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Muncy Borough Council spent much of its recent meeting discussing the vacant borough manager's position and whether to fill the job.
Borough residents and small business owners called for council to work together toward solving the matter as well as other issues facing the community.
Since the dismissal of Charles Hall as borough manager by council in October, the position has remained unfilled.
Meanwhile, the resignation of Jeff Sholtis as borough treasurer has left Muncy with a single employee, Katie Hakes, assuming various extra duties.
Council officially accepted his resignation during the meeting.
"It's my personal opinion we don't need a borough manager," Councilwoman Brooke Bishop said.
Cindy Appleman, a Muncy business owner, suggested council form a committee to take up the question of hiring a borough manager.
"I don't see how you can survive with only one full-time employee," she said.
Another resident noted that other surrounding municipalities operated without borough managers.
George Henry said it would be prudent to have job descriptions for municipal employees.
"We need to figure out if we need a borough manager," he said.
The next step, he added, would be to decide if the position is full-time or part-time.
"To make Katie do everything is not the way to go," he said.
Council later took up discussion on the 2024 budget.
The spending plan was reopened after questions were raised at the Jan. 2 meeting about the need for a half-mill tax increase approved by council in December but later vetoed by Mayor Jonathan Ort.
The budget appeared on the agenda for consideration by council at the most recent meeting.
However, more questions arose when council members couldn't agree on what spending plan they were either to approve or reject.
Among the options was a budget that held the line on property taxes and another that included an increase from 5.3 to 5.5 mills.
Questions also were raised about whether the budget included a line item for hiring a borough manager.
Borough solicitor Chris Kenyon told council it needed to know what spending plan it was considering before taking any vote.
"Proper documentation is not in front of everybody," he said. "I am just going to caution you on how to proceed."
Council eventually agreed to table the budget and to have its finance committee take up the spending plan before it is brought back to the full council for consideration.
Council also discussed the need to use grant funding for infrastructure needs and other projects.
"Grants will either make or break Muncy Borough," former Councilwoman Linda Stein said.
She called on the borough to enact "sound accounting" measures as it moves forward.
"I'd like to see council work together," Kim Walker, a Muncy business owner and Muncy School District Board member, said.
He called on council to avoid personal agendas and to be more transparent.
Collaboration will lead to council accomplishing more, he added.
In other action, council approved the resignation of borough police officer Rebekkah Clark.
Council met in executive session following the meeting to consider personnel and legal matters.