DUNCANSVILLE — A few residents aired concerns about Duncansville Borough’s practice for residents to request property assistance by borough employees before the citizen request sheet was unanimously approved during Wednesday’s meeting.

Now that the form has been approved, borough residents who need outdoor work done on their properties are allowed to request an assistance form. Once approved, borough employees can use equipment to take care of that request.

The citizen request sheet was included under the solicitor’s report by Michael S. Emerick, who spoke about formalizing the request process and tightening language after previous council discussion so residents better understand the program.

Mayor Eric Fritz said the practice has been ongoing in the borough for “as long as anyone can remember.”

However, he mentioned that there are some liabilities to consider, such as accidentally causing harm, which could lead to legal action. Understanding that may be a possibility, he said the council can look into issues for liability.

Another aspect of revising the assistance form is making sure it’s accessible to everyone instead of being a practice only a few borough members know about.

“I like the idea of our employees that they have the ability to help residents,” Fritz said. “I think in a small town where we can do it, I think it’s very helpful.”

Borough Manager and Police Chief Rodney Estep suggested expanding their e-newsletter mailing list, as they only have about 100 addresses so far.

Fritz suggested attaching the assistance form to the physical flyer council members discussed sending out to borough residents about e-bike regulations.

In the middle of their discussion, community member David Brenneman asked if the council was going into the subcontracting business.

“You’re going to let borough equipment, borough people — if they had time — to do work? What is that?” he asked.

Estep said he believes it’s neighbors helping neighbors because the community pays for the employees.

“That seems so wrong to me because if you’re not in the clique, you may not get something done from the borough,” Brenneman said.

The forms don’t go out to just a handful of people, board member Bill Wiedemer said, as it’s received by 1,200 people.

Community member Rick Beard said if one borough employee had three hours of time for 1,150 residents, that would total 3,450 man hours — about two years and two months — to give everyone in the borough three hours of time using borough equipment.

“How are you going to justify,” he asked. “He has no time to do work.”

That only applies if every person in the borough requests something reasonably done, Wiedemer said.

“Somebody gets hurt, who’s going to pay for the insurance and stuff?” Beard asked.

Estep said assistance is limited by the employee’s availability and the scope of the project, mentioning that they can’t cut down a willow tree in someone’s yard because they don’t have the proper equipment.

Council member Nicole Estep said landowners will sign a waiver as well.

“My vote is, I wouldn’t do it,” Brenneman said.

“If you see this appearing to be abused, please come back and tell us,” council Vice President Jeffrey Lynn said. “Because right now, this is our only medium of hearing back from you folks.”

He said that all council members understand that there are problems with the practice, but they’re trying to look out for the elderly community who can’t afford to pay someone to treat their land.

“Ultimately, you guys are the taxpayers, but if you guys don’t like it, come back and tell us if you do not like it. We will react and get rid of it,” he said.

“Fair enough,” Brenneman said.

The next borough meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 12 at the Duncansville Borough Community Center.

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.