Cleona Borough denied snow removal reimbursement

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

Heavy snowfall at the start of 2026 nearly exhausted Cleona Borough’s annual snow removal budget, using 96% of funds allocated for the year.

At Monday night’s borough council meeting, Mayor Matt Zechman announced the borough will not receive federal reimbursement to help offset those costs.

“I think going into the storm we were under the expectation that, all right, we just got to get the snow removed, we spent about $19,000 just on that snow removal,” said Zechman “There (are) a lot of things that have to happen for the federal government to give back money for snowstorms, disasters, anything like that. In this case it was something as simple as the conditions just weren’t met for the federal standards so the money just won’t be reimbursed.”

In a Facebook post Zechman stated that in order to receive reimbursement the federal government, state, county, and municipality must all declare an emergency. In this case the federal government did not declare an emergency. 

Zechman feels that the borough is still in a “very good spot” financially, and takes this as a lesson learned for the future. 

Council also heard comments from two residents, both in regards to what they see as borough ordinance and code violations.

Resident Margaret Bowman once again raised concerns about the number of commercial vehicles parked along the streets. 

“Cleona is a small town, there’s definitely ways we need to figure out how to keep our roads not so cluttered and in this case with commercial vehicles,” Zechman said. He plans to have language for an ordinance that would limit the number of commercial vehicles that can be parked on the street for the September meeting. 

Bowman thanked Zechman for his effort. She went on to state additional alleged zoning violations she has repeatedly witnessed, and expressed continued frustration with the lack of action taken. 

“When zoning is not enforced then there is chaos, and we certainly have that,” Bowman said. “While I am thankful that we will hopefully get some resolution on how many trucks can be parked in a certain area I don’t think it goes to the root cause.” 

Zechman plans to call the county zoning office to follow up with them on Bowman’s concerns. 

Resident Paul Brown raised concerns regarding alleged violations of the borough’s burning ordinance, including the burning of prohibited materials and fires occurring too close to structures on his property.

“It’s hitting close to home when I have a guy on the other side of my fence burning trash,” Brown said. “We have a problem here, guys. We have a nice community here but there’s just too much that’s going on that doesn’t need to be going on.”

Cleona Borough police chief Jeffrey Farneski encouraged Brown to contact police if he observes this activity so an officer can respond to the scene, assess the situation, and take appropriate enforcement action.

For the past few months, councilman Patrick Haley has updated council about erosion around the park’s tube slide. A plan was developed to add stair-like landscaping to each side of the slide, and they are in the process of gathering price estimates.

Haley doesn’t foresee the project taking place this year. The hope is the new design will prevent erosion in the future.

Council member Tricia Springer updated council that after continued conversations with members of Annville-Cleona Fire Department, they have moved to form the Annville-Cleona Fire Department Forward Committee. The committee is composed of representatives from within the fire department.

Springer and Annville Township commissioner Henri Lively will sit on the committee as non-voting members. 

Springer said the goal of the committee is to “make progress toward some of the concerns that have been going on.” During previous borough meetings, Springer has raised questions with Annville-Cleona Fire Department board president Ryan Flynn regarding the decline in longtime volunteers at the station, along with other concerns.

Council members Sam Wengert and Matt Urban were absent from the meeting. 

In other business, council: 

• Heard Zechman’s proposal to open a restricted fund account for residents to donate money towards a trap-neuter-return program for stray cats in the borough in collaboration with Lebanon County Community Cats and The Nobody’s Cats Foundation. 
• Authorized the trimming of trees at 301 E Penn Ave., if the maintenance company does not respond within the 20-day period. The property is in foreclosure.
• Approved Rafael Jimenez Gomex to serve on the Civil Service Commission.
• Heard an update on 145 Dairy Road, that a case management conference was held last month and they are awaiting a trial date for early 2027.
• The Cleona Block Party will be held on Aug. 22 from 3 to 8 p.m. along roads adjacent to borough hall. Funds raised from the event will be used towards community improvement projects.

Cleona Borough Council will next meet for a special hearing meeting on Monday, Aug. 24, at 7 p.m., regarding proposed updates to the borough’s zoning ordinance. Residents affected by the proposed map changes will be notified by mail prior to the meeting. This meeting is open to the public.