Canonsburg increases fees for outside vendors
Canonsburg Planning Commission Chairman John Defilippo pleaded with borough council to reduce the number of members from seven to five to make it easier to have a quorum.
Dave Holliday is hugged by his granddaughter, Faith, as he tearfully asks borough council to have animal control officers keep dog owners accountable. Faith suffered a bite and bone infection in March.
CANONSBURG – Vendors will have to pay $150 per day to sell their products in Canonsburg following a unanimous vote Monday by borough Council. The original suggested fee increase from $15 to $35 wasn’t enough, according to Councilwoman Tina Bails, who made the motion to increase the mandatory fee to $150 .
“Our local businesses pay so much and they get bumped out from these vendors who just drop in,” said Councilman John Severine said.
“And it’s to protect our merchants,” said council President R.T. Bell, “because they pay property taxes, mercantile taxes – and we’ve seen instances where these out-of-state furniture vendors will set up in a parking lot right next to a brick-and-mortar furniture store and scalp their business.”
In other business, council approved a new separate pension plan for sewage authority employees, who had been part of the municipal pension plan.
“They will form their own pension and contribution plan,” said acting manager Denise Lesnock.
Council also approved a new five-member planning commission, reduced from seven members, after Chairman John Defilippo said during public comment that the board often can’t meet quorum and has had yearlong absences by some board members. After unanimous approval, Bell said a five-member volunteer board with two alternates would make work on municipal planning easier as rescheduling planning commission matters was a frequent occurrence.
Also during public comment, Dave Holliday, of 408 Highfield Ave., implored council to have animal control to hold accountable dog owners following a March 20 incident on Ridge Avenue in which his granddaughter, Faith, was bitten by a dog and suffered a bone infection. Faith hugged Holliday and told him to stop crying throughout his tearful testimony to council and showed pictures of the bite. Bell said animal control officer Kim Secreet was aware of the situation, and that police had observed the dog’s owner had built a fence. Bell said council would be following up with Holliday on future protections.
Before the meeting closed, Bell called for an executive session to discuss a potential legal matter concerning the borough’s former engineering firm, HMT and Associates, and work done on Cecil Street for an ongoing sewer and storm water issue. The current firm, KLH Engineers, has taken over design and planning work for the borough.
“We’re not talking about anything specific yet, as we just want to get everyone at the table to solve this amicably,” Bell said.
The next meeting will be July 11 due to Independence Day. The scheduled meeting will start at 7 p.m. after a 6:30 p.m. public hearing on proposed updates to the municipal zoning ordinance.