Jonestown Borough approves Market Street crack sealing

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Jonestown Borough Council approved the lowest bid of $7,300 from Suttons Contracting to crack-seal Market Street during the April 7 meeting.

Council president Daniel Shuman said the bid was the lowest by far of the three received by the borough. He said borough crews will help with flagging to help control traffic while the street is being worked on, and eliminating the cost of flagging was the major factor that kept the price down.

The payment will come out of the borough’s highway fund.

Secretary and treasurer Mariah Mauser said Suttons is going to do the entirety of the street, which hasn’t had this kind of work done at least since she’s worked for the borough over the last two years.

“It’s the whole way from Lancaster Street all the way down to the bridge — they’re doing the whole thing,” she said. “Any cracks, they’re going to fill everything.”

Mauser said they haven’t scheduled the crack-sealing yet at the time of the meeting.

Parks and recreation approvals

Council also approved the use of borough properties for upcoming events.

They approved Huey’s Amusements, which wants to set up fair rides from May 10 to 12, so the carnival can be active from May 13 to 16. Council previously agreed to table the decision until another meeting because they wanted the contract to include a 30-day period for payment and detailed receipts after borough staff said it took several follow-ups to receive the requested information.

“We got zero response on that, but they did agree to be more timely with their payment, so we got half of what we asked for, so at least that’s something,” Shuman said. “We’ll keep pushing. Maybe we can get something out of them next time around, but at least we’ll get our money in a more timely fashion.”

They also voted to allow AACA Classic Cars to use the pavilion and bathrooms for cars and coffee on May 18 from 9 to 11 a.m. Mauser said the organization estimated there would be between 15 and 30 cars.

In other recreation approvals, they agreed to let the Northern Lebanon Alumni Band use the band stand on Aug. 14 from 7 to 8 p.m.

In other business, council:

• Approved a press release from Jonestown Borough on behalf of the 250th parade committee. The parade is taking place on July 3. Mayor Jeffrey Schott will handle getting the letter to media contacts, he said.
• Amended the agenda and then voted for Jay Young to apply Diamond-Tex to Spittle Field for $2,000. Young abstained from the vote.
• Approved the monthly Met-Ed bills from Jonestown Legion for Spittle Field.
• Agreed to advertise for a third full-time maintenance employee. Shuman said the hope is the third person will be trained and able to take over when one of the two current employees retires.
• Decided they would look into two handicapped parking spots at Zion’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. Mauser said her contact requested the spots on Market Street rather than any neighboring streets, so it is on a PennDOT road. Borough engineering representative Stacy Longenecker said street parking spots don’t meet the dimension requirements for handicapped parking, so if someone gets injured, the borough could be liable. Mauser said she will reach out to the borough’s PennDOT contact to get more information about requirements and liability.

Jonestown Borough Council will have a planning workshop meeting on April 28 at 6:30 p.m. and its next regular meeting on May 5 at 6:30 p.m. All meetings will be at the borough building at 295 S. Mill St.