City Council - Regular Meeting

31 so I will go ahead and get our caucus started As far as items on our agenda we don't have a ton of new ordinances that But I want to start us first with the final passage So if any members of council just wanted before we make this final vote on any of the items we've got for now would be the time to kind of unpack and go over those and Any questions on any of those items? We'll go then for ordinances for the first reading. We have a multimodal transportation fund that is coming in, police drug and vice grant that is coming in, the Main Street Matters program, and then the Historical Museum

My question just would be what are the consumable items? Is there anything specific that we're buying with that drug advice program money? Number two, under first reading.

So it's on the police drug advice program, that's what you're asking, what the consumables are? Yeah. Officer Russo, do you know?

Oh, it's on the ordinance? Great. Officer Russo, you're off the hook. Thank you.

Well, under that same, I'm moving under item number three, the Main Street Matters program. I know that this is, we've got a lot of moving parts in this one, but one of the things that they talked about was to promote and encourage prosperous development of business, industry, and commerce. And I didn't know if we had an idea or a plan that we, this is going to be like implementing another plan that's already existing, if there were new ideas that were coming.

Dr. Titus, can I just digress for one second? Yeah, absolutely. She asked a question. I just want everybody to be clear on what the answer to that was. I did have the ordinance right in front of me. It's for radio batteries, EPD signage, audio, video upgrades to existing police intercom system and police identification printer upgrade. And as the liaison, I just want to make sure everybody's got that.

I got a nod. I don't think anybody in the back heard of you.

If they don't know what they're buying, I'm speaking to you all. I want you all to know. Yeah, I want you all to know. Thank you.

Any questions on any of those? And this isn't... It's just because we're on the topic of police. When we go into the next round of discussions, just that gentle reminder, we'd love to see, just have the subscription break down and just some of the other things that we've got in that budget. Yes, Dr. Titus, absolutely.

We just opened up the flagship grants, didn't we? Do we know when the deadline for that is?

Literally, we just announced them. I don't know if...

This week, I believe. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's mid-November. I think...

I think that's right. And I do want to say, since we're on the topic, and maybe if anyone in the public is listening or watching, we need to close out last year's. And so some of the folks who received last year's grants are slow in submitting their request for reimbursement and their closeout paperwork. So... public service announcement. If anyone got a grant last year, we do need to close those out. We've extended that deadline because we want to give folks plenty of time, but hoping to get those done here quickly as we move on to this year's grantees.

Could you just explain a little bit about that grant program, just for those who are listening to?

I would love to if I was better briefed on it. I'm not sure anybody from my team here... Oh, Mary's briefed on it. Mary's going to come and give us a little...

November 30th. Okay. And I think it's important, too, that that one has a match component, so it's a one-to-one?

Okay. So anybody who's applying, then they have to have that amount that they're going to match that they're getting awarded? Correct. And then they have to spend it, and then in order to be reimbursed?

And is there priority given to certain businesses?

This is just a... An impromptu PSA announcement for those who are... Yeah.

Any questions? No, we did not tell the staff.

Any other questions under the first reading ordinances? Under old business, I did want to draw everybody's attention. Typically, we've been holding any of the public hearings in the evening. Just given the advertisement timelines and how we would vote on a resolution that would come before us and how we would have to advertise that. The hearing on the liquor license transfer, we won't be able to do it until the beginning of November. Just the timelines didn't match up and we would have had that hearing and then had to vote that same day if we wanted to get this all crunched in and I wanted to

Grateful to be saved again by staff on this one.

Any questions on this program or the process? All right. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions on any of the new business items? Any questions on transfers or contracts?

Mr. Falcone, who is on the bird city subcommittee? Sorry. You could yell from back there, but I think it's best if you... Yeah. Don't be sorry. It's okay. It's a good question.

Thank you. We'll wait until you sit down, and then we'll ask another question. I did have just, if we... the update, if we could, on the change order that came through with number three. I know this is, it's been a big undertaking and a large project, but if we could just talk a little about that change order there.

I'm going to ask Director Sayers to come up and just talk about the Krylon change order on the bike loop on French Street.

Why the change order, Jason? I mean, just we added more work?

So the additional amount is being funded by the grant. None of this is coming out of the general fund.

Thank you. Yeah. So this has been one that it's been ongoing. There's been a lot of back and forth on it, so I think it's also important just for the updates on where the money's coming from, what's the extra work, just so everyone fully understands this one. Okay. I appreciate it.

So those who are online are only going to hear part of the conversation. Can we get that mic switched on for you guys? Thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you, Jason. Jason, if you could please stay up. I have a question. I noticed in certain areas, and this is an engineering question, I'm assuming, but perhaps you know, where the wheelchair accessibility intersections are corroded because the material must have been somewhat deficient that they originally put on. So some of the areas are all falling apart for wheelchair access in certain intersections. Will those be replaced?

Thank you. Thank you very much. You're welcome.

Any other questions for Jason while we have him up here? Thank you.

So a while back, Freda Tepper and I, we were checking out the underpasses in the city last year. And this year I had noticed by 15th, street, 1,500 block of State Street, right after the underpass, there is a section of cement that is all corroded and needs to be replaced. It is not safe. Did anyone find out if it was the part of the railroad to do it since it's so close to the underpass? Is it a railroad issue? Because it's still not good. It's still pretty bad there.

It is the east side of the street right after the underpass. So people like park under the underpass and they go off, but then there's this very bad cement there.

Any other questions for Jason? Thank you. Appreciate that.

Any other questions on any of the agenda items tonight? I had a few questions to follow up from last meeting, but I will wait if anybody has any other questions that they wanted to ask first.

I do, actually, on three after the resolution. It's talking about the cameras, thermal energy cameras. I just wondered, is there a maintenance agreement with that, or is it proprietary, and how much is it going to cost us annually?

On item three, the thermal imaging cameras? Yes. Is there a maintenance agreement with that, and is it proprietary? And if there is, how much would that cost us?

Good, because I'm still sore over the $26 million that the county spent when we're spending $2 million a year on maintenance agreements and proprietary technology that changes like every nine months. Thank you. Thank you, Chief.

Thank you. Any other questions from members of council on anything? So, pop quiz style. You actually weren't here at the last one because you were at a conference. But we had a couple members who had also sent follow-up emails. I'm sure other members on council had received them, particularly around vehicles with the police, if they're able to drive them home, and what just the policy was on that.

So... We had intended, I mean, I remember that evening, the question being asked and what I, my answer that evening was that, you know, we are planning this policing town hall and I'd make sure that we had an answer for that. So I don't have an answer prepared for you tonight. Um, and I apologize if there was a followup email sent, what I can do is not wait for that town hall because I understand council has been waiting so we can put together a response and email it to you by the end of the week, if that would be okay. Chief Laura is actually out of town, but I'm sure that Officer Russo will

Yeah, it'd be great to know just how many and who's taking them home, what neighborhoods they're in.

Yep, absolutely. So we'll email council by the end of the week and then come to the next meeting prepared to answer it in the public session.

And then you had just mentioned the town hall. I'm assuming that you'll go over that in the liaison report this evening? Yes. All right. We had several residents here last week, or last meeting, sorry, about the damage, the sewer damage that was happening in Frontier, and just was wondering if there was any update on that, and just overall storm, just where we are with any of that process.

Sure, I'll speak to the sewer issue, and then if there's other storm updates specifically, I'll be happy to answer your questions. Director Sayers and I met with representatives not the whole group that was here but they sent three or four folks to meet with us and we essentially came up with three solutions with them not things that we are able to do right now so number one we need to meet with Mill Creek because we have some concern you know what what ends up happening here is Municipalities start to point fingers at each other which is not terribly helpful for residents So we agreed to meet

In terms of storm response, I don't know if we have much more to say. We are dealing with Many tree stumps that are in the right of way, this has been the most pressing issue recently. The concern there is they are homeowner responsibility, but they will impede our ability to remove snow. So we need the homeowners to remove these stumps, but we understand that it's very expensive. So we are working to see how many of these stumps are really blocking, will really impede our ability to remove snow. And we're going to work with the homeowners to essentially take on the cost of that because We nee

Any other questions just regarding the storm and where that stands? Um, is there any other issues then that council would like to bring up as we head into this meeting?

I would like to bring up that as I'm driving around town and I noticed today that, um, some of our Automotive repair places have so many cars on their lot that they spill out onto the sidewalks and are impeding, I think, some of the mobility of the people who would like to get through. And it's not just like one or two. I've been noticing some throughout the whole area. At what point do we limit the amount of cars that they're able to take in? Because unfortunately, I mean, I do want their business and we want them to succeed, but it's looking like a junkyard instead of, you know, thank you.

I don't know if we have an ordinance on the books about a number of cars. I would look to the solicitor for that. But in the meantime, what I will say is we have received complaints. And I guess I would say, Councillor Schaaf, if you have specific addresses, I would ask you to email them to me or to Tori Williams, because then we work between code and engineering. Because as you know, blocking the sidewalk is an engineering issue. So we kind of ask the two departments to work together to determine who needs to take care of it, but we can write violations for that. So I would say if you have sp

And it's really not such an eyesore, but it also impedes how people are trying to get in and out of their driveways and kids going to school. And it's not just like one person walking. It's a group, and therefore, you're trying to cross whatever. It sometimes impedes the vision of the person and that.

Other items from council. So one item that, and this is just looking at the strategic leadership team's data, especially what we received from the police, I've noticed over the past year, and this will tie directly to the tragedy that we experienced about a week and a half ago now, the domestic violence numbers have been on a steady increase. And I'm just wondering... What the relationship we're seeing, not just with the police, but with the programs here, with some of the other organizations and programs, and where there might be work to be done there, too.

Yeah, happy, and especially if council feels that your business is done here, I'm happy to give an update on that. So first, obviously, we experienced a terrible tragedy in the city of Erie on October 9th. I do need to say... very, very grateful. And I think you all saw our press conferences. Our first responders really did incredible work there and faced pretty unimaginable circumstances. And so I'd be remiss if I didn't call them out and thank them for the work that they did. And not just our first responders, but our detectives and investigators and everybody who kept working through the ni

Well, as a baby boy who has six older sisters, I feel the same way, who has a daughter as well. All really good stuff. But I would be remiss because when we start talking about domestic violence, the one thing that we didn't talk about was enforcement. And, of course, we don't want one neighbor to be enforced any harsher than another neighbor. I don't think I have to spell that out, but it seems, and I hate to even bring it up, but it's that way across every, yeah. They're always over-enforced, and sometimes it looks like an occupying force. I'm standing here to liaison to the police, and I, y

So the news said that the building is going to be demolished soon. Would it be possible? People have been talking about like a memorial gardens or play garden or a poetry garden or something in memorial of the people.

Yes. So, um, yes, we, the deed was signed over to the redevelopment authority. So the owner has signed that over. We, started a blighting process because we weren't sure we'd be able to reach the owner and we didn't want it to sit for too long. So we did start the blighting process, but in the meantime, we were able to reach the owner and the owner just signed it over. So we have possession of the property. This week, I want to say the redevelopment authority and the code office have worked very, very hard to get Utilities turned off because that needs to happen quickly. They put the bid out f

That neighborhood has had unimaginable tragedy just in that two-block radius. Because just like eight, nine years ago, a guy killed himself, his girlfriend, and her mother in that 8th Street block between East Avenue and Perry. And then we had the famed Randy Barnes from the collar bomber who lived just north of there between 6th and 7th on Perry. And so some of the people have been in that neighborhood a long, long, long, long time. And so we damn well better be mindful of what goes there, what organization. And I'd like to see them include those people in any planning.

Any other questions or comments, concerns from council, either on the agenda or other topics that we want to bring up?

I have one. So our economic development office where Dave Dieter had retired and Deb Smith will be retiring. And they've been paid through the HUD people. Are we going to be able to hire others to take their place?

So we are still finalizing the staffing plan for next year. And I think, you know, you met last week or the last session in executive session about some changes, some personnel changes that are coming there. So we're finalizing staffing. One thing that I will say is it is our intent to eliminate one position in that department, but then everybody kind of move up through. we expect to fill one position. So everybody will kind of move up, and then we'll fill the position kind of at the bottom, at the entry level. We intend to do that. Interestingly, Lisa and I met yesterday to go over the budget

Well, if there are no other questions or comments, we have about 15 minutes before we head into the meeting. So we can go ahead and end caucus now, and we can get this room reset and prepared for the meeting.

So we will go ahead and bring this meeting to order.

We will start with a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. As we stand, the whole community knows about the tragedy that we endured. So if we can hold space for all of them as we stand here tonight.

If I may also remember, it seems like yesterday, The man was fighting for a boxing title. We lost Lou Bizarro this week. A true legend for the city of Erie.

There are no presentations this evening, so we will ask if there is anybody here for a repository sale. Is there anyone here on a repository sale? Is there anyone here on a repository sale? Seeing none, this will move us to public comment. When we go into public comment, we ask that you please sign in up here at this desk at the front, stating your right clearly so we are able to know for our records who you are, and state your name clearly and your municipality when you come up. You will have five minutes, and just as a reminder that this is the audience time, that we do not typically, as cou

Holly, what municipality do you reside in?

Is there anybody else here for public comment?

Thank you. Just as a reminder, per rules of council, we're not to call out any individual councillors by name. Anybody else here for public comment?

Thank you. IS THERE ANYONE HERE OR ANYONE ELSE FOR PUBLIC COMMENT?

What was the time of that meeting for your neighborhood watch? 6 p.m.?

Anyone else here for public comment? Anyone else for public comment? Anyone else for public comment? Seeing none, we will go ahead and move on. Yes. At this point, I am going to ask that we move into executive session to discuss legal matters. So if we can go ahead and call that. Thank you.

And at this time record that council has returned back from executive session and I'm returning back into our public meeting City Council resumes at 7 20 p.m. Ordinances for final passage All right, we will, yeah, go ahead and move into audience, sorry. And it's just as a reminder, we did, in case you all haven't noticed, it's freezing in here. And so in efforts to try to warm up, we opened up that door, which just means every sound is going to carry through. But this was our attempt to make it a tad bit warmer in here.

So at this point, I'd ask for a motion to move the balance.

A motion by Councillor Full and a second by Councillor Horton. Is there any separations? No separations, Lori.

Thank you. We'll go ahead and start with Councillor Poole.

A lot has happened in the city past year and a half. And I do, not that I would know how anyone feels it has gone through any of what we've gone through. I do it as a citizen. And as a member of council, I wasn't a member of council last year, but I am this year. And the hurt doesn't go away. And it seems like, not that we were getting over what we went through last year, but we got... hit again with what happened a couple weeks ago. And it's very disheartening to me that our city goes through this because, you know, not that it's a We're not used to going through things like this. I'm not use

Thank you, President Tyler Titus. I just wanted to speak in regards to the young people in our community. I feel as though Erie experiences a lot of trauma regularly, and our community doesn't have enough time to process the trauma, so we're always in survival mode. And I think that it sometimes affects us in different ways to where we're not addressing the self-care that we need, the mental health that we need. And I think that our young people just need to know that there are avenues out there for them to be able to grieve, for them to be able to process things that they're feeling. So I lik

Yes, thank you. Enough probably cannot be said enough about the Eastside. The tragedy is that is, I don't want to use the word was, it's a living tragedy. Maybe it will cause more and more people to realize that there is a city of Erie on the other side of State Street. You know, for years, I have to hand it to the former administration. They had to twist their arm a little bit. But we finally did something for the east side. With the Eagle's Nest, we helped them with a loan to finish off their gym. It's probably the first thing that any kid on the east side got from city council and got from

Thank you, Dr. Titus. Before I go into my report, I just probably should have did it at the beginning of the meeting, but I'd like to acknowledge one of the mothers from the community who was passed on or transitioned over. Her name is Ms. Lorraine Lee. Ms. Lee was the first librarian at Piper Burley School, and she was there for quite a number of years. But she's the mother of Thomas Lee, who does a lot of work and volunteer work in the community. She's the sister-in-law of Mary Beth Kennedy, who was the founder of the Community Shelter Services, which is the first shelter in the city of Erie

That's the black FOP. I used to belong to that. That's the black officers. They have their thing too because everything's racialized. We can't get away from it seemingly. I would have hoped that in the face of all the tragedy that we had in this community, that we would have at least had a moment of grace so people can come to themselves or process what they're feeling. I'm still processing how I feel about that. So I attended not only that home going, I attended the motorcyclist who was killed on 12th and Green Garden. I attended that home going service as well. I'm saying these things about

Thank you, Dr. Titus. It definitely has been a very challenging and difficult month for our city. And I just know that we will learn from this and we will keep on keeping on and we will heal. There is a vigil every second Friday of the month in front of the Erie Federal Courthouse. October 9th, the Benedictine Oblates and the Benedictine Sisters put it on. And their theme is usually about the immigrants and their families. who are struggling. It was called, You Are Not Alone. And one of the responses from that time was, listen with your ear of your heart. And then we had a the terrible tragedy

so i'll start my report with a reminder that election the election season is happening right so voting is already occurring and your last day to vote by 8 pm is november 3rd so tuesday november 3rd so make sure if you are a registered voter uh you know the time to register stopped um was it monday but now we got to make sure if you are registered that you get out and cash your vote so you can already to be doing the early voting, go to the courthouse as well, but make sure that your ballot and that your vote is cast by November 3rd by 8 p.m. We've heard a lot about the tragedy, and we say word

Thank you, Dr. Titus. I'm going to just give a couple of mundane updates first and then just have a few comments in light of what you said. And thank you for what you said so eloquently tonight. Just on the list of mundane, I want to thank my chief of staff, Lori Ratter-Spicer, for holding down the last meeting when I wasn't here. I want all of you to know I was traveling in Cincinnati at the mayor's Institute of city design, had a really good conversation with five other mayors and some really incredible consultants, including a consultant, the national consultant on community engagement abou

Thank you. Anything else from colleagues? All right. Move for adjournment. Thank you. Do we have a second?