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1 SCRANTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING
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5 HELD:
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7 Thursday, January 11, 2007
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9 LOCATION:
10 Council Chambers
11 Scranton City Hall
12 340 North Washington Avenue
13 Scranton, Pennsylvania
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CATHENE S. NARDOZZI- COURT REPORTER
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2 CITY OF SCRANTON COUNCIL:
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MS. JUDY GATELLI, PRESIDENT
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6 MS. JANET E. EVANS
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MS. SHERRY FANUCCI
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9 MR. ROBERT MCGOFF
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MR. WILLIAM COURTRIGHT
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12 MS. KAY GARVEY, CITY CLERK
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MR. NEAL COOLICAN, ASSISTANT CITY CLERK
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15 MR. AMIL MINORA, SOLICITOR
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1 (Pledge of Allegiance recited.)
2 (Moment of silence observed.)
3 MS. GATELLI: Roll call?
4 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans?
5 MS. EVANS: Here.
6 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Fanucci?
7 MS. FANUCCI: Here.
8 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. McGoff?
9 MR. MCGOFF: Here.
10 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright?
11 MR. COURTRIGHT: Here.
12 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli?
13 MS. GATELLI: Here. Dispense with
14 the reading of the minutes?
15 MS. GARVEY: Third order, 3-A,
16 MINUTES OF THE SCRANTON LACKAWANNA COUNTY
17 HEALTH AND WELFARE AUTHORITY MEETING HELD ON
18 NOVEMBER 16, 2006.
19 MS. GATELLI: Are there any comments?
20 If not, received and filed.
21 MS. GARVEY: That's all I have.
22 MS. GATELLI: Before we start I'd
23 just like to remind everyone to please turn
24 off your cell phones. I'd like to start by
25 reminding everyone that there will a very
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1 busy weekend in Scranton. We will be
2 celebrating Martin Luther King Day on Monday
3 and there have been a variety of events
4 setup throughout the whole weekend in honor
5 of Martin Luther King. On Saturday, there
6 will be a bus tour by the Center of
7 Anti-Slavery studies. On Sunday at 6:00
8 p.m. at Scranton High School there will be a
9 multi-culture event including the Brown
10 Sugar High Steppers which I understand are
11 very excellent dancers, and music for the
12 black, Latino and Jewish communities. The
13 guess speaker there will be Lamar Thomas.
14 That's at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.
15 On Monday at 10:30 at the University
16 of Scranton for preteens there will be a
17 justice program and speeches and music. At
18 1:15 at the United Neighborhood Centers for
19 all teenagers there will be a variety of
20 activities teaching the history of Martin
21 Luther King. At 4:15 at United Neighborhood
22 Centers there will be a sandwich dinner for
23 the march participants. At 5:00 there will
24 be a march walking from the United
25 Neighborhood Centers to courthouse square
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1 and that is for all. All ages, all races,
2 please participate. You go up to courthouse
3 square where there will be a ceremony and
4 city and county dignitaries will speak.
5 From there, they will go to the Scranton
6 Cultural Center at 6:30 for cake and hot
7 cocoa and at 7:00 a celebration at the
8 Stallard Temple that will be an interface
9 service, so I encourage all to participate
10 in these activities.
11 The second thing is that we received
12 a donation from the Christian Science
13 Society of Lackawanna County to the City of
14 Scranton Fire Department in the amount of
15 $100 to be deposited into a special city
16 account fire department only so we would
17 like to thank them for their donation.
18 Mr. Parker's report this week:
19 Potholes were repaired on Hennessy Street,
20 Shayler, White Tail Drive, Crossin Court,
21 Philmore, Sumner and Rebecca, Ash, Linden,
22 Oram, St. Ann's, Taylor. Thee was a clean
23 up of Fir Street from the flooding, and
24 trees were removed from Electric Street,
25 North Main, Frank, Washington Avenue,
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1 Connell Park and the Alder Street extension.
2 A gentleman wrote us a letter last
3 week about handicapped ramps that were in
4 disrepair. I have tried to contact him by
5 phone, but I can't seem to reach him, and I
6 would like him to note that I have called
7 Keith Williams from the Center for
8 Independent Living and Keith is going to
9 inspect these intersections and get back to
10 council on his findings and he did tell me
11 that there is a problem at the corner of
12 Wyoming and Spruce and that curb cut is
13 going to be repaired. It's going to be dug
14 up because it's undone and it's already on
15 the roster to be fixed. So, as soon as I
16 get anymore information from Keith Williams
17 on the ramps I will make a report.
18 The amusement tax someone e-mailed
19 me, I think it was Mr. Quinn, and Amil has
20 already prepared that ordinance, he is fine
21 tuning it and it should be ready within the
22 next few weeks for council to vote on it and
23 it is a good way to make revenue and we have
24 discussed it at this council meeting before
25 about an amusement tax so that is being
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1 constructed by Attorney Minora.
2 There are several problems, one is
3 on Slocum Avenue that was reported for
4 garbage. The 400 of Sixth Street, the catch
5 basin on Elmhurst Boulevard will be repaired
6 within the next two to three weeks. The
7 house on the 1,000 block of South Webster
8 has been approved for demolition and we
9 wrote to the Career Technology center on
10 Rockwell, Greenbush and Reese Street has
11 been reported already to Mr. Parker. From
12 what I understand Mr. Courtright already
13 reported it and I did, too.
14 The next thing I have is there was a
15 meeting in Keyser Valley concerning their
16 flooding problems that they have with that
17 and I was unable to attend this time,
18 Mrs. Evans and Mr. Courtright attended and
19 Mr. Courtright would like to give a report
20 on that.
21 MR. COURTRIGHT: Later on when we
22 make motions myself or somebody else will be
23 making a motion to ask the mayor and
24 Mr. Parker if they would be willing to come
25 to a caucus with the people from the Keyser
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1 Valley West Mountain Area. They discussed
2 several items about flooding in that area
3 and it wasn't just limited to Keyser Valley
4 and West Mountain, but that was mainly at
5 the meeting and at the end of the meeting
6 after I think I was there for over two hours
7 there was a vote taken by the citizens and
8 the vote was to ask for a caucus. I told
9 them that either myself or somebody else
10 here would be willing to make the motion. I
11 could not guarantee them that Mr. Parker or
12 the mayor would come, but I, myself, or if
13 anybody else would like to make a motion
14 tonight and ask that a letter be sent to
15 Mr. Doherty and Mr. Parker, they were hoping
16 for next week. If that's acceptable by
17 everybody on council then we will make it
18 for next week and I told them I would get
19 back to them.
20 So, Kay, when I do make the motion
21 or whoever does later on in the meeting when
22 we send the letter out can we ask for a very
23 quick response because some of them were
24 willing to take off work or leave early or
25 do what they need to do and if they are
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1 willing to attend, Mr. Parker and
2 Mr. Doherty, fine. If not, I'd like to tell
3 them so they are not rearranging their
4 schedule for no reason.
5 MS. GARVEY: Okay.
6 MR. COURTRIGHT: Just many, many
7 issues we discussed. Mary Alice Burke
8 really, really has a handle on the problems
9 back there and it was a well attended
10 meeting and it's my hope that something will
11 get done. There was some minor problems
12 from drainage blockage in some pipes that
13 were broken that I think that the City could
14 address rather quickly and I ultimately hope
15 they will, and there are others that are
16 going to take quite some time to get
17 remedied, but hopefully at this caucus they
18 can get the answers that they were looking
19 for because myself and Mrs. Evans and Frank
20 Andrews and former Mayor Connors and
21 representatives from Mr. Mellow's office
22 were there, representatives of Mr. Munchak
23 was there, Mr. Washo was there, just a whole
24 host of people, but I think the bottom line
25 is that it has to come from the City first
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1 and Mr. Parker I believe would be the guy
2 that would be most knowledgeable or be able
3 to give us the answers or give them actually
4 the answers that they were hoping to
5 receive. So hopefully we will make that
6 motion tonight and maybe we'll be able to
7 have a caucus next week. Thank you.
8 MS. GATELLI: Anyone else?
9 Mrs. Garvey, I don't think it's necessary to
10 have a motion to have a public caucus, I
11 don't believe so, I will just schedule it at
12 5:45 and I will contact Mr. Parker and the
13 mayor and see if --
14 MS. GARVEY: That's the one that's
15 Bill is speaking of?
16 MS. GATELLI: Yes. Just schedule it
17 for next Wednesday.
18 MS. GARVEY: 5:45?
19 MS. GATELLI: At 5:45. Is that a
20 public caucus here in this --
21 MS. GARVEY: Yes.
22 MS. GATELLI: And also I'll call the
23 mayor and Mr. Parker and see if they can
24 come and I'll have them let me know on
25 Monday.
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1 MR. COURTRIGHT: Just so they can
2 arrange their schedules. Thank you.
3 MS. GATELLI: Anyone else care to say
4 anything at this time? Okay. First speaker
5 is Doug Miller.
6 MR. MILLER: Good evening, council.
7 Doug Miller. Back in September the junior
8 council announced a children's handicapped
9 accessible swingset project that we do plan
10 on purchasing for Nay Aug Park and over the
11 Italian Festival we sold raffle tickets and
12 we raised money towards this project.
13 Unfortunately, though, it seems like this
14 project has been forgotten by some and we
15 don't want this project to be forgotten and
16 we are asking anyone out there who would be
17 interested in contributing to this project
18 to please make checks payable to the junior
19 council swingset project and mail them to
20 city hall. We want the handicapped children
21 in the city to have something to look
22 forward to this summer.
23 This past Tuesday in the USA today
24 the newspaper which listed all major events
25 that are taking place in each state and the
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1 city, the City of Scranton was mentioned due
2 to the smoking ban and how I, again, would
3 like to commend the students from West for
4 making this an actual story. The kids
5 brought this idea forward, not council, and
6 I am very proud of my fellow classmates. We
7 are not just hooligans at West, the kids do
8 have brains and they do speak out. And it
9 looks like we have a teacher and some
10 students from West here tonight and I would
11 like to welcome them to the meeting.
12 I was thinking with the smoking ban,
13 billions of dollars are being spent in the
14 transportation industry to clean air from
15 diesel fumes by cleaning the fumes from the
16 diesel engines. With this new technology
17 the exhaust fumes which used to burn at 500
18 degrees now burn at 1100 degrees. The
19 environment is being cleaned with this new
20 technology. This costing billions of
21 dollars to the industries which is then
22 passed along to the consumer.
23 With this in mind, we now have
24 people who own bars and other establishments
25 who feel the law regarding the smoking ban
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1 does not apply to them. This past week I
2 read an article in the paper from a bar
3 owner saying that this smoking ban does not
4 apply to them because they are not going to
5 enforce it. Well, from what I know the law
6 is the law and the law is supposed to be for
7 everyone but the people in this newspaper
8 who are breaking the law believe that they
9 are above the law and I guess I would say to
10 all you kids under 18 who can't smoke or buy
11 cigarettes because it's illegal and it is
12 the law, go to these bars and light up
13 because according to these bar owners this
14 ban is unenforceable and they apparently
15 don't believe in the law so go to the bar
16 and light up and you will get away with it.
17 And I would ask this council tonight
18 and the mayor to utilize the $1.5 million
19 from the golf course now to enforce the
20 smoking ban to preserve our health and
21 safety in the city. Since the money was
22 supposed to be a trust for our future and
23 used for parks and recreational purposes
24 where the interest would have only been
25 spent, the money was -- the money should be
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1 used to protect the health and safety of our
2 city because it has not been used -- it was
3 not used for it's intended purpose. Thank
4 you.
5 MS. GATELLI: Thank you. I think the
6 first speaker is Nancy Krake. If I miscall
7 you I apologize because there is lot of
8 names scratched off here and I don't know
9 who is who.
10 MS. KRAKE: Good evening, council,
11 my name is Nancy Krake. The 2007 tax
12 increase of 25 percent was brought to you by
13 Mrs. Fanucci, Mrs. Gatelli and Mr. McGoff.
14 The mayor is having Channel 61 stop
15 broadcasting live. This is another nail in
16 the coffin in our right to know how our tax
17 dollars are being spent. The mayor with the
18 help of possibly his three council votes
19 Fanucci, Gatelli and McGoff will be
20 virtually doubling your taxes in the next
21 few years. Now, without Channel 61, since
22 by the way, the Scranton Times has yet to
23 tell you about the budget and the increases
24 in your real estate taxes, the citizens of
25 Scranton will never know the truth about
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1 anything, about how the money is spent or
2 how their city government is performing or
3 not performing.
4 And, by the way, that was quite a
5 performance by three council people last
6 week. Mrs. Fanucci, from what I can
7 understand feels that there will be lot of
8 money brought in from the smoking fine and
9 that would be a good way to help bring funds
10 into our city. Brilliant economic strategy.
11 I think I'll start smoking so I can be cited
12 and we'll get rid of distressed status. For
13 me personally, it would be worth it.
14 Mr. McGoff's Hitler impression was also
15 very interesting. He knows so much more
16 than our founding fathers about freedom of
17 speech and efficient government that he fits
18 right in with the Third Reich. After all,
19 he was elected by three huge votes. I did
20 see him Pledge Allegiance to the flag though
21 so maybe he has turned the corner.
22 And, by the way, you can cut my time
23 to one second at a time and I guarantee I
24 will be here week after week, word after
25 word, telling everybody what goes on. The
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1 Academy award, however, goes to
2 Mrs. Gatelli. Her near death experience
3 during citizen's participation and her
4 miraculous recovery in time to vote for all
5 the mayor's agenda items and especially the
6 limiting of speaker's rights was
7 outstanding.
8 Mrs. Evans and Mr. Courtright did
9 not vote to raise your taxes. They
10 supported Mrs. Evans budget proposals and
11 that did not raise real estate taxes and
12 would have actually started to pay off the
13 disastrous debt. And, finally, where are
14 all of the mayor's supporters that were here
15 during the race for the mayor. Kind of hard
16 to come up here to be proud of a big fat tax
17 increase. Thank you.
18 MS. GATELLI: Dave Gervasi.
19 MR. GERVASI: Good evening, Council.
20 My name is Dave Gervasi, I'm a citizen on
21 the City of Scranton. I have a question for
22 council, is it true that Channel 61 is going
23 to be kicked out of that back room? Does
24 anyone know for sure?
25 MS. FANUCCI: They did say --
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1 MS. EVANS: Yes.
2 MR. GERVASI: Has the mayor
3 approached anybody at city council to talk
4 about that issue?
5 MS. EVANS: Not I.
6 MR. GERVASI: No one. Is this city
7 council going to allow it to happen?
8 MS. FANUCCI: Dave, you want me to
9 talk about this? Last week we met with 61
10 and we asked -- and they asked us if they
11 could move up the balcony and we all agreed
12 unanimously that we would support that, that
13 we would have no problem with that.
14 MR. GERVASI: Was there a problem
15 with the City in the last two days about
16 maybe the mayor doesn't want them in the
17 balcony.
18 MS. FANUCCI: Not that I am aware of.
19 I mean, as far as I'm concerned that's how
20 we left the meeting last week. They were
21 going to move up -- take up to two seats in
22 the balcony and that's where they were going
23 to put their feed.
24 MR. GERVASI: That would be great.
25 It's a shame, but at least they would still
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1 be here.
2 MS. FANUCCI: Well, I think they are
3 using that back room because of the heating
4 system, that was the idea, but we all agreed
5 that they would move up to the balcony, so
6 that's the last I heard and that was last
7 week.
8 MR. GERVASI: It's my understanding,
9 and correct me if I'm wrong, is city council
10 not in charge of this building and not the
11 mayor?
12 MR. COURTRIGHT: This room.
13 MR. GERVASI: This room.
14 MR. COURTRIGHT: Mrs. Gatelli might
15 be able to answer that. So we don't
16 have speakers -- and could you hold Mr.
17 Gervasi's time, it's going to take me a
18 little bit to explain this. So that we
19 don't have speaker after speaker I think
20 everybody is concerned about that and I
21 think I know what you are talking
22 Mr. Gervasi, I have probably heard the same
23 rumors you have.
24 First let me state that last week
25 when I walked into the caucuses, Mrs. Evans
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1 was already there, Mr. Finnerty from Channel
2 61, Mr. McGoff wasn't there yet and they had
3 pretty much I believe talked about
4 everything that was going on with 61 and
5 they agreed those three that, you know, to
6 allow 61 to broadcast from the balcony live,
7 no problems. I agreed and I pretty much
8 thought it was a done deal, and I don't know
9 if I spoke to Mr. McGoff afterward about it,
10 he came in a little bit later, but this week
11 there has been rumors around and I think
12 they might be a little bit of validity that
13 they are not going be allowed to go up there
14 because of the fact that the wiring or
15 whatever the case may be might be a safety
16 hazard. Well, this is a rumor and I think
17 that's possibly what Mr. Gervasi is
18 referring to; right?
19 MR. GERVASI: That's what I just
20 referring to; right.
21 MR. COURTRIGHT: And I'm going to
22 say for me, and I obviously won't speak for
23 anybody else, if by some chance putting it
24 up there is a safety hazard or whatever the
25 rumor is then I would have no problem moving
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1 that desk, nothing against you people, move
2 that table out of there and let them be
3 right there because I don't think, and if
4 you are please speak up, anybody is opposed
5 to them broadcasting here, so if anybody is
6 please say that you are, but I just thought
7 that might save some time for speaker after
8 speaker asking the same questions, so my
9 impression is that everybody on this council
10 and, again, if I'm wrong correct me, is all
11 in favor of these meeting being broadcasted
12 live from this council chamber.
13 MS. EVANS: Mrs. Gatelli, can I just
14 add something?
15 MS. GATELLI: Yes.
16 MS. EVANS: Mr. Finnerty I believe
17 also stated that at one time Channel 61
18 actually had their equipment located in the
19 balcony and that it worked very well and
20 that they would be very pleased to make the
21 balcony their permanent home, so I can't
22 imagine why suddenly there would be any
23 problems with that. And as Mr. Courtright
24 said, should any type of unforeseen problem
25 arise then I agree, let them place the
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1 equipment here and if that arises any
2 further controversy involving placement of
3 the equipment or the broadcasting of council
4 meetings then I would be willing to go so
5 far as taking council meetings elsewhere to
6 a location where these meetings can be
7 broadcast from because I think right now
8 they are probably the most important, the
9 most vital source of information in this
10 area, not only in the City of Scranton but
11 throughout this area and it's something that
12 we absolutely cannot afford to lose.
13 MR. GERVASI: Well, it's very
14 encouraging to hear those answers and I
15 appreciate the support of City Council to
16 keep 61 here and there is a few reasons
17 because of it and the reason why I am here
18 tonight is because this was bringing up
19 painful memories back in 2002 when the
20 recovery plan was going on. All of a sudden
21 when council speakers, particularly the
22 union representatives, were coming here and
23 explaining to the people of the City of
24 Scranton what exactly is in the recovery
25 plan that the mayor was touting and the
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1 problems within the recovery plan the prior
2 council decided that it was okay to shut
3 this room down and begin painting. The Ice
4 Box complex went up faster than it took to
5 paint this room, so it was very obvious to
6 us that it was a way for the City to stifle
7 information being disseminated to the public
8 about very important issues and we have the
9 newspaper beating us up and we all know how
10 accurate the newspaper is all the time, if
11 this show shuts down it's bad enough now
12 that the people in the City cannot watch
13 this show live on Thursday nights, people
14 have things to do on Friday mornings and on
15 Friday nights and on Saturday mornings and
16 on Sunday nights and on Sunday mornings when
17 it's the last time they televise it people
18 are normally in church or out doing things
19 with their family on a Sunday.
20 This is crucial that this station
21 remains here. Mr. Finnerty and Ms. Marks
22 and all of the people that volunteer all of
23 their time to come here so that the people
24 in the City of Scranton, especially the
25 people who don't have access to be able to
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1 come down here can see how the government
2 operates, and I'm sure there is a ton of
3 people that don't like what I say and there
4 are things that people out here say that I
5 don't like to hear either, but the fact is
6 this is your government in action, this is
7 not censored, this is not sanitized, this is
8 not biased and it's not slanted. What
9 happens at this podium and what happens from
10 that dais is the truth, it's live, and it's
11 not edited.
12 And that's the most important thing
13 the City can ever have with the regime that
14 we have in office right now and this is the
15 only way you can find out what's going on in
16 this town and I would find it unconscionable
17 if any of these council members cow-toes to
18 the mayor and has Channel 61 kicked out of
19 here and they can't have a live broadcast
20 because if you would remember when they shut
21 this room down last time there was not one
22 council member up here that was there at the
23 time they were all removed from office.
24 Thank you very much.
25 MS. GATELLI: Andy Sbaraglia.
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1 MR. SBARAGLIA: Andrew Sbaraglia,
2 citizen of Scranton, fellow Scrantonian. I
3 want to talk about the loan, your item 7-E
4 specifically, this is the $250,000 UDAG loan
5 and from what Mrs. Fanucci said this is some
6 type of an electrical distributor. Do you
7 know that it's a half a block from
8 All-Phase?
9 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yes.
10 MR. SBARAGLIA: Do you know also
11 that it's located in a very narrow alley?
12 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yes.
13 MR. SBARAGALIA: All of these things
14 are very negative. Now, I have nothing
15 against this man locating his business in
16 different parts of the city, but I think
17 All-Phase, and there is three distributors
18 already in that area. This is the secondary
19 loan, it's not even a primary, we are going
20 to give them $250,000 for a secondary
21 mortgage on his property.
22 Now, from what I read in the
23 brochures it was from four to eight jobs he
24 would create. It's not saying that people
25 have to be from Scranton, he just has to
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1 create four to eight jobs. Four in the
2 first I guess initial and then after three
3 years number eight. But did anybody at all
4 ask All-Phase or any of them other
5 distributors in this area whether they would
6 welcome this kind of competition this close?
7 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yes.
8 MR. SBARAGLIA: You did? What did
9 they say?
10 MR. COURTRIGHT: I didn't ask them
11 they called me.
12 MR. SBARAGLIA: Well, I assume they
13 would.
14 MR. COURTRIGHT: And they knew a
15 whole lot more about it because, you know,
16 they are competitive, not All-Phase, but
17 there is another, I'm not going to say the
18 name of the company, they're not happy.
19 It's competition.
20 MR. SBARAGLIA: Well, there is three
21 of them in there. There's -- up the street
22 there is one of them.
23 MR. COURTRIGHT: I don't want to say
24 the company's name.
25 MR. SBARAGALIA: And there is also
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1 one somewhere up there across from the
2 Giant. Like I say, I'm quite familiar with
3 electrical outlets that are currently in
4 this area, because as you know, when I
5 worked at the trades I used to do business
6 with them all. But, anyway, I would think
7 that's a serious consideration. Do we
8 know-- you know, he wants to buy the
9 building -- do we know who owns that
10 building and how long did that person own
11 that building? In other words, I don't want
12 back door deals that hurt these other
13 distributors because this is done in a back
14 way. In other words, if this man bought
15 this building say within the last six months
16 and then he could turn around and sell it to
17 this because obviously this thing was in the
18 works for quite a lot of months, too, and
19 these are things you really should look
20 into.
21 Now, I have nothing -- if them other
22 people are quite happy with that I have
23 nothing against it because, like I said, it
24 don't affect me anymore anyway other than
25 the fact is one of these other places, if
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1 that place should fold it's UDAG's money and
2 I don't think we have to replace it. If it
3 was borrowing it from one of the government
4 agencies and we had to replace that funds
5 then it's -- you have to look at it a lot
6 more closely. If this is a throw away like
7 so many of the UDAG loans are, as you know,
8 there is quite a few given and then after a
9 few many years they didn't have to repay
10 them that's in there, too, that was in quite
11 a few of the legislation past.
12 But, like I say, it doesn't affect
13 me anymore other than the fact that may it
14 affect us in our taxation later down the
15 pike and the fact that is if this new
16 distributor should go belly up that's
17 $250,000 that are lost that could be loaned
18 out to other industries that maybe would a
19 lot better for the city other than the city
20 people is what is in this. They may go up
21 to eight, they may not, depending on if they
22 can last long enough to do it. That's all I
23 have to say on that.
24 MS. FANUCCI: Andy, I can tell you a
25 little bit of something, this is not their
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1 first company that they are opening, this is
2 like their fourth or fifth like almost a
3 franchise that this company has. This is
4 not their first shot at business. They are
5 very eager from what I heard to relocate to
6 Scranton and open up a franchise-type of
7 business here. This is not a new deal for
8 them. From what I heard, they are not
9 looking for, you know, to flip this. They
10 are looking for long-term settlement, growth
11 and development in our area and to me to
12 chastise somebody I understand. I know if
13 I'm in business I don't want another
14 business moving next to me, but competition
15 breeds good business and to me I think
16 welcome them here and I don't see any back
17 door deals either, Andy, that I can figure.
18 MR. MINORA: Five minutes.
19 MR. SBARAGLIA: She took up the few.
20 The only thing I want to say one more thing
21 on it.
22 MS. GATELLI: Well, go ahead, but --
23 MR. SBARAGLIA: Well, I didn't ask
24 that question.
25 MS. GATELLI: Okay.
.
29
1 MR. SBARAGLIA: That was volunteered.
2 Then I was going to ask her then why the
3 secondary loan, why not the first mortgage?
4 MS. GATELLI: Maybe Attorney Minora
5 can answer that because most of the loans we
6 incurred were secondary, too. We're usually
7 in second place.
8 MR. MINORA: Yes, it's not an unusual
9 thing for UDAG to do that, a second loan.
10 MS. GATELLI: Yeah, it's very normal
11 to be in second place. Ozzie Quinn.
12 MR. QUIN: Robert Ozzie Quinn,
13 president of the Scranton Lackawanna
14 Taxpayers and Citizens Association,
15 Incorporated. The first thing I want to do
16 is I want to thank Kay and Neil for the
17 professional help they gave me and they gave
18 me the information I need. Thank you, Kay
19 and Neil. I just want to tell you also that
20 we have the reelection of officers for
21 Scranton Taxpayers Association,
22 Scranton/Lackawanna Taxpayers Association,
23 and I'll be returning as the president. Lee
24 Morgan is the vice-chairman, Tom Lavarsky is
25 the treasurer, Patricia Alody is the
.
30
1 secretary.
2 I want to start in regards to a
3 follow-up of last week's meeting when I
4 spoke about the real estate tax in regards
5 to offsetting the transfer tax for the
6 properties, okay? First of all, the intent
7 of the ordinance for selling the former
8 Scranton Municipal Golf Course was for parks
9 and recreation and I will show that through
10 to the minutes which I got from Neil and
11 Kay, okay? And I think by you people using
12 this money to offset that Recorder of Deeds
13 tax is misappropriating that line item,
14 those funds, and I want to explain it to
15 you, okay? That there was an ordinance for
16 the passing of the municipal golf course
17 from the Scranton Municipal Recreation
18 Authority to the City of Scranton on
19 November 25 and I have the minutes here
20 verbatim and it says, "So I agree with the
21 mayor, I agree with Mr. Dibelo for a
22 transfer or what happens? Can we put
23 directly into our parks system the money
24 would not loose much in negate a lot in
25 terms of recapitalizing Nay Aug, Weston
.
31
1 Park, Weston Field and some other places. I
2 don't see the down side of this. Our
3 argument with this people who think this is
4 selling of an asset."
5 Next, this is an emergency
6 certificate now, this is in 2003, emergency
7 certificate for sale on that -- for selling
8 that golf course, okay? Emergency and it's
9 2007. Actually, it's four years and we
10 still have that money and I'm going to
11 mention the person's name because it's an
12 official record, it's in the minutes.
13 "Mr. Gilhooley: I think this is --
14 the sale of this golf course is as much
15 about a philosophy as it is about a golf
16 course. This mayor and I think this council
17 are somewhat bent on changing the status quo
18 in the City of Scranton. We are going to
19 try to do business differently. We are
20 trying to change what has been done and make
21 it better and I think we succeeded on a
22 couple of months already. One of the fronts
23 the mayor has identified and we have agreed
24 with him, at least some of us have, is the
25 city's parks system. The city's park system
.
32
1 has been neglected for years, for many, many
2 years. It's time to get some money to
3 identify the money for the rehabilitation of
4 these parks and some of that money is going
5 to come at this juncture from the golf
6 course. The golf course over the years has
7 not generated enough money in my mind to
8 consider it an asset. At times we have
9 gotten $200,000 -- $200,0000 and a 56
10 million budget is about one third of 1
11 percent ever the budget. If just isn't
12 enough money. We are at a junction now
13 where the golf course needs to be
14 capitalized. There is still detriment.
15 It's time to change the way we do business.
16 It's time to get some money and put it into
17 Nay Aug which we have already begun the
18 process of doing, to put it into Weston
19 Park, to put it into Weston Field, the
20 people may not have agreed that this is it
21 the best way, but that is the philosophy.
22 The philosophy is to change the way we have
23 done things over the past several years.
24 This is just one of those cogs in the wheel
25 and because I think that the parks deserve
.
33
1 it, the City parks deserve to be fixed and
2 if we can fix it out of this money and it
3 can be utilized. I'm supporting the sale of
4 this golf course."
5 That was Mr. Gilhooley, okay? And I
6 think the council obviously you take of that
7 selling of the golf course and the ordinance
8 was for that money to be used for parks and
9 recreation. There is no doubt about it.
10 And I would have your solicitor look at it
11 okay? And that passed and they also passed
12 an emergency certificate for the auction of
13 the golf course. My -- I just want to --
14 case in point, was that when Mr. Doherty was
15 council they bid out the golf course and
16 there was a 4 million dollar bid and Mr.
17 Doherty refused to sell that golf course.
18 Now, he sold the golf course --
19 MR. MINORA: Ozzie, that's five
20 minutes.
21 MR. QUINN: That isn't five minutes.
22 MR. MINORA: That's five minutes.
23 MS. GATELLI: Thank you. James
24 Stuckard.
25 MR. STUCKARD: We had a little
.
34
1 problem with one of streets up there and
2 Mr. Courtright there I gave him the slip and
3 he said he might get somebody to fix it.
4 Now, they still have the buses in town yet,
5 we know that, but I heard they are going to
6 raise the prices. I don't know when they
7 are going to do it, it's a buck half it's
8 going to be daytime and night. They
9 shouldn't -- they should keep the same price
10 for the buses. And we have cars parked in
11 the same place where the buses are parking
12 and they can't get up on -- people can't get
13 close to the curb on the cars up by
14 Applebee's is parked they can't get up --
15 the people can't get into the bus out of the
16 bus door and get close to the curb by the
17 drugstore and Applebee's.
18 MS. GATELLI: We'll tell Chief
19 Elliott again. I know he had people there
20 at one time making sure so we will contact
21 them again for you, Jim.
22 MR. STUCKARD: What about the
23 benches. I remember last year I brought it
24 up last year about two years ago, two years
25 I brought it up about benches by Applebee's
.
35
1 and the drug store.
2 MS. GATELLI: Yes, they are working
3 on the benches and they will be coming.
4 MR. STUCKARD: What about Parrot
5 Avenue, the holes are still there and I
6 heard they're going to -- I don't know what
7 they are doing, when they are going to do it
8 because those roads are bad up there, Parrot
9 Avenue, somebody is going to bust a tire or
10 a rim.
11 MS. GATELLI: What block of Parrot
12 Avenue is that?
13 MR. STUCKARD: Right by the school
14 there by Judge's Lumber across right up --
15 they do park -- there is a cross street
16 there. There is a bunch of holes on Parrot
17 Avenue way down on the bottom of the hill.
18 MS. GATELLI: We'll report that for
19 you.
20 MR. STUCKARD: I remember last year,
21 so the police are getting pretty good now.
22 We got some new ones I see. I'm glad so --
23 all right.
24 MS. GATELLI: Thanks, Jim. Reverend
25 Simmons.
.
36
1 MS. SIMMONS: Good evening, Council.
2 My name is Reverend Katherine Simmons,
3 Florence Midtown Crime Watch. I came here
4 tonight to talk about one issue, but in
5 sitting here listening I can't help but talk
6 about something else. Our president
7 announced that he is sending more young men
8 and women across the ocean to fight for our
9 freedoms. There are 3,000 and some young
10 men and women who have entered the ground on
11 our behalf these past months. They said it
12 was for a war on our behalf. They fought
13 for our freedom. Our freedoms need to be
14 fought for, but we need to decide what our
15 freedoms are. What exactly are they over
16 there fighting for? We can't even decide in
17 our own city at our own council meeting what
18 we are here for. Are we supposed to be up
19 here for two minutes or should we shut the
20 citizens up when they speak too long and
21 make us feel uncomfortable. Should we fine
22 tavern owners because they have people in
23 there that smoke when we really should be
24 looking at the alcohol that they are
25 serving, that's what's doing harm. Ask me.
.
37
1 I can take you to drug and alcohol clinics
2 and show you the harm that alcohol does.
3 That's what we should be looking at.
4 We need to go back and start all
5 over again. If we are going to ask our
6 children to give their lives maybe we should
7 look again at our freedoms and decide what
8 they should be fighting for. No better a
9 weekend to look than this one because a
10 wonderful and generous and loving man gave
11 his life. The Reverend Dr. King if he was
12 standing here tonight would have said to
13 you, "Seek out your freedom. Hold onto it
14 and then decide where you want to go with
15 it."
16 Good night.
17 MS. GATELLI: Thank you.
18 MS. BECK: Good evening, Council,
19 Kathy Beck, city resident. After watching
20 the council meeting the night the 2007
21 budget was passed I had several questions
22 and observations, some of which have since
23 been addressed to some extent by some other
24 taxpayers. That evening Ms. Evans who has
25 been constantly attacked by the Scranton
.
38
1 Times for opposing the mayor's budget while
2 proposing no alternatives of her own
3 presented probably 30 or more suggestions to
4 increase revenues and to increase expenses,
5 therefore, eliminating any need for a
6 25 percent tax increase. Since I have not
7 researched all of her recommendations, I
8 cannot come into the support you, however, I
9 would like to offer the following comments:
10 Mrs. Fanucci stated that Mrs. Evans
11 proposals appear to be nothing more than a
12 reduction of services. I assumed that that
13 was due to the elimination of a number of
14 office and administrative positions. At the
15 same time, she failed to comment on the
16 reduction in services that would result from
17 the elimination of nine policemen and up to
18 40 firemen which, by the way, will require
19 the closing of at least one firehouse in the
20 city.
21 Mrs. Fanucci also opposed any
22 reduction in the IT Department because of
23 it's importance. I, too, believe this is an
24 important department in order to maintain an
25 efficiently run government, but on October
.
39
1 the 5th and again on October the 12th
2 Mrs. Fanucci introduced a motion to transfer
3 $60,000 from the IT department to the law
4 department professional services to provide
5 funding for more of all things legal fees.
6 To make matters worse, at one time it was
7 required that the SIT clerks be hired to
8 fill out police reports so that the
9 policeman could stay on the streets to
10 protect our neighborhoods. During the
11 police arbitration Mayor Doherty stated that
12 the SIT clerks were no longer necessary
13 because the police cars were equipped with
14 computers that streamlined police reporting
15 allowing them to complete reports from their
16 cars. The truth is, the computers never
17 worked properly and have not been in the
18 cars for quite sometime. I believe
19 Mr. Courtright or one of our police officers
20 can verify this. This elimination of
21 efficiency has also resulted in a reduction
22 of services since the policemen must
23 complete reports themselves. The $60,000 in
24 the IT budget may be able to help remedy
25 this problem.
.
40
1 I, like my husband, always research
2 areas on which I intend to speak. Since the
3 minutes from the last council meeting are
4 not on the website yet I am going to make a
5 statement that I have not been able to
6 research, but believe is quite accurate from
7 my recollection.
8 Mrs. Fanucci state that there was
9 several items proposed by Mrs. Evans that
10 she would be willing to consider. I believe
11 one was the hotel tax and one might have
12 been the entertainment tax. That's
13 commendable. However, all of these
14 possibilities and many more should have been
15 discussed six months ago, not a month or two
16 after the passage of the budget.
17 Lastly, the night the budget was
18 passed Mrs. Fanucci stated, "In my heart I
19 felt Mrs. Evans' budget was not good."
20 That's your heart felt opinion and
21 that is fine. However, in your mind you
22 should have been developing your own
23 proposals to increase revenue, reduce the
24 expenses, and start pulling the city out of
25 it's financial mess. Even if the fireman's
.
41
1 arbitration is resolved and the
2 neighborhoods experience a further reduction
3 in services, through the loss of 40
4 firefighters and some firehouses this city
5 will still be faced with deficits that need
6 to be remedied. I suggest that every
7 council person start immediately to address
8 the objections that needed to be taken and
9 continue to address them until this matter
10 is won. This can only be done through
11 serious and open minded efforts by all and
12 not by blindly accepting what has been
13 merely fed to you. Thank you for this
14 opportunity.
15 MR. BECK: Good evening. Wayne Beck,
16 city resident. I have come here this
17 evening to address counsel what I believe to
18 be an important issue and at the same time
19 offer some constructive criticism to our new
20 council person, Mr. McGoff. I have been
21 making presentations to council off and on
22 for approximately five years now, although,
23 my comments may not always have been
24 appreciated by every council person, I would
25 challenge anyone to question the validity of
.
42
1 anything that I have said since I place a
2 great deal of importance on research and
3 fact finding.
4 This brings me to the real purpose
5 for being here this evening, a motion to
6 consider limiting public comments to two and
7 a half minutes on the agenda items only
8 early in th e meeting, and two and a half
9 minutes later in the meeting for general
10 comments.
11 First, my comment is to Mr. McGoff,
12 and please don't take this negatively, you
13 have stated that you have not watched
14 Channel 61 and, in fact, don't even
15 subscribe to a cable company that provides
16 this service. You also stated that you were
17 not aware that council persons received a
18 salary for serving. There is nothing wrong
19 with this, but it appears that the only
20 knowledge you have received regarding the
21 city government and it's operation has been
22 through the only newspaper in town. There
23 is a great deal of important valuable
24 information and facts and figures that quote
25 from this podium and information that you
.
43
1 may not otherwise be aware of and that is
2 often more accurate than that printed in the
3 newspaper. Here are just a few of many,
4 many examples:
5 First, during the mayoral campaign
6 and contrary to the concerns voiced by
7 citizens from this podium, the newspaper
8 printed numerous articles stating the
9 problem with crime was merely perceived and
10 insisted that there no gangs in the city and
11 downplayed drug concerns. All of a sudden
12 on December 8, 9 and 10th of 2006 the paper
13 prints four articles regarding a focus on
14 gangs, the Bloods were actually mentioned by
15 name, involvement in drug dealing, police
16 expect crime heists, etcetera.
17 Second, during the caucus meeting
18 attended by PEL during I believe November of
19 2006 I heard a PEL representative say that
20 the city's bond rating had slipped. I
21 attended the next council meeting held at
22 West Scranton High School and asked if I had
23 heard correctly, no one knew. We have a
24 council person that has been appointed
25 liaison within PEL and an administrative
.
44
1 that received a $10,000 a year raise to act
2 as coordinator with PEL and yet this
3 information was not made public at a time
4 when the mayor was seeking a $44 million
5 borrowing that the cause of which would
6 actually be affected by the drop in rating
7 the paper and article on this, by the way,
8 13 days after I questioned.
9 Third, Mr. Gervasi is a consistently
10 coming to this podium with facts and figures
11 that contradict those reported in the
12 newspaper. If they prove him wrong I'm
13 certain they would have to tried to crucify
14 him long ago, but Mr. Gervasi also does his
15 homework.
16 The fact that council's agenda is
17 only placed on the website the afternoon of
18 the meeting is a problem. If council does
19 pass a must sign-in to speak policy and
20 limit speakers to two and a half minutes I
21 offer the following to the citizens:
22 First, everyone attending the
23 meeting sign in to speak. When your name is
24 called you can always decline at that time.
25 Secondly, decide what is important to
.
45
1 address, do you your homework, prepare as
2 lengthy of presentation as you run, bring
3 three, four, five or however many family
4 member or friends you need, sign in
5 consecutively, read your comments until your
6 two and a half minutes have expired and keep
7 passing the presentation back to the next
8 person until it is finished. This way you
9 can actually be allotted much more than your
10 normal five minutes you get now. Or if
11 council follows Robert's Rules of Order I
12 believe a speaker is permitted to relinquish
13 his time to another person which means the
14 second, third and fourth speakers, etcetera,
15 could assign their spots to the first and
16 get the information that's so important in
17 this city out there. Of course, this would
18 all be unnecessary if council reconsiders
19 changing of the procedures presently in
20 place.
21 The bottom line is, no one, council
22 person or citizen deserves to be abused,
23 harassed or threatened. The key is to keep
24 control of the meeting to eliminate
25 problems, not to throw out the baby with the
.
46
1 bath water. The only people that would want
2 to determine legitimate, discerning behaved
3 speakers are those who are afraid of the
4 truth.
5 In the time I have remaining I would
6 like to comment on agenda items, at the same
7 time you're considering a separate time for
8 public comment on agenda only, there have
9 been two recent occasions where votes were
10 made on two very important issues that were
11 never placed on the agenda, specifically,
12 the voting on the mayor's budget and
13 Mr. McTeirnan's replacement. Without
14 rehashing the details I would like to say
15 the manner in which these matters were
16 handled creates a suspicion of secrecy,
17 deception and collusion that should be
18 avoided at all costs. These types of
19 actions are what all voters who seek open
20 government should take under consideration
21 when determining the candidate that they are
22 going to support. Thank you for the
23 opportunity and time.
24 MS. GATELLI: Bill Plant.
25 MR. PLANT: Good evening, Council.
.
47
1 Bill Plant, I'm the manager of Greenridge
2 Bowling Lanes. Would you please clarify for
3 me the enforcement of your smoking ban?
4 MR. MINORA: I can.
5 MR. PLANT: Of all the articles in
6 the paper --
7 MR. MINORA: I can help you with
8 that. It's contained in Section 1476 of the
9 ordinance. If you are the owner or the
10 operator of an establishment that's governed
11 by the nonsmoking ordinance you are not
12 liable for a fine or citation if you do the
13 following, and I'm not going to state it
14 verbatim, but I can read it if necessary:
15 You first post a nonsmoking sign and if
16 a patron lights a cigarette up in your
17 establishment you have to take a reasonable
18 effort to prevent that from happening. The
19 law actually defines reasonable as informing
20 that person, number one, that there no
21 smoking and that he is to take the cigarette
22 outside or put it out or cigar. That's the
23 first reasonable thing, and if he does not,
24 and it's -- the word is and not or, and that
25 operator must then if the person refuses to
.
48
1 put out the cigarette call the Department of
2 Public Safety, but that's basically the
3 police department to come in and cite that
4 person.
5 If the owner or the operator fails
6 to do that they have exposed themselves to a
7 citation. I'd be happy to spend more time
8 with you and show you in the act.
9 MR. PLANT: Well, I'd be glad to go
10 over it with you because obviously in a
11 bowling alley there are 150 gentlemen
12 looking at me and last night I had an
13 incident where some gentlemen lit up and I
14 went over and informed them, I have probably
15 25 signs in the establishment, and they told
16 me that every police officer in the City of
17 Scranton smokes and nobody is going to
18 enforce this anyway, so that was part of my
19 answer. And part of the other businesses in
20 town as the paper shows are ignoring this,
21 so Sunday -- Saturday night after we closed
22 I did post everything and try to abide by
23 your ruling.
24 MR. MINORA: I appreciate that.
25 MR. PLANT: And that's why I'm here.
.
49
1 MR. MINORA: Thank you for that.
2 MR. PLANT: So you are saying we
3 should call the police?
4 MR. MINORA: Yes. Those are the two
5 things you have to do, you then have done
6 what you are supposed to do and, obviously,
7 the police prioritize their calls, I hope
8 they will be able to respond to some of
9 these so the people understand it's a
10 legitimate concern and it will, in fact, be
11 enforced. Will it be enforced every single
12 time somebody calls? Obviously, they are
13 going to be on other calls, it happens from
14 time to time, but I think it's their
15 understanding, I think the administration
16 will be behind the idea of enforcing this
17 and just by statistics 75 percent of the
18 people don't smoke and don't want to smoke
19 anybody else's smoke.
20 MR. PLANT: Thank you.
21 MS. FANUCCI: Attorney Minora, there
22 is something, also, if you want me to, I met
23 with Ray Hayes in the past two days, we have
24 been having meetings and what is going to
25 happen in the next few days or probably in
.
50
1 the next week you are going to receive a
2 letter and the proper signage from the city.
3 What it's going to do is actually tell you
4 step by step in which you are responsible as
5 an owner to implement and how, you know, to
6 enforce this law, so you are going to get
7 all of this. Everyone who is with licensing
8 and inspecting will be getting this law and
9 these plaques and these signs, so it will
10 help you know exactly how to follow the law.
11 Until then we have not been enforcing it.
12 Probably these men are right they have not
13 been writing citations or anything at this
14 stage right now, but in the next week as
15 soon as everyone is properly informed it is
16 more important right now at this stage to
17 educate and compliance and then we will
18 worry about going out and enforce, but that
19 probably will be happening as soon as you
20 receive your letter.
21 MR. PLANT: Once the signage is
22 delivered.
23 MR. FANUCCI: Once the signage is
24 done and they will tell you exactly where to
25 post the signage and exactly how to
.
51
1 implement this plan so we will clear all of
2 this up because I know that it's frustrating
3 to you and we have been working hard and
4 making sure that it is easier for you to
5 enforce it.
6 MR. PLANT: May I ask if you are
7 going to introduce the passage tonight about
8 the $1,000 that was in the paper for the
9 owners?
10 MS. GATELLI: Attorney Minora, you
11 maybe could address that, too, about the
12 owner's fine?
13 MR. MINORA: That's what I was
14 explaining before --
15 MS. FANUCCI: As far as myself, not
16 tonight, I am not going to introduce the
17 $1,000 increase. I had sat down with
18 Attorney Minora and a few other people who
19 decided that right now it's a $300. If the
20 owners do not want comply and we want this
21 to fit our city and we want it to fit well.
22 We are not out there to try to, you know, a
23 much as they would like to believe to make
24 money off of this, we want this to be a
25 great asset to our city and something we
.
52
1 could be proud of, so I'm not going to -- we
2 are not going to go out and look to do this
3 right now. When we do have amendments which
4 I'm sure we might have some tweaking to do,
5 we will propose all of those at the same
6 time so that it is not piece by piece.
7 MR. MINORA: Five minutes.
8 MS. FANUCCI: Okay?
9 MR. PLANT: Thank you.
10 MR. MINORA: I'll be happy to talk to
11 you after if you want.
12 MS. GATELLI: Les Spindler.
13 MS. SPINDLER: Good evening, Council.
14 Les Spindler. I, too, want to talk about
15 the smoking ban. Last weekend Mrs. Fanucci
16 comment to all of people defying the smoking
17 ban, she said, "Bring it on, we need the
18 money."
19 Well, last Sunday there was a bar on
20 Franklin Avenue that was packed with
21 smokers, they actually had a smoking party.
22 They brought it on where were you,
23 Mrs. Fanucci? There was a lot of money to
24 be had there.
25 MS. FANUCCI: Les, you didn't call
.
53
1 me. Where were you?
2 MR. SPINDLER: I didn't know about it
3 until the next day, but you said, "Bring it
4 on," you were really cocky about it and they
5 brought it on. You were nowhere to be
6 found. It's in the paper. The Ground Round
7 it's in the paper today they are not
8 throwing anybody out. The law is useless
9 the way it is and I said that last week.
10 And I read the paper today where now you
11 might put the onus on the owner. I think
12 somebody said that last week you should have
13 done that right away. Oh, that was me.
14 Maybe you should ask me --
15 MS. GATELLI: It's already in there.
16 MR. SPINDLER: Maybe you should ask
17 me advice next time you want to make a law.
18 MS. FANUCCI: Run for office,
19 Mr. Spindler.
20 MR. SPINDLER: Next thing about
21 Mr. McGoff's motion last week to split
22 citizen's participation, yet another attempt
23 to stop our freedom of speech. Mr. McGoff
24 just wants people to leave before the
25 meeting is over because he was embarrassed
.
54
1 last week when he couldn't answer a question
2 by Lee Morgan.
3 You people are getting paid to stay
4 here all night, we are not. We have other
5 places to go to. We want to come and talk
6 and leave. We don't have to stay here all
7 night, we are not getting paid to do it.
8 You people were elected to stay there all
9 night, we weren't, so it's a terrible rule
10 and a terrible motion.
11 Next thing, Mayor Barletta said a
12 few weeks ago he is a going to hire ten
13 policemen in Hazelton yet three of you up
14 there voted to let go of six policeman with
15 the mayor's budget.
16 MS. GATELLI: That's not true, Les.
17 That's not true, Les.
18 MR. SPINDLER: He is going to let go
19 six policemen.
20 MS. GATELLI: No, he's not.
21 MR. SPINDLER: It's in the budget.
22 MS. GATELLI: It's not in the budget.
23 MR. SPINDLER: And 38 firemen, so I
24 guess --
25 MS. GATELLI: It's not in the budget
.
55
1 and that's not the truth.
2 MR. SPINDLER: Okay.
3 MS. GATELLI: There is not 40 firemen
4 eliminated in the budget.
5 MR. SPINDLER: Next thing, somebody
6 already spoke about this, but I feel bad you
7 were sick last week, Mrs. Gatelli, if you
8 were so sick that you couldn't stay for
9 citizen participation then you should have
10 gone home, but yet you found -- I guess you
11 got good enough or well enough to come back
12 in and vote to keep --
13 MS. GATELLI: Yes, I stayed so I
14 could vote --
15 MR. SPINDLER: I think they have to
16 keep --
17 MS. GATELLI: -- and to do my
18 responsibilities.
19 MR. SPINDLER: You keep calling it's
20 your responsibility to listen to citizen
21 participation, too. It's amazing how you
22 came back in after all of the speakers were
23 done.
24 MS. GATELLI: I hope you don't get
25 sick, Mr. Spindler.
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1 MR. SPINDLER: But if I was sick I
2 would have gone home.
3 MR. GATELLI: Well, I resent your
4 comments.
5 MR. SPINDLER: I wouldn't have stayed
6 and voted for everything that the mayor
7 wanted and I think that you made a
8 comment --
9 MS. GATELLI: I vote for what I think
10 is right, not for what the mayor wants.
11 MR. SPINDLER: You made a comment
12 this year you are not a rubber stamp, well,
13 I think you proved last week you are.
14 MS. GATELLI: That's your opinion.
15 Thank you.
16 MR. SPINDLER: A lot of people's
17 opinion.
18 MS. GATELLI: Chris Sledenzski. Fay
19 Franas.
20 MS. FRANAS: Are you waiting for
21 someone else?
22 MS. GATELLI: No, I told them to get
23 him so he knows he has a turn coming.
24 MS. FRANAS: With all due respect,
25 Mr. Minora, I'm going to use this. I have a
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57
1 funny feeling you don't know how to keep
2 time here. I'm using my own timer.
3 MR. MINORA: It's starting when you
4 get called.
5 MS. FRANAS: Pardon me?
6 MR. MINORA: It's started when you
7 get called.
8 MS. FRANAS: Hang in there. It's
9 moving.
10 MS. GATELLI: Excuse me.
11 (Ms. Gatelli gavels audience.)
12 MS. FRANAS: Last night when I
13 watched the president speak he mentioned a
14 thing about democracy like Reverend Simmons
15 mentioned and he mentioned that he was
16 sending 22,0000 troops over to Iraq to give
17 them democracy and freedoms. I think they
18 should send the 22,000 soldiers to Scranton
19 to get our rights back, to heck with Iraq.
20 We are losing them every week in this
21 chambers.
22 Mrs. Gatelli, I want to ask you a
23 couple of questions. Who has the authority
24 to bring the policeman in here? Is it you
25 that you request the policeman to be here?
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58
1 MS. GATELLI: Anybody can request the
2 policeman.
3 MS. FRANAS: No, have you -- who has
4 requested them to be here, have you?
5 MS. GATELLI: I have.
6 MS. FRANAS: Then do you have a right
7 to do that?
8 MS. GATELLI: Yes, I do. I think any
9 council has a right to do that.
10 MS. FRANAS: Because you feel
11 threatened?
12 MS. GATELLI: Yes.
13 MS. FRANAS: And you don't feel you
14 have should pay for that out of your own,
15 the taxpayers pay for this policeman to be
16 here.
17 MS. GATELLI: No, there is police at
18 all public meetings.
19 MS. FRANAS: And who assigns this
20 policeman to be here?
21 MS. GATELLI: Officer Elliott, James
22 Elliott.
23 MS. FRANAS: Why do you feel you
24 need two?
25 MS. GATELLI: I'd rather not get into
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59
1 it because it's being investigated and I am
2 not allowed to --
3 MS. FRANAS: You need to investigate
4 why there's two?
5 MS. GATELLI: It's being investigated
6 and I'm not allowed to discuss it.
7 MS. FRANAS: What's being
8 investigated?
9 MS. GATELLI: Some threats.
10 MS. FRANAS: Okay, you cleared that
11 up. Mrs. Gatelli, would you be interested
12 in revisiting the budget since I believe
13 legally you could revisit this budget and
14 not have it the way it was or is?
15 MS. GATELLI: What do you mean
16 revisit it?
17 MS. FRANAS: Bring it back and take
18 some of the things that you already said
19 should be in it out.
20 MS. GATELLI: I don't know if we can
21 do that.
22 MS. FRANAS: Yes, you can do that.
23 MS. GATELLI: I would be interested
24 to sit down and discuss it, yes, I would.
25 MS. FRANAS: Would you be interested
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60
1 in giving Mrs. Evans some of her motions for
2 the budget?
3 MS. GATELLI: I was interested in
4 some of her things, yes.
5 MS. FRANAS: But didn't approve any.
6 MS. GATELLI: Well, it was package,
7 it was the whole package, but we are working
8 on the amusement tax.
9 MS. FRANAS: You could have used
10 some, you didn't have to take the whole
11 package. And you were mentioning earlier
12 about Mr. Courtright mentioned earlier about
13 Channel 61, well, Jack Finnerty has to be
14 the most decent guy there is and I don't
15 have a doubt in my mind that he will make it
16 possible for 61 to be live here, and as far
17 as being unsafe in the balcony, let me tell
18 tell you something, Mrs. Fanucci, Mrs.
19 Gatelli and Mr. McGoff, the only unsafe
20 conditions of that balcony are going to be
21 when the people get their taxes and they are
22 come to that balcony and probably commit
23 suicide, that's what they are going to be
24 upset about when they get their tax bills.
25 Now, Mr. McGoff, I'd like to ask you a
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61
1 question, what did you feel that you have
2 done to help the city, the people in the
3 City of Scranton since you weren't elected
4 by the people, what have you done so far as
5 a council member other than the smoking ban
6 to help the people that we are paying you to
7 do? It's a question.
8 MS. GATELLI: They don't have to
9 respond, Ms. Franas.
10 MR. FRANAS: Mr. McGoff, you don't
11 want to respond?
12 MS. GATELLI: You can respond in
13 motions.
14 MS. FRANAS: No, I'm asking him now.
15 MR. MCGOFF: No, I don't wish to
16 respond. If I did respond what I would say
17 was that it would be lengthy and it would
18 probably waste most of the time that you
19 have at the podium.
20 MS. FRANAS: Is that why you don't
21 want to respond now?
22 MR. MCGOFF: Yes.
23 MS. FRANAS: Well, then respond
24 later. Mrs. Fanucci, you mentioned about
25 the $300 fines, I think you better
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62
1 concentrate on things that are more
2 important. I'm a nonsmoker but let's get
3 serious here. I have a bill passed by
4 council ten years ago for truck traffic in
5 my neighborhood. Four houses in my block
6 caved in, two of them were torn down and my
7 garage caved in because of the caves,
8 because of the truck traffic that's at a
9 $300 for every truck, not one truck was
10 stopped. Now, maybe I should call a
11 policeman when a truck goes up my street?
12 Would they come? I mean, let's gets
13 serious.
14 MS. FANUCCI: Fay, if you came to me
15 with these issues I'd surely sit down with
16 you.
17 MS. FRANAS: I came to you with
18 these issues at council many times.
19 MS. FANUCCI: I never heard anything
20 about truck traffic.
21 MS. FRANAS: Well, maybe you better
22 check the tapes because I discussed it with
23 council many times.
24 MS. GATELLI: Please. Please.
25 MS. FRANAS: Please what?
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63
1 MS. GATELLI: Let's not get
2 confrontational.
3 MR. MINORA: That's five minutes.
4 MS. FRANAS: Not yet.
5 MR. MINORA: Five minutes.
6 MS. FRANAS: I'll let you know. I
7 have a receipt, $11 is very good for me.
8 I'm not leaving until it's up.
9 MS. GATELLI: Attorney Minora is
10 doing the time.
11 MS. FRANAS: So am I. So am I and
12 when it beeps I shall leave. Mrs. Fanucci,
13 I brought this up many times and I wish you
14 would do something about it.
15 MS. GATELLI: Mary Ann Wardell is
16 next.
17 MS. FRANAS: Thank you.
18 MS. WARDELL: Good evening, Council.
19 Mary Ann Wardell, resident of the city. It
20 gives me no pleasure to say this, but if
21 there were a award to be given out for the
22 most unresponsive, uncooperative and worse
23 council this council at this time would get
24 that award hands down. I have never in all
25 of my years of coming to council have I seen
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64
1 people that have tried to just take away
2 whatever people try to do here.
3 Mr. McGoff, let me say whether you
4 were elected or appointed you will answer to
5 us for your decisions and your votes. We
6 pay your salary. You work for us. You
7 don't work for the mayor even though he is
8 the one that put you there, you don't work
9 for him, you work for us and you owe us an
10 explanation when you are making votes.
11 Mrs. Fanucci, as far as Carl Greco
12 goes, would you please find out for me what
13 these serial suers are doing and what our
14 law department is doing that we have to pay
15 Mr. Greco all of this money that you voted
16 on last year even though you said if he had
17 donated to your campaign you would not
18 not --
19 MS. FANUCCI: I believe you lost that
20 lawsuit and the ethics violation.
21 MS. WARDELL: I didn't lose a
22 lawsuit.
23 MS. FANUCCI: I think --
24 MS. WARDELL: I filed an ethics
25 complaint and it certainly was unethical and
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65
1 it had nothing to do with your voting on a
2 contract this year, you voted on another
3 contract for him this year.
4 MS. FANUCCI: Yes, I did.
5 MS. WARDELL: Yes, you did. What do
6 they do in our law department?
7 MS. FANUCCI: You have to be kidding.
8 What do they do in our law department?
9 MS. WARDELL: No, I am not kidding.
10 I am not kidding, not at all and also --
11 MS. FANUCCI: Don't ask me questions
12 if you don't want answers.
13 MS. WARDELL: I didn't ask you any
14 questions.
15 MS. GATELLI: Please. Please, don't
16 be confrontational.
17 MS. WARDELL: Let me say this to you,
18 you brought pictures here of your
19 grandchildren and I have grandchildren here
20 that live in the city and you said you
21 didn't want them to carry our debt and you
22 voted to give this mayor 10 million dollars
23 more to blow on whatever and nobody seems to
24 know what is that money going for? Nobody
25 has accounted for that 10 million dollars.
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66
1 Nobody has said, "What is that money for."
2 I don't understand this, I really
3 don't. And as far as being more efficient
4 and breaking up two and a half minutes and
5 two half minutes, does that seem more
6 efficient to you? That you would be calling
7 people up here twice to come up here and
8 speak rather than let them come up here once
9 and get it over with. I don't think that's
10 efficient. I think that's very rude and