Borough

Who's in: Mayor Richard Starliper Allen Berry Craig Newcomer Allen Porter Jason Stains Who's out: Mayor Louis M. Barlup John Cook Steven Monn Harold Mumma Lorena Newcomer

WAYNESBORO, Pa. -- Waynesboro business owners and residents, especially those living on Main Street, soon will be asked to make donations for brick sidewalks being installed on Main Street from Walnut Street to Cleveland Avenue. Retired state Sen. Terry Punt secured $500,000 in grants for the project, but the borough encountered several problems. Many of those problems affect the work's price tag, including: In most cases, building owners own 3 to 4 feet of sidewalk against their structures.

Chris Eyler, an employee with the Borough of Waynesboro, Pa., hangs a banner across Main Street on Monday. The banner advertises Main Street Waynesboro Inc.'s annual Market Day celebration scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

CHAMBERSBURG, PA. - The borough of Chambersburg and the Chambersburg Area School District will swap traffic lights for recreational improvements under a proposed agreement that the school board approved Wednesday night. The agreement, related to the $70 million renovation and expansion of Chambersburg Area Senior High School, calls for the borough to install new traffic and pedestrian signals at the intersections of Fourth and Catherine streets, and Fourth and McKinley streets, according to a press release the board issued at the meeting.

Nancy Funk of Waynesboro, Pa., walks through steady rain on Second Street in the borough Monday.

Christmas tree pickup in the Borough of Waynesboro will be done Jan. 3 to 7 on residents' normal trash-collection days. Waste Management and borough officials said all decorations and tree stands must be removed, and trees should be placed at the curb no later than 6 a.m. on pickup days. The collector will be recycling the trees into usable byproducts, according to a borough news release.

Jody Sanders cleans the sides of Northside Pool in Waynesboro, Pa., in preparation for the pool's opening on May 28. Sanders is employed by the Borough of Waynesboro, which owns and maintains the pool.

The Borough of Waynesboro, which is working in conjunction with Mainstreet Waynesboro Inc., recently was awarded a Pennsylvania Urban and Community Forestry Council Challenge grant for $3,500. The money will be used toward the purchase of 31 trees to be placed in the Eighth Street median, according to a news release. The borough anticipates completing the project this month. It will be planting 10 forest pansies, 11 sugar tymes and 10 ivory silks in the median, the news release stated.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com WAYNESBORO, Pa. - When Mayor Louis Barlup and U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster cut a ribbon Thursday to officially open the last 900 feet of Ninth Street, it meant that Waynesboro's section of a southern bypass around the borough is complete. A Franklin County comprehensive plan mapped out by county and borough officials and adopted in 1990 spelled out the route the bypass is supposed to take through the borough. According to the plan, the bypass would run west from State Hill Road (Pa. 997)

Bill Valentine, foreground, and Duff Shade of Martz Plumbing replace sewer lines to 44 E. Main St. in Waynesboro, Pa., on Tuesday. They were assisted by a crew from the Borough of Waynesboro, including Mike Benshoff, right. An older sewer line that was disrupting service to the building was being replaced.

Waynesboro Borough Council members plan to give themselves and the town's mayor pay raises starting in 2014. The six members of council voted on the pay raises during their meeting Wednesday. Those pay raises need to be advertised and voted on in ordinance form, meaning they are expected to come up for a final vote at the June 19 meeting. Each council member is currently paid $1,800 a year. Starting in January, that rate would increase to $3,000 a year. The mayor's annual salary would increase from $2,500 to $3,700 if the ordinance passes.

The Waynesboro Borough Council has established a tax abatement program designed to stimulate economic development. On Wednesday, the council approved a Local Economic Revitalization Tax Abatement (LERTA) program and a map of eligible commercial and industrial properties. The council's efforts mirror ones in neighboring Washington and Quincy townships. The Waynesboro Area School Board and Franklin County (Pa.) Commissioners will be asked to extend similar tax savings, officials said.

People touring a new facility that converts methane gas into electricity might have been turned off by the dreary weather Tuesday morning, but the microbes making the needed methane loved it. The microbes converting decaying landfill trash into methane function best in moist environments, PPL Renewable Energy President Mike Kroboth explained. The methane they make is now being used to power homes and businesses in the Borough of Chambersburg. A four-mile “extension cord” carries electricity generated at the IESI Blue Ridge Landfill in Greene Township, Pa., to the nearby borough.

Downtown businesspeople asked the Waynesboro Borough Council on Wednesday to keep one of its parking lots available for public use after suggestions this week it could be made private. At issue was the lease agreement for the Trinity United Church of Christ parking lot off North Potomac Street. The borough leases the parking lot for $150 a month for the public to use when visiting downtown businesses or attending special events. Councilman Ben Greenawalt suggested the borough could save the money if the church instead leased the lot to entities operating a senior center there.

The Borough of Waynesboro, which is working in conjunction with Mainstreet Waynesboro Inc., recently was awarded a Pennsylvania Urban and Community Forestry Council Challenge grant for $3,500. The money will be used toward the purchase of 31 trees to be placed in the Eighth Street median, according to a news release. The borough anticipates completing the project this month. It will be planting 10 forest pansies, 11 sugar tymes and 10 ivory silks in the median, the news release stated.

A small group of people took the first steps Wednesday to explore starting a crime watch program in the Borough of Waynesboro. Eight people attended an informational meeting hosted by the Waynesboro Police Department and Pennsylvania State Police. Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Ed Asbury said he has done presentations for start-up crime watch programs in both urban and rural areas. Most are reactive efforts after a rash of criminal activity, not proactive ones like in Waynesboro, he said.

The Borough of Chambersburg has been awarded a state grant to help build a compressed natural gas fueling station. The Redevelopment Assistance Capitalization Program Grant worth $500,000 was awarded to the borough to assist in the construction of the compressed natural gas, or CNG, fueling station at a site the borough is leasing near the intersection of Wayne Avenue (Pa. 316) and Interstate 81, according to a news release from the borough. The governor's office approved nearly $125 million in projects and announced the awards Thursday.

The Chambersburg Borough Council announced Monday it intends to appeal the conclusions recently reached by a Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board hearing examiner. On Jan. 30, that examiner, Thomas P. Leonard, issued two proposed decisions and orders related to the Chambersburg Fire Department. The council has opted to file exceptions as a form of appeal within the 20-day window it is allowed before the proposals become a final order. The Chambersburg Borough Council suspended Patrick Martin, a shift captain in the fire department, for 30 days and said he engaged in conduct “unbecoming of an officer” after he sent a letter to International Association of Firefighters (IAFF)

Efforts to protect families at Memorial Park snowballed Wednesday as the Waynesboro Borough Council discussed a broader ban on sledding. After some deliberation, the council unanimously placed a ban on sledding at Memorial Park until early February while the borough staff reviews safety options. That decision was tied to concerns about sledders hitting a new fence at the park. “I'm concerned someone is going to be injured,” Borough Manager Lloyd Hamberger said. Some borough officials expressed worries about similar problems with a fence at Northside Pool, which has a hill adjacent to it. Councilman Craig Newcomer said he recently watched sledders near the Northside Pool fence and thought about a fatal sledding accident at Hooverville Elementary School.

Some local governments in Franklin County, Pa., are considering whether converting municipal vehicles to run on natural gas could provide long-term cost savings. Waynesboro's borough manager, Lloyd Hamberger, said this week he thinks his municipality could save $1 to $1.25 per gallon equivalent compared to what it pays now for gasoline. In the Borough of Chambersburg, municipal officials are taking steps to install a fueling facility on a leased site at Exit 14 of Interstate 81. That facility would serve private and commercial fleets as well as any converted municipal vehicles.