NEW BETHLEHEM \u2013 Concerns with the regional police department responding to emergency medical calls, along with other policing issues, were raised at Tuesday evening\u2019s meeting of New Bethlehem Borough Council.<\/p>\n
Council president Scott Barrett, an EMT and member of the local fire department, said he had an issue with Southern Clarion County Regional Police Department officers responding to medical calls.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are not trained,\u201d he said, adding that while he didn\u2019t have a problem with police responding to medical scenes involving drugs or possible criminal activity, many of the routine medical calls are beyond the training of most of the department\u2019s officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd why are they going to a landing zone?\u201d Barrett asked about police presence at emergency medical helicopter landing sites. He said that the local fire department fire police are able to handle those calls on their own.<\/p>\n
Officials said that not only are the police taking time away from other duties to respond to medical calls, but the borough gets assessed with each of those calls, which ultimately impacts what the borough pays the regional police department for its services.<\/p>\n
Council vice president Ed Goth said he also had concerns with the police department responding to state police calls outside the borough, noting that surrounding boroughs and townships do not contribute to the police department.<\/p>\n
New Bethlehem Mayor Gordon Barrows, one of the borough\u2019s representatives to the regional police board, said that in those cases, all the member municipalities end up paying for the out-of-area calls. He said that council members should talk with state legislators about how local police are used to respond to state police calls outside their jurisdiction.<\/p>\n
Barrett said that he wanted a letter sent to the police department, requesting the chief or an officer to be present at the council\u2019s meetings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have questions; they need to come answer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In other business at Tuesday\u2019s regular council meeting, the question arose about how the borough collects its mechanical devices tax, which includes an annual $300 fee on all games of skill, pool tables, claw machines and other mechanical games and devices at local businesses and clubs.<\/p>\n
In the past, officials said, one or two council members visited businesses in the borough to get an accurate count of the machines. The borough then sent out the tax bills to those businesses.<\/p>\n
Barrows noted that the borough has used the tax revenues to balance its budget, and to keep from raising property taxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s significant revenue for the borough,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Officials said the mechanical devices tax amounted to around $18,000 annually for the borough, with around 54 devices counted last year.<\/p>\n
Several council members volunteered to do the yearly count of machines.<\/p>\n
Other Business<\/p>\n
\u2022 Following an executive session at the end of the meeting, the council authorized its solicitor to make revisions to a property sales agreement, as discussed in the closed-door session. No additional details were provided.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Goth, who serves as the community\u2019s emergency management coordinator, noted that emergency responders are keeping an eye on Red Bank Creek, adding that the potential for a signifiant ice jam exists this year.<\/p>\n
He reminded residents that when the fire siren is set to one long, steady tone, that is an indicator of a weather-related emergency.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Looking back on the \u201chistoric snowstorm\u201d of late January, Barrows thanked all those who helped clear roadways and sidewalks following nearly two feet of snowfall. He also noted that the Redbank Valley Municipal Authority, with help from the borough, has also been dealing with water line breaks and frozen lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe unseasonable cold weather has wreaked havoc,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are dealing with the leaks the best that we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 The council agreed to hold committee meetings at 6 p.m. on the third Tuesday of the month, prior to the 7 p.m. council meetings. The committee meetings are held only as needed.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Roger Nulph was appointed to both the borough\u2019s planning commission and vacancy board.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Barrows said that while he could not offer additional information, negotiations are taking place to expand the police department into another municipality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW BETHLEHEM \u2013 Concerns with the regional police department responding to emergency medical calls, along with other policing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,296],"class_list":["post-117990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}