Town Council - Regular Meeting

restaurant. like to call to order meeting of town council of the town of McCandless for February 23rd, 2026. Will everyone please rise and remove your hats for the pledge of allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands under indivice for all. Thank you everyone for being here. We appreciate that you're taking time out of your busy schedules to be a part of this. The town loves that you're here and the town loves that you want to be involved in our decisions and our community. It's much appreciated. Uh couple of announcements. At the previous town council meeting on February 9, 2026, town council would enter in to an executive session regarding a legal matter. That meeting concluded at 11:51 p.m. A couple of great events coming up. We want you to join us for the town of McCandless Easter egg hunt on Saturday, March 28th at the Lorraine Rogers soccer field. Pre-registration is required and is now open for residents. Another great event celebrating McCandless 175 is please join us at our rescheduled polar plunge event in collaboration with North Alageni's unified botchi team being held on Friday, March 20th from 400 p.m. to 6 p.m. at North Alageney High School. Uh and now Mr. Schwen, if you could share um couple of notes we received this week.

Certainly. We received correspondence first from uh Miss Irene Caliendo. She serves on the Northland Public Library Authority Board. She's indicated that she uh will be resigning from that position effective June 30th. Uh will accept that resignation formally at the next council meeting, but I did want to let everybody know we'll begin the process to find a replacement for that position right away. Second, we received notice that Mr. Tom Murski serves on the MTSA board. He will also need to resign effective March 31st. Uh we'll accept that officially at our next meeting. However, we will start the advertising process right away for that as well.

Thank you. Okay. And the last announcement, um can we have a motion, please, from council? I make a motion to approve testimonial resolution number one of 2026 for appreciation and recognition by the timeless of Judy Wagner upon her retirement.

Second motion and a second. Thank you. Thank you. Um, quickly read through this fabulous part of the town of for a long time. She deserved a lot of recognition and we we wish you the best in the future. Um, whereas upon the occasion of retirement of the town of Mckas tax collector Wagner from the town of MCAS, this resolution is presented as testimonial of our total and dedicated service to the town. who served the town for over seven years beginning on October 1st, 2018. Miss Wagner has always professionally and courteously performed her duties as town tax administrator. Miss Wagner has been a loyal and dedicated employee, consistently going above and beyond the call of duty, offering some help and training her fellow staff members and providing exemplary skills in the tax office. Now be it resolved, the town council baton mckistas must hereby honor Miss Judy Wagner for her years of service to Baton Mckist and her diligent, courteous and faithful honor in which she performed the duties. We wish you all the best. Thank you. Thank you. I'm really honored and grateful for this working lovely. Uh when I first came in seven years ago, I never look sad. Got a great place to work with a lot of great people and um

I think there's probably many good things to come, but I'm going to walk it. So, thank you everybody. Thank you. And do we have any other announcements from town council? Yes, Mr.

Well, two things actually. First of all, summer recreation program uh will be held for grades 1 through 6 uh from July 6th through 10th at Ingram Elementary School. Uh there will be stuff on the website coming up later this week. Tonight we're here as friends. We're here as neighbors. Over the course of the last two weeks, I've made some some requests of our solicitor and our president to go over wording that would change that would actually make things a little bit more palatable for me just like every other neighbor. Oh, and by the way, Miss Clinton was very gracious in giving me that time. Just like neighbors in other situations and friends in other situations, we are not going to agree on everything. Not everything in this chamber will be a seven nothing vote. While I understand that this is a contentious issue for some, for others it's not, I ask you to understand that everybody comes at this from a different angle. And I ask that you come in in the spirit of friendship and hear everybody out. Be courteous. We are going to get through this. both as a council and as a town. And we will live to see another day and to fight other fights and to stand up for what we all believe in.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. W.

Any other announcements from council before we move forward? Okay, hearing none. Um, we are going to move to the public comment part of our evening which you're all here for. Um, I want to reiterate the sentiment that our entire council thanks you. We thank you for your past comments. We thank you for the many many emails that you have sent. Uh, we have read them and we appreciate that. Again, another reminder, we want to respect each other. There may be things said that you do not agree with. We ask you to give that person the respect that you would expect when you are at the podium. Um, we also want to make sure we hear from comments of folks we have not heard from. Um, so we would hope that you might politely offer the microphone to people we've not heard from yet. Uh, want to also remind you that uh we do have a five minute limit, but that does not mean you have to use all five minutes. So, at this time, um, Mr. Arlo could not be able to join us because of a work obligation. Um, before we, uh, invite the public forward, I would like to make sure Mr. Arlo has the opportunity to share his viewpoint uh, because he has a work engagement that he may need to lead for before it's time for the vote. Mr. Arlo, if you

Madame President, I appreciate you allowing me to um, move up in line here. I do have a hard stop at 9:50 for an employ important client dinner. Um, and I'm sorry I can't be there to join all you in in person. Um, I'll be very brief. I know this is going to be a very long meeting, but I just have some comments here. Um, you know, we we've brought national politics into our town. Um, in my opinion, we don't have a crisis here. The this resolution is symbolic feel-good statement. Um, there is inconsistency, lack of clarity in the resolution in my opinion. Under item three, the way it reads, the way I read it, it tells our officers, "Do not obey federal law on immigration status except when you may be required by law." Our officers are highly trained and already perform their duties as this document suggests. the town will and was never going to adopt 287g agreement and it would require a vote to do so. Um why why do we need to codify this? I want clear communications between our police officers and each and every local, state, county, federal agency. This resolution can hinder that. I fear that we've managed to divide our town. I've received hundreds of emails and public comment on this issue. At best, 50% are for this resolution. I fear that this resolution will make it harder for our chief and his officers to do their jobs. This has definitely made our town manager and staff's job harder. I fear that this has distracted our administration from away from doing important work around local activities and responsibilities. Um, we're not going to fix immigration

here at the local level and we cannot prevent them from coming into our town. This is for your congressman and senators. For all these reasons, I'm voting no on this resolution. Madame President, I respectfully ask that you consider registering my no vote into the record in the event that I can no longer be on this call. Thank you very much. Thank you, Miss Garlo. appreciate you taking the time to be with us this evening. Yep. And I will hang around until I cannot any longer. Thank you.

Okay. Um and just for the public information, Mr. Hickerson is also joining us on Zoom this evening. He is uh not feeling well. Um but he will be here and hopefully here for a vote. Um at this time, we would like to invite one person at a time to the podium to share their comments. Um, please state your name and um, make sure you have already signed in and me said your address on the sign-in sheet if you are planning to speak this evening. Okay. Hi, I'm Matt Shipley resident and I'm here to to speak about the resolution 20263. First of all, this resolution came out of nowhere. I know that the two Republican council members were not notified of it until 3 days before it happened. I mean, if this is how you guys are running, I recommend you resign and let somebody else come in to run this town without the bias that's going on and the political shenanigans. I mean, we were a very nice town for 25 years. This place was run very, very well. We don't we don't need that here. Uh second thing is that um this is a a resolution in search of a problem. I mean we have not had a problem with ICE here and I don't foresee that we will we have a very professional police force. They don't need to be told anything else differently. They will they will take care of things in this town. We don't need this resolution. The only thing this uh this resolution will do is divide us as it is and two invite the uh Minnesota circus to come to town. And nobody wants that. I mean, I don't want to see the Minnesota circus come to town, but this resolution will bring it. Third, I'd like to uh comment on the some of the um comments that were made the last meeting. U the man who was dragged out of his car in Oakmont was or Oakland was uh he was a had a felony

warrant for his arrest. So, he he had previously um overstayed his visa on two different occasions. He had multiple appointments to go rectify that situation. he he ignored them. So, um even if you're a natural-born citizen, if you have a felony warrant for your arrest after committing a felony, you will be separated from your family. That's just the way it is. I mean, so I recommend that people not uh break the law. If they follow the law, they won't have that problem. Second thing is that there was a woman who claimed that the uh her classmates were scared. Well, it turns out that she went she goes to Taylor Alderdise in Squirrel Hill. So, it wasn't the students at at North Alagia that were scared. It was the students at uh that Taylor Alderdise that were scared. And third, I'd like to address address this uh flyer that's been going around as uh calling citizens to call for no ICE and to report ICE activity. This is this is insurrectionist material right here. This is insurrectionist material. And I uh I would recommend that all law-abiding citizens download the uh ICE tip line in their phone as a contact and if they see any illegal aliens in Meccanis or anywhere else to call ICE and let them know. And with that, I'll let go rest my time.

Thank you for your comment.

Good evening. Thank you, Madam President, members of council. Tonight I want to try and explain clearly why this docu these documents before you are deeply flawed and you should you should not approve them tonight. Several of the whereas clauses invoke constitutional protections in an incomplete and a misleading way. It is correct that all persons are entitled to equal protection and to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. But let's be clear, the Constitution does not prohibit lawful arrests or detentions carried out under valid jurisdictional authority or lawful federal authority. When constitutional language is cited in a resolution, as you have done the a and it's aimed at limiting cooperation with civil immigration enforcement, it must be stated precisely. Omitting that context invites incorrect legal inferences about the legitimacy of federal civil enforcement and administrative warrants. Second, the resolution misstates Pennsylvania's law and extended beyond its proper scope. It asserts that the Constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth require an arrest warrant to be issued only by judges or magistrates. Pennsylvania law governs criminal warrants issued under state authority. It does not govern federal civil immigration enforcement, nor does it require that all lawful arrest be based on judicial warrants. This is inaccurate. It's overly broad and it weakens the foundation of your resolution. Next, the most importantly, the resolution uses individual constitutional rights as the stated justification for a discretionary municipal policy choice. And that framing is misleading. It's true that individuals possess constitutional protections regardless of immigration status, but those protections do not determine whether McCain should adopt the policy of non-assistance in federal civil immigration enforcement, nor do they limit the authority of federal officers to enforce federal law. This resolution makes a policy choice

about how our town will treat illegal immigration, but it frames that choice as though it's compelled by constitutional law. It is not. that matters for public safety because policy choices affecting law enforcement should be based on their merits, including their impact on officer discretion, inter agency coordination, and community safety not justified by inaccurate claims of legal necessity. The operative provisions contain sweeping and absolute language that conflicts with federal law and it creates serious operational risk. While the resolution acknowledges Title 8 in one limited section concerning victims and witnesses, that statute applies to the whole resolution. It should. Federal law expressly prohibits state and local governments from restricting communication with federal immigration authorities regarding immigration status and information. Yet, this resolution states that the town will not enable or assist federal immigration enforcement or even entertain federal requests. You cannot acknowledge federal law in one paragraph while adopting contradictory language in another. That kind of ambiguity does not just create legal exposure. It creates confusion on the street and potentially chaos where officers have to make split-second decisions. Confusion and policy directly affects our public safety. Folks, the res the resolution claims it establishes no new practices or policies, but that is false. The only provision that can credibly be described as existing practice in the town's longstanding is the town's long-standing decision to not enter into a 287G agreement. Every other operative provision, including formal policies of non-assistance, restrictions on cooperation, and limitations on information sharing, constitute a new directive adopted by council. Policy that directly affects how our police

interact with other agencies and matters that can implicate our public safety. Resolution asserts that it does not make meas a sanctuary city. Yet operative provisions contain the core features commonly associated with sanctuary jurisdictions. These include formal policies of non-assistance and federal government civil investigations, enforcement, limitations on cooperation, federal authorities, and restriction of information sharing. The municipality adopts policies mirror those in sanctuary jurisdictions stating that it's not a sanctuary. It does not change how the policies will be interpreted by public or by federal authorities or by review in court and most importantly by illegal aliens implications for community safety. These are resolutions that overreach misstate the law and create ambiguity where clarity is essential. Law enforcement policy should enhance public safety guys. This resolution does the opposite. For those reasons, I urge council over on the resolution. Lastly, I'm very disappointed that the request for a venue change it to President Clooney.

Thank you for coming to be present. I don't think very transparent. Thank you. My name is Tom Vicken. I've been in Mean Township for about 37 years. And it's kind of ironic, but we started off with the pledge of allegiance tonight and to the republic for which it stands. I'm looking at all of you. You're asking us to turn our back on that republic. What is this? You've got 30,000 residents of this community that you need to do what's best for them. That was your oath to do what's best for the community. Recently, there was a election in I think wards 2, four, and six. And you know what? There was about 5,000 votes. 5,000. And each ward has 3,200 people. So and that's very tight combined all three. So that means your agendas that you want those seats by. What about the other 27,000 that are in our community? You're supposed to be thinking of them. And I I'd like to say this isn't a political item, but it is. It truly is. And if you're trying to decide what to do for this community, maybe you should take an idea from the top Democrat of our state, John Federman.

Maybe not. But let's let's look at this. Senator's position on a community like the camp should notice ICE agency on targeted enforcements involving criminable offense. Here's the good one. while avoiding actions to destroy peaceful residence. That's talking about the peaceful residence of this community and the only way to do that is to turn down this to cooperate with this because it's like dealing that our police deal with all the time. It's a phone call to say I got this person of interest. Do you want him or should we let him go? That's all it is. That's why we're talking about with you say no. You're going to bring to this community because they figure you're hide out here. You're going to be bringing outside agitators in here. Yeah. Yeah. Fight, fight, fight. You will bring ICE in and over into the communities instead of going to our police department just picking them up with one person and you'll also bring another um Cumberland radio back to this community. You got to think of these things for the 27,000 that you haven't and you know I look at if there's veterans in this that would thank you for it and you took an oath to protect this community from domestic enemies and the people living here are domestic

enemies. Better yet, I want to thank the young people 1825 that listen to the and they for selective service you there's a whole bunch of other men to fight for this country for loser that's a people here they are not respond for us and lastly when I listened to the people last time about Christ did in this organization. You know, I commend wholeheartedly, but God tells us to be apostles. Okay? That means if you know these illegals that are in here, you should help them become legal to help them read and commit to this country. That's what you should be doing. Especially the Clark, especially the person that goes home and reads the Bible every night. acting as a good Samaritan, not watching as a good Samaritan. But as for your own agenda, you know what to say to you tonight. Get behind me, sleep. Thank you.

Thank you for coming. Just one reminder remember that when you're looking through the comment that some council the audience if you could do that please Iman I have short comment if anybody listened or watched the families that Donald Trump honored today. It was heart-wrenching to listen to what happened to those people by the illegal that they were killed. He went over, he honored those families. And there's nothing more to say that this is the reason why you have to think about what you're voting on this because of these kind of situations in our country. I'll just go with one what Mr. books and said about is 719 Cumberland. There was a lot of people that had to put up with a lot of terrible situations for a long time there and I just say we don't need to do this again. Thank you.

Thank you for the comment. Madame President, members of town council, before I speak to the issue, I want to thank the members of council as well as town manager Schwang, legal council cordwell and Miss Romanac for facilitating one of the finest examples of a working democracy that I have witnessed in very long time outside of our annual free and fair elections. The February 9th council meeting was extraordinary. You not only gave anyone who so chose an opportunity to speak and actively listened to each one of us as we spoke, you also gave us access to your discussion. Thank you. I am pleased the town council is voting on resolution 20263. I believe passing it is the right thing to do at the right time. I do not know if the changes made are necessary changes even as clarifying language. I have some concerns that one or two of the changes might diminish the impact of this resolution such as the diversity language. For this reason, I favor passage of the original version A. But not being an attorney, I don't feel qualified to make this jud judgement without further information. I must trust the members of council to make that evaluation and to act in the best interest of the citizens of Mandalas. But act you must. This I do know. In the past, just as tens of thousands of people fought in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, just as millions of people endured through and ultimately triumphed in two world

wars in order to first establish, then to preserve and to further our rights and freedom. Just as millions of individuals volunteered every year in efforts large and small to help those who needed a lending hand, all we 21st Century citizens must do the same. These comparisons may seem dramatic or hyperbolic on the face of them. However, the constitutional rights of free speech, peaceful assembly, and due process are being threatened every day by the sometimes unlawful, the frequently cruel, and the almost always unnecessarily brutal tactics of ICE and CBP. Indeed, even the basic human right of being able to travel to work or to the grocery store or to attend school freely and without fear has been taken away from thousands of people without justification. I believe that town council passing resolution 20263 is a critical piece in restoring and preserving these rights and freedoms. Such incidents are not isolated to other states or even other cities in Pennsylvania, Oakmont, Swickley and even an earlier incident in Mandalas all occurred. Our acts of individual courage may or may not require an equal level of personal risk as did the events of the past, but they are no less important and they are no less necessary. It is my

hope that the members of council will demonstrate personal courage and pass this resolution. There are many residents who are on record as standing with you and we will continue to stand with you on this matter. We have a responsibility to be informed. We have an obligation to use our voice not only by voting but by all other means available and we have a moral duty to help those who need our help. In my opinion, passing resolution 20263 will help the leadership and all the citizens of McCandalis in meeting our responsibilities, obligations and moral duty. And lastly, I would just like to add that illegals is not a noun. It is a status. Thank you.

Thank you. Hey there. I'm sorry. I've never really done this before. So, thank you. I appreciate you being here. Um, so I mean really, can you speak into you can bend the mic toward you a little this is about public safety. So, please

and I want to talk about this in terms of public safety using a personal story. So, I'm married to a Vietnamese man. He's a naturalized citizen. He was brought over when he was one years old. Um, and like many immigrant kids, their vet have no idea where their paperwork is. My husband has his social security card. He has his passport. His parents lost his naturalization papers a very long time ago, and we do need to file for them, but it takes a lot of time and a lot of money to do that. And to do it out of fear is terrifying. I'm just putting that backstory in so that you understand. Um, couple of days ago, maybe like a week or two ago, I had to call 911. My daughter, she's now eight months, she was about seven and a half months when this happened. She was choking on her children's Tylenol. I was terrified. I wanted to call 911. And I could see my husband absolutely losing his mind, tensing in terror next to me. We don't know if McCandless wasing with ICE. We didn't know if someone was going to come in and ask for his citizenship and papers and prove it. And while he is a citizen, it doesn't change the fear. So it comes down to going to be too scared to call our police. If there's a rape, do we have the rapist on the street because an undocumented migrant got raped and was too afraid to talk to the police? Are we going to let kids and adults go through medical emergencies? to clarify that when you call 911, the police are going to show up and immediately demand citizenship or maybe show up with ICE with them. There's things like this that just it matters to some of us and of course matter to all of us. It shouldn't have to happen. It shouldn't have to happen in our community to become a problem and people want to speak up. It shouldn't speak in strictly having a resident taken to not want to speak up. It shouldn't want for them to

have a citizens taken for them to speak up. And the other thing that I just want to point out is non-ooperation doesn't mean that we're not going to let ICE into the city to do their job for dangerous criminals. And I and this is a general this is a general statement. Non-ooperation does not mean we're going to actively work against them. The point is that law will apply equally to everybody and that police officers are free to apply that law equally to everybody. If they see somebody being physically abused by we have a right to step in whereas comfortable doing that without this resolution. We need to remember that ICE is not HSI and HSI is who came and helped I believe on that Cumberland project. ICE is not HSI. HSI is the one who does the discussions and does the interrogations and make sure that they know what they're going after before they do it. They are the ones with the saying, "Hey, as police officers, as you citizenship, scare our color in this community and make them to speak out and get help. That's the most thing right now, right? public safety. Let us be afraid to have that safety.

Thank you for that hard to follow. Whoops. Rita Martin. Um, I just have a couple facts. Although sometimes in our emotions, facts seem to not matter. But this week, I was able to participate in a League of Women Voters webinar about the 287G, which is not anything we're going after here and what one that I hope we never do, but it is a fact that that document, that agreement forbids ICE by statute from compensating local law enforcement agencies for any actions that the local law enforcement might take. Therefore, they can be quite costly to local governments. Keep that in mind. That is in law in their document. But that's not what we're here for. We're here for a resolution that you have brought forth that I think is invaluable. Um the more important reason for you to vote in favor of this resolution, and I will quote from a federal judge, Judge Goodwin in West Virginia. Um, I know we consider judges anymore as being interpreting the law, but this is a quote direct his statements. Across the United States, agents of the federal government, masked, anonymous, armed with military weapons, operating from unmarked vehicles, acting without warrants of any kind, seizing persons for civil immigration violation and imprisoning them without any semblance of due process. This is directly from Judge Goodwin's statements.

It continues, "The use of masks and other tactics that obscure official identity carries historic and semiodic weight. Authoritarian regimes have used mass security forces to intimidate and control populations. In this nation's history, a Kux clan relied on mass to terrorize victims while concealing accountability. You cannot do that in the United States. It is not right to have masked agents. That's only part of it. All that they're doing is illegal and we should not have them in our community if at least not working with our police officers who would not engage in such activity. Also, for my friend last week, research consistently indicates that unimated immigrants are incarcerated and convicted of crimes at lower rates than nativeorn US citizens. This is from the KO Institute, which is conservative. For example, in 2023, analysis estimated the incarceration rate for native born Americans at 1,221 per 100,000 compared to 613 uh for undocumented immigrants. So, this is data from Texas, one of the few states that track this information. So, it is not that um illegals do all of the crimes in this country. They don't. They are here to work, to become citizens, many of them, and to be treated with dignity and respect as long as they are obeying our laws. Remember, being here illegally is not a crime. It is a civil um disobedience. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Todd stop speaking the council. Uh the

town charter section 202 on municipal duties states that the council is to provide for the health and well-being of its citizens. The language that you're talking about in this in this draft that may or may not have been vetted by the attorneys. I that I'm not a legal counsel, but I failed to see how adopting that and going against the odds and going going against the federal government uh in the best interest of of the citizens. Uh there are numerous executive orders that we would be challenging and there's pending legislation such as HR 7628 and HR32 that would subject to possible civil liabilities. I don't believe it's any fudictory responsibilities to subject us to those potential costs. This isn't a matter of whether we agree with ICE or disagree with ICE. The town charter, as it is written, should not even have us, in my opinion, considering bills on immigration. So, I'm asking you to reject this. It is inconsistent with section 202 and the town charter. Thank you very much.

Thank you for the comments.

Good evening. My name is Mark Boyd. My wife and I live in the um here in in in town 11 years. Um, you know, democracy, which is what we're all about here, the bedrock of democracy is discussion, exchange of ideas, debate, consideration, compromise, and cooperation. If we don't have those things, we don't have a democracy. And the underlying statement that I have read in your proposed resolution is we're not going to cooperate with ICE. I guess that throws us out, doesn't it? Because you want to make a statement. That's what what a resolution is. It says a federal agency we're not going to cooperate with. People are up in up in arms about ICE. Oh, they're terrible people. They're beating people up. They're doing things that they shouldn't be doing. Did you ever think that we wouldn't have ICE if we didn't have the illegal immigration problem that we have? That's the reason why ICE was created to begin with. We had illegal immigration a 100 years ago. We had it 50 years ago. We didn't have ICE. Why?

Because unfortunately we now have an invasion. We have an invasion and that's why ICE was created to help stem the problem. The difficulty I have with your proposed resolution is that it tries to couch things in terms of civil violations. Oh, many of these immigration issues are civil in nature. Well, let's put this in perspective, please. A student that overstays their visa overwhelmingly treated as a civil violation. Visitor from Europe with a six-month visa that overstays civil violation. Why? because they came to America legally to begin with. They did it the right way and they've overstayed for one reason or another. That's why so many of these issues are handled civily. I heard a number of speakers just before me talk in terms of well illegal aliens, you know, so long as they don't violate you should be allowed to live here. Forgive me. 8 US code makes it abundantly clear. If you don't come into the country through a port of entry, you have committed a crime. That's what the federal statute says. And if you do it a second time, it's a felony.

SO WHEN WE TALK ABOUT, WELL, you know, so long as these people don't violate the law, they don't break the law, we they should be allowed to live here. I appreciate the humanitarian aspect of all of this. But for for the life of me, I cannot understand how people miss that which is the most important thing. Their existence, their presence here when not through a port of entry is a crime. THEY'RE NOT SUPPOSED to be here. AND GOD HELP US the immigr the people that seek immigration the proper way through a port of entry or through submission of documentation. These poor people many of whom are professionals wise sort of the sort of things that we need here in America they get pushed out because they there's no consideration from them. Our hands are already tied. Please don't let that happen.

Thank you for your comment, sir.

My name is Ted Passel. I'm a mechanist res Ted Passel.

Thank you. and I'm a McCandless resident and my remarks are going to be exceedingly short which I'm sure you will appreciate. Uh very simply the way I look at it is this. This township has a litany of rules, regulations, ordinances which this council is has every right to expect us as residents of the township to abide by. This resolution, as I understand it, appears to advocate the impairment of the enforcement of correctly uh enacted federal law by an agency which is which lawfully has the right to be here. To me, when you look at it in its whole, the scope is different. But the point is it's hypocrisy. You want compliance from us, but you want to choose how the township and our police officers are going to comply with federal law. In my view, that's hypocritical. From my standpoint, it's very simple. I am going to continue to support our Macandas police officers with cooperation and support irregardless of how you vote. And that goes as well for any other police agency which is lawfully here. uh who whomever they may be and that's what I think is the right approach to this. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Madam President. Will you bring the mic to your I'll just bring it over toward you better. You can bend it a little. Perfect. There we go. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Madam President. My name is Christina Keffer and I'm a McCandless resident. I stand here as a lifelong registered Republican and a child of immigrants. My grandparents arrived on these shores about 90 years ago dreaming of a better future for their children, which they achieved despite intense bigotry and racism. Probably most of us can trace our roots back to immigration in the last hundred years or so. And to us all I say, but for the grace of God go we. Many of the arguments against the resolution have convinced me that folks haven't actually read it or got them bamboozled by the fear-mongering text messages such as those I've received from members of the Republican party or they failed to understand the content. The resolution is to formalize McCandless's pre-existing stance on voluntary cooperation with the federal government into a formal policy. Nowhere in it is suggested new protections for any members of our community. Should our council members vote in favor of this resolution, we create increased clarity by local law enforcement, school administrators, as well as the community at large. More than that, we put a line in the sand against federal overreach. The time will come when we must suffer the presence of the brutal and violent agents of our racist administration. But we need not aid them in dragging our friends and neighbors off the streets. We need not help them locate vulnerable children in our schools. When ICE comes to our community, make them do their dirty work themselves. I urge our council to pass this resolution and keep our local community above the ethical and moral morass surrounding us. Thank you. Thank you for your comments.

Jacob Anderson. Madame President, I felt obliged to address council today on resolution 20263 after encountering multiple misinformation campaigns designed to stoke anger and discord on the issue. Firstly, I applaud council for seeking to remove any ambiguity on the matter of the town's participation in immigration enforcement. That this resolution largely codifies existing policy, reaffirms the town's commitment to the rule of law, and emphasizes the rights guaranteed to the town's residents by both the federal and commonwealth constitutions. makes it a testament to practical municipal governance in a time of national tension. Even if a member disagrees with the existing policy, there is no reason to perpetuate the uncertainty and risk losing the participation in the justice system of innocent residents who may be fearful of extra judicial reprisal. Given this context, council's vote on the resolution is above all else a vote for much needed clarity. Secondly, in defense of the town's existing posture to not voluntarily assist federal agencies in civil immigration enforcement, I would reference the hundreds of judicial jud judgments made against the tactics these agencies are employing and ask if it is in the best interest of the town to involve the honorable members of our police department in service of federal activities that are consistently judged to be fundamentally at odds with the laws of a free society. We owe our police better than to subject them to the whims of the Department of Homeland Security without clear guidance from the Supreme Court or Congress. Until legal precedent has caught up with this blitz, we only risk civil liability and mistrust for no objective gain. I therefore urge council to approve resolution 202603 as a matter of administrative pragmatism in the interest of all the town's residents while the questions of enforcement are handled by the courts and the national lawmakers. Thank you. I yield. Thank you, Soman. Good evening. I'm Dana Camarada. I'm here once again to speak. And just like the last time, my concern is

transparency. Tonight, that concern comes from reviewing the 71 pages that were listed in the minutes report generated from last week's meeting. While many residents may not know that in just one week, there have been two additional drafts added to this resolution. That brings a total of three drafts in less than two weeks. I find that unusual and rather quick. The first draft, the one originally expected to be voted tonight, has been now joined by drafts two and three. My question is simple. How can the town council decide on what to vote tonight when the resolutions keep changing? These drafts are buried on page 43 of 71 pages. As you see, I had to print them all just to find them. as why has resolution 2026-3 not been clearly communicated to the community and may I may may I add that knowing that how many people were going to be here tonight why could the venue not be changed to accommodate standing room only this is a big issue

and we are all sweating like here

this was quietly placed again on page 43 document and being instead of being presented openly plainly and publicly it feels as Though this resolution was discussed in a very limited circle without meaningful notice to the people you all represent, a resolution of this magnitude should never feel hidden, rushed, or buried in paperwork. It should have been placed front and center with full transparency. Our community deserves to know what is being pres proposed, especially when it involves public safety or police officers and major policy changes. Whether intentional or not, the way this was handled creates an appearance of secrecy that erodess trust. The public should not have to ever dig through 71 pages to discover something this important. And again, based on trust, four new council people have entered into this year. And yet, we're starting this way. um why is this resolution being rushed so forward? Why is it being done behind the scenes? In addition, I'd like to focus on the police and the lack of transparency with this new council. My biggest resolution is that it would limit the effectiveness of our smart, experienced, and professional police force. It removes tools they rely on serious situation and it shifts po focus away from the local responsibilities you were elected to uphold the safety infrastructure stability and community well-being. Our officers must not be restricted from taking appropriate action when federal authorities require cooperation. They need the ability to respond using their training, their judgment, and their experience. If you take that authority and tools away from our police we rely on, you create the very problems that other communities have faced when public safety policies were changed without careful planning.

Why would we head in that direction? What is the urgency? I'm still trying to figure that out. These officers support our families, our churches, our community every single day. They deserve thoughtful, deliberate decisionmaking, not rush solutions that undermine their ability to perform their duties. And speaking of safety and the fear of many families in our community, I feel I want to acknowledge the ministers who have spoke earlier and last time about the distress that people are in. I truly emphasize with anyone facing uncertainty, no one wants to see families in difficult situations. But I also believe that immigration matters should follow a clear and lawful process just as our own families experienced. My grandparents came from Poland. My husband's from Italy. They passed through Ellis Island, completed the vetting process required at the time, had sponsored, followed the rules, and worked hard to become contributing members to their community. Because of that history, I believe strongly that immigration policies and the assistance systems tied to them should remain orderly, consistent, and handled at the local appropriate government. It is not up to the local level to decide what our police can do and cannot do when federal authorities are carrying out their responsibilities. If you limit the tools and authority our police officers depend on, you do not support them and that puts our community at risk. Do you all remember what happened to the family who lived on landslap from two weeks ago? How terrified they were because of the illegal criminal activity happening right across from three schools. We needed outside assistance and we were grateful for it. Macandless is a safe, beautiful community. I've resided here 56 years. I call it the McCandless bubble. I'd like to keep it that way. I also want to feel safe knowing our police have our full support.

Thank you. New building. Tough act to follow too. Um, thank you council for entertaining all the people here this evening. By having this meeting and this resolutionary vote and if you do pass it with all the news media here, I believe you're opening the door to make this another Minneapolis Minnesota. Believe me, it will get out if we don't have the cops backing any other federal organization in the state or the federal government. the people will come here and we'll have another Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our police are very very talented and I back them anywhere in this in this state or in this United States. But uh again, I say if you pass this resolution, I think you got nothing but problems. Um make it short and sweet. Give the time to somebody else. Thank you again very much. Thanks for the comments. Good evening, council. Thanks for this opportunity to provide my opinion regarding the proposed resolution. As uh alluded to at the beginning of this meeting, like

state your name, sir, please.

Oh, I'm sorry. Greg Quek, I'm a resident. My family moved here in when I was five and I my wife and I purchased a home here in 1980. So, we've been residents for 45 years. Um, as alluded to by Councilman Wall at the beginning of this, this is how the process is supposed to work. However, I am here to express my sincere opposition to this proposed resolution. The fundamental question is, what benefits does this have to townless residents? Federal immigration laws were passed by US Congress. ICE is a legitimate federal law enforcement agency charged with enforcing those laws. Non-ooperation with ICE has no benefits. Simply provides an increased risk to the residents of the town McCandless relative to public safety. Several times this evening, Minneapolis has been mentioned. Let's look at the Minneapolis situation. The only thing you get from the mainstream media is the violence. What was the violence caused by? Violence was caused by unlawful agitator presence and controlled scheduled disruption to public safety. What's not reported about Minneapolis and if you go into the the files have been released by ICE was there was an unprecedented degree of cooperation amongst all agencies within the state of Minnesota that led to the following statistics. 4,000 illegal immigrants with violent criminal records were arrested. Okay, those those charges, those records included murder, sex offense, national security offense, and gang activity. The other element of this that's often been overlooked, and it's very dear to to my wife and I is in that Min Minnesota operation, 3,364 missing, unaccompanied children were

were retain were captured and are being sent back to their parents. the the the un unprecedented child trafficking that's going on in this country right now and a lot of it's tied to immigration. My wife and I support a nonprofit international organization that is charged with investigating child trafficking and then bringing those child traffickers into custody. Okay. The United States is the number one child trafficking country in the world. That's unbelievable. Scary. I saw a documentary on it that was produced by this agency. They in fact and you can say that's not a mechanis problem. That's not a Pittsburgh problem. One of the missions of this agency now is to fund a full-time position within the city of Pittsburgh that deals nothing but child trafficking. So it is real and it's related to the immigration problem. So Macanas has a dedicated well-trained law enforcement group of law enforcement professionals. Why would you not want to support them and give them the ability to utilize whatever resources they need to to address the immigration problem? McCless did not cause the immigration problem, but now we have to deal with the public safety related issues that are associated with it. Stop the political grandstanding about this issue. We have to look at what we did not create for illegal immigrants. We did not create the illegal immigration problem, but we now have to deal with it. And our public resources need to have all the resources available across all jurisdictions to address public safety within our community. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Before I start, I'm going to need to make a quick announcement here. Uh, there's a vehicle blocking our salt trucks that need to get in and out of the garage. 2016 Ford Explorer registered to a Matthew Allen. There's a Matthew James.

Okay, thank you. We'll continue. Thank you for for your patience. Good evening. My name is Joanne. Someone speaking, please. I was born and raised in the town of McCandless. Attended our schools and churches. You were married 53 years ago. Thank you. That better. You state your name again and your name, please.

Okay. Joanne Staggerald. Um, I'm going to read most of my message, but it's no less sincere. I will read it. I I was born and raised in the town of McCandless, attended our schools and churches, got married 53 years ago, raised our children, and buried our loved ones locally. I also worked at this very town hall for 19 years, welcoming and helping people in our town when they came through those town doors. I have a vested interest in this community. In all those years, we had and still have a police force that wants to protect our residents from criminals by removing them from our community and cooperating with other law enforcement, parole, and local officers to accomplish that task. In the year 2026, it should be no different. Let the police men and women do the job they want to do and the job we pay them to do. I implore you not to get down the road of putting handcuffs on our officers instead of putting handcuffs on the criminals. These criminals that have invaded our country have broken our laws. And many have painfully murdered, raped, tortured, and beaten US citizens, both adults and children, showing them no mercy. Remember Jocelyn, a 12-year-old, murdered, murdered, and tortured. Rachel, the mother of five, beaten, raped, and murdered. And Leaken, a nursing student, raped and murdered. and many, many more victims. By restricting our officers to cooperate with other law officers, we encourage the paid and political protesters and agitators to come to our community to cause chaos and violence while our brave men and women risk their lives to help keep us safe and remove the criminals. In other cities, the paid protesters and even some of their own citizens have thrown bricks, rocks, frozen water bottles, blocked traffic, screamed, damaged property, spat on, cursed at, injured, and threatened the lives of our law officers. We certainly don't need laws that prevent our officers from protecting our residents and themselves. not by not cooperating with other officers so ICE can do their job and

remove these criminals. Remember, the next victim of one of these criminals could be your son, your daughter, your mom and dad, your neighbor, or another loved one. Law enforcement always works more efficiently and effectively when all law enforcers work together for a common goal of safety so that we can continue to have a great place to live in and have a content life. We have a community that we can be proud of. So please do not ruin it with this type of destructive decision making. Thank you for listening. Thank you very much.

Lori Barkasi, it saddens me to be standing here again to speak to you about resolution 20263. Over the past few weeks, as the community considers the proposed vote on this resolution, I have had varying conversations with neighbors and friends throughout the area. There is a large presence in McCandless residents opposing resolution 20263 and they've circulated a petition as speaking against it. I'm asking our council to consider these opposing voices when casting their vote tonight. I would like to share with you the results of this petition that has 122 signatures complete with addresses giving proof that they live and reside in McCandless unlike the electronic one that was presented at the onset of this discussion favoring the the um the resolution. These are Macandless residents asking that our municipality observe the laws and regulations set forth by our federal, state, and county governments and the constitution. Specifically, these residents oppose the proposed resolution 20263 because it would first prohibit our highly trained and professional police officers from communicating or coordinating with federal immigration authorities even when such coordination would be lawful and related to public safety. Next, it prohibits the town from sharing information or participating in lawful coordination related to federal immigration matters regardless of public safety, risk, severity, or circumstances. Next, it prohibits the dis any distinction between civil and criminal ima immigration matters, treating all situations the same without regard to serious or repeat offenders. Next, it prohibits local discretion, eliminating the ability to make casebycase decisions

based on public safety considerations. And finally, it adopts on broad non- non-ooperation policy despite non no documented failure by the McCandless police to follow constitutional or legal requirements. This resolution does nothing more than create division in our community. excuse me, and make a um excuse me, create division in our community and provide a way for our new council majority to join a national political statement. The ramifications of voting yes to resolution 20263 has the potential to lead us on a similar path to Minnesota where two people were killed a result from the lack of cooperation between law enforcement organizations over those seeking to disrupt legal immigration operations. If we are going to consider national immigration policy here in McCandless, I want to be sure that we consider the record of our presidents. In our republic, elections result in leadership changes based on the voices of the voters. Whether you like or dislike our current leader, let the facts be known that in our modern history, it was under President Barack Obama that we had the highest record of deportations. In his first term, there were 1,589,541 deportations and 1,160,255 in his second administration. Compare that to Trump's first administration with 935,346 deportations, less than 60% of Obama's. And to date his second administration, 128,039 deportations. And to make an even more solid fact, the same executive associate of enforcement and removal operation under President

Obama was none other than Tom Hman, even receiving a presidential rank award from Obama for his effectiveness with illegal immigrant deportations. Now the same man leading the efforts under a different leader, President Trump. There is a wave of disobedience causing distractions and redirecting cooperation between law enforcement organizations. It makes no sense that we are even having this discussion when there are so many other issues that impact our local community every day. This way, the way this has been brought to our town makes it very suspicious of the council. majority makes it suspicious of who this majority is answering to, the residents of the town of McCandless or those that are dictating a national political platform. On behalf on behalf of these petition signers and myself, I ask you again to vote no on this resolution 20263. And I'll give you this. Thank you to my name is Tim D. Martino. Uh I live at 169 Ridgeview Drive in Mccandas since 2001. Um I'd like to speak today just to tell you that I oppose this resolution. I'm shocked that it was even presented and I really never heard of it from anybody from any official notification other than from a neighbor and I was shocked that it was even being voted on today. I don't come prepared with a lot of facts and information other than I'd like somebody to explain how does that benefit this community? What part of this resolution to have the police force, our police force, not cooperate

with federal government? How does that help us? How does that help anybody in here sitting here? I don't understand that.

And and I have to believe that the only reason it's it's being brought up is because it's kind of fashionable right now. that that it's going to be a feel-good thing that we'll show them and we'll be against them. We're not going to change the federal law. We're not going to eliminate ICE. If ICE wants to get somebody in our community, they're going to come. I'd rather have them come with one agent and ask our police, can I come and take this person? Does it have to come with a big voice?

So, I I'd like to tell you that the the community that I come from, I believe almost everybody agrees with me, but I can't speak for them. I would just like you to know that I'm firmly against it and wish that you would say no. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Council, thank you for hearing us. I'm Dr. Brian Bonsteel, and I wanted to urge you to vote yes in support of this uh resolution. Um I think the big uh issue that I've heard from both sides of everyone tonight is that we need comprehensive immigration reform, which we're not going to find in this resolution. But what I am hoping that we'll see is the decency and humanity shining through. Uh as the tactics of ICE as it's happened in our country have really been um brutal. Uh you'll find ICE overstepping the authority often showing up without judicial warrants claiming that they have something but they don't. Um so the law is not being followed as these people are entering homes as these attacks um as these arrests are happening. They're happening in brutal ways in which people are dying. Uh and and it's not just, you know, Miss Good and Mr. Prey. There's a long list of people who have been killed uh while these um detentions are happening. And I think that's really the issue that's coming up today as to why you have to uh take a good look at this. The other thing, too, is these investigations come about when something happens. They're not being handled in a public manner. You're still talking about people hiding behind masks and being whisked away and their identities are being protected. If they've done something under the law, you know, in a lawabiding way, then they should be able to present that and have their day in court. My concern is is that we're going to muddy the good name of the McCandless Police Force, people that I call friends, and I've seen in action in my community and have done great service by acting under the law and protecting it that way. Further, I would even ask

too that we would ask the Mandalas police force to protect the Constitution and our citizens and our foreignb born neighbors right to due process um so that they might be able to have uh their day in court as well. Keep in mind that undocumented does not mean illegal. If you came across the border, this is my turn to speak. Speaker, continue. undocumented does not mean illegal and all continue it does not mean illegal and if somebody is seeking a

you don't speaker to continue

thank you um the point is that if somebody is undocumented and they are not necessarily considered illegal by US law if they are seeking asylum this isn't a new law. This has been around for decades. It's been around as long as most of us in the room have been alive. Those who are seeking asylum have a right under US law to be in the country until a hearing is granted. And that's the law. The other thing is that many cases, ICE is waiting in the hallways as these people are finally getting their day in court and they're getting snatched in the hallway before they can get into the courtroom. So, it's these tactics that I find offensive um and and need to be curbed and why I don't want our police force to have to be caught in the middle of this. We need to protect our country from violent criminals, I'm all for it. But going after bus boys and roofers and carpet layers and people who are are doing a a good service to us, and quite honestly, most of us have hired them whether we know it or not. They mow our grass. But they're not only just laborers. They are researchers and doctors and contributors to society. In fact, you'll find that about 40% of immigrants who come to this country become entrepreneurs and open businesses that benefit us. I can go on, but I'm going to give my time back and urge you to please vote yes on this resolution. Thank you for your consideration. Hi, I'm Sandy Bar. I live at 2550 Northview Drive. I despise talking in front of people, so I'm going to make this very short. Um, I have to get one irritation off for as big as the issue is and with all I heard you guys say you got all these calls and all these emails and that you're going to vote on

something so important, but you couldn't even figure out you needed a bigger room that the number of people that had to leave I find so frustrating. But that aside, so I got that out of the way. Um, I worked as a nurse in Esther sir did for years. I grew up here. Uh born in Macanas, wanted to stay in the area, worked over Pacan. And when I first started working, they had papers that they put on every bathroom. And you get asked when you go in the hospital now, or you used to get asked, and I think you still do, does anybody abuse you? Do you not feel safe? And it was so sad because I tend to be naive because I was fortunate to have him and him all these policemen that are willing to work where we're not going to be able to find them being putting their lives on the line because they're not being supported and but I was safe here and I thought how could somebody be being abused and then I realized all the papers were being taken well at some point and I worked with Lynn at some point the papers page and it then was are you being sex trafficked and I thought not in this area well yeah those all disappeared so someone's ripping them and they're not ripping them because oh they're playing a game it was multiple bathrooms in multiple sites in in passment and I also have somebody and I'm not sure I'm allowed to say it that worked with them in this area how big sex trafficking is and we all like to pretend it's But it is and I can tell you from all the tabs that were written it is. I also as a nurse analysis get to see all the charts not only the adults but I get to see the kids and how much narcotic abuse histories

present narcotic abuse histories. And there are good people. I'm sure there's good illegals and bad illegals just like people. But on the other hand, do you throw away the the lake and Riley's because we're trying to save, as he said, the lawn people? I don't know. I don't know if it came between your lawn person that's helping make your life easier and my kid who ODed, because I do have a family member that ODed. No, it's not even close. So, um, that's all I have to say. 05, you know, an overdose kid, you'd vote no on this because I want everybody that can help to keep our area safe.

Thank you for coming.

My name is George Spenda and I live up on the Waxford France section of Macanas. I just have a couple of questions. One is do is this something we really need? How much interaction does our police force have right now with ICE? I mean is it daily? Is it weekly? I mean I mean can you answer that? Do you have a lot of interaction with ICE? So this is time for comment only, not questions. I'm sorry. All right. Well, I'm I'm sorry about that. That's okay.

Okay. I I guess I agree with the gentleman on the was on the uh the uh TV before. Uh I don't think it's necessary because my suspicion is there isn't a lot of contact between ICE and between this area. This is not an area where it's high in illegals. It seems like all we're doing is virtue signaling. Oh, hey, we support these these poor immigrants that are here. Well, I give you a little story. I worked four summers at Kennywood when I was in college and we would have people would come on our rides and they thought they were better than everybody else and they jumped to the front of the line. Now when they did that I didn't say oh hey you know what he didn't punch anybody tickets he just came to the front of the eye. No I threw him off the ride and I told him not to come back. So all these people get out all these this country illegally and I'm talking go okay they jump the line okay and we have of them that are wait this country and they can't get in this country because these other people housing crisis housing crisis because you got 25 million shouldn't be in this country or places to put these people and I don't think that we should have our police officers who assist ICE IS they're saying go they're just saying if you have somebody let us know and and so you can obviously tell I'm a big no on this

back and I'm going to read mine because I'm not real good at this. Our country was founded on biblical principles and structured with three branches of government. Each branch serves a distinct purpose. The legislation legislative branch writes our laws. The judicial reviews them and the executive signs them into effect. This framework guides both our federal and state governments. As members of any community, we are responsible for following federal, state, and local laws. Think back to when you were young and you we followed our parents' house rules. As adults, we could choose to stay under those rules or move out. In the same way, as citizens, we choose to live in the United States and abide by its laws. Or if we prefer another system, we are free to go elsewhere. Some as some concerns today relate to federal immigration laws, but if someone disagrees with federal law, the place to address that disagreement is at the federal level. Agencies like ICE enforce federal laws. While they do not ask local police to carry out federal enforcement, they may request help securing an area, sharing information or alerting officials so community members remain safe. Refusing reasonable assistance risk putting our citizens in harm's way. We're also heard references to the Bible call Bible's call to love everyone last time and that is absolutely true. But scripture also offers guidance about authority. Romans 13:1 says, "Everyone must submit to the government governing authorities, for all authority comes from God, and those in position of authority have been placed there by God." I I know that on July 13th of 2024, I witnessed the hand of God save President Trump's life and power. He was elected on the base and one of

his promises was to enforce immigration law and remove illegals and ICE is the authority doing that for him executing this national our national laws. God's hands are on you also as they were Joe Biden's. Joe Biden's term in office showed us that we were going the wrong way from our founding principles. If you choose to go the wrong way, what it's doing here is showing us that our local elections are more important than what we have given them. that only 30% of the people in this community voted in the last election. I'm sure that you're going to find a lot more voting next time based on your choices and your decisions. As we move forward, let us commit to being people who uphold both compassion and responsibility, who extend love to our neighbors while honoring the laws designed to protect every member of our community. We when we stand firm in both truth and grace, we strengthen not only our nation, but the very fabric of our local communities. we may choose courage, clarity, and unity as we work together for a safer, stronger, and a more principled society. Thank you.

Thank you.

You could move the mic close. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, my name is Wendy Lin Wei and I've been a resident of Macanas for a little over eight years with my family and I'm so appreciative for all the services for people that have volunteered their time like yourselves and local law enforcement. And I only found out about this a few hours ago, so I don't have an eloquent speech, so I'll try and be succinct. Um, at a local level, we don't impact federal law enforcement when it comes to immigration. So any discussion of that is really heartfelt but relevant to our vote here today. It's really about are we going to tie the hands of our law enforcement uh if called upon by ICE to play some role when it comes to securing an area or the safety of the community because local law enforcement is not asked to execute the arrest of people that ICE has in their sites for whatever reason. And I think it's really dangerous to globally tie law enforcement's hand in any type of arena because you never know what you're facing and to make a blanket statement of you cannot do this is a grave error. And I the big precipice for I think the fear is what happened in Minnesota. People got hurt, people got dead, and it was rockus. And I really feel a lot of the reason that occurred was because the governor and the local mayor tied the hands of local law enforcement if they had had the ability and the authority to secure the area so that local citizens were not interfering in the legal execution of ISIS activities. Nothing would have happened that would have caused death. Citizens were in the way of the execution of federal law

enforcement activities. They shouldn't have been there. It created an unsafe situation for civiliz law enforcement hands puts us at risk and puts them at risk. And also it breaks down communication. if they know they can't rely on them, there's a break in communication and they may not be as fully informed as they might otherwise be. And when did we have a big problem with immigration in this area? Every place has some illegal immigrants, but the enforcement of that has never created a situation like Minnesota. We work together, we live together, we support each other, we support our law enforcement, they support us, and I think that's about says it all. Thank you for coming. Uh, pardon me. Uh, good evening council. My name is Bob Crankovic. I've lived at 101 Broad Hill Drive in McCain was here for 40 plus years. Um, I'm going to start off by reading a bunch of names here. Elizabeth Dena, Ariel Volorov, Nikolai Barkin, Dara Thompson, Nate Baker, Reken Riley, Fletcher Harris, Skyler Ravenza, Ivory, Alex Wise Jr., Katie Abraham, Joselyn Ngari, and Jennifer Anne Morton. Common element between all these victims is that they they were victims of illegal immigrants. This is preventable. This can be stopped by you and you have

a duty to the citizen of mechanis and every taxpayer for safety and for freedom. Please stop this madness. Let someone from meas don't let someone from be next on this list. You all have the power to stop all of this and I hope that you reconsider. Thank you. Thank you for your comment.

I appreciate the kindness of the police department this evening with that. I'm always a big fan of you guys. Um, I do have a number of things that I wrote down, but there was a a lady that was a mother up here concerned about her kids. And I'm a parent with three kids myself. And my concern is what's this town going to look like if we don't have that security and safety from everybody involved in law enforcement together. Um, where does the buck stop on something like that? I believe the goal here uh with this uh resolution is to is to create chaos and violence. In short, it's an attempt to create a problem in McCandless that doesn't even exist. ICE was here and then gone after Chief Hawk talked about successful operations over the course of the last se several months. That didn't include active participation of the townless police department. This isn't necessary in MCAS at all. And in fact, ratification of this resolution does send a message that McCandless is a sanctuary city, which is a safe place for illegal immigrants to continue to violate the law. Transparency has been determined quite a bit uh the last meeting as well as this one. And the timing of all these things tells me this stuff has been in the works for a long time without transparency to the residents or even some of the council. Um, please incorporating national issues into our town, storm water, the taxes, public safety, our property values, and the parks and even the expansion of parks recently in the last year are things that the council member should be concerned with. If to change federal law, con contact your congressman, a congresswoman. Please vote no on this resolution. rely on the integrity, intellect of our wonderful police chief

and his police force to do the right thing. Passing resolution the police not to do something they weren't going to do anyway. It doesn't make sense to risk our town for this. The big thing that I keep coming back with on this is what if this is passed and let's say somebody gets harmed or even killed in McCandless. The Democrats on this committee leadership under Madame President will have exposed our town to legal liability and some unnecessary litigation because of having blood on their hands. That is not fair. We all run this place. I've owned a home here for almost 11 years. Town members on this committee have over this area. Um, so please keep the cameras beautiful and keep it safe and continue to work with all law enforcement regardless because you open up the candles with this uh department and the federal government. What happens the next time around when somebody doesn't want to work with another federal government or federal department? You open this up to being interpreted as we go down the path and we need to stay to black and white and support the federal government where we can. Thank you.

Thank you for coming.

Good evening, council and municipality residents. I was asked by John Dailyaly if I would read a couple letters that he said to our town council. It reads as follows. I assume those submitting this position petition have limited interaction with legal immigrants. If they did, they would understand that many individuals that immigrate legally strongly oppose illegal immigration. Legal immigrants often invest significant time, money, and effort to follow the law, and proposals like this undermine understandably uh feel dismissive to both them and taxpaying citizens. I also assume those submitting resolution 202603 have not been a victim of an illegal immigrants criminal act. By way of example, in July 20 24, my vehicle was totaled by a drunk driver who was speeding and ran a red light on Route 19 near Gecko in the flats. The driver possessed possessed only a Mexican driver's license and carried minimal insurance coverage. After striking my vehicle, he continued driving and hit a telephone pole and damaged six vehicles in a nearby Nissan dealership. The driver had to be extricated from his truck. Thankfully, no one in the vehicle was injured, which was hard to believe considering the way the vehicle looked. A hearing was scheduled in March 25 at the Alagany County Courthouse, but guess what? The driver failed to appear. Go figure. I later learned that he had been deported at least twice previously, was unlawfully present in the United States, and had a prior criminal record. His current whereabouts remain unknown. Nearly a year and a half later, I have still not received compensation from his insurance company. Rather than addressing matters that already governed by federal processes, I would urge council to focus on local issues

affecting McCandless residents, such as long-standing storm water management failures. Resolution 20263 goes beyond reaffirming shared values. It establishes a formal policy on non-ooperation with federal immigration authorities. It prohibits future agreements that could allow collaboration even if circumstances where in cir circumstances where cooperation may improve public safety. The issue is not whether local police should enforce civil immigration law. They are not required to do so do so today. Once you take your courses and you guys learn a little bit about law enforcement, you'll learn that this is a moot point. This is a stupid resolution. Our our officers do not follow federal law. They follow municipal law. I know that's hard for you to understand, but that's the truth. The concern is um public safety must remain a priority. If an individual commits a crime in our community and is also an awfully pleas present in the country, cooperation with federal authorities will help pre prevent repeat offenses and protect residents. a policy that restricts such cooperation, even symbolically raises legitimate concerns about unnecessarily limiting the town's options. In his follow-up letter, it reads, "After sitting through last night's council meeting, I feel it's important to reiterate a few points, much of which we heard from supporters of a resolution centered on feelings and hypothetical scenarios. What I shared was pre in my previous email with you was not hypothetical. It's based on what happened to my family. Just as we heard from others such as the couple who described how a group of illegals moved into the next door and used it for drug activity and a chop shop. They were very grateful for ICE. And by the way, our officers were involved. They were involved from the standpoint that they were the perimeter in case something

went wrong. They would be here to protect three schools. you really forget that in the future. That's an important thing to remember. Um during the move I heard during heard about these individuals feel about how do you think my daughter felt during the incident? I was previously described where she is lucky to be alive. There are examples of illegal who cried every day in the news. are real families in our community. It's hard not to notice the disconnect versus faithfulness resolution seem to fall into the category of what I call rules. Ideals that sound late in theory until the consequences reach their own neighborhoods. It's reminiscent of what happened in Martha's vineyard. In summary, after attending the is clear this is posturing rather than sound policy and will not make our community more dangerous. I believe you Democrats pledge your allegiance to the DNC. I pledge my allegiance to the United States of America.

Thank you for your time. Good evening. My name is Peter Buidosh. Um, as an immigrant myself, um, I can confirm that it is not an easy, quick, or cheap process to become a citizen. I have gone through it myself over a 10-year period between 2006 and 2016 uh when I swore my allegiance to the flag and I was given probably the best gift in my life which was the American citizenship. And to be honest, uh, many of us who went through that process are becoming increasingly tired and kind of, uh, frustrated and offended by, uh, the privileged agitators, I would call them, um, who try to school us daily on how we should feel about the ICE activities and the immigration process. We've gone through it, so we know better. uh especially when these these same people are silent uh after witnessing countless countless uh examples of heinous crimes committed by people who shouldn't even be here in the first place who didn't bother to go through the process the way they should. So, however, this uh this local issue that we're dealing with here has been politicized by a group of people who just seem to hate everything about this current administration and are uh just weaponizing their hate and their toxic and suicidal empathy to try to in my opinion intimidate you uh and your hand in this vote tonight. Um, I'd like to emphas emphasize that today's vote should not be decided strictly I'm I apologize should be decided strictly based on the interest of the local community and our safety and our well-being. This should not be a

national political issue or debate on immigration law and and federal policies. Um the issues that we've seen with ICE and their actions that we've seen around the country uh recently were created mostly because of the sanctuary city policies which neutered local law enforcement uh in their cooperation with feds and that only creates chaos and confusion. Uh the data is plenty clear. Uh for example, if we look at Texas, which constitutes roughly quarter of all ICE nationwide arrests, things go things go very smoothly there. they go smoothly specifically because of the cooperation between ICE and the local law enforcement. We've seen the opposite. We've seen the opposite occur in most notably Minnesota. And we all know how things went there. And that is precisely why I am asking for our leaders here today uh to put aside any of the political ideology or leanings and to make decision for this community here, not for any other whatever else might be going on there. So let's figure out if you want to be more like Minnesota or Texas. Thank you. I just want to say next time you have a meeting, can we please have chairs? I've been sitting on the cement back there for a while. I'm almost 82 years old and I almost couldn't get off that chair. My name's Joyce Serner. I live at uh 341 West Sandal. I have been a resident for around 55 years. Thought it was interesting that you're here, Mr. Wall, because the reason I'm here tonight and I've stayed so long is because in 1981, December of 1981, your father said to me, Joyce, I would like you to investigate and see what the drug

issue is in uh North Alagany school district and around the town. And so in December of 1981, I began to look at the school district. I began to work with addiction. And I've been doing that now for 45 years. I am the executive director of the doorway in Avalon. One of my concerns is the drugs that flow through here. Um it's always been an issue. Back in 1981, I was told, "Oh, it's no big deal. There are no drugs. There are no whatever." And I was do we did the focus groups and we did everything that we could possibly do for years after years after years. I had an office in Ralph Freriedman's office and I was able to handle all of the kids who came in and we put them through a group that I started in September of uh 15th of 1982. Drugs are an issue in in McCandless. Drugs are a serious issue in North Alageni school district. I know that we have the best uh publicity uh department and so most of the stuff is never seen. It's not we cover it up. Now I don't think that North Aleni is any worse than other school districts. The same drugs are around in all the different school districts. The problem is how are they getting here? Do you think that the illegal immigrants have nothing to do with this? Do you not think that the homes are not filled with people who have come before uh this disaster that we have now? Um they come here, they look legitimate and they bring the garbage in. I cannot tell you in 45 years and I cannot tell you how many people in McCandless have lost their children to overdoses, the destruction, the damage, the pain. You want to talk about humanity? I like that word humanity. It wasn't in what I had to say. Humanity is making sure that our police officers are safe and they go home every single night with their families.

When have you ever heard of so many police officers being shot, being killed, being run down? That's illegal garbage. I don't I was I was embarrassed when I found out what we were going to do here in McCandless. We're going to be a sanctuary. What? I live in Macandless. We don't do these kind of stupid things. We protect our families. We protect our children. I run a group on Tuesday nights that I've run since September 15th, 1982. You want to talk about destruction, devastation. Families, they don't recover when they've lost their lost their child. They never recover. I can bring people here. If you want to talk about this, if you think I'm full of whatever, you need to think hard and long before you make this decision. And I am old and I am tired and I'm going home.

My name is David Johnston. I live on line drive mechanis been there since around 86. I just heard about this meeting today. So I don't really have a whole lot of detail to go over except that I would encourage you to not pass this to throw it away. And if you truly believe in it, then I think the way you need to bring this front is put whatever, call it an ordinance, law, whatever, put it on the ballot and allow the people of the canvas to actually vote on because as you can see, there's a handful of people here.

So the only input you're getting is from a small group of people. This is something important enough that would change the lives of everybody in McCandless that it should be on a ballot where everybody can vote for it and not just a group of lines who say they've dedicated

and I've heard from the various people standing here tonight and there are people that have different views than mine but one of the things that I've noticed a lot in and I'll use the terms liberal is more conservative. They're very adamant about following the letter of the law when it's something they don't want to have happen. But something they did want to have happened, which was 20 million people coming across the border illegally, the law didn't matter a darn to them. So, I would like you to take a look at things and when you're evaluating things, try to look at it from the standpoint of consistency. If somebody did wrong, they should be prosecuted whether they're an illegal or an American. And American citizens should not be treated worse than illegal people coming in this country when they didn't follow the process. Thank you.

Thanks for their time.

Hello. Um, thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. My name is Mary Ellen Mhler. I live at 7:30 Wingle Drive in Macanas and I moved to Macanas in 1987 with my three children and my husband and I'm here to tell you to vote to oppose this bill because I'm one of the parents who lost their son to an overdose of fentinel in 2016. And if it wasn't for the police force and the and the federal government working together, the person who did this to my son would not be in jail. And and luckily they were able it won't bring my son back. But I'm here because there are other parents out there and the pain doesn't go away. Okay. It and I'm just I don't want it to happen to anybody else. That's all I have to say.

Thank you. Thank you. Hi, good evening. Marcia Caliando. Um, I would like to thank the council for the opportunity to once again speak regarding the proposed ordinance 20263. I know it would have been really easy for you to have had this discussion and to voted on on it two weeks, but I applaud you for doing the right thing and allowing the public multiple weeks to review this. I am grateful for the respect and the attention that all of you have given to us in this important matter. I've been coming to meetings for over 10 years and I can tell you I've been the recipient of blank stairs and eye rolls coming from up there and I'm very happy that none of that is happening now. And I really wish that the majority of people who spoke here last week and maybe some of the people here this evening um listened to your comments uh when it got to council discussion two weeks ago. Um I found everyone's comments very helpful, but especially those of Solicitor Corbell and Chief Fox. Uh Mr. Corbell, thank you. I think it was extremely helpful when you stated that this ordinance has been vetted at multiple levels and have and explained the legal terminology to us to know that many other communities have passed this ordinance and I don't think they've seen an influx of of undocumented aliens since they have uh only further solidifies the need for us to pass this. Chief Hawk, I found it enlightening when you told us that this ordinance really in fact will not change what the police force is already doing. And so I know a lot of people were saying then why should we pass this? And I say because it protects our police. It will give you

now clear guidelines to follow. The passage of this ordinance will only strengthen our community and to make it safer. I urge you to pass version A, the original version of this resolution. The other resolutions presented are watered down and meant to only delay this process. This doesn't make us a sanctuary city. That term has no legal definition. Use of that word without defining what it is is inappropriate and is only a dog whistle to others. So, I also want to just comment on a few other comments made here this evening. My first one was how many people would ICE murder under the Obama administration. Uh also, um sex trafficking, child trafficking is a huge issue and uh if that's the case, I wish the administration wouldn't be so uh fearful of releasing the Epstein files and holding those people accountable. And I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Thank you.

Thank you for coming. to uh my name is Brian Snder. I'm here to discuss the same thing as everyone else tonight, the uh action concerning the field usage agreement. No, I'm just kidding. Um so, um my first concern is the fact that we have uh some new members up there and this is kind of the first big thing we're working on uh straight out of the gate. Not saying it's not something we shouldn't discuss, but maybe just the the timing wasn't the best. Um, secondly, I've been sitting in the front here. I I can't see over here, but I do see uh Nick and this all taking plenty of notes. So, I do appreciate that you guys are uh looking. Not saying you folks aren't. I'm just I couldn't see it with the podium. Um, I watched the last meeting. I was out of time, so I missed it last time. I watched it today, the full four hours and whatever. Um about two hours in there was a woman uh up here that uh had been employed by both uh President Bush and Obama and she seemed to really know what she was talking about here. Um in her eyes this was a bad idea and the the McKenna Police Department uh had not had any real dealings with ICE and why set up a roadblock for future unforeseen issues when there's not a issue necessarily at hand right now. Uh I also heard a speaker at this podium say that most uh you know there's there's always a bad couple eggs in every carton. So every occupation there's the good and the bad. Um I kind of my opinion and I maybe some others is that this legislation is trying to just codify those couple bad

eggs and not necessarily take effect the whole the whole operation. I have a somewhat unique perspective to uh the community's thoughts on this. Uh I uh while be unsuccessfully uh ran for the world three seat that Nick currently sits in a couple years ago, I knocked on roughly 2,000 doors. Some of them were repeat visits, but nonetheless, there was a lot of a lot of time hitting the pavement. Not once did this type of issue come up. Uh I know that Mr. Arlo who's on the phone still um had mentioned last week or two weeks ago on the call that not one constituent from W one had brought this to attention prior to it being on the agenda. Um what did come up was deer taxes staying low protecting green space proper zoning codes that was a big issue then the more day-to-day routine things that you might find in a in a small uh township such as ours. The other unique perspective and uh that I have is my current role uh as a person that sits on the personnel board here for the town. According to the town's website, this board, for those of you who don't know what it is, the board exists to solicitate and evaluate all applications for the police force except for the chief position, making a listing of eligible police applicants and giving them a numerical score, which then town council takes and makes their hiring practices. Why do I bring this up? As this room is quite divided, probably also are the candidates that might apply for a police position. I'm concerned based on my experience with the last round of hiring, there

aren't a whole lot of applicants that apply for a police job anymore. Given in some cases around the country how police officers might have been treated in the last half a dozen or so years. Do we potentially water down and as a unintended consequence make the town less safe by the fact that we might have people not applying for a police position that are not in agreement politically with some things that are going on or have been passed. Maybe, maybe not. So, in closing, I would say that we should stick to the deer, the taxes, the leaf truck. We all love leaf truck. Snow plows. I see they're going up. Apparently, it's snowed tonight. Those type of things. In the last four or five years, I've paid a lot of attention to this room. Uh, as I mentioned, I was running for council and it seems in the past handful of years, the biggest drama that was in here was buying some land on Harmony Drive. Those are the things that I feel that the town should focus on. Day-to-day impact on all the residents here and I appreciate your time. Thank you.

Thank you for your question.

Evening is Kevin. I live up on View Drive. I've been resus for 45 some odd years. I stay here because I like it. You're doing a good job. We have a great town and I appreciate the effort all of you put into your job here. It's a thankless job I guess you're going to find out in the next few weeks. But um it's named it and uh I mean I appreciate the effort that you put into it. Um in uh 1979 when I took office I started to defend the United States of America against all enemies foreign and domestic. What we're discussing here today is to make it easier for foreign enemies to impact on the life. I don't know what they are. This states of America without authorization. You violated the law. It's a mis we should shoot your industry. I don't think we should shoot anybody in the street, but it is a offense. This is not a seal of the situation. And if we come, it's a felony, which becomes pretty serious at that stage of the game. I only say this to remind you of the office to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the state of Pennsylvania. took this office before you sat in these chairs. The Constitution is a violent laws and

our laws are to protect us. You are there to protect us. You are there to protect us. Now, you do a pretty darn good job. so much over here because the people they were arrested to be and sent out of the country are by definition as criminal but in some cases significantly serious criminals and to help the chief do his job to keep us safe. I'm not I can understand why help the federal partners bring funding those people and I'll be the first to admit that the people came and it was the fault of the United States government to make them think that it didn't such a bad thing and across the board nobody's going to stop you well that's kind of an invitation of that problem to solve that the other problem we have is there's a lot of jobs that these people because I'm too to do those things for people to come legitimately. We have to make sure we're on a criminal holding. We got to make sure there's no contradiction coming into the country and that these are the kind of people that can help make America great than it's been in the past. So, I'm just going to ask you guys in all honesty when you think about this at home tonight, well, I guess you're going to before you get home to think about it about it before you vote. Um, but uh for a few minutes, how you feel on home tonight, you got a call from Chief or one of those people that your son or daughter or wife or husband unfortunately had been shame. Oh, yes. drunk driver and that person was an illegal alien.

They're not supposed to be here and it's up to you to keep safe. That's your job not to to accommodate somebody who please, but to follow the law and keep us safe. Thanks for your time. Hello. Uh, my name is Lewis Jezer. I live up the hill for a couple of years. I am sick and tired of this council making political decisions. This is unbelievable. This democratically elected council keeps making political decisions and other Republicans are mad about it because they didn't win the seats on this council and that is unbelievable.

Please,

we didn't win. That's that's so mean that you would that you would then do political things with the seats you win on this council. And I am so darn mad about it. I was listening very closely to the chief last meeting and you know what he said? He said this resolution was not going to handcuff our department. How dare he say that? How dare he know what his department needs. That is unbelievable. We as realisticers that we do not share our town with anyone and we put ourselves people and if we have our feelings hurt and if we feel scared we turtle up and we don't do anything for anyone else and we never let anyone in the way the grandparents were let in. Not even once. We never do that. We simply don't stand for it. And I am so mad that this council would ever dare to allow anyone else in and not allow me to pull in me. It is it is totally against our values as McCandless Town residents to stand here and allow anyone in. And furthermore, human trafficking is a huge problem both in McCandless and around the country. And that is why I think we really need to do something about Donald Trump. He is in the Epstein files. He's like an alleged pedophile and I think his administration probably has a lot of them in there and so there's like a big problem from the audience please. There's there's a big problem both locally and nationally, but if we're going to like do apples to oranges and say, "Oh, well, problem we have locally that should be solved locally is completely separate from a culture where we allow very powerful people to kind of set up a uh human trafficking, child sex trafficking

ring um in our administration. Like we should definitely only about the people who are not in power actually. Like that makes most sense to me at least as as like a white guy from a canvas and I've lived here my whole life. Um so I really know a lot about this stuff. And I just think it's so important that we follow the terms of the Bible because we know the founders were really in favor of the consolidation of church and state. the consolidation of church and state. The founders loved it and that's why we have to do the Bible. And the Bible says don't welcome the stranger. It says don't feed the hungry. It says don't visit the imprisoned. It says don't give the cloak off your back to that illegal immigrant. It says don't do any of that. So we got to stop doing that right now. I would not allow any sanctuary city stuff to happen on my watch because I don't want anyone in this town who doesn't look like me and I don't feel comfortable around and they might even speak a different language or they might even not be a Christian. That's scary and that scares me guys. That really scares me and so we need to notice

council. Sorry. It's just I feel so strongly about this and and it's it's really hard and we just we really need to understand how important this is to our American society. And by American society, I people like me when I talk about criminals, I don't mean criminals because like a civil infraction versus a criminal infraction. Like I'm not a lawyer. These people have lawyers. Like what's the deal? And I kind of just like nationality. It's totally weird. Trust guys. Um and so like that's why I think it should remain really hard to become a citizen in this country. It usually takes over 10 years. Um unless you're like married to people and doing all this other stuff. Or maybe you're like losing uh life and limb in a military. We let you kind of get in a little quicker that way. So like, hey, keep trying the military. Um, it's it's really cool that we do that, that we make people kind of like put themselves at risk so they can come into our country and then we allow them to maybe be safe because even after you're a naturalized citizen, you can still have your citizenship revoked. Um, because ICE is really doing all this cool and good stuff that I'm a total fan of. Um, and so we should we should keep doing that. We should keep including our neighbors because those guys aren't really our neighbors. like they should like live where they're from.

Thank you for your comment. I support the resolution

over on Styverent Road. Um I missed the last meeting and I almost missed this one, but a friend of mine texted me and said, "Are you watching the town council meeting? it doesn't seem to be going well for immigration legislation. And I jumped in my car and came down and I did that and I just happened to be wearing this sweatshirt. But yeah, this is Mr. Rogers neighborhood. This is Mr. Rogers neighborhood. And it pains me that I live in a council where people in the community benefit a man who comes up here to passionately speak and ridicule him while I'm waiting. It kills me to live in a place that wants to otherwise don't look like them, don't uh have the same backgrounds that they do and wants to deem suspect unless they're vetted. And there are people in this community have been way bettered than we would like to be because they've been through the immigration process and they need to be protected. And the plan A legislation does not do anything to discount judicial state and the vast

overwhelm majority of people that scooped up by ICE on their criminal dangerous. Can we please be the Mr. Rogers neighborhood that Pittsburgh is supposed to be? That this place is supposed to be. Can we please not criminalize people because they look different? Because they worship differently? Because they come from a a different country. Dear God, you're Native American. We're all from different countries. We're all immigrants. And if ICE has a judicial warrant, there's nothing that limits local police anywhere from working with them. Nothing. legislation would do that. And I say especially to you cuz you're my guy. You represent me. Shame on you if you can't vote yes for plan A. Shame. Shame on you if you can't do that. Any of you. I don't care that it might not be popular with half the people. You get elected to make everybody happy. You got elected to do the right thing. So what side of history do you want to come down on? What side of history do you want your children and your grandchildren to know about you? You stood up for the last the least the last or you stood up for fear. You stood up for bigotry. You get to decide and I am strongly encouraging you in the in the strongest way that I can to be the Mr. Rogers neighborhood

to vote yes on plan A to not water it down and succumb to some sort of pressure that is stemmed by people J started right in his country is slave. I I OG's read your history. Read your history. And that's what we're talking about because you say, "Oh gee's because dear God, you don't want to be acquainted with slave patrols with us. People don't understand is back in the day whenever the day was the thought that was just fine and it was keeping the order and it was making things safer. So do you want to be safe or you know and and and fearful just because that's the only way that we can all truly be safe justice here ladies and gentlemen but yes on a My name's Cordelia. Can you make sure you speak in the mic, please? Thank you. Okay. My name is Cordelia Condis. I live on Tumor Road. I've lived in the community a good number of years, almost 20. And I find our uni our community to be very diverse. I'm I don't know where she came from with her thing about us not accepting anyone. I've had neighbors that are Indian, Philippine, and everything else.

And I've accepted them and they came here legally and they went through a process, but it took them a long time to go through that process. And for someone to just come in illegally and you think you have to protect them, I'm sorry, that's not the way the law works. Everyone should be treated equally by the law and not by your judgment of who you think should be treated this way or that way. That's all I have to say. Thank you for your comment. People make it easy.

John Harrison, the cand 2001. I want to talk about history and where ice came from. Why was I put into place? There was something that happened on 911 in 2001. We lost a lot of really good people. I lost business colleagues that were in one of the towers. I have colleagues that made it out of the tower and still suffer to this day because of what happened. Imagine if we would have had ICE in place back then. What would have happened or what wouldn't have happened? November 11th, American Airline Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower. 1600 people were killed. Of those 1,600 people, 1,466 have been identified. Think about that. Think if that was your loved one that was in that tower and there's a giant pile of ash and you can't identify your loved one. It could have been your husband, your wife, your child, your father, your mother. Think about that when you're voting for this. United Flight 175 crashes into the South Tower. 6 to 700 people dead. American flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. 189 people dead. Flying flight 93. It flew over

Pittsburgh. I can tell you I know where I was at that day. I was going down the Parkway on my way to my office. That plane was looking weird in the sky flying over Pittsburgh. Where did it end up? Somerset in our own state. Why did it go there? Because there were people on that said, "Enough's enough. We're sick of the bullshit." And there was a gentleman on that plane, Todd Demer. Are you guys ready? Okay, let's roll. Shortly after that, that plane crashed in Somerset. Why? Because they were not letting the terrorists take over. The terrorists are here. But, believe it or not, you have the chance to make a difference. Think about those people that died. They're coming up this Nova uh this uh September. 25 years. In 25 years, there's people that are on this council that probably weren't born 25 years ago.

Not me. You were 25 at that time. There were members that were still probably in diapers or in preschool or grade school. Think about those people. Think about any one of those people's families. What they would have done if they could have their loved ones still here. There's no political thing on this. There's no Democrat, Republican. Those people were Americans that were killed because we were under siege. We have a chance to prevent that from happening again. All we can say is if we go and vote this in and when something happens, it's not if, it's when, everybody that has a yes, there will be blood on your hands and you can live with it till the end of your life. Thank you. Well, I didn't sign off. Um, can we get another or have you signed?

Just if you want to just you want to write it. Can you write it in? My name is Gloria Depalus and I live in Macanas. And give your address, please. I'll be signing you on 9580 Perry Highway.

And your name? I'm sorry I didn't get deplor. Thank you. Now I just want to I felt the need to come up and correct some facts. I was living in Bucks County and working in New Jersey on 911. My sister, however, was working in lower Manhattan and she had to walk home with her husband 10 miles to Queens on foot. The people who took those planes and crashed them into buildings and into Shanksville were Saudis. And the current administration is the one that's cozying up to MS Muhammad bin Salman. So that tell me that ICE is going to prevent terrorism when your own president is cozing up to the Saudis. Thank you. Thank you for the comment,

Ellen. Ellen Wright. I just wanted to uh um I'm in support of the resolution and I wanted to thank you for um putting it on the agenda. I wanted to thank you for taking all these public comments um and not voting on it the first meeting. So, I want to thank you for the process that you're doing and taking the time to hear everybody. I'm not exactly sure which one is under um approval tonight, version A, version B, or version C. Um, but I want to thank you for considering them all and um, thank you. Thank you for coming. Yeah, I'm Hasser. I'm a resident of Macan. At the end of 2024, I don't know if you're aware of it, all of you on council or not, but there was a group that moved in and rent it, the property at the corner of Cumberland and Landslot. That group was around 10 to 12 people living in that house. Immediately they set up a car repair shop in a residential zone, no permit. They worked on cars almost 7 days a week. Most of the cars that came in had out of state plates, plates from different cities, different states. and they didn't care about what they did. They had parties on the weekends during

the summer months playing loud music up until 10 11:00 at night. They went in the neighbor's yard and just vandalized the grass area playing ball and so forth. A neighbor had to put up brick stones around his property so that they would not drive on his lawn, which they were doing to go in and out. They parked a lot of vehicles and I'm sure in that shop that there was no taxes paid to the federal, state, local, and they were there almost a year. McCannis police was very helpful in getting that situation resolved. You have a very good police department, very professional, courteous, and they follow the law. They will not do anything against the law to enforce any of the laws. I recommend that you support your police department.

Thank you. And I hope I hope that each of you didn't decide your vote before you walked in through that door. Thank you.

We have any further public comments? Hey, one more.

It gets a little cranky when it sits too long like this. Paul Hecman. Uh, lot of squirrels here tonight running all over the place with different ideas and places and things. I can't say that I'm smart enough to know exactly what's right or what's wrong both in having or not having or the exact language of A, B, or C. What I do know is the good people of McCandless don't want hooded unnamed people here operating on their own agenda and own authority, whatever that takes. And I know the chief is willing to work with anybody that comes in here and does it in a professional legal manner, but we have seen in our neighboring communities ICE come in and literally trash businesses while they were taking people out. And that's not what we want to see. We don't want to see that for the owners of those businesses and the places where they occur. And I don't know, as I said, how you you do or don't do that, but we have to have something in place that says there's lines that we have to live by. Because just as we don't want bad things to happen, we we need to do something to make sure they don't. It's not a matter of what you want, it's what you're willing to do when you have to stand up and go, this is what we need to have to protect the police, to give them what they need to be able to do that. I don't know if this does that or not. I think it generally does and I think it handles the the 287 question. It certainly puts that to bed in terms of whether or not we would ever sign an agreement that makes us pay unfettered for whatever they decide they want to spend. how many people they want us to put in uh the easy stay up by uh LA Fitness or whatever that we have to

pay all those expenses to do that. It I don't understand why we would want to make that some burden that we would be willing to take on. So you guys are there you've you've seen this. I trust you all to do the right thing and we will live with what you decide and work to make things better. Thank you.

Thank you. There's no last one. Uh, my name is Ron Corsello. I've lived in McCandless my whole life. I've never come to a council meeting, but I heard about this. I watched a lot of it online and uh I came down. I can't believe that we are voting on a resolution like this. It's, as I heard from a lot of other speakers, I think we should focus on uh local issues and why we would not cooperate with law enforcement. It's not a matter of uh the color of someone's skin or where they come from. It's a matter of keeping us safe. I mean, I've been here all my life. I did your father was my principal. I uh worked with Todd Beamer at Oracle who died Uh, ICE was started then. ICE are not terrible people. I know people from my neighborhood who work for ICE. They uh the only reason they have to wear masks is that they've been if you cooperate, they're just part of of helping us be safe. Uh they only have to wear masks because they've been threatened, assaulted. Uh it's, you know, you not there's no reason for us not to cooperate. You know, if they're doing things legal and unless we have some reason to believe that they're not, we should cooperate just like we cooperate with IRS or anyone else that maybe we don't want to, but we have to.

So, uh, I just think this is something that Mecca Township shouldn't even be, you know, considering. I'm not sure how it started, who's who petitioned for this to be on the table, but, uh, let's, you know, let's focus on local issues. U, but thank you, and I hope you vote no. Okay. Thank you for your comments. Has everyone had an opportunity to speak, including anyone who might be outside? Sir,

Ankor Puri, uh, longtime mechanist resident living up in Adel Weise Drive. Thank you for allowing me time to speak. Uh I'm only going to take a couple of minutes and uh just say something. I've been in this country for 25 years. A naturalized citizens for about 16 17 years. Mechanist resident for about 16 years paying taxes here. Working as a physician locally. Uh volunteered for the ambulance authority. uh got the ambulance authority through COVID when uh there was a when we were near bankruptcy literally. My only concern and question is why is it that a person that looks like me in today's day and age gets concerned enough to have to carry my passport with me when I go places? I don't think that's I don't think that's fair. Think about that when you vote tonight.

Thank you for your comments.

Okay, if there's no further comments, we will move on. Thank you everybody for your patience and kindness to your neighbors. Um, this is definitely why we live in Macvas. Thank you. Um, moving on to the number five on the agenda, the approval of minutes. Make a motion to approve the minutes of February 9th, 2026. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Getty. All in favor of approving minutes, please respond by saying I. I. I. I.

Okay. U including our two remote that is 70. Motion approved. And now we will move on to administration and finance reports. We'll start with the finance report for the month of January. Good evening, council. Just one moment. Please, as you're leaving, uh try to do your best to remain silent. We do have uh town business to continue. We want to make sure that our um staff is giving reports and we give them respect that they are due. Thank you.

Good evening, council. Enclosed in your packet, you will find the checklisting from January 2026 in the amount of 2,61,4738. If you have any questions on the checklisting, I would be happy to answer them. Any questions?

Okay. Uh, can we make a motion to approve checklisting? I'll make a motion to approve uh checklisting number one dated January 1, 2026 to January 31, 2026 totaling 2,61,4738 as submitted to by to each member of council and posted on the bulletin board in the top of my site. It's a motion. We have a second. Second. Okay. Um, all in favor please. Any questions of the checks before we vote? All in favor please respond by saying I. I.

I. I. I. I am staying due to the address. Okay, that is a 6. Motion carries. Uh, next is communications report for the months of January and February 2026. Any questions for our town manager? Would you like to update us on our new uh status of uh equipments? I understand we have a lot.

Sure. Absolutely. We currently have two temporary communications directors which are Abby and Diane. They're doing a great job keeping up on all the uh bats while we're gone. And Katie is filling in as the right to know officer and she'll be in that position permanently moving forward. We did have over a 100 applicants for the position of community engagement manager. Uh quite a wide variety of backgrounds. first round interviews were completed and second round interviews will be completed this week and I guarantee we'll get a fantastic candidate out of those second round interviews. So very excited to move forward. Thank you. And I want to thank Abby and Diane for the great job they've been doing um in that temporary position. Been fabulous.

Okay, any questions? Uh moving forward, we have our junior council members report for the months of January and February. And we thank you for understanding the delay of our January need of due SC.

Um, council, we apologize. My laptop died several hours ago, so we'll be speaking from

On a different note this evening. Um we are here to present the junior town councilman report. Uh we would like to start with a little summary of North Alageni's business. Um students recently participated in a DECA competition uh from February 18th to 20th at Hershey. North Alagany succeeded and sent a lot of people to the international stage uh uh yeah senior class council. Um we started ticket sales for this year's prom. The theme is going to be the Golden Hour Gala. It's going to be on April 18th and it's going to be hosted at the convention center downtown. So, we're raising a lot of money for the school. It's going to be a great time.

Alagany National Honor Society has logged over 6,000 volunteer hours helping our community. Uh, which is an amazing uh number that we've hit. Uh meanwhile, the organization is preparing uh for this year's spring induction ceremony where we're going to be getting even more members for the organization to continue that business of helping the school and the community um into the uh into next year.

Y uh our North Alageney Senior High School Musical is this week. Uh we're presenting Frozen from February 25th to March 1st. Tickets can be bought at namusical.com. Uh, I might be a little bit biased, but I think you guys should come see the show. Uh, I am playing Kristoff and uh and it will uh I promise you it'll be a good time. We sold out Sunday uh and we're going to continue going. So, uh both high schools, NI and Nash, are hosting um their Project Water dodgeball tournaments in the next few months. This is a really great experience we have at both schools. It's thousands of students who participate and all the money goes towards um an organization that builds wells in Africa. So it's a really great it's a really great do the tips. Yeah. Okay. So we initially had had our youth town hall that we've been trying to push for a while now set for January 31st. Unfortunately, dur due to the week of snow and school closures beforehand and the very low sub-zero temperatures set for that date and that morning, we made the decision to postpone the youth town hall. Right now, we are working um we have the approval of the administration at Nash to host our youth town hall actually at the school during the school day. So, we're working with council. We'd like to get everyone's um dates if possible to figure out a time where we can have some council members come to the school and actually speak to the students during their lunch periods. We think this is going to be this is going to work out better than having students come here because it's a lot easier for students just to leave uh lunch and come up to the library to speak to council members. So, we're going to maximize the numbers of students we have in attendance. I think this

George Eddie and I offer to do that. You want as many town council people as you can get. The more the marrier for sure. We need to make sure um on set with Mr. Corbell on sunshine roles if that applies in this instance. We also have to worry about clearances. Yeah, we should. Yeah, clearance is something. Yeah, we discussed with our student council adviser, which we're both members of student council and uh he he's said that we've gotten approval. Uh but we would need clearances in that case. Um once we do have a rescheduled date, we will let you guys know as soon as possible. But it's definitely something that is a priority for us.

Yeah, certainly. And then also, we are getting ready to launch our first publication of a teen community newsletter. I had a call with the um two interim publicity directors um earlier today. We are looking to put together a document to um include in McMail for um teens and students to have access to to kind of get an idea from like a students perspective as to what they should care about, what kind of issues are affecting them so they can be more involved in the processes here at the town. The goal is to make sure that Arjun and I are no longer the only students or teenagers here at these meetings. We can't

we we want a reality where there's a couple students showing up here to speak about issues that um are important to them. And we think through a newsletter that keeps them updated on what's happening at council and this town hall where they can speak to town council members about their issues and get an idea for what local government does. through those initiatives, we might actually see a future where there are young people showing up to these meetings. We want to make sure that, as we stated at the beginning of our term, uh we want to make sure that as many people, as Christian stated, come to these meetings, uh get involved, and more importantly know about the opportunities. Uh and that's the main goal with our publication. Um we want to make sure that word gets out to the younger communities who soon enough will be voting um in our elections. stuff. Um, as usual, also we'd like to include some of our perspective on current town issues. Um, the the first one is of serious importance. We've heard a lot of talking about it tonight. Um, the Tigers leading Tiger Summer Camp. Um, we'll get to the big one later, but um, but I I do think that's a really exciting opportunity. I read a lot about it. I know it's involved with Coach Dave Gray. I grew up doing a lot of coach Dave Gray's um camps and um activities and u sports programs. He's a really great coach. He's really dedicated to the work that he does. I know the resolution at last meeting was regarding um approving advertising for that camp. I totally think that's something that council should go through with. I think it's a great opportunity and as always, National Honor Society is an even better opportunity to get students to um to volunteer and fill those positions that we need to make this camp happen. I think it's something that could totally work and would be a great experience for the young kids of this town.

Thank you. Go first. You want to Yeah, you want me to go first?

Uh, regarding town issues that have been discussed in mass today, uh, both of us have felt it's important that we talk about it from the perspective of the youth. Um, and I I've I've written something that I'd like to uh say. So, good evening council members and residents. My name is Arjent Puri, as you may know, and I serve as one of the two junior town councilmen. I stand before you today not just as a resident but as a member of the youth. Someone who represents the future of this town. I stand here because the proposal to work with or to not work with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not an abstract policy debate for some of my generation. It's personal. It is emotional. And it is about whether the young people of this community will grow up feeling safe or afraid. When you are young, safety is everything. It is the belief that your home is a place of comfort, not fear. is a belief that your parents will be there when you get home from school. Is a belief that your government exists to protect you in the town of McCandless with a large North Alagany population. This is crucial to locality. Parents often move to Macandas with the intent of keeping their children in a safe, trusted environment to get a higher education. Recently, however, across our country, that very concept of safety has been challenged. There are documented cases where children have come home from school to find their parents gone. No warning, no goodbye, just silence. Young people have had to take on adult responsibilities as a result. Caring for younger siblings, translating legal documents they barely understand, and living with constant anxiety that their family could be torn apart at any moment. According to reports and litigation brought by organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union, immigration enforcement actions have led to the detention and separation of thousands of families and children, often ignoring legal rulings. in doing so. Some of which were citizens, some of whom who had legal protections, and all of whom experienced lasting emotional trauma. These are not just statistics. These are kids like me and Christian. Kids who sat in classrooms unable to focus because they didn't know if their parents would be home. Kids who stopped participating in sports, clubs, and community life because they were afraid of drawing

attention. Kids who began to associate sirens, uniforms, and authority not with safety, but with an anxious feeling. Our Macless police force works very hard every day to keep keep our community safe. And painting this picture of them in the youth's mind is unfair to them as well. Psychologists and pediatric experts have testified that the trauma of family separation can cause anxiety, depression, and long-term emotional harm. These effects don't disappear when someone turns 18. They stay with young people for the rest of their lives. And when local governments choose to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement through a agencies under the DHS, it changes how young people see their own community. It can create a chilling effect. Families stop reporting crimes. Students stop trusting teachers, counselors, and police officers. Young people begin to live in the shadows, not because they did anything wrong, but because they are afraid. Ask yourself, what kind of message does that send to the youth of this town? It tells them that their sense of belonging is conditional, that their safety depends on policies that they cannot control, that their government may not stand with them when it matters the most. But I believe that this town is better than that. This community has the power to choose compassion over fear, to choose unity over division, to choose the well-being of its youth over policies that have historically caused harm to young people across the country. This has occurred due to the legal enforcement of deportations, but the frequent violence and illegal precedents that ISIS set in recent months. This is not a topic of publicization, but a topic of common societal peace in our community that we love so much. Because when young people feel safe, they thrive. They participate, they lead, they become the students, volunteers, and future leaders who make this town stronger. But when young people feel afraid, when they fear losing their families, their stability, their sense of home, they cannot fully grow into their potential. I'm standing here today because I care deeply about this community. I care about every student who walks into our schools wondering if their family is secure. I care about

every child who deserves to grow up without fear. And I ask you as leaders to consider not just the legal implications of this proposal, but the human ones. Consider the impact on the young people whose lives will be shaped by your decisions. Because one day, my generation will inherit this talent. We will remember whether you saw us not just as a political decision, but as human beings deserving of stability, dignity, and peace. Please stand with the youth and families of this community. Stand for our safety. Stand for our families. Stand for our future. And vote yes. Thank you.

Thank you. to begin I would like to outline the roles and responsibilities of all parties out of all parties who are gathered here tonight. The first is the role of the members of this community. That is to speak their minds and take part in the civic processes of our town. And tonight they have done so spectacularly. Every person who has spoken here tonight, regardless of the position they take, demonstrates one of the greatest freedoms we have as Americans, the right to speak openly to our leaders. At the end of the day, the decisions of our government at all levels should represent the will of the people because it is from the people that the government draws its legitimacy. I thank everyone who spoke this evening, regardless of what side they took, for reminding us all of that. Second, I'll outline my own role. I am here as a representative of the youth of this community. Thus, I will not stand here and speak for one overly politicized side because doing so would not represent every teen and student of this town because the young people of this town are just as divided as everyone who spoke here tonight. And finally, the role of this council is not to be caught up in national polarized policy debates that this body would have little real impact on. The duty of this town is to provide for the safety and well-being of the people who live here, not to engage in participation in a national enforcement battle. The young people in this community, however, can genuinely agree on one thing. Our local government must always act with the goal of preserving the safety of the people it serves. So, I ask council to consider the following. This resolution does not prevent cooperation with federal authorities in criminal matters. Our police department

would still be able to cooperate in the apprehension of individuals who commit crimes. But is it a responsible use of our local resources to pursue noncriminal immigration enforcement? And would diverting police resources towards non-criminal matters make our community safer? or would it simply reduce the effectiveness of our policing? If this council truly believes that using town police resources to assist in noncriminal immigration enforcement would truly make our community safer, then they should vote against this resolution. However, if they believe that it would not improve the safety of our town and they are concerned about detracting from the quality of our policing force, then they should support it. I will not involve myself in this broader national debate. In my view, someone who supports immigration enforcement could support this resolution just as someone who opposes immigration enforcement could oppose it. All I ask is that council set aside national political considerations and vote with the best interests of this their community in their mind. Do not vote along the party lines of politicians in Washington DC who are far removed from the day-to-day concerns of the people here tonight. do your duty and vote to protect the safety, the well-being, and the livelihood of the residents of this town. I will not tell you which way to vote to accomplish that end. I only ask you to consider what is at stake. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much. And council, there are questions for our junior council members. I appreciate uh the work you put into your presentation tonight and we hear you. Thank you. be in touch uh regarding the town hall. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Now we will move on to liaison reports um starting with mida. Mr. Hickerson, if you're you're still there.

Hi, Madam President. I'm still there. Apologies again for not being able to come to the meeting. Um I do look forward to meeting the people on the um mechanis development authority. Um there you'll be I believe February 26 is their next meeting. Yes. Um I look I will be at the meeting. I look forward to meeting the members. Okay. Thank you very much. Uh on to Northwest Council of Governments. Metti.

We had a reorg meeting last month. It is no surprise that salt was one of the things that we talked about. Um I think we're going to be talking about salt again when we meet in March. It's quite the heavy winter. Uh one of the things we also did discuss um was um concerns that our other uh membering towns have had regarding their waste management contracts. And that is a common concern that I'm I myself have heard and I'm sure other members of council have heard too. And I believe our contract is up this coming year, Don. Right. We have the opportunity for two option years. So definitely something for us not at this moment but later down the line to discuss. Thank you.

The problem is there aren't that many that are big enough to handle. They do have a regional monopoly to a certain extent. It's um definitely something that um council will look forward to getting back to the business of town of town man. Um, and those meeting minutes are not in the packet yet because they still need to be approved at the next meeting. So, we'll have last meeting minutes later on. Very good. Thank you. And now, Northern Regional Chamber of Commerce, Mr. W. Any updates?

We had a uh a meeting here in the Ber's room, initial meeting of all the businesses in McKenna. We held a business forum February 5th and we had 35 businesses that showed up in the town. They're grateful and they the next one is going to be March 30th. The purpose of it is to bring businesses together so our businesses can be heard not only here but also take advantage of the the regional um resources that we have so we can promote our business. Whether it be for the NFL draft, whether it be for the NCAA tournaments, whether it be for the Three Rivers Arts Festival, a lot of people stay out here. A lot of people eat out here. So, we want to make sure our businesses are highlighted. Thank you.

Thank you very much for the update. Um, does council any have any questions about any of these liaison reports? Okay, hearing none, do we have any public comment on administration and finance? Seeing no comment, we will move on to planning and zoning reports. Um the planning director.

Thank you, council. Um monthly director report for January and February. Um for our department updates, um in addition to our uh normal department items, we have conducted some staff training. Um, our code enforcement officer, Zachary Paris, recently attended a multipleday, 24-hour international code council course um on code enforcement essentials. He will be continuing this training with two additional courses in the next two months um to help enhance his professional and educational knowledge um in this job. Um our second highlight is we um in 2026, McCandless will now have online permitting. We are moving into the digital age.

Yes. Yes. So you'll over the next few months you'll see um uh we're kind of doing like a soft opening. So currently there is an option to go on to the website and submit online permits. Um the website will be adjusted to fully um you know have a online portal uh once we kind of flush out some of the uh let's just say hiccups. Um, so take take a take a second to look at that. If you're doing any permitting, feel free to call our office uh answer any questions. We will still be accepting physical applications so there's um accessibility for for all people.

Thank you. Thank you very much. And um I think that's I've heard from residents is like the watching the code enforcement is an important priority for our citizens and I'm happy to hear we're getting extra training in that. Um, moving on. Oh, do we have any questions from council for Matt? Okay, hearing none, we'll move on to liaison reports. We'll start with planning. Um, I have been able to attend two planning meetings. I certainly appreciate the time and commitment of the residents uh who participate. Their expertise and knowledge is quite impressive. Um, the information that they filter to us and council so that we can make informed decisions is is incredible and and I was most impressed with the respect and courtesy that they showed to residents who did take the time out of their busy schedule like you did tonight to come and speak about issues that were before the planning commission. I believe that the most uh significant event recently is the withdrawal of the application for the planned dental office on New Hart and we had a lot of resident input for that issue and I was pleased to see them attend and I was pleased to see how the meeting was conducted so that they could voice their opinion. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And the zoning hearing board, Mr. Wall. Yeah. Um, we have a meeting tomorrow night. We had a meeting last month and the information in your

Thank you very much. Um, any further questions from council on these lessons and reports? Hearing none, do we have any public comment on planning and zoning? Okay, now we can move on to recreation reports. Um, we have the director's report for the month of January and February. I can speak to that. Good evening, council. Um, the recreation reports for both January and February were in your packet along with two annual reports. One for the Heritage Center uh for 2025 and one for an overview of what happened in the parks and recreation department in 2025 as well. Um, so I'll post both of those online. Um, and just some highlights from that include all the wonderful programming that we put on at the heritage center last year. Some new programs as well. Um, for the parks and recreation side, some of the programs include the learn to knit class, which we are doing again, which sold out very quickly. Um, and of course, Macandless adventure. So, lots of fun things happening again this year as well. Um, some upcoming events I'd like to highlight. Um, as was mentioned in the announcements, the Polar Plunge was moved to March 20th. Um, it was meant to be on one of the coldest days of the year, so I was pretty sure no one was going to come anyway, so it worked out well. Um, so hopefully it'll be warmer on March 20th, and they're going to be doing that at North Alageney High School.

Didn't Mr. JC volunteer at school?

He did. He was the only one who was still going to come. So, um, Macandas will be celebrating our 175th birthday on March 22nd. Um, to commemorate the occasion, we'll be giving away 175 trees uh by partnering with Tree Pittsburgh. Um, so I'll be putting out a save the date for that um this week and you'll be able to register online for those trees um beginning on March 6th. So, more information to come on that. Um, also the egg hunt is happening on March 28th. Residents can now register their children to participate online and then it'll open to non-residents um in the beginning of March. The Heritage Center has its first um third Thursday lecture on March 19th with the Depreciation Lands Museum. And the pavilion rentals open for Wall and Develin Park uh for residents on March 2nd and for non-residents March 16th. And that's an online process.

Thank you. Um we you touched a little bit on the um heritage center, but if you'd like to add to that. Again, had the privilege of attending two meetings. Uh a core group of serious history buffs determined to keep alive the history of our town, which is very important. Um I will note that there is a need for volunteers at the his heritage and cultural center. We are currently re reworking the volunteer form. Um so please keep an eye out for that. If you have some time to spare where you could be there to greet people who come to visit the center that would be amazing. Um also the speaker series the lineup is incredible. I would encourage you to go online and because registration is limited, make sure that you see the topics that are going to be presented throughout the year because there's some really incredible speakers that have been lined up.

Thank you. Do we have any questions from council on the recreation reports or liaison reports here? No. Um any public comments on recreation? Okay, hearing none, we'll move on to agenda item number nine, the town manager report.

Uh, thank you, Miss Cloon. And a couple highlights from my report. As we mentioned, the uh community engagement manager position has been open with over 100 applications received. Second round interviews taking place this week. Uh we did have two of our staff members uh head to the LGA intern fair where we hope to find an intern who will complete a project working in both the parks and recck department and in the planning department this summer. And uh hopefully we have success and get another great intern here like we had last year. Um we will be advertising for the position of part-time custodian. So if anybody knows anybody good at cleaning, please have them apply to be our part-time custodian. Is it overnight?

We can make the hours flexible, Steve. So, if you decide to work, we can get you in here.

Uh, auditors joined us starting this week for the 2025 town audit. Britney spent significant amount of time with them today working on gathering information. They'll be here through the balance of the week. And as you saw, Judy, our tax collector, was recognized tonight. And with that being said, uh, you know, real estate tax collection services have been moved to Jordan. and Keystone has assumed the business privilege tax collection as well. Couple grant successes that were announced over the last month and a half to two months. Uh $134,415 from PennDOT towards school safety zone features. You'll see new signage, new flashers at all of the schools in Macanas. Received $350,000 from the small water and sewer program for storm sewer lining projects. These are not fun and exciting, but they save a lot of money compared to replacement programs. Uh, a significant amount of money will be saved there. Uh, and then we did receive $139,000 towards our stores fire hydrant adapter replacement program. This was applied for at the end of 2024. That's going to allow our fire departments to make quick and easy connections to any fire hydrant in the town. Paving program for 26 has been advertised. Bid opening on March 13th. will be able to award the contract to the successful bidder at the second meeting in March. Hopefully, everybody saw the new welcome signs installed to our entrances in town celebrating the 175th anniversary. And I do want to reiterate what Abby brought up uh about March 22nd, our birthday party with 175 trees being given away as part of the tree canopy initiative from the EAC. So, please register for the birthday party, register to receive and plant a tree, and learn how to properly take care of it.

Thank you. And um any questions, Mr. Schwren? Okay. And will you follow up please with the engineered report? Absolutely. The engineers report was in the packet. If anybody in council has any questions about that report, I'd be happy to answer them for you. We can make Would you like to make a public comment on on

Will you please step forward? Jack Casey, Tom McCandless. I just wanted to mention that the water authority would more than likely be very acceptable to you having an ordinance that all new fire hydrants within the town have to have a source fitting. We already have an ordinance or businesses, you would have to adapt that to include all new fire hydrants. So like fire hydrants on the ridge would have had the stores fitting included.

Thank you for your comment. And for the record, that was Mr. Jack Casey. Um, okay. And now we will move on to number 10, the town attorney's report. Mr. Corb, my uh report was part of the packet and happy to answer any questions, although they're probably more appropriate for an executive session. Um, and I have no uh public com uh public portion of the report this. Thank you very much. Uh, now we will move on to number 11, old business. Uh, an action concerning immigration control enforcement in the town of McCandless. Do we have a motion?

Which version are we motioning on? Well, you can make a motion on the version you choose. I move to approve proposed resolution 20263 the original version a resolution of the town of McCandless establishing additional policy for enforcement of noncriminal federal immigration laws second you would anybody like to make any comments or have any discussion about this I'd like to make a few comments

I would like to first and foremost thank Thank everyone for coming here tonight. We truly do value everybody's opinion of this town. Whether we personally agree with it or not, it is our duty to hear every single resident out. Okay. I would like to thank everybody for every single email that they sent to all of us. I received hundreds of emails over the last few weeks. And I read every single email that I received. I took notes on every single comment that was made. And I take everyone's thoughts and concerns into consideration deeply. I would like to take a moment to dispel the misinformation that is out there. There is not one person on this council that has suggested that we are going to turn McCandless into a sanctuary city. Not one human being that is a term with no legal bearing that has been used to fearmonger and spread misinformation and hate and cause division in our town. And that is not the I know. That is not the North Alagany that I was raised in where I attended school. I was taught by my parents and my teachers to love my neighbors. A white person can commit a crime. An immigrant can commit a crime whether they be illegal or legal. Crime is everywhere. Not one person behind this table supports crime or wants crime in this town. We fully back our police. This resolution does not change how our current police operate. This simply is to prevent our police officers from doing the jobs of ICE from asking someone who work their papers. That is a real concern. That is a real local issue that has happened in our neighboring communities. Mr. Wall, may I may I please finish my thoughts?

Absolutely. Thank you, sir.

I am the grandson of two immigrants. The majority, the large part, 95% of the immigrant experience in the United States of America is one of pain, toil, sweat, and misery. My grandparents left southern Europe in the 50s with not a dollar to their name, and they toiled and labored, and they died poor. But they gave my father a better life. They gave me a better life. And every single human being in this room, more likely than not, unless you're a Native American, is the descendant of an immigrant. And many of you who come up here and have put people into buckets, whether it be claiming that illegal immigrants are rapists, that they're bringing crimes, trafficking, drugs. Everybody commits crimes. Crime is notary to a race, to an immigrant, to an American citizen. It's everywhere. It is harmful to put people in buckets and condone the people who've emailed me accusing me of supporting crime, of supporting criminals, of supporting rapids. I am your neighbor. I went to school with your kids, with your nieces, with your nephews. We're all neighbors. And I appreciate tonight the fact that even though things were heated, we were all able to remain still throughout this process. We have your best interest at heart and we are never going to put people's safety in jeopardy. Thank you.

Mr. George and I we don't agree on this. You know the fear mongering that takes place and I'm going to share a personal anecdote. everybody in this room because sanctuary cities do exist. Mr. George Eddie, maybe not in the name of the law, but in Pittsburgh, sanctuary city. Philadelphia, it's a sanctuary city. I have a niece. It's 30 years old. She has the intellect of a toddler or 5-year-old. She is mentally handicapped. And she is the light of my world. She is bright as a when she gets up in in daytime and she lights up every room. Her parents are getting older. Her parents need for her to have a house. An independent wife in a group home. My niece has made it to THE TOP OF THE LIST seven time only to be dep displaced because Boston of which she lives in a suburb above is a sanctuary city and she was displaced for the benefit of illegal aliens. This is personal for me folks. It is. And you know what? I shared this with the president of council. Mr. Georgetti doesn't know this story and this is personal for me and I was told before this meeting so I'm not even going to ask that the term

san that will not be recognized or identified as a sanctuary city. That's what I asked for. It's not going to happen. So let the vote take place. I will be voting. Well, you'll hear in a minute. That's what I have to say. I This is There's a lot of things about this fear-mongering. No, I'm not fear-mongering anybody. Personal stake in the situation. I have a personal stake. We can talk about fear mongering all we want and there's a lot that goes on both sides of the aisle. We live in the United States. I have my ideas about immigration, but they don't belong here. You got a problem with immigration, go see John Federman. Go see Chris Rusio. They have the power to change it. We don't. We just don't. It's a shame because we have to deal with the aftermath. And you know what the other thing I want to tell you is I think by cottifying this resolution I have full faith in that man. I have full faith in our cops. They've been doing what's right for a long time. I don't expect them to do anything different. Telling them not to do something that they weren't going to do anyway to me is stupid. We have to trust our law enforcement. I'm sorry that I got so emotional and then you know I love you like I said but the bottom LINE IS WE HAVE a line in the sand here. It's very personal for me. I've gotten hundreds of phone calls.

Many of them not very flattering. People that have never even met me. a text message on my cell phone about yes or else. Bottom line is this. I'm the only one who's going to do what's right in my heart and in my head for the residents of the town of Mandless. And it doesn't just mean Bill Kirk. It means Irene Caland here. I love where we live. It's not my town. It's not Nick's town. it. It's not Tom Fergson's town. It's all of our town. We got to figure a way to bring people together and manage this. The votes are already there. It's This is going to be as antilimactic as Christmas on New Year's Day. Okay? I mean, the gifts have been open. Everybody knows which way this is going to go. And yes, Mr. Corman, I am good for to quote her child, but the bottom line here is we have to come out of here united. We may disagree, but we are not.

I say four.

Any further comment? Um, I also would like to echo Nick in uh extending my appreciation for all the comments, uh, emails, everything the people that attended the meetings. I was very disappointed by personal attacks, both explicit and implied. Um, I it's unfortunate if you received anything similar to what I know Nick received and I received. Um, I've read and reread all the remarks and I've tried to acknowledge all the emails that I did receive and if I missed anybody. If I missed acknowledging your email, I do apologize for that. I heard a lot tonight about we need to follow the laws. This is the law. Where would we be if laws weren't challenged? If laws weren't amended? If laws weren't changed? I might not be sitting here because I might not even have been given the right to vote as a woman. I and I alone purchased my first home. But it wasn't that long ago that as a single woman, I would not be allowed to purchase a home. My mother couldn't open a credit card account until laws were changed. How about children working in unsafe conditions? There was no law protecting children. What about those of us who are entitled to overtime pay when you work more hours? There was a time when there was no overtime pay. When workplaces were unsafe, but someone stood up and said, "Yes, there's a law, but the law is not right. It is not fair. It is not just." And I'm hearing a lot of speeches saying that this was a rush to judgment. Well, I will tell you when I was knocking on doors, I got a lot of feedback, not on deer, I got a lot of feedback right on this

issue that we're talking about right now. If you are in a community that either chooses to sign an agreement with ICE or chooses to not take any action at all, there's actual an indication that that could cause an ICE surge in the community due to the quotas that the Department of Homeland Security has established there. It will expose our town to lawsuits, potential monetary judgments, and negative publicity. You want to talk about something that could impact your taxes or your home values, a a monetary judgment against the town could do just that. The costs that come associated to local municipalities will not be reimbursed by the federal government. So any money that we might spend accommodating that is is our money. And finally, as stated by the chief by by people involved, the police are still free to deal with criminal activity as this resolution does not limit the police dealing with criminals. Thank you.

Thanks, Liz.

The battle sh

Yeah. Um, you've heard it a couple times now, but I also am very thankful for everyone coming out in the comments. Um, there's a lot of things uh that I'm thankful for um as being, you know, far as being American and but at the top of the list is the fact that we all get a say how we live our lives. So, I appreciate that. Uh, a lot of people um layman and those more familiar with our governmental processes have asked why now by capacity. Um, and that's because unfortunately it's is the ICE of today that's trampling over the constitutional rights of Americans. Um, it's it's not the IC administration that are extrajudicially killing Americans. Um, it's not a future hypothetical life uh that has Americans afraid to go to work and their kids to go to school. Um, so and it's it's not these hypothetical fears that have don't be accomplished either. Um, I've talked with a lot of my constituents. Um, knocked just about every door in the woods when I was campaigning. And, um, the most common issue was speeding, uh, traffic enforcing it. And, and so when I met with the chief, uh, prior to even reading this resolution, um, that's what we talked about. Um, and one thing that came up as as we were talking, uh, is the policy on high speed chasing. And this is relevant. Um, and the policy to put it simply is is don't do good. um that in the vast majority of circumstances, the more danger is faded uh from eventually apprehending. Um and I think the parallels between that policy and our resolution are clear. Um public safety isn't through. It's not hindered by minimizing our officers involvement with reckless behavior. Um and and just like the MO for high-speed pursuit, we're not passing any sort of blanket ban. um you know cooperation with ICE when they

have judicial oversight is still on the table. Um that's a different ball game. That is where you know to to continue the metaphor maybe the chase is warrant if there is any um it's important uh to me to emphasize that there are right and wrong ways to pursue justice. Um there was a speaker at the 29 meeting that I'm going to paraphrase to be more eloquent than I am. It was uh illegally enforcing laws is not law and order. That's lawlessness. Uh, and I will go further and say that that's vigilante of them. Um, I've heard people talk about how immigrants must do things the right way and and I agree. But then in the same breath, they'll excuse ICE for doing things very much the wrong way. Um, I don't accept that double standard. Um, we are a nation of laws. We have equal protection under those laws. And uh I swore an oath to uphold the constitution and that includes guaranteeing that each of us um gets our day in court. I will not abide the erosion of those rights and I believe that this resolution does its part in protecting both our freedoms and our persons.

Thank you Mr. Alex.

Mr. Hickerson, would you like to share anything at this time? Yes, thank you. Um, I will say that the emails I've received have been overwhelming in support and all over McCandless and I do want to say to those who I have not responded, I do apologize for not replying. I did read as through as many as I could, but like what Nick has said, I have rece I've received hundreds as other members of council have if this resolution hindered McCandless public safety. I would have not supported it, but I believe it does not hinder McCandless public safety. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hilson. Mr. If you're still there, I am here. I am here. And congratulations, uh, Mr. Babage on your word salad. Um, I you've heard my comments and I am a firm no.

Thank you, Mr. Okay. Um, since everyone's spoken, I just want to I want I'll be very brief. Most of you know that I am first generation American. The day I was not my mother is not a US citizen until 1986. And believe it or not, I remember that time. I was old enough to remember that. Um, uh, a little different now. Um, you know, having parents that came from Ireland in the 60s that did not face the same sort of discrimination that many people who are coming from South America, Central America, um other countries are facing right now. Um you know, you could say did they come here legally, illegally? I don't know. My I know my father did come through Ellis Island. My mother did not. She came on a plane and nearly killed herself coming down the escalator in New York City because she'd never seen one before. Um, so so I believe in the process. I believe there's people here who want to do the right thing. And I think if given the opportunity, most of the people in our community who are here, documented or undocumented, want to do the right thing if given that chance. But it seems like it's hard getting harder and harder to do that. But that really has nothing absolutely nothing to do with what we're considering right here. What we're considering tonight is keeping measuring measur if there is a situation of a criminal. This specifically states on the top of the page noncriminal. If there's a

criminal and we have said it over and over again and Chief Hawk has reinforced this, Chief Hawk may contact any other law enforcement necessary to expedite the arrest and and everything else that goes with due process and the holding of that individual to pursue it to the fullest extent of the law. We are not stopping that. Safety is of utmost importance to everyone on this council. I received many many emails and I apologize that I have not been able to respond to them all. I hope to I resp you know I appreciate the time everybody took. I was somewhat insulted when I was told that I must want rapist in my town. That is insulting to me and everyone on this council and everyone who voted for me and everybody in my community, my family, my neighbors, and I it's just an insult for anyone in this room to say I must let rapists and drug dealers in this town. That's an insult and I don't appreciate it. I don't think anyone encounters police who I think it's unanimous that this town supports the mechanist police department and without no matter who you are there is always there's respect for our citizens and visitors and and really ensure we make this accurate site. And we want that to continue. We want them to continue to do the work of mechanics, please. If there's no further comment from council, we have a motion. We have a second. All in favor?

This is on A. On A. Thank you for the clarification. A as written. Okay. Um, all in favor, please respond by saying I. I Any. Nay. Okay, we can either do roll call then. Okay. Uh, one. Uh, nay. Word two. I three. Hi. R four. I six. Hi. W seven. You have it.

Thank you everyone again. Thank you for participating and making this the confus everybody. lesson.

Amen. One minute, please. I want to make sure we have Thank you. Drive subdivision plan number five. Amendment number eight is submitted by Jimmy Spury as reviewed by town engineer letter dated January 21, 2026 and recommended for approval by the planning commission.

Thank you, Mr. W. We have a motion and now do we have a second? Second,

Mr. Babage. Thank you. Um any so just a reminder of what a mortgage subdivision is. Um this is something that we often see in development or residential developments. Um you know you have a part of land that a developer is working on and as the work begins uh natural things come in like hills, trees, uh stones in the ground um topography etc. So there becomes needs to slightly modify what the mortgage subdivisions are so that they can sell these properties with individual lots. So um any questions for Mr. Strand or that residing? Thank you. Okay, we have a motion and a second. U all in favor please respond by saying I. I

I mean zero. Motion carries. Okay, next next action. Motion to approve the ridge plan of lots revision number one as submitted by the Ridge Pittsburgh LP as reviewed by the town engineer in a letter dated January 21st, 2026 and recommended for approval by the planning commission. Thank you. We have a motion. Thank you. Okay. Uh again, similar situation. Um we're working on the planets. Uh any questions for Matt while he's here or Mr. Fred? Okay, hearing none. Uh we have a motion and second. All in favor, please stand by saying I.

I. I. Okay. Motion carries. Seven do. I make a motion to approve the April 1, 2026 Athletic Association, MCAA in the town of Mckan's maintenance agreement running in Centi Fields located at 8059 people's road 1523. Mr. R. Second. Well, hey. Uh, any questions for Mr. approved regarding this. Okay. Uh we have the motion and a second. All in favor, please respond by saying I. I. I. I.

Okay. Motion carries 70. Thank you. Okay. Now, at this time for any nonaggenda or comments from the public, please step forward. Oh, thanks. Thank you.

Hi, Marcia Caliando. Um, I want to thank council for everything this meeting, the last meeting. Thank you for everything and thank you for doing the right thing and passing this ordinance, but I would be remiss if um I believe Councilman an apology to Councilman Babage. I think his comments, they're inappropriate of a fellow member of council. And if he does not apologize, I recommend a censure. Thank you. Thank you for your comment.

Uh Lewis Jez, uh just wanted to say good job and good job on the PL meeting. Uh very glad to have started to come to these. These are really uh fulfilling. Makes me feel like I'm engaging with the town. Uh especially to the uh public works. They've been doing an awesome job plowing as we went over last meeting. Uh I don't think you are under the control of any foreign body such as a national party or convention. Just wanted to make that clear and I'm very sorry that people have said otherwise. Uh you are not under control. You are my neighbors and I love you. Stay well.

You think of that desert. We do understand that not every meeting is conscious. I love you. Yeah. control. Thank you. Do we have any additional public comments? I have a question. Um, your name, your name, your name, please.

Beverly Swaggman. I live on Cumberland Road. My question is is I wasn't informed of any of this going on and I want to know, do you have it written or can we get a copy somewhere on who passed this? Who like who started this? But this is normally we do not answer questions and public comment but this is important to let everybody know. So our agenda and minutes are always available on on McCandless website. Okay. If you go in look under where it says government. Yeah. And you can see each of the different commissions and committees and also town council. And if you you know usually

the agenda is set um it's typically available Thursday afternoon for the following Monday's meeting. So you have an opportunity to go on that website and find out who implemented this 807G correct or it was not implemented. How did it come about? That's a that's a bigger question right now that federal law I know it's the federal law because Ross Township goes along with the ICE. I'm talking about Ross Township. Were we ever with 287 and we're pulling out? No.

But that's these are the questions we like. I I there was none your time and what you're asking is not written because it's not it has not tied to this resolution at all. Could be here. I'd be happy to give you my email address. You questions and I'm more than happy to answer.

Yeah. So yeah, because it this is so confusing to me on I mean it doesn't it doesn't make sense what Michael was just doing. It really does. I don't think April does like yourself and she can't get anything. She can't speak because there's other people in ahead of her that are not American. Okay. So, I mean it does hit people in different ways and I mean but everyone's been looking for it, you know, but I'm a personal one, but please um give me your absolutely and I I'll be happy to share mine as well

if you could and explain it to me so I can better understand what's going on if I need to speak. And you'll see also on our town website, just as general information as well, all of the council members can be reached um by first name, first last name, sent you all emails. Not everyone replied, but the ones free that did. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. I don't want to take up too much of your time, but um when you asked if there are any other Sorry, Gloria Paulus. Um, we'll ask if there are any more questions about the Blazier development. Was it Were you just asking the people on council? Yes. Yeah.

Because, uh, I'm a hydro geologist and I'm just concerned that that area is very flat and I was wondering if drainage was taken into consideration when that was comments. We don't answer, but this is a general question. So I will say we work with our town engineers and no plans are approved without that being given extreme consideration from our our town engineers and everything also needs to go through our planning commission before the first brick is laid. All right. There any further other comments?

Mr. Harrison. You have to love people from the peanut gallery. John Harrison McCandless tonight. What we saw transpire here. Unfortunately was decided two weeks ago at the last meeting. You had the votes last two weeks ago, but you didn't have the vote. And I understand that. The fact that people spoke tonight that are on council after everybody else spoke here and nobody could go and call you or question you on things that you said really is like hiding behind this the curtain instead of being out there out front as far as what your comments are. You got that position for a reason. Respect it. You all should respect what you're doing up there. It's a disappointment to see what went on tonight, but as a strong Republican, we'll pick up the pieces and move forward, unlike if it would have been the other way around. On a totally different note, has the town looked into possibly doing their own garbage service as some municipalities do? We have leaf trucks that we use to clean up leaves. We have people that work on for the the town, what we get for service for what we pay for.

And I think Trish said it tonight, we're coming up on another either extension or looking for a new one. Unfortunately, McCandless is large and there's a lot of houses, a lot of families, 30,000 people putting garbage into the cans. So, is there a chance that thinking outside of the box, we could become our own waste management instead of doing and dealing with what we're dealing with now. We've actually got it pretty good compared to other municipalities. All you have to do is sit on Facebook one day and listen to the people in Ross or the people in Shaylor saying, "Well, let's see. What day of the week is it? Did it snow? What holiday is it? Am I going to have garbage pickup tomorrow? Michael says the same thing. People go and do do the same comments. Quite often it's it's quite educational just to sit there and listen to these people that have no clue. First person to call call your councilman. Trust me, I know they do. I know they do, Joe. But can we not make meas a better place by doing it? Joe's saying no.

You know that I could talk to you. I'm sorry. I know Joe. You can't you can't make comments back.

It's something to think about. The city of Pittsburgh does it horribly. The state of New York does it or the city of New York. They do it even worse than city of Pittsburgh does. But there's a lot of things that McCandless does that we do pretty damn good. And it's thanks to the the men who wear the badge and keep the the streets safe, to the workers who keep the streets safe with no salt, I mean with salt on the road so there's no ice. The um last thing on that is what they've done to make the community safe. Chief, thank you for what you do. Thank your your guys for what they do and women. It's a hell of a hard job you guys do

to build to the uh guys that that sit there and drive the trucks every night. Lars of the night for yourself. Great job. We do a lot of things great here. We should be proud. That's all. Thank you for coming. I just want to say that I must have been in a meeting quite different from the gentleman before me because what I saw here was a fabulous display of democracy at work. And it's in my opinion and apparently in the opinion of councils that have gone many years before you, what happened here today happened in the correct order. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Are there any additional public comments? Hearing none, do we have a motion to adjurnn? I so move a second and a second. All in favor of the chair. I thank you everybody. Oh, I got the secret.