The Slatington Borough council presented the Slatington Volunteer Fire Department with a plaque on Monday night honoring their work during Tropical Storm Isaias.

The storm caused severe flooding of Trout Creek in August and residents at Seventh Street Village Apartments had to be rescued. The fire department also assisted residents by pumping water out of their basements.

The plaque was presented to the fire department by Mayor Walter Niedermeyer and Council President Bryon Reed. Reed said the plaque is meant to honor the fire department for their “outstanding service to the community,” in particular Ron Hausman, director of Emergency Management for the borough, and Austin Berger, an officer in the fire department.

“These two gentlemen exhibited exceptional leadership in the face of an emergency,” Reed said.

Hausman could not be present, but Berger and Fire Chief Jason Nicholas were present to accept the plaque on behalf of the fire department.

The council also approved several other items at the meeting. These include:

• Signing the generator service agreement for the Sewer Department for all five borough units from Emergency Systems at a cost of $3,998.86;

• Purchasing an additional dog waste station on Slate Heritage Trail at a cost of $250.45 for the station and the bags are $50.08 for 10 rolls bags plus shipping for a total of $300.54;

• Selling the 1991 pumper to the highest bidder for $10,000;

• Entering into an agreement with St. Luke’s University Health Network for CDL drug and alcohol testing for borough truck drivers;

• Constructing a curb to block stormwater at Kern and Main streets; and

• Authorizing Lehigh Engineering to proceed with bidding on stoplight project at Church and Main streets.

Larry Turoscy, the borough engineer with Lehigh Engineering, said the work on the curb at Kern and Main streets can be done in-house and shouldn’t be too expensive.

Turoscy also thinks it is a good idea to get the stoplight project out to bid in January. From there, he expects work on the project can begin in March and be completed by the end of the year. This will keep costs down.

He said the problem with the stoplights is that they are not up to standard and are not coordinated with the light on Dowell Street.

“I’m worried about a lot of traffic on (Route) 873/Main Street,” he said.

Because the lights are not coordinated, there is a backup for blocks, and people begin to look for other roads to take.

Turoscy said people are wanting to go home after work and end up driving faster than they should on the back streets they use to detour the backup. This could be dangerous to people on those streets who are not expecting the fast vehicles.

The borough received a grant of about $270,000 to help pay for the stoplight project, and recently received confirmation of the grant.

The council agreed with Turoscy to move on the project and get it ready to go to bid in January.