Weatherly Borough Council will meet today in special session, first sitting as the borough’s vacancy board to discuss an open seat for mayor/council president.

The meeting will be at 7 p.m., which is also borough council’s new meeting time. Council last week approved the meeting time change from 5 to 7 p.m. to accommodate residents and council people who work during the day.

Council also attempted to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Paul J. Hadzick, who served as mayor/council president.

Hadzick resigned in April after an investigation into sexual harassment claims.

The borough had hired an independent law firm to conduct an investigation into the claims made by four, unnamed borough employees. The borough is holding the result of the investigation as confidential and did not release any details.

Councilman Joseph Cyburt nominated fellow councilman Norman Richie to fill the open slot, but Richie declined despite support from other council members.

Council had 30 days following Hadzick’s resignation on April 28 to fill the open spot. The matter is left to the borough’s vacancy board, which has 15 days to act to fill the open position.

Council also expects to reorganize after the vacancy board selects a mayor/council president, which may be selected from existing council members, Cyburt said Monday night. If that happens, a new council member would need be selected as well, he said.

Eurana Park

Last week, council also authorized Borough Manager Harold Pudliner to advertise, accept, open and move forward on the Eurana Park project.

The bids came in more than twice as much as the grant that the borough secured for the project back in April.

Pudliner said the next step is for the borough to act as its own general contractor, and readvertise for paving, fencing and excavation as separate bids. The borough was waiting on new specifications for these new bids.

Pudliner explained that he didn’t want to see the borough lose any more time this year on getting this project started. The borough must use the $232,820 grant this year, he said.

The project includes building basketball and pickleball courts, a courtyard and handicapped accessible pathways. The borough received no bids the previous month, and then bids more than double the grant in April.

Council authorized Pudliner to move forward with the bids and project, as long as the bids came in within the grant amount. Council would then ratify the action at its next meeting.

Pudliner said that if the timeline with the bids and opening works out within a week of a council meeting, then he would wait for council to act, and he would not have to act on his own.