COUNCIL — Scranton, PA
Date: 2025-03-10

1

 1 COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF SCRANTON

 2

 3

 4 HELD:

 5

 6

 7 Tuesday, March 4th, 2025

 8

 9

10 LOCATION:

11

12 COUNCIL CHAMBERS

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24 Maria McCool, RPR
 Official Court Reporter
25
 2

 1 C O U N C I L M E M B E R S:

 2
 GERALD SMURL - PRESIDENT
 3
 MARK MCANDREW, VICE PRESIDENT
 4
 JESSICA ROTHCHILD
 5
 THOMAS SCHUSTER
 6
 WILLIAM KING
 7

 8
 FRANK VOLDENBERG, CITY CLERK
 9
 KATHY CARRERA, ASSISTANT CITY CLERK
10
 THOMAS GILBRIDE, ESQ., COUNCIL SOLICITOR
11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25
 3

 1 (Pledge of Allegiance.)

 2

 3 MR. SMURL: Please remain standing

 4 for a moment of silent reflection for our

 5 service men and women throughout the world and

 6 for those who have passed in our community,

 7 especially Patricia Shea, Frank Swaha, Nancy

 8 Rafalko and Paul Scamato{phonetic}. Thank you.

 9 Roll call, please.

10 MS. HERBSTER: Mr. King.

11 MR. KING: Present.

12 MS. HERBSTER: Mr. Schuster.

13 MR. SCHUSTER: Present.

14 MS. HERBSTER: Dr. Rothchild.

15 DR. ROTHCHILD: Here.

16 MS. HERBSTER: Mr. McAndrew.

17 MR. MCANDREW: Present.

18 MS. HERBSTER: Mr. Smurl.

19 MR. SMURL: Here. Dispense with the

20 reading of the minutes.

21 MR. VOLDENBERG: THIRD ORDER.

22 3-A. MINUTES OF THE

23 SCRANTON/LACKAWANNA HEALTH AND WELFARE

24 AUTHORITY MEETING HELD JANUARY 16, 2025.

25 MR. SMURL: Are there any comments
 4

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

 2 received and filed. Do any Council members

 3 have any announcements at this time?

 4 MR. KING: Just a reminder about the

 5 parade this coming Saturday. The festivities

 6 kick off with a mass at 10 a.m. at the

 7 Cathedral, St. Peter's Cathedral on Wyoming

 8 Avenue. Most people know pretty much the

 9 entire downtown is going to be locked down

10 probably from about I'd say 9 a.m. until about

11 3:30 in the afternoon.

12 We're hoping for a great day, a lot

13 of families, a lot of people come out and enjoy

14 the rights of spring hopefully and hopefully

15 we'll have a good safe parade. And that's all

16 I have.

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

18 Anyone else?

19 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes, I have a

20 couple. First off, I just want to start off by

21 thanking Mr. Justin Behrens for coming in

22 tonight to explain some of the work of Keystone

23 Mission. And I appreciate his return to the

24 organization.

25 And it seems like a hopeful future
 5

 1 for the programs that he was explaining to us

 2 tonight. I did still have a few questions for

 3 him that I can contact him about. But I did

 4 want to mention some of the things we had

 5 discussed a few weeks ago as well when

 6 Councilman Smurl and myself were able to meet

 7 with him.

 8 We did discuss the issues of the

 9 Code Blue Shelter from last month and he

10 assured us that they do have the staff now to

11 be able to staff it.

12 I don't know that there's how many

13 more code blue nights there's going to be left

14 in the season. But they are very confident in

15 their ability to fill that now. I did also

16 mention that there were several members of the

17 public that were coming to us that were

18 interested in volunteering with the

19 organization or with the shelters and he had

20 encouraged anyone who is interested to contact

21 him.

22 I'm happy to share his information.

23 And those who I know have reached out before,

24 I'll make sure that they are aware of his

25 contact information to be able inquire about
 6

 1 volunteer opportunities. And I know there's

 2 been some suggestions in past the about the

 3 possibility of mentorship programs so maybe

 4 talking about that.

 5 I know he did mention that their day

 6 room is going to be I guess cut or they are

 7 going to be utilizing the CIC's day room

 8 instead so they are not replicating services,

 9 which I understand. I do want to see if there

10 are any other services that are going to be

11 changed or cut too just so that the public is

12 aware. But none others that I know of, just

13 what he explained today.

14 And I think that's -- that was all

15 that I wanted to bring up in relation to that.

16 But also on the topic of homelessness within

17 Scranton, I did just want to put plug for the

18 NEPA Youth Shelter. And their executive

19 director and founder Maureen Gray who has been

20 a friend for a long time, she's going to be

21 retiring at the end of June.

22 And so they are looking for a new

23 executive director. So if you know anyone who

24 may be qualified or are interested in such a

25 position working with youth within Scranton,
 7

 1 those who might be at risk for homelessness or

 2 homeless themselves, then I would encourage

 3 them to contact the shelter to be able to apply

 4 for the position.

 5 The deadline for application is

 6 going to be Friday, March 21st at 5 p.m. And

 7 then they encourage all qualified candidates to

 8 e-mail them at NEPA Youth Shelter Board at

 9 gmail dot com. That's all. Thank you.

10 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Anyone else?

11 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes, I have one more.

12 So in regards to the parade on Saturday, we do

13 have the Brian P. Kelly Foot Race. That's a 2

14 mile race. Registrations for that will begin

15 at 8:30. And registration is going to be right

16 across from City Hall. The race begins at 11

17 a.m., and the parade begins at 11:45.

18 MR. SMURL: Thank you.

19 MR. VOLDENBERG: FOURTH ORDER.

20 CITIZENS PARTICIPATION.

21 MR. SMURL: First, Joan Hodowanitz.

22 MS. HODOWANITZ: Joan Hodowanitz,

23 Scranton. Tonight I'm going to give some

24 public service announcements. The first one is

25 the Friends of the Scranton Public Library are
 8

 1 conducting their quarterly book sale at the

 2 Steamtown Marketplace second floor right in

 3 front of Crunch Gym.

 4 We do this every 90 days. And you

 5 could get small paperbacks for a dollar, larger

 6 paperbacks and hardcover books for 2 dollars,

 7 DVDs, music CDs, all kinds of things, puzzles.

 8 They have everything you could want.

 9 The nice thing about this is it's a

10 win-win. You could get a lot of books at dirt

11 cheap prices. And if you ever look at the cost

12 of a brand new book, it's outrageous, okay, and

13 the library gets the profits and we use them to

14 support children's programs.

15 And, of course, 6 percent goes to

16 the taxman, but that's neither here nor there.

17 Remember it is tax season, you know, don't

18 forget to make your donation to the taxman or

19 Elon Musk will get you.

20 Next thing is March 6th this

21 Thursday at 10:30, this is at the Government

22 Center, the county's Government Center. PFM is

23 going to give their report on their five year

24 recommendations for financial stability for the

25 county. And we all live in the county.
 9

 1 And we've all heard about the 33

 2 percent tax increase on property taxes. And we

 3 all know reassessment is about to come to the

 4 end of its long journey of 50, 60 years or

 5 whatever it's been.

 6 People tend to wait until they get

 7 their tax bills to go, oh, my God, what are you

 8 doing to me. If you have the opportunity at

 9 10:30 on Thursday to be there, you might want

10 to see what the county is contemplating

11 financially which will impact your wallets over

12 the next five years. So that's a good one to

13 go to.

14 March 10th 6 to 8 p.m. at Lackawanna

15 College, there's a public forum, Hands All For

16 Healthcare, a Town Hall on Medicare and

17 Medicaid cuts. Now, I don't know whether they

18 have the inside dope on healthcare cuts or not.

19 But if you live in Scranton and live in

20 Lackawanna County, you better pay attention to

21 the cost of healthcare because the only way

22 it's going, is up.

23 And the only question is, how much

24 and how fast. And this is your chance to hear

25 some of this information and express your
 10

 1 concerns. Then on March 13th, 4 p.m. at the

 2 Hilton Electric City ballroom on the second

 3 floor, it is the usual hospital town hall, save

 4 Regional Hospital dot org.

 5 Remember back on December 16th we

 6 were talking about what's going to happen to

 7 Regional Hospital and Moses Taylor? And they

 8 suggested that we would know something by the

 9 end of the year. Well, that never happened.

10 And so now it's time to find out what's going

11 to happen with at least Regional Hospital.

12 They didn't mention Moses Taylor.

13 But we all have to depend on three hospitals in

14 the city for most of our healthcare. God

15 forbid two of the three hospitals actually

16 close. I don't think CMC is going to have fun

17 trying to handle the patient load.

18 Right now you go to the ER at CMC,

19 you may have a several hour wait, people

20 waiting to get seen by a doctor. And if you

21 have to be admitted as a patient, you may have

22 a restful period out on a gurney in the hallway

23 for a while before a room opens up. So these

24 are important things.

25 You don't want to wait until
 11

 1 somebody tells you, you know, this is what's

 2 happening. Now is the time to get yourself

 3 informed. Now is the time for you to express

 4 your concerns to the people who are making

 5 these decisions because some of these things

 6 may be bad news. And you don't want to wait.

 7 And my only other comment is on Item

 8 6-A on Rubicon changing its name to Routeware.

 9 I know you didn't have the time to discuss the

10 agenda during the caucus. But I'd still like

11 to know if you are going to go for 60 months on

12 that contract renewal. Thank you.

13 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Joan. Next,

14 Lynn Labrosky.

15 MS. LABROSKY: Good evening,

16 Council, Lynn Labrosky, homeowner, business

17 owner, Scranton resident. So also I wanted

18 to -- what Joan mentioned at the end, the

19 Rubicon contract; I know the last time it was

20 voted 3 to 2 and one of the Council members

21 wanted more information, more numbers, so

22 hopefully that will be taken into consideration

23 tonight because I think it's a terrible idea to

24 extend their contract for five years when I

25 don't see the results being produced since they
 12

 1 did the contract back in 2022.

 2 Also, I've talked to some people

 3 that work in DPW. And it was told to me that

 4 some of the trucks are going in circles with

 5 the GPS. And a lot of people that are in

 6 alleys are not getting their garbage picked up.

 7 So I've heard that quite a bit.

 8 So I don't know if that's been

 9 worked out with the new contract or what's

10 going to happen with that. I hate to be a

11 complainer but I also have heard from a lot of

12 people about the garbage in the city.

13 I know last year we did a lot of

14 cleanups on the heritage trail. We filled a

15 couple of 40 yard dumpsters. It's back to

16 pretty much the way it was again. So it feels

17 like all that hard work kind of went down the

18 drain because there is nothing being done to

19 prevent it from continuing to add up to that

20 again.

21 So I don't know if they are working

22 on that with the unsheltered task force. I

23 agree with the man that spoke during caucus

24 that maybe the public should be invited to

25 those meetings because that would give, maybe,
 13

 1 the leadership in the city some ideas on what

 2 they could do to try to resolve some of these

 3 issues.

 4 But, you know, if we have a seat at

 5 the table that would be good. I don't know if

 6 there's any ordinances as far as the garbage in

 7 the city. I think a lot of the problem is it's

 8 really windy in Scranton and in NEPA. So a lot

 9 of people don't put their garbage in cans or

10 maybe they don't have lids on them. And that

11 includes recyclables, like, they are just

12 littering the streets.

13 So I don't know if there is a

14 solution to that. But maybe you guys could to

15 try to talk about it or figure something out.

16 And then as far as the -- I'm going to mention

17 again the traffic pattern down Elm Street, that

18 was not resolved by the end of the week.

19 I don't know if you have a timeframe

20 on that. I know I seen them down there working

21 on it. I was happy to see that we have

22 flaggers now as opposed to our Scranton Police

23 Department directing traffic. But one of my

24 main concerns is now with the detour I noticed

25 another thing that that bridge has concrete
 14

 1 barriers which I believe if my information is

 2 correct they weigh about 750 pounds each.

 3 I didn't count them. I could do

 4 that, but there's quite a few of them on both

 5 sides of that bridge. And with the additional

 6 traffic it concerns me that there's a lot of

 7 weight and stress on that bridge to begin with

 8 the barriers let alone the extra traffic.

 9 There's still cars sitting on the

10 railroad tracks and it doesn't seem like it got

11 any better with the congestion down there. So

12 five years of a study and this is being done

13 after the fact. And then as far as the West

14 Side Little League I know it was brought up

15 last week that sometimes businesses donate to

16 the scoreboards.

17 I heard actually today that they are

18 trying to get the Scranton School District to

19 pay for the scoreboard. And the school

20 district might be trying to get ahold of the

21 city to see if there's a grant for the

22 scoreboard.

23 I know one of the people that runs

24 the field said they reached out to over a

25 hundred businesses and nobody seems to be able
 15

 1 to donate any money for that. I believe they

 2 need three scoreboards and the total would come

 3 to $25,000. So I'm not sure if it's going to

 4 be the school that's paying for that or, I

 5 mean, it's a little league field. So I would

 6 think that if everybody -- maybe there's clubs,

 7 maybe a rotary club or the Elk Club or there

 8 could be somebody out there that could think

 9 about donating, so something like that.

10 Now, if it was a business that

11 wanted to donate the whole amount, their name

12 could potentially go on that scoreboard. They

13 would just have to stick with the colors for

14 West Side, the blue and the white.

15 And then also it was mentioned I

16 believe it was last week or it might have been

17 about the week before about the doors being

18 locked and it's for safety and that guns could

19 be brought into this building. And I get all

20 that.

21 But how come on Tuesday night when

22 the public is here speaking, the doors

23 downstairs are wide open and there's nobody

24 manning that door. We do have a fine officer

25 every week in the back. But if somebody were
 16

 1 to come through that door with a weapon and

 2 come in through that door, who is stopping

 3 them?

 4 So it just seems to me like there's

 5 certain people in the city that need to be

 6 safe, and then there's other people in the city

 7 that don't, you know, it doesn't feel like they

 8 are cared about or their safety. So, I don't

 9 know, that's just something I wanted to bring

10 up. I probably had some more things but I ran

11 out of time so --

12 MR. SMURL: Thank you.

13 MS. LABROSKY: Yeah, thank you.

14 Have a good night.

15 MR. SMURL: Ron Ellman.

16 MR. ELLMAN: Hello, Council. A few

17 years ago Joe Cross stated Scranton has lost 8

18 million dollars of value. Why, I don't know

19 where it went. But partly because of a

20 miserable administration to advise this know

21 novice mayor at the time and millions of losses

22 of taxable properties to the wealthiest owners

23 that are allowed by you guys, the city, the

24 Mayor, everybody involved.

25 These people are just allowed to
 17

 1 hide about behind this Pure Charity Act. Janet

 2 Evans seems to be the only one that made a big

 3 attempt with Lackawanna College who told her to

 4 go to hell.

 5 I do remember a couple weeks ago you

 6 brought this issue up, but it didn't seem to go

 7 nowhere. I think outside of downtown Scranton

 8 is become a tragic train wreck. You could take

 9 to the bank. I hear the last year or so it's

10 just happening in people's lives.

11 All the time I've been up here, no

12 one's ever confronted me about some of my rash

13 statements. So I guess I have been getting

14 away with murder all of these years. What the

15 city needs is another Janet Evans and Laureen

16 Cummings to be on our side.

17 Evidently thousands of properties

18 will soon be facing this tremendous tax

19 increases and insurance increases. The

20 utilities have been given carte blanche. They

21 have tore up how many miles in the 270 miles of

22 streets in the city. I think they are trying

23 to set a record destroying every last one of

24 them.

25 Well, I think the administration
 18

 1 just wants to use the taxpayers for fodder,

 2 money to further their agendas. And next is my

 3 feelings about the atrocious moronic thinking

 4 zoning board.

 5 They have just destroyed our

 6 neighborhoods allowing singles to become two

 7 and three units all over the city. I have been

 8 complaining two, three, four years about the

 9 same house on the 2400 block North Main. It is

10 packed to the gill. There's six, eight cars on

11 the sidewalk on weekends sometimes.

12 It's terrible. This is what --

13 this is what's being allowed by the zoning

14 board. They meet the 12th of next month -- of

15 this month rather. Some people appreciate

16 their properties need to go and put it in.

17 There's eight cases coming up. Six of them

18 want to make two and three units out of

19 singles.

20 One wants to put a solar farm in the

21 city. Have you heard that? It was in the

22 paper. And one guy wants two kitchens for some

23 reason. And lastly, I was flabbergast that

24 Chris Kelly attacked the democratic party of

25 Lackawanna County.
 19

 1 His article Sunday greatly surprised

 2 me. It paralleled my thinking. I said last

 3 week about these evil of -- he calls the

 4 democratic party and I call it the good ol'

 5 boys. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. And

 6 real quick, why can't -- why can't the city put

 7 occupancy permits on some of these houses that

 8 are going from single to two and three units?

 9 They are destroying our

10 neighborhoods and our city. The people renting

11 them are undesirables that have nothing to

12 lose.

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

14 MR. ELLMAN: Well, thank you.

15 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Les

16 Spindler.

17 MR. SPINDLER: Good evening,

18 Council, Les Spindler, city resident,

19 homeowner. I live in Tripp Park. Many times

20 during the day I'll come down Euclid Avenue to

21 go to Main Avenue. At the bottom of the hill

22 there, it's pretty wide and you could fit three

23 lanes of traffic there really.

24 It drives me crazy. There's times I

25 want to make a right turn and people are making
 20

 1 a left turn but the people making a left turn

 2 go all the way over to the right. The people

 3 that want to go right can't do it until those

 4 people go through two lanes of traffic. So if

 5 the city could paint lines there with arrows

 6 pointing to go left, right or for people to

 7 come in the other way. It's ridiculous.

 8 People, like, you want to go right

 9 and somebody is going left, it backs up up the

10 hill and cause a traffic jam. So I don't know

11 if that's feasible or not.

12 MR. SMURL: Les, what's the

13 intersection?

14 MR. SPINDLER: Euclid Avenue and

15 North Main Avenue. I don't know if it's

16 feasible to do something like that. But I

17 think it could save a lot of traffic coming

18 out. Next thing, a pet peeve of mine again,

19 the huge hole the water company dug on Dorothy

20 Street, the 1700 block. They still didn't do

21 anything about it.

22 It's very sloppily filled in.

23 There's dips in it and places like -- it's

24 almost like a curb you have to go over to get

25 to the place there. And another one on the
 21

 1 block I live on, it's 1400 block of Bulwer

 2 Street. There was a pave cut there.

 3 It's square. It's not like the one

 4 on Dorothy. But it's not filled in right to

 5 the top. You got to slow down to get over it.

 6 Next thing, people come here time and time

 7 again criticizing the job Joe Biden did. Well,

 8 what the idiot in the White House did last

 9 Friday to President Zelenskyy was so

10 disrespectful.

11 It was a disgrace. Joe Biden would

12 have never have done that to a foreign -- a

13 leader of a foreign country. It was the most

14 disrespectful thing I seen. I mean, other

15 countries embraced President Zelenskyy. They

16 are giving him aid.

17 Now today Trump stopped U.S. aid to

18 Ukraine. You could see who he's behind. He's

19 behind the communist from Russian. And that's

20 who is Trump is going to turn into. We're

21 going to have a communist leading this country

22 because he cares more about Putin than he does

23 Zelenskyy and Ukraine.

24 Tonight he's going to talk about the

25 economy. As I spoke last week, there was a
 22

 1 story on the news that 53 percent of the people

 2 in this country disapprove with what he's doing

 3 with the economy. And he said on day one he's

 4 going to fix the economy. Well, that was one

 5 lie. He hasn't done it.

 6 And he said on day one he's also

 7 going to stop the war in Ukraine. That's

 8 another lie. It's still going. And there's

 9 no end in sight.

10 Lastly, there's a story about a

11 student in high school in Wilkes-Barre. It was

12 on Channel 16. He was born blind. I'll read

13 this so I don't miss anything. He's in a

14 special program that helps students who have a

15 disability like him.

16 The program is funded by federal

17 funds. He wants to go to college and become

18 an attorney to help people in his situation.

19 Well, with Donald Trump cutting funding if he

20 cuts the funding that he wants to cut, that

21 program is going to go away and that student

22 won't get to live his dream with being an

23 attorney and it will affect all people like he

24 is in the same situation he's in.

25 This man, all he wants to do is hurt
 23

 1 the little guy. People that want to make

 2 something of themselves and he wants to stuff

 3 his pockets and Elon Musk's pockets with the

 4 million of dollars they are trying to save with

 5 laying off all of these millions of people.

 6 You know, there's a saying be

 7 careful what you wish for. So all these voters

 8 wished him into office and a lot of them are

 9 sorry they did it already. So they are going

10 to find out he's just -- to criticize Joe

11 Biden, this guy already he's the worst

12 president we ever had. Thank you for your

13 time.

14 MR. SMURL: Thank you.

15 Mr. Spindler. Bob Bolus.

16 MR. SCHUSTER: Mr. Voldenberg, last

17 week I asked the address was 1720 Dorothy

18 Street. I just ask if we can ask the

19 administration if we can get the process of our

20 new pave cut company that the city is using,

21 can we get that process --

22 MR. BOLUS: Good evening, Council,

23 Bob Bolus. I just want to reiterate what

24 Spindler just said about the Zelenskyy. He had

25 an opportunity. He came to this country. He
 24

 1 came with an attitude. What he should do is

 2 pick up a weapon, put on a uniform and stand

 3 side by side by the shoulders on the front line

 4 and see what it is -- the people he's getting

 5 murdered every single day because of this

 6 cockiness.

 7 He was dealing with a president who

 8 wanted to help him and do something. But his

 9 arrogance was a step behind. He thought he was

10 talking to Joe Biden and he could get away with

11 what he was doing. There is nothing better and

12 more positive as we see it in our industry with

13 Trump behind the wheel, him and Elon getting

14 things done.

15 I have here -- Les will probably

16 disagree with me. I don't believe men belong

17 in women's sports, period. That's it. They

18 don't belong there. I don't give a damn who

19 they think they are. Stick with your own

20 gender.

21 I don't want fascination or who you

22 think you are or what you are. A man is a man.

23 A woman is a woman no matter which way you look

24 at it they don't belong in women's sports,

25 period.
 25

 1 I mean, I'm still dealing with a

 2 fire up there that's still undetermined yet to

 3 the causation of it. But yet, I'm still trying

 4 to help people. As far as Ukraine goes, I have

 5 trailer loads of disinfectant wipes. If they

 6 are interested, their people could get ahold of

 7 me and they could make arrangements to ship

 8 them over to Ukraine to the people that are

 9 being damaged and injured and don't have a lot

10 because of their leadership over there.

11 That's how we intend to help them.

12 They deserve the people, not from the

13 leadership they got. The Mayor is driving

14 around Scranton looking for potholes. Tell her

15 take a ride down Lackawanna Avenue. She's got

16 people in the city that are paid to take care

17 of the potholes, drive around and patch them

18 and make it acceptable instead of knocking the

19 front ends out of our cars and everything else.

20 It's the most inept system I've

21 seen. And she's the head of the policy here.

22 She should make sure the roads are taken care

23 of. And nowhere else in America do I know that

24 a stupid city and the leadership we have shuts

25 down four major bridges in the city. Go look
 26

 1 at the traffic we got to deal with, total

 2 incompetence.

 3 You know, as far as the hospitals

 4 go, I brought it up in the past. We have

 5 enough legislators, both state, federal and

 6 everyone else. Take Geisinger out of the loop.

 7 Buy the medical college. Let the medical

 8 college take over the two hospitals, plain and

 9 simple. We're not paying millions of dollars

10 to some CEO to sit there and then we get the

11 best of all worlds.

12 We get the doctors that we are

13 training to work in those two hospitals,

14 Geisinger, Lehigh Valley. We have the best.

15 Why do we have to sit here and be stupid to say

16 somebody should buy us out. Are we that

17 incompetent and ridiculous in our management?

18 It's easy to do if you know anything

19 about business to separate Geisinger from the

20 medical college and then have it funded

21 separately to take over the hospitals where

22 they will get the best that they possibly need.

23 You know, I'm sitting here and I'm

24 going to a meeting tomorrow, but Gaughan the

25 Commissioner sat here as the Council President
 27

 1 was a dictator here. I brought a gentleman in

 2 Le Pew -- Pepe Le Pew is a skunk that skunked

 3 the City of Scranton. And he's doing the same

 4 damn thing in Lackawanna County.

 5 You can't dictate and tell the

 6 democrat party how they should do business or

 7 this is who I want to work with me. He didn't

 8 pay attention to anything, there's another

 9 commissioner sitting there. He doesn't know

10 how to work with people because he only wants

11 it his way, one way, Gaughan's way and that's

12 it.

13 33 percent tax increase on top of

14 the reassessment we're getting, come on.

15 There's better ways to do things for the people

16 in this community than having a dictator

17 sitting there and demanding how it should be

18 done.

19 You know, there's a lot of things

20 that aren't going on here. But we just got to

21 make a change in the leadership what we're

22 doing both in the county and throughout the

23 city. There's people that are being paid here

24 to do a job. Then do your job. That's what

25 you get paid to do.
 28

 1 People are protesting Lackawanna --

 2 the Steamtown. I brought the first Steamtown

 3 locomotive into the City of Scranton. And I

 4 brought all the equipment from Bellows Falls

 5 for Steamtown at absolutely no charge to the

 6 City of Scranton. These people got a lot of

 7 damn nerve saying they want to get paid for

 8 doing nothing.

 9 And that's my gut feeling on what's

10 going on. And in the next week or so I'll be

11 making an announcement regarding the City of

12 Scranton. Thank you. I don't want to be

13 insulting, but I'm leaving now so I could hear

14 my president give his speech to the American

15 people tonight. Thank you.

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

17 Krysten Xanthis.

18 MS. XANTHIS: Good evening, Council,

19 Krysten Xanthis. Two things I'm going to speak

20 about, I'm very appreciative of Mr. Voldenberg;

21 but Dickson Avenue and Green Ridge desperately

22 needs a streetlight. I called the Mayor's

23 office and she -- the gentleman that answered

24 the phone stated that you need the petition I

25 had got from here.
 29

 1 I cannot walk around my neighborhood

 2 right now. I am not capable of walking that

 3 far right now. So I asked him. He said they

 4 will put it on the list, whatever that means.

 5 Secondly, the garbage pickup in the senior

 6 building to the right of me, 4 a.m. as Mr.

 7 Voldenberg knows is a little absurd, maybe six

 8 or seven; but four when you are getting up for

 9 6:00.

10 The other thing is, I know, like,

11 lower Green Ridge is, like, the time that is

12 forgotten in the city. But they need police

13 down there desperately. I walk the dog

14 numerous times. And at one point I found a

15 knife. Turned that into the police. They

16 came and they picked it up.

17 I found liquor bottles every day.

18 And the other thing which is very uncomfortable

19 to say, you find unpackaged condoms across the

20 street on my property and everywhere. Now, I

21 don't know about the rest of you, but it's not

22 very safe down there anymore.

23 So the city wants two high rises

24 down there. I think maybe they should get some

25 security on those properties. I know that
 30

 1 won't happen for the neighborhood, but police

 2 down there would be a big thing right now. I

 3 had somebody knocking on my door banging the

 4 door at 11:30 at night.

 5 You know, I'm thinking to myself,

 6 you know, I called the police at one point one

 7 time a while back when there was a problem.

 8 You can't call -- I mean, calling the police

 9 every single time, I would be calling them

10 every night at this point.

11 I had somebody last night standing

12 in my yard at close -- really late at night.

13 It was really dark. But, you know, the light

14 kept going on because, you know, and I look out

15 there and this person is standing there

16 smoking. So this morning I go out there,

17 there's cigarettes on the ground.

18 And nobody in my house smokes. So

19 there is no reason why there would be

20 cigarettes out there other than the man that

21 was standing there. You know, I had left at

22 one point for three days to go to Washington

23 about these Medicaid cuts for the healthcare

24 union I belong to.

25 Now, the middle of this month I'm
 31

 1 leaving again for Harrisburg because I'm, you

 2 know, I don't like saying it because it's not

 3 city business, but I'm trying to stop the cuts

 4 that, you know, Musk is making. But I need

 5 police down there. I know, you know, I

 6 understand, you know, I'm not -- I'm understand

 7 you guys, you know, don't have total control

 8 over that. I'm not saying you do.

 9 But once something happens down

10 there to me or my mother or her when I'm not

11 here and I'm somewhere else in another city or

12 farther, there's going to be a problem because,

13 you know, maybe somebody should sit down there

14 once it starts getting dark after 8:00 and

15 you'll see what goes on down there. Thank you.

16 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Dave

17 Dobrzyn.

18 MR. DOBRZYN: Good evening, Council

19 Dave Dobrzyn, resident. I was at the last PUC

20 meeting and Mr. King was treated very poorly.

21 My suggestion is that he should be given way

22 more than five minutes. But the judges seen it

23 differently.

24 But if you people would get together

25 and tag team. Most of you were there that
 32

 1 night anyway and kind of group the time that we

 2 could maybe get 20 minutes or a half hour, that

 3 would be just great.

 4 He wasn't allowed with all the

 5 research he did. He did not get a decent

 6 opportunity to say anything. And the hospitals

 7 up again. And my question is, we're at 40

 8 percent tax exempt. Are we going to be 42 or

 9 43 percent? That knocks it down about 2 points

10 or something like that when they went for

11 profit.

12 And then obviously it didn't work

13 and maybe the profit and the reason that

14 somebody isn't interested in taking it over is

15 because vital equipment was worn out and not

16 maintained. That's just a suggestion. So what

17 we really need is to get a board not connected

18 to the government, strictly people from

19 Scranton taxpayers and take on this state

20 constitution where you are required to just

21 keep accepting one tax exempt after another.

22 And it's a bipartisan issue. And

23 really at 40 and 42 or 43 percent and growing

24 is unacceptable. It's just impossible.

25 Somebody is going to be paying two or three
 33

 1 thousand dollars when they should be paying a

 2 thousand.

 3 And enough has been said tonight but

 4 I'm going to say a little more. You know, I

 5 brought up before the election the 2025 Project

 6 thanks to the Heritage Foundation. And

 7 currently the office of management and budget

 8 is the author of the 2025 project.

 9 And, you know, everybody come up and

10 pooh-poohed it. Well, so far we keep blaming

11 the democrats for everything. Ten months went

12 by and Ukraine was given nothing when they were

13 winning. Now, here's a list of things that are

14 being done right now, showboating with a C130

15 to ship immigrants back.

16 By the way a C130 costs $850,000 for

17 a five hour flight and a normal jet --

18 passenger jet costs about a 105,000. News,

19 Steamtown and General Dynamics -- it may not be

20 any reason why we expanded General Dynamics to

21 up the production of 155 millimeter shells --

22 artillery shells to 400 percent because we're

23 not giving Ukraine any more.

24 Steamtown has cut several employees.

25 I talked to somebody yesterday. News Roiters
 34

 1 and Associated Press were kicked out of the

 2 White House but the Russians are there. Tax --

 3 and there's firings at the FBI, CIA and NSA,

 4 Pentagon, National Weather Services, Social

 5 Security, IRS. And by the way, Ukraine

 6 defeated half of the Russian army with 5

 7 percent of our military budget.

 8 And the actual savings that Elon

 9 Musk is actually producing are usually

10 multiplied by 300 to a thousand percent or --

11 10 percent. So take it from there. I think

12 somebody should resign right now and help us

13 out. Have a good night.

14 MR. SMURL: That exhausts our

15 sign-in sheet. Anyone else wish to address

16 Council?

17 MR. COYNE: Good evening, Tom Coyne,

18 Minooka. Do we have any update on who

19 authorized the payment for the Nay Aug Park

20 Christmas lights without an authorized contract

21 approved by Council as any purchase contract of

22 this size is required by law to be both bid out

23 and approved by Council.

24 Can we get a copy of the contract

25 that was used and the signatures? We have long
 35

 1 complained about the doors barring the public

 2 from the building we own.

 3 We really need to address the actual

 4 reasons. First it was pushed and installed

 5 under Covid restrictions. Then it became

 6 public safety when there was no threat. And

 7 then right after the night shooting at Weston

 8 Field, safety became the primary mantra. The

 9 simple reason is limiting people from

10 addressing public grievances to the

11 administration by forcing them -- by forcing

12 the public into a system where the First

13 Amendment rights could be ignored.

14 It grants the ability to hide public

15 observation and oversight. You choose the

16 public that you wish to come in and have a

17 voice. And it's all been suspected that the

18 actual intent was to conceal if the Mayor was,

19 indeed, working in city hall or not.

20 All the excuses I've heard are bull.

21 You lock the doors during the day, a City Hall

22 that is supposed to be open to the public. But

23 you can't lock at night the park gates at

24 Weston Field where someone was beaten, chased

25 and shot and killed in the streets.
 36

 1 You diminish this building for those

 2 who coward behind these hollowed walls. Here's

 3 a hint. If you are afraid of the public, don't

 4 take a job as a public servant. There is

 5 only -- we are one of the few City Halls that

 6 has a permanent lockdown from the public.

 7 Rules on public safety is Council's

 8 job. And the administration has some rights

 9 under a limited public forum. The Mayor has

10 transformed this building from a limited public

11 forum into a nonpublic forum. And that is only

12 supposed to apply to a government property that

13 has not been traditionally opened to the

14 public.

15 Scranton hall has been open to the

16 public since its completion in 1888. And

17 except for normal closed secured offices, the

18 building was open to the public for 132 years.

19 If that is not the definition of traditionally

20 been open to the public, I'm not sure what is.

21 Now, onto business at hand; first

22 off, 5-B the cable contract, it points to FCC

23 Section 611 and requires -- that requires cable

24 operators to set aside channels for public

25 educational and government uses, PEG.
 37

 1 It requires noncontent based rules

 2 for governing the use of these channels.

 3 Example, allocating time for completing

 4 applicants on a reasonable basis for other

 5 content. The cable contract in this Section

 6 72, now we have in this ordinance that the city

 7 on its government channel shall have complete

 8 control over content, scheduling,

 9 administration and all other aspects.

10 Section 611 is a noncontent based

11 rules and the ordinance itself is a complete

12 content control. The two do not jive. Last

13 for tonight is addressing the Council Rubes our

14 conned. Contract 6A, presented to Council on

15 February 18th for the first time when

16 negotiations were done long before that.

17 We have a part of the introduced

18 ordinance modification that is listed as a

19 draft copy, not the actual one. The offer was

20 good through 1/1/2025. So the administration

21 was working on this behind Council's back long

22 before that. The original terms for the

23 extension agreed upon with the contract was a

24 year-to-year extension by all parties, not five

25 years.
 38

 1 We should not change terms to our

 2 disadvantage. Have you look at the detail, the

 3 costs? Yes, it's listed as $33,850.20 a year

 4 for the first year but omits the following year

 5 prices on the sheet. That's understandable as

 6 it has a 15 percent increase a year for the 5

 7 years for a total of 101.14 percent increase

 8 or just short of $300,000.

 9 We were promised a million saved,

10 provided none, gifted a contract with predatory

11 increases built in. Who is pushing you to

12 consider this foolishness? We lose a little by

13 saying no. The routes -- we lose a little by

14 saying no. The routes are already set or just

15 vote yes, kiss someone's feet and do a

16 disservice to the people you represent. Thank

17 you.

18 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Anyone else?

19 MR. ARGENTA: Virgil Argenta.

20 Scranton's Pocket Park incurred significant

21 costs, took several years to be partially

22 completed. The park covers about 10,000 square

23 feet with dimensions of approximately 50 feet

24 by 200 feet.

25 The park was named after former
 39

 1 Mayor Christopher Doherty who served as a 3

 2 term, 12 year Mayor of Scranton. Why does

 3 this park lack basic features like landscaping,

 4 benches, tables, and signage recognizing it as

 5 Mayor Doherty's park?

 6 Once again, Scranton rumors have

 7 surfaced. I'm sure no one really cares that

 8 Mayor Paige didn't show up for the grand

 9 opening. Regardless of the personal opinions,

10 this is a matter of what is right or wrong in

11 honoring the Doherty family.

12 Will the Council agree to

13 investigate the funding of this park and

14 examine the allocation of where the funds for

15 the signage are?

16 MR. SMURL: The signage is Scranton

17 Tomorrow's. It's their project.

18 MR. ARGENTA: That's fine. Do we

19 have a liaison that can find out about that if

20 it's going to be and can you get us an answer?

21 I think the Doherty family deserves better.

22 MR. KING: If we could ask, Mr.

23 Voldenberg, to look in that. I understand

24 there's going to be benches --

25 MR. ARGENTA: Mr. Smurl -- Mr. Smurl
 40

 1 and the Mayor were both involved in the gift

 2 card situation. We still do not have a valid

 3 answer as to how many cards were purchased, how

 4 many remain, and what was the cost to the

 5 Scranton taxpayer. Can you clarify how

 6 taxpayer money was spent and how much?

 7 Can we agree that neither you, nor

 8 the Mayor will use the summer beautiful

 9 neighborhood gift card for political purpose

10 this election? The Pennsylvania State Senate

11 recently passed the Paul Miller Distracted

12 Driver Law.

13 This adds to the concerns of the DPW

14 drivers. Will the Rubicon system be handheld,

15 mounted in the truck? Responsible CDL drivers

16 expect employees -- employers not to ask them

17 to do anything that could jeopardize their CDL

18 licenses.

19 They should be concentrating on the

20 road, not on a handheld or a camera or whatever

21 it is. Tonight you had a speaker. If your

22 speaker was so concerned and looking for help

23 from the city, why don't you have him and his

24 patrons to go down and clean up the riverbanks?

25 The trash around the riverbanks --
 41

 1 the trash along the riverbanks, the human feces

 2 holes, that's a health hazard polluting our

 3 waterway. There's people that used to fish in

 4 there that can't fish in there. Has anyone

 5 taken a walk and looked at those riverbanks?

 6 And if you think it's okay to have

 7 people coming into your facility and nobody has

 8 any identification as grown men, how is that

 9 fair to our police officers? How is that fair

10 to the general public? You have somebody in

11 your city that we're coddling, catering to and

12 taken care of, but we don't know who you are.

13 And yet we are supposed to say okay

14 because grown men don't have licenses? Well,

15 tell them where to go get it. The weather is

16 getting nice, right? Now you're telling us we

17 have to take care of them. We have to house

18 them. We have to feed them.

19 How about getting something set up

20 down -- and bring a temporary agency in and

21 tell them how to get job applications. Enough

22 with coddling these people and looking for

23 everything for free.

24 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Anyone else?

25 MR. LITTLE: Hello, Council, Rik
 42

 1 Little, Scranton. I have a lot of things I

 2 wanted to talk about, especially last week with

 3 the roller coaster ride on who's running the

 4 government or who will run the government. And

 5 I've been looking into these things called home

 6 charters to find out where everything went

 7 wrong in Scranton.

 8 Because when I first came here, I'm

 9 reading the history the great -- all the great

10 architecture, the great things they made,

11 Scranton Housing Authority and it all seemed to

12 went by the wayside as has a lot of people's

13 Social Security.

14 I'm happy that there's a new

15 President Judge or there will be, Judge

16 Gibbons, because the other judge I could get no

17 contact with the judicial branch of the

18 government. Most people, I don't think they

19 are even taught that there's three branches of

20 government, you know, the executive, the

21 legislative and the judicial.

22 But in this county because of the

23 Home Rule Charters, there's been many of them.

24 But I think it happened around 1977 that

25 everything started going down the drain. The
 43

 1 power structure changed.

 2 And, for instance, the three

 3 commissioners like last week that, you know,

 4 who gets in, you know, is it a democrat or a

 5 party machine and all of this stuff. It

 6 changes. And then the lawyer comes in and

 7 says, oh, there's a case because actually in

 8 the county government, it's the -- they're the

 9 executives, the three commissioners are the

10 executives and the legislative branch.

11 But the branch no one wants to talk

12 about is the judicial branch. I tried to talk

13 about it with former President Judge Corbett.

14 And I was instructed by her secretary, well,

15 you have to make a motion, you know. And it

16 just becomes all of these weird, weird rules.

17 And I went to the Scranton Housing

18 Authority building or Board of Commissioners

19 thing last night. It's being filmed by

20 Electric City TV. I suggested that -- and I'm

21 glad you are doing it and I'm talking to them

22 and, you know, if they are doing any other

23 boards.

24 And the reason I say this is because

25 for people to get an idea about the government,
 44

 1 they are going to get it from reading the

 2 Times-Tribune. They are not going to get it.

 3 I mean, people are still talking about

 4 Zelenskyy. I mean, a guy that -- you know,

 5 unaccounted for billions of dollars. He's a

 6 dictator. He cut off his elections. It's not

 7 democracy there. They play with words, you

 8 know, what democracy is.

 9 Anyway, it came up about, you know,

10 Scranton Housing Authority gets federal funds.

11 And they have employees. But now I'm finding

12 out that people are dividing what the employees

13 are that -- because a lot of people are being

14 evicted because there's a housing problem in

15 Scranton.

16 And there's a homeless problem in

17 Scranton. And I say it goes right to Scranton

18 Housing Authority. That's the name of it,

19 Scranton Housing Authority. It isn't

20 Lackawanna Housing Authority, you know, and

21 they talk -- every week they talk about their

22 delinquent accounts.

23 These are people they evicted. It

24 was like $346,000 for that budget in December.

25 And then January, $268,000 for that budget in
 45

 1 December and $329,000 that budget in December.

 2 And I know -- I see the faces. I used to live

 3 there.

 4 There has to be, you know, and they

 5 hire a district attorney. But he doesn't work

 6 for SHA. He's a contractor. That's the

 7 problem going on. I'm almost out of time. But

 8 for the people that live at Park Gardens,

 9 there's a lot of information that has to get to

10 these people because this is -- this isn't

11 right what is happening with housing and

12 homelessness in Scranton.

13 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Anyone else?

14 MR. SIMRELL: Good evening, Council.

15 My name is Baily Simrell. And I'm a resident

16 of Scranton. I also work professionally as a

17 technology consultant and software developer.

18 And I have been following our city spending for

19 a while.

20 But particularly wanted to speak

21 tonight about the Rubicon routeware situation,

22 especially after I spent about an hour on

23 Saturday speaking with some folks from DPW.

24 And I just want to read through some notes that

25 I have.
 46

 1 So, yeah, I think we should really

 2 pause before renewing or extending this

 3 contract. I think, you know, we were told that

 4 the route optimization alone could save nearly

 5 $395,000 per year. But after three years, no

 6 one has shown actual budget line savings or

 7 itemized cost reductions.

 8 We need data providing -- proving

 9 the fewer overweight fines, less overtime or

10 reduced maintenance. Secondly, it seems like

11 there's a bit of a rush on this deal even

12 thought there's some uncertainty.

13 Tonight there's a push to lock us

14 into a multiyear extension before we've seen

15 any real numbers on what this tool has returned

16 for the city and the taxpayers.

17 At the very least, I do think the

18 city should continue to issue a fresh RFP or

19 conduct a more thorough cost benefit analysis

20 to see if cheaper off the shelf or inhouse

21 options exist. I know they do.

22 Also, regarding redundancies and

23 (inaudible) inspections and just weak

24 justifications I've heard from folks in the IT

25 Department who I've spoken with over the
 47

 1 weekend as well.

 2 Pre and post trip inspections are

 3 mandatory with or without this software. So

 4 Rubicon -- and also, Rubicon does not actually

 5 weigh the trucks. DPW drivers still use their

 6 own judgment and discretion as to when a truck

 7 may be overweight on the intraday.

 8 For example, Tripp Park on Monday

 9 after a sunny weekend was the example I was

10 given, the truck will get filled on intraday

11 much faster than it might on a typical winter

12 day from the same area. And that discretion is

13 up to the driver, not the software in regards

14 to when to return that load to the landfill.

15 Additionally, as others mentioned

16 the system's route logic is not perfect,

17 sometimes even doubling back on blocks, issues

18 with the alleys, etc. Folks in DPW mentioned

19 to me they would be fine if the software

20 vanished tomorrow because they already have

21 some of the initial mapping done.

22 And they've expressed that they

23 would actually love to take the maps that have

24 been optimized from Rubicon and take them and

25 kind of change them and modify them to what DPW
 48

 1 sees being optimal, which makes a lot of sense.

 2 But why are we paying tens of

 3 thousands of dollars annually if it's not

 4 demonstratively reducing the overtime and

 5 bringing any real value? I have concerns about

 6 the vendor locking and the data usage. I mean,

 7 these people made a lot of promises. I think

 8 they fell short on the promises. And this is a

 9 publically traded company.

10 So, you know, they're using our DPW

11 data that we're paying these people to go and

12 collect out on the job and they use that data

13 to train their future models, build additional

14 products. And that's something that they use

15 as a pitch to their shareholders in regards to

16 how they could sell and commercialize this data

17 and their products in other municipalities. I

18 think that's kind of interesting.

19 Is it acceptable for taxpayer funded

20 labor to fuel their machine learning models? I

21 don't know. Additionally, I think an

22 interesting rhetorical question I would pose

23 is, does anyone in the city administration have

24 stock in Rubicon?

25 Additionally, if we have no public
 49

 1 data proving that we've avoided meaningful

 2 fines or slash the overtime, aren't we

 3 basically just subsidizing this company's

 4 research? I really suggest that you guys not

 5 rush this vote, talk to people.

 6 I think there should be a real

 7 itemized report with ROI, especially for

 8 signing on multiple years with price increases

 9 on an extended period of time than what we

10 originally dealt with. I mean, that's crazy.

11 Software procurement 101 is you need to

12 understand the measuring sticks of the before

13 and after and be able to show the differential.

14 And I was really disappointed and

15 shocked when I was watching the caucus from two

16 weeks ago and the Business Administrator said

17 we weren't collecting the data before so we

18 have no answer. That's crazy.

19 So I know my time is up, but, yeah,

20 there's a lot of interesting things regarding

21 this topic. And I personally feel that key

22 stakeholders within the city and different

23 departments are not necessarily having across

24 the department conversations that they should

25 be having.
 50

 1 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Can you tell

 2 me your name again?

 3 MR. SIMRELL: Yeah, Bailey Simrell.

 4 MR. SMURL: Thank you.

 5 MR. SIMRELL: Thank you.

 6 MR. MANCINI: Good evening, Council,

 7 Mike Mancini, Scranton. A word to the wise

 8 when dealing with a business that has the name

 9 con in it, it in should be a red flag. There

10 is no benefit to this. And in my opinion it's

11 just a waste of money.

12 Many properties in South Scranton

13 have been neglected for week after week after

14 week. And DPW has to go out and pick it up.

15 It's counteractive, counterproductive.

16 Mr. Gilbride, congratulations on your

17 involvement with the St. Patrick Day Parade.

18 Your family must be very proud.

19 Last year I mentioned the St.

20 Patrick's Day Parade and Nay Aug Park in the

21 same sentence. Those holiday lights have yet

22 to come down. Last year they were taken down

23 the Wednesday before. Are they going to come

24 down before St. Patrick's Day?

25 MR. SMURL: The front skirt is being
 51

 1 poured this week. So they could actually go

 2 in. The mud got so heavy up there because of

 3 the melting and all the rain so they couldn't

 4 pour the front skirt. But that's I believe

 5 today or tomorrow.

 6 MR. MANCINI: Sorry to interrupt,

 7 that company that we paid to put the lights up,

 8 we also paid for them to take them down.

 9 MR. SMURL: Right.

10 MR. MANCINI: They are not going to

11 be taking them down, correct?

12 MR. SMURL: No, that's incorrect.

13 MR. MANCINI: Okay. The Scranton

14 School District gets credits back from used

15 portions of contracts. Can we see what the

16 difference is and try to get the money back

17 from them? That's taxpayer money and that's

18 not funny. All right.

19 Talking about this election, it's

20 one of the most important elections in my

21 lifetime, more than likely the railroad system

22 is going to be coming through, all right. With

23 that being the case, I feel as if our options

24 are very limited. We have a current Mayor who

25 sees her shadow half the time with an expansion
 52

 1 team that has no clue on what they are doing

 2 from one day to the next.

 3 You have a parks director that was

 4 promoted to DPW with our roads looking the way

 5 that they do and 91 miles of cuts in the near

 6 future; and yet, no one on this Council has

 7 addressed any of the utilities to make them

 8 responsible for the pavecuts.

 9 Instead, send $500,000 to another

10 county to accompany with no oversight. Why

11 don't you bring them in before caucus, you

12 know, 30-some thousand dollars, $500,000, I

13 think that has a little bit more priority.

14 Today, on Gibson Street and North

15 Main Avenue, there was a homeless man that was

16 found deceased. And its very heart-wrenching.

17 We heard from the Keystone Mission here earlier

18 today about people that are homeless. I feel

19 as the number is actually skewed. There is

20 more than 58 homeless in City of Scranton.

21 We have almost 75,000 people. You

22 know, I also heard a story about the Diocese of

23 Scranton and the generosity of some people

24 where they're bringing people in from other

25 municipalities, other larger cities offering
 53

 1 them a better chance because of the generosity

 2 here in the City of Scranton.

 3 To those, if true, at the Diocese of

 4 Scranton, let's focus on the children first,

 5 you know, a homeless child in the City of

 6 Scranton I think takes precedence over anything

 7 else. And we're looking at this election. We

 8 have somebody else who is running for this

 9 elected position and he actually signed off on

10 our most important asset, the Scranton Sewer

11 Authority.

12 You know, we also have the steam

13 company that's been bankrupt and hundreds of

14 manhole covers the city is now responsible for.

15 Is this the best that the city could come up

16 with? Really, it reminds me of two dogs

17 chasing a car. They're not going to catch it.

18 Even if they do, they can't drive it. All

19 right.

20 So in my opinion, the city needs

21 much more, much better than that. And I've

22 been humbled by an experience after my son's

23 passing to an opioid crisis. There was a pill

24 press found in our city, the instrument of

25 death.
 54

 1 We have a police department without

 2 a Drug Task Force. We have officers like

 3 Officer Rawlings behind me who goes out to

 4 these calls and is very upset in the process

 5 because there's no closure in sight.

 6 Well, let's close the book. Change

 7 is coming for the better. God bless the City

 8 of Scranton. Good evening, Council.

 9 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Anyone else?

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

11 MOTIONS.

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

13 any motions or comments?

14 MR. KING: Yeah, mister -- Attorney

15 Gilbride, in terms of Rubicon, I asked a

16 question about -- I know it's a five-year

17 contract. I asked a question about it's

18 renewed on an annual basis. So I asked a

19 question about is there a 30, 60, 90 day out.

20 And I was told that the original --

21 this is an addendum to the contract. So the

22 original contract apparently has verbiage in

23 there that would allow us that come January,

24 February if we're not happy or satisfied with

25 Rubicon we could get out of it; is that
 55

 1 correct?

 2 ATTY. GILBRIDE: The explanation I

 3 received from the administration when I reached

 4 out after Council's interest in the specifics

 5 with regard to the addendum to the Rubicon

 6 contract, everything you said is correct. It

 7 is a five-year contract.

 8 It is not in one year increments,

 9 however, as it was in the previous contract.

10 So it's five years. But the city does have the

11 ability to exit the contract for failure to

12 perform under certain circumstances.

13 MR. KING: Under certain

14 circumstances. So we don't have an annual

15 option to bail out if we are just not happy

16 with the performance.

17 ATTY. GILBRIDE: Well, you don't

18 have -- there's no -- you don't have automatic

19 right to just step out of the contract. You

20 have to be able to show that they did not

21 perform the contract. Who decides that, well,

22 with the exception of the parties agreeing that

23 they did not perform the contract, that could

24 become a legal issue, which then the courts

25 would have to decide whether or not they
 56

 1 performed their contract to the specifications

 2 of the contract.

 3 MR. KING: Can we get a copy of that

 4 language -- the original language?

 5 ATTY. GILBRIDE: You want a copy of

 6 the original contract.

 7 MR. KING: Right. I don't need the

 8 full part of the contract. I want to see the

 9 renewable -- the language on the renewable

10 piece. And I'd also like to see if we could

11 get the question answered concerning the

12 weight.

13 Does Rubicon have the ability to

14 determine when the truck is full and when it's

15 time to head up to the dump or is that as was

16 indicated earlier at the driver's discretion?

17 I'd like to see if we could get some of those

18 answers before we move forward here. That's

19 all I have. Thanks.

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

21 Mr. Schuster, do you have any motions or

22 comments?

23 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes, I have a few.

24 To piggyback off that with that last question

25 that Mr. King asked, can we just get a total
 57

 1 number of trucks? I do know the number of

 2 total trucks that we do have. But can we get

 3 an official total number of trucks and then

 4 total number of trucks that have the weights

 5 and measures on them to determine how many and

 6 what tonnage is in that truck?

 7 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll take care of

 8 it, sir.

 9 MR. SCHUSTER: Thank you. I had

10 asked some questions and tried to get some

11 followup with the railroad as there are some

12 tents and individuals living off of Olive

13 Street near the Keystone Mission.

14 So I asked if the city and the

15 Lackawanna County railroad were actively

16 focusing on the steps regarding any cleanup in

17 these areas. The answer I got was that on

18 February 28th, the Scranton Police Department,

19 DPW, and Law Department met with agencies

20 including the Lackawanna Heritage Valley

21 Authority.

22 We (inaudible) spring cleanup of

23 those public areas and discussed private

24 properties. We discussed here in caucus

25 tonight with the representative from the
 58

 1 Keystone Mission and I think what we need to do

 2 is we need to have a balance.

 3 I understand that we do need to help

 4 people. And there are people in need. But how

 5 are we going to balance that with the residents

 6 that are in the areas of these agencies? I do

 7 know that there are residents in those areas

 8 that are affected, individuals that spill over

 9 from the Mission and I do understand that

10 people do need help.

11 But I think the Keystone Mission if

12 they are looking to partner with the city, they

13 do need to be good neighbors. And they do need

14 to look into how they can be better neighbors

15 in that area. We talked about that 1720

16 Dorothy Street. The city went in a new

17 direction when it came to pavecuts.

18 They worked with the union to remove

19 some of those positions. And they decided to

20 go with a company. With that 1720 Dorothy, if

21 we can use that as an example, please let us

22 know what the timeline of that is going to be

23 and what that company's process is for

24 inspecting these cuts.

25 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will, sir.
 59

 1 MR. SCHUSTER: Back when our

 2 bridges -- when we passed legislation regarding

 3 our bridges, timelines were discussed.

 4 Completion dates were discussed. Can we get an

 5 update on the timeline for that Elm Street

 6 bridge so residents know what the timeline

 7 looks like?

 8 It was discussed at that time. But

 9 I think maybe we need to get that information

10 back out there so residents understand that

11 timeline for completion.

12 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will, sir.

13 MR. SCHUSTER: I do have a couple

14 properties and addresses that are pending, but

15 one in particular that I continue to get calls

16 about and I do have several e-mails is 925-927

17 Oxford. So this -- I'm aware that it's moved

18 from a two unit to a four unit.

19 And with that, it would need to have

20 to go in front of zoning particularly for the

21 parking and also something to consider is

22 refuse pickup. Now that it's a four unit,

23 they're going to need to get a private hauler.

24 Some e-mails were sent but I haven't had an

25 answer back yet.
 60

 1 Does that address have a private

 2 hauler for their refuse and have they gone in

 3 front of the zoning board in order to address

 4 their parking situation and off-street parking?

 5 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll ask both

 6 questions.

 7 MR. SCHUSTER: Thank you very much.

 8 The last one I have is last Thursday there was

 9 a fire in Moosic. Mr. Lucas came to our

10 meeting last week to discuss coverage outside

11 of the city. Engine 2 was sent out to Moosic

12 for some time.

13 And if we could just reach out to

14 the administration to discuss what their

15 process was for those callouts, how do we cover

16 the stations and areas of the city that were

17 left uncovered during the time that Engine 2

18 was in Moosic.

19 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll take care of

20 it.

21 MR. SCHUSTER: Thank you. That's

22 all, Mr. Smurl.

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

24 Dr. Rothchild, do you have any motions or

25 comments?
 61

 1 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes, I do. Thank

 2 you. So first off, I wanted to request an

 3 update on a study that I had asked for on South

 4 Washington Avenue because of some the traffic

 5 concerns there. So, Mr. Voldenberg, if you

 6 could please reach out to SPD again. I don't

 7 believe I had seen any responses on that.

 8 MR. VOLDENBERG: We do have a

 9 response. I'll share it with you.

10 DR. ROTHCHILD: Okay. Thank you. I

11 appreciate it. And then in addition to that,

12 I'm not sure if this is included in there. But

13 there was a question from another resident

14 about line painting on South Washington Avenue,

15 specifically at the intersection of Broadway

16 and South Washington where there are straight

17 lanes and then right turning lanes and

18 requesting if we could get the city to repaint

19 the right turn only lane and the straight lane

20 and then left turn in the other lane.

21 I -- especially with the Elm Street

22 bridge having been closed, you know, there is

23 more traffic down there and I think it's

24 confusing for motorists with the lack of line

25 painting now.
 62

 1 MR. VOLDENBERG: That's correct.

 2 That will be handled by PennDOT. And we did

 3 get an answer.

 4 DR. ROTHCHILD: Okay.

 5 MR. VOLDENBERG: No deadline but we

 6 did get a slight timeframe.

 7 DR. ROTHCHILD: Okay. Great. And

 8 also along the lines of line painting, I had

 9 asked last week about for St. Patrick's Day and

10 if DPW would be painting the green lines again

11 along parade route like they normally do.

12 And so DPW intends to use a water

13 soluble green paint for this year's parade. It

14 will last a fraction of the time and could be

15 removed by a pressure washer if needed. So

16 that satisfies my question. So hopefully that

17 won't stick around for too long following the

18 parade.

19 And on top of the Rubicon, there is

20 some things that I'll touch on once we get to

21 that piece of legislation. But I did have a

22 question last week regarding that. And the

23 data on the number of go backs from DPW since

24 it's been in use and I believe when they were

25 here for the caucus we were also told that they
 63

 1 had (inaudible) on that on the go backs that

 2 DPW was having to do for trash pickups.

 3 And the results I received since the

 4 optimization was launched on December 9th,

 5 we've seen 1,885 not outs logged by the drivers

 6 within Routeware. There have been previously

 7 estimated cost $63 per go back and the

 8 presentation accounts on September 24th.

 9 Attached you'll see a sample of how

10 the data is collected in the system and the

11 reference back to the image that the driver has

12 uploaded while there's a substantial increase

13 in the drivers reporting these not outs.

14 There will always be instances where

15 the DPW team will return to help the resident

16 upon request. Frequent not outs are now stored

17 in the system and can be continued to provide

18 accountability as to when the DPW team was

19 there servicing the address.

20 So I'm still going to -- want to ask

21 for some more clarity on the response because

22 I'm not sure if the not outs also qualify as go

23 backs if there -- and they did provide the --

24 just like a sample of the data. And all it

25 says is not out along with, like, the date if
 64

 1 it's residential, the address and what section

 2 of town.

 3 So I would like to know if there is

 4 separate tracking of go backs or if the not

 5 outs are go backs if we return to the address

 6 essentially that the trash was not put out or

 7 if it's just on request from the residents or

 8 the resident calls in and says I forgot to put

 9 my trash out and you already came, could you

10 come back for it, so just want to clarify that

11 some more.

12 And then I was in the belief that

13 there was more of a tracking, you know, say

14 week to week from previous months as to how

15 often we were doing those go backs. And that's

16 what I was looking for. I do understand that

17 the more that it's used that they're going to

18 have better tracking of it.

19 So I don't if that would skew

20 numbers. But I'll have further conversation

21 with them. And I'll send you some more

22 specific questions, Mr. Voldenberg.

23 MR. VOLDENBERG: Thank you, Dr.

24 Rothchild.

25 DR. ROTHCHILD: Thank you. And
 65

 1 lastly, there's one other thing that I wanted

 2 to bring up and I'll try to be brief about it.

 3 But I believe it was brought up during citizen

 4 participation. And it's something I think

 5 right now there are a lot of changes that are

 6 being made around the country that are

 7 affecting a lot of people just over the past

 8 month or so with the new administration and

 9 some things that I'm especially fearful of and,

10 you know, the cuts to Medicaid and Medicare but

11 also rollbacks for transgender rights.

12 And that's something that LGBTQ

13 community is something I've been very

14 passionate about since I'm a member of that

15 community. And I just feel, you know, I need

16 to stand up for the people in my community.

17 And so there have been a lot of attacks from

18 the election cycle up until now that are really

19 specific towards transgender people.

20 And I just have a message for people

21 that are in that community especially trans

22 youth. And I just want them to know that you

23 don't need to listen to people who are

24 attacking you and using your life to justify

25 their hate and their biases.
 66

 1 And I think that you just need to

 2 continue to be who you are because that's a

 3 thing that's going to bother them most, so just

 4 wanted to put that message out there. And

 5 that's all I have. Thank you.

 6 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Dr.

 7 Rothchild. Mr. McAndrew, do you have any

 8 motions or comments?

 9 MR. MCANDREW: I have a couple.

10 Rubicon, I'll talk a lot more about it in 6th

11 order. Even hearing -- I was never for it from

12 the get-go. And now there's an addendum to the

13 contract where now there's sticking around for

14 five years, not with a yearly open renewal.

15 But the only way we could exit is if

16 there's a failure to perform. They failed

17 miserably to perform the past three years. So

18 how do we get a five-year contract under whose

19 discretion, a judge's? Don't like that piece,

20 but I'll talk more on the question.

21 So a resident came up to me and

22 there's an issue with a property, Mr.

23 Voldenberg. It's 1324 Lafayette. It's a huge

24 garage that someone -- it's a new owner

25 obviously. It's happened since the new owner
 67

 1 was from out of town, has a huge 80 foot garage

 2 that he rents out to people that are operating

 3 an illegal business in there.

 4 The residents are, you know, they've

 5 reached out to everybody in the city. It's in

 6 some form of process. I'm not sure where it's

 7 at. But, you know, they have been told by the

 8 city, you know, since Labor Day that, you know,

 9 they are working on it. He's been cited. He's

10 this. He's that. But can we just get an

11 update on the property because supposedly there

12 was a cease but it's happening again.

13 They're still working out of it,

14 compressors late at night, music, all kinds of

15 nonsense going on there. So if you could

16 please get us an update on that property.

17 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll get you an

18 answer tomorrow.

19 MR. MCANDREW: Thank you. I

20 inquired about a couple issues and received

21 some responses. So the first one was about the

22 reciprocal services with the fire department

23 and other municipalities. You know, initially

24 we were told it's an ongoing -- it's a long

25 time understanding or agreement. So I wanted
 68

 1 to see it in writing if that's the case.

 2 So I had these additional inquiries

 3 regarding reciprocal services. The answers I

 4 got was he asked -- meaning myself -- regarding

 5 the long term agreements with outside

 6 municipalities if Council may have a copy of

 7 any agreements or is it just a verbal

 8 agreement. All right.

 9 Second question, Mr. McAndrew asked

10 if the city may respond regarding last week's

11 query if the fire department is adequately

12 staffed to take on responsibilities outside of

13 the city. Fair question, you know, if we don't

14 have enough staff to go outside the city, they

15 should remain here and take care of our

16 residents.

17 We want to help. I get that. But

18 we have to do it right. Then further is a back

19 fill or personnel or call out employed during

20 the events. That means calling people in if we

21 have firefighters helping other municipalities

22 when you back fill or call them in, that's

23 overtime. Okay.

24 Overtime will be incurred. Has the

25 city considered compensation for any overtime
 69

 1 necessary for the shift or additional callouts,

 2 meaning we should bill, you know,

 3 municipalities we're helping to cover

 4 overtime, fiscal responsibility.

 5 Then does the Scranton Fire

 6 Department have a written policy and procedure

 7 on file related to reciprocal services and may

 8 Council have a copy of the document. I got one

 9 answer for all them extended questions from the

10 week before.

11 And the answer is a meeting would be

12 an appropriate venue for this discussion. So

13 let's have a meeting, Mr. Voldenberg. I would

14 like it in caucus form, not in executive

15 session because these are questions that

16 everybody's concerned about. So they're saying

17 a meeting is warranted, let's schedule one and

18 get the answers.

19 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll take care of

20 it.

21 MR. MCANDREW: Thank you. So I've

22 had multiple issues regarding the 300 block of

23 Meadow Avenue, you know, the hotel itself.

24 There seems to be something going on there. We

25 need another look at that. There was a traffic
 70

 1 study that I requested over maybe a year and a

 2 half, two years ago.

 3 And the issues were that gas station

 4 that's across from Gerrity's when it was built

 5 you weren't supposed to exit left. And there

 6 was supposed to be arrows dictating that and

 7 signage and it was part of the whole ordinance

 8 and everything.

 9 So that's still not clear if they

10 rectified that situation but like the no left

11 turn signal needed. But I've had additional

12 complaints with at least -- so they did go up

13 and do the crosswalks based upon the traffic

14 studies. So the traffic study was completed.

15 They did some line painting and

16 crosswalks. But the answer I got as to, you

17 know, these arrows and lanes because now, you

18 know, there is going to be Wawa up there and

19 Aldi's. It's only going to, you know,

20 contribute to some more congestion and

21 uncertainty with the road itself.

22 So the answer I got was the 300

23 block of Meadow Avenue was paved and striped as

24 part of the fall 2023, 2024 Scranton paving

25 project. That's great. As further updates are
 71

 1 made, the city will continue to monitor the

 2 traffic and make changes as deemed necessary.

 3 New arrows will be included on

 4 Moosic Street as part of the Wawa plan

 5 submitted to PennDOT. That's fine. That's

 6 another project. We need the arrows on Meadow

 7 right across from Gerrity's.

 8 That was the initial -- that's what

 9 the question is about arrows. We get there

10 will be more arrows when Wawa opens up and

11 there should be. So let's clarify that one,

12 please if you wouldn't mind sending that over.

13 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will, sir.

14 MR. MCANDREW: Because this issue

15 was long before Wawa. And that is all I have.

16 Thank you.

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

18 I have a report from PennDOT because all the

19 bridges when they are being replaced they are

20 completely run by PennDOT. The city really has

21 no say when they start them, when they finish

22 them or pretty much anything.

23 That's why you see flaggers down

24 there now instead of the police department

25 because it's a state project, not a city
 72

 1 project. But they did -- I knew they had

 2 ordered some lighting, some new traffic lights.

 3 But the following temporary improvements will

 4 be made by PennDOT in effect through the

 5 duration of the project.

 6 So and I know they started because I

 7 saw them pulling the wires today. They are

 8 adding two signal heads to allow for a

 9 dedicated left turn from the intersection of

10 South Washington Avenue and Hickory Street, one

11 to allow a dedicated left turn South

12 Washington to Hickory Street and one right turn

13 to allow continuous right turn from Hickory

14 Street to South Washington Avenue.

15 The upgrade -- upgrade the signal

16 controller to allow adjustments to be made

17 during the rush hour. So and they will also

18 add line painting to add safety and install

19 temporary pedestrian signals activated by push

20 button to enhance pedestrian safety.

21 Also, a video detection to the

22 traffic signals to enhance efficiency and

23 provide additional signage for new dedicated

24 turning lanes. So I believe all of these

25 corrections should finally ease some of that
 73

 1 traffic down there.

 2 I know this was their study. This

 3 is all PennDOT's doing. It's not the city. So

 4 that's why they are doing this all. Why it

 5 wasn't done before they started the bridge I

 6 have no idea. But I don't know anybody that

 7 could really tell PennDOT what to do.

 8 Also, the gift cards, they were

 9 donated by Gerrity's. And we had thanked them

10 when they donated them. That is all, Mr.

11 Voldenberg.

12 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-B. FOR

13 INTRODUCTION - AN ORDINANCE - AUTHORIZING THE

14 MAYOR AND OTHER APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS TO

15 EXECUTE AND ENTER INTO A CABLE FRANCHISE

16 AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF SCRANTON AND RCN

17 TELECOM SERVICES (LEHIGH), LLC D/B/A ASTOUND

18 BROADBAND.

19 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll

20 entertain a motion that Item 5-B be introduced

21 into its proper committee.

22 MR. KING: So moved.

23 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second.

24 MR. SMURL: On the question? All

25 those in favor of introduction signify by
 74

 1 saying aye.

 2 MR. KING: Aye.

 3 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye.

 4 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye.

 5 MR. MCANDREW: Aye.

 6 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes

 7 have it and so moved.

 8 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-C. FOR

 9 INTRODUCTION - AN ORDINANCE - RATIFYING THE

10 EXECUTION OF TEMPORARY CONSTRUCTION EASEMENT

11 AGREEMENTS FOR PARCELS LOCATED AT 1771

12 MCDONOUGH AVENUE AND 1804 BLOOM AVENUE,

13 SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

14 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll

15 entertain a motion that Item 5-C be introduced

16 into its proper committee.

17 MR. MCANDREW: So moved.

18 MR. KING: Second.

19 MR. SMURL: On the question? All

20 those in favor of introduction signify by

21 saying aye.

22 MR. KING: Aye.

23 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye.

24 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye.

25 MR. MCANDREW: Aye.
 75

 1 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes

 2 have it and so moved.

 3 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-D. FOR

 4 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - AUTHORIZING THE

 5 MAYOR, THE BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR AND OTHER

 6 APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS FOR THE CITY OF

 7 SCRANTON TO EXECUTE AND ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT

 8 WITH GREENMAN-PEDERSEN, INC., TO PROVIDE

 9 ENGINEERING AND DESIGN SERVICES FOR THE CONNELL

10 PARK REHABILITATION PROJECT.

11 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll

12 entertain a motion that Item 5-D be introduced

13 into its proper committee.

14 MR. KING: So moved.

15 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second.

16 MR. SMURL: On the question? All

17 those in favor of introduction signify by

18 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-E. FOR
 76

 1 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - RESOLUTION FOR

 2 PLAN REVISION FOR NEW LAND DEVELOPMENT LOCATED

 3 IN THE 400 BLOCK OF DAVIS ST.

 4 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll

 5 entertain a motion that Item 5-E be introduced

 6 into its proper committee.

 7 MR. KING: So moved.

 8 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second.

 9 MR. SMURL: On the question? All

10 those in favor of introduction signify by

11 saying aye.

12 MR. KING: Aye.

13 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye.

14 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye.

15 MR. MCANDREW: Aye.

16 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes

17 have it and so moved.

18 MR. VOLDENBERG: SIXTH ORDER.

19 6-A. READING BY TITLE - FILE OF THE

20 COUNCIL NO. 59, 2025 - AN ORDINANCE - AMENDING

21 FILE OF THE COUNCIL NO. 92 OF 2021 "AUTHORIZING

22 THE MAYOR AND OTHER APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS

23 TO EXECUTE AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT BETWEEN

24 THE CITY OF SCRANTON AND RUBICON GLOBAL, LLC TO

25 PROVIDE SMART WASTE RECYCLING DATA COLLECTION
 77

 1 AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR THE

 2 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS' SOLID WASTE AND

 3 RECYCLING FLEET" TO AMEND THE NAME TO READ

 4 ROUTEWARE, INC., EXTEND THE TERM AN ADDITIONAL

 5 60 MONTHS AND UPDATE THE PRICE SCHEDULE.

 6 MR. SMURL: You've heard reading by

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

 8 MR. KING: Mr. Chairman, I move that

 9 Item 6-A pass reading by title.

10 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second.

11 MR. SMURL: On the question?

12 MR. KING: On the question, Mr.

13 Solicitor, since this is an ordinance, this

14 will move up to Seventh Order if passed

15 tonight, correct?

16 ATTY. GILBRIDE: That's correct.

17 MR. KING: So that gives us time to

18 get all questions answered between this week

19 and next week for a possible final passage.

20 ATTY. GILBRIDE: In theory, yes.

21 MR. KING: Okay. Let me ask you

22 this, in Seventh Order do we have the ability

23 to table it in Seventh Order if we don't -- if

24 we're unable to get the answers that we're --

25 ATTY. GILBRIDE: Yes, you do. You
 78

 1 always retain the right to table.

 2 MR. KING: Very good. Thank you.

 3 MR. SCHUSTER: On the question, I'm

 4 going to state I was against this from the

 5 start. We were proposed something very similar

 6 in the Scranton School District and we were

 7 guaranteed the same type of savings with less

 8 vehicles in the city as the school district has

 9 more vehicles than the city does.

10 The savings were stated as upwards

11 of $300,000. At this point in time we're three

12 years into the contract with little to no

13 optimization, no financial savings have ever

14 been stated to Council or I have yet to hear of

15 those savings.

16 And something -- to my

17 understanding, something very similar to the

18 district just happened. This system was

19 implemented. Some of these routes are being

20 used and now it takes more trucks to get the

21 garbage off streets than it did prior to the

22 implementation of the system.

23 It appears that two more trucks are

24 needed during the week. Garbage lays in South

25 Scranton. On top of that, we were told that
 79

 1 there's a maintenance component. This thing

 2 was going to look into the computer system of

 3 the truck. It's going to tell us when possibly

 4 oil changes are needed, when exhausts need to

 5 be monitored, you know, maintenance things such

 6 as this.

 7 And at our last caucus we were told

 8 that DEF regeneration system is having

 9 problems due to this device being inserted into

10 the truck. I have lots of issues with this.

11 I'm going to be voting no for this tonight.

12 One question I wanted to know was, this week

13 there was a CDL safety training at DPW.

14 And some of the safety concerns of

15 the system with the new laws being passed in

16 Pennsylvania were discussed at that. I'm being

17 told that the department director is aware of

18 it. Can we get any kind of recommendations

19 that came out of that CDL safety training in

20 regards to the Rubicon system?

21 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will, sir.

22 MR. SCHUSTER: Thank you. That's

23 all.

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

25 Dr. Rothchild, oh, I'm sorry. I know you said
 80

 1 you had questions.

 2 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes, so on the

 3 question, I also had my reservations about

 4 Rubicon. I stated in the past my

 5 disappointment with their performance and our

 6 services. During our caucus that we had a few

 7 weeks ago with the administration about

 8 Rubicon, I had asked about what it would take

 9 for us to change software if there was another

10 vendor.

11 And I believe I was provided the

12 answer that not that it would have been

13 impossible, but it would be a lot more costly

14 than the contract that we have in front of us

15 and that it would make it very difficult to be

16 able transfer those routes and have those

17 changes once again occurring just when drivers

18 are finally getting used to it now.

19 So, you know, I do understand the

20 barriers there. I think that there were good

21 questions and points brought up from the

22 citizens tonight and from our Council too. I

23 do want to make sure that we get some more of

24 those questions answered.

25 And I think we need to make sure
 81

 1 that they're -- that they're responded to.

 2 Keeping in mind what Councilman King did say

 3 about this being in Sixth Order and still

 4 reserving the right to table it next week, I

 5 will vote yes to move it forward tonight but

 6 still really want an answer to some of those

 7 questions that we have yet to receive. Thank

 8 you.

 9 MR. SMURL: Thank you.

10 MR. MCANDREW: Okay, on the

11 question, I don't have any more questions for

12 Rubicon. I've heard enough, seen enough. And

13 I also experienced the same situation on the

14 school board where they brought a company in

15 just like this. It's ground hog day. All

16 right, promised the world, delivered nothing.

17 And some of you have been through

18 this here the public comment, not just tonight,

19 not just last week, for years asking the

20 question what's up with Rubicon. When are they

21 going to roll it out? Why is the garbage

22 sitting?

23 They rolled it out three times.

24 Each time they did, the garbage sat. Two of

25 the times was the first week of July or last --
 82

 1 June, July. It stunk. It was horrible. We

 2 got to fix it. We're collecting data. Right,

 3 promised a million dollars.

 4 I could spend all night on this. I

 5 really don't want to because I'm just -- well,

 6 I'm done with it. But your perspectives were

 7 always appreciated by me. And especially

 8 tonight we have Mr. Simrell here, another great

 9 perspective as an IT person.

10 You even made points that I didn't

11 even think of. I mean, I did bring up, you

12 know, why is renewing the contract the only

13 option we have. I did look into getting our

14 own GEO trackers and using an app and it's

15 doable.

16 No one wants to hear it, but it's

17 doable and it's cheaper. It's like $5 a truck.

18 Let's be real. I mean, if Rubicon was the be

19 all, do all, everything, I'd be behind this.

20 If it saved us money, sure I would. But it

21 didn't do anything for us.

22 And now they want the contract --

23 the last time we met was just it's going to be

24 one year with an open renewal. I'm familiar

25 with that process and then we hear now it's an
 83

 1 addendum -- there's an addendum to have a

 2 five-year contract and the exorbitant increases

 3 that is built in and stuff that we probably

 4 don't see increases or extra costs.

 5 And the only way to separate is for

 6 us to somehow prove that their failure to

 7 perform? And whose discretion? Obviously the

 8 administration is never going to say they have

 9 a failure to perform because they supported

10 them for three years.

11 We had problems. Some of the

12 administrators admitted there was problems.

13 The DPW staff says there's big problems. So

14 and at whose discretion can we separate, a

15 judge's that doesn't have a clue what's going

16 on here?

17 So again, I mean, I -- like I said,

18 I don't want to talk anymore on this. This has

19 been a horrible performance. And again, I

20 appreciate you, Mr. Simrell, coming in late in

21 the game, and that shows that you care. You're

22 a resident. You did a little homework and I

23 appreciate it very much. Okay, thank you. All

24 right.

25 So I'll definitely be voting no
 84

 1 again. And I don't want to see any more

 2 questions or I don't have anymore.

 3 MR. SMURL: Thank you. So I did

 4 some research also because I wasn't here when

 5 Rubicon was introduced. But I know each time

 6 it was implemented there were a lot of problems

 7 with the system. So to find out what the

 8 problems were, I met with some of the DPW

 9 drivers this Monday.

10 And they explained the problem that

11 they have massive problems with what's called a

12 turn by turn part of the program and that

13 because of that, some of the alleyways and

14 courts were never being picked up with the

15 garbage.

16 So they said if we went off of

17 course off of that truck where it was sending

18 you and you went into the courts to grab the

19 garbage that they knew was there, the truck

20 then would reset because you went off the

21 course.

22 So and it would continually reset

23 until they went back to the original spot where

24 they actually went off course to reset itself.

25 So they had that -- was a big concern. That,
 85

 1 you know, everybody else -- every time your GPS

 2 shuts off and you are waiting for

 3 it to reset, that's frustrating.

 4 So to have the guys in the back

 5 waiting and the driver waiting for that thing

 6 to reset -- and I understand why they're

 7 frustrated. They also had other concerns with

 8 the system. One of the things they brought up

 9 with the corrections, the drivers had been

10 making to the system that they went on -- they

11 actually went out on the weekend, drove their

12 course and had -- I don't know how they traced

13 it.

14 But they recorded all of that.

15 These drivers did that and went out to try to

16 get this system straightened out because they

17 didn't believe that it was being corrected by

18 Rubicon or whatever they sent in to Rubicon

19 wasn't really working. So they did spend time

20 doing all of that which we paid overtime for it

21 to have it done.

22 So they do have a lot of time

23 invested in it. And they also naturally they

24 used the program to do other DOT inspections.

25 So and finally talking with them, they said
 86

 1 they have a ton of time in there. They do have

 2 into the software a lot of their corrections.

 3 And it's still not 100 percent.

 4 But naturally nothing is ever going

 5 to be 100 percent. But they do have a lot of

 6 time invested in correcting all of these

 7 things. If they find a situation that they're

 8 not -- doesn't work on their route, they take

 9 it back and they did mention the gentleman's

10 name that change it is -- in the system for

11 them.

12 But it is really the discretion of

13 the drivers on the route if this -- if it's

14 really not working and they believe there's a

15 problem. So again, it doesn't make sense to me

16 to bring new software in or try something

17 different if they are -- these drivers have

18 that much time committed into correcting this.

19 Now, I don't know how correct it is

20 or how close it is to being done properly. But

21 I have to tell that you because that's what we

22 spoke about when I met the drivers. And I

23 don't want all of their work going to waste.

24 Now, whether we next pass this or --

25 and start something new, I don't think starting
 87

 1 a new program is the answer. I believe

 2 software, you just can't go and write yourself

 3 and do programs yourself. And it's kind of a

 4 difficult thing to do.

 5 I spoke with our IT Department and

 6 they simply can't do it. It's just -- we

 7 don't have the staff to do all of that work.

 8 So I was content with what the drivers had told

 9 me. And I'm glad they met me. And I thank

10 them for meeting with me.

11 And I know some of the trucks

12 actually have scales in them. Now, I don't

13 know how many of them that record the weight

14 and stuff. I was told that one time they were

15 all going to have them. But that was a while

16 back.

17 The other thing we discussed was

18 Title 75, the act that Governor Shapiro had

19 signed. And that goes into effect on July --

20 or, I'm sorry, June 5th. And what that has to

21 do with is distracted driving which the DPW

22 drivers were all being trained on, distracted

23 driving.

24 So during that program, someone had

25 brought up a handheld device. And that is one
 88

 1 of the main issues why this is going into law

 2 is because of handheld device -- and it's

 3 really a lot to do with handheld device and

 4 using it while you're moving.

 5 It does also say in that -- we went

 6 over this with the DPW because, you know, that

 7 was a big concern of theirs having this

 8 equipment on the dash that can we actually use

 9 this stuff and not get cited because it's a

10 portable device.

11 So our questions went in and were,

12 okay, if the DPW, if they mount these systems

13 that they are using on -- we mount them into

14 the vehicle just like every police vehicle in

15 Pennsylvania, just like all safety vehicles,

16 fire trucks, they all have this equipment

17 mounted in there. So nobody could use it now?

18 So it's not going to be any good after the 5th?

19 I don't believe that was the intent.

20 So we need more clarification on that

21 naturally. But I wanted to let you know what I

22 actually had spoke to these drivers about

23 because they deserve to be heard too. And

24 that's all have for that.

25 All right. All those in favor
 89

 1 signify by saying aye.

 2 MR. KING: Aye.

 3 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye.

 4 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed?

 5 MR. MCANDREW: No.

 6 MR. SCHUSTER: No.

 7 MR. SMURL: The ayes have it and so

 8 moved.

 9 MR. VOLDENBERG: SEVENTH ORDER.

10 7-A. FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE

11 COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS - FOR ADOPTION - FILE

12 OF THE COUNCIL NO. 58, 2025 - APPROVING AND

13 AUTHORIZING THE ACQUISITION BY EASEMENT

14 AGREEMENTS, DEED IN LIEU OF CONDEMNATION, OR

15 OTHERWISE OF THE NECESSARY RIGHTS, FRANCHISES,

16 LICENSES, EASEMENTS OR TITLES OF LAND REQUIRED

17 FOR PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY EASEMENTS IN ORDER

18 TO COMPLETE THE KEYSER VALLEY FLOOD PROTECTION

19 PROJECT ("THE PROJECT" (GROUP 1 OF EASEMENTS)

20 AND AUTHORIZING THE FILING OF A DECLARATION OF

21 TAKING PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE EMINENT

22 DOMAIN CODE, IF REQUIRED.

23 MR. SMURL: What is the

24 recommendation of the Chairperson for the

25 Committee on Public Works?
 90

 1 MR. SCHUSTER: As Chairperson for

 2 the Committee on Public Works, I recommend

 3 final passage of Item 7-A.

 4 MR. KING: Second.

 5 MR. SMURL: On the question? Roll

 6 call, please.

 7 MS. HERBSTER: Mr. King.

 8 MR. KING: Yes.

 9 MS. HERBSTER: Mr. Schuster.

10 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes.

11 MS. HERBSTER: Dr. Rothchild.

12 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes.

13 MS. HERBSTER: Mr. McAndrew.

14 MR. MCANDREW: Yes.

15 MS. HERBSTER: Mr. Smurl.

16 MR. SMURL: Yes. I hereby declare

17 Item 7-A legally and lawfully adopted.

18 MR. VOLDENBERG: 7-B. FOR

19 CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC

20 WORKS - FOR ADOPTION - RESOLUTION NO. 181,

21 2025 - WAIVING RESPONSIBLE CONTRACTOR ORDINANCE

22 REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PROCUREMENT OF FROUDE

23 AVENUE STORMWATER IMPROVEMENTS.

24 MR. SMURL: What is the

25 recommendation of the Chairperson for the
 91

 1 Committee on Public Works?

 2 MR. SCHUSTER: As Chairperson for

 3 the Committee on Public Works, I recommend

 4 final passage of Item 7-B.

 5 MR. KING: Second.

 6 MR. SMURL: On the question? Roll

 7 call, please.

 8 MS. HERBSTER: Mr. King.

 9 MR. KING: Yes.

10 MS. HERBSTER: Mr. Schuster.

11 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes.

12 MS. HERBSTER: Dr. Rothchild.

13 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes.

14 MS. HERBSTER: Mr. McAndrew.

15 MR. MCANDREW: Yes.

16 MS. HERBSTER: Mr. Smurl.

17 MR. SMURL: Yes. I hereby declare

18 Item 7-C legally and lawfully adopted.

19 MR. VOLDENBERG: 7-C. FOR

20 CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON COMMUNITY

21 DEVELOPMENT - FOR ADOPTION -

22 MR. KING: Excuse me, just

23 correction. It was 7-B.

24 MR. SMURL: 7-B.

25 MR. KING: For the record.
 92

 1 MR. VOLDENBERG: 7-C. FOR

 2 CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON COMMUNITY

 3 DEVELOPMENT - FOR ADOPTION - RESOLUTION NO.

 4 182, 2025 - RESOLUTION FOR PLAN REVISION FOR

 5 NEW LAND DEVELOPMENT LOCATED IN THE 1000 BLOCK

 6 OF WHEELER AVE.

 7 MR. SMURL: What is the

 8 recommendation of the Chairperson for the

 9 Committee on Community Development?

10 DR. ROTHCHILD: As Chairperson for

11 the Committee on Community Development, I

12 recommend final passage of Item 7-C.

13 MR. KING: Second.

14 MR. SMURL: On the question? Roll

15 call, please.

16 MS. HERBSTER: Mr. King.

17 MR. KING: Yes.

18 MS. HERBSTER: Mr. Schuster.

19 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes.

20 MS. HERBSTER: Dr. Rothchild.

21 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes.

22 MS. HERBSTER: Mr. McAndrew.

23 MR. MCANDREW: Yes.

24 MS. HERBSTER: Mr. Smurl.

25 MR. SMURL: Yes. I hereby declare
 93

 1 Item 7-C legally and lawfully adopted.

 2 MR. VOLDENBERG: EIGHTH ORDER.

 3 8-A. RESOLUTION NO. 183, 2025.

 4 MR. SMURL: This resolution is a

 5 liquor license transfer. And it will be tabled

 6 until a public hearing can be held on Tuesday,

 7 March 11th at 5:45 p.m.

 8 If there's no further business, I'll

 9 entertain a motion to adjourn.

10 MR. MCANDREW: Motion to adjourn.

11 MR. SMURL: Thank you. This meeting

12 is adjourned.

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25
 94

 1 C E R T I F I C A T E

 2

 3 I hereby certify that the proceedings and

 4 evidence are contained fully and accurately in the

 5 notes taken by me of the above-cause and that this copy

 6 is a correct transcript of the same to the best of my

 7 ability.

 8

 9

10
 Maria McCool, RPR
11 Official Court Reporter

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21 (The foregoing certificate of this transcript does not

22 apply to any reproduction of the same by any means

23 unless under the direct control and/or supervision of

24 the certifying reporter.)

25