City Council

CITY OF MCKEESPORT REGULAR MEETING WEDNESDAY 7:00 P.M. SEPTEMBER 7, 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 in remembrance of Rege McLaughlin, former Councilman and Mayor, by President of Council Richard Dellapenna, with the following Members of Council present: RC-1 PRESENT: V. FAWN WALKER-MONTGOMERY, JAMIE BREWSTER- FILOTEI, TIMOTHY BROWN, LUETHEL NESBIT, JIM BARRY, KEITH SOLES, 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 July 6, 2016.” RC-2 YEAS: WALKER-MONTGOMERY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, BROWN, NESBIT, BARRY, SOLES, DELLAPENNA (7) NAYS: NONE (0) COMMUNICATIONS: Received both the Police and Fire Reports for the month of August 2016. MAYOR’S REPORT: Mayor Cherepko said thank you Mr. President. I will be brief this evening. A couple announcements, we did talk about a lot last night so I am not going to get into it too much. Just a reminder that this Sunday will be our Patriotism Parade in Renzie Park. This will be the 3rd year that we have held this. Something we try to do a little different in taking the parade out to Renzie so hopefully you can be there. It starts at 6 p.m. and just so happens to fall on 9/11 which is the 15 year anniversary of 9/11. That is just a coincidence. We have had this now 2 years in a [1] row and hopefully we can get people out there to attend. There will be a concert out there afterward followed by our final fireworks display of the season. As I mentioned last night, I do not want to go into too many details to be repetitive, but we had several summer events in Renzie with the spray park up and running for the first time which has been in the works for a few years, it has been a big hit. We plan on closing it down on Labor Day. We extended it one week because of the forecast this week in the 90’s. We figured we would extend it through Sunday but we will shutting it down on Monday morning. The tennis courts the surface has been redone. They still have some things to finish up. The benches, some other odds and ends but that is another project that has been in the works for a couple of years. Once again, all these have been funded by RAD. I think it is important to stress that because all too often in the public they get the perception with all the problems we have throughout the City, such as houses needing torn down and streets needing paving, that we are prioritizing projects like this over top of those and that is not the case at all. These are specific RAD Capital Improvement Projects to the park and only in the park can we use that money. The DEK hockey will be up and running with the blessing of Council today with the new Commission. That was not RAD money but that was a partnership between the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation, Highmark and, of course, the City of McKeesport. We are excited to get that up and running as well. International Village Rib Kick-Off was a big success this year. International Village the weather on day one was pretty bad; day two we got a half of an evening; and day three was packed with people. Overall the vendors did pretty well and that is the important thing when you consider the group organizations that depend on this as their main fundraiser each year. The Rib Kick-Off, big hit, the vendors sold out of everything. Come Sunday, or Monday night, they did pretty well and we are going to continue to throw that each and every year as well. We did receive a DEP Grant. We finally have repaired some of the relationships we have had with DEP over the years. When our administration came in there were some issues that were problematic, no different than anything else we have experienced before, like our HUD and we were under the plan, we got out of that over the last couple of years. Well DEP has been the same way, we have not received a Grant in a while. We are going to see a Grant for $216,000, $216,134 to be exact. With it we are going to be purchasing recycling bins, two different [2] sizes. They are both going to be cans on wheels so we don’t have as many problems taking them out to the garbage for our seniors and others that may have issues getting them to the garbage can. We are not going to have enough throughout the whole City but we are going to give a couple thousand to get started and we are going to look to get more funds down the road. We are going to continue to try to encourage recycling. The truth of the matter is anyone that drives around on garbage night has seen that we still have a limited number of people recycling but we want to encourage it with the new cans and continue to push it because obviously not only is it much better for our environment but financially speaking as well, the more we put in recycling the less we put in the landfills which lowers our expenses. So we are excited about that. The only thing we got in addition to the recycling bins is that we are going to get a new leaf machine to hook up to the truck because as you remember when we go out and pick up leaves that is also part of our recycling program. People, residents call and we go out. They get the leaves raked to the corner, to the curb so that we come out and pick them up. We are excited to get that Grant so we can move our recycling program further ahead. The only other thing I am going to report on is what we are going to do tonight. I cannot go into too many details because of the confidentiality agreement but the last bill this Council will be dealing with tonight has been in the works for probably over three years now and it deals with the sale of the sewage authority to bring money to the City that will put us on more financial stable ground so that we are able to continue to operate and avoid Act 47 which is municipal bankruptcy and to really make sure that we continue to try to provide the level of services that we can at the limited resources that we have. That has been probably the most challenging thing I have had as Mayor is continuing to provide the same level of services that our residents expect or doing so with less money, less manpower, less revenue and ever increasing expenditures. This particular bill tonight, some things I can’t get into, but you will see a top business, American Water. What I can tell you about them is, and I see Dan out there in the audience, they were one of the ones that sat down with us a few years ago when they expressed an interest and we went through this continuing process and they were the top bid. My gut has always told me from day one that if they ended up being the top bidder I was going to be pretty pleased with that. I always say [3] follow my gut and they were very straight forward. We have a good working relationship with them. There is no question that they want to come in here and be a very good community partner with the City of McKeesport and its residents, so we are excited and looking forward to that. There is still a long process before closing and what not and it won’t be until sometime next year but they have bent over backwards to help us in every way so we can overcome our financial woes now. Some of the pros of a private company for those who don’t know I think it’s a win-win, without question, for our residents. They are a private entity which means they pay taxes on all the property, the plant, which we have never had tax revenue before. They also have the ability, and just so everyone is aware, we talked about a Lease early on. The biggest problem with the Lease was taking on all of this new debt which, for the most part, would have been spread out through our customer base, which meant higher sewer rates and we all know through Act 537 what has happened to sewage rates, not just here but all over. We are now completed with our Act 537, pretty much where we are going to be and I think what we have with them is we are not going to see, you are not going to see, any drastic rate increases. As a matter of fact with a company like American Water it also turns out to a point that we will have a protection as rate payers that we have never had before. What I mean by that is they are regulated by the PUC, the Public Utilities Commission. Which means that any time that they go for a rate increase they need to get it approved by the PUC. So it’s another line of protection for the rate payers. Also, as I was saying about the Lease the reason that it didn’t work, I got sidetracked onto the last one, I think what you see with them is they are able to take this kind of investment in our plant and they spread it across the seven hundred plus thousand customers that they have throughout the state of Pennsylvania and that’s what made the sale more useful than the Lease. I know Dan is out there today and if Council wants a chance to talk to him after feel free but I am excited. I cannot begin to tell you the hundreds and hundreds of hours that have gone into this. It’s been a very, very long process and this is the first step tonight. Second step actually, you guys took a step well maybe a year ago now, whatever it was, showing that we were serious marketing the Authority but today is now the next step in moving us closer to the closing and to the beginning of what I see to be a wonderful partnership with a new entity here in the City. [4] Other than that Mr. President, I am not going to go into anything else, I don’t want to be repetitive and many things were talked about last night so that concludes my report. President Dellapenna said thank you Mayor. Councilwoman Walker-Montgomery said she has a few questions. Mayor, if you could just go over, I know we talked about it last night but for the purpose of the public. Like Mr. Barry said, the short and long term goals for when we do so and what that will mean for us and what we will do with the money, like short and long term goals. Mayor Cherepko said I cannot go into too many details but the bottom line is when we get this money it will allow for some capital improvements but all in all it is going to be a matter of really truly trying to get the budget in control, in line, it’s going to buy us time to increase those revenues down the road without raising taxes, if possible, to bring new businesses in, bring new residents in, to continue to market the City until we can start fixing that goal. The bottom line is, you know without going through all the numbers, to give you an idea of what the City has been faced with, this is my fifth year in office and in five years, four and a half years, whatever you want to say, just to throw out some very large numbers at you that none of us can control, our MMO, which is our pension obligation, will have almost tripled. It was around 1.1 million when I took office and it is going to be roughly three million dollars next year. You are talking roughly a two million dollar increase in those 5 years. Your healthcare has gone up well over a million dollars in those 5 years. So there is $3,000,000 in increases right there. Our garbage bill has gone up ½ million dollars. There is three and a half million dollars right there. I can get into other things such as we had a stimulus money coming in of $550,000 every August, no I am sorry that was a cash flow fund that we had coming in when we did our Bond issue a few years back, but every August that ended. There’s another $500,000 of loss. We had stimulus money of $275,000 in COPS Grant paying for police. You can see the hole that has been created and through all of this, other than us really pushing to increase the collections of taxes and delinquencies, we brought in a firm to do business privilege taxes with a 93% increase in our collections the first year. We have a few hundred thousand dollars in court right now through them. We never had tax increases. We never will increase those revenues. So when people say how are you dealing with this, that’s the problem we have so what we have to do is fix it and in order to fix it we have to continue to save through attrition because here is the key, even with all those increases that I just threw out at you, we are [5] still passing roughly a 19 million dollar budget a year. Now I just told you 4 or 5 million in increases that we have had. So if in 2009 we passed around the same budget, give or take a few hundred thousand dollars, let’s just say it was 19 million dollars in 2009, then why would you think our budget this year should be 2.3 million? My point to you is it’s not. You are going to see for the last 5 or 6 years we really have not increased the budget and a lot of that has been through attrition, people retire, we don’t replace them, which hurts at the level of services. When I mentioned earlier about providing the same level of services to the residents with having less resources, that’s the type of thing we are speaking of. Yes, I have people for those jobs to replace everybody and I’m sure these people in this room might like to have a job or know people that need jobs. The reality of it is we have always made the decision in the best interest of the City and we cannot do it. The money is not there. So we have union people stepping up; doing double duty; assuming jobs; and the Union has worked with us not to, as long as we don’t have anyone laid off they don’t mind when we in essence don’t eliminate a job because somebody retires but you kind of eliminate the workload by pushing on to other employees we already have and we will continue to do things like that. But, the MMO issue, it’s not an issue that is unique to the City of McKeesport. I mean just read the papers, watch the news, it’s a problem throughout the whole state of Pennsylvania and you are going to see legislation pass. The state has got to get a grasp of this to help remedy the problems that we have with the pension plan and that’s not because our pension fund isn’t funded. We are 70% funded, which is pretty fair compared to many. Not bad, we are over 70% I think in all of our funds and it’s not even that as much as it’s just the obligation itself. So, you know there are other plans as well, strategy that we have to really help fix that budget over the next four to five years but I will be honest with you, the plans we have can work and we believe that, but if we continue to have crazy increases or incredible increases, I guess with pension obligations or healthcare, it’s going to be hard. I don’t know what to tell you, I don’t have a crystal ball. We can’t predict those. The only thing we can do is deal with what we have and all those issues are issues that no one up here on this Council, no one in this Administration, we couldn’t do nothing, had nothing to do with that. So when you start talking about dealing with the Authority like we are doing, yes, the vote is simple, I mean, there is nothing else we have. We need to get rid of it fast and get some money that will keep us afloat. That’s the choice [6] we make tonight. That Council will make. The other choice is to lay off employees tomorrow, 25-30 will be your police officers. Now for those that are McKeesport residents out here, we all know we have our issues here in the City just like everywhere else, how are you going to feel if you have 25 less police officers on the street? Half of your Public Works Department gone? Fire department? So that’s the issue we have and when someone says what are your options? I can tell you every option has been explored. These are your options. To get the money now to buy us time to get afloat, see the City move, or the other one, which is to lay off just so you can avoid Act 47 and I will be honest with you that doesn’t even help you financially right away because of your bargaining agreement. Because we are self-insured for unemployment so we are paying the unemployment paychecks for however long they get them now, whether it’s 52 weeks or longer. We are still paying healthcare for a year or two whether they are laid off or not. These are the issues that we are facing. So with the given situation what I am telling you is, I don’t like to use the word desperate, but in a desperate situation like we are in, I am very pleased to have a company like American Water be the high bidder to take over the authority because I believe in them. I believe in what part they are going to play in the City. It’s not just a sale where someone comes in, I truly believe there is going to be a partnership there. So even though like I said on one hand, I don’t like that word desperation, but as desperate as we were, the good Lord blessed us in my eyes. I pray and pray often and at the end of the day I think things are going to work out. That’s pretty much where we are at. President Dellapenna said thank you Mayor. CITIZENS IN THE AUDIENCE: When your name is announced, President Dellapenna said please come forward. You have 3 minutes; give your address and what it is in regards to. Frank Francis, 433 Greenwood Street. I come before you tonight really wanting to discuss the corner of Walnut Street and 48. There used to be 3 homes there in that area. A gentleman I am quite sure we are all aware of, Mr. Biros bought that property. I don’t know the particular of why he didn’t build there but he has left the place a total dump. He has also bought the adjacent property at 3914 Elizabeth Street and it has also turned into a dump. I mean there are over 40 [7] something homes in that plan, Peterson Plan, and we have one individual devaluating the property of everyone in that area. Even if he doesn’t build anything in there, we are just asking that he come over and cut the grass. Come over there and cut the grass. I am thinking that the County owns the island there which needs to be beautified somewhat. I know the Mayor is speaking of bringing jobs or companies into town but either entry into the City of McKeesport is a disgrace. You come across the McKeesport Duquesne Bridge, that looks terrible. If you come down 48 and make the right on Walnut it’s a mess. You know, I own property in the Peterson Plan and was looking to buy another piece of property there but I’m becoming very discouraged with this guy, and I know you all are. I have heard different things but that’s why I am bringing this before the City. We can at least get this guy to cut the grass I am hoping and also Wood Alley. I don’t know the property there but someone elected to come dump a bunch of cinder blocks, plaster and some old wood. That’s Gordon Brown’s property. I mean he just decided to come there and dump this stuff there, twice. It is becoming October and we know the mice or whatever are going to get running. Between him and Mr. Biros I mean they are just ruining the neighborhood. I mean, I know we can’t force the man to build. I understand that but there is an Ordinance in the City, I am quite sure that he must maintain that property in some way. My last thing I would like to speak to is I am all for bringing business to downtown McKeesport but these guys out here with grills on the sidewalk. I am going to get a haircut and I have to park up at the corner. I shouldn’t have to walk through some hot grills on the sidewalk and grease on the ground. I mean I am all for business, don’t get me wrong, but they ought to do this in a manner. We don’t have the sidewalks like Pittsburgh or New York City where they are wide enough where you can do things of that nature. I know one time I had to walk into the street to get to the barber shop. I mean these are small things and just like the Mayor was saying we need revenue to take care of all the retirees and stuff, that’s going to take businesses coming into your City. So your City has to be clean and inviting for people to want to come here. That’s mine for the night. Thank you very much Council. Council President Dellapenna asked if we have a relationship with Mr. Biros and can we reach out to him. Mayor Cherepko said I am a little taken a back. You know Frank you can pick up the phone and call me. These are issues that we [8] could address. As a matter of fact, you are one of the few people in the City who has my private number. But to come here to Council it’s a little bit, I’m taken back a little. I could assure you we can take care of the issues you dealt with. I have no problem calling Biros. Now the County, I got to be honest, I get frustrated with that too because those are the entrances into your City but the County maintains those properties. I will tell you, Steve is not here, I have already had our guys go do it sometime and we catch slack from the County for doing it but you know. Frank said there is no way I came here to put you on the spot. There’s no way I came to do that but when I am saying, you are the Mayor, anyone on Council should become your point person for this job. That’s your call Mayor. Mayor Cherepko said but that’s not how it works though. That’s not how it works. The Council has nothing to do with the daily operations of the City. Frank asked if you keep I am wrong for coming and expressing my frustration where my money is invested at? Mayor Cherepko said no, I think you have every right to come here ok but you come here to Council when you and I have a very good relationship, I am taken back right now because there is no one up here that can help you with your problem and that’s why I am taken back. I mean they come to me. Am I wrong? I served on Council for 8 years. I could tell you Bob Biros is going to get a letter sent to him tomorrow; I am going to personally walk in those businesses tomorrow and express my concern with them as well and the County is going to get a phone call tomorrow. But I mean, down there at the businesses, that’s an issue. Me, personally, I don’t want to see them cooking out on the street. But it’s our understanding they went and got Allegheny County and got the Health Department approval that’s their property and they lease it and they lease the sidewalk in front. I have already taken that battle on and for the most part lost because I have tried stopping them back then, that was probably 2 years ago now. But what I will do is I will go down; I will meet with them; I will personally tell them they cannot be blocking the sidewalk because I get the complaints all the time. You know, you are talking about going to the Barber Shop, the same things, I get complaints about the Barber Shop taking up the whole sidewalk. I get the complaints for that whole block down there. It’s a matter of, I will personally visit those places and I will be down there tomorrow talking to them tomorrow. But please don’t you just caught me off a little because you have my cellphone number, there are not too many people that do and that’s why you just caught me off a little bit. Your concerns are legit, please don’t think I’m, and you have [9] absolutely every right. Peterson Plan is a wonderful neighborhood and we want to keep it nice and without question please don’t think for one second that I don’t think your complaints are legit. Your complaints are legit and I got Mr. Tedesco back there right now, he’s going to make sure Bob Biros gets a letter sent to him first thing in the morning and we are also working with Bob Biros right now on something. On his bill in here. I know the media is here so I have to be careful how I choose my words. Solicitor Elash asked do you want me to do it? Mayor Cherepko said no. He owns a lot of property down there though and it’s one of those situations where I have no problem telling him to cut his stuff. It’s a situation where he owns so much that you have to be careful because he owns so much he gets up he has so much money that he kicks back and says I am done I will leave all my properties, then what are we going to do? I mean I don’t think people realize he owns that property, he owns the property across the street, he owns the property down at Pre-Coat Metal. He’s going to be owning 13 acres down at the Old Fort Pitt where they just tore down the mill. He owns a lot. But the point is I will deal with him because on this one here, Bill Number, I will just pull it down now. Frank said it doesn’t give him the right to pull down the value of my property. Mayor Cherepko said it doesn’t but what I am saying is I can talk to him about that as well because it is frustrating to me as well but the idea with this Plan. What I was getting to is the idea with this Grant that we are applying for is going to clear up this whole intersection. We are applying, on Bill Number 32 it’s a $334,000 Grant to put in a whole new intersection there. It’s going to be totally redesigned. Typically, when they redesign those you are not going to have any grass in the middle at all. It’s going to be pretty much now when they do them there is going to be concrete, things like that. They are going to have turning lanes, they are going to have everything. The idea is to redesign that entire intersection to get access to the shopping plaza across the street that’s been in the work for years, probably 10 years, but we are trying to help and he agreed to do a matching Grant. He’s doing the match on this which I believe is somewhere around 20% so he’s going to come with $60,000-$70,000 out of his pocket for this but we are going to redo that intersection which is going to help you and me as Mayor and I don’t like seeing that entrance to the City but we are going to be reconfiguring that entire intersection down there with this Grant tonight. But in the meantime, he’s going to get a letter first thing in the morning and a personal phone call as well to get down there and clean up the property [10] and if you have any other addresses or any problems down there just give me a call. President Dellapenna said Wood Alley, Mayor. Mayor Cherepko said yes, Matt wrote that down. Mayor then asked, is that in the street Frank or is that in his yard? Frank said that’s in the Alley, the house sits on 48 but I forget that address. Someone said 413 Long Run Road may be the address. Mayor Cherepko said that’s the house where we were going to take it down and now supposedly someone bought it. Mayor Cherepko said they bought it and what we are doing is we are telling them, Chris came to me and I said you tell them the house is condemned. I don’t care what they bought, they bought a condemned house because I told the residents that house is coming down. So I am going to take that battle on for the Peterson Plan residents. Residents asked, are you talking about Gordon Brown’s house? President Dellapenna asked if the residents got a license plate? Mayor Cherepko said what I am saying is this dumping thing is not new to the City either. It’s ridiculous. People just don’t have respect. What I am saying is it’s not new. All it takes is a phone call and I send Steve down, go pick up they just dumped. If we can catch the guy we are going to cite him but we have to prove it. We’ll do that as well but in the meantime we can just go clean up all the garbage. That’s a phone call to me and I call Steve Kondrosky and I say get down there and get it cleaned up today and it’s going to get cleaned up in one day. So they are going to get down there. I don’t care what they have to take down they will be down there tomorrow working on it. As a matter of fact I am going to text them right now. Mayor Cherepko said the address is actually on Long Run Road, right? A resident stated that the address is on 48 but where they dumped is off of Wood Alley. Thomas Nicholson, 409 Greenwood. He said no one is helping him so. Mayor Cherepko said no one is helping you, he has an issue that’s been going on longer than 5 years. I have video if you would like to see it said Mr. Nicholson. Mayor Cherepko said what’s going on is there is an issue down there and we are in contact with the Sewage Authority. I called today, I called again today. Council President Dellapenna asked if this is also in Peterson Plan? Mayor Cherepko said this is also in Peterson Plan. It’s a problem. Without question. That’s why we are helping him in other ways that I would rather not talk about as well but we are also getting the Sewage Authority down there. The problem was they thought they would remedy the situation a little more quickly. They did the one call and [11] found out there are major high power gas lines going up the street so now they have to be creative about how they are going to get the new catch basins in. They are going to get the catch basins in to help with the flow. He’s mentioned right now that there are some catch basins it’s not hitting as well but we are working on it. Like I said, it’s not, I’m sure American Water will be working on it with us now. Mr. Nicholson said well the thing is nobody is paying for our damages. We, for the last 5 years. We cannot afford to keep fixing our house. The water is coming over, first of all it’s got the wrong line, sewer line, it’s an 8” line and should be a 12” line. They cleaned that catch basin out I don’t know how many times. You have 5 roads leading into one catch basin. Mr. Cherepko has been working with me so much but there’s only so much he can do now. I have made 20 phone calls to the Sewage Company with not one call back. I had to go through Mr. Cherepko just to get Chuck Schultz to call me. Now today, we got flooded again with the new catch basin. All they did was take off the old catch basin lid and put a new grade on. That’s all they did. Councilwoman Nesbit asked where is this at? What’s your address? On Lemon Street. We are 409 Greenwood Street but it’s located on Lemon Street. It’s one little catch basin carrying 5 streets of water and I have a video. I’ll show you. Nobody believes this is actually going on and it’s really, really bad. Mayor Cherepko said I am by no means an expert on this but what it looks to me is the biggest problem they are having is it’s just too much volume of water and even like today when it came down that quickly so if you go to a bigger line, the problem they run into, and once again I am saying what I believe to be as accurate as possible but I am by no means an authority. The problem is if you go to a bigger line at some point or another it’s going to connect to a smaller line so at some point you are going to have a bottle neck no matter what so they came up with another solution. The other solution was to divert, what’s the road off Greenwood? What’s the road? I am not sure but like they said they are now going to divert another pipe; take it out of this particular pipe; and just run it with the line, connect it with another line from the road up above that runs down across Route 48. You really are not even sewage at that line at that point. It’s just one of the few catch basins we have that will just drain right out across the street. So that’s what we are going to work on so what we hope the volume will be less because at this point it’s a water volume problem. Mr. Nicholson said the areas that they do have the new catch basins they water doesn’t even come near. They have them marked out on the [12] corner. I went up today and watched the flow of water. It’s not going nowhere near either catch basin so that’s going to be waste of money for the City to do that. Council President said here’s the video sir is it ok if I watch it? Mr. Nicholson said we have encountered probably close to $40,000 in damage already over the last 5 years. We had to replace our furnace, out hot water tank, our whole downstairs is furnished and we had to replace that twice. Insurance won’t pay for nothing because it’s a sewer problem. It’s called service water. Insurance won’t pay for a dime. The City won’t pay for nothing. Sewage Company won’t acknowledge us. We are stuck with the bill. Every time it rains we get flooded. Insurance will have to pay at some point in the future Mayor Cherepko said. Well, Mr. Nicholson said in order for us to get Flood Insurance it’s going to be outrageous because we live in a non-flood zone. Why should we get Flood Insurance when they can fix the darn problem? You see what I am dealing with? Now that caved my wall in. I had to pay somebody to come out and fix that wall. We had to pay out $13,000 to have mold cleaned off our cellar walls. It’s getting out of hand. My wife is sick. She has MS. My concern is for medical bills. I should not have to deal with this. I need help. I need help. He can’t do it by himself. We need help very bad. I am begging for help. Mayor Cherepko said he sent the pictures today to Jennifer. He has Jennifer’s direct number. He sent the pictures. I called Chuck immediately and told Chuck of the issue. He was sending Bob Robb down there. There was flooding in some other places as well today but when it comes down that hard you have that but this problem is a real issue. Mr. Nicholson said I have the video of today showing the catch basin not working. Even the workers that were there were saying this is not going to work. Nobody will listen and Mr. Cherepko can’t do it by himself. Believe me, President Dellapenna said, we are all behind Mr. Cherepko and we want to see the problem rectified. Mr. Nicholson showed the video and said this is what we are dealing with. This is my house right here and this is pouring down. I have a video of it actually carrying a cinder block. That’s how powerful it is. Council President Dellapenna asked Mayor you said you are working on this? Mayor Cherepko said yes, listen these guys know they got to move, I called him today and said enough is enough. He said Bob was on vacation and would be here Monday and they are going to work on it next week. He’s not actually getting sewage; he’s getting water. Council President Dellapenna said we will discuss more after the meeting if that’s ok. The Mayor assured us that he is, and we are supporting him and any [13] help we can give him. Mr. Nicholson said the main thing is the Sewage Company. I want to know what is going on I have every right to know what’s going on. I tried to explain to him the catch basins in place are not going to work. Don’t put them in. The neighbor who lives on the corner, Mike Duffy, and I were talking they are not going to work. Council President Dellapenna said this has been eye opening. Mayor Cherepko said he is very frustrated and under the given circumstances I think he handled himself well. I really do. It’s frustrating. He seemed to calm down a little bit but I think he did amazing given the situation. Mr. Nicholson said I appreciate you working with me; I am trying to keep my cool. Council President Dellapenna said I don’t blame you. Thank you. Katy Stinson, 1402 Carnegie Avenue. When you come on that street the bricks are horrible. They are all sunken in. When you come on that street you hit the bricks so hard. When I first moved on that street I lost a guard. It’s all sunken in if you go down the rest of the street. Secondly, I know I will probably get the firing squad but I got a resurrect it. Spring Street. People on motorcycles are riding on Spring Street and come to the top and they push their motorcycles over the sidewalk and then get on the street and continue. Cars are coming up Spring Street and they come to the top and they do a 3-point turn when they realize they can’t go back off the street they go back down. My position is I’m 64 years old. I’ve been in this town all my life. If you all knew in my heart the love that I have for McKeesport. I love this City. There’s not another place that I would rather live than McKeesport. I love waking up; going to bed and continuing in this City. When I was a child they told me Spring Street needs fixed. I’m 64. When I was here that other guy was President and I brought up Spring Street and I told them you remodeled Cornell School and all the money you put in here and tore it down you could have it in Spring Street and fixed it back up. That is a vital street. You ride all over in our area two streets closed. Spring Street and the bottom of 12th Street. What did we do to deserve? Those are vital streets. I walk and I see the cars still come up and do a 3-point turn back. I see the motorcycles come up; they are still riding on that street; but the public can’t ride on that street. That is a vital street. I mean go all over McKeesport. Two streets closed, Spring Street and the bottom of 12th Street. It makes no [14] sense. That Spring Street is a part of our heritage. It is the easiest way up the hill. The quickest way. You go up Spring you can get anywhere you want up on the hill and it’s quick. Walk that hill. It’s quicker than Shaw, Coursin to come up the hill. That President said, I told him the same thing and he even said he was retiring at the end of January. I mean I know you told me it will be over your dead body before they open it back up but I want to sum this up. I feel like Moses went he said God said let his people go. I feel like Spring Street to me and God is saying to me speak, open up Spring Street or you’ll have the wrath like Moses went to. That is a vital street to our community. People are walking up it every day. Motorcycles are coming up it every day but the public can’t come up because I was told since I was born Spring Street cannot be fixed it cost a lot of money. Well, the people are still traveling up it. Motorcycles are still traveling. Go see. The motorcycles are still coming up; cars are still coming up doing a 3-point turn. Like I said I am not, I don’t want you to be taken back but let me tell you the last time I talked about Spring Street the Mayor said shut up and sit down. Shut up and sit down? Mayor Cherepko asked, who was the Mayor? Brewster said Ms. Stinson. He told me to shut up and sit down! Mayor Cherepko said if I may Ms. Stinson, I am not taken back. That was another situation because Frank is a good buddy of mine. Ms. Stinson said if you know what that street means to us and our community. It is so easy access up to the hill. Mayor Cherepko said, if I may comment, not to cut you off but I know they are running short. Here’s the issue we have. First of all, I couldn’t agree with you more. As far as I taught in that school for 10 years and it was nice to shoot right down over that hill after work, on the way, whatever. The truth of the matter is when you start talking about the community, I have more people in that community that want it closed. Ms. Stinson said you told me that but I went to the community and people said call them in and they will come and tell you. Mayor Cherepko said here’s what we will do. When we have a meeting, we have a meeting up there every now and then and we are going to get the neighborhood meeting going up there and there is usually 40-50 of them. They tell me it’s less traffic they got coming up through their neighborhood; they would rather keep it that way. I have a Department Head of mine that could tell you, you know Mr. Tedesco is sitting back there and he wants to see it open because now all this traffic shoots up past his house. You know that’s the issue. As far as the road I will tell you another issue we have. We had plans because we had money designated for that area. We had plans to pave [15] that road and I have people that lived on that street for a long time and this was the problem, you say that you can never please everyone, they said we don’t want it paved. We like the aesthetic look of the brick and I am just telling you. Ms. Stinson said I know, it might have been in Germany but here we are in McKeesport, not Germany. But what I am saying to you Spring Street should be reopen. I don’t care what anybody says that street has been a problem since I was born. I’m 64 and you can’t. Look at the back of the new school where you all had that big crater. Those 2 big craters. I didn’t even know they existed. People up here said go look in the back of the new million dollar school. Here you got a playground and it was roped off for over a year in yellow because the children can’t even use that playground because that needed fixed and the people at the bottom told me their yards get muddy and their basement from that spring up on the hill. So when I went back there when the people told me I couldn’t believe the craters from the back of that brand new school you all got up there with the yellow DO NOT CROSS SIGN for over a year. That has something to do with Spring Street. Mayor Cherepko said if I may, you are right, about the fact that they have those issues on the playground. My kids go to that school and they do not get an opportunity to use the playground because of what you said but I just want to clarify something. Just so you understand, one the problem doesn’t go with Spring Street, ok. They have already addressed the problem and it’s fixed as we speak. But the other thing I want you to understand is that the School District and the City are two separate entities when it comes to that. Ms. Stinson said yes, I understand but. Mayor Cherepko said if you look at the new entrance way to the school, we couldn’t open up Spring Street anyway because their entrance way runs right in front of Spring Street. Ms. Stinson said let me tell you something if they can make cellphones and go to the moon you can fix Spring Street. What was so ignorant is they put the fire hydrant right there in the middle at the top of the school saying, yea this proves you are not going to open it back up and I thought it was so ignorant to put a fire hydrant right there in the middle of the top of. I don’t care if I get the firing squad or you label me. Mayor Cherepko said I am not labeling you. Ms. Stinson said I am speaking the truth. That street is a vital street cause you should see the people that walk up that street every day. I watch them come up and they come even late in the evening up Spring Street. Mayor Cherepko said he is going to look into the cars too because I find it hard to believe, I believe the motorcycles are getting through but [16] I find it hard it real hard to believe cars are getting through. I believe you. Ms. Stinson said so if those cars can why can’t the pubic come up and down there. You all need to fix that street. I just believe that the Lord is touching on my heart to come and speak to fix Spring Street because it is a vital street to our community. We got the the bottom of 12th Street and now Spring Street. We have to go all the way down Shaw Avenue when we could go right to Spring and get access to the school. Someone spoke and said Ms. Stinson, I just pointed out to the Mayor, if you want to reach out to the School District, I believe they have a study on that street, they looked into the possibility of doing something with it and they do have a study that shows pretty alarming how it could be a few million dollars. Ms. Stinson said that’s what I was told when I was a kid but you found money to fix the school going down there near O’Neal. Council President Dellapenna said the school isn’t ours mam. Ms. Stinson said I understand and I appreciate your fixing it for the safety of the kids but Spring Street has been on the list since I was born. Mayor Cherepko said please understand those are the tough decisions we make. You have to understand, let’s just say hypothetically speaking Spring Street costs 2-1/2 to 3 million dollars to fix. Now we as an administration, we as Council people, we have a decision to make. Do we fix Spring Street or do we maybe pave how many neighborhoods of streets that need overdue paving as well. I say fix Spring Street first said Ms. Stinson. Cause that way the buses could come up to the school. Access is so convenient. I’m sorry. Council President Dellapenna and Mayor Cherepko thanked Ms. Stinson. NEW BUSINESS: Secretary James stated that Bill #26 was removed from the table. Solicitor Elash said it’s on the Agenda now but it’s being withdrawn. We took it off the table at a previous meeting. Now we need to have it withdrawn. MOTION: Mr. Barry moved, seconded by Ms. Brewster-Filotei “to withdraw Bill #26.” RC-3 YEAS: WALKER-MONTGOMERY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, BROWN, NESBIT, BARRY, SOLES, DELLAPENNA (7) NAYS: NONE (0) [17] RESOLUTION NO. 2016-024 - BILL #31 – A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF MCKEESPORT, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, DESIGNATING SEPTEMBER 23 THROUGH OCTOBER 10, 2016, AS RADICAL DAYS IN THE CITY MCKEESPORT. MOTION: Ms. Brewster-Filotei moved, seconded by Mr. Soles “to approve Bill #31.” RC-4 YEAS: WALKER-MONTGOMERY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, BROWN, NESBIT, BARRY, SOLES, DELLAPENNA (7) NAYS: NONE (0) RESOLUTION NO. 2016-025 - BILL #32 – A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF MCKEESPORT, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, REQUESTING A MULTIMODAL TRANSPORTATION FUND GRANT OF $334,500 FROM THE COMMONWEALTH FINANCING AUTHORITY TO BE USED FOR LONG RUN ROAD & WALNUT STREET TRAFFIC SIGNALIZATION PROJECT. MOTION: Ms. Walker-Montgomery moved, seconded by Ms. Brewster-Filotei “to approve Bill #32.” RC-5 YEAS: WALKER-MONTGOMERY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, BROWN, NESBIT, BARRY, SOLES, DELLAPENNA (7) NAYS: NONE (0) RESOLUTION NO. 2016-____ - BILL #33 – A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF MCKEESPORT, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, APPROVING A CONDITIONAL USE REQUEST FROM JILLIAN GILES TO OPERATE A GROUP LIVING ARRANGEMENT AT 704 MARKET STREET. THE PROPERTY EXISTS IN AN RD-Y ZONING DISTRICT. MOTION: Ms. Nesbit moved, seconded by Mr. Barry “to approve Bill #33.” RC-6 YEAS: NONE (0) NAYS: WALKER-MONTGOMERY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, BROWN, NESBIT, BARRY, SOLES, DELLAPENNA (7) RESOLUTION NO. 2016-026 - BILL #34 – A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF MCKEESPORT, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, APPROVING AN [18] AGREEMENT WITH ALLEGHENY COUNTY CONCERNING SNOW REMOVAL ON HARTMAN STREET/EDEN PARK BOULEVARD & O’NEIL BOULEVARD. MOTION: Mr. Soles moved, seconded by Ms. Nesbit “to approve Bill #34.” RC-7 YEAS: WALKER-MONTGOMERY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, BROWN, NESBIT, BARRY, SOLES, DELLAPENNA (7) NAYS: NONE (0) ORDINANCE NO. 16-008 - BILL #35 – AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MCKEESPORT, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CREATNG THE MCKEESPORT DEK HOCKEY COMMISSION TO OVERSEE AND BE RESPONSIBOLE FOR THE OPERATION OF THE NEW RENZIEHAUSEN PARK DEK HOCKEY COMPLEX AND TO AID IN THE EXPANSION AND GROWTH OF THE RENZIEHAUSEN PARK DEK HOCKEY COMPLEX AS A REGIONAL DESTINATION POINT. MOTION: Ms. Walker-Montgomery moved, seconded by Ms. Brewster-Filotei “to approve Bill #35.” RC-8 YEAS: WALKER-MONTGOMERY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, BROWN, NESBIT, BARRY, SOLES, DELLAPENNA (7) NAYS: NONE (0) ORDINANCE NO. 16-009 - BILL #36 – AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MCKEESPORT, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, AUTHORIZING THE PROPER CITY OFFICIALS TO FACILITATE THE SALE OF SUBSTANTIALLY ALL OF THE SEWER SYSTEM ASSETS OF THE MUNICIPAL AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF MCKEESPORT (THE “AUTHORITY”) PURSUANT TO AN ASSET PURCHASE AGREEMENT AND TO TAKE SUCH ACTIONS NECESSARY TO DISSOLVE AND TERMINATE THE AUTHORITY. MOTION: Mr. Soles moved, seconded by Mr. Barry “to approve Bill #36.” RC-9 YEAS: WALKER-MONTGOMERY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, BROWN, BARRY, SOLES, DELLAPENNA (6) ABSTAINING: NESBIT (because I sit on that Board) (1) NAYS: NONE (0) [19] Solicitor Elash said that Ms. Nesbit is abstaining at both the City and the Sewer Authority to eliminate any perception of conflict. Mayor Cherepko said she is also on the Board of the Sewer Authority. Solicitor Elash reported that we had mentioned last night that there were some things on the Agenda we may have to change or amend. This is basically the Note that is going to go along with the Deposit for the Asset Purchase Agreement for the Sewage Authority that if something would happen the Deposit would have to be repaid and this Note will be the mechanism for it to be repaid. It was already approved last year by DCED so we are piggybacking on all that. For the first vote I need a Motion to Amend the Agenda to add Bill #37. MOTION: Mr. Barry moved, seconded by Ms. Brewster-Filotei “to amend the agenda to add Bill #37.” RC-10 YEAS: WALKER-MONTGOMERY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, BROWN, NESBIT, BARRY, SOLES, DELLAPENNA (7) NAYS: NONE (0) ORDINANCE NO. 16-009 - BILL #37 – AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MCKEESPORT, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 15-19 OF THE CITY OF MCKEESPORT, AUTHORIZING THE INCURRING OF NON-ELECTORAL DEBT, ACCEPTING A PROPOSAL OF THE PURCHASER, AMENDING THE STATED PURPOSES OF THE USE OF PROCEEDS OF THE NOTE, WAIVING THE CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICATION OF A SIGNATORY OF THE PAYING AGENT REDESIGNATIN THE SINKING FUND FOR THE NOTE, SETTING FORTH SEVERABILITY PROVISIONS, REPEALING ALL INCONSISTENT ORDINANCES, AND SETTING FORTH AN EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION: Ms. Barry moved, seconded by Ms. Brewster-Filotei “to approve Bill #37.” Council President Dellapenna asked for any questions or discussions. Ms. Walker- Montgomery said I have a question. Mayor, a couple of years ago when we did something with the Sewage Authority and this may come later down the road, we put something in place that before any money was spent it would come to Council. Is that something later we do down the road? Mayor Cherepko said yes, once we do the transaction. We bring that money over. Without question, even [20] as Mayor, I will tell you that when we bring the money over from the transaction after the Closing it would be without question a good decision to make it to where for us as an administration to get access to that money to spend other than what we put in the budget to come to Council. It will be like a reserve fund. Ms. Walker-Montgomery said ok. Mayor Cherepko said this money we get now is a down payment and we will use it to pay the bills but once we get the money from the transaction we definitely need to put the same thing in there because it protects the City through a system of checks and balances which I truly believe in. Ms. Walker-Montgomery said ok. RC-11 YEAS: WALKER-MONTGOMERY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, BROWN, NESBIT, BARRY, SOLES, DELLAPENNA (7) NAYS: NONE (0) ADJOURNMENT: President of Council Dellapenna said that concludes the Council meeting and please have a good night. The meeting then adjourned at 8:05 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Annette James City Clerk and Clerk of Council APPROVED: Richard Dellapenna President of Council das [21]