There were many topics discussed during Tuesday's Tamaqua Borough Council meeting.

A motion to pave three or four roadways was approved by council via $126,000 allocated from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). Borough manager Kevin Steigerwalt said that the amount of work done will be determined if they receive funding from PennDOT's Liquid Fuels Program.Under CDBG funding, the borough approved paving 640 feet of Lafayette Street (from bottom of hill to Swatara Street), 1,570 feet of Owl Creek Road (from Box 357 to Box 385), and 181 feet of Nescopec Street (from Hegarty Avenue to Rowe Street). If the borough gets funding from the Liquid Fuels Program, it would also pave 1,630 feet of Owl Creek Road from Box 387 to Box 429.The South Ward Playground Association announced it will hold a public 9/11 Memorial Service on Sept. 11 at 6 p.m. at the playground.A top discussion of the meeting revolved around traffic going up the wrong way through the Five Points (SR309 and US209) intersection north onto North Railroad Street (SR309) south. Tractor tailers and other vehicles (most not from the area) continue straight onto North Railroad Street rather than bearing right onto West Mauch Chunk Street. Steigerwalt said he plans on talking to a PennDOT official about a way of lessening related incidents.Boy Scouts from Tamaqua's Troop 777 provided correspondence to the borough stating that they will be performing numerous cleanup and path restoration tasks this Saturday at the Owl Creek Reservoir, which was re-opened to the public last Saturday.The borough approved this year's FY2013 CDBG application for $104,286. This will include $18,770 for yearly administrative costs, $25,654 for demolition and clearance projects in the borough and $59,862 to provide needed repairs to the women's wash house at the H.D. Buehler Memorial Pool. Council President Micah Gursky said that the grant process and eventual completion of the project could take a few years.During the meeting, Steigerwalt talked about the success of this Saturday's re-grand opening of the Owl Creek dams. In addition, he said that the Department of Environmental Protection requires both the upper and lower dams to be inspected each year. The borough approved Alfred Benesch Engineering (original project engineers) to perform these inspections every year at a lump sum cost of $3,000.Steigerwalt also spent time talking about other projects related to the CDBG program. He added that they are finalizing the purchase of 131 new electronic parking meters, at $102.50 a piece from POM Inc. (a COSTARS partner), via past allocated CDBG funding. Funds were approved in June of this year. The project would involve the placement or replacement of parking meters, each having a one-year warranty, and could result in the increase of parking meter fees from 25 cents every hour to 25 cents every half-hour. The Parking and Traffic Committee is expected to investigate fee options during its next meeting.Steigerwalt also said that demolition of 208 Gay St. should start in the next week or so.Tamaqua Fire Chief Tom Hartz's report totals for July reflected 163.8 man-hours on scene, 494 hours training in-house, 60 state-training hours, 139 meeting hours, 76 vehicle/building maintenance hours, 2,701 fundraising hours and 16 fire prevention hours.Detective Henry Woods, standing in for Tamaqua Police Chief Rick Weaver, expressed the department's appreciation for Schuylkill County District Attorney Karen Byrnes-Noon's office, which donated $200 to the Tamaqua DARE program.A motion by Dan Evans, chairman Parking and Traffic Committee, was approved allowing a handicapped spot at 320 Columbia St.Motions to retain two full-time borough employees were approved by the borough. They were street maintenance worker Frank Morris effective Aug. 6 and water distribution worker Jay Stidham effective Sept. 2.Motions to hire three new part-time officer were also approved. New officers include Brigdon Dodhner, Jennifer Dempsey and Bradley Hess.An updated Fee Schedule Resolution, given by Finance Committee chair Tom Cara was shot down 4 to 3 by council members. Under the resolution, the majority of fees would rise. Voting no were Gursky, Evans, Ken Smulligan and John Trudich. Voting yes were David Mace, Tom Cara and Brian Connely."We are losing money," said Connely, referring to the costs passed on to the borough to perform inspections and related costs. "Our costs are relatively low compared to the rest of the country," added Connely."Many review processes only involve a strike of a pen," said Smulligan.Gursky, who still voted no to the resolution, rebutted saying that simpler days of pen striking are over, adding that fees have to be reflective of costs incurred, "otherwise costs would come back to the tax payer," said Mace.Smulligan stressed that they should increase fees slowly, rather than all at once.The borough also approved the construction of a service window and counter at 401 West Broad St. (Our Family Mini Mart). Tony Rodrigue of the Historical Architectural Review Commission (HARC) said during the meeting that the request for a canopy was deferred to HARC for review.Tamaqua Mayor Chris Morrison spoke about the success of Tamaqua's Night Out event and expressed his appreciation to all volunteers who came out and the Tamaqua Fire Police for their time. Saying he is seeing an increase in stray animals, he encouraged residents to try harder to keep their pets leashed, adding that the Tamaqua Area Animal Rescue only has a few volunteers and could always use extra help.Alerted by a neighboring community, Morrison added that residents should be more attentive to contractor scams.Morrison also discussed the increase in Quality of Life tickets, stating, "The ordinance is working."During the meeting, Tamaqua resident Ray Bonetsky complained of a road depression at the intersection of Federal and East Broad Street. He has been complaining over a year about this issue, and told the borough that every time a large vehicle goes through the intersection, he hears a loud bang. Morrison and Steigerwalt said they will both look into it and possibly forward the issue to PennDOT for review.The motion to adopt an ordinance establishing certain parking regulations and setting fines and penalties was approved 6 to 1, with Trudich voting no.