City Council

STEELTON BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES July 17th, 2023 Present: Michael Segina, Vice President Jack Gombach, Interim Borough Manager Natashia Woods, Pro Temp Ryan Gonder, Solicitor Denae House Randy Watts, Engineer, HRG Willie Slade Aaron Curry, Codes Enforcement Officer Vanessa Bowers Jeff Baltimore, Public Works Director Ciera Dent, Mayor William Shaub, Police Chief Gene Vance, Fire Chief Absent: Mrs. Bowers, Mr. Jones Call Meeting to Order: Vice President opened the meeting at 6:36 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Moment of Silence: Mayor Dent led the group in a Moment of Silent Reflection to keep Ms. Woods in prayer as she had lost her stepfather a week ago and to keep her family in your prayers. Roll Call: Mr. Gombach performed roll call. The members present are listed above. Additions to Agenda (if needed): Mr. Segina asked for a motion to add the approval to award the contract for the 2023 Road Paving Project to the agenda. Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Mr. Slade to add the approval to award the contract for the 2023 Road Paving Project to the agenda. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Segina asked if there were any additional motions to add items to tonight’s agenda. There were none. Public Comments on Agenda items only: No comments were made. Approval of minutes from the previous meeting: Motion made by Ms. Woods to approve the May 1st, May 15, and June 20th Minutes. Mr. Gonder asked that this motion on approval of the minutes be amended to table. Mr. Gonder stated there are several items in the minutes that he would like to review prior to passing. Steelton Borough Council Meeting Minutes – July 17th, 2023 Page 1 of 8  STEELTON BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES July 17th, 2023 An Amended Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Mrs. Bowers, to table the approval of the May 1st, May 15, and June 20th Minutes. Mayor's Proclamation: Mayor Dent stated that today we are saying goodbye to our Officer Noro. He is our, K-9 has been with us for about five years. And as you can see, he is with hist handler Officer Smith. But today is his official day of retirement. I'm going to read a proclamation in regards to his retirement. Whereas K-9 Officer Noro has served as a Steelton Borough police dog since 2019. And whereas the Steelton Borough police department has benefited from the loyal services of K-9 Officer Noro as a member of the department since his recruitment. And whereas K-9 Officer Noro has given uncompromising dedication to his K-9 handler, Officer Michael Smith, which has allowed them to create a strong partnership that has proven to be a valuable asset to the Steelton Borough Police Department. Whereas the effective dynamic between them has led to the apprehension of suspects, discovery of crucial pieces of evidence, and his contribution to the seizure of substantial amounts of illegal drugs and narcotics. Whereas K-9 Officer Noro's mission was to protect the Steelton Borough community, he was also charged with ensuring both he and Officer Smith safely finished their shifts together. Whereas K-9 Officer Noro is compelled by reason of five years of service with extensive K-9 officer responsibilities to retire from the rigorous duties of active police work. Now therefore, be it proclaimed on this day, July 17, 2023, that on behalf of the Steelton Borough council, the Steelton Borough Police Department, I, Mayor Cierra Dent, do hereby recognize and congratulate Officer Michael Smith and K-9 Officer Noro on their partnership and officially retire K-9 Officer Noro from active police work. I hereby wish him well as he begins his journey as a civilian K-9 under the care and responsibility of Officer Michael Smith. Congratulations Noro! Thank you for all your help. And for those who may be wondering, he will be staying with his handler. That is something that we are very excited about. Sometimes that is not always the situation where they get to stay with the family. So, he will be going home and he'll be going back to the people that he knows, that he knows loves them and he's just going to live a regular K-9 life hopefully. Consideration for Letters of Support Mr. Gombach presented to council and consideration letters of support for the 2023 Gaming grant applications. Letters requesting support were received by All You Can Inc Partnership, Diverse Investment Group LLC, Razor Tattoos, Steelton Elks, Steelton Community Steelton Borough Council Meeting Minutes – July 17th, 2023 Page 2 of 8  STEELTON BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES July 17th, 2023 Development Foundation, Steelton Fire Department, the Borough of Steelton, and Neighboring Academy. Presentations on the support letters were presented to council from All You Can Inc Partnership, Diverse Investment Group LLC, Razor Tattoos, Steelton Elks, Steelton Community Development Foundation, Steelton Fire Department, and the Borough of Steelton. Mr. Segina asked if there were any other public that are in attendance that is requesting a sponsorship letter. Vijay Santiago presented for consideration on his organization Roots Logistics a sponsorship request for a CDL training program for Veterans and Felons. Jeremo Perez from Solar Eclipse in consideration for a sponsorship request to help residents to switch it solar. Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Mrs. Bowers to approve the sponsorship letter for All You Can Inc Partnership. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Mrs. Bowers to approve the sponsorship letter for Diverse Investment Group LLC. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Mr. Slade to approve the sponsorship letter for Razor Tattoos. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Mr. Slade to approve the sponsorship letter for Steelton Elks. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Mr. Slade to approve the sponsorship letter for Neighboring Academy. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Mrs. Bowers to approve the sponsorship letter for Roots Logistics. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Mrs. Bowers to approve the sponsorship letter for Solar Eclipse. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Mrs. Bowers to approve the sponsorship letter for Solar Eclipse. Motion passed unanimously. Steelton Borough Council Meeting Minutes – July 17th, 2023 Page 3 of 8  STEELTON BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES July 17th, 2023 Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Mrs. Bowers to approve the sponsorship letter for Little Rollers Football program. Motion passed unanimously. Department Reports: Fire Department and Ambulance A written report was presented, Chief Vance had nothing to add. Police Department A written report was presented, Chief Shaub had nothing to add. Codes Department A written report was presented, Mr. Curry had nothing to add. Public Works A written report was presented. Mr. Baltimore had nothing to add. Parks and Recreation Ms. Woods noted the event for Sunday from 9am to 12pm for the Community Garden grand opening. The committee has been talking about park projects for next year. Hopes to provide comprehensive report to council at the next meeting. Looking at replacing Christmas lights and banners for next year, NEDC Ms. Woods stated nothing to add. Mayor’s Report Mayor Dent stated National Night out is August 12st from 6pm to 8pm at the football field and Steelton Fest is August 12th. Kids Fest will be another day we are working on. Borough Managers Report Mr. Gombach had nothing to add tonight. Motion made by Mr. Slade, seconded by Ms. Woods to approve the committee reports as presented. Motion passed unanimously. Engineers Report: Mr. Watts stated there's an extensive report this month. I'm going to just touch on some of the projects here. I'm not going to go over each one. I have Eve's Pollard here to talk to you about Hoffer Street pump station which will do that a little bit later. An update on the Trewick force Steelton Borough Council Meeting Minutes – July 17th, 2023 Page 4 of 8  STEELTON BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES July 17th, 2023 main replacement project that is ongoing in design, and we have a public works meeting this Thursday to discuss alignment and just additional input we need from public works. The Fire department building rear drainage project or issue, I have a quote from Stoner construction to do that repair work and I believe the Borough is still working on obtaining a construction easement for the actual work itself. PADEP did an MS4 for inspection on July 5th here in the Borough, and it went pretty well. They looked at public works facilities, they looked at different outlets within the borough, they also looked at some BMPs in the borough. The only BMP is that being the Steelworks BMP that's in the parking lot across the street. And the last thing that's listed there is the boat launch underpass paving issue. We went out and we asked three contractors to provide quotes for that work. The different amounts are listed in my report there but that's just an update on that issue. Mr. Segina asked Council if anyone had any question for Mr. Watts on the Presented Engineers report. No questions were asked. Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Mrs. Bowers to approve the Engineers Report as presented. Motion passed unanimously. Unfinished Business: None New Business: Yves Pollart from HRG presented to council for consideration and approval the Notice of Intent to Award Contract for Hoffer Street Pump Station Improvements Project. Mr. Pollart stated that on June 28th the borough accepted bids for this project. We received three bids based on a review of the bids, in a concert, with speaking with Mr. Gonder and Mr. Gombach about the bids. Our recommendation is to award the bid to Eastern Environmental Contractors in amount of $1,418,800 for the construction of the project. You may recall this is being funded through PENNVEST and the next step after this would be should the borough decide to proceed with this contractor then we're working towards settlement which will occur on September the 13th and after settlement at that point we can sign the notice to proceed for the contractor to start working at that particular time. Mr. Segina asked Council if anyone had any questions for Mr. Pollart. No questions were asked. Steelton Borough Council Meeting Minutes – July 17th, 2023 Page 5 of 8  STEELTON BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES July 17th, 2023 Motion made by Mr. Slade, seconded by Ms. Woods to award the Hoffer Street Pump Station bid to Eastern Environmental Contractors in amount of $ 1,418,800. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Watts presented to council for consideration and approval of the awarding of the bid for the 2023 Street Paving Project. Mr. Watts stated bids were received for the borough for the 2023 Steel Borough paving project, and just to remind you, the streets that are being paved or McKinley Street and Levin and Street from Bessemer to Cameron. They were received on July 11th. We received five bids in the amount of approximately $96,000 to $130,000. The lowest responsible bid was from new enterprise Stone and Lime Company. We recommend that Council award this contract to New Enterprise Stone and Lime for a unit price bid amount of $96,643.75, subject to the following conditions which are reviewed by the borough solicitor. And then of course you know an agreement between the owner and contractor, required insurance documents, and acceptable performance and payment bonds. Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Mr. Slade to award the 2023 Road Paving project contract to New Enterprise Stone and Lime for a unit price bid amount of $96,643.75, subject to the following conditions which are reviewed by the borough solicitor. And then of course you know an agreement between the owner and contractor, required insurance documents, and acceptable performance and payment bonds. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Gonder presented for consideration and approval of Ordinance 2023-3 Authorize and Direct the Incurring of Nonelectoral Debt Through the Issuance of a Guaranteed Revenue Bond, Series of 2023 in the Principal Amount of $64,291. Mr. Gonder stated this is part of the Hoffer Street project and ties to the PENNVEST grant award. Mr. Gonder stated Ordinance 2023-3 has been properly advertised prior to tonight’s possible action. Mr. Segina asked Council if anyone had any question on Ordinance 2023-3 for Mr. Gonder. No Questions were asked. Motion made by Mr. Slade, seconded by Ms. Woods to approve Ordinance 2023-3. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Gonder presented for consideration for approval of Resolution 2023-R- l 2 establishing a Small Value Sales Policy. This will allow the Borough Manager to dispose of tangible personal property of less than $2,000. This will allow the Borough to sell the police bikes as well as transfer to K9 to Officer Smith. Steelton Borough Council Meeting Minutes – July 17th, 2023 Page 6 of 8  STEELTON BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES July 17th, 2023 Motion made by Mr. Slade seconded by Ms. Woods to approve Resolution 2023-R-12. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Gombach presented for consideration and approval the ratifying of emergency repairs for Walnut Road in the total amount of $49,217.00 to EK Services inc. Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Mr. Slade to ratify the emergency repairs for Walnut Road in the total amount of $49,217.00 to EK Services INC. and approve related resolution 2023-R-13. Motion passed unanimously. Public Comments: Pat Gordon | 117 N Front Street Informed Council about the continual nuisance and danger the business nearby that operates all hours of the night had to her home and family’s safety. Asked if Council is moving forward with Ordinance updated to these issues. Mr. Gombach stated that we spoke a week ago or so. We're working with HRG to do a comprehensive review of the ordinances in our downtown area. We're going to let them do a comprehensive review rather than one at a time. I do think that we've gone to work on a couple of drafts back before and we understand the urgency, but as the Chief is also highlighting some concerns and working under the current confines and the codes is difficult. We want to make sure that we're getting it done right, and not kind of just piece mail something but then to go back to it. We hope we have something in one of the August meetings. Emuel Powell | 321 Lebanon Street Asked if we could take the stop signs down and put-up traffic bumpers. People drive by his house at 50 miles per hour. Kevin Gashler | 109 North Second Street Talked with Chief Shaub about police parking. He looked at the ordinance, stated that the police are taking more space than the ordinance says. Raised concerns about cars parked in the borough lot, but he is not allowed. Mr. Segina asked Mr. Gombach and Chief Shaub why a car was in our lot and report back to council. Melissa Spandler | Trustee Saint Lawerance Lodge | 151 Kelker Street Swatara Township Would like to do carnival like event for its members and to block off part of South River Alley (Mohn to Highland) for the event from 8am to Dusk. Steelton Borough Council Meeting Minutes – July 17th, 2023 Page 7 of 8  STEELTON BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES July 17th, 2023 Mr. Segina asked for a motion after Mr. Gonder confirmed this was an appropriate exception. Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Mr. Slade to approve the closure of South River alley from Mohn St to Highland Street on August 5th from 8am to dusk. Motion passed unanimously. Council Concerns: Mr. Slade Thanked attendees no concerns this evening. Mrs. Bowers Thanked attendees no concerns this evening. . Ciera Dent, Mayor Thanked everyone for coming out. Please check out the garden this Sunday from 9am to 12pm. Ms. Woods, Pro Tem Thanked attendees. Thanked Council, Mayor, and Staff for the prayers and flowers she received. Mr. Segina, Vice President Thanked everyone for coming out and bearing with him tonight with filling in for Mr. Proctor. Executive Session: None. Other Business: None With no other business to discuss, a Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Mr. Slade to adjourn at 8:18 PM. Motion passed unanimously. Steelton Borough Council Meeting Minutes – July 17th, 2023 Page 8 of 8