The Borough of Newtown’s Board of Burgesses held a regular meeting on Tuesday, June 9 to continue discussion on the Borough insurance policy, sidewalks, and more.

Warden Jay Maher began the meeting with a brief update on the most recent “memorandum of understanding” that has been going back and forth between the town and burgesses. At the last meeting, the burgesses had a discussion about the “indemnification clause,” which they all agreed to take out because the Borough could not afford an indemnification.

Maher explained to Glenys Salas, the town’s finance director, that the Borough is “unable to indemnify the Town of Newtown.” Salas replied, saying that the Borough is not currently covered by the town’s insurance policies, and that the lack of indemnification clause may “hurt [the Borough’s] chance of being subsidized by the town.”

An insurance representative explained that municipalities “indemnify third party contracts all the time.”

Burgess Jim Gaston asked Maher if he requested what kinds of indemnifications were being brought up, “I wanna see it. They say they do it all the time, I wanna see it.”

Maher said he requested a phone call but it was pushed back.

Gaston added, “I can’t fathom an indemnification where we would have to indemnify the town. We’re not doing work for the town.”

The burgesses then discussed the two policies they were looking at, general liability and workman’s comp, as well as the prices. The burgesses discussed some costs, and decided, if the cost was too high, to “do it in house.”

Burgess Maureen Crick Owen said, “Get our own insurance. We’ve been very fortunate that we’ve had this support for all those years, but things are changing.”

Tree Warden Robbie McCullough then gave a brief update on some trees around town, like the tree that was removed outside Caraluzzi’s due to the severe wind a few weekends ago, and the one at 27 Main Street that was causing the resident there some concern.

After Tax Collector Jodie Enriquez informed the burgesses that taxes collected are at 99.21%, Treasurer Ann Scaia gave her report. Then, the board needed to allocate some funds to the legal bill for May.

Scaia said, “We’re going to start with … the small stuff.” She went down the line, explaining that advertising needed $46.40, auxiliary $170, a penny for the assessor, the clerk needed four cents, a penny for the clerk, payroll taxes needed $64.41, and Edmond Town Hall needed $82.30. Scaia suggested taking the money from contingency, which was approved unanimously.

Scaia explained she needed $2,420 for the public officials’ liability insurance policy. She suggested taking the rest of data processing’s balance and some from trees and maintenance’s line item. This was also approved unanimously.

Then, the legal bill for April had to be settled. The total bill was $7,299. Scaia suggested taking $3,000 from streets and parks. The burgesses then discussed where else they could pull money from, noting that there would still be May and June’s bills to pay.

Gaston suggested taking the $4,299 from the unallocated general fund, which was also passed unanimously.

Maher then read a brief report from Joe Chapman, the zoning enforcement officer. Chapman said that complaints of overgrown grass at 5 Diamond Drive have been received. Burgess Peter Schwarz informed the group that social services came and mowed the grass, and neighbors are pitching in to help the home owner.

Chapman also mentioned 67 Main Street, noting that “some improvements” have been made, but no building permits have been pulled yet.

Burgess Sarah Phillips informed the group that the Borough Historic District recently met to write and approve new rules about windows, solar panels, and fences. A public hearing will be scheduled later this month on June 25.

Maher then offered an update on the sidewalk project on Queen Street to Grand Place. There is a Frontier telephone pole in the middle of the sidewalk path, but Maher and Crick Owen have made contact with someone who will be able to move the pole out of the way.

At the end of the meeting, Maher asked if there was any public participation. Sara Frampton said she went to the Police Commission about solicitors and traffic rerouting patterns on apps like Waze. She asked if the Borough was working on a solicitor ban. Crick Owen and Schwarz said that the Legislative Council is working on it.

Schwarz said he had “pushed” the council to get an ordinance done before the solicitation season started, but it did not happen that way. The burgesses then had a lively discussion about different ways apps reroute traffic due to backup on 84, traffic cameras in town, and the concerns residents have about data collection.

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.