City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. Good evening everyone and welcome to tonight's Wingsport City Council meeting. It is Thursday, March 5th, 2026. We are at the Trade and Transit 2 on the third floor. It is 7 03 p.m. Please rise for the invocation and flag salute by Councilwoman Bonnie Catz. Lord, we humbly ask for your guidance this evening in this with this agenda that we make swift decisions and the best decisions that are in the interest of our community. Amen.

Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Next up on the agenda, we have the approval of city council meeting minutes dated February 5th, 2026. Could I have a motion, please? So move. Are there any questions regarding the minutes? Seeing hearing none, Mrs. Frank. Mr. Yoder. Yes. Mr. Milik, yes. Mr. Mackey, yes. Mrs. Catz, Mr. Peli, yes. Mr. Ber,

yes. Motion passes 5-0. Uh, item number four, we have a presentation from Sedakog for work on the levy. Hello everybody. Uh very nice to be here tonight. Uh buckle up. It's going to be an hour and a half presentation. So just joking. Uh really quickly, first of all, thank you so much for your interest in me and partnership in this very uh critical project for the city. Uh, also thank you to my colleague Jamie Shrouter who is your CDBG coordinator for suggesting our services with uh, community revitalization at Cedakog. Just to give you a little bit of background and I'm sure you're probably pretty familiar already, but Cedakog serves 11 counties in the central region. So Cedakog itself serves as more or less an extension of county government. Folks like Jamie and myself with comm she's with community development. I'm with community revitalization. We're more or less your extension of comm community or city government. So that's our role. Where can we help where can we help our municipalities? So we actually serve 294 municipalities in central Pennsylvania. So uh with that, so the project that we're talking about tonight is the Williamsport Levy Improvement Project. This is a total of $10.7 plus million dollars to uh keep your levy um that it is approved through the Army Corps of Engineers. First of all, why is that important? Well, it's your levy. And also, if that's not approved by the the Army Corps of Engineers, your residents lose the uh protection and thus their flood insurance will go higher. So, it's very important not just

for the levy and for the obvious, but also to protect your residents and keep their bills less. So, it's a very important project. So, I am delighted to be here tonight because we just started this project in December. Um, there was an issue with Puma. This is not anything to do with the city, but this project was actually awarded in fiscal year 23. And the city did not actually get their signed uh contract from Puma until I believe it was November November of 2025. So, and it is not just here. We're also working on a couple other FEMA uh fiscal year 23. And this was called a legislative pre- disaster mitigation or an LPDM. And so once again, it's not an issue. The city did nothing wrong. Uh but our very first job that we did when Valerie contacted us about this was to get you an extension. So, we have tentatively heard this was originally supposed to be uh completed by this year, the fall of this year, which there's no way you could put together a 24month project in less than a year. I mean, we're working fast, but we could not work that fast. So, as I said, we have tentatively heard that you are approved for until April of 2028. So, the timeline now works. Uh we went into a professional service agreement with the city in December and I am more than thrilled to share I have only good news to share with you tonight. So in front of you I did provide you and I also provided that in your packet earlier just a project overview also what's happened since we signed on with the city. Um first of all the project overview you see what this is a 10.75 million project. you with that you have

an $8 million FEMA award. So that's covering the bulk share of your grant. Uh we're also working with the city and we put in for a 25% advance on that $8 million. So we asked for $2 million which we've already submitted. So hopefully that'll get to you within the next month. Okay. So then also in December we started the project itself. We had a kickoff meeting. We started bi-weekly meetings every every other week. Um, we started right away with getting it's called an EHP through FEMA, and that's your environmental and historic preservation. Uh, it's kind of like your environmental review, but Puma handles that. But that looks like that is also taken care of. And also your notice to proceed. We actually don't have these documents yet, but we're waiting for them, but it looks like they're already taken care of. And then in January, the key milestones there were we continue with our bi-weekly meetings and then we had to look at how do we actually get engineers on board to do these this work. So there's different uh competitive procurement ways to go about things. uh for part of it we did go after it's called a request for qualifications and that's for more of your heavy duty where we needed to design work and so we put together that working with Bill Scott your engineer and then we had uh your request for proposals that's for work that had already been engineered but now we needed oversight on the construction so we put both of those out um January believe it was 16th they went out for uh competitive procurement uh in February. The due date for that was February 18th and we got three uh statements of

qualifications for the RFQ, your request for qualifications and we received two proposals for your request for proposals which met the minimum needed to proceed. So that's the exciting part of that. Then we had scoring. So there was three individuals at Cedakog that scored the proposals and the statements of qualifications and then also your city. Uh we all unanimously picked the same which was also shocking. I don't know if I've ever had where everybody not not the exact same score but everybody ranked the same exact which was also very exciting. So tonight, um, Bill Scott did put together resolutions that you will be then, uh, approving our recommendations on the engineers that you we would recommend that you hire for this work. So for um the statement of qualifications, that was AECOM. And for the request for proposals, that's the ones the engineers who will provide oversight on construction, that's GPI. So, moving on. Um, I explained that you we did ask for a 25% advance on your uh on the $8 million and the project remains fully compliant and within your budget parameters. We are at your timeline. So, I truly only have really good things to share. Also on behalf of the project and of the city, each month I provide a monthly report to your commissioners, to the legislators, both your federal and your state legislators, and then also the CD the city is CCed on that. And if any of you also would like to be included in that monthly report, by all means reach out to me. Happy to provide that as well. I'll just CC you all on that. Happy to do that. Uh, with

that I'm going to ask, do you have any questions for me? Eric, I do. It's Bonnie. Go right ahead, Bonnie. You, we have been working on this levy for 12 to 14 years. We still really haven't broken ground. And I'm listening to you talk about what all has to be put into play here. Uh, this has to be done, that has to be done. Why wasn't this done ahead of time that you could start doing start the project that would go?

That's a very good question. The reason is you are not allowed to start the project until you have the signed grant agreement. And that's what I specified early on. Even though this was awarded by FEMA through Puma fiscal year 23, the city did not receive the signed contract from Puma until November of 2025. And they were told, which is the truth, that if they would have spent any money prior to that, it would not be allowed to be reimbursed. So they were following the guidance of Puma, which was a very smart move. they were not allowed to. So, we actually had our professional service agreement. We had everything waiting for the uh approval to come from Puma to start. They couldn't. Does that Does that answer your question, Bonnie?

It does. But to a certain extent, you mean to say some of the paperwork that you don't have to file could not could that have not been started to have at least engineers in place? Nope. You're saying able? Yes, we would not be able to go out competitively procure any engineers, go into contract with anybody until we had a signed contract by Puma. I

that really, you know, it puts us in a bind because then, you know, $8 million without a doubt, Bonnie. That's why we right away got you an extension till April 2028. But this is what I'm sharing with you is this is not a fault of the city. They did nothing wrong. And this is not even city specific. This has happened with other projects that we're working on with FEMA. Okay.

The city did exactly what they were instructed. They were not allowed to spend money on this project until they had a signed contract from Puma. Now, they had a contract that looked, you know, official, but it was not signed until November. And that's across the board. This is not just the city of Williamsport or Yeah. Williamsport. Well, it's a it's a big disappointment. Like I said, you know, we've been thousand% agreed. Yeah, agreed. This is not It's not just you. Honestly, it's more of a FEMA issue than a PEMA issue, but I agree with you. Okay. And you're going to work on all of this to get this done as soon as possible.

Yep. It's a It is a 24-month project, and we have it budgeted out every month of that 24 months. We have it estimated to finish in April 2028. Any other questions? Liz Millie,

I I I think part of Bonnie's point is that both she and I have been it was either my first or second year on council and this will be my 17th that we started discussing the levy. Um the $8 million grant didn't come along until later and I think Bonnie that's part of the lag. We literally really haven't had any money to do anything with the levy until we received that funding. Um my question is over the last 15 16 years we've heard about maybe 50 different projects that need to be undertaken as part of the levy work. Um how much of what needs to happen with the levy will be completed with this $10 million $10.7 million expenditure?

Yes. So I don't know Scott if you or do you want to address that bill? Okay. more projects coming up with this. That's part of the resolution I have later in the agenda. Uh the relief wells, the Dewey Avenue, Northwest Cross Pipes, and then two more pump stations, Mccclures and Pepper of and we've taken care of. How many pump stations have we actually done work on at this point? None that I'm aware of. None. Okay. Other agenda item tonight, we're doing electrical upgrades for three of those. Um yeah, so those are that's that project. That's the only

and then we're going to have we're going to be replacing uh roofs at nine pump stations. That's going to be coming up as well. Maybe next meeting I'll be bringing something to you and that is part of this temporary that's part of the uh earmark. Yes. So, I guess I mean the reason I'm asking is that we've gotten quotes anywhere from I think initially they were saying two to three million 15 years ago to fix everything to it was up to 20 at one point maybe 25. Um how much what will remain to be done when we've completed the work that we believe we can do with this funding.

So the roofs are uh I was just looking at that today. The pump station the roofs are 2.1 million just for that. Um I don't have the estimates for relief wells and all that's multi-millions. Obviously I can get that to you but yeah I mean the total budget is 10 plus million. Yeah, we'll use every dime of it. Okay, but we think that we'll actually be done with the work that FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers are requiring us to do. Okay, that that's what this is. But truly, the city could not be moving any faster than what they are from the time they actually received the signed grant from uh Puma. They could not move any faster. Yeah. I'm I'm I'm not Yeah.

Yeah. Liz, can I piggy back on your question, Bill? Um I don't know if you have the answer to this, but let me try to ask the question this way that I think Miss Me is trying to get at. In the aggregate of the 100% of work that Williamsport City needs to do to get the levy reertified, what percentage of work is covered in this $10.7 million? Is it 15%? Is it 30? Do you have Do you have an any kind of idea? I don't I I don't want to misspeak tonight. Let me uh get back to you with that. I don't want to give you a number that I'm not comfortable with. Yeah. And I think it's significant. It's significant. I mean I I mean better than 50 in my So yes, these are major ticket items. These are big ticket items. And I think first

I I think for the public's perspective like I mean if they're watching this they're like man like what what are they what are they even talking about? Right. I think at the end of the day if if whatever whatever the percentage is, right? I think yeah, the fact that we're making progress here after significant bureaucratic errors and and issues in the federal government um that frankly have been going on before most of us were even here on council. Um putting that out, Adam.

No. Hey, I mean to to a couple of you like credit for catching the issue and like sticking with it to get us to this point. Like it wouldn't be here without you. I mean I that's that's a reflection of the bureaucracy of the federal government, right? um not any anybody that's been here um longer than me, right? Um I think for the public though um that quantification would be very valuable, right? And and super super basic. Um and I think a good exercise for us to understand really what this is going to end up tackling so we can start communicating that out. And yeah, right. Thank Thank you, Bill. I appreciate your effort. And I just say again, these are these are major high priority things we're we're going after first. These aren't little things. the bottom. These are the major, you know, major things.

Yeah.

No, and I think I mean, we are delighted to see any groundbreaking happen because it came to feel for a while like all we were going to do was one study after another and we spent frankly millions of dollars of city money doing study after study with no uh nothing actually changing in terms of the status of the levy. Um so none of that is to say that we're not excited to see this coming to pass. But what I am curious about is it for a long time and I think still it seemed as though the goal goalposts were continually moving because climate change is driving more intense storms were you know the the the regulations set up by FEMA and the and the um Army Corps of Engineers were changing and so um we were having a hard time of even really getting a sense of where we stood and what needed to happen and if it's possible for us to get a sense of where we stand and what will need to happen once this funding's expended. Um I think that would be it would be good to just take a moment to to have an understanding of what we're going to accomplish and then how much further we'll have to go from there. Um because obviously we we received a pretty large um chunk of money from the federal government to get where we're going to get and we may need to begin seeking more funding and so I think it's important to keep our eye on that long-term goal too.

Y All right. Thanks. But I do want to stress the city did nothing wrong. And once they actually had the grant signed, they are working at lightning yet legal speed.

So, I can't stress that enough. I don't know if I've ever seen a project get off the ground quicker than this one. I mean, we're running procurements at the same time, which you're allowed to, but it was a lot. So, I'm just sharing with you that your city is working at lightning yet legal speed and whatever I can do to keep you all informed. As I said, I am letting your commissioners know and your legislators if you all want me to add counsel, happy to do that. I'm sending it out. I think we'd like to be

sending out a report tomorrow. So, uh, mayor, I I'm including you on that. Would you mind um sharing me with me their emails? Happy to send it to you. So, thank you very much for your time. Appreciate it. I do I do have to tell you one more thing. I think between Liz and I, we feel like I know I feel like I'm in the Peanuts cartoon where they're playing football and as soon as it comes to kick, she pulls the football out. Do you know how much how many times we've been told they're going to start breaking ground? You go there and nothing's going to happen. Multiple

I can't control that. I signed on in December, so I have no idea what happened in the past, but I apologize for whatever happened. And uh I'm not going to apologize on behalf of FEMA. They're, you know, big boys, but and girls, but I do I just want to stress that the city has done an incredible job from since I've joined. So, all right. Well, thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Bonnie. Thank you. Thank you for being so Bonnie, you muted yourself. Thank you as well. I think I think what we can say is thanks to you and I'm assuming I'm assuming that many people in the administration are driving this, but particularly Bill Scott um without who's working

your your entire staff has been incredible. So, thank you again. We look forward to more updates. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you.

All right. We'll move on to item number five then. Limited courtesy of the floor. We have had no requests this evening. Um I do apologize to guests that we do have in the audience tonight. We have a large agenda with a lot of guests. So we are going to try and move through this uh in order except for one item. But the first one that we're going to jump to tonight is um item number 24. Can I have a motion please? So move second resolution closing out community con conservation partner and grant project ERC-T28187.

Yes. Good evening members of council. Um Scott Williams is unfortunately under the weather with the flu tonight. So I'm covering a few of his items. So uh please bear with me as I do that. Um, with this item, I actually want to start by thanking DCNR. Um, this project, the comprehensive recreation, parks, and open space plan, um, was primarily funded by DCNR. There was a 50% match by the city. Um, but there was a $70,000 investment by DCNR. This is one of three current DC&R projects that we have that are funded by them, and we appreciate all that they do um, to help us get work done here in the city. This project was actually started um Mayor Slaughter kicked this off before I even worked for the city. Uh either Scott or I um worked really closely with the community. Thief Gallagher, Rob Kulie, um helped to kind of lead the charge on this. And we want to thank them. I thought they were going to attend tonight, but I'm not sure. Oh, there she is actually as I'm saying her name as she walks in. Um so we want to thank Fee for all of her work on this. uh she was instrumental in getting the public input to to get this plan underway. So, our department, as we've mentioned multiple times, is focusing uh this year on a lot of different planning studies, the housing study, um the safe streets for all study. This is just one piece of the planning efforts that we're putting together. And our real goal is to have a proactive targeted investment in the city of Williamsport rather than, you know, being reactive to grant opportunities that are available. So, this will lay the groundwork for us to start doing that with our parks um and open spaces. So, we have the consultant team with us here tonight. It's uh Joanne Shelley from Evolve and Rob Armstrong from WSP who was contracted by Evolve. And tonight they're really going to focus their presentation on two

things, which are um one, where did the recommendations for this plan come from? Who did we talk to? How did we gather this information? And then two, um what are the recommendations? I think one of the the best things that Scott Williams brought to this plan was and when he came in on the end was making sure to work with Evolve in a way and to work with Bill Scott, Scott Williams, Mayor Slaughter to make sure that we were making recommendations in this plan that were implementable. Right? We didn't want to walk away with a plan that said you should do six more studies because we don't want to do six more studies. We want to we want to start moving forward for the the residents of Williamsport. And we also didn't want to walk away with a plan that said things like, you know, you should put a dog park on Pine Square, right? We wanted to make sure that we were walking away with things that um made sense for the city residents and were um implementable for our our streets and parks department and and were in alignment with Mayor Slaughter's vision for the city. So, we're hoping that um you'll agree that they've done a really great job putting this together and we um I'll turn it over to Joanne and we'll look forward to your input. Good evening, council members and uh audience members. I wanted to thank you for allowing me Are you able to hear me?

Yep. Okay, great. Uh and do you have the presentation up or should I Are you able to share your Are you able to share your screen? Let's try. Great. Oh, zoom more. It allows me video. It's not allowing me to share my screen from this access point. Do you have a copy of the presentation?

That's okay. If you just want to go ahead and get started with that, we would appreciate it.

Sure. So, um, my name is Joanne Shelley. I'm a landscape architect and planner from Evolve. And my colleague Rob Armstrong, who unfortunately is also not able to be here with us tonight, uh, was our um, certified parks and recreation professional as well as a um, PhD in history. So he did some his he also spent time looking at the history of the parks so that they informed how we made recommendations especially in light of the fact that you have historic parks. I want to take time um to echo uh Valerie and thank thief for her efforts. uh we had a large steering committee and it was a little bit unwieldy and thief and also Rob Kulie really uh put extra effort in to um keep the project on track. I came into the project mid project and uh she really carried it through to the end and um we owe her a debt of gratitude. Um just for the audience in general, the comprehensive park recreation parks and open space and infrastructure plan is um a guide for your future. As Valerie said, uh we used the guiding principles from DCNR's uh outdoor recreation plan, the National Recreation Parks Association pillars of health and wellness, equity, conservation, and sustainability. And then we you worked with the steering committee to develop parks and recreation specific vision, mission and goals. And the vision that they identified was that Williamsport Parks improve the quality of life for all our residents and visitors. And Williamsport Parks create a sense of pride in our community and welcome visitors. and their mission statement was to provide highquality, safe, and

readytouse recreational, cultural, and educational opportunities for all our diverse residents and visitors. Uh the goals that were focused on were connectivity, a 10-minute walk to a highquality park, accessibility for people of all ages and abilities that and have the parks be inclusive and equitable, sustainability, adaptability, uh developing parks in a manner that is fiscally responsible, celebrating community, and improving coordination and relationships with city partners. The planning process was developed in four phases. The first phase was listening and learning, then ideulating and testing, refining and prioritizing, and then launching into action. Um there's a timeline on the screen, but uh so in the first phase, we talked about listening and learning. And who did we talk to? We had five meetings with the study committee to verify that we were on target with our uh analysis and then our recommendations. We did staff interviews from October to through June of 2024, October of 2023 through June of 2024. We held stakeholder and focus group interviews from May through June of 2024. we um facilitated a community survey. I'd also again mention that beef was able to facilitate uh input from the local school students uh in two different formats um K through 12 and uh we had exceptional amount of feedback from the um students that responded and really helped us verify what we had heard from the community in general. But we thought that this was an important age target group and um appreciate the

additional input. Uh we incorporated Facebook comments that were received after we published the community survey results. We held an openhouse events on October of 2024, one during the day and one in the evening. And then we held an additional openhouse event to verify recommendations in March of 2025. What we heard was that William Port Williamsport residents have access to great natural spaces. Brandon Park is a favorite, but it needs improvements. Williamsport has prioritized some neighborhoods over others. Parks are not equally maintained and amenities are not equally distributed. Park connectivity and signage needs to improve. residents requested more programming, more activities for younger people and for seniors. When programs are implemented, they need to be better promoted and communication about the city's parks facilities programming should exist online. During the ideating and fit and and testing which is the systems analysis, we took our analysis and looked at the stewardship of the parks cleanliness and maintenance. Sustainability, we looked at imperous cover and canopy cover programming, what type of multi-use spaces and what their flexibility was. Amenities, what variety there was and what condition they were in. uh whether the parks were visible visibly welcoming, whether there was signage and whether it was comfortable to be in the parks. Uh whether it was safe or a feeling of perceived safety. We looked at connectivity from the standpoint of walking, biking and ADA access and then again safety with regards to visibility

and light and lighting. Um we came away with analysis uh with regards to the park facilities and amenity and amenities that um Williamsport in comparison to its peer communities has a low ratio of park area per resident. Um there is within the neighborhoods an even distribution of playgrounds. However, some playgrounds are in poor condition. Again, maintenance is uneven. We found that the staff itself lacks park specific training to maintain um facilities and amenities and uh some of the skills are lacking. Uh again, the city needs more recreational opportunities for older children and for seniors. And the play equipment that is in the parks needs to incorporate universal design standards to allow for independent play for those persons with disabilities. With regards to connectivity and communication, we found that 82% of your residents live within a 10-minute walk of the park, which is a very high level of connectivity. Uh, however, the park types do not match the demi demographic distributions for ages and target users. The the walk bike infrastructure to the parks is fragmented. Many streets lack crosswalks which create safety concerns and the city needs better communication to the residents about programming and an option from residents about their needs and concerns. Our recommendations were divided in the third phase of refining and prioritizing into uh three categories. Operations and

administration, systemwide infrastructure and individual park facilities. I will give you an overview of the operations and administration and systemwide infrastructure. uh the system the individual park facilities would be better reviewed uh within the context of the plan itself. Uh with regards to operations administration, communication, the communication needs a strategy. It needs to be multigenerational friendly and there needs to be better coordination with partner organizations that provide services or could provide services such as the YMCA. Uh there needs to be a work order management system primarily for staff so that they have an organized way to uh report and then schedule and then follow up on maintenance needs and for residents to allow them to also identify and report needs back to the city. With regards to systemwide infrastructure, site furnishing master plan, uh we highly recommend that the city develop a park standards for equipment and furniture and lighting and signage. Not only will this create a more cohesive park system, this will also allow staff to better maintain by having one system to maintain instead of a different pieces of equipment in different parks. Uh the connectivity master plan is needed to identify the gaps and challenges and it should include an implementation to bridge those gaps. signage and wayfinding. Again, it's very important for people to understand that their parks often um residents noted that because they only

drive, say, to the east in their daily commute or to school, they didn't know that there was a park within a 10-minute walk of them to the west. So, wayfinding and siding to direct residents and visitors to park amenities. And then um it the posting of rules and regulations needs to be systematic throughout all of the parks. Uh again for systemwide infrastructure the city needs to develop some landscape standards for plant selection, management and removal of invasive species, installation of green infrastructure and basic landscape care. Along with the landscape standards, uh the city should implement a training program both for staff and for the volunteers. We had numerous members of the community identify that they would like to be engaged in volunteering and assisting the city with maintaining their neighborhood parks, but they need standards and they need uh training. Um again and lastly, green infrastructure master plan. There are a few areas where there are storm water management problems. uh these areas should be further identified and then green infrastructure installed. The last portion of the uh refining and prioritizing was to prioritize phase and fund. Um, we use community priorities that I noted before of connectivity, safety, accessibility, sustainability, adaptability, fiscal responsibility, focus on culture and communication with partners. We also talked about the phasing steps. The steps that we recommend following for each of the projects that we recommended are to identify preliminary

coordination that primarily needs to happen within the city structure. Develop planning and policies and um have them adjusted within again the city structure. Develop budget and funding for each of the projects. Once the projects are funded, you can go through define development and permits and bid. Not every project has all of the steps in these phases. Um, but they do need to follow at least the first two steps where we have preliminary coordination between departments and then updates to planning and policies. Funding options include devoting staff hours, budget allocation, and then using budget allocation funds to um go after grants at the federal, state, and there's also private. Within the plan, we identified uh grant opportunities at the federal level, the state level, and then private opportunities such as um AARP provides funding for um connectivity and accessibility to uh public spaces. Uh we're here today at the launch into action phase, I'm happy to say. And uh the first step is for city council to adopt the plan. And then after adoption uh it will be up to staff to continue to implement the phasing and develop funding options. Um I wanted to again thank the city for entrusting us with this plan to develop. I apologize that we couldn't share the visuals with you today. and uh we'll entertain any questions that you might have.

Thank you very much for that. Are there any questions from members of council at this time? Liz Mey, that was a very impressive laundry list of things we need to do. Uh Valerie, um I believe that part of the idea of completing um a parks and recreation plan for the city was that um we might be able to then secure follow-up funding for some of the goals outlined. Um, are we currently looking at any follow-up funding for any of the um, uh, components that were mentioned um, in the report? And can you tell me?

Yes. So, Joanne actually provided a really great funding matrix for us um, based on recommendation. She provided um, direct funding sources for us to apply for, which is fantastic. Some we were aware of and some we were not. Um we have not applied for anything specific based on this plan because most of the grant sources that we apply for ask for us to upload the plan right so we're waiting for the plan to be finalized and then you know to move forward with um I will say there is one uh grant opportunity right now that Scott Williams is actually working with with the local Ottabon society and um Scott Livermore has been super instrumental with it. Um it would be a large multi-million dollar project across all of our parks to basically address what um Joanne mentioned with um storm water problems. Um and Scott, do you want to talk about that at all or you No. Okay. Nope. No, no, no. Okay. Um but basically, we've been working with the Ottabon Society um to, you know, plant native trees in areas that it's really difficult for our streets and parks department to maintain or mow for whatever reason. Um, so that's just one of the things that we've been looking at um in a partnership with Ottabon to move forward with one of these recommendations knowing that this recommendation was coming. Um, but the the DCNR funds that funded the plan um then have follow-up funding opportunities to implement the plan.

Good. Um that that's excellent because yeah, I mean I I um a agree with every um thing noted in this report and frankly there are are things that I think um from a limited review of it um uh could also use to be done recreationally that aren't in here. Um but uh uh but I think the thing is that it is um to me a bit of a damning uh perspective on our existing recreation within the city. And uh and um to my knowledge, we we don't even really I know I'd requested a couple of years ago um that we try to get uh a handle on the on the idea of how much replacing our existing parks equipment would cost us and what our timeline was for doing that because much of it is getting um very close to end of life. Um and I don't we we don't really have money set aside for that at this point. So, um, we have, um, many, many issues that need to be addressed with recreation in the city, and some of them will come to sooner rather than later. Um, so I think, uh, this is an exciting first step, but, um, but I'm excited to see us move on from this and begin hopefully knocking some of these issues out. Thanks.

Any other questions for members of council? I got one. Not a question. I'm just excited. I'm the new guy. I'm I'm like looking at this plan. I I love our parks and um without knowing all of the operations on how we get from point A to Z, like this is this is really exciting. So, thank you for the hard work you put into this.

It is really exciting. Thank you. And some of this we'll be able to piece together, right? So, like right now we have an RFP out for engineering. Actually, we just we just closed it um for our Young's Woods Park project, which is a it's close to a million-dollar project where we can start to implement some of these things, right? Like uniform signage and, you know, some of the things that we know um are going to start to happen in all of the parks, we can start to do as we go along um with the park projects.

I think that's fantastic. Um because I would agree. I think although I actually think that perhaps some of the more um valuable recommendations in here right now might be about developing a more cohesive concept of how we're handling our parks. Um what plants we're planting in our parks, a a guideline for people who are doing works within our parks. Um but the signage thing and and those all the cohesive components I think will really help pull the city's recreation program together. Um, and I would love to see us get uh a lot more of the amenities that we currently offer online, especially because having everything listed in one visible place would maybe enable us to see a little better what programming we really know that we need. Um, older older kids especially, I think is something that we could use to focus on.

Thanks. It's me, Eric. Uh, right ahead, Bonnie. the one of the projects that could be done and my husband Bernie did this. He's worked with Penn College on the rain garden on Pine Street and then the one that's on Market Street. They sent their their their school kids over to take care of it and I think, you know, they do look for projects at times. So maybe it would behoove us to get them more involved because they do have a lot of landscaping and areas of that. So that could be one of the outlets.

We've been in touch with Carl Bower, the adviser of the landscape architecture program and at this point he's been a little bit inundated and saturated with requests of that sort for community projects. So, okay, we meeting with him and we're definitely on his radar and with Rob Kulie being so involved in the all the park projects and having a close, you know, working relationship with Carl and and working at the college for quite a long period of time, we're we're definitely continuing to stay on Carl's radar, but it seems like he has a lot of uh a lot of requests right now. So, we're we're continuing to follow up with him periodically and just kind of keep our eye on that.

Sounds good. Seeing and hearing nothing else, Mrs. Frank. Mr. Yoder, yes. Mr. Milligan, yes. Mr. Mackey, yes. Mrs. Catz, yes. Ms. Millie, yes. Mr. PZY, yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Motion passes 70. Uh, the last one out of order. We're going to go to item number item number 25. Uh, land development, revised land development for Allen Emerson on Malberry Street.

You need a motion. Can I have a motion, please? So, move. Second.

Scott Williams made me promise I would tell his joke. Groundhog Day was in February. Yes, we realize we're putting the same plan in front of you that we put in front of you at the last meeting. There's a small variation on the plan. Um that is why we're back. Um actually the um the the group is here if you have any questions for them, but I'll just go over this really briefly. Um this was approved by the planning commission and actually there's a member of the planning commission here if you have any questions. Um pending council's approval. This will just need signature from whoever council appoints as the city zoning administrator. It's been reviewed um again by Bill Scott um Eric Smith Gaul um and Scott Williams and I believe all of their review letters were included in your packet. Um there was just a really small reconfiguration to the parking lot uh really so that you don't have to back into the drive-thru when you exit the property. And then also Liz, you had asked a question. There was a little section where you had to walk over the grass if you wanted to um get onto this property from anywhere other than the parking lot basically and they corrected that and they added a little crosswalk section there. So um that's awesome. But I believe there's a representative from um T- Ross here as well as the the developer if you have any questions.

Are there any questions for members of council? the big hill going up what I can't remember the street but you don't go up it with a stick shift it's harder they going to get out

seeing hearing nothing else Mrs. Frank Mr. Yoder yes Mr. Milikin yes Mr. Mackey yes Mrs. Catz yes Ms. Millie yes Mr. Pizzazzy. Yes, Mr. Ryder.

Yes. Motion passes 70. We will move back to our regularly scheduled program. Item number six, we have um Wingsport Water and uh Sanitary Authority appointments of Randy Allison, a very familiar name. He's being appointed to a term commencing uh on the today um March 5th, 2026 and ending on January 3rd, 2028, replacing Dr. Kent Tracty and William Henderson is being appointed to a term commencing on March 5th, 2026 and ending on January 5th, 2031, replacing Johnny Meyer. Uh we also have the parking authority on here of Deb Allison, who's being appointed to a term commencing on March 5th, 2026 and ending on January 1st, 2030. and Ryan Rafferty is being appointed to a term commencing on March 5th, 2026 and ending on February 9th, 2031. Do I have a motion?

So moved. Second. Mayor Slaughter.

Yes. Good evening, President Ber, Vice President Pizzy, members of council administration. Uh, as you mentioned, Randy Allison and uh, William Henderson to the water and sanitary authorities. Uh, obviously Randy was on council for a long time, worked at UGI, and uh, would be a great addition and Mr. Henderson brings uh a wealth of knowledge as well uh to the authorities for his uh personal and professional backgrounds. Uh and then uh Debbie Allison and Ryan Rafferty to the parking authority. Um don't generally bring parking authority appointments to council, but uh since we had other appointments and just for transparency, we brought those as well. Uh so we just thank all of those individuals for stepping up and volunteering their time uh to the authorities um and look forward to any questions you may have. Thank you very much, Mayor. Uh, this did come before us at our first, uh, committee the whole meeting. Um, William Hen Henderson was present. Uh, I've known uh, Mr. Henderson for a number of years. And we thank him for being willing to step up. Uh, Randy Allison was not present at that meeting. I don't think he gets special treatment. I don't know if we should be taking that in consideration tonight, but I think we'll let him slide. Um, obviously Dev Allison, we know her very well. And, um, Mr. Raffert's relationship with the city. We we know that very well. But are there any questions for members of council?

And I could add in sorry just real quick. Um I didn't should have mentioned I should thank Johnny Meyer was a longstanding member of the water and sanitary authority. So I should have thanked him uh for his many many many years on the authorities. Um and Dr. Trody as we all know retired from Lycoming College uh and has moved on and that's the reason for his uh vacancy. Sorry about that. Quite a right. Liz Millie. Uh, who will Debbie and Ryan be replacing on the parking authority? Um, Stephanie Allison and I believe Chip Roush also and Adam Welt. Oh, Adam. That's right. Thank you. Thank you. Adam Odroth. Yeah. Okay. So, Chip Rous is still on the Chip is still there. Yeah.

Okay. Um Okay. Uh All right. Um Yeah, that was Thank you. And yeah, I um I actually don't think Randy was sherking us. I don't believe he knew he was on the agenda on Tuesday. I ran into him yesterday and I said, "So," and he said, "What do you mean I was on the agenda?" That is unlike Randy. Anyway, um yeah, we are um yeah, all we we obviously thank anyone uh willing to take on uh serving on a city authority or a or a city border commission, but um but we are particularly fortunate to have these folks um willing to step up. So, yes. Thank you, Mayor. here. If there's nothing else in Mrs. Frank, Mr. Yoder,

yes. Mr. Milligan, yes. Mr. Mackey, yes. Mrs. Catz, yes. Miss Millie, yes. Mr. Pizzy, yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Motion passes 70. We'll move to item number seven, please. An ordinance, a transfer ordinance number one in first reading. Can I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. Miss Livermore.

Good evening, council. Um, this is the first transfer ordinance of the year. So, this ordinance is to allocate the funds for the levy just so that we have everything in compliance and we're able to make the payments. We're This is just budgeting all of the funds that are required for the match in a line item in the emergency fund. The money is not going to go anywhere. It's going to stay there until needed. And like she said, um there is they are giving us a 25% upfront and this is just the match money. So it's just for compliance and making sure we have everything budgeted correctly. Okay. Any questions regarding this transfer ordinance?

Seeing hearing none, Mr. Yoder? Yes. Mr. Milligan? Yes. Mr. Mackey? Yes. Mrs. Catz? Yes. Miss Millie? Yes. Mr. Pizzy, yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Motion passes 70. Thank you. Item number eight, please. An ordinance authorizing the lease and satisfaction of certain mortgages held by the city in connection with home and CDBG program funded lowincome homeowner rehabilitation projects in first reading. Could I have a motion, please? So moved. Second, Miss.

Yes. Good evening again. So, this ordinance is actually related to the mortgages held by the city homeowners who have successfully completed one of the city's home rehab programs. Um, this ordinance will remove any unnecessary incumbrances on these low-income homeowners and also reduce the administrative burden on city staff. This ordinance went to committee. I think we had a pretty lengthy discussion. There any additional questions? Any questions for members of council? Seeing and hearing none. Mr. Yoder, yes. Mr. Milligan, yes. Mr. Mackey, yes. Mrs. Catz,

yes. Ms. Mey, yes. Mr. Pizzy, yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Motion passes 70. We're going to move to item number nine. Resolution authorizing contract for professional consulting services with Ceda Cog of Governments. Can I have a motion, please? So moved.

Yes. Good evening again. Um so Jamie Schrodder is actually here um from Cedakog. So I wanted to just start this one off by um thanking Jamie. I know that a lot of you see her on our um Zoom screen, but you don't see her in person. Um Jamie has been really instrumental in keeping our CDBG block grant program moving and um getting a significant amount of funds spent for us over the last two years. Um Jamie actually has I think she told me 17 people working behind the scenes in her office working on the multiple um layers of compliance that the city is required to do. So it's not just Jamie that we're contracting with. Um it's it's a whole team of people that are absolutely critical to making sure that the city is spending this money in a way that is compliant and that we are avoiding repayments because as you know any repayments to these types of grants cannot be paid out of the grant. They have to be paid out of the city's emergency fund. So, um, utilizing Jamie and her team has been, um, just so critical for us moving forward, and we've been able to do so many wonderful projects because of that. Um, since Jaime's been on board, um, we've been meeting all of our HUD timeliness goals. We've been spending our money, um, exactly in the manner that they've asked us to do it and exactly the timeline that they've asked us to have it spent by. So, thank you, um, to Jamie for all of that. Um, you have, you should have the contract uh, before you. It is probably identical to the other contracts with Ceda Cog that you have seen. If you have any questions for me or for Jamie, um, we'd be happy to explain any of the items in the professional services agreement that you have in front of you.

Are there any questions for members of council? Liz Mey, just that for for the public, it might be useful to outline why we're currently dealing with the 2025 fiscal year. Do do you know what I'm saying? The resolution in front of me is that we're we're uh hiring CED COG to do work on the 2025 fiscal year of CDBG, which um to my understanding would be because we probably only received our allocation in what October. Uh we actually received our allocation I think we received it in January. Okay.

In January of 2026. So um the city typically receives their HUD allocation. So, our 2025 allocation, we would typically receive it in September or October of 2025. That's just kind of the schedule that we're on with HUD, but um because of the various shutdowns that happened last year, it got pushed back even further. So, we are just now going under contract for the projects that we'll be utilizing the 2025 money for. Got it. That's a great question. Thank you for that. Well, yeah, I just think it it looks real weird. I just looked at the resolution. I was like, 2024? And then I was like, "Oh, wait. I probably know why this is. It does. It authorizes us to start using their services in October of 2024 for the 2025 money. So, yeah. But

thank you.

Anyway, um but uh the only other question I would ever have about this is it seems to me the contracted amount has been about the same for the last however many years, right? Um and the city's funding has remained relatively steady for the last however many years. Accurate. Uh yep. is that um to what extent if the city loses HUD funding moving forward will would we be able to spend less money on the obligations through Cedakog? I'm assuming that this the same amount of work still exists one way or the other but yes and no. Um, I guess primarily we don't anticipate I mean obviously we can't predict the future and we certainly can't predict um, you know, federal funding, but at this point we don't anticipate any cuts to any of the CDBG um, or HUD programs. They've been so instrumental to the communities in which the federal legislators serve. Um, that they've been advocating very hard for them and we don't anticipate any cuts. Um, city doesn't anticipate any cuts due to compliance. We we do not foresee any of that. Um really Liz, I guess that the only way that I could explain to kind of get around that is so say we were to start receiving half as much HUD money that we do right now. We're able to do a variety of different programs and services. So we have an emergency rehab uh program where we do housing rehab. We have um a a bike lane program that we're putting together. We're doing street reconstruction. Most likely we would probably just need to narrow our focus on what we're what we're doing so that we would just have probably one or two um big projects.

Lower administration would be the way to kind of get around that. But I don't foresee any of that happening. No. That's awesome. That's good to know. I was a little afraid that we might be for most of my time on council the the money the amount of funding we receive has been sort of gradually dropping. So that was um it's good to know that we don't see that continuing for a bit. I don't see it. And Jamie, it's nice to see you in person. Thanks, Eric. Absolutely. Seeing hearing nothing else on that item, then Mrs. Frank, Mr. Yoda, yes. Mr. Milikin, yes. Mr. Mackey, yes. Mrs. Catz, yes. Miss Mey,

yes. Mr. Pizzy, yes. Mr. Ber. Yes. Motion passes 70. Item number 10, please. Resolutionou between the city of Williamsport and River Valley Transit Authority. Can I have a motion, please? So move. Second. Mayor Slaughter.

Yes. Good evening again, President Ber, Vice President Pizzy, members of council administration. What you have before you is a resolution uhou between the city of Wayneport and RVTA. uh as you know we've been uh working with them for a number of years now uh back and forth on this uh on many issues this being one of them um and we've now reached anou uh with RVTA uh solicitor Kenyan has spent a large number of hours on this um and we think it's it's fair for both entities uh and we landed at a very good place uh we believe uh and so this is theou that you have in front of you now

thank you very much mayor Slaughter. Um, one of the biggest questions that I have regarding this item is the uh line in paragraph number three that says the city owes RBTA $1.6 million. Uh, where did that come from and how is that going to be paid?

So, um, RBT paid the expenses for part of a grant and then the city got the reimbursement. So, it's in part of the capital projects fund. So we have the money allotted in part of capital projects not it's just in capital projects it's not using the money for capital projects but we received we received the reimbursements and it hasn't been paid to RVT at this point we we went through hours and hours and hours of research to determine if the city paid it or if RVT paid it. We have all the backup documentation showing what fees RBT paid and what fees the city paid. So without this reimbursement um we would have come out pretty much level like the city wouldn't have owed RVT anything and RVT wouldn't have owed the city much of anything. So because of this reimbursement that's the only reason that there's funds that are owed to RBT.

Okay. Any other questions from members on council? Liz Millie. So, help me understand again where did the where did the money come from that we owed to RBT? Like like we received it, but you're also saying we spent it. So, it was spent on a I believe it was like a city revisation product. So, it was multiple um revitalization projects all in one. I want to say it was years ago. Um

RVT paid the expenses. So the expenses came out of the RBT checking accounts, but the reimbursement because the city and RBT were connected at the time came into a city account and did not get dispersed to the RBT accounts. It came into thought as though you found $1.7 million in a city account. No, it's part of the it's part of um it was allocated I believe in it when Tracy had done the audits and stuff. She had gotten part of it

recognized and put it into where it was supposed to be. Um but no, it's not like we found this money missing. It was it was there and allocated properly. It was just in the city fund and never separated out and given to RVT when they separated. So consequently, the reason we're paying it out $150,000 at a time, that was just an agreement between RV right now. No, I mean it's in the capital projects fund, but that it was an agreement that um RVT offered us. Okay. At the time. All right. Um so we have the full amount of funding set aside. Yes. And we'll effectively be earning interest on it until we pay it all out 10 years from now. Okay. Yeah.

And that full amount of money that is set aside did not come out of money that we'd set aside for capital projects. And at some point I may come back to you guys or um discuss moving it into its own separate account. Right now it's just all together in with capital projects, but we do have it allocated due to RBT. It's just in the capital projects account. Got it. It would seem to me like maybe that'd be better. I don't know. I'm just trying to think like emergency and reserve or something. Yeah. I haven't I haven't really thought much about it, but um just to make sure that you know it it stays separate. Yeah. Right. Um Okay. And and that was not lined out in this year's budget anywhere, I presume. Right.

No. No. All right. Thank you. Um what's left in terms of the complete detachment between the city and RBTA? So, I know I know there's property stuff hanging out there and that is clearly a separate item for theou, but I see a lot of different things in here.

You know, I guess my question for or my hope is that this is it. I think this is it. I signed or we signed deed stuff last week or the week before. Um, working through the lease things that council that you guys gave us the go-ahhead for in November, December, whatever that was. Um, and then this this is the big this was the big ticket item. So, I think really this is probably about it because the deeds have all been squared away.

No, you're back there and I know you're not at the podium, but is there anything on your end that you know of that is floating out there that needs to be reconciled? I mean, I I I say this um as a as a frustrated member of council, and I know you're frustrated, too. Like, this this process has been brutal, right? Um for a number of different reasons, right? But um you know with hindsight um we probably rushed this too fast, right? I think if we' have taken our time probably a year like taken another year, we could have worked through a lot of this and this would have been a lot cleaner, right? Um that's one of the big regrets I have. Well, in my six years and that's no that's not that's not your fault, Noah, right? Um at all. It's been brutal on part of the city.

Yeah. that that's where it's been really brutal because we've been the ones that have lost property, lost millions of dollars at this point and we understand that you need to be made whole as an entity and how the transportation dollars were used for this building for example. Yeah. So, it has to go to a transportation entity. But this is one of those moments where yet again the city's being kicked while we're still down uh because of RBTA. Understandably. Yeah. But we really hope that this is the end of it.

Yeah. So, you don't you're not aware of anything floating out there from a detachment perspective. and then just having this agreement finalized. That's good news. Anything else for members of council on this item? Seeing hearing nothing, Mr. Yoder? Yes. Mr. Milikin? Yes. Mr. Mackey? Yes.

Mrs. Catz? Yes. Ms. Mey. Yes. Mr. Pizzy. Yes. Mr. Ber. Yes. Motion passes 70. Item number 11, please. Resolution authorizing an agreement between the city of Williamsport and Williamsport area Little League. Can I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. Mayor Slaughter.

Yes. Good evening once again, President Ver Vice President Pizzy, members of council and administration. What you have before you is a resolution authorizing an agreement between the city of Williamsport and Williamsport area Little League or Wall. Uh this is just our standard annual uh renewal with Wall uh for Brandon Park baseball and softball fields. Uh nothing has changed in this agreement. Uh it's the same one we've done the last uh number of years.

Thank you very much, Mayor Slaughter. Uh we did did bring this to our committee meeting only because of the uh newer relationship with wall uh at Brandon Park. Wanted to make sure that there was no big changes in there that the league had uh requested or the city had requested um as they've kind of settled in there since we put the ARPA funds into that ball field. Again, thank you very much Mr. Mackey for bringing that forward to us when you did a few years ago. Are there any questions for members of council? I'm just curious. We what, two years out now since we've updated those fields. How are they um how are they holding up?

Yeah, it's a good question. I think Councilwoman Catz asked that. Um there was a spot in left center, I believe, uh that had a small sort of drainage. Was it left center? Uh the contractor went back out there last year, the year before, um and uh mitigated that. So, other than that, the fields are looking great. I don't think there's been any other major issues uh with them. uh wall does a great job maintaining them. I know President Ber and Council Mack, you guys are uh really involved with that. So, uh from everything I've heard, people are loving it. Loving the fields are getting used again. Uh and obviously like coming has the upper field now, which so it's a lot of baseball and softball being played in in the parks.

Seeing hearing nothing else, then Mrs. Frank, Mr. Yoder, yes. Mr. Milligan, yes. Mr. Mackey, yes. Mrs. Catz, yes. Ms. Mey, yes. Mr. Pelzi, yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Motion passes 70. We'll move to item number 12, please. Resolution approving a letter of understanding between city and PA Department of Community and Development. Can I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. Mayor Slaughter.

Yes. Good evening yet again, President Ber, Vice President Pizzy, members of council administration. What you have before you is a resolution approving a letter of understanding between the city and the Pennsylvania Department of Community Economic Development. Uh we were fortunate to be selected as one of just a handful of cities I believe uh for a program through DCD community technical assistance program uh where a planner will be embedded with us free of charge uh to the city from DCD. She happens to be here tonight um and I'll let her uh speak here momentarily. Uh but we are very very fortunate uh as you all know um we have a lot of moving parts and any free assistance uh that the state would like to provide to us uh we are always uh pleased to receive and so this was one of those things we've worked intricately over the years with DCED um and we're very fortunate uh to have received a lot of grant funding from them uh and this is just another step in that process. Rachel Hobbs is here uh and so I'll turn it back over to you, President Ber and Rachel uh can give a a brief overview of uh what she will be able to bring to the city.

Sure.

Good evening, council. My name is Rachel Hobbs. I'm a local government planning specialist with the Department of Community and Economic Development. We're kind of like a subsection um in the uh government center for local government. Um I'm in the office of community planning. There's um several of us scattered throughout the state. I have the northeast region of the state. Um so Williamsport's actually in my territory. Um our management team came up with um a new program that they wanted to kind of pilot. This is the community's technical assistance program. Um basically spending our time giving, you know, up to like 400 hours to a community that we think could benefit from this. Um, we were tasked of finding a community. Um, in conversations with the office, it was actually Jonas Crass um, who just helped you guys through the stamp program that actually recommended Williamsport to me. Um, and after looking at some of the things that were going on, we decided that it was uh, you guys were really an excellent candidate for it. Um, you did great with the stamp coming out of the stamp program. Um there's a lot of um projects here that are at the helm or underway um to boost the economy, things like that. You already had a community and economic development office, which was huge. Um that's who I had the first conversations with. Um and what we came up with after a couple ideas was to really do more I I know um a city-wide comprehensive plan um is something that you're looking at in the future. Um this would be the step before that. Um we would do a lot of like pre-planning strategy. Um my one of the ideas and it's in the scope of work that was all given to you is about creating a steering committee committee um different members of the community um and focusing on a you know your your vision. That's what it is. It can be anything you want it to be really you know um to nail that down before you you

start your citywide comprehensive plan. Um, let me see here. The, uh, you know, we feel like pre-planning assistance is effective, it's efficient, it's what we can do, um, with limited resources and things like that. Um, now in the future, if you do a citywide comprehensive plan, um, we have our MAP program that I could also walk you through and help you with that. Um, so I am the main planner for it. Um, I do have some support planners that you might see or hear from um that will help out with like steering committee meetings. Um, this is phased out over time. I think um I already have to push it about a month back just from um not getting here till March and things like that, but um we're looking at probably like from now until probably about August, Septemberish um things like that. So, um that's really all I have. Um, what questions do you have for me?

We're all waiting for you. I'm the big math on council. Nice to meet you. You ask very good questions, though. That's not what he says in private. Um anyway, we're um we're excited to uh participate in this program and to kind of help pilot it. Um can you talk to me a little bit about what input will be required from those of us on council? What sort of how we can help with this? As

you can be as involved as you want to be. Um, I would obviously appreciate maybe two of you to be on the steering committee. Um, you know, anyone from like a downtown organization that you have a parks and recreation, anyone that's involved in parks and recreation to be on there. I'm looking for about I don't like to go too big. We all know how that it's real fun getting meetings together when you got 20.

Well, and I will make, you know, we'll do a virtual option. I want to make it as easy and as painless for everyone as possible. I I the more participation the better um from all of you. Um I live about an hour and a half away so you know I'm it's not like I'm going to can be here constantly but um but I want to give you the best of most of my time you know and um so I'd say like if two of you would join the steering committee I'm looking for about like 10 to 12 members on that steering committee um just to come up with like a you know a strategy and a pre-planning process basically and I need obviously need public input. I'm not from here. So, the more input the better,

right? Um, yeah, I I think that that's uh particularly key. Every every community in my experience is squirly in its own uh weird ways, but Williamsport,

we're certainly as squirrely as anybody else. and um and uh and yeah, so um the better community input we can get. I I know that I'm currently kind of working on um a home rule, which was another thing that came out of the stamp process with Mr. Kra. Um but I would imagine that we might have some people on council who'd be interested in participating in this and that um uh even more than that we might be able I will I will um try as hard as I can to think of uh folks who might be valuable resources. What um I'm assuming uh right obviously public safety things like that are also of interest within this plan but what what specific community roles are we thinking might be valuable to have on the steering committee? Um, obviously members of council, like I said, I probably any like downtown organizations you have, a person from any parks and recreation committees, you have um your city employees, obviously the community and economic development office, that's who I feel like I'll probably be working primarily with through this. Um,

so if you are members of the community, mostly too like it's it's not my decision either. Like I will reach out to these people and I will invite them and include them and everything, but I am happy to take any and all input of who you feel would be the most valuable on here. Okay. Um, guys, what do you think? I'm just I mean, we don't we don't get a lot of opportunities where all the members of council are sitting together. So, this is a good moment to kind of if anybody has people that they think or I guess a way in which they think we should structure this that is not um laid out. Yeah. and anything that comes up, you know, you'll have my Yeah. But like I said, sometimes we think a little better in groups and so it might be

and um um but yeah, I uh I I guess I I'm trying to think of ways for a steering committee to perhaps then reach out tentacles, for lack of a better term. That's really a terrible term. um into the community and solicit input from other people within the community because I think that's kind of a valuable bit a bit of a trickle up effect from

folks on the ground. Um and uh and I'd be excited to see that take place because I think there are a lot of things that we have traditionally overlooked. We talked about this in committee um on Tuesday, but Williamsport's comprehensive plan has historically always just been part of the counties. And so the idea of pre-planning for a comp plan is something that we really haven't done before. And um and I think that the city is so unique within the county that oftentimes the city's needs and projects get lost a little bit within the needs of the larger county. So I'm really excited.

I agree. I think you're a large enough city that you need your own. And um I think that was actually one of my first questions when I contacted them. I said, "Where's your comp I saw a lot of plans and I said, "Where's the comprehensive plan?" And um they well we we do it with Lycoming County, but we're a goal of theirs was to have your own, right? Yeah.

I think I mean I think that's key. I think particularly with the um with the population challenges that are facing most of central Pennsylvania, but particularly facing Williamsport, a comprehensive plan that focuses on um increasing population and increasing um public involvement and and and really building for um building to hopefully better serve our community so that so that we become a place that people stay and and choose to move to is is to me a lot of what a comp plan is um should be constructed Yes. And we're seeing a trend of this across the Commonwealth too. Um well just for instance like there was one planner at DCED before

I was two years ago and then they added 10 of us. So because of there's such a demand. So and so you are effectively to a certain extent replacing most of us small cities who don't necessarily have the time and the ability to do things like that. It's an assistance. That's that's excellent. We're we are pleased to um party in this effort. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Any other questions for members of council? Thank you for being here. We really appreciate it. We're very excited. Mrs. Frank. Mr. Yoder. Yes. Mr. Milikin? Yes. Mr. Mackey? Yes. Mrs. Catz? Yes. Miss Millie? Yes. Mr. Pizzy? Yes.

Mr. Ber? Yes. Motion passes 70. Item number 13, please. Resolution authorizing the agreement between the city of Williamsport and Barry Iset. Can I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. Mayor Slaughter.

Yes. Uh good evening once again. Uh President Ber, Vice President Pizzy, members of council administration. What you have before you is a resolution authorizing an agreement between uh the city and Barry Iset. This is uh for zoning uh enforcement officer. uh while we're in the um application process. So for Gary Nar, his job is posted. Uh however, in interim, obviously, we still have a lot of zoning requests coming in and a lot of permits that need to be reviewed and go out the door. Uh so Barry is uh who we work with of course was Glenn uh and the BCO uh is able to have a zoning officer uh Phil who is on the call tonight. He's on virtually. Um so he is able to step in during this interim period to make sure that our plan reviews and permits continue to be um executed. Uh and so um he's on if there's questions for him. Um but that's the uh that's the interim plan right now.

Are there any questions for members of council? Liz, I will say you brought up some really good points uh in the meeting about the long-term plans for uh the codes department. I don't know if you wanted to ask that now or if you were satisfied with the answers. Uh well, I had um what was the answer? That we are working on a longer term plan. Well, why don't we ask Eric?

Sure. Um so, Councilman Pizzy and I actually are working with um our labor attorney right now on some codes related things um that uh we could have executive session on on on that side of things. It's some personnel related things. Um, but this is the interm. We'll see what applications we get as far as zoning officer applications because that's posted right now. Applications have started to come in. Um, we haven't really got any that were even remotely close to the qualifications. Uh, and so once the next few months here, uh, once we work with, uh, our labor attorney and the state labor relations board, uh, then that will be able to look at some of the longer term items from there. So, so sorry, Liz. I you can Yeah, we had a bit of this discussion, but I think yeah, it's worth fleshing out. So, go for it on

U. So, this is this is temporary, correct? Do we have a timeline? So, the zoning officer is a council appointment. Do we have a timeline on once we get Has there has there been a timeline discussed from our perspective now's a good time to maybe do that? I mean certainly I mean it's a I mean if we get a quality applicant tomorrow it'll be on your agenda in two weeks you know so it just it's hard to put a timeline on if Yeah. So I mean it all depends on what the applications look like that kind of thing. Okay. So that's cool. I mean the really the we had to do this just because there's so many emails coming in for zoning items. Yeah. No no I I completely understand. I I I just wanted to be sure of Yeah.

Yeah. I don't think timeline process that kind of thing. That was the root. I mean, it's posted. So, as soon as we get an applicant that meets it or Yeah. Okay. I I think what we actually need to decide on is a timeline for if we don't find a successful applicant, a timeline for looking at an RFP for these for these services or perhaps all services long term. How long have we contracted with Barry? Is that for the BCO? Uh, like two yearsish. Yeah, probably. Yeah, probably about two years or so. Okay. Um, so if we're if we're adding if we are looking at long-term adding to the scope of that contract, then I would like to see us put some thought into what that looks like for the codes department as a whole and then yeah,

put it out for an RFP instead of simply extending our services with the company. I mean, not that I wouldn't necessarily anticipate Barry is a submitting a response. RFP and possibly getting it, but I think that we need a more holistic plan and then we need to um just see what sort of services are out there. Uh the one reason I say that particular to Barry I said is that I would um I would like to see whoever's handling some of these things be nearby to the city if not necessarily within the city because there are some elements of of codes management than that are better done with you know closer to home I suppose. Um but anyway, yeah. So I I think Adam to your point that what we should decide on is a a point at which we're going to say, "Okay, we may not get an application for someone that we want to hire. We need to look at this. We we need to to look at this as a longer term sort of obligation."

Um because it sounds to me like that's what you're saying might happen, Derek. Yeah. No, and I completely agree with you and I think uh Councilman Blizz and I we've sort of uh we've been exploring a number of options including that. So, um I 100% agree. Great. Um and the other question I had is once we authorize presuming we authorize this contract tonight. Um when does Barry is that when when does Phil come online?

Uh he is ready to go tomorrow. I mean we're ready to go. I've already um sort of uh because there's our emails have been filling up. So I said to him like I will hit forward you know as soon as the ink probably before the ink's dry. Uh but so he's ready to go. Um there's just some things, you know, people waiting on extension of premises and just different things that have to be reviewed. Uh and so yeah, I spoke to somebody today waiting on a like an outdoor seating permit. Exactly. Right. And those are going to get real crucial here, right? Exactly. Yeah. So that's why, you know, we we had to move this. So

yeah. Um but yeah, good. No, that's right. We I think everybody knows somebody waiting on some sort of zoning work and we don't want that to be a hold up, a silly thing to be a hold up for new projects in the city. Thanks. Anything else on this? Seeing and hearing nothing. Mr. Yoder. Yes. Mr. Milligan. Yes. Mr. Mackey. Yes. Mrs. Catz. Ms. Millie. Yes. Mr. Pizzy. Yes. Mr. Biff. Yes. Motion passes 60. Item number 14, please. Resolution authorizing an agreement between the Williamsport Bureau of Fire and Ceiling Guy. Can I have a motion, please? So moved.

Second. Chief, how are you this evening? Council President, council members, uh this resolution's brought to you guys tonight. Uh this is uh been one of the projects that uh the economic development with Valerie's team has been very vital over the last couple years, helping us get improvements in our firehouse. Uh this would be for a new ceiling in our in our engine bay area. Uh it's been in a an order of disarray probably for 15 to 20 years and this will get us back to where it's uh serving the purpose it's meant to be. Uh this money comes out of the PA municipal fire grant. Um so that's at that point. Um again I got to thank Val for that. So

are there any questions regarding this item? Seeing hearing none Mr. Mr. Yoder, yes. Mr. Milligan, yes. Mr. Mackey, yes. Mrs. Catz, yes. Ms. Mey, yes. Mr. Pizzy, yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Motion passes 70. Thank you very much, Chief. We will move to item number 15. Resolution authorizing an agreement between the Williamsburg Bureau of Fire and ESO. Can I have a motion, please? So, move. Chief, you're up again.

All right. So ESO is uh the software system that you guys approved uh in a previous resolution. Um as we've been working through uh as I've been learning to be chief um we have a a third party company that is uh called PA Fire Recovery that does our rescue billing for us. They'll go into our reports, pull out the information necessary, and then bill accordingly what they're allowed to in the state of Pennsylvania. Um, and we could get an unknown number depending on what type of calls we have throughout the year for that for that return. Um, but in order to have the access for that company to as a third party, I have to pay this uh $848 to ESO for them to be allowed to access that information. Okay.

Are there any questions for members of council? Seeing hearing none, Mrs. Frank? Mr. Milligan. Yes. Mr. Mackey. Yes. Mrs. Catz. Yes. Miss Mey. Yes. Mr. Pelizzy. Yes. Mr. Ber. Yes. Motion passes 6. Thank you very much, Chief. We'll move to item number 16. Resolution awarding construction inspection services for levy pump station electrical upgrade project. Can I have a motion, please? So move. Second.

Mr. Scott. Good evening, Council President Ber, members of council. I have a resolution to present for consideration. This resolution authorizes engineering services for construction oversight and inspection for a levy pump station project. The project involves electrical and standby power improvements at Arch Street, Springr Run, and Mill Race pump stations as part of the um FEMA legislative $8 million earmark that Betsy previously talked about. uh GPI their Greenman Peterson is their full name. They submitted a proposal February 18th for construction administration, management and inspection for a total lump sum not to exceed figure of $145,184. Um this unanimous uh recommendation selection is based on the RFP that Betsy previously talked about um she you know presented earlier tonight. Are there any questions for members of council regarding this item?

Great to see work finally getting done on this. Mr. Mr. Milligan, yes. Mr. Mackey, yes. Mrs. Catz, yes. Miss Bailey, yes. Mr. Pizzy, yes. Mr. Bayou, yes. Motion passes 60. Move to item number 17, please. Resolution appointing design engineer of four primary levy projects. Can I have a motion please? So moved. Second.

Good evening again. Uh this resolution authorizes engineering services for design and for primary levy projects. Those projects are for the relief wells under cepage mitigation dewy avenue flood wall northwest cross pipes rehabilitation and electrical upgrades at Mcllor's run and he street pump stations. This is also part of the uh FEMA legislative $8 million earmark that Betsy previously talked about. Um AECOM submitted qualifications for analysis designs, specifications, surveying permitted and bid documents. This was based on the qualifications based selection QBS. There were no fees. Um this was in their proposal dated February 18th. Um if so selected ACOM will then in the future prepare and submit individual cost proposals for each project when we get when we get to those. Um again this was an unanimous selection recommendation by us after we put out that RFQ that Betsy talked about earlier.

Are there any questions from members of council? Liz Millie. Um it looked as though AECOM scored significantly higher um in that uh QBS than Wood or whatever the name of that

is it. No, thank you. Yeah, I've had a hard time keeping track over the years. Um who has done a substantial amount of other um work on our levy. Um, it was exciting to me to see us working to to be presented with a a new company to do some work on the levy just because we have done so much work with WSPwood SL whatever other names they've had. Um, but uh um this I think is their first time doing work on Williamsports Levy. Is that is that Yes. correct? Okay. Just a little bit about them. I mean you probably read their proposal. you know, they're this is international firm.

They rebuilt New Orleans and for Katrina, um, New York City, Battery Park. They have substantial qualifications and expertise. That's excellent. Um, I'm excited. And and, uh, and I think most to the point, they they actually finished work in New Orleans and New York City. Great. We are very excited about that. And um but uh um yes, I I'm I'm excited to see a new firm stepping into the to the levy work and um and was excited to to read their qualifications as well. Um so uh so thank you, Bill, for bringing these guys to us.

Anything else from members of council? Seeing hearing none, Mrs. Frank? Mr. Yoder, yes. Mr. Milligan, yes. Mr. Mackey. Yes. Mrs. Catz, yes. Ms. Millie, yes. Mr. Pizzy, yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Motion passes 70. Item number 18, please. Resolution to adopt and submit act 537, sewage plan for Blooming Go Road project. Can I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. Final time.

Good evening again. Uh, this resolution is to adopt and submit act for act 537 component 3 planning module for the Blooming Grove Road um interceptor relocation project. The Pennsylvania Department of Enter Protection requires the municipality to adopt and maintain an official sewage facilities plan. The city of Wingsport in coordination with LOL Township and the Wingsport Sanitary Authority has prepared a sewage facilities planning module. A little about the project. Um the project involves relo relocating existing 8 in sewer main which follows graphus run to a new alignment in Blooming Grove Road. The project will start approximating 650 ft north of the intersection of maybe Hill Road in Lockach Township. Continue south 1.3 mi to Elmmy Street and then turn south on a on myer street for one block to Highland Terrace. This project is being developed by the Williamsport Sanitary Authority to reduce or eliminate inflow and infiltration and to make the sewers and manholes more accessible for routine maintenance. Um that's pretty much it in the wrap. I have Eric Smith um director of engineering for the sanitary authority. He's online as well. Other questions for members of council regarding this item. Just quick question that I have um cost to the city about this and then what kind of disruption are we looking at uh on Blooming Grove Road um that top of Market Street, Cranium Boulevard, Highland Terrace intersection? When should we expect that to start?

Eric, did you hear that?

Yes, I did. So, uh members of council, thank you very much for entertaining this resolution here. Yeah, the Williamsport Sanitary Authority received a PH2O grant for this project in the amount of $3 million and then the rest of the cost of the construction will be covered through uh cash accounts and rates. So the estimate or the grant requirement is uh roughly 2/3 paid for by the grant and then 1/3 uh by the sanitary authority regarding construction. Um, construction is anticipated to begin uh sometime this summer and we will make sure that we notify residents ahead of that. Excellent. Seeing hearing nothing else then from members of council. Mrs. Frank,

Mr. Yoder, yes. Mr. Milikin, yes. Mr. Mackey, yes. Mrs. Catz, yes. Miss Millie, yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Motion passes 70. Thank you. We'll move to item number 19, please. Resolution authorizing for purchase of CubCadet Proz dual wheel mowers with cool tops. Can I have a motion, please? Woo. Second. Mr. Livermore, this sounds like something that I need at my house to my grass. You got some sleep. Does it also have a beard? I feel like

uh yeah, good evening. So, what you have before you is resol resolution authorizing uh to purchase two cub cadets um from lawn and golf at $46,362 62.88. These were um are in our capital projects flood line item and um we are replacing them with event track. So, it's a single machine we have right now. We did some demoing last year, you know, trying to cut some cost and some machines we got. We end up getting two of these for the price of one. Um, does the same thing on the leveies. So, it's a specialty type of machine that does the mowing of the levies. So, any questions?

How cool is the top? Let me know in August when I put you on it about it. Um, because these are for the levy. Um, were they taken out of I you got to forgive me because I don't remember. Were they taken out of Okay, they it was the flood bloodline item. That's really what my question was. I think capital projects flood line items. Um, and can these be used in other places in the city if they have to be? Yes.

Yeah. They're just pretty much a a zero turn on steroids, right? Any other questions for members of council? Seeing and hearing none. Mr. Yoder, yes. Mr. Milligan, yes. Mr. Mackey, yes. Mrs. Katz, yes. Miss Millie, yes. Mr. Pizzy, yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Motion passes 70. Item number 20, please. Resolution approving substantial amendment to fiscal year and annual action plan for community development block grant program. Could I have a motion, please? So, move second.

Good evening, uh, members of council. Um, so tonight we have for you a resolution, um, to conduct a substantial amendment to our 2025 fiscal year, um, action plan. Uh, we'll be moving $45,000 out of the Scott Street Pocket Park um, that we had previously budgeted for and moving that into street reconstruction. um the park is just not ready to move forward at this point in time and we feel that it would be best to get these funds somewhere where we can utilize them and um revisit that at a later date if need be. And uh Jamie is here from Cedog yet. So uh if there are additional questions about the process or anything like that, happy to have her come up and uh speak.

Any questions for members of council? Seeing hearing none, Mrs. Frank. Mr. Yoder, yes. Mr. Milligan, yes. Mr. Mackey, yes. Mrs. Catz, yes. Ms. Millie, yes. Mr. PZI, yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Motion passes 70. Item number 21, please. Resolution authorizing award of professional service agreement to Hunt Engineering for engineering services for improvement at Sojourer Truth Ministries. Can I have a motion, please? So moved. second.

Thank you again. So, um we are seeking to enter into a professional service agreement with Hunt Engineering. Um we have uh Chris Kaiser here uh representing them if there are questions. Um the key focus of this uh agreement would be to conduct a facility study for Sjourer Truth Ministries up on High Street. um so that we would be able to identify what improvements um we would be able to do work using CDBG funds for uh moving forward. This is a project that we're extremely excited to um work on as a department. Um and then the findings from this initial study will be used to uh you know conduct this work. Their team will be able to do construction inspection. Um they'll do the designs. They'll help us with the bid process and all items related to um conducting the work here.

Any questions for members of council regarding this item? Seeing Liz, what work are we contemplating doing at CER Truth?

So, they have a a number of um repairs that we've identified that would be um good use of our CDBG funds. um they have some electrical issues that is hindering their ability to serve um their population that attends there. Um they've you know we've our our team has gone up and done a a walk through um and Chris was also able to go up as part of the process. So um you know working with them to um get their electrical um needs in order. They also have some issues with the heating system there where um when we were up in the winter um around December um their staff were wearing gloves and coats indoors because it's so cold um in their sanctuary. Um and likewise in the summertime their air conditioner um is just not able to meet the need that is there. um they also have a uh pretty substantial lack of um of the uh insulation in the in the sanctuary. So um this plan um this initial component will be able to you know figure out what we can best do for them um with our CDBG funds and then moving forward we'll be able to you know work with them most likely in phases so that we can you know do the work but not overextend ourselves on CDBG.

Got it. Um, and just uh how did we select this project just versus other community needs? Yeah, I mean we we um you know we do outreach and stuff like that, but um you know we had the public hearing Jamie the you know they um you know came out too and stuff like that. So, um it was just one that, you know, sort of rose to the top. Um and, you know, we're thrilled to be working with them on this. Um but it's, you know, an eligible expense with CDBG and and and we're looking forward to moving forward. Okay. Excellent.

Chris, would you like to come up and speak? I know you had did the the site visit and and you've waited so patiently here with us. So,

uh good evening, members of council. Uh yeah, very excited to uh have this be one of Hunts as we open a new office here in Williamsport be one of our uh potential projects and as the theme of the night has been a lot of talk about planning. I mean heard a lot about you know uh master plans and plans and it's becoming more and more apparent that you know putting together a quality plan will help spend the dollars you know a bit more wisely in the future and you know visiting that facility a few uh weeks ago when it was maybe 10 degrees was very eyeopening and uh you know was those those folks there are doing doing incredible work. So it's going to be a project that is going to be very uh you know make us very proud to be contributors of

thank you very much for that. Seeing hearing nothing else from councilman yes Mr. Milligan yes Mr. Mackey yes Mrs. Catz yes Ms. Mey yes Mr. Pizzy yes Mr. provider. Yes. Motion passes 70. We'll move to item number 22, please. Resolution approving an agreement with East Lake Dair and Associates LLC to provide ADA consulting services to the city of Williams. Can I have a motion, please? So move. Second. Mayor Slaughter.

Yes. Good evening yet again, President Ber, Vice President Puzzy, members of Council Administration. This is uh resolution with East Lake Derry who is uh that's Mark Derry who we've worked with for many years now uh through our ADA services uh consent decree. Um this these consulting services are actually a proactive step that was recommended by Nick Grimes actually um to create a transition plan and um it's actually a requirement for all cities to have one. Uh this came up through the ADA process that we've been going through for a number of years now. Um and so Nick brought this to our attention uh that this is needed. We do do not currently have one in the city. Um and so Nick and I worked together on it um alongside Sill as well. Um it's not part of the consent decree uh that we're under. Uh but it is an actual ADA uh federal requirement to have a transition plan. Um, and so since Mark Derry has been the one that we've been working with, it only makes sense uh to consult with him uh on this transition plan. And uh basically just an umbrella for the city and all of our ADA services, any barriers that may exist and projects and uh everything that we do just to make sure that uh we keep ADA at the forefront, policies, procedures, etc., etc. It's sort of the road map uh for all of our ADA things that we've already done uh and things that we'll be doing in the future. Uh and so Nick and I had a conversation with Mark, a few conversations actually um and what we were thinking and he actually agreed that that was the correct uh the next steps to take um so that we you know we don't end up under another consent decree. Uh so anyway, that's where we that's where we are here today. Uh and Nick put a lot of time uh and energy into this as well.

Thank you very much, Mayor Slaughter. Are there any questions from members of council regarding this item? Mr. Lizzie, um, just very quickly, I was wondering where the funding the 21,000. Yeah. So, this is going to come out of legal services. It's a legal item. So, I talked just talked to Jamie or not Jess, but we've talked about that. So, yeah, this will be illegal. Thank you. Yep. Seeing hearing nothing else, Mrs. Frank, Mr. Yoder, yes. Mr. Milligan, yes. Mr. Mackey, yes. Mrs. Catz, Mrs. Cats. Miss Millie. Yes. Mr. Pizzy. Yes. Mr. Ber. Yes. Motion passes 6. We'll move to item number 23, please.

Resolution authorizing a rightaway agreement between the city and APCO Corporation. Can I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. Mayor Slaughter.

Yes. I think this is my final one. Maybe the final one for everyone for the evening. Um, uh, good evening again, President Ber, Vice President Pizzy, members of council, and the administration. What you have here is a resolution authorizing a rightway and easement agreement between the city and AFCO. Um AVCO is required by uh the environmental protection agency EPA uh to monitor for environmental hazards. Um part of that is that they need to uh do some work obviously to properly monitor. Um and so having said that they'll need to install certain monitoring extraction uh systems etc. uh to you know be in compliance with the EPA. Uh some of that goes over uh by the levy uh in that area. Uh and so this what this easement uh agreement is for. And again Nick Grimes worked on this one. I know he's not here tonight. Uh but there were a couple that he worked on. This is one of them. Another one of them. Uh, and so, uh, I'm not intimately familiar with this. I did have a conversation with Nick, um, and he reviewed all of these, uh, and put it forward.

Are there any questions for members of council? Liz Millie, if not under this agreement, I'm sure there's a a mechanism of some sort whereby if AFCO were to discover any kind of contaminants um as part of this process and the wells, the city would be notified. Correct. I'm assuming. Yes. Um I would I mean I think that's the whole point of it. I think that would be part of the legal procedure. Um, I again, Nick worked on this one, but I I would imagine uh that if they do find some, they have to notify not just EPA, but I believe they'd have to notify all of us.

And we've received notifications in other cases, but also not receive notifications in certain cases directly. Um, I don't I didn't see anything specific in this agreement, but I might I was reading it pretty quickly, so I might have missed it. Yeah, I mean, I can ask that question and follow up with Nick on that. Okay. Okay. But I don't I would think that's the whole point of it. But I could uh Well, I mean the point of it is an easement to allow them to gather. Right. Exactly. Right. But I mean to gather stuff to let us know if there was a problem. Yeah. Um Okay. I Yeah. Just wanted to make sure that that was part of the But I can ask that tomorrow. All right. Thank you. Any other questions from members of council? Seeing hearing none, Mrs. Frank. Mr. Yoder. Yes.

Mr. Mr. Milligan, yes. Mr. Mackey, yes. Mrs. Catz, yes. Ms. Mey, yes. Mr. Peli, yes. Mr. Bayer, yes. Motion passes 70. Item number 26, except for filing the finance committee meeting minutes from October 14th of 2025. Public safety meeting minutes from June 3rd of 2025. The economic revitalization committee meeting minutes from June 5th, 2024. Control, is that correct? 2024. That's correct. Okay. And the controllers report from January 2026. Can I have a motion, please? So moved. Second.

Any questions about the accepting for filing? Seeing hearing none. Mr. Yodf. Yes. Mr. Milligan. Yes. Mr. Mackey. Yes. Mrs. Catz. Yes. Miss Millie? Yes. Mr. Pizzy? Yes. Mr. Ber?

Yes. Motion passes 70. Uh item number 27, we have announcements. The next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be held on Thursday, March 19th, 2026 at 7 p.m. here in Trade Transit 2 on the third floor. Uh there will be an executive session immediately following tonight's city council meeting. Upcoming meetings on Wednesday, March 11th at 3:30 p.m. the Owen Pension Board. Tuesday, March 17th at 1 p.m. the Committee of the Hole. 6:30 p.m. HARB. Wednesday, March 18th at 10:00 a.m. Blighted Properties. Thursday, March 19th at 10:30 a.m. zoning and hearing and at 7 pm the regularly scheduled city council meeting. Are there any comments from members of the public this evening?

I just want to add executive session the purpose will be uh consult with the solicitor and to receive information otherwise. Thank you very much for that. Seeing here no comments from members of the public. Any comments from uh members of council? Yes. One last time, Liz.

I just nearly forgot. I was kind of Yeah. Um bluring out there. Sorry. Uh yes, actually the uh the comment that I wanted to make is that um through this coming Tuesday, March 10th, um the city clerk, as well as a number of other people within our community, uh we'll be collecting signatures on a petition to place a slate of commissioners on the ballot in May to um and those commissioners, if elected, and if the city's ballot initiative um regarding home rules succeeds, in um on the May ballot, those commissioners will um will design the city's home rule charter. Uh they are um at least six excellent people and myself. Uh and um we have uh we have we have some very good people including Valerie Fesler from community development who have um agreed to um to serve as as members of that slate of commissioners. Um, and I am excited about the people who will be helping to draft a home rule charter for the city. Um, currently, however, we need to collect um 154 signatures for each member of the slate of commissioners um in order for them to appear on the ballot um in May. And uh Janice has um those members of city council who have not yet signed these petitions should go into that. Uh but Janice has the forms in her office and any member of the public uh could come into the trade and transit uh 2 center on the ground floor and go to Janice's office to sign the petition. Um there will also be a gentleman by the name of Andy Wardzac collecting uh petition signatures at Buzzaw Coffee tomorrow from 11:00 to 1:30. And um and of course uh at the fine establishment, my restaurant, the Peter Herdic House, we will also collect signatures in the evenings for those who can't make it during working hours. Um on Friday and Saturday of this week, um we this this is a very important

initiative for the city. I think we've covered it extensively at city council meetings over the last several months, but it was recommended um as part of the city's uh stamp 2.0 no um project that concluded at the beginning of this year and is um it will be an excellent step to move the city forward on a path to greater financial stability um in the coming years. Uh anyone um the the petitions are not um specific as to party. Anyone who is a registered voter and lives within the city of Williamsport can sign them be they Democrat, Republican, independent, green party, you name it. Birthday party I believe is actually a party as well. Um and um and I would encourage uh anybody who's uh interested in um becoming a small part of this project to to make the city a home rule municipality to make their way to Janice's office or to Buzzau tomorrow between 11 and 1:30 and um and sign a petition to um to put these folks on the ballot in May. Um, and then I would also encourage everyone um who is a registered voter in the city of Williamsport to go to the polls, vote in May and support both the home roll initiative and the slate of commissioners that the city has um selected to design the home roll charter. Thank you.

Thank you very much for that. Liz Mey, are there any comments from the administration? Just very very briefly just that our Easter egg hunt is Saturday, March 28th. Um, and in preparation of that, it's one in Brandon Park that we do every year. Thousands of eggs need filled. So, if you know anybody that needs volunteer hours, uh, reach out to our recreation department. They would love to have, uh, the help. Thanks. It's a great event. Any questions from the news media? Don't believe any are here. I will move to item number 28, a motion for adjournment. So moved.