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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- The Hollidaysburg Police Department received 536 service calls last month, compared to 338 service calls in March 2022, Chief of Police Chris Storm told the Hollidaysburg Borough Council on Thursday.
Those 536 calls included 11 assaults, eight DUIs, seven juvenile runaways, five domestic violence incidents and six harassments, Storm said.
"We had 10 drug arrests, eight DUI arrests, 33 criminal charges, 50 traffic citations, 16 non-traffic citations and our guys issued 65 parking tickets," he said.
Mayor Joe Dodson asked the council to allow Storm to go through potential candidates for a ninth police officer before the council's next meeting.
"We need, definitely, to hire a new police officer," Dodson said. "Crime's not going down, it's going up and these guys have done a fantastic job."
The issue of flooding came up during the meeting's public comment section, when Gaysport resident Elda Boose expressed her disappointment in how last month "the borough council deferred the adoption of these (municipal stormwater 4) regulations without any explanation."
"The disappointment continues as we learn the county planning commission had recommended that these regulations not be adopted," Boose said. "Over the past 30 years the county has not been helpful to the residents of Gaysport with our flooding problems."
However, Borough Director of Planning/Zoning Gerald Harbison said that the stormwater management ordinance that contained the MS4 regulations would be on the council's agenda in May for adoption.
"We worked out the wrinkle with the county planning commission," Harbison said. "They have an old model ordinance and they were just going by their recommendations from that ordinance."
No changes were made to the stormwater management ordinance that the borough had previously advertised, Harbison said.
Also during the meeting, council approved the purchase of two additional electronic speed signs on the recommendation of Storm.
The signs would allow police "to monitor and track speeding to determine problem areas," Storm said. "The signs will also get the attention of the motorist."
Together, the two signs will cost $5,590 with a $550 data collection service bringing the total cost to $6,320.
In other matters, the council approved Hollidaysburg's 9/11 National Memorial Trail Signage Plan as well as the hiring of a parking enforcement officer. Council member Brady Leahey reiterated that "the offer is still out there from the borough to replace sidewalks."
The borough has been offering a sidewalk grant program that reimburses property owners 25% of the cost of replacement or installation of a pedestrian sidewalk located along a public street. The grant application is available on the borough's website.
Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.