Plum officials appoint storm water task force members, plan to meet in January

Plum officials selected their storm water task force members and plan to have the group’s first formal meeting next month.

Council unanimously voted Monday night to appoint residents Ronald Costa, Ricci Vigno, David Reynolds, Carlos Escalante and Carey Cole to the team designed to address and prioritize flooding issues in the borough.

Councilman Dave Odom, also on the task force, said the borough received nine applicants and selected a diverse group of people with related qualifications.

“We reviewed the applicants’ information to include their background and relative experience, the areas of the borough that they resided in and why they wanted to be a member of the task force,” Odom said. “I’m pleasantly surprised with the individuals and the background that they posses.

“We’ve got folks who are master plumbers, involved in construction and engineering. Folks who have done water supply and drainage system installations, and folks who have been involved in emergency response. We have an excellent cross section of representation from within the community as well as experience that will assist us greatly in some of the plans that we have for the task force.”

Some of the tasks include a review of a 2010 study of the borough’s storm water management systems and finding ways to improve them, implementing an educational program for residents on storm water mitigation as well as reviewing and categorizing locations impacted by flooding.

The newly appointed members will join Odom, Councilman Paul Dern and councilman-elect Dave Vento in those efforts.

Odom said task force meetings will be closed-door committee sessions with updates provided at council workshops and voting meetings.

Council approved forming the task force in October as part of the borough’s response to severe July flooding. It’s first meeting is tentatively set for Jan. 23.

Escalante assists in storm water permitting for an engineering services company, Tetra Tech.

He thanked council for his appointment to the task force Monday night, and said he’s eager to work.

“Since that’s what my background is and that’s what I do, I figured it would be a good fit,” Escalante said. “I was affected by (the July storms), but not to the extent that some of the other folks were. I just want to be able to do some things to help some of the community members. Some people had $50,000, $60,000 of damage, and that shouldn’t happen.”