Walnutport Borough Council President Matthew Newhard has resigned. The board accepted Newhard's letter of resignation with only Joan Rehrig opposing the motion.

"I put in a letter last week," he said. "I want to have more time with my children."Newhard has served on the board since being elected in 2006, with six of those years spent as president."It's a shame because even though I don't agree with everything, he does know what's going on," said Michael Wentz, grant coordinator and Walnutport Fire Company board member."Thank you for allowing me to be president. I've had many years of enjoyment on the board," he said.Vice President Harold Green took the chair to adjourn the meeting. The board will advertise for a fill-in with qualifications include being a resident of the borough for one year, a registered voter and the applicant must be at least 18 years old.During the meeting, the board opened bids for a new recycling processor and marketer. The job was awarded to Cougles Recycling Inc., with the next step for the borough to advertise for a new hauler."I will make myself available for bids in September for the hauler," Newhard said."The hauler will try and gouge us, but it'll be hard with the gas prices the way they are now. We'll bid out the hauler with a yearly re-upping contract to open up the opportunity for the smaller guys," he said."We will bid it out by Sept. 8, since the billing goes out in October," board member Nancy Treskot said.The board also discussed the borough's pavilion rental for residents and organizations."Last week, there was a pig roast with bands. The rental was $125 plus $100 security deposit. Now someone else wants to rent it with vendors for a fundraiser for a child with leukemia. Should we charge different prices for different events?" asked board member David Stankovic."I think there should be two different categories.""When they are making money on the property there should be a fee," Councilman William Turk said."There needs to be discussion because people are driving through and parking under the awning. If you're going to have a benefit, people need to talk to us. We ask the rest of the organizations do that. We don't have a problem with nonprofits, but a for-profit is different," Newhard said."We should keep the rental limited to just the pavilion," Treskot said.According to borough solicitor Michael Corriere, the council will no longer serve as the middleman between Northampton and Lehigh counties' 911 centers. The directors of both centers have agreed to speak directly to each other to iron out the details of billing and reimbursement.The Walnutport Canal Association has added a kayak race to it's annual festival."We have a 6K run before the fest, but there's a 24-hour period till the festival on Sunday," said Greg Soltis of the association."In order to get rid of the dead spot we thought, 'let's try this out.' It's a family thing. It'll be a lot of fun," Soltis said.The cost will be $20 per person. The race participants are required to bring an oar, vest and of course a kayak.During the festival held the weekend of Oct. 15, South Canal Street will be closed from Main to Washington streets with all vehicles moved from the street no later than 8 a.m. Lehigh Street will be open only to residents and festival participants.