Munhall Borough Council on March 18 approved a package of administrative and capital actions, including advertising an R‑2 zoning ordinance to permit limited multifamily use in vacant churches and schools, adopting a mechanism to set a yearly fee schedule by resolution, hiring an administrative assistant, authorizing a Main Street survey, appointing a third‑party building inspector, purchasing a replacement F‑350 truck and filling a council vacancy.

Council members said the R‑2 zoning change aims to encourage conversion of vacant institutional buildings to residential use. The planning commission and borough solicitor had discussed whether to allow limited business uses in the zone; council members said they were not comfortable adding business uses to the residential zone and voted to advertise the ordinance as drafted to allow multifamily residential only. “It’s strictly a residential zone; introducing a business use is going to create real challenges,” one council member said during discussion.

The council also voted to advertise an ordinance that establishes a general schedule of fees, costs and charges and allows the borough to update fees annually by simple resolution. Solicitor Greg explained the measure does not set current fee amounts but creates a mechanism so fees can be adjusted yearly without passing a new ordinance. “This doesn’t set any fee amounts. It’s just saying we’re setting a fee schedule to be updated by resolution,” he told council.

Separately, council authorized $4,000 to fund a survey of Main Street to clarify the scope of a rehabilitation project from Miller to Emerson; council members said current project estimates will be refined after that survey. The meeting packet listed approximately $500,000–$560,000 in various subfunding sources for Main Street work; staff said they must spend existing funds before applying for additional grants.

Council reviewed proposals from three third‑party building inspection firms and appointed the firm listed in the packet as “CODSYS” (referred to in the presentation as a contracting option) and indicated it would negotiate final fees and contract terms before final execution. The code enforcement officer recommended MDIA and noted local inspector availability as a consideration; council voted to proceed with the appointed provider and to continue fee negotiations before signing any contract.

On capital and personnel matters, council approved purchase of a used Ford F‑350 at the quoted price of $46,120, and approved contingent hire of Taylor Morgan as administrative assistant at $20 per hour pending required background checks. Payroll and non‑payroll bills for February were approved at the meeting.

Council also handled several administrative motions: it voted to advertise a change to the planning commission ordinance regarding the number of members, authorized $3,300 for printing and mailing tax bills, approved a traffic light maintenance agreement reviewed by the borough solicitor and engineer, approved installation of a resident‑donated free little library in a borough park, and tabled a Munhall CARES storage agreement for further review.

Finally, council filled a vacancy on council. After nominations and multiple roll‑call votes, Ross Firestone was appointed to the vacant seat by a majority vote to serve the remainder of the unexpired term (approximately nine months, as stated at the meeting). Council recorded the roll‑call vote for that appointment in the minutes.

Several items were approved by voice vote without recorded roll call (minutes, advertised ordinances, fee schedule, planning commission change, tax bill mailing, traffic light agreement, free library, survey and vehicle purchase); the meeting minutes indicate those motions passed unanimously or by voice vote. Where council asked for further work, staff and the solicitor were directed to return with contract details, final fee schedules, or further information at the next meeting.