East Pete - Boro Council Meeting Notes (2025)

East Petersburg Local Info

Nicely attended meeting, at least a dozen citizens in attendance!

Public - A resident from Geneva Dr. thanked Public Works for their job well done on the roads with this latest winter event. He also inquired about the status of the Pickleball court sound mitigation. Borough Manager St. Clair advised that she would have more information towards the end of March.
Events Committee - Kristen Troop, head of the East Petersburg Events Committee, outlined the group's plans for the upcoming year, highlighting some changes to the community’s event lineup. The annual spring Vagabonds car show, traditionally hosted at the local park, will no longer take place in East Petersburg. The Vagabonds have relocated their show to Landisville. In its place, the committee has scheduled a Bingo fundraiser in partnership with the local fire department on April 12. Additionally, East Petersburg Days, set for September 16-20, 2025, will feature a new carnival provider. The newly contracted group is the same company that operates the rides at the Ephrata Fair. For more information on local events, visit the East Petersburg Events website.

Overview of 2024 police stats in East Petersburg

Police (NLCRPD) - Chief Kilgore provided the department's 2024 annual review in great detail and answered questions from the public. He confirmed that there are no full-time positions that are federally funded by grants, which could be potentially be impacted by federal grant terminations. The chief was asked to provide Regional's policy on encounters with illegal aliens. The police department will notify their respective ICE office when coming into contact with these individuals.

Council VP Schick asked about any potential officers being dedicated to Commercial Vehicle Enforcement. Kilgore stated that it requires a lot of time for at least one individual to have that operation running. Then, for that officer to stay certified, they need to perform 30-something inspections per year. Currently, Manheim Boro PD and Manheim Township PD have commercial vehicle officers and will often ask to perform inspections in our local area so they can stay certified. It's not out of the question, per the Chief, but it doesn't sound like it would happen anytime soon.
Kilgore shared that the department will be pursuing funding for technology that can significantly save time and money when it comes to collecting traffic data. UrbanSDK is software that can rapidly assess traffic conditions in almost real-time by capturing data from your vehicle. According to the Chief, newer vehicles (2020+) have a chip that contains information about speed, location, travel time between vehicles, etc. He said that there are restrictions on its use, and identifiable information such as vehicle make and model, does not get captured. By using this technology, the police can conduct speed and traffic studies with much less manpower and time.

Pine Street & Potential to become a one-way street - This is all at the discussion stage and no final decisions have been made. Essentially what some on Council want to investigate is potentially making Pine Street a southbound one-way street, from State Street to New Street in preparation for the future water main and road replacement.
- Within the past 2 years this discussion began, and Councilman Herr reported that he visited the residents that would potentially be impacted. At the time, resident response was neutral, with nearly a 50/50 split being for or against the proposal.
- In recent weeks, Sharp and Herr who both live on Pine Street and would be directly affected by the change, reported that they visited everyone again. This time, almost everybody was against the proposal. Neither shared how they framed their questions to their neighbors though, so a few citizens requested that a special meeting be held to hear directly from the public.
- The special meeting will take place before the regularly scheduled monthly Committee meeting on Thursday, February 27, 2025 @ 6pm.