After we published our last story on July 9th (Block Party Street Closure & Explosion In Valley) we received an email from the Borough that our story required some "correction".

In our story, we asked why the request for a block party and road closure on Lincoln Ave was not brought to Council's attention, like so many other requests have before. The email included a page of instructions, and pointed out that "there is no mention of any Council action being needed".

It continued by saying the Resolution we mentioned in the story (Resolution 2023-213) was "for a Temporary Road Closure, not a Block Party. While one may be inclusive of the other, they are not the same". That had us wondering what was meant, since it is a single form used for a block party and road closure request.

Based on this email response, we decided to OPRA any road closure or block party request from the past several years. This is to see how these requests were referenced in Council meetings.

The block party & road closure requests returned to us in this OPRA request were checked against meeting agendas & meeting minutes. All of the documents received from our OPRA were included on Council Meeting agendas. Either under Communications, New Business, or a Resolution.

At Monday night's council meeting, a question was asked about what the actual process is when a resident submits these requests. Unfortunately, neither the Mayor nor the Council had a clear answer.

After the resident was explaining her question regarding this very issue, Councilwoman Dayna Camacho interjected "Point of order, Mr. Mayor," to which those in the audience seemed to chuckle. Councilwoman Camacho went on to state that the block party in Lost Valley had nothing to do with the people who set off the explosive device.

How come she was interjecting, when the tragic incident was not even brought up as part of this resident's question? We already know that the people responsible for the tragic incident were not related to her block party. The question at hand was simply the process involved, and why some requests get treated as Resolutions, and others do not.

No one could explain why some requests are communications, and others are resolutions, and we still have not received a response as to why the request for the Lincoln Avenue block party wasn't brought in front of Council at all.

All Mayor Richard Onderko had to say was "I agree, we will look into it, and make sure that it's consistent going forward."

The only difference we see is that block party road closure request for Lincoln Avenue was submitted by sitting Councilwoman Dayna Camacho, and all of the others were not. All we do know is the process is not consistent or clear, and it needs to be. Council should consider solidifying the process by means of Ordinance.