Lansford Borough Council is considering eliminating designated oversize parking areas.

Councilwoman Jennifer Staines said that the borough secretary Ashley McLaughlin had prepared a new draft for permits for parking oversize vehicles in designated areas at specified times of the year.

A lot along Dock Street near the Zoo was designated for the summer months, and the lot at Ashton Hill Park near the pool complex was designed for the winter.

Staines said they need to discuss where these vehicles would be parked. Council dealt with issues last year with oversize vehicles parking in the pool lot during the winter.

She also said they had to discuss whether or not parking would be for borough residents only. The new draft stated that the permits were for Lansford residents only.

Councilman George Gilbert said he was against any oversize vehicle parking in the borough.

“I’m totally against this. 100%,” he said. “This is causing more havoc in this town over oversize parking.”

Gilbert pointed out that the borough leases the designated parking area along Dock Street from Lehigh Anthracite.

“I don’t know if the borough can sublease it out,” he said. “I guess it’s a question for attorney (Bob) Yurchak.”

Councilman Joe Butrie said that they can’t sublease the land and got a call from the coal company about it.

“Then, why are we going through this draft?” Gilbert said.

Butrie said it should be eliminated, then.

Council members discussed other options for oversize parking and Council President Bruce Markovich asked if they had to provide parking at all.

Resident Tommy Vadyak said that Tamaqua doesn’t allow oversize parking and people get ticketed. It’s up to the truck driver to find legal parking for their vehicle, he said.

The borough also has an ordinance that prevents truck drivers from parking their vehicles on the street, Vadyak said.

Council members agreed that the oversize parking should be stopped and planned to add it to the agenda for next week’s meeting.

Delinquents

Council will also consider removing Portnoff Associates from collections for sanitation and take delinquent accounts to the magistrate for collections, instead.

Residents had questioned the firm’s practices, noting that people struggling to pay for services can’t afford additional fees and penalties that the firm adds and the bills go unpaid. Council will also look at the cost of running the name of delinquents in the newspaper or placing stickers on houses.

Curfew

Council will be notifying the police department that it would like to have the borough curfew enforced, as there are juveniles out late at night and into the early morning, Bartek said. The curfew was always 10 p.m. on weeknights and 11 p.m. on weekends, resident Tommy Vadyak said.

Agenda

Councilwoman Gwyneth Collevechio asked fellow council members to submit clear, concise agenda items that council can act upon without numerous questions to reduce the length of the agenda and keep meetings moving.

In recent months, council has had lengthy agendas with upward of 30 or more items set for action with missing information and repetition. Many such items had to be tabled.