The Honesdale Borough Council has hired a temporary replacement for Wayne Earley, who was fired on March 12. The replacement is Robert Bates of Honesdale.

“Bob has been doing our commercial permits for a number of years, so he knows the community and has all the required certifications,” said councilman Nick Slish, who is the head of the borough’s building and zoning committee. “Bates is qualified in commercial and residential applications.”

Temporarily, he will be the zoning officer, building officer and permits officer for everything that needs to be done, he said. The borough is searching for a permanent replacement for Earley and hopes to have a good candidate very soon, Slish said.

Earley was dismissed after councilman Bob Jennings made a motion to dismiss him based on information about his alleged lack of proper certification, and because of files that were allegedly missing in his office. The vote was six in favor of dismissal and one abstention.

Also at the meeting on March 26, Juanita Pisano, chair of the Grants Committee, announced that a grant had been received. “We have been notified that we have received a grant of $431,000 for the major storm water project on the hills above the borough,” she said. “PennDOT will give us the grant. The funds will come from the gaming program through Monroe County, which is the source of the funding.”

Pisano said that applications that were turned down by PennDOT were for a traffic signal upgrade for Brown Street and the placing of temporary electronic speed reminders for cars driving up Church Street.

“We were encouraged to keep applying for these in the future,” she said.

It was announced that the borough would participate in a clean-up day called Clean and Green on Saturday, April 21 with a rain date on April 28. Organizers are asking for volunteers to come out and help clean up the borough.

“Persons are encouraged to pre-register for the event in order for organizers to assign areas to pick up trash,” said Honesdale mayor Ed Langendoerfer. “Everyone will gather at the Grace Episcopal Church Parish Hall around 8:00 a.m.,” he said.

To sign up, send an email to cleanan dgreenhsdl@hotmail.com with your name and phone number.