Spring City: Castor Resigns from Borough Council

Spring City Councilman Norman Castor resigned his seat Monday night, indicating in his resignation letter that he was leaving the council for "personal reasons."

Councilman Donald Shaner nominated Michael Petak, a resident of Walnut Street, to complete Mr. Castor’s term.

Councilman Michael Hays suggested that the members of the public be encouraged to apply for the open position and that council should hold a special meeting to take those applications and to interview prospective council members.

“This is the first notice that I am aware of this resignation…we should encourage members of the public to apply,” Hays said.

[Editor's note: Michael Hays contributes high school sports articles to Patch.]

However, because Councilman Shaner’s nomination of Mr. Petak constituted a motion to appoint him, a vote was taken and the motion to appoint passed 3-2.

Councilmen DiGuiseppe, Shaner and Kratz voted yes, while Hays and Councilman Burns voted no.

Hays said he was “disappointed” by the appointment.

“It's funny, it sounds like we were talking outside of council chambers,” Hays said following the vote.

Later, during a period for open comments from council, Hays said, “I'm disappointed once again in the secrecy. We were obviously talking outside of council chambers about filling this post, and I'm disappointed. That's all I'm going to say.”

In other council business, Hays and Burns discussed the re-launch of the borough’s official website at www.springcityboro.org. The plan is for residents and others to be able to get any information they may need regarding government, the police, and municipal services and events on the official website.

Hays pointed out that the website www.springcitypa.net belongs to a Spring City history enthusiast and is more of a "fan page," and that the owner of the site is willing to put a notice redirecting people to the official site as soon as it is launched.

The borough council also discussed changes to Ordinance 340, the borough traffic ordinance, including a fine increase for parking in snow emergency zones.

Council also agreed to an amendment that will prevent residents from using items such traffic cones and chairs to “hold” parking spots along the street during the winter. Once the new ordinance goes into effect, any items used to reserve parking spaces will be picked up and discarded as trash by the Streets Department. These changes will be advertised shortly and the public will be able to comment on them before an adoption vote is cast.

• Resident Brian Dudonis of New Street attended the council meeting to ask if anyone had looked at the water runoff issue on Penn Street that he brought to council’s attention last month. Councilman DiGuiseppe said he had examined the area but he looked at an area below where Mr. Dudonis is concerned. Mr. DiGuiseppe agreed to go back out and look at the street again.
• Spring City’s annual Easter Egg Hunt will be at Brown Street Park on Saturday, April 16^th at 11:00am.
• Council’s next meeting will be on Monday, April 4, 2011.