SUNBURY- No vote yet on a second first reading of the proposed property registration ordinance in Sunbury. At Monday night’s city council meeting, Mayor Kurt Karlovich read the amendments that have been made to the proposed ordinance after hearing input from city property owners. When Mayor Karlovich made a motion to have the amendments approved in a second first reading, however, no vote to approve the amended first reading took place.
City property owner Deborah Betz was concerned no action was taken to approve the second first reading, “I’m concerned that I’m not seeing the city working together. Two weeks ago, I thought, ‘This is great, it looks like they’re united because they’re not really bickering,’ but this week I walk in here and I see this ordinance being brought to us, and there’s maybe some tweaking that needs to be done, but nobody even suggested anything other than saying no.”
Council member James Eister says he would like council to hear more from property owners before approving a second first reading of the ordinance, “The last two weeks, I’ve been talking to owners in the city of Sunbury of real estate. And they’re working on getting a committee together to go over what we have presented at the present time, and make some recommendations back to us. I feel that instead of just jumping into it, let them make comments before we have a first reading, because after the first reading, then you make modifications, then make modification, so instead of getting into that, let’s sit down, take our time and get it done right the first time.”
Mayor Karlovich acknowleged the concerns of city residents and property owners voiced in the last city council meeting, and made amendments to the proposed ordinance accordingly, “After the last council meeting, regarding numerous public comments, I have actually tried to implement changes that coincided with all these comments regarding the length of time for the vacancies, different status for the registration, just different things. I believe this is something Sunbury drastically needs,” Karlovich said.
You can read the full proposed property ordinance on the city website sunburypa.org.
