Coaldale residents say they're tired of out-of-town owners who let their properties deteriorate. They came to a council meeting Tuesday seeking answers.

"I've lived here for 64 years. I've lived through the coal boom and I've lived here through times of poverty, but I've never had the town look like this," said Ann Gallagher. "I'm insulted that somebody from out of the area thinks he can come here to my town and let things rot."Both Gallagher and a neighbor, Lillian Holota, had complaints about properties on East High Street, where they both live."We have an ordinance about quality of life, but is it being enforced?" Holota asked. "Just one person moving onto a block can bring down the property value of everybody else."Ruth Ann Kehl, West Ridge Street, said she's been complaining about a neighboring property for four years without results. She said the property has a terrible odor and is in decrepit repair."I need this council to work with me," Kehl said. "I need help."Council members turned to solicitor Mike Greek for advice. He told them that the course of action varies according to whether the problems at a property are violations of the Quality of Life ordinance, or code violations. Council directed code enforcement officer Mike O'Hara to take pictures at the properties so that Greek could make that determination."Then you can start putting things in writing and citing the owners," Greek said. "We have the tools in place."Two infrastructure problems in the borough are looming with undetermined costs. The roof at the Coaldale Complex, a former school now owned by the borough and rented by Headstart, is leaking into two classroom areas. Council decided to have the borough engineer, Alfred Benesch & Co., examine the roof to determine the cause of the leak.Another problem has developed with a sewer line that runs under Route 209 in the borough. Council approved spending $11,100 to hire Benesch to survey the problem, design the fix and obtain the proper permits. The cost to remediate the problem will not be known until Benesch investigates the scope of the work.Councilman Thomas Keerans made several complaints related to the police department. In 2012, the former council had voted to furlough the borough's full-time officers and replace them with part-time officers. The new council restored the full-time officer positions last month."In the past month we've had 60 hours of overtime (in the police department)," Keerans said. "In the old contract, if an officer called off sick, the mayor called around and found a part-time officer to fill in."Mayor Richard Kellner said that he has attempted to do that, but doesn't have a big enough pool of part-timers. After some discussion, the council voted to advertise to hire more part-time officers.Keerans also asked why Keith Krapf is heading the department in the absence of Chief Tim Delaney, who is out on medical leave. Krapf is the husband of council President Angela Krapf."When Chief Delaney went out on leave, he appointed (Todd) Weiss as officer in charge," Keerans said. "Why has he been removed as officer in charge?"Greek said that typically, such appointments are usually based on seniority. Keerans asked for an executive session to discuss a complaint regarding a police officer.While council was in executive session, Weiss stood outside the borough building. Asked if he thought he should be officer in charge, Weiss said it didn't matter to him."We all get along in this department, so things like that don't matter because we work well together," Weiss said. "It's a small department and we all have to assume additional responsibilities when we're working."