MARS — Borough Council approved its Veteran Banner Program on Monday, July 24, with applications being taken in the coming weeks.

“I’m going to email the company tomorrow, and then whenever they can get the landing page up, we can start taking applications,” said Amy Brown, the borough’s assistant secretary and treasurer. “The banners won’t go up until Memorial Day.”

The program will allow residents to sponsor banners with the names of service members, with priority given to residents. The 30-by-60-inch banners will include the veteran's name and image, with the application being completed online or in person.

“So they can do either — if you have an older person who wants to come and fill it out, we have a paper application,” Brown said. “You can also do it on the website, but then you have to mail a check.”

The cost of sponsorship is still being determined, and Brown said estimates were between $125 and $150 to help offset material and labor costs.

The program is run through Military Tribute Banners, according to Brown, with the company that has run the program in other municipalities — Troop Banners — being unavailable.

“They did get in contact with us, but they were very busy,” Brown said. “And we had already kind of started this process.”

Banners will be displayed on light poles in the borough from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. Mayor Gregg Hartung said they would also be displayed from utility poles, pending permission.

Mars Veterans of Foreign Wars will work cooperatively with the borough to roll out the program.

Borough council will also consider upgrading their emergency alert system, Code Red, to a more “user-friendly” program called TextMyGov.

“It’s essentially replacing Code Red, but we would also be adding the ability for residents to text the borough,” Brown said.

For residents enrolled in Code Red, the system currently alerts them to emergencies via call or text, according to Brown, with the proposed system allowing residents to directly interact with the borough.

“If they see a pothole, they can text ‘pothole’ to this certain number, and then it’ll give them an automated response,” Brown said. “And then we can do a flow of questions so its like, ‘Where is this located? Can you send us a picture?’”

A presentation on the system will be given at the borough’s next council meeting, Aug. 7.

Council members will also meet next week with Conrad Pfeifer, director of Quality EMS, concerning rising costs and staffing shortages for the service.

“They’re struggling, like all the other municipalities, and they would like us to make a committee and talk to them, and see what the best plan of action would be,” said Christine Clutter, council member. “They’re hitting all the municipalities they cover.”

Clutter said the service hopes that by working collectively with the municipalities “they don’t have to shut the doors.”

“Inflation and labor costs,” President Mike Fleming said. “That’s it in a nutshell.”