good evening I'm G to ask everybody to please rise for the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance 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 right we have a couple council members out uh for personal reasons tonight um uh the clerk will call the role Mr Callahan present Miss gry Smith present Miss quch present Miss lard Miss Wilhelm present Mr cologne and Miss leam presenta uh tonight we have some citation honoring some wonderful service to this city uh Ross dartus Robert novotnik Herbert stole and Gregory Moser who I believe is here tonight hi okay citation to Gregory Moser whereas this the residents of the city of Bethlehem have been served by a dedicated diligent and talented member of the Bethlehem Department of Public Works and grounds for 20 years and whereas Gregory Moser who started with the city of Bethlehem in 2005 and retired in 2024 has during the course of his employment provided the utmost in reliable and outstanding service to the city and the residents of the city of Bethlehem now therefore be it resolved by the the Council of the city of Bethlehem that Gregory Moser be extended the Gratitude of the city of Bethlehem which has benefited from his two decades of service and the special contributions he has made to the city of Bethlehem and its residents be it further resolved now that Gregory is retired he can relax and enjoy all of all that life has to offer him and be it further resolved that Gregory be extended every good wish for a long and satisfying retirement did you want to say anything or the podium is [Applause] yours I just want to say it's been a privilege to work for the city and uh I want to uh thank the people that hir me was Mary Joe Reed and Dennis yo and uh I want to thank all my co-workers in my department and not only the ground maintenance but every Department because you know I was uh in uh the uh sanitation department so I got around all the uh garages and all the buildings and everything so and uh I want to thank my boss is Chris Su and uh rich prer and Chuck Yanka and uh oh yeah one more person uh my director Mike alol so that's all then uh thank you very much [Applause] y thank you thank you very much thanks everybody congratulations service thank you congrats [Laughter] have fun that's loyalty you guys better be buying tonight seriously coming out for two minutes better be bu so close you deserve a round of applause thanks for coming out guys [Applause] coming go can you hang on to that you got a good group Al call you got a good group all right uh so we're going to move on with our agenda we're going to go on to the approval of the minutes for June 18 2024 uh any discussion on the the minutes the minutes stand approved we're going to move on to public comment uh on subjects not being voted on this evening with a five minute time limit um YouTube reminder if you start this meeting after 7 PM please make sure to scroll ahead so that the YouTube stream is current rather than a recording of an earlier portion of the meeting um if you sign up to speak in person during the first should I read this out loud not being voted on tonight I will call you up to the podium in the order that you signed up on and then I will go around the room right first on subjects not being voted on we have Mary Joel mcole Mary Joe mccole 449 Grand View Boulevard the past several meetings residents commented on problematic illegal dirt bikes again I have several comments first I do not believe this issue was more prevalent in Allentown than in Bethlehem since I live on the border of Allentown and Bethlehem it is hard to follow writers and report to the police where they end up I would not know whether to call Allentown or Bethlehem at the June 4th meeting a discussion occurred where councilman councilman Callahan had numerous videos on his phone of illegal dirt bikes and ridiculous noise issues Chief cot and Council mallahan should meet up to review these videos I am also curious about the status of Chief cot's new ordinance is it possible to review complaints to pinpoint areas where high in high incidents occur and increase Patrols in those areas my second concern is regarding the upcoming Fourth of July holiday and fireworks in past years Glendale Avenue which intersects Grand View Boulevard was Ground Zero for fireworks any anyone familiar with this area knows it is a densely populated area and as such does not meet state regulations for their display again I have called to report infractions if weather warrants might it warrant it my AC is on several times I would have to close my windows because of the Thick Smoke which most assuredly would have set off one of my smoke detectors fireworks are pro problematic for those suff uffing from PTSD or asthma my dog goes frantic when he hears them I must medicate him several hours in advance I am wondering what Chief cot's plan is for Thursday hopefully with the addition of new officers more patrols will be out I understand the response time decreases with this holiday with the numerous complaints it is difficult to catch every occurrence I have seen individuals setting them off on the former benett Toyota lot I have had debris in my yard and on my roofs it is those times when I am grateful that I for the slate roof on my the main part of my home the law will not change because of the high tax dollars received by the state growing up growing up fireworks were only legal when overseen by municipalities donations in Allentown went to the Police ath Athletic lead one further comment regarding the the housing issue as I related earlier at an earlier meeting Wildlife is being displaced with all this development several weeks back a young bear was videoed running down Main Street in emus also the city's climate action plan calls for Street trees while this seems like an Innovative or idea or nice touch consider the Havoc that occurred with last Wednesday with the storm last Wednesday I wonder if the which entity the city or utility companies is responsible for keeping lines clear in my neighborhood as well and as other areas as well numerous trees snapped because of the high winds if the city wants trees lined with State trees with to be tree lined it should work to put utilities underground to reduce adog just caused by the storm thank you and happy happy birthday America thank you Miss mcole next I have uh Bill Shire Bill shy 189 eaten Avenue um like a lot of other people I've been doing some thinking about affordable housing and I have about five separate ideas which I won't get through tonight but you hear the remainder in August when I come back from Wisconsin um first PR we do that first because that's probably the hottest issue right now uh I grew up in Bethlehem in a double home actually a series of double homes and until my parents finally had enough money to buy one and I lived in a row house in DC for 35 years or so and so when I came back I decided I wanted to have a little bit of space around me and so I ended up in a small ranch house on eaten Avenue and I only hear my neighbors when they're outside I don't hear them when they're inside their house and uh that for me is a good thing I mention this because when people do select a home they they're not just buying a building they're also sometimes perhaps often buying some space around the building and they're reluctant to give it up so it's understandable why some people out there in on Center Street and Main Street uh have mixed feelings shall we say about uh a lot of uh more density uh this is not to deny the fact that some of them may feel that they don't want a certain kind of people moving in but some of them are just concerned about the space so I have uh two possible compromises not complete but they might help uh I don't think I've talked about either one I know not the first one here and that is reserving one or two of the four unit apartment buildings for new police officers that way or I I just learned from the chief tonight that the number of vacancies on the in the police department has risen from 8 to 10 and it's not looking like it's going to go away anytime soon and she agrees with me that the this would help with recruiting you know they're they're she says they're advertising up and down the East Coast uh not with a lot of results and if they could advertise that uh that new officers would get decent housing at a reasonable rate in a decent neighborhood that might help uh the other idea just came to me recently uh we know by the way that uh first pres is facing financial difficulties I understand they lost over half their congregation over the various doctrinal issues well not doctrinal but whether or not women could be uh ministers and so on um things like that I think it was more on gay people I'm not following that closely but you know there's been a liberal conservative split and they may have lost more than half their congregation now there is a nonprofit going to move its headquarters into the that sort of office building that first pres has which is unusual for a church and so that'll Pro provide some financial support my other idea is let's Reserve at least some of the space if anything gets built for employees of Kirkland Village and the nonprofit and if there's any employees uh at the churches that including Wesley which is of course next door to First pres uh I understand a lot of the work done at those two churches is done by volunteers but there's got to be some employees now this would be um a benefit to everyone I think first of all to people who would only have to walk to work and I think they would like that and also the neighborhood would like it too because these people wouldn't be coming to work in their cars they would be coming on foot so it actually might improve the traffic situation from what it is now so that's my idea and I took almost five minutes for one idea I'll mention the others very quickly just titles use Northampton Heights require landlords to live within a certain distance of their homes enforce the Airbnb ordinance and uh TR try to bring bring neighborhoods together on the question of adus thank you very much thank you Mr sh next I have M Angela Mitchell good evening everyone first of all my name is Angela Mitchell I reside at 4:30 Cherokee Street and first of all I just want to thank the city of Bethlehem and the utility companies that got our power back on you know 97,000 people was without power and thank God most of all for the breeze because I don't think we would have survived it if it was really really human but we did so I thank you all for putting it together that we can have our power back on I'm here tonight um in reference to three subjects um one is housing court I'm going to keep coming cuz there got to be a change in the city of Bethlehem the codes need to be enforced there's more landlords than ever done before and they just do whatever they want to do here so I'm suggesting again if somebody can help me um to find out what can we do to have a Housing Court here or mediation Court here um alongside of the Magistrate it's taking too long of a time to enforce the laws here um my main concern is the trash the properties owned by the landlord the tenants just put the trash out there furniture out there it took a whole month for a mattress to be removed now only to find out yesterday another tenant move we got garbage all over furniture and everything out on the street they need there needs to be some kind of guideline you know if garbage pickup is on Monday or Tuesday put your garbage out before if you're moving the landlord should be responsible but he does not know so there needs to be a change a letter written to the landlords or something pertaining to what are the codes of um codes involving being a a rent a landlord and renting out property so I'm really concerned about it because it's just like once we get one thing cleaned up then here we go with another landlord property so the other thing that I'm concerned about is um the street signs I'm trying to figure out what is the status um in May there was supposed to be a surveyor out on Cherokee Street Delaware Avenue coming out according to Basil um I'm trying to find out what's the status on the stop sign and the stop lights the accidents are still happening but they're not being recorded so I'm concerned about that and accidents happening still on Dela um Dakota Street and Cherokee Street Forth Street and Cherokee Street Delaware Avenue in Third Street and Cherokee Street there's still accidents happening and I'm really really concerned because many of times I have seen ambulance coming I don't know the condition of the people but something needs to be done with these Corners the other thing that I'm concerned about is um the speeding the cars are speeding up this block going 50 60 miles per hour and more and it's scary sometimes because it's so loud it wakes you up out of your sleep so you know we're entitled to peace and quiet quietness in our community so what can we do is the speed bumps still in existence what can we do to better our community because I know it's not only happening on Cherokee Street it's happening all over and the other thing is I'm still concerned about the parking meters um sometimes I have difficulties working with them so there's going to be other disabled people that have problems with it there there's nowhere to park anywhere without having to pay parking meters but then if you're disabled all you have to do is put a nickel in the the the meter and then you can be there wherever you're going for a whole hour but how do you determine that when you're at the kiosk so there needs to be more explanations on how to work these things for the seniors and disabled folks thank you for letting me share thank you Miss andela next I have uh Robert vilo Robert virgilia I've been a resident of Bethlehem for 37 years I'm here again to talk about crime and statistics that are on the state's crime website and what companies that is uh their idea of a crime map so if I could just pass something out to you thank you thanks well let us hand it out because you're burning your time I want to be able to hear what you got to say Thank you so that's the page that's the page for the website's uh statistics and you have to follow these statistics each month to understand the increase because when you get to the end of the year it's just a total accumulation and as you are on this page you'll notice no that in the upper left hand corner you can go to the crime map and the problem with the crime map at the State website is that it's an overlay of every month so you barely can operate this and get an idea of where in the city the crime is taking place so if you have a chance and want to get frustrated go to this website to uh to pull up the city of Bethlehem you have to put that code in that uh window so in April I spoke and said that crime was uh steady and didn't seem to be much of a concern I waited to June to see if there was a change in that and I'm not saying that there's a crisis but I think there are a couple of things that we should pay attention to and I think the citizens of Bethlehem should have an idea where this crime is happening I I cannot understand why the city can't provide these statistics since our wonderful newspaper no longer does unless somebody's shot and dumped into a parking lot at McDonald's so if you look at the statistics it says 20 2023 that's the total for 2023 under the category of offense count D 2024 is the fence count a that's my understanding of the of the statistics aggravated assault okay since April aggravated assault is up 75% in April you had 46 aggravated assaults you now have 68 in June simple assaults are up 65% you had 364 you now have 616 burglary is up 46% larsy and theft is up 60% now six-month period in comparison to last year is it anything that's to be overly concerned about no we're sort of in line with last year except if you look at uh rape rape is up 55% since April it's up 76% it's rather it's 70% 76% of what the rapes were in 2023 at a six-month period the same thing for aggravated assaults we're at 88% of what it was in 20123 at a six-month period now we have a great police police force and I believe I mentioned back in 2023 when I first came to city council that we were seeing a lot of officers retire and I believe the mayor said there was no problem I heard tonight that there's a problem so what I'm asking is that the city addresses this so that people can see where the crimes are taking place if it's near their neighborhood if it's near their block there's got to be an easy way to do it and not definitely say where the crime took place so I just leave that with you to give you some thought um recently uh on my street long and walnut I'm looking out my window at my Baker loading dock I see a strange individual I have Tres no trespassing signs because of the um shelter and the person opened the door that wasn't latched and I had to have the police come and have them arrested now I have to go to the magistrate I don't know where these people are coming from but please take a look at that Police website and judge for yourself thank you thank you next I have um a Michael I'm sorry the spelling is maybe zap Michael up may you defer to your my neighbor denn Dennis yes you're next on the list we cannot combine time so it's still a five minute time okay Dennis please allow me to introduce myself my name is Dennis duvon and I'm a lifetime resident of Bethlehem as a boy growing up on the west side of Bethlehem we used to ride our bikes to every part of the city my favorite Street was always Main Street Extension fast forward to the 1980s and I found myself buying a Halfacre parcel on the extension and in 1984 which is a big year in my life I got married and we build a home on the parcel and we still reside in our home at 1944 Main Street and the extension remains my favorite Street in the city so I'm there 40 years using the math they used to teach 40 years and there is however a huge problem on our formerly idyllic Street there are more cars and trucks than ever including tractor trailers which I was told by the police department this week that that would be illegal if tractor trailers were on Main Street and we we can talk about that later Chief despite the speed HPS that are there vehicles are now driving faster more recklessly and it's become a a a terror living there and as I say this is the worst I've seen in in four decades uh unfortunately the humps that were so effective years ago when they were installed and that's roughly 20 years ago they're no longer the deterrent they once were and for an idea what they used to be like if you go from duberry to ilix Mill Road they have the newer HPS and you can see they're a real deterrent and people avoid them like the plague uh what I want to do is just touch on in my remaining time a few things the area we're talking about is from Taurus Street to Dewberry Avenue for those of you that are familiar Taurus right right there there was the old monoy school and now that's Apartments duberry separates us from the other part of Main Street extension and the next Road would be ilix Mill Road so I just want to hit on a few things here first of all the the makeup of our neighborhood is much younger than it's been in a long time when I moved in I was the young guy in the neighborhood 40 years ago I'm now the old guy in the neighborhood and I have few of the other people from the neighborhood are here and uh Kim will be following me to kind of bring you up to speed on that so I did meet earlier this week with with people I've been meeting with Public Safety with streets with engineering with the police department as well and I met with Sergeant gersner who's the head of traffic am I correct when I say that and he was very receptive to what I had to say and he in fact agreed on three of the principles which I laid out one one being excuse me uh we need okay to uh increased have an increased police presence on Main Street and he agreed to possibly attempting that by getting the police that are on ilix Mill Road when they depart or come to it use Main Street just to keep an eye on things there are markings on the road that are no longer visible they they're to be repainted and I talked with that about that also with the deputy director of Public Works and he agreed to that the the other the third other key part is to raise those humps back to the original level they they really gone down in the time now I blame the increased traffic on on something very interesting which is GPS and ways in particular because what ways does is redirects for those of you who are not familiar redirects people to the fastest way to get from one place to the other you get back up at Center in duberry every single day in the morning drive time dinner drive time backup people are looking for ways no pun intended they they go down duberry you get to a te on Maine you have to go right or left they never go right never a lot of that has to do with the bumps you go left they come through there at high rate of speed 40 50 miles an hour literally and I'd be happy to sit there we had a police presence as I say years ago they sat in my driveway and they saw this happening consoling it's back that was pre-bump okay okay if you will uh the other things I just wanted to say were you have this new and I think this kind of follows up what one of the ladies said earlier a new type of vehicle which I refer to as the Fast and Furious clone and it's these guys now that primarily guys there may be a few women I haven't seen many who get these Hondas Toyotas whatever Nissans beep them up use nitrous they go through here they go over the hump they're Airborne they're literally Airborne because they're at such a high rate of spe they hit the bump they're up in the air they crash down I'll hear it in the middle of the night in addition to their stereos that's a whole other you know situation but it's become intolerable it really has and when you hear Kim speak you'll hear about the number one problem which is the safety issue particularly for those children that are now 75 80% of our our neighborhood have kids with or have children I see them coming into my last uh 10 seconds I just wanted to say that I had great cooperation from everyone I spoke to in City Hall I was favorably impressed particularly by the sergeant of traffic gerer he was wonderful and really a thoughtful man I have to say thank you appreciate your time thank you very much sir um next I have uh Kim I'm not gonna butcher your last name St stefanic thank you hello uh this is my first city council meeting very excited to be here oh can't hear okay hello better hi um my name is Kim stefanic I'm a neighbor of Dennis who just spoke before for um I live at 1830 Main Street for those of you who know the area it's the first house where the speed humps begin when you're coming north on Main Street from Moravian um the speed hump sits almost directly in front of my home and my home sits very close to the road um when we moved in almost nine years ago we were one of the first families um in the neighborhood with young children again and uh within the first couple years those speed humps got raised up they were redone and cars were flying over that speed hump and bottoming out Sparks were flying at first it was entertaining and not so much after a while um the city came out after I complained and lowered the speed hump in front of my house which was great um however it was only after um we were having a lovely afternoon in our swimming pool and I heard a crash and a car who hit the speed hump so hard ended up in my driveway with their doors open and their airbags hanging out with for which for because of how hard they hit that speed hump uh part of that problem is people come flying down that road and the signs warning people are not far enough uh before the speed hump I think when I checked earlier today the sign is about five feet in front of the speed hump and kind of blocked by a tree um so one thing to do would be increasing the signage putting it much further up the road maybe even perhaps putting a speed hump before that speed hump and slowing traffic down because I would guess people are coming in at like 40 hitting their brakes hard or not at all and flying over that speed hump again my house sits really close to the road and it's a safety issue I don't feel comfortable letting my children go check the mailbox uh unless I'm watching from the porch and even then it's it's not very safe for my six-year-old um another incident I'd like to bring up that happened within the last couple months uh we had a vehicle coming to deliver some water to our pool and the truck is large if anyone knows what a a tanker truck looks like and it was parked in front of my house while I was giving it directions and a car came flying up behind it very impatiently tried to pass and knocked my neighbor's mailbox completely over and continue to drive again this sort of speaks to what you were saying about people speeding much too fast um the loud vehicles and the reckless driving um that road is not equipped or it's not it wasn't developed for the level of traffic that's currently going through there um it's Charming it's a lovely Street people love to walk on it I love to walk on it and yet if I walk my child four four or five houses down to their friend we have to walk single file and I have to constantly look over my shoulder because the blind turns I'm sure you're aware of how that that road is that little section there um and some people just don't slow down it it doesn't even matter if you're you know signing to them so it's really more than anything a safety issue and I'm really surprised there haven't been more incidents um one more thing that happened within the last year was somebody hit the um telephone pole directly in front of my house it was there was there were marks in the grass about three feet they moved it it was tilted towards my home um definite safety issue there was uh debris on my yard from their car broken tail lights how on Earth that happened I don't know it it didn't really make sense um but again something I reported someone came out and looked but uh again just a weird safety or unsafe situation all around um yeah I I I think more than anything it's kind of a safety issue with the amount of Runners and the people and the increase in the children in the neighborhood we must have at least know five or six families on that short uh short um part of meain street from my home to the bottom of DeBerry with at least 13 to 15 children 15 and under um so we would just like to to improve that for many reasons thank you thank you uh next signed up to speak I have Harry favor hello I just want to address a few things that were said before I get in the main bulk um as for the gentleman he already left but uh what's the biggest cause of crime um I think we all know it's poverty and the lack of education so if you really want to truly address crime it's not through the uh inhumane prison industrial system and the locking up and throwing away at people um it's through the building up of community the education and addressing the socioeconomic issues that are you know keeping people poor keeping people down um and I think I I don't know personally about like the driving issues but I do think that um a result or perhaps like a cause of why are people speeding all the time now more than ever and I think it's because we don't have time like we don't have time anymore uh I worked two jobs I had to get rid of one because I didn't have time I wasn't taking care of myself you guys know I passed out shit's crazy so it's like we need to have more time to live life why are we in a rush to get everywhere that's because every second of our time is being uh extracted from those at the top you know it's we live in a very truly horrible exploitative system that punishes those who do not have capital and um in the last 10 days the Supreme Court ruled that the president can commit crimes that bribery is legal that agencies have no actual Authority and also that the homeless can be thrown in prison for the crime of not having a home it is clear that the country is unraveling at its seams authoritarian and fascist billionaires are trying and succeeding to remake our society they want us to live in a world where a handful of Pluto ocratic Elites control everything and the rest of us live like surfs I wish I didn't have to be here and then I could just enjoy my time off with those deers to me but everything is at stake the time is now more than ever to be a little revolutionary you know uh we prioritize the luxuries of a few over the necessities and needs of the masses and again I'm never going to claim that I know everything that I have all the answers I don't I'm a dummy but I try and I think that if we come together this isn't coming together this is speaking at one another and sure you guys are going to address everything that I said or what the other people said but I think we need real discussion real people coming together in our societies like yeah we have these issues and you guys are the decision makers it's not the people you guys and yeah we delegate the position to you I don't think that's right anymore I think it's time for change I think we need the people to have more power I think we need more of an establishment of community coming together I mean we're a city we're a city and people are more isolated now than ever and I think that's the real rot cause of everything we're we live in a hyper individualized society which really just perpetuates all the wrongdoings in my opinion so that's all I got thank you thank you Harry um next I have Valerie Nunan hello um so I was sorry to miss the last meeting um it was my birthday I was on vacation but I'm back so hello again um but I did ask my friend Harry uh hey did they do anything about the water fountains um or say anything and uh he said you know it might have been mentioned but there wasn't anything concrete and they there wasn't any action plan um or anything like that so I just kind of wanted to bring back to your attention only five or six out of 19 water fountains in Bethlehem are currently functional um and basically from what I've gathered in conversations with other people is that you know some of these water fountains that do exist like the water tastes like concrete um and I think over the past two weeks we've seen you know a a case study in situations where it would be nice to have more water fountains as in a complete Heat Wave um you know we're going to start experiencing more and more wet bulb events over the years um every summer is the coldest Summer of the rest of your life we need to have at minimum way less than minimum really but we we should have fun functional water fountains and I'm thinking of first of all two weeks ago at the peak of the heat wave um I was out volunteering I was hauling crates of produce outdoors in this Heatwave naturally I nearly passed out um and that's not hyperbole um I was really my vision was starting to go thankfully I had a friend with me who was able to hand me some water um and sit with me until I was able uh to um continue what I was doing um but it it was just so oppressively hot I think you know everyone here experienced the same temperatures I did um and so we need to have access to water that's crucial um I think of you know so many people have to work outdoors in this heat I have friends who are manual laborers uh crossing guards for school children not to mention the kids themselves um you know people who work as stage hands people working like even just walking dogs so many people work outside and so many people spend so much time outdoors and they have to you know uh aside from workers people without homes they have to stand this heat they don't have an option not to stand the heat they don't they can't just go inside and turn on the AC so um I I would really like to see some concrete action on fixing the water fountains that we have here in Bethlehem thank you thank you next up I have Ry [Music] katola hi I'm Marty catola 813 laer Street in Bethlehem Pennsylvania uh on Thursday I was uh I I was going to bring some papers here that on Thursday I had my water test by a professional company and I hate to say this to you but your water you're drinking in betham is not safe high in Copper and other pollutants I was going to bring the stats here to show you on what the professional company that I had check my water and it's uh not that good it cause a lot of problems we need to do something about our water um I said it's high in Copper and other different things I mean yeah you could be a mad scientist like me I boil my water for about a half an hour and put it in glass containers afterwards that are why it's still as hot as could be to sterilize the container and then I drink the water but I don't drink the water that's on the bottom in case for any minerals but the thing is does that really help 100% I mean yeah I feel pretty good at the age of 76 drinking polluted water but um we should really check into what's going on there the other thing I want to talk about is nonprofit organizations not to mention any names but some of them are making over a hundred the higher officials are making over a hundred to $200,000 or they're not making they're taking from the people and they're claiming that they're nonprofit organization and we're giving our money to these organizations that are making are getting more money than hire as lines that are elected officials get I mean like wait a minute there should be some kind of a margin draw for how much money you can make if you're with a nonprofit organization with a nonprofit organization you're out to help people right but uh apparently they're helping them themselves more than they're helping the people um that's uh maybe we should make a situation to whereas if the nonprofit organization makes so much they give so much money to Aid to homeless people and we should not have in our vocabulary homeless homeless veterans that should not be an issue but anyway these different organizations that are making all getting all this money be a nonprofit they should donate something to eliminate the people living in tents and having to live out there on the streets struggling we should be Humane enough to take care of that problem and also we should put our foot down to not let our tax dollars are any Corporation in Bethlehem at least to be an example that will Aid any country that will kill other people we should not that should not be an issue in the United States but we need to set an example in Bethlehem and not make that happen no Corporation should be given Aid to another country to kill other people every life is valuable the other thing is when it comes to the comes to the wildlife I suggested many years ago about putting high fences up and bridges for the Wildlife to cross it looked at me like I had two heads three heads whatever you know like the thing is the cost of that yeah but how many how many of these little creatures you see on the road dead you know we should do something about that too those are just a few issues touching base off the top of my head I hope you all have a good day God bless uh leaving up to young people take care of the City I'm not running for nothing take care God bless thank you Mr Cara happy late birthday Valerie I meant to say that um so moving on to people who haven't signed up does anyone to the left want to speak Eddie Rodriguez Holy Family Apartments yeah I got a lot of stuff done uh this time around to speak about first of all I don't know who's doing the inspection on uh water heaters at Holy Family but something was allowed to happen why was the water heater in my apartment with an expired inspection from 2011 onto the present day year 2024 maybe Mike elen can answer that or maybe planning or M from [Music] inspection uh the trees we've had a lot of damage that's been happening throughout the city but I find it that uh I don't think that really the responsibility even though there the responsibility lies on the residents to get rid of curbside trees branches and logs and so on so forth and I I can see that some some some of these residents are bringing it from the back of their yard to the front after the city has has picked up but they could have done a better job the city because there's a lot I don't think that they should be charged the residents of this city for curbside trees later on when this problem just goes away and it's little by little is resolved but we have too many trees in the city and we need our streets clean I'm asking Mike Ela to take care of this because it's just too much and then some of these residents they live on Social Security and they don't have the means to pick up on such a high cost of what it would be to get rid of such a great amount of debris and tree limbs and logs in front of their property regardless of whether they took from the back they they labored and there's something that should be just eliminated and let's get the city claim I'm sure that there somehow there's some funds laying around somewhere to do this type of thing I'm asking Chief cot I want to meet with you uh ma'am because uh my vehicle as I shown one or two individuals uh couple weeks back uh was damaged seven times that Holy Family seven times and this shouldn't be happening I'm not there other than living there I do not get involved with cheap gossip and get involved with u brawls and all these sort of disputes that happen over there and probably that is what brings them on you know because I'm one type of person that I deal with myself and I have responsibility towards myself and towards the city which I voluntarily do but I'm asking Chief cut to thoroughly investigate what those cameras at holy family are doing and what they could be doing where is the nighttime vision did did these cameras have nighttime visions my vehicle was seven times damaged but two in particular one scratch no fingerprint they took up my driver's uh driver's side rear smashed it nobody heard nothing everybody scattered nobody heard nothing not a dog on thing and that cost me the money and I was inside my apartment I'm I'm Restless just trying trying to look out my window constantly all the time watching doing something to prevent something from happening because these these devious individuals I'm not talking about the manner I'm talking about Holy Family Apartments there is a crime that's being committed and it's allowed because of those cameras not being positioned in the correct position the status of those cameras are outdated and they should be changed to the extent that we can see what's happening at nighttime because the light system in one corner is not functioning properly and there hasn't hardly been any contact allow me just a few more minutes please or seconds no with respect thank you we can talk after but that's the five minutes you just finished allowing somebody else and like I allowed Robert vilia to go 24 seconds over because he was handing out papers this is what happens at city council yes we follow the rules that's not right you can stay and talk with me after I don't want to talk with you cool talk with whoever you want to talk to after it's not right ma'am it's favoritism that is not favoritism that's the rules thank you very much anybody else on the left want to talk no anyone in the middle uh if you don't mind giving us your name before speaking so we can sure thank you uh my name is Jordan bold nothing negative this time I actually disagree like I think you guys did a good job with cleaning up the trees like I was out there at 7 am the morning after and like most of it was already cleaned up like a lot of this has to be taken you guys can't do anything but you guys can like you can go out and clean up the trees yourself like I was they can't do stuff just because you want it to happen like it's not all on the city you're part of the city we're all part of the city we all have to make it happen not just them we can let them know what's going on but it's really on us to make it happen and by doing that come here and keep telling them but actually talk to the people around you who's here with you from your community who because this is a big city you need to bring your people all of them anyone that cares not all of them can speak but they can show up thanks that's it you guys are doing great just keep it up thank you does anybody else in the center have anything to say Mr Alex yeah Mr Alex Stephen andalex 7 737 Ridge because of over 100 Years of abuse the sound on can no longer be looked upon for a housing problem solution the city must now look elsewhere the problem of of affordable of affordable housing began roughly on the South Side approximately around the year 2000 with City council's inability as a check and balance of the city's government not curtailing conversions of single family home into Student Housing Council by its inability in reviewing and enforcing revisions of zoning codes permiss per permissive def definitions allows these conversions the city of Bethleham became the only college town in Pennsylvania with a student housing problem the key to the loss of affordable housing began on burkel Avenue these conversions now have resulted in all 47 homes on perkle being student housing what's happened the domino effect Fifth Street Carlton Montclair Avenues Summit Filmore Morton Webster Hillside Avenue and pulk or essentially 100% student housing hypothetically what if all the students liveed on campus dwellings count the number of residents on these streets which could be affordable housing because they once were and by negligence of the city in making it easy for developers to come in and buy up properties and city council inability to have them Revis definitions how can five unrelated students be called a family def logic but that's exist in Bethlehem and the city still in definitions created a student housing section promoting its continuance and not revising definitions so that means a student house cannot be converted back to a single family home the city continues shoting itself in the foot and Cil is doing nothing about it so the city created its own problem Allied by the negligence of Council so affordable housing now is a big big issue I want to commend the young people for speaking here because they're the foundation of a Dem democratic system and the comments made by a gentleman this evening were profoundly accurate I was quite impressed and I noticed some faces of people involved with the city frowning during his comments which to me is a sign of old age but I strongly urge these people who come forth at these meetings and express what they might wish to say even if May off to off topic or off the wall but at least they're speaking Mr intellex thank you very good double thank you anybody else in the center have anything they want to say off to my right all right then we're going to move on [Music] to topics being voted on I only have one person signed up and that's uh Harry fa hello again um I I'm just still I think one of my first C Council meetings I asked about this about the destruction of Records I'm just curious as to like the process and the necessity as to why it needs to be done because I noticed that the records were from 2016 that's not even 10 years ago and I know a lot of it had to do with finances I think taxes I even saw golf on there which I think is interesting honestly you can get rid of the golf stuff I don't care about that but it's realistically why are we getting like is it like a big storage issue I just want to know the like and understand why because again I'm ignorant I don't know everything so I would just like to know as to why we need to get these records why is it so important to do so um that's all thank you thank you very much Mr fa anybody else on the left have anything to speak on being voted on tonight anyone in the center anyone off to my right oh Steve I didn't see you there Mr an Alex still St and Alex the fact that Cil is voting on two coas that will authorize the sale of a service authorize the sale of service revolvers to retired officers implies that these weapons were originally purchased by the city and issued to the officers in performance of their Duty the issuance of weapons to officers implies that is is is is in the interest of welfare of the community to offer the weapon for sale to the retired officer also implies is continued possession by the re officer will maintain this welfare assist making cities safer why why would anyone object to this procedure what what is bothersome to me is for an elected off official to object to the sale to me raises a serious question of judgment I would expect that we the voters elect those who exhibit the best judgment what it involves the welfare of the [Music] community thank you Mr an Alex uh anyone else in the center want to say anything about what we're voting on tonight anyone to the right awesome moving on to Old business I don't have anything under old business so moving on um to new business before I open it up to the other members of council I did want to say that we are currently working on dates for a public safety meeting to talk about the dirt bikes and chief cot's um her ordinance so we will be having dates coming once the Public Safety Committee has a chance to iron iron that out um so anyone on Council under new business anything py um yes I just wanted to ask for um an update I guess on the water fountain situation where we're at as far as repairing some I guess that would be Mr [Music] alol as was indicated the last time we spoke about this subject um obviously we've been looking at the water fountains as I've indicated the ones that are disrepair have fell into disrepair over a long period of time and they have significant issues significant cost in terms of restoration but we're certainly considering doing so but we're trying to do it as uh smartest possible we're first just evaluating the usage uh um I agree I mean if certainly if there's demand for them if they're going to be utilized that hadn't been the case in the past which is partly why um they've been sort of um allowed to get to this you know this state is there do you have any idea like a ballpark figure of what it will cost for repair like high-end low-end medium for probably the minimum at each location is several thousand 5,000 $10,000 if any of them have leaky underground uh lines um a lot of them have that U some of are completely destroyed um but but like I said I mean the reason that they have been sort of left unaddressed and um is is because over time they they really they were two major problems one they weren't they were they were not utilized frequently uh and they were at at the same time they were constantly being vandalized okay I mean it's two issues that are really difficult to overcome and isn't any obvious answers of how to deal with that so I don't think it would be wise to fix them they were fixed repeatedly in the past uh and then have the same issues recur there's no indication that that wouldn't happen unfortunately are there any that um we know in the inventory that may not cost an extensive amount of money to repair are there any that are we honestly since this came up again any that could easily be put back in service and would be a huge deal we've done that you've done that okay great what was that it was I just want to add on to that so if you have another topic I don't want to take away from your time was that all you had for the water yeah that's all for the water I do have two other just two other questions can I ask can we elaborate on the water a little bit because I know we had an internal conversation regarding this a little bit and because of that I I thought that there was a movement on water fountains in Friendship Park and with that Grant you guys were looking at water fountains is am I correct in that um the water in the park there is one planed as part of the renovations that and we did put one at Fairview which we're also monitoring the use of that one again for the same purpose I just stated okay and as far as it being a systemic issue I think uh Council remembers you had voted on the acceptance of that dcnr grant that we're doing on the park study so then one of the things that I think can be included in that Park study as we look at all of our Parks because as you know we've kind of uh we Fairview Park we have Friendship Park there's a couple that we're in the process of looking at in South Bethlehem but as far as a systemic issue as far as what the cost is concerned or things like that as far as the plans going forward obviously every time we build a new one or we have the opportunity to build a new one like we did with Fairview like we're doing with friendship then it's going to be included um but I think it's going to be a topic that can be can be addressed or at least brought up during that kind of Park study with that dcnr grant that we got um as far as like that issue systemically throughout the city thank you was was that good go ahead oh okay um oh I think it's and please correct me if I'm wrong but I think as far as a question of Records um destruction we're looking at only getting rid of the paper hard copies but we have thing we have the records electronically am I correct okay so they are available it's just getting rid of the paper copies all right and the only other final question um Mr BOS I was just regarding the issue of the water how often do we test the water hundreds if not thousands of times every year okay and the last time we tested it it was fine all Beth city of Bethlehem water has met all state and federal guidelines for water quality consistently okay I thought so thank you that's it anybody else Mr K yeah I have a few things uh I I I I wanted to make a comment about the water too I I know that uh I I took a tour um years ago and um I know that our um our water system is uh is tested regularly and I Mr pascola if I'm wrong correct me uh but uh doesn't a city like annually win the state awards for like the best Municipal Water I if I'm wrong called it uh the the awop award or something like that yeah awap stands for areawide optimization program it's a an award given to treatment plants for their consistent um efforts at producing quality water over the full year so we've gotten that award I I think about 14 consecutive years right did did and we got it last year too right yes so and you know the other thing just to back up you know the water department my wife had died of cancer 177 years ago and when she was fighting it she uh was really uh up to date on alkaline on water being uh too high of an alkaline level or a city level and uh she went out and you know she wanted to order uh five gallons of water you know from a a water Distribution Company and I kept telling her I said you're wasting your money you want to do it go ahead but you're wasting your money I said betham War's got the water you know around and she kept on buying it and buying it and one day she took out these assid strips and we did a t I still have it on one of my computers actually and I said I'm going to show you you know you're wrong and she lined up her um one brand of water another brand of water Deer Park another one uh you know all the different brands you can buy in the stores and she's testing them with these acidity strips and I put a right out of faucet Beth's water had had the lowest aity level in it and I said there and now she's an Italian she literally was livid and had to write a letter to every single one of these water companies and that's a true story and uh I have it sent maybe someday uh I'll dig it up on my computer files and I'll send it to you but I you know I think the water department is doing excellent and I know we're you know testing all the time so uh I if Mr uh if if you're testing i' I'd be very interested to see that testing you know from that independent company because I find it hard to yeah so anyway thank you anyways um uh Chief Kai you got a [Music] minute breaking things so anytime I'm talking about the police department I have utmost respect for the job you're doing I think you're doing an awesome job and so is our police department but I think what's happening right now is that we have uh eight or 10 now we're down eight or 10 police department or police officers yes sir so and the guys are all doing a good job I think you know I think you've been doing a really good job also I think it's probably the lack of uh of re replacing I think we just had two more officers that are retiring now too right so that is that taking us up to 10 or is that to 12 so that's going to take us to 10 we have a retirement pending on this Friday however we did recently hire three new police officers that are going to be going to the police academy this upcoming Monday so that puts us at 10 my my concern is we we had in the newspaper Accord and and I'm just I didn't hear anything but uh from the city officially but we had two two new shootings last June last month it just seems like it's it's becoming more consistent and I know in one of the cases there was some mental health issues and there's there's no way that's the fault of the city police department and again I think you guys are doing an awesome job but I think we need to look at as a council and Administration hiring uh not not only replacing the 10 that were short but possibly adding more police officers above and beyond the 10 that were already down because I I have uh I brought up you know a couple meetings ago about the noise on Main Street and I looked into uh some ordinance New Hope has an ordinance but they also have two police officers that sit on their main drag there and I'm I'm going to get a copy of the ordinance that they have they have an an anti- revving ordinance or something like that where you can't physically rev motorcycle engines or car engines and have loud and I I don't know what's in the ordinance and I am looking at that and I'll bring it to councel you know next you know few months but I think uh the the lady that was here earlier talking about the amount of traffic on a Main Street Extension I live on Main Street also but I live in a very uh uh Ur Urban setting you know and I have no problems living there and you know the noise just comes with where I live which is no big deal because I enjoy the fact that I can walk around to all the places that want to go to but I do think we do have a problem with uh as you were saying and I would like to be a part of that and have that discussion about the uh off-road uh bikes that you know that are on it it is a problem the the off-road bikes rev of the engines and I think what we need if we can I don't know if we can have one officer during dinner hours maybe maybe from like five o'clock to maybe 89 o' that do we still have the foot patrol officers I know we did last time I was on Council we we went back to like a community policing thing under mayor uh donchez where there was I think one or two police officers I know we have the bicycle uh uh Team or Patrol still but do we still have the the police officers that were walking the beat we have the officers on foot as well as bicycle yes we do so so let's assume someone comes flying through there with music blasting or the revving their engine I'm not talking just like you know get in the you know they're like purposely trying to gain attention and I think it's terrible that it's ruining the the the whole uh vibrancy of the of of of the downtown quarter of the restaurant Rose between Maine and Broad Street and I'm not the only one that says I mean I I have neighbors or there people that come down our of time I've talked to a lot of business owners I you I walk Main Street all the time I talk to all the business owners and there's constant complaints about it so hey when we start having the discussion about the off-road vehicles I hopefully by then I can have a copy of the orance from from New Hope we can all sit down and try to come up with something to do I don't know if you have any ideas on on how to patrol or police um cars that are blasting music with their windows down and again I'm not just talking about just music coming out of their their Windows I'm talking about like blasting it and it's it's an echo effect it's almost like a canyon in there with all the buildings you know and it just it bounces off and it's very um it's it's not a good thing for the community I think especially for the dining situation for our businesses on the Main Street you know in Broad Street area so agree and we've done directed enforcement on Main Street and Broad Street before as well as of areas over on the souths side um and we were able to successfully do that with our Traffic Unit with the motorcycle officers um being able to catch up to some of the individuals that were revving their engines playing their music loudly and and quite frankly speeding and driving recklessly through those areas and we're going to continue to do those those targeted enforcements yeah I'd appreciate it and and and uh again it it's no reflection on you the job you're doing or the or Police Department I just think that if we had additional officers uh you know on duty we could maybe have one there from uh what I would consider like um the most opportune time for our businesses and I'd say that's probably um Saturdays Sundays you know and uh you know lunch lunch hours and uh dinner hours that you know downtown we are I think we're I think it's safe to say we're we have a high a high amount of restaurants in our business district in you know north side and I I think it's um it hurts their business when there's the amount of noise and and and um coming from the cars as far as music and the revving of the engines and the other issue too is the is is is the Mufflers that are modified mufflers and I don't know there's got to be a state law on that or something as far as is yes so but how do we Poli that I mean that's I think that's the hard part of it right it's difficult um because we would have to we'd have to see it and hear it and site them for it I I always explain every everyone we we can't be everywhere at every time but when we are we we try our best to enforce those violations right well I and I'd be uh I'd be happy to have a discussion as far as like you know if there's a way to have at least one officer or one bike officer or one patrol officer down there I mean if if it's a walking patrol officer I'm not sure he's going to be able to catch up to a a motorcycle or a car but you know I just think there's got to be a way to police it so and I'd be I'd be happy to have that discussion with you we could talk about that more during that public safety meeting since it's gonna be wrapped up in it yeah thank you thank you Chief oh la last thing can you get me uh or can you get us the the information that um the one gentleman came as far as like the the number of shootings since the beginning of the year I do that yes I knew I knew we had two but and what where it was I mean the data that he had quoted seemed off to me it is off I will provide context to that and Mr virgilio is no longer here but we have been working with the city solicitor's office on a public media release that would go out daily from the police department that would provide information to the community as to where crimes are occurring without giving out that that pertinent demographic information that we want to um maintain as confidential as not to put people's personal business out there yeah if you just get us a list from 202 3 versus 20 you know the first six months in 2024 as far as like you know I'm not talking like T Ticky Tac things I'm talking like uh gun shootings major assaults because I I thought that number was was off a little bit that he that he was giving us so I I appreciate it absolutely thank you add something to that can I add something to that before you I think the mayor wants to say something um you wanted to say something I was just going to talk a little bit about the recruiting situation as far as the police department is concerned is our problem right now is the same problem that every Police Department's getting is we can't get enough people take the test and we essentially are hiring all of the qualified candidate so for example like let's say we have eight or nine openings and we have a bunch of people take the test the good candidates are on our list on allentown's list on east's list and everything else and the fact that there's been an explosion I would say as you've seen growth in the suburbs and other places there are more law enforcement jobs and across the country including across here we've had fewer and fewer people take the test so right now the problem is is if we have seven or eight openings and in a perfect world we're like we're going to hire eight people like only four get through the background that we're able to hire don't take jobs in other places and things like that um so we've done a lot as far as working on recruiting internally within the police department about where we're going how we're talking to people it really is a national estate issue the lieutenant governor was in here a couple months ago and we were talking about this what which is the reason why we had gotten some of the um like signing bonuses that had helped with some of our officers but our challenge is getting up to that number and I mean we are doing better in the fire department but it's essentially the same situation where we only have so many candidates that are on our list the advantage of the police department is that we're able to send two people and one of the things we're going to talk about in the next month or so is how we've been able to come up with some progress there as far as the fire department is concerned too but our issue is not even just how many positions we have staffed a much much much bigger issue is how do we get qualified candidates to take the test um and that's something that we're having a lot of conversations about between our uh uh HR department between the police department between other law enforcement agencies in leh have Valley because everybody's dealing with the same issue um and it's just something I wanted to let you know is like we're spending a lot of time thinking how do we increase our our pool of candidates how do we get more people and I'm just make making up things a little bit here do we wave this fee do we go out a little bit earlier do we go here do we go there do we call the people do we host re you know what I'm saying like different things to try to increase how many people but that's the challenge that we're facing and um that's the reason why when you see those vacancies and things like that it's not as if there's people out there that have passed the test that are on the list that are like hey I was qualified I did everything I could and I didn't get hired by the city of Bethlehem we've hired everybody that has been able to pass all of the requirements and offer them jobs and they didn't take jobs in other places um but we talk about this with Allentown Easton if you if 50 people take the test you've probably heard the numbers and these are just estimates but like 10 years ago you might get 500 people to take the test or 400 people or 350 now you get like 70 and once you work through background checks once you work through physicals once you work yeah but like that number goes from like 70 down to like 22 or 23 and then you got all these police departments are after the same 22 23 24 which goes back to a bigger conversation about just people's it's a more difficult job than it used to be it's kind of like teaching like people that went into it for one one reason it's a different job than it used to be so we're having those conversations but it is at the Forefront of us right now thinking about how do we because Council budgets the money Council budgets the money for us to have I guess what it's 150 officers 154 154 officers in there but we're not getting above 145 146 generally because as soon as we hire four five6 you get another couple to retire the difference 10 15 years ago was if you had six retiring you were able to hire six because that many more people wanted to be police officers so one of the things we've tried to do too in the has done a great job is and I and this isn't like a competition but we're winning a lot of those competition battles with other police departments that people want to come to work for the city of Bethlehem or the problem would be even worse but we're thinking about like how do you design a police department in a way that young people want to be a part of and the good news is is we're getting very high quality recruits and we're getting the best and I think Chief Cott and I have been to how many graduations in the last couple years where all of the trainers instructors are like look you're getting five or six high quality officers and I'm also being honest he like like you look around it some of the other people that are hiring is like we're happy we got these six and like those five people are being over there right so that's the just to kind of get down to the Practical what's the solution to that it's a broad systemic thing that we're working on with with state and federal government as well to think about how can we get more people to take the test and I know the other thing too like like the betham scooter you know that you you taught in alltown all Town's uh uh uh pay schedule was higher than Beth's betham a schooter so is eastn so Bethlehem was losing teachers uh right right out of college so maybe it's something where we we have to look at our starting pay bumping our start you know our starting payer for beginning officers because if I get out of the police academy and I'm getting offered a job from mtown in East and Bethlehem generally you're looking at your finances you know and amount of years and benefits you know a variety of things and I I would say too just like with school districts looks like where do you want to be and what type of police officer do you want to be and I don't pretend to understand everything about the identity of police officers as I'm that one but you know some teachers are looking to work at Liberty of Freedom some teachers are like I want to go work in Parkland and you get the same thing with police officers and one of the things that I've been particularly proud of is the last maybe 20 25 30 officers that we've hired the last three four years really really come on board and chief I don't want to speak for you this is just something that you've shared with me with your Professional Services division are people that understand what policing should be um and so we are winning those but I think those are always conversations that we're having and we've been talking to the police Union about this too and having ongoing conversations with the HR department about what we can what we can necessarily do to to be able to attract even more people but it is it is it is really like just the as you know it's just like it's like you see the same thing about people don't want to be teachers anymore like we're just seeing less and less people that are taking a test and um that's that's a real challenge thank you yep mayor we uh we had a um an email from Miss K about the steel stack lights I I would I don't know the all the ins and outs of what's going on over there but between the steel stack lights and the tree lights on Main Street I think it's really important I mean we're a Christmas City year round not just during Christmas time and I was down in Stone Harbor um last week Stone Harbor Avalon every where I go like all all these high-end areas and I I think Bethlehem I consider I'm sure you do too Bethlehem as being a high-end I I think we're the number one tourist attraction in you know the northeast Pennsylvania um I think it's really important that we get those Christmas tree lights on I know there's there was a few people I mean everybody I talked all the business owners all people that the lights were on for years you know under mayor donz you're talking about the steel Stacks no no the I'm talking about the tree lights right now okay so they're out and it's dark and it just it just it just adds to the the atmosphere the vibrancy and I every time I'm out it's all I I hear about you know they don't talk about the garbage that much because it's you know Main Street area is very clean um you know it's just about why aren't the lights on this year why aren't the lights on and i' I've said I brought it up and you know there hasn't been any change so I would just ask that I don't know who needs to do it whether it's you or someone your departments go to people that I mean when we had brought up before with mayor donchez they got put on everybody loved it and now they're out so we got those lights out we got steel Stacks out I would hope that there's a at least a phone call made to the Wind Creek people explaining to them that when they took over they also talked and promise to be a better neighbor you know be more neighborly I just think and I know the cost from what I'm hearing is high something's got to be done I think before Music Fest those lights have to be put on I think it's imperative so and I would say Obviously and like you had referenced it it is wind Creek's responsibility they own it and I think as Miss Collins had said you know obviously and I would start by saying it's like of course we want them to be on I mean I think everybody agrees that you know steel Stacks with the lights on are an important thing um you are correct in saying that like it is not cheap and I didn't see I didn't have a chance to read Miss Colin's email but I mean the numbers that have been thrown around are anywhere from several hundred thousand dollars up to one even just general estimate of a million dollars um to be able to do it it is obviously something that we have passed along to win Creek that we've talked to Wi Creek about that we've had conversations with him about that is important um Arts Quest is also engaged in the conversation because obviously it's really really important for them um to have them on so I would say it's obviously a high priority um for us to be able to talk to them about how do we how do we encourage how do we encourage those lights to be back on because you know I agree it completely changes just the whole uh the whole scene down there and have you had any have you had any discussions with anybody here yes and they have said that they're looking at different options um and they're they're considering what the best options are and we are trying to help them with pushing along this is being a priority we obviously wish yesterday they had paid for them um but I can tell you that that is something that we have set as a priority for the city of Bethleham wasn't it in their contract when they took over from sanss 2 that they assured in the contract that they were going to be responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of of the lights they it is their responsibility as far as what's in like a contract and we're getting into an area and you know I don't like to speak about things I don't have high levels of confidence in so it's certainly something that we can research and probably get back to you on or send you something after I talked to Mr spurk and Miss Collins and do some research on that um but a lot of of what has been agreed to over the years with the casino is very regulated by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board as far as a lot of things having to do with their Casino license but as far as like the development and things like that are concerned um it is their responsibility but it's not anything there that can be tied to like their gaming license if that makes any sense so we have obviously been frustrated as well that not only and I mean Wind Creek only opened only took over a couple years ago obviously it's a beautiful that's a good start but we want to see them have more concrete plans as far as the Redevelopment of the rest of the site is concerned um and we've we've offered our and we continue to offer our assistance and continue have conversations we were extraordinarily frustrated I think most people were that the Sans got the license in 2006 and then largely there was not much Redevelopment done Beyond and steel Stacks doesn't really count because it was hards Quest and PBS and the city but that that was that's been a that's been a frustration um for I think a lot of people going back to you know when your brother was mayor that you know they haven't that they weren't more aggressive about it so I would hesitate to use the word contract as much as something that was their responsibility but just I'm being completely honest with you I think we're on the same page as far as what we want them to do I think it would be a good one for Mr spurk and Miss Collins to kind of take a look and research and be able to send counil more information just because I don't want to say anything and speak with confidence about what's what's the difference between a responsibility and contract I I last thing I'm done I I would just hope that um and and I I had a a very short conversation with someone about it and they assured me no it was not but I know that the renewal license is up and there was an issue with it so I'm you know I don't know if it was a a documented issue or something like a small issue something I just hope that this isn't uh retribution or some type of uh from from wi Creek Side I didn't know of any issues I mean the re the hearing for their uh license renewal had gotten rescheduled um but I don't believe that there was I don't know of any issue that there was and I can tell you that whatever like the cost is the driver it's not I I don't I don't think there's any type of Retribution or any there's no nobody's like I'm not going to turn the lights on or I'm not gonna fix this like you know it's just it's it's the cost and also what's the long-term solution here it's it's kind of a unique thing like you just don't have a lot of people that do that so but like I said it is a priority for for us as well thank you yep thank you you have anything I won't first of all um Miss KY Smith asked basically all the questions I had so thank you for that um so that was all covered I really just wanted to say thank you very much to the Department of Public Works streets especially uh everybody who's been working overtime Round the Clock since Wednesday um I think that the the job you've done has really been tremendous um glad to see that the yard Wass facility is back open um understand there was a pole and wires and everything down um obviously PPL has really done quite an outstanding job also but I just really wanted to thank um the crew in public works in particular for their hard work on that and that's all I have you yes and I was also going to thank public works but I'll move on from that um the last thing on my list while you're up Chief cot I know that you spoke publicly recently about the city's Zero Tolerance policy regarding fireworks and just for those in the room and at home who didn't have a chance to hear you speak on that would you mind just saying a little bit more about that no absolutely not I had planned on mentioning it during the mayor's report um we are going to have a zero tolerance policy for fireworks in the city this year it's not that we haven't in the past um it's incredibly difficult our our hands are are tied with the law change that occurred in 2017 making bottle rockets roaming candles and and the like consumer fireworks uh legal to possess so you can legally walk down Main Street with a bottle rocket with a roaming candle and we cannot arrest you for it unless we physically see you lighting it off um or you're shooting the projectile at another person you're intoxicated in public lighting It Off from a motor vehicle or you're within 150 fet of a occupied or unoccupied structure which in the city of Bethlehem that leaves you very very little places to legally be able to uh Do It um so we we are going to have a zero tolerance policy we will have uh a a full Cadre of officers out and about on the fourth of July as well as the rest of this week because I I do realize that it's not just on the fourth that these uh these nuisances are occurring thank you and I actually will just take 10 seconds to to articulate uh my thanks to Public Works and water and sewer um and just commend the job that they did I know Mr alcohol we spoke um communicated about it briefly but um you know having been out and about the day after the storm and seeing in my sort of goings about the city seeing the crews out um until late in the day and then up and at it again at 6:30 uh in the morning the next day so I I wanted to to join my colleagues and those here who spoke um their thanks we're very fortunate to have such a hardworking and dedicated team really appreciate all the efforts thank you okay and before we move on I was just back to councilman Callahan's point when you send that data over if if it's possible if you can separate it between like random crime and crime that's like more of a domestic nature because I I know that you hear like this amount of crime is happening but having sat through um that award ceremony that was was really an amazing ceremony it seems that so much of our crime is so very targeted and not random so if you can kind of break that down if it doesn't add too much I know you got your hand but when you send it over if you don't mind no not at all like I said context is everything and um I'll make sure that that's provided to to help clarify some of the uh the data thank you um I also think public works rocks your Prime like taking care of those primary and secondary routes is great and to the comment made earlier by one of our community members we do have to come together as a community to make sure we're doing our fair share too um I also wanted to remind people about CAC which is Hillary what does CAC stand for Community traffic advisory oh right Council yes Community traffic advisory counil if you have issues with traffic we have seac and it's a great way to to come and and let your concerns be known to people who have expertise in the field and aren't constrained by council's roles when about having a discussion you can have the discussion at ctec whereas here we can't really get involved in it back and forth um we kind of have a light of agenda so I was hoping that uh Mr spurk if you don't mind talking to us a little bit about records since we have community members that want to know about it um just simple things like you know obviously we're keeping an electronic record which is great but are there documents that we have to keep forever how do we make sure that if there's something that a Community member needs to know we haven't gotten rid of it yeah sure there's a state law that in very great detail specifies what records and for how long must be kept um so we comply with that and every time you see something for records destruction you'll see that it's been reviewed by the solicitor's office to make sure we're complying with state law obviously just because it says you can destroy them doesn't mean you have to um so we're very selective about that um most of it's digitalized but uh we certainly do keep a lot if you've ever been to my office and seen the paralal desk you would know that keep a lot mhm and I'm assuming that we don't like as we're getting rid of hard copies I'm assuming it's not like on a 3in floppy that becomes obsolete that we can no longer it it like we transfer records over and keep up with with that yes I learned today when I was in the dced department they have a ramp that's permanently attached to their stairs just to facilitate removing things as they go through their digitalization process whoa no medical emergency we good awesome if you don't mind so yeah it's a it's a timec consuming process to digitalize but uh but very much ongoing awesome all right thank you so much okay uh I guess we could move along in our agenda um moving on to Communications uh communication 6A June 17 2024 memorandum from police chief Michelle cot with an attached resolution an agreement for the purchase of a Duty weapon by a retired officer of the Bethlehem police department pursuant to the third class city code retired officers May purchase their Duty Firearms at fair market value resolution 10A is on the agenda resolution or uh 6B June 17th 2024 memorandum from police chief Michelle cot with an attached resolution and agreement for the purchase of a Duty Weapon by a retired officer of the Bethleham Police Department pursuant to the third class city code retired officers May purchase their Duty Firearms at fair market value resolution 10B is on the the agenda 6C the June 19th 2024 memorandum with an attached resolution from Edward boscola director of water and sewer resources Mr boscola recommends a contract with Great Western Services Incorporated to provide materials and labor to restore Water and Sewer utility trenches at various locations within the city of Bethlehem cost of the contract is 84,85 let me repeat that1 184 $644 there are no renewals two bids were received and Great Western was the lowest responsible and qualified bidder resolution teny is on the agenda communication 60 June 26 2024 memorandum from director of community and economic development Laura Collins with an attached resolution memorandum requests authorizing the administration to submit the city's 2024 cdbg and home annual action plan documents to the US Department of Housing in Urban Development public hearings were held to discuss a draft of this plan resolution tendy is on the agenda communication 6E a June 26 2024 memorandum with a proposed resolution from Laura Collins director of community and economic development proposing four substantial amendments involving prior program action plans for the Community Development block grant and home investment Partnerships program the proposed amendments were the subject of public hearing held by Council on June 18th Miss cullins recommends that these amendments be approved by Council and submitt to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development for final approval resolution 10e is on the agenda communication 6f a June 26 2024 memorandum from solic city solicitor John fburg Jr with an attached proposed resolution and Associated settlement agreement the proposed agreement would confirm and resolve existing usage of and access to portions of city and Redevelopment Authority properties for parking and vehicles access purposes and a location that experienced frequent transfers of ownership of multiple Parcels during the urban renewal era of the mid 20th century resolution 10f is on the agenda communication 6G a June 26 2024 memorandum from assistant city solicitor Matthew J desler with an attached fee agreement and resolution attorney desler recommends a fee agreement retaining the law firm of Kesler topz Meltzer and cck LP to represent the city is Trustee of the Bethlehem pension fund in a class action lawsuit seeking damages against good RX Holdings Incorporated for losses incurred in the city's pension fund resolution ten is on the agenda communication 6h June 18th 2024 memorandum with a proposed resolution from Sophia villis director of financial services requesting the destruction of records from her Department M villis has received the multiple municipal records I'm sorry has reviewed the municipal records retention Act and the records listed on the exhibit accompanying the memo fall within the categories where destruction is permitted a resolution will be placed on the July 16th city council agenda moving on to reports president colog had nothing to report neither do I uh Mr Mayor do you have anything to report uh just I was going to report on um I was going to have the chief talk with the fireworks but uh the other thing is just to add to you know Mr alcohol and his whole department um that it was it's really a difficult thing what they had to entail because obviously you have a lot of citizens where you have trees falling in the street versus trees falling on private property working with everybody getting people to understand that you can't sometimes remove a tree if the power lines are down that's obviously the problem we had over at the compost center um and it was a situation too where obviously people are doing other responsibilities right now they're Paving streets they're doing things so to be able to mobilize them and coordinate them is an incredible amount of work um and I think that we did as well as we possibly could to be able to remove and like branches aren't snow which often just melts like you have to do something with them you have to physically move them um so you know it was it was uh something that they uh that I think that they did an incredible job on um and there's still work to be done like we're still getting down to some of the some of the areas around the trails and things like that some you know side streets different areas um that were kind of cleaning up but it was it was an impressive thing I will say and other people have made this comment to is like we're having more and more of these storms um somebody in my neighborhood the other day called it the new snow like we just don't get some of those snow storms like we used to and yet we're getting these very powerful storms that are just knocking down trees and and it is something that I think just as far as a city is concerned um you know we're going to have to continue to have you know conversations about about about some of those things as they relate to that so I do just want to thank Mr alcol um for his his incredible his incredible work there but also like the people that obviously were never going to be able to thank because they're not here because they're you know they're working middle shift or they're working third shift their ability and the our guys with SEIU to be able to move some of those schedules as as Mr alol said like keeping people to stay late and things like that like all of that is it's very timec consuming it's a challenge um but I think we were we did we did that very well um and the last thing I would just say is that you know I think that we have talked a lot and we're going to continue to talk about like where you can enforce where you can but the challenge is whether or not it's main whether or not it's downtown Main Street or Main Street Extension like we are one of those people by the way that are like have the kids in the in the neighborhood so like that's we I walk that all the time like there is there are certain things that this city is making incredible progress on but like driving behavior and like the culture around driving is one that some people are getting it and some people are not and I go back to something that I think it was Jordan that had said is like it's it's we're the reason why things feel different in Bethlehem is because we have so many people that as I say all the time like care about doing the right thing and caring about creating a culture by which some things are allowed and some things aren't allowed it's really one of the things that we look at obviously is how can we shortterm enforce it but long-term when we're talking about walkability bikability but just it's really on all of us I think and everybody in this room does that and that's one of the common things that brings us to this room whether or not we're here to care run for office or work for the city but that kind of like positive like culture like it's on all of us to to to do what we can to minimize some of these things to to to to where we're able to like it's really Central I think to all to to the mission and it is as important about setting that culture that like we're not it's not going to be okay because we can't follow everybody around we can't follow everybody that's loud we have to be able to think about how do we design streets but also it's like when you go to other places and sometimes we talked about you you know I think Mr calling talked about the the the beach like you go to some places and it just feels different where like people aren't going to behave that way as far as driving because there's less people doing it and you build an infrastructure around it that it's harder to speed it's harder to do those things people look at you differently um and I think that we've made a lot of progress there and we're going to continue to make progress but I just wanted to make the point because I thought that that Jordan said it well is this idea that it really is on all of us to build this positive culture which will I I do believe red even further some of these problems that we deal with that are better than other cities but we still have a long way to go and I think we see it the most in Bethlehem with driving culture um is that like you know there's just people that are angry and frustrated and they don't care and there's no respect for Walkers or bikers or people follow rules I mean since we had the baby and I walk like 50 times as much as I used to with him it's like you just see it now in a way that I didn't necessarily see it before when I was when I was driving the majority of the time um and it's and I think you all know that i' I talk about how we've made a lot of progress in areas like that driving culture is one that the city has a long way to go on and I think that falls on all of us and you know we will continue to do that but a lot of these problems that we're talking about I think that's the common theme um that there's more that we can do thank you thank you sir um moving on to the finance committee finance committee will meet on Tuesday July 16 2024 at 6m in town hall several budget adjustments will be on the agenda Grace crampy Smith chairwoman and finance committee thank you we have no ordinances for final passage and we have no new ordinances I'm moving on to resolutions resolution 10A be resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and the controller Andor such other City officials is deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute an agreement to effectuate the transfer of the city issued handgun assigned to lieutenant John buerk a retired City police officer resolution is sponsored by miss quch and miss willhelm discussion yeah I I just want to uh agree with with Mr analex said these these um handguns uh by ordinance I don't know if ordinance or law or whatever but that our police officer have to shoot these guns so many times so in the course of their career there's thousands and thousands of rounds on these handguns so they're severely used so we either approve to sell it as a a gift or not a gift but a momentto to the um officer which it is it's his handgun it's something it's he's he has used or she's used since they got on the apartment we either sell it to them at a reasonable uh market rate price for that amount of used of of a handgun or we don't and it and it's going to get sold onto the market and it's going to be on the street so to me it's it's a this is a no-brainer I think I think every time a police officer retires if they choose uh the option of of purchasing their their handgun I think it's the safest route and I think it's the right thing to do thank you I'm sorry I should have said ear I just want to say um thank you for to all the retirees including the police officers for their service and um I wish them a very healthy and enjoyable retirement I just want to Express gratitude for uh living in a democracy where all of our opinions get to be voiced and heard um so the clerk will call the rooll Mr Callahan i m CRC Smith I miss qu Tech nay Miss Wilhelm I and Miss Liam I passes 41 I resolution 10B be it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and the controller and or such other City officials deemed rate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute an agreement to effectuate the transfer of the city issued handgun assigned to Sergeant jeffre Ludy a retired City police officer resolution is sponsored by miss quak and miss Wilhelm discussion clerk coll Mr Callahan I M Smith hi Miss quch N Miss Wilhelm hi and Miss Leon I passes 41 resolution teny resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and the controller Endor such other City officials as deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute all documents and agreements with Great Western Services Incorporated to provide labor and materials to restore Water and Sewer utility trenches at various bethleem locations resolution is sponsored by miss quac and miss Wilhelm discussion cler call the rooll Mr Callahan I miss grmy Smith hi miss quch I miss Wilhelm I and Miss Leon I passes 5 uh resolution 10 Z be it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the city's program year 2024 cdbg home action plan for January 1st 2024 to December 31st 2024 is hereby approved for submission H by the mayor along with required assurances and certifications resolution is sponsored by miss quch and miss Wilhelm discussion the clerk will call the rooll Mr Callahan uh Miss grmy Smith I miss quch I miss Wilhelm I and Miss Leon I resolution 10 we resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that four substantial amendments prior program cdbg slome action plans are hereby approved for submission to HUD by the mayor resolution is sponsored by miss quch and miss Wilhelm discussion the cler call the r Mr Callahan I M grmy Smith hi miss quak I miss Wilhelm I and miss Leon I passes 50 resolution 10f it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem the mayor and the controller and or such other City officials is deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute a three-party settlement agreement and such other agreements and documents as deemed appropriate by the city solicitor Andor related to the three-party agreement between the city of Bethlehem Redevelopment authority of the city of Bethlehem and Christmas City hotel LLC doing business as Hotel Bethlehem resolution is sponsored by miss quch and miss Wilhelm discussion I had just one question about this um and I appreciated um the time that Mr spurk took to walk me through this a little bit I'll just share that I did call to ask some questions earlier um the on um oh they're not PID the pages aren't numbered but under the uh parking area settlement section which is section four um subsection B um item I I the easement shall be released from any and all covenants governing the historic district that the easement area may be subject to can you just clarify for us what that means please back in the mid 60s and the 70s as urban renewal was going on in the city the Redevelopment Authority with a lot of federal money and state money bought up a lot of these Parcels around the hotel and as we talked about with the Walnut Street Garage they took neighborhoods down and did other things by buying up Parcels those uh funds came in some instances with conditions that specified what use these things could be these properties could be put to going forward and so now that these properties not being sold but being usable by the hotel to continue their parking wouldn't want to violate any provisions that may have been in those 1960 funding agreements that came from the state and federal government so to the extent there is something like that in those agreements that we need to get released so that there's no problem with this transaction the parties have agreed to work together to make sure that we can get those releases okay because to the non- lawyer when I read it it to me read more that um if there was something that say would be threatening to the Integrity of the historic district uh that was proposed to that that that is released that that that Covenant is released that that's that's kind of what I was thinking it said can you reassure me that that's not what it says yeah it's more it's more like possible 19 60s strings attached okay to the money that came back then to help eliminate the automobile junkyard that used to be there and build what's there now why is the historic district specifically mentioned that because they called it the urban renewal historic district of monoy something or other Colonial quarter 1960s name so it's not specifically about the designation of the Historic District No has nothing to do with that okay oh my gosh no to change that you'd have to go to the State Museum commission you'd have to pass it's just a 19 like I can't think of something about monoy area urban renewal and historic district or something was the name that was present then which which I've become very familiar with all these Parcels that kept moving around from the hotel to the RDA and back and some to the city resulted in this situation where the parcel that the city owns that contains the Smithy also creeps up the hill and takes some of these parking spaces parel that the Redevelopment of already owns in front in front of the Smithy also extends up the hill and takes those other parking spaces so those 11 parking spaces turned out to be owned by the city and the Redevelopment Authority now when the hotel was a few years ago they came forward with their expansion plans um to build a extension out on the back and a bigger parking area and things like that and and they needed from the Redevelopment Authority who owns the land back there access to get to Old York Road and so was decided Well let's just do a survey of all these ownerships and properties and that's when this situation came up as a a leftover there was even in the archives from the Redevelopment Authority uh an agenda item from 1965 uh talking about leasing the land to the hotel so they could use it parking but I don't know if any lease ever happened or did where it is so that's what this does it just cleans that up okay thank you very much any other discussion I just want to show my appreciation for cleaning all this up this was a discussion that I had when I came on Council so seeing some resolution here is much appreciated uh the clerk will call the role Mr Callahan hi M grmy Smith hi Miss quch hi Miss Wilhelm hi Miss leam I uh resolution 10 G be it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller Andor such other City officials deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized execute a fee agreement with Kesler topaz to represent the city in a class action lawsuit against good RX Holdings Incorporated resolution is sponsored by miss quch and miss Wilhelm discussion um attorney spurk I just wanted I was just wondering can you just give us like a cliff no versions of what this is and the amount of money that we lost if you if you have some that I don't know but the pension board as on its own retained this firm some years ago to just keep an eye on those Investments and see if there were ever any losses that occurred attributable to some SEC violations um so this is the law firm now that has come forward to the pension board and has identified an area where there could be some recovery and uh pension board voted to allow them to go with the litigation but the law firm took a close look and said actually we think the city is actually Trustee of the funds rather than the pension board the city to sign [Applause] on but I excuse me I I couldn't hear I'm sorry so so we will it's a class action lawsuit and we won't really know what the amount is or any any kind of finan I don't figures until probably the pension board would but but they've the ones looking at it okay and uh and as I said it's been a couple years now since this firm was was retained by the pension board at no cost just to monitor these things to see if an opportunity presented itself and they thought they did and they thought that the our pension board was in a sufficient position to be what they call lead councel lead party lead plaintive in the in the litigation okay thank you and just a quick question um just I mean I think I know the answer to this but I just think for the purposes of the folks here um this is one of those situations where the firm would only be paid if there was a a judgment and and they would take a certain percentage of it so it's not money funds coming out of city or the pension board's uh coffers to to pursue this action that's correct thank you any other discussion the clerk will call the role Mr Kahan hi M grmy Smith hi M quch I miss willhelm I and Miss leam I resolution passes 5 so did 10f I think I said that um I will accept a motion and a second to consider resolutions 10 H through 10j as a group so moved second got was Miss Right disc she was the one who second it it was Mr Callahan or me are your options yeah um discussion on the the motion the clerk will call the rooll Mr calan hi Miss gry Smith hi Miss CLE hi Miss Wilhelm hi and Miss leam I the motion passes 5 Z if you want to read the resolutions certificates of appropriateness under the provisions of the act of the Pennsylvania legislature Bethlehem resolution are hereby granted four 128 rink Street to replace existing asphalt roof sheathing with GAF slate line asphalt shingles and to paint all previously painted surfaces including the stucco masonry facade window trim and EES for 130 rank Street to replace the existing slate roof sheathing with GAF slate lines asphalt shingles and to paint all previously painted surfaces including the stucko masonry window trim and Eaves and for 311 East 3 Street to install a new large window uh correction new large wall sign and other new signage for a newly constructed mixed juice structure the resolution is sponsored by miss quch and miss home discussion on any other resolutions the cler will call the RO Mr Callahan hi M gramson Smith hi Miss quch hi Miss Wilhelm hi and Miss Leon hi um I just want to wish my partner a happy birthday H and thank all the family that supports us all up here as as we kind of have to step away from family to do our duty have a safe night everyone thank you I cop yeah it was nice