City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you. so so Thank you. so so Thank you. so so Bye.

So I want to thank everybody for attending tonight. We have a very full agenda this evening, so I want to give us plenty of time to go through as council. So I would like to start by asking if we have any questions on the ordinances that are up for final passage this evening so that we can talk about those first and then we'll go into some of the other things that we have on the agenda this evening. But any of these items that are on for final passage?

We've got four.

One of the things I'll call note to council with and also the public. So as we're looking at the layout of the agenda, one of the things that we're trying to do is make it easier for the public to be able to read and see where the money is coming from and where the money is going. And so it's a little confusing yet. So we're still ironing out the process, but we'll get it. But when you start to look at these ordinances, you'll see now instead of it being just in the memos, we're also now putting under each of these ordinances, where the account is and where it's going to, so that it's just a little bit easier for everyone to follow. So each one of these has an alignment, and we'll start pulling from the memo and making it a little bit more clear on which account it's coming from and which it's going to. So if there's any questions on any of this, please let me know, and if it's still a little bit difficult for anyone to kind of understand or follow, so please let us know. Any questions on this? If not, we can go ahead and move to the ordinances for first reading.

Okay. Dr. Todd, it's a question. Yes. I was wondering, do we know... Like, if there's a city street, like a block long, and it's in average condition and we need to have it repaired, the average cost to repair, like, do we have that? Do we know that at all? I mean, like, if you have a city block and it's average or whatever, do we know...

I can't see Mr. Sayers, but I'm wondering if he knows like per, like, do you know the average, how much it costs, Jason, like per mile or yard or some sort of measurement in terms of paving? What is the cost?

Yeah, like if there was a city block that was like an average condition, what would the, what's the usual cost for repairing something like that?

Can I still need to come up to the mic? Sorry. No, you're okay.

What I'll do is I'll just cost it out for you both ways because there's definitely a difference whether we do it with our in-house streets crew or it's a contract job. So it's not just a number, but I get that for you. It's just a couple quick numbers, and I'll have them both to you.

All right, thank you. Sure. I think Andre's here.

what we do have and I believe we we also have the the solicitor here I'm not just our solicitor but the solicitor from the Erie City Water Authority we have two bonds that are being asked of us to be the guarantors on and so I think that as we're looking at you know we got the information from PFM we're starting to kind of analyze just our own financial status want to make sure that if we have questions that we fully understand Um, just the impact, um, and what's being asked of us as the city and ultimately as the residents, um, when, when we have ordinances like this on place. So just want to call council's attention to here and would also love to hear from just the solicitor from the water authority. If there's questions there.

So attorney walked or couldn't be here from the water authority tonight, but attorney Campbell's here. So if she's willing to come up to the mic here and just give us an overview.

Thanks.

Thank you. Good evening, everyone. So there are two proposed ordinances, which each- Is that mic on? believe so yep it's glowing i'll talk really close to it so there are two proposed ordinances each of which relate to penvest opportunities the first is a for an eight million dollar uh loan for the repair of of erie water authorities or erie waterworks 12th street building just standard repair and maintenance there's no grant associated with this and it's a pro-fi loan meaning that the the funds would be drawn as they're needed by the authority, and it's a 30-year loan. The second is for replacement of lead piping that is currently in use for customer-sized galvanized piping in the city. That project is a $10 million project. The loan is for approximately $2.7 million, and the remaining balance would be funded by a grant from PenVest.

Do councillors have questions for the solicitor on this? One of the questions that I have is just, and this is probably for our solicitor as well as you, is just what is the impact that this will have just like as on our just on, I guess, on our credit, our financial status.

Of course. So the city is, of course, being asked to guarantee each of these loan opportunities. That being said, they'll be excluded from the city's debt limitations as Erie Water Works has the revenue necessary to provide for that exemption.

And then could you just explain a little bit, too, of just, I guess, the liability? So hopefully this never happens, but should it happen and that the city become responsible?

Yeah, absolutely. So in this specific situation with the water authority, they're first in line to make these payments. They have adequate revenue to secure these payments. And when I spoke to Tim Walker this morning, he advised that the authority has never missed a payment on one of these sorts of loans. And in the case of a guarantee, then only if the security from the water authority were to fall through and the payments were to cease would the city be exposed to liability for those payments.

think it's just important for council to know but also for the community to know too that when we're in these positions especially after the the study session we had last week that we're not also like putting ourselves I mean we are into a degree but that we wouldn't be the first ones paying for this that we're not asking that in addition of the residents of course yeah any other follow-up questions from from council Okay. I guess there's no more questions. All right. Thank you all. Thank you. So the other that we have tonight is, I mean, when I say we've got a very full agenda, we've got a very full agenda, is we do have two public hearings in addition to the vote on the waterfront conditional uses. And so I just want to make sure that we have time to go and review these and that we're feeling okay as we move into those. We haven't gone into the public hearing part, but those are gonna be before us tonight. Specifically, I would like for us to make sure that we're all feeling comfortable though on the vote around the waterfront conditional uses. And that's gonna be number, I think it's supposed to be number three. No, no, no, no. It was number two and I see where, yep. It's under old business, number two.

Why would there be a problem with the marketplace that everything was agreed to?

That's what I'm asking if anybody has any questions.

Did any other council members have Mr. Kissel reach out to them in regards to... stated amenities be completed at the end of the construction and before occupancy? Did anybody else have him reach out to them? This is about the marketplace.

Yeah, no, I hadn't heard from him personally, and it was more with the Scotts that I had heard from him on those ones.

I did talk with him this afternoon.

Hand that to Tyler, please. He called me yesterday about it, specifically that we should put that into the ordinance. That way it's not done after. I mean, I'm not specific on anything that he meant in reference. I didn't know if we got anything like bathroom access or anything of that nature. But I just wanted to make sure that you knew that he reached out I know you guys were, well, not you guys, but you and him were generally going back and forth on different things for the waterfront, conditional use going forward.

So what Mr. Kissel, I guess, had relayed to Councillor Flores is that adding a clause, a suggestion to add a clause that that all free public stated amenities be completed at the end of construction, but before occupancy to have that codified. And so I guess my question to the solicitor would then be, is that to be presumed that's already happening within that the access to these, does that need to be an addition to or an amendment to? Yeah. Not the, I mean, not the, like, I think that he wants us to, the recommendation is for us to look at the conditions, to add on to the conditions. But then my question back would be, would that language not, would that be presumed within?

I think, I mean, well, all you guys are, so the planning commission's already said it. guess my question would be the planning commission has already said this meets all the requirements of section 306. so the flexibility is there for the developers to institute the things that you guys have requested like the public benches the public access the harmonious nature of everything uh the environmental stuff so you probably would want to have them do everything kind of a simultaneous part of the development of the plan And then that would be incorporated into the plan, the development plan that's submitted as part of the SALDA ordinance, and then we go from there.

And my quick reading of this, too, there is a condition within the ordinance in and of itself that says that the public access, like, at no time can it be cut off, right? The public has to retain.

No, that's in Section 306. Yes.

So when we... I guess this would be a redundancy, is what I'm saying.

I would say, without looking at the exact language, probably, but it's strongly implied in 306 that public access to the waterfront in that area is to be, I think it's actually 306.01. I think it's the first thing listed.

Then it has to be. So I guess that we could relay back to Mr., like that is part of... It's in there.

Yeah, it's in there. That would be like, I would agree with that.

And then... Councillor Horton, I feel like I cut you off. I apologize if I did. Any other questions related to the waterfront conditional use and the conditions that we put on this resolution? These are very similar to the ones that we placed on the last waterfront that was before us to vote on, making sure that we've got access to benches, public walkways, stay unaffected, and so there's a lot going on in that capacity. There is also discussion that we've started engaging in just looking at this ordinance altogether. And so that's something that I've been talking with the administration on is looking at updating the zoning and specifically this ordinance overall. And so that we're adding in language that kind of builds in those CBAs or the equity right from the beginning.

To that point, Dr. Titus, to that point. I'm not going to be able to support this. Not that I don't think it's a great project. Certainly not to vilify anybody involved in the project. I've just got to be true to who I am. and to my true self, and that is my very first vote at county council was to co-sign a bond with Erie Events. It's kind of like you're going to do on these two that we're talking about tonight. It's just going to make us a co-signer on it. And that's the liability that exposes us to us. And at that time, it was like every guy was certainly the least of anybody there. conscientious enough, and there were 40 years of accounting experience, and people there with 35, 40 years of legal experience on both sides, and they were saying stuff like, oh, nothing that never happened. We never missed a payment. Oh, it'll be fine. And that vote was the very first vote where this region this area ever heard of the word community benefit agreements. I know that to be true because they heard it from me. And that vote passed 6 to 1. Well, something did happen. It caught COVID. And so of the money that was appropriated to Erie County to come out to the citizens of Erie County, those specifically those citizens who were most negatively impacted by the COVID pandemic. And in addition to that, those demographics, i.e. black people who had been discriminated against historically. So in 2020, here, I don't want to misspeak because And again, it's not to vilify anybody or anything. So the first offering was CARES funding in 2020. Right when the heart of COVID first hit, we ponied up of the citizens' money $2,907,003. Then we came back. In January 2021 and we had to because you gotta pay your bills. We had to pay. We had to give him $2,100,000. It's already $5 million. And then we came back in August and we gave him $2 million of our money. And so that's like $7 million. And so I stand here still talking about community benefit agreements. And I'm not talking about lighting for the birds or pigeons or whatever. Not that that's not important. The migratory birds. I'm talking about the housing crisis and the stuff that we have here. And nobody wants to put the race element on it, but we could just talk zip code and who lives where and what the average income level is there. Right outside this door, we sit in that zip code. There's the city seat, the county seat, the state seat. All these nice things, cranes going up in the air, but it's also got about 3,500, 4,000 people living in these high-rises that are disabled, that are melanated. And probably making $9,000 a year. And so I'm still talking about community benefit agreements. I'm still talking about not only... Feel like the state our state representatives. We have to lobby them or something because it's a millstone around our neck Although they've done fantastic work. They've done great things. They're great people So I'm not arguing against them I'm arguing against the policies that don't work for for this city and probably cities like us all over the Commonwealth is that they don't have to pay taxes in the perpetuity and And so yeah, it's similar in scope to what we did last week for waterfront conditional use. And yeah, why wouldn't anyone, developer A, B, C, D, why wouldn't they want a 10-year LERDA, which is a whole generation of us waiting for taxes to be really realized. This is a whole another generation of kids who cycle through without school district taxes. without city taxes, county taxes. Here we got a $12 million damn hole. Excuse me. And so not only am I against it, not the concept, not the people, but the policy. The governor, somebody's got to give us some relief. And so I don't want my vote to come as a surprise to any of you, nor should it. I mean, you know me. You know what I've stood for. And I guess the most important point I want to make is I'm not here to vilify anyone. I'm saying that if you keep doing what you've been doing, you keep into perpetuity, come on. Yeah, they got the zoo, and they've already balkanized the doggone whole bayfront between them and the Port Authority. they're parceling it off now Gannon's and won't act like they want to enter into the bayfront business and so come on and that's my yeah don't yeah I'm a strong no any other counselors want to bring up any of the points with the waterfront conditional that part of it And I understand that $9 million are hanging in the balance. I know that it will pass. So it's not my intent to kill it or to stop it or anything. And I know they shoot the messenger around here. And so I'm not anti-business, anti-irri events, anti any of that. I'm just practical. And it's not practical for a community like ours. to have such a large draw. That's a billion dollar non-profit. They have the Erie Events, Warner Theater, Tulio Arena, Sheraton, the Marriott, two parking arenas. Now they're going to have a market house.

None of that does anything good for the city.

Ed, I just said they got the zoo and stuff.

Yeah, it does some good for the city.

Yeah, but it probably does more harm than good. if we're just honest about it. And it brings some things in. It's not a trickle-down effect. What it does is, since you asked, it does more for the developer and it does more for the tourists than it does for the city. It doesn't do a lot for the businesses here in the city of Erie, because I've worked on that Bayfront Highway, too, from 26th Street all the way back around Barron. So we've diverted commerce. around our city. They don't even come in our city, come up that bluff. They might come up and have a drink or a meal, but it's not to the degree where it's sustainable. College students might have, but the residents here who are bearing the brunt of it, they don't see that. And so, yeah, it's a big benefit for some people. And it's a drain on others. Let me say it again. A whole generation, not just that project, but anybody who's entering into a LERTA or don't pay taxes, a whole generation under a LERTA, that's from kindergarten to 12th grade, don't see the full reality of a 10-year LERTA. You see the graduated range or whatever. But they don't see it. And that's just one nonprofit. So if you add all of them into the fray, yeah, they don't pay their fair share.

Yeah, they might do something for the city, but it's not their fair share.

And I defy anybody. to show me where they generate that money, where it benefits the citizens that are poorest, the least of our citizens in this city. It don't do a lot for our homeless population. It don't do a lot for our housing situation. You tell me what it does. I mean, I'm asking. What does it do?

Would you listen if I tried to tell you? I'm all ears. Thank you.

Where would we be without the waterfront right now?

I understand what you're saying. You're talking about the 10% of the people who look down on everybody else. You're doing a hell of a job. If we didn't have them, the zoo would be closed. It would have been closed in January. And who would be the biggest losers there? All the poor people who go there free every Sunday or Saturday or whatever day that happens. A lot of good things happen. When you look at future development, including LERDA, if you look at the, yeah, it's free for 10 years, basically. But then after 10 years, they're gonna be paying the full share. So it's gonna come around. But you have to see, huh?

If they stay around.

If they stick around after the 10 years, because we've had people who, if they stick around after the 10 years, because we've had people who leave.

You're talking about commercial development there. LERDA, we're talking about, home builders.

Non-profit? I'm still listening, because if there's... No, I'm just saying, the cup is there.

There's half water in there.

It's either half full or half empty. They just acquired the zoo. I don't see a lot of poor people who access the zoo. Free entry into the zoo does not give you free entry to purchase the things in the zoo. So I don't know a lot of people personally. We used to have a family membership and everything. I don't know a lot of people personally that use that. It's a great amenity for a city to have. The mere fact that it was in financial, the crisis that it was, speaks volumes all in itself. The minimum wage jobs, they fought for $15 an hour jobs 10 years ago. And so it's the amenities, they come here, people who live here can't afford them. And it's on their back. It's on their dime. Again, I'm not vilifying anybody. I'm not saying that they don't do good things. I don't believe that we get the return on our investment for the money and for the resources that we pour into it. And they'll say, oh, well, we developed. Remember, it was not. Oh, and everyone knows that the waterfront is, you'd have to live in a cave to not know that the waterfront, it should be a resource, an economic boom. or whatever, but there's so many things wrong with it. They used it under blight designation. There's nothing below Front Street that's blighted. We used that to designate that stuff LERDA certified. And so there's a lot wrong with it. I'm not here to debate it. I'm not here to poo-poo it. I'm not saying it's not a great idea. I'm saying that we don't get the return on our investment. We've just given them $7 million of taxpayer money. For something, the next big crisis come up, we're going to have to pony up again. And so, yeah, it brings great quality of life things here for some.

I don't want to discourage us from talking about this, but I do want to get to some of the other things that we have on the agenda, just to make sure we have opportunity to discuss them and ask questions, and then we can come back to this if that's okay. Okay. We do have Ms. Deb Smith here tonight, and so I want to be mindful of her time and the presentation that she's put together for us to just kind of go through some of the numbers with the CBDG in the home so that if we can touch base on that. She had given all of us a little layout of the numbers for us to see.

Good evening, City Council. At the last presentation that we did, For our fiscal year 2026 annual plan, these are the same numbers for CDBG Home and ESG. They're proposed projects and funding amounts. There were questions on, I believe, two of the projects, the Mayor's Literacy Program and Erie Downtown Development Corporation. Also, there have been questions on the reentry program. And so tonight I have Shannon from the Erie Downtown Development Corporation, as well as the reentry program. Please note that for the reentry program, the amounts for our fiscal year plan for CDBG, they are not included with these numbers. Excuse me. They are actually reprogramming numbers that will be presented to city council on July 1.

Where are those dollars currently at then? What are they currently under, the reentry program one?

The dollars, they're not in this proposal. They're reprogramming dollars from prior year projects that were not completed, that didn't use all the funding. And so there's a 30-day comment period for those. And so the next meeting for that will be July 1 when we'll present it to city council on July 1. But we do have individuals here from the reentry program to answer any questions you may have, as well as Erie Downtown Development Corporation.

Question, Ms. Smith?

So that's grant money that's already appropriated to that program, or is that money coming from The general fund. All of this money is HUD money. So HUD money? It is. And so it carries over automatically from year to year?

No, there is actually a new allocation each year. The city is an entitlement city where we receive funding from HUD. And it's based on population poverty.

And so my point is the reentry program, when you say unused funds.

So those were from prior years. So contracts for different activities are for one year. And so maybe some of those agencies did not expend those dollars. And so we are tasked with reprogramming those dollars. Gotcha.

Yeah, I guess... I'm trying to figure out which order to kind of walk them through. I do have a lot of questions around the reentry program, just how it was decided. It's my understanding that this was more so a county decision, right? And so that position was the program was decided by the county.

So actually the YMCA did submit an application, but they decided to withdraw that application.

Okay.

And so then the county still had an interest in doing that program. And so that's why they are not a part of the fiscal year 2026 plan. And that's why they're part of the reprogramming.

Was there an application submitted by any other entity around reentry?

No, not for reentry.

Okay. Because there's been a lot of discussion, and some of it's been a little bit, honestly, hard for me to kind of follow to see where it initiated and who owned the program originally and how it's now maneuvering and how the city money is following and shifting in that capacity.

So it's actually a county program. I mean, GCAC used to have the program, and then the YMCA took over the program, and then... The county actually owns the program, but as I stated, there are individuals here from the reentry program that can actually answer all of those questions. But if you have a lot of questions, you probably want to call up the Erie Downtown Development Corporation first.

So those programs don't necessarily, if those programs are reprogrammed back into this new reiteration of reentry, I believe we can put a restriction on it until it meets any of the questions that you may have, Dr. Titus.

Thank you. Who are the individuals from the reentry? Is it the current existing or the new proposed?

The new proposed.

Okay. Does anybody have questions for the new proposed program?

Last but not least, if by some chance, because I don't know what the scope of work, is contained under the HUD guidelines for this plot of money. But if by some chance those questions aren't answered to the satisfaction of this body, the committee of the whole, is there a way that we can possibly reprogram those dollars into something else here, HUD qualified in the city?

So right now, as I mentioned, this is reprogramming dollars. And so there is a 30-day comment period. And so if you have comments on that, it will be in the newspaper on June 29th, I believe. It'll come to city council on July 1st. If there are questions pertaining to that, and if you want to make comments, you can send those comments to me. We will look at them.

So I think that just so I'm clear on the question.

Well, I'm making my comments right here from the dais. Now I'm not making them at the public hearing. I'm entering them into the docket right now and putting them into the public domain that if those dollars aren't, if we're not satisfied with what goes on or to the satisfaction of this body of reentry, We decide not to that those programs, we consider those programs to be reallocated into something else. And anything that's HUD appropriated, and the reason I say that is we've got a $12 million hold. ain't got time to wait for budget stuff and we want the wherever those dollars will give us the biggest return on our investment should be considered and not just because it's something that's being reconstituted they should make a compelling case as to who what where when and how of all of that because quite frankly i'm getting a lot of uh i'm getting a lot of citizens push back on that program. I don't know who's right, who's wrong, don't care. I know that those young men and women returning back to our community deserve services. I don't want to get into the philosophical argument of whether it should be punitive under probation. I personally believe that it should be separate from probation, completely voluntary, and it shouldn't have any sense of it being another form of control. It should be more of an opportunity. And so those are the things that interest me around anything going reentry money in that pile of money or any money that we may allocate in the future.

Dr. Titus, can I provide some clarification just how this came to us? I think it's important for council to have. And Deborah, if you don't mind standing there and backing me up here if we have some questions. Just so everyone is clear, the city of Erie in the past provided CDBG funds to the reentry program to support, I think, a case manager. So that had happened in the past. Originally, I think it happened when it was with GCAC, and then it happened when it was with the Y. So this year, as you all know, the application period for CDBG opened December-ish. December 1st, 2025. December 1st, the Y submitted the application as they had to continue that program. Soon after I took office, January, February, I don't know, I was asked to attend a meeting with the county executive by some of the folks who had been involved with the reentry program. I believe we have folks here tonight from Mercyhurst Civic Institute who typically were at the start. They were the data collectors for the program. They asked the county executive and I to a meeting. They said they had concerns about the way the program was being run. And they said that there was a consideration that the program might be moved from the Y to the county. And they said to us, this is something that we're talking about. What are your thoughts? I expressed the importance, like you, Councillor Horton, the importance of the program. We need this to be a functional program for our residents in the city of Erie. And I said to them, I don't know much about the program, but I know it needs to work. So not long after, I believe, the Y pulled their application from CDBG because it had been communicated to them that the program was gonna be removed from them. So they removed their application from us. Then the county reached out and said, we're moving this program to the county. Would the city continue to provide the funding they had provided in the past through CDBG to continue to fund the case manager as you have had in the past? By that time, this application period was closed that that's why it's not on this list you have in front of you and so you know deborah and i spoke and deborah said well we can do it from reprogram money so that's why it's not on this list that's why to deborah's point you won't see it until she brings it to you with the full reprogrammed list but i just wanted to provide that context of kind of how we got to this moment in time i think that's important and to note To your point, counselor, if this is the time where folks have questions about the program and the reasons for the change, the folks from our Sears Civic Institute and maybe others are here who might be able to answer. I hope that's helpful.

That's very helpful contextually. Mayor Devlin, I might also add that in this charged environment around the duties and scope of work of probation and parole that was brought upon this community, by the killing of Marcello Woodard, I think that we owe it to the citizens to do our due diligence and to be vigilant and really understand what's really going on before you vote on something. That's my perspective.

I think it'd be helpful if you allow Sheila and Robert to come up and maybe answer some of those questions.

Yeah.

Good evening. I'm Robert Hess from Erie County Reentry. Nice to meet you all.

He is the current program manager, and I'm Sheila Sillman, and I'm the former program manager. I ran it when it first started at GCAC, and I retired in May of 2020. I am currently helping the new staff get going. I am doing the training. So that's why we are here. Allow me to start, and then you're more than welcome to ask us anything that's on your heart, and we'll be happy to answer any questions. Councilman Horton, I hear you loud and clear, and I want to say we have worked with parole, county, state, and federal all along, What we don't do is we don't pick up the phone and call a probation officer and say, you need to check your client. They're using, they're doing this, they're doing that. Judges do not remand people to our program. It is as always and will continue to be a voluntary program. We insist that if a person comes in, that if you would like us to work with your parole officer, we have releases of information. We continue to have releases of information. And if they're willing, they sign them. And they're for as good as long as the individual is in the program. It's right on the release. Part of it is if they are working with us and if they do come up and they are sharing with their case manager that they're struggling with substance use, we do not pick up the phone and call the PO. That is not our role. Even though we are sitting up at the day report center, that's not the idea. We are there to help to assist, to connect with services. That's always been the role. We currently have a memorandum of understanding with parole to connect and to help get people what they need. The whole role of the program is to assist and help the individual, and this is the heartbeat of the program, to help get that person who is coming out of incarceration returning back to our community and get them connected with the service before they leave incarceration. And we have, and we started this back in 2016 and want to continue to do that. to meet with them whether they're at Erie County Prison, SCI Albion, SCI Muncie, or SCI, I'm sorry, SCI Cambridge Springs, or maybe even SCI Mercer, or over the phone and we have a specialized assessment tool to do a level of service so that we can determine their risk level. Because what's the goal? One, to help meet their needs, and two, to help reduce recidivism. Because at the start of this, when we were meeting as a community from 2013 to 2016, we realized that we had a recidivism rate of about 48 to 50% as a whole. When I was close to retiring, we had dropped that recidivism rate through our data partner, Mercer Civic Institute. We don't report our own numbers, which is the beauty of the program. We were down to 7%. We weren't at that in 2022. We expected that as time moved on. I think it was up to about 15%. We haven't been able to record recidivism since then because of data problems as far as recording. When you change program managers, case managers, processes, it's hard to keep track. This program is not ending. Whatever was at GCAC at the Y coming under the county is the same program. We're gonna celebrate 10 years in the fall. So we're looking to continue and polish it back up Bob Hess is the new PM. We have new case managers, client advocate. The client advocate is here. We have Craig Heidelberg with lived experience and has done very well. And we have case managers on board. People, I understand, I've been watching county council films and I understand the passion. Who doesn't expect that people should have second chances? I have been doing second chance work my entire life. and have been working in the system. I would never say I understand a person being incarcerated and coming back, but I have been listening to people's stories ever since I started doing the work in the early 80s and working with people, and I can't tell you how hard that is for people. So we are here because we understand how hard it is for you after hearing all these volatile and, as Councilman Horton said, charged-up environment and trying to sort through the passion and the information. And we get it. We understand it. So please, go ahead and ask your questions. We're more than happy to let you know. And you can ask Bob what he's been doing and how he's been trying to make sure we're getting right down that same track.

Let's start there. Go ahead. What you been doing?

Well, we just hired our staff. So we're fully staffed now. They begin next week. We have three case managers that are set and ready to go along with a peer advocate. In the meantime, I've been meeting with... community providers, some local businesses, speaking to them about their interest in hiring reentry clients as they transition back into the community. So I'm getting some support with that and also just reaching out to any community entity that is here to support us. We have an entire board of people that are ready to help and our doors are open and we're ready to help anybody as they come into our community.

So we have about like 13 minutes, and I think that we're gonna have a lot of, I know I have a lot of questions, so what I would like to request is maybe at the next meeting we have a presentation, and that we can dive more in as council, we can prepare our questions and be ready. And that way it also stays in the public forum, and so that there can be discussion around that. And I don't want to cut you off, but I also know that we have a few more things to get through, and that will give us time to prepare.

I'd be happy to do that.

Thank you.

And if any of you would like to contact me privately, I'm more than happy to leave with any of you my number. If you have more questions, one-on-one, you just let me know. I'd be happy to do that.

Myself as well.

Could you leave the information with our clerk, and she can share it with all of us?

Absolutely. Thank you, folks. Thank you.

I think that will just give us, as a council, a little bit more time to get our... Because I kind of want to know what the difference is, besides the change of who's funding.

And we still have a couple more things from Ms. Deb Smith, if we have any other questions.

I'm sorry. No, you're fine.

DGDC is here also to answer any questions you may have concerning the $100,000 that we propose to give that organization.

I bet you feel like the price is right though. You don't have to ask any questions if you don't want to.

Slow down. Hello.

Hello.

You got an early start.

So there was just, I think, I believe I was the one who just kind of asked this, just a question of what would that project entail? It's just like high level.

Sure, so Flagship, can you hear me okay? Flagship is essentially going to be a wraparound services project, so not only the construction piece of it, but then also the small business support. So allowing that... specifically for historically underserved entrepreneurs, giving that on ramp to start their own business, whether that be subsidized technical support or just having subsidized rental space. Commercial leases are very expensive, so what we're doing is essentially creating a space that's a shared community that they can work together with other young entrepreneurs that are establishing their business and then create somewhat of an incubator.

Do you think it would be possible just to kind of get a breakdown of this program a little bit because we've kind of gone through a few other iterations and so I would just love to see like maybe how this program is different than other programs or just the success metrics that you're going to use just so we can see as council.

Sure, so this has actually been ongoing for two years, this specific program. What we're looking to do is essentially grow it. So over 100 businesses served so far. What we're looking to do is help scale it in a different way. So kind of what's going on in the flagship food hall, allowing people to have that preliminary space to kind of test their product. test the viability before they would commit to a space. We're going to be doing that now outside of the restaurant business. So looking at all different small business fields and then allowing them to beta test it also in a central place. We're looking to create a central hub downtown that helps to drive traffic to additional surrounding businesses and attract additional investment.

I know these are numbers off the top of your head, but in follow-up, I don't need them right now, but would love to just kind of get some of those numbers, just of the businesses who maybe have launched at the flagship, and then who've gone on to sustain, and just to kind of show and demonstrate that it's worked, the model's worked.

Yeah, of course. We can make sure that happens.

I appreciate that, Dr. Titus, because I want, you know, not that we can't have more than one person doing something, but I know that we have, we've had other iterations of that where the shared space, co-opting space, and offering tech support, that type of thing. So I'd be interested in hearing the success rate from the businesses too. And I didn't know that you were, the fact that you've been doing it for two years is interesting. and I'm nosy and I didn't know anything about it.

So I can follow up on that. You don't need those numbers now, but if we could get that and follow up, that way we can get this out to council so that they can, especially before we vote on it officially. Yes, of course. Thank you. Appreciate it. Does anybody else have any questions or information that they would like and follow up? I think you're out of the hot seat. Oh, my gosh. Goodbye.

Thank you.

We've got a few minutes left. Are there any questions from any of the counselors? I had a couple that I wanted to just follow up on. Are there any other questions?

Do you want an overview from the mayor on the literacy program?

Yeah, I do.

I didn't have to answer any questions either. So I think the council had questions about the City of Erie Literacy Program. And actually, I'm glad to talk about it with you, because I could use some of your guidance as well. So as you know, we have launched this literacy work this summer. We have connected all of our funding through CDBG and Parks for summer programming to a literacy component, which I'm really excited about. And I think it's been well received. The intent for these funds was to hire a coordinator to oversee this. But given the news we all discussed last week, I have concerns and I want to be thoughtful about a new hire. I'm not exactly sure that this is the moment in time to be bringing on a new hire into the city of Erie. So I've held this as a placeholder to wait until this news was public about our budget crisis to have this conversation with you. So, I mean, we have options here. You could approve it. We could proceed. We could hire. But we would probably need to do that with the understanding that that would be a year-to-year position and that every single year we would have to reevaluate if we had the funds to continue it because we cannot hire positions and then have them live on beyond grant funds. We've seen where that gets us in trouble.

Yes, Chancellor. Could we consider an interim with a stipend? Because with all these major institutions that are always talking about how good, you know, what they deposit here in our city resource-wise, I think that that, you know, I've had some really, really sharp interns that really work on some stuff, and some of them have gone on to do really great things.

And I really appreciate, and those are the kinds of ideas I'm looking for. How do we do this without tying us to future things? So that's a consideration. We also discussed maybe just making this a contract, as you've noted. So just for the summer, just a contract where we would hire someone, essentially consult with them to come in, do this for us for the summer, kind of on their own time, give us a report at the end of the summer. I'm leaning toward that. I wanted to kind of get your feedback. And if you think that that's the direction we should go, then we'll revisit this number because it won't need to be that high. Deborah's going to kill me because I'm going to mess with our budget again. But I can come back to you with something that feels a little more in line with where we are right now with the budget. Does that make more sense?

Yeah, I think Deborah will be all right with you taking away from money, uh, the budget, but adding to it, not so much.

So would council, would that be okay? So we'll, we'll provide you with an updated proposal for something that's time limited is less money and doesn't, I mean, I'd love to hire a coordinator, but I just don't know how we can justify that right now. Deborah, can you remind us when does this all, when does council need to vote to approve all of this?

Actually, the plan is being reviewed by HUD. They have 45 days. We will be bringing the ordinance for first reading on June 3rd, I believe, and then the second reading on June 17th, as well as a list of the proposed projects that we have listed for June 17th.

Okay.

We look to have our summer rec programs begin July 1.

So we'll get you a proposal immediately, and I'll ask for your feedback from there. I appreciate the feedback today.

Well, all joking aside, I really, Mrs. Smith, I really appreciate you. I've come to value your input in this building and outside of this building. You're by far one of the smartest people in this building, and you're very, very good at what you do. We're lucky and very fortunate to have you. So thank you so much.

Thank you. All right, am I done? All right, thank you. Thank you.

Will the summer reading program, this be like at the parks or at the centers?

So the way it works, Councillor Troop, is all of the summer programs that you see on here that are getting funding from us, they've all been notified that they have to include a literacy component. We did not dictate to them what that had to be. The joke I've used, and this goes for CDBG and also our parks funding, The joke I've used is I wasn't going to tell Mel Witherspoon that the Spoons kids had to have a book in their hand while they dribbled a basketball because he'd probably throttle me. But there's something, right? So we're giving them some suggestions of what they can do. And our hope would be this summer to just make it very loose and light, have this person that we're talking about kind of do an evaluation and then give us some kind of tighter things that we can work on for the future.

I mean, I think if we ask to make sure they're all registered with library cards at Blasko, that could be a small ask to get it going, you know? Because I don't think enough people realize it's a free library pass. You can access the online app portal, so you can have virtual books. Access to all the online Newsletters that we don't have access to if you can't afford the newspaper you can get the free portal So it's just useful to have and not enough people to realize the bookmobile as well So we'll come back to you with a proposal that doesn't feel so personnel heavy because I just think that that's not appropriate and go from there Thank you Did the summer recreation allowance Correspond with last year's is it the same I

I believe, Deborah, so Councilor Schaaf is asking if the summer rec allocations are in line with last year's. I think they are for the most part.

Yes, pretty much. Some of the community centers may have received maybe a little increase, but most of them are pretty much the same.

Thank you.

JFK did not submit a summer rec application because they actually have funding from a different source. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The one question I have, have we heard back from the parking authority with the request around or acknowledging the study session next week?

The only thing I can report is I did go to their board meeting and reminded them publicly of the invitation to attend. I didn't get anything back from them. I believe Director Friday said he would be in attendance, but I don't know about the board. Solicitor, have you received anything?

I have not received any other follow-up. I sent a second email the day before the board meeting that the mayor attended.

Okay. Have we in the clerk's office received any correspondence? Okay.

But the study session is scheduled, so we will all be here.

The study session is scheduled, yeah, for next week. Okay. Thank you. Any, what's 628, any questions from counselors before we reset the room and get ready for our public meeting? Okay. Okay. We'll go ahead and adjourn caucus and get set up for our meeting.

so so Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Thank you. Thank you. so so Thank you. so so Bye. Meeting to order. Roll call of city council meeting of Wednesday, May 20th, 2026. Members.

Titus, Brzezinski, Flores, Horton, Cole, Schaaf, and Troup.

At this time, we will stand for a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

If we could just have a moment of silence for a few people that have passed away in the past couple weeks. We have Mr. Al Pol that passed away a couple weeks ago. He's done a lot for this community. Alberto Rodriguez was a city employee since 2010. He started part-time in 2008, and he's been a full-time employee since 2010. And then Chief Charles Chuck Bowers, he started with the city as a police officer in 1970 and retired in 2006 as a police chief. So we can all have a moment of silence for them. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I have a motion to accept the minutes from the May 6 City Council meeting and bills for payment on May 22nd and 29th. Members Brzezinski?

Yes.

Torres?

Yes.

Horton? Yes. Hull? Yes. Shaw? Yes. Troup? Yes. Titus?

Yes. So there is no presentation this evening, but I do want to remind everybody that we have the public hearing starting at 7 p.m. So as we kind of go through this and whatever time, wherever we are in the agenda, at 7 p.m. we're going to have to stop. That usually falls directly within public comment, and it will feel very abrupt, but we'll stop it. We'll go into the public hearing, and then we'll resume back into public comment. But first, is there anybody here for repository sale? Is there anybody here for repository sale? Is there anybody here for repository sale? All right, seeing none, this will move us into the public comment. So we moved the sign-in sheet up here to the front, so before you start speaking, if you could please sign in. We were just seeing that we were missing a lot of people having the sign-in in the back, so we've moved it up to the front so that just when you're up here, please sign in, and make sure that you're writing clearly so that we can get your name. and your municipality. So when you come up to the mic after you write, you'll have five minutes to speak. And so just please be mindful of that five minutes. We've got a very long agenda tonight, and I just want to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to be heard. So if you would like to speak, please come on up and sign in, and you'll have five minutes.

They just want you to sign in over there. There's a paper at the podium.

Right at the podium.

Oh, well, then you can come speak if you're already signed in. Yep.

Saturday night, I had to make a 911 call for- Could we just get your, before you start, just say your name.

My name is Aaron Sorewide.

And then your municipality. Erie. Your municipality, where do you live?

415 West 2nd Street. So Saturday night I had to make a call to 911 for an assault that happened at Bayview Park. The victims were my girlfriend, her brother and her younger sister. 911 asked if we needed medical attention and I told them that we did not need an ambulance and they proceeded to guide us to a non-emergency hotline and told us that an officer would be on the way. It took an hour to finally meet with him and when I asked why it took so long, he blamed it on a changing of shifts. When we told him what happened, he told us that there was almost nothing they could do because my girlfriend was not the main victim, and she had only suffered nothing but minor injuries, which he did not take a photo of. He did not ask any questions regarding the assailants, no description and not how many they were. When he left, he went the opposite direction of where we said the incident had happened, and two days later, there was a shooting at that same park. And because of that, we feel completely abandoned by the city and we're scared to go anywhere now because everybody refuses to enforce the curfew.

Thank you. It feels very abrupt to just kind of leave it hanging there, but I do believe that the administration is aware, as is the police chief, and so I just want to make sure that you know that.

I'm already signed in, so I'm Bob Strasser of Erie's Lower East Side, kind of an advocate for Lower East Side and East Side in the city of Hull. I guess I got up here a little bit early this week, so I'm happy about that. I'm going to try to start off with a little positive thing. So last week, I attended the quickly put together town hall meeting at the Boys and Girls Club regarding the Nine Ships Company project at the former International Paper North Side property. So one of the three companies, the main one, Modular Engineering Company, The owner had talked about that he's moving from where they are currently in the city into that property and I believe he currently has between 80 and 100 employees and he's looking to initially when they get over into that new property to add another 80 to 100 jobs. So I did see a couple of the mayor's administrative people there, and they asked some really good, relevant questions, as did I, like will they prioritize Eastside and Lower Eastside individuals for jobs that are being created and he answered yes and that he would be looking forward to working with Erie School District to find younger people through maybe the trades and different things like that to help him secure the future workforce there. So overall, I found it very positive. They seem like they're really interested in working with the city and the different communities here, especially on the east side. So I guess that's a positive here. Hopefully we can put more companies in that site and have some revenue coming into the city, which is important to me and I'm sure all of you facing everything that we are right now. The second thing that I wanted to go into was... dealing with the nonprofits, about the mayor, talking at a past meeting that our hands are pretty much tied for a lot of it. However, I didn't let that stop me, so I worked with AI and kind of came up with some ideas that I had along with it. And lo and behold, They agreed with Councilman Horton about that there has to be some things that we can do to work with them to get some revenue. So some of the main things are we should establish a coordination within maybe the Department of Economic Development And because I know, you know, hiring and stuff for someone, new positions is probably going to be very difficult to do. But modify or model the pilot program on the model that is used in Boston, which has been highly successful, titled the Community Benefits Program. So some of the things to go along with that are to have an annual updated database on all exempt properties in Erie. Then publish an annual community investment report for each of the nonprofits. the major nonprofits in particular, showing what services they consume, like police, fire, maintenance, like snow removal, things like that, versus what they contribute. SO COMMUNITY BENEFITS, CHARITY CARE, AND DIFFERENT THINGS GOING ON WITH THE PILOT PROGRAM, WHICH I OFF HAND DON'T REMEMBER IF I SAID THAT STANDS FOR PAYMENTS IN LIEU OF TAXES. These reports create the factual foundations for negotiations and for public accountability. So it also listed a tiered pilot strategy for it with three major ones. The first deals with the health systems, so that would be like Hammett, St. Vincent, and any other major medical. The second tier would be the universities, so the colleges, Gannon, Mercyhurst, maybe to some extent Penn State and LECOM. And the third tier is large social services and arts non-profits. So finally, secure the agreement. We're going to have to stop you here. Not the promise.

All right. Thank you, though. Thank you.

My name is Maria Chilovich. I live in Erie, Pennsylvania, on 12th Street. I am here because of several things. One, you know, China has 360-some data centers for the country. There are already 100 data centers in Pennsylvania. We don't need any more. I haven't heard you speak about a moratorium keeping them out. and people wonder why their electric bills are so high. Two, the EPA has now said they will no longer stop forever chemicals in the water, but it's your job to protect the citizens and the lake that we are here. That cannot happen. You cannot be putting forever chemicals back into the water. I had a bag sitting at my house that I was going to bring with me because I use fresh water for my fish tanks. And the garbage that comes out of the water just spraying on top of the top of the tank is disgusting. I have complained about the water before, and I'm complaining again because I don't see where it's that safe to drink. And you can't get anything done from the water authority down there. So somebody needs to look into it. Three, back at the water. And with you approving Nick Scott down there, I want to know, because in the past, when I have discussed this, a lot of his money came from grant money that I was told, and he used very little of himself. So I want to know how much grant money the city is giving in, the county is giving in, and the state is giving in. Because all you're doing is making it reckless and unsafe for little kids to go down there. to go enjoy the lake. We should not have to drive all the way into Mill Creek to go to the peninsula when we have access to the lake here that she's continuously tried to block. Infrastructure money, is that what's doing this roundabout? And now let me get to the street lights in this town. First of all, I've already been hit by a car once, and I don't want to get hit again. But the lights on 12th Street are terrible. If you have a walk sign and people are still turning, they need to fix that. People on 12th Street from the side streets have to wait so long that they're not paying attention anymore to those lights. They're turning anyway, whether into traffic or to the right or to the left. You have to do something. Now, I've already called them once, and they're not doing anything about it. You have it set up for the... highway up there and those people and these trucks that are jake breaking and I don't know if you know what that means unless you're in the trucking industry and they're jake breaking coming down the street because they're coming too fast. Something needs to be done. I have had it. I have a crappy neighbor who's a club that's infringed on my property. And code enforcement, they don't want to do a damn thing about it. They won't even meet me or hang up on me on the phone, which they have already done, when I've asked them to come talk to me, see my property. Period. And they don't want to do it. Why? Because I'm not a renter and we're a homeowner? I've had it with the city. It's your job to protect the citizens of Erie. That is your job. And from what I can see, it's not happening, especially with the lakefront. Thank you.

Can we make sure, ma'am, before you leave, that your address is written down so that we can also follow up?

Well, one, there was no pen here, so a gentleman had to lend me his pen so I could write my name. but as I said, I was hit by a car once before, so I have a hard time seeing, so if you could direct me where to put my address on here. My name's Maria Chalered. Sit right here. And I've already talked to Mr. Saylor about this as well.

Thank you.

I bring my own.

Good, it's at 6.54.65, so you'll probably be the last public comment, so that way we don't cut anybody else off. But then we'll resume back with you. Because we have a public hearing that starts at seven.

Elizabeth Stanton, Harbor Creek. Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as one. Imagine no possessions. I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world. You may say I am a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the world will live as one. John Lennon. I am an extremist, an individual that holds beliefs that fall far outside of societal norms. I am an idealist with beliefs of what should be rather than the practical hard world realism. I am a dreamer, a visionary, focused on the future possibilities. 53% of Erie City residents earn wages of $52,000 or less a year. The annual salary of the mayor and the top tier administrators is almost 2.5 times what the average Erie residents are earning. With the backdrop of Erie City budget deficit in mind, I have a suggestion. The mayor and the top tier administrators lead by example by taking voluntary pay cuts. I know that voluntary pay cuts would be largely symbolic. Many other complex methods are needed to erase the deficit. However, voluntary salary reduction would generate goodwill as a genuine gesture of shared sacrifice, demonstrating the mayor and city administrators' willingness to shoulder their share the economic burden facing everyday Erie residents building Erie City community morale by top-tier managers willing to cut their pay maybe less middle managers will lose their jobs thank you thank you we have about three minutes

If one of the individuals who wanted to speak, who sat back down, thinks that they can speak within three minutes, you're more than welcome to come up before we start the public hearing.

Let's see if I can talk and write at the same time here. This shouldn't take more than three minutes. My name is Michael Milk. I live in Little Italy. First, I wanted to commend the Erie School District for its Farm to School program. I think that hands-on gardening experience across all the schools in Erie Public Schools is great. I think it's great. Kids who are getting their hands into the dirt like that are expressing that they really enjoy it, and it It's giving them a certain amount of real-world experience and teaches them about the cycles of the year and all of that, and they really do seem to delight in it. So I'm really glad that that program is still going. I think that the proposed dress code is going to be a problem, though, as far as affordability is concerned. I think it's a step in the wrong direction. I don't think dress codes themselves are a problem. I think maybe the school district should have a dress code, but it's very strict, and it cuts out jeans, collarless shirts, shirts with patterns. It's going to create a hardship for a lot of people across the city, so I'm just verbally protesting that here. I'm also verbally protesting the gardening ban that the Housing Authority of the City of Erie has imposed upon its residents, its poor residents. It goes against the Housing Authority's proposed vision and mission statement and is coming at a terrible time where we haven't seen it yet. But there are going to be serious problems with affordability coming down the pike. Grocery issues, gas issues, what we see so far isn't really anything compared to what will happen if the US Iran issue continues as it is continuing and as it appears to be continuing. 30% of fertilizer through the Strait of Hormuz, 20% of oil. This is nothing new. But that's basically it. Thank you for your time. I just wanted to point those things out in the public forum. I'm going to sign myself in now. Thank you.

So this will move us into the public hearing.

We have a public hearing on the designation of two buildings for historic sites, the former South Erie Iron Works located at 1919 Peach and the former Erie Label Temple located at 1701-1707 State. If anyone is going to offer testimony, could you please stand and raise your right hand and the stenographer will read you the oath.

Good evening, council. My name is Matthew Falcone. I am the Cultural Resource Manager for the City of Erie. We are in receipt of a historic nomination for the South Erie Iron Works Company Building, which is featured here on screen. I'll use this opportunity to go through some of the history and some of the findings of the different commissions that this nomination has been through, and then it's my understanding that there are some members of the public who wish to speak today. So far, this application was reviewed by the Historic Review Commission, and this is back in, sorry, April 6th of this year. They found that there was reasonable cause for this site to be considered a historic landmark, and they made a positive recommendation to you, the city council, that it be declared a city historic landmark. So too, the Planning Commission have the opportunity to review this application. That was also back in April of 21st of this year. The Planning Commission reviewed this through the lens of established city plans. So our comprehensive plan, the neighborhood plan, and our historic preservation plan. And they too made a positive recommendation to you that this be declared a city historic landmark. The building is located at 1919 Peach Street. And that is within the Sisters of St. Joseph neighborhood network. The building from above is bounded in red. And to give you some photos, we are exclusively talking about the red brick building that is three stories high with arched windows. I know this is part of a much larger complex that has been divided over time. The buildings have sole ownership at this point. to show you some architectural details of the building itself. The rounded arch windows, the iron cornice all relate back to the building's history. What I think perhaps goes a bit unnoticed on the street is that if you are passing by on the sidewalk and you are able to see these kind of gray blocks, They are actually part of the original storefront of the building. What you see here on left is a view that's publicly available from the street, and then on right are the cast iron columns that have been infilled over time. This building has a very long and very complex history. It is without question the oldest foundry here within the city. It had its beginnings in 1858 as the Eagle Foundry, which then was bought out by a different company that renamed itself the South Erie Iron Works. South Erie at this time was not part of the city of Erie, but was subsequently annexed in hence the name. Over the course of its history, although it appears as one building today, it's actually one building and then an addition that was done 20 years later. So the first building was done in 1871, and then 20 years later in 1891, an architect was hired to present a uniform facade. The building unfortunately did not serve the Erie and Iron Works for very long. They ceased to exist in 1910, and the building then was used by the Erie Burial Casket Company, where caskets were manufactured, both the boxes themselves as well as the linens that lined the caskets. After some time, it was then used by the Watson Motor Company, which used it as parking storage and a kind of tire replacement. In 1926, the entire complex burned. It was, at the time, quite the tragedy for the city of Erie because there were gasoline trucks that were being stored in the building. Fortunately, the Erie Fire Department was able to extinguish before it exploded and was able to save those city blocks. In 1929, it was then sold to the mattress factory, which operated other buildings. They produced mattresses. And then through the 1930s to 2025, it had a varying number of uses. It was a roofing company, a furniture sales company. It was part home for the Central Labor Union and was also, at its latest iteration, home of a printing company. It was purchased by its current owners in December of 2025. And here you'll see some different advertisements. Because this was not only an industrial site, but it served as commercial storefront, there were so many different industries that were selling goods and used the first floor of this building to sell. And so what you'll see here is kind of a smattering of different advertisements for caskets, for furniture, again, for the motor company that was in store. The city conducted a architectural research survey in 2025. This building was recommended to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. And just yesterday, we found out from the state that it has officially been declared eligible to be listed on the National Register. As I mentioned before, the historic review committee, or commission rather, recommended that the former South Erie Iron Works building be listed on the City of Erie's Register of Historic Places as it conveys significance through Criterion C and maintains sufficient historic integrity. Criterion C relates back to the architectural design of the building, but the story here is much richer. And as I said before, relates back to the city's industrial heritage. The Planning Commission, too, provides a recommendation to you that the former South Erie Iron Works Company building be listed on the City of Erie's Register of Historic Places, as its listing is consistent with the City's Comprehensive Plan, Established Neighborhood Plan, and Historic Preservation Plan. That's it for me. I'm here to answer any questions you may have.

I have one. I just know you said current owner. Who's the current owner?

The current owner who is here with us today is the Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Network. I believe their intent is to turn this into their headquarters.

Oh, nice. Okay. That was my follow-up question because I know you said it was in the SSJ Neighborhood Network roadmap, so I wanted to find out if they were the owners, but okay. That sounds good to me. Thank you.

Indeed. Thank you, Council. Thank you.

Do we have any individuals from the new owners who would like to present or talk on this? You don't have to, just if you would like to add any supplement. I'm going to guess we're in now.

I do. I'm Heather Casper, Executive Director with Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Network. I don't want to take a lot of time. I know it's a long agenda. I do want to thank Matthew so much for his work on this and Jackie Spry too. The purchase of this building was for our mission because it is a building that's been in constant use for so many years. It's a neighborhood asset. We did not want to see it vacant. Also, sustainability for our organization. We have run out of space and we have two offices paying for two different places, dividing our staff between two places. We really need to centrally locate. It'll save us money. It'll also bring our staff together. So this building is perfect. The history, we didn't even know all of this. It's been so enriching for us to find these details and so gratifying. And so I'm happy to answer any questions, but we are excited to do the work to move into this building.

Do any councillors have any questions around the historic designation for Ms. Casper?

Thank you.

Do any councillors have any questions at all for this part?

Is there any public testimony for or against? I don't see any hands on that. So then probably what I would do is close out the first public hearing on this property and then on the labor, is it the labor temple? Start that public hearing.

Okay. So that's what we'll do. We'll go ahead and close out this public hearing and we'll move into the second.

This is the former Erie Label Temple, 1701-1707 state.

Do we need to call for witnesses to be sworn in on this one?

Because it's a separate public hearing, we need to redo the testimony. Or the swearing in, I'm sorry.

Hello again. The city was also in receipt of a nomination for the former Yuri Labor Temple. Very much the same as we just went through, but I will continue because this history, although tied to the last building, is very different. This nomination has again been before the Historic Review Commission, and this was earlier this year in February, I'm sorry, March. The Historic Review Commission found that there is reasonable cause for this building to be declared a historic landmark. They also made a positive recommendation to you, a city council, that it be declared a city historic landmark. So too was it before the Planning Commission, who reviewed this application through the lens of the Comprehensive Plan, Neighborhood Plan, and Historic Preservation Plan. They also made a positive recommendation to you, it be declared a city historic landmark. This building is located at 1701 through 1707 State Street. It too is in the Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Network as well as the Central City Neighborhood Watch. Both were informed of this nomination and were supportive. The resource is bounded in red. I think what may surprise some folks is that it is not only the large three-story red brick building on left, but also the two smaller buildings on right. They are all interconnected through the second floor. Here's a visual from State Street and some other pictures of the building itself. We are very fortunate, although the interior of the building is not something over which the city has jurisdiction, the owner of the building who brought this nomination forward was very happy to let us take images of the inside, which has a very high degree of historic integrity. It looks very similar to when it was constructed. Also, it's important to note what you see on right is the third floor meeting hall. That space is currently under restoration. Even the picture here, which is just a couple months old, is already quite dated. They're doing quite a bit of work. When they purchased the building, there was a drop ceiling, and so they are committed to restoring it to what it originally looked like when it was constructed in the 1920s. This building has a very long history, and its history is inexplicably intertwined with the history of union labor here within the city of Erie. And it is for that reason the historical overview predates the building, because the history of organized labor here within the city is one that is very long. It starts even before the 1890s, but it is important to note that during the 1890s, the Central Labor Union was formed. And for those of you who may not be familiar with the union, it was an umbrella organization by which several individual locals would gather together under the larger umbrella of the union and come together once a month to discuss, advocate, make decisions for organized labor within the city. During the early 20th century, there was a tremendous amount of discourse and rioting and strikes that centered around many of these different locals. Unfortunately, it was a very complicated story that at the time did not work out very well for the labor organizations. However, it did spawn the growth of labor within the city. It was at this time that we see the first what they called union men elected to city council. increasingly had a presence within not only civic discourse, but also the governance of the city. It was during this period of time that the Central Labor Union and all of those different locals moved around quite a bit. There were different labor halls, they were at sometimes operating within former industrial buildings and hotels, and it wasn't until the 1920s that this site was acquired and that they were able to build a home of their own. And part of the reason that it is located in this location is because it was an area of the city that had easy access to other industries. State Street was a main thoroughfare, but also was just adjacent to several other manufacturers. And so that the folks who were working all day would then be able to go to the Union Hall in the evenings and on weekends, not only to discuss important matters, but also it was a family in a civic place as well. So the deliberations that went on in that room would be once a month or twice a month, depending on the unions. But then they would also have parties for Christmas, parties for Easter, in which the entire family was invited in. So it served very much a central role, not only in labor, but also within our society. The Central Labor Union would expand its presence, so they would acquire the buildings that were next to them in the 1950s because of the burgeoning number of locals that existed within the city. If you go in there today, you get a very good sense of just how many different organizations were functioning out of this space. Some folks have described it as a rabid war because there are so many different offices, but they were all under the same roof and under the same umbrella. The building was acquired by its current owner in 2013 and it has been under the process of restoration since that point with a tremendous amount of activity going on within the past several months. The Historic Review Commission found that, again, there is reasonable cause that the former Erie Labor Temple be listed on the City of Erie's Register of Historic Places as it conveys significance through criteria A and C and maintains significant historic integrity to convey its significance. In layman terms, there is a specific architectural style that the building embodies, which is important, but also there's a cultural, social, and civic importance to this site and this building that is best represented as our labor history. Again, the survey that was conducted in 2025 found that this building is eligible or should be listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its significance. And the Planning Commission, too, provided you with a positive recommendation. So I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. I will say that it was a joy to be able to research this building, but there are so many different stories and voices that we weren't yet able to capture. And part of our responsibility as a city is to ensure that Even though we have the nomination in front of us today, it opens a door to be able to continue to hear and listen and collect those stories to ensure that this site is accurately conveying what is an essential part of our social history.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have been, just like the flow, if there's anybody who would like to, from the public, come up, speak first, and then council ask questions. That way we have all of the insight and we can ask any other follow-ups. We'll just need to have you sworn in if you didn't get sworn in.

I do.

Hi, everybody. My name's Dale Peters. I currently work for Julio. I've worked construction all my life. My last years of working, I worked as a laborer out of the labor union hall. right there in that building. I'm a retired electrician, and I also worked for the United Steelworkers Union. So I've been a union man all my life. This building, I've been working on it for 13 years. I work on a lot of buildings for Julio. It's just a part-time thing for me, because I'm retired. I work three days a week. when I want to and come and go when I want to, do what I want. But that's the kind of job I guess everybody wish they had. But I've been working on this building and it feels like a part of me. It really does. I guess you would have to understand. When you work a union man like I have been all my life, to see a building like that start to fall apart, you know, it breaks your heart. It really does. And I've been doing a lot of drywall work in that building. you know, fixing drywall and fixing things and keeping things running. And right now I'm building a walkway through the ceiling in the hall upstairs in the third floor. Well, it's a walkway for Julio because he's short. For me, it's a crawl space. But I'm building a walkway through there so you can get to the lights. I tore the ceiling down In the hall, it was a suspended ceiling that they put up, I think, in the late 60s, early 70s. And when I did, I exposed the ceiling, which is another, like, almost 10 foot higher than the suspended ceiling. And there was the, the lights were still there from the 1930s, the late 1930s these lights were made. And they're still there today. And I started cleaning them, you know, polishing them up and stuff, and trying to bring them back to life, you know. And there's a lot of plaster work to do on the ceiling, which I'll get to. I mean, I'm only one person. But I'm going to bring this thing back to life because it means a lot to me. And I wish that you... You would put this on a historical register because it's a beautiful building. And I've worked on D's. D's is connected to the building, and there's another place connected to D's. So I've worked on all those buildings. I've worked on a lot of buildings for Julio. But this one is special to me. And if you could see it, I know that place inside and out. every nook and cranny, you know. I've been in the walls. And it really means something. I wish you would do it. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to give testimony in support of or against? We'll just need to get you sworn in.

I do. Well, hi there. My name is Edward Kranz. I am the current tenant of the Erie Labor Temple. I am a bookbinder by trade. I do conservation restoration work. And I started a company called Erie Labor Works because someone already has Erie Labor Temple. I can't find them. We've heard testimony about Julio Reyes's character back when we had the Manticore. Mr. Falcone gave us a really good overview of the building's history at a high level, and I was really touched by Mr. Peters' poignant testimony. I've been watching this man work over the last couple of months as I've been setting up inside this building and the passion and the skill that he puts into the building are incredible. What I would like to talk about, since all that other stuff has been covered, is what does this all mean? We put this building on the registry and I'm not trying to talk you out of it. I absolutely think this building belongs there. I have a background in construction. I had a company for a better part of 12 years. With that company, I was on both sides of the union at one point or another. I was an aircraft mechanic at Boeing. I was part of the AIM, IAM, machinist union there, so I have a lot of respect for the union. I also have some other opinions about unions, but they did help shape this country, and I think it's very important. This building has architectural features that we need to preserve. There are a lot of buildings that don't necessarily deserve to be or can be put on the register and saved. This building has incredible bones, it has incredible history, it has incredible people working with it, within it, on it, and buildings survive when they're populated, when they're used. If they're not used, they fall apart, which is where I come in. I hope to be the next owner of the building in the next three years. And my goal is to turn it back to a civic function where before it was labor infrastructure where I'm going to make creative and cultural infrastructure within the building. Being a tradesman, bookbinder, kind of was tickled to find out there was once a bookbinder's and lithographer's union within that building. With me today is Sharon Smith of Sharon Smith Metal Arts, who has set up her smithing studio within the building. So again, yet another trade, handwork. And that's the kind of thing that we want to bring back into the building. We also have a lot of what we're calling soft socials, where people from the community can come in. They can sit, read. They can talk. We're going to have low volume vinyl listening night. We're going to have sketch night. We're also going to have things that we're calling a lecture brawl. You would recognize it as a good old fashioned debate, which used to happen inside of that great hall in the labor union temple. And we're going to touch upon things that you guys probably deal with on a regular basis. Who owns Erie? Is it private or is it public? All kinds of fun stuff, right? So I just wanted to let you know, in addition to everything that you've heard, what is currently going on, because that is what matters. The history of this building ties into its future very nicely. So I appreciate you taking the time to hear me out. Please do vote this on to the Historic Register, and thank you.

Thank you. Is there anybody else that would like to give testimony? Any councillors who have questions or would like to ask for any further follow-up? Okay. I think we can move to close this public hearing.

So we can move to close this second public hearing and let the court reporter go and go back to public comment. Thank you.

All right. So at this time, we will go ahead and reopen public comment. As a reminder, please sign in up at the front. We've changed the sign in. You'll have five minutes. So please pay attention to when that timer goes off and be mindful so that we can make sure we get to everybody. So just need your name and your municipality. Thank you.

My name's Freda Tepfer. I live in the city of Erie. I'm also the proud granddaughter of the president of the Hebrew Typographers Union, so glad to hear that last thing. As far as the Market House, the single thing that I really was the most concerned about was the 50-foot high backlit signage, unless they've eliminated that, but... It's like a big advertisement. It's not something that contributes to the site. I was surprised that they've already started bidding out the building that hasn't even had its water for unconditional use permit yet. It says the benches shall be ADA compliant or be adjacent to an ADA path. I don't understand. It should be compliant. It's got nothing to do with being adjacent to an ADA path. It should be ADA compliant, which means not a picnic bench for one thing. And also, short people should have a bench that their feet touch the ground. There should not be dividers of those benches. It's an antisocial thing to do that. There's a lot of non-native plants that are in the landscape plan unless they've changed it. There are, and I think I provided written documentation already to the Zoning Hearings Board, but there's a lot of native plants that serve all the same functions as what they're calling for, and there are salt-tolerant native plants that could do very well down there. The ADA parking should also be adjacent to the walk-in areas. What isn't addressed is there is supposed to be an overpass. It's going to be a later stage, according to PennDOT. How is that? I know it's not part of this project, but it is going to be part of this project. How is that overpass going to be managed? Is it going to be open? Is it going to be enclosed? Are they going to control the hours? And who can use it? So really... There should have been a master plan with an environmental impact statement for the whole frickin' waterfront. And this is being done piecemeal by piecemeal, and I really think it's not being done right. One statement I just found so objectionable is that there was a statement, well, we were going to have a grocery, but the Country Fair grocery is doing so well, we don't need it. The Country Fair grocery is an absolute joke. It's not a grocery. It's a convenience store. It's not something that a person on a budget could buy food in. So I really... I found that offensive. And I am, as I heard Andre during the beginning of the meeting, say I'm concerned because I know that the county's on the hook for some of the debt that Erie Events incurs. And this is yet another non-profit that won't pump any tax money back into the city. Now I have a few other things I'll run through quickly. Eleventh and SAS, there's a curb cut. Now was it always a curb ramp installation? It's on the southwest corner. Or was it started out as yet another one of national fuels projects? if there's not proper sidewalk closure, that a person with a visual impairment would know what the hell is going on, or that somebody coming from the north who's crossing with a visual impairment would know that there's no sidewalk for them to land on. Once again, I would like to know, There are over a dozen, maybe 25 cars from the buildings, the businesses across from Brabender Park who park there, I believe, for free by a agreement with a prior city public works director. Why is that happening? And there's also... months and months of the national fuel contractors' trucks and their garbage piles, and we're headed into the baseball season, so I don't know when are we going to get our parking back. I think that if the businesses on the other side of the street are going to get the park there for free, they should pay to put in a sidewalk along Brabant Park. Oh, speaking of parking, so I got notified that somebody was using my parking app, somehow somebody used my parking app, and I was in Atlanta, Georgia at the time, and my car was in my driveway the whole time, and I got very unsatisfactory comments, but in the course of talking to Christopher Friday, he said that nobody really objects to the status of the parking on State Street, and that's ridiculous. It's non-egalitarian to have to have an app in order to park on State Street. Thank you.

Thank you.

By the way, you're not asking for the phone address. It's the phone number. This is not a good system.

Five minutes? Five minutes. I guess it's going to be down and dirty. I'm only kidding. Good evening, Mayor, City Council. I'm Rich Gorski. I live at 1042 East 33rd Street. Been a resident of my life, resident of Erie 70 years. Lived the good old days. It was great growing up in the city and raising a family, but things have changed. My youth and long blonde hair are gone forever. Now I'm a grandpa with gray hair. No problems. Okay, on the serious side, city's financial issues, taxes, surcharges, and fees. I think we've had enough, okay? We don't need it, we can't afford it, and a tax tsunami is coming, okay? We don't need it. Millions of dollars in property tax the city gets, million dollars from the rescue plan, million dollars from the water sale. That's a lot of money. A few million dollars from the storm sewer fee, which we all know is a backdoor tax. Probably a few million dollars left in a rainy day fund, okay? City housing money, franchise money, monies from census, which is probably gonna come to end, grant money, city income tax money. On top of that, stock market. The last four years, Schemer was mayor. He's the vice president of a financial institution. The last four years, the S&P was up 55%. Dow Jones was up 39%. NASDAQ was up 46%. The city should have been making money on money. But the city doesn't really have a revenue problem. They've got a spending problem. And the people can't afford it, like the last gentleman spoke. Times are tough out there. For us seniors, it used to be... Prescription drugs and heating a house. Now they're throwing a price of gasoline and a price of food. Enough's enough, okay? And a tax tsunami is coming. We all know what a tsunami is. It's a tidal wave, okay? So I'm talking about a tax tidal wave. It happens about every 10 years. We get a reassessment. The buzz is already in the courthouse, and they're talking about the reassessment. It happens every 10 years. It's not mandated by law, but it's coming, okay? And the problem with that is, in the last three or four years, Let me read this. Increase in tariffs, inflation, and COVID. Price of housing and the price of business has skyrocketed, okay? And a quote from Nick Scott is, the higher the assessment, the higher taxes. So it's coming. It's only a matter of time, you know? So what I'm trying to say is, you don't need to raise taxes now, because if you raise them, then the county's going to raise them, then the school district's going to raise them, then they're going to throw the reassessment in our face. And it's just going to do a double jab to us. You've got to have a little reprieve and a little consideration. Because remember, the mayor and you people, you've got a fiduciary responsibility to be fiscally responsible for the taxpayers' money. That's your job. You represent the people of Erie. And I know it costs money to run a government, but it's got to stop somewhere. once again, like I said, I don't think we've got a revenue problem at this point. We've got a spending problem at this point, you know? And then the city council, the mayor of Schember pays $180,000 to a consulting firm, which the new mayor is working into, okay, to find out about the city's budget, okay? And the biggest problem was paying benefits, because 90% of the budget is paying benefits for city employees, okay? And so what's he do? Hire 47 more people. Just put gas on the fire, okay? So I'm glad when she said she questions hiring one more person, you know, you've got to look at that. You've got to look at the big picture, you know? You can't build a city on raising taxes, surcharges, and fees. We've got a big problem in the city. Old people are dying, okay? And young people are leaving. What's gonna happen? How can you build a city, you know? So, like I said, I grew up in this city, 70 years. It was a great city to grow up in and work in and raise a family. But, you know, things change and I can accept that. But, you know, all I can say in closing is you gotta be a little concerned about the people who live here, you know? Because we pay the freight, we pay the city workers, we pay their benefits. We pay the county workers, we pay their benefits. We pay the school teachers, we pay their benefits, you know? So, you know, look at the big picture, you know. And the saddest thing about living in the city that I've seen in 70 years is the youth are leaving. My grandkids graduate, they probably ain't going to be in here, you know. And that, you know, because when I grew up, it was all about the love of family and friends. Now it's all about love of money. You know, it's sad, but it is what it is. So, okay, now, any questions to me?

No, we don't usually do that. Is that quick enough? Yeah, you did great, actually. I appreciate it.

It's old beer 30. We'll see you next month.

Thank you.

Hello, Martha Wachugu, City of Erie. Thank you all for sitting up here and doing what you do. I often feel bad for you because you are blamed for a whole community's problems. Someone reframed on the internet the other day that we don't actually have a cost of living crisis, we have a cost of greed crisis. This city has a lot of money. I want to celebrate Mr. Cooley's event this past Sunday. He hosted an intersectional town hall down at 1020 Collective. And there were a lot of stories that stood out to me. But one that I want to raise up today was raised by Ms. Vanna Wilson, who also premiered her debut documentary on the population of Klein and Erie. And one of her central points is she is a young woman who grew up and went to the school district here in Erie. And she participated in the CNA program. But the wages for CNAs in our community are slave poverty wages. Who's paying those wages? It's a lot of the multi-million dollar, billion dollar businesses in this community. The city being broke is partly, yes, we have a lot of large nonprofits in our community that don't pay taxes that you as city council and the executive don't have the power to tax them for. But they're not paying wages that are livable, and they're also not paying their taxes. So something's got to give. Our community needs more. We should demand more. And on the state level, I have actually little patience for us saying we don't deserve more as a community. I know we're not the same place. I know we're not the same kind of government. But I just watched what one or two weeks ago, New York City balanced their budget without cutting public services and even adding free child care services there. What we have is a greed problem in this state and in this community. So when I hear, there's fair criticism about uniforms and what's going to happen to parents affording that. As a child of Catholic school, I know it's costly, but what would it look like for a Gannon or a UPMC to fund uniforms, fund the school supplies that the teachers are paying for. I'd rather see them pay taxes, but there are a lot of things in this community that people are shelling out of pocket for that these corporations are not paying their fair share to provide for. I was at an apartments association meeting last night trying to build relationships with landlords who you might publicly think that I'm in opposition to, but ultimately I'm about securing and stabilizing housing in this community. Not everyone wants to be a homeowner in this community, so we do need a stable renting base. There are challenges to landlords in our community. Something that came up last night was the requirement that is not observed that landlords should provide trash receptacles for their tenants. One of the landlords I spoke to last night said if they were to invest in that, that would cost them $5,000 that they could be spending on a water furnace or a water heater. Again, what would it look like for UPMC to be paying their taxes for you to maybe as a city provide those trash receptacles or for them to do a pilot where they pay for things like roofing repairs, foundation repairs, pest control. So I'm using this platform today to say, again, we need to be really aggressive with the state. They need to be closing the tax loopholes that a lot of these corporations are getting away with. They need to be taxing the wealthiest in our state off of their capital gains. Not necessarily what's coming out of their pocket, but what they're making off the stock market, as to what this gentleman just said. And lastly, the community wants to be engaged and participate in the decision-making of our future. So between myself at Erie County United, Mr. Cooley, the Erie Spiritual Coalition, and a wealth of other community organizations, we want to put on those events. We want to engage the community. We are public actors asking people to engage with us. But it's actually frustrating that we as common citizens are often coming up here and we're not seeing the folks at Scott Enterprises coming here and sharing their plans or other community corporations sharing their plans. They should come here to these council meetings just like we do and share what they want for the community and what they need to contribute. If they're not paying their taxes as nonprofits, it's not enough for you to say that, yes, we're educating people in our communities, therefore we should maintain our status. How many students from the Erie School District are going through those programs? How many students from the school district are going through those programs, getting employed and staying in our community? And then lastly, when it comes to our tax base, Ms. Elizabeth earlier said to consider taking pay cuts to show goodwill. I would argue that our law enforcement are some of the highest starting wages in our community, and they are not mandated to live here. They should be mandated to live here, and if anyone needs to take a pay cut for it, it should probably be considering them. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, Cindy Treiber, born and raised in Erie, now live in Edinburgh. First of all, Dr. Titus, I just want to commend you on your integrity for the previous conversation about having a presentation on reentry. I just thank you. At the last city council meeting, when asked about the funding for this reentry program that was forcibly and suspiciously taken from an independent nonprofit, Mayor Devlin said that the city has historically paid for a caseworker for the reentry program out of CDBG dollars and that has been done for many many years and this year they were asked to not send the money to the Y but to send it to the county and to move our funds which we agreed to and then fund a position and a half. Council was told that they would be approving and made aware of that information in June and I guess maybe now July. I'm curious as to how many justice involved persons will be affected by the inadequate or non-existent services by that time. I would like for the record to inquire as to whom did the asking. Who asked for the money to be moved? When was this ask made? What process was followed in requesting this reallocation? What research was done to determine the continued financial commitment and community support of a new bureau in probation and parole department affiliated with the gun task force participants that killed Marcello last summer? I'm confident that those who love him would not want their tax dollars invested in a risk like that. Where is the paper documenting this ask? Should we file more right-to-know requests? Should we seek independent counsel? Once taxpayer dollars are being paid or being used to operate a public program, counties and cities are expected to follow some type of transparent procurement process before transferring funds or programs or creating programs under other entities. That's a Request for proposal, request for applications. This gives qualified organizations an opportunity to apply, outline how they would run the program, provide budgets, staffing plans, outcomes. It's meant to ensure fairness, transparency, and accountability with public funds. If a county-funded program was closed and then essentially replaced or transferred to another county agency program using public dollars, we have a right to ask, where was the RFP? Where was the RFA? Were other qualified providers given an opportunity to bid? Was city council aware and approving of this transition? Was their documentation explaining the competitive procurement and why it was bypassed? Even when our local government technically has some flexibility, there are best practices because it protects taxpayer dollars and prevents favoritism and nepotism. This is law. This is outlined in the Pennsylvania Procurement Code, Title 62, the County Code, Title 16, county procurement policies and administrative codes, federal grant requirements. What makes this especially concerning is that we talk about that some of this money that we are paying for this reentry program, one and a half staffing, is actually from CDBG funds. That's federal money. CDBG funding comes with federal compliance requirements tied to HUD, which generally emphasize open and fair competition, documentation, conflict of interest protection, and proper procurement procedures. So if ECRSSA was closed and the programming funding was essentially moved and shifted without a public RFP, without a formal application process, without open bidding, without any justification, we have a much bigger problem and continued issues with transparencies that are not being acknowledged. There was no bid. There was no public process. The money was moved. We don't know who asked. We don't know when it was moved, how it was moved. It wasn't documented. And it's done with federal money. Federal money. This is so bad. Mayor Devlin, you publicly campaigned on transparency and accountability in government. When decisions involving publicly funded programming occur without a clearly visible public process, it raises concerns and questions from the community. At the very least, our laws and best practices dictate that the council should have been involved with the submission of an ordinance. the most detailed would have occurred a notice of intent to request to release the funds, much like you did in October 2025, time for public comment, review of objections to release of funds. There would have been an entire process that should have occurred when you move money that is especially federally oriented. My concern is the relocation and moving of this money and funding of additional jobs combined with the creation of a new bureau is being done without checks and balances. Is it even legal? The people who were here earlier said that they don't even have statistics on recidivism or any of the metrics. You guys all got those. I emailed those to you. You have them. So I just want to ask if moving this forward makes you complicit should another person be involved in a beating or a shooting this summer.

Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Deontay Quilley, a lifelong Erie resident, and I have a few things to say. I was up here two weeks ago, and I was speaking for my concerns for the lack of consideration for the black community. And it wasn't just an SPCP thing or whatever the case may be. What I will say is after I made my statement, I did see the mayor meeting with Mr. Crenshaw. And thank you for that because Mr. Crenshaw has been being railroaded in this city for years. He's been offering affordable housing regardless of the opinions that people have about him. He's been providing housing for people, affordable housing within our area community, specifically on the east side. So thank you for acknowledging that and recognizing that. But another point that I wanted to bring up is, and Marty brought it up, we recently had a town hall intersectionality. And it was very strategically planned. This is not the first time that we had. The first time we had one, I actually invited Chuck Nelson to be a panelist. He was a city council person before. And at that time, only one person from city council showed up to, I guess, support their colleague or to hear what the community had to say, which concerns me is because When city council people are speaking to the community, why aren't other council people showing up? There's only two new faces up there from the last time, and none of you all showed up. I also asked the mayor, hey, why don't you come walk in some of the neighborhoods? We've been seeing you all on social media, taking pictures, going to people's organizations and stuff like that, but when we talked about intersectionality and we're talking about the people in our community, there was no presence from our mayor. There was no presence from the majority of our of our council and that wasn't just about black people, which makes me wonder like, are we being heard or do we have to be some type of organization? Do we have to actually have title? Do I have to cut my hair and shave my beard for people to say, hey, I can take you seriously? You know what I mean? Because even like right now, when other people were talking, they had your full attention. As I'm talking, I don't have any attention from you. But that's okay because it shows the disregard for us as people. Because there was a point in time when you were running for mayor, the first town hall you showed up, when you were running for mayor, you were all in our community. Now that you are the mayor, you and I have had conversation. I have yet to hear from you. The last message I actually sent to you was, happy birthday. Nothing from that. So it makes me wonder, like, Were you coming into our community to say these things so that you can get into this position and now it's just behind the scenes conversations? Because we are not having behind the scenes conversations about the advancement of black people. And I also want to say another thing. When you all are making phone calls to talk to different people and organizations as far as, well, hey, what can we do? How do we help black people? How can we speak up for black people? Believe it or not, those phone calls come back to me. So when you're calling organization head leaders and you're talking to people who are executive directors, my phone rings and they're saying, hey, Deontay, I got a phone call from this person. What should we do? So I'm not exactly sure why is it that, like Marty said, when the community wants to have concerns and speak, why is it that we only have to come here when we're going to meet you where you are? So do we have to have 100 black people come down here and stand at this podium for five minutes and hold you guys in here for eight hours for you all to start taking us into consideration? We're talking about the water. We're talking about EDDC. Again, what about the east side, the upper parts, the poor areas of Erie, Pennsylvania? And it seems as though the conversation is speaking on deaf ears. And I'm not coming down here to ask for permission. I could care less if you show up or not. It's to the point now to where we're not asking for permission. We're making things happen. If we have to go outside of this city to get funds, if we have to go outside of this city to get resources, we're going to do that. But it gets to a point in time where you see there's a population of people who are tired who feel as though they are not being represented, who feel as though they are not being considered or talking to when it's like, okay, maybe later, because we gotta talk about Nick Scott. Maybe later, we gotta talk about EDDC. Maybe later, we gotta talk about Erie Events. When do we start talking about the east side and the strategic plan for the east side outside of Erie Insurance, outside of the Hammond Health Foundation? What about the actual people who care? Because the council, is responsible for the infrastructure, but you are responsible for the people. So when you have 120 people, very diverse crowd, talking about their concerns and speaking their concerns, one representative coming from the organization is not enough. Because anywhere else, I don't know her name, the camera lady shows up. You're on Facebook taking pictures. You were just at the apartment association, and then you were somewhere else. I'm not saying that you need to make it your business to come to events that I host, but when black people, poor black people, not the executive directors, not the millionaires, when poor black people are asking for help, you're not showing up, at least for the conversations that I'm having. And people are reaching out to me and saying, yo, you was doing all of that pushing for Dario. You was doing, where your girl at now? And it's crazy that people are coming at me for the lack of concern that it seems as though you have for our community. And it doesn't sit well with me. So can we get to a point where we start talking to people who are boots on the ground in the community doing work and stop looking for the aesthetically pleasing people? Because I'm not shaving my beard. I'm not cutting my hair. And I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be here representing Erie for my entire life. And I'm going to be speaking up for black people until the day that I die. So y'all will either have to deal with me or get rid of me. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Julia Jacobs and I live on the east side of Erie.

I did not have anything prepared to speak today. I really just came to listen. But in my listening to Mr. Cooley here, I did notice the looks on some of your faces, the body language and expressions on some of your faces, including the mayor here. who was very, that was very disturbing to me to see because this is a space where community voices should be heard and listened to and that should be felt by everybody in this room not just by the black community although I'm sure he did not feel heard in that because I watched as As your head shook, your eyes rolled, you weren't looking at him in his direction even. That's very disappointing to see, especially as somebody that rallied for you and that campaigned for you through Erie County United. So I would just like to point that out because that behavior is noticed and noted and will be addressed in the future. Thank you.

Good evening, City Council. My name is Ed Kissel. I live in the city of Erie. I'd like to speak on the agenda and maybe a clarification to start with. Under old business, on the second page where it starts with the market house down on the bayfront, there are conditions that are listed, and then at the end of that, There are other recommendations. Is that just for, that's the solicitor, is that just for the Market House, or is that gonna be a change in the complete zoning? I know you don't answer questions that way, but it's something I wanna speak on, and if that could be answered, I then have a request.

It's not a change of the zoning. Pardon? It's not a change of the zoning. This is the conditions for this. This is the waterfront conditional use. So these are related to that, not related to the entire zoning.

This will be a complete change? I didn't understand it.

It's just for the market house. It's just for the market house.

This is just for the market house. Okay. Then I'll go on. I would like to ask then for an amendment to be considered as one of the conditions, and then I would ask council at a future time to consider it for the complete city zoning because it affects it to no end. And that would be, you have eight conditions, I believe, for the Market House. My ninth one would be an addition. It would say that all developers that require free public amenities to be completed at the end of their construction and before an occupancy permit is granted. And the reason for that, it's taken one development back a number of years ago, 20 years to be completed, and that was Liberty Park, which some of you probably were young and maybe not even born back then when that took place. But I thought that it could easily be called the Market House if they have public amenities that they're going to consider that they be completed before occupancy takes place. I know we have 110% bond issues that are put on these developments, and that was done in case a development would fail. You at least have 10% more to finish it up in the future years because of inflation. So some of these should be considered as a whole change in the zoning for other developers to consider. So I thank you.

Good evening. My name is Henry. I live in the city of Erie. Now, if my memory serves me correctly, I believe about 25% of all people who live in the city of Erie are below the poverty line. And, you know, I even think now it's like, you know, I think the poverty line's like $17,000 for an individual or like $19,000 for an individual. I'm like, I don't even know how people live on double that or even 250% of that. And one of the speakers earlier was talking about how we need to be getting the wealthy to be paying their fair share in taxes. And I just recall when there was Erie Day down in Harrisburg, Was there pressure on state leaders to find the will to tax wealthy people in Pennsylvania more? Are you working with your other city partners in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Altoona, Scranton, to try to organize together to maybe have the state of Pennsylvania authorize cities and other municipalities to tax these people more, to get around all of these legal loopholes that people have You know, someone was speaking, I believe it was Mr. Cooley who was talking about photo ops and everything. I saw the photo ops from Erie Day down in Harrisburg. Where is the pressure from the city here to demand more from the state partners about getting the funding? We're talking about how we don't have funding for this, we don't have funding for that. We have to get rid of some fire admin, we have to consider cutting you know, other contracts and this of that nature, you know, you know, we have state partners that are supposed to be helping the city with all of these funding issues. I mean, it's not, the federal government's already abandoned us. So it looks like we have the state left at this point. So, I mean, we're talking about a cost of living crisis that is out of control and We're here, the city even is experiencing a cost of living crisis, it sounds like, from a government perspective. So, I mean, are you guys demanding enough from state partners? Are you guys demanding enough from federal partners? Because it obviously sounds like there isn't. And the wealthy, you know, they basically own Washington. I mean, they practically own Harrisburg. And, you know, I walk up and down State Street, and I think Erie Insurance owns, I don't know how many, square miles at this point, you know, and, you know, UPMC and the Scots and the white lodging down the bayfront, I mean, it's honestly kind of gross how much space they can occupy while there are homeowners and renters on the Lower East Side that have to wonder, am I going to be buying, you know, chicken from a can or actual chicken? Because I have to decide between nutrients and just being able to eat in general. And it's honestly kind of sick to watch some people here be dismissive and some people here not pay attention to those that have real concerns here. And I just really hope that this city, the counselors, the administration is really using every tool in their disposal. Because when I look in these meetings, when I look at these hearings, the priorities all seem to be on, oh, what are the wealthy gonna bring to this city and to this county as well? And I mean, do we not forget that the 100,000 people who live in the city is what is actually producing the value here in this city. It's not the people who just simply own the land. It is the people who actually work and live here that are providing the productivity necessary to facilitate all the nice things about the city of Erie. Whether it's the nurses in the hospital, the bartenders down here on State Street. I mean, it's all of the working people here and I'm just witnessing every time I'm in one of these meetings that they're happy to say yes. Let's just say yes to every single contract with private developers and private enterprises. But, you know, I mean, where is the direct funding that's going to the streets here? You know, I mean, we're at a construction season right now. And it just sounds like we're letting all these private developers, these private contractors kind of do whatever, and there's no accountability for anything. I mean, don't even get me started on peri-construction. But please, consider your priorities. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Eric Peterson. I live in Mill Creek. I was mainly going to save what I wanted to save for county, but since a lot of other people have brought it up, you know, I really didn't like those, that eerie day in Harrisburg. We saw over and over again as people who say they're fighting for the community, who never seem to show up, are pushing for the things that will help them, not actually helping the community. I mean, I've looked at the Infinite Gentrification Playbook. It puts out a bunch of different budgets for market rate housing that is totally unaffordable. I'm in that under $17,000. I'm on disability, and I worry about how I'm going to be able to live in this area in the future. When I saw my county executive talking, working with the community and then naming off all these community development corporations that seems like their only goal is to build infrastructure for the rich just to move in on our dime and then not provide anything. It was just a corporate lobbying event. I mean, there were photo ops with the head of an insurance company. Are we actually thinking that this, These people have our best interest at heart. You know, I just want to see people actually coming to the community and talking about the issues. And I would love to see more people show up, especially for events Mr. Cooley's having that have been so important for our community, which I sadly wasn't there, but I did watch it online. But that is all I have to say. I'll sign this and be on my way.

Is there anybody else that would like to speak? Anyone else that would like to speak?

I'm Cole Shenley. I live in the city of Erie. I'll try to be sweeter to you than my comrades have been. I really know that, I know this council and I know the mayor care a lot about the future of this city and we've heard a lot about the hard choices that maybe need to be made for the financial future of this city. One thing I want you to consider is that we need a higher population for a larger tax base. We've heard this over and over again. For as long as I've been coming to city council meetings which is going on like a decade or so. I heard the previous mayor and Mayor Devlin talk about we need more people to live here. We need a bigger tax base because unfortunately we worry about the shrinking of the city population and thus the burden that gets placed on the average working person. I think the kinds of people that we're hoping that will move here, we rely so heavily on our new American population that comes in, and the beauty that they bring every time a new immigrant family comes in. But they're poor people, and so many of our people that live here live below the poverty line. And what I worry about is that what the city is going to do is deep cuts to services and austerity at a time when your average working family needs so much more. When we're seeing corruption of the highest levels from the federal government and We're seeing the President of the United States do things like have a $1.7 billion budget for the people that he likes and his followers and his supporters, and none of that is going to come to the people of Erie. I guess unless maybe you're one of his MAGA fans, maybe not even then. What are we doing for the poorest that live here? And I really want you to consider that in everything that you do. Because I can tell you that our state senator, Dan Laughlin, has gone on Facebook and made it very clear that he will be pushing you to make the deepest cuts possible to your budget. He talked very explicitly about breaking the firefighters union and making sure that we are firing a bunch of firefighters. And that sounded sick to me, but he's made it very clear he wants that. And I know that he is a state senator, and even though he's a Republican, he will put that pressure on you as an elected official. I hope that you don't heed that, and I hope that you really, really fight for the poorest people in this city. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Do we have any other resident who would like to speak? Anyone else who would like to speak? Anyone else who would like to speak? We'll go ahead and close public comment then.

Thank you everyone who filled out your names and signs. It was a little confusing missing some of the information in past meetings, so we're trying to make the clerks.

No problem, thank you. Ordinances for final passage. Council File Number 16605, Official Ordinance 262026, an ordinance appropriating a sum of $500,000 from unappropriated fund balance and the paving and sewer revenue fund for the expenditure thereof. Funds will be used for the 2026 streets paving. Sponsored by Council Member True, seconded by Council Member Horton, that Council File Ordinance 16605, and now known as Official File Ordinance 262026, be finally passed by City Council. Members Brzezinski? Yes. Flores? Yes. Horton? Yes. Hull? Yes. Schaaf? Yes. Mr. Truth is left. And Titus?

Yes.

City Council, pass Official File Ordinance 26-2026, finally by yeas 6, nays 0. Council file number 16606, official ordinance 272026, an ordinance appropriating a sum of $1 million from unappropriated fund balance in the liquid fuels fund for the expenditure thereof. These funds will be used for the 2026 streets paving and street lighting traffic signals. Sponsored by Council Member Troop, seconded by Council Member Horton, that Council File Number 16606, and now known as Official File Ordinance 272026, be finally passed by City Council. Members Brzezinski? Yes. Flores? Yes. Horton? Yes. Hull? Yes. Shaw? Yes. Titus?

Yes.

City Council pass Official File Ordinance 272026 by yeas 6, nays 0. Council file number 16607, official ordinance 282026. An ordinance appropriating a sum of $746,320.44 from unappropriated and anticipated revenue to provide for the expenditure thereof for the construction phase of the 2025 Greenlight Go funding program, West 12th and Pittsburgh Avenue signal upgrades project. Sponsored by Council Member Troop, seconded by Council Member Horton. The Council File Ordinance 16607, and now known as the Official File Ordinance 282026, be finally passed by City Council. Members Brzezinski? Yes. Flores? Yes. Horton? Yes. Sol? Yes. Bischoff? Yes. Titus?

Yes.

City Council pass Official File Ordinance 282026, finally by Ye 6, Nay 0. Council file number 16608, official ordinance 292026. An ordinance appropriating a sum of $205,474 from unappropriated and unanticipated revenue for the expenditure thereof. The funds are granted from Pennsylvania DCED local share account to purchase a screener machine for the Bureau of Streets. Sponsored by Council Member Truth, seconded by Council Member Horton, that Council File Ordinance number 16608, and now known as Official File Ordinance 29-2026, be finally passed by City Council. Members Brzezinski? Yes. Flores? Yes. Horton?

Yes. Cole? Yes.

Shaw? Yes. Titus?

Yes.

City Council pass Official File Ordinance 29-2026, finally by Ye 6, Nay 0.

Ordinances for first reading.

Council file number 16609, an ordinance amending ordinance number 261958, the traffic code of the city of Erie by the installation of stop signs at three intersections. Number one, McCarter Avenue in Pennsylvania, stopping at McCarter. Number two, Atkins Street and Birch Court, stopping on Birch Court. And number three, West 39th Street and Fruit Street, stopping on Fruit Street. Sponsored by Council Member Troop, seconded by Council Member Horton. The Council File Ordinance 16609, haven't been read, is hereby adopted on first reading by City Council. Members Brzezinski?

Yes.

Flores? Yes. Horton? Yes. Pohl? Yes. Shaw? Yes. Titus?

Yes.

City Council, read and adopt Council File Ordinance 16609, by yeas 6, nays 0, on first reading. Thank you. Council File Number 16610, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Erie, the city determining to incur lease rental debt evidenced by the guaranteed revenue bond and the maximum principal amount of $2,784,063 to be authorized and issued by the Erie City Water Authority in connection with the construction, alteration, and improvements to the public water distribution facilities in and about this city, including but not limited to, the customer side, galvanized service line replacement project, phase five, and paying related costs, fees, and expenses, specifying the realistic, useful life of the project, authorizing and directing appropriate officers of the city to take certain actions and to execute certain documents, including a guarantee agreement between the city as guarantor and the Erie City Water Authority. and the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority approving the form, maximum guarantee amounts, and sources of payment of the guarantee agreement, creating a sinking fund in connection with such guarantee obligations, and appointing a sinking fund depository and providing for the repeal of all inconsistent ordinances or parts of ordinances. Sponsored by Council Member Schaaf, seconded by Council Member Brzezinski. The Council File Ordinance 16-610, haven't been read, is hereby adopted on first reading by City Council. Members Brzezinski? Yes. Flores? Yes. Horton? Yes. Holt? Yes. Schaaf? Yes. Titus?

Yes.

City Council read and adopt Council File Ordinance 16-610 by yeas, six, nays, zero on first reading. Council file number 16611. An ordinance of the city council, the city of Erie, that city determining to incur lease rental debt evidenced by the guaranteed revenue bond and the maximum principal amount of $8 million to be authorized and issued by Erie City Water Authority in connection with the construction alteration and improvements to the public water distribution facilities in and about the city, including but not limited to the West 12th Street maintenance facility, renovation and distribution system, programmatic financing, and paying related costs, fees, and expenses, specifying the realistic, useful life of the project, authorizing and directing appropriate officers of the city to take certain actions and to execute certain documents, including a guarantee agreement between the city as guarantor and the Erie City Water Authority, and the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority approving the form, maximum guaranteed amounts and sources of payment of the guarantee agreement, creating a sinking fund in connection with such guarantee obligations, and appointing a sinking fund depository. and providing for the repeal of all inconsistent ordinances or parts of ordinances. Sponsored by Council Member Schaaf, seconded by Council Member Brzezinski, the Council File Ordinance 16611, having been read, is hereby adopted on first reading by City Council. Members Brzezinski?

Yes. Flores?

Yes. Horton? Yes. Holt? Yes. Schaaf? Yes. Titus?

Yes.

City council read and adopt council file ordinance 16611 by yeas 6, nays 0 on first reading. Okay, we go forward with old business. We've done the public hearing. We go on to old business number two. A resolution pursuant to Article 7 of the revised Zoning Ordinance 80-2005 and a public hearing held by Erie City Council on Wednesday, May 6th at approximately 9.30 a.m. in Council Chambers, 626 State Street, request to designate the former Erie Manticore Club located at 1607 State Street as a historic building and site be hereby approved and authorizing and directing the city solicitor to prepare an ordinance to amend the zoning map to reflect such designation. Discussion?

Yeah, Mr. President? Yes. Could you explain to the folks so everybody knows that this doesn't mean that these buildings are not going to be taxed anymore because they are historic buildings? Is that the truth, or are we taking them off the roster?

I don't think that they become a non-profit building. They become a historic building.

That's what I'm trying to make sure. Folks are confused out there. Why are we doing it, I guess, is what the folks want to know. Do you know?

They still have to pay taxes. They can apply for federal money for grants to secure their building for longer term. purposes to come. So if it just sits and they're doing it out of their own pocket, it's very costly. But providing historic, not just for repurposing the building and not just trying to get grants, but it's about our history. It's about knowing the story and moving forward with the story. And architectural, there's so many components to architecture that we don't get in buildings nowadays.

And I would just like to, this is why we had the hearing, and I think I would like to bring us back to, I think, the very thorough presentation done by Mr. Falcone on just the process, why we're doing it, and the different designations as to why it went through. Just to kind of reiterate what Councillor Schaaf had said, that this does open up a venue of funding and opportunity, but more importantly, keeps them on a register. And so it doesn't take them off of a tax base, but it does open up other funding avenues for these buildings.

Most important to the taxpayer is that It's not coming out of our pockets. I think that needs to be out there for everybody to understand. Thank you.

Go ahead and call for the vote on that.

Council Member Brzezinski?

Yes.

Flores? Yes. Horton?

Yes.

Hall? Yes. Shaw? Yes. Titus? Yes. Resolution passes, yeas six, nays zero. Okay, we have old business number three. A resolution of the Council of the City of Erie regarding a request for approval of a waterfront conditional use for a new two-story commercial building commonly known as the Market House, submitted by Piper O'Brien, Air Architects Limited, on behalf of the Erie County Convention Center Authority and pursuant to Section 306 of Zoning Ordinance, Ordinance Number 80-2005, as amended, is hereby approved with the listed conditions. Number one, the developers and or owners of record shall maintain open space which contains green space that satisfies all of the following criteria. A, shall consist of living landscape material including grass, ground cover, planting, shrubs and or trees consistent with general landscaping criteria set for in section 306.5. And landscaping shall include regionally native planting materials where reasonable and B, that impervious services shall not constitute more than 40% of any qualifying open space area and such impervious services shall be limited to walkways, paths and bench pads serving towards public use of the space. And number two, further the following shall not count towards the open space calculation under these conditions, parking lots and closed or screened areas From public view, rooftop amenities not accessible from grade vehicular use areas but excluding emergency vehicles access any area subject to permanent fee-based access or private reservation and or mandatory public access consistent with Section 306.1. Number three, further the developers and or owners of record shall make reasonable efforts to incorporate bird and wildlife sensitive measures intended to support the safety of birds and or migratory species. Number four, further the developers and or owners of record shall design, construct and maintain the site to be welcoming, publicly accessible and harmonious in character and shall avoid physical barriers, design features or site elements that would reasonably discourage public entry pedestrian activity or engagement by citizens and business invitees. Number five, further developers and or owners of records shall install exterior lighting along public access ways consistent with section 306.2D and that all light fixtures shall be hooded or shielded to direct light downward and shall not constitute unreasonable glare defined as light perceptible at ground level beyond a reasonable distance and or the surface of the bay. Number six, Further, the developers and or owners of record shall install or maintain not less than eight public benches per acre pursuant to the following conditions. A, the design standards of the public benches shall be constructed of weather resistant materials consistent with Section 306.2 and 306.5 shall be securely anchored to prevent displacement or removal, shall comply with ADA accessibility or be adjacent to an ADA accessible path, and shall bear no commercial advertising consistent with Section 306.2 , but excluding donor plaques not to exceed a maximum size of 6 by 12 inches. And B, the owners of record shall be responsible for all maintenance costs including reasonable cleanliness, regular repairs, and or replacement of structurally unsound benches within a reasonable amount of time. Number seven. Further, the developers and owners of record shall apply for a zoning variance if necessary regarding the proposed signage of the market house pursuant to section 303 of the zoning code. Number eight. Further, the developers and or owners of record shall comply with all policies and procedures above to the extent not otherwise inconsistent with federal law, Pennsylvania law, city of Erie ordinances, and or any other law applicable to design construction and maintenance of the Market House including without limitation ADA compliance. Discussion?

Could you repeat that?

Discussion from anybody?

I guess I just would like clarification on reasonable distance and reasonable condition, like what's the definition of reasonable for the record?

Which section specifically?

I see on five it says level beyond a reasonable distance and then somewhere else there's another reasonable.

I think the reasonable distance for the lights is that the goal, the goal for this provision was kind of in line with the public access and the safety aspect. So I think if you're down there at night and after the sun's gone down, you want the lights spaced so that you can see going forward, but not necessarily have them too close together that you can't see. So I think I left. The word reasonable at that point would leave flexibility for the developer or the architect to make sure the delays are spaced appropriately to comply with the conditions about making sure there's public access and the safety part of it.

And then regular repairs and or, no, never mind. I thought I seen reasonable again. I thought I seen it twice, so my fault.

So Mr. Kissel presented to us this evening about the public access and the things that we wanted to make sure that the facility doesn't open until they've met the public requirements and not to do it 20 years later like what happened to a different project.

I mean, the public access part, we kind of discussed this a little bit in caucus. So you guys are debating this over section 306 of the zoning code. Section 306, I believe it's 306.01. For the waterfront conditional uses that public access is supposed to be maintained by any of the developers down there So that's paramount number one. So the way I when I was looking at mr. Kissel's note that he that we got It's in my mind. They have to comply with that anyway, so to add an extra condition Is I believe unnecessary so I'm not saying that is for or against but just that you have 1922

We're killing the horse, and he's dead already. Let's just vote.

Well, the question dealt with the public access. That's already included in the zoning code. So I believe that as long as that's met, though.

Thank you. Thank you.

Dr. Titus?

Yes, Council Member.

Yeah, well, I'm just going to jump right to it. I intend to vote no on this, but it's important. that I specify that this is not to vilify anyone or any institution or agency. We just have some fundamental differences to our approach on things where the city is concerned. I see Gus and Gwen, or Ms. White and Mr. Pine are here. I like Gwen, Roger, Gus, and the board in general. They're very talented, honest, and hardworking people that love this city just as much as I do. I just have a different perspective, and I don't think the citizens of the city of Erie are receiving the return on their investment that we should. It doesn't mean they're bad people. It doesn't mean I'm angry with them personally. I just disagree with the corporate welfare. and that the nonprofits, I don't feel, are contributing to the wholeness and health of the city to the degree that they should or could. Trickle-down doesn't work. In those cases, it hasn't worked. They tell us the city doesn't have money, the county doesn't have money, the state doesn't have money. A gentleman spoke about our state legislators and the trip to Erie. I just think that not paying taxes in the perpetuity is not good policy when we have the social ills and issues that we have. They've done some great things. I mean, the Aquabus, the Liberty Park, they just recently took over the zoo. And I know that they often shoot the messenger around here. I'm very, very consistent, and nobody should be surprised at my vote. My first vote 13, 14 years ago on county council was to co-sign the refinancing of the convention center's loan. At that time, I was brand new. I was like two days old. It was my very first vote. It was a tough vote because that labor hall they're talking about Historically, I walked up them steps, as did my brothers, as did my father. Gordon's walked up and down them steps for 50, 60 years. And so all of my coworkers, I was actually on my executive board. They brought all the different trades down. They all had their lime green shirts on. The meeting was so big, they had to move it up to courtroom H. And I voted. as the Lord would have me to vote, and I was ostracized for it. But I'm all the better for it. Because as it turned out, everyone said, oh, nothing will happen. This is wrong. I mean, this is OK. We're just cosigning it. And I felt like if they were going to save $11 billion, that the community should get half of that in the form of a community benefit agreement, since the citizens were on the hook for it. Nothing will happen. Nothing will happen. Nothing will happen. Our 40-plus year accountant, different lawyers from both entities, nothing will happen. Well, something did happen in the way of COVID-19 pandemic. And so as a result of us signing, as a result of us signing or co-signing that bond, when COVID hit, of course, we got to pay your bills. Our bond rating wouldn't look so right. So in October of 2020, Erie County forked over $2,907,033. Hold on. We came back in 2021. In January, we gave them $2,100. So we have $5 million, money that was intended for taxpayers. So not only are we not getting tax revenue from them, I know they do great services, but now we're paying. So we came back in August and gave them another $2 million. So we gave them like $7 million of taxpayer money that was intended. for those people, agencies, institutions who were most negatively impacted by COVID-19 and those historically, i.e., black communities that were historically discriminated against. As we celebrate Erie's 200, Pennsylvania's 250th year of the nation's forever. And they do shoot the messenger around it. We've spent our whole, it's been over a decade in the making, so I'm not here to upend or try to influence anyone else to upend the thing. Because I know $9 million is hanging in the balance. And so I'm not that big of a nut. I'm a nut sometimes, but I'm not that big of a nuthead. And so our thing is always, it's great for the developer. If we build it, they will come. Tourists get in. And so we talk to stuff, well, okay, well, the state don't have no money, the county don't have no money, the city don't have no money. We should have an increase in the hotel tax or something because it ain't adding up. The math ain't mathing. And then we have waterfront use from private developers that come in and they want that 10-year tax abatement that also recycles a whole generation of our your school district children who doesn't even realize for 10 years the weight of the promise of the tax that you'll receive. It promises low wages, low paying jobs. When people right here in this zip code make $17,000 a year or less, they don't want to pay somebody $15 an hour. I think that's great. We lobbied for $15 an hour 10 years ago. And if the state legislator and the governor and everybody has cost of living raises, and everybody else is getting a raise, I think that our people deserve more, too. And I know a lot of this isn't anything that Erie Convention Center done of their own, and they're just not breaking any laws. They're following what we have before them. I just feel like that if smaller nonprofits like ECAP and PACA who also are not required to pay taxes, but really exhibit or demonstrate their love for this community because they pay them in whole. Imagine that. And so just because you're not obligated to pay taxes, how could you live in this city and see what's going on and not want to be a better neighbor or to do more? It really hits home to me because with the low wages, when the tourists do come and the developers do eat and they get the tax abatement and the citizens get low wages and higher taxes. We get higher taxes because we're carrying all these nonprofits on our back. It's the law. We should consider the poor people, Leary. And we should also always, yeah, we should also always consider the black population here. We should be reminded of what was done here. Not that they're lazy, white community so much, they're bored, advanced, they're smart. It's that something was done here to this community as we celebrate 250 years. The land covenants destroyed private home ownership, black home enclave on West 11th Street in a program called Erie Redevelopment, kind of like Erie Refocus right now. There's still parking lots. Many of us believe that killed downtown, not Tulio's Folly. It just took a whole feeder community. You sent them to neighborhoods you knew were failing, and you sent them to places and you gave them mortgages. and you basically made them renters again. And those parking lots ironically sit there as a reminder from Liberty Street to Myrtle Street of all our fine planning of our city planners and fathers. So I'm not really moved by the planners, by all the people, the stakeholders who have a stake in this, because nobody has a bigger stake in it than the residents of the city of Erie. and the people who live in and on that bayfront who won't be able to afford the amenities down there. Nepotism and racism and a 200-plus year head start has left this community decimated. They don't own anything. They don't even get employed in the factories here. while the chamber hollers about their 250, 300, 400 member, all they have to do is go and ask them what their workforce looks like in those shops and factories. And I think a really startling picture will start to emerge. And so I'm going to vote against this because I'm true to it and haven't much changed in that philosophy that I subscribed to in my first vote. I think it was January 6th of 2014. And I still believe that nonprofits, those who get our caps, should be the first in line, especially on the Bayfront, should be the first in line to line up to pay taxes, not run looking for a tax abatement, considering the state of our economy and the crisis that the housing crisis crisis that we have. And as for the Convention Center, or Erie Events itself, our state legislator and our governor, he comes here, every conversation I have is, hey, this thing is kind of like a millstone on us. Can we get a pilot? Can we get something? Or just, oh no, we ain't got to pay taxes and we got this grand idea. It's going to help us all. And it doesn't help us all. But I believe that a pilot and tax dollars will help us offset some of our public safety usage that goes up. And so the traffic that their construction generates that moves people or inconveniencing people, I think that's worth something. And we should have the conversation. And if the state won't do it, as we look to re-up our building code and our property maintenance, And all of those things are zoning that we should embed. We should seriously consider embedding community benefit agreements into all of those. And if they think that's not business friendly, then so be it. Because right now they're not city friendly. So thank you for indulging me in my comments. Again, I'm not here to vilify anybody. I don't want to be vilified by anybody, if so, so be it. I'm not going to fall out or argue with anybody about my perspective. And it's not just a perspective that's pulled out of the sky. It's a perspective of somebody who grew up at the foot of Sassafras Street. It's the perspective of someone who worked on every leg of the Bayfront Highway from 26th Street wrapped around all the way up over the gorge up to Barrett College. That system that's used to divert commerce around the city of Erie and not into the city of Erie. And so it's the perspective of someone who was the labor steward of the convention center and the park and ramp and the Sheraton Hotel. It's the perspective of someone who had great working relationships with the people involved from every angle. It's the perspective of someone who was the representative of everything that goes along the Bayfront from Harbor Creek to Beale Creek for 12 years. And so I think my perspective matters. Thank you, Dr. Titus, and thank you to my colleagues, and thank you to all of you for listening to it. If it sounds like mumbo-jumbo to you, You can pick up the phone and call. I'll explain it to you in detail. Thank you so much.

Can I just add one thing? I'm just going to piggyback on what Mr. Horton has said. Someone came in and spoke about how it's been piecemealed along the Bayfront, and it has. As I can remember before, The highway was even there. It was just dirt. And then little by little, you know, the boat ramps started going in, the marinas. And then we started with the other side and down below. And with not really any regard for the citizens. And it's sad that we're still doing this piecemealing. And it's not one administration. It's been the past four or five administrations that have started this and have continued through the years. And I don't agree. And like you said, nothing against Erie Events. They've done a lot of good for the city. But they have no plan that I've heard for the marketplace. They want it built. They want whatever. And, you know, we have concessions. But I just don't feel good right now voting for it for those reasons. Thank you.

And I just wanted to thank Council Member Horton for his continuous fight for the students who get left behind. As a young person who went to our school district between 2000 and 2012, we have a lot of issues because of the LERDA and the non-profit programs that were in our community at that time and then decided to leave when their LERDA was up. So it's just we have to be mindful about the deals we make to entice people to do things here, and then later it falls on our taxpayers. So I've always said that I don't agree with the nonprofit sector making profits but also not paying their taxes when other smaller nonprofits have showed that they can pay their property tax. And we have 40% of our property tax is nonprofit. That's why we have the budget issue that we have 70% of our budget goes to salaries That's our fire department our police department and our public works along with city employees So I mean if you're spending 70% on the people that you need to run the city How are you supposed to cut them when it's 40% of our tax base is not paying their fair share So as a 33-year-old, I'm not a fan of the tax exempt. I'm not a fan of the non-profits unless I can tangibly see the impact that you're making for the community. And there's some community organizations that are doing phenomenal work. We just had the Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Network here. They're doing great work in Little Italy. Their footprint shows the investment they're making into the community. So... Yeah, I agree with Andre Horton on things have to change. And the only way they're going to change is aggressively making them change because no one's going to do it willingly, obviously.

So, yes.

Thank you.

We're going to go ahead and call for the vote.

Council Member Brzezinski?

Yes.

Flores?

No.

Horton? No. Pol?

No.

Shaw? Yes. Titus?

No.

Resolution fails to pass 2-2-4. Okay. This takes us to new business.

So I would ask for a motion to move the balance.

So moved.

Second.

Do we have any separations?

Yes.

Number four. Number five.

Under contract. Under contract. Any other separations?

I would like to separate six just so that we can give a moment to speak to the individual who's being nominated, or yeah, recommended. Number six.

I have four, five, and six.

So five is under contracts, not new business, just so you know.

Dr. Titus?

Yes.

I would suggest that Ms. Watson doesn't have to read the entire four, but I do just want to speak on it.

So we're talking AmGuard, Inc.? That's the one?

Yes. And Council Boys, did you still want number six?

No, it's under new business, so it's not under what we need it to be. I just wanted to speak to the Allen clerk being nominated. You can still hold that one. Okay. Yeah.

Six under new business as well.

We have a motion to move the balance of the agenda. Mr. Brzezinski? Yes. Flores? Yes. Horton? Yes. Pol? Yes. Schaaf? Yes. Resolution to move balance passes. We have a separation of number four. Sponsored by Councilmember Schaaf, seconded by Councilmember Titus.

I just wanted to say that I had gotten an email about the cutting of the arts in the state, that they might cut the programming or the funding of the arts. so that it would be decreased. And I, as a former art teacher and teacher and person who knows the importance of art through art therapy programs and that art is healing, just wanted to get my fellow colleagues to say that they don't want to cut funding or decrease it but just to you know continue it as they did because it is so very important to our community and even like the nonprofits that support neighborhood art programs and things they they need that Those children who go into those programs, that might be their only source of encouragement in body, mind, and spirit. As an art teacher, Kids may not do well in other academics of life, but they may thrive in art, and that gives them purpose. Thank you.

Any other discussion? No.

Dr. Titus? Yes. I'd like to thank my colleague, Sean, for putting this forward. I think . really, really important. It was important in my development as a child. We don't really see a lot of that in some neighborhoods. One of the best things that ever happened to me was the Martin Luther King Center Art House as a kid. And so when I see the work that the Benedictines do at the Erie Art House, I see how important the arts and music, all that stuff is, to the PALS program, to the after school programs, to the ECAP programming. I see how how we don't often, not only at the lower level, but at the higher cultural level, things for adults. I know I keep talking about PACA. I'm kind of a fan these days, because they pay taxes. I said I'm kind of a fan of PACA because they pay taxes. And they have great programming. and they do art and they're not required to do so. I know the importance of art and music. And so I'm thanking my colleague for bringing forth this resolution, which I'm happy to support.

Yes, thank you, Kathy, for putting this forth, Council, because I'm also a supporter of the arts. I understand that's a form of expression for our young people, and as someone who grew up on Fifth Street and went to our inner-city schools, the Erie Art House was the only outside of once a week that we got any type of art interaction. So it's a great thing for young people and our children to have. So thank you.

I also want to thank Dr. Titus because... Dr. Titus did a great job in helping me as well.

All right, we can go ahead and call for the vote.

Council members Brzezinski?

Yes.

Flores? Yes. Horton? Yes. Cole? Yes. Shaw? Yes. Titus? Yes. Resolution passes, yeas 6, nays 0. Okay. Number six, under new business, sponsored by Council Member Pohl, seconded by Council Member Brzezinski, receiving communication from Mayor Devlin and confirmed by Council that Alan W. Clark is hereby recommended to the Honorable Josh Shapiro for appointment as the City of Erie Emergency Management Coordinator by Council Member Pohl until such time as a vacancy occurs.

I just wanted to have the mayor give a moment to this individual for their obvious resume or whatever qualifications allowed them to be able to be recommended.

Sure. Thank you. I don't have his resume in front of me. I apologize. I know he's here in the room. So I think you'll all recall this position was put in the budget last year. Emergency Management Coordinator. We posted for it sometime in February, I think. We received a number of... resumes, interviewed our top two. Mr. Clark was clearly qualified. He has extensive background in emergency management with multiple municipalities. He came to his interview prepared with a binder of what he would do on his first day, which was very impressive. And so we made him the offer and brought him on. And all that you're doing today is We are appointing him because it is required by law that he be appointed and we notify the governor that he is our emergency management coordinator. He's hit the ground running, has been doing incredible work. So I think we're already thrilled that he's here and we're gonna see the fruits of his work. Hopefully, let's say it this way, hopefully we never see the fruits of his work because hopefully we never have a major disaster. But if we do, he'll make sure we're ready.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Happy to have you join the team.

May I say something? Yes. Okay, so my background is emergency management. Actually, I taught for the United States Air Force for a number of years in disaster preparedness. So I'm always interested. I enjoyed a healthy relationship with John Graff while he was over at the county. So I know the importance of the position. And with all the trains that come through our city, and all of the stuff that they're carrying, I know the importance of having someone competent and engaged and committed to that work. So thank you and welcome aboard.

Thank you. We'll go ahead and call for the vote.

Voting on the resolution, Councilmember Brzezinski? Yes. Flores? Yes. Horton? Yes. Pol? Yes. Shaw? Yes. Titus? Yes. Resolution passes, yeas 6, nays 0. Okay, we have a resolution sponsored by Council Member Brzezinski, seconded by Council Member Titus. The proper city officials are hereby authorized and directed to enter into a three-year contract with AmGuard Inc., 600 Main Street, Pittsburgh. For City Hall Security Services, they are the lowest of four bidders. The terms are as follows. Annual service year one. which is June 1st, 26 through May 31st, 27, $119,258.20, service year two, $122,835.95, and service year three, $126,521.02. There is an extension option for one additional year.

I want to make a motion to table this for further discussion. Pardon me?

No, I was just going to say, do we have a second?

I second it.

Thank you. So we have a first and a second to go ahead and table, so we can go ahead and call for the vote on that. Or do we have discussion about the table?

I just want to table this to discuss further being in our financial situation that the city is in right now. That's a lot of money over a three-year period. Even though they were the lowest bidder, I think we should be able to discuss on other options. If there are none, then we can move forward. Thank you.

Thank you.

Dr. Titus, yeah, because I kind of like where this is going, but I just feel like when a colleague has some further questions, if this is something of dire emergency in the time, I personally like to allow them that time to study the situation and receive any other additional information if some is provided. And I also tend to learn more. And those things, and so I'm more apt to always do a first and second reading with the county and not go to a second reading. And so for those very same reasons, I'm really comfortable seconding the motion for this to be tabled.

Thank you. So we'll go ahead and call for the motion, the vote on the motion.

Motion to table, Members Brzezinski.

Yes.

Flores. Yes. Horton. Yes. Pohl. Yes. Shaw. Yes. Titus.

Yes.

Resolutions tabled six, yeas, nays, zero.

I believe this takes us to our report.

I think we can go into committee reports.

Okay. We'll go ahead and start with Mr. Brzezinski. Go ahead and start if you would like to start this.

I have no report. I'm a little stunned that even having special meetings to get things clarified as far as the Bayfront down there with the marketplace that I can understand why Mr. Horton voted against it, and I applaud him for his beliefs. But the other people who came in, had special meetings, found out everything that was right about the project, and then voted no is par for the course. Anyway, good night, everybody. Have a nice day tomorrow.

Councillor Horton.

I'll just keep it really brief. I attended the Housing Authority Legislative Breakfast. I attended the Police Memorial Service, which is They're always quite touching to me. I come from a family of law enforcement. I personally know people who have died in the line of duty that donned that uniform, so it was very, very meaningful for me. I actually met with the director of the Convention Center and one of the board members. We had some good discussion, really appreciative. an understanding of the situation. So I'm grateful for that. I made an appointment to the land bank. They were, I wanna thank the mayor for her support and all my colleagues. I think they picked up an excellent board member. He comes work ready. And so that's my report.

Thank you. Councilor Schaaf.

Thank you, Dr. Titus. I want to extend my sympathy to former Chief Charles E. Bowers, Jr. and the family. want to also extend my sympathy to Al Pol's family and I attended Al's funeral mass that was at St. Stan's. I had met him when I was working the front desk and developed a kind of rapport with him and really thought he was a great person, he would come in and introduce me to his grandchildren and other people that he came in with. I could tell he was a genuine person who loved Erie. I attended the Erie Waterworks Festival at the Summerheim Water Plant and they had an excellent open house and for anyone who came in they told the story and walked us through and it was very knowledgeable. I am the Water Works liaison and I attend as many meetings as I am possible and I take my liaisonship seriously and It's not easy. So I attended the Water Works meeting April 23rd, and I know, you know, I should have reported this on May 6th, but this is 89 pages long. they have to follow so many, many things and have to go through reports and testing and buy trucks and purchase things. And the waterline construction going on in February was a very bad month. I think they had 33, which was a record of that was that cold season and you know, the infrastructure, the pipes had to be fixed and now they're going through the elbow pipes to get those fixed. But, you know, I bring this in, I attend the meetings, the public can take a look at this. And I drink tap water and have my whole life. When I was a kid and as an adult, I don't purchase water and I don't buy a filter.

Thank you.

I actually did other things, so in my five minutes. I went today to ECAT. Liz Reyes had invited counsel for the Latino Governor's Advisor Commission on Latino Affairs, and I got to meet several people I did not meet before. I attended the Housing HUD Legislative Breakfast, which was excellent because departments or the hands and other groups came up and they all did their presentation of what they're doing for housing and You know, they plan on restoring the elder sections that need updated, so they're not just letting things go and disrepair, and they're trying their best at what they can do. Ms. Pohl and I talked with Julie Slomsky last week, and Anna Franz was there, and Emily Thomas, who activates the Dobbins Landing area, and that was very interesting because then that brought me back to the waterworks. They do Like a science presentation once a month. Is it the second Saturday? I can't remember. Down at Dobbins Landing. Kids hands-on science. Attended Fred Rush's celebration hosted by the Eagle's Nest to honor Fred Rush during his lifetime. And May 6th, went to the 1020 Collective to see a documentary by Savannah Wilson for the first time that she did with the Jefferson Society as a leadership student addressing the population decline of Erie. I attended the planning commission and the land bank. And kudos to the FBI and the Erie police cooperated and the state police to get those drug people. He said that the amount of drugs that they had, the phenolol, could have killed 500,000 people. That's a lot. And I'm very, very thankful to get that off the street. I affirm our fire and our police. Chief Trott comes to every meeting, and he sits through the entire meeting. Like, you don't have to do that, and you do that because you love your city. And anyways. So I have my sympathy to the police department because I'm sure Chuck Bowers did a great job. Thank you.

Thank you. Counselor Pohl?

Other than the meeting with... Other than the meeting with Kathy at the Port Authority, I attended their monthly meeting last week. And they have an ongoing plan for the Erie Koch property. And they will be here at caucus at our next meeting on June 3rd to present that. The police press conference was very disheartening. To hear the numbers, but it was also good to hear that they have 15 people off the street. That have dealt with that. Lot of money and a lot of lost lives. I attended the ECAT also today with the Latino Affairs Commission, or the Advisory Commission. This evening before I came here, the Erie Cemetery was celebrating their 175th anniversary, and we passed an ordinance for this a couple months ago after a public hearing to make them a historic landmark also. Thank you.

Thank you. Counselor Flores.

Hello. Thank you everyone who came and stayed the whole time and all the citizens who came and spoke. We do generally appreciate a full audience, so sometimes it's lonely in the mornings. I also attended the Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs meet and greet today and seen the mayor and a few other colleagues on council. Pretty much they were just going over what the budget proposals are, but those aren't going to be passed until the Senate passes the budget, but that doesn't happen right away. Last year we were waiting eight months, so let's hope that our local senator who wants to cut our fire department is actually doing his job. But neither here nor there. So we had a study session, PFM, on May 14th. I did attend virtually. I love that the city offers these meetings as a playback that you can go on our YouTube channel and then also our Facebook channel to re-watch at a later time because sometimes our schedules are a little busy and we're not able to make a one o'clock meeting. So that's what I tend to do. We had a zoning hearing board meeting on May 12th and then on may 19th the planning commission had their meeting so that was today earlier no yesterday earlier yesterday earlier they're going to be doing a special zoning hearing meeting on thursday may 21st at 1pm and that'll be here and um you know you can attend these meetings you just listen and know what's going on at the city a lot of people are always surprised when certain things are being moved before council but chances are they have already been in the works for quite some time. So we go through the process of the business of the agenda and passing everything, but more than likely everything's already been worked on for three to six months before we even get it. So let's just be mindful that a lot of things are moving pieces and sometimes when they get to council, they're just the final couple steps. That's pretty much all I have to report. Just be careful out there. Watch out for pedestrians who are crossing the roads. Be a little bit more mindful for the children who are playing. Residential neighborhoods, please be mindful of our speed. We have a lot of heavy metal feet in our community, and I'm guilty of it myself. I have to remind myself I don't have to be in a hurry. But let's just make sure that this summer we are not responsible for any family's tragedy when it comes to us being impatient with our vehicles. Please and thank you.

Thank you. I'll be brief. So just I hear the anger and I hear the pain. And when we get our residents who come in here, I do believe that it's our job to shoulder that and to allow it to help us guide with our decisions. And I can't speak for everyone else. It's been said a couple of times that we're not at places. But I'll tell you that my kiddos would tell you that I spend more time with community members and with other families than I ever do at home, which I know is what we've run to do. and this is a role that I'm very honored to serve in, but we are only so many, and we only have so many hours in the day as well, though, too. All of that, I mean, there's a lot we could speak on, but, I mean, it's starting to get late. I do hear, and I want to echo what Councillor Flores had just said, is I think that status quo has been not really fully explaining some of the process of how the meetings work, especially with city council. And I am committed and I know that my my colleagues are as well as to making this more transparent and how that this flows and why the things flow and why does it seem like we're not adding things that people are asking us to add things. But this is this is the business part of of so much of this. And so so much of what we're voting on is the ordinances or the budgets. And so it is things that are passing down through certain directions they're often heading in through the zoning or they're going in through other places before they ever get here and so a lot of that back leg work is happening at those meetings which are also open to the public and i know we're working on the website to get a lot of these things up updated around like when can the public participate and where can the public learn about these things and so that i know there's a strong commitment from this administration to make things more accessible and to make it more tangible for the average person as well. Myself included, sometimes it's very overwhelming. There's a lot to navigate, especially if you've ever sat with any of our zoning. It's a lot to sift through. Do want to invite everybody, remind everybody that we have a study session next Thursday, 528, 530 to 630 with the parking authority. We've heard loud and clear from the public, and so we're going to pull them in for discussion. also have met continuously with the administration on the rental registration program that was brought in front of us. So that's continuing to move. We're going to be looking hopefully within the next couple of weeks here to have an ordinance in front of council with all the amendments that have been requested and suggested. So I'm excited about that as well. As far as the, I got a letter handed up from the clerk to just request that if there's an event or something that you would like members to be at, it is very hard to keep track of everything. So if you can send that to the clerk at cityclerk at erie.pa.us, that would be very helpful for us to get the information so that we can also attend and make sure that we're present. And if you can reach out, you know, share your email, what the date, the time, and the location is so that the clerk can help distribute that amongst the council. And with that, I'll conclude my report and pass it over to the solicitor and the mayor.

Solicitor has no report. He never has a report. I want to begin. I do have, and I will try to be brief, but two kind of personal notes. First, I do want to apologize to Mr. Cooley for being distracted during his comments tonight. That was disrespectful, and I appreciate that. You know, as public officials, we are not perfect when we make mistakes. I think it's right to admit when we do. So I want to say that out loud. And he was right to call me out on it. And Ms. Jacobs was as well. So I just want to say that out loud to him. I don't believe he's still here. But to say in this room, you know, I will do better. Secondly, I want to extend, Councillor Poole, thank you for your comments about Al Rodriguez, a member of the streets department who passed away very unexpectedly on Saturday. Went to the viewing today and saw his family who were extremely distraught. and I just think it's something for us all to keep in mind. He was an active, he was a current employee, and so thank you for the moment of silence, and I want to express my condolences. I also want to thank my friend Bob Strasser, who is still here, who continues to bring us wonderful ideas and does a lot of hard work on behalf of the city. He sent me about a nine-page report on his thoughts and AI's thoughts about how we can help save the city money, and so we will take all of those under consideration. I do want to note we were at the Apartment Association meeting last night. It was about a three-hour meeting. We met with about 80 landlords. I think we had a really good conversation. We talked to them about the changes we're proposing. So rental registration. One of the landlords came up to me at the end and said, I don't agree with everything you're saying, but I appreciate that you're here and saying it. So I think it was a fruitful conversation as we continue to move forward. I promised them it wouldn't be the last time that we'd come back and continue to see them as partners in this work. I think it was even noted here that

We need them to be partners in this work.

A couple of clarifying points I want to make. There was a conversation earlier about the reentry in CDBG. So one more time, I do want to be very clear about this because I do understand the concern about transparency. So I think one question that was raised is who contacted whom. I'll reiterate, I was personally contacted by Mercyhurst Civic Institute to come to a meeting with the county executive to discuss the concerns about the program. That was in January or February, and I will find the date and send it to all of you. After that, the Y, which had submitted their application for these funds, pulled their application because my understanding was they were notified they were gonna lose this program. We were then asked by the county, when I say we, as I recall, it was Chris Groner, who was the chief of staff for the county executive, reached out and asked if the city would continue our funding as we had in the past, but now direct it to the county. I told Chris. I asked Deborah Smith. Deborah Smith said we have to have an application. So the county completed an application just like every other applicant for CDBG. We have that on file. We're certainly happy to produce it. That came in late. It came in after the time period for regular CDBG applications. So when it got its way to Deborah Smith, she said it could be for reprogramming. You, council, haven't seen it yet because we're not reviewing reprogramming until June. So I just want to be very clear. On our end, with our application, with our money, we are following our procedures and you will see that as part of the reprogramming and that was why we teed it up for you this evening. So I just want to be very clear. about, again, who asking whom, what is the procedures, that is how that has occurred. And again, all we were asked was to divert our funds. I don't have opinion over the larger changes. Clear on that. One other item I want to clarify, there's been a lot of conversation about Erie Day in Harrisburg. Again, I apologize because I should have been clear about this in the first place. So I just want to very quickly go through what What I personally did that day, I'm not going to speak for others. I met that day with a roundtable of the governor's secretaries and cabinets. One of them was Department of Human Services Secretary Arkush. I talked with her about child care needs in the city of Erie, about the status of the poverty in the city of Erie and its impact on health, and we talked about housing. We also met with Policy Secretary Hussain, where we talked about our support for the governor's housing plan and how it would directly impact people living in poverty and living in substandard housing in the city of Erie. We met with the Majority Leader of the Senate, Joe Pittman, and the President Pro Tem, Kim Ward, as well as Minority Leader Jay Costa and Appropriations Chair Vince Hughes. Each of those meetings was to encourage them to pass the governor's budget with regard to the housing plan. We talked about the Waterfront Master Plan, which has been raised here tonight as well. And we talked about general economic development and encouraging businesses to settle in Erie. Those were the conversations. That was the advocacy. That was what I was there to do. Again, I can't speak for the others, but those were my conversations that I had. In addition to that, I have been actively advocating with the Municipal League to raise the local service tax. There was conversation tonight about why aren't we taxing the wealthy. The local service tax is the tax that every single person who works in the city of Erie pays, whether you live here or you don't. It has been capped at $52 by the state for many, many, many years. The Pennsylvania Municipal League, of which we are a member, is advocating for that cap to be removed so that we could go up to $100 or $150. Again, that's for people who work in the city. It's not based on income. And it's not based on property. It's if you work here in the city of Erie and it would stay here in the city of Erie. So that is something that we're advocating for. And we believe that that would help with some of these issues of folks who live here and don't, I'm sorry, who work here and don't live here. We're also, when I was in Harrisburg that day, we advocated for the hotel tax. as Councilor Horton has mentioned so many times. We actually sat in Representative Ryan Bizarro's office and had a roundtable discussion with him and with the county executive and the head of the chamber, Brendan Mendoza, about how to get that hotel tax raised. So those are the advocacy work that I am doing on behalf of the City of Erie, on behalf of our budget. They don't meet the concerns that we heard tonight. but I don't want anyone to think that we're not taking them seriously or doing anything. These are slow things, but they feel urgent, and we will continue to act on them. And lastly, I just want to report, I want to thank Council for your attention and your support at last week's study session, at the press conference we had about the budget, I think that I owe it to you and to the public to constantly be reporting out what are we doing. So we are currently reviewing budgets, as we've discussed. I have asked for the creation of a financial advisory committee, and I've had a number of our business leaders reach out to me and agree to serve. I mentioned to all of you that I had meetings last week with our nonprofits and business leaders, and I am now setting up follow-up meetings with each of them to talk specifically about our asks for them. Our asks of UPMC Hammett will not be the same as our asks of the Port Authority, which will not be the same as our asks of some of our business leaders who pay taxes. But we are asking each of them for something. I think that is what we have to do. That's what Mr. Strasser is certainly encouraging us to do. We all know that. So I will be reporting out to you on those meetings and on our progress over the next few weeks and months. And I hope that together we will be able to show that together as a community we will move forward with this without putting the entire burden on our taxpayers, which we know we can't do. So lots of other things going on, but those were the high points I wanted to make sure I reported back to council and to the public. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. I think that that concludes. So we'll go ahead and wrap up this meeting.

City Council adjourns at 9.24 p.m. Council Member Titus, Brzezinski, Flores, Horton, Polschoff.

so so