Bids for the first leg of the trail project along the Black Creek that would eventually connect Weatherly to the Lehigh Gorge Trail were opened for the Weatherly Borough council meeting on Aug. 2.

It was hoped that the project could start this year, but the only two bids submitted were “extremely high,” coming in at $1,801,000 and $1,884,065.

Council rejected these bids, and will review specifications to get the price to match what the borough has to spend.

The long-delayed repainting of the borough’s water tank, up on the hill on the west side of town, was approved to proceed at the PA COSTARS price of $348,700. The contractor will remove the old lead paint and safely dispose of it, then repaint the tank.

With this year’s roads paving getting started in the borough, council voted to pave the parking area behind the municipal building. Of three bids, Pennsy Supply, the contractor doing the borough’s road paving this year, came in at $18,333 - $41.50 lower than the second bidder. The new pavement will stop the dirt that tracks in, and allows for an impound lot to be set up. The project will be done after the roads paving is complete in mid-August.

One bidder submitted an offer of $1,250 for one of the two properties the borough was seeking to sell. Discussion included Mayor P.J. Hadzick pointing out that the borough was on its way to spending well over the $1,250 in lawn mowing costs. Council voted unanimously to accept the bid, putting the property back on the tax rolls.

The second property will be readvertised for sale, with bids to arrive before council’s next meeting. A neighbor who has been mowing the lot is likely to offer a bid.

The new ordinance that authorizes fire company billing for services was approved unanimously.

Council was also unanimous in approving a five-year lease for the 2022 Dodge Durango police vehicle from Mauch Chunk Trust.

Borough Manager Harold Pudliner was authorized to seek bids for garbage collection for 2023 and beyond, to be opened in September. The six-bag limit will remain.

A letter from the Allentown & Auburn Railroad offered to take the Weatherly Museum’s coal car and restore it. This led to a discussion on the car’s history, having been bought by Jack Koehler in the 1990s and moved to Weatherly. The car had recently been moved as part of the trailhead paving project. It has now been reset on a stone bed, which council members remarked “looks good.”

Council member Joe Cyburt added, “I like the way it looks.”

Member Joe Thomas said, “I’d like to keep it here.”

Cyburt and Thomas offered a motion to keep the car and reject the offer. Council supported this unanimously. Cyburt notes that there will be work to be done on the car in the future.

Alicia Richie Quinn, granddaughter of Jack Koehler, explained that the coal car was part of a group of railroad artifacts that Koehler had assembled during his long life that are now part of the Weatherly Museum.