Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Good evening. So because we are a quorum of council not present, we will not be convening our regular meeting and will not take any official actions tonight. However, so no motions, votes, or deliberations will occur. We will receive public comment. We will make some informational announcements and accept reports. Any matters requiring an official council action will be placed on a future meeting agenda. That being said, please rise for the Pledge to the Flag.

Congratulations to the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, God.

The clerk will call the roll.

Mr. Raymond, Mr. Callahan. Present. Mr. Colon, Ms. Daniels, Ms. Quitek. Present. Ms. Laird.

Present. Thank you. We're going to be starting this evening with a presentation of two citations. I'm aware one of the citation recipients is here, so we're going to start with that one. Whereas the residents of the city of Bethlehem have been served by a dedicated, diligent, and talented member of the Bethlehem Police Department for 20 years... And whereas John Casella, who started with the police department in 2007 and retired in 2026, has, during the course of his employment, provided the utmost in reliable and outstanding service to the police department and the residents of the city of Bethlehem. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Council of the City of Bethlehem that Sergeant John Casella be extended the gratitude of the City of Bethlehem, which has benefited from his two decades of service and the special contributions he has made to promote public safety and to protect the lives and property of Bethlehem residents. Be it further resolved, now that John is retired, he can relax and enjoy all that life has to offer him. And be it further resolved that John be extended every good wish for a long and satisfying retirement. Mr. Casella, Sergeant Casella, if you'd like to come up and accept the citation. If you want to make any remarks, you're welcome to take the podium.

Yes, thank you.

Thank you. Our second citation is for the retirement of Captain Nicholas Letchman, and I don't believe I see him present tonight. Making sure. Okay. So we will put this in the mail for him right away. Congratulations to him as well.

Okay.

We're going to move on to public comment at this time on items not being voted on. I'm going to start this off though. After the last meeting, we did receive some questions from our fellow council members and the public about what comments are or are not permitted. And so I invite solicitor Stewart to share a brief legal perspective that helps explain the stances that we take, that we must take as a governing body.

Good evening, members of council, members of the administration and members of the public. I want to take a moment to address the city's public comment rules and the way those rules are applied during council meetings. The city's public comment rules are intentionally broad. They're designed to give members of the public a meaningful opportunity to speak to council on matters that concern them. That includes comments on city business, community concerns, public policy, elected officials, government actions, and other matters that a speaker believes are important to raise in this public forum. That broad protection also means that speakers may say things that others find deeply offensive, hurtful, demeaning, or wrong. The First Amendment protects a wide range of speech, including speech that is upsetting, unpopular, or sharply critical. Unless speech constitutes a true threat, obscenity, fighting words, meaning personally directed face-to-face insults likely to provoke an immediate violent reaction, incitement to imminent lawless action, legally actionable defamation, or legally actionable discriminatory harassment that denies a person equal access to opportunities or services— Unless speech falls into one of those categories, it is protected. Speech is not unprotected merely because it's hateful, offensive, discriminatory, or painful to hear. It is also important to understand the rules are different for government than they are for private parties. First Amendment protections do not extend to the private sector. private employer business or social media platform may choose to prohibit offensive hateful discriminatory or harassing language in its own workplace on its own property or in its own forum the city is different when the city opens a public comment period at a council meeting It's bound by the First Amendment. That means the city may not restrict speech simply because it disagrees with the speaker's viewpoint or because the message is offensive. It is the city's obligation to apply neutral rules that preserve order, allow the meeting to proceed, and protect the constitutional rights of the public. Allowing deeply offensive comments to be heard reflects the city's adherence to its constitutional obligations, not agreement with or approval of the speaker's message. Notably, council also has a local rule prohibiting name calling and personal attacks. As a result, it may sometimes appear inconsistent when a speaker is interrupted for violating that rule, while another speaker is not interrupted for language that listeners may find offensive, hurtful, or demeaning. That distinction exists because the city is bound by the First Amendment. I recognize that this can be difficult, especially when comments cause genuine offense or pain, but the First Amendment necessarily protects speech that is uncomfortable, unpopular, or objectionable, and Council's responsibility is to uphold the First Amendment, preserve order, apply its rules even-handedly, and protect the public's right to address its government. Thank you.

Thank you, Solicitor. So that being said, I will first work my way through the list of people who signed up in advance to speak. Arti Curatola is first. Please approach the podium.

Artie Caratola, 813 Lawford Street. I'd like to address City Council. Please be considerate for people given five minutes to speak. If you see a problem, it would be proper to address the perpetrator after the meeting or upon leaving. if you interject it may interfere with the speaker's message i was cut off at the last meeting when i was about to rectify that if hitler gave the order to kill innocent people especially women and children or if he just let it happen it doesn't matter he had murder in his heart for the jewish people if we don't do whatever we can to stop this genocide Each and every one of us who don't do something to end this are as guilty as Hitler. True, the Nazis killed a lot of innocent people. But isn't that what the leaders in Israel are now doing today? Two wrongs don't make a right. An eye for an eye, a toot for a toot. The people today from the Middle East had nothing to do with the Holocaust. It's in my imagination, but are the leaders in Israel and Zionists of today making all the Jewish people look bad by killing innocent people all over the Middle East? Equally as important of a question to us citizens of the United States and Bethlehem, are we looking like Nazis or infantiles or supporters who followed Mussolini, who got many of his people killed? to support hitler by supporting a president who has us support a country that's killing innocent women and children all people in palestine the gaza strip islamic people all over the middle east When a 100-ton missile hits a combat jeep in Iran and kills young US soldiers in their 20s and 30s, keep in mind, it wasn't the Iranis who are to blame. It was our president who let us do this. As all Jews want this anti-Semitic hatred to stop, we need to do whatever we can to stop all hatred. We need to end all propaganda that leads to hatred of all people. God gave the Jewish people the gifts of knowledge and wisdom. I truly have no objections at all upon Jewish people controlling our world like it appears that the leaders of Israel would like. but only if they would use the other gift that God gave them, the gift of love, not rule with an iron hand. Now, if all would use their gifts of knowledge and wisdom by displaying love, kindness, and fairness, I believe that we can actually have a utopian world. Rotten apples are destroying the bushel of the world with abuse of power and greed. It's not looking favorable that some power hungry Jewish people place this anti-Semitic label on people that don't believe or act favorably upon their mission. They are actually saying, we can't behead you or crucify you, but if you don't let us control you, we can castrate you psychologically and have you blacklisted to make it extremely hard or impossible for you to do the things on earth that God would want you to do. as they did to me in this town that i was born in and raised in this country that i served for in the military they can do the same to you if you speak up against their power in any way shape or form if anyone doesn't like seeing me speak close your eyes hey i speak the truth that our government is supporting the leaders in Israel to overthrow other governments and kill innocent people, bomb and destroy the land where they live to control it and own it like Hitler and the Nazis did to the Jewish people. If you don't act against this, then do what most people do. Close your eyes and close your hearts. keep in mind that the seeds of hate will only grow more hate to sow the seeds of love will grow love and unity here in bethlehem we need to be an example, because greater cities equal greater USA.

Moving on to our next public commenter who signed up in advance Scott Moser.

Good evening, Council. My name is Scott Moser. I reside at 58 Craigie Street, Easton, Pennsylvania. I am here to talk about the deficiencies that appear to be at the Walnut Street parking garage with the fire protection system. I'm here with my coworker, Bert Mucklin. Bert is going to go into detail of the potential deficiencies, but I would like to approach, if I could, to make sure that council has a copy of the deficiencies that potentially exist. May I approach?

You may approach, and we'll make sure that all council members get copies.

Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, thanks a lot. Thank you.

And if I could, I'd like to yield some of my time to my coworker, Bert Mucklin, who's going to go into more detail and then the council can follow along with what he has there. Thank you.

Five minutes, yep.

Hello, my name is Burt Mucklin. I work with Scott Moser. I live on 1482 Pine Street in Pinarjo, Pennsylvania. And again, we are here to address the Bethlehem Parking Authority on Walnut Street. Primarily with the fire protection. This was a bid spec job. That means all contractors needed to follow the same specs that are required for the job. I have a list for each of you to look over and it appears the installing contractor did not follow. When a signatory contractor loses a prevailing wage job by a high number, we like to investigate how it happened. Let's face it, the wages are the same because they are already set by the Department of Labor of current and union scale when the job prevails. We stopped on the job when it started and noticed it appeared the installing contractor, Anchor Fire Protection, was not installing the correct pipe that was the spec for the fire suppression standpipes. We went to the job trailer and spoke with Mohawk, the general contractor overlooking the project. They said they would investigate and it may be because the spec had changed, which specs don't change on a bid spec job. After a few weeks, We stopped back on the project and noticed that the installing contractor was starting to install the dry pipe sprinkler system. It appeared the fabrication method that was required was not being followed. So we stopped back at Mohawk's job trailer office to talk to the GC and they said, quote, it was not any of our business and they were not worried about it and to leave the job immediately. you would think the gc would be happy for the help to make sure the job was getting done correctly but it seems they were not so we reached out to steve fernstrom with the bethlehem parking authority and he was he would he said we would have to fill out a right to know request for the specs required for the fire protection on the job so we did just that and the specs are listed as shown on the list i have given you it appears they were not being followed by the installing contractor. Mohawk said they had found things at the end of the job on the punch list that was not done per the spec. It was the same things we brought to their attention at the beginning of the job and they waited to the end to address them. They claimed they reached out to an engineer and they said it didn't make a difference to the integrity of the fire protection system, but that is not what was required by the installing contractor. The specs were clear on what were to be followed. Here's a quick breakdown for everybody. Anchor's bid was $573,600. That was in the right to know request. It appears they did not follow the specs that were required. They won the bid by $100,000 is what Mohawk Contracting told another contractor, which was our signatory contractor. After discussing the way the job was done, it is estimated if the other contractor did not follow if did the job the same way and did not follow the specs, they could have saved the following, 93,500 on material, 87,600 on labor, 24,000 on fabrication. If you add all that up, that's a total savings of $205,100. So if you think about that, they could have saved another 100,000 give or take on the job if the specs were not important. but they were ready to install everything as per the required specs for the job. I would like to request that the parking garage is looked over by a third party engineer to see what all was not done correctly by the general contractor. I feel the city's taxpayers and Bethlehem Parking Authority did not get what they paid for. Now, if you go back to the line items that is listed on the paperwork that was handed out, This fire suppression standpipe specs called for a schedule 40, which is a standard weight pipe on the fire protection. The installing contractor installs schedule 10. Now the price difference alone for the pipe per foot is double. to go with the schedule 40. So they cut their price in half by not installing what was required. And not to mention the longevity of the pipe on how much longer it would last with the schedule 40. So it will break down and have to replace sooner. Another requirement was installing pressure gauges at the top of each standpipe. There's three total. Not one gauge was installed. So when the fire department or anyone puts pressure on that system, nobody knows what is on it. The last thing I'd like to talk about is on the dry pipe sprinkler system. Section 3.3, joint construction line H, steel pipe, required cut groove joints. They did not install cut groove, they installed roll groove. That is also a cheaper option. It is actually over double the price per groove when you install it that way. Now, the engineer claims that it doesn't make a difference, that both is acceptable. And he is right. It's an acceptable method for installing fire protection, but not when it is required in the spec. that it needs to be followed. I have 17 years in the trade and I can be the first to tell you that when stuff starts breaking down and it's on roll groove pipe, that it actually puts a bevel on the inside of the pipe where the water lays and it actually starts to eat that away. When you do cut groove, which costs a lot more, there is no bevel on the inside of the pipe. So it all drains 100% and the pipe lasts a lot longer. I did list some things on there that, you know, if you guys do find merit to some of these allegations that, you know, Mohawk construction should be liable for liquidated damages. Beneath that in the right to know request. If you look at Mohawk's construction bid in that same packet, they never even submitted their non-discrimination clause, which was missing from the contract. Every other bid and contractor that submitted every piece of paperwork submitted it 100%. So, I mean, it's 2026. We all know discrimination is not taken lightly, and they didn't even fill out that piece of paper. So, thank you for your time.

Thank you. And like I said, we will make sure that your materials get distributed to all of the council members for review and further discussion later on. Thank you. Right. I have one more person signed up in advance. I am having difficulty reading the handwriting. It is a, I believe Giza, Something with a B, yeah. Thank you, sorry. Couldn't read the last name. Can you, yep, approach the podium and please state your name for the record.

My name is Geza Burkett Jr. I'm a lifetime resident of Bethlehem. I live at 1903 Hilltop Terrace. Can you now hear me? Yes. This is my first time at a city hall council meeting, my first time public speaking. I'm not very good at speaking, but I'll try to make it quick and brief. I come to here today on concern of three public health issues. And one of them being, I noticed a property in Bethlehem, and this is a property here. And a lot of my friends who I go to college with and college students have also thought about this as an issue. this public health issue not only affects me but it also affects others that are maybe college students or maybe renters that are renting these properties and this is one of them and i pointed this out to the board of health and i talked to the board of health on it this is unacceptable for anybody to live in a condition like like this and i reported to the public health burden in the city of bethlehem i says you know this is a residence that people are going to rent from they could be myself they could be students they could also be other people And landlords aren't taking responsibility to making sure the housings, the properties are safe and free of public health issues because this can affect me and other people. No one should have to live in conditions like this in the city of Bethlehem, whether it be myself or other people. It needs to be inclusive for all people and mindful of people's health and well-being. The other issue I like to point out too, and a lot of my friends in public health and in college pointed this out too, the waste landfill. And I know the city is on board with that and St. Louis is trying to combat it. The waste landfill that's near the Anderson campus, it's trying to expand into the area where there are trees. But there's a problem with that. And I talk with public health officials on this too. When you have moisture in humid climates like Bethlehem or Pennsylvania, for example, where we have high humidity, It creates mycotoxins. Mycotoxins create stachybotrys mold. Stachybotrys mold can affect the lungs of those who have immunocompromisations, meaning young children and also those 65 and older. If those mycotoxins get into the lungs of people, they can cause bleeding. The issue is that this waste landfill is near a million dollar hospital, Anderson Campus. That's not progressive to allow this waste landfill to expand beyond what they're able to do. Now, I'm not sure what city of Bethlehem is gonna do about this, but the waste landfill does pose an issue to the environment, to the people, and to the community. So I'm looking to see what the city can do in regards to these issues. The third issue is, I know it's been talked about as data centers. Data centers also pose a problem in public health because Their expansion is an effect to the environment, the community, as well as public health issues as well on that. So I'm not sure what the city can do on these three issues, but I would advise the city to please look into this to see what can be done about these. Thank you for your time and have a wonderful day.

Thank you. And are you able to give us a copy of the picture that you presented so we can see it a little bit better? Make sure all council representatives get that as well. Okay. Thank you very much.

Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much. And thank you for taking the time to come address council.

okay so that exhausts the list of people who signed up in advance i will now uh see if anyone who has not signed up has items to comment on that are not being voted on tonight the left

Bill Shire, 1890 Eaton Avenue. I followed the discussion on permitted speech with interest. According to Robert's rules, I think it's rule 13 of council says that in all other instances, Robert's rules will apply. And Robert's rules has two things that I sort of touchstones for me. What is? Someone else is talking. Sorry. It says that. You can. Say that someone's proposal is idiotic. I'm going to getting feedback or something.

No, I'm going to remind the audience to please be respectful of the person speaking at the microphone.

Perhaps I could be granted a few more seconds. You can say someone's proposal is idiotic, but you can't call them an idiot. To me, that's my distillation of one part of Robert's rules. And the other is that, well, it escapes me at the moment. Let me move on to something else. I talked last time, part one of three, tonight's part two, about the water and sewer bill. And I'm gonna spend some more time on that tonight. And I hope, but I'm gonna dispense with the humor. I had this imaginary conversation between citizen Joe Blow and his mayor. A very small and unscientific sample after the meeting conveyed to me that my point was made, but the humor was lost. So I'll dispense with the humor tonight. I hope I demonstrated that the stormwater fee is really a tax on property. And in part three, I'll go into the implications of that. The same is true of the recycling fee. Because if I have no recycling, I still get charged $17.50 every quarter. That's $70 a year. and it's because i own property and so that is really a tax on property enough said but it's not a property tax and we'll get into that later uh i've done a little digging i'm indebted to adbascola for um uh giving me some details about the rest of the water and sewer bill which are the charges as they are called for water and sewer uh the charge per thousand or it's gallons of water it's four dollars and something that's clearly a user fee it's not a tax on property it's clearly a user fee same for the five dollars per thousand gallons for sewer But the other part of the bill are relatively fixed amounts for, basically, Ed doesn't put it this way, but to me it's the water connection, to be connected to the system. And whether you use the system or not, but it's the same for 90%, 95% of residential properties. And this is a, it's called a charge, but it's actually a tax again. And it's a tax because you own property and you are connected to the system. I guess if you weren't connected to the system, there would be no charge. But it's relatively fixed. Now, for the other residential properties and for apartment buildings and industrial uses, anybody that has a bigger meter, then they do pay more. So that's pretty well nailed down there. And I'll start to preview. I only have two minutes left. I'll start to preview part three. You've heard the terms progressive taxes, regressive taxes, and taxes that are in the middle. An example of a progressive tax is, of course, the federal income tax. where additional income gets taxed at a higher rate if you cross a certain threshold. I spoke to council earlier this year about imposing a new level, introducing a new bracket is a better way of putting it, at a million dollars a year. And income above that would be taxed at 50%. Presently, the highest threshold is at 600 and some thousand for an individual and its additional income is taxed at 37%. But as your income increases into those brackets, your overall tax rate increases because the additional income is being taxed at a higher rate. So overall, you're paying a higher percentage of your income. That's a progressive tax. A regressive tax, and I'm going to have to end on that note, is something that's fixed for everyone. And that is regressive because people with higher incomes pay a lower percentage of their income for that tax. And poor people pay a higher percentage because it's the same for everyone. So next time I'm going to apply that framework to the water and sewer bill. So I know you can't wait for it.

Thank you. We'll see you next time. All right. Would anyone else to the left like to make public comment? Thank you.

Good evening, Alex Miller, 810 Monocacy Street. Back once again just to remind everyone that the City of Bethlehem's FLOC contract for automatic license plate readers will be coming to an end and up for possible renewal at some point in this summer, I believe we were told at the last meeting. For the public as well, visit www.noalprs.com. It's a decentralized nonprofit that's working to explain what ALPRs do, the abuses of companies that produce and install them, such as Flock. So yeah, definitely recommend getting educated on the worst abuses of an otherwise terrible company. I think I'd like to use an analogy that might have some distance given this government's desire to pour so much effort, time, and capital into parks. If you imagined that you hired an architect to do design work for one of your parks, And perhaps in the interview you ask them, hey, have you ever done any design work on, say, a warehouse or distribution center that's being used to, for example, warehouse people for ICE? Obviously, with 15 of our neighbors being kidnapped last year, we don't want to hire vendors that have done work for ICE. If this architect came to you and said, no, we have not done any work for ice and then designed your part gave you a great cutting-edge state-of-the-art product and And then you discover that they had done work for ICE. I highly doubt you'd bring them back again to design another park. Even worse, perhaps some of their employees did design work in another park in another municipality. Maybe they were caught leering at children. Maybe they were asked to leave by the police and refused to leave the town. Imperfect analogy though this may be, this is fundamentally what we would be doing if we decided to renew a Flock contract, because all of these abusives have been perpetrated by Flock's leadership and their employees. I really feel like council has to step up. Last meeting, as rough as it was, there were some glimmers that I feel that you're starting to understand that there are some gaps in some of the reasoning that's coming from the administration, especially around tech, Certainly with the data center focus that's happening around the valley, several neighboring municipalities, you're going to have to act. You're going to have to be the proactive ones. Because I am afraid that... you are serving as a legislative foil to an executive that is reactive rather than proactive. There are a few plans that have, as we've seen, implementation that has been difficult to explain by members of the administration. And to the extent that they have any principles or legislative priorities, not many of them have surfaced of late. So again, just here to remind you that we shouldn't be doing business with a company, even if it is federally funded. I don't think I need to explain to you the revolving door of federal grant dollars that have supported some of the Worst abuses of the police state coming out of the Department of Justice. This is a well-documented phenomenon that tech startups basically get guaranteed seed money from the federal government who passes dollars down to local law enforcement to basically be test pilots for their products and by extension make citizens the test pilots for their products. Thank you.

Thank you. Would anyone else to my left like to make comment? Anyone in the broad center who would like to make comment on an item not being voted on this evening?

Mr. Intellix.

Mr. Intellix.

Steven Talix, 737 Ridge. At one time, Packer, Hillside, Fillmore, Pierce, Polk, Fifth, Burkle, Van Buren, among others, were the sites of single-family homes. Owners were permanent residents. parking for others was next to impossible. Today, after June 1st until September 1st, parking on the streets is essentially open almost at all places. Why? Because it's one stable family neighborhood is now designated by the city as the student zone. And consequently, the students are gone for summer vacation, thus freeing up the parking spaces. Since one person can own up to 50 houses in this area, this means it's highly unlikely that they will ever become single family homes again. Drive through these streets and count the number of yellow doors. They represent a single owner. Why? More money is made by renting to the transient students. Of all the college towns in Pennsylvania, only Bethlehem has this definition that five students are governed the same as a single family. This has prompted non-resident real estate promoters to outbid single families in their purchase of these properties. Radnor Township in Delaware County, the home of Villanova University, Rosemont College, Eastern University, and Valley Forge University does not have this problem since they allow only two students per house, thereby precluding profit from student rentals. Hence, you have more college dorms and the single family conversions. City Council helped in creating this problem and is still continuing it. How can Council help in this solution? By reviewing and revising its definitions. There are new properties being built on the south side, as some of these are being built in the designated student zone. Guess what? Guess what they will be? Of course, they will become student houses. council needs to have the definition of family revised preventing student groups from being called a family and greatly limiting the profit of non-resident real estate speculators by renting to them as a family since they are not a family but a transient rental group It is also key to eliminate the designation of student zone since it implies no single families should be built in this area. It is also of great importance that the members of city council be accurately aware of the city makeup and of its problems. Knowing the city. This aspect was recently brought to the forefront since some years back. I refer to students as transient residents and was seriously reprimanded by a member of a council who argued that students contributed to city equally as single families. How many of you How many of you have seen a single family hang a bed sheet from a second story window to support an athletic event? How many of you have seen a single family string athletic footwear from overhead wires at the end of the school year? And how many of you have seen a single family litter the sidewalk after a weekend party? I think you get the point.

I think you get the point. Thank you, Mr. Indalex.

Can I have another 30 seconds?

You mind? You may finish your statement given the unusual nature of our meeting tonight.

You're being overwhelmed by speakers this evening. But anyway. The quality of these meetings has deteriorated. And one of the reasons is that people at that table aren't that concerned about what's being said because most of you don't listen and also cut people short when they only need a few seconds to finish a statement. But that's the way life is.

Would anyone else in the center like to make public comment? Okay, so that concludes our public comment on items not being voted on. Typically, at this point in the agenda, we would invite public comment on ordinances and resolutions to be voted on. However, since we do not have quorum, we are not hearing or discussing any items that would be considered part of that business agenda. um so those commenters uh are if i had one person signed up um anything from this agenda will be added to the next agenda so that we can hear it at the meeting that we will be voting on it i'm sorry for that inconvenience but we are not allowed to conduct business when we do not have quorum uh like that um Similarly, members of council cannot discuss business that we will be voting on or discussing officially. However, in consultation with our solicitor, what we're going to do in this unusual evening so that we can address the people who took their time out to be here this evening or ask or make statements ourselves, I'm going to invite council members to follow the same five minute time limit that the public has followed this evening. And this is very important due to our sunshine rules and rules of not having quorum. I will remind you, we cannot make any commitments about future votes or business. We cannot poll members on any issues. We cannot discuss the merits of anything that would be considered pending business. So these five minutes that I am offering can be used to make announcements, general statements, and general remarks. That being said, do either of the two council members present have comments? Ms. Kwiatek.

Thank you. I have an oral report. Is this the time that I would do it?

This is your announcement, correct?

Yes, about the committee hearing.

Yeah, so this would be, this is the section that is replacing new business. Essentially, we'll get to the announcement about the hearing in like a couple agenda items. So, sorry. I have nothing then. Nothing else, okay. Mr. Callahan?

Thank you. I just wanted to say a few things quick about the gentleman that came here about the sprinkler system. um i appreciate your time coming here and informing council of the situation um when i came to um i think all council members when we came to the table tonight we had a memo from mr fernstrom from the parking authority and his last um his last PARAGRAPH WAS IF ANY COUNCIL MEMBERS WOULD LIKE TO MEET WITH ME TO DISCUSS THE PROJECT OPERATIONS OR FUTURE PARKING INITIATIVES, I WOULD BE HAPPY TO DO SO. COUNCIL MEMBERS ARE ALSO WELCOME TO ATTEND ANY BETHLEHEM PARKING AUTHORITY BOARD MEETING WHERE PROJECT UPDATES AND AUTHORITY BUSINESS ARE DISCUSSED IN A PUBLIC SETTING. I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE EVERYBODY UNDERSTANDS THIS. SO MS. CRAMPSY-SMITH WAS LOOKING INTO THIS ISSUE. on the bids um prior to her leaving council in january and then when she left she asked me to follow up on it which i did and the gist of it is is that the as the gentleman said tonight in the bids that the parking authority requested very specifically there was specific type of piping and valves that had to be used there was no substitution all the contractors that bid on that job bid the same exact way. And then I asked Mr. Fernstrom, well, how did this company anchor get allowed to switch the spec on the valves and the piping? And he said that to me, that there's an official process and form that they'd have to fill out. And I asked, did they do that? And he said, no. So I had conversations and Mr. Evans said last meeting, why don't I just have some conversations with the parking authority? I did do that. And then after I asked for the documentation on all the bids and the specs of the request from the parking authority, and they told me I had to file a right to know request. And I thought that was a little strange that, hey, you know, a city council member, and I'm also the parking authority liaison. And all I was doing was asking for some information. So they said, well, if you want it, you got to go file a right to know request, which I then did. Then they came back and they wanted to charge me $700 for all the paperwork. And I was very blunt with him. I said, if you think you're going to charge me or the city of Bethlehem 700 hours to get documentation on what happened, I said, you're out of your mind. And within the next day, they emailed me a file which resolved that. But I just want to state that when I then told the solicitor from Brockville and DeVito that Mr. Fernstrom had told me, that no paperwork had been filed by Anker to switch the piping and valving to a cheaper valve and piping, that it was never done. And according to Mr. Fernstrom, they had no idea that that was done, that they put in and installed or were installing a much cheaper piping and valve, which has less life shelf, and also was, if you count labor and materials, $200,000 less. So when I told the solicitor from Brockland DeVito that, I went back to Mr. Fernstrom and Mr. Fernstrom told me he can't have any more conversations with me. All the conversations had to now go through the solicitor at Brockland DeVito. So Mr. Fernstrom's letter here, claiming that all council members are welcome to meet with him and discuss, things with him concerning these issues or attending board meetings, I was told he can't speak to me anymore. And all I was doing was asking very specific questions about the bidding process. The bids were submitted exactly as required by the parking authority, by everybody. And the winner of the bid anchor didn't even fill it out properly. So I don't know where, this is where I got the disconnect with everything and why I started digging a little bit deeper. So I'm going to ask, I've been asking for four months now through the city clerk to Ms. Kwiatek, who's in charge of the subcommittee.

I apologize. That does get to, if you're going to make a request, that is for a business agenda.

Right. But I'm just saying that I asked for a meeting and I'm going to formally ask for a meeting tonight verbally. And I'm going to, I'm going to send, I'm going to, you got to listen. I'm going to, you can't talk. You don't have the floor.

I can now.

I agreed to tell you that I'm going to send a letter to her.

I'm going to wait, pause.

All right.

Councilman.

I won't ask for it here. I'm going to send a letter.

I need you to follow the procedure where you send a memo. I will.

Yes, follow an official procedure. I will have our city clerk send an official letter to Ms. Kwiatk asking for an official subcommittee. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. I'm going to just pause. Is everything all right in the hall? Okay. Thank you. okay can i just make a point of order also real quick he cannot speak unless you i am recognizing sitting as chair of this meeting and we'll recognize those who thank you don't speak unless spoken to that applies to you too right and i had thank you i had the floor the only comment uh that I would like to make tonight is that one, I do thank everyone who came out to speak tonight. This is an unusual meeting for us. It's the first one in my tenure on council where we have sat without having quorum. um and but i did want to make sure that we did hear the the from the people who came out uh to share their thoughts and concerns um with us on on items that were not on the agenda um a point to make just so everyone is aware um the parking authority is an independent legal entity um with their own authority over contracts. So our city council does not review parking authority contracts. We do not sign those contracts. We do not adjudicate those contracts in any way. We do have a parking authority liaison, and there are some ties through our community development committee to the parking authority, but that is very limited in scope. So while council is always willing to hear and look into community issues, I just need to make sure that everyone here is aware of the legal separation between the two entities. That being said, there is a packet here to read. And I think that was all that I have to comment back on this evening. Can I make a quick comment? You can not right now. Thank you. I also am aware that as new people come to council meetings, which is wonderful to see, It's an odd structure to get used to. So when we move out of public comment period, I am not allowed to recognize other comments from the audience. And so I'm just going to make that clear. However, anyone who has spoken in public comment or wants to talk to council after our official meeting time ends, we are always happy to do so. So if you just hang tight for a few more minutes, then we'll be able to speak with you after our session adjourns. So just hang tight for a moment, okay?

Thank you. Okay. Okay.

Okay, so I'm now going to move on to accepting some reports. Again, we will not be considering anything that will be an action item on our agenda. I do understand, though, that the mayor, I will recognize, just arrived. Do you have anything to report, Mayor Reynolds?

No, other than I just would make a couple of quick updates. One is that we scheduled our block parties for the three upcoming parks, both Madison Park, Clearview, and Bernie Fritz, which are on three consecutive Wednesdays moving forward here. This Thursday, we have our Complete Streets meeting over at the Fowler Center at 6 p.m. And I think that probably is the entirety of my report.

Thank you.

Thank you. I'll now recognize Ms. Kwiatek for your announcement.

Thank you. The Community Development Committee will meet on July 7th at 6 p.m. in Town Hall. The committee will discuss one agenda item, the 2026 Fair Hearing Report. The committee will hold the annual Financial Accountability Incentive Reporting, or FAIR, hearing required by Article 349 and review economic development incentive reports submitted by the administration. The meeting will be for informational purposes only and no actions will be taken. Hilary G. Kwiatek, Chairperson, Community Development Committee.

Thank you, Ms. Kwiatek. The rest of the items on the agenda this evening cannot be considered and will be added to our July 7th meeting agenda. So at this time, we will adjourn this session. And if anyone would like to speak less formally with members of council, then you're welcome to do so. Thank you.