City Council

CITY OF MCKEESPORT REGULAR MEETING WEDNESDAY 7:08 P.M. SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 The regular meeting of Council was called to order on the above- stated date at the above-stated time after the Pledge of Allegiance and Moment of Silence by Vice President Nesbit. The following Members of Council were present: RC-1 PRESENT: JIM BARRY, TIMOTHY BROWN, BRIAN EVANS, JILL LAPE, LUETHEL NESBIT, KEITH SOLES ABSENT: RICHARD DELLAPENNA (mandated for work tonight per Mayor Cherepko) Vice President Nesbit said may I ask for a Motion to Approve the Minutes of the regular meeting of July 1, 2020? APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Vice President Nesbit said may I ask for a Motion to Approve the Minutes of the regular meeting of July 1, 2020? MOTION: Mr. Evans moved, seconded by Mr. Soles, “to approve the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of July 1, 2020.” RC-2 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (6) NAYS: NONE (0) COMMUNICATIONS: Secretary James reported that we received the Fire and Police Reports for August 2020 and also the Police Report for July 2020. MAYOR’S REPORT: Vice President Nesbit asked do we have the Mayor’s Report? Mayor Cherepko said thank you Madam Vice President. [1] I am not promising to be brief but I won’t be too long, we will be somewhere in the middle. Mayor Cherepko said we took a month off between meetings and there are some things I would just like to remind people that are going on. Obviously, we are still in the middle of this global pandemic. So, hopefully everyone is doing what they can to stay safe. Unfortunately, when you have something of this magnitude that pretty much changes each and every one of our lives instantly, I don’t think anyone in the world that if you were told last year or a year ago that this is the life we would be living I don’t think there’s anyone probably in our country that probably would have had any inkling of actually believing it. But, with that being said, the unfortunate part is it hurts things going on in the City. We still have a lot of really good things going on but without question all that momentum and the projects that were going on, it just kid of hinders it and slows it down a little bit. But, with that being said, for example, when I say that, you would have seen a building going up by now across from Natale’s. That project for right now is pretty much a dead project at this point. I won’t call it dead, but it’s, there’s not much life left in that project right now and it’s without question strictly because of the COVID. Whether it was the bank tenant and some of their reorganizing of their corporate and all the different banking, the County not sure what they are going to do, and things like that. So, it put that project on hold. But we are still very excited, we are probably going to be doing a press conference in a week or two with some things going on at The Daily News Building, Tube City Center. Right now, they are trying to get some of the magistrate hearings for the Honorable Gene Riazzi, but many other ones from the Mon Valley coming here. Without going into too many details and hoping that the media that is present can just be a little patient with it, actually I think somebody already had a little inkling in the paper, kind of, we are really looking at this opportunity. You’ve heard us talk about the courthouse long before I sat up here and maybe even longer and before when I sat up there. [2] It might have been when Jim Brewster was on Council for all I know. It’s been that long but then it was something that we carried off as Council and Senator Brewster when he was Mayor with Zappala. So, I am not saying that’s where that’s going to happen but I think there’s no better time than with what we are going through right now with COVID and this global pandemic that it’s time to start decentralizing the courthouse and things in Pittsburgh. I think it’s time to really get some of these services out here into the Mon Valley. Even if it’s not all the criminal and the courthouse, things they planned, but even if it starts small and maybe Family Court, who knows. People don’t realize but there’s like 3,000 Family Court hearings just in the Mon Valley alone each year. I am sure it’s not easy when you have single mothers that have to haul them and possibly their kids as well down to a Court hearing in Pittsburgh. It’s just so much more easily accessible if they would come up with some sort of other location. I talk about what was mentioned for a long time what the goal was but I think that the time is right because of this COVID and this global pandemic. We should be trying to spread people out and not have it one place in the courthouse. So, I think the timing is right. We have good things, I don’t think the Executive Building was officially purchased the last time we had a meeting, I don’t know if it was or not. You have the gentleman who purchased the Peoples Building also has the Executive Building purchased. We are officially, I think officially, through all the bureaucratic red tape of the 2.9-million-dollar project with the trail and our parking garage over there. Literally got the letter today thanks to Senator Brewster. I have to say that because we were told a couple days ago it might be another eight weeks or so over agreements and things, over singing agreements and typos. It was ridiculous. He made a phone call yesterday and we got official notification today that we should now have an active contract and we can now start to proceed with that. [3] So, when you start seeing the chips fall, as I talk about some of the things that were heard. I think there’s opportunity now to really build upon that and I know I’ve talked about it but it’s now coming to fruition with some of these other things. There’s no reason why people should all be going to Pittsburgh for a Dog License or a Marriage License or to file a Deed. I’m not saying all of that’s going to happen because as of now it’s not but I’m just kind of planning this that this is the time to really look into this. People know in Pittsburgh you park for $20. Come over in our parking garage and if you are here for a service or something like that you might pay $5 for all day. We didn’t talk about that; I haven’t discussed it with Council or anything else at that point. But the point is there’s a lot of pros to something to like this. So, I am hoping for the most part, I don’t want to get out in front of this and tic anyone off so I am hoping our friends here in the media can be a little patient on this because literally we were going to do, it’s so close that we were going to do the press conference tomorrow but we had to back off of that. It may be as early as next week but it is time to decentralize, time to get something out here in the valley. Mr. Zappala is extremely committed over here in his office space. They can do the virtual meetings as well. There’s a lot of opportunities through the Justice System and whether it’s Family Court, whether it’s Criminal, whatever the case may be, we are set up here in town to where we can have kind of a Criminal Justice Campus so to say and there’s a lot of things that come with that, good things. You know, you are bringing this many people to our area, now they need somewhere to grab a coffee, somewhere to grab a sandwich, somewhere to you know whatever the case may be so it can become a domino affect as well. I didn’t want to get into that as much as I just did to be honest with you, that’s why I said it might not be extremely brief. But I did talk about that. The NPP, we are moving ahead with that. We are still trying to secure some properties and that’s going to be to tear down across the street from the City hall, current City hall, and make that [4] get a shovel ready for development. So, we are still in the process with that. Our demos, houses are still coming down, he had three crews out, taking way longer than I ever thought it would but it’s happening. Roads are being paved. I have to not only commend our contractor but Steve Kondrosky and our Public Works Department are doing a fantastic job. I don’t see a tremendous difference, I see very little difference to be honest with you, between our professional contractor who probably paves hundreds of miles a year to our Public Works guys that might do a mile or two a year. So, they are working and the milling definitely helped. It was an inconvenience for people but by having them mill everything and get everything prepped, unfortunately some of them had to have the road maybe milled up for a couple weeks before they actually got to it and it made it worse that we didn’t have rain for weeks, and then there was dust everywhere in some placed. But I look at it as a short-term inconvenience for a long-term reward. So, we are moving ahead with a lot of that. The CD demos on Walnut we are looking to, that will be going up for bid. That was on the Contract that you approved. We are looking to get that developed. Did you see the new building coming up for Tube City, the construction company? We now have someone most likely to purchase the property right down from there that was vacant that we had people back out. So, here we are in the middle of this pandemic and we still have people trying to make investments so it’s a good thing. The project on East Fifth Avenue, I am not sure if we are allowed to say Get-Go, I know we’ve said it. But I think that’s still on track, that’s going to happen. We are also looking to secure some funding, that’s really going to make that whole bottleneck, even for now it’s going to be better for traffic, but the ultimate goal is to really get it flowing. It’s a shame that’s the only place you bottle-neck from Pennzoil to Bloom’s, from Route 30 all the way to the Mansfield [5] Bridge, it’s sad. So, we are confident that we are going to be able to do that. That may be a year or two before that all gets done but the Get-Go thing I am hoping is getting up and going again and we are probably going to see that moving very soon. I don’t want to go on forever, the last thing I want to address is all too often it becomes the elephant in the room and people don’t want to talk about it. But, we’ve had issues, lots of shots fired calls over the month of August and you know you see a lot of things that come with that and the disheartening thing is you see comments of whatever people are saying, oh, they are not policing, they are not doing this, they’re not doing that, but what I want you to know is that couldn’t be further from the truth. Our men and women in our Police Department do a tremendous job putting their lives on the line to try to make McKeesport a safer place. The camera systems that we have up and we are still adding cameras, have been a tremendous tool as well. The shot-spotter that’s probably going to become a reality for us here with the Grant opportunity to get it installed is going to become another resource. But the men and women are out here doing their job in McKeesport. I can’t speak for all the Police Departments but I can tell you they do a tremendous job here. They do it with respect and they do it with dignity and the most important part is far from perfect and we need to work on continuing to be as close to perfect as we can. But our police officers here in the City treat suspects and victims with respect and if they are not that’s the goal. We want to be a lead with everything that’s going on in this Country around us and I truly believe that’s why you don’t get the complaints that we have. We get complaints, it happens, but you don’t see a lot of the issues that you see around in the world around us. I’m out there with them at times. I was out there last night until almost 2 in the morning, about 1:30 a.m. and I always said whether you are an 11-year old that I taught in school or whether you are an adult or whether you’re a police officer, whether you are someone making a bad choice, you have to give respect to get respect. The biggest thing we’ve been pushing in our Police Department is to [6] make sure we are given respect. You show respect to each and every person you encounter. Now we realize that’s hard to do at times because who knows what kind of call they came on but they are working on it and I am not saying we are perfect, I don’t want anyone to say we’re perfect. But I am very proud of the way we conduct ourselves and when I say this, for these people that say we are not out policing. In the month of August alone our Police Department took 16 illegal guns off the streets in one month, 16. Those are just the ones that were illegal, may have been used in a crime, whatever the case may be. To date this year, there’s a total of 78 we got off the streets. The most important part about it is we are achieving this while treating people the way they are supposed to be treated in those given circumstances because there’s no perfect answer. But when I say that I say that because the complaints that have come into my office are so minimal it’s unbelievable. The complaints that I get from Council that hear from people are minimal and that’s a good thing. This is a world where it’s not easy to be an officer. People don’t want to be an officer. You are going to see a shortage of police officers around here very soon. I forget what they said they just graduated from the academy, but it wasn’t many. It was literally a couple handfuls where normally it’s dozens. So, I don’t want anyone to think for one second that I am saying our Police Department is perfect, because we are far from it and we will continue to strive for perfection but what we keep putting in them is we want to be the Department that when people say you know what, it’s hard, you are not going to please everyone. Please understand there’s people out there that think we are the worst in the world and we’re criminals, that’s the nay-sayers of the world. But, I want the people that pay attention, the people that take the time out to learn what’s really going on, to at least say our officers are fair and the ones that aren’t are being handled with. When I say that I say there’s a circumstance where maybe they jumped the gun and they weren’t as respectful as they could have been, we are striving to show respect and I feel they are doing a tremendous job. We are collaborating with agencies of every level. The fact that these [7] agencies want to be here with us tells you something. It’s not easy right now and I will tell you there’s a lot of places in our country right now that aren’t policing. For those people that made the allegations, I don’t get into the social media, I don’t get into it but when I am seeing people blasting this Mayor, this Council, what’s the Mayor and Council think, what you think we are all sitting at home and you think we are ok with this and we are not doing anything. What’s the police officers doing? I get defensive and I get defensive more so honestly for the Council. I’m used to people saying things about me, I have very thick skin, it takes a lot to offend me. But when I have people bad mouthing my Police Department when I know they are striving to do what they can and people bad mouthing this Council that’s a part-time job, part-time duty for next-to-nothing because people care about our community, I am going to get your back, make no mistake. And that’s why I felt obligated to make sure that I talked about this a little bit more at the meeting tonight because I am very appreciative. I can tell you I get calls constantly, I get text messages, ok. I don’t sleep and to be quite honest with you, my wife who is sitting right here will probably tell you I’ve not been a very good husband lately. I mean I am being honest, I am irritable, I am in a bad mood, I am stressed, so when people say that, it’s not so much me, I know I didn’t sign up to be appreciated but it does bother me but it really ticks me off when I have a Council that cares and police officers that are doing their damn best effort to do their jobs and do their jobs with respect, dignity and treat people fairly, treat people the way they would want to be treated if they were in the same situation and that’s not easy to do sometimes because I could tell you sometimes there’s not much respect given our officers at all. But I commend them, I commend the Chief I know he’s not here. We are in constant communication, Luethel who has multiple hats, with her Vice Chair, our McKeesport Unit NAACP and Brenda Sawyer, they have my direct numbers. You know, if there’s issues that come up you let me know we are handling them. The Council people who reach out all the time, it’s funny every now and then when I get a text from them, I try to give them an update of what’s going on. [8] Also, the unfortunate part is I make hundreds and hundreds of decisions a day and you just don’t have time to pass them all on. But, I wanted to talk about this a little bit, not just for you, because of what you do no Council and for our Police Department for what they are doing, but I commend each and every one of you and I assure the public, anyone who thinks we have a Council that doesn’t care could not be further from the truth and I will challenge that any day. It’s not worth the headaches that they put up with. They do it because they are trying to make McKeesport a better place to live. With that, I just want to, Renzie Walking Trail will be coming in soon. They are going to be doing that. We are excited about that. But hopefully everyone can continue to stay safe with this whole pandemic whatever the choices are that you make you do, just try to do so responsibly. The scary part with this thing is you just don’t know how it’s going to; it affects everyone differently. That’s the real scary part about it. But other than that, I hope everyone is safe, stays safe, and that concludes my report Madam Vice President. CITIZENS IN THE AUDIENCE: Vice President Nesbit asked do we have any citizens signed up? Solicitor Elash said we don’t have anybody signed in do we? Mam if you would like to speak, you are supposed to sign up, but we are ok with that, if you would like to come up. Just state your name and address for the record. Karen Hughes, 2807 Lafayette Street. Spoke about issues she is having with people are trying to force her out of her property with harassment and slanderous lies. Vice President Nesbit asked for New Business. Mayor Cherepko said we can get into New Business but I did want to comment on something too, when I talked about the Police earlier, and there was one key part when I talked about the jobs they are doing, I want people to understand this is as well, and I want it to be [9] on record, it is extremely frustrating as a Police Officer, as a Councilperson, as a Mayor, as a resident of the City, as anyone that cares about their City, the system itself it doesn’t always work for us. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times we arrest someone, illegal guns, lots of drugs, rap sheets like you can’t imagine, on probation, on parole, and out on the streets 24 hours later doing the same thing. When I say that I wanted to make sure that people understand as frustrating as that is, we continue to do the jobs, they continue to do the jobs, and I can’t commend them enough for that. I want that to be on record as well because it’s happened a lot lately. People that we say well we probably won’t have to worry about them for a while, they are on the street 16 hours later and they are doing the same thing. They are part of the shootings or part of other things and it’s extremely frustrating. But, we continue to encourage our police officers to not get frustrated by these types of things because imagine doing your job, having a goal, attaining the goal, and then having someone rip it right out from you and say well it didn’t happen. Someday they’ll have their day in court but in the meantime it’s a process. Vice President Nesbit said if I may add to what the Mayor is saying, we’ve been going through this COVID stress, all of us, and it’s adding to everybody’s angst and anxiety and what normally people might take their time and be a little more considerate, or a little more calmer, it’s almost out the window because the stress of COVID is taking its toll on everyone. So, we really have to be cognizant and just count to 10 a lot of times in dealing with anybody, anywhere we go, from the Post Office to the grocery store, no matter who we are and where we are and what position we hold and what capacity we meet and we deal with people because it’s very stressful and everyone is on edge. So, if ever there was a time to count to 10 and pray, and then deal with people, this is it. Mayor Cherepko said thank you. [10] Vice President Nesbit said can we start with New Business Jason? Solicitor Elash said, yes, Annette. NEW BUSINESS: RESOLUTION NO. 2020-040 – BILL #46 – Introduced by Brian Evans - A Resolution of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Awarding the Bid for the Traffic Signal Projects at Evans Street and Versailles Avenue, and Lysle Boulevard (SR0148) and Coursin Street to Traffic Control and Engineering Company, and Authorizing the Proper City Officials to Execute all Documents Necessary to Enter Into an Agreement with Traffic Control and Engineering Company for an Amount Not to Exceed $265,858.75. MOTION: Mr. Soles moved, seconded by Mr. Barry “to approve Bill #46.” Vice President Nesbit asked for any questions or discussion and there was none. Mayor Cherepko said now that we put our Work Session Minutes in I pretty much don’t say much during the regular meeting unless we have a big crowd for the regular meeting and everyone was here so I am going to stay quiet for the rest of the meeting unless someone has a question for me. RC-3 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (6) NAYS: NONE (0) RESOLUTION NO. 2020-041 – BILL #47 - Introduced by Keith Soles - A Resolution of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Designating September 19 Through October 11, 2020, ad Radical Days in the City of McKeesport. MOTION: Mr. Barry moved, seconded by Mr. Brown “to approve Bill #47.” Vice President Nesbit asked for any questions or discussion and there was none. RC-4 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT (6) [11] RESOLUTION NO. 2020-042 – BILL #48 - Introduced by Tim Brown – A Resolution of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Authorizing the Proper Officials to Enter Into an Agreement with David Collura. MOTION: Mr. Soles moved, seconded by Mr. Evans “to approve Bill #48.” RC-5 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (6) RESOLUTION NO. 2020-043 – BILL #49 - Introduced by Jill Lape – A Resolution of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Approving and Authorizing the Transfer of Fiscal Year 2017 Home Program Grant Funds to Allegheny County in Return for an Equivalent Amount of Affordable Housing Trust Fund Dollars. MOTION: Mr. Evans moved, seconded by Mr. Barry “to approve Bill #49.” Vice President Nesbit asked for any questions or discussion and there was none. RC-6 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, EVANS, LAPE (4) ABSTAIN: NESBIT (Vice President Nesbit said she abstains as an employee of Action Housing), SOLES (Mr. Soles said I abstain as I sit on the McKeesport Housing Corporation Board) (2) RESOLUTION NO. 2020-044 – BILL #50 - Introduced by Brian Evans – A Resolution of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Authorizing the Proper City Officials to Execute All Documents Necessary to Execute and Accept the Attached Grant Agreement with the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County in Relation to the Active Allegheny Grant Awarded to the City of McKeesport for FY 2020. MOTION: Mr. Brown moved, seconded by Mr. Barry “to approve Bill #50.” RC-7 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (6) [12] RESOLUTION NO. 2020-045 – BILL #51 – Introduced by Tim Brown. A Resolution of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Approving a Reverse Subdivision Request From Eugene and Wendy Riazzi, 2721 Grandview Avenue, McKeesport, PA 15132, to Combine Two (2) Lots (464-H-116 and 464-H-151-1) Into One (1). The Property Exists in a R-3 Zoning District. MOTION: Mr. Evans moved, seconded by Ms. Lape “to approve Bill #51.” Vice President Nesbit asked for any questions or discussion and there was none. RC-8 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (6) RESOLUTION NO. 2020-046 – BILL #52 – Introduced by Jill Lape. A Resolution of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, approving a Conditional Use Request from Leonard Kolodzek d/b/a K&K Roadside Service, LLC, to Operate an Automobile Towing and Repair Facility at 2215 Patterson Avenue, McKeesport, PA. The Property Exists in an R-2 Zoning District. MOTION: Mr. Brown moved, seconded by Ms. Lape “to approve Bill #52.” RC-9 YEAS: BROWN, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT (4) NAYS: BARRY, SOLES (2) RESOLUTION NO. 2020-047 - BILL #53 – Introduced by Keith Soles. A Resolution of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Authorizing the Proper City Officials to Execute all Documents Necessary to Retain Prism Spectrum, Inc. as the City’s Hazardous Material Assessment/Abatement Consultant for all City Agencies and Projects. MOTION: Mr. Barry moved, seconded by Mr. Evans “to approve Bill #53.” [13] RC-10 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (6) Solicitor Elash said we need a Motion to Remove Bill #21 from the Table. MOTION: Mr. Evans moved, seconded by Mr. Soles “to remove Bill #21 from the Table.” RC-11 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (6) RESOLUTION NO. 2020-016 - Bill #21 – Introduced by James Barry - A Resolution of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, approving a Conditional Use Request from Lea Morgan to Operate an Automobile Rental (Limo) Service at 1828 Fifth Avenue, McKeesport, PA. The Property exists in a C-3 Zoning District. MOTION: Mr. Barry moved, seconded by Ms. Lape “to approve Bill #21.” RC-12 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (6) Solicitor Elash said we need a Motion to Amend the Agenda to Add Bill #54 and #55. MOTION: Mr. Soles moved, seconded by Mr. Brown “to approve the Motion to Amend the Agenda to Add Bill #54 and Bill #55.” RC-13 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (6) RESOLUTION NO. 2020-048 - Bill #54 – Introduced by Brian Evans. A Resolution of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Authorizing the Proper City Officials to Execute all Documents Necessary to Lease Equipment from Laurel Mountain Leasing & Financial Services, Inc. MOTION: Mr. Barry moved, seconded by Mr. Soles “to approve Bill #54.” RC-14 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (6) RESOLUTION NO. 2020-049 - Bill #55 – Introduced by Keith Soles. A Resolution of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Authorizing the Proper City Officials to Apply for Funding Through the Strategic Management Planning Program. [14] MOTION: Mr. Brown moved, seconded by Mr. Evans “to approve Bill #55.” Vice President Nesbit asked for any questions or discussion and there was none. RC-15 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (6) Vice President Nesbit asked for any other Business and there was none except Mayor Cherepko said the only other comment I wanted to make was, I apologize we should have probably done a moment of silence for Phyllis Ryan, who is the mother of our Finance Director Tasha Phelps, passed away, she was buried today. Anyone who knows Phyllis she always had a smile on her face and was so wonderful with the kids and her last few years of life up there at Twin Rivers in the Cafeteria working with the kids and things. So, she will be missed. I wish we would have had a moment of silence before but I forgot so I wanted to make that announcement. Secretary James said also Mr. Mayor there is an appointment to the Planning Personnel. Mayor Cherepko said, yes, I am glad you said that. We need someone on the Planning Commission, Kaitlyn Poston, a nice young lady that helps out at the office the last couple of years and she is going to be around and would like to be part of the Committee. So, it’s just the Planning Commission that makes recommendations to Council. So, if we could have a Motion for Kaitlyn, I would appreciate it. MOTION: Mr. Soles moved, seconded by Ms. Lape “to appoint Kaitlyn Poston to the Planning Commission of the City of McKeesport.” RC-16 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (6) [15] ADJOURNMENT: Vice President Nesbit said the meeting is adjourned. The meeting then adjourned at 7:54 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Annette James City Clerk and Clerk of Council APPROVED: Luethel Nesbit Vice President of Council /das [16]