Elizabeth Borough to split building inspector with Elizabeth Township

The new position will carry a three-year contract.

Elizabeth Borough voted unanimously Monday on a resolution to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with Elizabeth Township on a three-year contract for a half-time building inspector.

Borough manager Scott Craighead said both the borough and the township will share a parttime building inspector at an annual cost of $40,000. There will be a 5% salary increase in the second and third year, pending solicitor review and approval and a review by the personnel committee.

“They have a need for more than one but not two and we have a need for half,” Craighead said. “So it seemed easier that way. There will be one full-time guy in the township and one part-time guy in both the borough and the township because we are smaller.”

“We have a need to increase our time spent on code enforcement in the borough. This is an agreement that we feel will fulfill our needs and save us money rather than hiring our own staff member. It will provide us with additional savings on our insurance.”

Resident Andy Miklos said working together to have a code enforcement officer is a great idea.

“It’s something that needs to be complied with, illegal codes, to make sure not just that they are done right, there’s another part of that that happens in the community,” Miklos said. “The vacant houses, the vacant properties and what you have in mind to try to turn Elizabeth a little bit away from a rental community and becoming a residential community because our programs out there can help redo the houses and they now become a firsttime homebuyer’s home.”

“We all want the borough to become a vibrant residential community,” resident Larry Ross said. “We just need to find a way to do that, and that’s a hard thing to do, but we just need to find a way to do that because if we have a vibrant residential community, that money stays here within the borough. If you have a bunch of rental properties, they won’t stay here.”

This isn’t the first time the borough and the township are sharing resources. The borough voted in February to use Elizabeth Township police after terminating its own force.

Elizabeth Township was looking for a new building inspector/ code enforcement officer after the last one, Chris House, left the position due to finding another job.

Commissioner Chris Thoma said the township has decided on two new people and will be voting to hire them at its October meeting. They currently have an assistant code enforcement officer to take over while they wait to hire the two individuals.

Along the lines of a new building inspector, there were further discussions about development and the idea of how the board members can further impact the community.

Craighead said the borough would have to get the school district involved if they were trying to turn the borough into a more permanent residential community. He also discussed people flipping houses in the borough and how they would have to meet with the school district and to sheriff’s sale some older properties.

“I think we have an opportunity to bring some people in that are starting to see some others flip houses in our borough and make a little bit of money off of it and that’s something that’s going to help us a lot,” Craighead said.

In other news:

• A meeting will be held in October to discuss the budget for 2025.

• The audit of 2023 finances has been completed by Mark Turnley, and there were no findings besides some recommendations. The audit will be presented to the council at the October meeting.

• The last Plum Street Saturday Morning Market of the season will be held Oct. 12.