Bellevue Borough's "Health and Safety Day" will be held at Bayne Park on Saturday, Sept. 25, from noon until 4 p.m., with a variety of activities and informational booths.

WOOD SMOKE DANGERS

Editor:

It was sad to see a report on WTAE-TV last week (July 20) informing us that 37.6 percent of children in the Northgate school district suffer from asthma. "The school district that's the biggest loser with asthma, for two school years in a row, is Northgate…" said the report. This says something about the Bellevue/Avalon area. The schools, of course, are simply places where these statistics can be conveniently collected for the state health department.

Bellevue Borough will install new guiderails in a turn-around area on East Roseridge Avenue while officials try to figure out what it will take to maintain the property legally.

Solicitor Tom McDermott told council members at their meeting on Tuesday that although the borough reportedly has maintained the property in the past, it is not clear that the area actually belongs to the borough or falls within the borough’s right of way. There also is the issue of decades worth of accumulated fill dumped in the area in a “non-engineered way,” McDermott said, that could create a liability.

Bellevue Borough will be looking for a summer intern this year, with council approving an application to the Local Government Academy.

Council member Jane Braunlich said that it would cost Bellevue $4.50 per hour, or a total of $2,160, to pay a summer intern. Director of administrative services Doug Sample said he would like to use the extra help to digitize some of the borough’s old records and ordinances to make it easier to find information.

Trick-or-treating in Bellevue Borough has been scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 30, rather than Sunday, Oct. 31.

The event will be held from 6 until 8 p.m.

Bellevue has adopted a new, more encompassing, anti-discrimination policy, but perhaps not completely.

Council voted Tuesday to adopt an Ordinance amending the personnel code to clarify that "Bellevue Borough is an equal opportunity employer whose non-discrimination policy extends to matters of race, color, age, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, political affiliation, religious affiliation and disability."

Early probation end?

Bellevue Council could decide whether to end an employee's probationary period early so that he will be eligible for borough-paid health insurance.

Council member David Gillingham Jr. said at the Sept. 30 pre-council meeting that if council releases recent public works hire George Bauer from probation a month early, he would be eligible to receive insurance benefits through the borough.

Now that everyone knows the name of the position, Bellevue Borough will advertise for a new borough office clerk/secretary.

Approval of an expenditure of no more than $500 for advertising was delayed at the June 2 council meeting when the motion initially did not include the job title as listed in the borough's personnel code. Council member Linda Woshner said that she had requested at the finance committee meeting that the code be checked for the proper title, but that had not been done.

A decision to hire three police officers this year could cost Bellevue Borough a federal grant that could have paid for two full-time officers.

Bellevue joined nearly 7,300 communities across the nation in applying for a Community Oriented Police Services (COPS) grant through the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) COPS Hiring Recovery Fund. Part of the federal economic stimulus plan, the grant program will fully pay for as many as two police officers in a particular community for as long as three years.