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Mother of Wilkes-Barre man was victim in Orlando nightclub shooting

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Duryea hires three part-time street laborers

<p>ASHLEY &#8212; The council on Tuesday voted to approve an agreement between Luzerne County and the borough that results in the borough receiving a $155,000 Community Development Block Grant.</p><p>The funds will be split between the borough and the fire department.</p><p>The borough&#8217;s $77,500 will go into the general fund and pay to improve two streets.</p><p>&#8220;Paving is expensive,&#8221; borough Manager Greg Gulick said.</p><p>The fire department will also receive $77,500, but the department will be reimbursing the borough for six air packs the department recently purchased for firefighters.</p><p>Councilmen Gerry Maldonado and Frank Sorokach would rather see the money being used for recreation, as they claim was done in the past.</p><p>&#8220;We can only apply every three years,&#8221; Gulick said. &#8220;It can only be allocated for certain things.&#8221;</p><p>During the meeting, resident Don Kane complained about the borough&#8217;s alleged use of sewer funds for other projects. Kane cited the sewer ordinance from 1994, saying it does not state the funds can be used for other projects. The only amendment was to lower the rate per household from $100 to $50, he said.</p><p>&#8220;There is nothing in here that says that funds can be used for anything else other than sewers or sewer-related damage,&#8221; Kane said.</p><p>Kane said he was made aware of the use of sewer funds for road paving a few months back and has brought up the ordinance at the last three meetings and nothing has been done.</p><p>Borough Solicitor William Vinsko Jr. said that while he has to review the ordinance, he believes the borough has been allowed to use the money since it isn&#8217;t explicitly stated in the ordinance that they cannot use those funds.</p><p>Council Chairman John Gibbons said that he doesn&#8217;t believe the borough has used any sewer funds for other projects this year, but acknowledged council may have done that in the past.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t believe (current officials) have done anything in violation of that sewer ordinance,&#8221; Gibbons said.</p><p>In other business, council:</p><p>&#8226; Hired Michael Russell as a part-time, per diem street department worker because several of the street department workers are out with injuries.</p><p>&#8226; Approved the way minutes are now drafted. Vinsko&#8217;s office will write summary drafts of the minutes instead of doing a complete minutes transcript.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Melanie Mizenko</p><p>mmizenko@www.timesleader.com</p><p>and Brigid Edmunds</p><p>bedmunds@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p>What&#8217;s next</p><p>The next council meeting will be held 6:30 p.m. July 12 at the Ashley Fireman&#8217;s Park, 160 Ashley St.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Melanie Mizenko at 570-991-6116 or on Twitter @TL_MMizenko. Reach Brigid Edmunds at 570-991-6119</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Ashley Borough lands $150,000 grant