City Council

CITY OF MCKEESPORT REGULAR MEETING WEDNESDAY 7:00 P.M. JANUARY 6, 2021 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 an Acknowledgment for Officer Atkins Offering Prayers and Thoughts to Him and His Family by President Dellapenna. President Dellapenna called for roll call but Solicitor Elash said I would like to note before she starts her roll call that all the same people were present for the Work Session we just held as well. The following Members of Council were present: RC-1 PRESENT: JIM BARRY, TIMOTHY BROWN, RICHARD DELLAPENNA, BRIAN EVANS, JILL LAPE, LUETHEL NESBIT, KEITH SOLES APPROVAL OF MINUTES: President Dellapenna asked for a Motion to Approve the Minutes of the regular meeting of December 2, 2020. MOTION: Mr. Barry moved, seconded by Mrs. Nesbit, “to approve the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of December 2, 2020.” RC-2 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, DELLAPENNA, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (7) NAYS: NONE (0) COMMUNICATIONS: Secretary James reported that we received both the Fire and Police Reports for the month of December 2020. MAYOR’S REPORT: President Dellapenna asked for the Mayor’s Report and asked if Mayor Cherepko had anything else. [1] Mayor Cherepko said yes, I do, just want to add two brief things, I can’t remember the one. Oh yea, just two very brief things. Obviously, today, I mentioned at last month’s meeting you know with the pandemic and everything that is going on right now with COVID, we are obviously holding a meeting to where the public is not permitted to attend. I don’t even have our Council people here except for Mr. Dellapenna who is our President. We do have media attending the meeting so that there’s no question with anything as far as transparency goes and we will continue to operate in this manner until further notice. If anyone wants to make a comment in regard to any agenda item, we will continue to put the Agenda on the web site and they need to have their comments in writing to Jennifer Vertullo in my office or Annette for that matter, but I think we put Jennifer Vertullo on the web site, by noon of the day the meeting is held which we hold the first Wednesday of the month. Today we didn’t receive anything with regard to the noon deadline. We try to hold it to 250 words or less is what we put on there. Obviously, if someone goes on a little longer than that and especially if it involves an Agenda item, anything that involves an Agenda item without question will be part of the Minutes. Anyone with a general question that there’s really no need to come to a Council meeting at the end of the day because it’s going to at the end of the day whatever issue or problem someone might end up having will end up running through my office anyway. They can always just call our office (412-675-5020 x605), that is on the web site as well. So, we want to address any concerns that may be out there. Other than that, I think I said it last month but as far as the public safety end of things. We are excited to and continue to utilize all of the resources around us that we possibly can. Shot-Spotter is another resource that we plan on having in the City of McKeesport in 2021 which will give our fine men and women in blue the opportunity to respond much more quickly and extremely precisely to where the shots would have taken place. I know I have Chief Alfer here with us tonight and I continue to commend our police [2] department for all of their efforts as they continue to work each and every day to keep our neighborhood safe and to make McKeesport a safer place to live with each of them, most of them, having significant others at home, all of them having somebody that just dreads the day that a call may come in and we came close to that over this last month. We were very fortunate that everyone is safe. Officer Atkins is going to make a full recovery and we appreciate the response of our police officers in reacting so unbelievably quickly to the call of a PFA violation that Mr. Francis was violating. Thanks to their actions that for all we know, there’s no guessing, we don’t want to speculate, but we do know that the lady and the children that had the PFA we know they were safe and we are very, very thankful that they are safe as well and very thankful that our police, not our police, but the police, the agencies were able to apprehend Mr. Francis and bring him in safely as well which is very important. So, Chief Alfer, keep up the great job and our Police Department has done a tremendous job and I just commend you and your efforts. If anyone has any issues, I don’t like to get into allegations but let me just say I know there was some allegations out there in the public and I received zero complaints through e-mail, through phone. Chief Alfer has received zero complaints and we are very fortunate here in the City of McKeesport to have our own branch of the NAACP as the McKeesport Branch of the NAACP and the President, along with the Vice Chair, Mrs. Luethel Nesbit, who also sits on Council, they have my direct phone number to the phone that is on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It does not go off and I just wanted to be able to come to this Council meeting in case there were any concerns to address and I wanted to make sure that I was not giving out information that was wrong. I did speak to our President Brenda Sawyer and she assured me that she too has absolutely no complaints reported to her through mail, through e-mail or through phone. But any issues that may be out there, feel free to contact my office. That’s where we stand. That’s the truth and that is very factual. To Officer Atkins and the family, I wish him a speedy recovery. [3] President Dellapenna said just for the record there are no citizens in the audience signed in. CITIZENS IN THE AUDIENCE: President Dellapenna announced there were no citizens who signed up to speak and asked for New Business from Secretary James. NEW BUSINESS: RESOLUTION NO. 2021-001 – Bill #1 - Introduced by Brian Evans – A Resolution of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Establishing Regular Meetings of City Council for the Year 2021 and January 2022. MOTION: Mrs. Nesbit moved, seconded by Mr. Brown “to approve Bill #1.” President Dellapenna asked for questions or comments to Bill #1 and there were none. RC-3 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, DELLAPENNA, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (7) NAYS: NONE (0) ORDINANCE NO. 021-001 - Bill #2 –Introduced by Luethel Nesbit – An Ordinance of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Authorizing the Proper City Officials to Execute Any Documents Necessary to Transfer the Property Known as 0308-M- 00129, Located at 626 Market Street, to the Redevelopment Authority of the City of McKeesport. MOTION: Mr. Evans moved, seconded by Mrs. Lape “to approve Bill #2.” President Dellapenna asked for questions or comments to Bill #2 and there were none. [4] RC-4 YEAS: BROWN, DELLAPENNA, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (6) ABSTAIN: BARRY (1) NAYS: NONE (0) Solicitor Elash said I am assuming Mr. Barry is abstaining because he is a member of the Redevelopment Authority. Mr. Barry said that is correct. ORDINANCE NO. 21-002 - Bill #3– Introduced by Keith Soles – An Ordinance of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Requiring the Purchaser of Any Real Estate Within the City of McKeesport to Apply for a Certificate of Occupancy, Within Ninety (90) Days of Purchasing Said Real Estate. MOTION: Mr. Barry moved, seconded by Mr. Evans “to approve Bill #3.” President Dellapenna asked for questions or comments to Bill #3 and there were none. RC-5 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, DELLAPENNA, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (7) NAYS: NONE (0) ORDINANCE NO. 21-003 – Bill #4– Introduced by Jill Lape – An Ordinance of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Establishing Official Stop Signs on Versailles Avenue and Freemont Street to Regulate Traffic Upon the Removal of Outdated Traffic Signals in the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. [5] MOTION: Mrs. Nesbit moved, seconded by Mr. Soles “to approve Bill #4.” President Dellapenna asked for any questions or comments and there was none. RC-6 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, DELLAPENNA, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (7) NAYS: NONE (0) President Dellapenna asked for a Motion to Amend the Agenda to Add Bills 5 and 6. MOTION: Mr. Soles moved, seconded by Mrs. Nesbit “to Amend the Agenda to Add Bills 5 and 6.” President Dellapenna asked for any questions or comments and there was none. RC-7 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, DELLAPENNA, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (7) NAYS: NONE (0) RESOLUTION NO. 2021-002 - Bill #5– Introduced by Keith Soles – A Resolution of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, approving a Reverse Subdivision Request from Glenn & Louise Marrow to Combine 380-C-254 and 380-C-255. The Combined Lot Will be Known as 2210 Cronemeyer Street, McKeesport, PA 15132. The Property Exists in an R-3 Zoning District. MOTION: Mr. Brown moved, seconded by Mr. Soles “to approve Bill #5.” President Dellapenna asked for any questions or comments and there was none. RC-8 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, DELLAPENNA, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (7) NAYS: NONE [6] RESOLUTION NO. 2021-002 - Bill #6– Introduced by Luethel Nesbit – A Resolution of the City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Approving a Reverse Subdivision Request from NLCP Industry PA, LLC to Combine 307-C-110 and 307-C-2. The Combined Lot will be Known as 511 Industry Road, McKeesport, PA 15132. The Property Exists in a I-U Zoning District. MOTION: Mr. Barry moved, seconded by Mrs. Nesbit “to approve Bill #6.” President Dellapenna asked for any questions or comments and there was none. RC-9 YEAS: BARRY, BROWN, DELLAPENNA, EVANS, LAPE, NESBIT, SOLES (7) NAYS: NONE ADJOURNMENT: President Dellapenna said that concludes the Council meeting for Wednesday, January 6, 2021. Thank you everybody for calling in and for attending. The meeting then adjourned at 7:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Annette James City Clerk and Clerk of Council APPROVED: Richard Dellapenna President of Council /das [7]