Schuylkill Haven council welcomes new member, employee; Island Park amphitheater discussed

Emily Graham, Republican & Herald, Pottsville, Pa.
·2 min read

Apr. 11—SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — At Wednesday's council meeting, the borough welcomed a new member and employee.

Edward "Doc" Dress was sworn in to fill the position left open by the death of Paul Bedway.

Bedway, a lifelong local businessman who operated Bedway's Banana Boat who was also a longtime member of the council, died Feb. 21 at age 81. His service and passing were recognized at the March meeting.

The council also voted to approve the hiring of Jessica Seiders as assistant to the borough administrator.

"She has a diverse employment background in public relations, finance and insurance," Borough Administrator Scott Graver said. "I'm really excited to recommend her."

In other business, the council approved the borough's updated floodplain ordinance.

In regard to the borough's LED street light upgrade project, the council approved an amendment to the contract with American Municipal Power Inc., and a resolution to add 92 cents per megawatt hourly to the yearly contract to pay for the LED lighting.

The council also voted to move forward with a timber harvesting plan. Graver said he has met with a forester and found an area of approximately 100 acres at the end of the borough's watershed near Blythe Township where they would be able to harvest timber.

"Once (the forester) gets in there, he identifies the trees to be timbered, he puts together a plan and a bidding perspective, we can take advantage of it," Graver said.

Council President Kurt Montz said the Route 443 Columbia Street bridge, which will be under construction to be replaced by 2022, will be shut down for three days at some point during the construction, but he does not know when that will be.

"It's up to PennDOT when they're going to do that," Montz said.

In upcoming events, the Schuylkill Haven American Legion's Memorial Day Parade will return this year on May 31. The parade will go down Main Street and Parkway.

"I think we'll all be happy to see that return again," council member Diane Roeder said.

On April 17, Alvernia University Schuylkill Campus will be cleaning up the Schuylkill River Trail.

The borough also began work on the amphitheater to be built at Island Park.

Mayor Mike Devlin said the land has been leveled and is ready to put in footers. There had been prior concerns about the amphitheater's location conflicting with the expansion of Penn State Schuylkill's baseball field in the Island Park, but Devlin said the amphitheater was moved to allow for that space.

He said he hopes to see the project completed in mid- to late summer.

"We're hoping that this fall that we can have something on that stage," Devlin said.