Planning for dropped bus routes

Souderton to hire additional crossing guards for students who will no longer take buses

Plans by Souderton Area School District to drop five school bus routes, meaning 311 students who were bussed will have to walk or be driven by parents, are moving ahead, Souderton Borough police Chief James Leary said at the Aug. 6 Souderton Borough Council meeting.

Of those students, 183 live in Souderton, he said.

To help deal with the change, the borough, following a recommendation from Leary, is planning to add two crossing guards. Another crossing guard has retired, so three new crossing guards will have to be hired, Leary said.

In July, council approved having Leary advertise for new crossing guard candidates. At the August meeting, he was authorized to do background checks and continue with the hiring process.

“We’ve got a couple good candidates,” Leary said following the meeting.

The replacement crossing guard is for the intersection of Hunsberger Lane and West Broad Street, he said. The two new crossing guards will probably be at Second and East Broad streets and Washington Avenue and West Broad Street, he said.

In July, Leary said the affected students in Souderton will be the ones attending West Broad Street Elementary School or Indian Crest Middle School. The biggest concern is for the elementary school students, he said.

In answer to a question at the August meeting, Leary said the salary for the crossing guards will be split 50/50 between the school district and the municipality, as it has been in the past.

In other matters at the Aug. 6

meeting:

• Council authorized advertising for bids for a new trash and recycling collection contract.

In 2016, the borough switched to a single-hauler

contract to pick up recyclables and trash, with hauler J.P. Mascaro & Sons having the winning bid at $1.7 million over the length of the contract.

“Our three-year contract with Mascaro will be expiring the end of the year,” Borough Manager Mike Coll said. “We’re still working on what the next

round will look like, but tonight’s action will allow us to move forward.”

One of the things still to be decided is the timeline for taking new bids, he said.

“We would like to get numbers in as close to completion of the budget as possible,” Coll said.

• Council approved putting

in an order for a 2019 Ford F-450 utility truck with a mounted aerial lift. The price is $82,500.

The borough won’t actually receive the truck until early 2019, so it will be paid for from next year’s budget, but it’s necessary to put the purchase order in now to receive it then, Mike Coll said.

The truck will replace a

1992 truck, Steve Coll, public works director, said.

• Ryan Godshall was appointed to another fiveyear term on the Souderton Industrial Development Authority. The term runs through Aug. 4, 2023.

• Because of the Labor Day holiday, council will not have a meeting on Monday, Sept. 3. It will

have its regular meeting on Monday, Sept. 10, Mike Coll said. Instead of work sessions on Sept. 10 and 17, as generally happens on the second and third Mondays, the only work session in September will be on Sept. 17.

Council meetings start at 7 p.m. at the borough offices on Summit Street.