Dormont Borough Public Safety/Service Committee Briefs

Chair Joan Hodson and council members Laurie Malka, Kim Lusardi and Drew Lehman were present, along with Mayor Thomas Lloyd, at Tuesday's meeting.

* Hodson said park supervisor T.J. Conroy was looking into the idea of a tree nursery in the park.

* Lloyd said the camera in the new police car isn’t working. The cameras in the other cars are broken and Manager Gino Rizza said he is looking into grants to pay for new cameras. Hodson and the other council members said the cameras are needed and suggested they might have to be purchased first, then grants sought to cover the cost of the cameras and installation, which is about $5,000 per car. Fire Chief Denny Davis said that should be doable, as he’s purchased items and later sought grants. If needed, he said, the fire department would be willing to buy a camera.

Hodson said the matter will be discussed at the next council meeting.

* Hodson said it might be good idea to bring someone in to teach the police basic Spanish. The need arose with a recent arrest of two Spanish-speaking residents when an interpreter had to be brought in. Davis said the issue has arisen occasionally for the fire department as well.

* Hodson and the other council members all praised the work done by the street department with the snowstorms. Hodson said the department needs more personnel.

* The auction will be held on May 13 at . Lehman said he’d look into the possibility of getting chairs and tables from the borough building because the library is considering renting the recreation center so it can get tables and chairs from there.

* The committee and some residents discussed the idea of getting volunteers, possibly Keystone Oaks students or from churches, to help homeowners who otherwise might not be able to clean debris from their porches or paint their homes.

* Bob Hutchison, of Illinois Avenue, complained that police weren’t ticketing people who are parking on the wrong side of the street and on sidewalks.

* The committee and residents discussed ways to better handle street sweeping, particularly the problem of cars failing to move on street sweeping days. Some residents favored being able to park on opposite sides of the streets during sweeping days, but Lloyd said that's unlikely to happen because the upcoming newsletter will contain information about the existing program and there won't be time to change it.