GREENVILLE, PA. Citing noise concern, councilman requests meetings upstairs

A truck bay is being renovated so meetings will be handicapped-accessible.
By LAURI GALENTINE
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
GREENVILLE, Pa. -- Former council president Richard H. Houpt made residents a promise in July that there would not be another public meeting in the upstairs council chambers until it was handicapped-accessible.
Henry M. Mueller, who was appointed to council after Houpt resigned, wants to rescind that promise.
All public meetings have been conducted in the first-floor firetruck bay, which the fire department hasn't used since it moved to a new building in 2001. Over the months, renovations to turn the room into chambers for council have been ongoing, but slowed considerably by financial problems.
Mueller asked council Tuesday to move meetings back upstairs.
It's hard to hear in the downstairs room, he said.
The original renovation plan included removing the double garage doors facing Main Street and replacing them with a soundproof wall to block out street noise, but the work was never done because of budget constraints.
Accommodations as needed
"If someone cannot make the stairs, then we could meet down here, but most of the time, people who come can adequately use the stairs," Mueller said.
Houpt moved the meetings downstairs after borough resident Robert Perrotti, speaking on behalf of the Greenville Area Preservation Association, said the group would file a lawsuit. The suit stemmed from the inability of two members of the organization to attend meetings because of health problems that kept them from using the stairs.
Joanne Price, who also joined council after Houpt's resignation, was at the 2002 meeting that prompted the move.
"It is against the law," she told Mueller. "I agree, it is noisy, but the public was adamant to begin with that it be accessible."
"As long as I've been on council, I haven't seen anyone with canes, crutches or wheelchairs attend the meetings," Mueller responded.
Council, meanwhile, approved the promotion of Patrolman John Webster to sergeant in the Greenville-West Salem Police Department.
Webster, a 19-year veteran, will assume the position vacated by Thomas Strahler, who was promoted to chief a few months ago.
Longiotti said Webster was the top scorer on the civil service test.