Palmerton Borough Council updates ordinances

Palmerton Borough Council approved an update for its collection of ordinances during Thursday night’s meeting.

“It was last revised 39 years ago,” borough manager Rodger Danielson said. “General Code will revise it and put it out in a new format. It will remain electronic, so people can still access it electronically.”

General Code Publishers, the company the borough has dealt with for over 50 years, will condense the code book’s print edition and eliminate extraneous indexes, which have been attached over the years as ordinances were added to the volume.

“It will make it much clearer to use,” Danielson said.

The update will cost about $7,700.

The Borough Council also took advantage of low energy rates to set a new contract with PPL in 2020.

“We locked in new energy rates, which happened to be at a 14 year low right now,” Danielson said.

Under the current contract, which runs until the end of 2019, the borough pays 6.28 cents per kwh. The new rate, 5.299 cents per kWh, will begin in January 2020 and last for three and a half years. The roughly 15 percent price drop will provide the borough with some sizable savings by the end of the contract.

“The estimated savings will be about $100,000 for the 42-month period,” Danielson said.

“We have about 1.6 million kilowatts we use per year. We budget $280,000 a year for electric, so to save about $30,000 a year is nice.”

In other business, Andrew Hunadi was approved as a volunteer firefighter. Hunadi has served with the Bowmanstown Volunteer Fire Company for 14 years, and currently works as a physician assistant at St. Luke’s.

Michael Altorfer was approved as a part-time patrolman, contingent upon his passing a physical and psychological checkup, along with Municipal Police Officers’ Education and Training Commission certification.