Tyrone Borough Council met last night and discussed at length several issues brought to their attention by Nathan George, the borough manager.
\nOne of the discussions centered on the borough\u2019s efforts to deal with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) issues.
\n\u201cOne of the values I place a lot of importance on is equity in municipal government,\u201d George told The Daily Herald. \u201cThis is something that\u2019s come up at recent meetings through the proposal of a sound system (to be used during meetings) and concerns about pavilions at the park not being handicapped accessible.\u201d
\nThe sound system George spoke about is part of the borough\u2019s CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) proposal to the state Department of Community and Economic Development. The borough is looking to install the equipment to aid those who are hearing impaired who want to attend and participate in public meetings at the municipal building.
\nThe issue regarding Reservoir Park was brought to council\u2019s attention at last week\u2019s meeting when the American Legion requested a refund for a reservation at the park since Legion officials felt the pavilion would not meet their handicapped needs.
\n\u201cThe borough has already done a lot regarding ADA issues including cut the curb on the sidewalks for wheelchair accessibility along with the installation of an elevator and handicapped accessible restrooms.
\n\u201cCouncilman James Grazier will be taking the lead on this and report to council at the next regular meeting,\u201d said George.
\nGrazier was nominated and it was the consensus of council he should chair the ADA committee and he was agreeable to accepting council\u2019s request.
\n\u201cTom Lang, our code enforcement officer, is our ADA coordinator, he along with Mr. Grazier and myself will be involved with considering some members of the community who are handicapped who could be on the committee.\u201d
\nEventually, George sees a committee consisting of Grazier, possibly other council members, other borough officials and members of the public who are handicapped formulating a plan and a time line to deal with ADA issues regarding all property owned by the borough.
\nGeorge also brought to council\u2019s attention his concerns regarding the borough\u2019s emergency preparedness efforts.
\n\u201cI think it\u2019s very essential that local government take the lead on this,\u201d said George.
\n \u201cAfter all, we are at the front of the line and we need to coordinate efforts in case something happens although you think it never will it could.\u201d
\nCouncil\u2019s focus during the discussion centered on three sirens which have been purchased from Altoona. George explained one of the sirens has been removed from its current location while two others must still be removed. All three will then need to be repaired and installed in Tyrone. George indicated a system was in place several years ago to use the whistle at the paper mill in case of certain emergencies but did not believe the system was ever actually used.
\nGeorge said he\u2019ll continue to work with Jim Beckwith, the borough\u2019s emergency management coordinator and council member Virgie Werner on emergency preparedness issues.
\nThe borough\u2019s manager also gave council a report regarding his inspection of the parking lot located on the south side of the YMCA and Gardner\u2019s.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not in good shape, especially the curbing,\u201d explained George. \u201cI also brought to council\u2019s attention the issue of (the inactive) Tyrone Parking Authority\u201d
\nThe authority has in excess of $10,000 in its account according to George but has not been active since the mid 1990s. Phyllis Garhart, director of administration, said at last night\u2019s meeting she would have to investigate who served on the board at the time.
\nGeorge wanted council\u2019s opinion on whether or not it wanted to dissolve the authority and take over parking issues. The borough will now have to look into the legality of disbanding the authority before any further action is taken to dissolve it.
\nGeorge also sought council\u2019s input about entering a program with the school district involving students who have been subject to disciplinary action. The grant program would allow students to perform community service for the borough as part of their discipline.
\nCouncil members seemed opened to the idea with a recommendation from solicitor Clapper that insurance and legal issues need to be checked. Council also directed George to suggest to the Tyrone Area School District the program if agreed upon should include a formal agreement. George indicated the program could still go forward even without a written agreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tyrone Borough Council met last night and discussed at length several issues brought to their attention by Nathan George, the borough manager. One of the discussions centered on the borough\u2019s efforts to deal with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) issues. \u201cOne of the values I place a lot of importance on is equity in municipal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44736\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}