When: Akron Council meeting, April 22.
What happened: The Akron school building at 22 N. 7th St., built as the borough’s school about 100 years ago, will now include a residential use after council unanimously approved a development plan for the property.
Details: Cordell Martin of the Bowmansville-based Wise Choice Properties, the building’s owner, sought approval to create two apartments on the second floor of the old brick structure.
Background: At present, the building houses the Akron Nutrition Center on the first floor and the print shop of Akron Mayor John McBeth in the basement. The second floor is vacant.
The plan: The developer wants to create an 850-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment on the northern end of the building and a 1,250-square-foot, three-bedroom unit on the southern portion.
Quotable: “This planned use continues with the vision to provide safe, reasonable housing in Akron Borough,” Martin told council.
Borough codes: The building already has enough sewer and water capacity and meets the borough code on required parking. The code requires 1.5 spaces per residential unit and two spaces for commercial. The school’s parking lot, Martin said, has “20-plus lined spaces.”
Quotable: “The health-food store on the first floor only needs 11, so there is ample parking for both the apartments and the commercial use,” Martin said.
What’s next: The next step is for the developer to obtain a building permit.
New software: Council voted to switch firms supplying the borough’s financial management technology.
Details: Akron will purchase Caselle Government Accounting software from Dallas Data Systems Inc. of Pottstown, severing ties with Freedom Systems, which was recently bought by a Nebraska-based company.
This Nebraska firm, said Akron’s financial administrator, Valerie Wagner, only recently got into the financial management software business. Wagner said she took part in a webinar with the firm and said, “it was not very encouraging.”
Urgency: Wagner suggested a degree of urgency since she had no idea when Freedom Systems would migrate Akron’s materials to new owner.
Quotable: “I’m really concerned about the new company and wondering if they will be sold too, and where will we stand in all of this?” Wagner said.
The cost: An unbudgeted item, the switchover will cost $47,680, which includes $12,000 for training and setup and $4,000 for conversion. Assistant Borough Manager Sue Davidson said 20% of the funds will come from general reserve money and 40% each from sewer and water reserve funds.
More: Wagner liked that Dallas Data Systems was in Pottstown, making it convenient for her to attend training classes.
What’s next: The new software will be used to handle payroll, general ledger, accounts payable, utility management, online payments, cash receipts and other finance-related items.
Next meeting: Akron Council will meet again on May 13 at borough hall.
