Before Slatington Borough Council could cover its scheduled agenda items Monday night, several visitors spoke during the meeting's opening public comment portion of it.

Ron Scheffler, of 1335 Oakhurst Dr., discussed having received a certified letter last year stating that his sewer lateral was in need of repair. He said he and several of his neighbors had replaced their laterals at their own expense, only to find out later that there was nothing wrong with them.He said that, at a special public meeting in June of last year for all private lateral violators, Borough Foreman John Bolton had twice said that all laterals had been videotaped except for the people on Oakhurst Drive."But as of Oct. 2, 2013, I know everybody in this town is not videotaped in Maple Springs Acres," Scheffler said. "So I know Mr. Bolton is not telling the truth at public meetings."He then demanded that, by the end of 2014, a written quarterly report be presented by the borough as to which streets had been videotaped (for inspection) and when.Resident Mel Gildner added that he agreed with Scheffler: "I feel, as a taxpayer, every lateral must be checked with that camera…we have a right (to know)…because we have people in the audience that have spent over $2,500 to have laterals put in, and now they're finding not every one was even checked on that hill."In other business, councilman Jon Rinker made a motion to approve William Borst as the borough's new part-time police officer. The borough unanimously approved the motion and also voted to terminate part-time police officer Jacob Fox.The need for a new generator was again discussed. Rinker noted that, though they had previously debated the possibility of getting a large portable generator to power the police station, they would need an even bigger, permanent unit instead. He said that they may still get the portable one for other borough uses.Council members debated the pros and cons of whether or not to get a generator that could power the entire borough hall or just the police station. Ultimately, it was decided that they would first need to see concrete numbers for the cost of both types of units. Rinker also noted that, so long as this year they purchased a generator capable of powering the police station, they could always place it in next year's budget to purchase a larger unit, which could cost upwards of $18,000 to $20,000, to power the rest of borough hall.The council also discussed the recent Oct. 9 meeting held in Slatington by Rep. Julie Harhart (R-183rd) to discuss the possibility of creating a Regional Recreational Organization that would include Slatington, Walnutport and Washington Township.The council agreed to donate one-third of the cost, or $333, of the $1,000 needed from the three municipalities to conduct a peer-to-peer recreation feasibility study before committing to anything further.