City Council

STEELTON BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES January 2, 2024 Present: Denae House Ryan Gonder, Solicitor Vanessa Bowers Kathy McCool, Borough Manager Willie Slade Jr. William Shaub, Police Chief Julianna Paioletti Eugene Vance, Fire Chief Michael Segina Aaron Curry, Codes Officer Natashia Woods Randy Watts, Borough Engineer Ciera Dent, Mayor Jeff Baltimore, Public Works Director Absent: Brian Proctor The re-elected and newly elected council members were sworn into office: The Honorable Ciera Dent, Mayor for Steelton Borough, administered the Oath of Office to The Honorable Michael Segina, re-elected Councilman. The Honorable Judge Royce Morris administered the Oath of Office to The Honorable Vanessa Bowers, elected Councilwoman. The Honorable Ciera Dent, Mayor for Steelton Borough, administered the Oath of Office to The Honorable Julianna Paioletti, newly elected Councilwoman. The Honorable Ciera Dent, Mayor for Steelton Borough, administered the Oath of Office to The Honorable Denae House, re-elected Councilwoman. The Honorable Ciera Dent, called the meeting to order at 6:39 p.m. and led the body in the Pledge of Allegiance, and conducted the invocation. Roll Call: Mrs. McCool conducted roll call. The Council members listed above were present. Mayor Dent opened the floor for nomination for President of the Council. Ms. Woods nominated Vanessa Bowers for the position of President. There being no more nominations: Mayor Dent called for a roll call vote for Vanessa Bowers: Mr. Slade – aye Ms. Paioletti - aye Ms. House – aye Ms. Bowers - aye Mr. Segina – aye Ms. Woods – aye Steelton Borough Council Meeting Minutes – January 2, 2024 Page 1 of 6  STEELTON BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES January 2, 2024 Vanessa Bowers was elected President of the Council by a unanimous vote of the Council. Mayor Dent opened the floor for nomination for Vice President of the Council. Ms. House nominated Natashia Woods. There being no more nominations: Mayor Dent called for a roll call vote for Natashia Woods: Mr. Slade – aye Ms. Paioletti - aye Ms. House – aye Ms. Bowers - aye Mr. Segina – aye Ms. Woods – aye Natashia Woods was elected Vice President of the Council by a unanimous vote of the Council. Mayor Dent then turned the meeting over to the newly elected President, Ms. Bowers. Ms. Bowers called for nominations for President Pro-Tem of the Council. Ms. Woods nominated Ms. House. There being no more nominations: Ms. Bowers called for a roll call vote for Ms. House: Mr. Slade – aye Ms. Paioletti - nay Ms. House – aye Ms. Bowers - aye Mr. Segina – aye Ms. Woods – aye Ms. House was elected President Pro-Tem of the Council by a majority vote. Motion made by Mr. Segina, seconded by Mr. Slade, to adopt Resolution 2024- R-01 appointing Kathy McCool as the Borough Secretary/Treasurer. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Mr. Segina, seconded by Mr. Slade, to adopt Resolution 2024- R-02 appointing Rosemarie Paul as the Assistant Borough Secretary/Treasurer. Motion passed unanimously. Ms. McCool stated that this would be temporary until a replacement could be selected and another motion would be brought before council. Motion made by Mr. Slade, seconded by Mr. Segina, to approve the Engagement Letter Steelton Borough Council Meeting Minutes – January 2, 2024 Page 2 of 6  STEELTON BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES January 2, 2024 Agreement contracting Ryan Gonder, of McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC, as Solicitor for the Council be accepted. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Mr. Segina, seconded by Mr. Slade, to appoint Michael M. Miller of Eckert Seamans LLP, as Solicitor for Police Negotiations. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Mr. Segina, seconded by Mr. Slade, to appoint Michael M. Miller of Eckert Seamans LLP, as Solicitor for Non-uniform Negotiations. Motion passed unanimously. Motion by Ms. House, seconded by Ms. Woods, to appoint Randy Watts, PE of Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, Inc., as the Borough’s Engineer. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Ms. Paioletti, that Aaron Curry continue employment as the Borough’s Code/Zoning/Planning Officer. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Ms. House, seconded by Mr. Slade, to appoint Eugene Vance as the Borough’s Fire Chief. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Ms. Paioletti, seconded by Ms. Woods, to appoint Andrew Mahalchick as the Borough’s Assistant Fire Chief. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Ms. House, seconded by Mr. Slade, to appoint Stephen Brubacher, Jr. at the Borough’s Battalion Chief. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Ms. Woods, seconded by Ms. Paioletti, that Conner Higgins be recognized as, and continue as, the Emergency Management Coordinator. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Mr. Segina, seconded by Ms. House, to adopt Resolution 2024- R-03 appointing Stephen Shaver as the Vacancy Board Chair. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Mr. Segina, seconded by Ms. Woods, to adopt Resolution 2024- R-04 appointing Kathy McCool as the Borough Right to Know Officer. Motion passed unanimously. Motion made by Ms. House, seconded by Ms. Woods, to adopt Resolution 2024-R-5 for Council to officially adopt Robert’s Rules of Order, 11th Edition, as the procedural guide, where applicable, used to conduct Council business. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Gonder presented Resolution 2024-R-6 and Employment agreement appointing Kathy McCool as Borough Manager. Steelton Borough Council Meeting Minutes – January 2, 2024 Page 3 of 6  STEELTON BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES January 2, 2024 Motion made by Mr. Slade, seconded by Ms. woods, to approve Resolution 2024-R-6 and employment agreement appointing Kathy McCool as Borough Manager. Motion passed unanimously. Public Comments • Nicolette Warden, 109 Frank S. Brown Blvd – Elks Lodge New Year’s Day fight that led to a shooting in front of her home. Does not feel safe. Bought home in 2020. Elks becoming more dangerous for her and her neighbors, young kids impacted by violence. Litter on the street. The property has been damaged. Public urination on their properties. Asking to shut down the establishment. Police and EMS services could be used better. Property values are going down. Cannot park her car either. • Ashley Zimmerman, 115 Frank S Brown Blvd – Provided similar comments to Warden. She has brought up this before at previous meetings. Has caught people on her motion detection. Moved here for the sense of community. Things go bad at night. Cannot park her car or have people over. Called the towing company and the police. No security at this place. Sometimes partying from 1 AM to 4-5 AM. Feels unsafe. Fighting on her car. Trash and broken glass everywhere. Council Concerns Mr. Slade I just wish everyone a happy new year. Thank you for coming out to the first meeting of the year. Appreciate you guys expressing your concerns. We'll definitely be looking into that for you guys. And I hope to see you guys the rest of the year, the rest of the meetings. Thank you. Mr. Segina Thanked attendees and congratulated newly elected officials. He stated that Chief Shaub, Mayor Dent, and Ms. McCool met with the Elks to address concerns. Ms. Woods Thank you everyone for coming out. Congratulations to everyone. It's a new year. We still have a lot to do and work, but hopefully we will come together as a team and get through what we need to get through. The conversation of the Elks will happen. I just want to reassure you of that. You all have a great year. Thank you. Ms. House I would also like to thank everyone for coming. Thank you all for your concern. A lot of times people don't see everything that's going on the outside. When you're inside, you don't know what's going on the outside. So, thank you for bringing that to the council because we need to know that information. So, thank you for that. Thank you everyone for coming and happy new year. And we're ready to get this work started. Thank you. Steelton Borough Council Meeting Minutes – January 2, 2024 Page 4 of 6  STEELTON BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES January 2, 2024 Ms. Paioletti Happy new year everyone. And I just want to say congratulations to everyone up here. Thank you for coming out tonight. Thank you for letting us hear your voices. And I hope that more residents come out to share their experiences with different things going on in the borough as well. We definitely encourage that. So, thank you. Appreciate it. Mr. Gonder Wished everyone a Happy New Year. Ms. McCool wished everyone a Happy New Year Mr. Dent Of course, thank you all for coming out. Congratulations to everyone and their respective positions. President Bowers, I know that you will do well. We fully support you. We have your back. And whatever you need, you know that you do have resources and we will be here to help you and make sure that you do succeed. Saying what vice president was and pro tem house. We're a team. Y'all are a team. So, when it comes down to it, regardless of differences that you may have. Council must work as a team. You must collaborate. You must do what is needed for the community at the end of the day. We are here for the betterment of our borough and for our community and for our residents. So, anything else that may come up or that may arise is irrelevant. I will also address the issue in regards to the Elks. There have been a lot of concerns. We have been brought a lot of different issues for residents. So I thank you ladies for coming out. I know I did speak with Mrs. Zimmerman in regard to her issues and her concerns. She reached out to us via email, and I was able to respond to her. And I totally agree with you all. I empathize with you. I understand that no one wants to live in an area where you don't feel safe. Whether you're a homeowner, whether you're a runner, regardless of the fact, I am a mom of four kids and I live on Front Street. So, I'm always looking out my window because you just never know what's going to happen. But I understand where you're coming from and it is our responsibility to make sure that our residents feel safe, especially when they're at home. It's nice to make sure they're safe when they're walking down the streets, but we definitely want you all to feel safe when you are in your house, which should be your safe haven. So we are taking measures on the Police Department side to do what it is that we can do. And we're just, I'm sure that council will be having some type of conversation as well in regard to what can be done on the borough end as well, because this is something that is of high concern, is high priority, and we don't want to want to get killed. I ain't got time for nobody getting killed on my clock. So that's my biggest concern right now, whether it's whatever we need to do to make sure that you guys are feeling safe, that residents are safe, that people that come into this borough, we're going to do whatever is necessary to make sure that you are feeling safe. So please continue to reach out. If things are happening, feel free to reach out to myself, to Chief Schaub, or whomever you may feel Steelton Borough Council Meeting Minutes – January 2, 2024 Page 5 of 6  STEELTON BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES January 2, 2024 comfortable reaching out to, and we will continue to keep an eye on things and do what we can do on our end. Thank you all. Happy New Year. We appreciate you all again, and let's just get ready to do some work. Mrs. Bowers Well, definitely happy New Year, and thank you for everyone coming out. This was a great evening. We technically had a change in leadership this evening, but I look at everyone up here as leaders. Every single person up here is a leader. I've learned from everyone this past year up here, and we'll continue to learn and grow with those that I work with. Our community means the most to us moving forward. The stronger we are collectively, the stronger we are for you all and our borough staff here. So, I'm definitely excited about moving forward this upcoming year. Motion made by Mr. Segina, seconded by Ms. House, to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed unanimously at 7:35pm. Steelton Borough Council Meeting Minutes – January 2, 2024 Page 6 of 6