Remarks by James Harrison
160 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 5 of 7
- Play at 2:45:25
“I guess just the timeline. How long do we expect? Because I think we're aiming for like an October”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 2:56:21
“I think some of this is coincidental because we have been talking about the Civic Center plan and the buildings and everything else, but I think Judge Cummings had a very good point. Combining it with this discussion, we want the best applicants possible, so I tend to completely understand that as well.”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 0:47
“Our dear Father in heaven, we are grateful to be gathered together this day as a council and mayor and staff to discuss the items to better serve our community and our city. We are grateful for all of those staff members, our public safety officers, and all that they do for our city in keeping us safe and happy and all the service they provide. We ask that thy spirit may be with us, that we may be guided and directed in making the best decisions for the residents. We say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 10:58
“And I think even if you go to the landfill, you're still paying – I can't remember what the fee is, $10, $20. I can't really remember. So that itself, if you go once a year, it already pays itself off, it sounds like. Does this apply to businesses in the city as well, where only –”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 27:09
“I think just one point to that. I think what happens to the money, because right now, and Dean I think just stepped out, if the general number is 30% for the grants, if we don't use all of that money, it has kind of just sat in a reserve fund for future years, right? I think it would, I mean, I'd love to see the 70% go up to 80, but another possible option is to articulate that it's up to 30% for grants, right? So some years maybe we use all 30%, and that will continue to grow over time with sales tax. But there may be a park capital project or something that we really want to focus on. And…”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 29:39
“Yeah, and I would just add, I mean, I do want to protect the 70%, at least, because I think every dollar that we don't put toward that 70% is a dollar coming out of our general fund, right? And so, but for the 30%, we wouldn't, you know, we're not using that general fund money to...”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 30:01
“If it's up to 30%, then it does give us some flexibility in the leftover we could work with.”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 35:20
“I think it says in the background, it does say enhance funding for recreational amenities.”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 41:26
“For me, I would defer mostly to you, Matt, because you're the staff member that kind of quarterbacks all of this. And you don't have to share it in this meeting if you don't want to, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on how necessary it is because what I don't want to do is add more to your workload and maybe a committee could relieve that workload and sometimes it would actually add to your workload because you have to see everything that comes through anyway. For me, I think the biggest thing is filtering out non-qualified organizations. Once I have that information and I can see…”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 43:46
“Okay. That's helpful. And just one more separate issue I want to bring up. For the way I see the grants is that there are organizations that are operating within Lehigh, like Hutchings Arts Council. I think for them to be physically located and operating in Lehigh is important if the funding is going toward ongoing operating expenses. The outliers are sometimes there's events that are put on by external organizations to Lehigh. But the event itself, so all the expenses, the operations, manpower, equipment, everything is within Lehigh. I kind of like to separate that out a little bit. So if…”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 45:23
“Yeah, and I definitely want to give preference for Lehigh organizations. But I just want to clarify, is that a change in this new draft?”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 46:06
“But I think it says operating. I think that's the vague aspect of operating within Lehigh. So if the event, because we've had applications come through generally for Lehigh Arts Council or for the Hutchings Museum, right? It's pretty obvious. But if it's like... chalk it up, for example. If the event that we're funding is fully operational within Lehigh, that's where I think the term is vague in state code. And ultimately, the spirit of it is, is it benefiting Lehigh residents? Is it Is it happening in Lehigh? And then the difference is a physical location like a museum or an event put on…”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 48:05
“Yeah, I guess the ongoing operating expenses is where I'm held up. Because I think for a brick-and-mortar museum or something, we're funding the ongoing expenses. But for something like Chalk It Up, that's definitely not an ongoing. It's a one-time expense. So I think that's the difference.”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 48:55
“Yeah, I'd love to hear Craig's thoughts on that, just because we have been doing it very differently the last five years.”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 55:07
“I think just kind of tying that back to my original comment, let's say we go down that route and it's only organizations that are physically located here putting on events here. There may be years where we don't use the full 30%. And Dean, I think you stepped out when we talked about this at the beginning of the discussion. But if we were to phrase it as up to 30% for cultural grants, the remaining we can use for capital projects. Is that correct? Because as of, at least in the last few years, it's just kind of been put in reserve. But if we don't want to do that, can we put it toward capital…”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 56:35
“Okay, because I would kind of support like no less than 70% in policy with the remaining going toward cultural grants or other capital projects as needed. Just because I think it gives the council that are in the seats that year more flexibility on Within the policy to to say hey this year the the cultural grants We're gonna have to use the full 30 for whatever reason and then other years. Maybe we only use You know 20% and we have other capital projects that we need to focus on. So I think that would be my My preference unless we wanted to give it a hard number of like, you know, 80 20 or…”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 1:03:23
“They provide that information already in the applications?”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 1:06:50
“I would be OK if we did not keep it as long as I think throughout the process, I don't know, maybe it's in a public meeting where we have almost like a public hearing on so that the public can provide input. I don't know for sure. Because I agree with Heather in the sense that it's great for residents to feel involved and have a voice in at least recommending”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 1:12:43
“Okay. I would just, while we're talking about the process, it would be good, especially, you know, the 70-30 thing, it's very fluid. At the end of the day, we can choose not. We can choose whatever number we want. That's my understanding. So the one missing piece for that would be, I would love to hear from Steve Marchbanks at the beginning of the park grant season, just to show here are his top priorities. If he did have extra funding, Here's his number one priority, number two, number three, right? That would be helpful. And I know he does that in the budget season, but it would be good for…”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 1:13:29
“Or maybe not just Steve, but also Dan at the Legacy Center, if that's on the table. Like, whoever would benefit from a city department. I'd probably defer to Jason on that, though.”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 1:24:04
“One thing that I would maybe suggest adding is a section when it comes to vendor due diligence. So for any vendor that the city contracts with, that they're of good repute and data protection and have no ties to foreign governments. And I know that sounds weird, but there are I mean, I lived in China. I worked in the federal government. And just one example, there's a camera company called Hikvision, and they sell cameras in the U.S. They have extremely good technology, and it's typically cheaper than U.S. products. However, that specific company also assists the Chinese government in…”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 1:25:56
“And maybe I'll just clarify. There's going to be companies that are like British-based or whatever, right? Maybe we could make it... be a little more nuanced on foreign technology, right? Like hostile or... Maybe you can help me craft the exact language since I know you're more of an expert with that. Yeah, I can help you figure out the language, but you get the gist, right? I'm not too worried about the UK, a little more worried about China or Russia.”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 51:59
“It's almost like if you own a home and you're renting – basement right like once that owner moves or the owner can sever that agreement and it's it's just between two parties right but the burden of staying within code city code lies with the business that has to have X amount of stalls yeah okay and I think I mean my personal my personal view I agree with Michelle I think we for this immediate issue around Bellevue I would be supportive of the permit parking during certain hours and days just to solve it for them. I think any time we have Neighborhood commercial, this is going to be an…”
City Council · Jul 14, 2026
- Play at 1:00:15
“I guess just a quick question for Kim. So who owns a sidewalk that connects the neighborhood? Is that a city? No.”
City Council · Jul 14, 2026
- Play at 1:24:24
“Mr. Mayor, I was just wondering for... items 5.9 and 5.10 if we were able to move that up it's the last two items on the agenda if we were able to move that up just prior to the development code amendments there's a slew of them I just would like to tackle that a little earlier in the agenda”
City Council · Jul 14, 2026