COUNCIL — Scranton, PA
Date: 2025-06-23

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 1 COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF SCRANTON

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 4 HELD:

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 7 Tuesday, June 17th, 2025

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10 LOCATION:

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12 COUNCIL CHAMBERS

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

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 GERALD SMURL - PRESIDENT
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 MARK MCANDREW, VICE PRESIDENT
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 JESSICA ROTHCHILD
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 THOMAS SCHUSTER
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 WILLIAM KING
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 FRANK VOLDENBERG, CITY CLERK
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 KATHY CARRERA, ASSISTANT CITY CLERK
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 THOMAS GILBRIDE, ESQ., COUNCIL SOLICITOR
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 1 (Pledge of Allegiance.)

 2

 3 MR. SMURL: Please remain standing

 4 for a moment of silent reflection for our

 5 service men and women throughout the world and

 6 for those who have passed away in our

 7 community, especially Joyce Hendrick{phonetic}

 8 and Leo Wentz. Thank you. Roll call, please.

 9 MS. CARRERA: Mr. King.

10 MR. KING: Here.

11 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Schuster.

12 MR. SCHUSTER: Present.

13 MS. CARRERA: Dr. Rothchild.

14 DR. ROTHCHILD: Here.

15 MS. CARRERA: Mr. McAndrew.

16 MR. MCANDREW: Present.

17 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Smurl.

18 MR. SMURL: Dispense with the

19 reading of the minutes.

20 MR. VOLDENBERG: THIRD ORDER.

21 3.A. OVERTIME REPORT FOR ALL

22 DEPARTMENTS FOR MAY, 2025, AS PROVIDED BY CITY

23 CONTROLLER, RECEIVED MAY 23, 2025.

24 3.B. LACKAWANNA COUNTY PLANNING

25 COMMISSION SUBDIVISION AND LAND DEVELOPMENT
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 1 EVALUATION REPORTS REVIEWED MAY 27, 2025.

 2 3.C. CONTROLLER'S REPORT FOR THE

 3 MONTH ENDING MAY 31st, 2025.

 4 MR. SMURL: Are there any comments

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

 6 received and filed. Do any Council members

 7 have any announcements at this time?

 8 MR. SCHUSTER: So I have a few. DPW

 9 just wanted to remind residents that both City

10 Hall and Department of Public Works is going to

11 be closed Thursday on June 19th, in observance

12 of Juneteenth. Trash and recycling will be one

13 day behind this week.

14 Also the Brooks Mine at Nay Aug Park

15 is open every Saturday for guided tours from

16 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. So there's no charge for

17 tours. But donations are gratefully accepted.

18 The mine is staffed by volunteers from the

19 underground minors group. So that is every

20 Saturday, guided tours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

21 I also had an opportunity today to

22 visit the Local 60 Scranton Fire Department had

23 an esophageal cancer screening today over at

24 Weston Field. It was today, tomorrow, and

25 Thursday.
 5

 1 That is going to be going on from 8

 2 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the next two days. The

 3 turnout was good today. And I would encourage

 4 current, active and retired firefighters to be

 5 screened. That is all, Mr. Smurl.

 6 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Anyone else?

 7 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes, I just wanted

 8 to give a reminder asked by Miss Jeffries about

 9 the Electric City Flower Show. That's

10 happening this Saturday, June 21st. That will

11 be held at Nay Aug Park between the hours of

12 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

13 And there's going to be 70 plus

14 vendors there. So a lot to -- a lot to do down

15 at Nay Aug this weekend. But I wanted to make

16 sure to bring that up again. And another thing

17 happening this week is Juneteenth. And

18 Thursday, the Black Scranton Project is going

19 to be having their annual block party.

20 That will take place from 2 p.m. to

21 8 p.m., at their place over on 1902 North Main

22 Avenue. And they have several other events

23 this year for Juneteenth as well. So they're

24 doing the following day, Friday, Black Scranton

25 Punk Fest from 2 to 6 at their center.
 6

 1 The following day on Saturday will

 2 be a church service over at Bethel AME Church.

 3 And that same day too, they'll also be having a

 4 brunch at 1 p.m. So plenty to do to celebrate

 5 Juneteenth. I just wanted to bring up all

 6 those events. That's all I have. Thank you.

 7 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Anyone else?

 8 MR. VOLDENBERG: FOURTH ORDER.

 9 CITIZEN PARTICIPATION.

10 MR. SMURL: Frank, one second. I

11 have just two. A public hearing that was

12 scheduled for today will be held next Tuesday

13 at 5:45, June 24th. And it will be advertised

14 so that everyone will be able to have all the

15 information for it. That's all.

16 MR. VOLDENBERG: FOURTH ORDER.

17 CITIZEN PARTICIPATION.

18 MR. SMURL: First, Joan Hodowanitz.

19 MS. HODOWANITZ: Joan Hodowanitz,

20 Scranton. First, I just want to say how great

21 the windows look. I would love to be able to

22 get into the building when the sun is shining

23 so I could see what it looks like. So, Frank,

24 I'll be calling you when that happens. You'll

25 bring me up, okay?
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 1 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll be here, Joan.

 2 MS. HODOWANITZ: And I really do

 3 think that it would be nice if, you know, when

 4 the sun is shining if someone takes pictures

 5 to, you know, make sure everybody knows how

 6 wonderful they look. DPW contract negotiations

 7 still progressing?

 8 MR. SMURL: Still ongoing.

 9 MS. HODOWANITZ: Yeah, one of the

10 reasons I keep mentioning it is, you know, I'm

11 sure that the BA office is deep into budget

12 preparations. And one of the things that would

13 be nice to know, you know, is if there's pay

14 raises for DPW employees, it should be factored

15 into the budget.

16 And if that doesn't happen if the

17 negotiations drag on past that point as it did

18 with fire and police, then you have to go back

19 and adjust the budget by giving backpay. So

20 let's hope it gets done soon.

21 Item 5-F, the recycling contract

22 with Waste Management, I found that very

23 interesting that they were talking about the

24 fee would be $96.65 per ton for commingled

25 materials that they were factoring in an annual
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 1 price increase based on the consumer price

 2 index. Anybody got a general idea what that

 3 CPI runs at approximately? Is it like 3

 4 percent, 5 percent?

 5 MR. SMURL: Joan, I used to know.

 6 Off the top of my head, I can't remember.

 7 MS. HODOWANITZ: Yeah, at any rate,

 8 I assume that hopefully it's close to the basic

 9 inflation rate which would make sense. But --

10 MR. SMURL: I believe they use it to

11 your specific area too. They don't use it as a

12 nationwide one. They use it to your GPI in

13 your area.

14 MS. HODOWANITZ: So it would be

15 interesting to see how that goes up annually.

16 Item 5-G, the people guru payroll processes

17 contract, I was a little surprised when I saw

18 the annual recurring fee would be $82,356.

19 One of the reasons I say that is one

20 of the easiest things to automate is financial

21 functions, like, we have Quick Books for

22 accounting and bookkeeping so you don't really

23 need to hire accountants and bookkeepers

24 anymore.

25 You have other things like Turbo
 9

 1 Tax, you know, so you don't have to have an

 2 army of tax preparers, you know. And these

 3 software programs are getting very

 4 sophisticated. And I'm just kind of curious,

 5 you know, hopefully down the road HR will be

 6 able to get software to be able to do this

 7 in-house.

 8 $82,000 for an annual recurring fee,

 9 that's over $1,500 per week just to do payroll.

10 That's a lot of money. And, you know, people

11 used to pay accountants and bookkeepers and tax

12 preparers and they're history. All you have to

13 do is buy the software and get the updates.

14 I looked at the overtime. And it's

15 not that bad. But police are budgeted for 1.5

16 million dollars overtime. And I hope that is

17 based on situation requirements that cannot be

18 controlled and not a staff shortage.

19 So that's one of the questions I

20 hope is asked during the budget process is take

21 a look at their overtime requirements and

22 firefighters too and what is the rationale for

23 it and because we should be aggressively

24 recruiting and retaining firefighters and

25 police.
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 1 Let's see -- oh, has anybody found

 2 out who is now the head of DPW now that Scott

 3 Gassenmeyer has flown the coop?

 4 MR. SMURL: The person running it,

 5 Frank, what is the gentleman's name that's

 6 running it now?

 7 MR. VOLDENBERG: They don't have an

 8 acting director as of today. However Mr. Pat

 9 Cusick is taking the helm.

10 MS. HODOWANITZ: Okay. I hope

11 they're beating the bushes looking, you know,

12 to get someone interested in that role. And if

13 you would in Fifth Order, if you have anymore

14 information on this Hilltop Heights Project on

15 South Webster and Saginaw Street, I would be

16 curious to hear about it because I haven't seen

17 much information in the local media. Thank

18 you.

19 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Joan. Bob

20 Bolus.

21 MR. BOLUS: I'd like to approach.

22 MR. SMURL: Give it to Kathy,

23 please.

24 MR. BOLUS: If could you hand them

25 that to pass through. I need it back before I
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 1 leave. Thank you. Council, Bob Bolus,

 2 Scranton. One of the things I'd like to really

 3 address tonight is PTSD.

 4 What I'm looking forward to doing

 5 here -- and I'll leave one of these with you

 6 when I'm all done. You could copy this and see

 7 that each one of the Council members get it.

 8 It's an introduction when Hurricane Helene

 9 occurred in late September causing 249 deaths

10 producing the most lethal hurricane in the

11 United States since '05, that was a consequence

12 at least 59.6 billion in damages.

13 But the issue I'm getting at is,

14 people who went out there, the first responders

15 recovering the bodies that were entombed in the

16 debris and the flood and everything else

17 developed PTSD. So I help you understand and

18 you'll be able to read through and you'll have

19 a good idea because it's kind of an extensive

20 thing.

21 But I'm involved with Dr. George

22 Lindenfeld who is a clinical psychologist in

23 North Carolina and was in Florida that we've

24 worked together. I brought him here once

25 already to speak at the Gino Merli about PTSD
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 1 regarding the troop, the medical staff and

 2 everybody else. And we invited the VA to be

 3 there.

 4 And they never -- they came in part

 5 way through the presentation, they walked out

 6 because it was about money. Our process isn't

 7 about money. It's about helping the people who

 8 have PTSD. And it could be anyone. It could

 9 be a housewife, an officer, military, first

10 responders.

11 I want to set up a clinic here in

12 Lackawanna County actually here in the City of

13 Scranton. And what I would like to do is take

14 the former church I have the Holy Cross Church

15 and convert that into a clinic for PTSD. And

16 we could work this out.

17 It's my belief that we need to help

18 our people and nobody's doing a damn thing

19 about it. So we have to take this forward and

20 move forward. So I'm willing to participate

21 here with the Council and everyone else to

22 establish the PTSD clinic. And we all got to

23 get behind it because it could happen to any

24 one of you or anyone sitting here.

25 So it's an epidemic in our community
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 1 and nobody realizes how intensive PTSD is. And

 2 I'm going to leave this here so they have it.

 3 Thank you. And the picture I showed you was

 4 back when Jim McNulty was the Mayor in '82,

 5 '86.

 6 I showed you him. He's sitting

 7 there when I ran against him in a pothole with

 8 a shovel. And guess what, we're in 2025 and

 9 we're still talking about the damn potholes.

10 How many administrations have gone through

11 here?

12 Look at Lackawanna Avenue the

13 gateway to the city. It's a damn shame, yet,

14 we could worry about Paige Cognetti and a pool

15 here, a splash park; and oh, look how pretty

16 this is and how pretty that is.

17 And you didn't look at a darn thing

18 about who comes here and what they think about.

19 And that's got to come to a halt. So this is

20 what I wanted to show you, how long this has

21 been going on and the rhetoric. We got to stop

22 it and make reality and put priorities and

23 that's pave these damn streets once and for

24 all.

25 The other part that went on here,
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 1 Gaughan -- I was here Saturday with the Bob

 2 Bolus Tours and Trucker's Trailer for Trump and

 3 America. And the people who stood there as far

 4 as I'm concerned were a bunch of traitors.

 5 Now what precipitated things in the

 6 past, Mr. Ramone came here and started talking

 7 about my past campaign. And he precipitated me

 8 defending myself and going after where it is.

 9 If you want to step on my toes, be prepared for

10 me to come back at you.

11 MR. SMURL: Mr. Bolus, we don't --

12 no threats.

13 MR. BOLUS: Okay, and I appreciate

14 the Council understanding where it is. But

15 nobody told him you can't talk. He wasn't

16 hammered out. He wasn't told to stop. Other

17 people came up here blasting me trying to say

18 that I said something negative about Jessica.

19 Her profession is one of the best

20 damn professions. She knows. She's seen me at

21 Lehigh Valley going through physical therapy

22 there that I needed when I tore an Achilles

23 tendon. And there's nothing better than her

24 profession.

25 The other part of it has nothing to
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 1 do with her professionally. And I want people

 2 to get that through their damn head that made

 3 those comments.

 4 MR. SMURL: Thank you.

 5 MR. BOLUS: But I do nothing but

 6 respect what she does and how many poor-ass

 7 bodies like ours that she's put back together.

 8 Thank you, Jessica.

 9 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Thank you.

10 MR. BOLUS: Thank you, Council.

11 MR. SMURL: Angela Ramone.

12 MS. RAMONE: It's good to see

13 everyone here tonight. I have a few different

14 things I'd like to speak about so I'll try to

15 be a little brief with each one. But the first

16 thing I'd like to discuss tonight is related to

17 my previous comments regarding immigration and

18 the city's relationship with ICE.

19 Earlier today I looked at the news

20 and heard that New York City mayoral candidate

21 Brad Lander as well as the City Controller was

22 arrested and detained by ICE in the New York

23 City courthouse.

24 The reason why he was detained is

25 because he was present during immigration
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 1 hearings were going on in the courthouse that

 2 are part of the normal legal process that

 3 people go through when they request asylum,

 4 permanent residency and so on and so forth in

 5 our country.

 6 And he was walking with some of

 7 these immigrants who are going through their

 8 hearings through the courthouse because he was

 9 concerned about their safety as ICE had been

10 operating in the courthouse an snatching up

11 immigrants left and right regardless of whether

12 they are here illegally or not or whether they

13 have deportation orders or not.

14 And what I would like to say as it

15 relates today Scranton is, are we going to take

16 action here to make sure that those sorts of

17 events don't take place? Are we going to make

18 sure that our courthouses remain a place where

19 people are able to safely appear regardless if

20 they're a plaintiff, a defendant going through

21 civil proceedings or a criminal even and know

22 that they could show up that they could testify

23 and not be concerned that they are going to be

24 illegally detained by the federal government

25 because we allow them to operate here.
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 1 I would like the City Council to

 2 take a moment to consider all of the people in

 3 Scranton who are witnesses to crimes, victims

 4 of crimes who appear in our courthouses on a

 5 regular basis to testify, to think about all

 6 the people who because of the actions of

 7 immigration enforcement and the lack of our

 8 city protecting -- protecting our immigrant

 9 community, how many people are afraid to come

10 forward to the police when they are victims of

11 crimes or when they've seen something happen

12 they know that their testimony could make a

13 difference between a guilty conviction or

14 someone walking free who should be in prison.

15 It does no good whatsoever for our

16 community, for our city, for the entire process

17 of law to allow ICE to come into our city, into

18 our courthouses, into our City Hall, into our

19 schools, into our hospitals and illegally

20 detain people who are going about their daily

21 lives, going about their business who are just

22 trying to be members of our community because

23 they deserve to feel safe in the same way that

24 I deserve to feel safe and so do all of you.

25 So that's all my comments regarding immigration
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 1 tonight.

 2 I'd also like to briefly talk about

 3 a safe haven resolution that Dr. Rothchild had

 4 mentioned the other day that she's currently

 5 drafting and talk a little bit about the

 6 importance of protecting queer people's rights

 7 in our city.

 8 Many, many, many queer people across

 9 Pennsylvania and across the United States at

10 this moment are facing vicious, deliberate

11 attacks from their elected representatives,

12 from their legislators who are trying to make

13 it impossible for queer people to exist safely

14 out in public.

15 We've seen it in our own community

16 here where I've been harassed. I've been

17 threatened. I -- in particular sexually

18 harassed with comments made about how, you

19 know, I should get a bra because I really need

20 to wear one, which was made two weeks ago

21 today, being out in public in the city I've

22 been accosted called a faggot, called a tranny

23 by people who do not know me, have never met me

24 once in their lives and just felt in their

25 hearts it was the right thing to do to go out
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 1 of their way to make my day worse and harass me

 2 for no other reason than to hurt other people.

 3 A safe haven resolution is an

 4 important step that the City of Scranton could

 5 take to protect the rights of all queer people

 6 in our city to be protected from harassment, to

 7 be protected from discrimination out in public,

 8 in our workplaces, in our schools and

 9 healthcare and so on and so forth.

10 So I would like you to consider

11 passing such resolution. Thank you, and have a

12 good day.

13 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Ryan

14 Lindberg.

15 MR. LINDBERG: Ryan Lindberg, 1420

16 Capouse. Good evening, Council. Thank you for

17 this opportunity to speak tonight. I'm here

18 also about community safety, not just as it

19 relates to law enforcement but about how our

20 city's cooperation with federal immigration

21 enforcement particularly ICE affects whether

22 all Scranton residents feel safe and protected.

23 We know that as a city, we're

24 required to comply with federal laws. That's

25 not what's in question. But how we choose to
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 1 cooperate and how far we go, that matters. We

 2 could follow the law without helping to enforce

 3 unjust and discriminatory practices.

 4 In many recent cases ICE today often

 5 extends far beyond individuals with criminal

 6 records. Instead, they often seem to target

 7 communities based on who lives there, who shops

 8 there and what people look like. This creates

 9 a culture of fear, not safety. This fear is

10 not abstract.

11 Earlier this month after reports of

12 ICE presence in the Hill Section, local groups

13 distributed red cards outlining individual

14 rights because people were scared. This fear

15 is real and has a local impact. Now, I'm not

16 here to accuse every ICE officer of bad

17 intentions.

18 But we cannot ignore the real harm

19 that's happening simply because someone made a

20 wrong assumption about who they were or where

21 they came from. And this isn't hypothetical.

22 We have seen a 54-year-old man with a learning

23 disability detained in Illinois despite having

24 an ID on him.

25 We have seen a pregnant woman and
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 1 her four children removed from her home while

 2 ICE searched for her undocumented husband.

 3 Just a week ago, we've seen an Afghan

 4 interpreter who supported our troops detained

 5 while attending an immigration hearing for his

 6 visa and now he fears execution if he's

 7 deported back to Afghanistan.

 8 These are not isolated incidents and

 9 they are part of a disturbing pattern

10 concerning. And sadly this pattern is not new.

11 Back in 1904, a Scranton superintendent of

12 police Lona B. Day gave a speech in Washington,

13 DC called lawlessness among the foreign

14 speaking people.

15 He singled out Italian immigrants as

16 dangerous, not for what they did but for who

17 they were. That speech used to just unfair

18 treatment under the name of law enforcement.

19 That was 120 years ago in Scranton. But if

20 we're not careful, we risk repeating that

21 history in modern form.

22 We have a choice to do better to

23 lead with humanity instead of fear. So tonight

24 I respectfully ask City Council to consider the

25 following actions. One, ensure no city agency
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 1 cooperates with ICE without a judicial warrant.

 2 Two, prohibit city departments from

 3 sharing private resident information with ICE.

 4 That includes court dates, addresses, or school

 5 enrollment data. Three, make our school,

 6 libraries and hospital ICE free zones.

 7 No one should be afraid to seek

 8 care, read a book, or send their child to

 9 school. And finally, support legal defense

10 resources for immigrant families. Due process

11 is an inalienable right granted by the

12 Constitution. It shouldn't depend on someone's

13 income level or private access to counsel.

14 I'm not asking to us break the law.

15 I'm asking us to lead with fairness. Now, I

16 believe that religion and politics should be

17 kept separate. However, regardless of faith I

18 think we all recognize the value of the golden

19 rule. Treat others the way you want to be

20 treated. That's not just a religious value.

21 That's a human one. And it should

22 guide how we treat each other in the city. I'm

23 not here to only raise concerns. I want to

24 support the steps Scranton's already taken to

25 become a more just welcoming city.
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 1 Let's continue that progress

 2 together and remember how we treat the most

 3 vulnerable says everything about who we are.

 4 So let's not choose -- let's not lose our

 5 humanity in the pursuit of what we think

 6 justice looks like.

 7 Instead, let's us lead with

 8 compassion and come together to build a better

 9 tomorrow. Thank you for your time.

10 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Les

11 Spindler.

12 MR. SPINDLER: Good evening,

13 Council, Les Spindler, Scranton, city resident,

14 homeowner. I'm going to say something about

15 last week and that's all I have to say about

16 it.

17 Last week everybody came down on Bob

18 Bolus for what he said. Bob Bolus isn't the

19 one that started this war of words. The person

20 Bob was talking about was the one that started

21 it. The week before that person spoke about

22 Bob Bolus. If he didn't want anything said

23 about him, he shouldn't have said anything

24 about Bob Bolus.

25 Bob Bolus never spoke to that
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 1 person, never spoke about them. And Bob was

 2 the one who was provoked and I can't blame him

 3 for coming back at that person. And I'm amazed

 4 at how you people stood up for that person

 5 because he was the one that started it, not Bob

 6 Bolus. And all of these people showed up last

 7 week because their friend had their feelings

 8 hurt.

 9 Well, boohoo. The one speaker said

10 we show up, really? You show up? Where are

11 you tonight? You show up once out of the 52

12 weeks out of the year because your friend had

13 their feelings hurt. I show up. I've been

14 coming to these meetings for 23 years.

15 Joan Hodowanitz shows up. Bob Bolus

16 shows up. Lee Morgan shows up. We showed up

17 when Chris Doherty was trying to tear this city

18 apart and not pay our unions and we know where

19 that ended up. So we show up. Showing up for

20 one week out the 52 weeks isn't showing up.

21 That's all I'm going to say on that

22 matter. Lastly, I think Bob is owed an

23 apology, not that other person. I spoke about

24 this two weeks ago, pave cut in the 1400 block

25 of Bulwer Street. Nothing was done and it's
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 1 getting worse. I go there every day.

 2 You have to literally stop your car

 3 and just roll through with your foot on the

 4 brake or you're going to do damage to your car.

 5 It's unbelievable. It keeps sinking and

 6 sinking.

 7 And I don't know if it was the gas

 8 company or the water company. But it's

 9 terrible. It's right in the middle of the

10 block, the 1400 block.

11 MR. MCANDREW: Mr. Voldenberg,

12 please follow up on that.

13 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will.

14 MR. MCANDREW: Thanks. All right.

15 Well, let's check on it.

16 MR. SPINDLER: Now another thing,

17 the storm drains that they put in on Dorothy

18 Street last year by the ball fields, I spoke

19 about this before. They didn't do a good job.

20 They didn't allow for settling. I mean, the

21 storm drains are working, but in certain spots

22 what they put in settled and now there's

23 puddles there.

24 All the water's not making it to the

25 storm drains. I'm no engineer, but I know you
 26

 1 got to fill it in and allow for settling. And

 2 they didn't do that and now it's settled in

 3 certain areas and there's deep puddles after

 4 the big rains.

 5 So whoever did that, doesn't know

 6 what the heck they're doing. So I don't know

 7 if they could do anything about it now. It

 8 might be too late. But it is better than it

 9 was, but it's still not perfect.

10 Lastly, Bob mentioned Lackawanna

11 Avenue. I mentioned that a number of weeks

12 ago. It's terrible, terrible. It's like --

13 like it was hit by bombs. It's so rough. And

14 the one corner I said there's no arrows or

15 telling you where to go.

16 People are going straight from the

17 turning lanes. It's terrible shape. For one

18 of the main streets of the city, they got to do

19 something about it. But I think that's a

20 PennDOT road, but something's got to be done.

21 That's all I have tonight. Thank you.

22 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Susan

23 Connors.

24 MS. CONNORS: Good evening, Susie

25 Connors, lifelong Scranton resident. I'm here
 27

 1 for two reasons tonight. The first is that I

 2 just want everyone to know publically that I

 3 stand behind the LGBTQ community as well as all

 4 ethnicities and religions.

 5 As a 100 percent Ashkenazi Jew, I

 6 have been met with many incidents of

 7 anti-Semitism. So I know -- not lately, but

 8 even when I was a kid actually. So I know

 9 exactly what it feels to be on that end of the,

10 you know, the receiving end of that.

11 And I want to just read a poem by a

12 pastor, a Lutheran Pastor named Martin

13 Niemoller who lived from 1892 to 1984. I'm not

14 going to go into his whole background. But he

15 was born in Germany. He was a Nazi

16 sympathizer. He voted for Hitler in 1933.

17 But by 1938 he had changed his

18 thinking drastically and because of that he was

19 sent to Dachau. He was in a concentration camp

20 from 1938 to 1945 until the camps were all

21 liberated. If you want to know more about him

22 you could Google him. I'm not going to go into

23 his complete history and story. But it is

24 quite fascinating.

25 Again, it's Martin Niemoller,
 28

 1 N-I-E-M-O-L-L-E-R. But anyway he wrote a poem

 2 in 1946 that I think is very appropriate for

 3 today. He said, "In Germany first they came

 4 for the communists and I did not speak out

 5 because I was not a communist.

 6 Then they came for the Jews, and I

 7 did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

 8 Then they came for the trade

 9 unionists, and I did not speak out because I

10 was not a trade unionist.

11 Then they came for the Catholics and

12 I did not speak out because I was a Protestant.

13 Then they came for me and there was

14 no one left to speak out for me."

15 So very wise words from a man who

16 spent seven years as a political prisoner, by

17 the way.

18 Now, on a nice -- a good note, I

19 want to just mention that this Sunday, June

20 22nd is Jim Connors Day at Nay Aug Park where

21 there will be concerts from 1 to 6 with bands,

22 Doug Smith's band, Magic Moments with Paulette

23 Costa, the Taxmen which is a Beetles tribute

24 band and Broke Pines which happens to be my

25 son's band.
 29

 1 Around 3:15 there will be a

 2 dedication ceremony dedicating the Summer

 3 Concerts in Jim's name. So I hope you could

 4 all come. Thanks.

 5 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Mrs. Connors.

 6 Ron Ellman.

 7 MR. ELLMAN: Good evening, Council.

 8 Growing up, one of the things I learned that it

 9 takes a good man to say he's sorry. And I

10 mean that, you know, inside of me. And as an

11 ignorant fool at this time I -- I did so many

12 things. I ran around with an older crowd in

13 Memphis.

14 As I said, I grow up with so many of

15 those boys that went on Stella Stevens and

16 Elvis and so many of them. I used to meet my

17 friends to play golf almost every year. I

18 drove from California to Memphis to spend a

19 couple of days and that was before the

20 expressways. That's what my friendship meant

21 with them.

22 Now, 50-some years I've been here, I

23 have developed so many friendships with -- that

24 mean so much to me. And to see a meeting

25 destroyed like last week was very hurtful.
 30

 1 Mr. Bolus expressed an opinion. Those people,

 2 they want to change. They want -- they

 3 mandated for Council and us to accept their

 4 ideas on everything.

 5 We can't do that. You know, I'm

 6 just -- I have really just had enough. I

 7 probably in the last 50 years I've been -- I

 8 came here in 72 with Jimmy Klee for a meeting.

 9 That's how long I've been to them. I went a

10 couple of times with him.

11 I sat with Mr. Connors and him at

12 lunches. So many people that -- they're all

13 gone now, but I would like to see a room named

14 after Jimmy Klee. That man spent 50 years in

15 this building. He's forgotten now.

16 Well, being on the streets like I've

17 been all of my life, most of my life up until

18 now, I must have been to 4 or 500 meetings in

19 this room. And it was -- some across at the

20 library that probably you all don't know about

21 when they were working here doing something.

22 And I bet I've talked to a thousand

23 people over all of these years mostly about

24 politics. And we're a forgotten city, you

25 know, no McDade no more, no Casey, no
 31

 1 Courtright. We're sort of like a little corner

 2 that's forgotten.

 3 Bridget relies on her husband to see

 4 what's on CNN or something to tell her how to

 5 vote. She -- she made a statement like that to

 6 run for office. Well, I'm going to run for a

 7 Council seat. I don't need any donations

 8 because donations are nothing -- contributions

 9 are nothing but obligations.

10 That's why the Mayor has such a huge

11 war chest. And somebody needs to wake up

12 sleeping beauty and tell her there's an

13 election coming on. I hope to be a voice for

14 all the people like Janet Evans was. And I

15 have so many thoughts and ideas that were given

16 to me over the years that I'd like to present

17 at the Council meetings. And I hopefully will

18 be elected. If I'm not, I'll just go on my way

19 like I always do. Thank you.

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

21 Lee Morgan.

22 MR. MORGAN: Good evening, Council,

23 Lee Morgan. There's nothing on the ECTV

24 fiasco that's going on right now. I'm still

25 waiting for their attorney to respond to me.
 32

 1 But, you know, last two weeks sat home, watched

 2 the meetings.

 3 You know, I'm so opposed to the flag

 4 that we're flying outside. And it's not

 5 because somebody is a homosexual or

 6 transsexual. It has nothing to do with that.

 7 You know, we're a nation so divided that

 8 finally the Supreme Court has ruled that

 9 Caucasian people have been discriminated since

10 the beginning of affirmative action.

11 You know, discrimination wears many

12 faces. And I think that we've lost sight of

13 reality here. Nobody cares what they do in

14 their bedroom. I remember when I was a child.

15 I grew up on Mulberry Street -- not all of my

16 childhood, but my adolescence.

17 We had the most flagrant transsexual

18 that lived right in front of us. When he was a

19 man he was Richard Spindler. When he was a

20 woman he was Marcellas. You know, when people

21 come and what we've done to our country is just

22 kind of ridiculous watching these meetings.

23 I mean, people are talking about

24 gender affirming care. Their gender was

25 affirmed at birth. Nobody cares, you know, if
 33

 1 somebody wants to change their appearance.

 2 That's fine. I don't think the taxpayers

 3 should do it. You know, when somebody comes

 4 here and they tell you they want to be

 5 respected -- and I think everybody should be

 6 respected.

 7 But when they hand you a file from

 8 the court on a speaker who came here and spoke

 9 and the Council takes it and just the politics

10 this Council played with this issue is just

11 amazing. It's terrible.

12 You know, my father went to fight

13 World War II from high school at Scranton Tech

14 to Europe. D-Day just went by. You know, why

15 don't we put a flag up for a month for that?

16 Why don't we put up a -- put up some kind of

17 thing that shows all the veterans who were left

18 behind in the Vietnam War that never came home?

19 You know, everybody is screaming

20 about rights and wanting to be respected. But,

21 you know what, respect goes two ways not just

22 one way. And for the people who come here and

23 complain about the conditions of the streets

24 and the city's condition, they voted for all of

25 this for over all the decades.
 34

 1 And it hasn't served us well. Don't

 2 forget we had a pothole machine. It sat out in

 3 the rain allegedly and they discarded it or

 4 they'd be fixing all the potholes. We've

 5 just -- we've taken ourself in a place where

 6 it's hard to realize that our government is

 7 really representing us.

 8 We have a person coming up here

 9 talking about due process, yet, they have a

10 removal order. That means they had due

11 process. You know, we have an exit named after

12 Joe Biden here. It's just -- it's the -- it's

13 the silliest thing. He never knew he was

14 President.

15 It's the most -- it's the silliest

16 thing and they basically just about proven it.

17 It's elder abuse. They used to put tape on the

18 floor so he knew where to walk to. His own

19 family knew he wasn't competent and nobody

20 cared.

21 And the country didn't care either

22 because people got killed in Afghanistan, a ton

23 of people -- over a million people got killed

24 in Ukraine. He got on public -- he got on

25 television and said that the Democratic party
 35

 1 had built the most advanced election fraud

 2 machine the history of mankind.

 3 That's how diminished he was. And

 4 the American people just stood there and

 5 watched it. And the Congress and Senate, just

 6 like you gentlemen, our legislators stood

 7 there -- not just Democrats, but Republicans

 8 too and did nothing, nothing absolutely

 9 nothing.

10 And the history books, they're

11 already being printed, okay? All of these

12 people that were on all the Department of

13 Treasury, you name them. They had to give

14 their questions that they were going to ask the

15 President in writing. He couldn't call up a

16 reporter and ask a question.

17 He had to have the question and the

18 answer they were going to give him before he

19 called their name. Everything was played out.

20 And you wonder why the country is in the

21 trouble it's in because the American people

22 lack something, backbone and commitment. Thank

23 you.

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

25 Rik Little.
 36

 1 MR. LITTLE: Hi, I'm Rik Little from

 2 Scranton, still running for Mayor. In the

 3 course of human events in the city, it's been a

 4 wild week, I mean, a milestone week for me.

 5 I'd like to congratulate Josh Balz for his Warp

 6 Tour that he put on over there four days on

 7 Wyoming Avenue.

 8 I think in years to come it will be

 9 looked back as the Woodstock of Scranton. And

10 then there was my childhood greatest hero,

11 Brian Wilson died who I discovered when I was

12 10 years old through a radio coming in from

13 Kentucky.

14 And when I heard the first Surfin

15 USA in Chicago, I just go into the record store

16 and say, give me Surfin USA. But his whole

17 life was a -- it's like everything, the fights

18 in his family. Most of the band was his family

19 and up and downs. And, you know, he had

20 Alzheimer's. And his brother Karl died of

21 cancer.

22 His other brother Dennis, the whole

23 Manson thing. We're talking about pop culture

24 here and LGBTQ and, you know, things that make

25 you famous, things that make you rich, you
 37

 1 know, but we've just been taught for years and

 2 years to be slaves. I mean, I've been -- it's

 3 been called numerous different things for

 4 years.

 5 I think Alex Jones pinned perfectly

 6 calling it globalism. But I've been seriously

 7 thinking about it for 50 years, you know, the

 8 illuminati, the deep state, the military

 9 industrial complex.

10 And just this week, I mean, it's

11 biblical the stuff that's happening. All my

12 life there's trouble in the holy land and we're

13 talking about World War I and World Was II and

14 veterans. And, you know, I see these people

15 out there protesting the No Kings Day. No

16 Kings Day is July 4th, by the way.

17 But no one really -- you know, they

18 just twist everything in the media to make it

19 fit. And we're talking about, you know, people

20 are saying I see all of these signs, you know,

21 Medicaid saves lives and Medicare saves lives.

22 Well, you know, Social Security

23 saves lives. And in this town there's a lot of

24 people who are right on the cusp because I know

25 that Scranton Housing Authority they are very
 38

 1 strategic. They start their evictions in the

 2 fall when the holidays come where you can't say

 3 anything to a judge.

 4 I mean, Judge Moyle said to me

 5 nobody wants to see you homeless. Well, that's

 6 a lot of BS. Of course, they want me homeless,

 7 you know, because I witnessed what happened in

 8 their buildings. And now there's these people

 9 at Park Gardens and they're all like, you know,

10 old ladies and men who have been here for God

11 knows how long, you know, 50 years.

12 They're old. They're, you know,

13 Irish Catholics. They're Democrats. They

14 brought up this thing. But we've been

15 brainwashed into this whole thing, you know,

16 climate change. And it's, you know, I walk by

17 the Times-Tribune and look at the printing

18 press in there.

19 They don't print the paper there.

20 They ride a diesel truck to Philadelphia to

21 print the thing out. And, you know, all of

22 this talk about flags. I want to talk about

23 the government, you know, I made a mockup of a

24 flag that I'd like to see done. It's the Happy

25 Homeless Flag, HH with a roof there.
 39

 1 And it's translucent so you could

 2 see through it. And I propose that -- I gave

 3 you the legislative thing last week because I

 4 couldn't figure it out on my phone how to send

 5 all of this stuff. But I think it would be

 6 great if we got our heads together on what

 7 this legislative body is, what the executive

 8 locally is, which is the Mayor.

 9 And, you know, the judiciary runs it

10 all. The DAs run it all. The lawyers run it

11 all in this whole area.

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

13 Dave Dobrzyn. Dave. Somebody wake Dave up.

14 MR. DOBRZYN: I was out in the

15 hospital the last two weeks on Tuesday night.

16 Nothing fixed anyway. Okay, you know, these

17 cuts to the pave were brought up again. And

18 Lackawanna Avenue, I mean, I seen it last year.

19 It was the utilities tearing it all

20 up right from by the movie theater all the way

21 up past Dunkin' Donuts. Please don't tax me to

22 fix that. Sue them first. It's a must. I

23 don't have any more left.

24 Okay, you know, I don't know what --

25 why we really needed the feature -- feature Old
 40

 1 Forge rabble-rouser down there on January 6th

 2 and the lawsuit. Forget about it. I'm not

 3 interested in your problems. Stock market,

 4 keep watching it.

 5 We're ruining the whole global

 6 financial network. We're determined, gonna fix

 7 it our way. You could buy bit coins and get

 8 rich. Whoopie. Yeah, right. I only have ever

 9 when I advise my misses in what to invest in,

10 it was only in legitimate companies in the S

11 and P. And it grew at 8 and a half percent a

12 year while she had that 401k.

13 Okay, we heard about arrests without

14 a hearing and stuff like that. I have a

15 concern. You know, back in South Africa

16 around the turn of the century, maybe the 90s,

17 they find that Mandella got released from

18 prison. And they had a reckoning court.

19 I don't know if that's what it's

20 called. I don't remember. But you could walk

21 into that court and admit to murders. As long

22 as you put guilty to the murder, you are not

23 punished for it because there was so much

24 violence going back and forth between black and

25 white and probably a lot of white people, a lot
 41

 1 more than black people.

 2 But the point being that now we're

 3 accepting immigrants from South Africa. I

 4 mean, I'm sure that little kid never committed

 5 a murder at that time. But it would be

 6 interesting to know if we are allowing people

 7 that pled guilty to murders, they could always

 8 stay where they're at. We don't need them.

 9 And Kennedy, my buddy, oh, take some

10 Vitamin A, Kennedy. He fired 17 people on the

11 Board of Health and Human Services last week.

12 They were experts on vaccinations and so forth.

13 And now he's hired QAnon type in its place,

14 conspiracy theorist.

15 I mean, like, really? You know,

16 this country is being destroyed. It's being

17 ruined. And it's being ruined by the people

18 that are in power right now. And the people

19 that didn't show up to vote even though they

20 probably knew better or should have known

21 better.

22 And, you know, the whole taxing,

23 putting a tariff on coffee. We don't grow

24 coffee here. We tariff an island that has

25 nothing but penguins living on it. You know, I
 42

 1 mean, such nonsense. We don't have enough

 2 problems. It's really stupid. I'm a little

 3 worried about the country because it's not --,

 4 you know, all of this. Medical attention isn't

 5 a privilege. It's not a right. It's a

 6 necessity.

 7 You know, and the last I heard the

 8 Medicaid, which is for indigent people, the

 9 bills were not paid from January 31st. So, you

10 know, I'm kind of tired tonight and struggling

11 with different things but --

12 MR. SMURL: Thank you.

13 MR. DOBRZYN: Hopefully things will

14 get better, but somehow I doubt it. Thank you

15 and have a good night.

16 MR. SMURL: That's all for our

17 sign-in sheet. Anyone else wish to address

18 Council?

19 MR. ARGENTA: Good evening, Council,

20 Virgil Argenta. Regarding the Keystone Mission

21 closing, a recipient of the American Rescue

22 Plan Act funds, they received 50,000 from the

23 city -- 43,500 to be exact from the City of

24 Scranton.

25 It's closing operations in Scranton
 43

 1 in Lackawanna County, in Wilkes-Barre in

 2 Luzerne County. Wilkes-Barre gave them

 3 $325,000. It's almost certain that we will not

 4 be able to recoup any of the funding. Would

 5 Council request a certified itemized

 6 documentation from Keystone Mission detailing

 7 where and how the city funds were spent

 8 followed by a forensic audit?

 9 The major question remains whether

10 the City of Scranton is prepared for the

11 potential influx of homeless individuals who

12 were previously serviced by Keystone Mission

13 daily.

14 Regarding the use of Weston Field

15 facilities and the clothing washing services,

16 how will these needs be addressed going

17 forward? There are honest true legitimate

18 nonprofits in the city that require assistance

19 that would benefit from some city support

20 rather than the fabricated nonprofit

21 organizations created by acquaintances.

22 How is this investigation of the

23 validity of many nonprofits going within the

24 city? Are we still looking into those? It's

25 time to demand a forensic audit of the ARPA
 44

 1 funds account rather than relying on someone's

 2 word and fabricated ledgers.

 3 Come January when the new City

 4 Council is seated, there will definitely be

 5 full accountability and transparency. That's a

 6 guarantee. The new 36 unit Hilltop Heights

 7 development initially believed to be a senior

 8 housing will now be low income.

 9 There is no problem with low income

10 housing. But the police -- but this area has

11 seen an increase in police incidents lately.

12 Is our police department adequately staffed for

13 the officer's safety first so they could

14 effectively handle their workload and protect

15 others safely?

16 The area for this development

17 already includes Hilltop Manor with 250 units,

18 Valley View Terrace with 189 units, Skyview

19 with 188 units, Laurel Woods in Minooka with 59

20 units totalling approximately 700 units in the

21 upper South Side neighborhood.

22 Other low income throughout the

23 city, downtown Scranton accommodates Adams

24 Apartment, 64 units, Adam High Rise with 185

25 units, Washington West with 120 units,
 45

 1 Washington Plaza 60 units and Midtown Village

 2 totalling approximately 500 units in the

 3 downtown area.

 4 West Scranton comprises Jackson

 5 Heights, 96 units. Jackson Terrace Apartments

 6 have 50 units. Riverside Apartments have 40

 7 units totalling approximately 200 units in West

 8 Scranton. North Scranton includes Bangor

 9 Heights with 150 apartments, Townhouse

10 Boulevard almost 200 apartments totalling a

11 little under 400 apartments in North Scranton

12 for low income.

13 There is additional low income

14 housing scattered throughout the city. The

15 condition of some of these properties managed

16 by the Scranton Housing Authority raises some

17 serious concerns. For example, Riverside

18 Apartments on Emmet Street exemplified these

19 issues.

20 Has anyone ever drove past there or

21 drove through there? Just because it's low

22 income, the citizens and the people that live

23 there don't need to be treated that way.

24 Another example of questionable

25 city-owned housing is Park Gardens where the
 46

 1 rent was raised with very little upgrade.

 2 Surprised if some of these units would even

 3 pass a HUD inspection.

 4 You've heard the complaints from the

 5 residents there. There hasn't been upgrades

 6 there in 30 years. If the current properties

 7 can't be adequately maintained, it is not

 8 advisable for the city to expand any further

 9 low income properties.

10 Council, you should put a stop to

11 that. Another notable example is the condition

12 of city parks. With the city adding more

13 parks, it makes absolutely no sense when they

14 can't keep up with the ones that they have.

15 Last week I presented a very dangerous

16 situation in the electric building, the five of

17 Linden.

18 Tonight it's still there and that

19 piece of copper is still flapping. Do you know

20 who you reported that to? Do you have a

21 contact person?

22 MR. SMURL: Yes.

23 MR. ARGENTA: So maybe we could call

24 that person and ask him why or he could

25 personally sign liability so nobody gets hurt?
 47

 1 MR. SMURL: He said -- they said it

 2 will be down by tomorrow, Mr. Moseberger.

 3 MR. ARGENTA: Okay. Thank you, Mr.

 4 Smurl.

 5 MR. SMURL: And our code enforcement

 6 was there when you called.

 7 MR. ARGENTA: Thank you.

 8 MR. SMURL: Thank you.

 9 MR. COYNE: Good evening, members of

10 Council, Tom Coyne, Minooka. First of all, in

11 reference to the DPW Director, I believe the

12 last DPW Director was let go about a month ago.

13 I'm not exactly sure when the date was that he

14 was let go.

15 But I understand that Pat Cusick

16 per the statement here is the acting DPW

17 Director. When did he officially -- no?

18 MR. MCANDREW: Not acting yet.

19 MR. COYNE: Okay, so there is --

20 MR. MCANDREW: We mentioned that in

21 caucus.

22 MR. COYNE: There is no acting

23 director at this point?

24 MR. SMURL: No.

25 MR. COYNE: Okay. So at this point
 48

 1 there is no director. There is not even an

 2 acting director. It's an open position.

 3 MR. MCANDREW: Not titled. I just

 4 found out today that one of the supervisors is

 5 handling it for now. That's all I have.

 6 MR. COYNE: Okay, I was just trying

 7 to figure out, say, if they were an acting

 8 director, the time clock has started for them

 9 either being permanently put in the position or

10 being removed. If there is no acting director,

11 who's running the ship? Someone has to be. Or

12 are we having an acting director that is not an

13 acting director so we don't run the clock?

14 MR. SMURL: -- doesn't want to be

15 the Director of DPW, but he is helping us

16 through this stage.

17 MR. COYNE: But someone has to be

18 the head that's trained, which would be acting.

19 Moving on from that, I brought up before you --

20 the first piece of paper is from the Office of

21 Open Records. The first one is a Sunshine Law.

22 And it brings up in Section 8, can

23 the public ask questions during the public

24 comment period. And the Office of Open Records

25 and the Sunshine Law specifically states, yes,
 49

 1 although members of the agency are not required

 2 to provide answers, it is a good process -- a

 3 good practice to do so whenever possible.

 4 Answering questions can demonstrate

 5 a commitment to helping constituents and in

 6 many cases answer questions informally at a

 7 public meeting. And it can reduce requests --

 8 future requests under the Right to Know Law,

 9 which saves time and money for both agency,

10 commenter and requester.

11 Under that section it also has which

12 is at the bottom of the sheet but I did not put

13 in there the open records also reflects that

14 speaking before City Council, you can limit it.

15 But the limit on it that is specifically put in

16 there is you could limit it to people who are

17 citizen and taxpayers.

18 They pay tax to the city in any way

19 whether it's payroll tax, whether it's living

20 out and working -- working here and living

21 outside the Scranton, whether it's owning a

22 building here. If they are a taxpayer of the

23 city, they have a right before this podium.

24 It's not that they have to live

25 here. And as a matter of fact, in Section 407,
 50

 1 the citizens right to be heard in the Scranton

 2 Charter itself it says, reasonable opportunity

 3 shall be provided for citizens and taxpayers to

 4 address City Council on agenda matters before a

 5 vote is taken.

 6 Procedures for citizens

 7 participation shall be determined by Council.

 8 But it's codified in your very own city code

 9 under Section 408 that taxpayers can speak. We

10 need to follow those rules unless you want to

11 put through an ordinance to change Section 407

12 of the City Code.

13 City Charter health and safety, this

14 has come up beforehand. And it's been come up

15 where who owns public safety for these

16 buildings. It's nebulous in how it's written

17 here, which makes me have to look back to when

18 my mother and the body created the charter

19 itself.

20 They had executive meetings and they

21 came together the government -- the

22 government's Council and they actually wrote up

23 the basis for the charter. And it was

24 discussed the separation of powers in that and

25 how City Council should be the one for public
 51

 1 safety because the Mayor may be from one part

 2 of the city, where City Council is usually from

 3 different sections and has -- is more adept at

 4 protection from different sections of the

 5 community.

 6 Section 502, acting requiring an

 7 ordinance, City Council shall meet any public

 8 emergency affecting life, health, property or

 9 the public peace. Section 609, which is the

10 powers of the Mayor, the Mayor shall have the

11 powers and duties to enforce, not to write, not

12 to create, to enforce any emergency powers that

13 may be established by ordinance to preserve the

14 health, safety of the citizenry. This body is

15 given the health. Thank you.

16 MR. SMURL: Thank you.

17 MR. MALACARIAS: Good evening,

18 Council, Frankie Malacarias, South Scranton. I

19 want to go through just let me start with some

20 disappointment about some of the words said up

21 here. And, of course, electioneering from the

22 podium and they've gone before you even been

23 able to make any of your statements, but

24 nothing new there.

25 First off, I would like to announce
 52

 1 today there was a local immigrant's rights

 2 coalition that was formed. It was announced

 3 paper -- articles are starting to come out

 4 about that. If any -- I urge everyone on

 5 Council to participate in helping to keep our

 6 immigrants safe in our city.

 7 We're a nation of immigrants. I'm

 8 pretty sure that everyone on Council, right,

 9 family's come from a different country so to

10 keep that in mind. But I would like to, you

11 know, reaffirm what I asked last week for City

12 Council to introduce legislation, both using us

13 as -- introducing us a welcoming city both for

14 the LGBTQ community and undocumented folks.

15 Lastly, for some of the resolutions

16 today I have some comments on the Lace Village

17 Dog Park Project. Lace Village is an upscale,

18 you know, development that is priced, you know,

19 fairly high for our region. There they have

20 private recreational facilities out there in

21 the, you know, that looks like it could very

22 well be public, bocce ball and I believe a

23 tennis court out there.

24 I don't believe that we should be

25 giving them a quarter of a million dollars to
 53

 1 develop a dog park with no strings attached.

 2 Since there are public recreational facilities

 3 there, I think that something that we should be

 4 asking in exchange for the quarter of a million

 5 dollars is to open up their facilities to the

 6 general public.

 7 I'm not against the -- a dog park in

 8 the region. I think that it's probably

 9 actually a good place for it. But I just think

10 that if we're going to be giving them a quarter

11 of million dollars in the idea of developing

12 the area around them, even if it's not directly

13 to Lace Village, that we should be getting

14 something out of that as taxpayers.

15 And I think by having them opening

16 up some of their facilities that are there

17 would be a great public benefit. So those are

18 the main things that I would like you guys to

19 consider this week. And I'll see you next

20 week.

21 MR. SMURL: Thank you. Anyone else?

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

23 MOTIONS.

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

25 any motions or comments?
 54

 1 MR. KING: No, just I was happy to

 2 see some of the streets getting ripped up

 3 today. They're starting that paving program.

 4 I know we have a number of streets identified

 5 that are -- that are going to be paved

 6 throughout the city as we typically do every

 7 year every summer.

 8 Also, I think I've been concerned

 9 about that wall on Lackawanna Avenue for years.

10 And it sounds like once we get this resolution

11 passed tonight, it sounds like the state is

12 going to be able to move forward to repair that

13 wall on Lackawanna Avenue and ultimately get

14 that Lackawanna Avenue paved because it is a

15 mess. That's all I have. Thank you.

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

17 Mr. Schuster, do you have any motions or

18 comments?

19 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes, I have few

20 comments. We do have on the agenda tonight a

21 new recycling contract. Last week we did have

22 a question about the recycling calendar which

23 we were looking into. But now that this

24 recycling contract may be passed tonight, can

25 we find out what the update is on the recycling
 55

 1 calendar and if that's going to be going out

 2 for the month of July?

 3 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will, sir.

 4 MR. SCHUSTER: Thank you very much.

 5 I got a call, the address is 2424 Cedar Avenue.

 6 The residents put in a complaint about a tree

 7 that's growing out into the road. They called

 8 the city to have the tree trimmers to see if it

 9 could be trimmed, but if we could put that in,

10 2424 Cedar Avenue.

11 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll take care of

12 it.

13 MR. SCHUSTER: I got an update from

14 the water company based -- on those basins that

15 keep coming up on Colfax Avenue, the water

16 company was out there I believe it was three

17 times. And they were out with the vac truck

18 today.

19 So they cleared roots out of the

20 basin. And they also cleared 1600 block of

21 West Gibson Street. So they just wanted, you

22 know, it to be known that that Colfax basin has

23 been cleared and they have been out several

24 times.

25 Last two weeks I did have some
 56

 1 questions about our SRA Director. And I asked

 2 if she could come in to give us an update on

 3 what's been going on with the SRA. And I did

 4 get an answer back that she would be happy to

 5 attend the caucus in July.

 6 So I'm happy to hear that we'll be

 7 having our SRA director come in to give us an

 8 update on what's been going on there over the

 9 course of the year. And we'll have her in in

10 July. Other than that, that's all I have for

11 tonight, Mr. Smurl.

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

13 Dr. Rothchild, do you have any motions or

14 comments?

15 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes, I do. First

16 off, I wanted to bring up an issue that was

17 brought to my attention by a resident who is on

18 Golden Avenue in North Scranton. And they are

19 having a lot of feral cat issues in that

20 neighborhood. I know it's been a systemic

21 issue throughout the city, but in particular

22 over there.

23 It seems to be pretty extensive and

24 affecting the neighbors' quality of life. So I

25 wanted -- and I know that they've reached out
 57

 1 from what they said several times in the past

 2 to our Animal Control. And I'd like for us to

 3 also reach out to them to see what's been done

 4 in that neighborhood to capture the feral cats.

 5 Sounds like they are also getting some diseases

 6 too. And a lot of them are sick and dying

 7 around people's property.

 8 MR. SMURL: I did reach out to

 9 the -- the people that take care of --

10 DR. ROTHCHILD: Animal Control.

11 MR. SMURL: Our Animal Control, yes.

12 And they have already started removing the cats

13 and they did speak with the people in the

14 neighborhood or I emailed them back. And they

15 did begin to remove them already out of the

16 neighborhood. So I don't know where they are

17 putting them, but I know they started removing

18 them.

19 DR. ROTHCHILD: Okay. I'm glad

20 we're on that, yeah, because I'd hate to see

21 the animals suffer as well and the residents.

22 And then there were a number of things that I

23 just wanted to check in on to check the status

24 of some things that I have been on top of for a

25 while now.
 58

 1 One of them being a property on

 2 Prescott Avenue, 429. Actually some members

 3 had come up from pictures that I had of the

 4 property. I think it was from four years ago

 5 and they had a fire. And it's been sitting

 6 there ever since.

 7 And at one point I think the owners

 8 were going to renovate and repair it but then

 9 didn't. And so it's still just there. And

10 it's becoming overgrown. And there was a

11 neighbor who was contacting me pretty

12 frequently about the property but they were

13 renting their place and they've since moved in

14 large part due to the nuisance of this property

15 being there.

16 So I'd like to find out if it's

17 still on the condemnation list, if it's going

18 to be on a demolition list, what the status is.

19 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll ask the blight

20 coordinator tomorrow.

21 DR. ROTHCHILD: Please. Thank you.

22 And I've been asking for new stop signs to be

23 replaced over at Madison Avenue and Olive

24 because they're quite worn and have graffiti on

25 them as well. I believe that still hasn't been
 59

 1 completed.

 2 MR. VOLDENBERG: That is on their

 3 list. I'll send out a reminder.

 4 DR. ROTHCHILD: Thank you. And we

 5 briefly talked about this in caucus. But I was

 6 inquiring too about if anything has been done

 7 over at the lookout with the repair of the

 8 stone wall that's there.

 9 And so to my knowledge it has not

10 been completed. And I think we were awaiting

11 on some information from DPW about doing that

12 or they were going to put it on their list.

13 And I'm aware that we don't have a director

14 currently of DPW. But if we could ask the

15 other staff about the lookout and see if there

16 are any plans to repair any time soon.

17 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will. I'll ask

18 Mr. Cusick tomorrow.

19 DR. ROTHCHILD: Okay. Thank you.

20 And one last thing that I've been asking about

21 the curb cut over on Colfax and Olive, still

22 looking for an update on that and what's

23 holding up that project.

24 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will, Dr.

25 Rothchild.
 60

 1 DR. ROTHCHILD: Thank you. I think

 2 that's all that I have. Thank you.

 3 MR. SMURL: Thank you, Dr.

 4 Rothchild. Mr. McAndrew, do you have any

 5 motions or comments?

 6 MR. MCANDREW: A couple. So last

 7 week, I mean, we came to a meeting where

 8 potholes were brought up and we all experienced

 9 an obstacle course to get here and get to work.

10 And I realize it and I've been getting

11 complaints from poor residents that are, you

12 know, getting flat tires or getting damage to

13 their car.

14 And I asked the week before last

15 what is recourse, what's a recourse for our

16 residents because I did hear in the past -- I'm

17 trying to remember. But the residents were

18 satisfied in some way. I don't remember the

19 process. I was too young.

20 But the answer I got last week,

21 well, it's the utility company's problem. So I

22 didn't like that answer. And I had Mr.

23 Voldenberg clarify to me and inquire and get me

24 a little more information because it didn't

25 sound right to me.
 61

 1 So what I got was, Council had

 2 inquiries in the city as a policy procedure for

 3 motorists in the city. So the Law Department

 4 process claims filed with the city as they're

 5 received. Receive the claim from the driver or

 6 the insurance company and file that claim with

 7 our carrier who assigns an adjustor to evaluate

 8 and make recommendations on the claim.

 9 If appropriate, we will issue

10 payment to our deductible. So there is policy

11 or is a procedure. We finally found out. And,

12 you know, it doesn't look like this is going to

13 get cleared up anytime soon, all of these

14 potholes.

15 I know there's a new system put in

16 place, a tracking system and a new strategy,

17 but until then, can you please have this put --

18 ask if they could put this on the website?

19 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will, sir.

20 MR. MCANDREW: So we can all refer

21 so whenever we get a call or you fine people

22 here can refer to other people as you hear this

23 complaint, it will be greatly appreciated. All

24 right. So next, I have a couple issues,

25 quality of life.
 62

 1 So 316 South Avenue the grass is out

 2 of control. This house was condemned due to

 3 animal hoarding. And there was a sheriff sale

 4 last week. And I don't think it was sold. So,

 5 you know, it's the beginning of the summer.

 6 It's going to get hotter. We had a lot of rain

 7 and this issue is not going to get any better

 8 so if you could please alert code enforcement

 9 to that property.

10 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will, sir.

11 MR. MCANDREW: And also, I'm getting

12 multiple complaints on the 700 block of West

13 Elm Street. There is constant speeding going

14 on. It's becoming very dangerous for the

15 residents if you could alert highway and them

16 know.

17 MR. VOLDENBERG: I'll alert them.

18 MR. MCANDREW: I will. Thank you.

19 And then I also received complaints about feral

20 cats. I don't know if it's the same person

21 because I don't have the actual street. But I

22 remember last year it was a big issue.

23 And they said they were going to get

24 better at it or, you know, there is a little

25 blame game with well, Griffin can't take them
 63

 1 unless they're, you know, they're dangerous or

 2 they're -- and they have no room. And then we

 3 have a great Street Cats organization that

 4 really does a lot for us.

 5 But they need help. The residents

 6 need help because I don't know if it's the same

 7 person, but she's having issues with cats that

 8 are all over her neighborhood. They have to

 9 power wash their patio.

10 If they want to go out and they have

11 to power wash their grill because it's that

12 bad. There's fleas and some type of cat

13 leukemia that's -- is that the same one then?

14 Well, I'm just going to expand a little because

15 I promised her I'd bring it up.

16 So it's an issue for the whole

17 neighborhood. It's not just her. And I'll be

18 honest with you. I have a couple cats in my

19 neighborhood. And I don't feed them. I don't

20 entertain them. I'm an animal lover. But

21 these are cats that are stray cats.

22 And when I go on my patio I have

23 these cushions that are covered with hair. So

24 there's, you know, they're sleeping on there at

25 night. And so we need to get better at this
 64

 1 and see what strategy different from last year

 2 what's going to happen because it's, like I

 3 said, it's going to get worse because it has

 4 since last year.

 5 MR. VOLDENBERG: We did reach out on

 6 that neighborhood. And I spoke with Mr. Smurl

 7 and he suggested that they develop a plan

 8 moving forward.

 9 MR. MCANDREW: Good. Good. We need

10 a strategy. And that's all I have. Thank you.

11 MR. SMURL: I have a few things.

12 This is from the Polish National Church. This

13 was sent to -- a check in the amount of $5,000

14 payment in lieu of our 2024 pilot and agreement

15 with me on October 14th, 2018, concerning

16 property identification number and they give

17 their property number.

18 I didn't know we had agreements with

19 anyone. But I will look into that after the

20 meeting. But they did send 5,000. And they

21 sent $2,500 to the Scranton School District,

22 $1,250 to the City of Scranton; $1,250 to

23 Lackawanna County in lieu of taxes. And this

24 is from Reverend Anthony Mikovsky from the

25 Polish National Church. Thank you for that.
 65

 1 It says an agreement. I'd like to

 2 look up and see what kind of agreement we had

 3 with them. Also, 507 Linden Street. That

 4 flashing -- two of the big pieces of copper

 5 flashing were taken down. But code enforcement

 6 was there and they said -- we got this response

 7 yesterday. They said it will be taken down in

 8 the next 48 hours.

 9 I hope by tomorrow it is gone.

10 Golden Avenue, we went over that with the stray

11 cats. And also 1016 Stafford Avenue, they are

12 doing the asbestos report on that building now.

13 And they are trying to find funding to take

14 that building down. That is the one with the

15 front that is falling off.

16 And one other thing, the corner of

17 Crown Avenue and Hickory Street where they are

18 building the new Yeshiva school, the entire

19 intersection is filled with, like, dirt, runoff

20 dirt and stuff. It just keep accumulating. I

21 asked the DPW if they would send the street

22 sweeper up there just to get it out of there.

23 And also code enforcement would look

24 at it or whomever would decide is the dirt

25 coming from construction project or is the dirt
 66

 1 coming from runoff on the road. I never seen

 2 it before. But if it just started -- but if it

 3 is the construction project, I would like them

 4 to do the -- take the proper steps and control

 5 that dirt that's all over the road.

 6 But if it is normal runoff then I

 7 understand it's ours, but it's never happened

 8 before. And also, Mr. Voldenberg, I believe I

 9 sent you this this morning, a church in the

10 1900 of Prospect, I had nine people sent me

11 complaints about it. It's gotten very loud and

12 they've asked me to quiet it down.

13 I don't know what the ordinance are.

14 I don't know if we have a machine to measure

15 the sound. But if we could send that to, I

16 believe, code enforcement and see if there is

17 anything we could do with that.

18 MR. VOLDENBERG: I will. I'll

19 follow up. It's been a problem in the past.

20 MR. SMURL: Oh, okay.

21 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yeah, I forward in

22 the past a couple times to SPD and we had not

23 received any response.

24 MR. SMURL: Very good. And that is

25 all.
 67

 1 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-B. FOR

 2 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - RATIFYING AND

 3 APPROVING THE EXECUTION AND SUBMISSION OF THE

 4 GRANT APPLICATION BY THE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC AND

 5 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY OF SCRANTON

 6 TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC

 7 DEVELOPMENT'S GREENWAYS, TRAILS, AND RECREATION

 8 PROGRAM (GTRP) FOR UP TO $250,000.00 TO BE USED

 9 TOWARDS THE WHITTIER SCHOOLYARD PROJECT.

10 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll

11 entertain a motion that Item 5-B be introduced

12 into its proper committee.

13 MR. KING: So moved.

14 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second.

15 MR. SMURL: On the question? All

16 those in favor of introduction signify by

17 saying aye.

18 MR. KING: Aye.

19 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye.

20 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye.

21 MR. MCANDREW: Aye.

22 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes

23 have it and so moved.

24 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-C. FOR

25 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - RESOLUTION FOR
 68

 1 PLAN REVISION FOR NEW LAND DEVELOPMENT LOCATED

 2 AT 1230 NORTH KEYSER AVENUE.

 3 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll

 4 entertain a motion that Item 5-C be introduced

 5 into its proper committee.

 6 MR. MCANDREW: So moved.

 7 MR. SCHUSTER: Second.

 8 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second.

 9 MR. SMURL: On the question? All

10 those in favor of introduction signify by

11 saying aye.

12 MR. KING: Aye.

13 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye.

14 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye.

15 MR. MCANDREW: Aye.

16 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes

17 have it and so moved.

18 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-D. FOR

19 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - AUTHORIZING THE

20 MAYOR AND OTHER APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS TO

21 EXECUTE AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH RUTLEDGE

22 EXCAVATION TO PERFORM THE TRIPP PARK STORMWATER

23 PROJECT.

24 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll

25 entertain a motion that Item 5-D be introduced
 69

 1 into its proper committee.

 2 MR. MCANDREW: So moved.

 3 MR. KING: Second.

 4 MR. SCHUSTER: Second.

 5 MR. SMURL: On the question? All

 6 those in favor of introduction signify by

 7 saying aye.

 8 MR. KING: Aye.

 9 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye.

10 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye.

11 MR. MCANDREW: Aye.

12 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes

13 have it and so moved.

14 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-E. FOR

15 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - WAIVING

16 RESPONSIBLE CONTRACTOR ORDINANCE REQUIREMENTS

17 FOR THE PROCUREMENT OF TRIPP PARK STORMWATER

18 IMPROVEMENTS.

19 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll

20 entertain a motion that Item 5-E be introduced

21 into its proper committee.

22 MR. KING: So moved.

23 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second.

24 MR. SMURL: On the question? All

25 those in favor of introduction signify by
 70

 1 saying aye.

 2 MR. KING: Aye.

 3 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye.

 4 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye.

 5 MR. MCANDREW: Aye.

 6 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes

 7 have it and so moved.

 8 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-F. FOR

 9 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - AUTHORIZING THE

10 MAYOR AND OTHER APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS TO

11 EXECUTE AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH WASTE

12 MANAGEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA, INC. TO PERFORM

13 RECYCLING PROCESSING.

14 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll

15 entertain a motion that Item 5-F be introduced

16 into its proper committee.

17 MR. KING: So moved.

18 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second.

19 MR. SMURL: On the question? All

20 those in favor of introduction signify by

21 saying aye.

22 MR. KING: Aye.

23 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye.

24 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye.

25 MR. MCANDREW: Aye.
 71

 1 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes

 2 have it and so moved.

 3 MR. VOLDENBERG: 5-G. FOR

 4 INTRODUCTION - A RESOLUTION - AUTHORIZING THE

 5 MAYOR AND OTHER APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS TO

 6 EXECUTE AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH

 7 PEOPLEGURU, INC. TO PERFORM PAYROLL PROCESSING

 8 SERVICES.

 9 MR. SMURL: At this time I'll

10 entertain a motion that Item 5-G be introduced

11 into its proper committee.

12 MR. KING: So moved.

13 DR. ROTHCHILD: Second.

14 MR. SMURL: On the question? All

15 those in favor of introduction signify by

16 saying aye.

17 MR. KING: Aye.

18 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye.

19 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye.

20 MR. MCANDREW: Aye.

21 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes

22 have it and so moved.

23 MR. VOLDENBERG: SIXTH ORDER.

24 6-A. READING BY TITLE - FILE OF THE

25 COUNCIL NO. 79, 2025 - AN ORDINANCE -
 72

 1 ESTABLISHING A "NO PARKING ZONE" ALONG THE

 2 EASTERLY CURB LINE OF SR3025 KNOWN AS WYOMING

 3 AVENUE FROM SEGMENT 0020 OFFSET 850 TO ITS

 4 INTERSECTION WITH OLIVE STREET FOR A DISTANCE

 5 OF 370 FEET TO ITS INTERSECTION WITH OLIVE

 6 STREET TO ALLOW FOR SAFE SIGHT DISTANCES FOR A

 7 PROPOSED DRIVEWAY.

 8 MR. SMURL: You've heard reading by

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

10 MR. MCANDREW: Mr. Chairman, I move

11 that Item 6-A pass reading by title.

12 MR. KING: Second.

13 MR. SMURL: On the question? All

14 those in favor signify by saying aye.

15 MR. KING: Aye.

16 MR. SCHUSTER: Aye.

17 DR. ROTHCHILD: Aye.

18 MR. MCANDREW: Aye.

19 MR. SMURL: Aye. Opposed? The ayes

20 have it and so moved.

21 MR. VOLDENBERG: SEVENTH ORDER.

22 7-A. FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE

23 COMMITTEE ON RULES - FOR ADOPTION - FILE OF THE

24 COUNCIL NO. 78, 2025 - AMENDING THE RESPONSIBLE

25 CONTRACTOR ORDINANCE (RCO) (CHAPTER 113 OF CITY
 73

 1 CODE) TO IMPROVE IMPLEMENTATION.

 2 MR. SMURL: As Chairperson for the

 3 Committee on Rules, I recommend final passage

 4 of Item 7-A.

 5 MR. KING: Second.

 6 MR. SMURL: On the question? Roll

 7 call, please.

 8 MR. MCANDREW: On the question, I'm

 9 sorry. So on the question, we were back and

10 forth with this. I was myself with the amount

11 or the threshold. And if we don't increase it,

12 my understanding is -- and this is the

13 information we got from administration is we

14 might not be able to complete all the projects

15 that were committed to.

16 All right, so with that said, if I

17 agree and vote -- agree to the new threshold

18 amount, and my understanding is there will be

19 more bidders will be allowed to participate

20 which I'm in favor of too. I wasn't crazy

21 about the amount. But in order to do that,

22 that's why I struggled.

23 But that's why I'm going support

24 this. But I need the administration to support

25 us and support the residents and stay on top of
 74

 1 change orders and that will increase the

 2 projects that we're trying to save enough money

 3 to do to complete all the ones we're committed

 4 to.

 5 So I'm committed to this. I hope

 6 they are committed on stopping on top of change

 7 orders because I want every project that we

 8 committed to completed because the ARPA

 9 checkbook is empty. It's gone. So if these

10 projects aren't completed, I don't want to see

11 either them not completed or put back on the

12 residents, taxpayers.

13 All right, so I'm, you know, I'm

14 having faith and agreeing to this new -- the

15 change of this ordinance, but I also want the

16 same from our administration.

17 DR. ROTHCHILD: On the question, I

18 also had been hesitant with this piece,

19 especially since it hasn't been that long when

20 we did pass the RCO. But the amount that we

21 initially selected has not seemed to be working

22 out in terms of getting -- getting the bids

23 needed for projects.

24 And I would rather change the amount

25 now than have to continue to make exceptions
 75

 1 for projects in the future like we've had in

 2 our legislation already. I think that that's

 3 kind of pointless. So if this amount is going

 4 to work now for the ordinance for us to still

 5 have responsible contractors on those -- on

 6 those larger projects while getting a fair

 7 amount of bidders with fair bidding in that

 8 lower range, than -- than I'll be in agreement

 9 for this.

10 MR. KING: On the question, I'll be

11 supporting this this evening. I simply don't

12 want to see these projects jeopardized. And by

13 raising it to 500,000 it's going to allow for

14 more competitive bidding, which would save our

15 taxpayers a lot of money. So that is why I'm

16 supporting that legislation this evening.

17 MR. SCHUSTER: Also on the question,

18 we did make an amendment to lower the threshold

19 here to $100,000. We're being asked at this

20 point in time after data has come in to

21 increase that threshold.

22 We've had some data that has come

23 in from the city that's saying that this

24 threshold isn't working and there's a few

25 projects coming up. So we've been quick to
 76

 1 come back to this. And we've been quick to

 2 change this threshold, but after these few

 3 projects if there's still issues with this, I

 4 would like Council to come back to the table on

 5 this and stay on top of it to move quickly if

 6 this threshold is not working as well.

 7 MR. SMURL: So the responsible

 8 contractor ordinance was designed to save

 9 taxpayers money. And it was designed to

10 specify how much each project should go for and

11 be worth. And that's our entire goal.

12 But like all of the communities that

13 have adopted this, everyone seems to have a

14 problem with either getting bidders or having

15 different problems. The last -- we've had

16 multiple jobs come back just like one that we

17 did tonight that we -- we had six bidders.

18 None of them were responsible contract

19 ordinance certified.

20 So what we would have to do then is

21 qualify them all and start over again, which is

22 kind of a big waste of time. So the entire

23 idea is widen the field, get more contractors,

24 get more people involved and hopefully by

25 putting the amount back up to $500,000 and by
 77

 1 having -- there's a lot of stipulations in

 2 there too that protect the taxpayers and

 3 control the jobs where they want to extend

 4 different parts, to add on some stuff.

 5 So all of that is in there too to

 6 control that so we don't have that. So I hope

 7 this settles it. I'm sure this won't be the

 8 last time this gets adjusted here. But we do

 9 have multiple projects going out for bid

10 probably next week.

11 And we have a set amount of money

12 for each one that the money and the amount we

13 got from the estimaters when the engineer first

14 designed this job when we had the ARPA money,

15 that was two years ago.

16 So I don't want to see the last job

17 come up and we overran on all of the other ones

18 because we didn't get enough bidders and the

19 last job doesn't get finished. So we hope this

20 will solve it. And I'm sure it won't be the

21 last time this get amended.

22 But like every other community, this

23 is a learning experience with this responsible

24 contractor ordinance so everybody is learning

25 on, not just us. Roll call, please.
 78

 1 MS. CARRERA: Mr. King.

 2 MR. KING: Yes.

 3 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Schuster.

 4 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes.

 5 MS. CARRERA: Dr. Rothchild.

 6 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes.

 7 MS. CARRERA: Mr. McAndrew.

 8 MR. MCANDREW: Yes.

 9 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Smurl.

10 MR. SMURL: Yes. I hereby declare

11 Item 7-A legally and lawfully adopted.

12 MR. VOLDENBERG: 7-B. FOR

13 CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON RULES - FOR

14 ADOPTION - RESOLUTION NO. 226, 2025 - AMENDING

15 RESOLUTION 27 OF 2020 "AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR

16 AND OTHER APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS TO EXECUTE

17 AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH THOMAS J. MCLANE

18 & ASSOCIATES AS CITY OF SCRANTON PROJECT

19 CONSULTANT RECREATION NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND

20 PROJECT ACTIVITIES FOR THE PERIOD DECEMBER 1,

21 2019 THROUGH NOVEMBER 30, 2024" TO AMEND THE

22 PROJECT ENGINEER TO COLWELL-NAEGELE ASSOCIATES,

23 INC.

24 MR. SMURL: As Chairperson for the

25 Committee on Rules, I recommend final passage
 79

 1 of Item 7-B.

 2 MR. KING: Second.

 3 MR. SMURL: On the question? Roll

 4 call, please.

 5 MS. CARRERA: Mr. King.

 6 MR. KING: Yes.

 7 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Schuster.

 8 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes.

 9 MS. CARRERA: Dr. Rothchild.

10 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes.

11 MS. CARRERA: Mr. McAndrew.

12 MR. MCANDREW: Yes.

13 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Smurl.

14 MR. SMURL: Yes. I hereby declare

15 Item 7-B legally and lawfully adopted.

16 MR. VOLDENBERG: 7-C. FOR

17 CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC

18 WORKS - FOR ADOPTION - RESOLUTION NO. 227,

19 2025 - CEREMONIOUSLY DEDICATING CLIFF STREET

20 ADJACENT TO THE STEAMTOWN NATIONAL HISTORIC

21 SITE IN HONOR OF JOHN M. HART, JR.

22 MR. SMURL: What is the

23 recommendation of the Chairperson for the

24 Committee on Public Works?

25 MR. SCHUSTER: As Chairperson for
 80

 1 the Committee on Public Works, I recommend

 2 final passage of Item 7-C.

 3 MR. KING: Second.

 4 MR. SMURL: On the question?

 5 MR. KING: On the question, I was

 6 asked to read John Hart Jr. -- - Attorney John

 7 Hart, i guess this would be Attorney John Hart,

 8 III, I believe, asked me to read this. He

 9 couldn't be here tonight.

10 So on behalf of my family including

11 my entire -- including my wife, children,

12 father's daughter Elizabeth McDonald, her

13 husband and son, my stepmother Maureen Hart and

14 our extended family members, I want to express

15 our heartfelt gratitude for the honor of

16 dedicating Cliff Street adjacent to Steamtown

17 as John M. Hart, Jr. Way, proclaiming June

18 17th, 2025 as John M. Hart, Jr. Day in the City

19 of Scranton.

20 This recognition is incredibly

21 meaningful to us. And we are truly grateful

22 for this gesture. My father lived his life in

23 alignment with the words of his father, leave

24 the world a better place than you found it.

25 John M. Hart, Jr., took this guidance to heart
 81

 1 and made it the foundation of everything he

 2 did.

 3 He was a man of action. If there

 4 was an idea that needed to be done, he was on

 5 it. He didn't wait for permission. He just

 6 made it happen. After speaking of action, my

 7 father had a unique approach to gathering

 8 support for his ideas.

 9 He would he reach out to anyone and

10 everyone he could -- he could corner whether it

11 was friends, local politicians or even

12 strangers who didn't know they were going to be

13 roped into one of his latest initiatives.

14 He was relentless often chasing down

15 anyone who would listen all in the name of

16 improving our city. If you answered the phone,

17 you were probably going to hear about the

18 latest monument dedication or project he was

19 working on.

20 He didn't take no for an answer. He

21 took let's get it done. His efforts helped

22 make Steamtown National Park. But that was one

23 piece of his legacy. He was a champion for

24 initiatives not just here in Scranton, but

25 across the Commonwealth from monuments in other
 82

 1 cities to dedications in places like Gettysburg

 2 and Philadelphia.

 3 His impact is felt far and wide and

 4 we're grateful for everything he's

 5 accomplished. To name the street that leads

 6 into Steamtown National Historic Site and the

 7 Trolley Museum after him is a fitting tribute

 8 to his tireless work, dedication, and love for

 9 this city.

10 We're deeply grateful for this

11 recognition. My family and I look forward to

12 attending an unveiling and dedication to the

13 newly named street and appreciate the city's

14 gesture in honoring my father's legacy. Thank

15 you for your time and consideration.

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

17 MR. KING: Thank you.

18 MR. SMURL: Roll call, please.

19 MS. CARRERA: Mr. King.

20 MR. KING: Yes.

21 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Schuster.

22 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes.

23 MS. CARRERA: Dr. Rothchild.

24 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes.

25 MS. CARRERA: Mr. McAndrew.
 83

 1 MR. MCANDREW: Yes.

 2 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Smurl.

 3 MR. SMURL: Yes. I hereby declare

 4 Item 7-C legally and lawfully adopted.

 5 MR. VOLDENBERG: 7-D. FOR

 6 CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON COMMUNITY

 7 DEVELOPMENT - FOR ADOPTION - RESOLUTION NO.

 8 228, 2025 - RATIFYING AND APPROVING THE

 9 EXECUTION AND SUBMISSION OF THE GRANT

10 APPLICATION BY THE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC AND

11 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY OF SCRANTON

12 TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC

13 DEVELOPMENT'S GREENWAYS, TRAILS, AND RECREATION

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

15 TOWARDS THE LACE VILLAGE - DOG PARK PROJECT.

16 MR. SMURL: What is the

17 recommendation of the Chairperson for the

18 Committee on Community Development?

19 DR. ROTHCHILD: As Chairperson for

20 the Committee on Community Development, I

21 recommend final passage of Item 7-D.

22 MR. MCANDREW: Second.

23 MR. SMURL: On the question? On the

24 question, this is a project that's 100 percent

25 the City of Scranton's. This will be a City of
 84

 1 Scranton park. The name just because of

 2 Village Lake -- or Village Lace is there. But

 3 this is open to the entire Green Ridge/North

 4 Scranton area.

 5 And this is the property that we

 6 purchased from UGI for one dollar I'm going to

 7 say four or five months ago. But it is not a

 8 big parcel of land. So if you look at the

 9 parcel, you'll see why it is only a dog park

10 and can't be extended to anything else because

11 we don't own any of that other land. Roll

12 call, please.

13 MS. CARRERA: Mr. King.

14 MR. KING: Yes.

15 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Schuster.

16 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes.

17 MS. CARRERA: Dr. Rothchild.

18 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes.

19 MS. CARRERA: Mr. McAndrew.

20 MR. MCANDREW: Yes.

21 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Smurl.

22 MR. SMURL: Yes. I hereby declare

23 Item 7-D legally and lawfully adopted.

24 MR. VOLDENBERG: 7-E. FOR

25 CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON COMMUNITY
 85

 1 DEVELOPMENT - FOR ADOPTION - RESOLUTION NO.

 2 229, 2025 - RATIFYING AND APPROVING THE

 3 EXECUTION AND SUBMISSION OF THE GRANT

 4 APPLICATION BY THE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC AND

 5 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY OF SCRANTON

 6 TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC

 7 DEVELOPMENT'S GREENWAYS, TRAILS, AND RECREATION

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

 9 TOWARDS THE GERRITY PARK RENOVATIONS PROJECT.

10 MR. SMURL: What is the

11 recommendation of the Chairperson for the

12 Committee on Community Development?

13 DR. ROTHCHILD: As Chairperson for

14 the Committee on Community Development, I

15 recommend final passage of Item 7-E.

16 MR. SCHUSTER: Second.

17 MR. SMURL: On the question? Roll

18 call, please.

19 MS. CARRERA: Mr. King.

20 MR. KING: Yes.

21 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Schuster.

22 MR. SCHUSTER: Yes.

23 MS. CARRERA: Dr. Rothchild.

24 DR. ROTHCHILD: Yes.

25 MS. CARRERA: Mr. McAndrew.
 86

 1 MR. MCANDREW: Yes.

 2 MS. CARRERA: Mr. Smurl.

 3 MR. SMURL: Yes. I hereby declare

 4 Item 7-E legally and lawfully adopted.

 5 MR. VOLDENBERG: EIGHTH ORDER. No

 6 business at this time.

 7 MR. SMURL: If there's no further

 8 business, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

 9 MR. MCANDREW: Motion to adjourn.

10 MR. SMURL: Thank you. This meeting

11 is adjourned.

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

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 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

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10
 Maria McCool, RPR
11 Official Court Reporter

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20 (The foregoing certificate of this transcript does not

21 apply to any reproduction of the same by any means

22 unless under the direct control and/or supervision of

23 the certifying reporter.)

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