The Slatington borough council reaffirmed its contribution agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation on May 13 regarding the intersection realignment of routes 873 and 4016. The council had passed a resolution in 2020 affirming this agreement.

Traveling from Allentown into Slatington on Route 873 (Main Street), Route 873 takes a left turn at the stop light near the bridge on South Walnut Street. That left turn goes out toward Route 248 and Palmerton and Route 873 becomes North Walnut Street. The right turn is South Walnut Street. Going straight at that stop light, Main Street becomes Route 4016 and continues toward Walnutport.

Slatington manager Dan Stevens explained that prior to 2020, the borough received a Multimodal Transportation Fund grant of $440,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. The agreement with PennDOT was to transfer that grant to PennDOT to be applied to the cost of the realignment project in exchange that the borough’s contribution would be capped. That cap amounts to $132,000.

“We only own a short stretch of Walnut Street between the bridge and intersection,” Stevens said. Routes are state roads and the bridge is owned by Lehigh County.

Fire company parking

The council also approved a temporary construction easement that would allow PennDOT to use two parking spots near the Vigilant Fire Company on South Walnut during the replacement of the bridge. PennDOT paid $4,400.

In other business, the council approved to hire Traffic Planning and Design Inc. as inspectors for a Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside grant project for the 100 steps leading up to Victory Park from Main Street in Slatington. Justin Gross, the engineer for Slatington, said he is waiting for approval from the Federal Aviation Administration on the project steps. Steps must be below the tree canopy and not in the flight path of air travel.

There was a discussion concerning code enforcement for fire alarm systems. Fire Chief Robert Reph said updates are needed, because the Property Maintenance Code has not been updated since 2016. “There needs to be a safety review,” he said.

Reph would like to have a record of all fire inspections that the code enforcement officers do in the borough for rentals and commercial.

And the Slatington Police Department has joined Lehigh Valley Health Network and Lehigh County in the Blue Envelope Program. The blue envelope is for use for drivers on the autism spectrum with instructions on what to do if they are pulled over, and information for police officers with a guide and to let the officer know if the driver is verbal or nonverbal. The blue envelopes are available at the Police Station, 125 South Walnut Street Slatington. More information can be found on the Slatington Police Department’s Facebook page.

Other business

The council also approved the following:

• Reimbursement to Robert Stettner for Sal’s Pizza, $104.90; and Giant, $80.93. Total of $185.83 for volunteers at the trail cleanup.

• A map for Northern Lehigh Comp Plan Zoning Initiative.

• Purchase of equipment to add digital capability to council chambers at maximum cost of $2,000 to be paid for with Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Funds.

• Hiring Transcend Finance to do financial work for the borough.

• Overtime and hours for full time office employees: 10 hours a week.

Kristine Porter contributed to this story.