In addition to addressing some residents' concerns about mounting flood insurance premiums within the borough, several other topics were discussed at Thursday's Palmerton Borough Council meeting.

In regard to the flood insurance, Franklin Avenue resident Patricia Bodor said when she purchased her home in 2005 and contracted additional work on it, she had no idea it was located in a high-risk flood zone.Bodor said she moved up from Florida, so she had already been through several hurricanes and would not have purposely purchased a home in a high-risk flood zone; however, she was never informed of that fact."That should be a law, or something, in Palmerton that these realtors have to tell these people this," she said, noting that "a lot of people" had also not been informed before purchasing.Manager and secretary Rodger Danielson said he believes that would fall under disclosure laws with realty. He also said he is working hard to get a FEMA representative to visit the borough within the next few months to look into and discuss the flood insurance matter.Danielson later said that, due to the federal government raising the rates, flood insurance has risen dramatically for some Palmerton residents within about the last year or so, with some paying as much as $200 to $300 per month.During the public comment portion of the meeting, Kelli Costenbader of Kunkletown and Adrianne Allen of Lehighton thanked the council for allowing their charity group, Raising the House, to hold a 5K race last year within the borough and to present them with an application to hold another event in March 2015.Costenbader said their charity raises money in memory of beloved Towamensing Elementary teacher Blaine R. House and benefits Palmerton area schools and students.Later, council unanimously accepted a bid of $76,038 by HSA Mechanical Inc. of Allentown, to replace the heating system at borough hall.Councilman Richard Nothstein asked if there had been any local bidders. Danielson said there had been another bid from an apparent low bidder that had been within $700 of the bid they accepted; however, that company's bid form documents were not completed properly and it could not be considered a valid bidder.Danielson went on to say that the scope of the work will include replacing the boiler, taking all the old equipment out of the gym and replacing it with forced air blowers, and more.Later, Councilman Michael Ballard said that the "Halls of Horror" Halloween haunted house on Delaware Avenue was requesting to block off three parking spaces in front of its building from 5 to 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays from Sept. 26 through Nov. 1.Many council members expressed reservations about the request and unanimously approved a motion not to allow the parking spaces to be blocked off.Next, Councilman Jeremy Barbosa made a motion to ratify the purchase of a new wood chipper for $30,513 so the borough's chipping station, which Danielson said has been closed for about two years, can be reopened as soon as possible.Council unanimously approved the motion.Lastly, Mayor Christopher Olivia said that while "everything is running fine at the police station," it will soon be losing its part-time police officers again.He said that the borough almost always accepts applications for the part-time positions.