City Council

CITY OF MCKEESPORT REGULAR MEETING WEDNESDAY 7:00 P.M. JUNE 1, 2016 This Meeting of Council was called to order on the above-stated date at the above-stated time after the Pledge of Allegiance and a Moment of Silence by Vice President of Council Jamie Brewster-Filotei with the following Members of Council present: RC-1 PRESENT: V. FAWN WALKER-MONTGOMERY, LUETHEL NESBIT, JIM BARRY, JAMIE BREWSTER-FILOTEI, TIMOTHY BROWN, KEITH SOLES. ABSENT: RICHARD DELLAPENNA Also present were Mayor Michael Cherepko, City Administrator Matthew Gergley, City Solicitor J. Jason Elash and members of the Administration. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: MOTION: Mr. Soles moved, seconded by Mr. Barry, “to approve the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of May 4, 2016.” RC-2 YEAS: WALKER-MONTGOMERY, NESBIT, BARRY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, BROWN, SOLES (6) NAYS:NONE (0) COMMUNICATIONS: Received the Fire Department Report for the month of May 2016. MAYOR’S REPORT: Mayor Cherepko said thank you and as he said last evening, we will be brief tonight as many of us will be running off to watch our Penguins play. I will be going to watch my daughter’s softball game so it should be an exciting evening. First, we have a special group of people with us this evening and I want to take this opportunity to present a Proclamation to the Altrusa International Club of McKeesport, and for many of us I think we see a lot of very familiar faces. Some are colleagues and all of them friends of either the School District and the community of McKeesport for sure and then we will ask somebody if all of you [1] want to come and accept it or however you want to handle it but Altrusa International Club of McKeesport they are celebrating their 75th Year. WHEREAS, Altrusa is an International Non-Profit Corporation that strives to build better communities through leadership, partnership, positivity and service, with a special focus on literacy and local needs through its evolving membership; and WHEREAS, the Altrusa International Club of McKeesport was chartered in 1941 as a women’s civic organization with its early projects including assistance to the Red Cross and the Blood Plasma Procurement Campaign and financial contributions for remodeling and building projects at the local McKeesport Hospital; and WHEREAS, the Altrusa International Club of McKeesport is known for reaching out to young readers by providing free books for school-aged children, and organizing literacy- focus craft activities at community events. They have provided other services to residents of local nursing and personal care homes; and WHEREAS, the Altrusa International Club of McKeesport has been recognized several times throughout its history for membership, growth and community outreach. NOW, THEREFORE, as Mayor of the City of McKeesport I do hereby recognize the Altrusa International Club of McKeesport for its members’ commitment to literacy and community service, which has led to a successful 75-year presence in our City. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and cause the Seal of the City to be affixed this 1st day of June, in the year of our Lord, 2016. Mayor Cherepko said other than that he only had a few things and would be brief this evening. Mr. Soles passed out some recreation activities last evening and once again he wanted to take the opportunity to spread the word. For the month of June, the Recreation Board, starting Friday, June 10th we have a movie in the Park, Utopia. Monday, June 13th will be our Grand Opening for the Renzie Spray Park that we have been waiting for. For those that were here last evening, Mr. Kondrosky was on public record that he said it would be ready and up and running. So we are excited for that as well. Thursday, June 16th is Good Neighbor Day in Downtown. Saturday, June 18th will be our Fishing Derby over at Lake Emilie and Sunday, June 19th is the Soap Box Derby. June 19th will also kick off our Summer Concert Series in the Park with the Vogues. So we have a lot of things going on out there at the Park. Some new things such as the Spray Park, we are exciting with that. The Basketball Courts we redesigned everything over behind the Fire Station we have 2 full Court Basketball courts now and with that we are [2] going to open up a little Summer Basketball for the kids. We are targeting this year Grades 5, 6, 7 and 8. We are going to have a league that plays a couple days a week. Mr. Jim Brown will be putting together that league and working with our Administration and Coach Grayson. We thought if you are going to have any Basketball in town with our kids obviously the Head Coach of our High School Basketball Team will be part of it as well and he will focus more on the instructional side of things. We are going to have a Clinic to take place and pamphlets will be at the school tomorrow or Friday. In addition to the league every Wednesday night for 6 weeks we are going to have Clinics where the kids can come and it will be Coach Grayson and all the Varsity Basketball Players. So I think, I remember what it was like growing up in McKeesport and in Middle School and going to watch Mr. Brown and some of the other ones on the High School Team and you really look up to those individuals and I think to take these individuals now and put them on a Basketball Court and let them coach them and work with them I think it is a win-win for everybody so we are very much looking forward to that collaborative effort. Also, the Triathlon is going on June 26thin Renzie. That is a Sunday and that will go from biking to swimming over at the High School pool that the School District has provided their swimming pool to use and with running on the Trail. It is pretty much an all morning event, 3-4 hours and we have people coming from all over and that is running through Senator Brewster’s Office, Allison Piccolino, the Chief of Staff that works in this building, his McKeesport Office, is pretty much organizing that event along with a couple partners in that, Linda Brewster, the Trail Committee. Once again, when you talk about working together for a better McKeesport you can see the different entities that are coming together to make that event a success. In addition to the Basketball Courts, all of which is through RAD, I think it is important to stress that because I realize all of the obstacles and challenges we have in our City and I do not want anyone to think, all too often you hear they are putting Basketball Courts in but I have potholes here, I have a house that needs torn down here. It’s not that we are picking those over those but these are Grants that are set aside and for those particular causes out at Renzie Park. We are also upgrading the Tennis Courts at Renzie which not only serve McKeesport residents but residents from all over other communities as well. In addition to the Tennis Courts we are going to officially kick off the Hockey facility as well. We have lights going up at the Hockey Arena, the deck hockey which was a collaborative effort between the [3] Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation and the City of McKeesport and Highmark. A lot of people said why haven’t you had leagues at this point, well what you have to understand is you pretty much can’t have hockey leagues without lights. Hockey is more of a Fall, Winter, Spring sport and as we know kids are in school until 3-4 p.m. and it is dark at 5 or 6 p.m. so without lights you can’t hold a league but there are going to be leagues being organized over there as well. We have a lot of activities going on with our youth. We talked on our Agenda this evening we are going to table the one Bill just so they can straighten out some paperwork. We have a new McHolme Construction will be building a building down behind the Rite Aid in Christy Park and moving their corporate office here and the building will also house some other opportunities as well, such as I think there is a law firm or 2 coming over to lease space as well and some others. We have lined up a plan which I really cannot get into details right now for the old Tri-Star location. We have retail store that will be coming in there and will take up 38,000 square feet of that building which is the majority and Community Life will take a part of it and there will be another 85,000 square feet when it is said and done out for a space that is yet to be determined. They will be doing an overhaul of that building as well. It will practically be a brand new building. They are looking to put anywhere from $7,000,000-$10,000,000 into that building so when you talk about development on that corridor as well. A couple of other things lined up, you hate to not be able to talk about things, but we have 2 developments that are coming into play and if everything lines up the one could bring probably around mid- 2017, probably about a year from now about 100-140 jobs to the City, good paying jobs with an average salary about $50,000 and we just have to make sure we follow through and everyone does their part. In this day and age there is not as much money available and things like that but I can tell you we have a commitment. The City has been, not to pat ourselves on the back, but Matt and Mr. Tedesco with Community Development, and this Administration have been very hands on and I think they are surprised at how easily they get in touch with us and how quickly they can schedule a meeting because we put that as a priority without question. There is another development that might come in as well, not as many jobs, probably about 40-50 decent paying and they definitely have already decided on McKeesport as their location and it is a matter of just working out the tangibles. Obviously as many of you know RIDC, all of the Mill Site property is not owned by the City of McKeesport. I could tell you if it was it would [4] be built but it is not owned by the City and RIDC, I never really understood it to be honest with you but it’s a situation where if they don’t have a space leased then they do not have to pay on their debt. So some people sit around and say well isn’t having somebody in these buildings better than having nothing but the answer for them is no because they are not paying on their debt because that was the agreement that they had. So sometimes getting them to hit the numbers where we want them to be doesn’t always happen but I will tell you on these 2 developments things are going really well and if the one doesn’t go over there we have a location elsewhere. We also have Vegely Welding who bought the old CAPCO building and they are also, he is purchasing the property right next to it so you are going to see right down there in front of Harrison Village all of that land will be occupied with a new business. Ryco is already there. They are a business nobody really pays much attention to but they are a large contractor and to be honest with you they have been one of our best selling points because Mr. Vegely said when he spoke to them they said we love it here and we don’t have any issues, things are good. So we have him coming in there and we have a couple things lined up also on that Walnut Street corridor as well. One is a business, the guy is pretty much ready to go full force ahead, a new window business that is going to come in on one of those lots and our Redevelopment Authority is in the process of really trying to acquire all of those vacant properties from 13th Street all the way down because once again once they are in our possession things can happen much more quickly. So there is a lot going on. I could go on and on and on but I know all too often we hear the negative and thought it would be a good opportunity to share some of the positive. Without working with this Council, this Council has been great to work with and we may not always agree on everything but at the end of the day we have very respectful discussions and at the end of the day we respect one another’s opinions and I think that has been very instrumental in the success of what we are having. I will tell you this, that’s not happening fast enough and I do not want anything to think I am not satisfied. Actually the hardest part of my job actually is learning to be patient. It is amazing how fast time goes and how little things happen but we have a new business coming to the Marina as well. Bought the building right up front there. A new boat business. They are going to be selling boats, working on boats and we have a couple of other opportunities down there at the Marina as well. The Marina is filled to capacity. There are no slips available for this year and 90% of those [5] boaters are not McKeesporters. So for all of those who talk about having that bad image of McKeesport, because that is what the news tries to portray us, and they do the same with the School District, and as a former educator, believe me my blood starts boiling. I know we have a first class School District and I will fight for them to the end but with the image we have we still have all these boaters. I was at an event Saturday night and I am not kidding when I tell you I was stopped no less than a half dozen times by people just to tell me how great the Marina is and how happy they are down there. Without exaggerating I would say it was probably closer to 8 or 9 people but I’ll be conservative and say 6. I mean it was just one after another. There are some good things going on there with the Palisades and we just have to keep focused on the positive. We could all sit around and say the glass is half full or is it half empty. Believe me we address the negative side day in and day out and that is why I don’t sleep much but I signed up for the job and I love what I do, I love the City and we are going to get it straightened out with the help of everybody. Without working together, it cannot happen. Other than that, that concludes my report. Vice President Brewster-Filotei said thank you Mayor. CITIZENS IN THE AUDIENCE: Mrs. Brewster-Filoteiasked Kathi Sanford to please approach the podium and state your name and address for the audience please. Good evening, my name is Kathi Sanford, 1038 Peebles Lane. I have patience like the Mayor said have patience but when I seen that fire go up last night at Colfax and Park Street, an abandoned house, it really scared me because there is one by my house that the Mayor said they will take care of but I just have to be patient. Please put me on top of that list. Mayor Cherepko asked what was the address for that house again? Ms. Sanford said 1035. Mayor Cherepko said ok you are 1038? Ms. Sanford said yes, I think it was 1035. Mayor Cherepko asked are the weeds high right now? Because what we will do in the meantime. Ms. Sanford said yes, that is the second thing I was going to ask, when the kids start back to work can they kill the weeds out there? Mayor Cherepko said we have a crew of kids out there now working, some of the high school kids, seniors. Ms. Sanford said it is like Jurassic Park back there, with groundhogs, raccoons and possums, even on your porch, because the weeds are [6] so high. Mayor Cherepko said demolition wise obviously we have got it there but at least will get it cleaned up for you. I can tell you now I was driving around last night texting my Public Works Director until about 2 a.m. and he tells me just go home and go to sleep but that doesn’t happen. I just gave him probably about 15-20 lots to add on to the list because we have these other kids and we are also partnered with other ones. Ms. Sanford said excuse me sir for interrupting but there are kids that hang around there and you don’t know what they are doing there and who knows if they have fire or matches or something. Mayor Cherepko said if that lot is not finished, as far as cut and everything by next Wednesday, call my office. I think it will get done sooner but call my office. Ms. Sanders said I appreciate it and thank you so much. NEW BUSINESS: ORDINANCENO. 16-007- BILL #24 – AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MCKEESPORT, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, APPROVINMG THE EDITING AND INCLUSION OF CERTAIN ORDINANCES AS PARTS OF THE VARIOUS COMPONENT CODES OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF MCKEESPORT, PENNSYLVANIA. MOTION: Mr. Soles moved, seconded by Mr. Barry “to approve Bill #24.” Mayor Cherepko said just for the public’s information, all this is all the Ordinances that are passed throughout the year, once a year or once every two years they come in and they just codify everything for all the Ordinances that were passed into our Code Book. RC-3 YEAS:WALKER-MONTGOMERY, NESBIT, BARRY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, BROWN, SOLES(6) NAYS: NONE (0) RESOLUTIONNO. 2016-018- BILL #25 – A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF MCKEESPORT, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, AUTHORIZING THE PROPER CITY OFFICIALS TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH STARFIRE CORPORATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING THE FIREWORKS DISPLAYS AS RENZIEHAUSEN PARK FOR JULY 4th (INDEPENDENCE DAY), AUGUST 18th (INTERNATIONAL VILLAGE), SEPTEMBER 5th (LABOR DAY), AND SEPTEMBER 11th (PATRIOT’S DAY). [7] MOTION: Ms. Walker-Montgomery moved, seconded by Mr. Brown “to approve Bill #25.” Mayor Cherepko said just for the public’s information, Starfire was the only company that bid on the fireworks this year. They are also the same company that put off the fireworks the last two years. Labor Day is the last day. The other ones I think are self-explanatory, July 4th, International Village last day, Labor Day is the conclusion of our Rib Fest which is filled with concerts for that whole weekend and lots of food, and Patriot’s Day is on September 11th this year and we are really looking to make something special out of that. Not to mention the committee that Mr. Brown brought up. We are going to start strategizing to really do something nice for Veteran’s Day. I think it would be a great opportunity, as you said, to bring back the parade and what not. We definitely are not going to worry about, I think we all agreed, Memorial Day Parade, White Oak has a great one and there is no reason to try to compete with them. Mr. Barry said, Mike, Tim and I discussed something I read in the Post-Gazette yesterday. The Boy Scouts somewhere up north do this march where each kid recognizes a Veteran and they walk from point A to point B. Now, they do a 3 mile walk but we were thinking about maybe we could wrap something around Veteran’s Day services here at the Memorial in McKeesport and maybe walk to the services at the Boys and Girls Club. So the actual participants are the folks walking on behalf of a Veteran under his name. I saved the article and I will share it with you but it is really good and it is meaningful and a lot of the kids, the Veterans they were representing they wore their name on their shirt and it was cool so I was thinking maybe family members or for folks who couldn’t walk or needed a ride, they could ride, folks in wheelchairs kids could push them, those types of things to include everyone. We can discuss it further but I thought it was a great idea. You know sometimes we try to reinvent the wheel when something is out there that maybe we can replicate. Mayor Cherepko said absolutely, sounds great. RC-4 YEAS: WALKER-MONTGOMERY, NESBIT, BARRY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, BROWN, SOLES(6) NAYS: NONE (0) [8] RESOLUTIONNO. 2016-019- BILL #26 – A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF MCKEESPORT, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, APPROVING A REVERSE SUBDIVISION REQUEST FROM WALNUT EDEN ASSOCIATES, LLC TO COMBINE TWO LOTS INTO ONE AT WALNUT STREET AND EDEN PARK BOULEVARD FOR THE PROPOSED CONSTRUCTION OF A COMMERCIAL OFFICE BUILDING. Secretary James said this Bill will be tabled, correct Mr. Elash? Mr. Elash said yes. Mayor Cherepko said, Bill #26, I am going to ask Council to make a Motion to table, everything is good, some of the paperwork that was put forth through McHolme Construction, there were some errors that the County said were unacceptable at this point, it wasn’t something that couldn’t be fixed but if we approve it then they have to pretty much go through the whole process again and spend more money. Whereas, if we just table this for a month they can get all their ducks aligned and we can approve it next month but it doesn’t put anything back. They are fine, there is nobody upset about anything, so I am going to ask Council if we can table this for the evening. MOTION: Mr. Barry moved, seconded by Mr. Soles “to table Bill #26.” RC-5 YEAS: WALKER-MONTGOMERY, NESBIT, BARRY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, BROWN, SOLES(6) NAYS: NONE (0) RESOLUTIONNO. 2016-020- BILL #27 – A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF MCKEESPORT, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, APPROVING A REVERSE SUBDIVISION REQUEST FROM JOHN & TRACY PRY TO COMBINE TWO LOTS INTO ONE. MOTION: Mr. Barry moved, seconded by Ms. Walker-Montgomery “to approve Bill #27.” Ms. Brewster-Filotei asked if there were any questions. Mayor Cherepko said just for the public’s information, this is a Reverse Subdivision, 2 separate lots. Mr. and Mrs. Pry are residents over in the Foster Plan area of the City and they want to build a garage on the lot that they own next to them and under our Ordinance and to make sure it meets Code we can’t build a garage on a vacant piece of property so once they make the 2 lots into one then they are permitted to build a garage. So that is just part of proper protocol. [9] RC-6 YEAS: WALKER-MONTGOMERY, NESBIT, BARRY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, BROWN, SOLES(6) NAYS: NONE (0) ADJOURNMENT: Vice President of Council Jamie Brewster-Filotei thanked everyone for coming and adjourned the meeting at 7:28 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Annette James City Clerk and Clerk of Council APPROVED: Richard Dellapenna President of Council das [10]