First Posted: 4/14/2014

Board president, Gus Vlassis, said when the Dalton Council took over the new municipal building, board members anticipated a high number of expenses such as furniture, new locks, and a new sign, however thanks to former tenant, Penn Star Bank, the Council was able to keep costs down.

“We were lucky that the bank left us things that we did not have to buy. We saved a lot of money,” Vlassis said. “We did very, very well in that regard and I thank the bank to a great extent.”

Vlassis also announced that the stand-up partitions, which were donated by the PNC Bank in Clarks Summit, will be made into an office and will save additional money.

“When the new sign is up and the maintenance agreement is finished, the building will be in good shape,” Vlassis said. “I look at the building now as the center of downtown Dalton. I look at it as the renovation, the rejuvenation of downtown Dalton, and to what my late wife used to say, ‘a 4-D (4-dimensional) project’, and I want to make this a 4-D project starting with the bank.”

Vlassis said with Dalton House gone and Patsel’s Restaurant going, there’s a lot of empty buildings in Dalton.

“This is a start of what I hope of rejuvenation of Main Street, ” he said. “And I hope you all participate and do what you can to encourage people to do things in town.”

In other business, Mayor Aaron Holzman during hisreport, asked the board to appoint a committee to come up with rules and regulations for public use of the borough office space in the new building.

“I know some groups, small groups, expressed interest in having public meetings here,” he said. “I was wondering if we can sit down and maybe think of how we can go about that.”

Holzman addedPolice Chief Chris Tolson and board member Leonard Peters interviewed Dalton resident Chris Ceccarelli for the position of part-time officer.

“We thought it was a good interview I believe,” he said. “So, we’re in the process of doing paperwork and getting the background checks.”

Board member Bill Montgomery announced he sent a new form to the initial four bidders for a maintenance contract for the new municipal building.

“We sent it to four people and got two answers back, and I got the lowest bid, which is AJS Mechanical, which is Scott Slocum, who lives here in town,” he said.

The board voted to give the maintenance contract to Slocum, whose fee is $282 per year.

The board voted to give $500 to the Dalton Children’s Fishing Derby, which will occur at the Dalton Streamside Park on May 18.