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Honors for a former city council member and an updated master plan for Coleman Memorial Park highlighted Monday night’s Lebanon City Council meeting at City Hall.
Mayor Sherry Capello, joined by council President Joe Morales, read a proclamation praising Sandra Meluskey for her work on City Council, the city’s planning commission, and its board of health since 1985.
Meluskey served on the planning commission from 1985 through 1999. That fall, she was elected to the first of her two four-year terms on City Council.
A year after leaving council at the end of 2008, Meluskey, a nurse, was appointed to the city’s Board of Health, a position she still holds.
“Sandy has proven herself to be reliable, to have integrity, as well as a positive attitude,” Capello said after reading a formal proclamation into the record. “She is a team player with a willingness to help others.”
In other business, the mayor reported on city finances through January. With the year 8% complete, revenues and expenditures were each at 4% of budget projections. The revenue lag is because property tax bills have yet to be sent.
Capello told council that she had appointed Jacqueline Parker to the city’s Land Bank, effective Feb. 15. Parker fills the unexpired term of Joseph Klein, who resigned.
Land banks in Pennsylvania work to return vacant, blighted, and tax-delinquent properties to the mainstream real estate market.
Capello announced that the new city website “went live” earlier in the day. She asked for patience as the inevitable kinks get worked out.
After the regular council meeting was adjourned, council convened a special meeting to consider updates to the 2011 Master Plan for Coleman Memorial Park. The meeting was required to secure funding for the park from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
The meeting was conducted by representatives of Simone Collins Landscape Architecture of Norristown, who presented an array of possible changes and upgrades to the city’s main recreational area.
Several citizens gave their thoughts on the direction the park should take, including the possibility of a new swimming pool to replace the one demolished in 2020. Landscape architect Peter Simone explained that a new pool would have to be considered separately from the master plan.
Next City Council meetings
City Council’s next pre-council planning meeting will be on Thursday, Mar. 23, at 4:45 p.m. The next regular monthly council meeting will be on Monday, Mar. 27, at 6:30 p.m.
Both meetings are open to the public and will be held in the City Hall multi-purpose room, 735 Cumberland St., first floor, Lebanon.
Meetings are also streamed live on YouTube here.
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