City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I now call to order this August 11th meeting of Lancaster City Council. A few things before we get started. This meeting and its participants are being livestreamed and recorded, so if you have not silenced your cell phones and devices, please do so now. Tonight is a regular meeting of council. There will be a general public comment period on our agenda. First, we will hear from residents who have contacted the city clerk in advance, and then we will open it up to anyone else who would like to make comments on items that are not on tonight's agenda. All speakers must begin with their name and block of residence for the meeting record. And comments are limited to three minutes. To keep time, we will use this light. It will flash green when time begins, flash yellow when you have one minute left, and it will be red when you have exhausted your three minutes. Thank you in advance for keeping equal time for all. And now for all those who are willing and able, please join me for the rise of the Pledge of Allegiance.

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,

Mr. Harris, will you please call the roll of members? Yes, Mr. President. Ms. Gastineau?

Here.

Ms. Allen-Jones?

Here.

Mr. Hirsch?

Here.

Ms. Mijon? Mr. Miller?

Here.

Mr. Stolzfus?

Here.

And President Metz?

Here. Councillor Mijon is excused from this evening's meeting. That brings us to the approval of the minutes of the July 28th, 2026 regular meeting of City Council.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Council, we have a motion and a second. Are there any comments on the minutes? Hearing none, Mr. Harris. Ms. Gastineau?

Aye.

Ms. Holland-Jones?

Aye.

Mr. Hirsch? Aye. Mr. Miller? Aye. Mr. Celsus? Aye.

And President Med? Aye. That brings us to our public comment period. Mr. Harris, do we have any pre-registered comment this evening?

We do, Mr. President. First is Victoria Lazor.

I do not believe she is here this evening, Mr. Harris. Do we have any other pre-registered comments? We do not. All right. We will now open it up to any residents who would like to make any public comment on items that are not on this evening's agenda. Hearing none, we will move forward with our reports requested by council. Mr. Harris, confirming we have none of those this evening? That's correct, Mr. Resident. Thank you Mr. Harris. We will now hear reports of committees of councils. These meetings were held on August 3rd 2026. We will start with the Public Safety Committee and Councilor Mujan's absence. I will report that the Public Safety Committee did not meet at our last session. That brings us to the Public Works Committee. Councillor Miller.

Thank you Council President. The Public Works Committee did not meet.

Thank you Mr. Miller. That will bring us to the Economic Development Committee. Councillor Gastineau.

The Economic Development Committee did not meet.

Thank you, Councilor Gastineau. Finance Committee, Mr. Vice President.

Thank you, Council President. In my absence, the Finance Committee did meet on August 3rd. There were no legislative items on the Finance Committee's agenda. However, the committee heard a report from the Lancaster Public Library, as well as a second quarter budget updates from city staff for the capital budget and operating budget through Q2 2026. That concludes the report of the Finance Committee.

Thank you, Mr. Hirsch. Community Planning Committee, Councilor Stolzfus.

uh thank you council president yeah community planning committee did meet on august 3rd we had one item on our agenda we got an update from the cped team on the lancaster by design project which is an effort to align our zoning ordinance saldo and official city map with our future lancaster the cpet team reported the city has retained clarion associates who actually be in town next week holding some stakeholder interviews and meeting with an advisory committee There will be multiple opportunities for community engagement during this two-year process, and I know Council is very interested in this project, so looking forward to regular updates from the CPED team. And that concludes my report.

Thank you, Mr. Stoltzfus. Personnel Committee, Councillor Holland-Jones. There is no report. Thank you, Councillor. That brings us to our legislative agenda. First, we have legislative budget transfers. Mr. Vice President.

Mr.. President as you're aware the city is self insured for workers compensation costs every year funds to pay workers Compensation claims are included in the individual department budgets, but those claims are paid from the administrative services budget So each quarter we shift money from the departments where those injured workers have made claims to the administrative services budget to cover the costs For the second quarter of the year, workers' comp claims were made by city police officers and public works employees. A total of $49,520.44 is being moved from those department budgets to administrative services. Because this money is being moved between departments, this requires city council approval. So I will make a motion to approve the second quarter workers' compensation transfers, totaling $49,520.44 as proposed. Motion to approve.

We have a motion and a second. Councilor any comments on this routine legislative budget transfer from the public. Hearing none Mr. Harris.

Ms. Gastineau.

Aye.

Ms. Holland-Jones.

Aye.

Mr. Hirsch. Aye. Mr. Miller. Aye. Mr. Stossfus. Aye. Mr. President. Aye.

That brings us to our historic district. Mr. Harris.

considering the following applications and recommendations from the Historical Architectural Review Board for improvements to properties within the historic district. We have three this evening. Carmen and Debra Neapolitan, owner of 230 Lancaster Avenue, requests installation of a new steep railings, step railings, I'm sorry, at sidewalk entry steps and at the front porch steps. The DeMuth Foundation, owners of 120 East King Street, requests installation of a two-sided commercial sign on the building's facade. And the YWCA Lancaster, owner of 110 North Lyme Street, requests installation of five vinyl banners on the building's North Lyme Street porch and four vinyl banners on the building's East Orange Street porch. And these applications were all recommended for approval by the Historical Architectural Review Board. Motion to approve. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Councilor Stolzfus is coming through community planning.

Yeah, I don't have anything to add, Council President. We did get the project profiles in our packets, which give some visuals and a little bit more information. These all seem fairly straightforward. Two of them are just adding signs, so I think these are good to go.

Thank you. I do believe we have some representatives from the organizations. If anybody would like to speak on the projects, feel free to do so at this time. Come to the microphone here.

Hi Stacey Blake CEO at YWCA Lancaster. Thank you counsel for your ongoing support of the Agency and all the renovations that you know we've been doing. I can report this phase this request for banners is really restoring banners that had been hung years before and in the old pictures it's really. quite beautiful and reflects our mission so beautifully. I am thrilled that we may be able to do that again. And I also would like to let you know that we have eight brand new amazing locally made rockers on our new historic porch. You are invited to come and rock and have a chit chat and we'd love to see you. Thank you.

Thank you Miss Blake.

Are there any other applicants who would like to speak on their proposed projects. Any council comments? Yes.

Because of my employment with YWCA Lancaster, I will recuse myself from the vote on the historic district for that particular instance.

Thank you, Councilor Gastineau. Any further comments from council, from the public? Hearing none, Mr. Harris.

Ms. Gastineau.

Abstain.

Ms. Holland-Jones.

Aye.

Mr. Hirsch? Aye. Mr. Miller? Aye. Mr. Stossfus? Aye. And President Metz?

Aye. That concludes our legislative agenda this evening. We will now hear the report of the Mayor. Mayor Arroyo, please.

Thank you, Council President. First and foremost, I'm excited to announce that the city of Lancaster has been awarded a $50,000 grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies Youth Climate Action Fund program. This grant will let us provide microgrants to young people age 15 and 24 who have project ideas that can help make their neighborhoods more sustainable. Grant applications will be accepted starting September 1st, and we'll have more details to share about that soon. A few upcoming events I would like to invite members of council to this Friday, August 14th, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. is Celebrate Lancaster, where we'll have family-friendly activities right here in downtown at Binns and Yule Plaza. And this evening, we'll also have Grammy Award-winning artist 112 who will be performing. So all of my millennial friends will, middle school selves will be very very excited for this Friday. Hope you all join us on Saturday August 15th from 330 to 430 at Lancaster Amtrak station. We will be unveiling the neighborhood art project art display. This public display celebrates the work of four Lancaster City artists who participated in this year's Lancaster's Neighborhood Art Project. Malaya Burris, Michelle Johnson, Shawna Yorty, and Louis Rivera. And finally, a friendly reminder that the capital budget is on Engage Lancaster and is still open for feedback. That concludes my report, Council President.

Thank you, Mayor Arroyo. That brings us to the report of President of Council. Mayor Arroyo did touch on the capital budget, just reminding Council to use the JOT form to submit any feedback and members of the public to use Engage Lancaster as we would love to hear your feedback, questions, and concerns. And that concludes this evening's meeting. I will open it up to any Council comments. Yes, Council Castaneda.

I just wanted to mention that the city of Lancaster is launching Lancaster by Design which is an opportunity for the city to consider updating the comprehensive zoning plan and there's upcoming focus groups. They will be held August 17th, 18th, and 19th. There's multiple time slots available on each of those days. Sessions are anticipated to take approximately 50 minutes. They'll be held here at City Hall. Anyone is welcome to attend those focus groups. So if you are interested in the zoning reform process, we invite you to attend as a stakeholder of the city. There is a focus group sign-up, and I'm happy to share that if you would like to sign up that way. Thanks.

Thank you, Councilor Gastineau. Any final council comments this evening? Hearing none, we'll hear a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. We are adjourned.