Those in attendance at Tuesday's Coaldale Borough Council meeting were very expressive of their concerns regarding the layoff of the three full-time police officers and expenditures for seemingly pointless projects and costs.

As the floor opened for public participation, two individuals expressed their dissatisfaction with what they felt was frivolous expenditures and reckless cutbacks."How can you lower taxes when you claim to be in a state of financial hardship? How can you lay off police officers and borough workers and then say that we should lower taxes? I think we ought to be raising taxes so we can bring back the borough workers," East Ridge Street resident, Richard Kellner, asked the board.Nobody on the board had a response that satisfied Kellner, nor did they have a direct answer for his question."This is all in the planning process," Councilman Thomas Keerans responded.Councilman David Yelito began to respond."We found out that it was going to cost us an extra $12,000 to pay workmen's' comp for those workers," he said."But that still does not answer why you should lower taxes. Shouldn't we be raising taxes to pay for full-time police protection for this town?" Kellner interjected.Ruth Weiss, who lives on West High Street, asked how the board is saving money by furloughing the police force, when they would have to pay for lawyers because of the resulting lawsuit.She also speculated that adding an additional $4 per hour for the part-time borough workers, and giving the secretaries $1,000 annual raises while the police force loses their livelihoods is wasteful. She urged the board to think into the future and consider every consequence when making financial plans.Some members of the board were unaware that they were being sued, and President Susan Solt said they had yet to be served a subpoena. Although news of the impending lawsuit appeared to be common knowledge, Councilman Joseph Hnat claimed to be unaware.Keerans responded to Weiss's concerns."Before we did this we took out a tax anticipation loan every year for $60,000, plus we were using our line of credit," said Keerans. "Our budget was well over extended. This is the first year we aren't doing that because we don't need to take out a tax anticipation loan to meet out bills."Hnat, Yelito, and Councilman Michael Michael Doer got very heated when Kellner implied that the crime rate had increased since the full-time police force had been furloughed. They protested the claim with fervor, shouting "our town is in good shape" and unintelligible angry remarks.In other matters, a house on East Howard Avenue is overrun with feral cats. Fifth Street resident David Paulus, came to complain on behalf of his son Joseph Paulus, Joseph's girlfriend Amber Reed, and their year-old child, who live next door to the residence; they are bothered by the smell and concerned about health issues."I am here because of my son. He is 1-year-old and I am worried for his health," Reed said.According to both Paulus and Reed, the house is also overrun by fleas that encroach into their home, which has to be sprayed regularly as a result.Paulus claims that neither the police nor the animal control officer have done anything that has been helpful because of the want of full hazmat suits and they refuse to personally handle the cats.Hnat responded by implying that the borough animal control officer, Mark Richards, was not doing his job and motioned that he be fired and the money be used to pay the police to do the job or find another person who does the job correctly.This idea was rejected because Solt viewed it as rude and insensitive to fire a person without giving them a chance to redeem themselves, she suggested that Richards be given a written warning and a chance to perform the duties of his position before he be replaced. Hnat rescinded his motion.Another public concern was the abandoned house on West High Street, which has been overrun by weeds and wildlife. The council agreed to pass it on to the zoning board.Hnat was also unhappy that Councilman Steve Tentylo had been excused from 11 months' worth of meetings and suggested sending him a letter recommending his attendance or resignation. His concern was noted but the board did not act.The board approved the treasurer's report, and the payment of $50,497.33 in bills.Keerans and the finance committee are still working on the budget for next year.Yelito quoted the best bid of $5,280 to construct a fenced-in parking lot at the former Coaldale high school and made a motion to approve it. The motion was tabled.The board approved the purchase of rock salt for the coming winter season then went into executive session before adjourning.