Jonestown swears in new councilors, discusses Friends of Jonestown events

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Jonestown Borough swore in its new council members at the Jan. 5 reorganization and regular council meeting.

New Mayor Jeffrey Schott administered the oath of office to Justin Shuey, Daniel Shuman, and Amber White, who were already on council and are moving into new seats, as well as new council members Lynn Kleinfelter and Zayne Hunsicker.

Later, Shuman was elected council president, Jay Young as vice president, Shuey as president pro tem, and Madisyn Breiner as vice president pro tem. Mariah Mauser was elected as council secretary pro tem.

Council also approved a list of reappointments for the new year, including:

• Mauser as secretary and treasurer.
• Jonestown Bank & Trust Company as the borough’s depository bank.
• Young, Breiner, and Mauser as borough signatories for the Jonestown Bank and Trust accounts.
• Barley Snyder, Attorneys at Law, as the solicitor.
• Light-Heigel & Associates Inc. as the borough engineer.
• Garcia, Garman & Shea PC for the annual audit.
• Lebanon County Planning Department as the zoning officer.
• Keystone Municipal Collections as the current and delinquent EIT collector.
• Lebanon County Treasurer’s Office as the 2026 tax collector.
• John Poff, Rick Horst, and Pat Brewer to the UCC Board of Appeals, with Carrie Boyer as alternate.
• Mauser as the borough’s right-to-know officer and Schott as the alternate.
• Breiner as secretary pro tem.

Council also rearranged committee assignments, based on Shuman’s recommendations and further discussion. They decided to create groups of three people and three committees so they can hold meetings, if needed.

Personnel, maintenance, and parks and recreation committees will be chaired by Young, Breiner, and Shuman. Ordinance, codes, and technology committees will be run by Scott, Hunsicker, and Kleinfelter. Shuey, White, and Shuman will be in charge of the finance, grants, and infrastructure committees.

The initial plan laid out by Shuman grouped personnel, codes, and tech committees, and maintenance, parks and recreation, and ordinance committees. Mauser said she recommended they move the personnel committee to be with the maintenance committee so any issues with maintenance staff would only need to go to one committee.

Shuman initially said he created the separation on purpose, but later agreed to change the assignment organization.

“Honestly and on the record, the benefit that I’m searching for is for the borough, not the employee — that’s not my responsibility,” Shuman said. “I’m not an employee representative, I represent the borough, so it’s the borough’s interest that we represent.”

He said the new plan of having teams of people on three committees could be adjusted later on in the year if council decides it isn’t working.

Friends of Jonestown 2026 events

Later, council approved the Friends of Jonestown’s 2026 event calendar, excluding the 25-year anniversary 9/11 event, which the organization hoped would include a barbecue and alcohol, according to Friends spokeswoman Audrey Shutter. She said it would aim to raise money for local departments and would be a celebration of life event.

Council members had no issues with the rest of the events, but some said they had concerns about serving alcohol at the borough-owned Founders Park. 

“Trust me, if anyone knows me, will know better than me that a good beer goes well with barbecue,” Shuey said. “I just struggle to see the necessity for alcohol at a 9/11 remembrance.”

Schott and Shuman joined Shuey in sharing hesitations. Other options council came up with included using another non-borough-owned building to serve alcohol and then having a ceremony in the park or closing off a street so people aren’t drinking in Founders Park.

Council, at Schott’s suggestion, decided to table the discussion regarding the 9/11 event until a later planning workshop meeting, so they could move forward with the agenda.

The approved event dates include Friends of Jonestown’s meetings on the second Tuesday of each month, except for January, February, and July; Farmers Market-style events with themed months on April 9, May 7, June 11, July 9, and Aug. 13; a block party on May 23; summer activity nights on June 19, July 17, and Aug. 14 or 21; Trick-or-Treat tentatively scheduled on Oct. 30; Gobble & Give on Nov. 7, tree lighting on Nov. 21; and gift wrapping on Dec. 12 and 19.

In other business, council:

• Voted to allow the borough’s secretary/treasurer to pay a list of invoices without prior approval from council, if the amount due is consistent with previous invoices.
• Voted to host a 250th anniversary Independence Day parade on July 3. The route, if approved by Union Township, would start at the Lebanon Area Evangelical Free Church, go up Shepherd Street, turn right at Jonestown Road, continue on to Market Street, turn right onto South Mill Street, and end at Jonestown Community Park.
• Agreed to let the Jonestown American Legion put a medallion on three borough signs. Mauser said the legion has the medallions, but the borough’s crew will install them.
• Approved the 2026 holidays for employees. Employees will have off New Year’s Day, President’s Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and Christmas Day. They will also have a half-day on Christmas Eve.

Jonestown Borough Council will have a planning workshop meeting on Jan. 26 at 6:30 p.m. and its next regular meeting on Feb. 3 at 6:30 p.m. All meetings will be at the Jonestown Borough building at 295 S. Mill St.