GREENVILLE Houpt resigns as council president
He will remain on council.
By LAURI GALENTINE
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
GREENVILLE, Pa. -- Richard S. Houpt officially resigned as president of Greenville Borough Council -- just as he said he would last month.
After conducting the first half of the Tuesday evening council meeting, Houpt made a formal statement about his resignation, turned the gavel over to vice president Bryan D. Langietti, and then made a motion to nominate Langietti to fill the seat.
Houpt sited health concerns as the reason for his decision and said the past nine months have been "a physical drain" on him.
"I feel I have obtained the goals that I set when I took the office," said Houpt. "We are working together as a dedicated team to make order out of chaos."
He added, "I will remain on council to serve the people who elected me."
Councilman David P. Henderson shook Houpt's hand and said, "Thank you for getting us through the last nine months."
Councilman Ian Scott Forbes said he believes all of council would echo Henderson's comment.
"These have been a very interesting nine months. We've accomplished a lot under your leadership," Forbes told Houpt.
Faced deficit
Houpt accepted the position as president of the council in January. Houpt and Forbes, along with five new council members, soon learned that Greenville was facing a $2.62 million deficit.
Under Houpt's leadership, council applied for, and was accepted into Pennsylvania's Act 47. Gaining that distressed municipalities status has enabled council, with the state's help, to begin the road to recovery.
Houpt received a standing ovation from residents present at the meeting.
Langietti was unanimously elected to fill the president's seat.
Henderson nominated councilman Pete Longiotti to fill the position of vice president, and he, too was unanimously elected.
Sidewalk repairs
Following the recommendation of code enforcement officer George Pangas, council rejected all bids received on a proposed sidewalk repair project, and voted to re-bid the project early next spring.
Pangas said the bids were all too high for the amount of work that was to be done.
"This project is not of such an urgency that we need to pay more than we should," Pangas said.
Council announced it will look into the feasibility of refinancing a $3.67 million bond issue loan taken out in 1992. Council is making payments on the loan over a 30-year payback plan.
Borough Manager Kenneth S. Weaver explained that interest rates have dropped and the refinancing could possibly save the borough quite a bit of money.