Town Meeting Minutes
August 8, 2005
Call to Order: The Monthly Town Meeting of the Bellefonte Town Commission was
called to order at 7:06 pm. Officers in attendance were Terry Thompson, Scott
MacKenzie, Curt Nass, Russ Norris, and Dave Wishowsky. Kathy MacDonough did
not attend and sent no report.
Minutes: Terry made a motion to dispense with the reading of the minutes, seconded
by Russ. On discussion, Dave said that the full minutes are on the town website,
copies are here at the meeting, and a summary of the minutes is in the newsletter every
month. The vote to approve the motion was unanimous.
Bills: Scott read the following bills for payment:
Michael Perillo Grass cutting $50.00
Delmarva Power Town Hall- $33.57
Delmarva Power Traffic light- $44.12
Delmarva Power Street lights $976.20
IDS Trash collection July $5,157.82
NCC Police Contractual Services 5/21 - 6/16 $1,440.00
NCC Police Contractual Services 6/21 - 7/7 $720.00
Kathy MacDonough Newsletter printing, 114.40
Copying of Kostyshyn vs. Bellefonte brief, 29.85 $144.25
Scott MacKenzie reimbursement
Mulch - Home Depot, $45.31
Fan, $44.76
July/August stipend, 100.00 $190.07
Sullivan & Woods Day care lease final bill $405.00
Curt Nass Offices supplies $112.75
Dave asked if there were any other outstanding bills to be read. Scott made a motion
to pay the bills as read, seconded by Dave, and the vote to approve was unanimous.
Correspondence: The following correspondence was received since the last meeting:
- An email was received complaining about door to door solicitation after 8 pm,
waking children. Dave noted that NCC has an ordinance governing door-to-door
solicitation. [This was later found to be inaccurate - NCC does not have an ordinance
applying to door-to-door solicitation.]
- An email was received complaining of a noisy crowd outside the House of Praise on
Brandywine Blvd. This letter was anonymous, so the Commission could not find out
for sure that the people outside the church making noise at 12:20 am were indeed
members of the church. Someone in attendance says he lives across the street and did
not hear the alleged noise. NCC has a noise ordinance of 11 pm on weekends (F,Sa)
and 10 pm during the week (Su-Th). If you are bothered by a consistent noise after
the hours stated, call NCC Police.
- An email was received complaining about the grass not being cut at 1117 Highland
Avenue (new construction).
- An anonymous letter complained about various issues. Dave said that the
Commission will not read anonymous communications without legitimate complaints or
unclear complaints since the Commission cannot clarify matters with the author when
they don't sign. One complaint in this letter that the people in the meeting should be
able to second and vote on issues before the Commission. Dave explained that our
Charter with the State establishes the Commission form of government and that the
Charter proscribes that only the Commissioners participate in voting for or against
motions. The Commission form of government differs from the "Town Meeting" style
in New England where all who attend participate in the meetings. The Commission
does ask for input/feedback from those attending, but the audience is not part of the
process of government in Bellefonte. Terry stated that our form of government is no
different than the County, State, or Federal government where officials are elected to
make decisions for the people.
- A resident of Monterey Place complained about the overgrowth of weeds, vines and
trees from 1103 Monterey Pl. and 704 Phila. Pike (BP Station). This issue will be
referred to NCC when property maintenance codes and enforcement are assumed by
the County in September. Also drainage issue from property mentioned. Letter will
be sent to resident.
- A notice from DelDot announced public meetings and workshops regarding future
transportation projects. The meeting in NCC is to be held at WILMAPCO, 850
Library Avenue, Newark, on September 14, workshop – 6 pm, auditorium session
7 pm.
- A letter from the Kelleher family on Grandview Avenue sent a letter in regard to the
Bellefonte Café’s application for a liquor license. Scott will contact them to
make sure that they address their concerns to ABC.
- A letter was received from Lt. Col. W. Scott McLaren of NCC Police regarding the
increase in hourly rates for extra duty policing through the NCC Police Contractual
Services. This is a result of the ongoing changeover of accounting for these services to
the County. Although services will still be available for $53.50 per hour (up from
$40/hr.), no billing will be done until October when the accounting transfer is
completed. Terry stated that the current approved Town budget accounts for an
increase and was approved at $1,500 per month for police services.
- A letter was received from Nathan Hayward III, DelDot Secretary, stating that
because of budget limitations and the fact that the US Congress has not approved the
Highway Bill, DelDot will not be moving forward with any new projects that have not
already been approved. Scott mentioned that since this letter was sent, Congress did
approve the Highway Bill.
Treasurer's and Tax Collector's Report: Curt Nass gave the Tax Collector's Report
for the period ending 7/31/05 with $306.66 taxes collected. The Treasurer's Report
was given, stating that receipts for the month were $2,509.50 and $1.80 in interest in
the MSAF account. Total disbursements for the month were $13,913.28 and
$1,046.20 from the MSAF account with 27.21 in bank fees. The ending balance in
the general account was $89,177.42 and $378.06 in the MSAF account. (MSAF is
Municipal Street Aid Fund)
Scott made a motion to accept the Treasurer's and Tax Collector's Reports as read,
seconded by Terry, and the vote was unanimous.
Committee Reports
Town Services
Russ reported that he had received a complaint from a resident on Grandview Ave.
that the driveway poured at the new house had damaged the curbing and driveway on
his property. Russell will investigate.
Russ announced that he would be preparing the request for bids for snow plowing for
the Town for the coming winter. After discussion, a deadline for bids was set at
October 1. Russ made a motion to allow $50 for placement of an ad in the News
Journal directing contractors to our website for bids, seconded by Terry, and
approved unanimously.
Terry said that Fairview and Grove were skipped for trash collection on August 2.
Terry said that he called IDS to report it and they said that it was a new driver and
apologized for the error. Trash was collected on these streets on Thursday, August 4.
Scott reported on the ongoing issue of street light outages at Bellefonte and Rosedale
and Bellefonte and Grandview. Delmarva Power would rather have residents call
them directly to report outages so that they can get specific locations from the
residents. In the future, residents should no longer report street light outages to Russ,
but directly to Delmarva Power at 1-800-375-7117. This number will be added to
the contact list on the newsletter.
Charter and Ordinance Committee
Terry reported that the Charter/Ordinance Committee met on August 4, reviewing the
new Bellefonte Building and Plumbing Ordinance. The new ordinance maintains
Bellefonte’s code enforcement on building and plumbing, but adopts the codes of
IBC (International Building Codes) as amended by New Castle County. This
ordinance will be ready for reading at the September Town Meeting.
Terry made a motion to appropriate $200 for a one year supply of official IBC permit
forms, standard notices, and other forms to assist our inspectors in doing their work,
seconded by Scott and the motion was approved unanimously.
Passage of the new Building and Plumbing Ordinance will also approve a fee schedule
for permits and for the fee to be paid to the inspectors, who have not been paid for
years. The Commission agreed that the inspectors will be paid for all inspections for
which there is associated and required reports or copies of permits, retroactive to
calendar year 2000. Curt will assist in this search by running reports of deposits made
during that period. Final payment to the inspectors will require a further vote for
authorization before payment.
Terry reported that our solicitor advises us to delay final reading or Ordinance 2005-
02 – Establishing a Real Estate Transfer Tax, until a procedure for collection of the
tax can be confirmed with the NCC Recorder of Deeds. Facciolo says that NCC
Council may have to pass a resolution authorizing the Recorder to collect these taxes
for Bellefonte. A discussion followed about how long to delay this vote, since the
Town budget is tied to revenue from this new tax. The Commission will delay passage
until it hears from the solicitor, and will post it to the agenda for the August 30
Working/Special Meeting, so that a reading and vote can be taken at that meeting.
Terry made the third and final reading of Ordinance 2005-03 "Adopting NCC
Property Maintenance Code and Naming NCC as Enforcement Agent" (see
ordinances on website). Once this ordinance is passed by the Commission, it will
need to be approved at the September 13 meeting of NCC Council. After this time,
Bellefonte residents can call the Complaints department about property maintenance
issues and file a complaint. The County will send a code enforcement officer to
investigate and issue tickets and fines if appropriate. Terry made a motion to approve
Ordinance 2005-03 as read, seconded by Scott, and approved unanimously.
Terry made the third and final reading of Ordinance 2005-04 "Naming NCC Police
Department as Law Enforcement Agency for the Town of Bellefonte and Adopting All
Laws under the Jurisdiction of the NCC Police" (see ordinances on website). This
ordinance officially names NCC Police Department as the law enforcement agency for
the Town of Bellefonte, and was requested by NCC executive staff, since the
NCCPD was never officially named so by ordinance. This ordinance also effectively
adopts all of NCC and State laws and ordinances that are enforced by NCCPD.
Terry made a motion to approve Ordinance 2005-04 as read, seconded by Dave.
On discussion, Scott voiced his concern that this ordinance should be reviewed by the
solicitor before approval, and that he does not believe it is legal to adopt “all laws
and ordinances� without listing which ones are specifically being adopted. The
vote was three in favor and one opposed and the motion was approved. This
ordinance, unlike 2005-03 is effective immediately.
Town Property and Facilities Committee
Scott reported that he had received a page from the State’s inspection report from
the day care center, showing some needed repairs, some the Commission is
responsible for and some not. Scott said that Albanese Outside Services would be
repairing the ceiling tiles this week and that he was seeking bids from contractors to fix
the covers on the baseboard radiators.
Scott made a motion to spend up to $650 to repair the baseboard radiator covers,
pending receipt of a second bid on the work that the job would be awarded to the low
bid, seconded by Terry and approved unanimously.
Scott also reported that the tenants were asking for the Commission to pay for or
assist with repair of the room partitions, which are in disrepair and were cited on the
report. Scott told the center’s director that the partitions and other equipment in
the center were not property of the Commission and would not be paid for. He sent
them a letter informing them that some repairs would be made by the Commission
(ceiling tiles and baseboard covers) and others (broken windows/room partitions)
would not.
Scott also said he had one bid for replacement of the gutters on Town Hall and the
back of the upper classroom of the day care center and was seeking more. Scott
made a motion to spend up to $1,350 for the gutters, pending receipt of at least one
more bid, the job being awarded to the low bid on the job, seconded by Dave, and
approved unanimously.
Scott made a motion to authorize expenditure of $75 for a "Cease Fire" ashtray for
outside the day care center, seconded by Russ, and approved unanimously.
Scott reported that the Facilities Committee was helping gather names of contractors
to replace the windows in the lower section of the day care center. Terry suggested
that it be added to the request for bid being prepared by Russ for snow plowing and
include that information in the News Journal ad. Scott will prepare a request of bid for
the windows.
Terry added that the NCC Dept. of Parks and Recreation has begun developing a
plan for Bellefonte Park. He stressed that the County is only doing the design of the
park and is not paying for any of the restorations. Diana McWilliams is working with
DuPont to “give back to community� and will see if DuPont will pay for the
park. He also reported that Rep. Diana McWilliams had submitted the plans for â
€œWelcome to Bellefonteâ€� signs to DelDot, as well as Caesar Rodney signs for
the four main entrances to Town. Diana is paying for this signage out of her
transportation funds.
Planning Commission
Terry reported that there were no Planning Commission meeting scheduled for the
month of July to give Alan Matas time to work on the draft of the Planning
Commission report. Some elements of the report have been sent to Terry and he is
reviewing them. There was a special business workshop set for Monday, July 18, but
no one attended. This special workshop was planned to get the input of some
business owners for the plan, since most of the businesses are not open on Monday.
He was not able to confirm whether the business owners were informed or not. He
said that one of the workshops to review the draft plan would be scheduled on a
Monday in order to accommodate business owners.
Terry reports that after the draft is completed, the Planning Commission will review
and approve the report before holding more public workshops to review the plan.
Once in its final form it will be presented to the Town Commission for approval then to
the State. He said that the earliest it would be presented to the Town Commission
would be in October. Scott asked if copies of this report would be made available to
residents. Terry said that printing of a number of copies was included in the budget
and that the complete plan would be available for review on the town website, as well
as the websites of the Udel Institute for Public Administration and the State of DE
Office of Planning.
Community Activities & Recreation
Dave said that he was sure that Kathy was gathering information about Bellefonteâ
€™s participation in the Mt. Pleasant 175th Anniversary celebration in October.
Kathy was planning a Town Hall open house for that day, October 15. Scott
reported that he had received a call and an email from a vendor for street banners and
had forwarded the info to Kathy.
Plumbing and Building Inspector's Reports
Steve Russo presented the Plumbing Inspector’s reports for the months April
through July.
April & May Report - 6 x $50
909 Grandview, sewer permit $50 and HVAC permit $50
1117 Highland Avenue, new plumbing, permit $50, HVAC permit $50
1006 Maple, new boiler, $50
706 Philadelphia Pike, new HVAC, permit $50
June report - 3 x $50=$150
1117 Brandywine Blvd. plumbing permit, HVAC permit
428 prospect, new heater
July report - 2 x $50 = $100
1105 Grandview Ave., new air conditioning
409 Maple Ave., new boiler
Scott said that he had talked to Joe Finocchiaro and that he had follow-up inspections,
and several complaints followed up on, but that no new permits had been issued.
Scott said that he had requested copies of the certificates of occupancy for 804
Marion and 911 Grandview so that they could be forwarded to the Department of
Land Use for tax assessment. He also asked that a copy of the CO for the new house
on Highland be forwarded as soon as it was granted.
Old Business
Insurance – Kathy met with insurance agents KT&D on August 3, but was not in
attendance to report. Terry said that he was concerned about how long this review of
coverage was taking. Following discussion, the Commission agreed that it would seek
a new agent for insurance if all recommendations were not ready to implement by the
Working/Special Meeting on August 30.
Dave asked Scott to give a report on the status of the pending lawsuit M. Kostyshyn
vs. the Bellefonte Town Commission. Scott reported that M. Kostyshyn had filed a
brief of his arguments against the Bellefonte Board of Adjustments in regard to a
variance granted to C. Anker of 1123 Brandywine Blvd. in May 2004. The
Commissioners had reviewed this brief at the Working/Special meeting on July 26.
The comments and reactions to this brief were sent to the solicitor on Thursday August
4, for preparation of brief to be filed by the solicitor on August 9.
Review of Existing Complaints:
04-06 – 603 Melrose. Price breakdowns for correction of drainage problem.
Dave will send letter to Mr. Bouno advising him of the cost and seeking an alternative
solution. Curb and gutter alterations are already being done by DelDot.
04-09 – 1103-5 Monterey Place. Dave spoke to Mr. Leo and he will take care of
weeds on his property, but the issue of drainage from adjoining BP station will be
referred to NCC Conservation District.
04-10 – 704 Phila. Pike. The ongoing problem of noise, weeds, drainage, and
property maintenance will be handed over to NCC when they assume property
maintenance code enforcement in September. The drainage portion of the problem
will be referred to the NCC Conservation District.
04-12 – 99 Beeson Rd. Dave sent copies of letters from Rep. Diana McWiliams
and the NCC Conservation District to property owner regarding expenses for
correcting drainage problem and asking for alternative solutions. Mr. Wierzbowski
attended the meeting. He said that he had Carmen Casper from Robertson
Engineering survey the drainage problem. According to Mr. Wierzbowski, Mr.
Casper said that nothing could be done to correct the drainage problem other than the
recommendation of the Conservation District. Dave asked him if he would consider
having a “curb� built along the edge of the pavement to decrease the flow of
water onto neighboring properties. Dave will follow-up.
05-06 – 700 Brandywine Blvd. Broken window. This window now has an A/C
unit, but not sure what is above the unit. Has plastic on the outside above the unit, but
not sure if that is covering plywood. This ongoing issue will be referred to NCC for
property maintenance enforcement in September.
05-14 Complaint is now closed.
05-17 - 1117 Highland Ave. - land has been regraded. Follow-up complaint by email
regarding grass cutting. Scott will have Joe F. follow-up with builder.
05-18 - 613 Maple - missing section of sidewalk. Owner said sidewalk would be
replaced. This item will be removed from the complaint log but will be monitored to
make sure the sidewalk is corrected.
05-19 - 913 Fairview - stolen tools reported in newsletter. The owner is doing work
but has not applied for a building permit. Scott will have Joe make a site inspection.
05-22 - 1201 Brandywine - complaint about condition of garage and premises. Will
be referred to NCC in September.
05-23 - 1110 Talley Road - smell of dog feces reported by neighbor in anonymous
letter. Neighbors may report this to the SPCA for enforcement. Refer to Chapter 7,
NCC General Ordinances.
05-24 - 603 Maple Ave. - Kathy will notify tenant/landlord than enforce abandoned
car ordinance.
05-25 - 718 Philadelphia Pike - Rita's Water Ice. Insufficient parking spaces for
customers, cars parking on street too close to intersection, dangerous car and
pedestrian movement, near accidents, and cars blocking the Chieffo Electric lot. Mr.
Wierzbowski said that cars from the Crystal Ballroom park in the spaces for his
business tenants, which force people/cars to park everywhere else. Dave will notify
NCC Contractual Services to watch for, warn, and ticket offenders.
New Business (Commission)
05-26 - 1026 Brandywine Blvd. - neighbors filed complaint with Joe F. about
untagged car on property and selling of used cars taking place out of this house
(violation of Zoning Ordinances). Joe will discuss with owner. Abandoned car
ordinance will be enforced if necessary.
05-27 - 1202 Brandywine Blvd. - resident reported deteriorating curb. Will be
placed on DelDot project list. Closed.
05-28 - 1121 Rosedale Ave. - owner is not cutting grass around edge of property.
Scott will send letter to owner.
New Business (Public):
Steve Russo of 912 Brandywine Blvd. did not receive a trash receptacle from IDS.
Neither did 99 Beeson Rd. (Wierzbowski owner). Scott will contact IDS and arrange
delivery
Mrs. Angeline, owner of 806 Brandywine, would like her upstairs apartment, Apt 2,
added to the mailing list. She inquired about trash receptacles for apartments. Per our
contract with IDS, one can was provided per structure, so multi-family units will either
share receptacles or can use their own.
Dave called for any other public comment. There being none, Russ made a motion to
adjourn the meeting, seconded by Dave, and passed unanimously at 9:45 pm.
The next Town Meeting will be held on Monday, September 12, at 7 pm, at Town
Hall.
