Quarryville Borough police are now providing community policing services for four southern end municipalities.
Borough Council Aug. 2 unanimously approved an intermunicipal agreement with Eden Township to provide 20 hours of coverage per month. Chief Ken Work said the hours will be billed at the cost of 130 percent of the salaries of the officers who provide the coverage.
In addition to covering Quarryville, Work’s department also polices Providence and East Drumore townships. Providence pays $25,000 annually for police coverage. Work said the department has been covering East Drumore, which includes the TownsEdge Shopping Center, on a less formal basis.
Borough council asked Work to formalize their work in East Drumore, performed under contract since the early 1990s, with an intermunicipal agreement like those signed with Providence and Eden townships.
The Quarryville police department is operating within a $308,000 2010 budget and has four full-time officers, including Chief Work. In executive session Aug. 2 the department hired its third part-time police officer, Ryan Lawrence.
In other business, borough council turned down Quarryville Presbyterian Retirement Community’s request for an exception to borough policy to purchase and lock in the price of 36 water and sewer tapping fees, but pay the fees in quarterly installments over the next year. QPRC will soon begin Phase 1 (36 units) of its planned 180-unit expansion.
Council anticipates the Borough Authority will next month raise its sewer tapping fee from $7,000 to $8,400, and locking in and paying quarterly would have saved QPRC about $52,000, according to Borough Manager Al Drayovitch Jr.
“They are the borough’s largest employer,” said council member Richard Aument. “They don’t ask the borough for a lot.”
“Traditionally we have not done installment plans,” said council President Robert Landis Jr. “To get the savings they want to get they should pay 100 percent up front.”
“They are a great employer but we have to be consistent,” said council member Joanne Platt.
Council voted against approving an exception.
On the advice of ARRO engineers and its solicitor, Joselle Cleary, council said they will take no action if Quarry Ridge developers fill in an infiltration basin in the development.
Finally, council: learned the borough will receive $7,500 from FEMA for February emergency snow removal costs; approved use of Huffnagle Park for a worship concert by New Providence Church of God on Aug. 13; paid a $46,583 bill for the recent water storage tank rehabilitation; approved about two hours of Quarryville Police coverage to monitor the upcoming SECA 5K Run; approved an extension until July 1, 2013 for Southern End Self Storage to finish its project; and approved a sewer service agreement for 309 Slate Lane in Quarry Ridge.
-30-