Municipal Council - Regular Meeting

Allegiance algiance 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. [clears throat] Madam Secretary, can we have a roll call, please? William McCoy here. Ver Robinson. Natalie Coulson here. Jasmine Griffin here. David McMahon here. Dustin Queen here. Rashad Bates here. Council, can we have a motion to approve last uh council meetings uh minutes? So move.

Second. All right. All in favor? I All right. Thank you. Uh, we had an executive session, excuse me, an executive session tonight on personnel and real estate. That's it, Mike. Vice President Quina, do we have any announcements? Um, for anybody who needs a translator, we have Jess in the back. She hands up. If you need a translator, please go see her. And also, Teen Art Fair, February 7th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at NTtown's Public Library. come see our young local artists. That's it for me. Councilman McCoy,

good evening. First and foremost, I want to say um want to thank everyone who came out yesterday for the 100 man march, 100 man march for um youth violence, the counter youth violence on Martin Luther King Day. It was simply a march with men and women that came together to march for unification and also to show pride in Narstown. I think it's something that has been missing for a while. However, yesterday demonstrated that people still care about the youth and people are willing to show up and put their boots on the ground and I think that's beautiful. So, yesterday was just the pen being placed on the paper and today we start planning for the story and the narrative to be written. So, I'm welcome to partnering with everyone in the community, no matter what organization you subscribe to or whatever organization that you represent. Myself and other council members up here would love to start planning for the youth. And I want to thank Chief Chief Charles for helping me and assisting me along the way as long as municipal administrator Lightner as well to make sure everything ran smooth yesterday. um in the midst of the weather, a lot of people showed up and they showed that the the circumstance outweighed the conditions of the weather. So, I want to keep on pressing forward and write a new narrative as opposed to what's being projected in the headlines.

Thank you.

Councilwoman Griffin. Um, so I will be having my first town hall on February 12th, that's a Thursday, from 6:30 to 7:30 at the George Washington Carver Community Center. Um, hopefully this is a time where we can all come together. I want everyone from all districts. It doesn't just have to be um from that specific district. Please come out. Please speak with me. Tell me your concerns. I can't guarantee that we can have solutions on the spot, but I want all of us to start coming together as a community. I can do what I can do, but I can't do it alone. I can do it with them, but I have to do it with everyone. Um, so please come out. And I just want to say thank you for helping me through these first couple months of being on council. It's been interesting. Um, and I appreciate all the support that everyone's given me and I hope that that can continue so that we can have a better Narstown and a Narstown that I know we can have. So, thank you.

Any other announcements, Council? All right, moving along. Uh, Administrator Leonard, this is a response to questions from the last council meeting. We have no specific questions at this time. All right, thank you. And now on to public comments. Madam Secretary

Alzone uh on the partnership uh it's a it's a true public private partnership between the municipality, the county and the chamber on our blockbyb block program. Um it's been about uh six years now since the zoo has started to invest in the center theater downtown. Uh and it started off as a major struggle uh in regards to uh the conditions of the streets and and the trash and and it it all does truly flow downhill uh coming down to Calb. But since the blockby-block program has been there, the landscaping beds have been fabulous. The streets are clean. It it has been unbelievable. Uh Brad has done an amazing job of help manage the program, but the program is off and running uh and is very strong. And I want to thank Narstown and the county in trusting in uh the chamber in uh helping execute this, but it has been unbelievable. Uh and uh the results have been great. So, thank you so much,

Tiffany Todd.

Hi. Good evening, council. Um, I just wanted to I've been revisiting the municipalities website or face or I'm sorry, YouTube page and going over past meetings and I was just wondering um we'd actually discussed this amongst a couple of us why we don't have any recordings of meetings for the other committees. I think that'd be really really helpful for us like the civic committee, the planning committee and especially for me the zoning committee. Um very I think it's very eye openening when you come to a zoning meeting and you see especially when it comes to rentals how many rentals are going from duplexes to triplexes triplexes to quadruplexes etc. So I was just wondering you know as we move into the new year how can we make that happen? Um maybe why hasn't it happened yet? And if there's anything that I would be able to do to help certainly be happy to do that. Um, in regards to rentals, there's a serious uptick in LLC's who are purchasing single family homes. And it's kind of concerning to me because obviously we are already one of the highest rental, well, we have to be the highest rental area in the county. Um, and when these LLC's come in and buy single family homes and turn them into rentals, we're just pushing more home ownership out of the burrow. And I find it very concerning, especially since like these aren't homes that are dilapidated homes that they're rehabbing and flipping to sell. These are moveinready homes that they are buying out from underneath other potential family homeowners to rent out and they're paying astronomical rates for them. Like people can't keep up with those rates, not people here in Norristown. Again, it really concerns me. Um, one just recently sold within a matter of weeks on my block. That quickly four other homes on all of the surrounding blocks went up for sale. So, I'm just wondering what we might be able to do to address address that and look at that. Thank you very much for your

time. Appreciate it. Mayo,

good evening, council. I'm going to try to sum this up in three minutes real fast. First, um, commission the commissioners um, meeting the other night. um investigation into the civil service complaint for the FOP. It did not fester foster public trust and resting scoring and positioning of candidates in my eyes. Deputy chief position vote voted conducted in public and witnessed and memorialized by print media and posted on municipalities web page. Administrator Lightner apologized, stating it was a mishap when I said that it was a vote and he said it was a poll and he said I need to check the minutes. Request for the video footage for municipality council dated December the 16th, 2025. This is not a right to know. I want the whole we would like the whole video given over. It's it was public records. Heather Lewis has been told that it has to be a right to know. is a public viewing and with her speaking until the time that her incident happened. Public trust concerns. New council members voting on ordinance after open openly admitting that the lack of information concerning the ordinance are in question. It should be tabled. December 16th work session meeting concerned the right to know request public meeting address or addressing council member Natalie Coulson alleged misuse of the captain's funds for campaign financing. It went underneath the bus. It came back with um not an answer. fourth ward council member Coulson and her town hall when asked former by former member Heather Lewis admittance to vote in executive session to terminate the department's public works. Um, this this was on videotape and followed by a mission that it was a vote behind an executive director and

something with the violation of Sunshot Act law. And to which solicitor Kirk Kenny re replied in a misleading email response stating that it was not a a official act. It was just a poll taken to desire to terminate employee in question. A complaint concerning this alarming behavior has been forwarded to the office of the general David Sunday on behalf of Norstown residents. Mr. Bates, your speech on January 5th, 2026 concerning transparency and accountability may question to you has it yet possible without delaying the deal and justify current issues that you were are protecting as a vice president. Now that you are president, you deserve you deserve desire is to forget the past and move forward and as if the facture public trust you foster never happened. Make it make sense to me. I believe all public hearings should be viewed especially commissioner service because that matters and anybody else should be able to view it legal legally and on air. Thank you. Stephen Forester.

Good evening, members of council. Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here. I'm Steven Forester, director of commerce from McGomery County. Uh I work on Dalb Street here in Norristown, and I'm here nearly every day. In the course of my job, I have occasion to uh drive around and walk around the central business districts of Norristown. And every single day I see the ambassadors out here uh working very diligently and I'm here to speak on behalf of that program. I think it's a wonderful opportunity where the municipality, the chamber and the county have come together to provide this service to the municip uh to the residents of the municipality and the businesses of the municipality. Um, every day I see them out here, whether it's 99 degrees like it was in the summer or 21 degrees like it is today, they are out there picking up trash, picking up garbage. And literally, when there's no more garbage to pick up, I see these fine young men dressed in their uh uniforms, looking great, representing, getting down on their hands and knees, and picking weeds out of the sidewalk. It is a a difficult job and they execute it flawlessly and with a great great deal of uh joy when they interact with the citizens in the community. They represent your community, our community very very well. I think they address some of the concerns of our business community uh by their visible presence. They bring a sense of greater public safety and by their hard work, uh, they continue to keep the streets in our central business district very clean. Um, I'm grateful for your investment in this program and hope that it continues and I'd like to even see it expanded. Thank you all very much. Appreciate your time. Is it Rosio? Rochio and Cernom. I don't know how to pronounce Rosio. RCIO. It looks like

Rosio. Okay. Thank you.

Good evening, members of Council members, I'm sorry to be introduced like this. My name is Rosil and I'm here to represent all the Latino business in this community. We are so sad because if the ice present is very very strong in our communities, then there is no sales. There's no money for rent, there's no money for the people that works in the restaurant, in the stores. So, we're very saddened by this um by these eyes present in our community. We want to see if you guys could do something about it. Like uh [sighs] supporting on businesses, come to eat in one of the restaurants, come more often, say words of encouragement for people because because we have been taken kidnapped by these ICE agents. Our family is sad. Our kids are sad to go to school. They are suffering. We are suffering. And well, if you guys could do anything about it for our community, that will be very, very helpful. So, it's not just the stores, is the restaurants, is the people in the community. Please do something. Please. Thank you so much for all your time. [applause]

Stephanie. Stephanie.

Stephanie. You council members, my name is Stephanie Vincent. I'm a leader with Monco Community Watch. I'm here because what's happening with immigration enforcement is not happening somewhere else. It's happening in Narstown. It's happening to our neighbors and it's happening by design. I'm not mincing words anymore. There comes a point when clarity matters more than comfort. This is not about politics. It's about the power and it's about the Constitution. We need to be honest about what what ICE actually is. ICE was created with extraordinary powers, weak oversight, and a mandate rooted in fear rather than public safety. And today, it is being used as an enforcement arm of the authoritarian regime operating outside normal constitutional guard rails. That matters. This regime is using ICE and other federal agencies as political weapons, not to keep communities safe, but to decide who belongs and who does not. Black and brown people are being targeted, removed from public life, disappeared into detention, and separated from their families, their jobs, and their communities. That's not for safety. That's for racial control. And when an agency built this way shows up in our town, collaboration is not neutral. Across the country, ICE has been violating core constitutional protections. The First Amendment, when people are detained, intimidated, or abused for protesting or legally observing. The fourth amendment when they're detained without proper judicial warrants, doors broken, homes entered in unlawfully. Fifth amendment when due process is treated as optional. And 14th amendment when enforcement overwhelmingly targets communities of color. That erosion of rights does not stay contained. It spreads and it makes people afraid to call 911, afraid to go to work, afraid to send their kids to school, and it makes towns less safe.

And let's be frank, ICE is not breaking the constitution. is actually acting with cruelty and violence after with what we've seen nationally including deadly outcomes. Communities are being told through action that federal agents can operate without accountability. Put it so what my asks are put it on clearly on the record that Narstown police will not support or collaborate with ICE in any way that is unconstitutional. Commit to transparency. If Narstown police work with or support ICE in any capacity, the public deserves to know how and why. If any officer participates in unconstitutional enforcement, or breaks your policy, takes it upon themselves to work with ICE, there needs to be an accountability process. Council members, I know none of you signed up to lead during an authoritarian takeover of federal power, but we're here. Here we are. And at the local level, you have power. People's life depend upon it. Make sure the Narstown Police Department protects the residents and not ICE. Please, please don't let somebody die here. Please, I'm begging you, do something. You have the power. Take

[applause] [applause] Amari Torres.

Um, he left because he feel afraid. I write on his name. So, hello. And Denise. So, I'm wearing this mask because I think I want to create conscious on you. This is the tie the thing that these guys is wearing in our streets every day when they are here. They walk in and um West Marshall Street where my organization is. They don't respect us. I don't see what the police don't ask them for ID because if you see me like that, you're going to know who is that person because crime is high. Mr. Will McCoy said doing this, you know, help the youth. How I going to help the youth that somebody is like that and then people are going to kill someone in the streets and you don't care. I can see the police is there all the time when they are wearing this mask. So who is going to support us? Who going to help us? We have our youth there. We have many of your youth for our leader academy. So they going to suffer any crime because someone is going to wearing this mask and something is going to happen and nobody's going to say nothing because the police is always with eyes. I can say it. We have videos. It's not that somebody can tell me no there are no they are there. So the only thing that we don't know is they are working with them they are supporting them or what are they're doing over there because until this moment o police is not meeting with community watch that everybody here know who is community watch we are all over the place but they don't want to meeting with any all our members members who are there here supporting our community but he refusing to meet with us Mr. Ler in their last comment said I want to call Sakate I going to Karakamo you see one of the member here no they are not here who are here allies and he's going to contact them no so I'm here and then you know me so I'm tired of this like BS that you guys is making my community feel afraid why they're not here they're not here because of you guys because of the police department just being there with eyes all the time the last time

Markley and Marshall police department there. The last time were here in Dunkin Don as police officer there. So what are they doing there? I need clarification. Unir is there. Why he's not going there and meet with our community members? Why not? What business owners are they're tired of not having customers? Who is supporting them? No one. So I'm tired of this like other day everybody's saying no it's not happening. It's happening. Many of these people wearing this mask are in your streets because they're your streets as well. So you are political officers and other stuff. We respect you or we are all leaders or kids want to be one of you one day. But doing this for our Latino community really is a shame. It's a shame. So you have to do something.

[applause] Ice out. Ice out. [cheering] Ice out. Ice out. Ice out. Ice out. Ice out. Don George.

Hello, council members. I'm here to uh offer support for the blockbyb block program which uh first of all thank you all for supporting. Thank the county for supporting. It's a big deal. It's a really really big deal. I don't know if we think of it that way. We see these guys out here all the time. My distillery, our distillery is down on East Main Street, right in the business corridor. And we're going into our ninth year. And for eight years, I would look out and see just a a constant stream, if you will, of of garbage, what have you, and on our main thoroughfare on Main Street, and I'm seeing it, but you know what? Everybody who passes through Nortown in that section of town sees it as well, and it communicates something to them. Um, and basically by your support of of the block byblock, we're basically communicating something quite different this year. You have communicated something so that we have a vision for Nortown, that we believe in the future of Nortown. And when these guys, it says ambassador on the back of their their coats. They are they're they're more than picking up garbage. They're more than picking weeds. And and I've seen that they are communicating a vision that we have for Nortown. And all I'm going to say is let's let's continue to uh communicate that vision. And again, thank you for your support. It's a fantastic program. BlockbyB block is a big deal and it's a fantastic program and I'd like to see it not only continued but expanded. It's a great way to communicate where we want Nortown to go and where we're going. Thank you all. Really appreciate it. Does anyone else have a public comment that did not sign up? Thank you. Come on up.

Good evening, council. Uh, thanks for being here tonight. Um, I would just like to reiterate what John just said. Or one second. Can you please say your name?

My name is Don Ketchum. I own the Cycle Stop on Main Street. um these guys, the ambassadors, like he said, they're they're more than just guys going around picking up trash. Um it's it's a site, you know, it's it's a it's a nice thing to see those guys out there. They're very polite. Um they go above and beyond I what I would consider what their job task is. Um and I do think that it's I know myself for the block that I'm on. It's a tremendous difference since those guys have been there. And I really hope that you guys continue to to keep this going. Thank you. Come on up. And remember, please state your name and your address. Good evening. My name is Isabelle Lopez. Um, I live in King of Russia, but I have a lot of family here and a lot of friends here and I [snorts and clears throat] frequent here a lot. Um, I have come in support of the visual that we had today and I plead with you guys to stand for something. You either stand for something or you fall for anything. And ICE with the way that they are going about in inflicting [snorts] fear in these communities, what we see happening on a national level, the violence against women, the violence against children, the violence against our weakest, the ones that can't speak for themselves. the way that I was raised. If you have the power, if you have the capability to help somebody, it is your job. It is your duty to do it. These are people that that may not have the voice right now, and it falls upon us to speak for them, to stand for them. And so when it comes to having the NYP or um the police department working with ICE, I pray that you stand with the community because right now they are targeting us and there's a way we have law and order for a reason. If ICE was going about things in a way that honored our constitution, that honored law and order, there's that's there implement it

exactly as it is, but that is not what's happening. And we we need to stand for the constitution that this country was built upon. We need to stand to protect those that cannot protect themselves. And with that, I appreciate you guys this time. There any more public comments? Someone say, "Yeah."

All right. So, we'll move on to presentations. We have a presentation from the Northtown Chamber of Commerce of the Ambassador Program. Good evening. My name is Brad McLaclin. I'm the president of the Chamber of Commerce in Nortown. Um over the last six months uh I've had the pleasure of getting to know our Nortown ambassadors, Sean on the end there, Jaylen and Andrew Scott who's our operations manager that uh getting to know them personally. The ownership that they've taken in the program, the pride they've taken in Nortown has truly been remarkable. Um, it's an honor to be able to address you this evening to update you on the progress we've made. And it's also an honor to be able to introduce Bill Corbett, who's been a business owner and property owner in Nortown for the last 40 years, giving his time, his effort, and finances back to the community that he's going to uh update you on the progress that we've been able to make thus far.

Thank you, Brad. I assume that's my clicker. Well, while he's pulling up the presentation, um, very grateful to be here tonight. It's a new year, relatively new council, lots of new things going on in Narstown. And, uh, I can speak on behalf of the chamber. We're a very bullish group thinking more about the future. And some of what we're going to talk to you about tonight is things that are going on in the present and we believe they're going to support a bigger, better, bolder tomorrow for the municipality of Nortown. And um when I attend these meetings and I see all the afterhour uh time that's committed to the council or to the chamber, um it makes me feel really positive about what we can do together. And again, looking at all of these wonderful faces in front of me that can make a difference. I want you to look out here and know there's a lot of faces that want to join that cause and help you and help us together make this the best town around. You know, I'm all about the experience and you know, up at our place on Buttwood Street, some of you have been there. You're all welcome. I'd like you to come see how we transformed an old pigeon filled mill into a really vibrant, wonderful experience center with robots running around, all kinds of cool, innovative things. Norristown School District is there frequently to go through STEM for the kids. Um, we'd like to say that's just another little example of some of the things that that can happen here in Nortown with the right uh support that you've already been giving us. So, I don't know how many I might start telling jokes in a minute here. I don't know. What are you thinking there, my friend?

Oh, okay. All right. Well, the the presentation really is filled with facts and figures about the ambassador program here in Narstown. And you know, it's like a throw a pebble in the in the pond and it ripples out. I think our group here is representative of just this small area that we've taken over to try to make it a better, cleaner, safer place. Um, as you've heard some people talk about tonight, it's working. Um, in the presentation, we may or may not see there's before and after slides to kind of show you the difference. And I think we all agree, how do you feel when you're out of place? You know, it's there's a lot of things that go into how we feel. all of the various senses that we deploy. And as we all know, when you walk down a street, wherever it might be, if there's trash and things along the side of the road or clogging up a storefront, it makes it a little bit more difficult for you to feel positive, feel good, feel energized, and at the end of the day, really, isn't that what we're looking for here in Narstown? How do we have people show up and talk about the new experience in Nortown, the new Norsttown? There's a lot of great things going on, as we all know. Keep in touch with Jane. a lot of great activity, a lot of construction. We've got this big, beautiful new county seat building, which is a another great um indication of Nartown's future and where we're going. So, the ambassador program is really a result of the county and the municipality working together. So, I want to go on record that we appreciate that very much. um when we go through the facts and figures if we end up doing that. Not sure if the if the presentation will be uh available. Uh but we've we've we've deployed and moved a lot of trash. 17,000 pounds from from memory here in in the course of the six months it's been underway. Think about that for a minute. That's a lot of bags of trash. You know, we've also connected very closely with community folks from, you know, the beginning of the program, the first couple weeks, three, four

people a week, and now we're up well over 600, 700 a month that we're checking in with and talking, and they're seeing us on the street. I don't know if we've got the Pittsburgh Steelers here or what, but they're very noticeable and appreciated around town, very vibrant colors, very well recognized, and there is a sense of safety and community that goes with that. Now obviously the municipality has its own resources to a lot of things but what we like about this program is it combines the resources of the municipality with the community effort and as you can see that you know the chamber itself is a representation of the community and the fact that we can partake in some of the support and some of the help of what we can all do to make Narstan a cleaner safer place is something we all get excited about. Um what are you thinking there boss?

Okay.

I think some of the other uh key items of the ambassador program is it's data rich. You know in other words a lot of people we can talk up a lot of ideas and concepts as we've been doing in Nortown for a long time. Um this one brings the data with it. You know, I always talk about if it's not being measured, it's in a state of decline. And the good news is we do have data to provide you. And that that's again, if we can get the presentation up and running, you'll see some of that data. If not, we can obviously get it to you. So, it's data rich in that there's an accountability level for the investment that you've made and that the county has made in this program. We want to make sure that you're getting your money's worth strictly from a financial standpoint, but also with the other goodwill and the other images that it brings to the town to the to Nortown's municipality. Um, you know, I I guess, you know, when the truck shows up, you know, people know good things are going to happen. And I I don't know, raise a hand who's all seen the the truck that we've got branded and running around town. Um, see some of the communication that happens. You know, you might have something as simple as a dog that's constantly on the street in the same area doing its business and no one picks it up. From that small level of things to worrying about needles and things on the side of the road to making sure that the the the pathways from the terminal, the bus terminal up through the movie theater area up into the main street areas are always looked after and taken care of. And my experience and what I've witnessed with this great group of people here dressed in yellow, they care. Another important point is it's been the same group from the beginning. You know, these these gentlemen have dedicated themselves to this and there's been no turnover, no change out. Everybody is all about it. So, it looks like we now have the presentation available here. It'll be much shorter now that I've add lived a lot of it. Okay.

All right. So, the ambassador program, if all goes well, we're going to look back 10 years from now and say that was the pebble. This was the start of something great. Again, as you can see here, it's it's Bailey. It's it's a daily program. There's a dedicated group here every single day. I always say, who wakes up every day worrying about this or that or the other thing? This group wakes up every day worrying about Narstown's clean and safe appeal and feel. Um the you know the metrics which I started to give you a little bit of are going to be later on in the presentation. Um through all conditions as it was mentioned earlier by one of our other speakers whether it's cold, hot, doesn't matter. They're out doing their job and they're visible. Again, 17,000 pounds of trash. Think about that for a minute. That's a lot of trash that's been removed over a short six months. 900 plus trash bags. Anybody put the trash out for their family? I I know I struggle with two or three. So imagine 900 plus trash bags in 6 months leaving Narstown in a proper way. Trash and seasonal demand as we all know when the leaves fall that creates more problems. You know we can look at leaves in two different ways. It's a nice natural phenomenon but it can create a lot of problems on our streets and doesn't look necessarily attractive when mixed with trash. So between the leaves and the trash and the changes in weather, it creates problems. But if you look at it in November alone, 5,200 pounds, 38 hours worth of work on special projects tells you we're gaining momentum. The team here is getting it down to a system, getting very familiar with what's going on. Uh resident and visitor engagement. Again, you know, we've we've we've got stories from the the men in yellow helping people with car problems or doing things for a store owner or things that basically say we care and we're here. And that's a continuing um I think recognition from the from the town itself and some of the town's people. You've heard a few talk tonight. The civic support responsibility again to the to to the real time community needs.

It's an everyday thing, an everyday access point for people that might need some help. A storefront with with with some problematic people hanging out or leaving trash there or sleeping in the hallway or in the in the open way. it gets taken care of in a very delicate and proper way by this group. If you look at business and downtown, again, as we look at our downtown, it's representation of what will filter its way through all of Narstown. Well, the speaker said earlier, I hope we can expand it, and that would be something that would be extremely exciting for all of us to talk about and think about moving forward. Accountability and training. Again, it's it's just not like these gentlemen show up and just do their thing. They're trained how to deal with the public. They're trained on how to deal with many of the aspects of community service and community connectivity along with just the job itself. Back up one. Okay. So again, what we're summarizing it real quickly here, daily prevention, clean monitor corridors. Again, reduces the strain on the public works group. Again, we see it as community joining with the municipality. So private and public sector working well together. Measurable outcomes. Like I said, if it's not being measured, it's in a state of decline. And we think we've got good metrics to share with you at at such point you want to get into the nitty-gritty. Um, again, the ambassador's program partnered with Blockby is a winning combination. Again, we expand municipal capacity in terms of how we keep the streets clean and feeling more safe. Good goals and outcomes that we're achieving, downtown experience, which it should be all about, and finally, a high return on the investment that the county and the municipality has made. and we're very grateful for that. So again, what's the ask? It's a simple ask. Let's all think about the future and how something like this can be that pebble in the pond to continue to grow and expand. Think about how we can work better together. Think about how much we appreciate the support that you've given it so far. And again, we're just here tonight to promote it,

cheerlead our gentlemen here in the in the yellow and black, and make all of you a little bit more aware of what value we think it's bringing to the municipality. And we again thank you for your time. I think that's it, right? Any other thoughts? Okay, there we go. Thank you. [applause] Uh council, you have any questions, comments? Uh Councilman McMahon, um in looking to possibly increase the scope of this, do you see there being um opportunities for um youth job opportunities as part of this? Yeah, going forward, we we would love to see the the program expand. So, yes,

but spec specifically for opportunities for youth employment um as part of that for uh currently we have opportunities for the for three that if the budget were to increase we would love to see that happen.

Right. And then what do you see as um increasing the scope of your work your work do you see as being more of the work you're already doing or adding different aspects to what you do? So I think you know and Drew if you want to come up and that Andrew Scott is the operations manager and so he's the boots on the ground that sees everything every single day that we work hand in hand together that as far as the daily scope that they stay very busy with with what they're doing currently um I don't know what you'd be able to to handling they can handle special projects for instance you know Junth they were there handled special projects there. So that's something that they can handle outside of the scope. But if it was something where you said, "Hey, can we add on another 10 blocks somewhere else, that would be a budget discussion at that point because they don't have the manpower right now for that. And I don't know if I answered your question on that or not."

Yes, sir. So, uh, first of all, good morning. Good evening. Excuse me. I've been here all day. Uh, good evening and thank you guys for having us um in your your area. I'm not from here but I am uh been back and forth a lot. So um to answer your question there are many different scopes um that block byblock uh produces if in fact you guys wanted to take a look or if we wanted to expand the program like Brad had just said there's there's a bunch of opportunities from hospitality strictly hospitality um there's a security uh detail that's that's being uh implemented as we speak. So there are a few different avenues and aspects that we could explore. Absolutely.

Yeah. Sm I think I only have Oh, my bad. Just a statement. I know prior to us um accepting the partnership and also contributing to the partnership, one of our major stipulations was to include youth into the program and um that's something that we would love to see. In addition to that, specifically youth in Narstown and other people that live in this area as well. Too often people come here and live in Nortown or are born and raised in Nortown, but they have to seek work else elsewhere. But I think this could be a direct pilot program that allows other well our constituents to also work where they reside. And I think that will be a beautiful thing to see in the near future. I agree with you 100%.

Anyone else? Well, I'll just say um I walk around Nartown a lot. walked to my auto repair down the street on Main Street and I see you guys all the time and I think you guys are doing a great job out there. So, I do appreciate it. I've also heard from other residents that you guys do do more than just clean. You do help out other people and stuff like that. So, I can attest to that uh testimony there. So, just proud of what you guys do and thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so much. [applause] All right, moving along to parks and recreation. A motion to request council to approve a grant acceptance in the amount of $40,000 from the National Fitness Campaign to install a fitness court at Elma Park. Good evening, members of council. Um, yes, this is a motion to request for council's approval of the acceptance for the $40,000 grant to install a fitness court at Elwood Park. Council, any questions? I guess I have a question. Um, I don't remember the budget even though we just did it. Do we have um funds to because I know the $40,000 is just a portion of what we have to do and I think it's like 135,000 total. Do we have the funds to actually go forward with doing the fitness park here?

Yes. Awesome. Okay. So, so yes. So, the jury pick out what we're going to get or So, the National Fitness Campaign um is the partnership with Blue Cross. Um, so they actually have these fitness courts all over the country and it's actually it's a standard model that's across a lot of the different parks. So, it really just depends on what size you pick. Right. Now, do we have to go with what they recommend? Because I know there's vendors all over that that supply these things. Do they give us a list of vendors or do we go find our own vendor to install it? No, they provide the vendor.

Okay. All right. Any other questions? Seeing none, do I have a motion to approve the request for the $4,000 grant for the National Fitness Campaign to install the fitness center at Elma Park? Madam Secretary, William McCoy, Natalie Coulson, Jasmine Griffin, David McMahon,

Dustin Queen, Shad Bates, I'm sorry. I'm gonna do that again. I forgot to ask for a second. My second meeting, y'all. Um, can I have a motion again to request uh the approval of grant of $40,000 for Emble Park? So, move. Can I have a second? Second. Thank you. Can we do that roll call again, please? Madam Secretary McCoy, hi. Natalie Coulson, hi. Jasmine Griffin. Hi, David McMahon. Dustin Queen, Rashad Bates, thank you. Thank you all.

Moving on. Public works. Oh, we have a little amendment here. So, we're going to request council to cancel all bids based on information newly found to have the staff sent out someone. Yeah. You going to make a motion to reject all bids and and rebid the project. Is that Yes. that that is uh obviously some information was provided to staff about uh biders. We looked into that. Beyond that, um the the bids that came in were drastically over what was budgeted. Uh so we want to sharpen our pencils and rebid the project. Okay. That was after uh staff talked about it earlier this afternoon. All right. Council, any questions?

No questions. Do I have a motion to I guess to cancel all bids from the new information found for the uh paving and ADA ramp project? I want to go still go through the whole thing. Okay. The uh motion cancel and rebid. Oh, I'm sorry. A motion to cancel and rebid for the um uh the paving and 88 ramp project. Move. Second, Madam Secretary McCoy. Hi, Natalie Coulson. Hi, Jasmine Griffin. Hi, David McMahon. Hi, Dustin Queen. Hi, Rashad Bates.

Motion is or yeah, motion approved to cancel the bids. All right, moving along to storm Narstown Stormwater Authority Resolution 26-03 request approval to send letter of intent to Scott contractors in the amount of $429,930 for the 2025 NWSA project, Norristown stormwater waste authority project. Okay. All right. Thank you, council. Uh, so at this time, I do want to ask council if they could consider a motion uh for the intent to award the 2025 stormwater project to Scott contractors. Uh, this project is going to involve um three locations where they're going to improve the stormwater drainage. uh the three uh places that they're going to uh make these improvements which will include inlets and stormwater pipe uh buttonwood street and west oak street theat street bridge do street and east Washington street so along with uh the inlets and storm water um improvements they'll also do some mill and overlay uh to direct that uh surface runoff to uh those inlets uh Scott contractors is the low bidder Uh their amount was for $429 $429,930. Uh they have done work in the municipality before. We've dealt with them and we consider them to be satisfactory. This project does exceed the 350,000 uh threshold for the RCO uh the responsible contractors uh ordinance. So they will have to complete all of the RCO documentation. And so if if council has any questions at this time.

Council, any questions? Seeing none, do I have a motion to approve and request, sorry, approve to send the letter of intent to Scott the Scott contractors for the NWSA projects? So, Madam Secretary, William McCoy. Hi, Natalie Coulson. Jasmine Griffin. Hi, David McMahon. Hi, Dustin Queen. Hi, Rashad Bates. Hi. Thank you.

Moving on to planning. Norristown Small Business, excuse me, Norristown Small Business Assistance Center presentation. Widner University for small business and development center. Good, good evening, council. As I promised you uh during the last council meeting would have uh the uh wider consultants uh and Lennin and Monica who man our small business uh center and uh provide the services for our businesses to come and give you an update of what they do uh the type of services they provide and they'll give you some figures as well.

Thank you director. Good evening, members of council, uh, municipal administrator, s solicitor. It's a pleasure to be here. Uh, my name is Lennin Agulo. I'm the director of Widenner University Small Business Development Center. I've been on the job for about 10 years and it's a privilege to now support Norristown. We consider the municipality as as a great partner for Widner University and we love to be here uh supporting small businesses in your municipality. Uh the purpose of our presentation today is really to share a little bit about the annual report just a a window into the annual report that we have shared with you earlier in terms of the activity of the uh Nortown small business assistance center. Um so very brief uh about in mid 2024 council approved the $68,000 contract awarded to Widner University in order for us to uh man the operations of the Norristown Small Business Assistance Center. Um the contract was stated that we have to provide 20 hours uh of service per week roughly give or take depending on the weeks and we needed to provide assistance to small business owners uh here in Nortown specifically that are CDBG eligible or HUD eligible which mean that they have to be low moderate income as well as uh or reside within the municipality. So the purpose of today is really to share some of the highlights of what we've been able to to achieve since then. Um basically the the operations that we provide are we support one-on-one business consulting to entrepreneurs in the city. Uh we provide financial literacy training uh government support in terms of navigating permitting processes, marketing and e-commerce support as well as self assessment for those entrepreneurs that are interested in launching a business and helping them plan how they could do it successful successfully here in the municipality.

We are about two staff members are always on Thursdays and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm available. But we do also have uh very many training uh activities during the evenings that are planned and several of you have honored us with your presence since those activities throughout last year which we're grateful for. Uh maybe you recognize some of the faces here. For sure my colleague Monica and Cassandra Davis are the people that are managing the office on a day-to-day basis. We pride ourselves to have a bilingual staff uh and also uh culturally competent staff in our team. But in addition to that, there are three other supporting members of Widner University that support specifically training programs uh in the municipality. We want to give you a little bit of an idea of what the training programs have been as well as the numbers and impact that we've been able to attain. So based on uh HUD's CDBG eligible economic development activity, uh we are really focused on ensuring that we create business starts in the municipality. also very focused in job creation and retention, business growth as well as enhancing the customer experience by supporting entrepreneurs that are existing when they are actually growing their business here in the municipality. This is our impact from January through October of last year. Uh we have helped 54 clients that are hot eligible. Uh in total we have supported 75 clients um that are not hot edgible per se but come through the doors and need assistance we absolutely support them but that's not on the municipalities tab that is on widner university and based on the fact that we receive other grants from the federal and state government we're able to provide that assistance uh in order to make sure that we maintain uh compliance with uh department of planning and and the CDBG program uh we

have delivered about 964 hours of one-on-one consulting services. We have delivered 13 seminars uh three multi-session seminars that has more than one session generally three to five sessions which basically totals to 125 participants here in the municipality. So why is this important? I think this is extremely important because it helps us move the needle forward as it relates to economic impact here in in in the municipality. Um we have a little bit of figures that you could read when when you have more time, but this is really the demographics of the constituents that we're we're supporting uh throughout that 10-month activity that we've seen. Some of the principal industries that we have supported are food and restaurant, painters, uh cleaning, retail, landscaping, and contractors, which is really um the mix of the community and what we see here, the clients coming through our through our doors. What some of the barriers that I think it's important for you to to um to hear from us is really as a result of this um experience that we've had here in Nortown, we can see that many of our clients are having issues with access to capital. Um also the political climate as we heard from prior presenters is very difficult and many of the established businesses are hurting as a result of that. We have seen an uptick in the number of clients that we're serving that are struggling and really don't know what to do as a result of having less clients showing up to their doors. They're thinking about expanding, but they also need access to capital. Um, some of the barriers to entry that we have seen that are typical and normal to any community um are really prevalent also in low and and moderate income entrepreneurs that we see here as well as language access. Uh luckily uh we have a bilingual team that is able to

support and we have seen great efforts made by the municipality to provide translation services and support services to Spanish speakers which we applaud you for doing that. Um this is our impact for that 10-month run that we are reporting on. We have created four new businesses in the municipality. We have supported clients with 32 business plans, reviewed them and enhanced them through our support. We have impacted about 36 jobs. Um, and I want to mention this because um, the CDBG program is really focused on job creation. Uh so when we say we've impacted 36 jobs, if we're going by the CDBG terms, uh they generally make an investment of $35,000 or require an investment of $35,000 in exchange for one job. To give you an idea, that investment would be about $1.2 million in a program that impacts uh 36 jobs in the municipality for expansion and retention. We've also helped uh several clients, 10 applications in total, uh receive $111,000 uh from the ARPA funds that that you uh allocated for entrepreneurship and economic growth for the municipality. The the partnership that we have, I think it's it's working. Uh, one of the reasons that we believe we got selected to support the municipality of Nortown in your economic development efforts is because as part of the small business development center network, uh, we have we bring the added value of bringing specialty programs which include government procurement assistance which also include support that we have provided to the Chamber of Commerce in terms of strategic planning um, and supported the creation of the 18-month strategic plan that is going to lead us until June of this year because we're collaborating with other organizations as well as bringing the uh United States

Small Business Administration for example to support. Uh I'd like to yield the floor for a few minutes to my colleague Monica who uh may be able to share a little bit about the actual impact on the programs that are coming up in 2026 so we can ask for your help in terms of referring some constituents over. Thank you Lennin and good evening council. Um my name is Monica. I am one of the boot on the ground at the center and I would like to share with you a couple of things that are important for the northern small business assistance center. Um which is that we are the link between uh a person that wanted to start a business and all the processes that are involved. So the idea of having a resource that help them to understand a little bit better what is needed to start a business it is really key. Um also all our trainings and and events are free um free and open to everybody. Um we know that we are aim to work with people that live and work in at Norristown municipality but having the opportunity to give open access to everybody will lead to a open businesses in Norm for example I want want to share the example of Imperial Delhi market their owners Javier and Maria they did not live in Nortown Um but they did participate in one of our multisession trainings and with that they receive it that and consulting hours uh they receive um all the knowledge to open up a front store in Main Street um which is a business in Northern right. um for

different different reasons and personal decisions that they make, they decide to move forward to sell their their business, but all that with the assistance of the center, which is good that they have uh that um knowledge. Um, Lennin did share that we um create several programs uh that help businesses and these are bilingual pro programs. So we did one in English, one in Spanish um given access to knowledge about operating, marketing, finances with Norris Prospera um painter to entrepreneur. We did a partnership with Nor the Nor Eastern Chamber of Commerce, the Library, Commerce Department, Sherwin Williams, and several of the people that had been on the sidelines of businesses are now more knowledgeable and they have the tools to put your business uh to work in the right place. um as well as cash skin where we develop um a curriculum about budgeting management and how to access to credit uh in the future for businesses. We partner uh this was for a larger um businesses. So in this case we partner Whitner SBDC partner with the chamber of commerce and we develop a series of digital marketing trainings um in AI. So we are trying to uh continue um the access giving access to knowledge to small business owners and with all the trends that we have available. Um so

Lennin mentioned in 2025 we deliver 13 single events and three multi-year trainings. Um and for 2026 we we have been partnering with the Montgomery County Library and we will have a um a series of business training uh that are going to give again more resources to small business owners or people that wanted to start a business um regarding strategic subjects like legal entities, financial management, and government contracting um networking and relationships in HR. So finally I wanted to share with you some of the events and participations that we had last year. Um we we participate as a judge and as a consultant for the first competition um event that it was delivered in George Washington Carver Center and it was promoted by one of the council members Madiraa Robinson. We also deliver the trainings the different trainings for painter to entrepreneur along with Sherwin Williams and all the other partners that I just mentioned. Um and we also develop other type of series of events um in conjunction with um commerce department and other community organizations as the Kate Alamo and UN. And my last comment for council is would

like to share a little bit of the good news. Um last year we applied for um a major grant with the state of Pennsylvania. Um that is the it's called the historically disadvantaged small business assistance program. And because of the partnership that we have with the municipality of Nortown, uh we uh ask that grant funding would be provided to support businesses here in Montgomery County to uh historically disadvantaged small businesses. uh we have been approved and we are hopeful that we will be able to uh deliver in our planning a 100 grants anywhere from 2,00 2500 to $5,000 for businesses here in Montgomery County which I hope that the majority of participants would come from uh Nortown given the um the affinity and the already established relationship that we have through the Nortown Small Business Assistance Center. In addition to that, uh we have received u some additional dollars so we can provide technical assistance. So we envision that a full-time uh consultant will be placed here in Montgomery County. We hope that through the partnership that we have with uh with Norand, we may be able to expand that and make a greater impact. So um my goal is that when we meet again in a formal presentation next year about this time we would have multiplied our impact and um we will have a stronger municipality as a result for from an economic development perspective. Uh thank you for the opportunity um council members and director thank you for the opportunity to serve.

Thank you questions. Um do you all have much experience um with promoting a co-op business model uh when you talk with people who are coming to you for advice? Um re and the reason I asked that part of it goes to the access to capital piece um and kind of continuity in business history. Um there are a lot of businesses in Nortown when ma the main way that businesses become co-ops is when the founders of a business transfer ownership to their employees. Um, and I wonder if there's ways to facilitate that because I think in Nortown there are probably quite a few businesses that are in that life stage. Um, and rather than a business ending and then a new one trying to struggle through the early hurdles of a new business, um, is that something that you um, as Widner University, do you have much experience with that?

Yes, we do. We have a consultant that solely focuses on on the continuity of businesses and that's a topic that uh certainly we can bring to the municipality. Um we would love to partner with council members and um basically do a better job at getting out there to the community so the right businesses could participate. Uh sometimes we find that as a challenge uh that we're doing a lot of the technical work but the outreach and the connecting component with the community. uh sometimes is is is difficult and we're not asking everybody that could benefit. So um Councilman, we would love to connect with you and figure out how we can develop and deploy that program here. From a technical perspective, um our consultants have the knowledge and we can put something like that together pretty easily. It's more of a scheduling and getting the right people to participate.

We'd love to partner with them as we always do. Yes, I have I have a question. [clears throat] So, I know it was mentioned that um the events and train well the events are free. How about the services?

Right. Everything we do is at no cost. Um, we're able to obviously, uh, the municipality with a contract that they have with Wider University for $68,000 covers that and anything else beyond that, we're actually partnering with other organizations. Sometimes we've had to pay for food. The chamber has been a great partner in doing that. Um, and that basically uh, covers 100% of the cost for the participants. Okay. Thank you for that. In addition, how can um, constituents find you guys? like what's like where are you guys marketing it?

So, uh so we have there's various ways. We're here in in 266 East Main Street. That's the location of the office. We're there on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 to 5:00 p.m. And the reason we're only until 5 is because the building closes at that time. So, we have to go. But, um there's a phone number through the Nortown Small Business Assistance Center that we are monitoring on a daily basis and getting back to participants. Um what we could do is we could give you information and we can drop off information in all the council members uh offices. That way if you have constituents you could please consider handing the information out uh as as they come available. We'll even give you a QR code as a followup. Uh so you can register for a consulting directly through that QR code to make it easier.

Definitely. I do you guys utilize social media platform and in addition to that do you guys offer a newsletter? Um a couple of things uh regarding the how they can connect us. We also have um information upstairs at the planning department uh regarding the services and all the things that that um the constituents can get from us. That is one thing. And you also have a link on our website and also on the website. So you on the Northtown website, a lot of our um uh applicants who come to us, we tell them go to that link, connect to them.

Yeah. Um and the other part is social media. We do have social media. Um the prior vendor, we have a little bit of issue with the prior vendor and the prior, you know, access to the social media. So we revamped the social media platforms and we posting information as well because we understand that sometimes people they have to stay at their job right and they cannot come to trainings but we developed videos and information that it could be useful for them. Thank you. Thank you

council. Good. Thank you for your presentation. Moving on. We are still in planning here with resolution 26-05 consideration to approve act 537 sewage facilities planning module for 7:30 forest avenue and authorizing submission to the P A D.

So we're requesting council tonight to approve uh the submission of the uh 537 sewage facility planning module. uh it has gone through the uh planning commission and that's been approved. We have our engineer here who will speak a little bit about its technicality but basically it has uh also received before I go on is is actually a single family property that was uh received zoning approval to get four apartments. So it's gone through all those various approvals and Ted is here tonight to explain what a module is and why uh council would need to support oh is asked to support this module. Thank you Jean. Uh so I just wanted to go through a concise overview of the the planning module. I don't know if uh council members are aware of the process. Um so because of this project the applicant is proposing to generate uh sewage uh they have to go under a um planning review which would be through the the DP. Uh so there's several steps to to get uh the f final approval from the DP but the first step is to submit an application mailer. Uh this application mailer will include uh details about the owner but then really uh discusses uh how much flow uh sewer flow they'll be generating. Uh when the sewer engineer from the authority reviews that which he has uh it then goes to the munipal administrator. He signs it. He signed it. That then gets submitted to the DP. The D reviews that application mailer and then determines whether this project would have to uh go through uh get an exemption or actually go for a full

planning module review. And in this case, they had to go for the full planning module review. And that's a component three. Uh they completed the component three. The component 3 has a lot of um forms that you have to complete and a lot more details uh than the actual application mailer. Um included in that component three are more components. Uh component 4 A, 4 B, and 4 C. They're reviews by the 4 A is by the the uh local municipal planning commission. The 4B is the the county um uh planning commission. And then the four C's the health department. So they compiled that uh component three the sewer engineer for the authority reviewed it and considers it complete. So now they're now that's why it's in front of you to get that approval to approve this component three and then to direct it to the DP for approval. So, that's what we're here for tonight is to uh request uh um council to make a recommendation for the component three and to um to forward it to the D for review.

And if council has any questions, I can council. Any questions? What is the project again? What are they building? It's it's a renovated uh uh house with four apartments and then Yeah. Yeah. And then they're going to have public sewer through a sewer lateral and that's what's kicking in um the uh planning module because they're generating sewer flows. The address is 734 staff. Wait, that's what I'm trying to I'm trying to picture where that's at. That's why I'm like racking my head. Right.

And it did go through uh zoning hearing board. So zoning approved because it was a single family house being converted into a quad of four apartments and then Okay, that's I I know I'm probably way off. I'm just making sure that's not the one near the kitty house, is it? No, that's not 7:30. It's close. Oh, okay. Yeah. All right, I got you. Oh, no, no, no. I'm just saying someone just brought up I remember um I guess it was Tiffany who just brought up that we're converting people. Is this owned by LLC?

Wow. She's right on on her head there. I don't think she's here, but Okay. So, LLC is buying up our single family properties and breaking them out into Okay. Um, I do have a question. I and I forgive me I don't remember all the technical words for it but what I understand so the sewage is being connected I guess they had a separate sewage before now it's being connected and going through like West Norton or something like that is that normal is that like normal how things happen when they re renovate homes am I reading that correctly uh yeah and to connect to public sewer yeah okay so that's a normal thing that happens okay all right thank you

yeah and because they're generating sewer flows it now has has to go to the DP for review and that's why that triggers. Okay. That's why going from a single family stuff going out. Gotcha. Okay. Council, any other questions? Seeing none, do I have a motion to approve resolution 26-05 considering consideration [clears throat] to approve act 537 sewage facilities planning module for 7:30 Forest Avenue and authorizing submission to the PA D.

And a second. Was there a motion? There's no motion yet. I'm waiting. So moved. Second, [laughter] Madam Secretary. Okay, sorry. William McCoy, hi. Natalie Coulson, Jasmine Griffin, hi. David McMahon, hi. Dustin Queen, no. Rashad Bates. I The eyes have it.

Thank you. Resolution 26-06, authorization the submission of grant application to the PA Department of Community and Economic Development uh requesting $300,000 in CDBGDR program funding.

Thank you, Council President. We're before you tonight requesting um permission to submit an application uh for the Department of Community and Economic Development, DCD, uh for $300,000 in the CDBG-D program. The DR stands for disaster recovery. Uh just a little bit of history. On September 11th, uh, 2021, President Biden declared a major disaster in Pennsylvania due to the effects of Hurricane um, Ida from August 31st to September 5th of 2021st. Due to the the de declaration, funding was made available through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and that uh is to provide disaster for relief, long-term recovery, restoration of infrastructure and housing, economic revitalization and mitigation in the most impacted and distri distressed areas. Montgomery County is a designated most impacted and distressed county under the presidential declaration. DCD opened the second round of this CDBGDR funding and we were notified of this. I think it was uh just last week and we're jumping on it. Um so we're preparing the application as we speak. But prior to us sending the application in, we need we need your uh permission. And just for your information, uh we worked closely with the uh fire chief who gave us the information that we will need for the application of which areas uh were mostly impacted in our municipality. U just to let you know uh it's the 200300 blocks of East Main Street, 200 to 500 blocks of East Lafayette Street, 100 blocks of East Washington Street, 100 block of Skookill Avenue, zero block of Decal Street, 300 block of West

Washington Street, 300 block of West Main Street, Water Street, 300 and 400 blocks of Arch Street. uh we'll make sure that we forward the application to council for their review when it is done, but we wanted to make sure we jumped on it as quickly as possible. So, we seek your permission to actually submit the application. Thank you. Uh council, any questions? You know, I'm always for getting money to help our constituents, but this has nothing to do with our current program that we have for Yeah. Okay. It is an addition.

All right. Uh just a quick question. Um what do you see so if we receive the grant what is the type of work that those funds you see them going to? I'm sorry. What do you what do you see that money being directed to? Should we This is being direct to housing. So housing. Housing. Yes.

Council. Any other questions? All right. Seeing none, do I have a motion to approve resol resolution 260006 um and requesting $300,000 for the CDBG DR program funding? So move second. Madam Secretary McCoy, hi Natalie Coulson. Hi Jasmine Griffin. Hi David McMahon. Hi Dustin Queen. Hi Rashad Bates. Hi. Thank you. The eyes have it. Thank you. Council, do I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. All in favor? I