Towing ordinance concerns raised again at borough council

SHENANDOAH – It’s been awhile since Talk of Town, LLC has received a towing call from Shenandoah Borough. A long while.

That’s what Ruth and Dwight Williams told borough council at Monday’s meeting, echoing concerns they have been raising for several years now which led to the passing of a new towing ordinance.

The couple owns three different businesses in town — Talk of Town, a towing company; Trendsetters Investments, a contracting firm; and The Lyric restaurant — and they say the towing company has been given a run-around in seeking borough business.

In the fall of 2022, Shenandoah Borough adopted an ordinance to regulate towing in town. The ordinance requires a license for towing companies and outlines the process for how the borough is to handle towing calls for vehicle accidents, abandoned vehicles, and more.

Solicitor Shane Hobbs said the ordinance was duly adopted, is the law of the borough, and should be followed.

Ruth Williams said, though, that her company — despite following the steps prescribed by the ordinance — has not received a tow call in well over a year.

In January 2023, Ruth Williams urged the borough to follow the ordinance and, later that week and in April, the company was called for two accidents.

They have not been called since, she told council.

“Everyone has said we’re going to look into it, we’re going to get to the bottom of it, we’re going to fix it,” she said. “We’re getting nowhere.”

She said she would “like to receive a fair opportunity in business.”

Generally, for towing calls by borough or State Police in the Shenandoah area, Steve’s Towing, of Shenandoah, is called.

She also raised concerns over the cohesion of the current borough council after a heated exchange between Councilman Joe Gawrylik and Borough Manager Tony Sajone.

“How can the community support a borough that doesn’t even trust each other,” Ruth Williams said. “You want us to support you, you’re at each other’s throats.”

“You lost the best person on your team, the only one that didn’t have a personal agenda,” Ruth Williams added.

Dwight Williams mentioned that he planned to donate his time, equipment, and $3,000 to help clean up the area of Abbatoir Road, but was not available for three weeks.

Three days later, he said he was asked by Councilman Mike “Zeckie” Uholik if he was available and he said no. The borough then hired another firm.

“The borough wouldn’tve had to pay $2,000, they would’ve gotten a check for $3,000 with all my guys doing the work for free,” Dwight Williams said.

Hobbs suggested that borough council “follow through and comply with their own ordinance.”

Delinquent trash, sewer bills

Borough Council President Joe Boris gave an outline of why the borough is hiring Portnoff Law to collect delinquent trash and sewer bills, which he said are “off the charts.”

He said the total for trash delinquencies is $385,931, and the total for sewer delinquencies is $289,308, both of which he said “may be inflated.”

“I feel its due diligence that I let the taxpayers know what they’re getting for their dollar,” Boris said.

Later in the meeting, the matter sparked a heated debate reminiscent of Shenandoah politics of old.

Councilman Joe Gawrylik questioned Borough Manager Tony Sajone — who was hired in 2020 — how the delinquencies built up to such a level and what had been done about it.

“Did the previous council ever know about these delinquent bills,” Gawrylik said.

“Sure they did. They shut the water off,” Sajone said.

“What did they do about the outstanding amounts of money of these bills,” Gawrylik said.

“We shut the water off and we stopped collecting the garbage,” Sajone said said.

“How did these bills exceed this huge amount of money,” Gawrylik said.

“Because people didn’t pay them,” Sajone said.

“Why,” Gawrylik asked.

“What kind of question is that, Joe,” Sajone said. “You tell me why, why didn’t they pay the bills. What, are we gonna go down with guns and put it to their heads and make them pay? We cut their garbage off and we cut their sewer off.”

Gawrylik asked why it took the new council to hire Portnoff, though Sajone was never a member of council. He then asked why he never suggested it or briefed the council on the matter.

He then accused Sajone of not caring for the community for not going after either delinquencies.

“You’re just picking a fight,” Sajone said. “That’s fine.”

“I don’t know if you can handle this job,” Gawrylik said.

“I know. You just got rid of one guy,” Sajone said.

“Keep going, you won’t have anybody on the council,” Mildred Jablonski chimed in from the audience. “You shouldn’t be fighting amongst yourselves.”

Trash and sewer delinquencies have been an issue in the borough prior.

In 2000, the borough hired Berkheimer to go after arrears, which totaled $55,015, or $98,318 adjusted for inflation.

Other Business

The borough is not paying as much as expected to fully fund the pension for its former water system.

Sajone said the cost came in at $393,230, nearly $46,000 less than expected.

Gawrylik talked about plans for street paving. He said he hopes that five or six streets will be redone. Though, he said that the plans run the risk of utility work digging up freshly-paved roads.

Only one or two would be paved using the borough’s liquid fuels and community development block grant funds. The rest would have to be paid from other funds.

Council also approved a motion to hire Alfred Benesch and Co. to evaluate the borough’s roads and grade their conditions.

Sajone mentioned that the agreement would cost $25,000.

“Just want it on record where the money is coming from,” Sajone said.

Parking meters on side streets could be gone soon as well.

Council approved removing the meters — many of which are inoperable — from Oak and Lloyd Streets.

Boris said they could be taken down by the streets department and they could be sold.

“If someone wants to buy one, they can buy one and put it in the rec room for $25,” Boris said.

The motion does not pertain to Main Street.

Councilman Michael Whitecavage expressed concerns over a recent can collection at Main and Centre Streets in which the volunteers were not wearing safety vests, as required.

In other business, council approved:

• the hiring of Maria Ruiz-Zamudio as a full-time secretary and Jon Levandusky as a full-time laborer;
• a contract with Freedom Systems to extract data for Portnoff at a cost of $150 per hour at 5-10 hours per session;
• the listing for sale of an old backhoe, street sweeper and Toyota Camry;;
• Rick Examitas for a three year term as Fire Chief;
• National Night Out to be hosted by the Shenandoah Ambulance;
• two handicapped parking applications.

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