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1 SCRANTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING
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5 HELD:
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7 Thursday, April 19, 2006
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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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CITY OF SCRANTON COUNCIL:
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5 MS. JUDY GATELLI, PRESIDENT
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MS. JANET E. EVANS
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8 MS. SHERRY FANUCCI (Not present.)
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MR. ROBERT MCGOFF
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11 MR. WILLIAM COURTRIGHT
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MS. KAY GARVEY, CITY CLERK
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14 MR. COOLICAN, ASSISTANT CITY CLERK
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MR. AMIL MINORA, SOLICITOR
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(Pledge of Allegiance and moment of reflection
2 observed.
3 MS. GATELLI: Roll call.
4 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.
5 MS. EVANS: Here.
6 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Fanucci. Mr.
7 McGoff.
8 MR. MCGOFF: Here.
9 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright.
10 MR. COURTRIGHT: Here.
11 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli.
12 MS. GATELLI: Here. Dispense with
13 the reading of the minutes.
14 MS. GARVEY: THIRD ORDER. 3-A.
15 CONTROLLER'S REPORT FOR THE MONTH ENDING MARCH
16 31, 2007.
17 MS. GATELLI: Are there any comments?
18 If not, received and filed.
19 MS. GARVEY: That's all there is for
20 Third Order.
21 MS. GATELLI: I just have a few
22 announcements before we start the meeting. I'd
23 like to offer condolences to my next door
24 neighbor's mom who had passed away, Edith
25 Caviston, and also south side great who has
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1 played ball with my uncles, I certainly wasn't
2 familiar with him because I wasn't even born
3 yet, but my uncles talked about Jean Marlow,
4 I'm sure many of you saw the article in the
5 paper. She was a professional baseball player
6 and she was a south side person and she passed
7 away as well. And we also have another
8 birthday this week, our assistant city clerk,
9 Neil. Happy birthday, Neil.
10 This Saturday from 5 to 7 at the
11 Dante Club at 1916 Prospect Avenue they are
12 having their rigatoni and meatball dinner.
13 Tomorrow morning the Lackawanna County
14 Committee on Women is having their breakfast
15 symposium. It's at the Parish Center in
16 Dunmore from 8:30 to 10:30 and they have a
17 panel of four different speakers.
18 On the 25th of April the Upper Hill
19 Economic League will be conducting a family
20 night at Friendly's in Dunmore and that
21 benefits the Upper Hill Pantry.
22 The 500-block of Newton Road. I
23 received a call last night and there is a
24 severe flooding problem up there. Apparently
25 there was a catch basin or a pipe under the
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1 road that's blocked and the city has been up
2 there trying to correct it, but they put
3 sandbags and it was diverting water into all of
4 the people's properties. It was like my Niagra
5 Falls and it's right at the entrance of
6 Fawnwood where the basin is blocked so I
7 reached George Parker this morning and he said
8 that it is going to be repaired but they have
9 to contact the utilities first before they dig
10 in there because there are gas and water and
11 electrical lines and it's really a severe
12 problem, so if we can send a letter, Kay, on
13 that. I talked to George, but, you know, if
14 you can send a letter also to expedite that
15 situation. It's just horrible.
16 Also, at 1909 Prospect Avenue there
17 was a fire there and that was never boarded up,
18 and 1917 Prospect was abandoned several years
19 ago and nothing was done there.
20 The "No Parking" sign on East
21 Mountain Road where the firehouse is gone, and
22 on Meadow Avenue and River Street we will be
23 introducing tonight an agreement to put the
24 streetlight there because it's desperately
25 needed, however, there is still going to be a
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1 problem with the people pulling out onto Meadow
2 Avenue from the gas station so if we can have
3 George Parker look into that or some type of a
4 traffic engineer from PennDOT to see what can
5 be done to prevent that traffic from turning
6 left there. We are happy the light is finally
7 coming, but there is still going to be the
8 problem of the gas station.
9 And the last thing I have is I would
10 encourage all groups, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts,
11 neighborhood associations to please setup some
12 litter pickup projects, I know the south side
13 neighborhood is planning one in early May. I
14 can give you the date after tonight's meeting,
15 but I know a lot of the Boy Scouts did it last
16 year and maybe the Junior Council can do some
17 of them for places that there are people to
18 clean it up. Once the snow is gone the city
19 really looks terrible. There is litter
20 everywhere. So if we can get some people to
21 clean it up and if you would like call us and
22 we will announce your group and give you credit
23 for cleaning up the area. And that's all I
24 have. Janet?
25 MS. EVANS: On Saturday, April 21, a
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1 pasta dinner will be conducted at the 20th Ward
2 Club from 2:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. to benefit
3 the family of Matthew Grendel, the young man
4 who has been missing since March 10, 2007.
5 Admission is $10. I attended a prayer service
6 for Matt and his family at St. Joe's Church in
7 Minooka several weeks ago and it was extremely
8 well attended. Not a seat remained vacant and
9 many people stood along the sides of the
10 church. I hope that everyone will attend this
11 spaghetti dinner and support the Grendel family
12 once again.
13 Also, on Saturday evening, April 21,
14 the friends of the Scranton Knights Football
15 Team will sponsor a night at the races at Holy
16 Rosary Church Hall from 6 to 11. Tickets cost
17 $10 and can be purchased at the door. Proceeds
18 from this fundraiser will be used to send the
19 players to training camp and to purchase much
20 needed equipment. Please join us at this
21 fun-filled evening of good food, good friends
22 and the chance to win cash all night.
23 MR. COURTRIGHT: I have two, if you
24 don't mind. This Sunday, April 22, there is
25 going to be a fundraiser at the Keyser Valley
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1 Community Center from 1 until 5 p.m. and it's
2 for Joanne McCarey Quinn. Joanne is very good
3 friend of mine and my wife's who has been
4 diagnosed with a neuromuscular disease called
5 PLS. This fundraiser is being held to help her
6 cope with the disease and the donation will $10
7 at the door and I'd like to see everybody
8 possible come out and support Joanne.
9 The 2007 Lackawanna County
10 Armed Forces Veteran's Parade is on Saturday,
11 May 19, at 10:30 p.m. to honor those men and
12 women who have served our Commonwealth and our
13 country during times of conflict and paying
14 special tribute to the latest group of
15 soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen who
16 recently returned from deployment supporting
17 the global war on terrorisum. The parade will
18 feature military units from all branches of the
19 service including Scranton's own 55th Brigade,
20 military and Veteran's organizations. The
21 Black Diamond bagpipe band, high school
22 marching bands, vintage military vehicles,
23 local service and civic organizations as well
24 as fire and police. Line the streets
25 to recognize those who have served our country
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1 to protect our freedoms. So, I'd like to see
2 this here in my opinion is never attended as
3 much as it should be so, again, it's Saturday,
4 May 19, at 10:30. Please go out and support
5 the men and woman that protect us. And that's
6 all I have. Thank you.
7 MS. GATELLI: Mr. McGoff, anything?
8 MR. MCGOFF: No.
9 MS. GATELLI: Just one more thing
10 that I forgot. I received a notice from Stu
11 Renda in OECD because someone asked last week
12 about the balances in the loan accounts. There
13 is $283,000 in the revolving loan fund as of
14 April 17 and they receive approximately $13,000
15 in monthly repayments. There is also the CBDG
16 revolving loan fund, that has $260,000 in it
17 and so in total OECD has $543,000 eligible for
18 Economic Development activities, and with
19 approximately $13,000 each month coming back in
20 for reuse. So, I hope that's helpful for the
21 person that requested that information. The
22 first speaker is Andy Sbaraglia.
23 MR. SBARAGLIA: Andy Sbaraglia,
24 citizen of Scranton, fellow Scrantonions. A
25 question on number 6-B, that's the researching
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1 for the bank, have anybody notified the people
2 that live across the street that they are going
3 to lose their parking. I was going to buy a
4 house there, there is no parking there. There
5 used to be parking, but when you made it two
6 lanes on that side of the street that took away
7 the parking that was there so they were forced
8 to park across the street. I think you should
9 talk to the bank and see if a little parking
10 can be made available for these people being
11 they are going to take away that whole side of
12 that street, off street parking, because them
13 people are going to be in trouble.
14 MR. COURTRIGHT: Andy, the parking
15 you are talking about would just be the Main
16 Avenue parking, correct, because they are not
17 allowed to park on Luzerne?
18 MR. SBARAGLIA: Luzerne I ain't
19 worried about. Luzerne -- because at the cross
20 street and Luzerne is the drugstore.
21 MR. COURTRIGHT: Right, but on the
22 other side you are not allowed to park.
23 MR. SBARAGLIA: But on the other side
24 of the street, because I was going to buy a
25 home and there, and I know there was no parking
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1 --
2 MR. COURTRIGHT: The westerly side
3 of Main Avenue.
4 MR. SBARAGLIA: Right, but at that
5 time I couldn't park because it wasn't two
6 lanes like it is now. It was just the one lane
7 so you could park there and the cars could have
8 been went by, but now that they made that area
9 two lane they have to park across the street.
10 So, hence, if you are taking away their parking
11 across the street them people are going to have
12 to find another place to park.
13 MR. COURTRIGHT: I think it takes
14 maybe about six spots.
15 MR. SBARAGLIA: Something like that.
16 I recall the homes there.
17 MS. GATELLI: On Main Street?
18 MR. SBARAGLIA: Yeah, I was just
19 interested in the one because, like I said, I
20 was going to buy a house there and I remember
21 what it was at that time.
22 MS. GATELLI: I never see anybody
23 park there.
24 MR. SBARAGLIA: Oh, yeah.
25 MS. GATELLI: You do?
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1 MR. COURTRIGHT: They park there.
2 MS. GATELLI: You do? Because I go
3 that way every morning and there is never any
4 cars parked on Main Avenue on that -- on the
5 side where that bank is.
6 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yeah, they are
7 probably there right now as we speak.
8 MS. GATELLI: Maybe in the evening,
9 but in the morning --
10 MR. SBARAGLIA: Yeah, they are there.
11 They're there. I go by there all of the time,
12 too.
13 MR. COURTRIGHT: It used to be where
14 the bakery was.
15 MR. SBARAGLIA: Right. Well, that
16 whole area there where the church and the
17 bakery was. Okay, and then your 5-D I guess we
18 are transferring money for the snow removal.
19 It was coming out of the debt service, is that
20 going to put a hole in the debt service?
21 Because somewhere along the line we have to
22 come up with $325,000, if not more, and as you
23 know we have trouble paying our debt as it is
24 now, so maybe you can look into it because I
25 don't exactly now how much we are going to pay
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1 on all of these snow removal. That's probably
2 close to what it costs if not a little more.
3 Thank you.
4 MS. GATELLI: Thank you.
5 Mr. Patilla?
6 MR. PATILLA: Mrs. Evans and
7 Mr. Courtright, I'm not familiar with who is
8 going to purchase that land -- I'm not familiar
9 with who is going to purchase that land on
10 Shawnee and Depot. Do you know who the
11 business is or who the individual is that are
12 planning on selling that parcel of land to? Do
13 you know? Could you find that out for me?
14 MR. COURTRIGHT: Sure.
15 MR. PATILLA: Secondly, all right, as
16 far as this $325,000 that's going to be
17 transferred, all right, we got to stop bailing
18 the DPW out. If that agency is not being run
19 correctly then whoever is in charge of it has
20 to be replaced. You know, every time you turn
21 around money is being sent over to DPW or to
22 the Housing Authority or to this authority, if
23 they are not being run the way they should be
24 run correctly then whoever is in charge has to
25 go. You know, you shouldn't have to -- you are
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1 borrowing from Peter to pay Paul and then you
2 have to borrow from Mary to pay Peter, then you
3 have to borrow from Louie to pay Mary. That
4 has to stop. You can't -- you can't continue
5 stealing from one account to pay off another
6 account, that's ludicrous.
7 MS. EVANS: Mr. Patilla --
8 MR. PATILLA: Yes, ma'am.
9 MS. EVANS: -- if I must just
10 respond--
11 MR. PATILLA: Yes, ma'am.
12 MS. EVANS: -- to what you said. The
13 costs were incurred during the Valentine's Day
14 snowstorm and the money is to pay the
15 additional contractors hired by the City of
16 Scranton. It's not --
17 MR. PATILLA: Miss Evans?
18 MS. EVANS: Yes.
19 MR. PATILLA: I'm outside every
20 morning from about three to 8:00. I was out
21 there snow, rain, sleet, so it makes no
22 difference to me. All right, from downtown
23 Scranton all of over south Scranton. They
24 weren't out there, you know, I personally would
25 like to see the bills. I personally would like
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1 to see the invoices because they weren't out
2 there, you know. If you put it to me all of
3 those invoices and reconcile those funds, fine
4 and dandy, I can go with it, but just throw a
5 fee out there, which basically that's all it is
6 to me, you are a throwing a number out there to
7 me and there is nothing to back that up and,
8 like I said, I'm out there and I didn't see
9 them. I was out there two days ago, I don't
10 see them. You know, I see them two or
11 three days later when the sun or the humidity
12 had melted most of it away, they're not there.
13 MS. EVANS: Well, I know that where
14 that particular storm is concerned the
15 contractors were hired by the city for more
16 than one or two days because, as you recall, it
17 was quite a debacle with all that snow --
18 MR. PATILLA: Like I said, I was out
19 there everyday.
20 MS. EVANS: We still had quite an
21 amount of snow even ten days later, but that
22 money would not have been in the budget for the
23 DPW because this would have been an foreseen
24 event, and it's not paying -- I know what you
25 are going to say, snow falls are not unforeseen
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1 events, but this one was --
2 MR. PATILLA: That's right.
3 MS. EVANS: -- particularly severe
4 and as a result necessitated the hiring of
5 additional contractors because the workload was
6 beyond what the DPW could perform --
7 MR. PATILLA: By themselves; right.
8 MS. EVANS: --single-handedly.
9 MR. PATILLA: Right. I understand
10 that, so here's another suggestion --
11 MR. MINORA: That's three minutes.
12 MR. PATILLA: Why don't we fire some
13 of that top heavy management --
14 MR. MINORA: Three minutes.
15 MS. GATELLI: Thank you, sir.
16 MR. PATILLA: I was listening talking
17 to her, I have about three minutes --
18 MS. GATELLI: Excuse me, your three
19 minutes are up, sir.
20 MR. PATILLA: I was responding to
21 her.
22 MS. GATELLI: Thank you very much.
23 Mr. Jacowitz.
24 MS. EVANS: I agree.
25 MR. PATILLA: No problem, ma'am. No
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1 problem. I'll get you in the third -- in the
2 half hour or so.
3 MS. GATELLI: Excuse me?
4 MR. PATILLA: No, excuse me. She is
5 sitting there talking and you got a problem
6 with talking too long.
7 MS. GATELLI: No, I didn't stop her
8 from talking.
9 MR. PATILLA: Mrs. Evans was talking.
10 That's my three minutes.
11 MS. GATELLI: Mr. Jakowitz.
12 MR. PATILLA: Don't play with me.
13 You got the wrong one. Pull your sleeves and
14 roll it up. It's on.
15 MR. JACKOWITZ: Bill Jacowitz, South
16 Scranton resident. About six weeks or so I
17 made a recommendation or suggestion that on the
18 agenda items that we hold back for a week and
19 last week we had a lot of agenda items that
20 were tabled and I see that they are still
21 tabled for this week so I would hope that maybe
22 you would take into consideration my
23 suggestions and recommendations and hold back
24 on all of the agenda items in the future for
25 one week so we cannot have the embarrassment
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1 that we had last week, and it's just a
2 suggestion, nothing more.
3 On this snow removal on this what is
4 it 5-D, transferring $325,000 for snow removal.
5 Now, Mrs. Evans was talking about the St.
6 Valentine's Day snow storm. The original
7 account came out $394,000 in overtime according
8 to Mr. Parker which eventually was revised to
9 be only $53,000. Now, I have not seen or heard
10 of any figures as far as what it's costs us for
11 contractors, can we please get that money,
12 Mr. McGoff, you are DPW.
13 MR. MCGOFF: We received that. I
14 don't have it with me. We did recieve an
15 accounting.
16 MS. EVANS: Yes.
17 MR. JACKOWITZ: Okay, can you bring
18 it in and we can total that up to see exactly
19 what the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, I mean,
20 snowstorm cost us. Okay? And the snow was
21 never removed. I mean, nature put the snow
22 there and nature took the snow away, I mean,
23 that's the bottom line, and I'm not trying to
24 be a wiseguy but that's exactly what happened.
25 The snow was there forever. I mean, there was
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1 intersections and turning lanes blocked for two
2 weeks, so the snow was never removed, we are
3 not fooling anybody. So, what we need to do is
4 find out exactly what it cost us because we are
5 transferring a lot of money here and $325,000
6 is lot of money. So, you know, I think we all
7 need find out where that DPW money is going to
8 because hopefully we don't have anymore snow
9 until October or November or December and we
10 may not even get any then because we didn't get
11 any this year, so we need to find out, I guess
12 basically that's all I'm trying to say.
13 And, again, I want to thank you all
14 for tabling those items last week. I think
15 that was very, very nice of you to do that and
16 I hope we take the time to actually research
17 the agenda items in the future. We'll save a
18 lot of problems. Thank you.
19 MS. GATELLI: Mr. Hubbard?
20 MR. HUBBARD: Good evening, Council.
21 On the agenda, well, I guess the $325,000 since
22 we really didn't get any storms during the
23 winter until Valentine's Day, there really
24 probably wasn't that much of an expenditure for
25 snow removal, so it does seem kind of
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1 excessive, the $325,000, it's one storm is
2 going to cost us, almost a half a million.
3 Thank God we didn't get two, we might have to
4 borrow more money.
5 The 7-D, we have a Human Resources
6 Department here in Scranton, right? The city
7 has an HR Department.
8 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yes.
9 MR. HUBBARD: Does the city have an
10 HR director?
11 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yes.
12 MR. HUBBARD: Do people work for the
13 HR director?
14 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yes.
15 MR. HUBBARD: Then why do we need to
16 broker out our workmens' comp claims to a third
17 party? Is the HR Department or the HR director
18 qualified to do his or her job or are they
19 unqualified that we need to hire or broker out
20 to a consulting firm to do this for third
21 party? As far as I know, the only reason we
22 would need a third party to handle our
23 workmens' comp claim is if our HR Department
24 isn't capable of the handling the work that
25 it's actually there to do. It seems to me that
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1 that's another added expense on the city that
2 we don't need. I don't think we should be
3 paying another firm to do the job of our Human
4 Resource Department here in the city that we
5 already pay people in that department to do,
6 and if they unqualified to do it and you have
7 to put this out to consultants like we have to
8 do with several other positions in the city on
9 a regular basis then maybe we should think
10 about whoever is running the HR Department
11 should be replaced with a more capable person
12 that can handle the city business so that we
13 don't have to continue to pay third party or
14 second party consultants or firms to do the job
15 of our city employees that already get paid a
16 salary to do it. It just makes sense.
17 You are trying to save money, the
18 mayor has got to pay a five million dollra bill
19 we got all of this debt and we are just going
20 to keep handing stuff out to third party groups
21 and second party groups to do the jobs of the
22 departments that we have here. OECD is a
23 perfect example. How many thousands, hundreds
24 of thousands of dollars were spent on
25 consultants for that department to effectively
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1 run when up until this current administration
2 that department seemed to run fine with the
3 director that worked at half the salary that
4 the present director works at. It seems we got
5 a lot of new hires, a lot of department heads
6 that don't know what they are doing and the
7 taxpayers are footing the bill so they get a
8 secondary education through the city's
9 consultants. It's a lot of money, workmen's
10 comp claims there is a lot of them in the city
11 I'm sure, a lot of employees, the HR Department
12 should be able to handle this. If not, expand
13 the department or change the director. Thank
14 you.
15 MS. GATELLI: Thank you. Lee Morgan.
16 MR. MORGAN: Okay. The first thing I
17 have here is 7-A, Mr. Hein, political
18 contributions to the mayor, okay? The last
19 person that spoke about 7-D, politics as
20 usually. 7-A, politics as usual. This city is
21 just in my own opinion so corrupt, I mean, how
22 can we keep going like this and we got a
23 council that sits there and I just can't
24 understand the whole thing at all. Three
25 hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, it's
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1 "D" here. You are going to move $325,000 for
2 snow removal and what I'd like to know is what
3 equipment was used, what contractors were hired
4 because to be bluntly honest with you I think
5 this is just a travesty. I mean, you know, we
6 had legislation last week to sell tax
7 delinquent debt or realty, you know, I just --I
8 just wonder when the people in this city are
9 going to wake up and understand that this
10 council is a major part of our problem and I
11 mean that. I mean, because you people empower
12 this mayor to loot this city. Two weeks ago we
13 had the cameras removed, we have all of the
14 "BS" going on continually. The mayor can't
15 defend himself. The mayor can't defend all of
16 the money we have borrowed. We have people on
17 council talking about, I don't really to be
18 bluntly honest, what you are talking about
19 because you didn't even read the budget and you
20 passed it and then I came here --
21 MS. GATELLI: Mr. Morgan -- -
22 MR. MORGAN: And I said to council --
23 MS. GATELLI: Mr. Morgan --
24 MR. MORGAN: Okay, let me finish and
25 then you can respond --
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1 MS. GATELLI: No, I just want to tell
2 you that you need to stick to the agenda items.
3 MR. MORGAN: This is the agenda.
4 This is agenda. We are going to spend $325,000
5 we can't even make our debt service, okay, and
6 we are talking about a storm clean up and what
7 I'm saying to you is what equipment was used,
8 who were the contractors, let's have a list. I
9 looked at the sheet in there in your office
10 there is no names there, there is no figures,
11 and I went to Mrs. Novembrino's office, I asked
12 for information on that, it wasn't complied
13 yet. I went down to the mayor's secretary she
14 thought it was $50,000. We had a councilperson
15 get up here and say they thought it was $53,000
16 or $50,000, it might have been Mrs. Fanucci,
17 and what I'm saying here is that it's
18 ridiculous. It's just plain corruption and
19 when you go to "E" what exactly are we trying
20 to do with the sewer system? Are we trying to
21 increase the tonnage or the gallons or reduce?
22 That's not even here. I mean, I just find this
23 council voting on things they don't have a clue
24 about what they are voting on, somebody tells
25 you what you are going to do and you do it and
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1 we all pay for it. Thank you.
2 MS. EVANS: I just wanted to respond
3 quickly. I do have a list, for example, of the
4 towers that were hired by the city for the
5 Valentine's Day storm for all of the cars that
6 were stuck in intersections and I'd be happy to
7 share that with you. I can tell you that the
8 contractors hired are numerous. In fact, I
9 have the names here and there are at least 28
10 of them.
11 MR. MORGAN: Do we have a DPW?
12 MS. EVANS: Yes, we have a DPW, but I
13 did not hire the contractors. I'm merely
14 attempting to answer your questions and if you
15 would like a copy of the towers and the
16 companies I would be happy to make that
17 available to you.
18 MR. MORGAN: Thank you.
19 MS. GATELLI: Is there anyone else?
20 MR. LYMAN: Yeah, 5-E, Mrs. Gatelli,
21 what was the prior ordinance on 5-E?
22 MS. GATELLI: I don't have that with
23 me.
24 MR. LYMAN: Well, then give it to me
25 next week or table this. Table this for until
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1 we can find out the full information on this.
2 And in 5-D you are saying this is $325,000.
3 Since the DPW wasn't out there piling the snow
4 where I lived the snow was never plowed and an
5 ambulance was trapped on my street and people
6 had to push the ambulance because a lady had a
7 heart attack, so I don't think this should be
8 paid. This should be tabled and I want to know
9 what kind of rental vehicles these were, that's
10 kind of suspicious. I want to know what that
11 is. The only vehicles I saw after the
12 Valentine's snowstorm was the small DPW plows
13 that we have. I didn't anything else. I
14 didn't see the big ones like PennDOT has. The
15 only ones I saw were the ones that Sam Vitras
16 drives, so we should get George Parker down
17 here and let the people ask him questions and I
18 want all information from not just this bill
19 but other bills and I want to see who are these
20 rented vehicles equipment because there was no
21 other DPW equipment, only our equipment was out
22 and they never plowed my street. Only the guy
23 who -- the plow guy from where I -- the
24 printer, he plowed our street and it wasn't the
25 city.
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27
1 Now, 6-B about that bank, is he
2 going to pay the city to take that whole street
3 and the other part of that block or are we
4 given that away like we are giving everything
5 else away? I mean, banks are worst millions of
6 dollars. I mean, that's kind of ridiculous
7 giving one whole part of a street away and the
8 other block away, we should get paid a couple
9 of million dollars. I mean, a bank is worth
10 millions. I mean, land is worth millions of
11 dollars in my opinion. You don't give
12 something away. We gave more than a part of
13 land $1 away for 98 years, kind of ridiculous.
14 This should be tabled, 6-B, that should be
15 tabled. I mean, people are losing their
16 parking spaces. I saw a zoning meeting and
17 people are crying about parking.
18 MR. MINORA: Three minutes.
19 MS. GATELLI: Thank you.
20 MR. LYMAN: But this should be
21 tabled, and I want to see you, Mr. Courtright,
22 table this. Don't back down like you did --
23 MS. GATELLI: Thank you.
24 MR. LYMAN: -- at secret meetings.
25 MS. GATELLI: Mr. Spindler.
.
28
1 MR. SPINDLER: Les Spindler, city
2 resident. I wasn't going to speak on this, but
3 when I heard Mrs. Evans say 28 different
4 contractors, that's a little unbelievable. I
5 mean, this is Scranton, Pennsylvania, not New
6 York City. What are they using dump trucks or
7 pickup trucks? I mean, don't we have DPW
8 Department here that can clean the streets? I
9 mean, under Jimmy Connors we had big storms and
10 I don't think we had to get 28 different
11 contractors. And, Mrs. Evans, would it be too
12 much to ask if any of those contractors were
13 contributors to the mayor's campaign?
14 MS. EVANS: Would I look into that?
15 UNKNOWN AUDIENCE MEMBER: For his
16 question.
17 MS. EVANS: I'll certainly try to.
18 MR. SPINDLER: Thank you. That's
19 all.
20 MS. GATELLI: Thank you. Anyone
21 else?
22 MS. KRAKE: My name is Nancy Krake.
23 My first remarks are on 5-D. Everyone has been
24 remarking about for the snowstorm bills.
25 First, I'd like to say that the account you are
.
29
1 taking it out of in case anyone hasn't looked
2 at it in the budget it's not simply debt
3 service operating expenses, it's the operating
4 transfer debt for the 2006 bond, so how will we
5 will be making up that deficiency? Okay. I
6 think probably that would be something I would
7 look into before I vote on that.
8 I'd also like to think after all of
9 the excellent remarks that speakers make at the
10 podium perhaps we could research and find out
11 the type of vehicles that were used, where they
12 plowed, when they plowed and for how long. All
13 of that should be itemized on every single
14 invoice and, in fact, maybe those invoices
15 could be made public either in the newspaper or
16 -- that won't happen which as we know the Times
17 doesn't like to do things, perhaps they could
18 be read out loud at council.
19 I'd also like to comment on 7-D
20 which is professional services and a speaker
21 earlier made an excellent point that we have a
22 human resources department which I believe in
23 Mrs. Evans' budget she was going to make some
24 cuts to because we are truly not sure exactly
25 what functions they have, so if this company is
.
30
1 doing the same functions as our human resources
2 department is supposed to do and redundant we
3 should not be hiring them. If they are doing
4 something that we should be doing, that speaks
5 for itself.
6 We have already outsourced the
7 payroll department where we use to print it
8 in-house. That costs us $6,000 a pay. It's
9 utterly ridiculous. Thank you.
10 MS. GATELLI: Thank you. Anyone
11 else?
12 MR. ANCHERANI: Nelson Ancherani.
13 5-D I guess we are all speaking on that, my
14 question is wasn't there enough money put aside
15 for snow removal? I thought we had that in the
16 budget already and we really didn't have that
17 much snow, we had one storm. That covered one
18 storm $325,000? Okay, and 7-D, is that
19 Excalibur replacing PMA, anybody know? Are
20 they replacing PMA? How much are we paying
21 them, and if they are not replacing PMA are we
22 going to keep both of them, hiring both of
23 them? Some questions, just maybe you should
24 hold off on that one at least for a week or so
25 and find out those questions, those answers,
.
31
1 and that's basically what I have on the agenda.
2 Thank you.
3 MS. GATELLI: Thank you. Anyone
4 else?
5 MS. GARVEY: 5-A. Motions.
6 MS. EVANS: Good evening. Our city
7 lost a great lady on Monday, a pitcher and
8 outfielder for the All-American Girls
9 Professional Baseball League, a role model for
10 young women and an inspiration to each of us to
11 be all that we can be. Please keep Jean Marlow
12 in your prayers, and I also ask you to remember
13 Edith Caviston who passed away yesterday and
14 her dear family members in your prayers.
15 Prior to the meeting this evening
16 council did meet in caucus to discuss details
17 of the amusement tax and a billboard tax and we
18 are still discussing many of the fine points.
19 It is our decision to work out all of the
20 glitches that we can perceive in advance and to
21 craft the ordinance very carefully so as to
22 avoid any of the problems, for example, that
23 have been experienced with the passage of the
24 smoking ban.
25 On April 12 council received the
.
32
1 worker's compensation payments form reflecting
2 total payments and net payments for calendar
3 years 2002 through 2006. Calendar year 2007
4 reflects payments made through April 1, 2007.
5 This material was forwarded in response to a
6 request moved by council on March 29.
7 In response to a third request moved
8 by council on the same date incomplete
9 information was provided. Mr. Krushefski
10 apparently responds that workers' comp
11 reimbursements go into a special account and in
12 October or November of each year it goes into
13 the general fund. In order to obtain a more
14 specific and complete response I move that the
15 administration provide a copy of the deposits
16 for 2006 and 2007 to date for that special city
17 account and including the account number which
18 shows the workers' comp reimbursements on or
19 about May 9, 2007.
20 MS. GATELLI: I'll second that. On
21 the question? All those in favor.
22 MS. EVANS: Aye.
23 MR. MCGOFF: Aye.
24 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
25 MS. GATELLI: Aye. Opposed? The
.
33
1 ayes have it and so moved.
2 MS. EVANS: I move that the
3 administration provide a line item in the
4 operating budget in which these annual
5 reimbursements are placed on or before May 9,
6 2007.
7 MS. GATELLI: Second. On the
8 question? All those in favor?
9 MS. EVANS: Aye.
10 MR. MCGOFF: Aye.
11 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
12 MS. GATELLI: Aye. Opposed? The
13 ayes have it and so moved.
14 MS. EVANS: I move that the
15 administration provide an explanation for the
16 inflated figure contained in the 2007 operating
17 budget Account No. 01.380.38800 advance on
18 delinquent real estate taxes. Municipal
19 Revenue Services states that 2.8 million will
20 be received by the city in 2007 immediately
21 upon the sale of the delinquent real estate
22 taxes. Municipal Revenue Services further
23 states that this deal has been in the making
24 for 18 months, yet the 2000 operating budget
25 lists revenues of $3,657,1074. Why was the
.
34
1 figure inflated? From what source will you
2 supplement this budget line item? Provided
3 responses on or about before May 9, 2007.
4 MR. COURTRIGHT: Second.
5 MS. GATELLI: On the question? All
6 in favor?
7 MS. EVANS: Aye.
8 MR. MCGOFF: Aye.
9 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
10 MS. GATELLI: Aye. Opposed? The
11 ayes have it and so moved.
12 MS. EVANS: I further move that the
13 administration inform council if the
14 $1.2 million advance from the Scranton housing
15 authority has been received. If not, when does
16 the administration expect receipt of the
17 advance, has the Scranton Housing Authority
18 borrowed money in order to provide this advance
19 to the city? Provide responses on or before
20 May 9, 2007.
21 MS. GATELLI: Second. On the
22 question? All those in favor.
23 MS. EVANS: Aye.
24 MR. MCGOFF: Aye.
25 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
.
35
1 MS. GATELLI: Aye. Opposed? The
2 ayes have it and so moved.
3 MS. EVANS: I further move that the
4 administration explain the negative $364,360.69
5 change in portfolio value of the funding
6 account trust contained in the PNC
7 relationships summary for March 1 through
8 March 30, 2007, for what specific purpose was
9 the money used. Provide responses by May 9,
10 2007.
11 MS. GATELLI: Second. On the
12 question?
13 MS. EVANS: The garnering of the --
14 MS. COURTRIGHT: We didn't vote.
15 MS. EVANS: I'm talking on the
16 question.
17 MS. GATELLI: Oh, okay.
18 MS. EVANS: The garnering of this
19 information --
20 MS. GATELLLI: Sorry.
21 MS. EVANS: That's okay, will help
22 to explain figures placed in the 2007 operate
23 being budget and to track taxpayers' dollars.
24 MS. GATELLI: Anyone else on the
25 question? All in favor?
.
36
1 MS. EVANS: Aye.
2 MR. MCGOFF: Aye.
3 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
4 MS. GATELLI: Aye. Opposed? The
5 ayes have it and so moved.
6 MS. EVANS: I thank my honorable
7 colleagues for their patience and cooperation
8 as I seek to shed light on the numbers placed
9 in the record $77 million city operating
10 budget.
11 I am and have been aware that the
12 current Pennsylvania institution precludes
13 recall elections. My friends, recall of
14 elected officials provides much needed recourse
15 for citizens to protect themselves from actions
16 of an elected officials that fail to have
17 promote the safety and welfare of the citizens.
18 It protects citizens from elected officials who
19 fail to work as trustees of the people and to
20 respond to basic rights and human needs. Our
21 own Home Rule Charter provides for initiative
22 and referendum by the qualified voters of the
23 city provided that it shall not extend to the
24 budget or capital program or any ordinance
25 relating to appropriate, of money, levy of
.
37
1 taxes or salaries. If the question of recall
2 were placed on the ballot for city voters then
3 the results could be presented to the state
4 government since recall elections are currently
5 not permitted in Pennsylvania. I believe the
6 Pennsylvania legislature needs to make some
7 changes. Pennsylvania lags woefully behind
8 other states in the union in lobbying
9 disclosure, in public disclosure of records
10 and, yes, in lack of recall of elected
11 officials. As municipalities across
12 Pennsylvania pass legislation regarding pay to
13 play contributions and secondhand smoke, they
14 are challenging the state government and in
15 some cases they have won. Unless efforts are
16 made by people to protect themselves and change
17 state government then the status quo remains
18 and the average taxpayers continues to suffer.
19 I also feel compelled to tell my
20 colleagues, Mrs. Gatelli and Mrs. Fanucci, who
21 is absent this evening, that I never mentioned
22 either of you by name in relation to placing
23 the question of recall on the ballot nor did I
24 ever mention Mr. Doherty. Neither did I
25 decline to discuss the issue during our last
.
38
1 council meeting, since the topic was not raised
2 by anyone and no questions were posed. The
3 information contained in the article that
4 appeared in the Scranton Times on April 13 is,
5 therefore, false.
6 I didn't have this prepared for this
7 evening, but I heard something quiet disturbing
8 prior to my arrival this night at city council,
9 and that is that we the citizens of the
10 Scranton are losing the best and the brightest
11 public servants in our police department and
12 fire department. We are losing a 17-year
13 veteran of our fire department who is taking an
14 unrelated job elsewhere. We are losing two of
15 our outstanding police officers who are in
16 supervisory positions, both of whom have been
17 employed by this city in this capacity for over
18 eight years, and more troubling I'm learning
19 that there are many additional police officers
20 who are considering the same move. Why?
21 Because they haven't had a pay raise in five
22 years because they are looking at increased
23 costs of health care, because our police
24 department is one of the lowest paid in the
25 State of Pennsylvania and we are not talking
.
39
1 about newly hired individuals we are talking
2 about individuals who have years and years of
3 service to this city, individuals who are
4 veterans of the US Navy and individuals who are
5 degreed, who hold bachelors degrees in criminal
6 justice.
7 I think we have reached a very
8 serious plateau when we are looking at
9 depleting our police department and our fire
10 department of the best and the brightest
11 because contracts just couldn't be settled all
12 these years and still it goes on in the Court
13 system costing the taxpayers money and now I
14 fear placing our safety in the future in great
15 jeopardy. Will the mayor choose to replace
16 those positions? I say that We can't venture
17 to guess. I do know that his goal has been the
18 downsizing of departments, I know that as I sat
19 on this council over the past several years I
20 have seen the downsizing of the police
21 department. Certainly there has to be a cut
22 off but, of course, those individuals who will
23 be hired as their replacements very likely are
24 going to be rookies, and that is not to
25 denigrate rookies, but the bottom line is we
.
40
1 are losing very good, very talented people,
2 special people who protect us everyday and we
3 stand to lose many more and it is my hope that
4 the mayor will take this into very serious
5 consideration. Sit down with these unions and
6 work out a solution that is fair to the
7 taxpayers and fair to the city employees. We
8 need that.
9 Finally, I have a few citizens
10 requests for the week. A letter to George
11 Parker regarding a citizen complaint and I'm
12 not going to announce that complaint, but, Kay,
13 I do have a copy of it for you that I would
14 like you to attach to the letter.
15 A letter to the Mr. Shane, Executive
16 Director of the Scranton Redevelopment
17 Authority requesting a complete list of liens
18 placed on city properties to date. A letter to
19 Mr. Gene Barrett, executive director of the
20 Scranton Sewer Authority and an additional
21 letter to Mr. Luciani, please repair a sewer
22 drain located in a front of the 634 Genet
23 Street.
24 And, finally, in response to many of
25 the statements made this evening about the snow
.
41
1 removal, I can tell all of you that I had,
2 indeed, requested those bills, those invoices,
3 not simply the total dollar amount for snow
4 removal within the DPW and for outsourcing. So
5 once again, Kay, I will ask specifically to see
6 the bills that have been submitted by the
7 contractors and if in the invoice the type of
8 equipment utilized is not contained then I
9 would ask that Mr. Parker provide that
10 information for council, and that's it.
11 MS. GATELLI: Thank you. Mr. McGoff.
12 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you. I'll be very
13 brief. I would agree with you that there must
14 be -- we need to have some movement toward
15 settlement and/or some movement toward
16 negotiations of union contracts in the city. I
17 don't think that there can be any progress made
18 until there is some meaningful dialogue between
19 the unions and management, the administration.
20 I'm not sure what we can do to encourage that.
21 If there is anything that we can do I certainly
22 would support any type of motion or any
23 encouragement that we could give them. I
24 really do think that that's an important
25 consideration.
.
42
1 I just -- didn't we receive
2 something or you wanted the invoices for the
3 snow removal, but we did receive --
4 MS. EVANS: Totals.
5 MR. MCGOFF: Totals and a listing of
6 all -- I thought we did, but you would like to
7 have the itemized --
8 MS. EVANS: Or actually it's as easy
9 as simply providing copies of invoices for us
10 from each of the contractors.
11 MR. MCGOFF: Okay. One of the items
12 on the agenda, maybe I should wait until it's
13 brought up, but I do want to -- one of the
14 concerns that I have with Item 5-B is I'm not
15 sure exactly where this light is going to be
16 placed. It does not mention Meadow Avenue at
17 any point in the ordinance and it says River
18 Street and East Mountain Road. Being a
19 resident of South Scranton all my life or most
20 of my life, to me that's further up and at the
21 exit, at the 81 exit, and the entrance that's
22 closer to East Mountain Road. I'm not sure
23 where that's where that light is going to be
24 placed or whether it is going to be placed at
25 Meadow Avenue and River Street which to me is
.
43
1 the more dangerous and more needy of sites, so
2 I tried reading through the backup to see, but
3 everything that's mentioned is SR0081, Ramp H,
4 and I'm not sure where that is. I'm not sure
5 what ramp it refers to, so --
6 MS. GATELLI: I'll find out next
7 week.
8 MR. MCGOFF: We really need to do
9 that. I think the serious--
10 MS. GATELLI: I can't imagine putting
11 a light at the ramp there.
12 MR. MCGOFF: Well, the only reason I
13 can see them putting a light up at the ramp is
14 that 5:00 in the afternoon or somewhere around
15 there traffic does backup onto 81 and it's
16 difficult getting off of there, and I'm sure
17 they are looking at the possibility that they
18 could alleviate some of that by putting a light
19 in --
20 MS. GATELLI: I don't think so.
21 MR. MCGOFF: Or maybe I'm misreading
22 the ordinance.
23 MS. GATELLI: We'll find out.
24 MR. MCGOFF: But, again, I would
25 really like to find that out before proceeding
.
44
1 much further with it, and that's all I have.
2 Thank you.
3 MS. GATELLI: Thank you.
4 Mr. Courtright.
5 MR. COURTRIGHT: I'll speak about
6 what two of my fellow council members spoke
7 about tonight and I was actually with the two
8 police officers today that are going to be
9 leaving, Sergeant Paul Duffy and Sergeant
10 Jessie Romanchick and I'd like to say this
11 first, these two guys I spent a lot of time
12 with since they have been on the job and they
13 did their job very well and still remembered
14 that their job was to help people. They were
15 really helpful and I really hate to see them
16 go.
17 I was referencing one of them and
18 the state police called me and asked me a bunch
19 of questions and they asked me if I thought
20 they would make a good state trooper, and
21 that's where they are going to the state police
22 department, and I said, "I would like to lie to
23 you and tell you, no, because I don't want to
24 loss them here," but they are young and they
25 have families and they want to start families
.
45
1 and as Mr. Evans said six years without a raise
2 they just simply can't do it. They did not
3 want to leave. They were really torn, but when
4 the salary is so much more and the benefits are
5 so much better they basically had no choice.
6 And Mr. McGoff said, you know, about
7 settling the contracts, I think those of us
8 that have been here for three and a half years
9 and know from that from the beginning, my
10 opinion was this, that this administration had
11 a golden opportunity when they first took over
12 to negotiate a very good contract. I believe
13 all of the unions, the four of them, DPW, the
14 clerical and the police and the fire, I believe
15 they all knew the city attorney and I believe
16 they are all willing to make concessions as
17 they have in the past. I think there is only a
18 few items in this recovery plan that they
19 weren't agreeable to and I think, and I'll
20 stand corrected if I'm wrong, I think most of
21 the items were management rights and it's been
22 a long time since I read the recovery plan but
23 I wasn't on council, I don't know if I might
24 have been elected at the time, but all I know I
25 was on vacation and my wife thought I was nuts
.
46
1 I was sitting on the beach reading it and some
2 of the things in there that they had in the
3 recovery plan in my opinion that the
4 administration wanted I was asking myself,
5 well, why don't you just tell them to give up
6 their union because there was no right to have
7 grievances, things to that affect, and although
8 I don't know how agreeable after all these
9 years of being pushed around the unions would
10 be sit down, I think they would sit down, and I
11 think they would still be willing to make some
12 concessions and I think we need to do it really
13 soon. Let's face it, we are losing all of
14 these arbitrations, we are going to pay.
15 MS. EVANS: Well, Mr. Courtright, do
16 you recall or, Mrs. Gatelli, you would have
17 been here at the time, also, the last court
18 decision on the police officers contract it
19 appeared that the city received quite a good
20 deal in that decision and I believe the judge
21 perhaps indicated that this was, indeed, a very
22 fair deal for everyone involved because it was
23 not a one-sided agreement. There was give and
24 take on both sides, but still no movement and I
25 believe what, they returned to --
.
47
1 MR. COURTRIGHT: You are absolutely
2 right.
3 MS. EVANS: Appealing again, wasting
4 taxpayers' money. I can't understand when it
5 is unacceptable when two sides are giving and
6 taking. That is negotiation. Not one side
7 gives and one side takes, that's not
8 negotiation and if that's the way it stands
9 then I think we are in and an interminable
10 stalemate and in the meantime the sad fact of
11 the matter is exactly what you said, we are
12 losing our workers to other cities, other
13 police forces, other fire departments and other
14 professions.
15 MR. COURTRIGHT: Well, I think, too,
16 as we lose these people they don't have to live
17 in the city any longer, they can move if they
18 choose to. I think the city kind of got the
19 fire department a little bit because there is
20 not too many paid fire departments around here,
21 but I, too, Mr. McGoff said and Mrs. Evans said
22 and I'm sure Mrs. Gatelli and Mrs. Fanucci go
23 along, I would be willing to do anything we
24 need to do to try to get this settled. I think
25 if these contracts were settled it would reduce
.
48
1 a lot of bad blood we got in the city, there's
2 a lot of bad blood here and how do you keep
3 morale in any of these departments when this
4 has been going on for this long? How do you
5 ask someone and they still do they still go to
6 work everyday and they still do their job if
7 your house is burning, as we have seen, they
8 are going to come there and do their best. If
9 they receive a call to your house, the police,
10 they are going to come there and do their best,
11 but that's difficult to ask them to do.
12 I mean, any of you out there
13 watching or any in the audience here if you did
14 not receive a raise in that many years or some
15 kind of compensation I think your morale would
16 be little bit low, too, and let's face it,
17 everything goes up, all our bills are going up,
18 and I won't dwell on it any longer, but I just
19 want to say these two officers will be sorely
20 missed by the city and by myself and I think by
21 their peers. I think they are both extremely
22 respected by their peers and I think that's the
23 greatest compliment you can receive as when
24 your peers respect you the way this two
25 gentlemen are respected, and I'll move on now.
.
49
1 Mrs. Gatelli, you brought up and I
2 know she talked to Mr. Parker about the water
3 problem on Fawnwood Road there and I also spoke
4 to Mr. Parker this morning, the DPW did go up
5 there and try to do something over the weekend
6 and they diverted the water which went down
7 Newton Road, but once they diverted it going
8 down Newton Road then it was going in other
9 people's yards, so Mr. Parker said they would
10 be up there again today. One of the problems
11 is there is boulders inside of the drainage
12 pipes and even the Sewer Authority equipment
13 can't flush it out, then we have crushed pipes
14 and as Mrs. Gatelli said they can't dig, they
15 have to replace the pipe, they cannot dig down
16 until they make sure all of the underground
17 utilities they get that all squared away.
18 There is one gentleman that's up there he is
19 taking a beating with this and now that they've
20 redirected it other people are starting to get
21 hit so I hope we get that done as quickly as
22 quickly as possible.
23 And just on a personal note, there
24 is a gentleman that watches every one of these
25 meetings and I met with him this weekend and I
.
50
1 just want to say hi to Barry, Barry Pierce, he
2 is a very nice guy and he watches all of these
3 meetings and, Barry, hello, buddy, I hope you
4 are still watching and that's all I have.
5 Thank you.
6 MS. GATELLI: I usually don't comment
7 because my comments are earlier in the meeting,
8 but as everyone brought up the fact of the
9 arbitrations maybe now is the time I should
10 tell you that I have been meeting with Tom
11 Jennings regarding the negotiations with the
12 police and fire. He has forwarded the
13 information to me, Attorney Minora is reviewing
14 it, and someone had told me that we don't need
15 the mayor to negotiate a contract, that years
16 ago a group, and I believe it was a school
17 board, negotiated a contract without the
18 administration, but you have to have a
19 supermajority in which to do that, so I think
20 that it is a possibility, I think that it may
21 happen, and I don't want to say too much on it
22 because I don't want to jeopardize it, but I
23 know at least the four people, I can't speak
24 for Mrs. Fanucci because she is not here, but
25 you heard the four people up here state their
.
51
1 comments about the negotiations. I know that
2 at least two of us and probably Mr. McGoff is
3 in a teacher's union, but I know that for sure
4 Janet and I are, and we certainly know
5 firsthand what negotiations are about and what
6 happens when you don't get a good contract
7 because the last contract we got was not a good
8 one, so we can sympathize, empathize with the
9 police and fire and also the clerical because
10 they don't have one yet either.
11 So please be aware that we are
12 working on it and hopefully we can come to some
13 agreement and then we will have either the
14 ability to do it on our own with the
15 supermajority or that we will have enough clout
16 that we can go to the mayor and insist that
17 this be done. It doesn't behoove any of us to
18 let the Courts decide this because somebody is
19 going to win and somebody is going to lose and,
20 you know, we can toss the quarter in my pocket
21 and it can be heads or tails. Nobody knows the
22 answer of what's going to happen with those
23 negotiations, but in the end I think the people
24 are all going to lose either way, so I don't
25 think that we should take a chance. I think
.
52
1 that it is hurting our city and it is causing a
2 lot of tension with people that shouldn't be
3 there. We should all be working on the same
4 goals and ideas for our community and we can't
5 do that when we are in separate places, so just
6 you are aware that we are meeting with Tom
7 Jennings, Amil is reviewing all of the
8 negotiations and when he is done we will be
9 meeting with Mr. Jennings again and I would
10 keep my colleagues posted on the results.
11 That's all I have. Thank you.
12 MR. MCGOFF: One point of
13 clarification, I don't want to -- I am not a
14 member of the union at Pocono Mountain. I
15 don't want to mislead anyone.
16 MS. GATELLI: Okay. Thank you. Mrs.
17 Garvey.
18 MS. GARVEY: 5-B. FOR INTRODUCTION -
19 AN ORDINANCE - ACCEPTING OWNERSHIP AND
20 MAINTENANCE RESPONSIBILITY FOR A TRAFFIC SIGNAL
21 DEVICE AT STATE ROUTE 8-39 (S.R. 0081 RAMP H)
22 AND RIVER STREET AND EAST MOUNTAIN ROAD AND
23 ACCEPTING THE TRAFFIC SIGNAL MAINTENANCE
24 AGREEMENT THAT PERTAINS THERETO WITH THE
25 COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, DEPARTMENT OF
.
53
1 TRANSPORTATION AS PART OF A ROADWAY
2 CONSTRUCTION PROJECT.
3 MS. GATELLI: At this time, I'll
4 entertain a motion that Item 5-B be introduced.
5 MR. COURTRIGHT: So moved.
6 MS. GATELLI: Second.
7 MS. EVANS: Second.
8 MS. GATELLI: On the question. Just
9 that we are going to have Kay if you would call
10 Mr. Parker and ask him if this is the Meadow
11 Avenue light, you know, and we can have the
12 answer before next week.
13 MR. MCGOFF: I was going to say that
14 I would probably vote for this, but with
15 clarification and if it's not in the proper
16 place I would hope that we can change it.
17 MS. GATELLI: Anyone else? All in
18 favor?
19 MS. EVANS: Aye.
20 MR. MCGOFF: Aye.
21 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
22 MS. GATELLI: Aye. Opposed? The
23 ayes have it and so moved.
24 MS. GARVEY: 5-C. FOR INTRODUCTION -
25 AN ORDINANCE - AUTHORIZING THE CONVEYANCE BY
.
54
1 PRIVATE SALE OF ONE PARCEL OF LAND IN SCRANTON
2 ACQUIRED PURSUANT TO THE LACKAWANNA RIVER FLOOD
3 CONTROL PROJECT NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF
4 SHAWNEE AVENUE AND DEPOT STREET, AS MORE
5 PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED ON THE ATTACHED MAP.
6 MS. GATELLI: At this time I'll move
7 to entertain a motion that 5-C be introduced.
8 MR. COURTRIGHT: So moved.
9 MS. EVANS: Second.
10 MS. GATELLI: On the question? All
11 those in favor?
12 MS. EVANS: Aye.
13 MR. MCGOFF: Aye.
14 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
15 MS. GATELLI: Aye. Opposed? The
16 ayes have it and so moved.
17 MS. GARVEY: 5-D. FOR INTRODUCTION -
18 AN ORDINANCE - AMENDING FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 66,
19 2006, AN ORDINANCE "ENTITLED GENERAL CITY
20 OPERATING BUDGET 2007" BY TRANSFERRING $325,000
21 FROM ACCOUNT NO. 01.401.15313.4299 (DEBT
22 SERVICE OPERATING EXPENSES) TO ACCOUNT NO.
23 01.080.00083.4260 (RENTAL VEHICLES & EQUIPMENT)
24 TO PROVIDE FUNDING TO COVER SNOW STORM CLEANUP
25 COSTS.
.
55
1 MS. GATELLI: At this time I'll
2 entertain a motion that 5-D be introduced.
3 MR. COURTRIGHT: So moved.
4 MR. MCGOFF: Second.
5 MS. GATELLI: On the question?
6 MS. EVANS: Might we be able to
7 table this until we obtain that additional
8 information?
9 MR. MCGOFF: Well, I would say is it
10 possible to just vote to move it along? We
11 will vote on it two other times and by next
12 week we should have the information that's
13 requested.
14 MS. GATELLI: If not we will table
15 it.
16 MS. EVANS: That's fine.
17 MS. GATELLI: All in favor?
18 MS. EVANS: Aye.
19 MR. MCGOFF: Aye.
20 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
21 MS. GATELLI: Aye. Opposed? The
22 ayes have it and so moved.
23 MS. GARVEY: 5-E. FOR INTRODUCTION -
24 AN ORDINANCE - ESTABLISHING LOCAL LIMITS FOR
25 THE DISCHARGE OF POLLUTANTS FROM INDUSTRIAL
.
56
1 USERS TO THE SEWER SYSTEM AND REPEALING THOSE
2 LOCAL LIMITS ADOPTED BY PRIOR ORDINANCE.
3 MS. GATELLI: At this time I'll
4 entertain a motion that 5-E be introduced.
5 MR. COURTRIGHT: So moved.
6 MR. MCGOFF: Second.
7 MS. GATELLI: On the question? All
8 those in favor?
9 MS. EVANS: Aye.
10 MR. MCGOFF: Aye.
11 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
12 MS. GATELLI: Aye. Opposed? The
13 ayes have it and so moved.
14 MS. GARVEY: 5-F. FOR INTRODUCTION -
15 AN ORDINANCE - CREATING AND ESTABLISHING
16 SPECIAL CITY ACCOUNT NO. 02.229585 ENTITLED
17 "SCRANTON POLICE MUNICIPAL POLICE OFFICERS
18 EDUCATION AND TRAINING ACCOUNT" FOR THE RECEIPT
19 AN DISBURSEMENT OF GRANT FUNDS FROM THE
20 MUNICIPAL POLICE OFFICERS EDUCTION AND TRAINING
21 COMMISSION FOR SCRANTON POLICE LAW ENFORCEMENT
22 TRAINING PROGRAM.
23 MS. GATELLI: At this time I'll
24 entertain a motion that 5-F be introduced.
25 MR. COURTRIGHT: So moved.
.
57
1 MR. MCGOFF: Second.
2 MS. GATELLI: On the question?
3 MR. COURTRIGHT: On the question, I'd
4 just like to make a brief explanation, this
5 pertains to 5-F and G, we have to open up this
6 account so that hopefully 5-G will be passed.
7 We are going to get money from Mopeck for
8 training for our officers. I think it's the
9 first time since I have been here we are going
10 to get it and hopefully we will continue to get
11 more money, so the account will be opened and
12 then hopefully 5-G will be passed and then the
13 money we need that to accept the money for the
14 Mopeck condition and our officers will be get
15 training free of charge, it won't cost us any
16 money.
17 MS. EVANS: Mr. Courtright, I'm very
18 pleased to hear this and very much in
19 agreement, but does that not violate the
20 Recovery Plan?
21 MR. COURTRIGHT: That is one question
22 I can't answer. I hope not.
23 MS. GATELLI: We can violate it when
24 we want to.
25 MS. EVANS: I have seen that happen
.
58
1 many times, yes.
2 MR. COURTRIGHT: I wasn't going to
3 say anything, but I sit on this commission and
4 in the years that I have been on it I have
5 never seen Scranton get any money, and so I
6 went to our police department and said, "Look,
7 I'm sitting there and the only reason I ask to
8 put on this commission was so that I could send
9 some money our way," and I hope it doesn't
10 violate it, I hope it doesn't stop it because
11 then our commission if it's anything under
12 $3,000 it doesn't really come up for a vote
13 before our board. If it's over $3,000 then it
14 does. I sincerely hope that doesn't happen,
15 but I think we have seen that Recovery Plan
16 voted over and over and again.
17 MS. EVANS: Yes. I think the
18 precedent was set long, long ago and continued
19 through the years.
20 MR. COURTRIGHT: Point taken.
21 MS. GATELLI: Anyone else on the
22 question? All in favor.
23 MS. EVANS: Aye.
24 MR. MCGOFF: Aye.
25 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
.
59
1 MS. GATELLI: Aye. Opposed? The
2 ayes have it and so moved.
3 MS. GARVEY: 5-G. FOR INTRODUCTION --
4 A RESOLUTION - AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND OTHER
5 APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS TO APPLY FOR AND
6 EXECUTE A GRANT APPLICATION AND IF SUCCESSFUL A
7 GRANT AGREEMENT AND ACCEPT THE FUNDS RELATED
8 THERETO FROM THE MUNICIPAL POLICE OFFICERS
9 EDUCATION TRAINING COMMISSION.
10 MS. GATELLI: At this time I'll
11 entertain a motion that 5-G be introduced.
12 MR. COURTRIGHT: So moved.
13 MR. MCGOFF: Second.
14 MS. GATELLI: On the question? All
15 in favor?
16 MS. EVANS: Aye.
17 MR. MCGOFF: Aye.
18 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
19 MS. GATELLI: Aye. Opposed? The
20 ayes have it and so moved.
21 MS. GARVEY: SIXTH ORDER. 6-A.
22 READING BY TITLE - FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 83, 2007
23 - AN ORDINANCE - ACCEPTING OWNERSHIP AND
24 MAINTENANCE RESPONSIBILITY FOR A TRAFFIC SIGNAL
25 DEVICE AT STATE ROUTE 3011 (KEYSER AVENUE) AS
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60
1 REQUIRED BY THE COMMONWEALTH, DEPARTMENT OF
2 TRANSPORTATION FOR THE HIGHWAY OCCUPANCY PERMIT
3 OF THE KEYSER TERRACE SUBDIVISION.
4 MS. GATELLI: You have heard reading
5 by Title of Item 6-A, what is your pleasure?
6 MR. COURTRIGHT: I move that Item 6-A
7 pass reading by title.
8 MS. EVANS: Second.
9 MS. GATELLI: On the question? All
10 in favor?
11 MS. EVANS: Aye.
12 MR. MCGOFF: Aye.
13 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
14 MS. GATELLI: Aye. Opposed? The
15 ayes have it and so moved.
16 MS. GARVEY: 6-B. READING BY TITLE -
17 FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 84, 2007 - AN ORDINANCE -
18 RESTRICTING PARKING ON THE WESTERN SIDE OF THE
19 100 BLOCK OF LUZERNE STREET AND THE NORTHERN
20 SIDE OF THE 400 BLOCK OF SOUTH MAIN AVENUE TO
21 COMPLY WITH THE HIGHWAY OCCUPANCY PERMIT
22 RESTRICTIONS OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF
23 PENNSYLVANIA, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FOR
24 THE INSTALLATION OF A BANK BRANCH AT THAT
25 INTERSECTION.
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61
1 MS. GATELLI: You have heard reading
2 by title of 6-B, what is your pleasure?
3 MR. COURTRIGHT: I move that Item 6-B
4 pass reading by title.
5 MR. MCGOFF: Second.
6 MS. GATELLI: On the question? All
7 those in favor?
8 MS. EVANS: Aye.
9 MR. MCGOFF: Aye.
10 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
11 MS. GATELLI: Aye. Opposed? The
12 ayes have it and so moved.
13 MS. GARVEY: SEVENTH ORDER. 7-A. FOR
14 CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON RULES - FOR
15 ADOPTION - RESOLUTION NO. 139, 2007 -
16 APPOINTMENT OF DOUGLAS HEIN, 1204 MOLTKE
17 AVENUE, SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA, 18505, TO THE
18 POSITION OF CITY TREASURER FOR THE CTIY OF
19 SCRANTON. MR. HEIN WILL BE REPLACING KATHY
20 RUANE WHO RESIGNED.
21 MS. GATELLI: As Chair for the
22 Committee on Rules, I recommend final passage
23 of 7-A.
24 MR. COURTRIGHT: Second.
25 MS. GATELLI: On the question? Roll
.
62
1 call.
2 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.
3 MS. EVANS: Yes.
4 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Fanucci. Mr.
5 McGoff.
6 MR. MCGOFF: Yes.
7 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright.
8 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yes.
9 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli.
10 MS. GATELLI: Yes. I hereby declare
11 7-A legally and lawfully adopted.
12 MS. GARVEY: 7-B. FOR CONSIDERATION
13 BY THE COMMITTEE ON RULES - FOR ADOPTION -
14 RESOLUTION NO. 140, 2007 - AUTHORIZING THE
15 DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SAFETY TO ACT AS AGENT FOR
16 THE CITY OF SCRANTON FOR EMERGENCY AND DISASTER
17 RELIEF PURSUANT TO THE ROBERT T. STAFFORD
18 DISASTER RELIEF AND EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE ACT.
19 MS. GATELLI: As Chair for the
20 Committee on Rules, I recommend final passage
21 of 7-B.
22 MR. COURTRIGHT: Second.
23 MS. GATELLI: On the question?
24 MR. COURTRIGHT: On the question, I
25 have questions about this that made me not want
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63
1 to vote for this. I asked our solicitor, he
2 assured me that my concerns were false, so I'm
3 going to defer to his judgment and I pray that
4 he is right.
5 MS. EVANS: I understand your
6 concerns. My concern from the previous reading
7 was the inclusion of that specific position as
8 well in that in the future in the hopes of
9 cutting the fat, downsizing management, that
10 position would be eliminated are we then in
11 jeopardy with this particular act and that I
12 didn't receive a response for.
13 MR. MCGOFF: I would assume that all
14 you would have to do is appoint someone else.
15 If the Director of Public Safety were to be
16 removed as a position, then I would assume that
17 all we would have to do or all that council
18 would have to do would be to appoint basically
19 another person or another position.
20 MS. GATELLI: Remuneration.
21 MS. EVANS: Yes, and I would assume
22 that you are right. My concern is does it
23 provide justification for maintaining that
24 position.
25 MS. GATELLI: Attorney Minora?
.
64
1 MR. MINORA: Changing a name, it's
2 merely a form. As we looked at the backup
3 material in chambers it's a form generated by
4 PEMA. They just want a designee. I don't
5 think they care who the designee is and if the
6 designee dies or retires or gets a better job
7 and leaves then we would file a new form with
8 them with the new name of the person and if it
9 was a new position we would have the right to
10 do that, too. It doesn't seem to bind us to
11 anything, they just want a point person for
12 emergency relief monies and a person to talk
13 with about the funnel through of emergency
14 monies.
15 MS. EVANS: Is there any time line
16 involved?
17 MR. MINORA: There appears to be
18 nothing on the form. In other words, we could
19 change somebody next week as far as I can see
20 it. I have see no reason why we couldn't.
21 They just want a name. They are not binding us
22 to keep that name forever or for a week or for
23 a month, they just want a name and that's
24 required by their statute.
25 MS. EVANS: Yes, I understand that.
.
65
1 It's just that we were only provided with that
2 additional backup this evening which obviously
3 wasn't sufficient time in which to -- at least
4 for myself to read it and make an educated
5 decision which is why I'm deferring to you
6 having hoped that you would have read it.
7 MR. MINORA: Well, I did read all of
8 the backup on it and I looked into the form, I
9 haven't read the PEMA statute, no, but from the
10 backup it was fairly clear that they are just
11 looking for somebody. They don't care who it
12 is and nor are they binding us to keep that
13 person that way, all we would need is it to
14 change it and request another form or change it
15 at our will. I mean, clearly if somebody
16 passes away we would not have no person, we'd
17 be no longer eligible for PEMA funds. I mean,
18 if you follow the logic --
19 MS. EVANS: No, I am following the
20 logic in that, for example, Mr. Courtright
21 indicated at one of our prior meetings that in
22 the past either the fire chief or police chief
23 would have served in that capacity. And so,
24 again, it would seem as though they would be
25 suitable, but, of course, this is going to
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66
1 higher management obviously, Director of Public
2 Safety.
3 MR. MINORA: Right. I understand the
4 question. I guess the point I was trying to
5 make is that they are perfectly suitable, the
6 fire chief or the police chief and would be
7 tomorrow if the change were made in that
8 direction. I think that what I'm trying to get
9 across is this is not carved in stone. It's
10 written on a form that's all. It could be
11 changed. Okay?
12 MS. GATELLI: Anyone else on the
13 question?
14 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.
15 MS. EVANS: Yes.
16 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Fanucci. Mr.
17 McGoff.
18 MR. MCGOFF: Yes.
19 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright.
20 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yes.
21 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli.
22 MS. GATELLI: Yes. I hereby declare
23 7-B legally and lawfully adopted.
24 MS. GARVEY: 7-C. FOR CONSIDERATION
25 BY