HARMONY — The borough mayor may exercise her right to veto a council-approved motion — but will it make a difference?

At Tuesday night's meeting, Harmony Mayor Cathy Rape told council members that she plans to veto the motion to take down a “no parking” sign near the Harmony Inn and replace it with a “handicap” parking sign, which was there previously.

The parking area is most affecting a 90-year-old resident of 714 Spring St. who does not have a driveway and whose relatives frequently visit to help him pay bills, buy groceries and complete other daily tasks.

In a 6 to 1 vote, council approved the motion to make the turnaround area near Harmony Inn a handicapped parking zone again.

Councilman Jason Sarver was the only member to vote against the motion to replace the “no parking” sign, but he said he wasn't against addressing the family's needs. He said he would prefer to make the space a “loading zone” to allow for pickup and drop-off of the resident. This would call for a different ordinance than the one proposed, which influenced Sarver's negative vote.

“I don't think Cathy nor I are ignoring their needs,” Sarver said.

Council member Don Sims recommended letting the veto stand and rewriting the ordinance to match Sarver's idea of creating a loading zone in that area. But it would take another two months for a changed ordinance to take effect, said Greg Such, council president.

Such said he stands by returning the area to handicapped parking because the man is elderly and the borough can simply remove that sign and ordinance when the time comes that it is no longer needed.

Rape said she believes the handicapped sign was removed “for a reason” and that traffic and parking issues in that area should be the focus of the borough's concerns, rather than alleviating issues at a residence, to which Rape suggested a driveway could be added.

“Anybody can use (a handicapped space),” she said, noting that the addition of a driveway would ensure no one could take the handicapped space. “It was originally put there because they drove. It was a consideration of their need.”

Now that the resident is no longer driving, Rape maintains that the handicapped sign shouldn't be replaced.

Borough solicitor Matthew Racunas explained that if the mayor vetoes the motion, it will be returned to the board to vote a second time. Council needs five votes to obtain a majority and override the mayor's veto and pass the handicapped parking ordinance.

The residence affected by the no parking area is owned by the McCormick family, whose members were present at the previous two council meetings to bring this issue to the council's attention. The family was absent from Tuesday night's meeting.