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1 SCRANTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING
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5 HELD:
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7 Tuesday, October 6, 2009
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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, RPR - OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER
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2 CITY OF SCRANTON COUNCIL:
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MR. ROBERT MCGOFF, PRESIDENT
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6 MS. JUDY GATELLI, VICE-PRESIDENT
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MS. JANET E. EVANS
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9 MS. SHERRY FANUCCI
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MR. WILLIAM COURTRIGHT
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12 MS. KAY GARVEY, CITY CLERK
(Not present)
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MR. NEIL COOLICAN, ASSISTANT CITY CLERK
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15 MR. AMIL MINORA, SOLICITOR
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1 (Pledge of Allegiance recited and
2 moment of reflection observed.)
3 MR. MCGOFF: Roll call, please.
4 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.
5 MS. EVANS: Here.
6 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli.
7 MS. GATELLI: Here.
8 MR. COOLICAN: Ms. Fanucci.
9 MS. FANUCCI: Here.
10 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright.
11 MR. COURTRIGHT: Here.
12 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. McGoff.
13 MR. MCGOFF: Here. Dispense with
14 the reading of the minutes. Third Order.
15 MR. MINORA: THIRD ORDER. REPORTS &
16 COMMUNICATIONS FROM MAYOR & HEADS OF
17 DEPARTMENTS AND INTERESTED PARTIES. 3-A.
18 AGENDA FOR THE ZONING HEARING BOARD MEETING
19 TO BE HELD ON OCTOBER 14, 2009.
20 MR. MCGOFF: Are there any comments?
21 If not, received and filed.
22 MR. MINORA: 3-B. PETITION FOR PERMIT
23 PARKING ON THE 100 AND 200 BLOCK OF SCHOOL
24 STREET.
25 MR. MCGOFF: Are there any comments?
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1 If not, received and filed.
2 MR. MINORA: There is nothing other
3 in Third Order reports.
4 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you.
5 Announcements from council?
6 MS. GATELLI: Yes, I just have two
7 small ones. On Saturday, October 24, there
8 will a benefit for Noah Severino DeSandis.
9 He was born in June at Moses Taylor Hospital
10 and he has congenital hypoventilation
11 syndrome known as Ondine's curses. It's a
12 respiratory disorder that's fatal if not
13 treated. He received a tracheotomy in July
14 and will need round-the-clock care and
15 nursing for years. The benefits has baskets
16 and 50/50's at the Tripp Park Community
17 Center. Adults $15, children $5. Food and
18 beverages will be served, and that's from 3
19 to 7.
20 Also, on Saturday, October 24 from 4
21 to 7, there will be the annual rigatoni
22 dinner at the Dante Club in South Scranton.
23 Tickets are $8.50 for adults, $4 for
24 children and they will have raffles, and
25 truly they have the best macaroni in town.
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1 I'm prejudiced, but I speak the truth. As
2 an Italian, I know my spaghetti. If I don't
3 know about anything else --
4 MS. EVANS: Actually, I think it's
5 the sauce. It's their secret sauce.
6 MS. GATELLI: Yes. So, that is
7 October 24 from 4 to 7, and that's all I
8 have. Thank you.
9 MR. MCGOFF: Mrs. Evans?
10 MS. EVANS: Thank you. Saints Peter
11 and Paul Roman Catholic Church, 1309 West
12 Locust Street in Scranton will hold a fall
13 festival and bazaar October 11 in the church
14 hall from 11:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The
15 festival will feature ethnic Polish foods
16 such as potato pancakes, piggies and haluski
17 as well as theme baskets, children's stands
18 and baked goods.
19 Dine at Friendly's in Dunmore on
20 Wednesday, October 14 from 5 to 8 p.m.
21 Proceeds will benefit the St. Francis of
22 Assisi Food Kitchen. Because of your
23 generosity, last year the Interfaith
24 Friend's Committee was able to donate over
25 $6,000 to the food kitchen. Many people
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1 were fed because of your support. As we
2 face the winter months you can make a
3 difference and feed the needy.
4 Channel 61, government access, has
5 been changed to Channel 19. Channel 62,
6 education access, has been changed to
7 Channel 21 effective Monday, October 5.
8 St. Anthony's Church on Wood Street
9 in Scranton is holding a pasta dinner
10 tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday, October 8
11 from 5 to 8 p.m. Tickets are $9 for adults
12 and $4 for children under ten and are
13 available at the door.
14 An Octoberfest 2009 fundraiser will
15 be conducted at the Parker House Cafe, 12
16 East Parker Street, Scranton, on October 17
17 from 7 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $10 and are
18 available at the door. All proceeds benefit
19 the James M. Lynett speech and debate
20 invitational tournament. Celebrate at
21 Octoberfest and support a great cause.
22 And lastly, a dear friend is
23 hospitalized at this time and, Mr. Fenton, I
24 wish you very speedy recovery and I ask that
25 all of you would remember Mr. Fenton in your
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1 prayers. And that's all.
2 MR. COURTRIGHT: Mr. McGoff, I have
3 one announcements and then I have these
4 questions and answers that we promised we
5 would read off here. Boy Scout Troop 16,
6 435 Hickory Street, Presbyterian Church is
7 having their annual spaghetti dinner and
8 that will October 17 from 4 to 7 p.m. and
9 the cost will be $8.00 for adults and $4 for
10 children.
11 A few weeks back there was questions
12 about JAG grants in the police department
13 that have been asked of council, and I said
14 that we would either get the grant writer in
15 here or something to that effect and it was
16 determined that I don't think she was very
17 comfortable coming in here, so we asked her
18 some questions and she responded. I was out
19 of town a week ago and that's why we were
20 late getting back to -- I had some people
21 call me and ask me why I didn't read them,
22 but I didn't read them because I wasn't
23 here. I was here last week, but the week
24 prior I wasn't, and I just got them, so if
25 you bear with me it's going it take a little
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1 bit of time and we are not trying to hide
2 anything, if anybody wants a copy of the
3 questions and the answers I will be happy to
4 give them to you after the meeting, but
5 please just bear with me. It's going to
6 take a little bit of time and I apologize.
7 Number one -- and these questions
8 were asked of the part-time grant writer for
9 the City of Scranton. She is full-time for
10 the county. "Who hired you as a part-time
11 grant writer for the City of Scranton? What
12 is your initial date of employment in this
13 part-time position and who is your direct
14 supervisor as a part-time grant writer for
15 the City of Scranton?"
16 And her answer was, "Chief Elliott
17 hired me a part-time grant writer with the
18 Scranton Police Department. My initial date
19 of employment I believe was in 2003. I was
20 first contracted then. Mr. Bell was out on
21 medical leave and that is when I got hired.
22 My direct supervisor is Dave Elliott.
23 Question number two, "Who directed
24 you to submit the 2008 grant application?
25 Who directed you to submit the 2009 grant
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1 application?"
2 "Chief Elliott directed me to
3 submitted the 2008 grant application. Chief
4 Elliott directed me to submit the 2009 grant
5 application."
6 "Did you inform Chief Elliott that
7 the 2008 grant application was completed and
8 ready for submission? Did you inform Chief
9 Elliott that the 2009 JAG grant application
10 was complete and ready for submission?"
11 Her answer is, "Yes, I did inform
12 Chief Elliott when the 2008 JAG grant
13 application was completed, and I submitted a
14 copy to him within that week. Yes, I did
15 inform Chief Elliott when the 2009 JAG grant
16 application was completed and I submitted a
17 copy to him within that week."
18 Question four, "Did you believe that
19 the 2008 JAG grant application was submitted
20 to the Scranton City Council? Did you
21 believe that the 2009 JAG grant application
22 was submitted to Scranton City Council? If
23 so, who informed of either or both were
24 presented to Scranton City Council?"
25 Her answer is, "Yes, I did believe
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1 that the 2008 JAG grant application was
2 submitted to Scranton City Council. Yes, I
3 did believe that the 2009 JAG grant
4 application was submitted to Scranton City
5 Council. No one ever informed me that both
6 were or were not presented. Once I informed
7 Chief Elliott that they needed to go in
8 front of council 30 days prior to the grant
9 act was due. I thought they went through
10 and I was never told anything different.
11 After Chief Elliott received copies of the
12 '08 and '09 JAG grant applications."
13 Question number five, "Was Chief
14 Elliott aware that you submitted either or
15 both 2008 and 2009 grant applications
16 without legislation having been sent to
17 Scranton City Council?"
18 "Chief Elliott received copies of
19 the '08 and '09 JAG grant application within
20 the week of submission of each grant, so if
21 he received these grant applications he
22 would see that they did or did not go before
23 Scranton City Council on the scheduled
24 marked days."
25 Question number six, "Were you aware
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1 at any time from the date of your hiring to
2 the date on which you submitted 2009 JAG
3 grant applications that 2008 and 2009 JAG
4 grant applications were never presented to
5 Scranton City Council and the public?"
6 Her response is, "The first time I
7 was ever made aware of the 2008 and '9 JAG
8 grant applications not being presented to
9 Scranton City Council was when Mary Theresa
10 Patterson, who is the city solicitor, and
11 Stu Renda made Chief Elliott and myself
12 aware in 2009."
13 A couple more. "Were you aware that
14 no special account was opened in 2008 by the
15 City of Scranton in which to receive the
16 electronic transfers in JAG grant monies?
17 If so, on what date did you become aware and
18 who informed you of this?"
19 "No, I was not aware, but there is a
20 JAG account already setup and I believe that
21 all JAG grant goes into that account. I was
22 made aware of this in July by Stu Renda when
23 the grants never went to council."
24 Question eight, "Did you at any time
25 tell Chief Elliott to present the JAG grant
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1 applications and/or approval of JAG grant
2 applications to Scranton City Council? If
3 so, when did you tell Chief Elliott to do
4 so? What was Chief Elliott's response?"
5 Her answer is, "Yes, I informed
6 Chief Elliott on April 2, 2008, to attend
7 the Scranton City Council meeting that
8 following Tuesday for approval for the 2009
9 JAG grant applications. I do not remember
10 the exact date of the 2008 JAG grant
11 applications when I informed the chief, but
12 it was definitely 30 days before the JAG
13 grant was due. Chief Elliott's response
14 from my question not was, 'Not a problem.'"
15 Question number nine, "Is Chief
16 Elliott correct in stating that you
17 unfamiliar with the council process of
18 approving grants as printed in the
19 September 12, 2009, edition of the Scranton
20 Times-Tribune? Is Chief Elliott correct in
21 stating that you thought he had acquired
22 approval? If so, how did you arrive at that
23 conclusion?"
24 The answer, "Chief Elliott was
25 incorrect in stating that I was unfamiliar
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1 with the process of approving grants since
2 he has a copy of the grants. I believe
3 council was made aware of all grants. Yes,
4 Chief Elliott is correct in stating that I
5 thought he had acquired approval. I arrived
6 at that conclusion because once Chief
7 Elliott received the copies of these grants
8 I was never aware that he did not attend
9 these meetings so in my eyes he attended the
10 meetings."
11 "Do you believe that Chief Elliott
12 is familiar with the grant process? Explain
13 your response."
14 "I believe Chief Elliott is familiar
15 with the process of pursuing grant
16 opportunities in speaking with the mayor to
17 discuss grant opportunity and informing me
18 as to what we are applying for, but what I
19 have seen and heard from Chief Elliott is he
20 feels that the only time a grant needs to go
21 before council is when it is approved. I
22 made it very clear to him for the 2008-2009
23 JAG grants it was made clear by the
24 Department of Justice in the RFP for the
25 grants and that needed to go in front of
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1 council 30 days before the grant was due."
2 There is only two more, hang in
3 there. Question 11, "Have you ever compared
4 the quarterly financial reports for the
5 Scranton Police Department? If yes, when
6 and did you continue to do so? If you no
7 longer perform this duty, who currently
8 performs the quarterly financial reports for
9 Chief Elliott? When are these reports due
10 to the government and are there any
11 penalties for late filings? If so, what are
12 the penalties?"
13 I did some financial reports when I
14 first started helping with Tom Bell and to
15 do them starting July 2008 until May of
16 2009. I would ask Chief Elliott the status
17 of money spent during each quarter. I no
18 longer do these reports. I have since given
19 them to Chief Elliott and he is the one
20 currently doing them as far as I know. They
21 are due every few months from the start of
22 the grant so each grant varies. If it
23 violated the DOJ, Department of Justice,
24 that is, will send an e-mail reminder to get
25 it filed, otherwise, money cannot be drawn
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1 down."
2 Last question, "Are you responsible
3 for submitting requests to the Scranton City
4 solicitor and/or the law department of the
5 City of Scranton for any type of JAG grant
6 application legislation to be submitted to
7 Scranton City Council?"
8 "I am not responsible for submitting
9 requests to Scranton City solicitor and/or
10 the law department of the City of Scranton
11 for any type of JAG grant legislation to be
12 submitted to Scranton City Council. It
13 would be Chief Elliott's responsibility."
14 They are all of the questions that
15 we put together and they were the answers.
16 It's been so long since we started this
17 process, I actually forget what we said we
18 would do. I believe, and the rest of
19 council correct me if I'm wrong, that once
20 we got all of the questions and all of the
21 answers that maybe we would discuss it and
22 recommend some kind of action if need be.
23 Is that what we said? It's been several
24 weeks.
25 MS. FANUCCI: I think that was it.
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1 MR. COURTRIGHT: So council has all
2 of the questions and the answers, so I guess
3 maybe we will have to discuss it in our next
4 meeting and in caucus and then if a
5 suggestion is to be made I guess we would
6 vote on it. I don't know how we would work
7 that. I can't recall what we said in the
8 beginning, but I certainly don't want to go
9 back on what we said. Does council have any
10 questions from me? That's it. Thank you.
11 MR. MCGOFF: One last announcement,
12 the exit audit -- or the exit audit or the
13 exit report for the independent audit the
14 dates are being set. I was asked which of
15 two dates was, you know, available -- or I
16 was available for which I was available.
17 It's probably going to be either Tuesday,
18 October 13 or Wednesday, October 14 for the
19 exit -- the exit report I guess, and once
20 that's established I will let people know
21 what the outcome of that may be, and that is
22 all. Citizens' participation. Shelly McCue
23 and might I assume you are Luke Kozlanski.
24 MR. KOZLANSKI: Yes.
25 MR. MCGOFF: Please, both of you.
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1 MR. KOZLANSKI: I'm not sure, but she
2 wanted to have Phyllis put on the list to
3 speak.
4 MS. FANUCCI: She speaks, don't
5 worry.
6 MR. KOZLANSKI: I'm Luke Kozlanski.
7 This is Shelley McCue. We are members -- or
8 I'm a member of the Scranton Reads
9 Committee. She is cochair and --
10 MS. FANUCCI: We couldn't hear what
11 you said.
12 MR. KOZLANSKI: Oh, I'm sorry.
13 MS. FANUCCI: Just so that people --
14 MR. KOZLANSKI: We are members of
15 the Scranton Reads Committee, she is
16 actually cochair. We wanted to take this
17 opportunity to talk to you a little bit
18 about it for those of who are unaware of it,
19 for those of who are aware and hopefully we
20 reach some people on the broadcast.
21 Basically, Scranton Reads has been
22 going on since 2002, and every year the
23 council picks a book and we try to schedule
24 a series of events around it and encourage
25 the community to read it, to get involved
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1 and, you know, for enlightenment, personal
2 satisfaction, and to just encourage reading.
3 This year, we have received a big
4 read grant for the third time which allows
5 us to do some larger budget things and we
6 have chosen the book "The Things They Carry"
7 by Tim O'Brien, which I'm not sure if any of
8 you have read it or how aware you are of the
9 program, but it's a remarkable book about an
10 infantryman's experiences in Vietnam. It
11 delves into the nature of story telling, the
12 power of fiction to convey the experiences
13 that he had there, the loneliness upon
14 returning, and it seems especially relevant
15 as many our servicemen experiencing various
16 similar conditions today.
17 We will be having Tim O'Brien come
18 to speak at a tent pole event later this
19 month on October 29 at 7:00 p.m. at
20 Marywood, and we encourage council members
21 to come, encourage anybody we know who would
22 like -- or who would enjoy such an event and
23 any members of the public. There is a whole
24 series of things and Shelly will tell you
25 about them that are coming up.
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1 MS. MCCUE: We have a whole
2 month-long series of events including many
3 book discussions at all of the libraries
4 within Lackawanna County as well as some
5 local businesses like Anthology Book Store
6 and Starbucks on Montage Mountain, and we
7 are also having on-line book discussions
8 this month for anyone who is unable to
9 attend in person you can visit our website
10 ScrantonReads.org to get a link to the
11 on-line book discussion as well as links to
12 all of our other events. And we are also
13 having weekly film festival at 6:00 p.m. on
14 Thursdays in the community room of the
15 children's library and this Thursday we are
16 going to be showing the movie "Coming Home"
17 with Jon Voight.
18 And the library has many copies of
19 the book available for you to check out, but
20 we also have copies for the council people
21 if we can bring them up? Is that okay?
22 MR. MCGOFF: Please.
23 MS. FANUCCI: It is wonderful
24 program, it really is, and I hope that the
25 turn out is even better this year.
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1 MR. KOZLANSKI: It's been pretty
2 strong so far.
3 MS. FANUCCI: Yeah, it's been doing
4 really well. That's great.
5 MR. KOZLANSKI: The book discussions,
6 you know, everyone seems to get a little bit
7 something different from the book because of
8 it's unique style and we think the public
9 will really enjoy it.
10 MS. FANUCCI: I look forward to
11 reading it. Thank you.
12 MS. MCCUE: And that's
13 ScrantonReads.org if you have any other
14 questions or need extra information. Thank
15 you.
16 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you very much.
17 Mike Dudek.
18 MR. DUDEK: My name is a Mike Dudek,
19 608 Depot Street here in the city. I live
20 in the Plot. I'm very sorry that I wasn't
21 quicker on the uptake last week. If I had
22 known that we were going to have our gun
23 group from Luzerne County here I would have
24 changed topics completely. I do want to
25 address some of the concerns they have
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1 raised.
2 Second Amendment issues aren't
3 really all that difficult because Second
4 Amendment issues are really devolved into
5 the states and Pennsylvania really covers
6 most of it. The question these people raise
7 is whether or not you have the right to make
8 any rules whatsoever. Oh, yes, you do.
9 Yes, you do.
10 One thing is clear, the National
11 Rifle Association and similar groups are
12 very much alike, very similar to many of the
13 Gay Rights organizations in this country in
14 two respects: Just as the gun people like
15 to flaunt their guns, the gays like to
16 flaunt their life-style. They are in your
17 face about it. That's one thing, one area
18 of similarity, but it's the second area of
19 similarity that's a very grave concern.
20 These people have tons of money and they
21 have no problem at all starting frivolous
22 lawsuits against municipalities whenever a
23 municipality wants to pass a reasonable
24 piece of legislation.
25 My understanding and my teaching of
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1 many years of the Second Amendment shows me
2 that your legislation was very reasonable
3 and should pass and should stand. In other
4 words, I stand squarely with Mr. McGoff in
5 his interpretation of what's going on and I
6 believe that Mr. McGoff is right on the mark
7 with this, okay? If you pass any kind of
8 reasonable gun legislation you are going to
9 get sued. That's the way these people are.
10 You are going to win, there is no doubt
11 about it, it's just a matter of -- it's a
12 matter of intimidation on the part of groups
13 like this. They simply want to intimidate.
14 Now, I am not going to tell you
15 whether or not I own a gun. If anybody
16 wants to become my home invader let him find
17 out soon enough. That is my personal
18 business. Now, the person who spoke for the
19 group last week made the most outrageous
20 contradictions I have ever heard. He stood
21 here and said if he had his gun stolen he
22 would report it and he called it common
23 sense to report it and then he turns around
24 to defend the right of somebody not to
25 report a stolen gun. We had a murder here
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1 in this city that was gang related. The gun
2 that was used was stolen from a state
3 trooper's home up in Blakely. We have an
4 obligation to see to it that guns are to be
5 reported stolen or missing within 48 hours
6 of finding out about it because of
7 situations exactly like what we had here in
8 this city. The police need to know this.
9 This is something for the protection of our
10 officers. That is very reasonable.
11 Communities of this state have various
12 reporting times 24, 48 or 72 hours, we are
13 considering 48 and they are coming up here
14 to say, "We are going to sue you on this."
15 There is at least 12 other communities in
16 the state that already have laws that are
17 already on the books.
18 Now, as to the second part of this,
19 the Scranton Times unfairly criticized you.
20 They were right, but they didn't give you
21 the reason why. The portion of the bill
22 that you want to put in saying that you
23 can't discharge a firearm in the City of
24 Scranton, there is case law on this. About
25 25 years ago a priest in Pittsburgh,
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1 Pennsylvania, was asleep in his rectory.
2 Somebody broke into the rectory. He knew he
3 was supposed to be the only one there so he
4 got his gun. He came down the steps, he saw
5 what looked like to him was a shadow and
6 something lunging toward him and the priest
7 fired and, unfortunately, killed a person.
8 The priest did the following:
9 He called 911 for the ambulance, for
10 the police and he gave the man the last
11 rites and the sacrament of penance. That's
12 about all he could do. The District
13 Attorney in Allegheny County prosecuted the
14 priest on second degree murder, involuntary
15 manslaughter, discharge of a gun, a whole
16 laundry list of charges. The priest was
17 exonerated on each and every one of them, so
18 with the discharge of a weapon in the City
19 of Scranton there is common sense to it,
20 absolutely yes, pass the law, but also let's
21 understand that if a person discharges the
22 gun in his home to protect his family and
23 himself in the same circumstance that priest
24 did in Pittsburgh case law there also
25 exists. I don't think you have any problem
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1 passing any part of this. Thank you.
2 MR. MCGOFF: Bob Bolus.
3 MR. BOLUS: Good evening, Council.
4 Bob Bolus, Scranton. What I'd like to talk
5 to you about first is, I brought it up many
6 times about the leachate line, runs from
7 Dunmore through Scranton. I think we all
8 know the situation in Dunmore, I was at
9 their council meeting the last one they had
10 and spoke at it. There is also the gas line
11 going from Alliance Landfill all the way up
12 through the area. I don't see any reason in
13 the world why this council can't create
14 legislation to make us a host community
15 along with the cooperation of Dunmore to try
16 and pull everybody out of this hole once and
17 for all.
18 Keep in mind, you go to a gas
19 station, they raise the gas five cents a
20 gallon, you are going to pay the five cents
21 a gallon no matter who the provider is.
22 There is no difference on what you are going
23 to do with this gas line. Forget who owns
24 it or who controls it, all you have to do
25 now is drive along Interstate 81 and drive
26
1 along the mountainside in Dunmore and see
2 all the cars that are now going back out on
3 the mountain. They should have been removed
4 years ago when a permit was offered to
5 DeNaples to open on Mill Street that no cars
6 would be on that mountain.
7 That affects all of us. It's not
8 about Dunmore in person or Scranton, it
9 affects everybody in this county plus the
10 people traveling here and it's time the city
11 gets behind the people and starts sending
12 letters out that we want that stuff removed.
13 It was removed once, you don't have a right
14 to have it there. Let's keep the area what
15 it's supposed to be prosperous. It doesn't
16 look like that way anymore.
17 You need to get with Dunmore, you
18 need to start working forward, but what you
19 need to do is start being in the second
20 position on any mortgage or loans. You stay
21 in the first position, if a person is strong
22 enough to get a loan, the bank will take a
23 second position. We get our money first,
24 they fail, too bad. But enough on the
25 taxpayers and it's got to stop and stop now.
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1 You can't sit here and say we know this one
2 or that one. It's about the people in this
3 city. We are broke, we can't pay our bills
4 and we need to take a strong hard look at
5 what we are doing here and what you have
6 been doing now has not been the right road
7 to follow.
8 I was appalled last week when I saw
9 these clowns, whatever you want to call
10 them, come in here with firearms. This is a
11 public building. They sure in heck weren't
12 go over to the federal building and go
13 marching in over there, why in God's name
14 were they permitted in this building.
15 And, Mr. McGoff, I'm going to direct
16 this to you because you are council
17 president, unfortunately. When that took
18 place you should have adjourned this meeting
19 and immediately went downstairs, posted the
20 front door with "No Weapons Allowed" and
21 then reconvened the meeting. You were
22 outgunned 12 to 1 here. Even Bill
23 Courtright couldn't defend himself here with
24 the amount of people that came here in
25 weapons. We had one police officer in the
28
1 back here. You think he was going to be
2 able to sustain order if something erupted
3 here?
4 MR. MCGOFF: There were two
5 policemen.
6 MR. BOLUS: It doesn't make a
7 difference, 12 to 2 is not the odds I would
8 want to be in, and if you have ever been
9 anywhere where you were shot at or something
10 you would understand what I'm talking about.
11 We have people in combat right now that are
12 being killed everyday. Weapons are a
13 danger. The people carrying them have a
14 right to carry them if they are permitted,
15 they don't have a right in this building. I
16 don't care who they are or who the heck they
17 think they are, they should have never
18 walked in this building. They wanted to act
19 like clowns go outside and do it, but don't
20 come in and embarrass the Scrantonians that
21 we are trying to intimidate people by
22 walking in here and saying, "I'll carry my
23 firearm everywhere I want to."
24 You need to take a firm action and,
25 yes, if it's stolen it should be reported, I
29
1 don't care who you are. Because if it's
2 stolen and you don't report it you could
3 become an accessory to the crime that's
4 committed. It's for your own well-being as
5 well as the people out here. You keep in
6 mind, we had a screening device downstairs,
7 remember everybody was outraged? People
8 wanted to tear this building apart because
9 they had to be screened and come in here and
10 you let all of these characters stand in the
11 back room here with firearms on?
12 I mean, seriously. I'm really
13 concerned about the judgment of that day.
14 When I came back, I was out town, and I saw
15 that I couldn't believe what I saw in here.
16 I even called Steve Corbett up and spoke to
17 him about it because it's wrong. It doesn't
18 belong here.
19 MS. FANUCCI: Actually, I believe
20 Steve did bring -- wanted to -- was for
21 carrying guns into city hall at one time
22 when he first came on because I remember
23 that was the big issues.
24 MR. BOLUS: Should have been in here
25 and that's our rules, not their rules. They
30
1 may have a constitutional right outside the
2 building, they don't have it in here. The
3 only reason I came here tonight was to bring
4 that as an issue because it's going to come
5 up here again, but this time enforce it.
6 Stay out there, and again, I don't think we
7 even need the police officer here, they
8 belong out on the street protecting us out
9 there not in here, not after what I saw the
10 last time. Thank you.
11 MR. MCGOFF: Joe Dwyer.
12 MR. DWYER: Good evening, members of
13 City Council, concerned city taxpayers. I
14 wish to speak tonight about the working poor
15 homeless situation in our city. This week I
16 went around to several of the encampments
17 and what I saw is a travesty of what we are
18 allowing to continue to go on in this
19 community. There are so many people who are
20 working and do not have a place to call
21 home. They are living in tarps, and living
22 in tents, they are living in boxes, they are
23 living in cars, they are living in anything
24 that they can put together to call a place
25 home. These are working moms with kids.
31
1 When I was in one encampment I saw pictures
2 of babies, I saw letters, I saw kid's toys.
3 When I went and I asked somebody in
4 the leadership position if we could take
5 over a blighted home to house single girls,
6 they tore my house to the ground. That is
7 not right. The leadership of this community
8 needs to rise up and take a stand.
9 MS. FANUCCI: We couldn't put anyone
10 in a blighted --
11 MS. GATELLI: Excuse me --
12 MS. FANUCCI: -- a house that's been
13 already condemned.
14 MR. DWYER: We would rehabilitate
15 that house.
16 MS. GATELLI: Wait, wait. I just
17 want to ask a question, you are telling me
18 that there is babies and children that are--
19 MR. DWYER: Yes.
20 MS. GATELLI: -- living -- well, why
21 aren't you reporting this to Children and
22 Youth Services?
23 MS. DWYER: Because we know what
24 will happen and that's not the point.
25 MS. GATELLI: Yes. They should be
32
1 taken away from the parents that are
2 allowing them to be housed --
3 MS. DWYER: No. No. You are so
4 grossly wrong.
5 MS. GATELLI: Oh, no, I don't approve
6 of children being homeless.
7 MR. DWYER: It doesn't matter what
8 you approve of, what you're approving is
9 this travesty to exist.
10 MS. GATELLI: No, I disagree with
11 you. There are shelters for women and
12 children.
13 MR. DWYER: When the Office of
14 Community Development takes and buys a
15 blighted condemned home that's about to be
16 raised and pays $185,000 for it, puts
17 another $95,000 into that house and turns
18 around and sells it for $95,000, that's
19 ridiculous.
20 MS. GATELLI: There are homes for
21 homeless mothers with children.
22 MR. DWYER: There are four homes in
23 this community, only four, and they aren't
24 that many beds.
25 MS. GATELLI: And there are
33
1 shelters.
2 MR. DWYER: There are shelters that
3 are full. There is only two shelters for
4 girls, for women. There is not a --
5 MS. GATELLI: Well, if I find out
6 where those children are I will call
7 Children Services. That's not for --
8 MR. DWYER: There is not enough
9 housing availability for anybody in this
10 community who is homeless. The Times, the
11 Scranton Times, did an interview of people
12 living across in the river, the Lackawanna
13 river, and they spoke about this gentleman
14 who is doing a social experiment, and his
15 comment was he wanted to see if he could
16 survive in the woods. A typical mom is not
17 trying to live in the woods. She wants a
18 place to call home. She goes out to work
19 everyday and she goes back to that place.
20 MS. GATELLI: Tell her to go to
21 Catholic Social Services, 500 -- -
22 MR. DWYER: Have you been there?
23 Have you been there?
24 MS. GATELLI: No.
25 MR. DWYER: You should go there.
34
1 MS. GATELLI: Thank God I don't need
2 to go there.
3 MR. DWYER: And they will tell you
4 that they are full.
5 MR. COURTRIGHT: Sir, can I ask you a
6 question?
7 MS. GATELLI: No, I don't buy that.
8 I really don't buy that.
9 MR. DWYER: I'm not selling it to
10 you.
11 MS. GATELLI: I don't buy it.
12 MR. DWYER: Call them up.
13 MS. GATELLI: That people are living
14 with children homeless. Don't they go to
15 school?
16 MR. DWYER: Reverend Cathryn Simmons
17 from the AME Church will tell you. Reverend
18 Bill Simms -- or Schultz from the Scranton
19 Rescue Mission will tell you. Sister Mary
20 Alice from Friends of the Poor will tell you
21 how bad the situation it. This is nothing
22 new. To last year the mayor had 200 people
23 belongings thrown into the river and
24 threatened them with incarceration if they
25 went and retrieved their property, and told
35
1 them if they didn't leave that they would go
2 to jail, offered them one-way tickets out of
3 town.
4 MR. COURTRIGHT: Sir, let me ask you
5 one question, could I, please?
6 MR. DWYER: Yes.
7 MR. COURTRIGHT: I have been to what
8 is loosely known as tent city here and I
9 have been up and down the whole thing
10 recently, and I only saw one female, I saw
11 no children, so they are not down there,
12 correct?
13 MR. DWYER: There are some people --
14 it's not just --
15 MR. COURTRIGHT: I think maybe you
16 need to tell us. Why don't you tell us --
17 MR. DWYER: I will not tell you where
18 they are.
19 MR. COURTRIGHT: -- off the air, off
20 the air, where these children are and maybe
21 we can help them.
22 MR. DWYER: No, I won't do that.
23 MR. COURTRIGHT: But then how are we
24 going to help them?
25 MR. DWYER: By making these homes
36
1 available for these nonprofit
2 organizations--
3 MR. COURTRIGHT: I'm talking the
4 immediate time right now they need help.
5 MR. DWYER: They do.
6 MR. COURTRIGHT: If there is children
7 living in tents or boxes like you are
8 saying, I think you need to tell us and
9 maybe we could help them.
10 MR. DWYER: So they can experience
11 the same thing that they have experienced in
12 the past.
13 MR. COURTRIGHT: What they are
14 experiencing now according to you isn't
15 good.
16 MR. DWYER: Well, yes, and well
17 there are -- and the reason why I'm here is
18 for people in the community to open up their
19 homes and let some people stay there and
20 they have.
21 Also, I'd like to bring to the
22 communities' attention that Pax Christy is
23 having a workshop on racism October 4 and
24 Lackawanna College lyceum. It will be at
25 8:30 in the morning. Thank you very much
37
1 for your time.
2 MR. MCGOFF: Andy Sbaraglia.
3 MR. SBARAGLIA: Andy Sbaraglia.
4 Citizen of Scranton, fellow Scrantonian.
5 This gentleman brought up a real problem
6 inside of the city. I believe someone up
7 there should be appointed to check it out.
8 Really you should. Winter is coming and
9 it's going to get cold out there, and like I
10 said before, I don't know how many people
11 lost their homes, I really don't know. A
12 lot of people are being forced out of their
13 properties. A lot of them can't -- well,
14 you know that, you read it in the paper.
15 You don't even have to look surprised. They
16 are being forced out of their homes. You
17 saw page after page in the newspaper. I
18 showed you many times that page, but we have
19 to look at home more.
20 I always said charity begins at
21 home. To me that's the place where it
22 begins, Scranton is our home. To have that
23 happen in Scranton if it does happen is a
24 shame upon all of us. We all must bear that
25 burden.
38
1 Like I said, I had a lot of deals, I
2 know there is lot of money being held up
3 down there by the budget. I don't know how
4 much of that money, money that is being held
5 is contributing to what he said. If it is
6 it's even more imperative to us to check on
7 both places down in Harrisburg and on our
8 streets. Surely we have room somewhere if
9 that condition exists with these people.
10 Because you know and I know what's
11 happening right now is going to continue for
12 another year, if not longer, and there is no
13 way out of it. We are getting worse and
14 worse. We are going to be -- they keep
15 saying we are going to be over 10 percent
16 and Scranton is pretty close to that now,
17 where people out of work and, like I say, I
18 was going to talk on some of this stuff, but
19 it's not important. This stuff isn't really
20 important at all.
21 I mean, all it is is transfer money
22 here, there, a few dollars here or there,
23 somebody gave us a piece of land, big deal,
24 but this is a big deal and it's a deal
25 it's-- like I said, we all should hang our
39
1 heads if this is true. There is nobody --
2 Scranton has always been the friendly city.
3 Always, always, always. We have always
4 looked after our own. We got plenty of
5 empty buildings, maybe some aren't the best,
6 some are this, some are that, but we have a
7 lot.
8 We have a lot of churches that are
9 being closed that are still in heatable
10 condition. All we have to do is open them
11 up and turn them into shelters and maybe put
12 some kind of -- most of them have kitchen
13 because they are all -- but even that's a
14 use for the churches rather than ripping
15 them down, but somewhere along the line
16 really somebody has to look into this,
17 either the police when they see it have to
18 report it in and then we got agencies, maybe
19 they don't have the money to do their job
20 now, but all of the churches outside of the
21 agencies, that's what they should be doing.
22 That's what they should be doing. That's
23 the most important part of all religion is
24 giving and if you can't give you are not
25 religious.
40
1 I don't want to say anything about
2 the priests, but we gave him a lot of money,
3 he sent to money to Philadelphia. I always
4 said our soup kitchens, our places, the
5 money should be sent here, I always said
6 that. Charity begins at home and this is
7 our home. Thank you.
8 MR. MCGOFF: Joe Talimini.
9 MR. TALIMINI: Joe Talimini. I just
10 have three things tonight. Number one,
11 Mr. Courtright, you say according to what
12 you read Chief Elliott has been in -- it's a
13 case of gross negligent if nothing else. Is
14 that what it indicates to you? I'm not
15 trying to put you on the spot, but, I mean,
16 you've got the facts in front of you?
17 Either the man is responsible or he is not
18 responsible.
19 MR. COURTRIGHT: I think he is
20 responsible.
21 MR. TALIMINI: Well, then if he is
22 responsible and he did not comply, don't you
23 think it's time we did something? Because
24 this happens throughout this city not only
25 with the chief of police but with other
41
1 agency directors, superintendents or
2 directors of authorities, etcetera. I think
3 an investigation is necessary in this case.
4 MR. COURTRIGHT: Well, I think that's
5 kind of what we did was a little bit of
6 investigation and, you know, because I
7 believe what we had agreed upon in the past
8 was that we would see what we found and make
9 a recommendation and I would hope whatever
10 recommendation was arrived at would be
11 arrived at unanimously, and unfortunately,
12 unfortunately, I repeat that, we could
13 suggest until the cows come home it's the
14 mayor's call on if something is done or not
15 done, but my hope is that if the five of us
16 were to agree on something that the mayor
17 would heed our call, but he is responsible
18 for the employees. We basically, I know you
19 don't like hearing this, we have no say.
20 MR. TALIMINI: Well, then it's about
21 time the mayor start taking responsibility
22 for his job instead of for his future.
23 Now, secondly, last week you had a
24 bunch of armed banditos up here, I am firmly
25 for the Second Amendment of the
42
1 constitution, I just don't believe I want to
2 go into Tink's or into the coliseum or
3 anyplace elsewhere you got a bunch of loose
4 cannons carrying guns around you, and I
5 certainly don't think they belong in city
6 hall.
7 You know, it's paradoxical that
8 these people come up here and they say they
9 are absolutely not going to report a gun
10 lost or stolen. I wonder if these same guys
11 would report a television set that was just
12 stolen from their homes. And, you know, the
13 funny part of it is, I have watched this go
14 on not only here but in other areas. And,
15 you know, I pointed this cigarette all the
16 way around and I didn't see anybody duck for
17 cover, and yet you enacted a law against my
18 smoking, which incidentally was tossed or at
19 least it was on hold.
20 MS. FANUCCI: Not right now.
21 MR. TALIMINI: That's my point. You
22 are so concerned about my smoking, but
23 you're not the least concerned about 12 guys
24 coming in here with guns?
25 MR. COURTRIGHT: I don't think any
43
1 of us said we weren't concerned about it.
2 MS. FANUCCI: No.
3 MR. COURTRIGHT: I think we were all
4 concerned about it, I think we were all on
5 the verge of passing it, but there was legal
6 action being taken and I believe that's why
7 the bulk of it did not vote for it.
8 MR. TALIMINI: But that legal action
9 has nothing to do with these chambers. That
10 legal action has to do with the right to
11 carry a gun.
12 MR. COURTRIGHT: Any facility and,
13 Mr. Minora, correct me if I'm wrong, any
14 facility that posts a sign that you are not
15 allowed to carry weapons inside, as we could
16 do in this building, I would believe would
17 have to be in the bylaws.
18 MR. TALIMINI: I think it should be.
19 MS. FANUCCI: We actually met with
20 the police officers beforehand and we all
21 knew that there was not -- there was nothing
22 we could do because there is no legislation,
23 because there is --
24 MR. TALIMINI: Well, several months
25 ago you were ready to have a fit because
44
1 somebody was calling you names.
2 MS. FANUCCI: There were specific
3 threats then. Right now we had no threats,
4 people weren't saying anything.
5 MR. TALIMINI: I would like to know
6 where those threats came from.
7 MS. FANUCCI: Well, I'm not going to
8 dig that up, Mr. Talimini.
9 MR. TALIMINI: I know you're not
10 because you don't have any evidence of that.
11 MS. FANUCCI: Let that go.
12 MR. TALIMINI: Let's move onto the
13 next issue, please, if you don't mind. The
14 next issue is you have a homeless issue in
15 this town and, yes, I do, I see it everyday.
16 I listen to it on the scanner every night.
17 There are people around here who are
18 homeless. You see it on Wyoming Avenue, and
19 I agree with the gentleman, the shelters are
20 always full. They are always full. They
21 have turned away people on many occasions.
22 This is a fact. If you check your police
23 records you will find that it's a fact that
24 there are people who call in asking for
25 shelter and there is no shelter available.
45
1 Now, Bethel takes in anybody and
2 everybody and everybody when they are open,
3 but they have limited space. The one down
4 on the corner of Wyoming and Olive does the
5 same thing, but they have limited space.
6 There are women out there with children, I
7 see them in the daytime, I see them in the
8 evening and I feel sorry for a lot of them.
9 The food banks are hurting very
10 badly. The soup kitchen is hurting very
11 badly. Go down there some time and see the
12 lines of people who are being fed down
13 there. I mean, I grant you this, it's not
14 possible for you to go and see everything,
15 but I live in that area and I see it all of
16 the time and this is one of my biggest
17 gripes that I don't think your mayor or you
18 council people ever go out to see any of
19 this stuff, but you can always attend some
20 kind of a social --
21 MS. FANUCCI: I have been to four
22 shelters, I have been to -- would you like
23 to know where I've been? I mean, that's a
24 ridiculous statement.
25 MR. TALIMINI: Oh, would you please
46
1 stop interfering?
2 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you, Mr. Talimini.
3 MR. TALIMINI: I'm trying to make a
4 statement --
5 MR. FANUCCI: Sit down. Your bell
6 has rang, also.
7 MR. MCGOFF: Mrs. Fanucci, please.
8 MR. TALIMINI: My statement is a very
9 simple one and that --
10 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you, Mr.
11 Talimini--
12 MR. TALIMINI: I know you don't want
13 to hear it, Mr. McGoff, but you and your
14 mayor are both responsible as well. Thank
15 you.
16 MR. MCGOFF: Les Spindler.
17 MR. SPINDLER: Good evening, Council.
18 Les Spindler, city resident and taxpayer and
19 homeowner. I forget if it was last
20 Wednesday or last Thursday I was appalled
21 when I read the headline in the paper of raw
22 sewage being dumped in the Lackawanna River.
23 Scranton Sewer Authority dumped a billion
24 gallons, a billion gallons of raw sewage in
25 the Lackawanna River and nobody did anything
47
1 about this?
2 This just shows the incompetence as
3 I have been saying from the top down in this
4 administration from Ray Hayes to Chief
5 Elliott to Chief Davis to the Parking
6 Authority director to the Sewer Authority
7 director this is unconscionable that a
8 billion gallons of raw sewage could be
9 dumped into this river and I can't believe
10 anyone from the Lackawanna River Corridor
11 Association isn't in here complaining. I
12 can't believe I'm the only one complaining
13 about this. This is just a travesty and
14 Gene Barrett and everybody associated with
15 this should be arrested. To me, that's a
16 crime. If I so much as threw a tire in the
17 river I would be cited and fined for that
18 and these people dumped a billion gallons of
19 raw sewage in the river? It's just
20 unbelievable. And it's going to be probably
21 hundreds after billions of dollars in fines
22 and who is going to pay for it? Me and you,
23 the taxpayers. I can't believe people
24 aren't up here in an outrage.
25 And Gene Barrett called a lawsuit
48
1 unfair? No, Gene Barrett, what's unfair is
2 dumping a billion gallons of raw sewage in
3 the Lackawanna River. That was known since
4 I was a kid to be a polluted river, but it's
5 been cleaned up and now they go and do this,
6 this is an outrage and these people should
7 be arrested.
8 I usually don't mention names, but
9 since Mrs. Williams mentioned my name last
10 week I'll mention hers. She has been
11 complaining here for the last couple of
12 weeks that someone for running public office
13 has a criminal record. Well, I have it on
14 good authority is that criminal record is
15 someone had a beer in a college party and
16 had a traffic violation. Oh, my God.
17 Everybody hide your kids, lock your door.
18 Somebody had a beer and had a traffic
19 violation. If that's the best Chris Doherty
20 and Mrs. Williams can come up with to
21 discredit somebody they better try again
22 because that's just unbelievable. I don't
23 think anybody should be held out of holding
24 public office for those little things which
25 aren't even crimes.
49
1 And, oh, why doesn't Mrs. Williams
2 bring up things that are actual crimes like
3 the two city employees that are on videotape
4 stealing Gary DiBileo's signs which Chief
5 Elliott and Ray Hayes are sitting on the
6 reports or last year some time an 18 year
7 old fleeing in a car was stopped for a DUI
8 and his last name was Doherty and there was
9 nothing written up in the Doherty newsletter
10 about that. We don't hear Joanne Williams
11 bringing these things up.
12 This morning on talk radio, WILK,
13 there was a gentleman named Walter Griffiths
14 speaking and he's running for city
15 controller in Wilkes-Barre and he stated
16 what myself and many other people have
17 stated here, he said, "Cities trying to pay
18 off loans by refinancing loans are just
19 going to be betting in more debt."
20 We have been saying that for years
21 now. You can't pay off loans by
22 refinancing, refinancing, it's like paying
23 off one credit card with another credit
24 card, you are never going to get ahead.
25 Well, Mrs. Evans walked out so I'll
50
1 wait and talk to her next week maybe.
2 Lastly, I'm going to say it every
3 week until the election, Mayor Doherty
4 doesn't want to be our mayor. We need
5 somebody to get us out of this mess so if he
6 wants to be governor, resign now and on
7 November 4 -- November 3, in four weeks,
8 let's write somebody in that wants to be
9 mayor of our city that doesn't want to be
10 governor. Thank you.
11 MR. MCGOFF: Jean Suetta.
12 MS. SUETTA: I don't even get up to
13 the podium and he is laughing. I just gave
14 that Joe my number, I'll give that lady and
15 her kids a home.
16 MR. COURTRIGHT: That's nice of you.
17 MS. SUETTA: The bushes are -- oh,
18 wait a minute, my name is Jean Suetta, the
19 bushes are gone, but there are still the
20 ones at the end of Gardner Avenue. Ah, now,
21 they are -- there is the Japanese bamboo.
22 The other day I'm out working in the yard
23 and I heard a lady screaming. I go to help
24 her, I can't run because I got PAD, she
25 comes up, I says, "What's a matter?"
51
1 There was a man in there whacking
2 his wienie.
3 THE COURTRIGHT: Oh.
4 MR. MCGOFF: Please.
5 MS. SUETTA: All right, a serial
6 masturbation.
7 MR. MCGOFF: Oh, please, Jeannie.
8 That's enough.
9 MS. SUETTA: I went to see what he
10 was doing.
11 UNKNOWN AUDIENCE MEMBER: You can't
12 say that, Jeannie.
13 MS. SUETTA: Why can't I? It's not
14 dirty. It's not dirty. I could have told
15 you what the lady told me. You want me to
16 tell you what the lady said what he was
17 doing?
18 MR COURTRIGHT: No, no, no.
19 MR. MCGOFF: Please.
20 MS. GATELLI: I think you should let
21 her say it.
22 MR. MCGOFF: Jean.
23 MS. SUETTA: Yes, sir. Thank you for
24 getting the bushes down.
25 MR. MCGOFF: The bushes were down. I
52
1 was told that they were also removed, that
2 they removed some of the overgrown
3 vegetation from down in the old trucking
4 company.
5 MS. SUETTA: Yeah. Not much.
6 MR. MCGOFF: Well, I think they
7 removed what they could.
8 MS. SUETTA: Facing Gardener Avenue,
9 that was removed, too, Gardener Avenue.
10 They did it yesterday.
11 MR. MCGOFF: Yes.
12 MS. SUETTA: Yeah, because they knew
13 I would be down here today.
14 MR. MCGOFF: Well, they actually went
15 out Wednesday to look at it.
16 MS. SUETTA: It only took five
17 months, Bob, five months. And about the
18 sewer, them dumping all of the sewage in,
19 why should we have to pay for it, why not
20 the administration or the Sewer Authority
21 pay for it. Take their pays. They are
22 getting good enough money. Now if I'm going
23 to have people living at my house I need --
24 I can't be paying these bills. So, Sherry--
25 MS. FANUCCI: Don't look at me.
53
1 MS. SUETTA: And how about the Lace
2 Works?
3 MS. FANUCCI: I know, we are still --
4 MS. SUETTA: You know?
5 MS. FANUCCI: Yeah, we are still on
6 it.
7 MR. MCGOFF: The Lace Works is an
8 ongoing situation.
9 MS. SUETTA: Yeah. I know, but they
10 could clean the --
11 MS. FANUCCI: Yeah, your right.
12 MS. SUETTA: -- so people can walk,
13 you know. And that red house up on
14 Greenridge Street that Jimmy Stucker is
15 always complaining about, I looked at it
16 today. That's bad.
17 MS. FANUCCI: Yeah.
18 MR. MCGOFF: It's bad.
19 MR. COURTRIGHT: It's bad, Jean, and
20 I know it is.
21 MS. SUETTA: You can open that house
22 and put a homeless family in there.
23 MS. FANUCCI: No, we don't want --
24 MR. COURTRIGHT: Not that house.
25 MS. SUETTA: Well, it's better than
54
1 living in a tent.
2 MR. COURTRIGHT: I don't know about
3 that, that's A pretty bad that house.
4 MR. DWYER: They could fix it up.
5 MS. SUETTA: They could fix it up.
6 I have an echo. All right. Something else
7 I had to -- Bob you were supposed to call
8 me. Didn't you say last meeting, "Jeannie,
9 I will call you."
10 MR. MCGOFF: Yes.
11 MS. SUETTA: Didn't I give you my
12 phone number?
13 MR. COURTRIGHT: I told you he took
14 care of it.
15 MS. SUETTA: No, he was supposed to
16 call me on the telephone.
17 MR. MCGOFF: Jean, they did -- they
18 hadn't given me any resolution. They said
19 they would go look at it.
20 MS. SUETTA: You still should have
21 called me.
22 MR. MCGOFF: So I had nothing. You
23 just wanted to talk?
24 MS. SUETTA: Yeah.
25 MR. MCGOFF: Oh, I'm sorry.
55
1 MS. SUETTA: See, if you called me I
2 wouldn't have come up with that wiener.
3 Texas wiener.
4 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you.
5 MS. SUETTA: All right, that's it.
6 So they are going to get rid of the other
7 bushes so we don't have them Texas wieners?
8 MR. MCGOFF: I'll talk to them about
9 it.
10 MS. SUETTA: Who owns that?
11 MR. MCGOFF: I don't know.
12 MS. FANUCCI: I don't know. I don't
13 know who owns that.
14 MS. SUETTA: But don't you think
15 Corrugated Box would know who owns that?
16 MS. FANUCCI: Probably. Probably.
17 MR. SUETTA: I told you I was going
18 to come up and going to make you blush.
19 MR. COURTRIGHT: Then you wonder why
20 I laugh when you get out of your seat.
21 MS. SUETTA: You know, there was this
22 little boy in school.
23 MR. MCGOFF: Please.
24 MS. SUETTA: His name was Billy, and
25 you know how little boys sit and scratch
56
1 themselves.
2 MR. COURTRIGHT: Jeannie.
3 MS. SUETTA: That's not bad. The
4 teacher says, "Billy, what's wrong?"
5 And he says, "I was circumcised a
6 couple of days ago."
7 MR. MCGOFF: Jeannie, we are going --
8 MS. SUETTA: Jean, the dancing
9 machine. He went to the school nurse, he
10 come back, and he put it out and --
11 MR. MCGOFF: Jeannie, please.
12 MS. SUETTA: -- what are you doing?
13 He said, "My mother told me if I stuck it
14 out she would come pick me up." Goodnight.
15 MR. COURTRIGHT: Sit down, Jean.
16 MR. MCGOFF: This is bizarre.
17 MS. SUETTA: I'm not bizarre.
18 MR. MCGOFF: Ron Ellman.
19 MS. SUETTA: Now we got Ronnie coming
20 up.
21 MR. ELLMAN: I don't have nothing
22 imperative or necessary to talk about. I
23 guess I'll flap my gums until you tell me to
24 leave. I just have some things that
25 irritated me. My neighborhood is infested
57
1 with them quads. They are running day and
2 night and some of them don't have mufflers
3 on them and I hear them until 1:00 or 2:00
4 in the morning and I know where a couple of
5 them even live because I walk so much in the
6 neighborhood, but North Main Avenue is like
7 a racetrack and here they are going down
8 North Main and the side streets and the
9 beginning of the summer this little kid, I
10 don't know, he is 6, 7, 8 years old, he is
11 pushing a 250 cc two-wheeler, one of those
12 racing bikes, you know, the green ones, that
13 bike is capable of going pretty fast. He
14 was out of gas so I gave him a gallon of gas
15 and I'm talking to him and he is telling me
16 it goes 60, 70 miles an hour, just a little
17 kid like this, their parents are nuts.
18 MR. COURTRIGHT: You gave him gas?
19 MR. ELLMAN: My kids had them, but we
20 lived up in Madisonville and all, they
21 couldn't get in trouble with them. They
22 were out in the woods all the time getting
23 stuck, but North Main Avenue and Throop
24 Street and Parker Street, that's no place to
25 be racing those things.
58
1 In '95 one of them come across the
2 Parker Street and hit me year-old Cadillac
3 which made me very irritable. Knocked the
4 mirror off and scraped the side and kept
5 going and, you know, he is uninsured,
6 uninspected, they don't have good brakes
7 because I seen them skidding half a block
8 without stopping. You know, they are not
9 inspected or they just don't belong in the
10 streets. The owners should be heavily fined
11 and the dammed bikes confiscated and get
12 them on the streets. It's just -- somebody
13 is going to be hit. Yesterday that's what I
14 came up here, I forgot about it, I don't
15 know what time it was --
16 MR. COURTRIGHT: We can't chase them.
17 MR. ELLMAN: A little kid on a little
18 green one, he couldn't have been four or
19 five years old, but this little tiny green
20 one crossed Main Avenue.
21 MR. COURTRIGHT: Ron, you know what
22 the problem is?
23 MR. ELLMAN: Pardon?
24 MR. COURTRIGHT: The problem is they
25 are relatively smart, they know that the
59
1 police won't chase them.
2 MR. ELLMAN: Oh, I know that.
3 MR. COURTRIGHT: For fear of somebody
4 getting hurt, so they don't get chased and
5 the only thing you are going to be able to
6 do is if you know somebody that's doing it
7 and you know where they live report it to
8 the police then and they'll go to their
9 home.
10 MR. ELLMAN: I saw the police stop
11 right in front of my house and he took off
12 the other way and the police car goes this
13 way during it.
14 MR. COURTRIGHT: There is a heavy
15 fine, yeah.
16 MR. ELLMAN: Well, they ought to be
17 confiscated. You know, like I said, there's
18 a time and a place, I didn't come last
19 Tuesday because my big mouth might have got
20 me shot with them people with guns. I have
21 had guns, I like guns, you know, and I'm not
22 anti-gun, but there is a time and place and
23 a courthouse and a restaurant isn't the
24 place to walk around making a point about
25 carrying a gun. That was deplorable. I
60
1 think Mr. Bolus hit the nail on the head,
2 you know, you just don't bring guns to a
3 courthouse to make a point. I didn't hear
4 nobody be on their side talking. You know,
5 that's just a bad --
6 You know, last Tuesday -- last
7 Wednesday at 2:15 this the morning I took
8 Slugo out for a walk, I could tell he had to
9 go for his dancing around. Here come two
10 little girls, this is last Wednesday, 2:15
11 in the morning there's two young girls, I
12 don't know, about 12, 13, 14, they were both
13 little flat-chested things, you know, they
14 weren't too old, they were coming down the
15 sidewalk. You know, where are their parents
16 at allowing this and then somebody wonders
17 my kid did this and that, at least my kids,
18 you know, I had an idea where they were up
19 there in Moscow or Madisonville or
20 someplace, you know, and they would run out
21 of something to do before 2:15 in the
22 morning.
23 And I was listening about the
24 homeless, I talked to many, many of these
25 people and to me when your house burned down
61
1 you're homeless. When, you know, you are
2 disfunctional and don't work for society I
3 don't think homeless is the right word, but
4 this administration just shows disdain for
5 the poor, and these people they just need
6 help so bad. Miss Rosie and me have tried a
7 little bit on our own, we gave them blankets
8 and given them rides and stuff, but this is
9 a bad problem and it's going to be so bad
10 this winter with the way things are you
11 know. I wish there was more help for them.
12 Thank you very much.
13 MS. EVANS: Mr. Ellman, just to go
14 back to the ATV's for a second, there is a
15 city ordinance that prevents ATV's from
16 driving on city streets, but the police
17 encounter the problems that Mr. Courtright
18 already mentioned for you. I know possibly
19 two weeks I requested that the police patrol
20 the area of Main Avenue, Wells Streets,
21 Marvin, East Parker, because I had received
22 so many complaints.
23 MR. ELLMAN: This isn't a police
24 problem, there's lots of police in my
25 neighborhood. You know, it's like parking
62
1 on the sidewalk all over town. On the 2500
2 block of North Main there is people parked
3 with all four wheels on the sidewalk, the
4 police ticket them and ticket them and
5 ticket them, the next day they still sitting
6 there with tickets on it. They just don't
7 pay them or they got bogus license or
8 something. You know, like I said, it's not
9 a police problem, I'm not blaming the
10 police.
11 MS. EVANS: Well, in that matter with
12 the tickets eventually the car would be
13 towed if it has an illegal registration and
14 illegal plates, but I think Mr. Courtright
15 had a good response there when he said if
16 everyone who sees any ATV's in their
17 neighborhood knows exactly where that's
18 going, you know, in what home that belongs
19 and reports it. Naturally, children aren't
20 going to be able to pay a fine, but parents
21 certainly will and I think, you know, when
22 parents are held accountable and held
23 responsible for their children's actions
24 because it is the parents after all who have
25 supplied the ATV, and obviously paid for it,
63
1 they will be I think much more careful about
2 how their children are operating these
3 vehicles and it's really only for everyone's
4 good because we certainly don't want to see
5 those using the ATV's injured as well.
6 MR. ELLMAN: Well, you know,
7 insurance is required on them. They just
8 don't have it.
9 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you.
10 MR. ELLMAN: I have insurance on my
11 scooter it's only $75 a year for everything,
12 you know, these kids, like I said, they hit
13 my car and kept going. You can't chase
14 them, I can't turn around.
15 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you.
16 MR. ELLMAN: Thank you.
17 MR. MCGOFF: Vince Cruciani.
18 MR. CRUCIANI: Good evening, Council,
19 Vince Cruciani. I'm here to speak on a
20 matter regarding what I believe to be a
21 blatant gross violation of the United States
22 constitution occurring in the City of
23 Scranton. Before I touch on that matter I
24 would just like to briefly comment on two
25 items I heard earlier.
64
1 Many in the crowd had spoke against
2 the gun ordinances and I can understand if
3 others in council feels this way, too,
4 perhaps thought that the open display of
5 arms was a matter intimidation, but rather
6 it was quite the opposite. It was to show
7 that free men and women can stand in a room
8 bearing arms protecting themselves and not
9 use it in a derogatory manner. Now, one
10 gentleman earlier tried to analogize to the
11 smoking, well, I'm against prohibiting
12 restaurants from allowing smoking, I think
13 the free market will take care of that. I
14 don't think there is a constitionial
15 amendment to allow you to smoke.
16 Now, all I'm trying to say is that
17 people didn't come in here to bear their
18 arms to intimidate, they can in to show that
19 people can bear arms and law abide.
20 The issue of the homeless in the
21 city has been raised and one way I suggest
22 that revenue could be created is through the
23 taxation of the dormitory buildings in
24 private institutions. Let me explain. Let
25 me explain. Why do you have nonprofit
65
1 organizations tax exempt? One simple
2 reason, the theory is that the private
3 markets don't supply the demand. That's the
4 man reason that you have classroom and such
5 not taxed.
6 Now, what happens when you tax the
7 dorms? When you tax the dorms, even if they
8 are at a lower rate, okay, you know, I'm
9 just saying, when you derive revenue from
10 the dorms, right, what happens when you make
11 them tax free. Well, when you make them tax
12 free you are taking away a market demand
13 that is already being met by the private
14 sector. There are landlords who are paying
15 taxes who are filling the filling the
16 student housing need. Now, are people going
17 to come to build classrooms? No. But they
18 are going to build apartments. The private
19 sector is going to meet that demand and not
20 only do you hurt the tax base in the city,
21 but you hurt the students because if you
22 continue allowing the school to monopolize
23 the housing then the school is going to have
24 a distorted competition against the private
25 sector and then once they create the
66
1 monopoly status, which will happen, then
2 they are going to be able inflate the price
3 of housing to any degree they want. So my
4 suggestion is that any private school
5 housing and housing only be taxed.
6 Now, my most important issue. The
7 University of Scranton has a police force.
8 That police force can make arresting powers
9 in this city to students, sworn officers can
10 to not only students but any of you in this
11 room, anybody here, anybody walking down the
12 street. They have a religious symbol on
13 their uniform. Now, I know Mr. Minora
14 hasn't taken a Con-law class in quite
15 awhile, but I believe the constitution, the
16 doctrine or incorporation that brings the
17 First Amendment establishing laws applicable
18 to the states was around.
19 Now, let me explain what I mean.
20 I'm not saying that the police force does
21 not have legitimate authority to arrest,
22 what I'm saying is that the seal, the
23 University of Scranton crest with the cross,
24 the Christian cross, must be removed from
25 those uniforms of arresting officers. All
67
1 it has to say is "University of Scranton."
2 It doesn't -- I'm not saying that
3 it's illegitimate authority, I realize there
4 is statutory authority to have private
5 institutions have police forces, but I
6 recommend civil disobedience for any person
7 that is confronted off the University of
8 Scranton campus by these people, these
9 pretender police officers that have the
10 religious symbols, religious symbols. If it
11 was a crescent moon and the Star of David
12 how many of you would be comfortable? If it
13 was a Wicken symbol how many of you would be
14 comfortable? They have a cross on the
15 uniform and they can arrest. None of you
16 would stand for that police officer having a
17 cross on her uniform, but she can arrest
18 just the same way they can.
19 MR. COURTRIGHT: They can't.
20 MR. CRUCIANI: Yes, they can.
21 MR. COURTRIGHT: Only certain ones
22 can arrest.
23 MR. CRUCIANI: Yes, and they have the
24 University symbol, Mr. Courtright.
25 MR. COURTRIGHT: They need to be
68
1 certified by a State of Pennsylvania.
2 MR. CRUCIANI: And I'm not of
3 disagreement --
4 MR. COURTRIGHT: I believe, and I'm
5 guessing, I think they only have two or
6 three that can arrest.
7 MR. CRUCIANI: That's fine, but
8 those officers wear the cross, the Christian
9 cross, the Christian Catholic emblem on
10 their uniform and they have the power to
11 arrest. All I'm asking for that it be
12 replaced with a patch that says "The
13 University of Scranton."
14 Because there will be a 1983 suit
15 coming from the next person that gets arrest
16 by one of these officers with and Christian
17 emblem on them. I've called the ACLU, I
18 have called all of the magistrate's offices
19 about this because I'm not going to have
20 somebody with a Christian emblem be able to
21 arrest me. Now, if they want to have it
22 just the University of Scranton, fine. I
23 understand that. That's not a problem.
24 Anybody that can arrest that has a Christian
25 cross is illegitimate authority. Thank you.
69
1 MR. MCGOFF: David Dobrzyn.
2 MR. DOBRZYN: David Dobrzyn, resident
3 of Scranton. A member of the Taxpayers'
4 Association. You have heard a few different
5 opinions tonight on this business, I'm going
6 to keep it kind of general. I feel as a
7 Scranton citizen it would be wise to
8 withdrawal all attempts at redundant
9 legislation and mitigate any attempts to
10 exceed constitutional boundaries. Please
11 limit such two requests such as please
12 report your firearm, you don't have to make
13 in an ordinance, and definitely petition the
14 state for notification of all stolen
15 firearms. Personally, I think they should
16 be on the data bank, that's available to any
17 police officer if it was stolen in
18 Harrisburg if they kept somebody with
19 misusing a firearm and it turns out it's
20 stolen then it should be on some kind of
21 data base even possibly national, but my
22 fear is a patchwork of non-uniform
23 ordinances which make it impossible to obey
24 the law and all communities.
25 Now, here is an example, and it's
70
1 not related to guns at all. My wife worked
2 at a dry cleaners a few years ago and she
3 had just got through a state boiler
4 inspection and complied with all of the
5 requests of the state boiling inspector.
6 Well, a few months later in strolls the
7 Scranton boiler inspector and he disagreed
8 with the everything that was done to the
9 boiler at great expense. Well, they
10 couldn't operate for awhile and a few weeks
11 after that on Thanksgiving weekend, I
12 believe it was 1987 -- or '97, '97, I'm a
13 little old anymore, my wife's paycheck
14 started to bounce, seven in a row. I don't
15 know how he did it, but he actually engaged
16 in improprieties because he was going broke
17 over this patchwork of ordinances and so
18 forth and regulation.
19 Well, I eventually got that settled,
20 but now in Pennsylvania I don't know what
21 the penalty is for bounced checks, but in
22 Texas it's a felony to bounce a check. I
23 would have been responsible for about five
24 or six felonies. My life insurance bounced.
25 My rent check bounced. My payment to a
71
1 consumer on a consumer loan bounced.
2 Several others bounced. I got bopped $20
3 for each and every one, never reimbursed. I
4 mean, that's just an example of how these
5 patchwork of laws.
6 I personally feel like the state
7 should be responsible for this and, yeah, I
8 think people should be required to report
9 any kind of stolen firearms or what have
10 you. You shouldn't have a right to -- and I
11 also did state the week before that I
12 thought that somebody that felt obliged to
13 always have a firearm strapped to their
14 waist is a little squirrelly.
15 Now, on Scranton "U" I also had a
16 concern about that. You are walking down
17 the street and one of those officers walked
18 up to you and, I mean, are they -- do they
19 have all of the authority of the Scranton
20 policemen or, you know, because, I mean --
21 MR. COURTRIGHT: No, they don't.
22 MR. DOBRZYN: As far as I'm concerned
23 even though defending my house if they had
24 to kick my door in and yelled "Police" I
25 would sit in my chair and wait for them to
72
1 come in. I have no desire to ever hurt a
2 police officer even if he made a mistake and
3 got the wrong address, you know? I'm
4 telling them this is blah, blah, blah street
5 and not, you know, so with that possibly
6 would they have any right to search and
7 seize a citizen of Scranton or -- I mean,
8 can anybody else answer that for me?
9 MR. COURTRIGHT: I'll answer it
10 during the motions for you.
11 MR. DOBRZYN: Okay. I was concerned
12 about that, I just thought well, you know,
13 we elect people to hire the police
14 department and everything and it doesn't
15 happen, but please consider that what I made
16 mention about this, I think we have too much
17 of a patchwork of laws and it makes it
18 impossible to be a law respecting citizen
19 after a certain point. Have a good night.
20 MS. HUMPHRIES: Am I next?
21 MR. MCGOFF: Please, Phyllis, why
22 not. Your time has started and please no
23 props tonight.
24 MS. HUMPHRIES: Oh, there is going to
25 be props. You know, I thought about this,
73
1 when I was coming in I had so much that I'd
2 love to show. First, I want to say a hi to
3 everybody, God bless you all. I'm going to
4 read something and I do not want to be
5 stopped for these five minutes and then I'll
6 sit down.
7 The word of God on the City of
8 Scranton. The word of the Lord Jeremiah,
9 son of Hakium. Our priestly famines --
10 MR. MCGOFF: Phyllis, we don't quote
11 the Bible in --
12 MS. HUMPHRIES: Call of Jeremiah.
13 MR. MCGOFF: Please, Phyllis.
14 MS. HUMPHRIES: The word of the law
15 came to me just before I formed you in my
16 womb I knew you. Before I dedicated you a
17 prophet to nations. I appoint you. All
18 Lord God --
19 MR. MCGOFF: Phyllis --
20 MS. HUMPHRIES: -- I said --
21 MR. MCGOFF: Phyllis.
22 MS. HUMPHRIES: -- I know not how to
23 speak. I answer to you --
24 MR. MCGOFF: You are out of order --
25 MS. HUMPHRIES: -- but the Lord
74
1 answered me say not, I am too young.
2 MR. MCGOFF: -- constantly.
3 MS. HUMPHRIES: I am too young. Do
4 whatever I say you shall know. That's even
5 in the political arena.
6 (Whereupon Mr. McGoff bangs the
7 gavel several times.)
8 MR. MCGOFF: Phyllis, please stop.
9 MS. HUMPHRIES: Whenever I command of
10 you, you shall speak. Have no fear before
11 you --
12 MR. MCGOFF: This has generated
13 into --
14 MS. HUMPHRIES: -- because I am here
15 to deliver you, sayeth the Lord. Then the
16 Lord extended his hand and touched my mouth,
17 and I hope he touches every one of your
18 mouths, saying, see, I placed my word in
19 your mouth. This day I set you over nations
20 and over kingdoms to root up and to tear
21 down, to destroy and to demolish --
22 MR. MCGOFF: Phyllis.
23 MS. HUMPHRIES: -- to build and to
24 replant.
25 MR. MCGOFF: Phyllis.
75
1 MS. HUMPHRIES: I want to build the
2 City of Scranton. The word of the Lord came
3 to me with question.
4 MR. MCGOFF: Phyllis --
5 MS. HUMPHRIES: What did you see.
6 MR. MCGOFF: Your time is up.
7 MS. HUMPHRIES: Jeremiah, Isaiah, a
8 branch of the Washington. Okay, my time is
9 up?
10 MR. MCGOFF: Yes.
11 MS. HUMPHRIES: This is what I have
12 to say. I reply then the Lord said to me,
13 well, have you seen for I am watching to
14 fulfill my word. A second time the word of
15 the Lord came to me with a question, and you
16 know we question each other a lot, what do
17 you see? I see a boiling cauldron. I
18 replied that.
19 MR. MCGOFF: Phyllis, I'm going to
20 ask you one more time to leave --
21 MS. HUMPHRIES: And from the Lord
22 sayeth no more.
23 MR. MCGOFF: -- the podium.
24 MS. PHYLLIS: To me evil will boil
25 over upon all the dwelling of the land.
76
1 Know I many summoning all the kingdoms of
2 the north, sayeth the Lord. Each king shall
3 come and set up his throne and the kingdom
4 will come, the ambassadors to the City of
5 Scranton.
6 THE COURT: Phyllis, your time is up
7 and you are out of order.
8 MS. HUMPHRIES: It will never be up
9 until justice calls to the unborn child to
10 everyone here.
11 MR. MCGOFF: Phyllis. Phyllis.
12 MS. HUMPHRIES: Tomorrow is the
13 rosary of the blessed -- of our Lady of the
14 Rosary, number one.
15 MR. MCGOFF: I'm going to ask you one
16 more time to stop.
17 MS. HUMPHRIES: Number two, what I
18 have to say --
19 MR. COURTRIGHT: Phyllis, if you
20 don't step down we are going to call for a
21 recess. You have to step down.
22 MS. HUMPHRIES: Call for a recess.
23 Well, this is what I'm telling you. I'm
24 going to be running for city council.
25 MR. COURTRIGHT: Good.
77
1 MS. HUMPHRIES: And I'm not going to
2 ask for a penny because I think as a human
3 being --
4 MR. MCGOFF: Motion to recess.
5 MR. COURTRIGHT: Second.
6 MR. MCGOFF: All in favor. Aye.
7 MS. EVANS: Aye.
8 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
9 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
10 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
11 MR. MCGOFF: Opposed? The ayes have
12 it and so moved.
13 (A recess was taken)
14 MR. MCGOFF: Attorney Minora, do we
15 need to make a motion to go back it session
16 or?
17 MR. MINORA: I think just start
18 again.
19 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you. Our recess
20 is over. Next speaker. Anyone else?
21 MS. SCHUMACHER: Marie Schumacher,
22 resident and member of the Taxpayers'
23 Association. I would like to defend, I
24 hadn't planned to speak tonight and I do --
25 but I do have a question, several questions
78
1 about 7-A, but first I would be remiss if I
2 didn't say that I believe you acted
3 incorrectly in the case of Phyllis, that I
4 believe she has every right to do that. The
5 amendment says the state shall not establish
6 a religion and I would hope that it wouldn't
7 have to be taken to Court to decide which of
8 us is correct. A little tolerance, it's
9 five minutes would been more acceptable.
10 MS. FANUCCI: It's just against
11 council rules. It's against our own rules.
12 MS. SCHUMACHER: It's my time.
13 MR. MCGOFF: Please.
14 MS. FANUCCI: No, it's my time, too,
15 and it's against our rules as a council --
16 MS. SCHUMACHER: On 7-A.
17 MS. FANUCCI: -- and it's separation
18 of church and state and it's separation of--
19 MS. SCHUMACHER: Is the source of the
20 money of this authority -- excuse me, do I
21 have the floor?
22 MR. MCGOFF: Please. Continue.
23 MS. SCHUMACHER: Is the source of the
24 public money that's given to this Scranton
25 Lackawanna County Health and Welfare
79
1 Authority, what is the source of their
2 funding?
3 MR. MCGOFF: I'm sorry?
4 MS. SCHUMACHER: What is the source
5 of the funding for the Scranton Lackawanna
6 Health and Welfare Authority? Where do they
7 get their money? I believe someone -- I'm
8 sorry, I did not have a chance to come in
9 and read the backup on this, but I believe
10 someone said this is to be a $6 million
11 loan. I would like to know where the source
12 of the money they get that they -- they have
13 enough money to lend this $6 million or if
14 it's a grant I don't even know if it's a
15 grant, and how much will remain in their
16 coffers after this loan is made and I would
17 also like to know if anyone other than
18 nonprofits are eligible to get grants or
19 loans from this fund? And I will wait for
20 your -- I mean, I'll take your answers now.
21 Thank you. Anybody?
22 MR. MCGOFF: I do not know.
23 MS. EVANS: I don't know the answer,
24 but I will try to find the answers for all
25 of us.
80
1 MS. SCHUMACHER: But, I mean, I
2 think it's -- it's silly to vote on
3 something, you don't know if you are wiping
4 out their whole thing, you don't know where
5 they get their money, I mean -- but, thank
6 you.
7 MR. MCGOFF: Any other speakers?
8 MS. KRAKE: First of all, I would
9 like to say that Phyllis was correct in
10 being able to wanting to speak about what
11 she wanted to speak, she has freedom of
12 speech just like everyone else in the United
13 States of America and so does Mrs. Williams
14 for that matter, but I would like to rebut
15 some of the remarks she has made. I know
16 what Mrs. Williams is getting at the past
17 few weeks, the law is clear on minor
18 violations and such a minor violations does
19 not prohibit someone from running for
20 office. Mrs. Williams saying these things
21 is just another example of her being used by
22 the administration, used by them to sling
23 mud at the same people for the mayor's
24 checks and balances. It's not surprising
25 that the mayor would stoop so low once again
81
1 to somehow get his way since he has done
2 this before.
3 I truly sometimes feel sorry for
4 Mrs. Williams since she is being used as a
5 pawn once again for Doherty, since his
6 rubber stamp council was soundly and
7 overwhelmingly rejected by the voters. Mrs.
8 Williams opens a Pandora's box with her
9 allegations. You can't ask for rules or
10 laws for some and not want or expect them to
11 apply to everyone. As a taxpayer, Mrs.
12 Williams should be much more concerned by
13 the real issues, the issues that are truly
14 hurting the residents and taxpayers.
15 Why doesn't Mrs. Williams have any
16 concern about the last 25 percent tax
17 increase? Why no concern about the
18 $12 million that is missing in the Scranton
19 Tax Office? Why no concern that Ken
20 McDowell never cooperated with his subpoena
21 from city council? Why no concern that the
22 Scranton Tax Office still has not released
23 the over $4 million owed to the city and
24 without it there will be a huge budget whole
25 in the 2009 budget. Why? Because these are
82
1 crucial issues that are ongoing. These are
2 not city council election issues, but since
3 she is only interested in election-time
4 subjects why is not outraged that the mayor
5 she supports no longer wishes to be mayor of
6 Scranton? Why isn't she concerned that he
7 fails to perform his duties and
8 responsibilities as mayor while he campaigns
9 statewide to become governor?
10 A few more remarks I have.
11 Mr. Courtright is running for tax collector.
12 Hopefully he will win and that would help
13 the citizens tremendously when he has that
14 office. Mrs. Evans, who wins her elections
15 with thousands and thousands of more votes
16 than even the mayoral candidates, continues
17 to be a voice for all of the people. Time
18 again she votes for the good of all and is
19 preserved in the face of many council that
20 voted exactly opposite for the people.
21 Thank you.
22 MS. FRANUS: Fay Franus, Scranton.
23 Good evening, Council. As council well
24 knows, a serious concern of all taxpayers is
25 unjust expenditures. Unjust expenditures
83
1 involving a council person who voted for tax
2 increases inherently raised judgment and
3 ethical issues. Unjust spending is properly
4 judged on the backs material to the
5 expenditure. Without question, the invoices
6 speak for themselves and an expenditure of
7 $30,000 for legal work is one that merits
8 close examination for it's legal
9 appropriateness.
10 Since the time that Mrs. Gatelli
11 filed a counterclaim against Joe Pilcheski
12 she repeatedly denied for over a year that
13 the city's insurance company was not paying
14 for private legal services. Then two months
15 ago it was publically disclosed that the
16 city's insurance company was billed $52,473
17 for Gatelli related legal services and, in
18 fact, 30,000 were then paid to Attorney
19 Reihner.
20 The questions beg asking. Was all
21 of the 30,000 paid by the city's insurance
22 company for defending Mrs. Gatelli as a
23 public official or did Mrs. Gatelli get her
24 private legal services paid for by the city?
25 The answer is found in the legal invoices
84
1 which are undisputable in a comprehensive
2 source precisely, how many hours were worked
3 and what legal work was provided for each of
4 these hours.
5 Attorney Reihner's invoices revealed
6 that his office logged in a total of
7 777.6 hours representing Mrs. Gatelli's
8 interests beginning on April 19, 2007, and
9 continuing up to December 23, 2008, but they
10 also reveal that only the first 16 hours
11 were for representing Mrs. Gatelli as a
12 public official and the remaining 761 hours
13 for advancing her private counterclaim.
14 Translated that means that only
15 2.2 percent of the hours were for
16 representing Mrs. Gatelli as a public
17 official and 97.8 percent were for
18 representing her as a private citizen.
19 Translated, of the $30,000 paid to
20 Attorney Reihner, $28,700 obviously went to
21 Mrs. Gatelli's personal and private benefit.
22 During last week's council meeting
23 when this issue was again mentioned,
24 Mrs. Gatelli again adamantly denied that the
25 city taxpayers are footing the bill for her
85
1 private lawsuit, but if that is true why is
2 the city's insurance company paid $28,700 to
3 Attorney Reihner for private legal services?
4 More appropriately, why is Attorney Reihner
5 billing the city's insurance company at all
6 for Mrs. Gatelli's private legal services?
7 There is a current balance of $22,473. Who
8 is going to pay that balance since it is all
9 attributed to Attorney Reihner representing
10 Mrs. Gatelli as a private citizen?
11 How could Attorney Reihner be
12 confused as to who would pay him for
13 representing Mrs. Gatelli as a private
14 citizen or was there no confusion? Did
15 Attorney Reihner at all times understand
16 that he would be paid by the city's
17 insurance company to represent
18 Mrs. Gatelli's private lawsuit. Mrs.
19 Gatelli stated last week as follows:
20 "There was a ruling from a judge
21 that you are entitled to personal --" I'm
22 sorry, "There was a ruling from a judge that
23 you are not entitled to personal
24 information," but I have with me the only
25 three orders issued in her case, not any of
86
1 them say that. Perhaps Mrs. Gatelli can
2 produce such an order.
3 At issue is not how much
4 Mrs. Gatelli may or may not have been paid
5 Attorney Reihner for private legal services,
6 the issue is that it is clear and undisputed
7 that the taxpayers of the City of Scranton
8 have thus far paid $28,700 to Attorney
9 Reihner with another $22,000 due for legal
10 work he provided to advance the private
11 lawsuit of Mrs. Gatelli. Thank you.
12 And I also would like to say one
13 more thing, with all due respect to Mike
14 Dudek what he said before about gays
15 flaunting their life-style I take it, I beg
16 to differ. Gay people are no different than
17 heterosexuals, and I think it was outrageous
18 to make that statement. They are no
19 difference, they are equal in every respect
20 and they should have every right.
21 MR. UNGVARSKY: Good evening, City
22 Council, I'm Tom Ungvarsky, and I'm a member
23 of the Scranton Lackawanna County Taxpayers.
24 Several weeks ago you had Mrs. Aebli in here
25 to answer some of your questions. You had
87
1 them sitting at this table over here. I sat
2 directly behind her and I couldn't hear a
3 one of her answers. In the future, I wish
4 you would have them come to this podium so
5 that the people in the gallery can hear
6 them.
7 Over the summer months while city
8 council was on vacation I would occasionally
9 turn on Channel 61 and most of the time I
10 would get replays, however, I never saw one
11 city council replayed. I think it would
12 have been a good idea, Mr. McGoff, if
13 Channel 61 would show some of these replays
14 from past weeks.
15 This coming Thursday night, the
16 Scranton Lackawanna County Taxpayers will be
17 meeting in this room and we will be
18 interviewing the candidates for judgeship.
19 We will also have the two judges that are
20 running for retention. It is open to the
21 public. It will start at 6:00, and I hope
22 that Channel 61 will show it more than once.
23 Several weeks ago, we had a very
24 important meeting. We had some people in
25 from Wilkes-Barre who are having trouble
88
1 with reassessment. They took the time to
2 come in here from Luzerne County and explain
3 to us what the problems were that they are
4 having with reassessment down there. I did
5 not get the chance to see it on Channel 61
6 and I don't know how many times they did
7 show it, but an important meeting like that
8 should have been shown over and over again.
9 I understand that you people have
10 representatives that were supposed to
11 interview Channel 61. If that is so, I wish
12 you would you get Mr. Welby here to answer
13 some of the questions as to why there is
14 such little coverage of things that go on
15 with the administration of this city. I
16 thank you.
17 MS. STULGIS: My name is Ann Marie
18 Stulgis, and I'm a city resident and a city
19 taxpayer. While we are talking about 61,
20 does anyone know when we are going to have
21 the computer feeds that we were supposed to
22 have a year ago because I don't -- I don't
23 have Comcast, I happen to be a part of the
24 police contract consequently, no pay raise
25 for seven years, I can't afford it, I have
89
1 an antenna, and I would really appreciate
2 seeing the council meetings. I haven't seen
3 them in over a year.
4 Also, just a little background
5 information that I don't know if you are
6 aware of or not, but I know you discussed
7 the part-time grant writer that was employed
8 by the city. She has been employed as a
9 full-time grant writer for a number of years
10 with the county. She has handled the same
11 exact types of grants and there has never
12 been once been a problem with those grants.
13 The young woman knows exactly what she is
14 doing and how to do it, just so you know
15 that.
16 Now, my main reason for being here
17 is that I understand that there was someone
18 here making accusations about a candidate
19 for city council having a "criminal record."
20 Having been a police officer for a number of
21 years in the City of Scranton, I thought
22 maybe I should clarify what a criminal
23 record is. It would be if you plead guilty
24 or convicted of or something along those
25 lines of a crime, a crime. That would be a
90
1 misdemeanor or a felony. A summary offense
2 which would be a traffic violation, an open
3 beer container, a parking ticket, they are
4 all the exact same rating. They are all
5 summary offenses and summary offenses do not
6 constitute a criminal record. If they did,
7 then I would have a criminal record because
8 God knows I had two parking tickets, and
9 Mr. Minora would have a criminal record
10 because he has had several parking tickets,
11 Mrs. Fanucci --
12 MS. FANUCCI: We know about mine, we
13 have heard about them for a year. I didn't
14 know they were even more.
15 MS. STULGIS: And she doesn't have a
16 criminal record either. None of the
17 candidates running on the Democratic ticket
18 for City Council have a criminal record, and
19 I think it's ashame that someone would come
20 in here and make a statement like that
21 without checking their facts. It's liable
22 to say the least. You can't say that about
23 someone without it being fact and it
24 obviously is not fact. We are talking about
25 a traffic ticket that's someone received in
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1 2003 when they went to the magistrates,
2 plead guilty and paid immediately. It's all
3 available on-line, you can go check it out
4 under the state court system.
5 We're talking about a year later
6 getting another traffic violation which is
7 considered traffic control devices, it's not
8 a point violation. Again, he went
9 immediately to the magistrate, plead guilty
10 and paid the fine, and then during the
11 college days had an open container. If,
12 Mr. Courtright, you were to walk next door
13 and stand on your neighbor's sidewalk with a
14 beer in the summertime you could be cited
15 for the same thing. It's not a big crime,
16 and again, when he got it he went to the
17 magistrates, plead guilty and paid.
18 What does that tell me? That the
19 person is morally, ethically presentable,
20 young, human being who is very honest. He
21 did not shy away. There were no warrants.
22 He did not hide anything. He knew he did
23 something wrong and he went and took care of
24 it immediately. That speaks volumes and for
25 somebody to come in here and say they have a
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1 criminal record that's absolutely
2 despicable. Absolutely horrible.
3 Also, Bill, if you would do me a
4 favor, I don't think that gentleman is
5 correct, but if you could check to see if
6 we -- if Scranton Police Department has, in
7 fact, seated jurisdiction to -- I didn't
8 think that they --
9 MR. COURTRIGHT: No, we didn't.
10 MS. STULGIS: No, so they don't have
11 jurisdiction off campus unless it's a felony
12 in progress. Thank you very much that.
13 MR. SLEDENZSKI: Last one, Bill.
14 Best for last. Best for last.
15 MR. COURTRIGHT: That's right.
16 MR. SLEDENZSKI: Well, Bill, what
17 happened Friday? We just got bonked right
18 down to the ground.
19 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yeah, we didn't make
20 it.
21 MR. SLEDENZSKI: The game is on TV
22 this week, 7:00 game, everybody watch it.
23 Thank you.
24 MR. COURTRIGHT: All right, Chris.
25 MR. MCGOFF: Mrs. Evans?
93
1 MS. EVANS: Good evening. I first
2 wish to respond to two statements made
3 during last week'S council meeting. The
4 council president stated that the Scranton
5 smoking ban repeal cost nothing with the
6 possible exception of loss business for some
7 establishments. In truth, however, many
8 Scranton restaurants and bars suffered
9 significant financial losses because of the
10 council authorized smoking ban. Scranton
11 businesses pay mercantile and business
12 privilege taxes which are based on their
13 gross receipts. Thus, when a business
14 losses profits, the amount of mercantile and
15 business privilege taxes paid to the city
16 decreases.
17 Further, when employees were let go
18 or their work hours were downsized, the
19 amount of wage taxes paid to the city
20 decreased as well.
21 Also, during the period of the local
22 smoking ban enactment, it seems there were
23 at least two lawsuits filed against the
24 city. Not what became of them I don't know.
25 MS. FANUCCI: Ask Joe, he is here.
94
1 MR. MCGOFF: Please.
2 MS. EVANS: Three have been several
3 lawsuits against the city about which city
4 council has never been notified. Thus, this
5 council violation of state law did have
6 financial consequences for many.
7 It may also be accurate that no
8 sheriff's sale has occurred as a result of
9 the delinquent real estate taxes, as
10 Mr. McGoff noted, however, it is a fact that
11 many homeowners were charged thousands of
12 dollars above and beyond what was owed for
13 delinquent taxes and those monies or
14 revenues are in the pocket of NCC, not the
15 City of Scranton. There is a better and
16 fairer way to likely maximize delinquent tax
17 collections which may be instituted into
18 2010 with the approval of a new council.
19 As of October 5, 2009, actually, I
20 can update that, October 6, city council had
21 not received a finalized independent audit
22 of 2008. Once again, Rossi & Sons Auditing
23 Firm is in no way responsible for the
24 tardiness of this document. Upon receipt of
25 the audit, I hope to report dead figures for
95
1 the City of Scranton and it's municipal
2 authorities.
3 In addition, summaries of
4 Pennsylvania Economy League meetings have
5 not been sent to council on a timely basis.
6 The last meeting summaries received were for
7 early August and summaries were devoid of
8 details for each listed topic. Neil, please
9 send a second notice to PEL requesting the
10 meetings summaries from August 2009 through
11 the present.
12 And finally, I have a hefty list of
13 citizens' requests for the week:
14 City residents report that
15 Lackawanna Avenue is dark from the end of
16 the Steamtown Mall to the Radisson Hotel.
17 Streetlights appear to be out. Please
18 contact MEM Municipal Energy Management to
19 have the problem addressed.
20 South Side residents report that a
21 property located at the top of Meadow Avenue
22 and River Street intersection has a private
23 property sign yet the lot is very overgrown
24 and covered in high weeds. Please contact
25 the owner to clean up the property.
96
1 A tree located between 840 and 842
2 Quincy Avenue was marked for trimming by
3 Mr. Santolli more than a year ago. Tree
4 branches have damaged the homeowner's
5 property by breaking windows and scratching
6 vehicles. Please contact the DPW to trim
7 this tree before winter weather sets in.
8 The 800 block of Quincy Avenue,
9 there is permit parking in this block, yet
10 vehicles are often parked without permits.
11 Residents ask that the permit parking is
12 monitored by the police department. In the
13 past, police were able to ticket more than
14 20 cars that were illegally parked.
15 Also, residents of the 300 block of
16 Wheeler Avenue report that the vehicles
17 without parking permits are left for days
18 and are never ticketed. They too request
19 that the police monitor their block for
20 parking violations.
21 A letter to Mr. Oleski and
22 Mr. Seitzinger: Please provide a written
23 update on the Washburn Street Cemetery on or
24 before October 19, 2009. Overgrown grass
25 and weeds as well as toppled tombstones are
97
1 deplorable. The owner provides little to no
2 provincial care of the grave areas. Such
3 conditions disrespect the deceased and
4 appear to violate contracts. Has the owner
5 been warned and/or cited yet? A cemetery
6 worker states that the Washburn Street
7 Cemetery is in the worst condition he has
8 ever seen. This cannot be allowed to
9 continue and the owner must be cited.
10 Please send a letter to the
11 Department of Health regarding the
12 restaurant located at the 301 North Main
13 Avenue. Neighbors on Lafayette Street
14 continue to report that their homes and
15 neighborhood are infiltrated by smoke from
16 this restaurant. Perhaps, the health
17 department can assist with this issue since
18 city employees are unable to solve the
19 problem.
20 Also, on September 16, 2009, there
21 was a second chimney fire in less than a
22 year in this establishment. It seems the
23 chimney may require cleaning as well. The
24 neighbors remain very upset and as a result
25 I am not satisfied that there health and
98
1 welfare has been addressed.
2 A letter to Daron Northeast on
3 Dickson Avenue. Trucks and forklifts have
4 been observed piling rocks in the lot prior
5 to 7 a.m. Dust problems continue so much so
6 that the evergreens bordering Daron's
7 property appear to be dying. Immediate
8 measures must be taken to control the dust
9 that is a health and welfare issue to this
10 neighborhood.
11 Next, I received an e-mail from a
12 Hill Section resident regarding a nuisance
13 property to which the police have been
14 called twice in the last three weeks. Also,
15 there may be an issue of an illegal
16 conversion to an apartment. I would like
17 copies of this e-mail sent to
18 Mr. Seitzinger, Mr. Wallace and the Scranton
19 Police Department accompanied by a request
20 to respond to these issues.
21 I also received a community
22 complaint form from a member of the Hill
23 Neighborhood Association. The conditions
24 listed on this complaint must be addressed
25 by a city inspector and the animal control
99
1 officer as soon as possible. I am aware
2 that the Hill Section currently has no
3 assigned inspector and this void should be
4 addressed and hopefully it will be earlier
5 in the new year. However, an inspector from
6 the nearest section of Scranton should
7 address these complaints at this time. I
8 would like copies of this complaint given to
9 Licensing and Inspections, animal control
10 and the police department. Council also
11 requests a written update regarding these
12 Hill Section properties on or before
13 October 3, 2009.
14 The door on the house at 601-603
15 Wheeler Avenue was boarded up last week.
16 Also, the weeds were cleared around the fire
17 hydrant and my thanks go out to the DPW and
18 to Mr. Oleski who is trying to contact that
19 owner.
20 Please send a copy of a letter
21 received by council today to the Scranton
22 Police Department regarding a South Side
23 drug house.
24 And, finally, council wishes to know
25 the funding source of the Lackawanna County
100
1 Health and Welfare Board, and that's it.
2 MR. MINORA: I can answer that about
3 the Lackawanna County Health and Welfare
4 Authority, if you would like? They don't
5 fund anything. They are not going to be
6 funding the Marywood project.
7 MS. EVANS: It's run through them.
8 MR. MINORA: Yes, they are a
9 flow-through in order to get municipal
10 interest rates that a nonprofit can't get
11 which are lower. They don't bind the city
12 to anything. We are not obligated to pay it
13 back, the taxpayers are not liable for that,
14 the organization is the university, Marywood
15 University has a sole responsibility for the
16 payback. They are just a flow-through.
17 MS. EVANS: And the legislation
18 that -- well, I don't have it before me
19 tonight, it was provided in the backup, and
20 I will provide that information to
21 Mrs. Schumacher next week, it lists exactly
22 what organizations they are able to, for
23 lack of a better term, do business with or
24 use themselves as this flow-through, so I
25 will get that for you.
101
1 However, though, I do notice as I
2 read the minutes of their meetings, Attorney
3 Minora, that they do actually have funding.
4 They have a --
5 MR. MINORA: They have expenses.
6 MS EVANS: They have a treasurer's
7 report, they will report what balance in
8 their account, what condition the CD's are
9 in, etcetera, so maybe we could determine
10 what the source of those funds would be.
11 MR. MINORA: Well, I'm sure that's
12 available, but I think the concern now is
13 that it's not taxpayer money going to fund
14 these things.
15 MS. EVANS: Oh, no, it's not.
16 MR. MINORA: Most of Allied Services
17 was built through the Health and Welfare
18 Authority, same way. Most of the hospitals
19 are the same way.
20 MS. EVANS: And, as you said, the
21 city does not pledge it's full faith and
22 credit other than --
23 MR. MINORA: Right. Exactly.
24 MS. EVANS: -- to this loan, so the
25 taxpayers of the City of Scranton are in no
102
1 way financially responsible or obligated
2 should their be a failure of payment in the
3 future.
4 MR. MINORA: I would think the
5 authority must have a public budget. I
6 wasn't able to look at it, but as an
7 authority they must have, and I'm sure under
8 the Freedom of Information Act can request
9 or provide it with their annual budget or
10 source of funds used to fund it as any
11 budget would.
12 MS. EVANS: Thank you.
13 MR. MINORA: You are welcome.
14 MS. GATELLI: Amil, as long as you
15 are on the air, I wanted to you to discuss
16 the letter you got from the Attorney General
17 concerning the gun law.
18 MR. MINORA: I did. I got that -- it
19 was sent to me through the DA's Office, it
20 was actually addressed to the District
21 Attorney himself. The Attorney General
22 Corbett suggested that ordinances of the
23 sort that Scranton was considering not be
24 acted upon at this time for a number of
25 reasons: One, there is a clear preemption
103
1 in the firearms statutes. A preemption is
2 not as easily understood as people would
3 like it to be, but in this particular
4 instance what the Firearms Act says under
5 Title 18 is: "No county municipality or
6 township may in any manner regulate the
7 lawful ownership, possession, transfer or
8 transportation of firearms, ammunition or
9 ammunition components when carried or
10 transported for purposes not prohibited by
11 the laws of the Commonwealth."
12 That's what you call a clear
13 preemption. Preemption can be a state
14 passed a statute that covers some area
15 similar to what a municipality might want to
16 legislate on. That's not a clear preemption
17 and that requires a Court decision.
18 Incidentally, that was the big
19 difference between smoking and this one that
20 I will tell you about. So his suggestion is
21 to wait, there are two-cases in the Supreme
22 Court, to pass anything like we were
23 considering last week.
24 I have a -- I mean, I would gladly
25 share this and make a copy of it for all.
104
1 MS. GATELLI: Thanks, Amil. The
2 first thing I would like to talk about is I
3 sent a letter back in the beginning of
4 September concerning the Castle Restaurant
5 in North Scranton. If you have read the
6 paper the last few days there was an
7 incident there over the weekend concerning
8 guns and weapons. I asked the zoning
9 officer to look into it. He is in the
10 hospital and is not working. I also spoke
11 to Representative Kevin Murphy concerning
12 this matter and I will try to reach him
13 again to see if he has looked into the
14 problem at all. There was a problem there,
15 I did report it and I hope that the other
16 two establishments that I have been talking
17 about don't have similar incidents.
18 The one is -- we've got three of
19 them that went to the Liquor Control Board.
20 One went concerning the Clubhouse on Capouse
21 Avenue, "The Bureau of licensing objects to
22 the renewal of the client's license," and
23 it's from the Liquor Control Board so that
24 license is being challenged.
25 Another one from the LCB is 4521
105
1 Pittston Avenue, better known as the Amber
2 Bar. Their history of operation indicates
3 abuse of license and privilege. "It is
4 alleged that you have been abusing your
5 license and privilege and you may no longer
6 be eligible to hold a license." They will
7 be contacted at a later date for a hearing,
8 so their license is also being challenged by
9 the Liquor Control Board.
10 And the final one that is being
11 reviewed by the Liquor Control Board is
12 Bennie's LLC, 731 Pittston Avenue, better
13 known to people in that area as Tom and
14 Jerry's. The activity there is not limited
15 to shots fired, weapons, fights, assaults,
16 loud music, interfering with police and
17 disorderly operations.
18 So these are some places that I have
19 been complaining about. Nuisance bars are
20 certainly a very real threat to
21 neighborhoods and the people that live near
22 these establishments should file their
23 complaints with the Liquor Control Board or
24 the District Attorney's Office so we can in
25 turn send them to the District Attorney --
106
1 to the LCB.
2 Last week I read a list of streets
3 that were being paved by the gas company. I
4 would like to apologize to the water company
5 because they too were participating in this
6 paving. It wasn't just the gas company, so
7 my apologies to the water company for not
8 giving you credit for paving some of the
9 streets where you had dug up some of the
10 pavement to do your work.
11 As far as speakers talking about
12 other speakers, I myself don't find that
13 appropriate. I think that everyone is
14 allowed to come here and if you disagree
15 with what they say I don't think that that
16 should matter. I don't think it should
17 matter if they come here at election time.
18 That speaker is there for everyone.
19 Everyone has freedom of speech, not just the
20 people that come here every week, and I just
21 don't think that's fair.
22 I do know Mrs. Williams and, you
23 know, she does come here and, you know, I
24 don't know always agree with her myself, but
25 she has every right to speak here and, you
107
1 know, that's the way it's been operating
2 here for quite sometime. If you don't like
3 what the people say they are ridiculed, some
4 of them were spit on, and know, that's the
5 idea here, you know, just have the crew here
6 that has one agenda in mind and harass the
7 rest of the people, including the people up
8 here getting harassed.
9 I know people that come to that
10 podium that supported Bob Cordaro. They had
11 signs in their yard, and that's okay, that's
12 fine, but he raised the taxes 48 percent. I
13 didn't see you down there complaining to him
14 when he raised them 48 percent, you had a
15 sign in your yard for him, so you are a
16 bunch of hypocrites. That's all I can say.
17 You are here for one agenda and one agenda
18 only.
19 You are here to harass us up here,
20 taking our picture every week, trying to
21 intimidate us, and you won because we lost,
22 so your tactics worked and I'm sure you will
23 do it to the next crowd, too, if they don't
24 agree with certain things.
25 The police record will come out from
108
1 that boy and then you will say he does have
2 a police record if he doesn't agree with the
3 majority, you will use the same tactics with
4 the next crowd and it's ashame because no
5 one wants to run for city council. No one
6 wants to subject themselves to this and it's
7 really ashame. You have hijacked the city
8 and I hope you have a good time.
9 I hope you straighten it out, I
10 really do, because I love Scranton and I
11 have worked in the city my whole life, most
12 of you know that, and because I didn't agree
13 with you it was another story, and I was
14 never against the cops and firemen and I
15 resent when people say that. Never did I
16 ever do one vote up here against a firemen
17 or a police officer. I fought for them in
18 the neighborhoods. I know you don't want to
19 hear it, but I'm going to say it anyway
20 because I did and I'm very proud of it.
21 And you can keep writing, Nelson,
22 keep writing away.
23 MR. ANCHERANI: I will.
24 MS. GATELLI: Just keep on doing it.
25 Because you've all have skeletons in your
109
1 closets, and we all know what they are.
2 Many people that come there haven't been the
3 best citizens and haven't got their jobs in
4 the best way, so it's very funny that you
5 can criticize other people. It's not very
6 nice. It's not nice to intimidate people.
7 If you disagree, that's fine, go for
8 it, but to come here week after week, take
9 our picture so you can put it on the
10 Internet and intimidate us, that's
11 disgusting. We just had an assembly on that
12 in school today about bullying and bullying
13 on the Internet, and we are teaching the
14 kids not to do that because it's not right.
15 There is children in the United States that
16 commit suicide because people say stuff on
17 the Internet about them. It's not right.
18 Not right at all.
19 I did my best while I was here and I
20 will continue until the end and then I will
21 go back to my neighborhood and continue to
22 work and fight for police officers in my
23 neighborhood and to keep my firehouse open
24 and I will be here when necessary at that
25 end of the podium and at the zoning board
110
1 where you see me so many times, where you
2 say I don't have a right to go there either.
3 I have right to go there and speak for my
4 neighborhood and I will continue to do that.
5 Thank you very much.
6 MS. FANUCCI: I received today a
7 report from OECD on all of the practices
8 that they have had month. It was a report
9 that Linda gave us. It's five pages long so
10 I'm not going to read the entire thing, but
11 it's on everything from the homebuyers
12 program to all of the grants, so everything
13 that's been given out so I'd like to make
14 copies and have that submitted and, Neil,
15 maybe you can make copies and make sure
16 everybody gets this for next week.
17 Also, I do agree that on the topics
18 of guns and weapons that it's not right for
19 people to bring weapons into city hall.
20 I -- unfortunately, as of right now there is
21 nothing to stop anyone from doing it. We
22 don't have legislation and, Amil, I'd love
23 to give you a little bit more work, but if
24 we can look into something and what we can
25 do, if we can actually write legislation and
111
1 then figure out a way to back it up.
2 Unfortunately, this is going to cost
3 the taxpayers' money because then there is
4 going to have to be ways to stand and ways
5 to do things, but maybe if we can just
6 research it a little bit to see what we can
7 do.
8 MR. MINORA: I'm going to pass around
9 this opinion I have gotten from the Attorney
10 General. There may be some very limited
11 areas where it can be -- where there can be
12 legislation, but much of it is preempted by
13 the state law, very clear preemption, so
14 I'll look into the area, frankly, I intended
15 to anyway.
16 MS. FANUCCI: Right.
17 MR. MINORA: I had my mind on that.
18 MS. FANUCCI: Thank you. And I am
19 going to also piggyback a little bit on what
20 Judy said. It's amazing to me, I love irony
21 and this place is full of it. As one person
22 is up speaking at the podium saying we are
23 not giving Phyllis her fair share and her
24 free speech and in the same breath saying
25 someone else is coming here and I don't want
112
1 like they are saying, they shouldn't be able
2 to say that. They should have their facts
3 straight. If we honestly screened
4 90 percent of this the speakers for facts, I
5 don't know how far we would get.
6 I mean, it was okay for someone to
7 get up here week after week and accuse me of
8 my parking tickets in the past, not one of
9 you got up and defended me. Why not? Why
10 not? Why weren't you worried about me then?
11 Let's be honest. That's not what
12 it's about. It's not about the right to
13 speak or the right for someone to say the
14 truth or what needs to be said, it's about
15 the game, and you are very, very good. I
16 give you kudos, all of you are very good.
17 It's very, very well calculated and I'm
18 proud. I'm proud because if I didn't watch
19 it I couldn't believe it could actually take
20 place. If I didn't watch the hallway
21 meetings and the secret little passing of
22 notes, it's like a higher end high school.
23 A higher end high school, but only if it's
24 benefiting you, personally you. It doesn't
25 matter what's going on out there, and it
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1 doesn't matter who you are taking down and
2 how are you doing it.
3 Today alone we had speakers get up
4 and say that things were given to people
5 because of who they were, that the mayor is
6 now not caring about the city because he is
7 running for office. Mrs. Evans ran for
8 another office while she was a city council
9 woman, so did Mr. Courtright, it's sort of
10 what happens in the political world. Did it
11 mean at that Mrs. Evans didn't like city
12 council anymore, didn't care about her city
13 because she was going to be a state rep?
14 No. But for some reason now we are going to
15 play this end.
16 It is almost absurd because one hand
17 you say one thing on the other you do
18 another. You can't expect it, so by my
19 point of view, yeah, I would love for it not
20 to happen at all. Do I believe people get
21 up and be able to say things that aren't
22 correct and take down people with them,
23 business owners or local people who are
24 doing what they think is right or they
25 believe? We have people get up and bash
114
1 businesses for opening because they didn't
2 think it was the type of business we should
3 have in the city. They are wrong. They
4 shouldn't have that type. That's never
5 going to make it because of one person
6 thinking it won't make it and putting it out
7 there, to me is that supportive? Is that
8 something we want to do? Is that who we are
9 as council? No. Is that who we are as a
10 city? No. We heard it tonight, we are
11 supposed to band together. I love that
12 speech. I wish it were true. Wouldn't it
13 be a nice world. Let's start it. I think
14 it's great, but we can't do it only when
15 it's going to benefit the people who are
16 here or your people or your candidates who
17 are for everyone, but everyone else.
18 I did what I did because I liked
19 running for office. I'm still happy with
20 it. Judy did the same thing. So did I
21 Bill, so did Janet, so did Bob. We all did
22 it with the same intent, but for some reason
23 when you get in this chambers that all
24 changes. I sat here tonight and watched, we
25 had our cameo visit from Mr. Pilcheski and
115
1 his wife, which is always nice. We watched
2 you guys pass around all of your stuff in
3 the back and all gather and in the same
4 token have somebody saying, "I don't know if
5 there is it a lawsuit pending," well, we
6 could just ask him. Why don't we bring him
7 up?
8 We don't want to spend money on
9 lawsuits, but it's okay for the lawsuits
10 that we're paying that he is suing, that's
11 okay, for everyone else that's okay, but
12 other lawsuits aren't, so if we are not
13 going to pay for lawsuits let's stop it.
14 Let's make it a wrong on all ends. Don't
15 support the people who are suing the city
16 because you are the city. You are the city
17 regardless, so if you're upset that one
18 person has to pay, whether or not I'm not
19 sure what goes on there and I don't really--
20 I'm just saying, he started the lawsuit, we
21 have a lawsuit pending, a countersuit
22 happens, you are not mad at the person who
23 started the lawsuit, are you not mad at the
24 person who sued you in the beginning,
25 because you are the taxpayer, you are mad at
116
1 a countersuit. Why? Because they are your
2 friends. They are your buds. Hang out.
3 Help write some of our -- I believe one of
4 our, what was it -- it helped with some of
5 our legislation I believe at one point
6 trying to pass our budget. I believe you
7 give some insight of that.
8 That's okay. It should be. Yeah.
9 It should be, but don't want it be different
10 when it's you. Don't want it be different
11 for us. It's everyone here is the same
12 thing, we have the same rules. We want
13 everything better, so now that we are in
14 this peace, love and joy mode after today I
15 think it's wonderful. I think we should all
16 move on and let whatever happens in the
17 political world happen. Stop with the talk
18 about elections here. I would love that
19 from day, I said that from day one. We
20 should not even be able to speak on it
21 about. It shouldn't be an issue. Just move
22 on and let that happen outside of here, but
23 it will never happen. In fact, it's going
24 to be ten times worse.
25 So, yeah, I have to admit I have had
117
1 parking tickets also in the past, and they
2 weren't all mine, but I did. So that is all
3 I have. I just think a lot of what is said
4 here seems to be one-sided, and that's okay,
5 and it's going to be a lot worse in the next
6 few months at least then you will have your
7 constant podium to enjoy, and that is all I
8 have. Thank you.
9 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yes. On the gun
10 issue I'll just make my position clear, I am
11 in favor of that legislation, and the only
12 reason I didn't vote for it because it was
13 brought up that there was a lawsuit pending
14 and I didn't want to see the same thing
15 happen that happened with the smoking ban.
16 If they say that it's legal, and I'm still
17 here, I will vote for it. I'm certainly in
18 favor of it.
19 The University of Scranton police,
20 I'm not quite sure how many people they have
21 that have been through Act 120 and are
22 certified, two or three, but to the best of
23 my knowledge their arrest powers are on
24 University property and they do not --
25 aren't going to be coming into your home, as
118
1 some said.
2 One thing that came up tonight, and
3 we all ran for office, right, and we all
4 chose to be here, and so we are fair game
5 and I have been fortunate, I haven't been
6 attacked as some of the others, but you
7 know, I guess somebody mentioned somebody's
8 child at the podium there and to me no
9 matter how old your child is it's still your
10 child. They could be 27, I know we think as
11 children as 10, 11 years old, but they are
12 always your children. I don't think they
13 are fair game. I don't think anybody's
14 child should be brought into anything you
15 do. If you don't like one of us, that's
16 fine. If you want to come after us, that's
17 fine, we chose to run for this, but I really
18 don't believe that any time that anybody's
19 children, whether it's on this council or
20 the mayors or anybody, should be brought
21 into the mix. I don't think there is any
22 place for that. That bothers me.
23 And lastly, because I experienced
24 it, and I call it tent city because that's
25 what the people that live there call it and
119
1 I do not recommend you to go into tent city
2 because they are protective of what little
3 they have, so I don't recommend you going
4 down there. I think we all know where it
5 is. I had a reason to be there and I had
6 occasion to be there and I walked the whole
7 length of it and I did not see any children.
8 I only saw one female and her and her
9 husband I believe had just arrived in this
10 area from Arkansas and they had no where to
11 go so they were down there.
12 And in all honesty, some of these
13 people don't want to leave there, all right?
14 I mean, you can't make them go to a shelter.
15 You can't make them get a home. I spoke to
16 one gentleman, I said, "What are going to do
17 when the winter comes?"
18 He said, "I've been here for two
19 winters, I'm fine."
20 He had an elaborate system. He has
21 his name over his house, I guess for lack of
22 a better word. He had a fishing rod there,
23 all kinds of canned goods and some people
24 say, well, why don't the police chase them?
25 If they chase them they are going to go
120
1 somewhere else, all right, and they are
2 going to chase them from there, so I think
3 that the thought is this if they are not
4 bothering anybody leave them alone, but I
5 did not see any children.
6 And if that gentleman had seen
7 children, young children as you said, I
8 wasn't asking him to tell us so that we can
9 get them in trouble, I was asking him, I
10 think every one of us here would have been
11 in favor of trying to help a child, you
12 know. I think he thought we were going to
13 try to get them ripped away from their
14 parents, but some people don't want help.
15 That's just a fact of life. Some people
16 don't want help.
17 The shelters, to the best of my
18 knowledge, almost never turn anybody away.
19 Even when they are full sometimes if there
20 is no where else for them to go they will
21 try to make accommodations. If they were
22 drinking or if they're on drugs they don't
23 allow them in and that's a fact and,
24 unfortunately, a good percentage of the
25 homeless in this area are drinking or on
121
1 drugs.
2 I witnessed -- not witnessed, but I
3 was involved in a situation where they
4 attacked a guy for three cans of beer, and
5 that's just a reality. I mean, we can't
6 close our eyes to what goes on in this city
7 and it goes on in every city not just in
8 this city, but I can understand what that
9 gentleman was saying about the homeless, but
10 I don't agree with a lot of what he said.
11 And again, if there is any children, if
12 anybody knows of any children I guess we're
13 considered the city leaders here, you know,
14 and so maybe when we are asked to do
15 something, but I think each and every one of
16 us would do whatever we could to help us and
17 if you aware of that situation let us know.
18 I think maybe he took what you were
19 saying the wrong way, Judy, I think you were
20 trying to rip children away.
21 MS. EVANS: I think he thought that
22 children would be taken from their parents
23 and he didn't want to separate family.
24 MS. GATELLI: Oh, no. They would
25 find a place for them right away.
122
1 MR. COURTRIGHT: I think he
2 misunderstood you.
3 MS. GATELLI: Oh, my goodness.
4 MR. COURTRIGHT: That's what my
5 thought is, and for women, I mean, we have
6 areas in this town for battered women, but
7 they don't make it public because they are
8 battered women. I mean, I just happen to
9 know where some of them are.
10 So could we do more? Yes. And do
11 we need more? Yes? Especially in the
12 economic times that we have now. But,
13 please, if you know of any children let one
14 of us know or let the mayor know or
15 somebody, obviously, I have not been on the
16 mayor's side for the bulk of the time I've
17 been here, but I don't think he is in favor
18 of children being homeless, he has to be
19 against that, and I'm sure he would help, so
20 if there is out there and if that gentleman
21 watches this reply please tell us, we going
22 to try to help them. We are not going to
23 try to rip these children away from the
24 parents.
25 And, I don't know, I kind of think
123
1 we hit a new low here tonight. I think we
2 need to get these meetings under control, I
3 just don't know how we going to do that, but
4 to me it's a little embarrassing when we
5 have to stop a meeting, so most of us won't
6 be here next year and I hope that the next
7 council is able to control the people better
8 than this council was able to because I
9 don't think it sheds a good light on the
10 city.
11 So I wish the next council the best
12 of luck, and I hope things go a little
13 better for them than it did for us and maybe
14 they can learn from some of the mistakes we
15 made, and that's all I have. Thank you.
16 MR. MCGOFF: A couple of things that
17 I would like to react to: Number one, last
18 week's meeting was disconcerting for a lot
19 of people. I am not one that has ever fired
20 a gun, I have never owned one, I'm sitting
21 in a room full of people carrying guns,
22 especially at a business meeting it was
23 something that was, as I said,
24 disconcerting.
25 However, with that said, we met with
124
1 the police prior to the meeting, we talked
2 about what might occur, I took the advice of
3 the police and spoke with other members of
4 council and we proceeded with what we
5 thought was the best way of dealing with the
6 situation.
7 I would like to also commend the
8 people that attended the meeting for the way
9 they dealt with the situation. It could
10 have been -- become very volatile. People
11 acted with restraint, with decorum and the
12 meeting proceeded without incident. I don't
13 feel badly about that at all.
14 Should there be something done to
15 prevent people from taking weapons into a
16 public meeting? I believe that's an
17 absolute must. There are so many incidents
18 of -- incidents occurring where people are
19 killed or injured at public meetings where
20 people bring in weapons. There needs to be
21 something done. The problem is, as Attorney
22 Minora said, we are limited in what we can
23 do. This is something that needs to be
24 addressed at the state level that is beyond
25 our control. Should we encourage our
125
1 representatives to do something? I would.
2 However, we all know that any time
3 anything mentioning any type of restraint of
4 weapons comes about in any type of forum at
5 any level of government, it's met with
6 resistance, and as long as people are
7 looking for votes, as long as politicians
8 are elected, it's going to be difficult to
9 change any laws dealing with firearms, and
10 so it's something that I don't know how we
11 live with it or we have to live with it, but
12 again, I feel that you know, what occurred
13 last week, while it was, as I said,
14 disconcerting it was something that we
15 needed to address and I thought we addressed
16 it properly. Had we cancelled the meeting
17 or done something it would have happened at
18 the next meeting. There was just no way of
19 avoiding it. Hopefully, it doesn't occur
20 again.
21 During my teaching career I taught
22 social studies taught government, whenever
23 we got to riots we used to talk and I used
24 to tell my students that just because
25 something is legal it doesn't make it right
126
1 and it doesn't make it appropriate, and what
2 we saw last week was I think an
3 inappropriate display of a person's rights.
4 I think that people carrying guns in here
5 should have shown more restraint. There was
6 no need to do that. The message could have
7 been -- the message could have been sent
8 without the display and, like I said, I hope
9 it doesn't occur in the future.
10 The other thing that I would really
11 like to address is the decorum of meeting.
12 I think Mr. Courtright is right. We may
13 have reached a new low tonight. This is a
14 business meeting and unless people come here
15 with the idea that this is the business of
16 the city and that we are going to conduct
17 the business of the city during this meeting
18 then they don't belong here. I know that
19 that may, you know, offend some people that
20 everybody has a right to be here, well, if
21 the only intent is to come and perform or to
22 come and disrupt then you do not belong at a
23 business meeting.
24 MS. HUMPHRIES: You cause the
25 disruption.
127
1 MR. MCGOFF: My point made. And
2 that's for everyone in this chamber and
3 everyone that was in this chamber. This is
4 a business meeting. Unless we are
5 discussing business of the city, unless we
6 are conducting ourselves in a way in which
7 we are dealing with the legislation, the
8 problems concerning this city, then we
9 don't -- we should not be speaking, and we
10 should not be acting.
11 We need to get it back to what it is
12 supposed to be. We need to come here with
13 the intent of conducting the business of the
14 city, and I say that for all of us, and
15 until that happens --
16 MS. HUMPHRIES: I love my city
17 council and I am --
18 MR. MCGOFF: Until that happens we
19 are not --
20 MS. HUMPHRIES: I apologize.
21 MR. MCGOFF: Until this happens there
22 is nothing that we can do other than
23 arresting people and making a bigger
24 spectacle of this meeting it's going to
25 devolve even further. And, like I said, I
128
1 think -- hopefully this was the lowset and
2 that we can begin to move forward and bring
3 better decorum to the meetings. And with
4 that said, let's move to what we should be
5 here for.
6 MR. MINORA: 5-B NO BUSINESS AT THIS
7 TIME. SIXTH. 6-A. READING BY TITLE - FILE
8 OF COUNCIL NO. 88, 2009 - AN ORDINANCE -
9 AMENDING FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 49, 2008, AN
10 ORDINANCE ENTITLED "GENERAL CITY OPERATING
11 BUDGET 2009" BY TRANSFERRING $4,400.00 FROM
12 ACCOUNT NO. 01.051.00051.4010 (LICENSE &
13 INSPECTIONS-STANDARD SALARY) TO ACCOUNT NO.
14 01.051.00051.4101 (UNIFORM
15 ALLOWANCE-MILEAGE) TO PROVIDE FUNDING TO
16 REIMBURSE EMPLOYEES IN THE LICENSE &
17 INSPECTIONS DEPARTMENT FOR MILEAGE.
18 MR. MCGOFF: You have heard reading
19 by title of Item 6-A, what is your pleasure?
20 MR. COURTRIGHT: I move that Item 6-A
21 pass reading by title.
22 MS. FANUCCI: Second.
23 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? All
24 those in favor signify by saying aye.
25 MS. EVANS: Aye.
129
1 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
2 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
3 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
4 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed? The
5 ayes have it and so moved. Did someone care
6 to make a motion to move that to Seventh
7 Order?
8 MS. GATELLI: I'll make a motion that
9 we move 6-A to Seventh Order.
10 MR. COURTRIGHT: Second.
11 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? This
12 is being done at the request of the people
13 who are awaiting the reimbursement. They
14 have been waiting for I believe some time
15 and we were asked to move this forward so
16 that they can receive those funds. When it
17 gets to Seventh Order we will provide time
18 for anyone to speak on it on that particular
19 item.
20 MR. MINORA: 6-B.
21 MR. MCGOFF: We didn't vote on the
22 motion.
23 MR. MINORA: Oh, I thought you did.
24 I'm sorry.
25 MR. MCGOFF: All in favor of moving
130
1 6-A to Seventh Order please say aye.
2 MS. EVANS: Aye.
3 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
4 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
5 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
6 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed? The
7 ayes have it and so moved.
8 MR. MINORA: 6-B. READING BY TITLE -
9 FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 89, 2009 - AN
10 ORDINANCE- AMENDING FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 49,
11 2008, AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED "GENERAL CITY
12 OPERATING BUDGET 2009" BY TRANSFERRING
13 $390.00 FROM ACCOUNT NO. 01.040.00040.4201
14 (BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION-PROFESSIONAL
15 SERVICES) TO ACCOUNT NO. 01.040.00040.4120
16 (BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION- LIFE/DISABILITY
17 INSURANCE) TO PROVIDE FUNDING TO COVER THE
18 REMAINING 2009 PAYMENTS FOR THE BUSINESS
19 ADMINISTRATION LIFE/DISABILITY INSURANCE
20 PREMIUMS.
21 MR. MCGOFF: You have heard reading
22 by title of Item 6-B, what is your pleasure?
23 MR. COURTRIGHT: I move that Item 6-B
24 pass reading by title.
25 MS. FANUCCI: Second.
131
1 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? All
2 in favor signify by saying aye.
3 MS. EVANS: Aye.
4 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
5 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
6 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
7 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed? The
8 ayes have it and so moved.
9 MR. MINORA: 6-C. READING BY TITLE-
10 FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 90, 2009 - AN ORDINANCE-
11 AMENDING FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 49, 2008, AN
12 ORDINANCE ENTITLED "GENERAL CITY OPERATING
13 BUDGET 2009" BY TRANSFERRING $1,610.00 FROM
14 ACCOUNT NO. 01.011.00071.4390 (POLICE
15 DEPARTMENT-MATERIALS & SUPPLIES) TO ACCOUNT
16 NO. 01.011.00071.4120 (POLICE
17 DEPARTMENT-LIFE/DISABILITY INSURANCE) TO
18 PROVIDE FUNDING TO COVER THE REMAINING 2009
19 PAYMENTS FOR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT
20 LIFE/DISABILITY INSURANCE PREMIUMS.
21 MR. MCGOFF: You have heard reading
22 by title of Item 6-C, what is your pleasure?
23 MR. COURTRIGHT: I move that Item 6-C
24 pass reading by title.
25 MS. FANUCCI: Second.
132
1 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? All
2 in favor signify by saying aye.
3 MS. EVANS: Aye.
4 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
5 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
6 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
7 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed? The
8 ayes have it and so moved.
9 MR. MINORA: 6-D. READING BY TITLE -
10 FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 91, 2009- AN ORDINANCE -
11 AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND OTHER APPROPRIATE
12 CITY OFFICIALS TO ACCEPT AND RECORD A DEED
13 CONVEYING OWNERSHIP OF AN UNOPENED PORTION
14 OF SWETLAND STREET, MORE FULLY DESCRIBED AS
15 LOT 173, BLOCK 13, WARD 21 IN THE CITY OF
16 SCRANTON, TAX MAP NUMBER 13320-010-034.
17 MR. MCGOFF: You have heard reading
18 by title of Item 6-D, what is your pleasure?
19 MR. COURTRIGHT: I move that Item 6-D
20 pass reading by title.
21 MS. FANUCCI: Second.
22 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? All
23 in favor signify by saying aye.
24 MS. EVANS: Aye.
25 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
133
1 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
2 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
3 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed? The
4 ayes have it and so moved.
5 MR. MINORA: SEVENTH ORDER. FINAL
6 READING. 7-A. FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE
7 COMMITTEE ON RULES - FOR ADOPTION -
8 RESOLUTION NO. 181, 2009 - APPROVING THE
9 FINANCING BY THE SCRANTON-LACKAWANNA HEALTH
10 AND WELFARE AUTHORITY OF CERTAIN CAPITAL
11 PROJECTS FOR THE BENEFIT OF MARYWOOD
12 UNIVERSITY, A PENNSYLVANIA NOT-FOR-PROFIT
13 CORPORATION SERVING THE PUBLIC; DECLARING
14 THAT IT IS DESIRABLE FOR THE HEALTH, SAFETY
15 AND WELFARE OF THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF
16 SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA,
17 AND THE AREA SERVED BY MARYWOOD UNIVERSITY,
18 TO HAVE THE PROJECTS PROVIDED BY AND
19 FINANCED THROUGH THE AUTHORITY; DESIGNATING
20 THE MAYOR OF THE CITY, OR, IN HIS ABSENCE,
21 THE PRESIDENT OR VICE PRESIDENT OF THE CITY
22 COUNCIL, AS THE PERSON TO ACT ON BEHALF OF
23 THE CITY COUNCIL AS THE "APPLICABLE ELECTED
24 REPRESENTATIVE" WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE
25 INTERNAL REVENUE CODE OF 1986, AS AMENDED;
134
1 AUTHORIZING SUCH MAYOR OF THE CITY OR THE
2 PRESIDENT OR VICE PRESIDENT OF THE CITY
3 COUNCIL OF THE CITY TO TAKE CERTAIN ACTIONS
4 ON BEHALF OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY AS
5 SUCH "APPLICABLE ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE";
6 AND AUTHORIZING OTHER NECESSARY AND
7 APPROPRIATE ACTION.
8 MR. MCGOFF: As Chair for the
9 Committee on Rules, I recommend final
10 passage of Item 7-A.
11 MR. COURTRIGHT: Second.
12 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? Roll
13 call, please?
14 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.
15 MS. EVANS: Yes.
16 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli.
17 MS. GATELLI. Yes.
18 MR. COOLICAN: Ms. Fanucci.
19 MS. FANUCCI: Yes.
20 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright.
21 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yes.
22 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. McGoff.
23 MR. MCGOFF: Yes. I hereby declare
24 Item 7-A legally and lawfully adopted.
25 MR. MINORA: 7-B, formerly 6-A.
135
1 MR. MCGOFF: Any speakers on what is
2 now 7-B? Please proceed.
3 MR. MINORA: 7-B. READING BY TITLE -
4 FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 88, 2009 - AN ORDINANCE-
5 AMENDING FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 49, 2008, AN
6 ORDINANCE ENTITLED "GENERAL CITY OPERATING
7 BUDGET 2009" BY TRANSFERRING $4,400.00 FROM
8 ACCOUNT NO. 01.051.00051.4010 (LICENSE &
9 INSPECTIONS-STANDARD SALARY) TO ACCOUNT NO.
10 01.051.00051.4101 (UNIFORM
11 ALLOWANCE-MILEAGE) TO PROVIDE FUNDING TO
12 REIMBURSE EMPLOYEES IN THE LICENSE &
13 INSPECTIONS DEPARTMENT FOR MILEAGE.
14 MR. MCGOFF: What is the
15 recommendation of the Chairperson for the
16 Committee on Finance?
17 MS. GATELLI: As Chair for Finance,
18 I recommend final passage of Item 7-B.
19 MR. COURTRIGHT: Second.
20 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? Roll
21 call, please?
22 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.
23 MS. EVANS: Yes.
24 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli.
25 MS. GATELLI. Yes.
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1 MR. COOLICAN: Ms. Fanucci.
2 MS. FANUCCI: Yes.
3 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright.
4 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yes.
5 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. McGoff.
6 MR. MCGOFF: Yes. I hereby declare
7 Item 7-B legally and lawfully adopted.
8 Motion to adjourn.
9 MR. COURTRIGHT: So moved.
10 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you for your
11 participation.
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1
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3 C E R T I F I C A T E
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5 I hereby certify that the proceedings and
6 evidence are contained fully and accurately in the
7 notes of testimony taken by me at the hearing of the
8 above-captioned matter and that the foregoing is a true
9 and correct transcript of the same to the best of my
10 ability.
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CATHENE S. NARDOZZI, RPR
14 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER
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