BURNETTOWN -- It's on the books but it hasn't taken effect.

The Burnettown business license ordinance will become a reality as of July 1, but won't go into effect. Monday night's town council meeting saw the third reading of the ordinance for the formation of a steering committee to take a closer look at the business license ordinance, which would be tabled for further discussion during council's executive session. The council voted  4-0 after returning from executive session to postpone the date the business license will go into effect.

"We're trying to form an ad hoc committee for the business license ordinance that will provide us with input from the business owners and the  citizens," said Wayne Benson, Burnettown mayor. "We need the business license ordinance in place, so the municipality can continue to grow and evolve. There are a lot of different projects the money generated by the business license can be used for. The money from the ordinance will go into the general fund."

An ad hoc committee will be formed, and will be comprised of two members of the Horse Creek Merchants Association, two Burnettown residents and two members from council. The petitions are going to be sent into the  voters registration office for name verification, with a deadline of Aug. 15  being set, in order to get the referendum included on the November election  ballot.

A change of the form of town government from a strong mayor and weak council, to a weak mayor and strong council was voted on in a secret ballot,  with two votes in favor and another two votes opposed.  Councilman Kenneth Ferguson was not in attendance at the meeting.

"I hated to see the motion get tabled for the form of government change," said Mel Minitor, Horse Creek Merchants' Association.  "The ad hoc committee will meet with the council members who are appointed to the committee. We've presented council with a 55-page petition of names that will allow us to vote on repealing the business license ordinance. If council doesn't move on this immediately, the stall tactics that they're using will cost the citizens of Burnettown more money, and the referendum won't be on the November ballot, and a special election will have to be held creating additional expense for the town's residents."

Also on the meeting's agenda was an update about the Veteran's Park. A Memorial Day program was held at the facility June 4.

"We'll continue to support the veterans park and their efforts," said Wayne  New, councilman during the meeting.