Slatington plans to advertise to fill tax collector position

Slatington borough council approved Monday night to advertise to fill the tax collector position. The current tax collector, Reta Stein, has resigned after serving for five years and will be finished at the end of December.

“I wish I didn’t have to leave the office,” she said recently. She resigned due to health reasons.

Council President Daniel Stevens said two people have contacted the borough with interest in the position, but only one is a resident of the borough.

Any resident of Slatington who would like to apply should contact the borough office at 610-767-2131 and complete an application by Dec. 1. Once hired, the new tax collector will need to pass a certification test.

In other business, board Vice President Jason Ruff said the Slatington 150th History Committee plans to name the amphitheater in Victory Park the Angelo Scarsellitti Amphitheater, but they haven’t sought approval from council. He said he thinks it’s just an oversight, because some former members of the committee were also involved in council.

Council member Dave Schnaars said, “We do need to remind the public that these projects have to be brought to council.”

The supervisors agreed that Angelo Scarsellitti, who was a music teacher, is a good choice for the name.

“He was very instrumental in the community,” Schnaars said.

The supervisors approved naming it the Angelo Scarsellitti Amphitheater.

The borough also approved some expenditures, including:

• Four custom-built desktop computers at $680 each for a total of $2,720.

• A membership fee of $630 to participate in the 2020 consortium testing with the Lehigh County Chiefs of Police Association. Police Chief David Rachman said this program will give the police department many more qualified candidates.

• Three 4TB surveillance hard drives for $494.97 to increase the digital storage capacity. Rachman said the department has several cameras and the video footage uses up space. This purchase will give them more than enough space.

• A legal services payment of $2,093.20 to the law firm King, Spry, Herman and Fall LLC.

• Police Pension Plan payment of $31,256.46. Stevens said this payment is made every year and is factored into the budget.

• Signage on the code enforcement vehicle for $175 by IDWraps in Slatington.

• An air conditioning system with air handler for $7,200 for the borough building through Services United in Bethlehem.

Ruff reminded the supervisors that the borough is hosting an electronic recycling event from 9 a.m. to noon on Nov. 16 at the borough maintenance building at 550 W. Church St.

Only borough residents can bring items for disposal, Stevens said. They can bring one monitor for free per family. There is a cost to dispose additional monitors.

He said the recycling event costs the borough about $3,000 to dispose of the monitors. But the event, which is held twice a year, helps to prevent illegal dumping of electronics.

“It’s really helped a lot,” Schnaars said.

The last two times the event has been held, the recycling company has had to come back to the site to get overflow items, he said.

And on a light side, Slatington borough resident Frank Solt asked the supervisors why a sign coming into town says Slatington Township. Several supervisors quickly chimed in, saying, “We know it should be Slatington Borough,” and “PennDOT put up the sign.”

Stevens said PennDOT knows about the sign that is on their road and they plan to replace it.