City Council - Regular Meeting

Hello? Hey, Karen. Hi, Julie. Julie. Hey.

Good evening. Good evening, Julie.

Hi. Hi, Ken. The mayor tried to steal your seat, Julie.

Oh, no worries.

Frank's trading about.

I won. Okay, we're going to call the State of Central City Council to please rise for any invocation, followed by the Pledge of the Flag. As we come before you today to discuss important city matters, we ask for your guidance and wisdom. You are the source of all knowledge and understanding. Therefore, we seek your direction in our decision-making process. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Roll call, Madam Clerk.

Mr. Brown?

Here.

Ms. Zonda-Dennis? Here. Mr. Pinnabone? Here. Mrs. Rose? Here. Mr. Graziano?

Here.

Mrs. Hartrath-Bittinger? Here. And Mayor Panto? Mayor Panto? Here. I didn't hear you. Were you in a fight? You should see the other guy.

Approval of the agenda? Moved. Moved and seconded. Any discussion?

Roll call? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I didn't get a chance to check the update. Did we make the update on Graciana? On what he wanted?

I have a question, though. Oh, okay. Because it says, in number three, it says that it becomes effective within 30 days once approved by council. It's the last line. Is that not enough?

No, no. It just, it has to, the appointments go to council.

Right. I think it has to have the charter language where it goes to council and it has to have five voting members.

Okay.

That's what we added.

All right.

So what I'm going to do, Mayor, is on that item, on that agenda item,

It is bill number 27.

I'm going to amend that to include the language from Councilman Graziano that the appointments go to council for approval as the charter states.

That language in the ordinance was just stricken out. You can unstrike that language.

Either way, but that's how we're going to approve it.

It's not on there.

It's not on this one. So we're going to approve it and add that language in, and then we'll add it in. We're going to approve it with that language in it, correct?

Since that's a requirement of the code, it's not a change that would require re-advertising. Right.

So we're just going to vote on it, and then you guys can slide it in there. And then it takes effect in 30 days.

So is there approval on the agenda?

So moved.

Second. Moved and seconded. All in favor, roll call.

Ms. Zondo-Dennis? Aye. Mr. Pinnabone? Aye. Mrs. Rose? Aye. Mr. Graziano? Aye. Mrs. Hartrath-Bittinger? Aye. Mayor Panto? Aye. And Mr. Brown?

Aye. And we'll move on to action on the minutes of August 26th meeting.

So moved. Second.

Moved and seconded. Any additions, deletions, or corrections? Roll call.

Mr. Pinnabon? Aye. Mrs. Rose? Aye. Mr. Graziano? Aye. Mrs. Hartrath-Bittinger? Aye. Mayor Panto? Aye. Mr. Brown?

Aye.

Ms. Zondo-Dennis?

At this time, we have public comment.

Okay.

On agenda items only, at the end of the meeting, it would be time for you to discuss anything you would like to ask about City of Easton. Anyone want to? Yeah. That's okay. To the podium, and you give your name and address.

My name is Angela Figuera.

Angela? Spell the last name, please.

Angela Figuera. My address is 1732 West North Street, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 18018. I'm the wife of Andre Figuera, who drowned in the Delaware River.

Very sorry for your loss. Thank you. Very sorry.

Thank you. Sorry. And I believe there was a fisherman prior to that, but I can't speak on that. I know as far as my husband, on June 21st, he was fishing, and he drowned in the confluence of the Delaware and the Lehigh Valley River. What I'm pushing for, and I was in contact with the proper authority as I had thought I was, I'm pushing for more signs for the river. We absolutely love the river. I think the... what you guys have done as far as like televised and shown vests and all that stuff. That is amazing. Unfortunately, my husband and I, we were on vacation in Cape May. And I guess maybe ignorant to the whole fact of fishermen also need to wear vests. The issue being, I think there, of course, we visited many of times. I've been with my husband for 29 years. So we've been there many of times, visit the farmer's market, all of that. we were not aware of the extreme drop-offs and the undercurrents that are there. I was in cooperation with Lewis, I believe his name is Lewis Campos. You're right. Oh. Okay, yes, so you know me pretty well. I think we've been playing kind of like phone tag, yes, and I know that we've been just trying to just make more of the public. Obviously, I can't bring Andre back. I lost my husband, and... you know, partner of many years. We're young. He was 48 years old. I'm young. We have children, grandchildren, and so on and so forth. So putting that past the personal level, because I know you guys only have a short amount of time, helping other people. And really, I'm here to just help other people be aware. I actually went down to the site, and I think we had been in discussion with that. Just realizing the potential of, if you actually look at my husband's scene, you can actually see his fishing bag was there. You can see his fishing pole. Both of his fishing poles were there. Andre was a very careful fisherman. He even got temporary license and everything like that in Cape May for our boys. The issue with it, he was distracted, I believe. He had a fish finder and I think, we don't exactly know what happened. I think we were talking too. Possibly maybe he was distracted and his fish finder fell in. and the current was just taking him, three witnesses were saying he was just being pulled in, so he couldn't be saved, which of course I don't expect any civilian to just jump into the water. The issue, and I think a big argument is, and there are signs there, I have went down there, and I have went down to the scene, and there are new signs, which I think are very productive, and I think we had talked about that. Fishermen are not swimmers. And not all of them are waders. And he was not wearing boots. He was found with his sneakers, his Nikes tied on, his sweatshorts, and his shirt, and his hat. He was just going for a little bit of fishing. Obviously, I have a proposal as far as more signs going up, more awareness. I actually went down to the scene, talked to a few people, did not want to frighten them because obviously, like, oh, hi, my husband is... you know, a victim plus a man a week prior to that. I just wanted to say, are you aware that there's quite dangers in this river that my husband and I weren't aware of? And if he was aware of that, if he were to have the signs, I believe, he would have avoided that area, those sudden drop-offs, those hitting currents. And there were no signs where, to my knowledge, unless I'm misunderstanding, when I went down to the scene of the Larry Holmes in the Scott Park area and over where that boat launch is, where many fishermen go, I have spoken to a fisherman that said it's a very safe area. And maybe it is when you're offshore. My husband must have been going in, obviously, a little bit, I don't know, to his ankles. I don't know, did he go to his knees? I have no idea on that. I know he wasn't very courageous and brave going to the water. So he's very cautious with that. With that being said, most people said, no, I'm not aware of anything. With you guys televising it was fantastic I saw you know I saw you and I thought that was wonderful we didn't happen to see that and we came back and there were no signs if Andre would have saw a signs it could potentially. have saved his life. At the end of the day, fishermen, it's kind of at your own risk. And so I do understand that the municipality in the East End has a certain, maybe there's certain guidelines. And I don't know if you were investigating that, because I know we were talking about that. And you had said you were going to get back to me in those few weeks to say, what are we allowed to do? We can't obviously say fishermen can't fish, because it's a public, you know,

So, Lewis, I don't know if you're aware. Ma'am, first of all, I'm sorry for your loss. Thank you. I was actually on the scene when they located your husband and then recovered him. And being down there, we were talking to the fire department, and then my conversation went to our public works director because of the lack of signage. So the decision at that point, Lewis, and you can follow up if you don't mind, was to put the pole signs in front of the water Going down towards the falls where your husband was at by the rocks because there is nothing down there. But spacing them before you walk in the water so you pretty much hit yourself in the face with the sign. So Dave agreed to that after we talked about it. So we're just waiting to see what could happen from that. So that was the discussion we had. I don't know where it went from there.

I think there are a couple of things, Frank. Number one is he looked into them. and came back then to me and said that the problem with the polls there is that they would get washed out. That was his concern. Because obviously there's low tides, but as we all know, the high tides are very aggressive over there. He then went on to put the signs that are against the wall. I don't know if you... I have.

I went down to the scene myself.

They're smaller signs.

Yeah, the problem with those signs...

Very small.

They're small. Not only are they small, but Mayor, they're on the wall. And they even say no parking, but if you go down there at any time, cars are parked, which is a problem for our emergency responses to get down there, so... We talked about getting bigger signs up front to stop because they're just not able to see.

Yeah, what I'll do is because that was the response that I got back with regards to the signs on the lower level. But what I'll do is discuss with Dave on putting signs into the entrance area. of the down ramp or the stairs.

At the down ramp and the stairs.

Yeah, that's where it makes more sense where they could last longer and we won't be replacing them.

And then even on the old launch, on the Lehigh side, above the falls, it's not as rough there. The current doesn't come up there, so maybe a sign there because people can walk in.

I'll talk to Dave about that. I mean, it sounds obvious, but we've talked on the phone until this is the first time I think we're all getting together publicly, and I think that makes a little bit more sense. When you're focused on putting signs up, and Dave had the right intention, we understand what's going on, and we definitely think it's a good idea, but we just probably needed this discussion. So I'll talk to Dave about that. Perfect.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah. Sorry again for your loss. I'm so sorry for your loss. You know, sudden drop-offs. They're not swimmers.

You know, the sad thing was, or amazing thing, and, you know, you talked about people not knowing or ignoring. While there was an active recovery for your husband, Graziano, Councilman Graziano came down. People were jumping in the water.

Directly across.

Right there. Jumping. No, to swim.

No, just to.

While we were recovering, people were still jumping in, swimming, still playing, and we couldn't get the word out. We just couldn't understand why people, they see what's going on, and they were still just disregarding and jumping in. They were still doing that. So I'm hopeful the signs would work.

We're bending into the water. I'm talking... small. And my other question, I know I have a short time and it's over, but as far as the vest, and I think we were talking about that, are they mandated? And if they aren't mandated, could we, I have a proposal and it's not like everything, it was just kind of like a mock proposal, but just kind of saying, I don't even know about maybe buoys in the water, you know, like those little, the floating things in the water, saying it's dangerous because it is legal to fish there. He didn't do anything wrong. My issue being is maybe possibly just warning a fisherman to say, you should be wearing a life vest.

My husband should have- That's what one of the signs can say. That's what I- If you're going to fish, please wear a vest.

May I give you these papers and then just hand these?

Give one to the solicitor as well. We'll share one up here with us.

We'll make copies.

Yeah, and then just sort of solicitor because we have to make sure it's legal.

I thank you for listening to me.

Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone else want to address City Council on agenda items only? Thank you. No one? Okay. Going to public consent agenda. There's no consent agenda tonight. So we'll right on to reports received by Council. And you have in your packet the July and August Fire Department report. And we'll move on to reports of committees. Councilman Brown, the Finance Committee.

Thank you, Mayor. I have one thing this evening, and that is on the new business, and that's the resolution coming forth. I'm sorry. The ordinance amending the 2026 city budget. We received a update from Mark explaining what that fund is going to be doing. So if we have any other questions other than what we received, Mark is here this evening to answer. That's all I have, Mayor.

Okay. Economic Development Committee, Mr. Pinnabone. Councilman Pinnabone.

Thank you, Mayor. We just have some LSA grants that we discussed last night. We sent out in a packet that we're going to apply for for the city. That's really all I have, Mayor.

Okay, Planning and Code Committee, Council Member Rose.

Thank you, Mayor. Last week, I attended the Planning Commission meeting and helped present the proposed updates regarding zoning, including the data center and warehouse updates. I had a really great discussion with the Planning Commission that evening. They also made some great suggestions, which I appreciated their input. And then next week, or no, I'm sorry, two weeks from now, Monday, September 21st at 6 p.m., the Zoning Hearing Board meeting is scheduled and the agenda is on the website. That's all I have.

Okay. Planning and Code Committee, I'm sorry, Public Safety Committee, Councilman Graziano.

Thank you, Mayor. The Fire Department is currently conducting training for the rest of the week with Wilson Borough firefighters on the new bailout kits being issued. The training is taking place right in the West Ward The purpose of the bailout kits is to give firefighters an emergency means of escape from upper floors if conditions deteriorate and normal means of egress are no longer available. They're considered a last resort safety tool, but the advantage is that the equipment is already on the firefighter and ready to use if conditions deteriorate rapidly. This is another important safety measure for our firefighters that hopefully they never will have to use, but if they do, they'll have the equipment and training to respond. That's all.

Okay, thank you. Public Works Committee, Council Member Zondo Dennis.

Thank you, Mayor. I have no report this evening.

Okay, Public Works Committee, we appreciate your brief revenue. Administration Committee, Councilman Harvath-Binninger. No report, Mayor. Okay. Reporter-Solicitor, Mr. Varga.

Thank you, Your Honor. Excuse me. I'm so sorry. Could we... It's been a year. Can we update and take Joel Scheer off? I think it's usually been my name.

Yeah, it's usually. Old template.

I could only hope to someday fill Mr. Scheer's shoes, so I'll take it as a compliment.

If it had anything to do with Karen tumbling, I apologize. If not, you can replace it.

There was a brief executive session prior to today's council session in which we discussed potential real estate transaction and pending litigation involving the city.

Okay, report of the mayor. I just want to mention that Friday is the 25th anniversary of the 9-11, and I'm sure everybody remembers where they were that day, that morning. But at noon, we will have a ceremony at the Circle where we will put the flag at half-staff, and we'll also have a minister there to say some prayers for the ones who we lost that day and several days later. and we'll make sure that we mention our own eastern resident who expired. She was in the second tower and she called her mom and says, don't worry about me, I'm okay. It was the first tower that was hit and she got hit and she died. Her name was Sapinski. She went to Notre Dame High School with my brother and she lived on College Hill and she used to come into our store all the time She was a wonderful lady. She ran track. Okay, we'll move on to... Mr. Campos. Yeah, well, when we get closer to it, okay.

And report of city administrator, Mr. Campos. Mayor, the only thing is the administration continues to negotiate with the... Fire Union. We have an actual meeting tomorrow morning, so we'll be here pretty early. Thank you.

Okay, there's no correspondence. Moving on to unfinished business, Madam Clerk.

We have Bill number 27, an ordinance amending Chapter 560, Part 3, Article 12A.

Is there anyone who would remove that? I'll move it. Move by Mr. Graziano. Is there a second?

I'll second.

Is there a second by Ms. Rose?

We'll call. Mrs. Rose? Aye. Mr. Graziano?

Aye.

Mrs. Hartroff-Bittinger? Aye. Mayor Panto? Aye. Mr. Brown? Aye. Ms. Zondo-Dennis?

Aye.

Mr. Pinnabone?

Aye. New business? Madam Clerk?

Yes. We have a resolution approving selected designs and locations for the city's painted hydrant program. So moved.

Second.

Moved and seconded. Discussion? I forgot to ask last night when Julie was making a presentation, but it seems to me that they came up with the design for the hydrants and this is what they're going to be. Whereas last time, they let the artist decide what they wanted. You go by the post office, there's one with posted stamps. If you go up here, Cecily, one of our own employees, did the marbles. It looks like a marble machine.

Mayor, they were actually all submitted by different artists and residents throughout the city, so it was their designs. They couldn't accommodate all of them, so the committee selected the ones we saw last night in the packet.

I know they said that last night.

Councilman Pinnabone and Councilwoman Hart-Raff Bittinger mentioned Southside will also be introducing that program as well in Southside. So hopefully some of those entries could perhaps be considered for up there as well.

That's right. Okay. Thank you. Mrs. Rose.

Mrs. Hart-Raff Bittinger. Aye. Mayor Panto. Aye. Mr. Brown. Aye. Ms. Zondo-Dennis? Aye. Mr. Pettibone? Aye. Mrs. Rose? Aye. Mr. Graziano? Aye. A resolution authorizing the City of Easton to apply for 2026 Monroe County.

Yeah, can we go B through G? They're all LSA grants.

No, B through F. F. Let's take B through F. Okay.

Local sharing account.

B through F, okay.

Okay, one in the amount of $166,758.45, an LSA grant for $213,618, $175,497, and $61,340. Let me just mention

while we're under discussion. These LSA grants are very competitive, and I think city council should pass a resolution where we do not compete with other entities in the city that we will make the decision which ones we want to go for, because all these grants are very competitive.

Mayor, I agree with you. I think that we need to have a conversation with some of the other entities that are applying for them and set it up to where they come to us first. So we're not battling partners for things that we really need for the city. So I'd like to sit in on that meeting if you make it happen. Okay.

I'm going to second the motion. Okay. Thank you. Roll call.

Mrs. Hartriff-Bittinger. Aye. Mayor Panto.

Aye. Mr. Brown. Aye.

Ms. Zondo-Dennis.

Aye.

Mr. Pinnabone. Aye. Mrs. Rose. Aye.

Mr. Graziano.

Aye.

Do you want me to go through each one for each approval? I mean, I have to, am I lumping them together like it's a consent agenda? Just lump them together. Okay, that's fine. And then we have a resolution authorizing an agreement with Key Codes Inspection Agency for third-party inspections. So moved. Second.

Moved and seconded. Discussion? Roll call.

Mayor Panto?

Aye.

Mr. Brown.

Aye.

Ms. Zondo-Dennis. Aye. Mr. Pinnabone. Aye. Mrs. Rose. Aye. Mr. Graziano. Aye. Mrs. Hartroff-Bittinger.

Aye.

Mayor Panto.

Aye. Moving on to bills introduced.

We have bill number 28, an ordinance amending the 2026 City of Easton budget.

So, I'll introduce.

Second.

Moved and seconded. I'm sorry.

That's all I have.

All right. We're at the point of meeting where public comment on agenda or Easton items only.

Your last name first, Artie.

Artie.

I missed something.

I said your last name first.

Artie Rabbits, 144 Church Street, Easton. What does this Keystone Inspection Agency involve? I don't quite understand that.

It's a third-party contractor who goes out and does inspections for us when we're overloaded. They do the big projects.

The code team.

They do the big projects where we don't have the expertise.

Hi, my name is Randy Strover. I own and live at 24 South 5th Street in Easton, which my property abuts the former Hampton Hotel, which had the tremendous fire, which I had to vacate my home for about a week, and I've had a lot of remediation done inside the home. The rubble from the Hotel Hampton had laid there for about a month, and yesterday they started the removal. They have a big bucket loader pulling the junk. Inside the junk are rats and mice and skunks. Before they started demolition, I brought the man who was doing the demolition to my house, through my house, to my backyard to show him the back wall of the Hotel Hampton, which is four feet from my property. And I said, please make sure that you secure this because the brick is crumbling and I don't want it to fall this way. I want it to fall that way. Don't worry. We're professionals. We know what we're doing. So I left for vacation in Greenland. And three days later, my dog sitter tells me that the whole house behind collapsed and crushed my fence and half of my yard and my 15 years worth of gardening. He said the guy came back the next day and took care of it. I cut my vacation short. I come home. All he did is he took the wire fencing that was there and pulled it up like it was an accordion. which anyone could have stepped on. There's still about that much silt of soil, of rock, of rubble. I don't even know if it's asbestos or whatever else. And there's still bricks covering the behind of my shed, alongside of my shed. So yesterday when they were doing the demolition, I spoke to Joe Cassis. And I said to him, look, you've got to take care of all this mess and come and look at what happened. The man who did it said, we took care of it, it's no problem. So I showed Joe the pictures that I had and also the police report that I filed the day that the building crumbled into my yard. So today, I get a message from the dog sitter, hey, you know that wire that they cut with the bucket loader, which detached the cable for the corner store, so he lost all his Wi-Fi, is laying across your tree in the backyard. So I'm dropping somebody off at Giant. I come home. My back gate is wide open. All the things that I use to block the gate are moved. And there's just a piece of cable laying on part of my dirt. So basically, it was breaking and entering to come into my yard through my back gate without notification, without saying anything. So I want to know what kind of codes need to be followed for the demolition. I had Dwayne come up to look at the rubble and the mess and the garbage and everything else that's been there for over a month. Who is responsible for watching what they're doing with this rubble removal? Because they're still dangerous. So is the code department.

Well, I appreciate you letting us know about this, however, We did not. The city, right, did not hire these people. No, no. Joe Cassis fined the lowest price. Or it could be the insurance company. So my recommendation would be for you to get a certificate of insurance.

My insurance company has already looked at it. They came as soon as I came back from vacation, took pictures, looked at it. But there's already a... a notice to their insurance company. They already cut me the check back in February. The fire was February 20th and my insurance company sent me the check for the remediation of all the smoke removal and everything else that had happened in my house and my yard. He, when I called about this new thing, he said, well, that would be a new item. So why don't we, so now rather than going through the insurance company, I'm talking to Joe Cassis. How are you going to remediate this problem? What are you going to do? Because insurance isn't going to say, oh, here's money for your 15 years worth of labor and all your beautiful garden, which is now covered in rubble.

And I believe you and I spoke on social media, and I sent Dwayne over.

And I went and got him again. We came up, and he came into the house.

And I also spoke to our police department after the conversation. And I know you filed a police report. and they said keep filing the police report.

Okay.

So then because it's showing that they caused the problem, so you're able to go after them. Unfortunately, it's civilly. but you're able to go after them to recoup all your costs and damages and everything else.

And also, you know, the year's worth of making a beautiful garden, I got to start over with plants that are this tall instead of everything that created this beautiful living wall that I had. But I just wanted to find out who's monitoring because they just, with the crane, the bucket loader, just ripped down that guy's cable. So they're just swinging that thing around.

So when you say monitoring, unfortunately, we don't have people to sit there and watch them work all day. But when it does happen, and it doesn't happen often, thank God, but we unfortunately need members like you of the community to let us know right away. Get the police there. Get codes there. So I know Duane had conversations with the contractor about their just carelessness of how they're working. And then with the police report, so I'm sorry you had to deal with that. I think we're all sorry you had to deal with that.

The other question I have, too, with their permits, I mean, when you have a permit and you're having all these issues with the contractor, isn't there anything we can do on that end?

They're building permits, not demolition permits.

I mean, because they're obviously not following the rules. What can we do about that?

We'll send a co-team up tomorrow. Thank you. Appreciate it.

I'm sorry you're dealing with all that. It's terrible.

Go ahead, Artie.

On this agreement about the code hiring another agency, there should be something there about billing the person you're inspecting?

We do.

Okay, great. Thank you.

Public comment on any other agendas?

David Brotsman, 820 Philadelphia Road. Any timetable when we're going to get the D&L trail fixed between 64 and 65? It's been all summer. It's been actually five years that the washout's been there.

Anybody have an update on that, Louis?

Anything? Because I got to be honest with you, it's tiresome to have Mr. Bronson here every meeting talking about the same thing. I went down there. You went down there. We went down there with Dave. What are we doing? It's part of the 9-1-1 memorial trail. I've got to do something. I don't know what the problem is.

The only thing I can do is have Dave come here and address it.

Yeah, well, that's two weeks from now. If you could talk to him about, can we do something prior to that? I don't know what the issue is. I mean, there might be something more, but we should get a follow-up on it. I know you went there. Dave and I went down there. I thought this would have been done.

I looked at other issues and they were seemingly taken care of. It just seems like there are more. I'll ask them specifically on mile marker 64 and 65 because I don't recall it. I don't have an answer for you.

If you could email all of us, just give us all an update on what it is.

Also, it's never been mowed or cut back this whole summer.

That is maintained by the D&L.

No, it's not. It's City Beast and Humor Park. I used to work there. I used to cut it.

Yeah, but they have their own staff. They're city employees. Well, that's true, but they're not directed by us. They're directed by the D&L. No, they're not. It's not D&L. It's the city. We'll check on that tomorrow. Okay, any other public comment? Randy? That's okay, Randy.

I have one more thing to ask. Have any permits been issued for rebuilding on the former Hotel Hampton? No, it's not.

I mean, that would have to go through planning and zoning. Yeah.

We're still looking for a developer who's going to maintain the front building.

Yeah, I knew that there was somebody who was going to buy all of it, and that fell through, and yada, yada, yada. And Joe's saying he's telling people he's going to build 24 units on the footprint of the Hotel Hampton. I'm like, I sure hope not.

And there would be opportunity for public comment. And you would get a notice in the mail as well, since you're a neighbor. Thank you. I appreciate it. Absolutely.

Second.

Motion to adjourn. Second. Any discussion? Roll call.

Mr. Brown? Aye. Ms. Sando-Dennis? Aye. Mr. Pinnabone? Aye. Mrs. Rose? Aye. Mr. Graziano? Aye. Mrs. Hartrath-Bittinger? Aye.