Hellertown Council approves 339 Main sidewalk exemption, adopts police pension buyback ordinance

Hellertown Borough Council was shorthanded at Monday night’s meeting but approved a handful of important items. Sidewalks remained a significant conversation topic to close out the month of June.

339 Main Street Sidewalk Exemption 

The longest discussion item of the night was an exemption request from Greg Peters, the owner of a property at 339 Main Street, who was on the agenda after a back-and-forth discussion related to a sidewalk and curb inspection letter he received from the borough’s zoning office.

Peters told council he received a letter months ago referencing Borough Ordinance 683 and directing him to have a sidewalk and curb inspection done. But by his reading of that ordinance, the inspection requirement at the time of a deed transfer falls on the property seller, not the buyer.

Peters said he learned only by checking the agenda that the borough had conducted a sidewalk inspection of his property on June 12. He pushed back on several findings he saw cited in the inspection documentation, including the curbing condition, hairline cracks in the concrete, vegetation in the expansion joints and an ADA ramp at the property line.

He noted that the ramp, which is outside a former dental office originally established at the property in 1976, predates modern ADA truncated-dome requirements by decades and, in his view, is not required to be retrofitted unless other changes are made to the work. Truncated domes are tactile warning surfaces featuring small bumps which are used to alert visually-impaired individuals to transitional zones between sidewalks and streets.

Zoning and Codes Officer Terri Fadem told council the borough’s standard sidewalk and curb inspection process–the one she would have run during a deed transfer–flagged failed sections of curb in two areas, an ADA ramp that does not meet current truncated-dome standards and patched concrete sections that are uneven. She said she went out at the borough manager’s direction so council would have current photographs in hand for the discussion.

“If this had been done prior to the sale of the unit, I would have failed it,” Fadem said.

According to Northampton County property records, Greg and Deborah Peters purchased the property from Gary and Linda Peters in August 2025 for $1.

Councilman Larry O’Donnell added, “If we missed it or it didn’t get done at the proper timeline, then we revert to a different kind of criteria. (It) would be a complaint ordinance or complaint-triggered inspection, which didn’t happen, so I don’t think we need to pursue this. Going back, it’s digging up old history. We missed it.”

After many minutes of discussion, O’Donnell moved to grant the exemption on the basis that the deed-transfer inspection was not properly executed in front of the sale and that the property had not generated a complaint. The motion was approved.

Police Pension Amendment Adopted

The headline policy item was the adoption of Ordinance 862, which amends Chapter 55 of the borough code to allow Hellertown to offer the optional benefit created by Pennsylvania’s Act 49 of 2024–the police pension service credit buyback law that took effect after Gov. Josh Shapiro signed it in 2024.

Under Ordinance 862, full-time Hellertown police officers who have satisfied the pension plan’s vesting requirements gain the option to purchase up to five years of pension service credit for prior part-time or full-time police service performed in a police department.

The amount due is computed by multiplying the normal cost rate for the Hellertown pension plan–capped at 10 percent–by the officer’s average annual rate of compensation over the first three years of service with the Hellertown department, then multiplying that product by the number of years and fractional years of creditable prior service, with interest at 4.75 percent compounded annually from the date of initial entry into full-time service to the date of payment.

The ordinance carries the same statutory limitations baked into Act 49. Officers can’t double-dip on years they’re receiving or entitled to receive credit for from another pension fund, and the combined total of prior police service and credited military service cannot exceed five years.

The application process under the ordinance routes officers through the borough manager’s office for verification of years of service, requires a copy of the prior service record signed by a police chief, municipal manager, clerk or chief financial officer, and is then reviewed by the borough’s finance manager and borough actuary. The review process may take up to 90 days. Approved applicants have 30 days from approval to submit the required payment to the police pension fund managers.

O’Donnell, who has been working on the borough’s police pension framework, said council’s pension board held what he called a “very positive” meeting in May focused on building a more data-driven contribution plan going forward and separating pension contribution discussions from broader compensation discussions. He said more updates will come after the next quarterly meeting.

The motion carried unanimously.

Administrative Assistant Resignation Accepted

Council accepted the resignation of the borough’s administrative assistant, effective June 8, and authorized advertising the position.

Cover letters, resumes and completed employment applications should be sent to Hartranft at [email protected]. The application deadline is June 26.

Other News & Reports

• Hartranft said the Hellertown Borough Pool opened for the summer last Saturday, June 13, with what Hartranft called a huge attendance day and only minor first-day glitches. She thanked pool staff for stepping in across roles to make the opening a success.
• Police Chief James Baitinger reminded residents that National Night Out 2026 falls on Tuesday, Aug. 4.
• The chief also highlighted a recent cooking oil theft that occurred in Hellertown. He said thieves typically use a rental truck with a pumping system to extract used cooking oil for resale as biofuel. In this case, the truck had a malfunction during the operation, spilling oil in the area of Main and High streets. The department is now working with neighboring jurisdictions that are investigating similar thefts in the area.

The next Hellertown Borough Council meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 6 at 7 p.m. at Borough Hall.