By Audrey Levine, Staff Writer
The following is a record of minor moments at Monday’s Borough Council meeting, which, though not necessarily breaking news, are still worthy of note.
It was a question of what’s in a name when resident Rudy Nowak recommended the council change the wording in a resolution designed to be sent to Sen. Christopher “Kip” Bateman, R-16th.
According to Mr. Nowak, the resolution should not say it is being sent to Sen. “Kip” Bateman because his real name is Christopher.
”That’s only his nickname,” Mr. Nowak said when Mayor Lillian Zuza responded that Sen. Bateman does not go by the name “Christopher.”
North First Avenue resident Bill Mitterko reiterated his complaints against messes left by pigeons in town, with a new suggestion to keep them from leaving droppings under the bridge on Main Street.
On the Discovery Channel, Mr. Mitterko said, he saw information about a type of netting with spikes that could keep the birds away and, hopefully, keep the area clean.
Unfortunately, Mayor Lillian Zuza said, the borough does not own the bridge and cannot authorize putting up the netting.
According to Borough Administrator Gary Garwacke, if a truck hits the bridge, it could pull the netting down, defeating the purpose, and possibly causing additional hazards.
Joe Gazo, of North Street, picked up on the bird concerns, and said that homeowners must take care of their pigeons, referring to residents who had owned pigeons in the past.
Mayor Zuza, however, was not convinced that the pigeons in question are actually owned by residents.
”What if they’re wild pigeons and they don’t belong to homeowners?” she asked.
Battle lines were drawn and seniority ranks were invoked when resident Rudy Nowak asked Councilman Steve Szabo if he had made any progress in getting logos put on all Department of Public Works (DPW) trucks.
As Mr. Szabo tried to respond that he had spoken to DPW Director Phil Petrone about the issue, Mr. Nowak continued to interrupt, saying that the councilman should not be asking, but rather should be telling what needs to be done.
”You don’t talk to (Mr. Petrone), you tell him,” Mr. Nowak said. “Mr. Petrone should not be giving you advice.”
Still, Mr. Szabo managed to explain that the vehicles are sometimes used for undercover police work to catch people dumping materials illegally throughout the county.
Mr. Nowak, however, was not appeased by this answer, and said all vehicles should be marked.
”What’s your point?” Mr. Petrone asked in response. “They have (borough) plates, are owned by the borough and are used when looking for people doing illegal dumping. What is the difference if the car is identified or not?”
Aside from the labels, Mr. Nowak said he is disappointed that the trucks have been used by borough workers to drive to and from work.
Although borough officials continue to deny this accusation, to get proof, Mr. Nowak said, he followed one.
Department of Public Works Director Phil Petrone responded to continued concerns about the vehicles ticketed in the early morning hours of March 2, before about two inches of snow had fallen on the ground.
According to Mr. Petrone, the weather channels had called for major snowfall, hence the need to plow and ticket those vehicles parked on roads illegally in the case of snow.
But many residents have complained that they couldn’t have known it was going to snow because it started so early in the morning when they were asleep.
Mr. Petrone said evidence to the contrary proves residents were preparing for the worst.
”For about 50 percent of the tickets, residents already had their windshield wipers up because they were expecting snow,” he said.

