ALLENTOWN – Joseph McGrath, Allentown’s new part-time code enforcement officer, housing inspector and zoning officer, is already making an impact in the borough.
Borough Council President Wil Borkowski, speaking at the governing body’s July 26 meeting, said McGrath, who was hired in late June, “has already addressed a complaint from a resident whose neighbor was not caring for his property.”
“Mr. McGrath went out and asked the neighbor to clean his property and it was done and the resident (who asked for assistance) was pleased,” Borkowski said.
Officials said McGrath will work four hours a week spread over two mornings. He will be paid a stipend of $1,500 as the code enforcement officer, $3,000 as the housing inspector and $1,500 as the zoning officer. No health benefits or paid time off will be provided by Allentown.
Ron Gafgen resigned from those positions on June 30.
Borkowski added, “We have opened up our government and it is working better. It does not matter why (the government) was not working before.”
In other business at the council meeting, Mayor Greg Westfall said officials have a meeting scheduled with representatives of the company that runs the energy aggregation program in nearby Plumsted Township.
Energy aggregation is a program in which a municipal government purchases power (i.e., electricity) from a third party, generally at a lower rate than what is being charged by the public utility that serves the municipality, and passes the savings to homeowners and business owners who agree to participate in the program.
“I don’t know how far as a government we can go with this,” the mayor said. “It is a new area; a possible way for us to save money.”