Kevin Steber, emergency management coordinator for Summit Hill, made an observation during Monday night's meeting of Summit Hill Borough Council.

Speaking about the borough's handling of the weekend blizzard, Steber said, "We must have done something right. You know why? This room's not full of people."Often after a snowstorm, residents attend municipal meetings to voice complaints.Only one woman attended the council meeting and that was because when the snow plow passed her home doing curb-to-curb plowing, snow was pushed onto her sidewalks.Council President Michael Kokinda said, "It has to go somewhere when there's this much snow."A lot of the dialogue during the meeting was praising the borough workforce for its handling of the storm.Steber said a state of emergency was declared by Mayor Paul McArdle at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.He explained that residents could be kept abreast of events by either logging onto the borough's website, checking the borough's Facebook page, or logging onto

carbon.alertpa.org, a website operated by the county regarding emergency conditions.Steber said that when a state of emergency is declared, the signs on posts in the borough regarding parking are succeeded by regulations defined in the "Summit Hill Snow Emergency Plan." This plan defines snow emergency routes, limits traffic within the borough to only emergency and essential service vehicles and traffic traveling to state highways to exit the borough limits, and defines plowing itinerary for borough workers.These rules, Steber said, "should be followed to the full extent and not be wavered from."He said there was some confusion about the rules and that some changes to it should occur in the near future.Steber said among the few spectators who attended the council meeting were members of the Diligence Fire Company "who worked their butts off to clear hydrants and keep the borough safe."Councilman Billy O'Gurek said the borough workers completed about 90 percent of the curb-to-curb plowing on Sunday, the day following the storm. The only places that hadn't been done were where residents hadn't move their vehicles.Steber said there was one instance where a vehicle had to be towed to be removed.Police Chief Joseph Fittos said one of the loopholes in the parking ordinance is that it states no parking is permitted in alleys when 3 inches or more of snow occurs.However, tickets can't be issued until 8 a.m.Borough worker Ron Yuricheck said there were alleys he couldn't plow because of vehicles parked in them.Steber also praised the work of Summit Hill police officer Jason Harrison, who was on patrol during the storm.Councilman John O'Gurek said one concern is that people with snow blowers often blow snow onto their neighbor's property.Fittos said anyone having such an issue should contact his department.John O'Gurek also said individuals should not toss snow back onto the street.Yuricheck was questioned if there had been a borough vehicle broken down during the blizzard.He said that one truck ran out of gas because the gas gauge was inaccurate. The gauge showed there was a half tank of gas, but that was not the case.