Since a municipality had to apply for the grant, a representative of the garden club, who has since stepped down from a position of authority, approached Council with the request.

PennDOT put the garden in but it had to be taken over by the borough a year later. Time is up and there is some unfinished business concerning this since the garden club should take care of it but if anything happens to that group, the borough would automatically be in charge of the maintenance.

A Mr. Mealy and Mr. Stover were on hand to represent the Green Anchors Club. In doing so, they imparted that the club members were willing to take care of the garden in question. A vote still had to be taken by the general membership but they were willing to take care of maintaining the region.

Mealy said that he wanted to clear up some things including a scenario in which a plant died. He was asking which group, Council or the club, would decide on what plant would replace the dead one. This was just an example that he was giving.

After that, a brief history of the whole scene was given including that when the club had asked the borough to go for the grant, there were two requests. One was for the borough to apply and the other was for them to obtain some sort of watering device for the club.

Stover explained that the individual who had been the president of Green Anchors at the time “jumped on it...facilitated it.” He said that she did so without the formal approval via vote of the club. Of course Council would have had no way of knowing if a vote had been taken or not on the part of Green Anchors and went ahead with the approval.

Holabaugh said that Millin could prepare some sort of agreement between the two entities concerning the maintenance and Mealy indicated that that was the reason for their visit to the meeting.

Councilwoman Monahan spoke up and gave her interpretation of why Stover and Mealy had attended the meeting.

She said that she was gathering that the past agreement between the two would now be null and void. Also, the garden needs to be maintained by some group. In the future, the grounds might need some repairs, etc. She then said what it boils down to is that the club needs to work with the solicitor to develop an agreement and nothing could be done until that time.

Holabaugh said before that could happen, they need to find out what the club would be willing to do. Stover said that there is no insurance held by the club and asked what would happen if someone got injured. Holabaugh said it is borough property.

The mayor spoke up and said that ultimately the responsibility would fall back on the borough in terms of the maintenance, etc., if the club were to fold. He said that the borough has been approached many times for things like this and had not agreed due to what is happening here.

Stover said he agreed and explained that it wasn't the garden club that did this but was a past president who was over zealous about it.

Holabaugh told them to come up with an agreement within their group so that Council would know what they were willing to do. At that time, Millin could go over things and go from there.

It appeared that Mealy and Stover were both willing participants. Mealy said he thought the borough should give them the agreement that they should follow but Holabaugh and the mayor voiced that it would work best the other way around.

The mayor said the very bottom line is that if the club dismantled in the future, the borough would be in charge period.

Millin said that they could get together and figure out what steps to take and didn't see anything too urgent about the matter.

On a lighter note, Council was notified by the Historical Society that a ceremony would be held on September 5, at which time a courtyard would be dedicated. Anyone interested in speaking at the event was invited to do so. The ceremony will take place at 1 PM at the museum on Third Street in Conneaut Lake.

The next Conneaut Lake Borough Council meeting will take place on September 9, at 7 p.m., at the ambulance service building. All borough residents are invited and encouraged to attend.