MINERSVILLE - The borough council passed a new ordinance establishing a dawn to dusk curfew for all of the outdoor recreation facilities in the borough, and a 2012 tax levy ordinance at the monthly meeting Tuesday.
The dawn to dusk ordinance on the borough facilities include the pool, playground and baseball fields, and is in hopes of cutting down on vandalism.
Police Chief Michael Combs said previously that before he came to the borough, there was only a resolution passed that closed the park at 9 p.m. regardless of the season.
The ordinance also allows the borough council to set the closing times in accordance with baseball league schedules that hold night games during the summer.
According to the borough council, the 2012 tax levy ordinance imposes a tax on real property in the borough establishing the millage at 15.
Borough council president Helen Droskinis said there was no increase in the millage.
In other business, Combs mentioned that the borough police's new tool to alert residents of emergency situations though the Nixle Connect system is going well.
The service, which is no cost to the department or the borough, allows anyone subscribing to receive text messages or emails with vital information from the Minersville police almost instantly.
There is no charge to the subscriber unless a fee is attached through their cellphone or Internet provider for text messages or emails.
Combs said so far there are about 134 people that signed up for the Nixel alerts, and an alert was also sent out Tuesday night warning residents "Juveniles are roaming the streets in the area of Fourth and Sunbury streets vandalizing property."
Anyone wishing to sign up to receive messages can simply text with the message "minerscops" to "888777".
A message will then be send to the subscriber saying "MINERSCOPS: Thanks for signing up!"
People can also log onto www.nixle.com, enter the zip code and go to "sign up now," then follow the instructions to become a subscriber.
Combs also said that starting Tuesday, the department joined in the Buckle Up program.
Officers were at the high school at the end of the driveway handing out flyers about the new seatbelt law.
"There's a new seatbelt law that requires individuals under 18 to buckle up and now it's called a primary offense," Combs said. "In the past we would have to pull someone over for a red light or a taillight out and then cite them for the seatbelt, while the new law allows us to pull them over just for the seatbelt."
He said that today the department will be handing out the flyers at the vo-tech and Intermediate Unit 29, just giving information, then eventually will start issuing citations.
"I tried to watch as I was stopping the cars as they came down the drive way, and I was really impressed," he said. "A lot of them had it buckled."
The borough council also accepted the resignation of Robert Beach from the Minersville Sewer Authority.
Droskinis said anyone interested in the position should send a letter to the borough by the end of the month.