Summary of July 2026 Carlisle Borough Council Meeting | Thursday, July 9, 2026 | Huge Trash Trucks, A Brand New Sheetz, and Dangerous Dirt Bikes
The July 2026 Carlisle Borough Council Meeting was filled with major decisions that will quickly impact the daily lives and wallets of everyone in the town. Mayor Schultz was traveling out of state, so the Deputy Mayor stepped up to run the meeting, playfully asking the crowd for patience if she made any mistakes.
After she accidentally forgot to ask the secretary to take the roll call, the meeting began with a quiet moment of silence. This thoughtful time honored a mother and son from a nearby town who lost their lives in recent severe storms, while also thanking the brave first responders and volunteers who helped clean up the storm damage.
Here’s what happened in the meeting:
- A Massive Trash Takeover: The town plans to run its own trash and recycling services to save taxpayers money and stop yearly price hikes.
- Big Building Approvals: Town leaders officially approved a new Sheetz, a community center fire alarm system, and a major water fee study.
- Scary Park Incidents: Citizens reported teens playing with air guns and a severe lack of drinking water for kids playing at local parks.
- Crumbling Roads: Residents complained about dangerous potholes, deep flooding, and kids recklessly riding dirt bikes through the streets.
- Surveys and Summer Fun: The town launched a brand new parks survey for citizens and celebrated a successful summer festival season.
The Massive Trash Takeover: Saving Millions
The most dramatic topic of the night was a bold plan to totally change how Carlisle handles its trash and recycling collection. Assistant Borough Manager Richard explained that starting on January 1, 2028, the town will run its own trash program in-house instead of relying on outside companies who constantly raise their prices by 7% every single year. To fund this big gamble, the town will use its own capital reserves to give the Solid Waste Fund a 20-year internal loan.
This money will be used to buy a brand new fleet of garbage trucks. Originally, the plan was to buy five massive 25-yard trucks for $1.6 million, but after doing homework and inspecting a sample vehicle, they decided to buy three 27-yard trucks and two smaller 20-yard trucks for $1.35 million. These smaller trucks will easily navigate tight corners and narrow lanes without hitting parked cars or blocking traffic. The town must order these new trucks by this August to beat a new EPA engine law taking effect in 2027.
Buying them early locks in current prices and saves taxpayers $110,000 per truck, which is a total savings of $550,000. The town is also aggressively negotiating to keep the current trash bins so residents will not have to swap them out when the new program begins. Furthermore, they met with Penn Waste, who fully agreed to take all of the recycling, even if glass bottles accidentally get broken by the new trucks. Finally, for an extra $6,000 per truck, the borough might add special dumpster attachments to pick up commercial trash, which could create a new revenue stream to keep residential taxes low.
Big Building Approvals: A New Sheetz and Safer Buildings
The council also quickly moved through their regular voting agenda, which included a “consent agenda” full of routine items they can approve all at once without a long public debate. A major piece of development news for local drivers was the final approval of land development plans and special waivers for the highly anticipated Sheetz rebuild. This means the popular gas station and convenience store will soon see a complete transformation. Town leaders also took immediate steps to make sure local buildings remain safe and running smoothly.
They approved a $59,400 contract with Triangle Fire Protection Inc. to completely replace the aging fire alarm system at the Stewart Community Center, ensuring the families and seniors who use the building are protected. Below the streets, the council wants to make sure water pipes stay strong, so they signed a contract to pay Gannett Fleming up to $30,000 for a deep water study.
This study will look closely at “tapping fees,” which is the one-time charge builders pay to hook up to town pipes, with $16,000 dedicated to water studies and $14,000 toward wastewater. Finally, the council voted to legally remove a handicap parking space at 163 West North Street and officially appointed Robert Shutt to the Carlisle Borough Municipal Authority to serve a term lasting through the end of 2030.
Scary Park Incidents: Kids Without Water and Air Guns
Things took an emotional turn when frustrated citizens stepped up to the podium to speak about dangerous issues happening in the town’s public parks. A resident named Kitsy Chappelle shared a very worrying story about a recent situation at Memorial Park. She told the council that she personally saw a group of 10 to 12 unsupervised teenagers hanging around the park with air guns, which resulted in three police cars being called to the scene.
Chappelle also pointed out a huge safety failure regarding the park’s basic facilities. Because the nearby Hope Station building is locked and not open on a regular basis, the kids playing outside have no adults to watch them, no working bathrooms, and absolutely no access to drinking water in the hot sun. She was so worried about the children suffering in the heat that she actually took a group of them to a nearby warehouse just so they could get a drink of water and safely use a restroom. She strongly urged the town leaders to step up and provide much better supervision and open facilities for the youth before a tragedy occurs.
Crumbling Roads: Flipping Police Cars and Deep Flooding
Another passionate citizen, Charmaine Hodges, who has lived in Carlisle for over 80 years, delivered a blistering report about how bad the local roads have become. She first told the council that she was highly concerned about children recklessly riding dirt bikes and scooters near the Penn Street community park, noting that they were almost getting hit by passing cars.
Hodges then moved on to the terrible physical condition of the streets, expressing deep frustration over severe flooding and massive potholes at major town intersections, specifically calling out the roads near the Bosler Library and Weis Market. She complained loudly about huge humps and bumps located on High Street, Spring Garden Street, and Ridge Street.
Her most shocking claim of the night was about the deep potholes on Ridge Street, warning that the road damage is so severe that police vehicles might actually turn over if they hit the bumps too fast while chasing a suspect or responding to an emergency. She begged the council to stop plastering up the misfit spots and to start doing real, permanent work to fix the town’s crumbling intersections once and for all.
Surveys and Summer Fun: Fireworks and Bluegrass
The meeting wrapped up on a very positive note with exciting updates about community events and a call for residents to share their input. Councilor Roose announced that the brand new Carlisle Open Parks Survey is officially live for anyone in town to take. The borough wants to know exactly what citizens think about the green spaces and what specific improvements they want to see added.
Residents can easily take the short survey by going online to carlislepa.org/openparksurvey or by scanning a special QR code found on flyers handed out at the parks. Councilor Bohn then took a moment to give a huge shout-out to all the amazing volunteers and local first responders who helped run the 49th Annual Summer Fair. He specifically thanked the police, the Goodwill EMS team, and the fire departments from both Carlisle and North Middleton Township for keeping everyone safe during the Stars Burst Over Carlisle fireworks show on July 3rd.
Despite the blistering summer heat, the fireworks went off perfectly, and the North Middleton crew even used a drone unit to take cool aerial photographs of the celebration. Finally, Councilor Stewie added that he is really looking forward to attending the upcoming Bluegrass on the Grass music event.
Looking Ahead: The Final Trash Vote
In conclusion, the July 2026 Carlisle Borough Council Meeting showed exactly how much hard work goes into keeping a busy town running and planning for its long-term survival. Even with the mayor traveling out of state, the Deputy Mayor successfully handled a massive amount of town business, from aggressively trying to save taxpayers money to listening to very real safety concerns from frustrated citizens.
The town is clearly betting on itself to provide better trash service than a third-party vendor ever could, but the local residents made it incredibly obvious that the town’s parks and streets still need a massive amount of attention right now. All eyes will now be focused on the next big meeting in August. That is when the council will face its deciding moment and vote on whether to officially pull the trigger and order the $1.35 million fleet of new garbage trucks.
