EC Borough still working on skateboard park
May 19, 2009
ECO Staff – Laure Cioffi, senior journalist
ELLWOOD CITY – Plans for a skateboard park in Ellwood City are not dead.
Council President Tony Court said Monday night that the borough is searching for the right location and investigating insurance costs for a borough-owned skateboard park.
He was responding to parent Brian Bailey of Franklin Avenue who asked council members the status of the project.
Bailey said he was present last year when nearly 40 youngsters attended an Ellwood City Borough council meeting to request a skateboard park. At that time council members said they were waiting on word from the state about a grant to pay for the equipment.
The borough did not receive the grant, but Court said they have set aside money for the project.
 Bailey said he would prefer it be closer to downtown, but would be willing to drive his children wherever the skateboard park is located.
In other business, council members reaffirmed that the highest-ranking police officer is in charge of scheduling police personnel.
Borough solicitor Ed Leymarie said the move was in response to Mayor Don Clyde assigning the duty of scheduling to a patrolman.
Lt. Dave Kingston has been in charge of the police department since the departure of Richard McDonald, police chief of operations.
During McDonald’s tenure, council also had to reign in Clyde by approving a 24-point memo outlining duties of the chief.
Clyde was not present Monday night, but Court said he is back to work. Clyde had been off due to some medical issues.
Council also conducted the following business:
· Established a 15-minute parking zone on Lawrence Avenue, the north side, between Twelfth Street to a point 38 feet west.
· Established a parking meter zone on the east side of Sixth Street between Lawrence and Crescent avenues.
· Adopted a resolution opposing the feasibility study of the New Castle Post Office processing center and the possible closing of the facility.
· Approved the final payment of $27,615 to Southwestern Pa. Builders for work on the Ewing Park Site and Shelter Renovations Project to be paid from the Ewing Park renovations fund.
· Gave the EC Rod and Classic Auto Club permission to close Lawrence Avenue from Fourth to Eighth streets from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 18.
· Gave permission to the Love Hope Baptist Church to use the Folino Stage from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 28 and the Ellwood City Children’s Center to use the stage from 1 to 6 p.m. June 7 for end of year graduation and picnic.
· Approved travel requests for borough electric workers Mark Brown and Mark Linville to attend training at the AmpOhio facility in Columbus. Brown will go June 8 to June 12 and Linville from June 22 to June 26. Cost of the training is $1,394.55 for each.
· Declared the week of May 25 as The Power of Purple Week in conjunction with the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life event.
· Agreed to insurance coverage from Caputo Insurance Agency for a variety of items at a cost of $108,544.
· Approved an agreement with the Ellwood City Main Street Project Revitalization for improvements on Lawrence Avenue and Beaver Avenue from Fourth Street to Ninth Street, Fifth and Sixth streets from Crescent to Spring avenues, Spring Avenue from Fifth Street, Sixth Street and Fourth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth street from Crescent to Lawrence Avenues. The borough will act as a pass through for state grant money for the project.
· Accepted the resignation of Jonathan Minnocci as a summer park employee.
· Talked about appointing someone to be an officer of the works to oversee major projects being done in the borough by outside contractors such as the current project in Ewing Park being done by Graziani Construction in behalf of Pennsylvania American Water.
· Borough Manager Dom Viccari said property tax revenues are about $80,000 greater than they were at this same time last year. But he noted that earned income tax payments are down by 42 percent. Viccari said he will meet with borough employees later this week to ask if they have any cost saving ideas for the borough.
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