1
1 SCRANTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING
2
3
4
5 Held:
6 Thursday, February 8, 2007
7
8
9 Time:
10 6:30 p.m.
11
12
13 Location:
14 Council Chambers
15 Scranton City Hall
16 340 North Washington Avenue
17 Scranton, Pennsylvania
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19
20
21
22
23 Lisa M. Graff, RMR
24 Court Reporter
25
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1 CITY OF SCRANTON COUNCIL:
2
3 MS. JUDY GATELLI, COUNCIL PRESIDENT
4
5 MR. WILLIAM COURTRIGHT, VICE-PRESIDENT
6
7 MS. JANET EVANS
8
9 MS. SHERRY NEALON FANUCCI
10
11 MR. ROBERT MCGOFF
12
13 MR. AMIL MINORA, ESQUIRE, SOLICITOR
14
15 MS. KAY GARVEY, CITY CLERK
16
17 MR. NEIL COOLICAN, ASSISTANT CITY CLERK
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25
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1 MS. GATELLI: Okay. Please stand
2 for the Pledge Of Allegiance. Please remain
3 standing for a moment to remember our
4 servicemen. Thank you. Roll call.
5 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.
6 MS. EVANS: Here.
7 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Fanucci.
8 MS. FANUCCI: Here.
9 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. McGoff.
10 MR. MCGOFF: Here.
11 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright.
12 MR. COURTRIGHT: Here.
13 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli.
14 MS. GATELLI: Here. Dispense with
15 the reading of the minutes.
16 MS. GARVEY: Third order. 3-A,
17 RECEIPT OF $50.00 DONATION FROM THE HERBERT
18 SANDS FAMILY TO THE CITY OF SCRANTON FIRE
19 DEPARTMENT TO BE DEPOSITED INTO SPECIAL CITY
20 ACCOUNT #02.229544 (FIRE DEPARTMENT
21 DONATIONS).
22 MS. GATELLI: Are there any
23 comments? We would just like to thank Mr.
24 Sands for his contribution, and the fire
25 department responded to a carbon monoxide
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1 call at his home, and they did an excellent
2 job, as they always do, and we thank them
3 for their service to the city and we thank
4 Mr. Sands for his contribution. Any other
5 comments? Received and filed.
6 MS. GARVEY: Just one thing in
7 clerk's notes that I was asked to discuss
8 tonight. Some people forms that they've
9 been receiving in the mail this week that
10 say school tax bill is enclosed, but when
11 they open it, that's not what's inside.
12 So, I was asked to call the single
13 tax office inside and I spoke to someone
14 there and they said that they don't send out
15 these forms any more, that it's been
16 outsourced to a company that does it now,
17 and evidently this company stuffed the wrong
18 envelopes and sent out the 2006 wage tax
19 forms.
20 I was asked by Mr. Courtright then
21 to pass this information onto the public so
22 it would help with any confusion they might
23 have. So, anybody that is employed should
24 be receiving this form to do their taxes, so
25 don't disregarded it. It has nothing to do
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1 with their school taxes. And that's it.
2 MS. GATELLI: Thank you, Mrs.
3 Garvey. I just have a few things. Saturday
4 evening at eight o'clock at the Providence
5 Playhouse at 1256 Providence Road there will
6 be a play call Lovers And Other Strangers,
7 as that's for Valentine's Day.
8 On Friday, tomorrow evening at eight
9 o'clock at the Northeast Theater at the
10 Hotel Jermyn will be the Vagina Monologues
11 in honor of V-Day.
12 Also, tomorrow evening from 5:30 to
13 eight will be the Electric City Trolley
14 Museum Winter in the City party, 5:30 to
15 eight, benefiting Scranton Tomorrow.
16 Saturday starting at four o'clock at
17 the Asberry United Methodist Church there
18 will be a beef dinner. That's at 720
19 Delaware Street.
20 Saturday day from five to seven,
21 there will be a pork and sauerkraut supper
22 at the Court Street United Methodist Church.
23 Friday eleven in the morning to
24 seven at night, the new State Representative
25 Frank Shimkus will be holding an open house
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1 in his office at 117 North Main Avenue, and
2 he asks everyone to please stop by.
3 We received an answer from George
4 Parker about the curb cuts on Mulberry and
5 Adams, and he responded that that is under
6 the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania
7 Department of Transportation, so, Kay, we
8 will forward all that Keith Williams
9 information to PennDOT and see if they can't
10 make those repairs expeditiously.
11 I asked about the Rockwell Avenue
12 bridge, and it is in need of replacement,
13 and a new structure is being designed
14 presently. The bridge is on the
15 Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
16 improvement plan and is funded for design
17 and construction, with 80 percent federal
18 funds and 20 percent state funds.
19 A public meeting regarding the
20 design alternatives was held in North
21 Scranton on November 25, '03, where citizens
22 had the opportunity to give comments. The
23 project is scheduled for opening of bids in
24 June of '08. So, that's for the people that
25 were inquiring about the Rockwell Avenue
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1 bridge.
2 We also received an answer from
3 Jerry Cross from the Pennsylvania Economy
4 League concerning the director of public
5 safety. People asked why it was not in the
6 Recovery Plan and why there is such a person
7 serving in that function.
8 His answer was that the 1992 and
9 1996 recovery plans eliminated the separate
10 position of director of public safety.
11 The 2002 Recovery Plan, as adopted
12 by the city and approved by the voters at a
13 public referendum, did provide budgeting for
14 such a position. I hope that this explains
15 Act 47 background. So, that was his answer
16 to that.
17 I talked to Mark Seitzinger
18 regarding the property at 2519 North Main,
19 the Habitat For Humanity house. It is down
20 at the state being evaluated for historic
21 preservations reasons, which is just part of
22 procedure for demolition, and when -- as
23 soon as they get the okay, it will be placed
24 on the demolition list. It is in very
25 hazardous condition.
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1 I also talked to Mark about the
2 property on Parker Street that Mr. Elman
3 talked about, and he said that he talked to
4 the owners and they were supposed to have it
5 down within 60 days, and he was going to
6 call them again. They have agreed to take
7 it down themselves.
8 Potholes were repaired on Dix Court,
9 1300 North Washington, 1600 of Muncy, nine
10 and ten of Clay, West Pass Avenue, 140-150
11 Dixon, 1300 of Sanderson, 200 of Cherry, one
12 and two of Popular, Greer Place, 200 of Vine
13 and Greenburn.
14 Inlets were repaired at Palm and
15 Pittston, 1612 Bullwer. A house was boarded
16 up at 1221 Linden.
17 We had snow events on Tuesday,
18 January 20 and Friday, February 2, and a
19 sink hole was repaired at 533 North Filmore,
20 and trees were trimmed -- were removed at
21 Connell Park and Nay Aug Park.
22 I also reported a property on
23 Wyoming Avenue that is sinking because of
24 the Meadow Brook Creek. It is 1713 Wyoming
25 Avenue, and Mr. Matthews is going to take a
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1 look at that.
2 And the last thing I have is just to
3 wish my daughter happy birthday. I'm not
4 going to tell you how old she is, but Mrs.
5 Krake knows. And anyone else?
6 MS. EVANS: Yes.
7 MS. GATELLI: Mrs. Evans.
8 MS. EVANS: Just three
9 announcements. On February 10, there will
10 be a breakfast from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
11 conducted at Saint Peters Lutheran Church
12 Social Hall located at the corner of Taylor
13 Avenue and Ash Street, that is close to
14 Petersburg Corners, benefitting Ginger
15 Dobenhauser, who underwent successful spinal
16 cord surgery but has incurred many medical
17 bills. For further information, please
18 contact Saint Peter's Lutheran at 344-2701.
19 Tickets are very reasonable, $5 for adults
20 and $3 for children under ten. There will
21 also be candy and bake goods for sale.
22 Last year at this time I asked for
23 your financial support of a West Scranton
24 student who wished to participate in the
25 People to People Leadership Program which
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1 was conducted last summer in Europe, and
2 thanks to the generosity of so many people,
3 he was able to make this dream a reality,
4 and, in fact, he gave me a lovely photo
5 album of his travels for Christmas.
6 This summer Ryan McClaughlin, who is
7 a ninth grade student at Scranton High
8 School, hopes to attend the People to People
9 Leadership Summit in china.
10 He will attend educational workshops
11 and learn about China's government, history
12 and religions. It's an honor to be selected
13 for this program. And upon his return, Ryan
14 will share his experiences with schools and
15 civic clubs throughout our community.
16 His tuition is $5300, and I hope
17 that some of you who are able will
18 contribute toward Ryan's tuition with any
19 dollar amount that you can spare.
20 Please make all checks payable to
21 People to People, care of Ryan McClaughlin.
22 Checks or cash can be mailed to Ryan
23 McClaughlin, 933 Ferdinand Street, Scranton,
24 PA, 18508. I hope you can help.
25 And, once again, as I announced last
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1 week, the Cross Your Heart We'll Have a Ball
2 sponsored by the Scranton Firefighters
3 Auxiliary on Saturday, February 10 from six
4 to 11 p.m. at Saint Joe's Center in Minooka.
5 Proceeds benefit the Scranton Chapter of the
6 American Red Cross. There will be
7 entertainment and a D.J. Tickets are $25.
8 And for ticket information, please call
9 Christine DeStefano at 344-0944.
10 There will also be raffles and a
11 special appearance by Scranton Rehab Two.
12 I'm not quite sure what that is, but I'm
13 looking forward to finding out. Thank you.
14 MS. GATELLI: Anyone else?
15 MR. COURTRIGHT: I just have one
16 thing. The West Side Crime Watch asked me
17 to announce they're going to have a meeting
18 this Monday at seven o'clock, the 12th, at
19 the crime watch building on Bromley Avenue
20 and Jackson Street, and there's going to be
21 a speaker there from the D.A.'s office
22 talking about sexual offenders. So, they're
23 inviting everyone to that meeting. That's
24 this Monday, the 12th, at 7 p.m. that's all
25 I have. Thanks.
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1 MS. GATELLI: Anyone else? The
2 first speaker is Andy Sbaraglia.
3 MR. SBARAGLIA: Andy Sbaraglia,
4 citizen of Scranton. Fellow Scrantonians,
5 your 7-A that came back -- that actually
6 came down from the mayor's office, right? I
7 don't think any of you had anything to do
8 with that.
9 Well, I asked around about it, and
10 somebody said this -- they've been there
11 from, I think, at that pay raise since '99,
12 so I guess I find nothing wrong with it.
13 The mayor seems to think it's okay, and I
14 think it's okay, too.
15 How about your number three here,
16 reports and communication from the mayor,
17 what did he actually report to you?
18 MS. GATELLI: Just the things that I
19 read from the various cabinet officials.
20 MR. SBARAGLIA: Anything specific?
21 MS. GATELLI: The reports I just
22 gave about the Rockwell Street bridge.
23 MR. SBARAGLIA: That's all he gave?
24 Nothing -- nothing about the financial
25 stability of the city, our BB negative bond
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1 issue or anything like that?
2 Well, I think maybe you should query
3 him on the financial stability of the city.
4 Most of the people got their raises in their
5 taxes and they want to know what they're
6 getting for their raises in taxes. I think
7 they're getting a snow job for the raise in
8 taxes, but that's my opinion.
9 Things that are going on in this
10 city should never have been done. This city
11 doesn't have the financial backing to do all
12 the things he wanted to do.
13 There used to be a little story, a
14 movie, I guess, long time ago saying one
15 bridge at a time. Where they tried to go
16 too far, you got clobbered.
17 Well, we're in that position now.
18 He tried to go too far, and we got
19 clobbered, and we're going to get clobbered.
20 I would assume -- you should query
21 him again about the Parking Authority. He's
22 already thinking of two new garages, and I
23 find it real hard to figure how he's going
24 to get the money to pay for these garages.
25 We're already -- I'm going to query --
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1 MS. GATELLI: Mr. Sbaraglia, could
2 you please stick to the agenda?
3 MR. SBARAGLIA: Well, that was the
4 reports, okay. I was just on the reports.
5 I just got a little carried away on the
6 report.
7 I would assume that you had that
8 financial report and I have no reason to
9 assume that you wouldn't get something like
10 that in your report from the city. In fact,
11 I find it very --
12 MS. GATELLI: No, it's just weekly
13 communication that comes down from cabinet
14 members or --
15 MR. SBARAGLIA: Wouldn't it be wise
16 to get --
17 MS. GATELLI: PEL --
18 MR. SBARAGLIA: -- exactly how this
19 city is doing financially as we progress
20 weekly at a time?
21 MS. GATELLI: I don't know that
22 they've ever given a weekly report, not that
23 I was ever aware of.
24 MR. SBARAGLIA: Well, somebody
25 should look into it a little more closer.
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1 MS. GATELLI: I know Roseann gives a
2 monthly report.
3 MR. SBARAGLIA: I know she does, but
4 I assume maybe we should try to get a little
5 more along the financial line from the
6 reports from the different departments as
7 they keep the budget, so forth and so on.
8 MR. MINORA: Three minutes.
9 MR. SBARAGLIA: That would be the
10 wise thing to do. Thank you.
11 MS. GATELLI: Thank you. Bill
12 Jackowitz.
13 MR. JACKOWITZ: Bill Jackowitz,
14 South Scranton resident. I also would like
15 to talk about number three, reports,
16 communication from mayor, heads of
17 department and interested parties and city
18 clerk's notes.
19 You read two responses from Mr.
20 Parker in regards to blighted buildings that
21 are going to be tore down; is that correct?
22 With all the letters, all the
23 E-mails, all the phone calls, all the visits
24 that have been made to the mayor and to all
25 these heads, requests for them to appear at
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1 meetings and answer these questions, those
2 are the only two responses that we received;
3 is that correct?
4 MS. GATELLI: I believe I read more
5 than two responses.
6 MR. JACKOWITZ: There was two about
7 the buildings and then there was one about
8 the bridge, so maybe there was three. I
9 could have been off by one.
10 You know, this would be a good time
11 now to probably start issuing the subpoenas
12 if they're not responding.
13 MS. GATELLI: We are pursuing that,
14 Mr. Jackowitz.
15 MR. JACKOWITZ: I'm just saying,
16 it'd probably be a good time to start,
17 because there's a lot of letters that have
18 been sent.
19 I mean, we keep the post office in
20 business with all the letters that we send
21 to the mayor's office, to all the department
22 heads, so on and so forth, and we don't ever
23 get any responses.
24 And then today, I mean, I was
25 shocked, only two or three responses about
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1 blighted buildings. What about the budget?
2 What about the $13, $15, $10 million that
3 has been missing? We still don't have an
4 answer on that one. I don't care what
5 anybody says.
6 These are the questions we need to
7 be answered. Why were our taxes raised?
8 These are questions that -- these are
9 questions that have been sent to the mayor
10 and to the department heads. What about the
11 potholes and all this? You know, everything
12 that's going on in this city.
13 MS. GATELLI: I read an array of
14 potholes that were filled.
15 MR. JACKOWITZ: Right, and there's
16 an array of more of them that still that --
17 MS. GATELLI: Well, yeah, they're
18 there all the time, we know that.
19 MR. JACKOWITZ: I mean, there's just
20 letter after letter after letter sent. You
21 know, what about the money for the soldiers?
22 Have we ever got an answer to that one?
23 MS. GATELLI: Mr. Minora, I think
24 they're going way off the agenda items.
25 MR. MINORA: I agree, I agree.
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1 MS. GATELLI: Please, stick to the
2 agenda.
3 MR. JACKOWITZ: I am sticking to the
4 reports.
5 MS. GATELLI: No, there are no
6 reports on there for you to address.
7 MR. JACKOWITZ: What I'm asking,
8 though, is for City Council to get the
9 reports.
10 MS. GATELLI: You ask that at public
11 participation at the end of the meeting.
12 MR. JACKOWITZ: You know, we need to
13 get the reports. That's what the reports
14 are about.
15 MS. GATELLI: No, it's not. That's
16 to review any reports that are here.
17 MR. JACKOWITZ: Right. And I'm
18 saying that maybe it's time to subpoena to
19 start issuing --
20 MS. GATELLI: Well, we are working
21 on that. I said that once already.
22 MR. JACKOWITZ: I understand that.
23 It doesn't take long to send a subpoena out.
24 MS. GATELLI: Oh, it certainly does,
25 Mr. Jackowitz.
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1 MR. JACKOWITZ: No, it doesn't. It
2 doesn't take long at all. All it takes is a
3 little ingenuity and ambition, that's all it
4 takes. Thank you.
5 MS. GATELLI: Mr. Talamini.
6 MR. TALERICO: I have nothing on the
7 agenda.
8 MS. GATELLI: Mrs. Garvey. Oh, I'm
9 sorry.
10 MR. GERVASI: Thanks, Mrs. Gatelli.
11 When you were reading the reports, you read
12 a letter from Gerald Cross from the
13 Pennsylvania Economy League, I don't want to
14 go off track here, but I believe it just
15 said simply that there's a public safety
16 department now because it was budgeted; is
17 that actually what he said?
18 MS. GATELLI: Basically, yeah. I
19 didn't read the whole thing in total, but
20 you can have it if you'd like.
21 MR. GERVASI: In my opinion, the
22 Pennsylvania Economy League is either --
23 their incompetence is staggering or they're
24 not going to give you a straight answer.
25 Just to educate you a little bit if
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1 you don't know, the Pennsylvania Economy
2 League is hired by who? Does anyone know?
3 By the Department of Economic and Community
4 Development with the state, DCED. And
5 that's totally controlled by the secretary
6 of DCED, who is totally controlled by the
7 governor.
8 There is no legislative oversight to
9 anything PEL does or DCED does. They're
10 solely controlled by the governor. So, when
11 you ask a question of Mr. Cross from the
12 PEL, he needs permission from the
13 department's secretary, whose boss is the
14 governor. There is no oversight, there's no
15 one else to tell, there's no one else to
16 complain to.
17 And maybe you should send another
18 letter to him saying why was it okay to have
19 a public safety department created under the
20 Doherty Administration, when it wasn't okay
21 to do it under the Connors Administration?
22 Maybe you should ask him specifically what
23 changed to make that happen.
24 That might be a better solution,
25 because, and I don't want to get off track
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1 here, but these are the same people who
2 wrote this letter that sat here weeks ago
3 and said there is no alternative instead of
4 -- there is no other alternative than to
5 borrow $44 million to keep the city afloat,
6 when it was you, Mrs. Gatelli, who asked one
7 simple question of the mayor, how much do
8 you really need?
9 And I think you knocked it down to
10 $19 million from $44 million, and I believe
11 it ended up $10 million.
12 I wonder what Gerald Cross from the
13 Pennsylvania Economy League thinks if he
14 made and a $33 million error on one-year's
15 budget. So, I wouldn't take any of his
16 letters with too much credence, and I would
17 probably send another letter to follow up
18 with a little detailed information why it
19 was okay for Mayor Doherty and not Mayor
20 Connors.
21 MS. GATELLI: Thank you.
22 MS. EVANS: Mr. Gervasi, if I could
23 just respond quickly. First to the last
24 point that you made, actually PEL was aware
25 that it was only going to be $10 million in
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1 borrowing early in December before the
2 motion was ever made here at Council. It's
3 contained in the PEL summary notes of their
4 weekly meetings.
5 MR. GERVASI: Really?
6 MS. EVANS: Yes. But just to go
7 back to the point about the public safety
8 director, it does say in '92 and '96, the
9 recovery plans as adopted by the city
10 eliminated the position.
11 These provisions were initiated to
12 reduce expenditures during the period of
13 time covered by those specific recovery
14 plans.
15 I, you know, I'm just adding my own
16 thoughts at this point, but it appears that
17 we are in far worse financial straits today
18 than we were in those years, yet we maintain
19 the position.
20 But he then goes on to elaborate,
21 the 2002 Recovery Plan as adopted by the
22 city and approved by the voters at a public
23 referendum providing -- or provided for the
24 budgeting of such a position.
25 Again, I'm just going to inject, I
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1 recall perusing the Recovery Plan, but I
2 must admit, I myself as a citizen, I don't
3 recall recalling that exact line, that this
4 was an addition. I think we were all too
5 concerned at that time about a potential tax
6 increase, because we were told Recovery
7 Plan, yes, or tax increase.
8 MR. GERVASI: Right.
9 MS. EVANS: And I know that's what
10 was looming in many people's minds. But
11 setting that aside, administration
12 difficulties in the operation of the city's
13 police and fire bureaus during the
14 implementation of the '92 and '96 recovery
15 plans were a factor in the funding of the
16 director of public safety position in the
17 2002 Recovery Plan.
18 I am questioning if they're implying
19 that there were great problems within the
20 departments during those years or that -- in
21 fact, was there not a public safety director
22 in the nineties?
23 MR. GERVASI: Yes, there was.
24 MS. GATELLI: Yeah, it was Jimmy
25 Klee.
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1 MR. COURTRIGHT: Jim Klee.
2 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: Jimmy Klee.
3 MS. EVANS: Yes, and then he was
4 removed.
5 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: Yes.
6 MS. EVANS: Correct?
7 MS. GATELLI: The position was
8 eliminated.
9 MS. EVANS: According to the
10 Recovery Plan.
11 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: Right.
12 MS. EVANS: Because --
13 MR. GERVASI: It was called
14 redundant.
15 MS. EVANS: -- because they were
16 trying to reduce expenditures, and
17 apparently because you had administrative
18 difficulties in the nineties. I don't know
19 if that's true or not.
20 MR. GERVASI: I don't recall.
21 MS. EVANS: But that's the entire
22 justification for the insertion of the
23 position.
24 MS. GATELLI: You're welcome.
25 Anyone else?
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1 MS. KRAKE: My name is Nancy Krake.
2 And just finishing up on the last remarks
3 that were made here, when the Pennsylvania
4 Economy League came to speak to Council,
5 Harry Miller told myself and Ann Marie
6 Stulgis out in the hall that he did not want
7 a public safety director because he didn't
8 like Jimmy Klee. He told us flat out. And
9 there were several people there.
10 So, that just proves how political
11 they are, and it has nothing to do with
12 economics, sorry to say.
13 I'd like to speak a little bit about
14 7-A. It's the only thing on the agenda,
15 because apparently everything else is
16 perfect in this city.
17 This is a raise for the secretaries
18 for all of our pension boards. They haven't
19 had a raise in over five years. It is a
20 substantial amount, compared to what they
21 already receive, but it is well deserved.
22 I can't even tell you how much value
23 it is to have correct records, accurate
24 records, up-to-date records, and dependable
25 people to do this.
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1 The city just recently lost two
2 lawsuits concerning the non-uniformed
3 pension, and I guarantee that they
4 absolutely had something to do, their
5 losing, that is, with the -- how those
6 records were kept and how the rules are made
7 available or not made available. In fact,
8 I'm sure some of them -- or one of them will
9 be appealed.
10 This is a continuing process. They
11 constantly need to be updated. And I think
12 that Council should vote yes for these
13 raises. Thank you.
14 MS. GATELLI: Thank you. Anyone
15 else? Mrs. Garvey.
16 MS. GARVEY: 5-A, motions.
17 MS. GATELLI: Mrs. Evans.
18 MS. EVANS: Thank you. Good
19 evening, and Happen Valentine's Day to
20 everyone, and particularly to all of us
21 girls.
22 February also marks the annual
23 celebration of Black History Month. At
24 Scranton High School, students have created
25 beautiful ribbon pins under the direction of
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1 their art teacher, Ms. Ruddy. And, in fact,
2 I'm wearing one of those pins this evening.
3 We proudly wear these pins as a show
4 of support and respect for our black
5 community and leaders, among other school
6 activities.
7 Now, with each shared celebration, I
8 hope we continue to grow in understanding,
9 respect and unity.
10 I received a timely response from
11 Chief Elliott regarding dangerous driving
12 around the area of Boulevard Avenue that I
13 would like to read.
14 Please be advised that my office has
15 received a letter from Councilwoman Janet
16 Evans concerning dangerous driving
17 conditions around Boulevard Avenue from
18 Parker Street to the Throop line.
19 She has stated that citizens have
20 complained of drunk drivers and speeding
21 vehicles in this area. Please increase
22 traffic enforcement in this area. If you
23 have any questions, please contact my
24 office.
25 And so, I with to thank Chief
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1 Elliott and Lieutenants Mackey, Thomas, Arby
2 and Crofton for their attention to this
3 problem.
4 Council also received two prompt
5 responses from Mr. Parker. First, as was
6 mentioned a few moments ago, the handicapped
7 curb cuts in Downtown Scranton, and Mr.
8 Parker's second response involves a repeat
9 of his prior decision regarding parking at
10 the intersection of South Main Avenue and
11 Dartmouth Street.
12 He continues to view this as a
13 police enforcement issue, when no parking
14 signs would simply solve these never-ending
15 problems.
16 You see, a business opened a few
17 years ago at this location, and Council was
18 informed about two years ago, perhaps a
19 little more, that this new business did not
20 appear before the zoning board and did not
21 have adequate parking for employees and
22 customers as a result.
23 Since the administration turned a
24 blind eye for this business, the
25 administration should provide relief for the
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1 parking problems caused by the business by
2 placing no parking signs on South Main
3 Avenue and Dartmouth Street.
4 And, Kay, would you please look up
5 the traffic study of that vicinity that was
6 conducted by the state ?
7 Over the last few months, I've
8 maintained an open mind in relation to
9 obtaining financial information from this
10 administration. I visited the mayor's
11 office, and last Friday, I stopped into
12 OECD. I've requested information by motion,
13 through written correspondence, and in
14 person.
15 This pattern of unanswered requests
16 is now into its fourth year. In fact, when
17 I spoke to Ms. Hailstone on February 2, she
18 was unaware of my requests and stated that
19 she could not provide any information
20 without the approval of her boss. I
21 explained that her boss had given his
22 approval on television at a September 2006
23 public caucus meeting.
24 Eight months after the initial
25 request and five months after the mayor went
.
30
1 on record publically agreeing to provide
2 information, the iron curtain still stands.
3 Meanwhile, our tax bills arrived
4 this week, and I've heard numerous
5 complaints from my fellow Scrantonians who
6 can't forward this tax increase. Their
7 income simply are not keeping pace with
8 their taxes.
9 They're trying to decide which of
10 their necessary bills to pay and on which
11 ones to risk penalties and fees.
12 I am very, very sorry to all of you.
13 I tried to help you with a no tax increase
14 budget, but a majority of Council did not
15 agree.
16 Because of these tax hikes,
17 exorbitant tax anticipation notes and
18 continued borrowing, I've attempted over and
19 over to see the city's finances. I've asked
20 your questions to no avail.
21 This history of lack of information,
22 coupled with a borrow and spend policy
23 buttresses the need for subpoenas.
24 Because it appears quite possible
25 that the administration may oppose
.
31
1 subpoenas, I believe Council must pay
2 meticulous attention to each detail and
3 place itself on firm legal ground.
4 Therefore, Attorney Minora will
5 prepare a resolution for next week's Council
6 meeting of February 15, 2007 to subpoena all
7 financial documents from 2002 through the
8 present from a select number of municipal
9 authorities and departments.
10 And as these investigations
11 conclude, another wave of subpoenas will
12 follow for the remaining authorities and
13 additional departments.
14 In this way, we hope to establish
15 proceedings to strengthen our case in court,
16 if necessary, and to receive information in
17 an orderly, manageable manner.
18 And finally, I have citizens'
19 requests for the week. Place a stop sign at
20 the end of Mulberry Street at the dead end
21 passed the CMC at Nay Aug Park. A city
22 resident who very nearly has been struck by
23 a car twice while walking at Nay Aug has
24 already written to Public Safety Director
25 Ray Hayes and has received no results.
.
32
1 CMC employees apparently exit this
2 parking lot very quickly, and on February 2,
3 2007, this gentleman was nearly hit again.
4 Please address this safety hazard as soon as
5 possible.
6 Add Ward Place to the paving list.
7 This would be, I believe, my third year of
8 making that very same request. Meanwhile,
9 all the streets and allies surrounding Ward
10 Place were paved, but for some reason, and I
11 really can't provide the reason, I don't
12 know, this short stretch of street has
13 always been ignored. So, I'm hoping this
14 may be the year.
15 Christmas trees still remain on the
16 curbs in some areas of Scranton, including
17 East Mountain. Please add the 100 and 200
18 blocks of Mary Lane and Cross Drive to the
19 paving list per residents' requests.
20 A letter to Ms. Hailstone and Mr.
21 Kresefski, are there UDAG funds or other
22 funds available in the operating budget for
23 the purchase of a steam cleaner and
24 solutions which will be used to clean
25 graffiti from both city-owned and
.
33
1 privately-owned buildings?
2 According to code, building owners
3 have 30 days in which to clean graffiti,
4 and, of course, during the winter that time
5 period is extended, because it's very
6 difficult to do the work under inclimate
7 conditions.
8 And I do know, as I'm sure my
9 colleagues do, that Mr. Lomma sent Council a
10 letter inquiring about the initiation of an
11 ordinance whereby property owners would be
12 forced within a 30-day period to remove
13 graffiti. But as I said, we already have
14 this on the books. So, it's my hope that
15 the city would purchase this equipment.
16 And, in fact, thanks to some of our
17 city inspectors, I have a number of
18 companies here with the appropriate
19 equipment and solutions that are needed that
20 the city can look at and price out to
21 certainly get the best cost for this.
22 And what I'm hoping we can do is
23 loan this equipment to the victims of
24 graffiti. People who have had their
25 buildings covered with this type of tagging
.
34
1 are certainly victims, not perpetrators, and
2 it's a very, very costly endeavor to have
3 your building repainted.
4 And so, again, I would like to see
5 the city make this purchase and then loan
6 the equipment to the victims so that they
7 can remove graffiti from their property in a
8 timely and cost effective manner.
9 Citizens wishing to use the
10 equipment could provide a security deposit
11 which would be returned to them at such time
12 as they return the equipment to the city.
13 Also, residents of South Side are
14 concerned about the lack of removal of
15 illegal vehicles in their area. They report
16 that other sections of the city have
17 benefitted from this service, which appears
18 to be deficient in South Side.
19 A letter to Mr. Seitzinger, 1419
20 Gardner Avenue, this is a condemned house
21 where a carport has already collapsed. When
22 will it be demolished?
23 And I have just one last item. I
24 don't believe, although I'll be frank with
25 you, I haven't seen a newspaper in probably
.
35
1 close to two weeks now, so if I'm in error,
2 I would appreciate the correction.
3 If the mayor has not as yet
4 presented his state of the city address, is
5 anyone aware that he has? No?
6 MS. GATELLI: I didn't hear
7 anything.
8 MS. EVANS: Then I would move that
9 City Council send a letter to the mayor
10 requesting that the state of the city
11 address be presented here in City Council
12 chambers in the evening, perhaps at seven or
13 7:30 for all of the citizens of Scranton, an
14 open invitation to all the shareholders of
15 our city. That was a motion.
16 MR. COURTRIGHT: Second.
17 MS. GATELLI: On the question? All
18 in favor.
19 MS. EVANS: Aye.
20 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: Aye.
21 MR. MCGOFF: Aye.
22 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
23 MS. GATELLI: Aye. Opposed? The
24 ayes have it and so moved.
25 MS. EVANS: Thank you. And that's
.
36
1 it.
2 MS. GATELLI: Mrs. Fanucci.
3 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: I'm going to
4 answer a few questions from last week. I
5 was -- actually sat down and talked to some
6 of the people from OECD after last week's
7 meeting trying to find out some of the
8 answers which we were looking for.
9 One of the questions that was --
10 came up last week was how many people have
11 defaulted on our loans that we've given
12 through the city.
13 There's been four total. I'm going
14 to give you exactly who they were. They
15 were Hackett's Bar, and three of the four
16 partners have paid the city. The final
17 person is meeting this month to settle up
18 with the city on that.
19 Preferred Produce is another one.
20 They have a small loan with the city and
21 they are in talks about options. I don't
22 know if that would be refinancing or paying
23 out, I don't know what those options are
24 right now.
25 K & A Imports was another one, and
.
37
1 they are working on an agreement and have
2 said that they are settling up.
3 And last is Whistles. They are in
4 litigation with the city now. The loan was
5 given in the 1990s. They had trouble making
6 payments in the nineties. And, like, around
7 I'm going to say the last election, they
8 were looking to extend the terms of the
9 loan.
10 It was sent to Council and approved,
11 and then they never showed up and signed.
12 So, they have not done anything with that.
13 The terms were extended. They never showed
14 up, signed the papers, and they have not
15 paid any money in 2004, 2005 or 2006, and
16 they are headed towards a sheriff's sale,
17 from what they had said.
18 Now, we were talking last week and
19 asked questions about what is the benefit of
20 having people sign for themselves if they
21 are in a loan agreement.
22 Well, the benefit is that when they
23 do default or if they do default, which we
24 do not like them to do, they secure the loan
25 and then allows us to get their personal
.
38
1 assets.
2 We want to go into -- that allows us
3 to go into their homes, take their homes or
4 property. That entitles us to retrieve the
5 same amount of the loan.
6 And believe me, I do not want that
7 to ever happen to anybody. I'd rather
8 everyone be very successful and pay up.
9 I also want to note that both -- all
10 four of these, two were in the last
11 administration and two were in this one, so
12 I wanted to make that clear.
13 As far as the loan from last week,
14 the new ones, this was a primary loan. This
15 was not a secondary loan. So, that is
16 something that we were not aware of at the
17 time.
18 The mayor has no ties to this
19 company, are not involved in any way. And
20 if he were to be, he would have to comply
21 with the Home Rule Charter and make sure
22 that he told us right up and disclosed that
23 right from the beginning.
24 The job creation is not minimum
25 wage. These job are sales positions and
.
39
1 positions of stocking and showroom
2 positions. They were not -- the are not
3 small baseline positions.
4 The city gets the building if they
5 default. That is in the underwriting, we
6 will get the building, and all of the
7 equipment. Also that is in the loan.
8 Mrs. Shumaker had asked about
9 personal financial requirements. What I was
10 told is it is all in the underwriting and
11 has to be in the underwriting. They could
12 not qualify for the loan without doing that,
13 but they could not give the personal
14 information out because it is personal
15 information.
16 But they wanted everyone to know
17 that every loan and project has to comply
18 with HUD. HUD takes care of looking and
19 overseeing all of these.
20 So, not only do they have to go
21 through their own regiment, but HUD has to
22 approve it.
23 There is no connection to the Elm
24 Street project. We were talking about that
25 last week. That is the Scranton Tomorrow's
.
40
1 project where I believe they're putting
2 money into South Side and redoing the
3 streetscape. That project is not even
4 designated where the money is going or how
5 it's --
6 MS. GATELLI: Excuse me, Mrs.
7 Fanucci. Whoever has the cell phone, could
8 you please turn it off?
9 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: Or tell them
10 I'll call them back.
11 MS. GATELLI: Thank you.
12 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: Okay.
13 MS. GATELLI: I'm sorry.
14 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: That's all
15 right. Scranton Tomorrow has no involvement
16 in this project. And what they said to me
17 was we cannot guarantee that we won't do a
18 streetscape in front of their or maybe put a
19 light up.
20 But as of right now, no monies are
21 designated for that loan that we were
22 talking about regarding the loan from last
23 week.
24 I do want to say something, and this
25 is just -- I want to apologize to the
.
41
1 families of the people who are seeking these
2 loans and the seller.
3 The Noonan family was part of our
4 community for, you know, 80 years. They're
5 a wonderful company. And when people get
6 up, and I don't know if it's -- I don't want
7 to say it's intentional.
8 But when you get up and you accuse
9 someone of being tied into -- you know, I
10 know we want to get the mayor at all costs
11 and try to tie him into everything, but when
12 you do that, you accuse other people of
13 doing wrong things.
14 So, we offended not only the people
15 who are selling the property, but we were
16 offending the people who were buying the
17 property, also.
18 And I want to apologize from this
19 forum, and I'm also going to ask that we
20 stick to Council's rules when it comes to
21 speaking about others in this forum.
22 We cannot insult and accuse people.
23 You know, they're good people in this city
24 and they're looking to spend money here and
25 put their faith and their businesses here,
.
42
1 and that is something that I believe that we
2 should stand by.
3 And we can have questions, but we
4 don't have to accuse them of being a part
5 of, like, the bigger scheme of life and all
6 that silly stuff.
7 So, I'm going to ask that we stick
8 to rules of Council and stop defaming
9 people, like, from the podium, and I think
10 that's a pretty good thing to ask for.
11 The smoking ban. How about me?
12 Yeah, I'm starting with the smoking ban.
13 There was a statewide poll that was
14 conducted in Pennsylvania. Sixty percent of
15 the people were in favor of the smoking ban
16 to 37 percent who were not.
17 Now, I'm going to tell you, 64
18 percent to 35 percent women, 56 percent to
19 40 percent. The men weren't too quick to
20 jump on board, I'm going to assume the cigar
21 smokers, but don't quote me on that.
22 I'm going to say this, it's a
23 wonderful place -- it's wonderful to be
24 pretty progressive. We are on the cutting
25 edge, and I'm pretty happy to say, you know,
.
43
1 we were ahead of the curve on this. This is
2 what legislation is about.
3 I had someone ask me and say, why
4 didn't you start off at the state level?
5 You should have started off at the state
6 level. That is not what we are about.
7 Legislation to start off at a City Council
8 level.
9 The city speaks, the state listens,
10 and then, you know, they respond to it, and
11 that's what this is all about. This is what
12 we're here for.
13 So, I want to say thanks for coming
14 out. And the people who are supporting
15 this, and the people who aren't, take a
16 breath and relax, because I think it's going
17 to be here to stay. So, I just hope that we
18 can all get together and realize that this
19 is for the health of our residents. And I
20 want to say thank you. And that is all I
21 have.
22 MS. GATELLI: Thank you. Mr.
23 McGoff.
24 MR. MCGOFF: I --
25 MS. EVANS: Mrs. Gatelli, I'm so
.
44
1 sorry. Can I just ask you a question,
2 though, before we go on? I, first of all,
3 want to say, I'm thrilled that you got the
4 information about the defaulted loans.
5 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: Yeah.
6 MS. EVANS: Did they provide you,
7 though, with the actual paperwork, the
8 backup on all this?
9 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: They won't give
10 us the underwriting on anything, because
11 that is people's personal financial
12 information, and they said there is no way
13 -- HUD has to take it, but we are not
14 entitled to that because people have to
15 write out their bank accounts and what --
16 you know, their personal -- you know, that
17 is not information we get.
18 But they said in our backup and
19 everything that is available through HUD we
20 can get outside of having the underwriting.
21 So, if we need to get that, it will
22 be. But nobody really is in any litigation.
23 There's only one person we've ever had to
24 take to court to get the money. Everyone
25 else has really complied and stepped up and
.
45
1 paid.
2 MS. EVANS: Well, like I said, I'm
3 very glad that you were able to get that.
4 It's a piece, a large piece, of what I was
5 looking for from OECD since July.
6 There's a little bit more, maybe
7 you'd be able to get that for me, as well,
8 but I do have to say, I have such a question
9 in my mind now.
10 You know, I was there last Friday
11 the day after our Council meeting hoping to
12 obtain this information so that perhaps we
13 could avoid a subpoena with OECD, and Ms.
14 Hailstone tells me she doesn't know what I'm
15 talking about.
16 I enumerated everything I had been
17 asking for for eight months, and then --
18 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: I actually
19 didn't speak to Ms. Hailstone.
20 MS. EVANS: Well, when I was there,
21 there was only -- it was Ms. Hailstone and I
22 think one other employee, and then she, as I
23 said, did say, which I can understand,
24 because I don't want anyone in any type of
25 jeopardy or difficulty.
.
46
1 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: No doubt.
2 MS. EVANS: But she did insist that
3 she had to ask her boss' permission. And I
4 respect that, because as I said, I don't
5 want to place any employee in jeopardy.
6 But, again, this just doesn't seem
7 to fit together. You know, Ms. Hailstone
8 says she needs the permission of her boss to
9 release this information, and then I'm very
10 grateful that you got some of it, and I'm
11 hoping you'll find a way to get more of it,
12 but do you see what I'm saying? It's --
13 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: I think it
14 might be the rapport that I have because I
15 am -- that is my committee, and I do try to
16 meet with them at least every other week, if
17 I can. I try to do phone conferences with
18 them.
19 So, maybe that's what it was. We
20 were all on a conference call and maybe
21 that's why it was easier.
22 But, yeah, definitely I can get any
23 information hopefully. I'd be willing to
24 get it. I do believe it's a lot easier to
25 ask in person than it is to write them a
.
47
1 letter, because, as you know, you know --
2 MS. EVANS: Exactly. That's why I
3 made the trip after work, but I don't know.
4 I just -- I can't seem to find a credible,
5 plausible explanation for why I can't get
6 any answers. I'm glad someone is though.
7 MS. GATELLI: Mr. McGoff.
8 MR. MCGOFF: I'll concede my time to
9 Mrs. Fanucci and Mrs. Evans. Nothing at
10 this time.
11 MS. GATELLI: Mr. Courtright.
12 MR. COURTRIGHT: Okay. All right.
13 I'm trying to get my composure. Okay. Kay,
14 I know a while back we asked -- maybe I
15 should ask Mrs. Fanucci to do this --
16 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: Maybe you
17 should.
18 MR. COURTRIGHT: -- OECD about
19 getting this UDAG funds, it was $25,000 for
20 Channel 61, and I don't think we got any
21 kind of answer, did we?
22 MS. GARVEY: No.
23 MR. COURTRIGHT: Maybe you can send
24 a letter, and maybe, Mrs. Fanucci, you can
25 shoot down there and ask them personally.
.
48
1 Because I know they sorely need it,
2 and we all agreed on asking for that $25,000
3 for 61. So, if we can ask that question.
4 Last week I brought up about
5 handicapped parking for people that have
6 driveways and for people that have garages,
7 and I also brought up about people that were
8 allowed to park in a handicapped space out
9 in front of an individual's house, and a
10 retired state trooper sergeant Jerry Tallo,
11 he was the head of the traffic division for
12 the state police and taught for many, many
13 years at the police academy the vehicle
14 code, he sent me information on all the
15 questions that I had.
16 I showed it to Mr. Minora. He's
17 going to look at it closely. And I sent it
18 down to the police department for them to
19 scrutinize and see if, in fact, there's
20 something we need to do or something we
21 could do with that. So, I want to thank Mr.
22 Tallo for the information.
23 After last week's meeting, because I
24 brought up about people calling me about the
25 smoking ban, I got a couple more calls,
.
49
1 three, to be exact, and they had suggestions
2 of things that maybe we might -- amendments
3 that we might be able to make if we're
4 willing to make any amendments.
5 And what I asked him were -- one
6 guy, I was in my car when he called, so I
7 couldn't write it down, and I asked the
8 other two people if there are any business
9 owners that have suggestions, that they
10 think we might want to entertain for
11 amendments, if you would E-mail it to me or
12 send it to me in writing, then I can compile
13 something and maybe show it to everybody on
14 this Council and see if members on this
15 Council are willing to make any amendments.
16 I spoke to one girl today in the
17 post office and she was really happy about
18 the smoking ban. She went somewhere to eat
19 and she said it was much more enjoyable, but
20 she agreed that she wouldn't have a problem,
21 this seems to be one of the big problems,
22 and I don't know if there's anything we're
23 going to be willing to do about it, but
24 restaurants that have bars in the
25 restaurant, some of the people while waiting
.
50
1 to be seated at their table, they'll go to
2 the bar and have a drink and maybe they want
3 to smoke, some people after they're done
4 eating will go back to the bar.
5 And she kind of gave me the idea,
6 and other business owners ask that, you
7 know, would it be possible -- would we
8 consider an amendment where if it was a
9 restaurant that had a bar, if they kept it
10 separate with either walls or a door and
11 proper ventilation, if we would consider
12 making an amendment to that smoking ban for
13 that particular area.
14 And I said I didn't know, I didn't
15 know the answer to that, I can't answer for
16 anybody else, but I asked for them to put it
17 in writing for me.
18 So, any of you business owners that
19 are feeling some pain with this that want to
20 send it, if you'd just please E-mail it to
21 me or send it to me in writing, and then
22 when I compile the, altogether, we can
23 discuss it in caucus. And if there's
24 anybody here --
25 MS. EVANS: Can I give you my
.
51
1 amendment?
2 MR. COURTRIGHT: Go right ahead.
3 Oh, I thought you were going to give it to
4 me now.
5 MS. EVANS: Not now. When my
6 computer is back up, I will E-mail you.
7 MR. COURTRIGHT: All right. So, I
8 mean, there might be -- I know there's some
9 people that think that there's one or two
10 people on this Council that won't budge the
11 least little bit on this smoking ban.
12 And I don't know. I think if it's a
13 reasonable request, I think we'll all
14 consider it. So, if you want to send them
15 to me, I'll be happy to take them and
16 compile a list and I'll put it before this
17 Council. And if it's something this Council
18 thinks is doable, then maybe we can make an
19 amendment. That's about the best I can do
20 for that. And I thank you. That's all I
21 have.
22 MS. GATELLI: Thanks, Mr.
23 Courtright. Mrs. Garvey.
24 MS. GARVEY: Fifth order, no
25 business at this time. Sixth order, no
.
52
1 business at this time. Seventh order. 7-A,
2 FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON RULES
3 - FOR ADOPTION - FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 79,
4 2007 - AN ORDINANCE - AMENDING FILE OF
5 COUNCIL NO. 38, 2001, PROVIDING FOR AN
6 INCREASE IN THE VARIOUS PENSION BOARD
7 SECRETARIES SALARIES AS FOLLOWS: SECRETARY
8 TO THE NON-UNIFORM PENSION BOARD, FROM THREE
9 THOUSAND DOLLARS ($3,000.00) PER YEAR TO
10 FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS ($4,000.00) PER YEAR;
11 SECRETARY TO COMPOSITE PENSION BOARD FROM
12 THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($3,000.000) PER YEAR
13 TO FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS ($4,000.00) PER
14 YEAR; THE SECRETARY TO THE FIRE PENSION
15 BOARD, FROM THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS
16 ($3,000.00) PER YEAR TO FOUR THOUSAND
17 DOLLARS ($4,000.00) PER YEAR; AND SECRETARY
18 TO THE POLICE PENSION BOARD, FROM THREE
19 THOUSAND DOLLARS ($3,000.00) PER YEAR TO
20 FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS ($4,000.00) PER YEAR,
21 SAID RAISES TO BE EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2007.
22 MS. GATELLI: As chairperson for the
23 committee on rules, I recommend final
24 passage of Item 7-A.
25 MR. COURTRIGHT: Second.
.
53
1 MS. GATELLI: On the question?
2 MS. EVANS: Yes. We had a brief
3 caucus meeting earlier this evening
4 regarding this particular piece of
5 legislation.
6 And though it isn't palatable in all
7 ways to provide pay increases to employees
8 when the city is so direly distressed, on
9 the other hand, I listened to -- well,
10 actually I listened to presentations on both
11 sides of this issue, and I found the
12 arguments of those in favor to be very
13 compelling, particularly because I was
14 informed tonight that the city was involved
15 in two lawsuits because some of these
16 pensions were improperly handled and the
17 city lost both of those cases, and those are
18 very costly endeavors; however, it appears
19 that the -- all of these boards are well on
20 their way to becoming orderly, effective,
21 and I think handling their duties and
22 responsibilities in a very competent
23 fashion.
24 I had requested if a pension
25 administrator might be able to assist in
.
54
1 performing these extra duties, and it
2 appears that the pension manager himself has
3 requested this almost constant assistance of
4 these secretaries.
5 And, so, because of these situations
6 involving litigation and making sure that
7 our retirees receive the proper amount of
8 pension reimbursements, I'm going to be
9 voting in favor of this. And I think
10 probably the last item I learned this
11 evening was that these individuals had not
12 received a raise since 1999.
13 MS. GATELLI: Anyone else on the
14 question? Roll call.
15 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.
16 MS. EVANS: Yes.
17 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Fanucci.
18 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: Yes.
19 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. McGoff.
20 MR. MCGOFF: Yes.
21 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright.
22 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yes.
23 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli.
24 MS. GATELLI: Yes. I hereby declare
25 7-A legally and lawfully adopted.
.
55
1 MS. GARVEY: Eighth order.
2 MS. GATELLI: Douglas Miller.
3 MR. MILLER: Good evening, Council.
4 Doug Miller, President of Scranton Junior
5 City Council. I'd like to start off tonight
6 by wishing West Scranton High School
7 principal Mr. Kevin Rogan the best of luck.
8 He is retiring, and I hope he does enjoy his
9 retirement.
10 He served his time. He was a
11 wonderful educator and administrator.
12 MS. EVANS Wonderful man.
13 MR. MILLER: And he will be missed
14 by the faculty, staff and students of West
15 Scranton High School.
16 I'd like to address the smoking ban
17 tonight. I'd like to clear something up
18 once and for all. The Junior Council
19 continues to get criticized regarding this
20 issue. People continue to come up here and
21 say that we were the ones that pushed for
22 this ban.
23 And you can go back in The Scranton
24 Times archives and pull up articles, and
25 you'll see that it was the tenth grade
.
56
1 students of West Scranton High School.
2 So, I suggest to anyone before they
3 come up here and accuse us of anything, you
4 know, do your homework. It's really
5 starting to get frustrating.
6 You know, Mrs. Evans raised the
7 issue tonight, which I thought was a great
8 idea regarding the state of the city address
9 where the mayor should come here.
10 As far as I'm concerned, I know now
11 special invitations are sent out to certain
12 special businessmen in the city.
13 MS. EVANS: Yes.
14 MR. MILLER: And, you know, I agree
15 with you 100 percent. I think it should be
16 here. You know, these are the taxpayers,
17 you know, these are the ones that, you know,
18 work hard every day, and, you know, I agree
19 that, you know, it should be held here, so
20 hopefully he will consider that.
21 Tonight is the Junior Council's one
22 year anniversary, and I would like to
23 highlight our first year.
24 Since our inception we have
25 completed numerous community service
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1 activities. During this past summer, we
2 completed five city park cleanups, and we
3 are planning to clean more city parks this
4 summer.
5 Our other completed projects include
6 purchasing and installing American flags for
7 a few of our city parks, we've also
8 purchased recreation tables for a few of our
9 city parks, and we have raised $640 for
10 Channel 61 by co-sponsoring a breakfast with
11 Santa at Scooter's Hot Dog Hut in Dunmore.
12 We have also instructed senior
13 citizens how to use the new electronic
14 voting machines, which took place at the
15 Steamtown Mall, and we also continue to
16 assist city residents with any help they
17 need in their community.
18 On Thursday, April 20, 2006, we
19 received a proclamation from Scranton City
20 Council for our service to the community.
21 Our current projects for this year
22 include raising funds to purchase a
23 children's handicapped accessible swingset
24 for Nay Aug Park.
25 We have also applied for a grant
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1 from the Tony Hawk Foundation for a skate
2 park for our city.
3 There are many more projects
4 currently in discussion that we will
5 announce throughout the year.
6 We have had a lot of interest from
7 other communities regarding our Junior
8 Council. Recently the City of Wilkes-Barre
9 contacted us regarding the formation of a
10 Junior Council of their own, and our message
11 to them was that we will reach out and
12 support them in any way we can.
13 In this past year, I have learned so
14 much about our city government and its
15 citizens. I would encourage more young
16 adults in the city to become involved,
17 because we are the future of this city, and
18 the decisions made today are the ones that
19 will affect us tomorrow.
20 And we as the Junior Council will
21 continue to carry our message. The future
22 starts now.
23 After this Junior Council was
24 formed, we did receive criticism from just
25 about everyone. They said that this wasn't
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1 our place to be. But as I stand here
2 tonight one year later --
3 MR. MINORA: Three minutes.
4 MS. MILLER: -- I think we have shown
5 these critics what we can do. We have
6 accomplished a lot and we will continue to
7 work hard to make our city a better place.
8 I would like to thank all those who
9 have supported us over our first year, and
10 we appreciate your support and assistance
11 and we look forward to continue our success
12 together. Thank you.
13 MS. GATELLI: Thank you, Douglas.
14 MR. MILLER: And at this time I'd
15 like to bring Jimmy Piazza, Scranton Junior
16 City Council member who would like to
17 address Council, thank you.
18 MS. GATELLI: Bill Jackowitz. He
19 said he'll do it later. Mr. Jackowitz.
20 MS. EVANS: Congratulations, Junior
21 City Council. And you had lovely, lovely --
22 MR. JACKOWITZ: Bill Jackowitz,
23 South Scranton resident --
24 MS. EVANS: -- party down there
25 tonight. I'm sorry.
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1 MR. JACKOWITZ: I hope my time
2 hasn't started.
3 MR. MINORA: I stopped it.
4 MR. JACKOWITZ: Thank you. Bill
5 Jackowitz, South Scranton resident,
6 taxpayer, retired United States Air Force.
7 Believe it or not, Scranton,
8 Pennsylvania has low income to moderate
9 income people residing in the City of
10 Scranton.
11 There are homeless people residing
12 in the City of Scranton, also. Some of
13 these homeless people actually work, which
14 means that they pay Scranton, Pennsylvania
15 wage taxes, which, by the way, is one of the
16 highest in the United States.
17 Some may say that this is not their
18 problem, others may say that the poor and
19 the homeless are this way because of their
20 own choosing.
21 In some instances, they are correct,
22 but not all. My belief is that the major
23 problem in Scranton, Pennsylvania and the
24 surrounding area is lack of employment, but
25 more importantly, the lack of family and
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1 individual sustaining wages and benefits.
2 I personally find it appalling when
3 City Council announces new jobs and
4 companies moving into the city paying low to
5 moderate wages, but more appalling is the
6 fact that some of these business are being
7 rewarded with low interest loans or no
8 interest loans to start or to refinance
9 their business with taxpayers' money.
10 Whether federal, state, county or
11 city, this is not government money, this is
12 citizens' money. The government has no
13 money. The Scranton Plan has not worked.
14 Where has the plan taken Scranton?
15 Look around. Visit with the low income and
16 moderate income families.
17 Ask the Pennsylvania Economy League,
18 the Scranton Chamber of Commerce, past and
19 present mayors or mayor, City Council
20 members, do you live in low income housing
21 or work at low income or moderate income
22 jobs?
23 Some Scranton Chamber members reside
24 outside Scranton City limits. They pay no
25 Scranton taxes, but yet the chamber was not
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1 in favor of the minimum wage increase.
2 The Elm Street Project and the South
3 Side Project has been publicized as a way
4 for low income and moderate income families
5 to purchase their own homes.
6 Mrs. Fanucci, Mr. McGoff and Mrs.
7 Gatelli just made that dream more difficult
8 by voting to raise homeowners' taxes. Which
9 will it be, more homeowners or more homes
10 for sale and vacant or more people renting?
11 Scranton and the surrounding area
12 again this quarter, last in per capita
13 income and wages. Austin Burke, September
14 has gone and went. Austin Burke was going
15 to be here in September. Where is he? He's
16 still not here. And also, where is the
17 mayor to address these questions?
18 Again, we got the lowest hourly wage
19 of the fourteen metro areas in Pennsylvania.
20 This has been going on for over 30 years.
21 Low wages means low taxes.
22 MR. MINORA: Three minutes.
23 MR. JACKOWITZ: People don't have
24 tax money. So, you know, let's get it
25 together, people.
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1 MS. GATELLI: Thank you. Mr.
2 Sbaraglia.
3 MR. JACKOWITZ: Thank you, Veterans,
4 for allowing me to speak.
5 MS. GATELLI: Mr. Sbaraglia.
6 MR. SBARAGLIA: Andy Sbaraglia,
7 citizen of Scranton. Fellow Scrantonians,
8 I'm glad we got a little information on our
9 default loans, but was there a dollar amount
10 attached to these loans? How much were
11 they?
12 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: Well, in
13 different cases. The problem is that, you
14 know, for what the loan was taken out at, a
15 lot of times if three of the partners paid
16 or two of the partners paid what is left,
17 you know, is not, so you might have, like, a
18 $15,000 loan that was originally, like,
19 $120,000, or so -- total -- the highest one
20 was the Whistles loan, the highest one, and
21 that's probably why that's in litigation.
22 The rest, I believe, were all under.
23 One was thirty, and the other one, let me
24 see here, the other one was, like, 27.
25 MR. SBARAGLIA: What's wrong with
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1 The Hilton? We forgot about that?
2 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: I'm just
3 telling you what was defaulted from our
4 OECD.
5 MR. SBARAGLIA: They should have
6 told you we lost, like, three and a half to
7 $4 million on The Hilton.
8 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: Do you want me
9 to get information on that for you?
10 MR. SBARAGLIA: No, I already have
11 the information, it's just that they should
12 have gave it to you, unless you want to
13 request it for the last month or something.
14 I assume you requested it back for,
15 you know, a time period or all default
16 loans. But the Hilton was a big default,
17 and it should have been reported to you.
18 And what you should request is are
19 they paying off any loans to prevent them
20 from being in default like they did with The
21 Hilton. You know, we were paying off their
22 loan long before they went default, and that
23 was a sad, sad state of affairs. So, God
24 knows what else is going on in that office.
25 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: These are
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65
1 personal loans, though, so I think that this
2 is a little different than The Hilton -- the
3 whole legislation for The Hilton. Amil,
4 would that be a separate type of -- when
5 you're dealing with big corporation like The
6 Hilton, I image that the loan was not the
7 same type of loan as these small personal
8 loans that we are giving out through OECD.
9 MS. EVANS: We were --
10 MR. MINORA: You're not --
11 MS. EVANS: If I may, we were making
12 payments on a Section 108 loan for The
13 Hilton.
14 MR. MINORA: The city was. Yeah, I
15 --
16 MS. GATELLI: Well, we did that for
17 The Globe Store, too.
18 MR. MINORA: Yeah.
19 MS. GATELLI: You know, there's
20 things you have to do to try to keep
21 something in your community.
22 MR. MINORA: In larger developments,
23 it's tough -- it's obvious a person can't --
24 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: That's why they
25 probably did not give me that information.
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66
1 MR. MINORA: Yeah, they didn't have
2 personal guarantees.
3 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: Okay. This
4 wasn't a personal guarantee loan. That's
5 what I did ask for was the loan request from
6 last week.
7 MR. SBARAGLIA: Yeah. Well, we
8 requested all the loans, including the LLC
9 loans.
10 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: I didn't ask
11 for LLC.
12 MR. SBARAGLIA: I mean, personal
13 loans is one thing, but limited partnership
14 loans are more liable to be what's there.
15 And when a -- limited partnership
16 loans, they're only limited to what their
17 liability was. Them are the loans that are
18 important.
19 I mean, you took the smallest
20 amount, but it's important that you find out
21 actually the status of this loan, all loans,
22 and find out how much is left from the loans
23 we did sell, how much money is still in the
24 kitty from that.
25 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: Right.
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67
1 MR. SBARAGLIA: That's important,
2 too.
3 MS. EVANS: Uh-huh.
4 MS. NEALON FANUCCI: You know, Andy,
5