COUNCIL

1 1 COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF SCRANTON 2 3 4 HELD: 5 6 7 Tuesday, June 17th, 2025 8 9 10 LOCATION: 11 12 COUNCIL CHAMBERS 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Maria McCool, RPR Official Court Reporter 25  2 1 C O U N C I L M E M B E R S: 2 GERALD SMURL - PRESIDENT 3 MARK MCANDREW, VICE PRESIDENT 4 JESSICA ROTHCHILD 5 THOMAS SCHUSTER 6 WILLIAM KING 7 8 FRANK VOLDENBERG, CITY CLERK 9 KATHY CARRERA, ASSISTANT CITY CLERK 10 THOMAS GILBRIDE, ESQ., COUNCIL SOLICITOR 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  3 1 (Pledge of Allegiance.) 2 3 MR. SMURL: Please remain standing 4 for a moment of silent reflection for our 5 service men and women throughout the world and 6 for those who have passed away in our 7 community, especially Joyce Hendrick{phonetic} 8 and Leo Wentz. Thank you. Roll call, please. 9 MS. CARRERA: Mr. King. 10 MR. KING: Here. 11 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Schuster. 12 MR. SCHUSTER: Present. 13 MS. CARRERA: Dr. Rothchild. 14 DR. ROTHCHILD: Here. 15 MS. CARRERA: Mr. McAndrew. 16 MR. MCANDREW: Present. 17 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Smurl. 18 MR. SMURL: Dispense with the 19 reading of the minutes. 20 MR. VOLDENBERG: THIRD ORDER. 21 3.A. OVERTIME REPORT FOR ALL 22 DEPARTMENTS FOR MAY, 2025, AS PROVIDED BY CITY 23 CONTROLLER, RECEIVED MAY 23, 2025. 24 3.B. LACKAWANNA COUNTY PLANNING 25 COMMISSION SUBDIVISION AND LAND DEVELOPMENT  4 1 EVALUATION REPORTS REVIEWED MAY 27, 2025. 2 3.C. CONTROLLER'S REPORT FOR THE 3 MONTH ENDING MAY 31st, 2025. 4 MR. SMURL: Are there any comments 5 on any of the Third Order items? If not, 6 received and filed. Do any Council members 7 have any announcements at this time? 8 MR. SCHUSTER: So I have a few. DPW 9 just wanted to remind residents that both City 10 Hall and Department of Public Works is going to 11 be closed Thursday on June 19th, in observance 12 of Juneteenth. Trash and recycling will be one 13 day behind this week. 14 Also the Brooks Mine at Nay Aug Park 15 is open every Saturday for guided tours from 16 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. So there's no charge for 17 tours. But donations are gratefully accepted. 18 The mine is staffed by volunteers from the 19 underground minors group. So that is every 20 Saturday, guided tours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 21 I also had an opportunity today to 22 visit the Local 60 Scranton Fire Department had 23 an esophageal cancer screening today over at 24 Weston Field. It was today, tomorrow, and 25 Thursday.  5 1 That is going to be going on from 8 2 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the next two days. The 3 turnout was good today. And I would encourage 4 current, active and retired firefighters to be 5 screened. That is all, Mr. Smurl. 6 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Anyone else? 7 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes, I just wanted 8 to give a reminder asked by Miss Jeffries about 9 the Electric City Flower Show. That's 10 happening this Saturday, June 21st. That will 11 be held at Nay Aug Park between the hours of 12 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. 13 And there's going to be 70 plus 14 vendors there. So a lot to -- a lot to do down 15 at Nay Aug this weekend. But I wanted to make 16 sure to bring that up again. And another thing 17 happening this week is Juneteenth. And 18 Thursday, the Black Scranton Project is going 19 to be having their annual block party. 20 That will take place from 2 p.m. to 21 8 p.m., at their place over on 1902 North Main 22 Avenue. And they have several other events 23 this year for Juneteenth as well. So they're 24 doing the following day, Friday, Black Scranton 25 Punk Fest from 2 to 6 at their center.  6 1 The following day on Saturday will 2 be a church service over at Bethel AME Church. 3 And that same day too, they'll also be having a 4 brunch at 1 p.m. So plenty to do to celebrate 5 Juneteenth. I just wanted to bring up all 6 those events. That's all I have. Thank you. 7 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Anyone else? 8 MR. VOLDENBERG: FOURTH ORDER. 9 CITIZEN PARTICIPATION. 10 MR. SMURL: Frank, one second. I 11 have just two. A public hearing that was 12 scheduled for today will be held next Tuesday 13 at 5:45, June 24th. And it will be advertised 14 so that everyone will be able to have all the 15 information for it. That's all. 16 MR. VOLDENBERG: FOURTH ORDER. 17 CITIZEN PARTICIPATION. 18 MR. SMURL: First, Joan Hodowanitz. 19 MS. HODOWANITZ: Joan Hodowanitz, 20 Scranton. First, I just want to say how great 21 the windows look. I would love to be able to 22 get into the building when the sun is shining 23 so I could see what it looks like. So, Frank, 24 I'll be calling you when that happens. You'll 25 bring me up, okay?  7 1 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll be here, Joan. 2 MS. HODOWANITZ: And I really do 3 think that it would be nice if, you know, when 4 the sun is shining if someone takes pictures 5 to, you know, make sure everybody knows how 6 wonderful they look. DPW contract negotiations 7 still progressing? 8 MR. SMURL: Still ongoing. 9 MS. HODOWANITZ: Yeah, one of the 10 reasons I keep mentioning it is, you know, I'm 11 sure that the BA office is deep into budget 12 preparations. And one of the things that would 13 be nice to know, you know, is if there's pay 14 raises for DPW employees, it should be factored 15 into the budget. 16 And if that doesn't happen if the 17 negotiations drag on past that point as it did 18 with fire and police, then you have to go back 19 and adjust the budget by giving backpay. So 20 let's hope it gets done soon. 21 Item 5-F, the recycling contract 22 with Waste Management, I found that very 23 interesting that they were talking about the 24 fee would be $96.65 per ton for commingled 25 materials that they were factoring in an annual  8 1 price increase based on the consumer price 2 index. Anybody got a general idea what that 3 CPI runs at approximately? Is it like 3 4 percent, 5 percent? 5 MR. SMURL: Joan, I used to know. 6 Off the top of my head, I can't remember. 7 MS. HODOWANITZ: Yeah, at any rate, 8 I assume that hopefully it's close to the basic 9 inflation rate which would make sense. But -- 10 MR. SMURL: I believe they use it to 11 your specific area too. They don't use it as a 12 nationwide one. They use it to your GPI in 13 your area. 14 MS. HODOWANITZ: So it would be 15 interesting to see how that goes up annually. 16 Item 5-G, the people guru payroll processes 17 contract, I was a little surprised when I saw 18 the annual recurring fee would be $82,356. 19 One of the reasons I say that is one 20 of the easiest things to automate is financial 21 functions, like, we have Quick Books for 22 accounting and bookkeeping so you don't really 23 need to hire accountants and bookkeepers 24 anymore. 25 You have other things like Turbo  9 1 Tax, you know, so you don't have to have an 2 army of tax preparers, you know. And these 3 software programs are getting very 4 sophisticated. And I'm just kind of curious, 5 you know, hopefully down the road HR will be 6 able to get software to be able to do this 7 in-house. 8 $82,000 for an annual recurring fee, 9 that's over $1,500 per week just to do payroll. 10 That's a lot of money. And, you know, people 11 used to pay accountants and bookkeepers and tax 12 preparers and they're history. All you have to 13 do is buy the software and get the updates. 14 I looked at the overtime. And it's 15 not that bad. But police are budgeted for 1.5 16 million dollars overtime. And I hope that is 17 based on situation requirements that cannot be 18 controlled and not a staff shortage. 19 So that's one of the questions I 20 hope is asked during the budget process is take 21 a look at their overtime requirements and 22 firefighters too and what is the rationale for 23 it and because we should be aggressively 24 recruiting and retaining firefighters and 25 police.  10 1 Let's see -- oh, has anybody found 2 out who is now the head of DPW now that Scott 3 Gassenmeyer has flown the coop? 4 MR. SMURL: The person running it, 5 Frank, what is the gentleman's name that's 6 running it now? 7 MR. VOLDENBERG: They don't have an 8 acting director as of today. However Mr. Pat 9 Cusick is taking the helm. 10 MS. HODOWANITZ: Okay. I hope 11 they're beating the bushes looking, you know, 12 to get someone interested in that role. And if 13 you would in Fifth Order, if you have anymore 14 information on this Hilltop Heights Project on 15 South Webster and Saginaw Street, I would be 16 curious to hear about it because I haven't seen 17 much information in the local media. Thank 18 you. 19 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Joan. Bob 20 Bolus. 21 MR. BOLUS: I'd like to approach. 22 MR. SMURL: Give it to Kathy, 23 please. 24 MR. BOLUS: If could you hand them 25 that to pass through. I need it back before I  11 1 leave. Thank you. Council, Bob Bolus, 2 Scranton. One of the things I'd like to really 3 address tonight is PTSD. 4 What I'm looking forward to doing 5 here -- and I'll leave one of these with you 6 when I'm all done. You could copy this and see 7 that each one of the Council members get it. 8 It's an introduction when Hurricane Helene 9 occurred in late September causing 249 deaths 10 producing the most lethal hurricane in the 11 United States since '05, that was a consequence 12 at least 59.6 billion in damages. 13 But the issue I'm getting at is, 14 people who went out there, the first responders 15 recovering the bodies that were entombed in the 16 debris and the flood and everything else 17 developed PTSD. So I help you understand and 18 you'll be able to read through and you'll have 19 a good idea because it's kind of an extensive 20 thing. 21 But I'm involved with Dr. George 22 Lindenfeld who is a clinical psychologist in 23 North Carolina and was in Florida that we've 24 worked together. I brought him here once 25 already to speak at the Gino Merli about PTSD  12 1 regarding the troop, the medical staff and 2 everybody else. And we invited the VA to be 3 there. 4 And they never -- they came in part 5 way through the presentation, they walked out 6 because it was about money. Our process isn't 7 about money. It's about helping the people who 8 have PTSD. And it could be anyone. It could 9 be a housewife, an officer, military, first 10 responders. 11 I want to set up a clinic here in 12 Lackawanna County actually here in the City of 13 Scranton. And what I would like to do is take 14 the former church I have the Holy Cross Church 15 and convert that into a clinic for PTSD. And 16 we could work this out. 17 It's my belief that we need to help 18 our people and nobody's doing a damn thing 19 about it. So we have to take this forward and 20 move forward. So I'm willing to participate 21 here with the Council and everyone else to 22 establish the PTSD clinic. And we all got to 23 get behind it because it could happen to any 24 one of you or anyone sitting here. 25 So it's an epidemic in our community  13 1 and nobody realizes how intensive PTSD is. And 2 I'm going to leave this here so they have it. 3 Thank you. And the picture I showed you was 4 back when Jim McNulty was the Mayor in '82, 5 '86. 6 I showed you him. He's sitting 7 there when I ran against him in a pothole with 8 a shovel. And guess what, we're in 2025 and 9 we're still talking about the damn potholes. 10 How many administrations have gone through 11 here? 12 Look at Lackawanna Avenue the 13 gateway to the city. It's a damn shame, yet, 14 we could worry about Paige Cognetti and a pool 15 here, a splash park; and oh, look how pretty 16 this is and how pretty that is. 17 And you didn't look at a darn thing 18 about who comes here and what they think about. 19 And that's got to come to a halt. So this is 20 what I wanted to show you, how long this has 21 been going on and the rhetoric. We got to stop 22 it and make reality and put priorities and 23 that's pave these damn streets once and for 24 all. 25 The other part that went on here,  14 1 Gaughan -- I was here Saturday with the Bob 2 Bolus Tours and Trucker's Trailer for Trump and 3 America. And the people who stood there as far 4 as I'm concerned were a bunch of traitors. 5 Now what precipitated things in the 6 past, Mr. Ramone came here and started talking 7 about my past campaign. And he precipitated me 8 defending myself and going after where it is. 9 If you want to step on my toes, be prepared for 10 me to come back at you. 11 MR. SMURL: Mr. Bolus, we don't -- 12 no threats. 13 MR. BOLUS: Okay, and I appreciate 14 the Council understanding where it is. But 15 nobody told him you can't talk. He wasn't 16 hammered out. He wasn't told to stop. Other 17 people came up here blasting me trying to say 18 that I said something negative about Jessica. 19 Her profession is one of the best 20 damn professions. She knows. She's seen me at 21 Lehigh Valley going through physical therapy 22 there that I needed when I tore an Achilles 23 tendon. And there's nothing better than her 24 profession. 25 The other part of it has nothing to  15 1 do with her professionally. And I want people 2 to get that through their damn head that made 3 those comments. 4 MR. SMURL: Thank you. 5 MR. BOLUS: But I do nothing but 6 respect what she does and how many poor-ass 7 bodies like ours that she's put back together. 8 Thank you, Jessica. 9 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Thank you. 10 MR. BOLUS: Thank you, Council. 11 MR. SMURL: Angela Ramone. 12 MS. RAMONE: It's good to see 13 everyone here tonight. I have a few different 14 things I'd like to speak about so I'll try to 15 be a little brief with each one. But the first 16 thing I'd like to discuss tonight is related to 17 my previous comments regarding immigration and 18 the city's relationship with ICE. 19 Earlier today I looked at the news 20 and heard that New York City mayoral candidate 21 Brad Lander as well as the City Controller was 22 arrested and detained by ICE in the New York 23 City courthouse. 24 The reason why he was detained is 25 because he was present during immigration  16 1 hearings were going on in the courthouse that 2 are part of the normal legal process that 3 people go through when they request asylum, 4 permanent residency and so on and so forth in 5 our country. 6 And he was walking with some of 7 these immigrants who are going through their 8 hearings through the courthouse because he was 9 concerned about their safety as ICE had been 10 operating in the courthouse an snatching up 11 immigrants left and right regardless of whether 12 they are here illegally or not or whether they 13 have deportation orders or not. 14 And what I would like to say as it 15 relates today Scranton is, are we going to take 16 action here to make sure that those sorts of 17 events don't take place? Are we going to make 18 sure that our courthouses remain a place where 19 people are able to safely appear regardless if 20 they're a plaintiff, a defendant going through 21 civil proceedings or a criminal even and know 22 that they could show up that they could testify 23 and not be concerned that they are going to be 24 illegally detained by the federal government 25 because we allow them to operate here.  17 1 I would like the City Council to 2 take a moment to consider all of the people in 3 Scranton who are witnesses to crimes, victims 4 of crimes who appear in our courthouses on a 5 regular basis to testify, to think about all 6 the people who because of the actions of 7 immigration enforcement and the lack of our 8 city protecting -- protecting our immigrant 9 community, how many people are afraid to come 10 forward to the police when they are victims of 11 crimes or when they've seen something happen 12 they know that their testimony could make a 13 difference between a guilty conviction or 14 someone walking free who should be in prison. 15 It does no good whatsoever for our 16 community, for our city, for the entire process 17 of law to allow ICE to come into our city, into 18 our courthouses, into our City Hall, into our 19 schools, into our hospitals and illegally 20 detain people who are going about their daily 21 lives, going about their business who are just 22 trying to be members of our community because 23 they deserve to feel safe in the same way that 24 I deserve to feel safe and so do all of you. 25 So that's all my comments regarding immigration  18 1 tonight. 2 I'd also like to briefly talk about 3 a safe haven resolution that Dr. Rothchild had 4 mentioned the other day that she's currently 5 drafting and talk a little bit about the 6 importance of protecting queer people's rights 7 in our city. 8 Many, many, many queer people across 9 Pennsylvania and across the United States at 10 this moment are facing vicious, deliberate 11 attacks from their elected representatives, 12 from their legislators who are trying to make 13 it impossible for queer people to exist safely 14 out in public. 15 We've seen it in our own community 16 here where I've been harassed. I've been 17 threatened. I -- in particular sexually 18 harassed with comments made about how, you 19 know, I should get a bra because I really need 20 to wear one, which was made two weeks ago 21 today, being out in public in the city I've 22 been accosted called a faggot, called a tranny 23 by people who do not know me, have never met me 24 once in their lives and just felt in their 25 hearts it was the right thing to do to go out  19 1 of their way to make my day worse and harass me 2 for no other reason than to hurt other people. 3 A safe haven resolution is an 4 important step that the City of Scranton could 5 take to protect the rights of all queer people 6 in our city to be protected from harassment, to 7 be protected from discrimination out in public, 8 in our workplaces, in our schools and 9 healthcare and so on and so forth. 10 So I would like you to consider 11 passing such resolution. Thank you, and have a 12 good day. 13 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Ryan 14 Lindberg. 15 MR. LINDBERG: Ryan Lindberg, 1420 16 Capouse. Good evening, Council. Thank you for 17 this opportunity to speak tonight. I'm here 18 also about community safety, not just as it 19 relates to law enforcement but about how our 20 city's cooperation with federal immigration 21 enforcement particularly ICE affects whether 22 all Scranton residents feel safe and protected. 23 We know that as a city, we're 24 required to comply with federal laws. That's 25 not what's in question. But how we choose to  20 1 cooperate and how far we go, that matters. We 2 could follow the law without helping to enforce 3 unjust and discriminatory practices. 4 In many recent cases ICE today often 5 extends far beyond individuals with criminal 6 records. Instead, they often seem to target 7 communities based on who lives there, who shops 8 there and what people look like. This creates 9 a culture of fear, not safety. This fear is 10 not abstract. 11 Earlier this month after reports of 12 ICE presence in the Hill Section, local groups 13 distributed red cards outlining individual 14 rights because people were scared. This fear 15 is real and has a local impact. Now, I'm not 16 here to accuse every ICE officer of bad 17 intentions. 18 But we cannot ignore the real harm 19 that's happening simply because someone made a 20 wrong assumption about who they were or where 21 they came from. And this isn't hypothetical. 22 We have seen a 54-year-old man with a learning 23 disability detained in Illinois despite having 24 an ID on him. 25 We have seen a pregnant woman and  21 1 her four children removed from her home while 2 ICE searched for her undocumented husband. 3 Just a week ago, we've seen an Afghan 4 interpreter who supported our troops detained 5 while attending an immigration hearing for his 6 visa and now he fears execution if he's 7 deported back to Afghanistan. 8 These are not isolated incidents and 9 they are part of a disturbing pattern 10 concerning. And sadly this pattern is not new. 11 Back in 1904, a Scranton superintendent of 12 police Lona B. Day gave a speech in Washington, 13 DC called lawlessness among the foreign 14 speaking people. 15 He singled out Italian immigrants as 16 dangerous, not for what they did but for who 17 they were. That speech used to just unfair 18 treatment under the name of law enforcement. 19 That was 120 years ago in Scranton. But if 20 we're not careful, we risk repeating that 21 history in modern form. 22 We have a choice to do better to 23 lead with humanity instead of fear. So tonight 24 I respectfully ask City Council to consider the 25 following actions. One, ensure no city agency  22 1 cooperates with ICE without a judicial warrant. 2 Two, prohibit city departments from 3 sharing private resident information with ICE. 4 That includes court dates, addresses, or school 5 enrollment data. Three, make our school, 6 libraries and hospital ICE free zones. 7 No one should be afraid to seek 8 care, read a book, or send their child to 9 school. And finally, support legal defense 10 resources for immigrant families. Due process 11 is an inalienable right granted by the 12 Constitution. It shouldn't depend on someone's 13 income level or private access to counsel. 14 I'm not asking to us break the law. 15 I'm asking us to lead with fairness. Now, I 16 believe that religion and politics should be 17 kept separate. However, regardless of faith I 18 think we all recognize the value of the golden 19 rule. Treat others the way you want to be 20 treated. That's not just a religious value. 21 That's a human one. And it should 22 guide how we treat each other in the city. I'm 23 not here to only raise concerns. I want to 24 support the steps Scranton's already taken to 25 become a more just welcoming city.  23 1 Let's continue that progress 2 together and remember how we treat the most 3 vulnerable says everything about who we are. 4 So let's not choose -- let's not lose our 5 humanity in the pursuit of what we think 6 justice looks like. 7 Instead, let's us lead with 8 compassion and come together to build a better 9 tomorrow. Thank you for your time. 10 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Les 11 Spindler. 12 MR. SPINDLER: Good evening, 13 Council, Les Spindler, Scranton, city resident, 14 homeowner. I'm going to say something about 15 last week and that's all I have to say about 16 it. 17 Last week everybody came down on Bob 18 Bolus for what he said. Bob Bolus isn't the 19 one that started this war of words. The person 20 Bob was talking about was the one that started 21 it. The week before that person spoke about 22 Bob Bolus. If he didn't want anything said 23 about him, he shouldn't have said anything 24 about Bob Bolus. 25 Bob Bolus never spoke to that  24 1 person, never spoke about them. And Bob was 2 the one who was provoked and I can't blame him 3 for coming back at that person. And I'm amazed 4 at how you people stood up for that person 5 because he was the one that started it, not Bob 6 Bolus. And all of these people showed up last 7 week because their friend had their feelings 8 hurt. 9 Well, boohoo. The one speaker said 10 we show up, really? You show up? Where are 11 you tonight? You show up once out of the 52 12 weeks out of the year because your friend had 13 their feelings hurt. I show up. I've been 14 coming to these meetings for 23 years. 15 Joan Hodowanitz shows up. Bob Bolus 16 shows up. Lee Morgan shows up. We showed up 17 when Chris Doherty was trying to tear this city 18 apart and not pay our unions and we know where 19 that ended up. So we show up. Showing up for 20 one week out the 52 weeks isn't showing up. 21 That's all I'm going to say on that 22 matter. Lastly, I think Bob is owed an 23 apology, not that other person. I spoke about 24 this two weeks ago, pave cut in the 1400 block 25 of Bulwer Street. Nothing was done and it's  25 1 getting worse. I go there every day. 2 You have to literally stop your car 3 and just roll through with your foot on the 4 brake or you're going to do damage to your car. 5 It's unbelievable. It keeps sinking and 6 sinking. 7 And I don't know if it was the gas 8 company or the water company. But it's 9 terrible. It's right in the middle of the 10 block, the 1400 block. 11 MR. MCANDREW: Mr. Voldenberg, 12 please follow up on that. 13 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will. 14 MR. MCANDREW: Thanks. All right. 15 Well, let's check on it. 16 MR. SPINDLER: Now another thing, 17 the storm drains that they put in on Dorothy 18 Street last year by the ball fields, I spoke 19 about this before. They didn't do a good job. 20 They didn't allow for settling. I mean, the 21 storm drains are working, but in certain spots 22 what they put in settled and now there's 23 puddles there. 24 All the water's not making it to the 25 storm drains. I'm no engineer, but I know you  26 1 got to fill it in and allow for settling. And 2 they didn't do that and now it's settled in 3 certain areas and there's deep puddles after 4 the big rains. 5 So whoever did that, doesn't know 6 what the heck they're doing. So I don't know 7 if they could do anything about it now. It 8 might be too late. But it is better than it 9 was, but it's still not perfect. 10 Lastly, Bob mentioned Lackawanna 11 Avenue. I mentioned that a number of weeks 12 ago. It's terrible, terrible. It's like -- 13 like it was hit by bombs. It's so rough. And 14 the one corner I said there's no arrows or 15 telling you where to go. 16 People are going straight from the 17 turning lanes. It's terrible shape. For one 18 of the main streets of the city, they got to do 19 something about it. But I think that's a 20 PennDOT road, but something's got to be done. 21 That's all I have tonight. Thank you. 22 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Susan 23 Connors. 24 MS. CONNORS: Good evening, Susie 25 Connors, lifelong Scranton resident. I'm here  27 1 for two reasons tonight. The first is that I 2 just want everyone to know publically that I 3 stand behind the LGBTQ community as well as all 4 ethnicities and religions. 5 As a 100 percent Ashkenazi Jew, I 6 have been met with many incidents of 7 anti-Semitism. So I know -- not lately, but 8 even when I was a kid actually. So I know 9 exactly what it feels to be on that end of the, 10 you know, the receiving end of that. 11 And I want to just read a poem by a 12 pastor, a Lutheran Pastor named Martin 13 Niemoller who lived from 1892 to 1984. I'm not 14 going to go into his whole background. But he 15 was born in Germany. He was a Nazi 16 sympathizer. He voted for Hitler in 1933. 17 But by 1938 he had changed his 18 thinking drastically and because of that he was 19 sent to Dachau. He was in a concentration camp 20 from 1938 to 1945 until the camps were all 21 liberated. If you want to know more about him 22 you could Google him. I'm not going to go into 23 his complete history and story. But it is 24 quite fascinating. 25 Again, it's Martin Niemoller,  28 1 N-I-E-M-O-L-L-E-R. But anyway he wrote a poem 2 in 1946 that I think is very appropriate for 3 today. He said, "In Germany first they came 4 for the communists and I did not speak out 5 because I was not a communist. 6 Then they came for the Jews, and I 7 did not speak out because I was not a Jew. 8 Then they came for the trade 9 unionists, and I did not speak out because I 10 was not a trade unionist. 11 Then they came for the Catholics and 12 I did not speak out because I was a Protestant. 13 Then they came for me and there was 14 no one left to speak out for me." 15 So very wise words from a man who 16 spent seven years as a political prisoner, by 17 the way. 18 Now, on a nice -- a good note, I 19 want to just mention that this Sunday, June 20 22nd is Jim Connors Day at Nay Aug Park where 21 there will be concerts from 1 to 6 with bands, 22 Doug Smith's band, Magic Moments with Paulette 23 Costa, the Taxmen which is a Beetles tribute 24 band and Broke Pines which happens to be my 25 son's band.  29 1 Around 3:15 there will be a 2 dedication ceremony dedicating the Summer 3 Concerts in Jim's name. So I hope you could 4 all come. Thanks. 5 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Mrs. Connors. 6 Ron Ellman. 7 MR. ELLMAN: Good evening, Council. 8 Growing up, one of the things I learned that it 9 takes a good man to say he's sorry. And I 10 mean that, you know, inside of me. And as an 11 ignorant fool at this time I -- I did so many 12 things. I ran around with an older crowd in 13 Memphis. 14 As I said, I grow up with so many of 15 those boys that went on Stella Stevens and 16 Elvis and so many of them. I used to meet my 17 friends to play golf almost every year. I 18 drove from California to Memphis to spend a 19 couple of days and that was before the 20 expressways. That's what my friendship meant 21 with them. 22 Now, 50-some years I've been here, I 23 have developed so many friendships with -- that 24 mean so much to me. And to see a meeting 25 destroyed like last week was very hurtful.  30 1 Mr. Bolus expressed an opinion. Those people, 2 they want to change. They want -- they 3 mandated for Council and us to accept their 4 ideas on everything. 5 We can't do that. You know, I'm 6 just -- I have really just had enough. I 7 probably in the last 50 years I've been -- I 8 came here in 72 with Jimmy Klee for a meeting. 9 That's how long I've been to them. I went a 10 couple of times with him. 11 I sat with Mr. Connors and him at 12 lunches. So many people that -- they're all 13 gone now, but I would like to see a room named 14 after Jimmy Klee. That man spent 50 years in 15 this building. He's forgotten now. 16 Well, being on the streets like I've 17 been all of my life, most of my life up until 18 now, I must have been to 4 or 500 meetings in 19 this room. And it was -- some across at the 20 library that probably you all don't know about 21 when they were working here doing something. 22 And I bet I've talked to a thousand 23 people over all of these years mostly about 24 politics. And we're a forgotten city, you 25 know, no McDade no more, no Casey, no  31 1 Courtright. We're sort of like a little corner 2 that's forgotten. 3 Bridget relies on her husband to see 4 what's on CNN or something to tell her how to 5 vote. She -- she made a statement like that to 6 run for office. Well, I'm going to run for a 7 Council seat. I don't need any donations 8 because donations are nothing -- contributions 9 are nothing but obligations. 10 That's why the Mayor has such a huge 11 war chest. And somebody needs to wake up 12 sleeping beauty and tell her there's an 13 election coming on. I hope to be a voice for 14 all the people like Janet Evans was. And I 15 have so many thoughts and ideas that were given 16 to me over the years that I'd like to present 17 at the Council meetings. And I hopefully will 18 be elected. If I'm not, I'll just go on my way 19 like I always do. Thank you. 20 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Mr. Ellman. 21 Lee Morgan. 22 MR. MORGAN: Good evening, Council, 23 Lee Morgan. There's nothing on the ECTV 24 fiasco that's going on right now. I'm still 25 waiting for their attorney to respond to me.  32 1 But, you know, last two weeks sat home, watched 2 the meetings. 3 You know, I'm so opposed to the flag 4 that we're flying outside. And it's not 5 because somebody is a homosexual or 6 transsexual. It has nothing to do with that. 7 You know, we're a nation so divided that 8 finally the Supreme Court has ruled that 9 Caucasian people have been discriminated since 10 the beginning of affirmative action. 11 You know, discrimination wears many 12 faces. And I think that we've lost sight of 13 reality here. Nobody cares what they do in 14 their bedroom. I remember when I was a child. 15 I grew up on Mulberry Street -- not all of my 16 childhood, but my adolescence. 17 We had the most flagrant transsexual 18 that lived right in front of us. When he was a 19 man he was Richard Spindler. When he was a 20 woman he was Marcellas. You know, when people 21 come and what we've done to our country is just 22 kind of ridiculous watching these meetings. 23 I mean, people are talking about 24 gender affirming care. Their gender was 25 affirmed at birth. Nobody cares, you know, if  33 1 somebody wants to change their appearance. 2 That's fine. I don't think the taxpayers 3 should do it. You know, when somebody comes 4 here and they tell you they want to be 5 respected -- and I think everybody should be 6 respected. 7 But when they hand you a file from 8 the court on a speaker who came here and spoke 9 and the Council takes it and just the politics 10 this Council played with this issue is just 11 amazing. It's terrible. 12 You know, my father went to fight 13 World War II from high school at Scranton Tech 14 to Europe. D-Day just went by. You know, why 15 don't we put a flag up for a month for that? 16 Why don't we put up a -- put up some kind of 17 thing that shows all the veterans who were left 18 behind in the Vietnam War that never came home? 19 You know, everybody is screaming 20 about rights and wanting to be respected. But, 21 you know what, respect goes two ways not just 22 one way. And for the people who come here and 23 complain about the conditions of the streets 24 and the city's condition, they voted for all of 25 this for over all the decades.  34 1 And it hasn't served us well. Don't 2 forget we had a pothole machine. It sat out in 3 the rain allegedly and they discarded it or 4 they'd be fixing all the potholes. We've 5 just -- we've taken ourself in a place where 6 it's hard to realize that our government is 7 really representing us. 8 We have a person coming up here 9 talking about due process, yet, they have a 10 removal order. That means they had due 11 process. You know, we have an exit named after 12 Joe Biden here. It's just -- it's the -- it's 13 the silliest thing. He never knew he was 14 President. 15 It's the most -- it's the silliest 16 thing and they basically just about proven it. 17 It's elder abuse. They used to put tape on the 18 floor so he knew where to walk to. His own 19 family knew he wasn't competent and nobody 20 cared. 21 And the country didn't care either 22 because people got killed in Afghanistan, a ton 23 of people -- over a million people got killed 24 in Ukraine. He got on public -- he got on 25 television and said that the Democratic party  35 1 had built the most advanced election fraud 2 machine the history of mankind. 3 That's how diminished he was. And 4 the American people just stood there and 5 watched it. And the Congress and Senate, just 6 like you gentlemen, our legislators stood 7 there -- not just Democrats, but Republicans 8 too and did nothing, nothing absolutely 9 nothing. 10 And the history books, they're 11 already being printed, okay? All of these 12 people that were on all the Department of 13 Treasury, you name them. They had to give 14 their questions that they were going to ask the 15 President in writing. He couldn't call up a 16 reporter and ask a question. 17 He had to have the question and the 18 answer they were going to give him before he 19 called their name. Everything was played out. 20 And you wonder why the country is in the 21 trouble it's in because the American people 22 lack something, backbone and commitment. Thank 23 you. 24 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Mr. Morgan. 25 Rik Little.  36 1 MR. LITTLE: Hi, I'm Rik Little from 2 Scranton, still running for Mayor. In the 3 course of human events in the city, it's been a 4 wild week, I mean, a milestone week for me. 5 I'd like to congratulate Josh Balz for his Warp 6 Tour that he put on over there four days on 7 Wyoming Avenue. 8 I think in years to come it will be 9 looked back as the Woodstock of Scranton. And 10 then there was my childhood greatest hero, 11 Brian Wilson died who I discovered when I was 12 10 years old through a radio coming in from 13 Kentucky. 14 And when I heard the first Surfin 15 USA in Chicago, I just go into the record store 16 and say, give me Surfin USA. But his whole 17 life was a -- it's like everything, the fights 18 in his family. Most of the band was his family 19 and up and downs. And, you know, he had 20 Alzheimer's. And his brother Karl died of 21 cancer. 22 His other brother Dennis, the whole 23 Manson thing. We're talking about pop culture 24 here and LGBTQ and, you know, things that make 25 you famous, things that make you rich, you  37 1 know, but we've just been taught for years and 2 years to be slaves. I mean, I've been -- it's 3 been called numerous different things for 4 years. 5 I think Alex Jones pinned perfectly 6 calling it globalism. But I've been seriously 7 thinking about it for 50 years, you know, the 8 illuminati, the deep state, the military 9 industrial complex. 10 And just this week, I mean, it's 11 biblical the stuff that's happening. All my 12 life there's trouble in the holy land and we're 13 talking about World War I and World Was II and 14 veterans. And, you know, I see these people 15 out there protesting the No Kings Day. No 16 Kings Day is July 4th, by the way. 17 But no one really -- you know, they 18 just twist everything in the media to make it 19 fit. And we're talking about, you know, people 20 are saying I see all of these signs, you know, 21 Medicaid saves lives and Medicare saves lives. 22 Well, you know, Social Security 23 saves lives. And in this town there's a lot of 24 people who are right on the cusp because I know 25 that Scranton Housing Authority they are very  38 1 strategic. They start their evictions in the 2 fall when the holidays come where you can't say 3 anything to a judge. 4 I mean, Judge Moyle said to me 5 nobody wants to see you homeless. Well, that's 6 a lot of BS. Of course, they want me homeless, 7 you know, because I witnessed what happened in 8 their buildings. And now there's these people 9 at Park Gardens and they're all like, you know, 10 old ladies and men who have been here for God 11 knows how long, you know, 50 years. 12 They're old. They're, you know, 13 Irish Catholics. They're Democrats. They 14 brought up this thing. But we've been 15 brainwashed into this whole thing, you know, 16 climate change. And it's, you know, I walk by 17 the Times-Tribune and look at the printing 18 press in there. 19 They don't print the paper there. 20 They ride a diesel truck to Philadelphia to 21 print the thing out. And, you know, all of 22 this talk about flags. I want to talk about 23 the government, you know, I made a mockup of a 24 flag that I'd like to see done. It's the Happy 25 Homeless Flag, HH with a roof there.  39 1 And it's translucent so you could 2 see through it. And I propose that -- I gave 3 you the legislative thing last week because I 4 couldn't figure it out on my phone how to send 5 all of this stuff. But I think it would be 6 great if we got our heads together on what 7 this legislative body is, what the executive 8 locally is, which is the Mayor. 9 And, you know, the judiciary runs it 10 all. The DAs run it all. The lawyers run it 11 all in this whole area. 12 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Mr. Little. 13 Dave Dobrzyn. Dave. Somebody wake Dave up. 14 MR. DOBRZYN: I was out in the 15 hospital the last two weeks on Tuesday night. 16 Nothing fixed anyway. Okay, you know, these 17 cuts to the pave were brought up again. And 18 Lackawanna Avenue, I mean, I seen it last year. 19 It was the utilities tearing it all 20 up right from by the movie theater all the way 21 up past Dunkin' Donuts. Please don't tax me to 22 fix that. Sue them first. It's a must. I 23 don't have any more left. 24 Okay, you know, I don't know what -- 25 why we really needed the feature -- feature Old  40 1 Forge rabble-rouser down there on January 6th 2 and the lawsuit. Forget about it. I'm not 3 interested in your problems. Stock market, 4 keep watching it. 5 We're ruining the whole global 6 financial network. We're determined, gonna fix 7 it our way. You could buy bit coins and get 8 rich. Whoopie. Yeah, right. I only have ever 9 when I advise my misses in what to invest in, 10 it was only in legitimate companies in the S 11 and P. And it grew at 8 and a half percent a 12 year while she had that 401k. 13 Okay, we heard about arrests without 14 a hearing and stuff like that. I have a 15 concern. You know, back in South Africa 16 around the turn of the century, maybe the 90s, 17 they find that Mandella got released from 18 prison. And they had a reckoning court. 19 I don't know if that's what it's 20 called. I don't remember. But you could walk 21 into that court and admit to murders. As long 22 as you put guilty to the murder, you are not 23 punished for it because there was so much 24 violence going back and forth between black and 25 white and probably a lot of white people, a lot  41 1 more than black people. 2 But the point being that now we're 3 accepting immigrants from South Africa. I 4 mean, I'm sure that little kid never committed 5 a murder at that time. But it would be 6 interesting to know if we are allowing people 7 that pled guilty to murders, they could always 8 stay where they're at. We don't need them. 9 And Kennedy, my buddy, oh, take some 10 Vitamin A, Kennedy. He fired 17 people on the 11 Board of Health and Human Services last week. 12 They were experts on vaccinations and so forth. 13 And now he's hired QAnon type in its place, 14 conspiracy theorist. 15 I mean, like, really? You know, 16 this country is being destroyed. It's being 17 ruined. And it's being ruined by the people 18 that are in power right now. And the people 19 that didn't show up to vote even though they 20 probably knew better or should have known 21 better. 22 And, you know, the whole taxing, 23 putting a tariff on coffee. We don't grow 24 coffee here. We tariff an island that has 25 nothing but penguins living on it. You know, I  42 1 mean, such nonsense. We don't have enough 2 problems. It's really stupid. I'm a little 3 worried about the country because it's not --, 4 you know, all of this. Medical attention isn't 5 a privilege. It's not a right. It's a 6 necessity. 7 You know, and the last I heard the 8 Medicaid, which is for indigent people, the 9 bills were not paid from January 31st. So, you 10 know, I'm kind of tired tonight and struggling 11 with different things but -- 12 MR. SMURL: Thank you. 13 MR. DOBRZYN: Hopefully things will 14 get better, but somehow I doubt it. Thank you 15 and have a good night. 16 MR. SMURL: That's all for our 17 sign-in sheet. Anyone else wish to address 18 Council? 19 MR. ARGENTA: Good evening, Council, 20 Virgil Argenta. Regarding the Keystone Mission 21 closing, a recipient of the American Rescue 22 Plan Act funds, they received 50,000 from the 23 city -- 43,500 to be exact from the City of 24 Scranton. 25 It's closing operations in Scranton  43 1 in Lackawanna County, in Wilkes-Barre in 2 Luzerne County. Wilkes-Barre gave them 3 $325,000. It's almost certain that we will not 4 be able to recoup any of the funding. Would 5 Council request a certified itemized 6 documentation from Keystone Mission detailing 7 where and how the city funds were spent 8 followed by a forensic audit? 9 The major question remains whether 10 the City of Scranton is prepared for the 11 potential influx of homeless individuals who 12 were previously serviced by Keystone Mission 13 daily. 14 Regarding the use of Weston Field 15 facilities and the clothing washing services, 16 how will these needs be addressed going 17 forward? There are honest true legitimate 18 nonprofits in the city that require assistance 19 that would benefit from some city support 20 rather than the fabricated nonprofit 21 organizations created by acquaintances. 22 How is this investigation of the 23 validity of many nonprofits going within the 24 city? Are we still looking into those? It's 25 time to demand a forensic audit of the ARPA  44 1 funds account rather than relying on someone's 2 word and fabricated ledgers. 3 Come January when the new City 4 Council is seated, there will definitely be 5 full accountability and transparency. That's a 6 guarantee. The new 36 unit Hilltop Heights 7 development initially believed to be a senior 8 housing will now be low income. 9 There is no problem with low income 10 housing. But the police -- but this area has 11 seen an increase in police incidents lately. 12 Is our police department adequately staffed for 13 the officer's safety first so they could 14 effectively handle their workload and protect 15 others safely? 16 The area for this development 17 already includes Hilltop Manor with 250 units, 18 Valley View Terrace with 189 units, Skyview 19 with 188 units, Laurel Woods in Minooka with 59 20 units totalling approximately 700 units in the 21 upper South Side neighborhood. 22 Other low income throughout the 23 city, downtown Scranton accommodates Adams 24 Apartment, 64 units, Adam High Rise with 185 25 units, Washington West with 120 units,  45 1 Washington Plaza 60 units and Midtown Village 2 totalling approximately 500 units in the 3 downtown area. 4 West Scranton comprises Jackson 5 Heights, 96 units. Jackson Terrace Apartments 6 have 50 units. Riverside Apartments have 40 7 units totalling approximately 200 units in West 8 Scranton. North Scranton includes Bangor 9 Heights with 150 apartments, Townhouse 10 Boulevard almost 200 apartments totalling a 11 little under 400 apartments in North Scranton 12 for low income. 13 There is additional low income 14 housing scattered throughout the city. The 15 condition of some of these properties managed 16 by the Scranton Housing Authority raises some 17 serious concerns. For example, Riverside 18 Apartments on Emmet Street exemplified these 19 issues. 20 Has anyone ever drove past there or 21 drove through there? Just because it's low 22 income, the citizens and the people that live 23 there don't need to be treated that way. 24 Another example of questionable 25 city-owned housing is Park Gardens where the  46 1 rent was raised with very little upgrade. 2 Surprised if some of these units would even 3 pass a HUD inspection. 4 You've heard the complaints from the 5 residents there. There hasn't been upgrades 6 there in 30 years. If the current properties 7 can't be adequately maintained, it is not 8 advisable for the city to expand any further 9 low income properties. 10 Council, you should put a stop to 11 that. Another notable example is the condition 12 of city parks. With the city adding more 13 parks, it makes absolutely no sense when they 14 can't keep up with the ones that they have. 15 Last week I presented a very dangerous 16 situation in the electric building, the five of 17 Linden. 18 Tonight it's still there and that 19 piece of copper is still flapping. Do you know 20 who you reported that to? Do you have a 21 contact person? 22 MR. SMURL: Yes. 23 MR. ARGENTA: So maybe we could call 24 that person and ask him why or he could 25 personally sign liability so nobody gets hurt?  47 1 MR. SMURL: He said -- they said it 2 will be down by tomorrow, Mr. Moseberger. 3 MR. ARGENTA: Okay. Thank you, Mr. 4 Smurl. 5 MR. SMURL: And our code enforcement 6 was there when you called. 7 MR. ARGENTA: Thank you. 8 MR. SMURL: Thank you. 9 MR. COYNE: Good evening, members of 10 Council, Tom Coyne, Minooka. First of all, in 11 reference to the DPW Director, I believe the 12 last DPW Director was let go about a month ago. 13 I'm not exactly sure when the date was that he 14 was let go. 15 But I understand that Pat Cusick 16 per the statement here is the acting DPW 17 Director. When did he officially -- no? 18 MR. MCANDREW: Not acting yet. 19 MR. COYNE: Okay, so there is -- 20 MR. MCANDREW: We mentioned that in 21 caucus. 22 MR. COYNE: There is no acting 23 director at this point? 24 MR. SMURL: No. 25 MR. COYNE: Okay. So at this point  48 1 there is no director. There is not even an 2 acting director. It's an open position. 3 MR. MCANDREW: Not titled. I just 4 found out today that one of the supervisors is 5 handling it for now. That's all I have. 6 MR. COYNE: Okay, I was just trying 7 to figure out, say, if they were an acting 8 director, the time clock has started for them 9 either being permanently put in the position or 10 being removed. If there is no acting director, 11 who's running the ship? Someone has to be. Or 12 are we having an acting director that is not an 13 acting director so we don't run the clock? 14 MR. SMURL: -- doesn't want to be 15 the Director of DPW, but he is helping us 16 through this stage. 17 MR. COYNE: But someone has to be 18 the head that's trained, which would be acting. 19 Moving on from that, I brought up before you -- 20 the first piece of paper is from the Office of 21 Open Records. The first one is a Sunshine Law. 22 And it brings up in Section 8, can 23 the public ask questions during the public 24 comment period. And the Office of Open Records 25 and the Sunshine Law specifically states, yes,  49 1 although members of the agency are not required 2 to provide answers, it is a good process -- a 3 good practice to do so whenever possible. 4 Answering questions can demonstrate 5 a commitment to helping constituents and in 6 many cases answer questions informally at a 7 public meeting. And it can reduce requests -- 8 future requests under the Right to Know Law, 9 which saves time and money for both agency, 10 commenter and requester. 11 Under that section it also has which 12 is at the bottom of the sheet but I did not put 13 in there the open records also reflects that 14 speaking before City Council, you can limit it. 15 But the limit on it that is specifically put in 16 there is you could limit it to people who are 17 citizen and taxpayers. 18 They pay tax to the city in any way 19 whether it's payroll tax, whether it's living 20 out and working -- working here and living 21 outside the Scranton, whether it's owning a 22 building here. If they are a taxpayer of the 23 city, they have a right before this podium. 24 It's not that they have to live 25 here. And as a matter of fact, in Section 407,  50 1 the citizens right to be heard in the Scranton 2 Charter itself it says, reasonable opportunity 3 shall be provided for citizens and taxpayers to 4 address City Council on agenda matters before a 5 vote is taken. 6 Procedures for citizens 7 participation shall be determined by Council. 8 But it's codified in your very own city code 9 under Section 408 that taxpayers can speak. We 10 need to follow those rules unless you want to 11 put through an ordinance to change Section 407 12 of the City Code. 13 City Charter health and safety, this 14 has come up beforehand. And it's been come up 15 where who owns public safety for these 16 buildings. It's nebulous in how it's written 17 here, which makes me have to look back to when 18 my mother and the body created the charter 19 itself. 20 They had executive meetings and they 21 came together the government -- the 22 government's Council and they actually wrote up 23 the basis for the charter. And it was 24 discussed the separation of powers in that and 25 how City Council should be the one for public  51 1 safety because the Mayor may be from one part 2 of the city, where City Council is usually from 3 different sections and has -- is more adept at 4 protection from different sections of the 5 community. 6 Section 502, acting requiring an 7 ordinance, City Council shall meet any public 8 emergency affecting life, health, property or 9 the public peace. Section 609, which is the 10 powers of the Mayor, the Mayor shall have the 11 powers and duties to enforce, not to write, not 12 to create, to enforce any emergency powers that 13 may be established by ordinance to preserve the 14 health, safety of the citizenry. This body is 15 given the health. Thank you. 16 MR. SMURL: Thank you. 17 MR. MALACARIAS: Good evening, 18 Council, Frankie Malacarias, South Scranton. I 19 want to go through just let me start with some 20 disappointment about some of the words said up 21 here. And, of course, electioneering from the 22 podium and they've gone before you even been 23 able to make any of your statements, but 24 nothing new there. 25 First off, I would like to announce  52 1 today there was a local immigrant's rights 2 coalition that was formed. It was announced 3 paper -- articles are starting to come out 4 about that. If any -- I urge everyone on 5 Council to participate in helping to keep our 6 immigrants safe in our city. 7 We're a nation of immigrants. I'm 8 pretty sure that everyone on Council, right, 9 family's come from a different country so to 10 keep that in mind. But I would like to, you 11 know, reaffirm what I asked last week for City 12 Council to introduce legislation, both using us 13 as -- introducing us a welcoming city both for 14 the LGBTQ community and undocumented folks. 15 Lastly, for some of the resolutions 16 today I have some comments on the Lace Village 17 Dog Park Project. Lace Village is an upscale, 18 you know, development that is priced, you know, 19 fairly high for our region. There they have 20 private recreational facilities out there in 21 the, you know, that looks like it could very 22 well be public, bocce ball and I believe a 23 tennis court out there. 24 I don't believe that we should be 25 giving them a quarter of a million dollars to  53 1 develop a dog park with no strings attached. 2 Since there are public recreational facilities 3 there, I think that something that we should be 4 asking in exchange for the quarter of a million 5 dollars is to open up their facilities to the 6 general public. 7 I'm not against the -- a dog park in 8 the region. I think that it's probably 9 actually a good place for it. But I just think 10 that if we're going to be giving them a quarter 11 of million dollars in the idea of developing 12 the area around them, even if it's not directly 13 to Lace Village, that we should be getting 14 something out of that as taxpayers. 15 And I think by having them opening 16 up some of their facilities that are there 17 would be a great public benefit. So those are 18 the main things that I would like you guys to 19 consider this week. And I'll see you next 20 week. 21 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Anyone else? 22 MR. VOLDENBERG: FIFTH ORDER. 5-A. 23 MOTIONS. 24 MR. SMURL: Mr. King, do you have 25 any motions or comments?  54 1 MR. KING: No, just I was happy to 2 see some of the streets getting ripped up 3 today. They're starting that paving program. 4 I know we have a number of streets identified 5 that are -- that are going to be paved 6 throughout the city as we typically do every 7 year every summer. 8 Also, I think I've been concerned 9 about that wall on Lackawanna Avenue for years. 10 And it sounds like once we get this resolution 11 passed tonight, it sounds like the state is 12 going to be able to move forward to repair that 13 wall on Lackawanna Avenue and ultimately get 14 that Lackawanna Avenue paved because it is a 15 mess. That's all I have. Thank you. 16 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Mr. King. 17 Mr. Schuster, do you have any motions or 18 comments? 19 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes, I have few 20 comments. We do have on the agenda tonight a 21 new recycling contract. Last week we did have 22 a question about the recycling calendar which 23 we were looking into. But now that this 24 recycling contract may be passed tonight, can 25 we find out what the update is on the recycling  55 1 calendar and if that's going to be going out 2 for the month of July? 3 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will, sir. 4 MR. SCHUSTER: Thank you very much. 5 I got a call, the address is 2424 Cedar Avenue. 6 The residents put in a complaint about a tree 7 that's growing out into the road. They called 8 the city to have the tree trimmers to see if it 9 could be trimmed, but if we could put that in, 10 2424 Cedar Avenue. 11 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll take care of 12 it. 13 MR. SCHUSTER: I got an update from 14 the water company based -- on those basins that 15 keep coming up on Colfax Avenue, the water 16 company was out there I believe it was three 17 times. And they were out with the vac truck 18 today. 19 So they cleared roots out of the 20 basin. And they also cleared 1600 block of 21 West Gibson Street. So they just wanted, you 22 know, it to be known that that Colfax basin has 23 been cleared and they have been out several 24 times. 25 Last two weeks I did have some  56 1 questions about our SRA Director. And I asked 2 if she could come in to give us an update on 3 what's been going on with the SRA. And I did 4 get an answer back that she would be happy to 5 attend the caucus in July. 6 So I'm happy to hear that we'll be 7 having our SRA director come in to give us an 8 update on what's been going on there over the 9 course of the year. And we'll have her in in 10 July. Other than that, that's all I have for 11 tonight, Mr. Smurl. 12 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Mr. Schuster. 13 Dr. Rothchild, do you have any motions or 14 comments? 15 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes, I do. First 16 off, I wanted to bring up an issue that was 17 brought to my attention by a resident who is on 18 Golden Avenue in North Scranton. And they are 19 having a lot of feral cat issues in that 20 neighborhood. I know it's been a systemic 21 issue throughout the city, but in particular 22 over there. 23 It seems to be pretty extensive and 24 affecting the neighbors' quality of life. So I 25 wanted -- and I know that they've reached out  57 1 from what they said several times in the past 2 to our Animal Control. And I'd like for us to 3 also reach out to them to see what's been done 4 in that neighborhood to capture the feral cats. 5 Sounds like they are also getting some diseases 6 too. And a lot of them are sick and dying 7 around people's property. 8 MR. SMURL: I did reach out to 9 the -- the people that take care of -- 10 DR. ROTHCHILD: Animal Control. 11 MR. SMURL: Our Animal Control, yes. 12 And they have already started removing the cats 13 and they did speak with the people in the 14 neighborhood or I emailed them back. And they 15 did begin to remove them already out of the 16 neighborhood. So I don't know where they are 17 putting them, but I know they started removing 18 them. 19 DR. ROTHCHILD: Okay. I'm glad 20 we're on that, yeah, because I'd hate to see 21 the animals suffer as well and the residents. 22 And then there were a number of things that I 23 just wanted to check in on to check the status 24 of some things that I have been on top of for a 25 while now.  58 1 One of them being a property on 2 Prescott Avenue, 429. Actually some members 3 had come up from pictures that I had of the 4 property. I think it was from four years ago 5 and they had a fire. And it's been sitting 6 there ever since. 7 And at one point I think the owners 8 were going to renovate and repair it but then 9 didn't. And so it's still just there. And 10 it's becoming overgrown. And there was a 11 neighbor who was contacting me pretty 12 frequently about the property but they were 13 renting their place and they've since moved in 14 large part due to the nuisance of this property 15 being there. 16 So I'd like to find out if it's 17 still on the condemnation list, if it's going 18 to be on a demolition list, what the status is. 19 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll ask the blight 20 coordinator tomorrow. 21 DR. ROTHCHILD: Please. Thank you. 22 And I've been asking for new stop signs to be 23 replaced over at Madison Avenue and Olive 24 because they're quite worn and have graffiti on 25 them as well. I believe that still hasn't been  59 1 completed. 2 MR. VOLDENBERG: That is on their 3 list. I'll send out a reminder. 4 DR. ROTHCHILD: Thank you. And we 5 briefly talked about this in caucus. But I was 6 inquiring too about if anything has been done 7 over at the lookout with the repair of the 8 stone wall that's there. 9 And so to my knowledge it has not 10 been completed. And I think we were awaiting 11 on some information from DPW about doing that 12 or they were going to put it on their list. 13 And I'm aware that we don't have a director 14 currently of DPW. But if we could ask the 15 other staff about the lookout and see if there 16 are any plans to repair any time soon. 17 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will. I'll ask 18 Mr. Cusick tomorrow. 19 DR. ROTHCHILD: Okay. Thank you. 20 And one last thing that I've been asking about 21 the curb cut over on Colfax and Olive, still 22 looking for an update on that and what's 23 holding up that project. 24 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will, Dr. 25 Rothchild.  60 1 DR. ROTHCHILD: Thank you. I think 2 that's all that I have. Thank you. 3 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Dr. 4 Rothchild. Mr. McAndrew, do you have any 5 motions or comments? 6 MR. MCANDREW: A couple. So last 7 week, I mean, we came to a meeting where 8 potholes were brought up and we all experienced 9 an obstacle course to get here and get to work. 10 And I realize it and I've been getting 11 complaints from poor residents that are, you 12 know, getting flat tires or getting damage to 13 their car. 14 And I asked the week before last 15 what is recourse, what's a recourse for our 16 residents because I did hear in the past -- I'm 17 trying to remember. But the residents were 18 satisfied in some way. I don't remember the 19 process. I was too young. 20 But the answer I got last week, 21 well, it's the utility company's problem. So I 22 didn't like that answer. And I had Mr. 23 Voldenberg clarify to me and inquire and get me 24 a little more information because it didn't 25 sound right to me.  61 1 So what I got was, Council had 2 inquiries in the city as a policy procedure for 3 motorists in the city. So the Law Department 4 process claims filed with the city as they're 5 received. Receive the claim from the driver or 6 the insurance company and file that claim with 7 our carrier who assigns an adjustor to evaluate 8 and make recommendations on the claim. 9 If appropriate, we will issue 10 payment to our deductible. So there is policy 11 or is a procedure. We finally found out. And, 12 you know, it doesn't look like this is going to 13 get cleared up anytime soon, all of these 14 potholes. 15 I know there's a new system put in 16 place, a tracking system and a new strategy, 17 but until then, can you please have this put -- 18 ask if they could put this on the website? 19 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will, sir. 20 MR. MCANDREW: So we can all refer 21 so whenever we get a call or you fine people 22 here can refer to other people as you hear this 23 complaint, it will be greatly appreciated. All 24 right. So next, I have a couple issues, 25 quality of life.  62 1 So 316 South Avenue the grass is out 2 of control. This house was condemned due to 3 animal hoarding. And there was a sheriff sale 4 last week. And I don't think it was sold. So, 5 you know, it's the beginning of the summer. 6 It's going to get hotter. We had a lot of rain 7 and this issue is not going to get any better 8 so if you could please alert code enforcement 9 to that property. 10 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will, sir. 11 MR. MCANDREW: And also, I'm getting 12 multiple complaints on the 700 block of West 13 Elm Street. There is constant speeding going 14 on. It's becoming very dangerous for the 15 residents if you could alert highway and them 16 know. 17 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll alert them. 18 MR. MCANDREW: I will. Thank you. 19 And then I also received complaints about feral 20 cats. I don't know if it's the same person 21 because I don't have the actual street. But I 22 remember last year it was a big issue. 23 And they said they were going to get 24 better at it or, you know, there is a little 25 blame game with well, Griffin can't take them  63 1 unless they're, you know, they're dangerous or 2 they're -- and they have no room. And then we 3 have a great Street Cats organization that 4 really does a lot for us. 5 But they need help. The residents 6 need help because I don't know if it's the same 7 person, but she's having issues with cats that 8 are all over her neighborhood. They have to 9 power wash their patio. 10 If they want to go out and they have 11 to power wash their grill because it's that 12 bad. There's fleas and some type of cat 13 leukemia that's -- is that the same one then? 14 Well, I'm just going to expand a little because 15 I promised her I'd bring it up. 16 So it's an issue for the whole 17 neighborhood. It's not just her. And I'll be 18 honest with you. I have a couple cats in my 19 neighborhood. And I don't feed them. I don't 20 entertain them. I'm an animal lover. But 21 these are cats that are stray cats. 22 And when I go on my patio I have 23 these cushions that are covered with hair. So 24 there's, you know, they're sleeping on there at 25 night. And so we need to get better at this  64 1 and see what strategy different from last year 2 what's going to happen because it's, like I 3 said, it's going to get worse because it has 4 since last year. 5 MR. VOLDENBERG: We did reach out on 6 that neighborhood. And I spoke with Mr. Smurl 7 and he suggested that they develop a plan 8 moving forward. 9 MR. MCANDREW: Good. Good. We need 10 a strategy. And that's all I have. Thank you. 11 MR. SMURL: I have a few things. 12 This is from the Polish National Church. This 13 was sent to -- a check in the amount of $5,000 14 payment in lieu of our 2024 pilot and agreement 15 with me on October 14th, 2018, concerning 16 property identification number and they give 17 their property number. 18 I didn't know we had agreements with 19 anyone. But I will look into that after the 20 meeting. But they did send 5,000. And they 21 sent $2,500 to the Scranton School District, 22 $1,250 to the City of Scranton; $1,250 to 23 Lackawanna County in lieu of taxes. And this 24 is from Reverend Anthony Mikovsky from the 25 Polish National Church. Thank you for that.  65 1 It says an agreement. I'd like to 2 look up and see what kind of agreement we had 3 with them. Also, 507 Linden Street. That 4 flashing -- two of the big pieces of copper 5 flashing were taken down. But code enforcement 6 was there and they said -- we got this response 7 yesterday. They said it will be taken down in 8 the next 48 hours. 9 I hope by tomorrow it is gone. 10 Golden Avenue, we went over that with the stray 11 cats. And also 1016 Stafford Avenue, they are 12 doing the asbestos report on that building now. 13 And they are trying to find funding to take 14 that building down. That is the one with the 15 front that is falling off. 16 And one other thing, the corner of 17 Crown Avenue and Hickory Street where they are 18 building the new Yeshiva school, the entire 19 intersection is filled with, like, dirt, runoff 20 dirt and stuff. It just keep accumulating. I 21 asked the DPW if they would send the street 22 sweeper up there just to get it out of there. 23 And also code enforcement would look 24 at it or whomever would decide is the dirt 25 coming from construction project or is the dirt  66 1 coming from runoff on the road. I never seen 2 it before. But if it just started -- but if it 3 is the construction project, I would like them 4 to do the -- take the proper steps and control 5 that dirt that's all over the road. 6 But if it is normal runoff then I 7 understand it's ours, but it's never happened 8 before. And also, Mr. Voldenberg, I believe I 9 sent you this this morning, a church in the 10 1900 of Prospect, I had nine people sent me 11 complaints about it. It's gotten very loud and 12 they've asked me to quiet it down. 13 I don't know what the ordinance are. 14 I don't know if we have a machine to measure 15 the sound. But if we could send that to, I 16 believe, code enforcement and see if there is 17 anything we could do with that. 18 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will. I'll 19 follow up. It's been a problem in the past. 20 MR. SMURL: Oh, okay. 21 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yeah, I forward in 22 the past a couple times to SPD and we had not 23 received any response. 24 MR. SMURL: Very good. And that is 25 all.  67 1 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-B. FOR 2 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - RATIFYING AND 3 APPROVING THE EXECUTION AND SUBMISSION OF THE 4 GRANT APPLICATION BY THE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC AND 5 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY OF SCRANTON 6 TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC 7 DEVELOPMENT'S GREENWAYS, TRAILS, AND RECREATION 8 PROGRAM (GTRP) FOR UP TO $250,000.00 TO BE USED 9 TOWARDS THE WHITTIER SCHOOLYARD PROJECT. 10 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll 11 entertain a motion that Item 5-B be introduced 12 into its proper committee. 13 MR. KING: So moved. 14 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second. 15 MR. SMURL: On the question? All 16 those in favor of introduction signify by 17 saying aye. 18 MR. KING: Aye. 19 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye. 20 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye. 21 MR. MCANDREW: Aye. 22 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes 23 have it and so moved. 24 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-C. FOR 25 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - RESOLUTION FOR  68 1 PLAN REVISION FOR NEW LAND DEVELOPMENT LOCATED 2 AT 1230 NORTH KEYSER AVENUE. 3 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll 4 entertain a motion that Item 5-C be introduced 5 into its proper committee. 6 MR. MCANDREW: So moved. 7 MR. SCHUSTER: Second. 8 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second. 9 MR. SMURL: On the question? All 10 those in favor of introduction signify by 11 saying aye. 12 MR. KING: Aye. 13 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye. 14 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye. 15 MR. MCANDREW: Aye. 16 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes 17 have it and so moved. 18 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-D. FOR 19 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - AUTHORIZING THE 20 MAYOR AND OTHER APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS TO 21 EXECUTE AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH RUTLEDGE 22 EXCAVATION TO PERFORM THE TRIPP PARK STORMWATER 23 PROJECT. 24 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll 25 entertain a motion that Item 5-D be introduced  69 1 into its proper committee. 2 MR. MCANDREW: So moved. 3 MR. KING: Second. 4 MR. SCHUSTER: Second. 5 MR. SMURL: On the question? All 6 those in favor of introduction signify by 7 saying aye. 8 MR. KING: Aye. 9 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye. 10 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye. 11 MR. MCANDREW: Aye. 12 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes 13 have it and so moved. 14 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-E. FOR 15 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - WAIVING 16 RESPONSIBLE CONTRACTOR ORDINANCE REQUIREMENTS 17 FOR THE PROCUREMENT OF TRIPP PARK STORMWATER 18 IMPROVEMENTS. 19 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll 20 entertain a motion that Item 5-E be introduced 21 into its proper committee. 22 MR. KING: So moved. 23 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second. 24 MR. SMURL: On the question? All 25 those in favor of introduction signify by  70 1 saying aye. 2 MR. KING: Aye. 3 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye. 4 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye. 5 MR. MCANDREW: Aye. 6 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes 7 have it and so moved. 8 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-F. FOR 9 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - AUTHORIZING THE 10 MAYOR AND OTHER APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS TO 11 EXECUTE AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH WASTE 12 MANAGEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA, INC. TO PERFORM 13 RECYCLING PROCESSING. 14 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll 15 entertain a motion that Item 5-F be introduced 16 into its proper committee. 17 MR. KING: So moved. 18 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second. 19 MR. SMURL: On the question? All 20 those in favor of introduction signify by 21 saying aye. 22 MR. KING: Aye. 23 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye. 24 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye. 25 MR. MCANDREW: Aye.  71 1 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes 2 have it and so moved. 3 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-G. FOR 4 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - AUTHORIZING THE 5 MAYOR AND OTHER APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS TO 6 EXECUTE AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH 7 PEOPLEGURU, INC. TO PERFORM PAYROLL PROCESSING 8 SERVICES. 9 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll 10 entertain a motion that Item 5-G be introduced 11 into its proper committee. 12 MR. KING: So moved. 13 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second. 14 MR. SMURL: On the question? All 15 those in favor of introduction signify by 16 saying aye. 17 MR. KING: Aye. 18 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye. 19 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye. 20 MR. MCANDREW: Aye. 21 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes 22 have it and so moved. 23 MR. VOLDENBERG: SIXTH ORDER. 24 6-A. READING BY TITLE - FILE OF THE 25 COUNCIL NO. 79, 2025 - AN ORDINANCE -  72 1 ESTABLISHING A "NO PARKING ZONE" ALONG THE 2 EASTERLY CURB LINE OF SR3025 KNOWN AS WYOMING 3 AVENUE FROM SEGMENT 0020 OFFSET 850 TO ITS 4 INTERSECTION WITH OLIVE STREET FOR A DISTANCE 5 OF 370 FEET TO ITS INTERSECTION WITH OLIVE 6 STREET TO ALLOW FOR SAFE SIGHT DISTANCES FOR A 7 PROPOSED DRIVEWAY. 8 MR. SMURL: You've heard reading by 9 title of Item 6-A. What is your pleasure? 10 MR. MCANDREW: Mr. Chairman, I move 11 that Item 6-A pass reading by title. 12 MR. KING: Second. 13 MR. SMURL: On the question? All 14 those in favor signify by saying aye. 15 MR. KING: Aye. 16 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye. 17 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye. 18 MR. MCANDREW: Aye. 19 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes 20 have it and so moved. 21 MR. VOLDENBERG: SEVENTH ORDER. 22 7-A. FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE 23 COMMITTEE ON RULES - FOR ADOPTION - FILE OF THE 24 COUNCIL NO. 78, 2025 - AMENDING THE RESPONSIBLE 25 CONTRACTOR ORDINANCE (RCO) (CHAPTER 113 OF CITY  73 1 CODE) TO IMPROVE IMPLEMENTATION. 2 MR. SMURL: As Chairperson for the 3 Committee on Rules, I recommend final passage 4 of Item 7-A. 5 MR. KING: Second. 6 MR. SMURL: On the question? Roll 7 call, please. 8 MR. MCANDREW: On the question, I'm 9 sorry. So on the question, we were back and 10 forth with this. I was myself with the amount 11 or the threshold. And if we don't increase it, 12 my understanding is -- and this is the 13 information we got from administration is we 14 might not be able to complete all the projects 15 that were committed to. 16 All right, so with that said, if I 17 agree and vote -- agree to the new threshold 18 amount, and my understanding is there will be 19 more bidders will be allowed to participate 20 which I'm in favor of too. I wasn't crazy 21 about the amount. But in order to do that, 22 that's why I struggled. 23 But that's why I'm going support 24 this. But I need the administration to support 25 us and support the residents and stay on top of  74 1 change orders and that will increase the 2 projects that we're trying to save enough money 3 to do to complete all the ones we're committed 4 to. 5 So I'm committed to this. I hope 6 they are committed on stopping on top of change 7 orders because I want every project that we 8 committed to completed because the ARPA 9 checkbook is empty. It's gone. So if these 10 projects aren't completed, I don't want to see 11 either them not completed or put back on the 12 residents, taxpayers. 13 All right, so I'm, you know, I'm 14 having faith and agreeing to this new -- the 15 change of this ordinance, but I also want the 16 same from our administration. 17 DR. ROTHCHILD: On the question, I 18 also had been hesitant with this piece, 19 especially since it hasn't been that long when 20 we did pass the RCO. But the amount that we 21 initially selected has not seemed to be working 22 out in terms of getting -- getting the bids 23 needed for projects. 24 And I would rather change the amount 25 now than have to continue to make exceptions  75 1 for projects in the future like we've had in 2 our legislation already. I think that that's 3 kind of pointless. So if this amount is going 4 to work now for the ordinance for us to still 5 have responsible contractors on those -- on 6 those larger projects while getting a fair 7 amount of bidders with fair bidding in that 8 lower range, than -- than I'll be in agreement 9 for this. 10 MR. KING: On the question, I'll be 11 supporting this this evening. I simply don't 12 want to see these projects jeopardized. And by 13 raising it to 500,000 it's going to allow for 14 more competitive bidding, which would save our 15 taxpayers a lot of money. So that is why I'm 16 supporting that legislation this evening. 17 MR. SCHUSTER: Also on the question, 18 we did make an amendment to lower the threshold 19 here to $100,000. We're being asked at this 20 point in time after data has come in to 21 increase that threshold. 22 We've had some data that has come 23 in from the city that's saying that this 24 threshold isn't working and there's a few 25 projects coming up. So we've been quick to  76 1 come back to this. And we've been quick to 2 change this threshold, but after these few 3 projects if there's still issues with this, I 4 would like Council to come back to the table on 5 this and stay on top of it to move quickly if 6 this threshold is not working as well. 7 MR. SMURL: So the responsible 8 contractor ordinance was designed to save 9 taxpayers money. And it was designed to 10 specify how much each project should go for and 11 be worth. And that's our entire goal. 12 But like all of the communities that 13 have adopted this, everyone seems to have a 14 problem with either getting bidders or having 15 different problems. The last -- we've had 16 multiple jobs come back just like one that we 17 did tonight that we -- we had six bidders. 18 None of them were responsible contract 19 ordinance certified. 20 So what we would have to do then is 21 qualify them all and start over again, which is 22 kind of a big waste of time. So the entire 23 idea is widen the field, get more contractors, 24 get more people involved and hopefully by 25 putting the amount back up to $500,000 and by  77 1 having -- there's a lot of stipulations in 2 there too that protect the taxpayers and 3 control the jobs where they want to extend 4 different parts, to add on some stuff. 5 So all of that is in there too to 6 control that so we don't have that. So I hope 7 this settles it. I'm sure this won't be the 8 last time this gets adjusted here. But we do 9 have multiple projects going out for bid 10 probably next week. 11 And we have a set amount of money 12 for each one that the money and the amount we 13 got from the estimaters when the engineer first 14 designed this job when we had the ARPA money, 15 that was two years ago. 16 So I don't want to see the last job 17 come up and we overran on all of the other ones 18 because we didn't get enough bidders and the 19 last job doesn't get finished. So we hope this 20 will solve it. And I'm sure it won't be the 21 last time this get amended. 22 But like every other community, this 23 is a learning experience with this responsible 24 contractor ordinance so everybody is learning 25 on, not just us. Roll call, please.  78 1 MS. CARRERA: Mr. King. 2 MR. KING: Yes. 3 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Schuster. 4 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes. 5 MS. CARRERA: Dr. Rothchild. 6 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes. 7 MS. CARRERA: Mr. McAndrew. 8 MR. MCANDREW: Yes. 9 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Smurl. 10 MR. SMURL: Yes. I hereby declare 11 Item 7-A legally and lawfully adopted. 12 MR. VOLDENBERG: 7-B. FOR 13 CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON RULES - FOR 14 ADOPTION - RESOLUTION NO. 226, 2025 - AMENDING 15 RESOLUTION 27 OF 2020 "AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR 16 AND OTHER APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS TO EXECUTE 17 AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH THOMAS J. MCLANE 18 & ASSOCIATES AS CITY OF SCRANTON PROJECT 19 CONSULTANT RECREATION NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND 20 PROJECT ACTIVITIES FOR THE PERIOD DECEMBER 1, 21 2019 THROUGH NOVEMBER 30, 2024" TO AMEND THE 22 PROJECT ENGINEER TO COLWELL-NAEGELE ASSOCIATES, 23 INC. 24 MR. SMURL: As Chairperson for the 25 Committee on Rules, I recommend final passage  79 1 of Item 7-B. 2 MR. KING: Second. 3 MR. SMURL: On the question? Roll 4 call, please. 5 MS. CARRERA: Mr. King. 6 MR. KING: Yes. 7 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Schuster. 8 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes. 9 MS. CARRERA: Dr. Rothchild. 10 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes. 11 MS. CARRERA: Mr. McAndrew. 12 MR. MCANDREW: Yes. 13 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Smurl. 14 MR. SMURL: Yes. I hereby declare 15 Item 7-B legally and lawfully adopted. 16 MR. VOLDENBERG: 7-C. FOR 17 CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC 18 WORKS - FOR ADOPTION - RESOLUTION NO. 227, 19 2025 - CEREMONIOUSLY DEDICATING CLIFF STREET 20 ADJACENT TO THE STEAMTOWN NATIONAL HISTORIC 21 SITE IN HONOR OF JOHN M. HART, JR. 22 MR. SMURL: What is the 23 recommendation of the Chairperson for the 24 Committee on Public Works? 25 MR. SCHUSTER: As Chairperson for  80 1 the Committee on Public Works, I recommend 2 final passage of Item 7-C. 3 MR. KING: Second. 4 MR. SMURL: On the question? 5 MR. KING: On the question, I was 6 asked to read John Hart Jr. -- - Attorney John 7 Hart, i guess this would be Attorney John Hart, 8 III, I believe, asked me to read this. He 9 couldn't be here tonight. 10 So on behalf of my family including 11 my entire -- including my wife, children, 12 father's daughter Elizabeth McDonald, her 13 husband and son, my stepmother Maureen Hart and 14 our extended family members, I want to express 15 our heartfelt gratitude for the honor of 16 dedicating Cliff Street adjacent to Steamtown 17 as John M. Hart, Jr. Way, proclaiming June 18 17th, 2025 as John M. Hart, Jr. Day in the City 19 of Scranton. 20 This recognition is incredibly 21 meaningful to us. And we are truly grateful 22 for this gesture. My father lived his life in 23 alignment with the words of his father, leave 24 the world a better place than you found it. 25 John M. Hart, Jr., took this guidance to heart  81 1 and made it the foundation of everything he 2 did. 3 He was a man of action. If there 4 was an idea that needed to be done, he was on 5 it. He didn't wait for permission. He just 6 made it happen. After speaking of action, my 7 father had a unique approach to gathering 8 support for his ideas. 9 He would he reach out to anyone and 10 everyone he could -- he could corner whether it 11 was friends, local politicians or even 12 strangers who didn't know they were going to be 13 roped into one of his latest initiatives. 14 He was relentless often chasing down 15 anyone who would listen all in the name of 16 improving our city. If you answered the phone, 17 you were probably going to hear about the 18 latest monument dedication or project he was 19 working on. 20 He didn't take no for an answer. He 21 took let's get it done. His efforts helped 22 make Steamtown National Park. But that was one 23 piece of his legacy. He was a champion for 24 initiatives not just here in Scranton, but 25 across the Commonwealth from monuments in other  82 1 cities to dedications in places like Gettysburg 2 and Philadelphia. 3 His impact is felt far and wide and 4 we're grateful for everything he's 5 accomplished. To name the street that leads 6 into Steamtown National Historic Site and the 7 Trolley Museum after him is a fitting tribute 8 to his tireless work, dedication, and love for 9 this city. 10 We're deeply grateful for this 11 recognition. My family and I look forward to 12 attending an unveiling and dedication to the 13 newly named street and appreciate the city's 14 gesture in honoring my father's legacy. Thank 15 you for your time and consideration. 16 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Mr. King. 17 MR. KING: Thank you. 18 MR. SMURL: Roll call, please. 19 MS. CARRERA: Mr. King. 20 MR. KING: Yes. 21 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Schuster. 22 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes. 23 MS. CARRERA: Dr. Rothchild. 24 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes. 25 MS. CARRERA: Mr. McAndrew.  83 1 MR. MCANDREW: Yes. 2 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Smurl. 3 MR. SMURL: Yes. I hereby declare 4 Item 7-C legally and lawfully adopted. 5 MR. VOLDENBERG: 7-D. FOR 6 CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON COMMUNITY 7 DEVELOPMENT - FOR ADOPTION - RESOLUTION NO. 8 228, 2025 - RATIFYING AND APPROVING THE 9 EXECUTION AND SUBMISSION OF THE GRANT 10 APPLICATION BY THE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC AND 11 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY OF SCRANTON 12 TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC 13 DEVELOPMENT'S GREENWAYS, TRAILS, AND RECREATION 14 PROGRAM FOR UP TO $250,000.00 TO BE USED 15 TOWARDS THE LACE VILLAGE - DOG PARK PROJECT. 16 MR. SMURL: What is the 17 recommendation of the Chairperson for the 18 Committee on Community Development? 19 DR. ROTHCHILD: As Chairperson for 20 the Committee on Community Development, I 21 recommend final passage of Item 7-D. 22 MR. MCANDREW: Second. 23 MR. SMURL: On the question? On the 24 question, this is a project that's 100 percent 25 the City of Scranton's. This will be a City of  84 1 Scranton park. The name just because of 2 Village Lake -- or Village Lace is there. But 3 this is open to the entire Green Ridge/North 4 Scranton area. 5 And this is the property that we 6 purchased from UGI for one dollar I'm going to 7 say four or five months ago. But it is not a 8 big parcel of land. So if you look at the 9 parcel, you'll see why it is only a dog park 10 and can't be extended to anything else because 11 we don't own any of that other land. Roll 12 call, please. 13 MS. CARRERA: Mr. King. 14 MR. KING: Yes. 15 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Schuster. 16 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes. 17 MS. CARRERA: Dr. Rothchild. 18 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes. 19 MS. CARRERA: Mr. McAndrew. 20 MR. MCANDREW: Yes. 21 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Smurl. 22 MR. SMURL: Yes. I hereby declare 23 Item 7-D legally and lawfully adopted. 24 MR. VOLDENBERG: 7-E. FOR 25 CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON COMMUNITY  85 1 DEVELOPMENT - FOR ADOPTION - RESOLUTION NO. 2 229, 2025 - RATIFYING AND APPROVING THE 3 EXECUTION AND SUBMISSION OF THE GRANT 4 APPLICATION BY THE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC AND 5 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY OF SCRANTON 6 TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC 7 DEVELOPMENT'S GREENWAYS, TRAILS, AND RECREATION 8 PROGRAM FOR UP TO $200,000.00 TO BE USED 9 TOWARDS THE GERRITY PARK RENOVATIONS PROJECT. 10 MR. SMURL: What is the 11 recommendation of the Chairperson for the 12 Committee on Community Development? 13 DR. ROTHCHILD: As Chairperson for 14 the Committee on Community Development, I 15 recommend final passage of Item 7-E. 16 MR. SCHUSTER: Second. 17 MR. SMURL: On the question? Roll 18 call, please. 19 MS. CARRERA: Mr. King. 20 MR. KING: Yes. 21 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Schuster. 22 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes. 23 MS. CARRERA: Dr. Rothchild. 24 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes. 25 MS. CARRERA: Mr. McAndrew.  86 1 MR. MCANDREW: Yes. 2 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Smurl. 3 MR. SMURL: Yes. I hereby declare 4 Item 7-E legally and lawfully adopted. 5 MR. VOLDENBERG: EIGHTH ORDER. No 6 business at this time. 7 MR. SMURL: If there's no further 8 business, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. 9 MR. MCANDREW: Motion to adjourn. 10 MR. SMURL: Thank you. This meeting 11 is adjourned. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  87 1 C E R T I F I C A T E 2 3 I hereby certify that the proceedings and 4 evidence are contained fully and accurately in the 5 notes taken by me of the above-cause and that this copy 6 is a correct transcript of the same to the best of my 7 ability. 8 9 10 Maria McCool, RPR 11 Official Court Reporter 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 (The foregoing certificate of this transcript does not 21 apply to any reproduction of the same by any means 22 unless under the direct control and/or supervision of 23 the certifying reporter.) 24 25