular monthly council meeting, but the vote came last week.
Minutes of a May 5 meeting, distributed and approved Tuesday night, show the board unanimously approved the purchase of the building from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a price quoted in April, $250,000.
Records show seven members of council and appointed borough officials present, but no one from the public.
Before the minutes were approved Tuesday, council President Bruno Varano asked the borough secretary
to make a correction, saying it was a regular meeting, not a special meeting as written.
Varano said after Tuesday's meeting council advertised in the beginning of the year that the governing body can hold a meeting every Tuesday for "general purposes."
In their public notice ad announcing the 2015 meeting schedule, the language reads, "The remaining Tuesdays of each month will be reserved for meetings for general purposes if needed."
Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said she doesn't believe the intent of the state's Sunshine Law was followed in this case.
"The law requires specificity, meaning a date, time and location, and saying 'we might meet at 7 p.m. on any Tuesday' isn't specific and doesn't announce a meeting date," Melewsky said. "The public can't be expected to guess when this kind of meeting might take place."
Based on Kulpmont's ad, Melewsky said the public would have to show up every Tuesday on the off chance a meeting might happen.
"The law allows agencies to call and properly advertise special meetings when the regular meeting schedule isn't enough, and they should have done so in this situation." Melewsky said.
Varano said Wednesday council was already planning to meet for a executive session on contractual and personnel matters, but when an email was received from the USDA on April 30 stating the federal branch of the agency had approved the purchase, he wanted to strike while the iron was hot.
"We have nothing to hide; we just want to get this project moving," he said Wednesday. "We said at our April meeting that when we got the approval, we were going to do it in order to keep the process going."
Borough solicitor William Cole said Wednesday the ad is correct in giving a date, time and place for every meeting, if it is needed. Cole said the inconvenience goes both ways.
"It is possible that council could meet every Tuesday during the year, and if that wasn't enough and a special meeting was to be called, we would advertise it," he said.
The single advertisement also makes sense economically, the solicitor said.
"If council met outside the 12 regular monthly meeting dates, it would have to be advertised, which costs extra money, This way, one ad covers us for the year," he said.
Also at the May 5 meeting, the board voted to contact B3 Architects, of Sunbury, for a quote on designing plans for renovations of the East End building, with a cap of $25,000. The firm was recommended by the USDA to give an estimated cost on renovating the former social hall as Kulpmont was considering bids build a new borough hall and garage on Fir Street that were between $1.3 and $1.8 million.
At Tuesday's meeting, council member Stephen Motyka spoke about Baer's quote, received Tuesday morning. While they didn't release the number, Motyka called it "unacceptable."
"The number is way too high," Motyka said. "At this point, I recommend we hold off until we speak with (B3 architect) Rocky Baer for a new quote. If that doesn't work, we will put out a request for new proposals."
A preliminary quote Baer gave on renovating the former social hall put the price at $400,000 to turn it into borough offices and a police station. Motyka said a couple architects he recently spoke with put the fees for drawing up plans at 6 to 7 percent of the bid price. Using the $400,000, that would put the architect's price about $24,000 to $28,000.
With council agreeing to purchase the East End building, Kulpmont has abandoned any plans for a new building. On May 5, council voted to reject all bids for the Fir Street project and return the bid bonds.
Following a lengthy discussion on possible demolition of the former Wilson Grade School, the borough's current complex, council directed Cole to contact Mount Carmel Area School District solicitor Edward Greco about the district turning over the deed for the building.