City Council - Regular Meeting

to call this meeting to order. Roll call for the city council meeting of Wednesday, March 4th, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. Council President Titus here. Brazinski, yes. Flores, yes. Horton, yes. Paul, here. Shaw, present. Troop, yes. Well, we will please stand for a moment of silence uh and a pledge of allegiance.

I pledge algiance 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. I have a motion to accept the minutes from the Wednesday, February 18th city council meeting and bills per for payment on March 6th and 13th. Members Brzinski, yes. Flores, yes. Horton, yes. Hole, yes. Shaw, yes. True. Yes. Titus. Yes.

Uh we do not have any presentation uh this morning. So this will take us to the request for repository sales. Is there anyone here to speak on a repository sale? Is there anyone here to speak on a repository sale? Is there anyone here to speak on a repository sale? Seeing none, this will bring us to public comments. Uh I'll ask the public if you are coming up to the podium to please clearly state your name and your municipality. Um and note that you will have 5 minutes. We'll have a timer that goes off. So please please just honor when the time timer goes off. Thank you. My name is Fred. I live in the city of Erie and I do appreciate having an opportunity to to watch the caucus in a less crowded environment. Sometimes we can't hear what's being said though. Um, as far as the curb ramps, accessible curb ramps, ADA curb ramps, um,

just one second. Is Is Freda's mic on? It's really quiet. I see green. Is it okay? Can you hear me? Really quiet. Yeah. Okay. Um, yes. Thank you.

There there is a consent decree and the city is supposed to be moving forward. I'm waiting for the curb ramp on the northwest corner of first and 23rd. We have one on the northeast, southeast, southwest, but they didn't do that one. I don't know why. And I do um getting back to the welcoming city ordinance, I I would like us to think about the fact as Jasmine brought up during the the caucus, part of what we have going on is the quote worst of the worst supposedly being apprehended. They're not. They are people who were have been legally in this country working on clarifying their status with green cards or whatever and the Trump administration has attempting to criminalize them. And I think that that rather than call these people illegal immigrants, we should consider that they are Trump criminalized legal immigrants. [snorts] Um, and I do encourage us to move forward on this ordinance for the welcoming city program. And I hope that it is possible to move up in the ratings. One star is a good beginning, but it's we've been at that good beginning stage for a while. Um, and absolutely our police should never be calling um, Homeland Security to help with translation. There's if you were at the the county finance committee meeting when the person from the jail talked to us about all the services supposedly offered the detainees there. He talked about how easy it is to get translation

services now with technology and we should never be calling any kind of DHS entity to provide translation. Um, as far as curb ramps and sidewalk ex Oh, I want to go back to 21 Hampton. 21 Hampton is in my neighborhood. When it was open, there's no sidewalk there. There's about two blocks between Green Garden and Pittsburgh with no sidewalks. Otherwise, we'd have at least on one side of the street, we could have sidewalks on both sides. So if there was considerable remodeling going on, then they should possibly be required to put in sidewalk. Uh the prior owner had created a huge burm across where the sidewalk should have been and I got um the prior um inspector to remove to make them remove it. But we ought to have lots of people walk there and the the traffic along West 21st goes very fast because there's no stop signs between Green Garden and Pittsburgh. Um so I hope you consider that when you're looking at that that um permitting process. Um I think we're overextended in how we allow businesses to use sidewalk closures. um that I believe that that um Ganon and Eerie insurance are two of the biggest violators along with some of the Catholic Church property that that they are well beyond 180 days. Also, there's been a few cases where the Erie Downtown Development Corporation has used sidewalk bypasses rather than closing or attempting to close an entire sidewalk

block. Those are a good way to go. We should be doing that more rather than just putting up a sign which somebody moves and and um we don't have to close a whole block worth of sidewalk if they do sidewalk bypasses. Um, I do I do appreciate all that the new administration is trying to do. Um, yeah, we need we need more paving, but we need more sidewalks all over town. And I hope that the city is using um all the opportunities they can through the um no and they should be um adding these projects. Thank you.

Thank you. Good morning. Uh, Michael Keys, City of Erie. Um, first I would like to say that the city of Erie is a welcoming city. we achieved the welcoming city designation, they changed the rules. And so whether or not it's worth pursuing or not with the additional rules comes down to what you think is practical. Uh this organization has netted us no benefit. Doesn't give us any money. Their designation does not give you any additional standing within the government or within the state or with any of the bodies that fund our city or our organizations. That being said, Erie is a welcoming city. Um, I don't know if you've seen the statistics, but our new Americans are doing better than our other Americans of color in housing, in income, in businesses. Uh, if we want to look at being fair and being welcoming, I think that this city has a lot of work to do. Welcoming the

people who are are already here, already paying taxes and are arguably struggling. Um, so um, so that's just so I want to know this is a welcoming city. We we have provided a lot as a city and as a community and obviously we want to continue to do that. Um, but I just don't want everything to be lost on one group of people because what I've seen is during the past few years as they roll back DEI and other programs that the negative impact are on what they now call the foundational black Americans, the ones who were here when uh in the beginning. And so it's very important that uh that you know that group of people does not get lost. it is still our la largest minority group within our city confines of our city and um you know we see things you know which I don't um you know when they rolled back DEI you know they said okay you can't have a program that has black money in it Mr. Andre can attest when they gave the money to the diverse Eerie. Uh but yet, you know, if you scroll through some of the foundations and some of the other things, you see that there are still money and programs for specific groups, but there are but when it was for groups

for black Americans, that's illegal now. Um, and so I guess we have to look at the context of either the whole or as as nothing. You know, if we're going to follow these rules or if we are not going to follow these rules, but is what is not acceptable is following the rules 80% of the way and cutting some of the people out. Uh, I also would like to address the Miller brothers. You know, uh, hard decisions were made. You know, we made the decisions at a discount even to get the city out of debt because we know bond payments do become due at a certain point in time. And I was not a proponent of it. But I'm going to say that I am more hopeful now that this was a reason to put the city back in debt because uh our our mayor is making sure that this building is being utilized properly and being optimized. And so, uh, if it helps relieve the the pain and the struggles that are in this building and the people really go over there and set up shop, then, uh, I've changed my mind on that project. So, I want to thank you, Madame Mayor. Thank you,

Elizabeth Stanton, Harbor Creek. I highly commend you, Eerie City Council, for today passing an ordinance to elevate Erie status as a welcoming city from star one to a higher certification level under the welcoming Americans welcoming standard 2.0. I command I commend that in this ordinance there is the expansion of inclusive governance aiming to reach a diversity benchmark of 26% of minorities represented in all new city appointments to authorities boards and commissions. I also and also increased to 15% the number of minorities candidates taking written and physical tests for Eerie police and fire department. I commend these and all other improvements for new Americans. But let us not forget the oldest minority in Erie, black Americans. Bo Bladen, a free black man, was the land owner of 400 acres as early as 1790 in an area which later became Mil Creek Township. By 1813, the population of black residents grew significantly because of the black sailors who fought in the War of 1812. In 1830, William Hemrod bought a tract of land on the shores of Lake Erie, south to West 6th Street from Sassifest Street to Cherry Street. He divided it into small house plots, sold them at a very reasonable ply price to black Americans on the condition that they

build their home and their and live there. The city of Erie, just as it says on the wall, was not incorporated until April April 14th, 1851. Something has gone terribly wrong in the city of Erie, Pennsylvania over the decades. Mr. Horton at a town hall meeting held at Booker T. Washington Center May 2025 announced that the black ownership of homes in Erie is 3%. As you as city council members improve the quality of life for new Americans, do your due diligence to also improve the quality of life in the city of Erie for black Americans. I would personally like to um thank you mayor and madame mayor for your February 10th press conference and highlighting black achievements in Erie. I also would like to recommend this book, Journey from Jerusalem, an illustrated introduction to Eerie Black African Erie's AfricanAmerican History 1795 to 1995. It will be back in the public library. Thank you.

Thank you. [snorts] Good morning. Susanna Falner, city of Erie resident. Um, I am here wearing the hat of executive director of Erie Arts and Culture once again standing in support of the welcoming city ordinance. Uh, I think there is so much to be said about the intersectionality of the issues that are being brought up today. um we absolutely need to r bring everyone up and we know uh from policym from governance that when we help the most marginalized it benefits us all so I think there's nothing better than a poem that can speak to why we must support this ordinance in this in this moment and this is the poem at the base of the statue of liberty the new colossus by Emma Lazareth not like the brazen giant of Greek fame with conquering limbs a stride From land to land here at our seaashed sunset gates shall stand. A mighty woman with a torch whose flame is the imprisoned lightning and her name mother of exiles. From her beacon hand glows worldwide welcome. Her mild eyes command the airbridged harbor that twin cities flame. Keep ancient lands you storied pomp. She cries with silent lips. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refues of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless tempest tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. Let's light that way. Let's carry forward. Let's do what's right for our history and our present. Thank you.

Thank you. [sighs]

Anybody else for public comment? Hi, Aaron Meisner, city of Erie. I live on the east side. Um, first I just want to say that I reached out to the city clerk about the assisted living devices about two weeks ago to see if that's something we can bring here. I'm heart of hearing and it would make it much more accessible to me in these meetings. I haven't heard back. I'm going to email all of you if there's any of you who can help me with that. Uh, I'd be most appreciated. Um, I only live a 5-minute drive from here and just on my way here, not including the businesses on State Street, I passed 10 immigrant owned businesses on my way here. 5 minutes. Uh, the Latino Economic Development Corporation in Minneapolis reports that 80% of its clients are open only about 20% of the time because of staffing shortages and safety concerns. There are reports that gig workers are not entering in im immigrant communities if ICE is conducting operations, depriving people in those neighborhoods of food, necessities, and transportation. According to an FFR news report, many Minneapolis establishments have reported sales declines of up to 80% since the surge in immigration enforcement began. Nearly 20% of businesses also reported lower and poorly minted headcounts as workers are too afraid to show up for work when enforcement actions are visible. Business owners are citing customers staying home, fewer office workers commuting or commuting and a general drop in discretionary spending. Even professional service firms and white collar businesses are feeling the impact. Not only because of reduced activity, but also because their employees grapple with disruptive support systems like child care and schooling. Several hotels that have been housing federal immigration officers and staff have temporarily stopped accepting reservations amid intense protest and

boycotts tied to enforcement operations. Many locations are reporting cancellations and fewer bookings. What happens to the disabled community, the LGBTQ community, the black community, the immigrant and refugee community, and all minority communities affects all of us. In union, there is strength. ESOP. The welcoming city ordinance makes good economic sense. It may it may make new Americans feel safer in keeping their businesses open and participating in the economy. It is also a small movement towards a more just place for all of the residents living here. I ask you to vote yes on passing it. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other residents for public comment?

Hello. Uh my name is Caleb Richton. I am a city uh Erie city resident. Um I'm here for a few different reasons. uh one to speak in support of the welcoming city ordinance. Um as well as to quickly uh highlight an issue that I'm not sure has been spoken on here before about the issues of uh flock cameras. Just a quick uh note about that before I get into uh the open letter um that Ry Witherro has uh written. Um it is uh something that is a bit of an existential crisis I would say. Um because these cameras violate the fourth amendment. Um they put police officers and city uh officials in danger as they are easily hackable and I will be around uh afterwards to discuss further if you have any questions about this. I'm a software engineer so I am uh very aware of the tech that is involved in these cameras. Um but uh otherwise I'm here to uh represent Ry Ry with a row which uh who has not been able to attend this morning. Um they sent out a uh an open letter to all of you. Uh I believe that you should be aware of this letter. Um I'm not sure if uh everyone has replied to this. Um, and I will not have time to finish this letter as it is a little bit too long, but I will read uh some of the contents of it uh which has also been signed and supported by over uh 200 members of uh the city uh and county. Dear representatives of the people of Erie, Pennsylvania, I am writing to you as a count a concerned citizen living within the constituency of Erie re of the Erie region. Contributors and signatures on this letter come from every walk of life within the beautiful county. From a lifelong Eurite who was raised in some of the poorest neighborhoods on the east side to owners of some of Erie's most affluent and loved businesses.

Some things are shared by our collective, but we all come to you today with a unifying concern. The threat posed to our community by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, ICE. Erie boasts a diverse and massive immigrant community. According to the data collected from the uh MCRC, there are an estimated 15 to 16,000 immigrants living within Erie County. An estimated 11,000 of those of the population is believed to be in the city. The number is significant and cannot be ignored. We are residents of Erie. Uh we as residents of Erie must do all that we can to uplift and support these members of our community. To quote our own city government's website, Erie is a certified welcoming city, the highest design designation reserved for cities and counties that meet rigorous requirements defining what is me what it means to be a welcoming city. Uh Erie takes pride in being a a safe landing space for new Americans, many of whom are fleeing from persecution and have legal status as political refugees. Many refugees and immigrants choose to stay in Erie long term and become active contributors to our local economy through the creation of small businesses, seeking permanent employment, pursuing secondary education, or encouraging multiple other members of their family to join them. Erie is their home. As long as ICE continues to exist and terrorize cities around the c the country like Minneapolis, our neighbors are at risk regardless of their citizenship citizenship status. In numerous cities, legal immigrants have been entrapped by these agents through underhanded techniques in order to be detained or deported. Many examples of predatory behavior by ICE agents have been documented, such as visa renewals being denied at their appointments only for the individuals to be detained outside

the office moments later. naturalization ceremonies being being stalked and cancelled with agents waiting outside and places of employment being raided to abduct immigrants with temporary legal status for work. Often agents site non-violent and frivolous legal issues such as traffic violations or justification for detainment for uh justification uh uh detainment and deportation. Moreover, fully legal citizens who have never lived outside of the country have been detained because adequate citizenship papers could not be produced on the spot. In Minnesota, nearly half a dozen indigenous Americans have been mistaken as foreignb born and were detained. It's clear that the scope of ISIS work has ballooned to terrorizing, detaining, and even executing Americans with legal status that present themselves as opponents to the barbaric agenda. the guise of an immigration crackdown is being used to target political enemies of the Trump administration in the cities across the c the country most notably Minneapolis. These agents are no longer following legal proceedings and recent killings of Renee Good and Alex Prey by an anonymous ICE agents have been brushed off by the federal government with no sign of investigation accountability on the horizon. Uh you can continue to read that in the emails that were all sent to you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Hi, Emerson Bannon Coori City resident academy neighborhood and I'll I'll keep this quick. Just wanted to speak in favor of the welcoming city ordinance. A lot of other people have kind of made similar points and I was here last week. Just want to emphasize I think this is something that will be really good for Erie. It's needed and a lot of other communities are kind of moving in the same direction right now. There are also practical benefits to be taken to be considered by either the mayor or city council for cooperation between municipalities uh even practical benefits like shared translation services. I actually reached out to welcoming America the national organization that does this certification and they said they have a welcoming network uh that can serve as kind of peer support between the different municipalities that have adopted this. So in the idea that you know this will somehow isolate us which was also under discussion um at the county council meeting last week I don't think that's true and I think there are actually a lot of municipalities that gain we can we can gain from working together as well as some prior speakers had said about the need to invest in all parts of the city as well and make sure all our neighborhoods are represented in academy you know we don't have a solid grocery store we don't have uh even a local city-owned park we don't have there's not a library branch on the east side. There's luckily going to be a community college on the east side soon at the Burton School, but there's a lot of work that needs to be done as a follow-up to this and I uh would welcome any work from the city in implementing that. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other uh members would like to speak for public comment?

[snorts] Good morning everyone. How are we doing? We're doing

so my name is Sydney Zimmerman. Um I live in the city of Erie concerned citizen. So I have a few um issues that I want to bring forth. One, two, three, four, five, uh to be exact. I'm going to start with the easiest one. Uh the city has uh and it might be the county as well uh but has done a great job of replacing lead pipes to ensure that drinking water is safer. Unfortunately, when we open up the road, we have left very big rectangle squares around the city that are deep. They are pothole deep. Um it is not good for our cars. We already have enough issues with our roads because of the winter time. We don't need to add to them. Um, they have been doing a better job recently. They came back to my street and they filled that one in real nice. But I see it on uh I've seen it on West 25th Street. I've seen it on East 24th Street. I've seen it downtown. I've seen I've seen it in Mil Creek, in fact. And I know that's not y'all's jurisdiction, but it is everywhere. Um, so I don't know what can be done to uh make sure that they are filling them in correctly or if the city has to go back through and correct that work and bill it for uh bill it to um the waterworks later. I don't know how that's going to work, but um it needs to be fixed. So that's my first thing. Uh second thing is quality of life. I know that we don't have the type of snow that we were having previously and hopefully we're not going to have it again until next winter, but um you know we we have talked about quality of life here before. We in fact we had an ordinance u for quality of life and I believe that was done back in 2017 almost 10 years ago now 2018 my fault. Um and that quality of life um ordinance states that lack of maintenance of properties, littering, improper storage of trash and rubbish, storage of inoperable non-registered vehicles, vendor operations without permits, high grass

and weeds, graffiti and accumulation of snow and ice. These are things that are under the quality of life ticketing ordinance. Um, I understand that we have people in our community who maybe they work two jobs or they're seniors or they're disabled, uh, students. So, it is difficult to keep up with the snow, especially when we get a lot in a short period of time. But, I see no excuses for businesses who have their parking lots plowed out to not have their sidewalks done, especially um, when we have, you know, those ramps that Freda has been talking about making sure that we have on each sidewalk corner. But, you know, to be able to get from one side of the street, I have had to go through and businesses on my block and clean up their messes because they might shovel the sidewalk, but they don't shovel that exit or entrance. So, it can be up to your knee or, you know, so you're trying to walk over it or you end up walking in the street. Both aren't good options. So, I think that we should use our power as a city and ticket the people who can afford to pay those tickets because obviously they can afford to uh clear out their parking lots. So, if you can afford to do that, you should have somebody out there on the sidewalks. If I, somebody who's had two back injuries can get out there and shovel, I think somebody else who is a, you know, fully capable, especially larger than me man who I've seen outside these businesses, um, can definitely get out there and shovel. And that's not everybody. I know that men aren't the only ones who work or shovel. So, um, okay, two more. Uh, I think we got two more things. Three more things. Um, all right. So another ordinance that we have is for parking meters. Um our parking meter ordinance reads that a parking meter is defined as a mechanical device which shall indicate thereon the length of time during which a vehicle may be parked in a particular place or space which shall have as a part thereof a receptacle or a chamber for receiving

and storing co coins of United States money. A slot or place in which such coins may be deposited. A timing mechanism to indicate the passage of the interval of time during which parking is permissible and which shall also display an appropriate signal when the afor said interval of time has elapsed and which device shall contain on the outside thereof brief instructions as to its operation and a schedule of parking meter rates and time of operation. When we have the easy meter signs out there that don't have the time period of which um the the ticketing occurs. when we don't have a mechanical device that coins can be inserted into for people who had a dead phone or don't have a smartphone or maybe they don't have uh a debit card or a credit card, they have cash, they have coins and that's what they can utilize um and that's what they're used to utilizing for parking. Then we need to adhere to our own rules because ticketing people for breaking a rule that doesn't exist is not okay. Okay. Uh third thing, the Save Act. I'm not sure how much. Okay, I can talk to you all afterwards. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Anybody else here for public comment?

Anyone else for public comment? Anyone else for public comment? Okay, we'll go ahead and move on. Ordinances for final passage. Council file number 16596, official ordinance 172026, an ordinance amending the rules of council ordinance of the city of Erie under article 112, specifically 112.16 entitled seminar and conference reports to streamline and or update the rules of council to reflect current practices. sponsored by council member Titus, seconded by council member Shaw, that council file ordinance bill number 16596 and now known as official file ordinance 17206 be finally passed by city council. Members Brzinski,

yes. Flores, yes. Horton, yes. Hole, yes. Shaw, yes. Troop, yes. Titus, yes. City Council pass official file ordinance 17 2026 finally by yay 7 nay zero council file number 16597 official ordinance 182026 an ordinance Lori one second I apologies before we go into reading I just want to get clarification from the solicitor as to when I would make the the request to do a friendly amendment. I think you should do it now.

All right. I I shall do it now. Um I would like to then seek a motion for a friendly amendment uh adding a letter G under subsection 137.03 that should read, the city shall seek to collaborate with other governing bodies in carrying out this ordinance. I'll second the motion. You can go ahead and call for the vote on that unless there's discussion on the amendment on the amendment. Vote will be on the amendments. We're going to discuss discuss on the amendment and then vote on the entire

any discussion on the amendment. I think the discussion will be surrounding the amendment. If you have any question about the the [clears throat] verbiage in the amendment, but other than that, I don't think it's a lot. The discussion should take place when you read the ordinance and get ready to vote on it. Right. So then we'll go ahead and call for the vote on the amendment motion. Voting on the amendment. Council member Brazinski, yes. Flores, yes. Horton, yes. Paul, yes. Shaw, yes. Troop, yes. Titus, yes.

Friendly amendment passes. Yay. Seven. So now we will go into voting with the friendly amendment included. This will be the or the ordinance in front of us with the new language. Mr. President, she has to read the ordinance. Yes. First before you do discussion because you just voted on the amendment and she should read the ordinance into record and then you would go as as Yeah. You would go into discussion in the vote. You want to go ahead Lorian reading?

Okay. 16597 official ordinance 182026 an ordinance of the city of Erie hereby establishes article 137 which outlines the city's goals to obtain and or maintain status as a welcoming city under the welcoming America guidelines and the city's rights and/or responsibilities as part of the welcoming city under the welcoming America program discussion at this point. Uh councelor Bzinski, did you have a

Yes. Uh this is a very very tough situation because I know it's going to go 6-1 if I vote negative on it. Uh this is an agenda driven thing and it's outside what we should be doing. Uh council as a council has one major job and that's the fiscal look at the budget to use the money the best way we can. I haven't spoken to police chief, but I have a very very uh high regard for the entire police department. I don't think they need to have a hesitation when they're doing their job. If they're pulling over somebody with illegal plates or whatever, uh a hesitation in a bad area could get their head shot off. Um being melodramatic in a way, but think about the things we're talking about. There's a huge difference between an immigrant, a refugee, and an illegal. I can't get over the illegal part. I will fight for every immigrant, refugee that is in process or whatever to be an American citizen with us, but I don't want any handcuffs on our public safety people. And uh I will go on record as that. I'll be a negative, but I'll be Ed Bzinski and I will always be speaking from my mind and my heart, not just my heart. Thank you.

Any other council? Yeah, [cough] thank you so much.

I um I'm fully supportive of this. I'm excited to support it. In fact, um, and while [clears throat] it's true that one of our major responsibilities, if not the major responsibility that we have is appropriation, I think that, uh, part of our oath taking is that we're also ambassadors and we should reflect all things good, uh, about the city of Erie. Um, and one of the things that's good about the city of Erie is that uh, former Councilman Key said is that we are a very welcoming city and we we don't get the credit that we deserve. Sometime this is a step we trying to get some of that credit. We're so welcoming in fact that people dump their send us your poor your huddled masses. They dump them to Eerie. And so while this regulation, this uh uh action does not in any way uh block or pro or or stop city of area police officials or anyone else, federal government included, from doing their job. Uh it does it just simply doesn't. Uh what it does say is it reaffirms that our police department will do their job. in fact do their job and their job is to enforce the laws of the state and not federal law. Uh and so it it's starting to irritate me a little

uh because uh I hear the laws and the things and the intent being uh being suggested that it's something else. Uh even from over at the county, I hear people say, "Well, the county didn't do this or they're not taking federal uh they're not taking federal prisoners into this uh 18th and Nash facility," which is is not true. What it says is that we expect everybody to follow the law, including the federal government. Uh and that if you have a judicial warrant, not an administrative warrant, bring them down. And so I got a chance to witness the first class this morning being woke up by some of that action. And I didn't see our officers do anything less other than honorable work. They didn't impede. They didn't interfere. They didn't do anything. They came and did the accident report as they were supposed to. They they came and and and um did the laws that were on our books and falls under their work scope of work and their responsibilities. Uh, I think that, uh, Erie is a welcoming city. We got a lot of work to do. This is part of that work. Uh, and I'm going to say one last thing that I probably should wait and say at the end when I do my report, but I I I feel that I need to say it now. This isn't a us and them thing with new Americans and black people either. Uh, and yeah, black people have really borne the brunt any rights that any new American, immigrant, trans, gay, LGBTQ, any of them that any of the any rights that you have, you have on the backs of black people in the civil rights movement. And so right here in Erie where we've had 250 years of redlinining this city, not some other city, where they've defunded

or failed to fund, failed to in Yeah, it's a battle over resources. And I lived in another community and we better speak about it. We better speak about it openly. I lived in another community in Los Angeles where I seen the Asian community and the black community come to come to really tough times about new Americans or those communities taking resources out of the black community and not hiring black people or the people who live there, hiring students and people who look like them. Maybe that's their business practice. But you don't you you shouldn't be allowed to just and I don't think black people in this city, we're not 9% of the population anymore. Blacks and Latinos are like onethird of the city proper. That ain't even counting the 6, 7, 8,000 new Muslim Americans in here who are really the the heroes of the city. And so we don't appreciate trying to pit black and brown communities against each other. And yeah, we have some discussions that we have to have with all those entrepreneurs, all those corner stores that are in our neighborhood that are putting vending machines and crack pipes and and and poker machines in our neighborhood and extracting resources. And so that conversation's coming. But this bill right here, this saying we welcome in here. Uh we want to cover anybody who comes here. I don't think that the there's nothing illegal about it. It says there are classes. We went over in the caucus. There are classes of that say what legal is and what legal isn't and we're just saying simply that we'll follow the law here in Erie and that area is committed to following the law and we're doing so by presenting this action. Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah. And I just wanted to comment that I'm in favor of um us voting on a welcoming city. As America, we are a melting pot and we are full of immigrants. I just find it particularly interesting that at this time based off of what federally um is going on, they're breaking the law every day. But yet, we want to sit here and act like judge, jury, and prosecutor. So, I'm in favor of being on the right side of history. And I know that when we get past this, people will remembered on where they were and how they acted and who they stood up for. And as a community of immigrants, I will always advocate for immigrants because in the '9s, my father came here as a Mexican immigrant and he got his citizenship. And he was probably one of the only people who would speak Spanish in certain times of the day. And I had to be his interpreter because he was embarrassed to speak his native language. And he probably still has my siblings doing the same thing for him today, even though he's been in this country for 20 plus years and probably speaks better English than most Americans do. But that's neither here nor there. I just know that with us saying that our city is going to continue to be welcoming, our residents will feel safe, DACA members of our our residency will continue to have um something to look forward to that we will move past this. DACA recipients came here as children. They are technically legal, but yet things on the federal level continue to change. So, it's harder to get your approvals. It's harder to get your um paperwork done and they're continuously changing the rules. So, the proper way to become a legal citizen is no longer the proper way because they're changing the proper way. And if you actually spoke to an immigrant lawyer, you would know that. So, I just need our residents to know that some of us do hear you. We see you and we understand that not every day is

an easy day. But those of us who might be a little bit newer to when our family came here to America are definitely advocating. In affirming Dr. Titus's ordinance, it was my understanding that the Erie Police Chief um the police department was affirming along with the mayor. Thank you.

Yes. Um, just in closing, I just wanted to make a clarification point on this. I do think that there was a notion that this is um agenda driven, which I I rebuke that notion that this is agenda driven. This is something that we needed as part of our welcoming sitting application. Uh, this is being done in other cities and I and I I think that this is quite fiscally responsible of us in outlining and also assisting our police and verifying and clarifying the rules. Um there is a lot of of rightfully so anger and hurt and fear that is is in the community and I think this on this ordinance passing helps also protect uh not just our residents but also our police officers and and verifying that they are doing the the what their roles are and and all of these process. So I think having this present uh creates a safer community for all the parties that we are discussing. Um, with that, if there's no other comments, I would like to call ahead one more thing. Um, previous councils have already passed two resolutions um, as a welcoming city. Uh, the last one was done a few years ago. It's never been done as an ordinance. Um, it's all I think it's all the same. It's all under the same umbrella. and we have the whole uh administration, police, fire all on board. And you know, I think just putting it into law as it hasn't been done before is, you know, probably a good thing. Um, as far as our financing goes for our um, you know, pointing system. So that's all I have to say for that.

Thank you. L Mr. Chair, before you do one vote, I just want to say one thing. I I I've uh I respect my colleagues vote and his perspection and I never want that to get lost in translation. I've certainly been on the other end of a lot of 61 votes and so I have no animist against it. And I I I just really like the healthy discussion about it. and and I think it's uh ridiculous to think that we would all agree on everything all the time. And so I I do respect his vote and his courage uh and conviction of his vote. Let me go ahead and call. [clears throat]

Sponsored by council member Titus, seconded by council member Shaw that council file ordinance bill number 16597 and now known as official file ordinance 18206 be finally passed by city council. members. Brazinski, no. Flores, yes. Horton, yes. Paul, yes. Shaw, yes. Troop, yes. Titus, yes.

City Council pass official file ordinance 18, 2026. Finally, by Yay 6, NAS one [applause] [cough] Ordinances for first reading. Council [clears throat] file number 16598, an ordinance amending the city of Erie zoning ordinance to designate the Erie Cemetery 2116 Chestnut Street, Erie, Pennsylvania, as a historic site pursuant to article 7 of the revised city of Erie zoning ordinance number 80205 and to amend the zoning map to reflect such a designation. sponsored [clears throat] by council member Shaw, seconded by council member Flores. The council file ordinance 16598 having been read is hereby adopted on first reading by city council members Brzinski.

Yes. Flores, yes. Horton, yes. Cole, yes. Shaw, yes. Troop, yes. Titus, yes. City Council pass official file ordinance 1659 16598 by yay 7 nay zero on first reading council president this takes us to new business we have no old business [clears throat] I would ask council then to um make a motion to move the balance and if There are any separations?

Move the bills. Second. I would like to separate number eight under contracts. Any other separation requests? Any other separations? No. Moving the balance of the agenda. Members Brzinski, yes. Flores, yes. Horton, yes. Paul, yes.

Shaw, yes. Troop, yes. And Titus, yes.

Okay. Resolution passes. Reading the separation sponsored by council member Brazinski, seconded by council member Titus. The proper city officials are hereby authorized and directed to issue a purchase order to Considine Bible and Company 2949 West 15th Street for change order number two for the Erie Police Operations Renovation Project. Additional work for the project will be at a cost of $250,60. The original contract was 283300. Change order 1 was $84,788. This change order is $250,60 for a final contract amount of $618148. Discussion.

Thank you. We just had not um we weren't able to get to this in caucus and so I was hoping that we could just get an update either from the administration or um from a department head.

Thank you, Dr. Titus. Uh yes. So I think many of you know that the police department is undergoing some badly needed renovations. Um my understanding we've had significant conversation uh with the police department as well as Lisa Gmersol from finance and Jason Sers from public works. The initial scope of the project um did not include some um items that were discovered during construction mainly some fairly significant electrical issues that had to be um dealt with as well as some asbestous work. So some of the change orders that you have seen have to do with things that were not known that were uncovered during the normal course of construction. Um some of the change orders that you have seen have to deal with an addition of scope. So for example, initially this renovation project was only going about halfway up the hallway of the department. I was not here during that time. I'm not sure why that decision was made, but it then decided at the end of 2025 to take that extension all the way to the end of the hallway in essence to do the entire department. So, we understand uh that this project is over budget, but I would say to you, I've had extensive conversations. We recognize we need to do a little better on the scope on the front end. We will do that moving forward. Some of this was simply unforeseen, but I will tell you um one of the things we've discussed with the police department is this will be a fully renovated space. We look forward to holding community openhouse there when it's done so the community can see and we think it's also a good um community policing activity so the public can come in and see the space. So while it is over budget, we appreciate your understanding. We let you know we will be looking at these projects a little more closely in the future, but this was a much needed project.

Thank you. Any questions from anybody? I just wanted the opportunity to to have it explained as well. Thank you. You could call for the vote on the voting on the resolution. Members Brzzinski, yes. Flores, yes. Morton, yes. Paul, yes. Shaw, yes. Troop, yes. Titus, yes. Resolution passes. Yay. 7 N0.

I believe this takes us to committee reports. Okay, thank you. Uh just to remind council, let's uh stay within that five minute range and uh we can start down with councelor Paul.

Good morning. I'll keep it short. Um past couple weeks I attended the port authority meeting uh last week and they talked about um the renewal um of a couple things uh one for the license for the Lady G Hire Lady G Howard to be able to sail again and the Victorian Princess and also the um dredging um of the bay. with Lake um this year and they're working on that to finalize. I attended the ADI environmental advisory council meeting this week or last week and um they they were concerned about the status of the coke plant uh as we all are and hopefully that all we work on it slow because it is a long process and um we make the right decisions for that property. Uh CDBG had uh their first meeting this week. uh they had two different um one at um in the morning and I attended the one at um 6:30 or 6:00 in the evening um with uh different organizations coming and speaking as to why they need their money this year. Uh downtown Y was a big uh supporter. They brought a a group of kids with them and they spoke as to why they should keep this program going and expanding and that's it. Thank you.

Thank you, councelor T.

Thank you. Uh Dr. Titus, um I attended the EMT EMTA board meeting via Zoom. really just kind of went through each each one of their um committees went through their reports. So, I got a chance to listen to that. I I also know that they um are looking to schedule some individual meetings or different things with members of council to to keep us updated of of their uh what's going on there. Um I attended the first Black History Month program at the Booker T. Washington Center on February 28th. I saw several members of um some members of council were there. Also the mayor had a chance [snorts] to sit and talk with her. It was a great program. Um put on by Mr. Hayard and the staff over there. Also attended um I was invited to speak at Grover Cleveland to a group of students as a part of their snack and chat program. Like to thank the principal and teacher and organizers for that event. It was a great event. Um, just a couple things of note. I know February was Black History Month. I just looked up what's what are some things that are celebrated in March. The March 8th March 8th is uh International Women's Day. Also, uh, developmental disabilities awareness month. It's also Women's History Month. And then um one other thing I wanted to bring up and I brought this up in caucus was um the need for a stop sign at um you know I work at Eerie High School. So when you come if you're going south on Walnut and then someone's coming west on 32nd. There's no stop sign. They're going into the parking lot. And every day it looks like two cars could really just run into

each other going into the parking lot at Erie High School. So if you're going south on Walnut where that meets 32nd going west, I believe that it would be a it would definitely um prevent an accident if there was a stop sign stopping one of the ways. Um that's it. Thank you.

Thank you, Councelor Flores. Um, I would just like to, you know, say happy Women's History Month, March 1st through, I think it's the 30th. No, 31st is um, Women's History Month. I wanted to say we made women's history here in our city when we elected our second woman mayor. So, congratulations, Miss Daria Develin, at making history for our fellow ladies in the community. I wanted to just acknowledge that, you know, women have been here from the start, but yet we continue to be repressed. We continue to have our rights continuously tried to strip away, which um the speaker, Miss Zimmerman, tried to mention the SAVE Act, which is something that if people who are politically involved should be paying attention to because women who have been married and might have changed their last name might not have the same name that's on their birth certificate. and to prove that you can vote, you have to have matching names. So, there's just like a lot of craziness going on from the federal down. So, I just wanted to make sure that people understood what's happening in our community, Pennsylvania. We have a election year. It is midterms for us. Our deadline to register voters or update your address is May 4th. The actual date to go vote is going to be May 19th is your last day, but early voting will open up and you can go down to the courthouse. I'm advocating everybody to get your vote in. The sooner the better. Do not wait. Do not wait till the last minute. It's kind of hard for them to ignore what you're trying to get done in your community if large numbers of residents come forward and um implement their right to vote. So, I'm going to always advocate for us to do our um civic duty of voting because as a woman, I didn't always have the right to vote. And I need my fellow sisters in the community who are growing up to understand that, you know, if we allow them, they will take it from us. Pretty much anything we

allow, they will take from us. So, I'm not going to pretend like that's not where we are today in 2026. But I wanted to also mention that any of our current um boards and authorities that have meetings um if we put them on our city website, you can go back and rewatch. You can also go back and watch the YouTube channel. And we did have an environmental caucus meeting and we also had a planning commission meeting and I believe, let me look up my calendar, there was another one. I know the EMTA happened the the historical review was on Monday. So, um these meetings you can go back and watch at your leisure. It is just nice to know what's going on in the city so that you're not surprised when there's a big announcement in the news. I just wanted to make sure that people know that we try to give you as much information before it happens, but sometimes we miss it because we're all really busy. So, just pay attention to what's going on in our community. Spring has a lot of different things coming forward and we want to know if there's potholes in your neighborhood. So, please report those potholes so we can get them taken care of because they are getting bigger and bigger with the little storms that we have and the damage to our cars. Um it's kind of expensive as uh council member Shaw has experienced last week. So, thank you.

Thank you, Council Brzinski.

Yeah, a couple things. Uh the airport's kind of quiet, but they're working hard. Uh we're going to have United starting a flight to Chicago, I believe, in May. Uh and again, the biggest problem with bringing planes in is finding departure areas to land. Uh we can get planes to leave Eerie, but uh Fort Myers as an example, they don't have extra gates open, so they can't send extra planes down there. Uh so it's a kind of like a chicken and egg thing. They want to get bigger. We want to get down there. Uh sooner or later, it's going to happen. Uh unhappier times. Uh well, don't to steal your thunder there, Pres, but uh the uh civic center uh authority uh first of all, excuse me, there are expanding the uh parking uh authority. [clears throat] Have a little trouble with my voice here. The uh parking ramp down by the Sheridan Marriott. Uh the construction is going on very well. They're going to be adding quite a few spaces, which is kind of nice because the parking area with the renovations to the Sheridan uh has been curtailed a little bit now. So, when you go down there, uh you're going to see a lot of cars parked all over the place, but they're doing a great job. Uh the other thing with the the important thing is the zoo. I got a note from Mr. fine saying save the date uh March 23rd at 10:00 they're going to have a a media attendance type situation at the zoo to officially announce that the program is put together the I think all the tees have been signed and eyes dotted and

signatures there so the zoo's not going any place for a little while anyway uh the initial amount of money uh the civic authority is putting in there. Uh it's keeping things going well and uh be there on 23rd. It's open to the public and you might get some real nice information. Uh that being said, uh Mr. Horton, I'm kind of proud of you because, you know, we are keepers of our city. We are politicians, but we are also friends. So, we can agree to disagree. and everybody else disagreed with me on this one uh with a welcoming city, but we still walk away friends. And that's the important thing. The only way we can get better is to see both sides of it. I just firmly believe that we don't have to tell our police department how to be policemen. They're trained very well. They're trained often. And uh I'll get off my soap box. I I stand where I stood when I spoke earlier. Uh if there are folks out there that need help, uh call. I'll uh I told you in the past I've taken people to Buffalo to get their citizenship papers. Uh so it's not like I'm anti- new people. Uh some of the greatest people I've met over the years are folks that have come here from Lebanon, places like that. Anyway, I'm done. Thank you very much. Have a good week.

Thank you, Councelor Horton. [clears throat]

Thank you, Dr. Titus. It's very kind of you to say too, Mr. Bzinski. Uh, just keep that in mind cuz we got a lot more of these disagreements to go. But, [clears throat] uh, I want to thank every all the citizens who came out and spoke. I'm I'm I'm all always interested in hearing perspective. uh you know coming from the county I I um you guys are a little bit kinder o over here so uh bring it on you know bring it on um I didn't have the opportunity to um attend any of the groups that I'm the liazison with. I'm recovering actually from an automobile accident and I want to say that I miss my colleagues and I I never thought I'd hear my come out my mouth but I actually missed the work um [clears throat] to be sworn in on January and to see such sweeping uh changes already take place just with this body. I am godly proud of all of you my colleagues. Uh the changes that I'm referring to are we have a more open and inviting caucus space. Uh which I'm really proud about that cuz we talk about transparency and while you are always able to come back, it's just not very inviting to invite the public in a room that only holds about 10 people. It's a it's kind of a farce, but we corrected that. Uh I'm also proud of the fact that our yays can now be our yays and our naysay can now be our naysay. And you don't have to just hear them read our name and then leave here wondering what happened, who voted for what, and uh $1 discussion on it. Uh I like that open discourse. I think uh that we're elected, and I like the fact that people get to see us say yay or say nay. Uh [clears throat] and that we can't hide under cover of darkness or uh

or ignorance. Um and Mrs. Stanton, I'd like to thank you uh for highlighting Journey to Jerusalem. I believe that that book should be taught as curriculum. Dr. Gibbs should in the school district should put that book into the curriculum. Uh about three years ago, I sought to have that book republished uh by the author, Miss Sarah Thompson, and she informed me uh that the Erie Historical Society had commissioned that book and that she wasn't able to do any of that. Uh uh but there is some really really fantastic uh history about our early beginnings as uh told by mostly white erites about black people. Uh that's why this whole historical library thing is such a very very important uh discussion. Not just here locally uh um but universally uh I don't care how much you try to take us out a book or call it 28 day black history month. The fact of the matter is black history or woman's history is in this country is American history. And then we're going to talk about American history. We should talk about it uh in a more comprehensive uh way. and not just take uh um the historical count that we've already proven to be inaccurate. Cuz if anyone still believes that Columbus discovered America in 1492, then uh yeah, I got some more stories to tell you,

but I want to thank you. I think it's important work and anybody who wants to undertake that uh going with Dr. Gibbs or speaking to Dr. gives or having the historical society recommission that book or at least highlight it. And until then, you can you can Google it in this society that we live in. But it's nothing like turning the pages and I would I invite you to go down to the heritage room. Uh not just look at Journey to Jerusalem, but look at the truth here is history of Erie cuz it's our blemishes, our warts and all of that. Look at how the time the Times News depicted people of color back then. some of the language, some of the verbiage. Uh it'll give you a better understanding uh of of what we're talking about. Uh all the way up to what about black people who live here? When do we get something? County created a DEI commission. Uh and then they told us that uh or ARP money was for historically discriminated neighborhoods, i.e. black. Everybody got ARP money but black people. They ra they raffled it off to the counties to a project shovel ready project uh but they didn't follow the treasury department guidelines uh in the city of Erie and the county of Erie should really look at having an annual appropriation to kind of try to do something right uh for uh by their by its all of its citizens and not just those that live on the other side of Green Garden uh but do something for its melanated citizens as well. Thank you. Thank you, Council Sha.

Thank you, Dr. Titus. I'm going to go quickly what I did because I want to read an obituary. Um, I attended the water authority meeting and Sydney, thank you. I'll address your concerns. I blew out a tire on a road cut last week. I volunteered at the Neighborplace shelter, which is the overflow. And I would like to thank all the volunteers in Yuma. it is ending at the end of March. So I hope um we get some plans to uh get those people who went. There's a significant number. Um it's around 60 or 65 people or so 60 people. Each night I attended a landshaped land bank workshop. um a Makea-Wish dance at the Ambassador, the Eerie Historical uh preservation meeting and uh the former Manicor building and the labor union building will hopefully um be approved by us. Um a packa play um straight white men by Ry Witherro. Great uh play. The Booker T. Washington celebrating Black History Month last Saturday. Thank you, Shantel Hillyard and everyone who put that on. My colleagues spoke at it, Dr. Titus and uh Mo Troop and the mayor also spoke and um it was a great event of community uh gallery night. Um, Pastor Cook and uh, Curtis Jones had um, the African um, historical institute of culture and the AfricanAmerican experience. Great song and dance and a nice fundraiser to get them a needed

heater and uh, towen review board CDBG public hearing um, this week 10:00 a.m. in the morning. did my cyber security training and passed with flying colors, attended the Eerie Downtown Partnership, EDDDC, and um their annual event. Um don't go out on the ice. The firefighters should not be risking their lives. That's crazy. Just don't do it. Um it's too bad out there right now for that kind of thing. uh and uh I was the narrator for a wow event which is a multicultural event addressing the issues of our society and our city. Theia Anne Lunger was the producer and uh wonderful guest Dion D. Hunter came up from the Carolinas. So I believe in stories and everybody has a story and because I know this man and his family I want to share his story with you. Donald Huntington Smith of Erie crossed the finish line and took the checkered flag Wednesday, February 25th at 2026. Nearly 99 years old, the green flag flew in Connie Lake, Pennsylvania. On March 7th, 1927, where he was born to Lyanna McMahon at one year old, he was adopted by Dr. James Smith and his wife Mary Annabelle Palmer of Erie. He attended Academy High School where he excelled in football, basketball, track. He was the city of Erie pole vaultting champion in 1945. Donald graduated early and enlisted in the Army Airore as a fighter pilot trainee. Went through four aviation schools and flew in the 304th bomb squadron of the 15th Air Air Force and

B29 squadron. Donald was a union member of the iron workers local 348 and3 for 76 years 44 years of which he did structural iron work with the construction of the shiakqua lake bridge being his favorite project. He was a member of the sports car club of America as well as the misery bay sports car club. Donald attended the Indy500 for 75 years consecutively. He was a car guy from childhood. Raced into his late 70s with over 200 first place wins. He was married to the love of his life, Mary McCrell for 55 years with 60 years, two months, 17 days of togetherness. He was the father of Kurt Dardana Lance. Kim and Chris Smith, grandpa to Kurt, Marlina, Erica and Derek Smith and Michael Joshua and Greg Orsini. Great grandpa to Kale Danica Addison Braum. Everly Smith and Adeline Orsini Collins. And a special thank you to Mary Taylor, Donald's caregiver, and the entire staff at the Pennsylvania Soldiers and Sailors Home. To quote Donald, I had a good time, a wonderful life raising four wonderful children with my wife. How lucky can you get? Talio,

that was really fast. Good job, Cathy. I wanted it under the five minutes.

You did it. Um I'll conclude uh the council reports leazison reports. Uh so just to call note that we are in so every year we have we vote twice a year, right? So there's two elections every year. We right now we are in the petition circulation cycle. So that means if anybody was running for office right now, they're out knocking doors or they're hosting events to try to get people on um to sign their petitions so that they can get on the ballot. So just be aware that that's happening and if you can help some candidates that you support, right now is the time to do it. The last day to file those petitions is next Tuesday. Uh so just making sure that we're they're well we're doing what we can to keep uh you know democracy thriving. Uh, I also wanted to congratulate the Eerie Black Wall Street on their gayla that they hosted over this weekend and congratulate all the those who were honored there and they had launched a new fundraising effort and the name is escaping me, but you should go check out their website. They would do a much more eloquent job explaining what they have launched. Um, so head over to the Erie Black Wall Street's website to check out what they're they're doing. And again, just wanted to thank the public for for coming out and bringing up the discussion here. I do encourage that when we are coming up to to to share with the public that we are making sure that we're not spreading misinformation and to elevate again something that councelor Horton had said that when we support one community it does not mean we are uh divesting or not supporting another community in fact that they are they we need to lock arms and the only way that we overcome much of the oppression is is through solidarity and so this welcoming city ordinance uh is is one step. Um, and I I think it is also a challenge for us and what I received from the community today is to make sure that we're taking um some mighty bold steps uh in uplifting our black and brown community as well. Um, and I and I hear that call to action and I received that call to action. Um, with that uh I will I will wrap up my report.

Again, let me highlight this before I forget. uh as the liaison to the mocha committee. So the communications you will now see under the city council on when you go under our section on the website that you will be able to get the information right from that website instead of having to come into the clerk's office you can now access it once we as council get it. It is now made available to the public. So we're trying to make sure that people have the information as we get the information. Uh and if you're noticing something's not opening correctly, please let us know so that we can fix it. Uh and so this is just another step that we're taking in that transparency. Uh so so thank you and then I will go ahead and pass it over to our controller.

Thank you, Dr. Titus. Um I just want to say that the the controllers's office is very busy right now. Um we've been meeting with purchasing uh over the past couple weeks uh and several different department heads to discuss our bid bidding procedures and best practices. Um, we've been reviewing union contracts and I'm familiarizing myself with all the provisions of those contracts which also do cover some of our uh contracts and our purchasing items. Uh, I want to say I'm extremely proud of my staff, Kate, Kelly, and Meg, who have worked so diligently on our state reporting for our pension plans. We've completed our reports nearly a month early due to all of their hard work. Um we've had continued meetings with police, firefighters, um OE and the aggregate group regarding all of our pension operations and those meetings happen just about weekly. Um I am a I'm on the defined contribution oversight committee which met last Friday regarding our 457 and our 401A plans. Um very interesting stuff there. I've gone through all the documents and familiarized myself with all of our provisions so we can uh work on those things going forward. We're actively firming up our procedures for payables. So, we're making sure the process is as streamlined as possible across all of our departments so we're not repeating work. And I that's my biggest platform is let's get it all the same across the board so we are doing things as efficiently as possible. Uh we're continuing our department head meetings and we're getting really good feedback. And I just want to say I attended the knowledge breakfast through the chamber last week about the future of the county. Uh tremendous talk by our county executive Um, very very good information there. And I want to remind everyone again, my door to my office is always open. If you need me, please do not hesitate to come in. Uh, and thank you.

Thank you. Solicitor, do you have a report? I do not. Okay. Uh, mayor, do you have a report?

Thank you, Dr. Titus. Uh, I do want to say thank you to council for your work on the welcoming city ordinance. Um, I want to say that I do believe now we have all the evidence we need to go back and complete our application. Um, but I also want to add that I agree uh we have much more work to do and the comments made today very much heard and understood. We have work to do in every neighborhood in every population in our entire city. So I encourage that we all now turn having completed this great work to all that lies ahead. Um speaking of that, our work with PFM is underway on our um financial projections. We did a debt review with them last week and our first check-in with them is this week. So, we look forward to sharing that information with council as we receive it. Um, also want to make a comment about the police. There's a lot of conversation this morning. Um, it's uh good timing to let you know that our police application process begins. It opens on April 1st. I'm very proud of the work of Captain Lennox and Deputy Chief um Inspector Janice. They've lowered the application fee uh for the police application to $35. We're doing everything we can do to try to remove barriers to make sure that everyone has an opportunity. everyone who wants to to apply. Um they've also expanded recruitment efforts particularly among women and minority populations. So proud of the work that they're continuing to do and want to let everyone know that that application process will open on April 1st. Noted about potholes. Uh we hear you. I want to remind everyone to please use the CRC, our citizen response center. That's 870 1111 and the pothole hotline 8701340. That's where you can report those. We'll make sure Councilman Sha, we're very sorry. Um, I'm just letting you know we're we we need to know and so please use those hotlines so that we can get on that. Um, and I want to say uh I think some of the comments were made about the neighborhoods. Trash and debris are on our mind right now. Um, I met with my leadership team yesterday and really kind of said this needs to be our focus in March and April. We're working internally on some systems. We're

meeting with our code enforcement officers all together tomorrow. Um, this you you will see marked improvement. This is a priority focus of ours. So, if you're seeing that as well, please use the CRC and report where you're seeing items that shouldn't be there. Um, I know Councilwoman Paul noted the CDBG hearings. Um, I also attended this week. You know, those hearings highlight the challenges in our community. We hear people coming to speak about housing and about youth programming and we know that we need it all and we know that these are the challenges we face with very little money. So, I appreciate the folks who have come to the hearings. We have a lot of work to do in this process. look forward to talking more with council about that. But just need to say I wish we had triple the money that we have because every single program that's applied is certainly worthy. On the topic of youth, many of you I think know we had our youth voice workshop last Thursday at the Booker T. Washington Center. We had about 40 kids in the room. We had great conversation. We talked to them about their use of the parks. We talked to them about summer recck programming and about social media. Um just a great mix of kids. This was something we want to do. Again, one young woman left and said, "I love all of you and I love having my voice heard." And that is exactly what we need and we want to continue that. So, next time we'll certainly make sure you're all aware if you'd like to attend and listen as well. Um, to the point of Erie Coke, I do want to let the board know um, Port Authority did issue a statement of policy with regard to Erie Ko last week to reaffirm their commitment to transparency and public engagement. So, the public needs to be aware. the Port Authority, the redevelopment authority, and I know city council are committed to transparency and public input in that process. So, please know that statement of policy is now on the Port Authorities's website if you're interested. We all know that this continues to be of concern. And lastly, I want to thank our employee activities committee. They took me out yesterday and we gave away four co-worker of the month awards. Uh to Gary Gossman, I did that one at 7 a.m. uh at the municipal garage because he was coming off a

second shift. to Angie Stanowitz in payroll, Brian Ross, um he's a fire uh mechanic at Marsh Street and Rob Tommy Streets. I went up there, we surprised them, we gave them a plaque, nice words were read about them that they were nominated by their co-workers. So, the employee activities committee is doing great work here in city government at our facility at city hall and our others to see our employees. So, we're grateful to them, grateful to every one of our employees and the great work we're doing because we have lots more to do. So, with that, thank you to all of you. Thank you for the conversation, the discussion, your willingness to work with us. Um, we really appreciate. We're committed to transparency. We know you are as well. So, we look forward to everything that comes next. Thank you.

Thank you, mayor. Um, just as a reminder, we have a finance meeting uh following starting at 11:00. Um, here we'll right after the city council meeting concludes and then next Thursday, we have our study session and it will start at approximately 5:30 and that will be on the salo. So, the subdivision and land development ordinance. Um, and then to give council a heads up at our evening council meeting, we do have two public hearings that will be occurring in there. So, just just be aware that it may be a long meeting, our next meeting. All right. And with that, we will go ahead and adjourn.

City Council adjourns at 10:38 a.m. Members Titus, Brzinski, Lauren, Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.