HAWLEY, PA — As promised, Hawley Borough Council members followed up on residents’ concerns expressed at the prior month’s meeting regarding accessibility at the Hawley Village Apartments. Tim Rawlins from Commonwealth EMS reported that his ambulance company is texted the access code to the Barker Street complex by the EMS dispatcher, and that they are working with the building manager to further ease access issues. It was noted that when an ambulance is dispatched to the complex, police and/or the fire department also respond and often have created an access before the ambulance arrives on scene. Rawlins readily agreed to council members’ requests that the company reach out to residents of the complex in further efforts to allay concerns they may have about being able to promptly respond to emergencies.

The borough is soliciting volunteers to assist at the Wayne County recycling center on the first and third Saturdays of each month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to replace those volunteers who will be retiring at the end of June after decades of service to the community.

There was significant discussion regarding whether the borough should continue to utilize AMSkier Insurance Company as the broker of record for two insurance policies providing coverage for volunteer accidents and workers-comp coverage for volunteer firefighters. One council member expressed concern that working with more than one insurance broker could be unnecessarily complicated and possibly detrimental to the borough. Others expressed the benefit of continuity by continuing coverage with AMSkier for these policies and also the desire to work with local businesses whenever possible. The vote was three to one in favor of retaining AMSkier, with two members abstaining from the vote.

George Hipps, a veteran of the Vietnam War, will serve as Grand Marshall for the Memorial Day parade. Jason Merrill was hired to provide musical entertainment on July 4 following the parade at 12 noon. In other Parks & Recreation business, permission was granted to the YMCA to utilize park facilities for its day camp June 18 to 22, conditioned upon their providing the necessary paperwork and obtaining a promise that they clean up the facilities after use.

Council President Ann Monaghan acknowledged Joe Faubel as the recipient of the Downtown Hawley Partnership’s Outstanding Service Award for an individual. His fellow council members and those in the audience agreed that the honor was well-earned.