Town Council - Regular Meeting

All right, welcome everybody to the December 8th, 2025 meeting of town council. Please rise for the pledge of

allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. As always, we start out the evening with some announcements. And I want to let you know at the previous town council meeting on November 24th, town council had entered into an executive session regarding a legal matter. That meeting concluded at 9:36. Prior to tonight's town council meeting, uh town council also had entered into an executive session regarding a personal matter. Now, on to the fun things. Santa will be at the Heritage and Cultural Center December 12th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. December 13th and 14th from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Photos with Santa are free and you are welcome to check out the holiday decorations and exhibits. Town hall will be closed on the following dates: Wednesday, December 24th, Thursday, December 25th, and Thursday, January 1st, in observance of the holiday season. At this time, we will have a presentation from Heather uh from Patrick regarding the parks master plan. Welcome. Thank you.

Good evening. I was commenting on how festive it is here as I pulled in. So, thanks to Brad and Abby and their crew. It sounds like Winterfest went well. Um I'm here tonight to give a kind of a final update on the the plan. and a draft was um shared with you this afternoon. Um I don't know if anybody had some time to take a look at it. So I'm going to just run through um a PowerPoint that I put together to give kind of a final overview. Um this is still a draft. Um so if you have comments, I encourage you to share them with me so that we can get it all polished up for next week. Um, as we've talked about before, this plan really is, um, a record of decisions and communications, not only with staff, um, but with the community. U, we've really worked very hard to, um, reach out to all different aspects of the community from maintenance to to Abby to community members as well, identifying operations and opportunities and constraints and just really being transparent with the community itself. Um, tremendous thanks to, like I said, the town council, um, staff, steering committee, and the Commonwealth Finance Authority that helped finance this plan. Um, we had not only all of these people, but a lot of key people that we have spoken to, and they still continue to call, and I know some are here in the audience that have been very um, participation throughout the whole process. Um, we had steering committee meetings. Um I have listed five but I believe we actually had seven. Um some focus groups. We were at many many community events, a lot of open forums here as well um with really great participation. I must say that the community of U McCannless um throughout the whole

process of over 12 months really showed up to um really get a good idea of what was happening here. A lot of key person interviews and once again your questionnaire 810 people. It doesn't seem like a lot, but knowing when we do this in many communities that you had a really good response. Moving on to um the concept plans themselves. Um Develin Park, where we're at here, um we took a look at it um in many different terms of how we could maybe reconfigure and make this a better asset. This really is kind of your gem. You're close to North Park. You have Town um Hall here and public works. So, some of the concepts that we looked at is, you know, one thing we heard was how can we have a place that people can gather in. Um, you don't have a community center. You do have North Park that has some of the larger um facilities, but where where could that fit possibly here? Um it may not always it may not end up here, but a couple of the items that we looked at was maybe reconfiguring the ball field um or the soccer field where there's um adjacent parking because one of the evils that we know when we're developing in these parks is the parking and access. Um you can't we don't want to overbuild any of your parks. Um so we looked at a couple different um aspects there. Um, one thing that you'll hear throughout this presentation is repairarian buffering. Most of these parks have some type of stream or waterway in them. Um, so there are there is a lot of funding out there to help to enhance that the storm water MS4 and to put repairarian trees there as well. Um, just really just accessibility. Um, the restroom here is not accessible.

um it it is accessible except for actually the facility itself. Um so you know the accessibility act was passed in 2010. Um so as you go into funding for any of these parks that's one thing that's going to be one of the number one checks is is this becoming accessible for everyone in the community. Okay. Option B. Option B there. Um, we also did take a look at um coming into this facility, looking at kind of the gateway to to McCandless and how we could make that um enhance a little bit. Maybe over on Blazer Drive, maybe um on the other side of the soccer fields, you'll see um right now the public works is using that as kind of a layown space, but if there was ever a time that they had a different area to to utilize that, that might be a nice place to do kind of a gateway with a nice sign and some plantings. So, we incorporated that into that plan as well. Um and then we go into potter. We had a lot of activity at at Potter and um with the acquisition this year. Um we've had a lot of great feedback um with that and we've walked it with DCNR. Um we walked it with the former owner. Um a couple of the neighbors have have really reached out to me and are excited about having that expansion. The topography there um is a little challenging. Um getting down to Potter itself is challenging and then up in the the Sarver mayor property um it's level up there but to connect them um will be a little bit of a challenge to make sure it's not going to be accessible. Um it's just not feasible in that space. But we propose some just really passive activities there. Some

some trails, maybe a couple parking spaces up on the mayor side. um just so that it is accessible. So once again as you go into funding that you have that there um some repairing and buffering perhaps a boardwalk that would go around the pond itself. The Boy Scouts had utilized their skills and tried that at one point um but it has not held up so well. So adding a boardwalk there and really just enhancing the passive nature of that park. Um we took a we took a look at a parcel that is not a park at this time. It is a a site that the public works had used in the past. Um it's level so that's a bonus in western Pennsylvania. Um, we did talk to a lot of the neighbors around there, making sure that they were aware of some of the the thoughts that were going on. Um, we looked at, um, perhaps having a walking trail around the property so that the the community there could could come down and just have the kids learn to ride their bikes, you know, not on the roadway there. Um, 19 North is right on the back side of there. um when I drove into 19 north to see how that could connect. They actually have kind of a deer trail already going into that property. So that would be nice to be able to allow those community members to utilize this park. 19 North also has it looks like a bike rental type thing there that you can use a bike and bring it back. So um they could come into the park. We did talk to a couple different um playground manufacturers on what type of equipment could go into that park. So that'll be included in the report as well with some good cost estimates. Um there is a sewer line that goes through the park. Um so we were aware of the easement um to make

sure that we weren't designing anything on top of the sewer line easement and really just again something passive for really a walkable park. um not looking at putting a ball field or a large parking lot there. Best Park, our ball field park here. Um, again, this this park is really built out. Um, but it has a great kind of a connection to get to Potter Park and over to this area um through coming down the Harmony Trail into the the trail that goes through Vestal itself and then coming back down into Devlin. So, it's kind of a central park there. Um there are some upgrades that we've suggested some accessibility. Um the restrooms probably could use an upgrade repairarian and buffering. Um we were hoping to get a a trail that would connect over to the new plan. Um it sounds like that's that still is a progress in in works there. Um some native shade treating and some additional spectator seating. um maybe with some shade. And we heard a lot about how how hot it can get down in that bowl during the ball fields, ball games. Wallpark. Ballpark's kind of a a gem to me. Um there's there's a lot going on there. Um the the ball fields for sure are, you know, something that are utilized a lot. Currently, there are grass infields. We've heard from the baseball associations that they um the maintenance on it is challenging and perhaps that is something to consider to remove those grass infields. Originally um it seems that through Gateway's comments it was put in as a grass

infield to really help with the storm water and to kind of contain some of the water there. But right now it's it's really becoming a tripping hazard and just a maintenance headache I think for the baseball fields. So that's something to consider. They also were interested in um some batting cages down there. The on the back side there you have a a old deco hockey court um which is not in really good condition. So one of the recommendations is to repave that. perhaps have half of it as basketball and some of it in the front as pickle ball. Um, sometimes that can be kind of a conflict of interest, so that's something that you'll have to watch to see if pickle ball explodes down there. Um, you do have a nice basketball court down here as well. Um, parking is something that we really did hear a lot about down there when the ball fields are all being used or the pavilions being rented. Um, and that that site on the on the right there, um, where the stockpile was, um, we looked at having some green parking there that would also help with the storm water. And the other thing with Wall Park, it's a great trail head there for the Harmony Brandt Trail that'll once again take you up in the Ingamar and then over to Otter Park. Um, and there's an opportunity to connect to Franklin Park up to Old Orchard. Vincent um is a lease as you all are aware of. Um so you're kind of constrained with what can happen down there um until perhaps you could acquire that property. You know, it sounds like there's been some conversations. Um it really is a nice parcel to have on that end of the tunnel. Um so we really looked at parking and circulation down there. Unfortunately, you know, having lights and um doing too many upgrades, it really isn't permissible at this

time. Um but we did talk to the ball field um volunteers and parents down there and it really is just a great a great place to have and I hope that you will continue to talk to the Vincent and the sisters to maybe be able to acquire that on that end of the town. Oh, I just wanted to show this park serve map. This is something that um DCNR and DCND really would love to have all all communities take a look at. And what it is, it's showing you who has access to your parks within a 10-minute walk. And as you can see, you know, towards North Park and over by Vesttol and Potter, you know, you have the accessibility, but really on the souththeast side of the town, there's not a lot of walkability to get to a green space. So, you know, as parcels become available, it might be something to consider um over on that side of the town.

Does that take into consideration what you're talking about with Pontiac Park? parks on the south end of town. It will it will change the the walkability. So, this does not include it does not at this point. Okay. Great question.

Um, we did take quite a bit of a lot of walks and take a look at, you know, what you have now. And I must commend the town. Um, you really have been proactive of creating these sidewalks and these connections. I mean, a lot of towns [clears throat] um around here are not as proactive as you. So, you should be very proud of that. Um we did take a look at some other connections based on what sidewalks are already going in and how the the parks can be connected almost like a green necklace as some communities call it to get from park to park. Once again, we're in Western PA. Um the terrain is challenging. I don't know that I'd be riding from park to park all through here, but even just to get over to North Park, you know, to allow the the residents to ride or walk. Um, we know that everybody likes to get out and and walk these days. So,

we have additional challenges, too, don't we? We have additional challenges like Pendot. Yeah. Pendot owns quite a bit of roadway here and we have no ability to put a sidewalk on a PennDOT street or even a county road for that matter. Right.

Is that correct? Well, what what you really should focus on is as these roads are upgraded and one thing to um as you have conversations with the county roads in Pendot to have this on paper already saying that these are the connections that we'd like to see, they will take some sometimes take that into consideration, but if you're kind of ahead of the game, they will um they can't ignore it. They have to understand that this was saying necessarily and probably I shouldn't

sometimes though that they can include it into some of their upgrades. I mean we've seen it happen in communities. So you know as you have those conversations though this this plan will be adopted and that you can point your finger to we've taken a look at these roads and we've taken a look at connections that we'd like to see. So, as you come in, can we at least take a a look at it and see if we can make it happen? But that is a challenge. Um, and please stop me as we go through this. Um, some other overriding themes with sustainability. Um, you have a a community here that really is green. We've heard a lot from a lot of people that even though it is a town that is built up, you know, let's keep it green. Let's try to be as sustainable as we can. And, you know, that is something that you should be proud of. Um, capacity, you know, Abby Aby's here. She's kind of a one-man show to to program out these parks is going to be challenging to a full extent. So, that's something to to think about as far as staffing goes. and and with Brad too is as you add another park on his plate and on the guy's plate, you know, take take into consideration, you know, their their time and their energy. Um, we heard a lot about beautifying like I mentioned as kind of a gateway into this part of the town. um to you'll see in the report, you know, to have consistent signage for all of these parks, you know, that and kind of a wayfinding and a branding for parks and wreck in in the town of McCandless. Um road safety as you continue to build these trails and these connections, they're going to be crossing some roads and we do have the crosswalks in there, but some of them you may want to consider having some lights on them. Um so that you know when people are crossing early in the

mornings that there's better visibility. Um investing in other parklands. We did take some time and talk to North Alagany um and their athletic director over what types of properties that they may have that could perhaps turn into kind of a cooperative um use for ball fields and multiuse fields. and there are some up there um over by HOSA. There's still property there. And so, you know, that's something to consider as as the school continues to grow their athletics and you also um to have it cooperative might work out well. And always always be creative. Um there's price tags to all of this as we know. Um, and they they are right now with the way that the economy is, it's expensive to upgrade all of these parks, but there's a lot of funding. And in the report, I will um have all different types of funding and be creative because you can match funding. You can match DCR, DCNR funds with DCD funds with private funds. So, there there really is a way to build upon this. Um there's DCD, there's the multimodal, um DCNR has many different aspects of funding available from the repairarian buffering to acquisition funds, um which you know isn't used as much in Western PA as it is in Eastern PA. So if there's a property that um comes available that you're interested in, please even reach out to me. I'd be happy to walk you through that. um because I know the east side of the state get a lot of that money and we'd like to pull it over to the west side. Um land and water conservation funds. So, you know, I I'm here so I would be happy to help you, you know, as you work

into um creating some opportunities and it's all about implementation. Um I hope that this report does not sit on a shelf and that you utilize it. I know Abby and I will stay in contact as she moves forward with things. Um the the next steps here are to polish up this report. Um please provide any comments. Um I don't know if Brad has had an opportunity to take a look at it, but I would like you to go through it as well. I think you're you guys are here to maintain all of this. Um and then next week I will be back at the ne at the 15th meeting um for hopefully an adoption of this plan.

Thank you. Thank you for that presentation. Any comments from anyone in council? You're welcome. Thank you very much. Okay. At this time, uh we will turn it over to our solicitor for some public hearings.

Thank you, Mr. President. Um, so for this evening, we have u two public hearings uh and uh an update for a third and we'll get to that in a moment. But first um the fir first two hearings tonight are on proposed ordinances um 1563 and 1564. These are proposed lease agreements which would lease um town property um to a corporate entity to establish and construct billboards. Um last meeting Mr. Inis made a a pretty um compelling presentation about changes that are needed to the zoning ordinance um that he noted and this issue was flagged and I think Mr. Schwen went through some of the uh items that we've been uh dealing with. So I'm just going to summarize this shortly on the record and then we'll open it up for um comments. I I I'm hoping that some of this will answer some questions you may have, but if not, that's fine. We're here to answer questions and listen to your comments. So, [snorts] um the the genesis of uh these leases um emanate from uh pending uh land uh use appeals um and applications that have been filed by um the the litigant here. Uh there's various names but it's uh the the general corporate name is is Wolfgate. Um so this includes um the there is a proposed billboard on Mcnite and Cumberland. It was the subject of two special exception hearings at the zoning hearing board. Uh both were denied and the applicant appealed uh both of those to the court of common please. Uh those cases are still pending. The pleadings have closed, but Judge McInley is holding on making a decision because the

parties began to talk about a global resolution. Um, additionally, there there were two uh applications to install billboards on Perry Highway. Um, this was at uh 9200 and 911 Perry Highway, sort of in the neighborhood of the New York hot dog shop in that area. um those applications have been held in obeyance um by the applicant um as we began to discuss how to potentially um resolve this matter. Um so the proposed resolution that um the parties have uh I'll say agreed in principle is that one uh the town will amend the town zoning ordinance um and that's going to protect um the town moving forward. The current zoning ordinance has um an issue or two as it relates to areas that are um adjacent to or very near residential areas. these amendments would resolve that issue. Um and there is a motion today to address that and we can talk about that more at that time. Um second um this uh will offer town controlled or owned sites as alternate locations. So the Mcnite Cumberland uh and the two applications on Perry Highway um those will go away through the various legal uh methods to do so. Um and and then in exchange the town offered two sites um to Wolfgate. The first site is at uh Reichold and Perry Highway. Um this is the vacant parcel that is between the Gecko and the Nissan dealership. Uh it used to be the location of Riichold before it was that intersection was aligned. So it was straight. So, it's

still a parcel that is a right right of way uh that is uh in the town's name. Um in the packet there were surveys and uh drawings of the signs. I don't know do we have those available to show? Um so this is the intersection that I discussed to the bottom right corner is the Gecko. Um, at towards the top center is the Nissan dealership and there's a uh I guess that's yellow. I'm [clears throat] slightly color blind, but I guess that's what it is. And so what will occur is that there is a proposed uh double-faced monument sign um that will be placed in that location. Um the the uh billboard company will provide uh a drawing and there it is displayed there. um says town of mechanis 1851. It's uh landscaped etc. It is uh 10 ft wide and approximately 20 ft high the display board. Um and then D if you could scroll back up to show the parklet. And so there also will be um landscaping that is um undertaken here to put some small trees, low ground level plantings and there are you can see three smaller rectangles that are proposed to be uh benches that can be used for um for sitting. So that's the first location. The second location is um I call it South Mcnite. Um but it's it's essentially along Mcnite Road. Um between the Longhorn Steakhouse, which is the building at the center top, and I believe that's a dentist office. You can you're okay. Right there. Yeah. Yeah.

And then the Vincension uh community is up on the hill. Um, and so that is a a parcel that the town owns um that was uh planned to be some sort of right ofway or street in the early 90s. Uh was never opened or improved by the town, still owned by the town. Um and again, this is a double-faced monument sign. And if we roll up, I think we do have renderings of it as well. Um, so that's that's what this one will look like. Again, a little different than the other. It's uh perpendicular. It's not horizontal, not up and down. Um, so and that sign is 25 by 12. Again, with landscaping, etc. No benches here. It's not really accessible as the other is is adjacent to the sidewalk, etc. So that's the these are both the locations of the lease. Um lease terms, the leases were included as part of the packet. So but I do have a few items I just wanted to highlight is that the the leases include um a 29 and a halfyear terms with renewables. Uh there are revenue payments to the town of $5,000 per year per site. Um the signs will not operate between midnight and 5:00 am. Um the LED display shall not change uh more than once every 8 seconds. Uh transition time uh from one message to the next will occur instantaneously. There won't be special effects with fading or spinning or things. Um there will be an ambient light center on both sides that will uh measure the levels of light and increase the illumination of

the sign accordingly. So that means during the day it will be brighter but in the night it will be dimmer. Uh there are some maximums and minimums as to how bright they can be. Uh 250 nits uh during nighttime and 5,000 during the day. Uh, additionally, the town is permitted uh to provide uh municipal civic and emergency messaging on the boards um that might be important to folks, etc. You've probably seen them at some of the other signs like Pine sign. They'll have things like, you know, Winterfest this weekend or Amber Alert or something like that. Um and and the town is able to put four different messages a year or not a year, I'm sorry, four different messages per month. Um and they will run 20 well not 24 hours, but while it's operating, they will appear every 8 seconds. Um other restrictions, uh the signs will not advertise adult or sexually oriented businesses or materials. They will not advertise obscene uh or profane language. Um they will not uh have any sound components. So no uh music etc. Um and any mo it won't display any moving, flashing, fading, scrolling or animated text. And these are all consistent with the requirements of our zoning ordinance and a couple other items that were negotiated. So that that's it is in in a nutshell. So at this time uh even though this is a hearing on two separate ores you can come up and ask either or both. Um are there any takers?

Yes, Miss Cali. Oh you know me. Good evening. Couple questions. If I heard you right, the 90 the one by Indian Village and the one at Mcnite in Cumberland and the one higher up on 19, they're going away and being replaced by these two. Yes. Okay. Okay. Who pays for the electricity to operate these things? They do. They do in addition to paying us a revenue. All right. Okay. Thank you. Yep. others. Yes, ma'am. Come on.

Surprised. I'm surprised by some of the things you said that I didn't know.

My name is Mary Anne Love. L O V E 861 Vincent Way 15237. So I've been a Mandalas resident for [snorts] 57 years. Uh three different addresses but all in Macandas. So, I've seen a lot of really good things happen in Macandlas and couple of things that aren't so good. And personally, I classify these electronic signs as not so good. Um, I don't know how we got here, but I'm not liking where we're where we are on this subject. Um, I faithfully read the Post Gazette and oftentimes I read the uh legal notices for the town and so this one piqued my interest. Um, I feel that [snorts] the residents of McCandless are being used and maybe even abused. I think we're being used by sign companies to make money off of us. Um, and I'm going to the extent of abuse because they're [clears throat] very distracting um, for drivers. I think that there's risk there. Um, so

and you know that we residents can choose whether we want to enter a store or not, but we can't avoid these signs. They're just forced on us. Um, I noticed there's a one of these things that's um recently been put up by Arcadia Drive. Um, and it's a to me it's an eyesore. Um, you know, as last year, and this is where some of the things I wasn't aware of that you just mentioned [clears throat] last year, they tried to put it up at McCandless, I'm sorry, at Cumberland

and [clears throat] Mcnite.

I thought they failed. I didn't realize until tonight that they've appealed it. Um, [clears throat] so knowing that I was going to speak tonight, I uh felt the responsibility to educate myself a lot more. Uh, so [clears throat] I read the agenda and the meeting minutes for every zoning and council meeting for the entire year of 2005 25 to date. I wasn't willing to do the videos. I wouldn't [laughter] be here. I'd still be watching videos. Um, and I didn't see anything about the um approval of that sign at at Arcadia, but maybe it was part of the 2024 Cumberland and they were submitted together.

It was it was just a zoning hearing board matter. It did not come to town council. Oh, for that Arcadia? Yeah, for all of these. That's all I would go to as a zoning car. Okay. Um, let me interject here real quick just just so we have an understanding. The requirements of the state require us to allow them somewhere in the town. [clears throat]

So, our existing uh zoning for our township, we have them designated somewhere. The state tells us you cannot outlaw them. We have to allow them somewhere. So they exist somewhere to be built and that's where [clears throat] we are at this point. We had them classified in certain areas and they were at Cumberland and Mcnite Road. They were at the other ones. They come to it never comes to council because council passed the zoning. Okay, zoning's done. We'll never see it again. We've already approved it. If somebody wants to change something on our zoning, they go to a zoning hearing board which is a total separate agency from us. They're independent from council so that council doesn't have unfair influence. They're an impartial board. They read what we passed and they interpret that. So in the instance when this started, those billboards came in. Zoning hearing made rulings on those and we denied them as you know as you said. Then it entered into courts and appeals and things to that effect. At that point, once it got into litigation, our solicitors and everyone got involved. And the option here is we can allow them as well as the additional ones that were proposed along Route 19, which were heavy in residential areas, which everybody on this board and through all those zoning practices heard, you know, we know we have to have these somewhere. We don't want to see them in residential. we had worked with the uh applicant to try to resolve these legal issues um because they were appealing them and these are the two locations that were brought to us of alternatives that would not have impact on residential areas. So I just want to so you understand the process of it. Um, you know, in my years here, I I'd love to just say we can't put things in in places, but I've learned, yeah, we can't

do that. So, at that time, it's better to work and try to find the best resolution. And these proposed are where we feel that they are the least impact of residential areas for these. I just wanted to say that on that point. I'm a councilman, but as a resident, I worked really hard and there lawyer could tell you that I worked really hard to fight against these billboards. The fact of the matter is state law prohibits us from saying no. We have to allow them to be somewhere. Can you have one? You can have

I mean, it can't be an unlimited number. We can't we can't limit based upon a quantity. We can limit where they appear and it's by zoning district. So So you have to pick one. We have done everything that we can do. And what we're actually doing with the help of the of the applicant is to mitigate the number of of billboards that we have in the town. We're trying to keep it to a minimum. and still comply with state law. It's that simple. We have to allow them because it it's not in our hands.

Is that one per ward you have to allow? No. Hold on. Let's let John go ahead. No. Zoning districts. There has to be a zoning district uh where you allow these offremises. That zoning district may come up for an amendment here very shortly so that we can move them to where these are located. And this will help protect those residential areas from any further. If you get too restrictive like you're saying, they can appeal that then because they know you tried to shrink them down to one area, then it becomes invalid. So exclusionary at that point.

There's a lot of state rules that [snorts] don't give us as much restriction as you would like is what I want to tell you. But please, I didn't mean to interrupt, but I wanted you to understand a little bit of the background here. Please finish though. Well, kind of sounds like the township is in some ways a little over the barrel. Um, agreed. Um, which stinks. Yes, it does. [laughter]

Um, all right. Um, so the that that company, it's really hard to find out what the name of that company tonight's the first night I heard it because it has all these different names for all these different streets or whatever. Um the ones that I read that there were two from what I read and all this stuff there were two proposed sites that was this at the select her design there on the corner of um high the highway and I forget what that side street is going over maybe

um correct and then the other one was down there by the back entrance to the li to by the high school and an intermediate school, the back entrance there to the library. So, I guess what you're saying is you folks turned them down and they appealed. No, those two were applied for, but they were not um taken to the zoning hearing board. They were held in abance by agreement of the developer um while we talked about how to resolve this in a way um that we thought best served the town. Okay. Given all the constraints that we have.

Yeah. Not a perfect world but one we have to live. This is statemandated. Yes ma'am.

Okay. Um so I was uh thinking that there were a lot of things that didn't make sense to me. Um, so I guess that I'll just move on to the [clears throat] leases that were in the agenda tonight. Um, just I noticed that both of those leases do not contain one of the um digits in the zip code because I was trying to find out the name of this company. Um, when you Google that the correct address, you can't find the real name of the company. It's in a um an office building and that building has quote unquote instant offices that you can rent for $229 a month. Um, doesn't doesn't sound like a very stable company.

Don't mean to interrupt, but I do want to let you know we normally hold everyone to a fivem minute. Oh, okay. So I'd like you to try to wrap up as much you can. There's others in the audience and just for the sake of you know okay being cognizant of everyone's time. It's very confusing all these districts 90 these some of these addresses are wrong like 9020 whatever. Um and so basically I'm very disappointed to hear what you have to say. Um I resent the fact that we have to live with these And I don't think it's fair to us residents. Thank you. Thank you for those comments.

My two cents as well. Rita Martin Grubs Road. Um they're ugly. They are glorified billboards and we are just dis denigrating our community by putting these up. And is this wolf gate any relationship to the wolf that bought our property down here? Okay. Just wondered about that. Um I don't understand how they they had to go to Alig County Court to get this changed because our zoning board would not allow it. Is that correct? They had to go through the uh another zoning board. All right. So, our zoning they they have to um obtain what's called a special exception.

Yes, we know about those. Think of them out like candy. They go to the zoning hearing board for that. Our hearing board said no to both of the special exception applications for Mcnite Cumberland. Um they had 30 days to appeal both of those decisions to common police court. They did. Um and then they filed briefs. The zoning air board filed a brief but the court didn't make a decision. So that no decision is made. So why are they being allowed to put them up? They aren't allow being allowed to put them up where they ask to put them up. That's part of the settlement. Oh, okay. So you're allowing them in order to be able to control where they put them

more or less because you have to. Okay. I'm getting these are these are about the two lease agreements. I think we want to make sure that we uh you know talk about the settlement agreement necessarily like that at this time. So the comments focus on the lease and whether the lease is valid or not. Sure.

Thank you. I just had to speak Richards. Um I just have a couple questions. I agree with Maryanne and Rita ugly the going in the wrong direction sending Macanas down the wrong billboard road. Um uh the information that was put in the um uh in the packet lead you the the picture leads you to believe that it's some sort of a welcoming sign into town of Macanas and is it going to say town of Macanas on there the way the picture is? Yes.

And then it's going to have advertising for other for just anybody that wants to advertise that meets the quality. in town. Yeah. Okay. How does it compare in size? I know what the feet and everything was, but how does that compare to the one that's very close by at McCandless Crossing? Similar or smaller? Is it It's similar but smaller. That similar or smaller? It can't be any bigger than that. That's the maximum size. I don't have that size memorized off the top of my head, but I can find that. It will not exceed the size of the mechanics.

Okay. And that's the one that's by Vincent there. That will be smaller than the one that's up on the four corners with McDonald's and the get-go is bigger. They're different dimensions, but they're square footage is the same. Okay. Okay. Thanks. Thank you. I'll head I have a quick question regarding the Richold Perry highway sign. Has Pendot looked at that in terms of driver visibility? They will need to obtain a highway occupancy permit for both sides.

Okay. So there's could still be changes to that site based on the line of sight for drivers because as you know from like just right up from there where I complain about people running the red light. Being able to look down Perry Highway and see who's obviously not stopping before you make maybe a lefthand turn or go straight through that intersection would be really great since I use it just about every day. So we can look forward to maybe changes based on pen dots. they have to come into us for all the normal process. It'll be part of the uh permit that we issue to permit the they will have to provide us with those approvals from

so based on on what they're looking at we could still see changes that maybe we like a little bit to follow the rules and standards of Pendot and ours etc. because that that corner that seems like a big sign in that corner plus trees in terms of visibility for drivers looking in in both directions before I'm not sure about the height of the trees but they are ornamental so I assume that they'll be well yeah but when you're sitting in your car ornamental is still like line of sight level tall tree you look you could look under as opposed to a shorter tree that's fatter and in the way

thank is right.

Hello. Hope everybody had a happy holiday. Um, Ellen, right? Um, I'm mostly confused about these ordinances. Like, I get that this is a is a way to have a settlement prior to a ruling. I understand that whole part, but because signs are under zoning, like I don't understand really why this isn't at zoning instead of planning. I mean, instead of town council and if it's at town council, why it hasn't gone to zoning, why it has let me start again. So I because it has to do with zoning, I don't know why it's not back at zoning. and

zoning hearing board can't bind the bind the town to any action and the town is a party to the appeal. So we have the right to settle the matter. Okay. So I'm then I'm confused why it didn't go to planning commission first before it came here. Not the settlement. you will see the proposed amendment, the zoning uh ordinance related to these signs will go to the planning commission and and folks will have an opportunity to contribute at that point. But these will have already been approved by Nope. So, we're having the public hearing before the planning commission has taken a look at it. Not on the ordinance. No.

Okay. This is on the leases. on the different you're conflating a couple issues. Yeah, that's that's right because I think it's I think I think it is confusing. That's where I started from. So, um along with that, since we know that we don't really know, it doesn't say anywhere what um if what zones these signs are in, if they're in the MN, the MC, the MU, the TC, or the SD. The only one of which I recognize is special district. I have no idea what the other ones are without looking them up. And

so there are different rules depending on what um zone it's in. So, but since we don't know what zone, it didn't say in the ordinance which ones they're in, it's hard to know what rules apply. And you're getting way ahead of yourself here because this is just about the leases. They are in the MC district. Um, and these questions and and issues are going to be discussed by council in mere minutes on the on the agenda. Excellent. When we get to the new business section. Excellent. So, does that mean and then were the neighbors notified? Are these signs um to let them know that there were were the signs posted um on the properties to let people know that this was going to happen?

This doesn't again just the lease agreement right now. We're not we're not at a point where that has to occur yet. So that was my next thing and I have it in bold here about the leases. The leases are not included in the public information. How are we to comment on the leases? It says exhibit A. When you read the ordinance, it says that the ordinance um that exhibit A is the lease and the leases are not in the public packet. I don't have the public here. I believe I have the public. Miss Love said she read the leases. I don't know. Yeah. Okay. Let me I have it right here. I printed it out this afternoon. Miss Love got it.

Well, I Why would I stand here and live? I don't know why. I don't really I know you didn't I know you didn't mean to say that. No, I I'm just curious how Miss Love was able to acquire it. I don't know, but Here is my exhibit A lease agreement. I'll hold it. I'll hand it for you because I'd like to keep hold of it since I again being accused of lying. This is the exhibit A that's in the public agreement in the public.

Why don't we pull it up right now and take a look? She did.

She looked at the ordinance.

Oh, and by the way, the lease agreement that says no light between midnight and f 5:00 a.m. No lights, that's against the sign ordinance that says lights are to be turned off. No illumination may be illuminated from 6:00 a.m. until 1000 p.m. Shall we pull it up and see and pull and go to the public agenda comments and see if there's a lease agreement? We could take notice of whether it's there or not. We can look. I haven't looked at the public packet.

Anything else? Yep. Um, your time is up, so if you could wrap up, that would be perfect. Excellent. Um, 612C319 on the Alageney real estate is not coming up as a town property. Um, it says it's the rightway. It's not showing that on the real estate. Um, the pending ordinance doctrine. I'm not sure how it applies here. And the post enactment procedure in the public notice seems to be trying to get around the town's code for a post enactment by including it in the public notice to advertise the meeting as opposed to advertising the public noseness after the enactment. Thank you.

Thank you. Oh, I take your apology for saying that it wasn't.

Anybody else? Where's the If it wasn't shared in the public packet, we'll have that shared right away to the website. They're not taking any action on this tonight. They'll take action on it next meeting. There'll be time for additional public comment also. Let me see what happens online.

Okay. in looking at uh John Harrison Edwick drive me occas um in the numbers that you guys were saying tonight it's changing every 8 seconds that's those lights average when you're sitting there a minute to a minute and a half when you're sitting there on depending on where you're at waiting for the light to change that's 7.5 flashes per minute which is very distracting is the One thing I think of anything you need to make those make it be less flashes per minute and you have control of that with the lease. The second part of that is can we make it that it also they're not allowed to advertise any of the vape sites, any of the drugs, any of the alcohol. basically that it's kid-friendly because the last thing we need and we already have issues within the within the town within the school district of kids doing all of everything that I said. So let's not advertise on those particular things. Second part of that is what was the dollar value you said the lease was per year per sign?

5,000%. Okay. Why can't we make it that we get a percentage of whatever they're selling advertisement wise? So you say cap it at 10%. So if they sell it for whatever, the town has a chance of making more money instead of capping it at 5,000 because 5,000 to those guys is nothing. They'll sell that in one week and the rest then you have the the rest of the week, the other 51 weeks of the year they're making cash. Why can't the burrow make money on that? To agree to that for that to happen. I I agree, but why not ask? The worst thing they say is no. [laughter] Maybe we

Okay. The other thing is who is maintaining these sites? This should not fall to the burrow. Yeah, they are. They are. So, they're going to cut the grass. They're going to trim the hedges. They're going to keep the trees. They're going to clean up the leaves. They're going to remove the snow in the wintertime because it actually is a public spot, the one up off by the um getgo. And the ordinances in the burrow is you have to go and have have your sidewalks cleared within 24 hours. I consider that a sidewalk if you're putting the benches in. Are they going to take care of that? Gecko does. We think Gecko takes care of that at this point.

Okay. But it's really not tied to Gecko. And it really shouldn't be Gecko's responsibility to do it unless they're getting something as a kickback also. I'm just telling you who cleans the sidewalks today. Okay. But we're going to be entering into a lease with this new entity and they are responsible for the properties. Our understanding is that they're going to take care of the maintenance. Okay. If they violate any of these things within the lease, what happens? 29 and a half years is a hell of a long time. Yeah. Most of the people that are here sitting here 29 and a half years from now, we're gonna we're going to be in the ground.

God, I hope not. Well, Jason, you're there provisions around termination and notice of uh not adhering to your obligations on typical lease language on that. So, there's either like citations or fines that could be held against them for stuff like that. No, we notify them that they're in breach of the lease. Okay. And then they have a a period of time to correct it. If they don't, then there's a action we can take.

Okay. That's all for now. I'll see you at the next one. Any others? I think there's a couple left. [clears throat] Okay. Going once. Going twice. I I think you might have already used your a loted time. Did somebody see her sometime? No, unfortunately. No. So, this will come back up again. So, there's public comments on the agenda at the moment. Yes.

Yeah, you can make comments further down if you'd like. Okay. Anybody else under the public hearing? Okay. We will close uh the public hearings on the proposed leases and then Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to amend the agenda to include public hearing on ordinance 1562, an ordinance reappropriating certain amounts of money within the general fund and capital improvement fund budgets as properly advertised in the paper of record on November 27th, 2025. There's been a motion. Is there a second? Second.

Second, Mr. Hart. Uh so in the audience understand their normal housekeeping item for those of you who have been around we typically pass at the end of the year a um finance update just how we have to move our monies in the accounts and uh this evening we need to add that to the agenda to have a public hearing on that. So that's what you're seeing in this motion. This is a housekeeping item. Uh we're allowed to do this. We just have to make a motion to do so. So there has been a motion and there has been a second. We will now take a vote on adding public comment first. on the motion to add to the agenda. Thank you, Steve. So, at this time, we will take public comment on the motion to just add this to the agenda if there is any.

See? Oh, I'm sorry. Please come forward. State your name. Sorry, we have to for the record. I'm not even going to ask you for your address. Just your name. Yes, please. Is this have something to do with the new ruling on the Sunshine model? No, no. This is just like I said, I'm sorry. No, no. I I will just say that this is the way that we interpreted the law when it was passed in 2021. There was a Commonwealth Court that you could add something to the agenda. You used to be able to just do it whenever you wanted. Now we have a proper way to do. So there was a Commonwealth Court decision two years ago that said you could only do it for three or four reasons and then uh just before Thanksgiving the Supreme Court said they were wrong. It was the way we always did it.

Yeah. Yep. Thank you for those comments. Any other public comment on this one? So, I haven't seen a public post today about it and I'm trying to quick read it. I didn't make it larger so I could see it. But does it say that there'll be something posted on the board? Because once again, there's no information about what it is we're to be commenting on. And I did a quick look at the board because I was looking for something else, but I don't see it. Let me see. I can say it's behind the agenda on the board. Just so you're it's behind

the the the topic that the cap the changes in the capital budget are post are posted on the board. Okay. I'll take another look. Oh, thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you for your comment. All right. Well, I don't have anything else to say because I'm just seeing it, but thank you very much. Thank you. Any other public comment on adding this public hearing? Okay. Uh let's call for a vote. All this do remind everyone that it was published as required. Yes.

That as Mr. Wolf said, um just to remind everybody that it was published. Yeah. Again, this is just the public hearing part tonight. It's just to add this to the agenda. So, there has been a motion. There has been a second. There has been public comment. All those in favor, please indicate by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Okay. All right. So, now it's there. I will turn it over to our solicitor.

Okay. I will call to order um the public hearing on proposed ordinance uh to reappropriate certain monies for fiscal year 2025. Does anybody have a public comment on the proposed ordinance? So, just to just to satisfy, we see this every year coming to the end of the year. It's a it's an account cleanup. Um you know, things don't always fall exactly where they're supposed to. So, we have to make sure we do our books correctly at the end of the year and we have to pass this in order to do so. Um, so on here you can see there's some some movement around of capital purchases. I'm sorry. Thank you. You're more qualified for this than I am there.

This is an annual housekeeping item required uh by code. If a delta in our budget of $5,000 and 10% exists in any one of our account classifications, we have to reappropriate said monies. This year there are only four changes that need which is fantastic compared to the past. That means there's only four sections in which we needed to uh in which we need to change. First under police protection capital purchases there was a difference of $45,220. That's because we added an additional police unit uh when we were given the grant money. Remember this is on the expenditure side only not on the revenue side. Under snow and ice control, we had a difference of $87,049 due to the sold purchases from our winter last year. We had underestimated how much sold we need and parks and professional services. Uh there was a difference of $9,624. uh when we had our new full-time parks and wreck director added on uh her some of her benefits were not accounted for in that line item at the time and that $9,624 covers that. Lastly, under fund 18 CIP citizen coordination. Uh we have it under 406, but it's engineering services. That was for the North Meadow sidewalk project. We had only budgeted $15,000 because the actual engineering for that turned out to be $31,000 which is a difference of $16,040. Those are the four changes that will need to be uh made to the budget. This will be voted on at the next meeting. There will be additional time for public comment on that as well. Any comments, Mr. Harrison? The last one you mentioned is the one

that I guess kind of um raised a few flags. Was that not something that was bid on? And if so, how did we get [snorts] into that situation to be coming up half short? On so on the actual North Meadows, we're speaking of the engineering only. That part was not bid on um from my understanding. John, could you Engineering is a professional service. We pay Gateway as our engineer and they charge per hour for projects of this nature and it was an underestimation from our previous budget. Okay. So, we made the error on the estimate. It wasn't that company that made the error.

They're not part of the they were not part of the project in the sense of the actual details of it. They were the in-house engineer. Okay. Part of it. So, it's professional service is the best way. There was no um bidding part of it. It's just part of what we handled in house. If we would have chosen to send the design out as part of the project, yes, that would have been an issue. The design was kept in house. Okay. All right. Thanks. Sure. Any others? Is right.

I was confused when I spoke before. I thought this was the time to comment. It's not in the materials posted on the board. Um, and I don't remember if it was in the agenda online or not because I saw the public notice, but the financials that are on with the board are ordinance number 1561 for the budget. And it looks like this. And this is what Mr. Arllo just gave me. So, it's not the same. Yeah. Thank you for those comments. You're welcome.

Any other comment on the public hearing for this?

Seeing none, we'll close the hearing. Thank you. Okay. I make a motion to approve town council minutes November 24th. Hold that thought. You're jumping ahead like I am. Oh, I'm sorry. Item number five, public comments on agenda items only. So, if you have a comment on an agenda item, please come forward, state your name. There something on the agenda. Non-aggenda comments will catch always the very end.

Hi, Marcia Caliando. Um, I want to uh comment on a new business item C uh relative to the repealing of the uh activities advisory committee. Um, and I realize that a couple years ago you went from a full committee to an ad hoc committee and and um we just heard a wonderful presentation on the future of the parks and we certainly know that Abby does a great job for us and thank you. She's a gem. Um but I think uh dissolving this uh committee even in the ad hoc is um is shortsighted. I I I think you should keep it open. I think you should utilize your citizens and residents of McCandless uh many who are willing and able and are super qualified to help you out in some things. So to to to resolve this and then you know needing I I just think it's shortsighted. So I would recommend uh that you let you uh vote against that and maintain the ad hoc uh activities advisory committee. Thank you.

Thank you for those comments. Any other public comment on agenda items? Please come forward. State your name.

Maryanne Love Um so on these uh the ordinances that were on the agenda for tonight, the Ryold Road and the Parammont. Um the addresses that are given put in these ordinances, neither one of them are correct. Um, I'm pointing that out because I think it's important. I mean, you're doesn't jive with what it's supposed to. Neither one of them are the addresses are are are correct. um because of that and some of the other stuff that I went through. I am I am concerned about this in terms of the complexity, the the errors that I saw that I thought are very blatant. And I I think that I get the feeling that this is getting rushed through to get it in December. I mean, these folks, they they held up those other ones. I thought they were holding them up. I guess you were holding them up. Um, I'm asking, there's so many things like this thing that's that we're supposed to get next week, but we should have that this week so we can understand it and digest it and whatever. It's just like it's I get the feeling it's being rushed through. Get it in this December.

There's going to be a there are there's going to be a different some members of that this board are going to be different in January. A lot of these and all other members here have will be here also. They've been through this whole thing. I don't see why the rush is to jam it into December because I don't think that we the public are getting the sufficient information that we need. Thank you.

Thank you for those comments. Any other public comments? Hi, I'm Kurt Clint and I live on Van Drive and I just wanted to say thank you to the town council for your efforts in having the park study done and that I think that you've done a really good job with trying to look out for the town and the parks and I know it's not easy for you to do your job up there and I just wanted to say thanks. Thank you. Thank you for those comments. Thank you. Any other public comment?

I was also concerned about why we would be resolving committees. I think that thought they were ad hoc. The fire people are getting some have an um a grant and it includes new tech capabilities. So it might make sense to keep a tech um a tech committee and rather than dissolve it. and the I would echo what was said about the activities committee. Um I enjoyed the parks presentation. I just wonder are there any minutes from the parks planning committee that could be posted online so we could take a look at it. Um I may have missed it but I thought we were posting the people who had applied to different town committees and I'm not seeing it on the board. And um that's it.

Thank you for those comments.

Any other public comment on agenda items? Hello again. Um [clears throat] under new business ordinance 1561. I want to thank you guys for doing another great job of uh being able to make a balanced budget and not raise taxes. School district could definitely learn from you guys on what you're what you're doing. You guys live within your means and if we don't have the money, we either one figure out a place to get the money or we adjust things other ways or we don't do it. So, it seems to be that anything that's tied to the government, they have an unlimited amount of money and the unlimited amount of money is everybody that's sitting up on the board now because you're taxpayers and it's everybody in this room who are taxpayers. We we don't have unlimited budgets. We don't have unlimited money. So, it is greatly appreciated. You guys don't get credit for that. It's not an easy job to do, but you guys do one hell of a great job. The other thing is in seeing these two ordinances that you're um talking about doing away with things, is there plans to combine those positions into something else that we already have in existence within the the town or are they just totally going away? meaning the advisory committee or the tech committee. We're in a tech age. Doing away with tech just seems to be a little bit crazy. Maybe it's not utilized the way it should be utilized. But there are a

lot of people that are in the burrow, in the in the community, in the town that volunteer their time that you can get a lot of those services for free. It's one way of of stretching out your money. So, in doing away with those, how do we plan on taking care of technology going forward? How do we plan on doing the activities within the district or within the town going forward? If we don't have a plan to go and pick those pieces up, I don't think we really should eliminate something. Maybe there's something we're not hearing or or missing. But if there is, if you guys could share that, it would be greatly appreciated. And that's all for now. Thanks for your comments. Any other public comment on agenda items? Seeing none, uh, moving on to, uh, approval of minutes. Uh, they were previously emailed to everyone.

Mr. Sanger, I move that we approve the meeting minutes of town council on November 24th, 2025. There's been a motion. Is there a second? Second. There's a second. All those in favor, please indicate by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Uh, carrying into reports of committees, public safety committee, uh, staff report, the chief,

please. Thank you, Mr. President. [clears throat] Good evening, everybody. Uh, items of note for the month of November for the police department. Um, paragraph one, our K9 team, Officer Davis and his K9 part partner Leroy. Uh they continue [clears throat] their monthly training. Had one deployment in November to assist another North Hills agency. Uh and as usual um they're out there on the daily trying to engage the public and it's not hard to do with that dog. Um he's everybody's favorite employee downstairs. Um also in the month of November, uh our crash reconstruction team attended some trainings as you might see if you've looked. Officer All House attended a PA DUI conference where he got some updates on drug recognition expert um information and also some uh enforcement um updates on alcohol-related offenses. A couple of our other reconstructionists in uh process or in the making. Officer Bart Chevitz, don't ask me how to spell that, and Jennings, they attended event data recorder technician training. um they are in the process of trying to uh catch up to the the the level of full reconstructionist. Uh the so um [snorts] I'll keep folks updated on that. Um Lieutenant Eglley also gave a presentation this past month. Um whenever we get requests, he tries to oblige every community that asks um on scams that target the elderly.

[clears throat]

Um, as far as a social worker goes, uh, looks like Jenny Fry, um, referred 40 individuals this past month, uh, to services, support, and other information. Um, Jenny also attended some training, deescalation, hosted by North Alageney Police Department. She attended the weight we carry, uh, vicarious trauma. It's a seminar that was hosted by a child's place at Mercy. and she also attended an overdose prevention training hosted by Alageney County Department of Health. In November, we held a food drive in downstairs in the police department. U huge success. Uh the food drive ran for four weeks. Each week the box was overflowing. Uh so thank you to the community for your help and support with that. Um currently we are collecting new unused and unwrapped toys. It's for the presents from police toy drive that we try to do annually. Uh toys this year will be delivered to the ch uh children at Children's Institute, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and the Sunrise School. Uh they can be dropped off down in our police lobby. There's a large collection box. It's hard to miss. Attentive deadline for that is December 16th. Um once again, thanks to the community because that's overflowing and I think People's Fire Department dropped off a bunch of toys today. In fact, our officers also in the month of November participated in a DUI North Hills DUI task force detail November 21st. I believe they arrested two for DUI and 40 different site 40 citations and 77 warnings were issued. Uh I'd like to wrap up with pointing out that the police department received 49 calls in November relating to whitetail deer. Uh, Big Daddy Wildlife removed 19 carcasses from the town roadways as well. That's what I got. Any questions or anything? Happy to.

No questions for council. Thank you, Chief. Thank you. Thank you.

Uh, moving on. The fire marshals report uh was also in your packet for the month of November. Jeff, any highlights? [clears throat] You had it and then it shut up. Come on, Rudolph. All right. [clears throat] All right. Good evening, everybody. Um, I will give you kind of the highlights of the fire marshall report. So, for the month of November, there were a total of 19 fire inspections. There were fire 17 fire marshall calls, uh, two fire investigations, one being a vehicle fire and one being a kitchen fire. Uh uh most of the month uh was spent on a couple different things. The main one was uh planning the firefighter appreciation banquet that was held on November 22nd and I do know some of our our members were in attendance. So hopefully you all had a good time. Um the other thing is uh coordinating with the consultant uh on the draft joint bylaws and SOGS for our fire companies. So, those were the big things that we're working on. As far as our fire call summary, this will be for the month of October. Um, there were a total of 130 calls in the town with uh basically half of them being medical QRS calls. And then the top three call types other than the QRS would be our service calls, motor vehicle accidents, and our commercial fire alarms, which those are always our top three. There were 32 uh responses out of town uh for a total of 162 calls that our fire companies were dispatched for. Uh that's all I have. If anybody has any questions, be happy to answer them.

Any questions for anyone in Seeing none, thank you very much, Jeff. We appreciate it. Uh the building permit report was also in your packet. Any questions directed toward Mr. Flynn? Seeing none. Uh moving on to leison reports personnel board, Mr. wall. Uh there was a meeting and that packet is within or the minutes are inside your packet. Any questions? Please let me know. Seeing none. Uh volunteer firefighter steering committee, Mr. Hart. There was a meeting in November. Uh the minutes of that November meeting were in the packet. Questions for Mr. Hart?

See none. Uh, at this time, is there any public comment on public safety?

I don't know if this is the right time to bring this up, but I wanted to to to make mention because it's right in the middle of all, you know, everybody wanted to talk to here. First of all, I want to say to our fire departments and to our police, outstanding recent extending presence for uh, Winterfest. And Brad, I'll tell you what, you guys did an incredible job. You look outside here, the place looks phenomenal. What I know your thing isn't until next week, but Abby, you did a great job. I mean, to have that many smiles on that many kids' faces, it's a huge win. Congratulations again. So, thank [clears throat] you all. Next week,

any other public comments? All right, seeing none, uh we're going to continue on with ports of facilities management. Uh the public works report is in your packet. Brad, any highlights for us?

Uh yeah, so some highlights for this month. Uh we continued on West Arcadia, the head wall and storm water project there. We repaired the road at North Meadows uh where the car burned the uh pavement up there. We continued leaf pickup. Uh we winterized the parks. Uh we put up the uh Winterfest lights. Um we we did some landscaping on off of Van Drive there at the retention pond. Uh, we installed speed signs on Pine Creek and Meer Road and we had one call out on Thanksgiving evening to salt the roads [clears throat] questions. Just a comment. I uh appreciate I'm probably one of your your harder critics of you on snow and ice control and I can see the efforts and the want to change and try new things. That means a lot. I appreciate that immensely. So, I know uh it's got to be one of the hard, you know, I always say follow the roads, pick up the leaves. That's the two things that's most important to me residents, but you guys always go above and beyond. So, I appreciate it. I really do. You and your staff always go above and beyond. Thank you. Um, moving on, uh, liaison reports, environmental advisory, uh, committee. Mr. G or Jetty is on here, but I do believe Trish attended that meeting. Um, and the minutes are in your packet.

Yeah, minutes are in the packet. And, uh, and congratulations to to our environ named Bird Town. Is that correct? We are formerly a bird town in the United States and it's thanks to Jeff and his work to get that recognition. We appreciate that and the committee. Thank you.

Just to comment on that, I love the annual report at the end of the year. Uh lots of great highlights in there. Thanks for all that you guys are doing. It's a lot of effort, especially for the chairman. I appreciate it very much. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Okay. Uh ad hoc tech committee. Mr. After all, there was no meeting. It seems uh storm water uh meeting. The minutes were in your packet. Uh just highlights. We kind of highlighted what we did last year and some thought processes for the years going forward. So, any questions? Seeing none. Uh at this time, is there any public comment on facilities management? Please come forward.

Paul Hecman. Um, I'd like I'm really here on behalf of the North Meadows community to thank both the fire departments and public works for resolving both the fire itself, which at one point was pretty amazing, as well as the repair to the road that was so quickly done. Um, this car caught fire in front of a home that was most damaged during the windstorm. They had their patio roof literally ripped off the up and off the roof. She looked out the window and saw nothing but a wall of flames when the car was at its peak and was waiting for the flames to come over to the house. But the fire departments got there, put it out quickly, efficiently. It was very much appreciated by everyone in the community. Thank you.

Thank you for those comments. Any other public comment on facilities management? Seeing none, uh we'll move on to reports of services committee. Um MTSA, that report is in your packet. Uh any questions? Seeing none, uh Mac's Frank Park Ambulance Authority, that report is also in your packet. Any questions? Seeing none. Uh Northland Public Library Authority, uh they combined their November and December meeting. So those tomorrow, yes, those uh minutes won't be in your the minutes were for the previous one of October. You'll see the next one at the next uh meeting. So

do we have a date on the grand opening? No, not yet. IT'S GETTING CLOSER. [laughter] It's getting closer. Close. January. They they are testing through fire pumps and gas generators. We are we are closer than we ever have been ever been before but the gate will be April 24th and [clears throat] I believe the public opening will be okay any public comment on services committee.

Okay seeing none uh there is no old business uh that will take us into new business. Um the first item here is uh the budget. I make a motion to adopt tenably identified ordinance number 1561. An ordinance on the budget and expenditures for all funds for 2026. The proposed 2026 budget for all funds totals 28,114,671. And the proposed 2026 millage rate of 1.236 236 remains unchanged from 2025.

There's been a motion. Is there a second? Second. Second, Miss Cloon. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please indicate by saying I. I. I.

Opposed? Motion carries. Uh, next item up here is another housekeeping item. We do this every year. This is the volunteer firefighter uh tax relief credit. It's a credit we extend to our fire departments uh for their volunteer service. Um, and the details are here in this motion if somebody's willing to make it. Mr. Sorry. A motion to uh adopt tentatively identified resolution 2025 2026 approving the eligibility of certified members of volunteer fire companies serving the town to receive an earned income tax uh credit not to exceed $500 or a real estate tax credit not to exceed $300 for the 2026 per tax year per ordinance 1509. and 15 16.

So there has been a motion. Is there a second? Second. Second, Miss Clooney. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please indicate by saying I. I. Opposed.

Motion carries. Uh, next item up here is uh the elimination of the activities advisory committee. Just to address a let's you know what, let's take let's run through the motion then we can have discussion. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion. Motion to approve resolution 2025-27, a resolution of the town council of the town of McCandless, Alageney County, Pennsylvania, repealing town of McCandless, resolution number 21 of 2023, and eliminating the activities advisory committee to town council. There's been a motion. Is there a second? Second. There has been a motion and a second. Further discussion? Trish, do you have anything?

I I can say that um I would be the liaison to this committee the past two years and there has been zero meetings of this committee in more than two years. Um, I think what happened with this committee, the activities advisory committee was created to address the fact that we did not have a recreation department in this town for a long time until just a couple of years ago when we brought on a recreation director. Um and at that time we did need a little more active monthly meetings to get any kind of activities done in [clears throat] the town. Um but in my experience with that over the past six years um even when we had the activities advisory committee there was regularly at least three open positions because people were not coming forward to be a part of that committee even though it was advertised and things like that and things were happening. Um the bulk of what needed to be done was falling on a couple of volunteers. Um which you know I was very strongly in favor of bringing recreation director on. Um our previous town manager Mr. Ali brought on a part-time and we're very happy to have Abby here as full-time. And I will say that we still with activities right now I have been attending meetings with community members for winterfest community dayless 175. So there is still a lot of community engagement in the activities of this town and Abby is always looking for volunteers. So that's my stamina.

And [laughter] just just to build off of that too is you know I think these two committees served a time um they did help establish our parks and wreck. they did help to redo a lot of the technology here in the town. And to the same comments that Trish made, um, you know, we've kind of moved on from that and brought those items in house now. We now have administration here that deals with those, both the technology and the parks and wreck. And I want to leave you with it's government. You know what? It doesn't mean it's gone forever. If there's an issue, and this council will tell you, if there's an issue, an instance where it needs to be brought back, I'm sure this council will do the same as it did the first time. So, you may not see it here now. It may come back in the future when something comes up. If perhaps there is a community center in the future or something to that effect, you may see a community center committee. That's that's something to be thought of in the future. But for right now, it's cumbersome. We have problems filling those vacancies and finding it. It's just a cleanup of that matter. So, any other comments on this one? Okay. Then all those in favor, please indicate by saying I

I opposed. Motion carries. Uh next item is the same thing. Um Make the motion to adopt tenatively identified resolution number two 2025-26 approving. I'm sorry. Yeah, I [clears throat] I make a motion to approve resolution 25 2025-20, a resolution of town council of the town of Macanis, Aligate County, Pennsylvania, repealing the town of McCandless resolution number seven of 2023 and there's been a motion. Is there a second?

Second. Second, Mr. I would like to take this one. By all means, if you want to have some further discussion

in the same vein, you have technology savvy people that have been hired in the town. You have a technologist that is employed by the town to advise on matters and to work with vendors. Um they're really smart people and I mean I I'm the liaison to that group and if we ever need them they are a phone call away and they're willing to help out. So I think it's similar to the fact that we haven't had a technology meeting in two years because we haven't needed one. You know, we we have the very latest. Chief has a couple. We did the technology for the police cars and for the body cameras. We have specialists down there. We have a technologist that works with the town. I myself am a a security technologist. So, you know, we have everything that we need and we haven't had a meeting in two years. So again, it can come back.

Correct. Yeah. And that's again, this is the fluidity of government. If something comes up as necessary, this council or future councils will address that if necessary. So we have a motion. We have a second. Uh any further discussion? All those in favor, please indicate by saying I. I. Opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Uh next item up here is

uh this is dealing with so we had public hearings on the lease agreement. This is going to be a motion basically uh dealing with the future public hearings on the changing of the zoning ordinances in relation to these signs. So in order to even get down to that step, this is a motion to do that. Um so is there somebody willing to make that motion? I'll make

Mr. Hart a motion to uh approve resolution of the town council town of McCainless Alageney County, Pennsylvania uh resolving that a future meeting of the town council in the town council will hold a public hearing on and thereafter consider an amendment to the town zoning ordinance to amend section 1305. uh 150 off premise sign regulations to revise the regulations of for off- premise signs within within the town and to invoke the pending ordinance zoning ordinance doctrine.

There's been a motion. Is there a second?

Second. Second, Mr. Wall. So, just to clarify here, listen, we I think everybody on this council hears everybody and all the comments this evening. I don't want to go too far into it because there's legal matters here. We have to talk to our solicitor about these things. So the rushing, I don't think any of us want to rush this. I think we will re make sure that we're doing everything proper. We'll make sure we convey that to the audience. But we are still dealing with a legal matter. We have to carry through some certain aspects part of this litigation to get there. But I want to reassure you this council, future councils, we're going to make sure this is done right. Okay? I just want that to be known. I think all of our council members up here can agree to that. Um there is a motion in a second. Is there any further discussion on this one?

I just want to say as leaison to zoning um this issue and Mr. Wall knows as well we have been in discussion zoning for over a year now with these issues. Um the we had several lengthy meetings regarding the the off-remise sign that we have now as well as the one that was proposed at Cumberland and Mcnite and uh Mr. Well, myself, we were here till midnight one night in discussion with our zoning hearing board with the attorney um representing. And so I hope that I I don't want you to think this is being rushed that this has just happened in the past couple of weeks. This has been going on for some time and we as a council been working very hard to stay within what the state is mandating as well as do what's best for our residents.

Thank you for those comments.

Can I add one? So, with respect to the pending ordinance doctrine, um this is really a um defensive move by the town because tonight is the first night that there's been a public discussion and now anybody that watches the video or maybe sitting in this room may say, "Oh, I can put a billboard behind the hot dog shop or something." Right? And so this will go into effect. It will be as if this proposed ordinance is in effect and then it goes through the same process. It will always go through any zoning. It will go to the planning commission. It will go to the county for review. It will come back here for a public hearing and then later for a vote. Um and that ordinance is permitted to change. It can change. But this gives us the best opportunity to protect the town. So it's a defensive

Yeah. it it puts the brakes on anybody doing what this applicant has done. So, it's really a for the town move that we're doing here. Um, and it's it's something that not a lot of communities do. It's a savvy move. This is the fact that these folks are willing to do this, I think, speaks volumes to where their hearts really are in this um effort here to try to resolve this in the in the best way we are able given the circumstances. Um, I don't think anybody here believes it's ideal or it's what they would dream about, but I think when you look at all the other options or things that could come down the pike that this is in my view, this is probably the best way to resolve it. Now you can quibble about a detail or two that you know I get all that but like the big picture this is this is a good result for the town given the hand that we started with in this in this card game with the billboard company.

Thank you for adding all those in favor please indicate by saying I opposed. That motion does carry. Um, at this time I I'd like to ask for a table on the appointments. Um, I'd like to push this to the next meeting if we can. Uh, [snorts] can I get a motion to table these? Motion to table the appointments. There's been a motion to table the appointments. Is there a second? Second, Mr. Wall. Okay. All those in favor in tableabling these appointments, please indicate by saying I. I.

Opposed. Motion carries. So, we will skip over that part that has been tabled. Um, and at this time then we will take public non-aggenda comments. So any comments you had that might not be on the agenda, please come forward, state your name, and let me know. You hesitated almost a bit. I was about to say there are none. Come on, Jason. We're not going to let you out.

That's fine. I'm here at your pleasure. As we were sitting here tonight in this meeting, came across one of the news stations, a community that's about a half hour away from here has a serious problem with police. Uniontown has lost their chief because he resigned tonight because two other officers are not coming back. They're leaving. So they need I believe the number was 18 officers for that community. They're down to 12 and two just two are leaving which gets them down to 10 and the chief just resigned. So chief, you're doing a hell of a great job. [laughter]

The the the council, you guys are doing again a hell of a great job.

People are having problems getting police officers. [clears throat] We're fortunate enough to have people probably lining up to go and take these positions, which means that the community must be doing something correct. You're adding police officers, and I think you just passed tonight that there was no tax increase. Something is going correct. Now, I know we will have a change of council coming up here soon. We will be sure to hold that new council to not increase taxes. I have people that are in this audience that I consider friends that we are on total opposite ends of the parties. This community runs as a great community. The party's put on the side. Do the right thing for the community. Those of you know that I'm not a quiet person and I'm not shy in calling you out on something, whether it be here or in public. So, whatever people,

no, out in out in outside of this room. Okay. The fact that I come into a meeting and everybody knows me by first name, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm going to take it as a good thing because we care about the community and we will hold everybody that is taking these new positions accountable for that because if they don't do the what's the best for the community, it's going to be some really long meetings because we're not going to because there'll be people will be lining up. So, you guys have done a great job this year. Chief, thank you for what you've do for the community and everybody have a good week. Thanks.

Thank you. Oh, I'm gonna make too Martin Grubs Road. I'd like to just say thanks for holding down taxes, but when taxes need to be raised because we need to provide services, I give you full blanch as long as you do it correctly. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. I'm Marsha Kellyo. Miss Martin just took the words out of my mouth. Nobody wants tax increase. Everyone, you will be held accountable, but if it needs to be done, you don't do it just because you said I'm not going to raise taxes. Thank you for your comment. Any other public non-aggenda comments?

All right, we should end it on a positive note. I'm sorry. That's okay. No, no, no, [laughter] they're they're all positive. We learn from every comment made. We try to adjust and over time. I I didn't think my comment was going to be positive. I wasn't referring to you.

Um Ellen, right? I I was just curious last time the when the agenda was amended in the afternoon and it was and was posted in the afternoon. I just wondered if staff had asked the solicitor that they were if he had if they had let the solicitor know that they were going to do that. So that's what my question was. That's it. Thank you. So they we have once the agenda is amended from the published agenda and uh as it was amended this evening. No no not tonight. Not tonight. Last I don't know what what was amended last night.

I don't know. There was a tight John will have to uh post the agenda as amended within 24 hours. So tomorrow. Okay. No, but if it was a typographical error like those usually don't really count. That's not adding a Okay. But but when it's posted, you don't know that that's what's happened. You just see that the agenda was amended. Well, this one will say because those rules are No, no, no. I'm I'm I'm I'm talking about I don't know what you're talking about, so we'll have to talk. All right. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Have a good weekend here.

Thank you. Any other non-aggenda public comments? All right. At that point, a motion to adjurnn. I [clears throat] move. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor, please indicate by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you everybody.