Laureldale Hires Officer; $130K Sewer Job Eyed for January

Laureldale Borough Council hired Robert Souders as a probationary full-time police officer on Oct. 12 and heard that its grant-funded sanitary sewer rehabilitation, awarded to Mr. Rehab for $130,341.05, is now expected to start in January 2027, according to the minutes of the meeting, which the borough uploaded to its website Oct. 13 but had not yet linked from its meetings page as of Oct. 20. The same night council voted to buy a $9,604 zero-turn tractor, to make a final payment of $9,602.32 to a contractor once its remaining work is done, and to sign a $2,000 animal-control contract for 2027.

All four purchases and hires had been set up at the Oct. 5 committee meeting and were previewed in our September recap. The minutes record every motion that night as "Carried," with no roll call and no vote count. All seven council members were present, along with Borough Manager Josh Levengood, Solicitor Alex Elliker, Public Works Supervisor Bill Kutz and Police Chief Doug Goeltz, who read the mayor's report (p. 1, 3).

Sewer work moves from quote to contract

In September, council voted to hire Mr. Rehab for the Kutztown Road sewer work. The engineer's report read on Oct. 12 by Levengood records the next step: Systems Design Engineering "issued the Notice of Award to Mr. Rehab at a cost of $130,341.05 based on their COSTARS proposal" (p. 3). A notice of award formally tells a contractor it has the job. COSTARS is the state's cooperative purchasing program, which lets local governments buy from pre-bid state contracts without running their own bid. The August minutes record the money as a $249,000 PA Small Water and Sewer Program grant awarded in January, with Mr. Rehab's price the lower of two COSTARS proposals (p. 3).

The contractor's bonds and insurance "were received and sent to the Solicitor for review," the engineer's report says. A pre-construction meeting with the contractor and borough staff is planned for December, and "the work is anticipated to start in January, 2027, weather permitting." That is later than the September minutes suggested, when the job was "anticipated to be completed this Fall." The minutes still do not say which stretch of Kutztown Road is affected.

The same report says the firm filed the borough's annual MS4 report with the state Department of Environmental Protection, which was due Sept. 30 (p. 3). MS4 is the state stormwater permit that requires a municipality to report each year on how it controls runoff from its storm sewers.

A third officer, a tractor and a final payment

On Calpino's motion, seconded by Sustello, council voted "to hire Robert Souders as a probationary full-time officer, subject to all other terms of the Association Contract" (p. 2). The agenda had listed the hire as "effective October 12, 2026"; the minutes record no start date. Council had tabled the hire in August "until the September Council Meeting" (p. 2); the September minutes do not mention him, and council instead put two other probationary officers on the borough health plan that month. The minutes do not state his pay.

Council also voted:

• To buy a new zero-turn tractor from Kunkle's Saw and Mower for $9,604.00, for the streets department per the committee minutes, on a motion from Santiago for the Property and Supply Committee (p. 2).
• To make the final payment of $9,602.32 to Easton General Contractors "upon satisfactory completion of the balance of the work," on a motion from Calpino. The motion itself calls the firm Easton Contractors. The minutes do not describe the job (p. 2).
• To sign a 2027 contract with Safety Net Sanctuary for $2,000, on a motion from Young for the Parks and Recreation Committee. The communications list identifies it as an animal control service agreement (p. 1); the motion is recorded on p. 1.

Council President Rick Heffner reported September bills of $273,212.43 from the General Fund and $20,357.53 from the Sewer Fund, and read the tax collector's report: $5,056.93 collected in September (p. 1, 3).

The month's largest new spending votes do not appear in these minutes at all. At the Oct. 5 committee meeting, with Sustello absent, council had voted to award the Rosedale Playground paving project to Folk Paving "pending attorney review," to hire Joe Bellanca for $18,300 of cement work there, paid from grant funds, and to buy a $26,685 codes-enforcement vehicle plus up to $1,500 in vehicle graphics, as our September recap reported from the committee minutes. The Sept. 14 council minutes had said the paving would be re-bid "for October's council meeting," but the Oct. 12 minutes and agenda record no bid opening, award or ratification of any of those four items, and still no price for the paving.

A retirement letter and a long closed session

The communications list includes a "Letter of Intent to Retire from Office" from Tom Link (p. 1). The minutes do not say what office he holds, when he plans to leave, or what council did with the letter. The borough's August minutes record a resident's gift to the police department "accepted by Officer Tom Link" (p. 4).

Two residents spoke: David and Diane Gibson, about events in their neighborhood, and Brenda Conrad, about how residents conduct themselves at council meetings (p. 3). Council went into executive session at 7:27 p.m. "to discuss a personnel/legal issue," returned at 8:45 and adjourned a minute later, taking no further action (p. 4).

What happens next

The borough's calendar lists a workshop meeting Nov. 2 and the next council meeting Nov. 9, both at 7 p.m. Borough Hall is at 3406 Kutztown Road, per the borough's contact page. Our guide explains how to find any Berks municipality's meeting schedule.