Borough Council swears in junior councilmembers, discusses brush disposal, Pride proclamation

On Tuesday, May 14, the Matamoras Borough Council welcomed two new non-voting junior councilmembers: Nathaniel Carso and Shannon O’Leary, both freshmen at Delaware Valley High School. Mayor Cory Homer — and former junior councilmember himself — swore in the two Delaware Valley High School freshmen.

“I know you both will do great things for the borough,” he said to the new members.

Brush

A compost pile in Westfall Township that residents of both Westfall and Matamoras use to dispose of brush is expected to run out of room within the next year, said Councilmember Harry Prey.

“Basically, if we don’t do this, we’re going to run out of room, and we don’t have another place to put our brush from the borough,” Prey said.

Prey said Westfall has agreed to share the cost of reducing the pile to mulch to make more room — about $9,000 each if the two municipalities split the cost down the middle.

The council decided the next step is setting up a meeting with Westfall Township Supervisors to discuss what to do about the pile and how to divide up the cost.

Trees

The council approved an expenditure of about $6,850 of the borough’s annual $20,000 tree removal budget. Council President Eric Kudrich said the trees in question are a “hazard.”

Since the money approved Tuesday was all that has been used of the tree removal budget so far this year, multiple council members floated the idea of using some of the $20,000 budget to cover the cost of reducing down the brush pile.

“I looked at the budget and what we’ve spent so far and what’s left and that was the spot I was honing in on,” Councilmember Lisa Salvato said.

Pride Month

Matamoras Borough Council pushed discussion on a proposal to recognize June as LGBTQ Pride Month until their June 11 meeting.

The Pride Month proclamation request was submitted to Pike County Commissioners and every municipality in the county earlier this month, said John Hellman. Both Westfall and Lehman townships passed the proclamation unanimously. The Milford Township supervisors opted to push the vote to their May 20 meeting.

The council approved Councilmember Jon Maney’s motion to table the discussion and vote to their next meeting, with Salvato as the sole opposing vote.

Hellman, speaking in support of the proclamation, thanked the borough council for considering it and offered to meet with any councilmembers individually to answer their questions, have a non-judgmental conversation, and address disinformation about the LGBTQ community.

“We will continue to serve our communities and we will continue to thrive and work here,” he said. “We hope that you can just recognize that.”