City Council

CITY OF MCKEESPORT REGULAR MEETING WEDNESDAY 7:00 P.M. FEBRUARY 1, 2017 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 President of Council Richard Dellapenna. The following Members of Council were present: RC-1 PRESENT: RICHARD DELLAPENNA, LUETHEL NESBIT, TIMOTHY BROWN, JIM BARRY, JAMIE BREWSTER-FILOTEI, KEITH SOLES, FAWN WALKER- MONTGOMERY. Also present were Mayor Michael Cherepko, City Administrator Matthew Gergely, City Solicitor J. Jason Elash and members of the Administration. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: MOTION: Mrs. Nesbit moved, seconded by Mr. Soles, “to approve the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of January 4, 2017.” RC-2 YEAS: DELLAPENNA, NESBIT, BROWN, BARRY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, SOLES, WALKER-MONTGOMERY (7) NAYS: NONE (0) COMMUNICATIONS: Received the Police Department Report for the month of January 2017. MAYOR’S REPORT: Yes, Mr. President, I will be very, very brief. As I said, I think you guys listened to me talk for about 25 minutes during the work session and I don’t believe in dog and pony shows so there is no need for me to go over it all again. Some good news, I think you know, when we talked about some good things happening this year, I think you saw one of them. Durabond, with the opening, it has been in the works for almost a year now. We are exciting to have them in the City of McKeesport, have some new jobs in the City of McKeesport as well, and like I said [1] it’s something that, it’s one of those things that I was counting one. It did look pretty good for us, so we do welcome them. On your Agenda, this evening you will have O’Reilly’s Auto Parts who will be looking to build a brand-new building as well in the City of McKeesport and that will be done in our Christy Park/Walnut Corridor and we are excited to have O’Reilly’s as well. Also, we welcome, very shortly for the grand opening, I don’t know when the last time is that you may have been in Olympia. I was just up there a little bit earlier today and you can see Ollie’s, Ollie’s Bargain Outlets is going to be another great addition to the City of McKeesport. They now have all their signage up, their graphics on the windows, walls inside, and they are moving along. I was up there and talked to a gentleman over the weekend and he pretty much told me that once he’s in there they move pretty quick. He was going to be there for 5 days and then out of there and they move pretty quickly after that, probably less than 30 days or around 30 days. So, we greatly anticipate Ollie’s and welcome them to the City as well. I’m sorry I didn’t mention this earlier but I’m asking for one Board appointment this evening to the Zoning Board. With the passing of Janet Flegal we do have a position now and I am going to ask for Bill Dirling. Bill Dirling lives up on Holiday Drive. Most of you would know him to see him if you don’t know him. He does attend many of the events. He was someone that told me, to be quite honest with you, I think it was a couple of years ago. He said hey if there are any Board appointments that open up somewhere that I think I can help serve the City he’d be willing to do that. So, I called him on Monday when I realized that, and he was very excited with the opportunity and I know he will serve the City with pride, and service very well. So, at this time that’s the only thing I am going to ask is for a Motion. Oh, yes, before I go into that appointment. Well, let’s do this appointment and then I’ll finish with something. So, if I can have a Motion from Council for Bill Dirling. MOTION: Mr. Barry moved, seconded by Mrs. Nesbit “to appoint Bill Dirling to the Zoning Hearing board of the City of McKeesport.” RC-3 YEAS: DELLAPENNA, NESBIT, BROWN, BARRY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, SOLES, WALKER-MONTGOMERY (7) [2]  NAYS: NONE (0) Mayor Cherepko said the last thing I have, and I am glad that Matt reminded me, for those that don’t know, Walter Baczkowski, who served as Solicitor and attorney for the Ambulance Base, for the Housing Authority, for many, many years, if you don’t know who I am talking about I can assure you probably everyone in this room would know him to see him. Just an unbelievable class act. When you deal with the politics of things and government you always tend to find somebody that’s just going to have something negative to say about you, that’s just the line of business, that’s the business we choose to be in, and the truth of the matter is, this is one individual that I don’t think I have ever heard anyone say anything negative about him. He will truly be missed for the City of McKeesport and everything that he brought to this City and he was a tremendous asset and a person with such dignity and someone that I had the utmost respect for. I got to know him a little more as Mayor and just absolutely a class act and I just wanted to you know acknowledge that and let him know he truly will be missed and I know he is looking down on us. Other than that Mr. President that concludes my report. President Dellapenna said that you Mayor. CITIZENS IN THE AUDIENCE: President Dellapenna called for Citizens in the Audience, when your name is called please come forward and state your name, your address and the topic or issue you would like to speak on. Mr. John Golden. John Golden, 101 Gilmore Drive, Pittsburgh 15235. Good evening. I do own three pieces of property in the City of McKeesport. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, distinguished Members of Council, the Chief for allowing me to speak. I have one home on Grandview Avenue that has fell into disrepair and has been placed on the condemned notice on the front of my house. No big deal. Mr. Elash and Code Officer Brewster and I were at Pittsburgh yesterday resolving or at least attempting to resolve an issue. But anyway, I am here this evening, two items please. One is that I need to purchase a building permit to bring the building up to code which I am deficient of right now. The second one and I know I could go down to the office and try to wait on the list to see the Code Officer but trying, [3] my prior experience in 20 years living in McKeesport is that it was very difficult. He is always on this or that and I need to purchase it immediately so maybe I could get some kind of guidance on when I can be down there or set up an appointment so I can obtain a building permit. Mayor Cherepko said if I may, I’m sorry Mr. President, Mr. Golden if I may ask, this house was condemned on the 17th of this month, how long has it sat in the condition it is in? Mr. Golden said probably the better part of a half of year, three quarters of a year. I have some photos here. Mayor Cherepko said so you are telling me that within 6 months it became in a condemned condition? Mr. Golden said well my son, our family grandchildren lived in the house up until about 18 months ago. The Code Officer Mr. Brewster pointed out some deficiencies to Judge Riazzi, what not. First, there was a Citation supposedly placed on the door and a notice sent to my home. Like I told Mr. Elash and the Court yesterday I am on the verge of Bankruptcy, and that being said, every certified piece of mail that I have gotten from my creditors, I have acknowledged, returned and even replied to. Somehow not knowing, a notice goes up on the house and a certified mail, registered mail goes to my home address in Wilkens Township, I never got it. I did in fact get a nice manila envelope from the Magistrate’s Office, which I opened immediately, now I am 45 days past the time frame of going to court and my $11,000 some odd dollar fine is racked up I believe Code Officer Brewster said, went $300 a day. So, that, by the time I went down to see Judge Riazzi, he instructed me to appeal it, go to Pittsburgh, the whole nine yards. So, that’s where this dilation came from, the time frame of it. Mayor Cherepko said the letter you were sent certified, was the letter signed for? Mr. Golden said no, never, I never received it. Solicitor Elash said, I am not sure what you received. I can tell you that our CD Director is here, I believe between the hours of 9 and 12, the Community Director is present, but this is a criminal matter that’s in front of the court and I believe you were given 90 days to clean it up and then we are going to be back down there. If you would like to talk to me privately I don’t think it would be in the [4] City’s interest to discuss it other than to say the card was presented to the Court obviously in order to get the Judgment originally. It was not picked up but the card was returned to us that it was delivered to that address but outside of that I think we’d just like to leave it with the Court system, and I believe we have been dealing with this since 2004, if I am not mistaken. Mr. Golden said, your last comment leaving the Courthouse yesterday is, and I am going to paraphrase here, we’re going to tear it down no matter what you do Mr. Golden and I said there’s a Federal Lien against my properties because I owe the IRS like $200,000. Mayor Cherepko asked are you caught up with all your taxes with the City? Mr. Golden said probably not. Probably not, but there’s a Federal Lien and when he said he was going to tear it down, that’s why I’m here tonight. Solicitor Elash said sir it was condemned and it can be torn down after 90 days. It could be torn down before we end up back in court. Mr. Golden said there’s a Federal Lien. I don’t care how you work it out with the Feds. But, that’s why I am here this evening to try to try to secure a building permit in order to bring it up to code. Solicitor Elash said and like I said before. Mayor Cherepko said you can file down City Hall. Mr. Golden said, one other thing if you don’t mind. Although I have not lived in McKeesport for 20 years, I still own 3 properties here, in Grandview area. One of those, there was a fire in September of 2015, if you don’t mind. President Dellapenna said you only have 3 minutes sir. Mr. Golden said ok, so anyway, I’ve got some photos here of the fire house. Again, there’s, and I’ve monitored it, there’s been no paperwork stamped to the door. I personally sold the individual owner, Jason Harris, furniture last summer and delivered it to Garbet, something like that, on the corner of Craig, I can’t remember, but it was still in the local area. But yet, it’s adjacent to my other [5] houses and I can’t rent them out because this fire house hasn’t been taken down. Again, in the 20 years. Mayor Cherepko said what house up there has not been taken down? We just Mr. Golden said 2513 Harrison. Mayor Cherepko said ok. Solicitor Elash said, your house is on Grandview Avenue, correct? Mr. Golden said I own three homes, two on Harrison and one on Grandview. Solicitor Elash said, so the one we were in court on, that house is nowhere near them? Mr. Golden said, one block away, two blocks away. Solicitor Elash said ok. Mr. Golden said, so in the twenty years of being a resident and going to the Magistrate for violations. Mayor Cherepko said, Mr. Golden, this is two separate things and your time is up, but which house is yours here, which is the fire house? Which house burned? Mr. Golden said it’s the one on the end. Mayor Cherepko said this one? You realize that’s pretty bad that I can’t even tell which one was burned? I mean compared to the condition your houses are in? Mr. Golden said, well the paint on the one. Anyway, 20 years, a bunch of code violations, four different Magistrates and I have never paid a fine, they have always gotten dismissed. I may have had some verbal ear beating by the Magistrate as well as Officer Brewster. Here are some photos and I’d like to leave them. These are two blocks of my house on Grandview and these are two blocks from his house on Rockwood, so when you see the houses and the vehicles and what not. Sir I think your three minutes are up said President Dellapenna. Solicitor Elash said and we will go after those people. Mr. Golden said thank you very much. [6] President Dellapenna said thank you Mr. Golden. President Dellapenna called forth Chief Joe Hoffman please come forward and state your address and your topic. Joe Hoffman, White Oak. Good evening and thank you for having me. I come to talk to you tonight about the McKeesport 23 Project. McKeesport 23 Project started in the summer of 2015 at the 50th Reunion of the Class of 1965 McKeesport. We realized at that point that we had 3 of our classmates that were killed in Vietnam. We did extensive research on it and found out that McKeesport has 23 men that were killed in Vietnam and what we did was I got together with some other Vietnam veterans and we decided, we started off with t-shirts and we put these together. A purple heart, it has “The McKeesport 23,” McKeesport Pennsylvania, 1965-1971 when they were killed and on the back is a listing of each one of the men that were killed and the dates. So, this proceeded into 18 months ago, at the McKeesport Ambulance Center we had a day to honor these men and we had 200 people show up. We had 8 of the 23 men that were killed, we had 8 families represented and they talked on that day. What we decided at that point was this was a group as I said of Vietnam veterans and we are going, we would like to erect a monument and we put together a monument and condition the monument, which is black granite, black is the color of the shirt and the purple in writing of each one is pretty much the traditional of colors. We went to the School Board and we would like to put, we are going to put the monument in the courtyard of the school high school. The reason we are doing that is most of the men did attend McKeesport Area High School. It’s going to happen on May 13th. It’s a Saturday, May 13th at 12 noon. We are going to have 10 of the 23 families represented. Each one of the families will be presented at that point in the auditorium and then proceed to the courtyard. This monument was, the cost of it was $6,430 and in the last three weeks I received $5,454 by 46 people and I have commitments to cover everything. We will have this entire monument paid off in about 2 weeks. The monument itself is being created by Design Monuments of White Oak and the School District is going to help us with the ground and everything. The monument is going to weigh probably close to 2,000 pounds, a little bit less than 2,000 pounds. So, one reason we selected the High School was the men attended McKeesport Area School District, but two, as far as the educational process and of the history classes and the District is very [7] much interested in using this for the future. It will be kept there into perpetuity so we would like to invite anyone who can come. It’s going to be in the auditorium which holds about 1,200 people. President Dellapenna said yes. Mr. Hoffman said we are encouraging people to come early. We are going to have a lot of veterans but you don’t have to be a veteran. Anyone that is just interested in it, you are welcome to bring families and you know, several people on Council were aware of the program that we have and how long this has been going on so I figured it was time to come and I talked to Mr. Maglicco and he said to talk to Council and explain what this was about. If you have any questions that I can answer I would be glad to. Someone asked if he is still selling the shirts? Mr. Hoffman said yes, we have, we didn’t sell these for any reason other than to honor the men, it wasn’t to help finance it. We sold 500 of these already, 500 t- shirts, ballcaps, several Council Members here have these. That was, we are going to do another order and this is the uniform of the day, guys by the way, when we have the dedication. So, it’s going to be, it’s an incredible story, each one of these have incredible stories. The brothers especially who, the sisters are going to talk, to recall the day that the military showed up at their house and stated that their brother was killed. It’s an incredible, incredible story. President Dellapenna said thank you. Mr. Hoffman said one other thing I would like to say just by listening here today, under my prior position with White Oak Police, I really commend this legislative body for your passion and dedication to McKeesport. I grew up here, I live in White Oak now, but I am still a McKeesporter and I really commend you on your dedication and these gentlemen right here, you know I worked with them, we had a bond for 14-1/2 years and whenever they needed us we were there and when we needed them they were there and I know that still goes on with Chief Bender. Thank you very much. President Dellapenna said it’s a great thing you are doing Mr. Hoffman, thank you. [8] NEW BUSINESS: President Dellapenna asked Secretary James for New Business. RESOLUTION NO. 2017-005 – BILL #55 – A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF MCKEESPORT, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, APPROVING A SITE PLAN APPROVAL REQUEST FROM O’REILLY AUTO PARTS TO CONSTRUCT AN AUTO PARTS RETAIL STORE AT 3711 WALNUT STREET. MOTION: Mrs. Brewster-Filotei moved, seconded by Mrs. Nesbit “to approve Bill #55.” RC-4 YEAS: DELLAPENNA, NESBIT, BROWN, BARRY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, SOLES, WALKER-MONTGOMERY (7) NAYS: NONE (0) RESOLUTION NO. 2017-006– BILL #56 – 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 FOR FUTURE CONVEYANCE. MOTION: Mr. Soles moved, seconded by Mr. Brown “to approve Bill #56.” Mr. Gergely said I just want to make sure it was corrected; the recommendation is there. Ms. James said yes. RC-5 YEAS: DELLAPENNA, NESBIT, BROWN, BARRY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, SOLES, WALKER-MONTGOMERY (7) NAYS: NONE (0) RESOLUTION NO. 2017-007 – BILL #57 – A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF MCKEESPORT, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, AUTHORIZING THE PROPER CITY OFFICIALS TO TAKE ANY ACTION NECESSARY TO TRANSFER TITLE TO TWO (2) CITY FIRE TRUCKS THE CITY DESIRES TO REMOVE FROM SERVICE TO THE TWO (2) HIGHEST BIDDERS. MOTION: Mrs. Nesbit moved, seconded by Mrs. Brewster-Filotei “to approve Bill #57.” [9] RC-6 YEAS: DELLAPENNA, NESBIT, BROWN, BARRY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, SOLES, WALKER-MONTGOMERY (7) NAYS: NONE (0) ORDINANCE NO. 2017-002 – BILL #58 – AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MCKEESPORT, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, AMENDING ORDINANCE #16-011, TO ESTABLISH THE COST FOR OBTAINING AN INDUSTRIAL OR COMMERCIAL OCCUPANY PERMIT AT ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE ($125) DOLLARS. MOTION: Mr. Soles moved, seconded by Mrs. Walker-Montgomery “to approve Bill #58.” RC-7 YEAS: DELLAPENNA, NESBIT, BROWN, BARRY, BREWSTER-FILOTEI, SOLES, WALKER-MONTGOMERY (7) NAYS: NONE (0) ADJOURNMENT: President of Council Dellapenna said I would like to thank everyone for attending. This concludes the Council meeting of February 1, 2017. Please have a safe trip home. Thank you. The meeting then adjourned at 7:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Annette James City Clerk and Clerk of Council APPROVED: Richard Dellapenna President of Council das [10]