COUNCIL — Scranton, PA
Date: 2025-06-17

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 1 COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF SCRANTON

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 4 HELD:

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 7 Tuesday, June 10th, 2025

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10 LOCATION:

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12 COUNCIL CHAMBERS

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24 Maria McCool, RPR
 Official Court Reporter
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 1 C O U N C I L M E M B E R S:

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 GERALD SMURL - PRESIDENT
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 MARK MCANDREW, VICE PRESIDENT
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 JESSICA ROTHCHILD
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 THOMAS SCHUSTER
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 WILLIAM KING
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 FRANK VOLDENBERG, CITY CLERK
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 KATHY CARRERA, ASSISTANT CITY CLERK
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 THOMAS GILBRIDE, ESQ., COUNCIL SOLICITOR
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 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 Edward Sandy, Ann Marie

 8 Nancy Finnerty. 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: Here. Before we begin

19 tonight's meeting I would like to make a

20 statement in reference to last week's Council

21 meeting. I understand a lot of hateful

22 statements were made and some were directed

23 towards speakers and some towards Council

24 members.

25 It is my job as Council President to
 4

 1 not allow hateful and derogatory remarks to be

 2 directed at any one individual. As Council

 3 President, I take full responsibility for not

 4 doing my job to maintain order at last week's

 5 meeting. I apologize for not performing my job

 6 properly.

 7 It is the responsibility of

 8 Council -- it is not the responsibility of

 9 other Council members to maintain order. It is

10 mine. This is not an excuse for my behavior or

11 to deflect blame to anyone else. Going

12 forward, I will fulfill my duties that I

13 promised to uphold when I was sworn in as

14 Council President.

15 The hate we see on television every

16 day from our federal government all the way

17 down has become a normal everyday occurrence.

18 The constant barrage of negative news and

19 political dysfunction can lead us to inaction

20 believing that our actions don't matter and

21 change is impossible.

22 At times, I have allowed myself to

23 accept those beliefs. After much thought and

24 conversation with family and friends, I fully

25 understand the need for respectful dialogue and
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 1 listening to different perspectives is

 2 essential to working together for positive

 3 change.

 4 In the future, I will do my best to

 5 enforce Council rules. I respectfully request

 6 that all Council members and Council Solicitor

 7 immediately intervene when Council rules are

 8 being broken. Respectfully, Jerry Smurl.

 9 MR. VOLDENBERG: THIRD ORDER.

10 3-A. SINGLE TAX OFFICE CITY FUNDS

11 DISTRIBUTED COMPARISON REPORT FOR YEAR-TO-DATE

12 JUNE 6, 2025 AND YEAR-TO-YEAR COMPARISON REPORT

13 FOR JUNE 6, 2024 THROUGH JUNE 6, 2025.

14 MR. SMURL: Are there any comments

15 on any of the Third Order items? If not,

16 received and filed. Do any Council members

17 have any announcements at this time?

18 MR. MCANDREW: I have a quick one.

19 I was asked to read this two weeks in a row.

20 So Holy Rosary Center's Mary Mother of God

21 Parish block party is Friday and Saturday.

22 Friday there will be a veteran's ceremony at 6.

23 Saturday, Jim Cerminaro will be at 5

24 p.m., which is the Chatter band. As always,

25 they have great food, beer tent, games,
 6

 1 raffles, live music. And it's from 7 to 10 on

 2 Friday and 6 to 10 on Friday -- on Saturday,

 3 I'm sorry. That's all I have.

 4 MR. SMURL: Anyone else?

 5 MR. KING: Mr. President -- go

 6 ahead.

 7 DR. ROTHCHILD: Thank you. First, I

 8 just wanted to mention going on right now up

 9 until Saturday, so the 10th to the 14th is the

10 Scranton Greek Food Festival. And it's one of

11 my favorite times of the year and you could get

12 really amazing Greek food.

13 That's at the Greek Orthodox Church

14 over on Washington Avenue, 505 North Washington

15 Ave, across from the library.

16 So you could order in person or

17 online at Greekfoodscranton.com. And the phone

18 number if you were to call is 570-342-0566.

19 And there a couple other notes that I wanted to

20 mention prior to the start of public comment

21 and our meeting tonight.

22 First off, it's -- it's great seeing

23 this room filled. It's beautiful. I think

24 it's what community means to Scranton,

25 community coming together. And I hope that
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 1 many of you who are here tonight will continue

 2 to show up in the future or just become active

 3 in local government and educated on what's

 4 happening within our city.

 5 I think it's a -- it's a great thing

 6 to have more of that. And I understand your

 7 outrage. And I stand with our LGBTQ community.

 8 I stand against hatred, discrimination,

 9 bullying. And I will always speak out against

10 it.

11 I ask of everyone to be respectful

12 if you choose to speak tonight. And I also

13 want to take this time to thank President

14 Gerald Smurl for his statement and for his

15 apology. I know he's worked incredibly hard in

16 this role and on Council and I've been able to

17 witness that firsthand.

18 And I have a lot of respect for him.

19 We've worked well together over the years. And

20 he's always been I feel like an ally for LGBTQ

21 people. And like you, I also want the Rules of

22 Council to be enforced equally. And I

23 appreciate his statement of his commitment to

24 do so.

25 So thank you for allowing me to take
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 1 that time and if anyone else has any

 2 announcements.

 3 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Anyone else?

 4 MR. KING: President Smurl, I

 5 realize I was the first one last week that was

 6 critical of the fact that you didn't use the

 7 gavel. I was not as upset with you as I was

 8 with the hate speech, the bigotry, the

 9 harassment, the personal attacks, the

10 discrimination, the bullying.

11 While I was critical of you for not

12 gavelling that out, I was more upset that

13 people would come into these chambers and

14 attack people personally. That's upsetting to

15 me. We're here to conduct city business.

16 We're not here to attack people.

17 This is supposed to be a welcoming

18 environment to everyone, to all people

19 regardless of what our views are. We all have

20 different political views. We all have

21 different thoughts. But at no time should

22 there be attacks on other human beings.

23 And at no time should anyone feel

24 disrespected, harassed or uncomfortable or

25 intimidated to come into these chambers or to
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 1 walk our streets and be part of this great City

 2 of Scranton.

 3 So I appreciate the fact that you,

 4 as a true leader, took some responsibility

 5 where you felt you were wrong. I truly

 6 appreciate that. And I will say that Jerry

 7 Smurl probably works as hard, if not harder

 8 than anyone on this Council.

 9 The things that he does for this

10 city are unbelievable. And I know that he

11 truly believes that, you know, this needs to be

12 an open city, a welcoming city to everyone. So

13 I appreciate that. Thank you.

14 MR. SMURL: Thank you.

15 MR. VOLDENBERG: FOURTH ORDER.

16 CITIZENS PARTICIPATION.

17 MR. SMURL: First on the list,

18 Angela Ramone.

19 MS. RAMONE: Good evening,

20 everybody. I would like to start by thanking

21 Council President Smurl for his apology for his

22 action last week regarding all of the

23 disgusting, hateful speech and abuse and

24 harassment that was directed towards me.

25 I would also like to state more
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 1 explicitly because I didn't comment on it last

 2 week that I was very disappointed in the

 3 inaction, not just for myself because I do as

 4 an individual have a right and really an

 5 obligation to be here and to participate in our

 6 local government as a resident, as a citizen

 7 here.

 8 And I do have a right to be

 9 protected from those types of attacks and from

10 that type of hate. And more so than just

11 myself, I was afraid that attack -- the attacks

12 on me last week if left unanswered would lead

13 to many other people in our city like myself

14 feeling too afraid to speak out and feeling too

15 afraid to have their voices heard by their own

16 representatives.

17 Not everyone has the time or courage

18 or ability to come up here and speak, of

19 course. But everyone should have the

20 opportunity to have their voice heard and feel

21 listened to by their representatives,

22 especially regarding city business.

23 And in that regard, I would like to

24 submit Chapter 296 for -- do I hand this to

25 you, I believe? And that is our city's
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 1 antidiscrimination ordinance which was passed

 2 many years ago.

 3 While it is quite extensive in its

 4 protections for the LGBTQ community, there are

 5 many areas in which it falls short, namely, in

 6 failing to more explicitly protect healthcare

 7 for transindividuals and all LGBTQ individuals

 8 in our city.

 9 It also does not do enough to define

10 certain types of attacks against LGBTQ

11 individuals as hate crimes, which the City of

12 Scranton should have a vested interest in

13 doing. So I do believe that it is in the best

14 interest of our city moving forward to

15 strengthen the protections that we currently

16 have.

17 There are many cities in our

18 Commonwealth who have been doing the same

19 lately, Allentown is an example that comes to

20 mind with their -- with their R34 Resolution to

21 make Allentown a safe haven for all LGBTQ plus

22 individuals.

23 In addition as far as more short

24 term goals and requests for the City of

25 Scranton, I would request that the City Council
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 1 does take more so seriously violations of the

 2 rules for speakers here because while we do

 3 have a right to our freedom of speech, we do

 4 not have a right to harass people inside these

 5 chambers.

 6 And if someone really does have more

 7 offensive things that they want to get off

 8 their chest and communicate with City Council,

 9 there are more direct ways to do that, not at

10 this podium. You could write. You can call.

11 You can e-mail.

12 There are other ways to make sure

13 that your right to be heard is still respected

14 while still protecting everyone else who

15 comes -- who comes into our city.

16 I would also like to take a moment

17 to thank William King and Dr. Jessica Rothchild

18 for speaking out as well as several of the

19 audience members last week who had spoken out

20 immediately about the hatred that was directed

21 towards me.

22 And just to quickly recap some of

23 the things that were done and some points of

24 failure, one of the speakers who had come here

25 last week was not a resident of Scranton, did
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 1 not put an address down on the sign-in sheet

 2 and was not asked about his address when he

 3 come up to speak.

 4 I do have some documents here with

 5 his most recent known address down in -- just

 6 double-check -- I believe it was down in

 7 Kingston. That's the discipline -- the Supreme

 8 Court disciplinary record for Anthony Moses who

 9 had spoke here last week.

10 It is stapled in two parts. That's

11 just because the -- there was not a stapler

12 available to me powerful enough to put 40 --

13 about 45 pages together at once. Yeah, that's

14 all I have for today. Thank you very much.

15 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Ethan Emker.

16 MR. EMKER: Hello, firstly, I wanted

17 to say I was disappointed on how the previous

18 City Council meeting was handled. I would like

19 to thank Council for their remarks about it and

20 their apologies for how it was handled, so

21 thank you.

22 Sorry, I'm not very good with public

23 speaking. And since it feels relevant, I would

24 also like to recognize that we do have some

25 decent protections for LGBTQ residents in
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 1 Scranton already as long as we enforce it.

 2 For example, it is currently illegal

 3 to discriminate against members of a protected

 4 class, which does include both gender identity

 5 and sexual orientation in regards to housing,

 6 employment, and public services.

 7 And I know it was already mentioned

 8 how Allentown City Council recently passed

 9 Resolution R48 in order to protect LGBTQ

10 residents and people fleeing states with

11 antiLGBTQ laws as well.

12 And this resolution specifically

13 protects gender affirming healthcare. And I

14 just wanted to say I would really like it if

15 Scranton could pass a similar resolution. And

16 I know I personally weighed the pros and cons

17 of staying in Scranton.

18 But Scranton is my home. I have

19 lots of friends and community who are here.

20 And I know not everyone has, like, the

21 resources to just up and move to continue

22 receiving the care that they need. So I would

23 just like to ask you to protect gender

24 affirming healthcare in Scranton and, of

25 course, strictly enforce Council rules in
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 1 regards to harassment in these chambers, which

 2 I know you guys have already committed to

 3 doing. So I wanted to thank you for that. I

 4 don't have much to say, so thank you.

 5 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Excuse me.

 6 I have to uphold up all of the rules and

 7 applause is out of order. Thank you. Joan

 8 Hodowanitz.

 9 MS. HODOWANITZ: Joan Hodowanitz,

10 Scranton. I cannot believe not one you have

11 mentioned the significance of Saturday, June

12 14th, Flag Day. And on top of that, it's the

13 250th anniversary of the founding of the United

14 States Army. Shame on you all. Don't clap.

15 Okay.

16 I do want to thank also DPW workers.

17 They did a really fine job in front of the --

18 at the storm drain in front of the Cathedral

19 because we had a lot of rain in the past weeks

20 and it has not pooled. It has not flooded the

21 sidewalk.

22 So people going to mass are able to

23 get up the steps without getting splashed by

24 passing cars. So thank you, DPW. And we're

25 still working on their union contract.
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 1 MR. SMURL: They are.

 2 MS. HODOWANITZ: Okay. That's good.

 3 Now, with regard to last week's public

 4 comments, I was the first speaker so I didn't

 5 get to comment on what happened afterwards.

 6 Bob Bolus is driving me crazy.

 7 You have to admire him for all the

 8 good things he does, his Christmas dinners for

 9 the past 30 years, his efforts to bring back

10 the remains of fallen World War II soldiers

11 from Okinawa and so much more.

12 But when someone pulls his chain, he

13 has a tendency to go off the deep end. During

14 his public comments last week Bob mentioned

15 that he was a Catholic and a veteran and so am

16 I. However, as a Catholic, I must agree with

17 the late Pope Francis.

18 When asked for his opinion on gay

19 priests, Pope Francis gave a very Christ-like

20 answer, who am I to judge. And as for gays

21 serving in the military, things have changed

22 since I enlisted 50 years ago -- yes, 50 years.

23 When I was in the Army, gays had to

24 stay in the closet or risk being

25 administratively discharged or worse. When I
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 1 was in uniform, there were a lot. And, I mean,

 2 a lot of heterosexual soldiers that I wouldn't

 3 trust as far as I could throw them.

 4 And as for the kind of people I want

 5 living in Scranton, I want people who are

 6 willing to work for a living, who pay their

 7 fair share of taxes, who obey the law and who

 8 if they disagree with the law, work within the

 9 system to change it.

10 In short, Bob and I have a lot in

11 common. And I respect him for his

12 contributions to Scranton and America. But I

13 totally disagree with his comments last week,

14 both at this podium and at his seat. He was

15 rude, crude, and socially unacceptable.

16 And, Mr. Smurl, I appreciate the

17 statement you provided in Third Order. It

18 takes a big man to admit a mistake. Having

19 said that, I want to commend City Council for

20 renaming Cliff Street in honor for of John M.

21 Hart, Jr., and proclaiming June 17th as John M.

22 Hart, Jr. Day.

23 I'm sure there are many other

24 Scrantonians who deserve a like honor.

25 Finally, I saw on the city's website and on the
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 1 entranceway coming into the City Hall a notice

 2 of public funding for Hilltop Heights, a

 3 project to build 36 apartments on the corner, I

 4 guess, of South Webster and Saginaw Street.

 5 It was a first hurt for me. My

 6 parent's home is about two blocks from that

 7 area. But as you should know, Hilltop Manor

 8 which is in the same area has attracted a lot

 9 of police incidents and many drug related.

10 Can you give us some information on

11 this project so that the people can comment on

12 it in the future? Thank you.

13 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Joan. I

14 will. The first I heard of that, I thought it

15 was supposed to be an elderly housing project,

16 but that's news to me. Next, Bob Bolus.

17 MR. BOLUS: I'd like to have these

18 presented to Council, please. First off, I'd

19 like -- Bob Bolus, Scranton. First off, I

20 would like to set the Scranton Times straight

21 in the negative articles that they printed on

22 me over the weekend.

23 First off, the statement was made by

24 the Times that I failed to respond to an issue

25 with a neighborhood Oakes and Slotterback.
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 1 What I have before me was due on the 14th. And

 2 I have it in front of me which I was hoping

 3 Chris Kelly was here.

 4 It was received on 5/12/25 at 3:15,

 5 well within the time that I filed the appeal.

 6 So the incompetence and stupidity of the people

 7 that write the Scranton Times articles that go

 8 disparaging me, they could all go to hell.

 9 There's the facts. I make no excuse for last

10 week.

11 I'm a part of this country. I've

12 been all over the world. I've contributed much

13 more than anybody that came up and spoke about

14 who I am and what I'm about. I'm going to read

15 what I gave you, June 10th, City Council

16 meeting.

17 I would like to ask Council a

18 rhetoric question. What's the difference

19 between a public forum for the opening exchange

20 of ideas and liberal echo chamber where you're

21 threatened with censorship and removal if most

22 of Council doesn't like your viewpoint and

23 doesn't agree with it?

24 This version of Council seems to be

25 running later -- last week during the first
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 1 part of the meeting where city business is

 2 discussed and during the time Council was

 3 conducting business and voting on resolutions,

 4 Councilwoman Rothchild spoke which she has the

 5 right to do just as I have the right to

 6 disagree with her views and values.

 7 During a discussion of city business

 8 she spent just from about the 5 minute mark to

 9 the 7 minute mark discussing the raising and

10 display of the queer flag at City Hall and

11 queer month. She noted that the Mayor and

12 Council President were present at the flag

13 raising ceremony on June 1.

14 She announced two organizations

15 calling themselves queer NEPA, the Rainbow

16 Alliance, which had an itinerary or various

17 festivities to celebrate queer month. She

18 announced -- described for queer -- pride --

19 queer race. She announced that and the Fringe

20 Festival was conducting a queer event.

21 To any reasonable person, that

22 sounds a lot like city business and it

23 certainly is city business unless, of course,

24 Council doesn't like your viewpoint on that

25 city business. Then they could say you're out
 21

 1 of line in discussing city business.

 2 This is truly being and armor. Life

 3 doesn't get easier as we go. We get stronger.

 4 This is a forum for the open exchange of ideas.

 5 It isn't a Brownie Scout meeting. No

 6 reasonable and sound mind should have felt

 7 threatened last week.

 8 Law enforcement is present and this

 9 is a safe environment for anybody here. As

10 important as that to the point of the day and

11 age to tell the truth, I doubt if anybody

12 really felt unsafe. I think saying this is

13 supposed to be a safe place is often posturing

14 and more intellectual cowardice to avoid an

15 intelligent debate and censor any viewpoints

16 that don't mirror the ones Council established.

17 And Chris Kelly's far left

18 propaganda, the hit piece that he tried to pass

19 off as an editorial. He wondered why Council

20 President didn't gavel me and have me removed.

21 Well, Chris, maybe Mr. Smurl believes in free

22 speech.

23 And he's educated and aware that our

24 federal courts are especially harsh on

25 viewpoint discrimination. He might understand
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 1 that a public forum is a place to openly

 2 discuss ideas, even ideas that members of

 3 Council or the audience don't like hearing

 4 because they disagree.

 5 For people who preach inclusion and

 6 tolerance, the left show shocking hypocrisy.

 7 They only included and tolerate those who

 8 blindly repeat their aggressive platform and

 9 they're in denial that over half the country

10 can't stand their policy.

11 You folks got kicked out of

12 Washington this past November. So maybe, just

13 maybe there are other views besides yours. I

14 don't believe queer month should be city

15 business. But if Council injects it into the

16 city business, I'm going to address it.

17 And you could claim you're offended

18 and outraged. You could be appalled and you

19 criticize me all you want. That's

20 intelligently dishonest and it's bullying and

21 manipulative. I filed a lawsuit and a petition

22 for mandamus to have the queer flag removed

23 from City Hall. Why their --

24 MR. SMURL: Stop. Go ahead.

25 MR. BOLUS: May I continue? For
 23

 1 one, there is no legitimate -- my time is going

 2 because I got stopped here.

 3 MR. SMURL: Go ahead. I'll give you

 4 another 15 seconds. That's what you had.

 5 MR. BOLUS: Okay. I filed a lawsuit

 6 and petition for mandamus to have the queer

 7 flag removed from City Hall. Why, for one

 8 there is no legal authorization to display it,

 9 16 PA CS 161 Section 16127 states it shall be

10 unlawful to display the flag of any -- it will

11 be lawful -- it shall be lawful to display the

12 flag of any country, city, borough --

13 MR. SMURL: Okay, thank you, Mr.

14 Bolus.

15 MR. BOLUS: -- other municipality in

16 the Commonwealth or official --

17 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Mr. Bolus.

18 Your time has expired.

19 MR. BOLUS: -- on a public building

20 or any grounds -- the queer flag is not

21 authorized --

22 MR. SMURL: Officer -- that's all.

23 MR. BOLUS: I am. I'm done.

24 MR. SMURL: If you have another

25 outburst, I'll clear the entire gallery.
 24

 1 MR. BOLUS: Mr. Smurl.

 2 MR. SMURL: Please, you're finished.

 3 You are finished. Thank you.

 4 MR. BOLUS: All right. But as far

 5 as this group goes --

 6 MR. SMURL: Conor McGuigan.

 7 MR. MCGUIGAN: Hi. My name is Conor

 8 McGuigan, 933 Clay Avenue. I feel like Jackie

 9 Mason following the Beatles on Ed Sullivan

10 right now. Hi, yes, I'm actually -- yeah, we

11 know -- we know what he says. We know he's up

12 here every week. We know he just memorizes the

13 stuff he hears on the TV and web page.

14 I'm -- he's going to say that. And

15 I really do appreciate your apology, Mr. King

16 and Mr. Smurl doing that. I really, really,

17 really do. I think when you have comments like

18 this and other feelings like that and

19 everything you just saw and I think we know

20 this.

21 It's fear based. They're very

22 scared. This all comes from fear which turns

23 into anger which turns into lashing out. And,

24 you know, that just -- that's going to happen.

25 I know we can't change that. But again, I
 25

 1 thank you for your comments in the beginning.

 2 I really do.

 3 I think that's the first step though

 4 because I have something in common with four of

 5 you of there. I'm a straight white middle-aged

 6 man, right? And I think that -- it's easy for

 7 us.

 8 It's easy in a lot of situations

 9 that a lot of this crowd doesn't have. And I

10 know I have been in situations where I take

11 that second to be, like, should I do something?

12 And it's tough because it's like, what are the

13 other straight white guys doing? Not that

14 you're -- looking at it. It's just something

15 in our psyche. We do this.

16 We take a moment instead of leading

17 by -- I mean, that's not right. That's not

18 right. And I think what we need to do as

19 straight people in the city because this city

20 is great and it does care about its queer

21 community.

22 It's not all the loud people. And I

23 know you guys agree with me, and I just think

24 we have to do better as straight people in this

25 city when we see something like that happen.
 26

 1 There are a lot of transpeople I know that have

 2 terrible things said to them. And that's just

 3 not Scranton.

 4 That's the world unfortunately. But

 5 Scranton can rise up from that. We've got some

 6 great community here. We got great events and

 7 I know the Mayor and the flag, it's tremendous.

 8 We just have to make sure when this happens, we

 9 don't wait a week for the apology, right?

10 And I know you spoke up. But maybe,

11 you know, just getting in there. I know

12 there's decorum, but that is just something,

13 right, and you guys know it. It just can't

14 happen. I know you're with me. You just got

15 to do better. All right? Thanks a lot.

16 MR. SMURL: Jessica McGuigan.

17 MS. MCGUIGAN: Hi, everyone. My

18 name is Jessica McGuigan, also 933 Clay Avenue.

19 President Smurl, I also want to thank you for

20 your thoughtful remarks at the beginning. When

21 we make mistakes, when we don't do what we're

22 supposed to, it takes a big person to think

23 critically about their role in that.

24 I really heard you thinking

25 critically. I appreciate that. I have chosen
 27

 1 Scranton as my home for yearly 20 years. I'm

 2 here tonight not just as a citizen but as

 3 someone who deeply believes in the city's

 4 capacity to be better than what we witnessed at

 5 the last Council meeting.

 6 Speaking here tonight is not easy

 7 for me. Sometimes it feels safer to stay

 8 quiet. But I have learned that we have the

 9 ability to speak up and to not -- and to choose

10 not to. We are just making space for the harm

11 to continue when we make that second choice.

12 So I'm here.

13 Despite my discomfort because what

14 happened at the last Council meeting deserves

15 more than silence. When someone stands at this

16 podium and spews dehumanizing rhetoric and it's

17 met with a thank you or no response at all, it

18 sends a message, a message that hate has a

19 place here.

20 Silence is not neutrality. It comes

21 off as complicity. We are living in a moment

22 where lines are being drawn across the country,

23 in our own backyards and the fear, the rhetoric

24 of fear, division, and dehumanization is not

25 abstract.
 28

 1 It's being written into laws, spoken

 2 from pulpits and shouted at school board

 3 meetings. And some people in power are

 4 targeting the most vulnerable among us using

 5 fear as a political tool.

 6 And every time a local body and

 7 subsequently a community like this one shrugs

 8 it off or stays quiet, it echos louder. The

 9 truth is, some opinions are dangerous. They

10 cost people their dignity. And sometimes that

11 leads to costing people their lives.

12 We've seen this before. History

13 shows us that what happens when communities

14 choose silence is rarely good. During the

15 Civil Rights movement, the holocaust, the Aids

16 crisis, there are always people who said

17 nothing while other people suffered.

18 And there were others who chose

19 courage over comfort who stood up. Moments

20 like this aren't new, but they are defining.

21 During Civil Rights movement, people had the

22 choice to march with Dr. King or to stay on the

23 sidewalk and say it wasn't their fight.

24 During the holocaust, there were

25 people would turned on their neighbors and
 29

 1 people who hid them. In every era, there's a

 2 moment when communities must decide whether

 3 they will stand against hate or be swallowed by

 4 it.

 5 This is ours. I don't come here

 6 only with grief and criticism, I come with hope

 7 because I know Scranton can choose differently.

 8 We've seen it before. This is the same city

 9 that has uplifted immigrants and created spaces

10 for interfaith communities, racial justice, and

11 LGBTQIA plus visibility.

12 It's the same city that boosts a

13 rich labor history borne from solidarity and

14 collective action. That's who we really are.

15 So I am pleading with you tonight, not just as

16 a constituent but as a fellow human being. Do

17 not let this moment pass in silence.

18 Continue to condemn the hate that

19 was spoken here and more importantly, counter

20 it with action, with love, and with policies

21 that make this city safe for everyone.

22 Let this be a city that shows up and

23 refuses to pretend that bigotry is just a

24 difference of opinion. Let's not be remembered

25 for what we tolerated. Let's be remembered for
 30

 1 what we refuse to accept. Thank you.

 2 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Miss

 3 McGuigan, I want to explain something. From

 4 day one when I began Council, when I thank

 5 someone it's almost like that is my way of

 6 interrupting them and stopping them to let them

 7 know their time is up. I have done that from

 8 day one and it's become a habit.

 9 So I think everybody's become

10 accustom to that. And maybe I should just say

11 your time is up.

12 MS. MCGUIGAN: Thank you.

13 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Ron Ellman.

14 MR. ELLMAN: Yes, good evening,

15 Council. I think you threw out the wrong

16 person personally. It's outrageous what was

17 said back there by that man. And he's -- he

18 wasn't asked to leave.

19 Anyway, it's just a great sadness to

20 see what's happening all over the country, not

21 just in Los Angeles. As you know, I -- I spent

22 a quarter of my young life out there. I see

23 all of these things that are familiar, these

24 neighborhoods and so forth.

25 It's very sad for America. You
 31

 1 know, Joe Biden's army of illegal disease,

 2 filth is just destroyed America, being allowed

 3 to destroy America. Right here in this very

 4 city, one of his staunchest -- just his

 5 strongest supporter of him and his policies is

 6 our Mayor.

 7 If anything, that ought to be a

 8 reason to think before you vote. You know, the

 9 trouble is you got people coming up here and in

10 the paper that don't know what they're talking

11 about.

12 You got people that's never suffered

13 the indignities of waiting in a food line like

14 I have when our house burned down years ago, of

15 not being able to make your rent or your

16 mortgage, taxes. There's thousands of people

17 out there right now, low income. Nobody in

18 this city -- there's no help.

19 I told you a couple weeks ago

20 there's no place for people to turn to in this

21 city when you have all of these problems. A

22 microwave can mess up somebody's finances. We

23 had to buy a refrigerator about a month ago. I

24 wasn't expecting it. It was ice cold one day

25 and quit the next.
 32

 1 It's -- it's just so hard and you

 2 people sitting here have never suffered any of

 3 these indignities. You can't imagine what it's

 4 like. I wasn't in the line when Sister Adrian

 5 gave away the food. But I saw it. It must

 6 have been a mile long going past the stadium.

 7 And I talked to people who lost

 8 everything, their business, their jobs, where

 9 they lived. And here Courtright is giving 10

10 million dollars to the eight colleges while

11 people -- those very people that paid taxes

12 were suffering.

13 You know, it's an unfair world we

14 live in, I guess. You know, my car got towed

15 on the very day I drove it because my neighbor

16 said it was abandoned, my Cadillac. Every day

17 I pass a car on the 1400 block North Main that

18 got the street -- the sidewalk completely

19 blocked where people are walking in the street.

20 Nobody seems to care about that car.

21 I got tickets for not cutting my grass from the

22 city. It was wet. You know, everybody's grass

23 looked like mine. But I got -- well, they have

24 gotten off my back, I'll say that. The code

25 enforcement hasn't given me any tickets or
 33

 1 nothing for a year or more.

 2 But this -- the future of this city

 3 is so important, and people coming out of the

 4 woodwork that never had nothing to do with the

 5 whole city or anything, library, nothing want

 6 your vote. They're not qualified.

 7 And the Mayor has a war chest that

 8 nobody can compete with. When you take all of

 9 these contributions, you're obligated. That's

10 why Basalyga and WNEP pay a fraction of their

11 taxes.

12 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Mr. Ellman.

13 Thank you.

14 MR. ELLMAN: Thank you.

15 MR. SMURL: Conor O'Brien.

16 MR. O'BRIEN: Good evening, Council.

17 My name is Conor Kelly O'Brien. I live at 816

18 Wheeler Avenue. I had some remarks written to

19 deliver tonight. And I'm going to get to as

20 much of them as I possibly can. But the

21 different comments this evening has resonated

22 with me in a way that I want to shift my

23 remarks to Council briefly and adjust them ever

24 so slightly.

25 I come from -- I was born and raised
 34

 1 here in Scranton, Pennsylvania in the Hill

 2 Section. I've lived here my whole life with

 3 the exception of a few years when I moved to

 4 New York or have travelled for work. I

 5 attended Scranton High School.

 6 I went right into the working force,

 7 nonprofit arts world right out of high school.

 8 I'm not a college graduate. That's not

 9 speaking ill against college. It just wasn't

10 in my cards, in my family's financial situation

11 at that time.

12 I understand and I am not going to

13 begin to compare my situation to the gentleman

14 before me or anyone that has spoken here

15 tonight because I can't because you don't know

16 the complexity of every single person's life.

17 You don't understand what it's like

18 to walk a mile in their shoes even if you grew

19 up with them in the same neighborhood of

20 Scranton in the 90s or the 2000s.

21 It's just not possible. It's the

22 complexity of humanity. It's the core thing

23 that every person tonight that I agree with or

24 fundamentally disagree with here has been

25 expressing, which is that somehow individuals
 35

 1 that want to promote hateful rhetoric, put down

 2 those that have had a different life experience

 3 than them, somehow feel that they are the one

 4 that is unheard that they are the one that is

 5 not being listened to or appreciated or

 6 respected.

 7 And there's an individual here

 8 tonight that I don't need to mention by name

 9 that it was cited has done tons of work for

10 charity. That's fantastic. I applaud that

11 individual's charitable efforts. It does not

12 negate, you know, who we are. On our

13 day-to-day is what we will be remembered by and

14 honored by or taken into account depending on

15 your belief in the divine afterlife.

16 It does not matter, Democrat,

17 Republican, it does not matter what cult of

18 personality you choose to follow Biden, Trump.

19 We are for the most part all members of a

20 working class rust belt while reviving a

21 beautiful city community.

22 It does not mean -- if you are not

23 queer and we had the conversation -- there's

24 been conversations related to this moment in

25 last week's Council remarks of straight
 36

 1 privilege and what it means to be queer and

 2 opposed.

 3 Saying for the record that it's been

 4 said by others far smarter than me a hundred

 5 million times over, it does not mean if you are

 6 straight, white, cisgendered individual, it

 7 does not mean that you have not gone against

 8 oppression.

 9 It does not mean that you have not

10 faced hardship and struggles and worked hard.

11 It simply means that your gender and/or sexual

12 identity has never been one of them. I'm going

13 to revert back to my far better written remarks

14 than my improvisation here.

15 I didn't even want to cite last

16 week's incident. What I wanted to do what I

17 think would speak louder volumes than simply me

18 conveying any frustration I could, is leave you

19 with statistics and the reason that -- not

20 personally but as a human being as a member of

21 Scranton, I'm the Director of Scranton Fringe

22 Festival that was -- got a wonderful shout-out

23 earlier, very grateful for that.

24 But that, you know, I work with a

25 lot of youth in the region as a teaching
 37

 1 artist, etc. I have all my credentials. I

 2 have all my backgrounds. Suicide is the second

 3 leading cause of death among youth ages 10 to

 4 14. And this is in this country, not

 5 worldwide.

 6 And the third amongst those is 15

 7 to 24. LGBTQ youth are at a significantly

 8 higher risk. In fact, youth who identify

 9 straight attempt suicide at a rate of 6

10 percent. Those gay or lesbian who identify as

11 such at a rate 19 percent.

12 It is estimated that more than 1.8

13 million LGBTQ young people seriously consider

14 suicide each year in this country. That's one

15 every 45 seconds. That's five since I began

16 speaking at this platform.

17 What we say matters. What we say

18 echos out and has significance even in

19 Scranton, Pennsylvania. I didn't get to get to

20 half of what I wanted to comment. I'll leave

21 this with I would like to thank. President

22 Smurl, for your remarks in the beginning.

23 There is no amount of money that

24 would ever want me to have any of your jobs up

25 there. So I'm incredibly grateful for your
 38

 1 kindness, your compassion and your

 2 transparency. I would not want to be judged by

 3 a bad day myself. Thank you very much.

 4 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Les

 5 Spindler.

 6 MR. SPINDLER: Good evening,

 7 Council, Les Spindler, city resident. I, for

 8 one, I'm going to defend Bob a little bit. I

 9 read that article that Chris Kelly put in the

10 paper on Sunday. He said Bob was wrong all the

11 time and this and that.

12 He cited that Bob went against

13 Council rules. Well, I stated here before the

14 United States Constitution does not -- does

15 supersede Council rules. And we tried -- Judy

16 Gatelli tried to stifle us here years ago. The

17 ACLU came in and they said Council rules do not

18 supersede the Constitution. It's the other way

19 around.

20 So anyway, Bob said, you know, he

21 didn't like the pride flag being raised because

22 he gave the Ukrainian flag and the Israeli

23 flag to our Mayor. And our Mayor refused to

24 raise them. And I had said that a long time

25 ago, this Mayor, she'll raise any flag, doesn't
 39

 1 matter what kind it is.

 2 But when she was given the Ukrainian

 3 flag and Israeli flag to raise, she wouldn't do

 4 it. And she told me -- I asked her -- oh, it

 5 might cause a problem. Well, you know what,

 6 that's a slap in the face to Ukraine. It's a

 7 slap in the face to Israel.

 8 And I'm a Jewish person and I told

 9 our Rabbi and our Cantor that she wouldn't

10 raise the flag of Israel. And they were pretty

11 upset about it. So Chris Kelly, he's wrong

12 most of the time because years ago when Chris

13 Doherty was Mayor I was part of a group that

14 came here every Tuesday.

15 And we defended the police union and

16 the firemen union that Chris Doherty tried to

17 break. And Chris Kelly would never say a bad

18 word about Chris Doherty. And he called us

19 that name, the Legion of Doom. Well, all we

20 did was support our firefighters and police

21 officers.

22 We came here week after week. And

23 he said we were wrong. But we ended up being

24 right. Chris Doherty cost the city 40 million

25 dollars on the court case -- actually it was 80
 40

 1 million. But our unions were nice enough to

 2 take half of that what they were agreeing the

 3 city should pay them.

 4 So Chris Kelly doesn't know what

 5 he's talking about. All he does is follow what

 6 the Times tells him to print. And we were

 7 right. He was wrong. The Legion of Doom was

 8 right every week we came here and talked.

 9 And I wish I still had my shirt. I

10 wanted to wear it tonight but I couldn't find

11 it because we stuck up for our first

12 responders.

13 Next thing, on the news last Friday

14 representative Kyle Mullins spoke. His dad

15 died of ALS which is also Lou Gehrig's

16 Disease. But the idiot in the White House cut

17 funding for -- funds the neurodegenerative

18 diseases which ALS is with one of along

19 Alzheimer's and others.

20 Representative Mullins sponsored a

21 bill for state funding for research on the

22 terrible diseases. This hits home for me

23 because I lost my grandmother, my mother to

24 Alzheimer's. And I have a brother is who right

25 now in a nursing home with the beginning of it.
 41

 1 So Donald Trump only cares about

 2 himself. He doesn't care about poor people or

 3 people that are sick or whatever. And he's

 4 cutting everything. To cut funding to try to

 5 get a cure for terrible diseases like this,

 6 that is unconscionable. How anybody could

 7 support this man, it just blows my mind.

 8 Another thing, last week I spoke

 9 about Mack Signs putting up signs and selling

10 them --

11 MR. MCANDREW: I got a response in

12 Fifth Order for that.

13 MR. SPINDLER: Oh, okay, good.

14 Yeah, I was wondering if anybody up there

15 thought that was right. First of all, we're

16 paying them and then they're selling the signs

17 for more money and they're taking work away

18 from our DPW.

19 I'm surprised our DPW doesn't file a

20 grievance on that. I can't believe they're not

21 doing that because they're losing work. And

22 we're paying Mack Signs. And they're also

23 selling the signs. That shouldn't be legal.

24 Lastly, I spoke about this last

25 week. When -- I live in Tripp Park. It's
 42

 1 unbelievable the heavy equipment going by my

 2 house every day that are killing our streets.

 3 And like I said, I hope the gas company is

 4 going to pave all of these roads that they are

 5 digging up.

 6 They may have to put these lines in,

 7 but I hope they fix up the streets because

 8 they're making a mess. Thank you.

 9 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Mr. Spindler.

10 I believe it's Levi Larouche. If you could

11 state your name if I didn't get it correct.

12 MS. LAROUCHE: No worries. You did

13 great. Good evening. My name is Levi

14 Larouche. I am a resident of Scranton. And

15 I'm really here today to tell you how proud I

16 am to be a resident of Scranton. I worked

17 incredibly hard to get here.

18 I come from a town of 143 people.

19 And I knew when it was time for me to choose a

20 place to set down roots and build a life and a

21 family that it needed to be a place that

22 enshrined protections for myself and my

23 community into law.

24 Not only that, but Scranton has such

25 a beautiful history of diversity, inclusion and
 43

 1 citizen action that I really admired in a city.

 2 I spent two and a half years house hunting here

 3 before choosing to rent because I couldn't

 4 spend another day not living in a city that I

 5 absolutely love.

 6 That said, I do think that all

 7 residents deserve to feel safe and supported

 8 while making public comments on things that

 9 affect our city. And I do appreciate the

10 apology that was given and the commitment to

11 ensuring that that happens in the future.

12 However, I will say that an apology

13 without action behind it is just words. So I'm

14 here today to join the other members of the

15 LGBTQ community to ask you continue to pushing

16 for advanced protections for the LGBTQ

17 community in Scranton.

18 That includes explicit protections

19 for the transgender community who have been

20 inappropriately and unfairly called out on a

21 national stage this year and are currently

22 feeling unsafe regardless of where they live.

23 I will also say that some other

24 cities in our region, Allentown and Easton most

25 recently have pushed for safe city ordinances
 44

 1 and resolutions that will continue to protect

 2 our community.

 3 I think that would be a wonderful

 4 point of action to back up your promises. I

 5 also wanted to mention that despite our

 6 community's attempt to reclaim it, the term

 7 queer is still being used as a slur as

 8 evidenced by previous comments tonight and last

 9 week.

10 I understand as many of you are not

11 part of the community, perhaps your ears are

12 not attuned to hearing it in that way.

13 However, when a resident goes on to call the

14 LGBTQ community the scum of the city, that

15 should maybe be an indicator there.

16 As a resident of Scranton who chose

17 to be here and loves to be here and has also

18 had insults and slurs thrown at me in the

19 streets, has been threatened to be hit by cars

20 by other residents just for being -- daring to

21 walk out in the daylight with my partner.

22 It is imperative that the city

23 continues to protect its LGBTQ residents and

24 continue to stand behind those ordinances that

25 are already on here. Thank you.
 45

 1 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Franke

 2 Malacaria.

 3 MR. MALACARIA: Good evening,

 4 Council. I want to start off with thanking

 5 Jerry for his introspection that he was able to

 6 show. I think that having leaders that show

 7 that sort introspection after they've been

 8 confronted is something that we sorely lack in

 9 a lot of leaders.

10 So I want to commend you for, you

11 know, speaking with your friends, family and

12 coming to a realization. Too often we close

13 back into our own shells when people confront

14 us. And, you know, as was previously

15 mentioned, I'm also a cis straight guy.

16 You know, I don't have to worry

17 about, like, many people in this Council being

18 harassed or attacked on the basis of my gender,

19 my sexuality, whether or not I'm trans. This

20 is something that we take as, you know, we take

21 for granted and to be able to, you know, I just

22 want to commend that.

23 I appreciate Bill King's comments as

24 well. I think that we need folks to, you know,

25 stand not only for their convictions but for
 46

 1 folks in their communities, you know, first and

 2 foremost you're representatives. You represent

 3 your constituents. And you have to keep --

 4 make sure that every one of us are safe, you

 5 know, whether we're trans, whether we're gay or

 6 whether we're an immigrant.

 7 I think this also ties back into

 8 just the explosion of hate that I think Jerry

 9 opened the meeting with that comes down from

10 the national politics. Something else that's

11 been happening recently in our neighborhood and

12 city is that ICE are going and picking up

13 folks.

14 Recently just the other day they --

15 as much as they don't want to say it's ICE,

16 it's not ICE it's Homeland Security

17 investigations, it's two peas in a pod. HSI

18 had done a raid just the other day in Exeter

19 where they had detained an undocumented

20 immigrant from our community.

21 There's been a lot of reporting

22 basically the same information from the local

23 press, but it's really funny to see their

24 biases come out when readings these articles.

25 Some folks will refer to them as illegals,
 47

 1 which no human is illegal, especially you can't

 2 be illegal on stolen land.

 3 Pennsylvania ever since Isaac Tripp,

 4 the first settler came to the region, we have

 5 basically eradicated the native population.

 6 There is not a single reservation in the state

 7 of Pennsylvania.

 8 So I want to echo Angela and I

 9 really believe that we need to do more to show

10 that we are a welcoming city, an ordinance

11 similar to Easton, Allentown, Lancaster, State

12 College, all within about the last year or so

13 have passed these types of ordinances.

14 I think we also need to go further

15 and declare Scranton a sanctuary city. A lot

16 of people are afraid by that term. But what it

17 allows is that for folks that are undocumented

18 to be able to reach out to law enforcement that

19 if they are -- are issues that they don't have

20 to be afraid that they are going to be turned

21 over to immigration and customs enforcement.

22 So by allowing folks that don't have

23 documented status to be able to call and, you

24 know, report a crime or report that there's

25 been a crime against them is of utmost
 48

 1 importance to maintaining public safety.

 2 Otherwise you're going have a

 3 section of our community that is not going to

 4 be able to call and interact with law

 5 enforcement. This is the biggest reason why

 6 sanctuary cities work and why it's so important

 7 for them.

 8 Again, so along with access to

 9 better medical resources for transfolks, I

10 believe we're a welcoming city, should also go

11 and clearly delineate Scranton as a sanctuary

12 city. Thank you for your time.

13 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Holly Ord.

14 MS. ORD: Hello, and good evening.

15 My name is Holly Ord. I am a Scranton resident

16 and local organizer for NEPA Stands Up. Like

17 most of the folks here tonight, I was extremely

18 disappointed in what took place last week

19 seeing my friend, a strong and courageous

20 leader in this community harassed and

21 intimidated on a public forum.

22 I would like to thank Council for

23 their earlier comments and commitment to

24 equally enforcing the Council rules going

25 forward. It is Council's responsibility to
 49

 1 protect everybody in this city. And to create

 2 a welcoming and safe atmosphere that all people

 3 can share in without fear of harassment or

 4 intimidation.

 5 I would also like to echo Angela's

 6 urging to strengthen the protections of our

 7 city's nondiscrimination ordinance. Scranton

 8 is a place where everybody belongs. I love

 9 this city. I was born here and raised here and

10 have made the decision to make my life here.

11 When I am asked why I love

12 Scranton -- and I am a lot, I always say the

13 same thing. Scranton is a hopeful place. The

14 Electric City sign, I love it. I don't know

15 about you, I love that sign. It is a beacon of

16 hope. And I am a deeply hopeful person. And

17 this room today gives me much hope.

18 What is deeply heartening about this

19 situation that we find ourselves in here today

20 is the fact that so many members of our great

21 community are here today. When someone is

22 attacked, our community shows up. You show up.

23 MR. SMURL: Can you please address

24 Council? Thank you.

25 MS. ORD: They show up. And it's
 50

 1 amazing. And it's beautiful. And it really

 2 shows why everybody here belongs. We belong

 3 here. We are a community. And I am really

 4 hopeful for the future of City Council for the

 5 equal enforcement of the rules for where

 6 everybody feels that they have -- the right and

 7 the opportunity to voice their opinion here.

 8 Thank you.

 9 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Anthony --

10 MR. BACHMAN: Hi. My name is

11 Anthony Bachman from Scranton. I had some

12 prepared remarks but there's a lot more smart

13 people in here than I am that can speak more

14 succinctly on these issues.

15 But I'm just going to get here and

16 talk a -- just give a personal testimony. I'm

17 from Scranton. I was raised in Scranton.

18 Whether I like to admit it or not, Scranton is

19 my home. And I feel as the city being my home

20 that we should be inviting and welcoming other

21 people into our home.

22 This home shouldn't be closed off.

23 The doors shouldn't be locked. The windows

24 shouldn't be boarded. We should be inviting

25 everyone. The LGBTQ community should feel
 51

 1 welcomed here. We need to let that be known.

 2 We need to invite everyone into our home.

 3 Now, I want to thank you, Council,

 4 for actually apologizing for the miscarriage of

 5 justice that I saw last week actually. And I

 6 do appreciate the words but I do want to stress

 7 that those are words and we do expect action.

 8 And I just want to echo what

 9 everyone else here has said. And we should be

10 a safe city. We should be a safe haven. We

11 should be a sanctuary. We shouldn't have ICE

12 coming in here taking our people off the

13 streets. It shouldn't be happening. We should

14 all be protecting each other. That's all I got

15 to say.

16 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Joe McGurl.

17 Joe, yours says 326 North Apple Street, sir.

18 MR. MCGURL: Yes.

19 MR. SMURL: Is that Dunmore?

20 MR. MCGURL: Yes.

21 MR. SMURL: I'm sorry. You're not

22 allowed to speak. I'm sorry?

23 MR. MCGURL: I moved from North Main

24 Avenue.

25 MR. SMURL: Yeah, but you're not a
 52

 1 resident of the City of Scranton today, are

 2 you?

 3 MR. MCGURL: I pay taxes here.

 4 MR. SMURL: Are you a resident, sir?

 5 MR. MCGURL: No.

 6 MR. SMURL: Okay. I'm sorry.

 7 Anthony Finch?

 8 MR. FARAH: Anthony Farah.

 9 MR. SMURL: Can you spell it for me?

10 MR. FARAH: F-A-R-A-H, sorry.

11 MR. SMURL: That's fine. Thank you.

12 MR. FARAH: Thank you for not

13 throwing me out earlier. I was just disturbed

14 by the comments that Bolus had made last week

15 and felt an overwhelming feeling to voice of

16 the injustices that he was speaking.

17 I moved into this area in 2010. I

18 found it to be welcoming. And I find it

19 disturbing that people have grown up here since

20 they were younger that they don't feel the same

21 security and welcoming presence in this

22 community.

23 My friends and comrades here have

24 spoken a lot more succinctly and clearly. But

25 I just feel that if there's a lot of
 53

 1 performative actions the Scranton City Council

 2 has done as far as raising flags up, putting

 3 all gender bathrooms in City Council. But

 4 there needs to be action.

 5 There needs to be material change

 6 that directly supports our transcommunity so

 7 that they feel safe. The whole point of

 8 Bolus's comments is to scare our

 9 transcommunity. You know, this is not just one

10 person's action.

11 He's reflective of what this

12 government is doing that's in the White House.

13 They want people scared. They want people

14 afraid. They want people to hide in their

15 homes. I have friends that are just walking

16 down the street being verbally assaulted as a

17 car drives by.

18 They don't feel comfortable in our

19 streets. We need to stand up. We need to pass

20 ordinances that protect our friends and our

21 community members. Thank you.

22 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Rik Little.

23 MR. LITTLE: Hello, Rik Little,

24 Scranton. A couple weeks ago I talked about

25 this headline, police homeless man attacks
 54

 1 hospital staff.

 2 It really hit me because the guy was

 3 put in jail by the same judge, the same

 4 magistrate that evicted me twice, which I

 5 appealed twice. Anyway, I'm homeless. I'm

 6 old. And I could think I'm a victim just

 7 walking down the street.

 8 I have to walk in the street. I

 9 can't walk on the sidewalk. There's too many

10 cracks. One fall and I'm out of the game. I'm

11 nonambulatory. And I have broken my wrist six

12 times since I have been in Scranton. Now, the

13 thing I handed out to you, there's a lot of

14 talk about LGBTQ and this is a big issue.

15 I love that community. During AIDS,

16 the people that worked at Act Up were my

17 brothers. I mean, they gave me fake police

18 passes. They allowed me to do my journalistic

19 stuff, you know, Jackie Curtis, Jim

20 Forott{phonetic}, people that were at

21 Stonewall.

22 And there's a nostalgia about all of

23 that stuff. But here's the thing, it starts

24 with the education in schools where people are

25 being not taught the right stuff. They're not
 55

 1 not taught their civics. But they are taught

 2 that, you know, they have equality.

 3 And that comes from 1871, equality

 4 and equal and that's a long time ago. And we

 5 have been going under maritime law. And the

 6 biggest problem here is the media and the

 7 judiciary. And that goes right up to the top

 8 because the America has been under attack for a

 9 long time by literal Nazis since after the war,

10 Operation Paperclip. We let Nazis take over

11 our government.

12 That's who ran NASA. That's who are

13 still running a lot of things. I believe my

14 country would be gone if President Trump did

15 not get elected because I've been educated

16 about this all my life about the rule of law.

17 And the problem is, we don't know

18 the chain of command. So when something's

19 wrong, you don't know where to go. I come

20 here, you know, I wanted to speak to one of the

21 Commissioners, now there's only two

22 Commissioners. Where do you go?

23 You know, I lived at Scranton

24 Housing Authority. They confiscated my stuff

25 for two and a half years before they called the
 56

 1 sheriff and kicked me out. I lost almost all

 2 of my worldly possessions, my library. That's

 3 a big thing, you know, but I make do with it.

 4 That's -- that's what you have to do.

 5 And so on a positive note, the thing

 6 I handed out to you -- this is a legislative

 7 body. And I want to get into like making

 8 legislation, and, you know, there's all of this

 9 talk about the LGBTQ flag on the flagpole.

10 I've seen BLM flags there. I've seen United

11 Nations flags there, which I consider a

12 communist flag.

13 When I first heard BLM, I'm thinking

14 Bureau of Land Management where Hillary Clinton

15 sold 20 percent of our uranium to a Canadian

16 corporation who sold it to Russia. There's a

17 lot of stuff going on. And we look at Los

18 Angeles now, that's one of the media things.

19 You know, we look at the history of,

20 you know, the felon versus the prosecutor of

21 them, you know, criminalizing people. They

22 have criminalized old people here. And they've

23 criminalized disability people. And Corey

24 McNulty from that headline that I started out

25 with, you know, he's going through the system.
 57

 1 There's no reason he should --

 2 should have been in jail for two months. They

 3 tied the guy up and he got mad. He spit at

 4 them. And now he's facing felonies and is

 5 going through the court. If anybody knows

 6 Corey McNulty, please have them get in touch

 7 with me.

 8 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Mr. Little.

 9 Thank you.

10 MR. LITTLE: What?

11 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Your time

12 has expired. That's all for our sign-in sheet.

13 Does anyone else wish to address Council?

14 MR. MARQUIS: I'm going to try to

15 take it easy this time because I know you guys

16 know, you know, how I used to be and all of

17 that. Ant Marquis, activist, musician,

18 whatever you want to call me.

19 I really just came up here to say if

20 you guys -- I'm trying not to address the

21 Council -- the people back here and talk to you

22 guys. But if anyone wants to, you know, if

23 anyone cares about the City of Scranton or

24 Lackawanna County, then I think it would be

25 wiser if we stop attacking one another and we
 58

 1 come together and we unite and we organize for

 2 this county because, you know, all the back and

 3 forth and coming at each other's necks and all

 4 of that stuff, this is embarrassing.

 5 Like, imagine if you were from

 6 another county and you're watching this on

 7 television, what would you think about

 8 Lackawanna County if you see this all day?

 9 There is no unity within our county. It's just

10 division, division, division.

11 And, you know, I'm sick of it but I

12 don't want to make it about me because this is

13 about the solution, the bottom line. The

14 bottom line is that we come together. We unite

15 and we organize.

16 MR. SMURL: Anthony --

17 MR. MARQUIS: Yes, sir.

18 MR. SMURL: You're so loud, yeah,

19 that it's blurry now. It's hard to understand.

20 Thank you.

21 MR. MARQUIS: I'm getting

22 passionate. I'm sorry, sir. I'm got 3:45

23 left. I got 3 minutes, 44 seconds left.

24 MR. SMURL: But lower it so it

25 doesn't echo so I could hear you.
 59

 1 MR. MARQUIS: I just got a strong

 2 voice. I can't help it. So all I'm saying is

 3 that we need to come together and organize,

 4 unify and organize, not dis one another, not

 5 disrespect each other and all of that because

 6 we're all under the same umbrella which is

 7 Lackawanna County.

 8 And, you know, outside of that,

 9 we're all under the same umbrella which is the

10 United States of America, no matter if you're

11 Republican, if you're Democrat. It doesn't

12 matter what party you are.

13 So we have to learn how to start

14 being a little bit more diplomatic and talking

15 to one another instead of attacking one another

16 because it's all for the common good, excuse

17 me, it's all for the common good of our

18 counties, of our cities, and of this nation

19 essentially.

20 And that's all I want to say. Ant

21 Marquis. Oh, yeah, and I just became

22 Republican last night. The interview is

23 dropping soon with -- what is it -- Citizens

24 Voice. So I'm going to leave it there. Thank

25 you guys.
 60

 1 MR. SMURL: Thank you.

 2 MR. COYNE: Tom Coyne, Minooka.

 3 First of all, you had mentioned that no one

 4 should be intimidated in this chamber. I guess

 5 maybe then you should be talking to the city

 6 Law Department about serving me here in this

 7 body in this very chambers five minutes before

 8 the session started.

 9 Maybe it should have been done

10 outside the chambers as this -- if this chamber

11 is not a place for intimidation. Now, as the

12 Times-Tribune did a story on the data breach,

13 the headlines stated a generic nondescription,

14 a Scranton based nonprofit addiction treatment

15 organization.

16 You had to read the article where it

17 identified the body as the Drug and Alcohol

18 Treatment Service of 441 Wyoming Avenue. Most

19 of the news sources immediately had the

20 headline that the Drug and Alcohol Treatment

21 Services had a data breach, noting the name in

22 the headline and not a generic Scranton based

23 nonprofit.

24 After learning of it in October,

25 there was an internal investigation that took
 61

 1 six months. After it was done they reported it

 2 six months after the fact to governmental

 3 agency, still had not notified anyone affected

 4 for almost seven months.

 5 How could an agency be so reckless?

 6 I mean, it's like leaving employee files in an

 7 alleyway and then six months later saying

 8 nothing had happened, no one was exposed, and

 9 whitewashing it while the people exposed were

10 not informed, a truly shocking thing.

11 Moving on, flooding in the Fawnwood

12 area, the Mayor's response was the city has

13 been working on several flood mitigation

14 projects for the past two years and should be

15 able to break ground soon.

16 It was said we're down here on

17 Merrifield right now where DPW is almost done

18 clearing out the ponds here at the pump

19 station. We've got activity in our usual

20 hotspots. If you had supposedly been working

21 on it for two years but not broke ground, you

22 haven't been working on it.

23 I know preventive action is often

24 more beneficial than reactive. Why are we

25 clearing the pump stations after the fact? Are
 62

 1 they failing? Are they inadequate? And why

 2 haven't we put stop guards in place until the

 3 rest of the issue is resolved?

 4 That being said, moving onto

 5 Lackawanna Avenue, there's a lot of talk about

 6 it. I remember the walkability study at

 7 Central High School. It was stated that the

 8 Lackawanna Street was not funded, not part of

 9 the ARPA project and they hope to get more

10 funds and grants to include Lackawanna Avenue

11 in the project.

12 So unless we received a mystery

13 grant from unknown sources and something has

14 changed to make City Hall and the Courthouse

15 beautiful, ARPA projects have zero funding for

16 Lackawanna Avenue.

17 Moving on, years ago we were told

18 under Bill Gaughan that Aztec Decking, a part

19 of the Aztec Company that was in Minooka would

20 be supplying plastic wood materials to fix the

21 rotting wood structures in Nay Aug Park.

22 Did we do nothing for so long that

23 we got and missed the opportunity for those

24 donations because I haven't seen any of those

25 wonderful donated plastic decking anywhere up
 63

 1 at Nay Aug Park.

 2 Last, I asked what legislation last

 3 week has this body brought forth, not just

 4 waited for the administration to present it. I

 5 remember the fiasco of giving the crossing

 6 guards $10 a day split between the city and the

 7 school board $5 each, a 50 percent reduction

 8 from the $20 that was asked.

 9 What legislation have any of you in

10 this body sponsored and introduced yourself?

11 MR. SMURL: If anybody wants to

12 answer, they could do it in Fifth Order.

13 MR. COYNE: Okay. I will wait here

14 for my entire time for your answer.

15 MR. SMURL: Okay.

16 MR. COYNE: Because in Fifth Order

17 you dodge it. And in truth, I understand you

18 don't have to answer and you won't. That's why

19 dodging it to Fifth Order. The Sunshine Act

20 allows me to ask and you don't have to respond.

21 But they say you should respond because it's a

22 responsibility in clarity. But I understand

23 you don't want clarity when you do nothing.

24 Good night.

25 MR. SMURL: Thank you.
 64

 1 MR. ARGENTA: Good evening, Council,

 2 Virgil Argenta, Scranton. Mr. Smurl, thank you

 3 for your leadership. I am profoundly concerned

 4 about the derogatory remarks made last week

 5 towards a resident addressing Council as well

 6 as members of the LGBTQ plus community and the

 7 celebration of Pride Month.

 8 It is essential to uphold respect

 9 and support for these individuals, many whom

10 are family, friends and loved ones rather than

11 exhibiting hostility and discrimination. The

12 remarks made by this individual do not

13 represent the values, beliefs, or sentiments of

14 many residents in our community.

15 Diversity is important to our

16 community. And it is essential to avoid

17 divisive speech. Such rhetoric can only divide

18 people and affect the principles of equality

19 that are important to all of us.

20 As a community leader -- as

21 community leaders, I urge you to take a firm

22 stance against hateful speech and reaffirm our

23 city's commitment to supporting the LGBTQ plus

24 community. Hatred has no place in our city.

25 And I hope Council will lead by
 65

 1 example as elected officials and fostering a

 2 welcoming environment for all. Mr. Council

 3 President, you may want to have a button

 4 installed so that you may cut off and silence

 5 microphones from anybody that you don't want

 6 speaking out of line.

 7 On June 4th, I attended a zoning

 8 hearing where a local business owner requested

 9 permission to use a private parking lot. He

10 had been denied permission to shut down the

11 street in front of his business for a music

12 festival from June 12th to June 15th because he

13 did not provide a one year notice to the City

14 of Scranton.

15 On June 6th, the 100 block of

16 Wyoming Avenue was closed to traffic from

17 Spruce Street to Lackawanna Avenue. The

18 previous weekend, Vine Street in front of the

19 Scranton Public Library was also closed for

20 Swingin on Vine event.

21 Throughout the year there are

22 numerous races and festivals. Additionally,

23 St. Peter's Cathedral holds funerals throughout

24 the year where the street is shut down. Are

25 all of these events planned a year in advance?
 66

 1 The Council may wish to review and investigate

 2 this rule to ensure that it's practical.

 3 We should encourage and support any

 4 business wanting to come to town and contribute

 5 to our local economy. Do you recall the

 6 Capouse Street pool splash pad project? The

 7 old saying, the third time is a charm seems to

 8 be applicable here as once again, the winning

 9 bidder was the highest bidder. This time it

10 was just for site preparation.

11 For public awareness, over 1 million

12 dollars of taxpayer's money has been wasted by

13 circumventing the business process between the

14 Nay Aug pool Project, the Novembrino Splash Pad

15 Project and the Capouse Avenue Splash Pad

16 Project, sold to award the contract to the

17 highest bidder, needs to be investigated.

18 This matter has been brought to your

19 attention several times over the last year.

20 Before -- and you may want to further

21 investigate by Council. Last week I presented

22 a list of issues. Will you be preparing any

23 answers in Fifth Order?

24 And if I may, coming in tonight the

25 five of Lackawanna and the Scranton Electric
 67

 1 building, there is a huge piece of copper

 2 flashing that's ready to blow off. It may be

 3 pretty dangerous if you could address that.

 4 Thank you, Council.

 5 MR. SMURL: Thank you.

 6 MS. JEFFRIES: Good evening,

 7 Council, Norma Jeffries, Scranton resident.

 8 And, you know, after I left Council last week

 9 it was a very disturbing week to go over what

10 was said here in Council last week.

11 And it is concerning because I've

12 become afraid. I'm concerned about my own

13 safety. As a black female, I'm concerned. So

14 with the talk of everything against the LGBTQ

15 community, am I next? Doris and I talked. Is

16 Doris next?

17 Who's next with all the rhetoric and

18 hatred and all. So I have to thank President

19 Smurl for the letter and for reading the

20 announcement because it concerned me last week

21 after I got home that, you know, that you

22 didn't say anything.

23 And then I thought about it. We had

24 conversations about our First Amendment Rights.

25 And I did look up the First Amendment Rights
 68

 1 and to see exactly what does the First

 2 Amendment Rights really say and how does it

 3 apply to me as a citizen of Scranton.

 4 And I could not come up with any

 5 definite answer. But I do know that I feel

 6 insecure at times. I feel afraid. As

 7 Mr. Bolus said up here, he doesn't think anyone

 8 is afraid. Oh, yes, they are. I am. And I

 9 know that others of my ethnicity are afraid as

10 well.

11 When you drive down a street -- this

12 is 2025. And I could have someone yell out the

13 window the N-word. This is 2025. So I could

14 just imagine the words that are spewed out of

15 car windows because I always think that person

16 is very insecure because they wouldn't say that

17 to my face.

18 But as they're driving down the

19 street or to give me the finger for no reason.

20 They don't even know me. And if they took the

21 time to know me, then they would realize that

22 they -- we would have a lot in common with each

23 other. So I thank the community for showing up

24 tonight.

25 It's been a long time since we had
 69

 1 so many members at Council here and voicing

 2 their opinions and all. And I appreciate that.

 3 But I just wanted to know it's not just the

 4 community that's here tonight. It's also any

 5 other community that's different than what you

 6 are becomes a target, which is not right.

 7 So for Mr. Bolus who says I'm not --

 8 no one's afraid, yes, they are. You know, I

 9 have to be afraid sometimes. I've got two

10 sons. They're black. They're tall. They're

11 big. And they have to always be mindful. My

12 husband, their father, always told them you

13 can't do this. You can't do that because

14 they're black because they will be pulled over.

15 One is a businessman. He has his

16 own business. My second son has a good job as

17 well. They are both very successful. But they

18 always are mindful of the color of their skin

19 and just how big they are.

20 So I say all that because there's a

21 lot of hatred, a lot of ill-things that are

22 being said and done. And we all have to look

23 at ourselves. Look at yourself as to what

24 you're saying, what you're thinking and try to

25 make it a better place.
 70

 1 Try to do all that you could do to

 2 make it a better place here in Scranton as well

 3 as across the country. Thank you. Oh, let me

 4 say one more thing. You know, I almost forgot

 5 the Flower Show is coming, you know, June 21st.

 6 The Flower Show will be up Nay Aug Park and

 7 we're busy getting ready for everything.

 8 So, you know, we could plan, we

 9 could plan, we could plan. But we can't do

10 anything about the weather. So all of this

11 rain that we've been having, you know, we're

12 saying our prayers that we will have a good

13 day. Thank you.

14 MR. SMURL: Thank you.

15 MS. COOLBAUGH: Good evening,

16 Council. My name is Annie Coolbaugh and I am a

17 resident of Scranton. I just wanted to read

18 some words from a friend. Last week a speaker

19 stood at this podium and used their time not to

20 uplift this community, not to advance the

21 public good but to demean the entire queer

22 community and directly harass a member of the

23 audience.

24 They violated your own rules. I

25 would refer you to Article 5, Section 1,
 71

 1 paragraph two of the Rules of Council, which

 2 prohibits personal attacks on individuals

 3 during the public comment including those based

 4 on gender identity or sexuality.

 5 After that the speaker then launched

 6 into a tirade about how the pride flag hanging

 7 outside of this chamber disgusts them. Let me

 8 be very clear, that was not free speech. This

 9 was targeted hate speech, the kind designed to

10 intimidate, humiliate, and isolate.

11 And it was allowed to unfold

12 uninterrupted in what is supposed to be a

13 protected civic space. And to make matters

14 worse, it was done by someone with public

15 influence, wealth, and power who used their

16 time here to punch down at someone and claim

17 that queer people do not deserve respect, nor

18 have a legacy worth celebrating.

19 When someone claims that queer

20 people don't deserve representation or respect,

21 that's not just bigoted ignorance. It's an

22 attempt to erase us from public life. And when

23 this kind of hatred is permitted to be spewed

24 forth unchallenged, it sends the message that

25 this kind of dehumanization is tolerated that
 72

 1 this chamber is not, in fact, for all of us.

 2 When I hear that queer people

 3 haven't bled for this country, I think about

 4 the countless LGBTQIA plus service members who

 5 fought and died for our military in silence,

 6 shame and fear. I think about the queer people

 7 who march for Civil Rights, who protested, who

 8 were beaten or killed so that one day we might

 9 simply live more free.

10 Queer people have taught in schools.

11 They have given you and your loved ones medical

12 care, built your arts program, volunteered in

13 your parks and helped run your elections. We

14 have done all of that while being told that we

15 don't belong, yet, we still persist.

16 We have always been part of the

17 fabric of this country of the City of Scranton

18 of this very room. And to deny that is not

19 only historically and categorically false, it

20 is morally shameful.

21 Council members, your rules prohibit

22 personal attacks from this podium and let --

23 and yet, you let one happen anyway. Make no

24 mistake. This was not just an attack on one

25 person, but an attack on the queer community at
 73

 1 large.

 2 I commend Dr. Rothchild for

 3 addressing the matter afterwards and

 4 acknowledging that he was understandably

 5 stunned by the display. And I commend the

 6 other members as well. But the silence from --

 7 at the time it was -- it spoke volumes.

 8 It was a sign that people like us,

 9 people like the person who was humiliated

10 should simply sit there and endure it that we

11 are not worth defending or speaking up for. So

12 I'm here to ask Council, all of you to do

13 better to uphold your own rules, make is

14 absolutely clear that public comment is not a

15 license to abuse people.

16 The First Amendment is not a license

17 to abuse people. Queer residents deserve

18 safety and dignity in their own City Hall. I

19 would like to remind everyone that the pride

20 flag is not in competition with the American

21 flag. It is meant to compliment it.

22 The more we shame people for flying

23 the pride flag, the more we shame and tarnish

24 the values of the American flag itself is

25 supposed to represent. Scranton deserves
 74

 1 better from our Council. Thank you. Happy

 2 Pride Month.

 3 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Anyone else?

 4 MR. DANILOSKI: Good evening,

 5 Council. I hadn't planned on speaking --

 6 MR. SMURL: State your name.

 7 MR. DANILOSKI: Oh, I'm sorry, my

 8 name is David Daniloski. I'm a life-long

 9 resident of Scranton. I live in South Side,

10 grew up in South Side. Hearing about what

11 transpired last week was to say the least

12 shocking and appalling.

13 I appreciate your comments,

14 Mr. Smurl, Mr. King, I really appreciate your

15 apology and your -- I look forward as I know

16 everyone else looks forward to your action to

17 show that those words will be met with action.

18 As someone who has friends and

19 family in this community, it is so important

20 that not only just in City Council meetings but

21 walking down the street on a day-to-day basis

22 feel like they do not have to look over their

23 shoulder.

24 That is just something that we as

25 American citizens all deserve regardless of any
 75

 1 sexual orientation, gender identity, race,

 2 religion. And while some people come up here

 3 into this podium this evening and will state

 4 that they have the right to free speech, as

 5 long as your free speech doesn't incite hateful

 6 behavior, then 100 percent you have that right.

 7 But when that crosses that line, I

 8 feel like that's where we as a community need

 9 to stand up and make sure that people like that

10 understand the difference between First

11 Amendment Right and simple hatred. And I

12 appreciate that so many people in the community

13 have showed up.

14 I think that in this time our

15 government locally, on a national level is

16 very, very on a thin, thin line, very thin ice

17 and I think that when we do show up like this

18 and when we do have people who will take

19 accountability on every level, not just in the

20 community but also our elected officials.

21 I think that's the type of change

22 that we need going forward and that's the type

23 of things that need to continue to happen in

24 order for things to not just stay the same and

25 get better. Thank you very much.
 76

 1 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Anyone else?

 2 MR. VOLDENBERG: FIFTH ORDER. 5-A.

 3 MOTIONS.

 4 MR. SMURL: Mr. King, do you have

 5 any motions or comments?

 6 MR. KING: Just a few comments,

 7 first of all, I want to thank everyone for

 8 coming here this evening. I think it's

 9 fantastic. As I said last week this place

10 should be open to everyone and everyone's here.

11 There's a lot of people here. There's a lot of

12 diversity in this room. And diversity's what

13 makes not only our city great, but our country

14 great.

15 I do have to apologize. I did

16 defend -- or last week I defended all of you in

17 your community. But I should have done it

18 sooner. One of the reasons why I didn't jump

19 in in the middle of hate speech is that I was

20 the former President of Council and I was

21 trying to respect the position of our

22 president.

23 So I sat there and was tortured

24 listening to all of that like many of you had

25 to listen to it, whether you were here or
 77

 1 whether you were watching on YouTube. I do

 2 apologize for not jumping in earlier. That's

 3 simply unacceptable. I was an educator,

 4 retired educator, not an agitator, an educator.

 5 Several of you were some of my

 6 former students who spoke tonight and I was

 7 very proud of the way you spoke. This -- these

 8 chambers, this city, this -- I'm so proud of

 9 our city and brag about it all the time

10 everywhere I go.

11 The diversity is what makes it

12 great. And when you think about how this --

13 back in the 80s when I was after college I came

14 back here, there wasn't a lot to do in this

15 city. And actually there wasn't a lot of

16 diversity in the city.

17 In my many years in classrooms when

18 I was a teacher and as a principal then later

19 as a superintendent, I had the opportunity to

20 see children of all -- every gender of every

21 ethnic background and always try to create an

22 environment where everyone felt welcome.

23 Everyone was honored.

24 All someone has to do is give

25 somebody a chance, you know, take the
 78

 1 opportunity to meet someone, learn about them a

 2 little bit. And why hate someone because of

 3 their sexuality or their religion or their

 4 color.

 5 I like to base my understanding of

 6 people based on how I get to know them and talk

 7 to them. And typically when I get to know

 8 people, I learn a lot more and it broadens

 9 my -- it broadens my perspective and

10 understanding of life in general.

11 So I applaud all of you for being

12 here this evening. I'm hoping to work with

13 this body to continue to make sure that we do

14 the right things to ensure that everyone,

15 everyone is welcome in this city, in these

16 chambers and we will work to do better. Thank

17 you.

18 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Mr. King.

19 Mr. Schuster, do you have any motions or

20 comments?

21 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes, I have few

22 comments and try to get into city business.

23 Thank you all for coming tonight. I think all

24 the opinions that we heard puts things into

25 perspective. What's been -- sometimes things
 79

 1 have to come to a head before they change.

 2 And I think what's been going on in

 3 these Council chambers has been building up and

 4 hopefully it's come to this head right now so

 5 we could see some change here. You know,

 6 someone recently at the podium said it's not a

 7 license to attack.

 8 And I think maybe if you've been

 9 watching over the last year we started -- the

10 attacks started with attacks on Council

11 members. So what may have started with

12 concerns in the city, went from concerns to

13 attacks on Council members and has built from

14 there to we get to the point where we're at

15 tonight. So I'm glad everybody came out.

16 I hope it comes to this head so we

17 can change what's going on in these chambers,

18 so thank you. Over the weekend we had a storm

19 and we had some water issues in several

20 different parts of the city, East Mountain,

21 West Mountain.

22 So as we're approaching the spring

23 and the rainy season, can we get an update on

24 the Merrifield pump house? I know, you know,

25 if that pump house gets overwhelmed, the fire
 80

 1 department comes out and we do use the fire

 2 department pumps.

 3 But what are the city plans that we

 4 have when heavy rains coming and can we get

 5 updates on the water projects that are

 6 occurring in Keyser Valley, East Mountain,

 7 North Scranton and Tripp Park and the water

 8 project also in Minooka so we know where we're

 9 at timelinewise on all of these projects.

10 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll do that, sir.

11 MR. SCHUSTER: Thank you. I did

12 have some questions on some other addresses.

13 But as the course of the week went, I did get

14 some answers. 1405 Cherry Street is an Airbnb.

15 It came before the zoning board recently.

16 It was denied. But it appears that

17 they may be operating again as an Airbnb. So

18 can we please send that over to the city

19 administration if they could take a look at

20 that property as well?

21 MR. VOLDENBERG: We did that today,

22 sir.

23 MR. SCHUSTER: Okay. Thank you very

24 much. I had some questions about the Scranton

25 Redevelopment Authority Director, how is this
 81

 1 position being funded, are we still using ARPA

 2 funds to fund the position, and have they been

 3 earmarked and are they being reimbursed?

 4 We got some of the numbers back that

 5 is seeded with ARPA money. We are being

 6 reimbursed. And the answer that I got back

 7 from last week was the SRA has an ARPA

 8 subrecipient agreement through 2026. So that

 9 position is going to be funded until December

10 of 2026.

11 And administration is an eligible

12 expense though that agreement to be refunded.

13 If it is possible, can we ask the

14 administration if we could have the SRA

15 Director in to give us an update on what's

16 going on with the Redevelopment Authority?

17 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll reach out for

18 a caucus.

19 MR. SCHUSTER: Thank you very much.

20 Also, there was some water problems on Yesu

21 Drive on East Mountain. I had asked some

22 questions about runoff that was occurring there

23 and also water testing at Mountain Lake. They

24 did not ask -- they did not answer about water

25 testing at Mountain Lake.
 82

 1 But the answer I got was city

 2 officials had been in communication with and

 3 have visited the resident on Yesu Drive.

 4 That's the only communication we got on that.

 5 But can we ask again about water testing at

 6 Mountain Lake?

 7 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll ask that

 8 again, sir.

 9 MR. SCHUSTER: Thank you very much.

10 As more people are going to be using that lake,

11 it would be nice to know that we had testing

12 done there. That's all for tonight, Mr. Smurl.

13 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Mr. Schuster.

14 Dr. Rothchild, do you have any motions or

15 comments?

16 DR. ROTHCHILD: I do, thank you.

17 First before I address all the speakers

18 tonight, there was one person who had brought

19 up some questions about legislation that has

20 come from this body forward. He did ask about

21 if we have sponsored legislation.

22 We don't really go -- we don't go

23 through that process as they might in some

24 other bodies. So we don't have, like, a

25 sponsoring. And then when something is
 83

 1 introduced in Fifth Order, it is automatically

 2 introduced by the President of Council, not by

 3 an individual Council member but then someone

 4 can second it and then we have various phases

 5 that that legislation will go through.

 6 One of the biggest standout

 7 legislations that did certainly come from this

 8 body came from me was a conversion therapy ban

 9 ordinance a few years ago that we had passed

10 unanimously as a Council.

11 And I'm very proud that I was able

12 to help bring that to this Council and to our

13 city and that we have that piece of legislation

14 that is protecting LGBTQ youth from the harmful

15 practice of conversion therapy.

16 There's also been a number of

17 ordinances that we have worked closely with the

18 administration on. And we do that because

19 especially when we have ordinances that need --

20 need to be enforced, we need to have the

21 administration, the Mayor on board with that

22 legislation so that we can ensure that it's

23 effective and that it's -- that it's then taken

24 because we could pass laws and then it's up to

25 her and the administration to enforce them.
 84

 1 So a couple of those ones that come

 2 to mind that, you know, came from working

 3 together with them was the rental registration

 4 ordinance that was really big that I was happy

 5 to be a part of as well as pave cut legislation

 6 that was passed just over the past year.

 7 So those are a few of the ones that

 8 come to mind. And then there was one that I

 9 was working on with Solicitor Hayes when he was

10 our Council Solicitor and that was a mural arts

11 ordinance. That didn't end up coming to

12 fruition because we were waiting on the city's

13 Art Committee to be developed and haven't

14 revisited that.

15 But there certainly is the power

16 from this body to create that legislation and

17 to pass it. So I did just want to respond to

18 that and clarify that.

19 Next, I just want to remark that

20 over the six years that I've been a part of

21 this Council, there's been few moments that

22 have been as powerful as this one has been for

23 me tonight. So I appreciate all of you. I

24 appreciate you being here.

25 One of the things that comes to mind
 85

 1 is when you attack one of us, you attack all of

 2 us. And that really shows in how the community

 3 has stood up tonight for a member of our

 4 community. And so I wanted to thank you to

 5 those who spoke out tonight or showed up.

 6 I wanted to thank you for your

 7 bravery, for your honesty. Thank you for

 8 showing that we will not be intimidated in

 9 these chambers. And I'm -- I'm proud of

10 Scranton. I'm proud to be a part of the LGBTQ

11 community. I'm proud of my family. And I'm

12 proud to be an LGBTQ elected official.

13 And I want you to be -- to all be

14 just as proud to be who you are as well. So

15 happy Pride Month. With that, we will continue

16 raising that pride flag and thank you again.

17 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Dr.

18 Rothchild. Mr. McAndrew, do you have any

19 motions or comments?

20 MR. MCANDREW: Yes, I'd also like to

21 thank all of you for coming this evening and

22 sharing your story with us and how you really

23 feel because it's important. Last week, I --

24 after the events that happened in Fifth Order

25 I, you know, stated my position and the problem
 86

 1 I had with -- I'm a big proponent of freedom of

 2 speech.

 3 I speak my mind, not afraid to do

 4 it; but as I stated last week, not as a tool of

 5 intimidation. To put it in perspective, I

 6 stand in front of students every day. And them

 7 students are every gender, ethnic background

 8 and sexual orientation. But my job as an

 9 educator and I teach culinary arts is to foster

10 an environment that is safe, nuturing and

11 conducive for learning.

12 And my students all put the same

13 uniform on. They put their culinary uniform on

14 and we're all the same. And I have zero

15 tolerance in my world in my classroom for

16 hatred or bullying and so zero tolerance for

17 that.

18 And should that trans in here, yeah.

19 And last week I was leaning towards the same

20 way as Mr. King said. Out of respect for, you

21 know, Roberts Rules and parliamentary procedure

22 we follow, we follow and respect the President

23 is the one to gavel.

24 I mean, should I have jumped in,

25 yeah, I -- after reflection, I should have.
 87

 1 And but moving forward, I mean, we all come to

 2 agreement that, you know, we don't have to wait

 3 for the direction of the President to do so.

 4 And so with that said again, thanks for coming.

 5 Know that, you know, we do care.

 6 People come here and like

 7 Mr. Schuster said attack us. We're pretty

 8 thick skinned. We don't always like it. But

 9 we do care about every resident in this city or

10 we wouldn't be here. And we care about

11 everyone equally just so, you know.

12 All right, onto other stuff. So

13 last week Mr. Spindler talked about the Mack

14 Sign thing. So I brought that to the attention

15 of administration that they are replacing signs

16 in the city. And, you know, I was concerned

17 about taking union work away from union

18 workers.

19 So the answer I received is so the

20 reason they're doing is the city was awarded a

21 multimodal grant to replace street signs and

22 stop signs. All right. So I think along with

23 that grant, they had to utilize a vendor. So

24 fair enough.

25 So Mack Signs was the vendor for the
 88

 1 project. So once the signs are replaced, the

 2 old signs are picked up by DPW and that

 3 material can potentially be reused if it's in

 4 good condition. So the union will continue to

 5 have that type of work. So we're not taking --

 6 I'm glad to hear we're not replacing that type

 7 of work.

 8 Also, it's no secret that there's

 9 potholes everywhere and everybody has an issue

10 with them. I know our administration said, you

11 know, they have a new system in place. And

12 they're tracking more of the utility work and,

13 you know, time limits as to when they are

14 supposed to replace and pave curb to curb.

15 But these potholes still exist. So

16 people have come to me almost daily. And you

17 know what, sometimes you just can't avoid them.

18 If you avoid a pothole you're going to hit a

19 truck or something. So a person reached out

20 to me and asked what recourse do they have if

21 your vehicle is damaged hitting a pothole in

22 the city?

23 And you know what, I'm old enough to

24 remember -- and this is years ago that the city

25 did provide some type of -- I don't want to
 89

 1 call it compensation, but there was some

 2 research -- I remember people getting their

 3 muffler paid for. This might be 30 years ago

 4 but -- so I inquired are we still doing

 5 anything like that or you probably should.

 6 So the answer I received was -- and

 7 this -- I want the public to know this because

 8 it's ongoing that policy, procedure for

 9 motorist in the city to file a claim for damage

10 of tires, etc., is citizens may pursue the

11 utility company directly with the utility. All

12 right. I don't know how that process takes

13 place. But at least it's a start. I got an

14 answer.

15 Maybe we could circle around and go

16 back to administration and say what does that

17 look like, what does the resident actually have

18 to do? Because the resident doesn't know the

19 color coding of the utilities working on the

20 road. We just found out what the color codes

21 are a month.

22 So how does a poor resident know

23 what utilities is -- that, you know, that

24 pothole has come from or who's responsibile for

25 it? So I think we need a little more
 90

 1 information for the residents.

 2 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll get that

 3 information, sir.

 4 MR. MCANDREW: And also, to

 5 differentiate between the city-owned street

 6 that the utility companies are working on

 7 state-owned roads because, Mr. Smurl, last week

 8 you give me a resource I'm going to pass along

 9 too that another option too is to reach out to

10 PennDOT because they do the majority of the

11 work outside of utilities except for our small

12 paving projects that we do every year.

13 So I think the resident -- I think I

14 need more information. And we need to be, you

15 know, educated and informed as to in detail the

16 resources available to the people that are

17 incurring these damages on their vehicles.

18 MR. VOLDENBERG: We'll get that for

19 you.

20 MR. MCANDREW: And then once we get

21 it, let's put it in bullet form and put it on

22 the website and so people could access it

23 themselves. All right? That will be great if

24 that happens. All right. So I would love to

25 thank the Scranton Municipal Recreation
 91

 1 Authority for, you know, their ribbon cutting

 2 the other day for the Butterfly Playground in

 3 Nay Aug Park.

 4 Right, I want to commend them for

 5 the amount of work and effort they went into

 6 securing grants and community donations that

 7 supported that project, so kudos to them. I

 8 can't wait to check it out and I have been at a

 9 couple parks outside the city where there's

10 butterflies and they're contained and it's

11 pretty cool. So we'll have to check that out.

12 Also, I got a concern brought to

13 me -- I hope I didn't lose it here. All right.

14 So there is an abandoned vehicle -- that's

15 another vehicle, that's another situation we

16 constantly is brought to our attention.

17 There's a black Dodge Ram that has

18 been parked on the street in front of 125 South

19 Everett in West Scranton that has not been

20 moved in approximately three years. All right.

21 It has a temporary paper license. And I'm sure

22 the registration is out of date.

23 So in addition to that, these

24 neighbors are, you know, with the amount of

25 rain we've had, first of all, this vehicle
 92

 1 obstructs their views when they're backing out

 2 of their driveway. And the turned wheel

 3 directs the rain runoff toward their house

 4 which floods their basement during heavy rain.

 5 So it must be happening a lot the

 6 past 90 days. So could you please alert code

 7 enforcement and the police to check this out

 8 and make sure, you know, we start the process

 9 with the abandoned vehicle?

10 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll do that

11 tomorrow.

12 MR. MCANDREW: All right. And I

13 believe that's all I have. Thank you -- oh,

14 no, no, let me report out to my friend who has

15 been coming forward to me with issues up on

16 East Mountain, one was Route 307, you know,

17 with the amount of debris and the sidewalks

18 that were covered with gravel or cinder or

19 whatever.

20 So I would like to report out

21 because I know she's watching because she

22 watches these meetings that on Route 307,

23 sidewalks under the I81 North and I81 South

24 bridges on Moosic Street will be cleared in the

25 next few days per Mike Hoffman of PennDOT.
 93

 1 All right. So we're glad to hear

 2 that. And then also, the sidewalk she

 3 mentioned is going to be taken care of within a

 4 week or so. So I'm happy to report that out to

 5 the neighbor and resident. But in addition to

 6 that, part of that inquiry when I first gave it

 7 to you was the large construction vehicle that

 8 is parked off Moosic Street for six months or

 9 better. Did we get an update on that or any

10 response?

11 MR. VOLDENBERG: That's still there.

12 I'll follow up.

13 MR. MCANDREW: All right. Well,

14 that's all I have. Thank you.

15 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Mr. McAndrew.

16 First, I want to thank everyone for coming out.

17 I understand the circumstances you're here

18 weren't the greatest. But I believe I know I

19 will do better and I believe all of Council

20 will do better.

21 I remember going to that podium the

22 first time and standing in front of these

23 Council members and I was petrified. I was

24 soaking wet. And I was afraid to speak. So

25 for you to come here and do that and stand
 94

 1 before us and speak concerns that, you know,

 2 that speaks volumes.

 3 But I do appreciate everybody coming

 4 here. And I hope that everybody continues to

 5 come and keep us in line. Thank you all. A

 6 few things, the street signs that were on sale

 7 I believe they were on Marketplace. They

 8 were -- I looked at them. If you look at the

 9 names on them you will see -- I didn't write

10 them down.

11 When we had cleaned out Ross Avenue

12 or Ross Street, the DPW had a building down

13 there and that was all cleaned out. All of the

14 old street signs and stuff that were down there

15 were all thrown in recycle dumpsters and then

16 they were just all removed. Whatever happened

17 with them we don't know.

18 But that could possibly be where all

19 of those signs that were on Facebook

20 Marketplace and stuff are. I did look at a

21 couple of them and they were -- they were very

22 old. But that may be what happened to them.

23 Also, there was -- regards to the

24 fireworks, the city and county officials are in

25 touch from Scrantastic to work on the permit.
 95

 1 So I know that is going to happen. And the

 2 county has been keeping us updated on the their

 3 application. So I believe that is all going to

 4 be done before the fireworks.

 5 Also, the large boxes everybody is

 6 concerned about that you drop off clothes and

 7 stuff, I remember them saying Good Will on

 8 them. I know there's a bunch of them now. The

 9 ones that -- the only ones that we could do

10 anything about is if they are not on private

11 property, then the city can do something about

12 it.

13 But if they are on private property,

14 they will have to go to the owner of the

15 property if they're actually dumping trash

16 there. Also, the city monitoring the Housing

17 Authority on the water bills. I believe Park

18 Gardens got notices -- tenants got notices that

19 their water bills were not paid.

20 So I did ask the Mayor what happened

21 and the Mayor said she spoke to the Scranton

22 Housing Director Lynott and the water notices

23 were posted. The notices were a surprise to

24 Scranton Housing Authority and residents do not

25 pay bills individually.
 96

 1 Mr. Lynott said that there is no

 2 delinquency for that particular utility

 3 service. So that's what happened to the water.

 4 I'm not sure why they would have gotten them.

 5 But they are not responsibile for the water

 6 bills, the Housing Authority themselves.

 7 Also, for the -- just a quick update

 8 on all of our stormwater projects, East

 9 Mountain contract number one is under contract

10 with RLE. Estimates were obtained and they

11 were hired. Tripp Park legislation and

12 contract are being drafted for Rutledge

13 Excavation. No easements are required there,

14 so that can start.

15 Third, the East Mountain contract

16 number two, the engineer design is completed.

17 We are awaiting 18 easements. They were sent

18 out and we have gotten one back. Keyser Valley

19 engineering permitting is underway. The city

20 declared a taking of property in Newton

21 Township.

22 It is if you go up to the top of --

23 anywhere the turnpike crosses over the bridge,

24 there's a large area there that the city is

25 going to take -- well, trying to take and
 97

 1 install a retention pond to catch the water

 2 coming up from Newton Township before it

 3 actually inundates our citizens on the lower

 4 part of the mountain.

 5 So that is still in the works. I

 6 believe either ended today or it ends tomorrow

 7 where they could either fight back or just take

 8 the money that we offered them and let us build

 9 that retention pond.

10 And we still have seven easements

11 for that one. And North Scranton, engineering

12 is nearing completion. There are six easement

13 letters out and zero have come back. Minooka,

14 engineering is nearing completion. And we are

15 awaiting easements.

16 Meadow Brook Project, 45 easements

17 are needed, a total of six have been obtained.

18 I know I went through this before and I'm not

19 whining but if somebody was going to fix a pipe

20 that catches water from destroying my property,

21 I think I would work a little closer.

22 I understand there were some

23 questions about the amount of money the city

24 was going to pay people to have that easement.

25 Some are permanent easements, some are just
 98

 1 temporary. But there was once instance up on

 2 West Mountain or in one of the developments

 3 where the engineer came back with the design

 4 but didn't realize that we had 20 feet of

 5 easement built in that we didn't have to ask to

 6 use that property.

 7 So some of people were offered say

 8 $20,000 so we could go into their property and

 9 do work and, you know, put the stormwater

10 piping in. It turned out after we realized

11 that we still had 20 feet that we didn't have

12 to ask for, we may only need 5 feet.

13 So some of those people might have

14 gotten letters saying, look, we are going to

15 give you $4,000 to let us go on the property to

16 fix this situation. And I believe a lot of

17 people are not happy with that.

18 So I have heard there are attorneys

19 involved with that right now. But all I could

20 do is urge everyone we have the money now. We

21 are not going to have it forever. If we don't

22 get on stormwater projects, the ones that have

23 agreed to them -- I'm not saying just take what

24 they offer you.

25 But I'm saying do something before
 99

 1 you get to the end of the road and there's not

 2 enough money to complete everything. Because

 3 if you get to that point, the crying is all

 4 over. Do what you can to help and get this

 5 stuff fixed. It only benefits you.

 6 And I'm still surprised there's

 7 still 45 in the Meadow Brook Project. This has

 8 been going on -- I couldn't even tell you how

 9 many years Meadow Brook has been going on. But

10 it's a very long time.

11 I'll go over this quickly, but the

12 financial update report meeting I was at on May

13 28th, I will not read every one off; but every

14 department is right around where they should be

15 in expenditures. Everyone is -- the average is

16 about 33 to 43 percent of their spending. So

17 everyone is under.

18 And the interest on our tax dollars

19 to date not counting ARPA is $197,265.35.

20 That's the money that the city has made on your

21 tax dollars, our tax dollars. As far as

22 legislation this Council has put forth, on the

23 agenda tonight Councilman King has a street

24 dedicated going through there. That's one.

25 We have created a couple positions
 100

 1 for our parks. I think we call them blight

 2 positions. There was also the crossing guard

 3 legislation. There are many things. I can't

 4 remember them all because once I deal with

 5 something and I think it's finished I put it to

 6 bed and then we move forward.

 7 But I'm sure if I have to, I could

 8 go back and maybe dig up -- we do have a say in

 9 a lot of this also. And we do give our

10 opinions on a lot of legislation comes down.

11 We do change a lot of stuff and take it back to

12 the administration.

13 It doesn't all come down and just

14 get passed and you all know that because you

15 hear that arguing all the time going back and

16 forth which is great for you because we should

17 argue back and forth.

18 We should all have to negotiate with

19 everything. We shouldn't just all --

20 everything comes down here should just be

21 passed like everyone believes it is, but it

22 really isn't. So but we are working all of the

23 legislations. We just don't push it through.

24 That is all I have, Mr. Voldenberg.

25 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-B. FOR
 101

 1 INTRODUCTION - AN ORDINANCE - ESTABLISHING A

 2 "NO PARKING ZONE" ALONG THE EASTERLY CURB LINE

 3 OF SR3025 KNOWN AS WYOMING AVENUE FROM SEGMENT

 4 0020 OFFSET 850 TO ITS INTERSECTION WITH OLIVE

 5 STREET FOR A DISTANCE OF 370 FEET TO ITS

 6 INTERSECTION WITH OLIVE STREET TO ALLOW FOR

 7 SAFE SIGHT DISTANCES FOR A PROPOSED DRIVEWAY.

 8 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll

 9 entertain a motion that Item 5-B be introduced

10 into its proper committee.

11 MR. KING: So moved.

12 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second.

13 MR. SMURL: On the question? All

14 those in favor of introduction signify by

15 saying aye.

16 MR. KING: Aye.

17 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye.

18 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye.

19 MR. MCANDREW: Aye.

20 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes

21 have it and so moved.

22 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-C. FOR

23 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - AMENDING

24 RESOLUTION 27 OF 2020 "AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR

25 AND OTHER APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS TO EXECUTE
 102

 1 AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH THOMAS J. MCLANE

 2 & ASSOCIATES AS CITY OF SCRANTON PROJECT

 3 CONSULTANT RECREATION NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND

 4 PROJECT ACTIVITIES FOR THE PERIOD DECEMBER 1,

 5 2019 THROUGH NOVEMBER 30, 2024" TO AMEND THE

 6 PROJECT ENGINEER TO COLWELL-NAEGELE ASSOCIATES,

 7 INC.

 8 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll

 9 entertain a motion that Item 5-C be introduced

10 into its proper committee.

11 MR. MCANDREW: So moved.

12 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second.

13 MR. SMURL: On the question.

14 DR. ROTHCHILD: On the question, I

15 just wanted to thank Mr. McLane for all the

16 work that he's done with the city over the

17 years in engineering. And it's my

18 understanding from Mr. Smurl that -- that he's

19 looking to get some projects off his plate so

20 that he could retire and wind his business

21 down.

22 So this is just merely passing on

23 this project to another company that's, you

24 know, already doing the work. And so I just

25 wanted to thank him for his work.
 103

 1 MR. SMURL: Yes. And there will be

 2 no difference in the cost or the price. The

 3 job will not change. Everything will stay the

 4 same, except there will be a different name on

 5 the end of the job. All those in favor of

 6 introduction signify by saying aye.

 7 MR. KING: Aye.

 8 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye.

 9 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye.

10 MR. MCANDREW: Aye.

11 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes

12 have it and so moved.

13 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-D. FOR

14 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - CEREMONIOUSLY

15 DEDICATING CLIFF STREET ADJACENT TO THE

16 STEAMTOWN NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE IN HONOR OF

17 JOHN M. HART, JR.

18 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll

19 entertain a motion that Item 5-D be introduced

20 into its proper committee.

21 MR. KING: So moved.

22 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second.

23 MR. SMURL: On the question?

24 MR. KING: On the question, I'm the

25 one that pushed this legislation. Anyone that
 104

 1 knew John Hart, he was a character. He passed

 2 away about two years ago, what a piece of work.

 3 This guy, his wife was a guidance counselor

 4 down at South Intermediate.

 5 His children went to Scranton High

 6 School. I spent a lot of time with John, went

 7 on some golf trips with him. He was incredibly

 8 knowledgeable about a lot of different things.

 9 He is probably the main reason that Steamtown

10 National Historic Park exists in the city.

11 So he wanted me to name the street

12 for him before he passed away. I said, John, I

13 just got on Council, can you give me a little

14 time to get my feet wet here. Unfortunately,

15 he passed away over time -- over the last few

16 years. But he was a great guy and a great

17 friend. And I'm proud to be able do this for

18 his family and for John. That's all I have.

19 Thanks.

20 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Mr. King.

21 DR. ROTHCHILD: I just wanted to

22 thank Councilman King for brining this to

23 Council. I think it's a great way to honor

24 Mr. Hart and the perfect spot to do it too on

25 that street over near Steamtown National
 105

 1 Historic Park which he was really dedicated to

 2 and passionate about as well as Scranton as a

 3 city in bringing people to our city. So I

 4 appreciate this way to honor him.

 5 MR. SMURL: Thank you. All those in

 6 favor of introduction signify by saying aye.

 7 MR. KING: Aye.

 8 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye.

 9 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye.

10 MR. MCANDREW: Aye.

11 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes

12 have it and so moved.

13 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-E. FOR

14 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - RATIFYING AND

15 APPROVING THE EXECUTION AND SUBMISSION OF THE

16 GRANT APPLICATION BY THE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC AND

17 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY OF SCRANTON

18 TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC

19 DEVELOPMENT'S GREENWAYS, TRAILS, AND RECREATION

20 PROGRAM FOR UP TO $250,000.00 TO BE USED

21 TOWARDS THE LACE VILLAGE - DOG PARK PROJECT.

22 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll

23 entertain a motion that Item 5-E be introduced

24 into its proper committee.

25 MR. KING: So moved.
 106

 1 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second.

 2 MR. SMURL: On the question?

 3 DR. ROTHCHILD: On the question, I

 4 hope they are successful in obtaining this

 5 grant. I would love to see hour city have more

 6 dog parks as someone who owns dogs and, you

 7 know, knows that there are a lot of other

 8 people who are looking for that type of space

 9 and from what we discussed in caucus, this

10 wouldn't just be for the residents of the Lace

11 Village.

12 But it would be nearby there so

13 obviously used by a lot of those people who --

14 have dogs but would be open to anyone. So I

15 think this will be great. And I'm hoping it

16 comes to fruition.

17 MR. SMURL: Thank you. All those in

18 favor of introduction signify by saying aye.

19 MR. KING: Aye.

20 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye.

21 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye.

22 MR. MCANDREW: Aye.

23 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes

24 have it and so moved.

25 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-F. FOR
 107

 1 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - RATIFYING AND

 2 APPROVING THE EXECUTION AND SUBMISSION OF THE

 3 GRANT APPLICATION BY THE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC AND

 4 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY OF SCRANTON

 5 TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC

 6 DEVELOPMENT'S GREENWAYS, TRAILS, AND RECREATION

 7 PROGRAM FOR UP TO $200,000.00 TO BE USED

 8 TOWARDS THE GERRITY PARK RENOVATIONS PROJECT.

 9 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll

10 entertain a motion that Item 5-F be introduced

11 into its proper committee.

12 MR. MCANDREW: So moved.

13 MR. KING: Second.

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: SIXTH ORDER.

25 6-A. READING BY TITLE - FILE OF THE
 108

 1 COUNCIL NO. 78, 2025 - AN ORDINANCE - AMENDING

 2 THE RESPONSIBLE CONTRACTOR ORDINANCE (RCO)

 3 (CHAPTER 113 OF CITY CODE) TO IMPROVE

 4 IMPLEMENTATION.

 5 MR. SMURL: You've heard reading by

 6 title of Item 6-A. What is your pleasure?

 7 MR. MCANDREW: Mr. Chairman, I move

 8 that Item 6-A pass reading by title.

 9 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second.

10 MR. SMURL: On the question? All

11 those in favor signify by 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: SEVENTH ORDER.

19 7-A. FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE

20 COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS - FOR ADOPTION - FILE

21 OF THE COUNCIL NO. 77, 2025 - APPROVING AND

22 AUTHORIZING THE ACQUISITION BY EASEMENT

23 AGREEMENTS, DEED IN LIEU OF CONDEMNATION, OR

24 OTHERWISE OF THE NECESSARY RIGHTS, FRANCHISES,

25 LICENSES, EASEMENTS OR TITLES OF LAND REQUIRED
 109

 1 FOR TEMPORARY AND PERMANENT EASEMENTS IN ORDER

 2 TO COMPLETE THE KEYSER VALLEY FLOOD PROTECTION

 3 PROJECT (THE PROJECT) (GROUP 4 OF EASEMENTS)

 4 AND AUTHORIZING THE FILING OF A DECLARATION OF

 5 TAKING PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE EMINENT

 6 DOMAIN CODE, IF REQUIRED.

 7 MR. SMURL: What is the

 8 recommendation of the Chairperson for the

 9 Committee on Public Works?

10 MR. SCHUSTER: As Chairperson for

11 the Committee on Public Works, I recommend

12 final passage of Item 7-A.

13 MR. KING: Second.

14 MR. SMURL: On the question? Roll

15 call, please.

16 MS. CARRERA: Mr. King.

17 MR. KING: Yes.

18 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Schuster.

19 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes.

20 MS. CARRERA: Dr. Rothchild.

21 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes.

22 MS. CARRERA: Mr. McAndrew.

23 MR. MCANDREW: Yes.

24 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Smurl.

25 MR. SMURL: Yes. I hereby declare
 110

 1 Item 7-A legally and lawfully adopted.

 2 MR. VOLDENBERG: 7-B. FOR

 3 CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC

 4 SAFETY - FOR ADOPTION - RESOLUTION NO. 225,

 5 2025 - RATIFYING AND APPROVING THE EXECUTION

 6 AND SUBMISSION OF A GRANT APPLICATION BY THE

 7 CITY OF SCRANTON TO FEMA FY 2024 FIRE

 8 PREVENTION AND SAFETY GRANT FOR UP TO $300,000

 9 FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION AND RISK MITIGATION

10 PROJECTS.

11 MR. SMURL: What is the

12 recommendation of the Chairperson for the

13 Committee on Public Works?

14 MR. MCANDREW: As Chairperson for

15 the Committee on Public Safety, I recommend

16 final passage of Item 7-B.

17 MR. SCHUSTER: Second.

18 MR. KING: Second.

19 MR. SMURL: On the question? Roll

20 call, please.

21 MS. CARRERA: Mr. King.

22 MR. KING: Yes.

23 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Schuster.

24 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes.

25 MS. CARRERA: Dr. Rothchild.
 111

 1 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes.

 2 MS. CARRERA: Mr. McAndrew.

 3 MR. MCANDREW: Yes.

 4 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Smurl.

 5 MR. SMURL: Yes. I hereby declare

 6 Item 7-B legally and lawfully adopted.

 7 MR. VOLDENBERG: EIGHTH ORDER. No

 8 business at this time.

 9 MR. SMURL: If there is no further

10 business at this time, I'll entertain a motion

11 to adjourn.

12 MR. MCANDREW: Motion to adjourn.

13 MR. SMURL: Thank you all for

14 coming. This meeting is adjourned.

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 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

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22 (The foregoing certificate of this transcript does not

23 apply to any reproduction of the same by any means

24 unless under the direct control and/or supervision of

25 the certifying reporter.)