ZELIENOPLE — Borough council agreed Monday, Aug. 14, to support the building of Harmony Fire District’s new fire station by assuming a guarantor status with other municipalities covered by the district.

Council unanimously voted to advertise the ordinance simultaneously with Harmony, Jackson Township and Lancaster, which would make these municipalities guarantor for the debts incurred by the Harmony Fire District.

“The municipalities have agreed, mutually, to serve as the guarantor on the shortfall that the fire district had for debt,” said Andrew Spencer, borough manager. “When I say shortfall, (I mean) it’s mostly a cash flow need, because as they do their project on the new station, they need to spend money to get the grant monies, and you have to have money in the till to be able to do that, and they were, essentially, running short on that so they needed some support.”

A guarantor promises to pay a borrower’s debt if the borrower defaults on their loan obligation.

Spencer stressed the debt will be the fire district’s to pay back, and not responsibility of the municipalities.

“We are guaranteeing that they will repay the debt,” council President Mary Hess said. “The reason why we would do that is because we give them millage, tax money. We are guaranteeing that we will continue to pay them millage so they will have the funds to pay their debt.”

According to Spencer, Zelienople will cover 20% of the debt to build a new fire station, which is about $560,000. The new, 13,500-square foot firehouse will be at 424 S. Main St., Zelienople, and is expected to cost $7.7 million.

“If, for some unforeseen reason, if the fire district were to cease to exist, go bankrupt (or any other) unforeseen crisis occurred, the debt would fall back on the guarantor,” Spencer said. “We don’t anticipate this as an issue, but that is what that means.”

Council also voted to approve the issuance of a debt obligation for the Harmony Fire District.

According to Spencer, since the Harmony Fire District will be taking on the debt for the new fire station, the debt will be considered tax-exempt through the Internal Revenue Code. The Harmony Fire District was required to hold a public hearing and did so on Aug. 3.

“This is required because we are the host municipality,” Spencer said. “In other words, the facility we are funding is in our jurisdiction, it is required that this council approve that the hearing was held and sign off on this tax-exempt status.”

Council members also voted to re-approve the land development and lot consolidation for the site of the fire station.

According to Spencer, the fire department and their contractor missed the 90-day window to submit the application for the land development plans to the Butler County Planning Commission, and needed re-approval.

“This is just a procedural issue to get them through that hurdle. Once this is approved, they can sign and get this submitted, said Thomas Thompson, Gannett Fleming senior project manager.

Council voted to remove the residency requirement for non-uniformed employees. Previously, employees were required to live within a 15-mile air radius around the borough.

According to Spencer, this change for non-uniformed employees reflects the change July 28 made eliminating the same requirement for uniformed employees.

Council also unanimously voted Monday to alter the borough’s policy on reporting sexual harassment.

“This requires that it be in writing,” Spencer said. “There is a form to be completed by the person alleging any kind of sexual harassment to make it more of a formal proceeding.”

According to Hess, there was not an incident that sparked this change to the policy but rather the desire to “clean up” the policy.

“The biggest thing was to get away from any kind of hearsay of, ‘Well, I told my boss verbally,’” Spencer said. “That is going to go away — it has to be in writing.”