The Slatington Borough Council passed the resolution Monday night to appoint David Schnaars and Ronald Kratz to the council.

Council President Bryon Reed said Mayor Walter Niedermeyer thought about not signing the resolution, but the council was informed at the meeting that the mayor doesn’t have to sign it in order for it to go to vote by the council.

Reed said the mayor told the council that if appointing the two former council members is what they wanted to do, then he would swear them in.

The council was left with two vacant seats after former President Daniel Stevens decided not to run for re-election, and Ronald Kratz did not file the paperwork to run for election. Kratz had been appointed in January 2019 to fill the vacancy left behind following the death of council member Russell Hallman.

Schnaars did run for re-election, but lost with just 21 votes behind Reed and council member Thomas Bartholomew, who tied.

At the reorganization meeting on Jan. 6, both Schnaars and Kratz expressed interest in continuing to serve as council members.

Reed said the mayor thought the council should discuss it further if they wanted to appoint the two former council members or look for additional candidates from the community. At Monday night’s meeting, the council did discuss it. Bartholomew said that since an election was just held in November, anyone who was interested in council would have already stepped forward. And since Schnaars and Kratz would like to remain on the council, the members opted to pass the resolution.

Reed said both men will have to run for election at the next municipal election in order to stay on the council. Schnaars will chair the highway committee, and Kratz will chair the water committee.

In other business, the council approved upgrading some equipment at the sewage pumping station and the sewage plant. The new interface and PLC platform will cost $12,700 for the pumping station and $13,100 for the station, and will be handled by Hearn Engineering in Macungie.

“We had to upgrade it, because it was obsolete,” Reed said. “We can no longer buy parts for it.”

The equipment that will be replaced was installed in 2004.

The council also approved replacing some equipment at the water filtration plant. Reed said one piece by Eagle Microsystems is to measure the weight of the chlorine cylinders and will cost $1,350. The other is made by Archer Instruments and measures the amount of chlorine in the water. It will cost $3,000. Both pieces of equipment are being purchased from LRM Inc. in Souderton.

Reed said he wanted to publicly thank Tom Nicholson for providing a free camera monitoring system and volunteering his time to install the camera at the water filtration plant. The system enables the water foreman to monitor the system remotely via his cellphone.

“It’s a real saver for the plant, because he can watch from home,” Reed said. “Smart idea.”

In other items to note, the council approved the Shadow Oaks Lane contract change order for $58,832.50. Reed said a fire plug needed to be replaced and more piping was run. This added cost to the original project.

Robert Stettner was reappointed to the Parks and Recreation Commission.

“Robert is a good guy,” Reed said. “He does a lot for this community.”

The borough will host two community yard sales. One will run Friday through Sunday, May 15 to 17, and the other Sept. 11 to 13.

There will be two electronic recycling days: April 4 and Oct. 10 at the maintenance building for residents of Slatington only.