Council considers donation policy

NORTH WALES » As North Wales borough prepares to tackle projects on its “North Wales 2040” comprehensive plan, a resident has raised a new question.

Should the town find a way to allow residents to contribute to those projects?

“As witnessed by the recent 150th celebration, there are many residents, former residents, businesses and groups that care deeply about North Wales Borough,” said resident Jim Schiele.

“What I would like to propose, or suggest, is when the planning takes place, a provision is made to encourage folks to contribute toward some of the aspects of the improvements,” he said.

Throughout 2019 the borough marked its 150th birthday

with a series of volunteer-organized events, including a dinner ball that February, a steam train visit in May, an “Incorporation Day” celebration in August and a parade through town in September. During council’s first meeting of 2021 on Jan. 12, Schiele asked council if they had thought of any way to mobilize that kind of public excitement toward the “2040” plan, which was adopted in 2018 and spells out a series of projects meant to beautify the town.

“There may be some items such as benches, signs, clocks, trees, shrubs, lighting, et cetera — there’s no limit to what may be planned for improvements,” Schiele said.

“In addition to individual items being donated, perhaps a fund could be created, to allow for general donations, to be used as seen as appropriate by the planners,” he said.

Council and/or various town boards and commissions could develop a list of projects and goals beforehand, Schiele suggested, and the timing may be right if and when residents receive federal stimulus money they may want to at least partially put toward their town.

“They may want to share some of those funds,” he said.

Council President Jim Sando asked how donations currently received by the borough are currently handled, and Borough Manager Christine Hart said it can vary. Each year Jane Keyes, owner of the Tex-Mex Connection restaurant, makes a donation to support the borough police department’s DARE program, and Hart said that donation is all but built into the borough budget.

“The DARE contribution is very easy, because we have a separate fund for those monies that are donated, and they are specifically earmarked — essentially, the DARE fund is operating fully on those donations,” Hart said.

Other donations received recently have largely been for parks and recreation projects, and are typically put into the town’s recycling fund, the manager told council. Land development fees submitted when projects are underway are also set aside into a “fee-in-lieu-of” fund, Hart said, most recently with a business on Eighth Street.

“We did a couple of ‘fee-in-lieu-of’s’ and he had to make a donation, and the donation was specifically for park bench and/ or lighting upgrades,” she said. “Other than that, we really haven’t had anyone say they wanted it specifically for something.”

Developing a formal donation policy “may be prudent” to avoid any legal obligations or issues, Hart added, and borough solicitor Greg Gifford said that for now, council can accept or decline donations on a case by case basis.

“That’s the safest and surest way to do it, to prevent anyone from saying you’re violating the public’s trust,” he said.

Councilman Sal Amato asked if Gifford saw a difference between donations of materials or money, and the solicitor said monetary contributions would be easier to handle.

“Anything that’s different: a car, a vehicle, a tree planting, it’s important for council to review it before accepting the gift,” he said.

Hart said one project that came to her mind was the Center Street Gateway project, meant to upgrade sidewalks and add crossings along Center Street from Walnut Street to the border with Upper Gwynedd.

“We know we are going to add some decorative signs and lighting, so if we wanted to add a bench there with the project, we could (identify) what bench we need, where is it going to go, what’s it going to look like, and assign a price tag, and then say ‘We would accept a donation for that,’” she said.

Schiele said he thought spreading the word about such projects on social media could help raise donations from out of town, and Gifford said it could be done if a specific project is identified.

“There’s a very fine line between doing solicitations, and doing improvements and giving people an opportunity to donate,” Gifford said.

Sando suggested staff research records on “Walnut Square Park,” a pocket park on Walnut Street across from Tex-Mex, where Keyes and others donated to upgrades including the kiosk sign in the early 2000s, and Hart and Gifford said they would do so and report back.

“I think there may be folks that want to help out. We just have to get the word out there,” Schiele said.

Donation from engineer accepted: Just after the donation discussion, council did vote to accept a donation formally, and with a destination in mind, from newly selected borough traffic engineering consultants McMahon Associates.

“Typically, they give their clients a holiday edible gift, which we are allowed to accept,” Hart said.

“However, with COVID and the contact-less delivery, and so on and so forth, and with many businesses they deal with being shut down, they felt it was more conducive to offer a donation of $100,” she said.

The engineering firm has asked that the donation be used for the town’s parks and recreation department “or other similar community programs,” according to a letter from the firm and included in the board’s meeting materials packet for Jan. 12. Council voted unanimously to accept it, with thanks to the firm.

Appointments, resignations approved: One resident is out, another has a new responsibility, and several more are coming back.

Council has approved a long list of volunteer appointments, and one resignation, that of resident Linda McAdoo from the town’s planning commission.

A new appointment also earned her own council vote: resident Robin Parker, who was appointed in December to the parks and recreation board, has now also been appointed to the town’s shade tree commission.

A long list of reappointments of incumbent members to various boards and commissioners were also approved.

Vacant positions as of Jan. 12 included two spots on HARB, one of which must be a registered real estate broker, both for terms running through 2023; two on the parks and recreation board, running through 2022 and 2025 respectively; and one each on the planning commission and UCC board of appeals, both running through 2021.

Anyone interested is asked to submit a letter of interest and resume to Hart at chart@northwalesborough.org or by mail to borough hall, 300 School Street, North Wales PA 19454.

Council postpones business fee: A motion by councilman Jim Cherry should give local businesses suffering from the COVID shutdowns a bit of a boost.

Cherry asked for, and council approved, a temporary suspension of the town’s $100 business license fee for those impacted by the pandemic.

“I know I’m a small business, and it’s been pretty tough out there. I can’t imagine if I had to actually close my doors for two weeks, or a month, or whatever,” Cherry said.

Sando said he was concerned about an appearance of favoritism if only those who applied were granted an extension, and suggested a formal vote from council to suspend the fee.

“It seems to me that’s a reasonable way to approach this. I would suggest we make that motion, to go through June of this year. That gives people plenty of time,” Sando said, and council then voted unanimously to do so.