Ridgway Borough Council has packed meeting Monday
RIDGWAY- The Ridgway Borough Council had quite a busy meeting to welcome the start of the spring season, and it began with a representative from the Ridgway Parks Revitalization Committee (RPRC) giving the latest updates on the progress of their work.
The equipment for the North Broad Park is on order, and will cost about $33,000, which the program has attained the money for.
Since September, the RPRC has received five grants and two additional unsolicited grants. The RPRC and the borough’s grant consultant has assisted to secure over $60,000 from grant finding and charitable contributions. They also have hosted a number of fundraising events including music bingo at the Elks and a spaghetti dinner at the Moose. More events will also be coming up in the summer.
The RPRC is continuing to make strides to revitalize the three parks in Ridgway and is completing this in three phases. Phase one has already been completed involving the North Broad Street Park in raising monies to add new play equipment, a new pavilion, a picnic table, and a privacy wall.
Phase two will include raising money for the West End Park to update play equipment, making upgrades to the baseball and basketball court, and removing dangerous trees at the park.
The last phase of this funding effort is to raise money for Olson Park for play equipment, updating the baseball and basketball court, and adding new picnic tables along with a pavilion. Some other plans for the park include adding a walking track and an exercise station.
These plans will be presented to the Planning, Grants and Recreation Committee for full approval.
John Fletcher, who is the Post Commander of the VFW, presented to borough council a sample of the hometown heroes banners that will be going up in Ridgway in place of the flags that are up currently. This is a coordinated effort between the VFW, the American Legion, and the Elk County Veterans Affairs Office to recognize Ridgway’s veterans.
Fletcher explained that these banners will not go up until the families of the veterans see them, and he is expecting these banners to go up the week of May 13 and will not be taken down until after Veterans Day. Currently, there are over 200 applicants for the banners.
A concerned citizen inquired about an incident that occurred in August of 2021 due to how the Ridgway Police Department handled the situation. Borough council agreed to further discuss this at a later date with Mayor Imhof, the police department, and the borough’s Personnel Committee.
Borough council approved the sale of the 572 North Broad Street property for $2,157.40 to Wade and Aimee Coder, as well as the 143 Sherman Ave for a bid amount of $10,000 purchased by White Tail Real Estate Development.
There was a lengthy discussion about the referendum question regarding the Ridgway Ambulance that will be on the ballot in November. The question is if the borough would favor a levy of an ambulance tax of an additional two mills to support the Ridgway Ambulance Corporation. This may be modified after review with Elk County Solicitor Tom Wagner according to Borough Manager Mike Handley.
Chief of Police Shawn Geci shared that after the recruit they hired to the police academy fell through, the department has been advertising and has received a number of applications for those who are interested in the position.
Geci asked permission from council to hire a recruit to attend the police academy under the same previous terms and conditions as proposed by Geci.
Borough council voted to refer Geci's request to the Personnel Committee and discuss it further going forward.
In a Finance Committee meeting held on March 8, Handley recommended for borough council to vote on a formed partnership with the Johnsonburg Borough to hire two full time personnel for a Community Economic Development Coordinator and a Code Enforcement Officer.
In the proposal, Ridgway Borough and Johnsonburg would share the costs over a three year period to cover the two full time positions. Handley had previously met with their DCED ( PA Department of Community and Economic Development) Coordinator and a representative from the Johnsonburg Borough to further discuss this initiative, as this inter-agreement was requested to Handley by the Johnsonburg Borough as well as a DCED Policy Specialist.
A motion was made by Councilwoman Abbi Peters to join this interagreement with the Johnsonburg Borough and was passed.
The next Ridgway Borough Council meeting will be held on April 17 at the Ridgway Municipal Building at 6 p.m.