Renovo Council Reorganizes; Will Reopen Budget
Record photo – Barbara Mastriania
by Barbara Mastriania
RENOVO – Despite single digit temperatures, newly elected Renovo Borough Council members were officially sworn into office Monday night and agreed one of their first acts of business will be to reopen the 2014 budget at their first regular meeting Jan. 15.
On Dec. 30, 2013 Council, despite a veto by then Mayor Don Pagnotto, with a 3-1 vote passed a budget for 2014 that included a 1.5 mill tax increase. At that meeting three outgoing council members, Randy Bibey, Kari Kepler and Sue Cannon were among those voting for the budget. Merry Ann Olshefskie voted against it.
On Monday night borough solicitor Stuart Hall said in order to override a veto a majority plus one vote is needed, thereby opening the door for the new council to open the budget.
Monday night’s attendance included three incumbent members, Olshefskie, Colleen Testa and Paul Fantaskey and two new members, Patricia Rauch and Anne Tarantella. The resignation last month of Randy Bibey, who previously served as council president, leaves a vacancy on council.
Names of interested persons were being accepted until noon Wednesday, Jan. 8. As for reorganization, Olshefskie was elected as president of council, Tarantella as vice president and Rauch as president pro tem.
Council agreed that whenever possible future executive sessions will be held at 6:30 p.m. prior to regular meetings. Rauch requested the change from previous practice of going into executive sessions during regular meetings.
Members of the public must leave council chambers during those sessions. Mayor Carl Olshefskie, who was sworn into office by District Judge Frank Mills on Jan. 2, presided over the annual re-organization meeting and administered oath of office to council members Merry Ann Olshefskie, Patricia Rauch, Anne Tarantella, Colleen Testa and Paul Fantaskey and the borough tax collector, Deb Pedokus. Councilwoman Rhonda Balchun was not present Monday.
The new mayor began the meeting by reading a prepared statement in response to FaceBook postings. That response appears in this week’s print edition of the paper in the For the Record column on the editorial page.
