Weissport Borough Council voted to approve resident Bill Hartzell to fill the borough council seat vacated by James Osborne whose last day was Feb. 20.

Osborne resigned because of medical issues.

Hartzell starts immediately and will finish the remaining two years of Osborne’s term.

• Council President Tom Ketchledge said that he received an email from the county about the flood drainage project for the corner of Forge and White Streets.

Ketchledge said the county is “Looking to schedule a pre-construction meeting for this project in the next week or so.”

Ketchledge said he would find out if any council members need to attend or just the engineer.

• Jay Frey, who owns several rental properties in the borough, addressed council concerning a letter he received regarding the new ordinance that all rental properties must be registered and inspected according to the zoning requirements.

“My first question is, why wasn’t anybody notified that a new ordinance was in and being passed.”

He said that the letter was dated Feb. 1, but he received it Feb. 20. The letter stated that there would be paperwork needed to apply for the permits, but there was no other paperwork included.

“It says there’s a $1,000 fine, there’s imprisonment, and we have nine days to respond to it,” he said.

According to Ketchledge, the ordinance was advertised in the Times News and posted on the bulletin board at borough hall.

Frey also questioned why it was just rentals being targeted, and not people who own their own homes.

“Basically, what the ordinance is for, is because of all the landlords in town who are absentee and they are not taking care of their properties,” Ketchledge said. “It’s not to hurt the people who are taking care of their properties.”

“The letter was standard language,” said Brent Greene, the borough Zoning Officer. “It was basically to get the point across to property owners who don’t respond, that this is the penalty for it.”

“We sent out 59 letters to known rental property owners,” Greene said. “Thirty-four of them have responded, and we resent nine due to mailing address issues, 13 have not responded so far.”

Weissport has collected $690 is rental permit fees so far.

• Nicole Baker, event coordinator for Weisstock, addressed council to confirm the dates for the 4th annual festival.

“It’s something we enjoy bringing to the community,” Baker said. “I think that, collectively, from the feedback that I’ve gotten from everyone that’s surrounding the park and businesses during the event, everybody is doing well and not having any complaints thus far.”

The 4th Annual Weisstock is Aug. 30-31 in borough park.

• Todd Weaver, representing the Lehighton Area Heritage Alliance, addressed council.

“We’ve been going around to the other townships and municipalities that are part of the Lehighton area,” Weaver said. “Our goal is to promote the history of the whole area. It’s not just the Lehighton Borough. We’ve gone to Franklin Township, Mahoning Township, East Penn Township, and Parryville so far.”

Weaver said that Weissport does have its own historical society, and hopes to partner with them to promote the history of the area.

The Lehighton Area Heritage Alliance website features tabs for each of the local townships and municipalities and will be a hub to promote history for the whole area. The website is www.lehightonheritage.org.

• Ketchledge said that the borough has received the new trash pump and the hoses for it. The pump was bought to help alleviate flooding on Bridge Street in front of Chantilly’s until the drains can be fixed. Clogged or broken drain pipes cause water to accumulate at that intersection.