Around the Borough

(12/09) The Carroll Valley Borough Council is going to have the borough planning commission review the borough's noise ordinance where it pertains to dogs.

Resident Ron McClain told the council that when a complaint is phoned in about a barking dog, a warning letter is sent the for the first complaint and a citation is sent for the second offense. However, no police officer ever comes to investigate the complaint. Because of this, the ordinance can be used by one neighbor to punish another.

Councilman Neal Abrams said that for the complaint to be valid the dog must be barking for 10 minutes continuously or 30 minutes intermittently and that would be hard to prove. He did note that the ordinance can be used to get back at a neighbor and that he had been a victim of such a complaint.

"Any noise ordinance if fraught with all kinds of problems," Abrams said.

The council acknowledged the problem with ordinance and passed it on to the planning commission for review and recommendations.

Tax rate and budget adopted

The Carroll Valley Borough Council unanimously adopted the tax rate and budget for the borough for 2010. The tax rate will remain the same at 8 mils. Most of the fees will remain unchanged except for some of the fees associated with the sewage enforcement officer. The approved $1.65-million budget shows a 4.09 percent decrease from last year's budget. The council approved all of these unanimously.

Town attorney leaves

The Carroll Valley Borough Council said goodbye to its attorney of seven years, Tom Campbell. Campbell was recently elected as an Adams County judge and will no longer be able to pursue private clients. The mayor and council presented him with a flag that had flown over Carroll Valley to thank him for his service.

With Campbell's departure, the borough council needed to select a new attorney to represent them. Their choice was Salzmann Hughes Attorneys at Law. The firm has 20 lawyers at four regional offices including Waynesboro and Chambersburg. The firm also has experience in Pennsylvania land use, zoning, and environmental issues, commercial and residential real estate, municipal law, business and commercial matters, estate planning and administration, and general litigation.

Help with DUIs

Though Gettysburg Hospital will no longer test the blood for DUI and drug cases for police agencies, the hospital administration has agreed to continue drawing the blood and shipping it to either National Medical Services or the Pennsylvania State Police for testing.

Late last year, the hospital announced that after 18 years, it was no longer certified to be testing blood for court cases. The change meant that police officers would have had to bring the driver into the hospital to have the blood drawn and then transport it back to to the borough office and store it securely until it can be shipped to the laboratory.

Carroll Valley Borough Mayor Ron Harris said the will help the borough because it will shorten the chain of custody for the police officers.