HONESDALE, PA — Borough council members, in addition to saving money, were hoping to achieve a bit of brevity by changing their monthly meeting schedule to twice a month. With the first meeting of the new schedule wrapping up after about an hour and a half, compared to last year’s meetings which typically ran upwards of four hours each month—so far, so good.

With the 2020 budget still open from the reorganization meeting, borough secretary Judith Poltanis explained how she had moved around money to meet the needs of Department of Public Works (DPW) Director Dan Brown and Honesdale Police Chief Rick Southerton.

For the DPW, Poltanis removed $10,000 from the $50,000 allotment for stormwater repairs to cover the cost of a laptop for Brown, safety equipment and roof repairs at the DPW garage. She also moved $23,000 in funds originally slated to pay for labor attorney services to cover the cost of DPW building repairs.

For the police department, councilor Jim Brennan found an overlooked revenue stream: insurance for a police officer who is still employed but out on workman’s comp. While the officer is still getting paid, Honesdale’s insurance has been reimbursing the borough for his salary. Poltanis said that with this in mind, the borough would be able to handle the cost of some upgrades that Southerton has requested for the police department: $1,100 for new police car radios, $5,000 for new computers, $800 for a government account he needs to set up and $5,000 for body cameras. Augello and Poltanis noted that the council would need to pass a specific policy before purchasing body cameras.

The council will hold a special meeting on Monday, February 10 at 12 noon to receive public comment and adopt the revised budget. Though funds had been moved around, nothing new has been added or subtracted, so the original 13 percent tax increase will remain the same.

The borough also unanimously moved to advertise that it is looking for a full-time public works driver and laborer. Augello and councilor Bob Jennings lauded Brown for the DPW’s job plowing snow after the snowstorm over the weekend. Augello said that the road he lives on—which he made a point of not disclosing to Brown to prevent accusations of receiving special treatment—was the best it’s ever been after a snowstorm.

During the public-comment period, two familiar faces spoke about a familiar subject. Greg and Cheryl Celesky are two Honesdale residents who have been trying since September to get a building permit so they can add a roof to their outdoor steps. The borough’s zoning officer told the Celeskys at the time that they need a conditional use to build the roof. They have been contending that because they are only trying to cover the front steps, they do not need a conditional use. Though they have been coming regularly to meetings for the past several months, they have still not received any official answers from the councilors. Greg said he felt the zoning officer was being “overzealous” with the situation; Augello said he doubted they were being singled out. Cheryl also spoke, saying that the initial intent of building the roof was to keep snow and ice off the outdoor steps; it now being the middle of winter and having seen several snowstorms already, Cheryl complained that the whole situation has become an “elaborate to-do.”