“28 Main” seeks boro go-ahead / By Martha Knight

Local contractor and entrepreneur Mick Caulkins approached the Port Allegany Borough Council Monday night for permission to build a small roof over an entryway, and pour concrete walks, at a downtown location soon to house medical offices.

Although the borough council did not sign off on the plans at the moment, Caulkins was promised that as soon as he had finalized the purchase and lease involved, a special meeting could be scheduled and advertised, and at that meeting the needed consent could be formalized.

Caulkins said he was particularly anxious to get concrete poured before cold weather sets in. The small roof would overhang a portion of borough-owned property, a lot informally called Maple Commons, formerly occupied by Meacham’s Hardware before it burned years ago.

Caulkins said a new business entity has been created, called 28 Main LLC. Borough solicitor Michael Alfieri was quoted as having said the borough should wait until the property acquisition is finalized before granting the enterprise the lease of the area of Maple Commons needed for the access to the new Maple Street entry to the building.

Caulkins said he expected the closing to take place by the end of the week. He mentioned that he will continue to take care of the grassy area on Maple Commons, just as he has been caring for the area across Maple Street, beside China Light restaurant.

The new medical offices would be occupied by a new branch of Olean Medical Group, of Olean, N.Y. Caulkins Construction is in the process of renovating the first floor interior of the building.

Borough manager Richard Kallenborn reported that talks with PennDOT had failed to bring the hoped-for agreement that would let the borough go back to handling winter maintenance of Main Street, with PennDOT paying for that service on the U.S. Route 6 and state Route 155, which follow the borough’s Main Street.

Until two years ago that was the arrangement. Then PennDOT began to do the snow plowing directly. But PennDOT did not plow beyond the traffic lanes, nor haul away accumulations of plowed snow/ Parked cars were plowed in, sometimes. Residents and some main Street businesses have complained.

Kallenborn said PennDOT’s position seems to be related to the state’s financial difficulties. He complained that PennDOT treats townships differently, where it has highways to maintain, plowing berm to berm.

Council members Eric Button and Dave Fair commented that the Main Street businesses and their customers should be given consideration. Kallenborn said future complaints should be directed to PennDOT.

Also, the state agency is lowering the weight limits on some bridges, which could bar certain types of truck traffic from using those streets. The Arnold Avenue bridge over the Lillibridge will be posted with a 32-ton limit. Signage and enforcement will be the borough’s responsibility. A similar limit, if applied to a similar bridge of the same age on Mill Street, could keep log trucks from traveling down a major route through the borough, from Lillibridge Road.

During the general public comments portion of the meeting, Mahlon Davenport asked for an update on several issues.

One had to do with a residential property at 85 Church Street, which has not been occupied for some time, and is said to be in foreclosure, and controlled by an out-of-area lending institution.

Kallenborn said borough crew members had placed a lock on the gate of the fence enclosing the swimming pool. In answer to a question by Fair, Kallenborn said there is still standing water in the pool, but “We are not a health department.” After urging by borough officials, the lending institution had arranged for the lawn to be mowed once in the past summer.

Davenport reminded the borough council that three years ago he had brought to its attention the fact that some water meters had been installed without being “jumpered” properly (thus not grounded for electrical safety).

At the time Davenport, a semi-retired electrician and former electrical inspector, had provided diagrams showing the simple procedure for grounding meters, and urged that the borough check water customers’ existing meters to make sure adequate grounding is in place.

Kallenborn replied that the meters have been “grounded as we installed them.” He said there were two opinions on the issue of jumpering, and “we have gone ahead” with the policy they considered appropriate.

Davenport mentioned recent paving work done on his street, Dennis Avenue, and the agreement he had with the borough dating back to 1991 when that work done to restore drainage in that area would be completed. He had paid for work and materials in full prior to completion.

Kallenborn said he was not borough manager at that time, but “we will take a look at it and see what we can schedule.”

Other topics at the meeting included upcoming budget needs, including increases in pension costs and the need for a new police car.

Kallenborn announced that, as in previous years, borough crews will pick up leaves raked to the curb. Crews will make repeated trips through all neighborhoods to collect leaves. Persons wanting the collected leaves for mulch should call the borough office.

The December meeting date was changed to December 9 because December 2 will be the first day of deer season.

Halloween trick-or-treat night was set as Thursday, October 31.