Council - Regular Meeting

All right, gentlemen in the rotunda, we are live and getting ready to start the meeting. Live and getting ready to start the meeting. Thank you so much. I ask everybody to rise for the pledge to the flag.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands,

All right. The clerk will call the roll.

Mr. Raymond. Present. Mr. Callahan. Present. Mr. Colon. Ms. Daniels. Present. Ms. Kwiatkak. Present. Ms. Laird. Ms. Leon.

President Colon will be joining us momentarily. Moving on to the approval of the minutes. Any comments on the minutes from council members? All right. Moving on to public comment. The first public comment is on subjects not being voted on this evening with a five-minute time limit. I only have one person signed up, Mr. Arti Karatola.

hi i'm marty curatola 813 lawford street in bethlehem pennsylvania it's outside i'm not going to talk about anti-semitism because some of the comments that i made in the past could probably in another 20 years or less will get me behind bars or crucified but anyway i'm going to talk about arts quest because arts quest is the thing that's going on right now right okay hey Back in 1977 I had a show in Northampton Community College, you could look in the records called the night of the arts had bands for six and a half hours performing all original entertainment seven different scaffolds all over the place. with exhibits going on with art exhibits in the lobby and on the grounds. One of the people at my shows was Jeff parks, who started arts quest. And he stated he wanted me to be his right-hand man. I said, I don't think I could do that. Cause I'm on tour at my band. I said, I got a vision. I got a vision to take your thing and continue with it. He said, meet me in my office. I went, I saw this young guy sitting doing some paperwork and walking around, but name of, well, I can't mention names, but anyway, I mentioned Jeff Park. I shouldn't have done that. But anyway, sorry about that. But anyway, this young guy walking around, I mean, I know his name if you want it, but I won't say it. He became the head after I said, that guy is a go-getter. Make him be your right hand man. And I did that. He did that. I got barred forever from ArtsQuest for making a comment in ArtsQuest that offended one of their higher echelons who was getting, back 10 years ago, was getting three figures a year. And he tried to say that I assaulted him. So the thing is, what happened is the police came and they said, we're not going to arrest Mr. Curatola. He didn't do nothing. He didn't really take me to court or anything, but they barred me forever from ArtsQuest. It was a comedy thing that I was doing at the Bankel Cinema, but the thing is I'm barred from music as well. I can only go to ArtsQuest, but I can't perform there. But at any rate, that's my thing with ArtsQuest. But while you're around driving, be sure... We got a great police department and they are on top of everything. Stop at the stop signs. Make sure you rock forward, back and then stop before you go and count to three. Because the thing is, if you don't, if you do a California stop right now during ArtsQuest, they will get you. You know, that's how it is where I got a ticket to my first ticket in 15 years because I stopped one car length or more behind the stop sign and looked as I usually do. And then I proceeded and the car, the police officer and his motorcycle was down the hill on Pierce going up towards fifth. And all he saw was me going through the stop sign. So anyway, I'll probably have to pay that ticket, but that's how it is. That's, um, uh, just be careful. Don't speed. Don't go above 25 miles an hour in the city. Cause you will be ticketed. And it could be points against your license. Three points, you get five, you got to go to driving school or you could lose your license. So be sure to obey the laws in Bethlehem, because although we got a great police department and they're very courteous and everything, they'll be nice and nicely give you a ticket. But anyway, that's uh my thing about arts quest i had all these musicians going on being a musician myself for six and a half hours but i get no credit for doing anything with arts quest if i would have went along with jeff parks just think i would have been one of the probably the own the oldest person that just at arts quest making six figures a year off of the tax dollars of the people and all those people that are supporting arts quest because they need the money but anyway uh anyway i'm arty curatola and um uh one thing i gotta say though there's a lot of propaganda going on for anti-islamic we're led to believe that the that the muslims are really evil people if they're that evil they would have blew up new york city no they don't want to go ahead and destroy this country they're making too much money here. There's too much anti-Islamic things going on, propaganda going on in our city and other cities. Not enough anti-Semitism. Thank you. I'm already curious.

Moving on to people within the room. Mr. Antalex, I saw your hand raised first if you would like to

Thank you. He's the only one that thinks he's funny. Kind of fascinating.

Steven and Alex, 77 Ridge. In July, there was a flag raising at City, at Pira Plaza, and of the Slovenian flag. And there I was quite shocked because I was given a citation by the city of Bethlehem signed by the mayor, which I felt quite honored and humbled by that. And sometimes the mayor and I don't get along, but it took a gentleman that signed that citation, so I thank him for that. and the city of moscow made me an honorary citizen because in in this sister city i gave seven thousand slovenes recognition in the to the world and to bethlehem not being windage but being slovenian so the slovenian community embraced those seven thousand and the other evening i was sitting there thinking there are other people in the city who have done things for the city and not being recognized and we're right now in the process of trying to maintain hotel Bethlehem status is number one but very little is said about the people behind that. Because if you look at the history of the hotel, it took a lot of energy, effort, and money to bring it where it is. There are a lot of hotels in the United States, but Bethlehem Hotel Bethlehem is number one. and that hotel as much as i gave voice to 7 000 slovenes over the country that hotel has given a voice to seven seventy thousand ethereumites And here's the sad part. Here's the sad part. I wish not to embarrass anybody. But the sad part is this. The person most responsible for all that happening is not being recognized. I'm recognized. So you might say that my recognition is 10% of the person who got 70,000 Bethlehemites recognized in the country as citizens of Bethlehem because of the name of their hotel. So I think it's fitting and proper that the mayor and president of council consider offering some kind of awareness or citation to that person who did that. And I think you know who I'm talking about. I think you know whom I'm talking about. A very fine gentleman. lover of bethlehem didn't have to stay here didn't have to do what he did but he did so get busy and recognize outstanding contributions to the city so president of council and the mayor of bethlehem i think you have an obligation here

Thank you, Mr. Antalex. Does anyone else want to make public comments on Mr. Shire?

millshire 1890 eaton avenue just for the record i guess we know where we the bethlehem city council stands in the priority list of arts quest since once again access was blocked from payroll plaza into town hall and uh steve and i and already uh oh no just already and i got in by having somebody move a barricade so that we could get to the door of town hall. It's just, it's symbolic, but anyhow, there it is. I'd like to take the opportunity tonight to deliver as threatened part three of three of my remarks about the water and sewer bill, which is gonna be a recap. Basically, it's pretty simple. For 90% of the residential customers, 90 of the bill is fixed it's the same for everyone now that includes the storm water fee the recycling fee the service sewer connection charge and the water connection charge the The only part that's not fixed is the perhaps 10%. That's the user fee for the amount of water that was used and a similar fee for the sewer. I think the bill assumes that everything that came in eventually went out. So it's a fixed charge and that there's no escaping it. I mean, it's a tax. Anything that is fixed like that is a tax. It's not a charge. It's not a fee. It's not a user fee. It's a tax and it's the same for everyone. So for poor people, it's a higher percentage of their income. This is called a regressive tax. and in opposition perhaps to the progressive tax for the like the federal income tax the more money you make the higher the higher the rate you pay and in between is the property tax it's not progressive and it's not regressive it's just we can say non-aggressive perhaps the rate is the same for everyone But it's the rate that's the same, not the tax. And incidentally, I've been informed that the state constitution says that any tax in the state of Pennsylvania, the rate has to be the same for everyone. But it doesn't say that the base has to be the same for everyone. And that's... The base is what the rate is applied to. So if somebody has a bigger house, it's worth more. They pay the same rate, but they pay a higher tax. It's not progressive. It's not regressive. So how can we make the water and sewer bill unregressive? incorporate it into the property tax, the fixed parts of it. Only the 10% that's not fixed could be an annual bill for water usage and sewer usage. That would be a lot more fair. So why doesn't that happen? Well, anybody who wants to be reelected doesn't want to be associated with any increase in the property tax if they can avoid it. Like I said once before, in the DC, there's the phrase, social security is the third rail of politics. You touch it and you die. Well, the same as in local politics, it's the property tax. If you raise the property tax and you can't convince the voters that it was necessary, you're in trouble. So what's the answer? Voters who are thinking, are more educated who are thinking about things instead of just showing up to vote and voting on very simple grounds how do we accomplish that better public education so don't hold your breath but that's the situation as i see it thank you thank you mr shire

Turning to the left. Does anyone else want to make public comments on something not being voted on this evening?

And to my right.

Okay. We are going to move on to public comments. Sorry. public comment on things being voted on this evening with a five minute time limit. I do not have anyone signed up to speak. So I will go around the room starting at my left. Does anyone want to make public comments on something being voted on in the broad center? Does anyone want to make public comments on something being voted on this evening and to my right? Okay. Thank you. Moving on. Do any council members have old business that they would like to address? All right. MOVING ON TO NEW BUSINESS, ANY COUNCIL MEMBERS HAVE NEW BUSINESS THEY WOULD LIKE TO ADDRESS?

THANK YOU. MR. HAYNES, I COULDN'T AGREE WITH YOU MORE. I JUST WANT TO SAY THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMENTS.

I THINK MR. HAYNES AND HIS TEAM HAS DONE AN AMAZING JOB.

If you grew up here, you knew that the Hotel Bethlehem was closed down for a long period of time. It was boarded up. A lot of the storefronts on Main Street were boarded up also. It was after the shutting down of the steel. I think Mr. Haynes convinced some investors to go in with him and do a great job. I haven't always gotten along, especially when I first got on council, but the more I get to know him, the more I see how much he loves the city. I remember one time I was driving up the road, and he's out there with a stopwatch and a piece of paper counting the number of cars that are going up. Main Street and how long the lights are going on and how many are coming down Market Street because it was backing up. He was trying to provide information to the city so they could change the timing of the lights, you know, to help the flow. I mean, that's the type of detail this guy's involved with. And it's been amazing what he's done. And, you know, I think I don't think it's any question that the hotel, Mr. Haynes, I think it's what, five years in a row now?

Hotel. Yeah.

Yeah. And I think that, you know, without him and his apparatus and all his customers, I don't think there's any chance that our Main Street becomes, you know, named the number one Main Street in the United States. I don't think there's a chance. That never happens without him. and and his staff doing what they did so i i 100 agree with you i i appreciate mr haynes and all all the things you you've done i don't know if it's the will of council but i i would be more than happy to uh come up with some type of accommodation for him or a letter a recommendation or of uh of achievement uh i don't know if the the mayor would you be willing to sign something like that

We generally have them associated with something, and we've certainly honored the hotel before. I think it was a couple years ago when I had showed up for your anniversary. I guess it was 100 years, I think it was. So we always consider those things as they come along, often in accordance with some type of thing that is consistent with what our values are as an administration. So we can certainly take it, as always, under consideration.

thank you i appreciate it um you know and i hope i hope council could could could uh also look into that i'll i'll put something forward i'll let you know about it all right thank you no i know i know okay no back and forth no back and forth thank you um um mr shire i think you were talking about the storm water um i was um I was kind of shocked to find out that the Supreme Court made a ruling. I don't know if everybody's aware of this or not, but it's illegal for the stormwater fee. They consider it a tax. Mayor, do you know if any entities within this city have refused to pay it, like Lehigh or any of the hospitals, any of the nonprofits?

uh no all right and and just to explain kind of the way that works and there's a lot of different ways that municipalities have gone about the stormwater fee and one of the things that's come up that you know is being looked at is like other people have used it as and first of all like where's the number come from So the way it works is that there is a determination made like across our city as far as what the needs are, like X capital needs as far as stormwater is concerned, that's consistent with our federal MS4 permit, yes, MPDS permit. So it is a federal regulation that tells us as a municipality, as it does with all municipalities, is you need to come up with this plan X capital number of dollars, and then it gets spread out between all the people that are paying into it. So in this case, and I had a conversation with President Helbley and Lehigh, who has volunteered to continue paying that fee, because one of the things that first start with like what is the need so let's say that you have x amount of dollars that are needed for your sewer and water capital improvements and you know having to do with stormwater runoff and things like that that fee then is split between everybody that's able to pay the fee so part of the reason why the fee was designed the way it was by the state is to allow all property owners including those that are non-profits to pay into this fee So then what is determined is if it's X amount of, let's say you need a hundred dollars, you split the a hundred dollars among all the different property owners that are within the city of Bethlehem, as it currently is some other municipalities and other places decided to use, like say their authority to do it. And those that chose to have their authority do this, don't have to worry about anything at all. but because the city chose this plan as far as like having it run through the city rather than having it run through like our water authority or something like that, or setting up a new authority leads to what this kind of court determination was. But if people, and just so we're clear, it's based on how much property you have. So like if you own five square feet, like you have to pay X amount. But if you're Lehigh University and you own 200 square feet, you have to pay X amount. But if you take Lehigh University out of there, what it does then is like your five square feet, you need to pay more, but we need to get to that X number. So one of the things that we are looking at, and as the president of Municipal League, we're having this conversation, talking to the legislature and things like that, is a way for necessarily a potential legislative fix that will allow municipalities to be able to do this as a city. But also, I mean, President Helvey is a smart guy. He realizes that there are different mechanisms that a city is able to use to be able to collect this fee. that are able to probably stay within the legal requirements, but also it just looks bad for people to pull out of this fee because then all they're doing is sticking the rest of us homeowners with a fee that is created literally from how much impervious coverage you have or don't have because that's how much runoff you are creating. Lehigh is by far the biggest user. It's not even close based on how much land they own versus other nonprofits. We think other nonprofits own substantial amounts of land. Nobody owns anywhere close to what Lehigh did. As this was going through the court, as it was moving through after Westchester University sued the borough, and it was moving through, it was something that we were very aware of. So we've had conversations with them and they've, he's just said, we're going to keep paying it because it's the right thing to do above all else.

But nobody else, nobody that we know of right now has refused to pay it. None of the nonprofits like the hospitals or Moravian or Lehigh.

Nobody. And I will tell you, and I don't have the numbers exactly in front of me, but I mean, I think, you know, Lehigh's number I think is like $200,000 a year. And nobody else's is above like 50 or 60. I think the school district pays like 80.

Are residents required to pay it now? They don't have to pay it anymore, correct?

No, residents do have to pay it.

Legally?

Yes.

Okay.

And it's also pretty clear that it's not a situation where people get their money back either that have paid it already. So we are going to continue to collect it and we will address those individual situations. But I will say in like the conversations that we've had, like a lot of these nonprofits that are already not paying property taxes to choose then to basically say that the rest of us have to pay more for a thing that is directly tied to their own, their own land that they own and their own like, runoff is not something that they, I think, are probably wanting to step out and say, hey, look, we want to necessarily do this, especially because for many of them, it is a relatively small number. Like I said, 10,000, 20,000, 2,000. thirteen hundred things like that so at some point we're gonna have to change whether it's a fee called a fee or a tax and right i think there's a lot of different options there's a lot of different options i mean a similar situation it's not apple to apples but about eight years ago when the state supreme court um uh struck down like the way the casinos pay their host fee there was a legislative fix that allowed the municipalities to continue to collect the host fee and they changed the formula around and so on and so forth So there could be a legislative fix. Like I said, however it affects us, it's affecting other municipalities. Like, I mean, you look at Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Lancaster, these are places that have, you know, high percentages of their property or nonprofits. So like many municipalities are talking to their state reps and their state senators as far as what is going to be either the potential legislative fix. But I think, and this is just me speaking based on my kind of, you know, like the worst comes to worse is like you run it through an authority so then you don't run it through the city and then you're able because those people that are the municipalities that have chosen it to run it through an authority right now as far as we can tell don't necessarily have to deal with this with the effects of this yeah But I will just say, this is a federal mandate. The whole reason why we came up with this was because we had to meet the federal mandate. So it wasn't like we said, let's put in this fee. It was connected to the idea that the federal government said, for you to be able to get this permit that you need to be able to continue to operate, you need to come up with X amount of dollars to be able to put here, which is why, which is kind of where this came from.

No, I understand. I was just curious about the effects and if there was any...

nonprofits that had that we knew of that were backing out of paying the fee due to the court court decision so no and i would tell you it's like and i say this for the most most of them and i would put you know lehigh in this in this category because like i said they've been very open and good about this is like they understand that this that many of the nonprofits represent institutions that we have multi-layered relationships with so to show up and say hey we don't want to do this or we're not going to pay this amount is relatively and i mean they know this they that it's relatively short-sighted to say, hey, look, we're not going to pay this, even if we're legally able to when we know we're doing this. We're essentially creating the need for this number, and we know that there's likely to be a legislative fix. I just don't think there's a lot of upside for people to say no, but that could change.

Yeah. Last thing is, do we have any information on the fire study yet? Is it in yet?

No, I think it's still ongoing. I know Mr. Evans has been going back and forth with some of the needed information. the needed information?

Yeah, our last correspondence was about two weeks ago. We continue to send them data. We will extend the contract. And actually earlier today, I did send an email to the consultant asking if I can have a phone call, a live call next week. hopefully early middle next week to get a true timeline update to see where they stand when we can expect to see product. So, all right.

Yeah. Just let us know when it's finished.

We'll do. Yeah. Thank you. Absolutely.

And, uh, last thing, uh, I know everybody's waiting to get out here. Miss Collins, before all the students come back, uh, is there um i i have the i think i i told you this last time or months ago but some of the restaurants are complaining about the food trucks that are you know the lehigh university food trucks can you send me any information we have on on the inspections of them you know when you get a chance i mean there's no rush like you know you know whatever i just apparently yeah the restaurants are telling me that the food trucks don't aren't meeting the health inspections because they don't have a sinks in there to wash their hands so i don't know if you have any information on just send it to me so i can start doing some research and start looking in it apparently they don't have the the the cleaning facilities to wash their hands in these food trucks and they're taking business and they're parking these trucks down along the you know the border of the campus and some of these businesses are losing uh customers and you know they're kind of upset about it so

can certainly look into the inspections you know all of the food trucks in the city have an annual inspection from both fire and health and i that would apply to any on-campus food trucks both lehigh and moravian have on-campus food trucks they're part of their sodexo like their right contract their food system so like in the same way that a university has a cafeteria like they are also their food service can include food trucks that are part of their overall dining system so that's that's not new actually i mean that's been around for for quite some time at both universities but i can certainly look into the actual inspections yeah yeah i just want to see what the regulations and if they if they're if they're required i don't know i'm just trying to find out if they're required to have food service throughout the city are are part of our health and and our food truck inspection program

thank you that's it thank you and welcome back uh president welcome back thank you councilman um any other council members have new businesses that they would like to address all right moving on to communications communication 6a

July 23rd, 2026 memorandum from Edward Boscola, Director of Water and Sewer Resources with an attached resolution. Mr. Boscola recommends an agreement with J. Owen Bradley Construction Company, Incorporated of Bethlehem to install an emergency interconnect valve and meter chamber between the cities of Bethlehem and Allentown at Florence Avenue near central park avenue cost is 260 440 contract shall run up to 197 days from the notice to proceed there are no renewals j o and bradley was the lowest responsible contractor among three bids received

Resolution 10A is on the agenda. Communication 6B.

On July 27, 2026, memorandum from Director of Water and Sewer Resources Edward Bascola with an attached resolution. Mr. Bascola recommends approval of an agreement with LB Industries Incorporated of Hellertown to complete all general construction work items for the final clarifier sludge return piping modifications construction project. Cost is $370,145. Substantial completion is expected by January 29th, 2027 with final completion expected by February 12th of 2027. There are no renewals.

Resolution 10B is on the agenda, communication 6C.

July 27th, 2026, memorandum from Director of Water and Sewer Resources, Edward Boscola with an attached resolution. Mr. Boscola recommends approval of an agreement with Brendan Stanton Incorporated of Montgomeryville doing business as BSI electrical contractors to complete all electrical construction work items for the final clarifier sludge return piping modifications construction project. Cost is $74,063. Substantial completion is expected by January 29th, 2027, with final completion expected by February 12th of 2027. There are no renewals.

Resolution 10C is on the agenda. Communication 6D.

A July 28th, 2026 memorandum and proposed resolution from Public Works Director Michael Alcall. Mr. Alcall recommends a transfer of funds within the non-utility capital fund totaling $42,381. Transfer would consist of $36,628 being transferred from account number 62026-662067 paint truck and $5,753 from account number 6900-662067 paint truck. to account number 62026-662076 forklift traffic in the amount of $36,628 and account number 6900-662076 forklift traffic in the amount of $5,753. This transfer is necessary to purchase a lift capable of loading and unloading 55 gallon paint drums onto an existing truck instead of replacing the truck with a new one.

Resolution 10D is on the agenda. Communication 6E.

The July 29th, 2026 memorandum from Assistant Solicitor Marilyn Shields with an attached intergovernmental cooperation agreement and a resolution. Attorney Shields recommends an agreement between the City and Hanover Township, Northampton County, which delineates responsibilities for police, EMS, and fire services related to the City-owned Monocacy Complex.

And resolution 10 E is on the agenda. Moving on to reports. The only thing I have to report is I just want to thank everyone, specifically Council Vice President Laird, who is not with us this evening, for stepping in my absence. I'm happy to be back and hope to not miss much going forward. But if that does need to be the case, I very much will communicate with everybody what's going on. That's all I have to report. So turning to the mayor for a mayor's report.

uh no report just passing along it's uh great to see you back um and uh you know looking forward to uh you know working together and everything so welcome back thank you very much sir um committee reports turning some squeeze

Thank you. The Community Development Committee will meet on August 11th at 6 p.m. in Town Hall. That's next Tuesday. So it's not a regular city council night. It is a special night for this committee meeting. The committee will discuss two agenda items. The first will consider proposed amendments to the zoning ordinance involving yard setbacks. The second will review proposed amendments involving data centers. The meeting will be for informational purposes only and no actions will be taken. Hillary G. Kwiatek, Chairperson, Community Development Committee.

Thank you, Councilman Kwiatek. Moving on to ordinances for final passage, 8A.

An ordinance of the City of Bethlehem, Counties of Lehigh and Northampton, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, amending part 13 of the City of Bethlehem codified ordinances titled Zoning Ordinance. Bill number 22-2026 is sponsored by Mr. Amen and Ms. Laird.

Discussion on 8A? The clerk will call the roll.

Mr. Raymond. Aye. Mr. Callahan. Aye. Mr. Cologne. Aye. Daniels. Aye. Ms. Kwiatek.

Aye.

And Ms. Leon.

Aye. Passes 6-0. 8B.

An ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and North Hampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the 2026 capital budget for non-utilities. Bill number 23, 2026 is sponsored by Mr. Raymond and Ms. Laird.

Discussion. The clerk will call the roll.

Mr. Raymond. Aye. Mr. Callahan. Aye. Mr. Colon. Aye. Ms. Daniels. Aye. Ms. Kwiatek. Aye. And Ms. Leon.

Aye. Passes 6-0. Moving on to new ordinances, 9A.

An ordinance of the City of Bethlehem, Council of the City of Bethlehem, Lehigh and Northampton Counties, Pennsylvania, authorizing and directing the issuance of general obligation notes, series of 2026, the notes, in the maximum aggregate principal amount of $25 million. Providing the proceeds of the 2026 notes shall be applied to carry out the refunding of all or a portion of the city's, A, outstanding general obligation bonds, Bonds Series A of 2017, tax exempt, known as the 2017A bonds. B, General Obligation Bonds Series B of 2017, tax exempt, known as the 2017B bonds. C, General Obligation Bonds Series E of the, of 2020, correction, 2017, known as the 2017E bonds. And D, general obligation bond series of 2019 known as the 2019 bonds pursuant to a refunding program determining that sale of the notes shall be a private sale by negotiation under the act and determining that the notes shall be non-electoral debt of the city fixing the interest rate payment dates denominations and registration transfer and exchange privileges of the notes and providing for book entry bonds providing for maximum principal amortization maturities and interest rates for the notes establishing the redemption provisions of the notes accepting a bid for purchase of the notes and authorizing execution of the note purchase contract is designating a pain agent and registrar designated place and method of payment of the notes an interest thereon and making certain covenants with respect to the tax exempt status of the notes establishing the substantial forms of the notes, designating a sinking fund depository, covenanting to pay the principal of the interest of the notes and pledging full faith credit and taxing power of the city to such purpose, establishing sinking funds for the notes and authorizing and directing payment therefrom, setting forth certain rights of the paying agent and note holders in the event of default and other rights of the parties with respect to the notes, providing for the circumstances under which the ordinance may be amended or modified, providing for the terms, conditions, and covenants with respect to the insurer, if any, for the notes, authorizing and directing specified officers of the city to do and perform certain specified required or appropriate acts declaring that the debt to be incurred is within the limitation imposed by the Act upon incurring of such debt by the City, authorizing and directing proper officers of the City to deliver the notes upon execution and authentication thereof. Upon receipt of proper payment of the balance due therefor, and only after specified approval as required of the Department of Community and Economic Development of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, providing for compliance with securities and exchange commission rule 15C2-12, covenanting to pay over at settlement sufficient monies to provide for the payment of the 2017 A bonds, 2017 B bonds, 2017 E bonds, and 2019 bonds. collectively referred to as prior bonds in accordance with the refunding program, authorizing and directing certain other actions and approving documentation with regard to refunding program, providing for the issuance of irrevocable instructions to the paying agents for the prior bonds to call said prior bonds for redemption and establishing the form of such irrevocable instructions and the notice of redemption providing the severability of provisions of the ordinance, providing for repeal of all ordinances or parts of ordinances so far as the same shall be inconsistent, providing when the ordinance shall become effective. Bill number 24, 2026 is sponsored by Mr. Amen and Ms. Laird.

Discussion on 9A. Councilman Colon.

Thank you, President Leon. Just briefly, we had discussed this at committee, I believe it was two weeks ago. Our advisor, Mr. Shearer from PFM, had presented to the committee, answered some questions. He's in the audience tonight. I'll be supporting this. Thank you.

Any other comments, Councilman Kliczek?

I just do have a question because during that meeting when we talked about this, which we called the parameters ordinance, I believe, it said that there would be the sort of upper level of the interest rate. And my eyes have crossed trying to read this several times. Can someone point me to the section where the interest rate is actually cited? Because I can't find it.

For those who are not familiar, this is Scott Shearer with PFM. So if he can answer the questions, that'd be great. Thank you.

Good evening. Good to be back again. The interest rate will be 5.5%. Typically, there will be, on the second reading, there will be a schedule that's attached that shows the 5.5% rate.

So that's what we're looking at is the upper level would be 5.5%. Correct. Okay, thank you. You're welcome. I appreciate that. And the maximum principal would be $25 million? Yes.

yeah and as we talked about it was two weeks ago at the meeting the actual transaction itself should probably be somewhere closer to 12 million if you remember in that presentation i had kind of laid out that we're only refunding a portion of those four different issues and there's going to be a fair amount left outstanding To do this parameters ordinance, kind of the safest thing to do to give the team the most flexibility is to include all of those four bond issues. That's how we basically got to the $25 million number. But again, the actual transaction that we do that will need to be signed off on once we execute it, if you do move to the second reading and approve the second reading, we again only plan to issue about 12 million of that. So then after the transaction closes, then your legal counsel will file more paperwork with the state basically saying we got approved for 25 million, but we only issued 12 million. So eliminate that difference and they'll do that right away. Again, it just gives the team more flexibility to make sure we're pricing it correctly to meet IRS regulations and state regulations and achieve the city's goal.

Thank you. And then my last question has flown out of my head. Where did it go? I can't think of it. If it comes back to me, if anyone else has questions, please go ahead. Thank you.

Does any other council member have questions? Councilman Callahan?

um it's for our solicitor i uh i appreciate uh our city clerk's voice and everything but uh nothing against him but does he do we have to read that or discuss this a little bit we're going to look into like some some of the titles that are incredibly long and if there is any way to shorten i would think that because it's in the the minutes of the yeah it's on our she's going to be looking into it after after the meeting these longer titles he's trying to save his voice a little bit

What the statute says is that every title should be read.

And if the title is three pages long, which is interesting for a title, then they read the title. Was it long enough, though? Was it long enough? I don't think so.

It's a long title.

I think we're kicking around. All right, go ahead. Before I forget. No, no, no. That's what we were doing. Go ahead, Councilwoman. Our rating. When do we get that? the rating that's directly related to our interest rate.

So we'll start that process right now. We're in the process of putting together the prospectus, which is the offering document that has all the information about the city in there. We are probably going to be having a call, you know, I would say probably in about two weeks, that's a phone call with the rating agency, and then they will deliver the rating of probably late in August or right before Labor Day. So it'll be say in the next probably month was, and of course it will report back to what that is. And like I said, we don't expect any change to that, but obviously if we see anything that looks alarming one way, shape, or form, we'll let everyone know.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Any other questions from other council members? All right, thank you so much.

All right, thank you.

All right, if there's no other discussion, the clerk will call the roll.

Mr. Raymond. Aye. Mr. Callahan. Aye. Mr. Colon. Aye. Ms. Daniels. Aye. Ms. Kwiatek.

Aye.

And Ms. Leon.

Aye. Passes 6-0. Moving on to resolutions. Resolution 10A.

It resolved by the Council of the City of Bethlehem that the Mayor and Controller and or such other City officials as deemed appropriate by the City Solicitor are hereby authorized to execute an agreement with J. Owen Bradley Construction Company Incorporated to provide emergency water supply connections at Florence Avenue near Central Park Avenue. Resolution is sponsored by Mr. Amen and Ms. Laird.

Discussion? Clerk will call the roll.

Mr. Amen. Aye. Mr. Callahan. Aye. Mr. Colon. Aye. Ms. Daniels. Aye. Ms. Kwiatek. Aye. Ms. Leon.

Aye. Passes 6-0-10-B.

be resolved by the Council of the City of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller and or such other city officials as deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute an agreement with LB Industries Incorporated to complete all general construction for the final clarifier sludge return piping modifications construction project. The resolution is sponsored by Mr. Amen and Ms. Laird.

Discussion? The clerk will call the roll.

Mr. Raymond? Aye. Mr. Callahan? Aye. Mr. Colon? Aye. Ms. Daniels? Aye. Ms. Kwiatek?

Aye.

And Ms. Leon?

Aye. Passes 6-0, resolution 10-C.

be resolved by the council of the city of Bethlehem, the mayor and controller and or such other city officials as deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute an agreement with Brendan Stanton incorporated doing business as BSI electrical contractors to complete electrical construction work for the final clarifier sludge return piping modifications project resolution sponsored by Mr. Raymond and Ms. Laird discussion.

Clerk will call the roll.

Mr. Raymond. Aye. Mr. Callahan. Aye. Mr. Colon. Aye. Ms. Daniels. Aye. Ms. Kwiatk. Aye. And Ms. Leon.

Aye. Passes 6-0.

Resolution 10-D. Be it resolved by the Council of the City of Bethlehem that $42,381 be transferred within specified accounts of the non-utility capital funds to purchase a forklift to complement the paint truck for the Bureau of Traffic Maintenance. Resolution is sponsored by Mr. Raymond and Ms. Laird.

Discussion? The clerk will call the roll.

Mr. Raymond. Aye. Mr. Callahan. Aye. Mr. Colon. Aye. Ms. Daniels. Aye. Ms. Kwiatk.

Aye.

And Ms. Leon.

Aye. Passes 6-0, 10-E.

It resolved by the council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller and or such other city officials is deemed appropriate by the city solicitor or hereby authorized to execute an intergovernmental cooperative cooperation agreement between the city and Hanover township, North Hampton county related to responsibilities for police EMS and fire services for the monocracy complex resolution is sponsored by Mr. Raymond and Ms. Laird discussion.

Clerk will call the roll.

Mr. Raymond. Aye. Mr. Callahan. Aye. Mr. Colon. Aye. Ms. Daniels. Aye. Ms. Kwiatek.

Aye.

And Ms. Leon.

Aye. Passes 6-0-10-F.

Certificate of appropriateness under the provisions of the act of the Pennsylvania legislature Bethlehem resolution, it's hereby granted for 410 Polk Street to replace existing slate roof with GAF slate line asphalt shingles in the English gray color. Resolution is sponsored by Mr. Raymond and Ms. Laird.

Discussion? Clerk will call the roll.

Mr. Amen. Aye. Mr. Callahan. Aye. Mr. Colon. Aye. Ms. Daniels. Aye. Ms. Kwiatek.

Aye.

And Ms. Leon.

Aye. Passes 6-0, 10-G.

Certificate of Appropriateness under the provisions of the Act of the Pennsylvania Legislature, Bethlehem Resolution is hereby granted for 115 West 4th Street to replace the bow windows with aluminum folding doors, demolish the pent roof, install a manned door, and replace the existing front brick facade with white brick or aluminum siding and also install new gooseneck light fixtures and a new cabinet sign. Resolution is sponsored by Mr. Raymond and Ms. Laird.

Discussion? The clerk will call the roll.

Mr. Raymond. Aye. Mr. Callahan. Aye. Mr. Colon. Aye. Ms. Daniels. Aye. Ms. Kwiatek.

Aye.

And Ms. Leon.

Aye. Passes 6-0. That concludes the city business. Happy festing. Be safe. Have a good night.

Thank you, Madam President. Same to you.

That was a good one.