White Oak Council votes to reopen budget
Any changes to the spending plan have to be approved by Feb. 15.
White Oak voted Monday to reopen its 2026 budget after some back-and-fourth discussion among council members.
During last week’s workshop meeting, Borough Manager John Palyo said the budget can be reopened because it’s a reorganization year, and it needs to be readopted by Feb. 15. It must be advertised for at least 10 days before that.
“There are those challenges of backing into those dates when reopening the budget,” Palyo said. “It can be done. We have motions and everything on the finance report if you wish to proceed with that.”
Everyone agreed at that meeting that it should be opened up again. Councilman George Pambacas suggested getting more funding allocated for paving roads, and new councilman Brian Dinkfelt proposed buying a new public works truck.
That changed at Monday’s meeting, with Pambacas saying he does not want it reopened because there are funds that can be appropriated to paving without opening the budget again.
Solicitor Ashley Puchalski said if they want to change the budget, a vote had to be taken Monday night.
Council members Brian Dinkfelt and Amanda De-Paulis said at the workshop meeting that the budget should be reopened due to a line item that would help with the audit process.
Council voted by a 5-2 Monday to reopen the budget. DePaulis motioned to reopen to ensure that the proper money is allocated to cover a third-party audit with Councilman Chuck Davis seconding.
Pambacas and Janice Kortz opposed reopening, while DePaulis, Davis, Dinkfelt, Loree Scharritter and Amy Sotereanos supported it.
“I wish I had better information as I sit here right now,” DePaulis said. “Potentially there needs to be a line item in terms of auditing, but I don’t know what that number is.”
DePaulis later stated that the exact line item is 402-310, and the previous amount was set to $12,000 The motion to advertise that the budget is being reopened received a yes vote from everyone except Pambacas.
The tax levy ordinance is also being readvertised due to the budget being opened again.
Heritage Hill Park gate tabled
More discussions were held Monday about a gate being put up in Heritage Hill Park due to recurring vandalism.
It’s been a topic of discussion for the past two months, with council members citing issues with ATVs coming to the park through the woods.
A temporary gate was put up in the meantime with signage so no one goes in after hours, according to Palyo. Police are currently opening and closing the gate.
“We’ve had some challenges with that, but hopefully we are working out those details,” Palyo said last week. “What we wanted was a more permanent solution of a gate, so we went out to look for various types of gates that can serve at capacity versus a cable with some signs on it.”
The borough received three quotes for a two-sided which borough Engineer Robert Roach said would open in the middle.
Penn Fencing Inc. proposed $4,471, Tri State Fence Co. proposed $4,150 and North American Fencing Corp. had the lowest proposal at $2,750, according to engineer Amber Yon.
All proposals are designed the exact same way, and discussions will continue on where it will be placed due to some restrictions to the walking trail.
In September, the borough opened the MS Park Improvement Fund through an interest-bearing First Commonwealth Bank account to be used for parks and recreation purposes and until council finds ways to allocate this money in the future.
They received $441,692.56 from the estate of Meyers Specter to be used for that account, and funding for the gate could be taken from there.
There was no vote on Monday to approve the North American Fencing bid, and it was unanimously tabled.
“It needs more study,” Pambacas said. “There are other options, although we do realize there is a security issue at the park.”
David Preece, who lives near where the gate would be, encouraged council members to look into cameras, which have been discussed before.
“We have lived there for 33 years,” Preece said. “For me, I call this gate revision three. This is the third time I’ve seen an attempt to secure the park with a manual gate. The first two attempts failed.”
Preece said there have been instances where the gate did not open in time, along with other issues. Cameras, he added, are inexpensive, can catch people and are more beneficial.
“In my opinion, we are going backwards,” Preece said. “We are considering going back to a manual gate that requires twice a day, 365 days a year when the technology is there.”
In other business:
• White Oak’s police department will work with Lexipol, LLC, a policy management platform at $22,737.20, and there will also be a new $6,553.75 license plate reader and camera to be located at Route 48 and Lincoln Way.
• The borough approved the use of fireworks at this year’s Community Day for $12,000, along with a band not to exceed $3,000.
• Several openings are still available as alternates on the planning commission, the zoning hearing board, the recreation committee and the building code of appeals board. Anyone interested in serving should send a letter and resume to the borough office.
