A topic that has been raised in the borough for years was the main topic of discussion at Slatington's Water/Sewer/Highway Workshop Committee Monday.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, resident and former councilwoman Kris Burek brought up the topic of how the borough's water and sewer are billed when she asked President Gwyneth Neff about a list Burek said she had requested at council's Sept. 8 meeting to "show (her) how (Neff's) numbers don't add up on the water and sewer minimums."Burek said she had asked again for the list at the Oct. 13 council meeting before filing a right-to-know request on Oct. 14.She then complained that all she got from Neff, in a thick packet of pages provided to her at Monday's meeting, were a list of all customers billed, which she said is "a list of properties that doesn't prove that the numbers don't add up as far as generating revenue for this borough, which we need.""You could be raising money without raising rates, and you're not doing it. I don't get it, I just don't get it," Burek said as she left the podium.She had said she specifically wanted to know why some apartment buildings within the borough are not billed an 8,000-gallon minimum, like single homeowners are, per each unit instead of just one base rate for the entire building.Though he had not placed his name on the list of public commenters, resident Mel Gildner was allowed by council to further discuss the topic. He ultimately claimed the council did not want to look into the issue further because some of its members own apartment buildings within the borough.Council members said that was not the case.Neff later said that she thought Burek had been asking her for a list of the number of apartments within the borough, breaking them down into one billing unit, two billing units, etc. so Burek could determine why the borough does not increase its water and sewer rates.She also explained that, because the borough has many historic buildings that are now apartments, adding additional water meters to them would be cost prohibitive.And in regard to the work required to put in the extra meters, then read, maintain and bill for those extra meters, Neff said, "What you're gaining, you're losing in manpower and time spent."Later, Alan Ringer of Lehigh Engineering said that work is currently being finished on East Washington Street, between First and Second streets, per the borough's 2013 Community Development Block Grant and that, weather permitting, it should be completed by the borough's trick-or-treat night Oct. 31.He said they hope next year's CDBG project will include a continuation of East Washington Street from First Street to its end.Ringer also said that though they had received the OK from the Department of Environmental Protection to award a bid for the Slatington Borough Sanitary Sewer Manhole Rehabilitation Project, he was advising council to wait to see if another extension is granted by the Environmental Project Agency per its grant for the project.Next, Patrice Hunsicker of Mint Construction in Walnutport told council that she had heard it was considering metal roofing for one of its reservoir roofs.She said that after inspecting the building as a prospective bidder, her company advises that the old shingles be torn off, some other slight corrections made, and 40-year, lifetime-warranty shingles used instead. Thus, the company's estimate will reflect those differences.