Irwin reaches deal with new Cafe Supreme owner on $11,100 garbage bill

Robert Juliano moved a step closer to owning the Cafe Supreme restaurant in Irwin after reaching a tentative agreement with Irwin Borough to pay more than $11,000 in delinquent garbage bills that had piled up from the restaurant’s previous owner.

Juliano paid Irwin council $3,000 toward the unpaid garbage bills that had accumulated when Kris Aley owned and operated the restaurant at 200 Main St. Juliano promised he would then make $175 payments for 52 consecutive weeks, for an additional $9,100. Juliano said he did not want to make a payment greater than $3,000 for the garbage bill owned by the previous operator.

Zachary Kansler, borough solicitor, has written the agreement, which requires Aley’s signature, Borough Manager Valerie Morton said. Aley and his wife, Sheri, who are North Huntingdon residents, still own the Cafe Supreme property on Main Street.

Kris Aley could not be reached for comment.

Juliano said he has been operating the restaurant near the Lamp Theatre since mid-February under a management agreement with Aley.

“We’re trying to get this end of town booming again,” Juliano said.

In August 2018 the borough filed a lien against the Aleys for failing to pay $1,061 in delinquent sewage bills, plus $9,270 in delinquent garbage bills, for service at the cafe. The borough amended the complaint in March, stating the Aleys owed $11,111 in unpaid garbage bills.

Juliano said he would be compensated for what he pays to settle the delinquent garbage bills when he purchases the property. He said he hopes to close on the sale when the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board approves his liquor license application, which he believes will occur in June. At that time, Juliano intends to rename the restaurant Brandy’s, which was its original name, he said.

In addition to operating Cafe Supreme, Juliano and his wife, Shannon, who are North Huntingdon residents, operate The Olive Pit, across Main Street from Cafe Supreme. They opened that business in April 2018.

“We just saw the opportunity and it fell into place,” Juliano said of the chance to buy Cafe Supreme. Before going into business, Juliano had been a paramedic for a contractor for U.S. Steel Corp.’s Mon Valley plants.

Aley was able to stave off a Westmoreland County tax sale of the property in September 2017. The county granted him an extension until the September 2018 property tax sale, to pay $13,903 in back taxes, according documents filed in the Westmoreland County Prothonotary’s office.

In June 2010, Irwin won a default judgement against Aley and his business, Supreme Enterprises Inc., for $8,138 in unpaid business privilege taxes from 2004 through 2009.