Parryville Council voted last night to hire an outside legal firm to handle legal issues with Riverwalck Saloon and other Parryville properties owned by Mark Stemler.

Council President Mike Grant said that this gives council a clean slate working with Stemler."This is a move in the right direction," said Grant. "There are still a lot of issues that need to be resolved, such as garbage, parking and I believe they are building again without a permit."Council members approved the Orefield law firm of Dimmich and Dinkelacker to represent the borough in Riverwalck issues and other property issues in Parryville.Attorney Thomas H. Dinkelacker said he has handled civil and administrative trials and appeals in matters ranging from personal injury workers' compensation and construction defects to environmental and land use issues and litigation.Dinkelacker also introduced attorney Alfred Stirva IV, whose main focus is criminal defense, municipal law and civil litigation, to council members. Stirva has also served as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia.In December, Parryville Council, with the advice of its attorney Mike Greek, signed an agreement with Stemler that included a confidentially clause that stated both parties agreed to the terms and conditions of the agreement and the terms of the agreement would remain confidential and would not be disclosed to any individual not a party to the agreement.A Right to Know Law clause allowed the agreement to become public.The agreement was linked to three Carbon County civil court cases and according to the agreement settles those disputes between Stemler and Parryville that have been ongoing for four years.Through this signed agreement, Riverwalck Saloon set the ratio of parking spaces to seats at 3.5; trailers parked on Riverwalck property may be used for business and other purposes, as long as they are not used for overnight living accommodations; the archway may remain at its present location; plus notes that any previous notices issued by the Parryville Zoning and Building Code officers to Stemler and Riverwalck are declared invalid.The agreement also goes into the sewage issues of Riverwalck. The agreement notes that Riverwalck Saloon has a functioning septic system and that there is no present evidence of any system malfunctioning.The agreement lists that Fedor, borough code enforcement officer Duane Dellecker and borough sewage enforcement officer Shawn Corey, will no longer be involved in any way, directly or indirectly with Stemler and Riverwalck, or any other business or property Stemler owns in Parryville.The agreement releases Stemler and Riverwalck from any and all liabilities and claims that the borough has had from the beginning until the effective date of the agreement.Stemler discharges Parryville and assigns, but without limitation Fedor, Dellecker and Corey from any and all liabilities.The agreement notes that each executed the agreement of its own free will, and the terms are binding.In the past few months, council had offered Fedor limited zoning officer duties. Fedor disputed that limiting his position was illegal.As a result, Fedor was not reappointed and Dellecker has resigned from working as a code enforcement officer for Parryville.In other business, council President Grant said that he met with resident Sharon Hinkle and determined that placing stop signs on Fireline Road will not work.He said that after some thought he believes that painting "slow" on roadways will caution drivers to slow down to stop accidents in this area.Grant said that he will seek to use stencils from a neighboring community, if possible, and have the road crew do the work to save funds.