City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone and welcome to tonight's city council meeting. Please rise for the invocation by myself. Lord, we pray for wisdom. May we listen deeply to your daily invitation to share our talents with creativity. Strengthen and guide us so that we can be productive, effective, and decisive. May we generously serve our community as courageous leaders and compassionate neighbors. May we open our minds to discover new opportunities to boldly strive for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Amen. 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. We'll move to item number three. Approval approval of city council meeting minutes dated uh December 4th, 2025, uh December 11th, 2025 and January 5th, 2026. Do I have a motion?

So move. Second. Any questions about the minutes? Mrs. Frank. Mr. Yoder. Yes. Mr. Bilickin, yes. Mr. Pizzy, yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Janice, I'm here. Oh, I'm sorry. Mrs. Catz, yes. Thank you very much for acknowledging that, Bonnie. Uh, motion passes. 50. Item number four, limited courtesy of the floor. I believe we've had no requests tonight. Is that correct, Mrs. Frank? That's correct.

Okay. And then we're going to jump down real quick to item number nine. This is a very important one for us. I know this is something that we talked about a little bit at the end of last year when we had our um final council meeting for the year, but it's important that we do this at the city level because this individual um is very important to us. So this is a resolution resolution honoring Chief Sams. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Thank you very much, Mr. Anks. How are you tonight? That's good. That's good. How many more days do you have left?

Four. I can't believe you're counting down. Well, I do want to read this into the record uh because this is something that's very deserved. And um so whereas Sam Monks has served with distinction as a member of the Williamsport Bureau of Fire since March 16th, 1992 through January 11th, 2026. And whereas Sam Monst has provided invaluable leadership to the uh Williamsport City firefighters as a firefighter, journeyman, preventional engineer, fire engineer, fire inspector, platoon chief, active deputy fire chief, and then in 2022, fire chief. He's been in the department for over 27 years. Whereas Chief Sam Unst will be remembered for his efforts and dedication to all aspects of the of the city, particularly matters pertaining to the infrastructure of the city of Williamsport and through his service leadership on numerous roles within the city of Williamsport. Whereas Chief Sams has served with the best interest and welfare of the citizens of the city of Williamsport as his goal. And whereas as a result of the services of Chief Samst, the city of Williamsport, a city with a proud past is left with a more promising future. Now therefore, at our meeting assembled this day, this 8th day of January, 2026, Williamsport City Council does hereby acknowledge and express on behalf of the citizens of the city of Williamsport, our deepest appreciation and gratitude for his substantial contributions to our community, both as as a citizen and as a city firefighter and chief, and our best wi best wishes for his future endeavors. Chief, thank you very much for everything that you've done for the city. We greatly appreciate it and hopefully the folks that are meant to um pick up the slack in your um in your

absence are up to the task. Thank you very much.

I'll open the floor to any other members of council. I just want to say um as as a new guy up here um I aspire to your level of service and commitment to the city and uh I just I appreciate everything that you've done. So, thank you. Eric, it's Bonnie. Yes, Bonnie.

Chief, I just want to thank you for everything you've done. You've been such a good friend. Uh I'm going to miss you. Maybe we'll see you at the retirey dinner. um which I hope we do and I looking forward to seeing what the next part of your journey is going to be because you've put a lot of effort into what you've done so far. I can imagine that you will be doing fun things at this point also. So, thank you and please don't be a stranger. We'll talk to you all later, Chief. Thank you.

If I may. Thank you, Chief Sam. Thank you very much for everything that you've done. You know, the service and dedication to the city. Obviously, the words that we put up uh that we say tonight, we just they're not they're never going to be enough to express the gratitude and the leadership that you that you've put forth. Um everything from the phone calls that we've had trying to figure out issues with the city um talks about potentially regionalizing the fire department um you know, just a a better, brighter future. and uh I'm going to miss having you around and I just hope that whoever picks up your position and and carries on the legacy of of that level of service is as qualified and able to grow such an amazing mustache too. Um [laughter] so I wish you all the best in the next chapter of your life.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Mrs. Frank. Okay, Mr. Yoder. Yes, Mr. Milligan. Yes, Mrs. Catz. Yes, Mr. Pizzy. Yes, Mr. Ber. Yes. Resolution passes 50. Again, welldeserved, Chief. Thank you. All right, we'll jump back up then to item number five. We're going to have a a presentation and award from the Pennsylvania Autobond Council. Good evening, council.

How are you, sir? I am great and I'm extremely excited about this next item. So, just about a year ago, council passed a resolution stating that the city would seek to um get uh designation as an Ottabon bird town. So, my department's been working for the past year on uh meeting those requirements to get that designation. So as portions of that there's a big application has to be filled out and we also needed to create a bird town advisory committee. So I will now invite uh Bruce Buckle who is our committee chair for the bird town advisory committee to say a few words.

Thank you Scott and thank you to council for embracing uh Birdtown. Much appreciated. I want to introduce the members of the committee to start. Um, sitting back here with me is Jim Green in the back. He's one of our bird town committee members. Jim is a master. He's a an expert at at native plants and gardening. Linda ShraMM uh very active in the community. I'm sure many of you know her. And Jenny Pitiano, who couldn't be here tonight. She's the uh works for I don't think she made it. Um she is the chief planner for the county. So they comprise our committee. Ted Ly is here. Ted is the vice president of Lycoming Audabon. I happen to be the president of Lycoming Audabon at the moment. And uh in a minute I'll introduce you to Heidi Shyiver. I do want to say that our local Lycoming Ottabon chapter is committed uh to doing everything that we can to make Birdtown a uh an asset for the community um that brings um a level of togetherness and enthusiasm for the outdoors that um in in our parks that uh you know we want to enhance. So, uh, towards that end, our chapter has allocated $1,000 to small amount, but $1,000 towards whatever we can do to help this Birdtown initiative and, uh, we'll help it move forward from there. I want to introduce Heidi Shyver, who is the, um, director of Birdtown, uh, Pennsylvania, and thank her for driving up here from Bucks County. So, thank you very much, council.

Thank you, Bruce. Thank you, Scott. And, thank you, council, for having me this evening. I'm just going to take a moment of your time to share with you a little bit about more about the program. Let me just get that ready for you.

There it is. Um, can everyone see that? Is it possible turning the lights down just a wee bit so everyone can see it a wee bit better? I guess you can see it on the screens there. Okay. Well, great. Let me go ahead and get started then. So, I just like to start with our mission. Birdtown, Pennsylvania works in partnership with local municipalities and like-minded organizations to promote community- based conservation actions to create a healthier, more sustainable environment for birds, wildlife, and people. We've been actively engaged with municipalities in the state for 14 years now with now 97 programs across 16 counties. We are under the umbrella of the Pennsylvania Ottabbon Council and we partner with various conservation groups including we conserve PA which runs the EAC network for the state as well as natural lands also Ottabbon chapters like Lycoming and also Bird City Network. Um we're our program is very much expanding. Um when I took the program over, we had 34 programs. Now we're up to 97. Um that includes three cities. So Harrisburg, Easton, and now Williamsport. And we're super excited about that. Um we also are part of Bird City Network. This includes 275 communities across 13 states and four count um countries. So there's bird towns and bird cities sprinkled all over the US. Um this program is supported by the American Bird Conservancy and the Environment for Americas. This program unites and connects independent bird cities and towns um through the hemisphere working um together with local communities to envision and complete bird friendly actions. We are one of the founding members of the network and now the largest program in the network. A little bit about PA Ottabbon Council. So there are 20 Ottabon chapters in Pennsylvania. The purpose of the PA Autobon Council is to serve the chapters and advocate for conservation and preservation of birds and wildlife. also to share resources and ideas about how to collaborate to address conservation issues. We are under their corporate umbrella. They are a 501c3 and we are working with their network to establish bird towns across Pennsylvania. A little bit more about Lycoming

Ottabon. This is your local chapter like Bruce mentioned. Um they are a member of the National Ottabon Society and they also too are a 501c3. They hold monthly chapter meetings at the Taber Museum which is open to the public. Um they provide numerous birding events and programming such as field trips on the Sescuana Riverwalk and tableabling events at festivals like the Junth and Kids Day at the sensory garden. They provide educational program for students in Williamsport and other school districts. Um they participate in many citizen science programs such as the great backyard bird count or Christmas bird count for students in Williamsport and other area school districts. And also they have an amazing program called advocates for conservation which includes bird friendly blooms which is a demonstration project of ways garden. They partner with the Robert Porter Allen Natural Area and Ryder Park to enhance habitats and they also participate in PA um PA Dots or the Department of Transportation's adopt a highway cleanup program and lots more. So really encourage you to get involved with Audabon and again thank you to Bruce and to the chapter for giving $1,000 towards this initiative. So I just want to explain a little bit why we um support birds and why we're interested in birds for this program. So first of all, why protect bird populations? So there's six good reasons. once pest control. Um they help keep our insect populations down as appropriate um when we're doing especially with harvest and so on. They're also very important for seed dispersal. Blue jay um surprisingly they store a lot of nuts um and remember actually most of where they put them but not all. And so because of that they really regenerate our forest. They're also very important for pollination. They're scavengers helping keep the carcasses down. They're also important for nutrient cycling and biodiversity support. They also bring us joy and beauty. Um, I always like to mention I'm always really impressed with the little red knot. This is a shorebird. They actually travel 20,000 miles a year. Um, all the way from the Arctic Circle all the way down South American back again. It's the size of a robin. That's just so impressive to me. They're also everywhere. 100 million bird watchers are in the US now and they're spending $ 108 billion. But

birds are um also very important to let us know if the environment is healthy. Birds are sensitive to toxins and pollutants and can serve as an early warning sign that something is wrong in the environment. And so there is an issue. Bird populations are declining. According to breeding bird surveys, populations have declined from 30 to 77% since 1970. And the numbers are still falling according to the um recent report last year on the 2025 state of the birds report. So the little red knot that I just mentioned, their population is down by over 90%. So this is the report here. Um their key findings are showing that one-third of US bird populations or species are high or on moderate conservation concern including 112 tipping point species that of that are more um their population is down by 50%. And that includes the evening grow. So I don't know if you know evening grow but it's a gorgeous bird and their populations are really down. So what are the um causes for these um decline in bird populations? One is loss of habitat. This is a big one. Um, just thinking about loss of a habitat. Um, you think about 40 million acres of lawns across the US with two million here in Pennsylvania. Lawns provide really no eoservices for birds. There's no place for them to hide or to eat. There's no water or food. So, that's a big issue. Cats. Cats are shockingly another big issue. 2.4 billion birds a year are killed by cats, both feral and outdoor cats. Window collisions. Window um the surfaces and light are very confusing for birds. So, over a billion birds a year are killed by window collisions. Pesticides are a huge issue in the in the landscape, climate change, invasive species and then also plastics. So what we do is um to address these issues is um engagement, education, encouragement, support, inspiration and promoting awareness about these issues. These are some of the different activities that a bird town can choose to do. So this is up to the municipality and also the committee that you have to decide what you want to um do to address these different issues. But it can include holding a native plant pop-up garden, installing a demonstration

native plant garden, um developing and passing proclamations, resolutions, and ordinances to address things like invasives or native plants or pesticides, supporting and running um citizen science programs, reducing bird window strikes and pesticide use, and so on. So what we provide for your municipality is a statewide structure program with congruous goals, concrete resources and achievable actions, a framework for community networking with other bird towns and other conservation partners, free training and workshops for your bird town leaders, and more opportunities and success in obtaining funding. So I'm still fingers crossed I applied for a C2P2 grant through DCNR for um close to $70,000. Hoping to hear by next week. So fingers crossed that we'll get that. But if we do get it, we will we will be offering 30 $1,000 mini grants for the bird towns. Um we also have an amazing website. This has a tremendous amount of information and resources available to your um residents and homeowners. Also the list of our conservation partners and bird town programs. And then there's a special back page that's only accessible by your birdtown committee. This provides contact lists, workshop and meeting recordings and supplementary materials and also sample proclamations, resolutions, and ordinances. We also have a number of touch points with our bird towns. We have a bird town flyer. This is our bim monthly newsletter for the leaders. Also, there's bird beat. This is a quarterly community newsletter to inspire and inform your residents about what they can be doing to support birds. And then finally, our bird forum. This is our private Facebook page with about 280 members. This is a place where birdtown leaders can share about upcoming events and inspirational material. So, um we are shifting a little bit. We are um integrating more fully with bird city network this year. So our current strategies are going to be moving to the ones on the right. So our focus now will be not so much where the work is being done but what the work what was need to be done. So the first two creating and protecting um habitat and addressing threats to birds. These were threads that we were already um had within our goals and activities worksheet. So we're going to be focusing on these now more

as strategies including educating, engaging people and promoting sustainability. So it's kind of like just reshuffleling all the suggested activities under new strategy headings. This will be our four- tier program. This is still a draft. We're still working on this, but these are the different certification levels. So, currently your green level, um you'll have a year to move up to bronze, silver, and gold um using these different um requirements to to move up to these different um places. Um annual reports are due every year on January 31st. Obviously, it won't be for you guys this year because it's coming right around the corner, but we really feel like annual reports are important to provide accountability and transparency. Last year, we had over 29,000 volunteer hours from our birdtown leaders. This is our um new strategies, goals, and activities worksheet. This provides inspiration and guidance and planning for your bird town committee. It's numbered and color-coded for easy tracking. And then finally, this is a welcome packet that I went through with your committee of all the different um perks that you get by being a new bird town. So, Williamsport, city of Williamsport, congratulations on being at a new bird town and we're here to support you in any way we need. So, a nice round of applause. Congratulations. Again, thank you to council for this. I'd like to present to you a certificate as well as two signs for a photo if you don't mind. That would be okay.

Absolutely. Okay, great.

Yeah, she take a picture. Yep. Chris, need to turn the lights back on. Okay. Okay.

Yeah.

Okay. smaller driver. You're welcome. Did you

So yeah, I should I'm open with that. Do you have any questions for me about the program? Uh no. So the question I have is for you personally. So obviously if you're involved this at this level, you have to have a bird that you would absolutely love to see uh in real life. So what is that bird for you?

That's a tough one actually because really it's usually I always usually say it's the bird in front of me. Um yeah know that's a good you know one to say but I would actually an evening go um grow speak. They were supposed to have um an eruption this year so I've been waiting and hoping that my bird feeder I'll see one. So I'm really hoping for an evening gold goldfinch. Um how about you? Myself, I've just been really happy to see the explosion of the bald eagle population here in Lcoming County specifically. I remember being a kid growing up, it was they were non-existent around here and now we've got quite a few. I wouldn't even venture to guess how many, but there isn't a day that goes by that I'm not driving around in the car and I see one and it's it's common place now and my kids really have no idea of the impression of it. I mean, you see them on the side of the road when you're driving sometimes and so on. So, it's just really really neat to see that that's made a comeback as it has.

No, I'm glad. I'm glad for the eagle um for the goal. Um the bald eagle population. Do you have any golden eagles that come through here? Yes, we have. I thought I saw one. Yeah, I'd love to see a golden eagle as well. A couple years ago, we had some paragan falcons nesting on the Market Street Bridge. Um so we've had a lot of activity and obviously up at Rose Valley Lake, um that's a huge hot bed for that. There's several osprey pairs that are up there as well. Awesome. Fantastic. Thank you. That's exhausted my bird mouth. Great. Anyone else have any questions before I head out? Oh, yes. Go ahead. How that window?

Well, there's a lot of different ways you can do it. Depends on the building and where it's located. Um, if it's a home window, then actually a lot of collisions take place at home. You know, we always think that's, you know, skyscrapers and so on, but actually a lot of collisions happen at our homes. So, by, you know, keeping a screen on the outside of the window, um, keeping your curtains down, keeping your lights down low at night, especially during migration. I mean, anywhere from April to the end of October, you really want your lights down by 9:00. The birds are, you know, passing. That's when usually they take off and they're, you know, traveling. If they see a light on, they're going to be drawn back down into the, you know, down to where your house is and to your neighborhood. In the morning is the real problem is that when they lift off, then there's all they're in an unsafe space and they're going to hit the window then. So, you really want to keep those lights down so they continue on. A lot of birds migrate at night, especially our song birds. Um, another thing is to put little dots, you know, so you can buy materials. It should be 2 in by 2 in. Birds like to dart through small spaces. um you know that some people are like, "Oh, that's going to cost you money." I use soap. So, you can use just a bar of soap and just do um dots on your window that way. It works really well. I've been doing it. It's been very effective. Yeah. Thanks for the question. And congratulations, too. Great. Anything else? Well, thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure meeting all of you. I appreciate your support. Thank you.

Thank you very much. All right, then we will move on to what have we got here? Item number six, Mrs. Frank. Item number six. Uh, do you need a motion? Yeah. Do you want to read that? Do we need to read that?

Um, well, I usually don't do these, but that's right. U Veterans Memorial Park. Um, John Markley is reappointed to a commission for a 5-year term commencing 126 and ending 110, I'm sorry, 31. and the RBTA board uh Maxmore is reappointed to a 4-year term commencing 1826 and ending 1130. All right. Could I have a motion, please? Second. Uh Mayor Slaughter, I believe you're out there in Zoom.

Yes. Good evening, President Ber. Congratulations, President Biden and Vice President Pizzy on the new appointment. Uh good evening to the rest of council administration. What you have before you as was noted are two reappoints. John Markley who's been a longstanding member of our veterans park does a tremendous job up there. Uh we've talked about that a lot in the past. And if you haven't been there recently, there's always new things going on at the Veterans Park and we appreciate John's continued and the rest of the commission's continued work there. So, he's up for reappoint. And then Max Moore on RVTA board. Max has done a great job in his first term on the board and talking with the folks up there. Um they're they were happy and uh are happy that Max is looking uh to do another term on the board. So, those are the two reappoints before you this evening, and I'll turn it back over to you, President Ber.

Thank you very much, Mayor Slaughter. Uh, are there any questions about the reappoints on the agenda for this evening?

Uh, if I may, two comments. Uh, first, I don't think John's here, but um, he does a lot for the Veterans Memorial Park um, group. Um, has for a number of years. Um, we have a very good group there. I'm excited to see him still being there. Um, if you have not been over there, please go. It's it's immaculate. It's fantastic. It's one of the best in the state. I see some heads nodding. to John. Um I would just I really am grateful that you are still there. Um and then um on the RBTA board um you know I I don't know Max a lot or personally um I have heard good things about him. I do think though for the group moving forward it might be wise for future RVTA board appointments um that we do a little bit of an interview process there. Even if they're a reappoint that's a new authority. Um, and I do think given the just intricacies that we've been dealing with over the past number of years, it would be a valuable conduit and exchange of information and dialogue to understand kind of what's going on forward thinking things from a board perspective. Um, that's hard to do in this timing with reorganization and committees and stuff. So, um, but um, both of these are good in my view.

Excellent. Seeing hearing nothing else, Mrs. Frank. Mr. Yoder. Yes. Mr. Milikin. Yes. Mrs. Catz. Mr. Pizzy. Yes. Um, no. Uh, Janice, I wanted to ask before I voted. I'm sorry I didn't take myself off mute. We're doing these both together, right? We're not doing these um appointments separately. No, they are both together. Okay. I say yes. Mr. Pizzy. Yes. Mr. Ber. Yes. Motion passes 5-0.

All right. And then we're going to jump down to item number 12 while the mayor is still on. Resolution approving an intergovernmental cooperation agreement inou and among the RDA and the city of Wsport and the Winsport area school district. Mayor Slaughter. Yes. Good evening again. Can I have a motion, please? Second. Thank you, Mayor Slaughter.

Yep. Sure. Uh, good evening again, President Ber, Vice President Pizzy, members of council, administration. Yes. Before you this evening is an inter cooperation agreement, uh, between the, uh, the RDA, city, county, and the school district. Um, as you know, RDA and Land Bank have been working through acquiring properties thisou uh is and I apologize. Is uh Solicitor Grimes the one with the meeting this evening? No, we have solicitor Austin White.

Okay. Oh, okay. Either one. That's good. Okay. Solicitor White. They were working on him and and Solicitor Grimes. Um but anyway, this is is between them and one of the main things with the that thisou does is allows the RDA land bank to uh capture some of the tax revenue that is generated on the properties that are now coming back that will be coming back onto the tax roles for a period of up to five years. Half of those uh real estate taxes from the county, city, and school district. So that's uh one of the main things within thisou intergovernmental agreement. Uh that's part of it. Um yeah, that's that's that's probably the main part of it. So I'll turn it back over to you, President Ber.

Thank you very much, Mayor. Do we have any questions from members of council? Skip, if you don't mind me asking, um, outside of in general, how are we looking over the [clears throat] next couple of years in terms of dispersing and getting through that funding that we've allocated to you? I know um I know that that was pretty substantial. So, what what are the next couple years looking like at the RDA? Well, we're moving forward with we've we've completed or we're in the midst of completing the third project. Should be done in the next 30 days. We have three more properties that are working through the litigation and they should be acquired by the RDA land bank within the next 30 days also. And then we have five more properties that we are evaluating and hope to acquire before the end of the year. So far we've spent about half of the allocation and we anticipate that by the September time frame we should have the majority of the balance spent.

Yeah. Okay. And then the recapture of those funds and this this uh intergovernmental cooperation agreement uh will allow us to make up some of the loss that we're going to encounter as we move these projects forward. Because if they were all profit-making projects, we all would be glad to have the private sector take them on because there's limited to no profit and most often a loss of funds. I'll give you an example. Uh the Maser Avenue project uh cost the RDA approximately 185,000 and we were able to sell it for 165 to you eliminate the commission and those closing costs. Uh we probably lost 25 to $30,000 on the project and that is probably going to be for almost every project that we do. So there there isn't a profit gain at all. And this recapture of tax dollars for five years, 50% will allow us to offset some of those losses. And just to let you know, the school district will be looking at it at their meeting on Tuesday evening, and the county commissioners will be reviewing it for their vote at Thursday's uh city c or county commissioners meeting. Um, are the properties residential, commercial that you're in that are in the pipeline mix of both?

The majority of them are all residential. Uh, we are looking at one commercial property at at this point in time and we're doing our due diligence on that one property before we make a commitment to to looking at to taking it. It's got some substantial environmental issues that that need to be addressed. So that that's something we have to take into consideration also. Thank you, Skip. Excellent.

Thank you very much for your hard work on this. We appreciate it. Mayor, thank you as well. And hopefully we can see some more uh action on it as the year continues. Mrs. Frank, Mr. Yoder. Yes, Mr. Milikin. Yes, Mrs. Catz. Yes, Mr. Pizzy. Yes, Mr. Ber. Yes. Motion passes. 50. We'll go up then to item number seven,

an ordinance of the city council of the city of Williamsport placing a government study commission. Question on the 2026 primary election ballot and designating the number of members to serve on said commission. Can I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. All right. Um, Councilwoman Millie is not present tonight. So, Councilman Yoder is going to be taking over on this one. Is that correct?

Yes, sir. Um, so this is an ordinance um getting home rule on the ballot for May and setting the composition of the commission to seven members. So, um I think the the five of us present um and participating in the meeting tonight are are pretty well aware of a lot of the dialogue we've had over the last year surrounding the concept of home rule. Um this was really the big recommendation that is coming from PFM in their financial study um that has been gone through um in in the past year. And so this is really good to see this this starts that process. Um, to be candid with you, I did not write this. Um, Austin and the legal team wrote this. So, um, in terms of questions related to the actual question being on the ballot, etc., I'll gladly defer to Austin. Um, but this is really good to see. I'm excited to see this. Um, I would put out to the public um, and to the group here. Um, May is coming up quickly. we need people to serve on the commission because if you read the ordinance um the people that would serve on this commission are on the ballot at the same time and so um time is of the essence in that um regard and so um I would encourage all of us to um reach out to folks. I think it would be wise of us to potentially do some kind of a town hall info session for interested parties. Um, and just the public in general. Um, and notably because look, we've went through this what 8 n years ago. It was not successful. Um, and I speaking frankly, I think that um, we are doing this for much different reasons that I think are very good. Um there's a lot of um good things that I hope will come out of this that I'm excited about and so I I think there's a good opportunity to speak to

the public more directly through some type of engagement like that as well. So just some food for thought for the group. Um that's what this is. So, I also know I believe Austin, if correct me if I'm wrong, um there was some dialogue with the county in terms of kind of initial prep in timing for the ballot and I believe timing what we're seeing here was uh based on guidance from um county elections. We wait much longer. It's going to be a big challenge. We don't want to put a lot of pressure on um our elections team and frankly it's going to hinder our ability to do this in May as well.

So, thank you very much, Councilman Yoder. Uh anything else that other members would like to add? The biggest thing that I would like to Go ahead.

I I guess I just want to echo what you said as a as a new guy. I'm going to keep saying that this is a complicated concept. Um, and I've been sitting in the audience listening for a year now. Um, so anything we can do to better inform the public um, on what this is and what the process looks like and how people can get involved in the commission, I'm all for and happy to help. Thank you very much for that. So, what I will say is that uh, we will put together uh, an action plan so we can get this information out to the public in the best uh, way. Um, Mrs. Frank uh is probably going to be a point of contact person for that as we move forward in her office, but we should probably get some handouts together we could have available and obviously things up on the city's website, Facebook page and whatnot. Um but in the meantime, again, please reach out if you do have questions and we'll get them answered for you as best as we possibly can

or if you have an interest in serving. Yeah, more importantly, if you have an interest in serving, that's that's what we're looking for because um this is a Austin, please correct me if I'm wrong, but this is a process where the individual has to go out and obtain signatures to get on the ballot just as you would if you were running for an elected office in the city and then you have to be elected for that. Uh and I believe it's also it's 100 signatures. I believe those are probably questions that are best left to um the board of elections. Yes.

Because they'll they'll Forest Layman, director of elections who we did speak with and is one of the reasons why we got this in front of uh council as quickly as we could was because they do need that lead time. He'll he'll be able to answer those types of questions. But yeah, I think um everything you've said sounds correct. Yep. So I think whomever may volunteer to take on such service, they know exactly where they could come for at least four signatures right now. Hey, I give a signature, too. Yes, Bonnie, you you we will get you we will get you to get give autographs. Thank you,

Mrs. Frank. Mr. Yoder. Yes, Mr. Milikin. Yes, Mrs. Catz. Yes, Mi Mr. Pizzy. [clears throat] Yes, Mr. Ber. Yes. Motion passes. 5-0. Item number eight. Resolution authorizing an amendment to the subreient agreement between the city and the redevelopment authority of the city of Williamsport. Can I have a motion, please? So moved. Second, Mrs. Livermore.

Good evening, council. Um, so this is a resolution authorizing an amendment to the subreient agreement that we actually just talked about with skip. So we have currently have a sub recipient agreement for the ARPA funds that we give to the RDA. This amendment just gives us the ability to um give the RDA funds upfront to purchase the home. So currently everything is on a reimbursement basis. So they do the work, pay the bills, send in uh you know the receipts for reimbursement. But for the larger purchases like the actual properties, um we spoke with our UHY representative, we've spoke with Skip. Um, we had a meeting with uh some of the RDA board and it's important that they are able to purchase these properties with this money upfront so that they don't have to wait longer because we have a time limit on our money. So, this just gives them the ability to actually purchase the properties up front. The expenses that go into the properties will still be reimbursement based, but this is for the actual purpose. So, um, purchase we did I worked with Nick on this. So, and I worked with uh so it's all compliant through for ARPA and I do believe that it passed through the RDA board. So, yep. So, next step is you guys.

Um the obvious question that I would have then is we give the money to the RDA, purchase falls through because somebody else came in or the person that owns the property decides they're going to fix it up, get their act together, whatever it may be. What's the mechanism to get that money back? I would assume that we would actually write the check for the purchase. So, uh, you know what I mean? Directly to wherever they're paying for the property. Okay. Any other questions from other members?

Mrs. Frank, Mr. Yoder, yes. Mr. Milikin, yes. Mrs. Catz, yes. Mr. Pizzy, yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you very much. We will jump down then to item number 10. Resolution accepting a contract agreement with Civic Plus for right to know software. Can I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. Mr. White.

Good evening, Council President Ber, Vice President Bizzy. You have in front of you a resolution for a agreement with Civic Plus which is the right to know software that the city has used for quite some time. I know this software is critical um for Janice and and her use and to be able to field right to know requests and um actually get the responses and the extensions and all the documents out the door. Um this is for one year and it is for $6,32.88 88 and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Are there any questions for members of council? I I do. Yes, ma'am.

Austin, um you're doing the right to know uh who is this going to or for since Janice has this? Is she is this going to another department? this soft. So, this software is um what Janice uses to administer the right to know system. So, it's in charge of taking requests. It helps her track them. It helps her get the responses out. Um it goes through her email and things like that. So it's it's really critical because there are procedural steps whether it's days whether it's things that need to be sent ways responses need to be generated and sent out um that are really virtually impossible for someone to do without some sort of software and this is what she uses to accomplish that.

That's what I wanted to clarify that was for Janice because I know since she has had this program it has made her life a little bit more uh comfortable and and dealing with the public with this. So yeah, thank you. Correct. Yes, this is Janice's software that she uses. All right. Mrs. Frank, Mr. Yoder, yes. Mr. Milikin, yes. Mrs. Katz, yes. Mr. Pizzy, yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Motion passes 5-0. to item number 11.

Resolution to appoint a sewage enforcement officer and alternate SEO for the city of Williamsport. Can I have a motion, please? So moved. Thank you. Second. Mr. Scott.

Good evening, Council President Ber. Uh members of council have a resolution to present for your consideration. This resolution is for appointing a sewage enforcement officer and an alternate uh sewage enforcement officer for uh this year. Every year the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection requires that the city appoint an SEO and an alternate SEO. We did this last year. We're proposing to appoint the same people. That's Mike Mlan as the alternate and John Giocomi was the uh main SEO. Uh John works at Old Lycoming Township and Mike's at Hepern Township. They will be paid a fee of not less than $58 an hour and not more than 60 an hour. Sorry.

And to refresh my memory, this is because of septic systems that are on city or within the city limit. That's correct. That's right. Which we have only one really that we know of and that's at Elen Park. And that will that be going away with the new bathrooms or is that going to stay a septic system? It stays. It stays. Okay. Yeah. And the new bathrooms were just installed uh two weeks ago, by the way. Wonderful. Yep. Yeah. It's all public sewer, you know, throughout the city except for that's about the only one we know of. Okay. Any questions then from members of council? Mrs. Frank. Mr. Yoder. Yes. Mr. Milikin. Yes.

Mrs. Catz, yes. Mr. Pizzy, yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Motion passes 5-0. Move item number 13, a resolution authorizing the purchase of three pursuit rated police vehicles and related unit equipment. Can I have a motion, please? So moved. Second, Mr. Aviano.

Good evening. This resolution is for purchase of three 2026 Durango uh pursuit rated vehicles from New Holland along with upfitting from 1080 Emergency Services. Uh this purchase is allocated from our police vehicle purchase budget and it is co-stars. Uh for the record, the contract number is 012 E2259. This isn't additional vehicles. This is just replacing three older 2021 Durangos. Um the you say the purchase is coming out of your regularly scheduled budget for vehicle purchases. Is this anything out of this out of the capital projects budget? No, nothing comes out of capital projects. Yes.

And when should we expect delivery of these new vehicles? Uh they're ready to go. They just need to be upfitted. So a month, two months. Okay. And will we be will we be selling? Yeah. So we'll sell three. Actually, this will probably allow us to sell four vehicles total. So that money will go back into the general fund and kind of offset some of that cost that we're putting out. And they've got to go up for auction. Is that correct? Uh they go out on what? Minister bid. Indeed. I was going to say that's I think that was right. But yeah, it gets bidded out. Not by Indeed. Okay.

All right. Are there any other questions for members of council regarding the purchase of the vehicles? I have a question. How many miles are on the cars, would you say, just for the, you know, just for the heck of it? Oh, I'd say mid60s. But the wear and tear is unbelievable, right? Yeah. 60,000 miles doesn't seem like a lot, but our cars idle, so three, four times that idling. Yeah. So, yeah. They they get used hard, so it's not like your standard civilian vehicle. And a lot of it is going on the brick street there, isn't it? Are you using a brick street or No, John. John's not here. We don't need to talk about brick streets.

[laughter] Just asking because I know it's hard on vehicles. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Bonnie. Mrs. Frank. Mr. Yoder. Yes. Mr. Milikin. Yes. Mrs. Catz. Yes. Mr. Pizzy. Yes. Mr. Ber. Yes. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you. Thank you as well. Uh item number 14.

We have a subdivision lot add-on of the city Williams Sport Veterans Memorial Park. Could I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. Mr. Ner.

Good evening, President Ber and members of council. Before I go into the next two presentation, I want to read a letter that we recently received from the Lycoming County Planning and Community Development. They are the ones that review the act 247 reviews for the planning and subdivision. And this letter states, "Lycoming County Department of Planning and Community Development finds itself in a position where we can no longer reliably review the act 247 plans and generate a comment letter within the confines of the review period. While this service is discontinued at present, we hope to reintroduce this service in future years. Basically, just to give you a background, the Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Code grants like County the right to review all of our planning and subdivisions. So, you normally would see a letter in the packet saying that the review comments they and it's it's an additional set of eyes. They review that first actually the city, Bill Scott, city engineer and the storm water authority reviews plans. We require them to send a county reviews. They have a period of time which they review them. that comes back to planning. The city planning then reviews it and then we bring it before you for your approval. Um, at this point in time, they are waving that and they will no longer be in that review process. So, we did speak with Austin and we're just going to revamp our time periods as far as smittles and in the process that we go through. What this does is it basically takes an extra set of eyes off of this as far as a review. But what we are doing is Scott Williams with the community development program assistant planner director is going to start to review those as well. So he'll provide a set of eyes. It'll be myself, Bill Scott, Eric Smith Gold, the storm water authority. So that way we can kind of keep the eyes on it as far as to make sure it's got all of his documents and requirements that we need. So we I just wanted to make you aware because

normally in my presentation we tell you that you have a copy of the planning from county. you will no longer see that.

Any questions on that? I I was making a note for something. Um and so I might have missed this. Wh why are they pulling this back again? My understanding is because of their moving financial moving staff around. they just can't do it in that required time frame and take a fee to do that. Okay. And and and again, they the county has been doing it for us as well as many other municipalities probably for at least 40 to 50 years again. Um and and they'll be stopping at this time and they're stopping across the board. Stopping it across the board. Correct.

Wow.

Okay. Any questions related to that? Okay, moving on to the subdivision lot add-on. Attached for your review is a subdivision lot add-on. The tax partial is 67026101.C. They will subdivide lot number one containing.1362 acres and it will be added to the city of Williamsports tax parcel 67026101.8. To give you the background, back in 2007, High Steel donated for a dollar and it went through council a resolution for them to basically provide us with this parcel of land to expand the Veterans War Memorial that John Markley and his commission work on. So unfortunately they never it was never followed through and it was never recorded that this is part of our parcel and as part of John Markley's continuing efforts to expand. We really need to make sure that's done so that there meet confinements of the zoning laws and requirements. So, we're bringing this before you Larson Design Group has been working extremely hard on pulling this together and this will merely just be adding that that something that was approved by council in 2007 but just never brought before and got recorded. We will make sure within the next week it providing council approves it that it will be recorded and it will be deed that it'll be our partial which will allow John Markley and the commission to continue their efforts of what they're doing up at the war memorial. Okay, seems pretty straightforward. Any questions for members of council?

No, Mrs. Frank. Mr. Yoder, yes. Mr. Milikin, yes. Mrs. Catz, yes. Mr. Pizzy, yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Motion passes 5-0. Uh, item number 15, lock consolidation, Church Street, City, Williamsport. Mr. Nar, what I present, I a motion first. I'm sorry.

Second. Thank you, Mr. Nar. What I present to you is a lot consolidation. Hopefully, this is knock on wood. This is one of the last parts of the puzzle with the separation between RVT and the city of Williamsport. This parcel was located down at the corner of Church and Market Street. Um there's currently a bus station and a parking deck that's down there on these parcels. There's four parcels. Parcel 63 001111 containing 7,800 square ft. Parcel 63001 110.8 which will contain 18,576 ft. Lot number one containing 8,531 square ft was formerly the SR9411 which was abandoned by Pendot back on November 5th in 2003 in order to move this project forward. There also is another vacated part of this parcel which is 4,865 square ft was vacated by the city of Williamsport in 2009. And then lot 3 containing 4593 ft was vacated by PennDOT as well on January 13, 2010. This however was never brought forward and got recorded. So this is merely combining these parcels which will allow them to have a clean deed with a building on one parcel without going over all four separate parcels. Um this is the last review that you will get from county. County did provide comments and it's just merely cut and dry and this is just merely cleaning up some final last stages. Thank you very much for that. It seems like um we've got a lot of uh things just hanging out there, but um you talked about the last bit, just a bit off topic with um RBTA. Where are we with the Elm

Park um subdivision? With Elm Park, we are still working with that. I believe Dan Facel is working with that project to get that done. Um the other thing too is that probably if you're referring to the rightway that's going through there that will also be going probably next month for finalization. So what that'll do is that'll provide that all that documentation for that. What's the hold up with Elm Park or is it just because of the get the situation? It's just a tedious long process.

Well, it was it was already the subdivision. It was already completed. You guys already voted on that. The only thing was is on that recorded plan, it did not show a legal rightaway, one of the legal rightaways on there. Even though that was deed and in there, they just want to make sure that's done. That's why we're getting ready to bring that before at this time. Any other questions regarding this item? Mrs. Frank. Mr. Yoder. Yes. Mr. Milik, yes. Mrs. Catz. Yes. Mr. Peluzi. Yes. Mr. Ber.

Yes. Motion passes. 5 Z. Uh we'll move to item number 16 except for filing the controllers report from 10:25. Uh do I have a motion? So move. Second. Any questions regarding this? Seeing hearing none. Mr. Yoder, yes. Mr. Milikin, yes. Mrs. Catz, yes. Mr. Pizzy, yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Motion passes 5. Looks like we That's everything.

Yeah, looks like we got everything on there. So, we'll move to item number 17, announcements. The next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be held on Thursday, January 22nd, 2026 at 7 p.m. here in Trade and Transit 2, 3rd Floor. Uh upcoming meetings, Thursday, January 15th, 10:30 a.m. Zoning and Hearing Board. Tuesday, January 20th, 6:30 p.m. HARB. Wednesday, January 21st, 10:00 a.m. Blighted Properties. Thursday, January 22nd, 700 p.m. our regularly scheduled city council meeting. Uh before we get to comments and so on, I just want to take a quick moment and acknowledge the uh Scouting USA Troop 14 from St. John's Newberry United Methodist United Methodist Church. They're here for an Eagle Scout required citizenship in the community merit badge. So, we do appreciate you being here. Um with that being said, I'm going to open it up to um comments from members of the public. Just come on to the podium. Please say your name and address for the record. Hello, I'm Ron Lumbard. I live at 118 Heer Street. And in regards to the outgoing chief, I would just like to let y'all know on his resume that you read us. I met him through scouting. He was a den leader. He was a cubmaster. And hopefully he hasn't grown up yet. [laughter] And all all the good things were said about him. The only thing I can think wrong with him, he's a Yankee fan. [laughter] Thank you, Sam. And thanks to the council for having us.

Absolutely. Yep. Hopefully we didn't keep you uh hopefully we kept you from falling falling asleep back there because I didn't see too many phones and faces. So, well done on that. Thank you. All right. With no other uh comments from members of the public, do we have any comments from members of council? I have a question. Yeah, I I have a question for all all the young people at the back of the committee uh of the room. You're here for uh an Eagle Scout public service. Eagle Scout uh community um merit badge. Okay. By a show of hands, how many of you are going for this merit badge?

Several of you. All right. Okay. By show of hands, how many of you like tonight's meeting? Okay, even better. So, we're going to see you guys at more meetings, right? Okay. All right. Excellent. Excellent. All right. Well, thank you all for being here. Any comments from the administration and any comments from the news media? I don't believe anyone is here. I'll take a motion for adjournment. So moved. Second. All in favor? I have.