lot we're good all right good evening everyone we're at tonight's city council meeting I ask that we all rise for the pledge to the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with [Music] Mr Miller please call the RO Mr Callahan Miss cramy Smith present M quch present Miss lard Miss Leon Miss Wilhelm present and Mr glone present thank you Mr Miller you'll notice a few absences tonight Mr Callahan as was stated at the last meeting is attending a a community organized uh function this evening Miss Leon is traveling and we congratulate councilwoman L as her and her husband invited twins since the last council meeting so she will not be joining us this evening we have a couple citations tonight for Mr Warren Aki and Mr Adam orth I don't see any of them in attendance tonight so we'll see to it that they both get those citations from city council moving on to our public hearings prior to consideration of the regular agenda items councils will conduct two public hearings public hearing number one will be related to the Department of community and economic development's 2024 cdbg home funding recommendations and then public hearing number two will be related to the Department of community and economic development's proposed substantial Amendment reallocating remaining prior year cdbg and home funds to new projects these public hearings are for informational purposes only there will be no votes taken during the public hearings and then in connection with the first public hearing there is one communication Mr Miller please read that communication June 12th 2024 memorandum from Laura Collins director of community and economic development submitting materials for review by city council during this evening's public hearing for the 2024 Community Development block grant and home investment Partnerships program allocations for program year 2024 the city will receive 1,415 ,23 in cdbg funds and $391,900 in home money thank you Mr Miller public hearing number one is called to order I'll recognize whomever from the administration would like to discuss the proposed 2024 cdbg home funding recommendations ready when you are Mr V thank you thank you very much for having us here tonight my name is Robert Von Robert vidoni I'm the um Department of community and economic development Housing and Community Development administrator thank you we're here tonight so this is the first of two public hearings this first public hearing is um to go over the administration's recommended 2024 cdbg activities second public hearing is going to be related to a proposed substantial Amendment so I guess we can just we can get started you each have a a presentation and you have the allocation spreadsheets so I'm not going to dwell on technicality so I'm going to try to burn through the presentation pretty quickly so Community Development block grant that is the acronym cdbg um in 2024 our allocation for cdbg is 1,415 213 and our allocation for home funding home funding is a type of affordable housing funding that allocation was $391,000 294 so just basically to go through here so cdbg was enacted in 1974 it's a Community Development block grant program that uh it's a formulaic Al allocation which has a bunch of different factors um so the city is part so we receive an allocation every year of both cdbg and home funds for cdbg the money has to benefit low and moderate income populations prevent or eliminate slums or blight or it has to address an urgent need cdbg supports Community Development activities directed at revitalizing neighborhoods Economic Development improving facilities and services so we as a cdbg grantee we go through a five-year planning process it's called a Consolidated plan so right now we're going over a proposed annual action plan so if you see a AAP in there it's annual action plan so this is part of our five-year process but it has to do with program year 20124 the home program home investment Partnerships program this was established in 1990 and it assists low-income households we get an annual allocation and it's based on housing Supply poverty and other factors there are six particular factors and it can change from from year to year and they're weighted um the program funds support um acquisition Rehabilitation uh they can t potentially support tenant based rental assistance and the intent of the home program is to increase the supply of quality affordable housing for lower income households expand nonprofit capacity strengthen state and local government to provide housing and uh to leverage private sector investment in housing so in addition to funding acquisition development and Rehab of homes and rental properties the city has two other Home programs we have a home buyer purchase assistance program it's called beap sometimes so it's the Bethlehem home buyer assistance program that provides down payment and closing cost assistance to firsttime home buyers that are in the uh Target income brackets and we also have Direct Buy or purchase subsidies so in 2024 this is program year 2024 we had 18 external cdbg applications we were we funded 15 applications for a total of$ 1,41 15,23 uh now an important factor which is mentioned in the memo is we have a cap on the amount of public service cdbg we can put out and that is uh it's capped at 15% and it's essentially about $212,000 so that's a significant limitation we had over $700,000 in public service requests so cdbg applications are always competitive but the public service cap is a is a s serious limiter so in terms of home we take in applications throughout the year it's rolling and we had a a request for two different activities for $199,000 that those are funded or recommending those are funded so if you do not receive an allocation what we generally do is we recommend that you apply next year or you should also check out to see whether you're eligible for Community Recovery Fund cdbg um can take quite a lot of it's very staff intensive in terms of the compliance so Community Recovery Fund is is more flexible based on the funding it's city funding it's not federal funding so uh we know that some applicants that did not receive cdbg allocation this year they did apply for Community recovery funding and so that's sort of an ongoing interplay between the two programs so as you could see there there are pie charts I'm not going to go through every every single number but I did mention the public service cap and that's a 15% program Administration is is also capped at 20% % for cdbg for home there's a 10% program administrative cap and there's a something called a chto community housing development organization where there's a mandatory 15% allocation on an annual basis so our program year starts January 1st it ends December 31st 2024 we do not actually have our money in hand yet we're anticipating receiving cdbg funding and and home funding I would say late summer early fall it's hard to exactly predict when it's going to come in so now uh I would like to just run through the list of 2024 recommended projects so if you look at your spreadsheet that is what we're going to be going through here so the red reference numbers match up with the numbers I'm just I'm going to read here so one cdbg program admin for $283,400 that's the staff um staff there's Consulting fees there's um basically program admin is what you need to do in terms of hiring individual staff and also hiring outside expertise so it's pretty that that's a somewhat broad category the second recommended activity is a community organizer and tenant Advocate um we're recommending $50,000 funding that's um Community Action development Bethlehem that is a new proposed activity there's a tenant organizer that is going to facilitate Community engagement offer tenant advocacy immediate landlord tenant disputes this is important because this uh supports the city housing I mean there's a bunch of different city housing projects that came out of the opening doors plan but this is trying to put someone in the community to help intervene earlier in the process right now there are eviction prevention programs where if you're already in the landlord tenant dispute you show up in court and you can get a assistance from North pen so this is an attempt to intervene earlier in the process prevent some landlord tenant disputes obviously prevent evictions and um there's a lot of good work that can be done so this activity is is very important uh in the context of the opening doors housing study and strategy the next activity is activity number three this is a this is the bethem emergency Sheltering now we have this in here this is not the proposal is not to fund with standard cdbg this is Community Development block grant this is car's funding which is basically almost out we're putting it in here to make sure that you know the council sees that there's a an allocation for bees so I think everybody in the room probably knows be bees provides individuals shelter through the coldest months of the year um food and shelter and there's a obviously a significant and growing need for for that activity four hogar Korea women Center this is a recommendation of $30,000 and this is for inpatient women's treatment for alcohol and drugs uh it also provides different referral services and this is the first B bilingual impatient recovery facility in the area activity number five this is share care volunteer program this is these are volunteers that provide free caregiving to elderly and disabled this helps prevent homelessness it helps keep people in their homes for longer than they would otherwise be able to to be um there's also model where you have actually older adult volunteers helping older adults so there a lot of good effects to this program the next activity number six Hispanic center for the leive Valley food pantry this is a a food insecurity program they provide a three-day supply of food culturally appropriate food and they obviously um Target a population that has significant language barriers so that's a sort of a more unique aspect of this program activity seven New Bethany representative pay is recommending funding $61,200 this is a program where it's a homelessness prevention program basically if you have individuals who are unable to manage their own finances or manage their interactions with landlords they new Bethany takes reduce are responsibility for these individuals helps pay their bills helps run their bank accounts and keep people in their homes so they hopefully don't end up homeless the next recommended activity8 this is YWCA Tech girls this is a stem education program with a $15,000 recommended allocation this uh is on this is stem education for girls 9 through 13 in betham area school district schools activity number nine Center for humanistic change project success Crossroads mentoring this is a $26,000 recommended allocation this is again dealing with um targeting populations in betham Area School District who are Income qualified with various mentoring services 10 Community Action Lehigh Valley this is bethleem home buyer assistance program as I mentioned before so um Community Action assists the city manage its beap program and so they run housing counseling um programs for groups they do so they that's a component and we're going to get to it later but we have a recommended allocation for the for home funding related to the actual closing costs but this component is related to the administra of the program and basically finding people educating them trying to get them in the pipeline so that they can get it at homes and we can assist with using home funds activity 11 it says Community Action development Bethlehem Southside exterior I'm sorry it's exterior rehab and weatherization program it's not just on the South Side so this is a residential facade program including weatherization to do four um residential facades and the intent is to coordinate with various other programs so hopefully they can come in and they can work with the city and there can be exterior and interior work done at the same time it's more efficient that way and obviously makes a huge difference in someone's life if they can get their whole house fixed up not just the outside activity 12 this is City housing rehab grants and Loans recommended allocation 274,000 this is the rehabilitation and emergency repairs to owner occupy um low and moderate income residents in the city so this is a city managed program currently we have an owner occupied program Health has some programs which are available to landlords we in the process as part of the opening doors strategies in developing a a rental rehab program 14 this is homeless shelter acquisition costs the city is you know currently looking for sites to set up shelter and this cdbg aspect would fund certain transaction costs for actually acquiring and rehabilitating a property when one is identified activity 15 this is Friendship Park phase 2025 this is um I'm sorry there's a uh there is an error in the in the summary sheet so the allocation is $319,800 that's the recommended allocation so I think as everybody in the city knows there's uh been a long planning and design process for uh rehabbing Friendship Park and really just turning it into a a great space right now the project is progressing it's it's progressed through right right now it's being budgeted it's gone on for a long period of time in terms of the design but we are close to um going into the the bidding phase so there's going to be work that's going to be happening in 2025 there's a lot of different funding not just cdbg there's there's Federal funding there's State funding so that's sort of self-explanatory Friendship Park improvements the next activity is a a small recommended allocation for $5,000 for tree installations with or without other improvements this is to an attempt to put this in the action plan there's a real demand all over the city for trees and also for work which can hypothetically occur because of trees so this puts money in here and allows other future allocations and and funding to be grouped in it allows for something to get basically get moving um the next activity 17 home program Administration this is uh various Personnel Personnel costs for admin during the the home program helping to managing all the compliance so when we say program Administration it's not just helping organizations determine whether they're eligible to receive certain funding whether it's cdbg or home it's constantly working with organizations that have been allocated funding to keep them in compliance to answer their questions to just help them with program design uh we routinely talk to organizations that have not applied to try to help them design applications which will be fundable and and um you know and compliant so there's there's a lot more than just reviewing applications with any federal funding there are a lot of strings attached to that and there's sort of own onerous compliance obligations that continue for a long time and so that's a big part of the admin for both cdbg and home 18 that's a recommended allocation of 58,60 now that's a the mandatory chto allocation this is we work with Community Partners to actually to rehab and to develop certain housing and so that's a HUD requirement again we have this minimum chto allocation the next activity is home housing rehab for a $40,000 recommended allocation and the next item 20 affordable housing project requests since we accept Home applications on a rolling basis we need to be prepared with some funding there they take a a long lead time there's uh a tremendous amount of compliance and uh there's very very heavy lift so again having funding which you can hypothetically allocate to Something in in a reasonable time frame that doesn't require months of lead time is is essential so that is that activity and 21 this is a CV the beap down payment and closing cost assistance allocation this is helping firsttime home buyers to actually purchase single family housing and this is a recommended allocation of $100,000 and this was related to the cdbg allocation related to the housing counseling so this is the home component of that program next steps the uh the administration will be submitting a a resolution to council for their consideration which would allow us to submit our annual action plan to HUD we're under strict statutory deadlines or the city is subject to sanctions or forfeiture of funds the uh and basically the Community Development block grant the applications for 2025 program year 2025 are going to open in the fall we publicize that through all sorts of different channels social media you know hard copy website word of mouth so we will be announcing that with Fanfare fall of 2025 and as as we've discussed before there's a there's a large delay it's inevitable based on our program year between receiving applications and actually the city re receiving cdbg funds for us to distribute to the organization so things can change in those time periods which sometimes you know budgets are are changed just inevitably when you have that much time going between the concept to to to funding so that was my presentation for hearing one thank you Mr vidoni I'll open it up to members of council for questions or comment any questions or comment is it relates to the awards for members of council councilwoman KY Smith thank you thank you for that presentation Mr vidoni um I just had a couple questions the one is the um number 14 the homeless shelter acquisition can you give us any idea where we're at with that as far as do we have a designated site or you know are we looking at um are we looking to get into contracts for that I'm happy to handle that um question so we are currently evaluating um more than one site we've had um architectural and Engineering assessments uh to determine if if certain sites are suitable for the you know the work that we would you know hope would take place there the number of beds that we would need um you know what the service providers are telling us uh an ideal site would look like so we are currently evaluating more than one site um because There's real estate transactions involved um we're not in a position to publicly disclose all of them but it is ongoing and we're also you know regularly meeting with Bob R from betham emergency shelter we we um meet almost weekly at this point um and also with other service providers who um may or may not be involved in actually operating a shelter in the future thank you my other question is about um Friendship Park I was wondering now is this the last stage as far as earmarking funding for the park or are we going to be looking at having to earmark further funding for the park for renovations I would defer this is the I do not anticipate we would need more City dollars um as Mr vidoni mentioned we uh have been grateful we received from the National Park Service um a grant of about $700,000 we were earmarked from the federal government for Community Project funding we also have received support from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and natural resources so we have different funding um you know some City dollars through cdbg but also Federal and State dollars um and you know we did have a preliminary uh cost estimate based on those um original designs that was about a year and a half ago um and now we're doing the the full engineering and getting the bid package ready and the numbers are coming in right around um you know what we had originally estimated and within the contingency amount so we do feel confident that we have the money that we need to complete the project okay great and also I was just wondering because it is I mean it's a great Park um and necessary but do we have any data on like um the usage of the park prior to the renovations um that is a good question I you know I don't know that we have usage data um you know the way this park was identified specifically was through the north side um 2027 planning process so back in 2017 when that project was rolling um you know Friendship Park was identified by the stakeholders in the neighborhood and the residents and you know the school district um as a park that you know the the folks in the area felt you know was heavily utilized and could use um improvements um so that's how that really elevated to the top it was a recommendation as part of the north side alive plan or Northside 2027 plan that that Park um be renovated which is how we how we ended up um you know working so hard to get it done um we also you may recall did recently receive a grant to do planning Citywide on on Parks and Recreation I mean we have uh existing studies from the Department of Public Works on the condition of different parks and potential Renovations but we're also looking you know more broadly at need equity and you know other factors in thinking forward-looking you know what are the parks that will prioritize moving forward and I and I do think it's important to consider usage um both existing and the potential usage if you can um you know make improvements that make it more attractive um this this project in particular at Friendship Park um you know one of the components is a you know water feature that was something that we heard from nearly everyone in the neighborhood as as being um a critical need there's not in that neighborhood um uh you know water Recreation opportunities and so but with a feature like that you would you would actually think not only is it going to support people in the neighborhood but it could become another sort of destination Park in the city that could even draw more people than just those in the immediate neighborhood thank you that's true um and I think it's it's great that we're doing that I mean I just noce I'm looking at fiscally it's a lot of money and I just want to be Equitable that we're looking at the whole city and you know the the usage wise that we're making sure that all the the kids in the um Community have parks to go to but I think it is um great to do the water usage because there is really isn't a pool like some areas don't have a park but they might have a pool so I just want to be you know fair that we're looking at all those opportunities for everybody so thank you um I think I only have two more questions um you mentioned uh Mr Von the Public Services uh part that that has to be that's a 15% um so there's you said there were several applications that could be approved like do you have do you know off the top of your head like some what the types of applications were just to get a feel for what kind of Public Services people are seeking you know they're seeking the money for so we we normally we normally don't mention the specific organizations some of the organizations are I mean there's I would say housing related Public Services okay there could be particular domestic violence related Services focused towards women okay all right thank you I was just curious thank you any other questions or comments from members of council just a quick question thank you for the presentation it's a really impressive list uh serving a wide range of needs um appreciate hearing about it um are any of the uh funded organizations this year new to the program and how often does a new organization sort of come into the process we had some new applicants I'm just uh just give me I don't believe we have new external organizations this year okay and I do appreciate that you um walk applicants through the process carefully and you know if it seems that the program isn't necessarily a good fit for this funding that you are steering them to other funding I'm sure that's greatly appreciated so thank you any other questions or comments I I just had a couple uh general ones questions Mr vidoni so we're looking at about $1.4 million for the Community Development block grants and then about 390,000 for the homes I don't have the historic information uh in front of me can you just give me you don't necessarily need to quote the numbers year-over-year but is that a pretty steady number do we see a lot of fluctuation I mean I know there's different um variables that go into the award but I would assume some of that also comes from federal uh Federal dedicate Federal dedication to keeping this program going so have have we seen at least in your time in the department or to your knowledge a lot of fluctuation in that award year-over-year not substantial fluctuation in cdbg yes fluctuation in home um our home allocation reduced this year the same thing happened to Allentown and again it could be based on those factors and a reduction by about how much our our allocation went down about $68,000 approximately I think 15% and do you know if that's a trend or just for this year this this just this year understood I can't I don't know what's gonna happen in the future but you don't but it has been it has been at least in my time here with this program stable understood thank you Mr Fon and I asked because while so you may have some new applicants um or definitely next year or future year's new applicants some of these programs are familiar to me from previous years and being on Council and they're definitely a service to the community so I would hate if we're put in a position where we have to kind of look at programs that have become you know dependent in part as they as these nonprofits pursue their own different funding sources to keep some of these programs going I had a quick question and I I know you mentioned it but I just want to elaborate a little bit so as it relates to the uh emergency shelter number three in your reference sequence here you noted the $70,000 did you say that's cares act funding yet correct it's cdbg CV and that's basically our last cdbg CV and that was not it was exempt from the public service cap so that's just a it's going to be more relevant next year okay and so when you say ourl last does that exhaust essentially going to exhaust it for purposes of making any allocation similar to this size understood good to know thank you um those were my only questions again I'll ask any other questions from members of council before I turn it to the public thank you Mr vidoni thank you Miss Collins so now open it up pardon for public comment this is again related to only the public hearing that Mr fedon just presented there's no one signed up so I'll go around the room was there anyone to the left who wanted to make comment on the awards that were just discussed is there anyone in the wide Center who wanted to make comment yes in the front Mr Von will vacate the lecturn in a moment Hiba akar I don't have like a prepared public comment I just have a question uh for Mr vidoni um it's regarding I think it's Activity 5 it's about just like context like a curious question about the inpatient treatment for for women um if you had more context on like what kind of treatment is being provided I think you mentioned it was the first bilingual facility I don't know if we are we permitted to ask questions directly so so typically this is just opportunity to comment but I'm sure after the hearing if you um U Mr vidon do you have a brief answer related to that question or maybe we could follow up after the meeting yeah after the meeting if Mr vidoni could elaborate a little bit just with uh that answer is there anyone else in the wide Center who would to make comment as it relates to the awards that we discussed and I'll turn to the right anyone to the right who wants to make comment so that's going to conclude our first public hearing Rel excuse me a related proposed resolution will be placed on the agenda for council's July 2nd 2024 meeting this public hearing is adjourned and then in connection with our second public hearing there's one communication the clerk will read that communication please June 12th 2024 memorandum from Laura Collins director of community and economic development submitting materials for review by city council during this evening's public hearing for the substantial Amendment hearing to reallocate Prior year cdbg and home funds to newly proposed cdbg and home projects the second public hearing is called to order again I'll turn to Mr vidoni thank you so we are here to discuss some proposed reallocations of Prior year funding to new recommended projects so I will run through the projects and but before I get into that just to give you some some context so trying to plan plan activities from year to year and and within a Time year a fiveyear time frame is you're you are trying to predict the future which is difficult and you're making allocations long before the money is actually going to be spent and so it's inevitably imperfect there are you know you have to project out in time and so certain things change um projects you know some projects don't get off the ground despite everybody's best efforts sometimes funding sources are uh changed sometimes there's good very good reasons to not use cdbg and try to swap in a more flexible funding source which is something that I'm going to be getting into here um for something like program admin so again you're using salary projections and other you know into the future when you have staff changes you know sometimes that can reduce the you know salary outflows there are also situations where you have um other Grant sources that you have to use so for instance in our housing rehab program you know it's not just cdbg we use Fair funding there's RDA funding so you're trying to balance basically spending down money by certain deadlines and spending some money down so you could show funders you're spending that money down so again it's not it's not a science and you're working with projections so over time it's a constant process to we're constantly trying to evaluate how best to deploy money to make sure we have flexible funding for potential future projects and so what what this is is it's a series of um recommended actions that would take prior year funding and fund some new projects in the context of projects which areal disruptions or delays which would allow the city to spend particularly cdbg money very quickly on um some projects which are flexible in a compliance sense so so the proposed substantial to Amendment amendments today there's the addition of a new activity to our uh 2023 program year or other appropriate annual action plan and this is to recommended allocation to Holy Family Senior Living this is uh this would fund basically HVAC units which would go into the rooms um right now we're looking at 81 packaged units this is a this is a population that's that's recognized as as low to moderate income and this is uh this is a very good project in in terms of allowing this this money to be spent um rather quickly and when does not involve extreme construction complexity because it's BAS basally equipment AC you know acquisition and installation so this would be replacement of 81 packaged uh terminal air conditioner PTAC units um the project could also include you know ancillary work that is that is needed um so the proposed funding is for $250,000 and that would come from prior program admin sources so this would not be none of these proposed movements would take away any funding from existing allocations to other organizations which is obviously why I I'll be repeating that um that that is important it allows us to redeploy uh cdbg funds to comply with HUD timeliness regulations and get the money out so that is the first proposed project the second proposed project is Ada curb ramp installation American Disability Act curb installation so the city is proposing to amend appropriate annual action plan to create a new public facilities activity um for installing Ada curb ramps throughout the city so the city would manage this new activity through the Department of Community Economic Development working in close coordination with Public Works um which there are a lot of benefits to to working with public works on on a construction project like this when there's time sensitivity so this would be replacement of approximately 54 existing curb ramps with new ramps in corporated bump pads and otherwise meeting all the specs in compliance with American of disabil Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 um Associated work may be may be necessary so I I handed you a a sheet of proposed locations for these so every year Public Works generally every year Public Works installs Ada curb ramps this was a very good opportunity because um there are a lot of like regulatory Flex abilities which are beneficial for Ada projects like this and the recommended allocation for this is $350,000 of Prior cdbg which would come from I said prior sources but come from an activity where it's advantageous to swap in more flexible funding and when we get we get to that so there was $350,000 which was previously allocated to Broad Street Corridor improvements but more flexible money can be swapped in it ends up saving the city money it ends up saving the uh allowing Public Works to put in more Ada ramps faster and um so again $350,000 is the recommended allocation and when I give exact numbers the numbers of ramps the numbers of units those things can change again when you do these cost estimates you know and then you go forward several months you have to go through the bidding process so we try to build in flexibility um but these currently the ramps that are proposed are going to be in the south side and in the nebor the north side alive area also sometimes called the nursa the neighborhood revitalization strategy area where we are required to direct resources into that area that's also where Friendship Park is located which was is a is a key rationale one of the many good rationals for putting money into that that project and putting money into the nursa which is a HUD designated area um so I mentioned two proposed cdbg activities there's also the proposal to cancel an activity which is currently funded with $350,000 this is the uh Broad Street Corridor project that I just mentioned so this proposed move would not detrimentally impact that project there's other funding that can be swapped in so it's a win-win there are two proposed home activities and those are both would be for Habitat for Humanity for new construction of a single family home each of those homes would be located on the South Side each one of these homes would be subject to a minimum 15year period of affordability and it can be longer so it would have to be you'd need to have lowincome families in those homes and there would be deed restrictions it's not like you can come in and just sell these houses I mean this home money is very very restrictive so each of those proposed activities would be for $999,000 so those are the proposed substantial Amendment actions thank you Mr vidoni again I'll open it up to members of council for questions or comments related to the reallocation anything from Council councilman KY Smith thanks um thank you Mr Adon I just have one question about the Habitat for Humanity homes this this is awesome um but I'm just questioning about the the minimum 15-year uh period of afforded ility um does it say I mean I know it has to be minimum 15 years uh is there a maximum or like what happens after that 15 years I guess I'm just wondering you know at that point can the per habitat still owns a property does it not have to be affordable anymore so generally what what what going to happen with habitat is it's going to be affordable longer than 15 years because they they have their own set of legal documents to come into the habitat program so even there's like multiple layers of afford ility requirements which are which are involved here and you can't I mean various various things can happen if if somebody if somebody just wants to sell the house and they want to sell it into the market they could have to pay you know all or substantially all the the funding back in terms of the actual buyer now habitat has a very special you know pipeline of people putting in a lot of Sweat Equity and you know they're they're they're selected and they're highly vetted so that's a little less of a threat but basically it has to the it has to stay affordable until the you know restriction periods end and then it can be sold in the open market but it's going to be I would say it's going to be longer than 15 years I just put in that that is the minimum under the HUD rules okay and and then the Habit habitat can make it longer as because they yes they they tie it to the length of their um you know their mortgages because they're going to be a first mortgage lender so I would say it's much more likely it's going to be you know in the 20 year to 30y year time frame okay great thank you um and you know what I just didn't for I forgot to say the last time um I just wanted to say thank you for the presentation and for everything with the cdbg um and home funding because um Ironically in my role as school counselor and social worker over the last 40 some years like I am so familiar with many of these programs and it's really great to see these programs that I know are so successful that we're we're putting money where it is really going to be used efficiently so thank you any other questions or comments quick question M will first how soon can you get the air conditioners to holy family it's like tomorrow is that possible we we would we would hope so but there is there's a there's a lead time I mean they need to be constructed there's a several month lead time but it's yes it's terrible out yeah oh I I appreciate your detailed explanation of how we ended up with this funding that was sort of a question I had and you had mentioned that you're on a fiveyear cycle and is that the spend down time period as well so right now Hud's proposing some some new rules which would put in place basically a six-year spend down uh like limit but there are various like cdbg spending rules there's there's a timeliness which is a ratio test which uh every year November 2nd we get hit with this with the ratio test and that's a you you have to have below a certain ratio of funding based on like the various factors but in terms of actual spending we we don't have money in our cdbg program that is old enough to be you know recaptured by that proposed rule thank you any other feedback from members of council thank you Mr vidoni for both presentations now again I'll open it up to public comment this is related to the reallocations that were just discussed in our second public comment any comment from anyone to the left Mr Rodriguez I ask you to yes got get my [Music] stretch Eddie Rodriguez Holy Family Apartments uh I wanted to ask this gentleman about Mr spon is that your name but I address it through you uh was reference to the air conditionings which I just heard something in reference to that I current I currently have an air conditioner that is going on the blinks and it hasn't been fixed by maintenance so my question is are they going to install air new air conditioners throughout the campuses or throughout the campus where I live that's my question sir so so again Mr Rodriguez like I said the what we could do is right after the meeting I could talk to you or put you in contact with Mr vidoni to try to elaborate on any answers he has I mean he's here why can't he elaborate on that well I don't want to get into a long back and forth about everybody else question no I would say they don't so that being said Mr Rodas I think Mr vidoni will share his contact information with you to follow up with you okay yeah I mean this is this is a place where you come you spend your five minutes and so on so forth and you don't get questions answered you know and uh it only takes a second just to give me that feedback because the other question I had was uh with regards to something that I'm going through at uh holy family which is the walls and that's why I have the construction of these walls need to be better constructed between the buildings and the floors and so on so forth there are cracks and they should be taken care of and they're not being taken care of I suffer every day every night every minute every hour because of this and I've been reporting this quite some time and I'm asking would there be uh money allocated for these repairs sure so I'm asking and now two questions and you're referring this to be back to this gentleman here that I can talk to him afterwards is that what you want I'm gonna tell you Mr rre we'll get answers to you for those questions I'll say just related to the cdbg process in general the organizations apply and give us what the projects are we're not dictating what they should be doing so in relation to other Construction outside the scope of what they applied for we're not we're not they they give us a defined what it is so as it relates to the air conditioners Mr vidon will be in contact with you and I'll get you those answers and anything else that may be an issue over at Holy Family manner if it's uh a codes issue then that's to be addressed but as it it's been addressed all right understood but as it relates to anything outside of this award I can't speak to that okay fine I'll leave it at that thank you Mr rodrig yes was there anyone else to the left who want to make comment on excuse me the cdbg or home reallocation again I turn to the wide Center in the front hello I'm Harry I uh I just have some questions I guess I one work what's the website like where where can I access like this information is are there paperworks out in the room or okay so this is all okay CG um everything as it relates to the agenda tonight is posted on the website I I when I went and looked at the web or the agenda earlier I didn't see uh you know the public hearing Parts but that could have just been my own fault that's it is what it is um I am curious about the Habitat for Humanity as well as crampy Smith um was talking about I guess when it comes to like the minimum 15year affordable my question so are these homes that are are they going to be sold to individuals at affordable things are these going to be uh renting units like I'm just I I guess I just want to understand further because I feel like if we're going to be funding it funding these housing uh units if if they're being developed or built or whatnot um that if it is renting or if if habitat for human is renting it out it should be like for cost and I hope that is uh we're trying to get rid of the profit motive aspect out of you know housing and that we make sure that uh I looked at the statistics for Bethlehem resed City residents when it comes to work and we are a very service heavy uh City there I think the percentage was around like 12 15% of Bethlehem city workers are in the service industry whether it's in hotels restaurants whatnot and as someone who's worked in the service industry which is you guys kind of need it you know um we're kind of second class citizens almost where we don't we get paid 250 maybe three bucks an hour plus tips and it would be nice that this is a a job that Society deems necessary and that it would be appreciated if servers actually were paid a living wage um and that they could afford a housing uh in the city of Bethlehem so yeah I just want to get more information on is this just a part of the uh um opening doors program is or is this something separate you could address questions to council but this is part we do every year yeah the the cdbg funding comes in as a federal award and then this is part of the the process having these public hearings every I do agree though with Mr Rodriguez I do think it would be appreciated um from the majority of people here uh if we could also have a back and forth not just those elected on Council I think that would just it would make things a lot easier but that's just my two cents thank you understood is there anyone else in the wide Center who had comment as it relates to the reallocation anyone to the right who had comment on the reallocation so miss Collins I just want to case say one didn't hear you did you say take the questions and just answer them now before I adjourn the hearing okay um if you're prepared yeah uh so was there any other comment from members of the public to the right yeah so I am going to be adjourning after because now public comments over yeah but I will give Miss Collins the floor to address some of the questions that came up um so as it relates to Holy Family manner um as president cologne said we do respond to applications that come in we don't affirmatively um address challenges at any specific property using cdbg or home funds but for in this instance we did receive an application from that entity uh to do the the the um air conditioning units so our understanding is that there's going to be a replacement of 81 units at the property I don't know you know which units those are I can't speak to whether that that impacts you directly but um that was the application so there will be a replacement of what we understand to be 81 of those units um in uh Holy Family Senior Living um that's about as much information as I have I I can't speak to you know their their timeline necessarily um but I do hope that it is beneficial for you um and then again as it relates to other potential uh challenges at the property if there are issues that may be a code violation you can certainly reach out to the Department of Community Economic Development and the code enforcement um our housing inspections offices um to do um inspections for those but we did not to my knowledge receive an application for that type of work at the facility um and then I believe another question the last one that came in on habitat um Robert actually did you want to take that [Laughter] one property is not going to be rented out mi Mr vidon I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you to go to the microphone just because so everybody could hear you and then any kind of follow-up questions I will invite after the meeting way so it the unit is not going to be rented out it has to it's a condition of the funding is that it needs to be a single family home it needs to be a single family home it cannot be rented okay and this is not the kind of it's not that triggers other requirements that would like require some sort of a a payback unless it's sold in compliance with the grant obligations the purpose is not to prod you know for create a market rate house to just be flipped the purpose is to create like sustained affordable housing yeah I just wanted more was everything so I appreciate that I'm happy to gentlemen thank you sorry it's no need to apologize I appreciate the Inquisition and then going back going back to the cdbg um question hogar Kaya is a women's treatment facility um it is to our knowledge the first bilingual impatient recovery facility in the area um they provide drug and alcohol Recovery Services um and uh we don't believe there's any other local impatient rehab that serves that population so hogar CA serves um to fill that Gap thank you Miss Collins thank you Mr vidoni so again the another resolution will be placed on the city council agenda for July 2nd 2024 uh we'll also be receiving comment and counc will have other opportunities to ask questions before we vote on those resolutions at our next meeting and the second public hearing is adjourned moving on to the approval of minutes for June 4 20124 meeting any comments on the minutes seeing none minutes stand approved moving on to public comment first on any subject not being voted on this evening we have two indvidual signed up I'll start with Miss Mary Joe [Music] MC hi Mary Joe MCO 449 Grand View Boulevard sever several things I want to address tonight first regarding the dirt bikes and illegal vehicles on city streets if Bethlehem was part of the task force with Allentown why is it that Allentown has confiscated numerous bikes and Bethlehem has not at the last meeting someone suggested we follow these Riders and report to the police the garage is where the bikes are parked I am unable to do that due to my age and my aches and my pains however um I don't want to put myself in danger trailing these people the police need to randomly need to be randomly more visible in areas where these incidents occur second issue tonight concerns the up coming Fourth of July holiday and the abuse of fireworks this past Sunday night around 10:30 p.m. the neighbor was shooting them off at the intersection of Ritter Street and Grand View Boulevard as well at as Grand View Boulevard and Glendale Avenue my neighbor and I both saw the house where they were coming from traffic trying to turn onto Glendale had to stop because of all the sparks my dog went into panic mode and I did what I could to calm him down the smoke was so bad I was almost ready to close my windows I did call to report but once again I am not sure if they responded this is another in another situation where frequent patrols might reduce resident complaints my third topic deals with the recent water bill I am sure the department has already received numerous complaints regarding the late mailing of bills my bill states that the billing cycle ended May 31st 2024 I received my bill this past Saturday with only 5 days to make a payment the lateness of mailing along with mailing payments to a post office box in Philadelphia might in fact increase the department issuing late fees on their next filling I certainly hope this is not going to be the case I question why payments go to Philadelphia in the first place come January if the police if the post office implements plans to have all mail transferred to a central processing site without first postmarking it mail will this will further inre increase late fee possibilities not everyone is able to drive to City Hall to pay their bills in person my bill includes a customer charge for water and sewer portions of my bill on the back of the bill the explanation for these charge a state that includes cost for meter reading billing maintenance and other expenses to my knowledge I do not have a meter on my sewer line so I'm not sure how that works um but I did I think I did figure that part out but I'm wondering um if there has been feedback from any residents if Mr basola or somebody on council could ask him and respond because five days to pay a lot of people budget their money and they may not be look you know they may not be able to get it in on time and then just a final note regarding housing costs and overall economic issues plaguing much of society today not trying to make light of this home buyers today face an incredibly difficult dilemma with interest rates at or near 7% in 1982 when my husband and I purchased our first home the interest rate was 16% the construction of Interstate 78 and influx Sada State buyers was increasing we set our sites on a smaller home until our finances improved so to those that are searching try not to be discouraged thank you thank you miss mcol our next speaker officer Rob Nicholson um Robert Nicholson the president of betham starl the Fraternal Order of Police for the city of betham police department it's been a while since I've been here and tonight I just want to recap some of the recent accomplishments of our some some members of our department as well as other things the lodge has planned as you recently know our award ceremony was held uh last week where now recently retired Sergeant Jeffrey Ludy was honored as supervisor of the Year by his peers as well as officer Benjamin Recker was awarded officer of the year and officer Richard lowo was awarded the special unit offic for the year for his work as a school resource officer so want to thank them for their hard work and the example they set for all members of the betham star Lodge Number 20 and every officer who received the accommodation that evening which there are too many to list tonight also want to mention that our our lodge is trying to continue posi positively impact the city of betham through our community engagement initiative uh through with programs and activities such as the police Trading Card contest that we are currently doing we could not have done this without the support of over local over 40 local businesses who sponsored the trading cards of various officers one of which one of which was calan driving school who sponsored the motor unit officer motor officer Andrew defrank uh he's not here today but I did bring a copy of his his card that I was going to give it to him but I'll make arranges to get to them later um information on this contest can be found on our large website betham f.org as well as a list of the sponsors also encouragement because we are giving out prizes one of which which is a Nintendo switch for any children that collects a certain amount of cards we also are funding this initiative through various efforts such as our fourth of July Grill and cooler raffle we still have tickets if anybody's interested for that but also with the support of local businesses we graciously uh graciously nurse nurse wellness and the Main Street really group reach out to us and provided support for this program and help put us in a position where we are going to be able to provide over 500 school bags filled with supplies to for betham area school dist District student uh students we intend on having this event in August with the betham boys and girls club uh again more information can be found on our website and Facebook and finally tonight we have two permits on the agenda for our lodge uh we are hosting the Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police 48th Bal conference uh this we are hosting it and this is a conference that is going to run from July 14th through the 18th at the Wind Creek Casino this draw is usually between 400 500 members from across the state and we are excited to host this conference and highlight all that betham has offered during that week and I did bring some cards for you guys is the best card thank you I can ask who it is are they autographed already yeah I was gonna say can can we get your autograph thank you you guys thank you and we'll get it to Mr Callahan then thank you thank you thank you officer Nicholson so that exhausts our list of who had signed up in advance to speak tonight again I'll go around the room was there anyone to the left who wants to speak on anything that we're not pardon anything that we're not voting on this evening Mr Kera I saw it already I text on yeah Marty kurol A113 law for Street in betham Pennsylvania I uh made a made a report to the police but I didn't get any feedback from it um I was under the assumption I guess well maybe I was wrong you own your property that nobody can actually take stuff from your property that's on your other side of your fence however the parking authority can do that they get away with it they're Above the Law they actually took the branches to my malberry tree down and um it's an organic malberry tree and the thing is they never knocked on the door they never called me they never sent me a letter never did anything of that nature and I was at their meeting about last month they could have said something you know the branches are scratching Vehicles while we're they parked there or uh the malber are getting too ripe that they're going to fall to the ground and stain people's cars whatever it is I don't know to this date I don't know what it is but the males would have been an issue um had I you know they waited one day I would have took the M berries off that were nice and ripe and um but however instead they cut them down and they all fell to the ground because they were ready they were ripe enough to be fall on to the ground very few fell to the ground um as it was until they cut them down so if they're saying that on the ground or something like that but the fact remains that they should have called me my phone number is on both sides of my van and I never got a phone call I never got a letter I mean like that should kind of be against the law stealing somebody's property I mean like you know just like I had porch chairs and they took them you know what the heck that' be next thing they're going to do they're going to probably say that the porch chairs were uh um U I don't know U um growing males or something I don't know what the he but the thing is uh you know I I just don't think that's right but anyway here I am venting I I feel like uh my analogy of uh of the checkered board game is like we're the pawns on the checker board you guys at City Hall they're Rooks you know you got the Bishops which is the ones that are trying to look good like Music Fest and uh the the casino when they're making all kinds of money and they're giv the city very little in regards but they're the Bishops and they have the police force but the police they're the they're the they're they go different angles and kind of protect the pawns you know but the the Bishops could go any direct line then you have your king which is your mayor um so you know I'm just looking at it maybe you know uh maybe we should get a new chess game together and call it the the City versus the federal government and uh the federal being the black the black uh side of the chess Port white being the city but I don't know but the thing is the parking authority is really I think they overs their bounds on this one uh another thing which I hope somebody can guide me in direction to any veterans here would be totally upset if they heard what I'm about to say and I'm a veteran and I really got me when I found out that Hasboro and paramont have been capitalized off the thing of GI Joe which back before they made Hasbro made a dow called private something or other and then they called it the GI Joe because that a better marketing because back in World War II you wind up saying hey what's your son doing oh he's a GI Joe that meant he was in the Army is government issue thing is Hasboro now has and paramont they made it that if any you use GI Joe for a play or a movie or put in a book you got to pay residuals to them and they never gave the United States government US veterans anything on that I guess they passed that in Hollywood they can get away with that the Mickey Mouse courts in Hollywood they get away with just about anything out there in Hollywood or in LA and pass laws and stuff of that nature like what oh no no no I got about so far just in two days I have about 100 Veterans that are against that guide us in the right direction because uh uh we're going to be pulling strings in the white house if not that is something that's uh every every there's a lot of veterans in the city and we lost a lot of money with Hasbro and paramont collecting the rights for for GI Joe uh don't set right with me I hope you can guide me in the right direction thank you Mr Cara was there anyone else to the left Mr filer good evening Jim fer 2222 Main Street I'm sorry you're unable to attend the community meeting tonight due to a scheduling overlap the meeting was suggested or recommended to the mayor by the group betham for Unique neighborhoods probably the largest spontaneous bipartisan group created in the city of Bethlehem in my lifetime that is not already aligned with another organization not align align with a nonprofit not aligned with an organization requesting friends from the city or government to do their bidding for whatever their purpose is the First Presbyterian Church housing plans woke up a lot of people in the city and with that area they started looking at other things in the city and thus the creation of the belam for Unique neighborhoods started out looking at the housing proposals in the First Presbyterian Church property but then they quickly realized there are many programs and proposals by the mayor and the administration through the opening doors the alley home projects and Zoning changes to increase density that it appears a lot of people when they finally open their eyes and are awakened and pay attention don't like changes that are going to be command directed into their neighborhoods it's all right to look at zoning zoning policies do need to be amended and updated every now and then but to lead with the idea we're going to change residential neighborhood zoning strictly to increase density targeting the west side and the north side because that's where the Lesser density naturally already is in the city that just makes no sense and that will destroy the uniqueness of the neighborhoods looking at the scheduling tonight I decided to do a little research I'm like why will potentially the biggest Community event asking questions and getting a briefing by the mayor on his potentially Keystone plan be scheduled during a city council meeting we had one member evidently he's probably at that meeting tonight the organizer suggested this meeting to the mayor quite a while ago and talking to the requestor it was the mayor's office who coordinated and set up the location and date there was questions on the Wesleyan Church availability and that certainly helped set a date but why would you pick such an important community meeting at the same time of a city council meeting the requestor told me when I was asking questions that it was the mayor's Administrative Office that coordinated and set up the location and date a member of the mount ay neighborhood association told me she was told by a member of the administration that the meeting was set by the church and the neighbors and not by the city so just like the Ali H allei House program where we're told don't worry this isn't going to set a precedence of course it is you're going to turn around just like the parking garage and other things after the fact and say well we approved it then but back then you told us something different we just asked for some honest answers and explanations if it's what you want to do just tell us publicly and own it it appears somebody purposely didn't want Council to attend that meeting and or I'm speculating maybe just didn't want to attend another schedule another meeting to take time out of his evenings I leave that part for speculation or we get mixed answers from the requestor and otherwise but I stand Here against the zoning changes to increase the density in the city it'll affect the charm character and nature of each unique charm neighborhood in Bethlehem thank you thank you Mr Faller was there anyone else that left who wants to make comment who didn't have a chance to yet I was in we're just in our public comment period Mr Rodriguez I turn to the wide Center is there anyone in the center who want to make comment on anything we're not voting on this evening Mr analex Steven anic 77 Ridge it has been brought to my attention by a goodly number of concerned citizens that the administration is resorting to an excessive number of Consultants to conduct the city's business this procedure can be very costly and possibly will not provide the best solution because of lack of intimate knowledge of the city it also erases a more serious question as to whether those in charge of the city's business are qualified to have that knowledge to achieve this goal a classical example ex Le of the failure of Consultants is the Five Points in the 50s the plan was to divert Five Points traffic to a bypass on on the old reading railroad right of away it failed it was resurrected in the 70s by the gruin consultants and that also failed in the year 2000 rather than resurrecting the Five Points bypass plan saki recommended converting the ride of way into a green way after that further Consultants on the Five Points recommended possible oneway systems and that failed so how much money was spent to solv the Five Points problem and never happened but this is a classic example of excessive use of Consultants to no advantage to the city the real irony is that the history of the sside was violated in the sside historic district of wind Street was placed in the middle of the street un like harb District which includes both sides of the street this middle of the street boundary allowed McDonald's to build their Five Points neon monstrosity at the beginning of the South siiz historic district that in itself clearly indicates that development takes priority over Southside historic preservation and city council has played into that by its ignoring historic district res recommendations and allowing further destruction of the historic district and since I have one and a half minutes left I've been to quite a few City Council meetings and I recall way back historically they were City events where cul the public servants listen to people behind me to their complaints and engaged in dialogue to solve these problems but to me I have a feeling that the public has become an adversary to console in the manner the way counil treats them and brushed aside and say well we won't hear your problem go talk to somebody later which is a function of a city council meeting so I suggest City councils seriously reflect on their behavior because it isn't it it is not in the best interest of the city's residents thank you Mr analex is there anyone else I'll go back around then Mr Rodriguez is there anyone else in the senator who would to make comment has not had a chance yet yes yeah I kind of want to touch on what um he just said I do agree I'll be the first person I Adit okay I think I'm smart smarter than average and that kind of makes me smarter than what like four billion people three billion people if you're smarter than average my brother told me that uh and but I I'll be the first person to admit I don't think I'm the smartest person in the room and there's a lot I don't know the more you read the more you learn the more you realize how little you actually know about everything but what I do think is true and what I believe is that despite me not having all the answers or you guys not having all the answers I think if we come together and through cooperation we can achieve all the answers and I I do believe that we need more of a dialogue not just I speak at you and then occasionally you'll tell me what I want to hear or something or push me along and I I kind of gotten the feeling that it is often uh the Commonwealth versus Council it is adversarial and I don't think it I don't it always gives off that feeling and it nor should it but on occasion it does feel like that I mean I've been coming here since February 20th and um for the hopes that we could take a stand against what's going on in Palestine the genocide and um it's still always you know I gotta give you credit what credit is Du you're not arresting us you didn't arrest us on March 5th you know which I'm sure a city like Allentown which is much more heavily policed would have uh so I'm not I don't think you guys are Enemy Number like enemies of the people you know I I really don't I see the Nuance in most of you some of you I don't know I'm still struggling to see the Nuance but I want to come together more you know that's how during the Cold War we got to space right we brought together and funded all the smartest people we knew brought them into NASA and guess what we got to space you know what I'm saying it's not through one individual or one person are we going to come to to solution all these problems but through Collective action and uh enabling that through let's say I don't know what if we had bigger meetings in which we could all take a day off or something and we could provide food so that we could all have a bigger discussion those who want to be involved in local democracy have an a better ability I mean realistically like the opportunity cost everybody has to take to come here is pretty great especially when considering if you want to read the agenda and understand what's going on before hand that takes hours out of your day beforehand plus the hours spend being here commuting here that's an opportunity cost that somebody who works two jobs I will admit I can no longer say that anymore I resigned from my one job I am a single a single jobber um but you know at the end of the day I'm still exhausted all the time I want to live you know and I think most of us want to live and I I respect the elderly uh generally um but this is our future you know I'm 20 for it's the use future right at some point you got to say hey old people you lived you know and you got us to where we are but it's time that we allow the younger generation to have a little bit more control a little more say not just those who own the means of production who own the most Capital who have the most money in their pocket when you look at like wealth and capital I'm reading capital in the 21st century right now by Thomas py it's been really fascinating I'm not super far only 140 it's a big book uh I'm only on chapter five but the first thing you really realize is that those who own Capital accumulate wealth at a rate incredibly higher than those who have no Capital to begin with you know and let's say you own some property you own the means of production whether it's Land Resources factories you have now the ability to appropriate the fruits of Labor of the workers profit and now you have luxury of free time timers our biggest asset our most like valuable resource when you spend time you don't get it back and I'm tired of being a wage slave I want to live I want to experience life I don't want to see the world around me be destroyed and I want to I don't have all the answers but I know if we come together we can strategize and come together to find better Solutions on how we can take better uh care of our community our environment our ecosystem how we can combat the corrupt authoritative fascist federal government we have that are spending all billions of dollars of our tax dollars to blow up brown people overseas instead of investing in infrastructure and Innovation and education and Healthcare there's so many problems I don't have all the answers but I know we all do and I just I wish we could come together and figure out a more direct uh Democratic solution opposed to just I talk at you and I hope you guys reply or say something you know but that's all thank you thank you Mr favor was there anyone else in the center who make was there anyone else in the center who would make comment who hasn't had a chance to yet yes in the back my name is Jordan bold I'm from a27 West Broad Street and I'm just GNA piggy back on what they were saying I mean this is my first meeting I think it's pretty disheartening that the public can't engage in actual conversation with the people that are supposed to be making the decisions for us you even know what the public wants like you guys can't even answer the questions they wouldn't even answer the questions we had to make them answer the questions or else they look bad why is that we don't even have the same views on anything but I agree with him more on this than I would agree with any of you on anything but I thank you for having me here thanks for coming is there anyone else in the center who hasn't had a chance to comment who wanted to anyone to the right I'll swing back around to Miss Rodriguez Eddie Rodriguez holy family manners you know I I don't want to go against anyone with reference to how they come up and how they speak or how loud they can get or or how disrespectful they can get but enough is enough you know if you want to come up be respectful like I said the last two or three meetings and not be a loud [Music] mouth you know this this is disrespecting counil and the people that come to listen and the noise in the background should be also held to a point everybody has an opinion and an idea but be respectful people come up and make their comments is it's it's it's none of your concern sure I ask you to someone speaking thank you that's exactly what I'm talking about and nothing to go against you young man okay no disrespect or to you sir all right but when you come up be respectful that's all I'm asking okay enjoy what you say and get it over and done with but I came up here uh I was at going to talk about the last meeting that I was here about dirt bikes I'm asking Chief cot for further uh an investigation done on what's going on in stepco Boulevard and also lynon street because this is a concern problem not only for myself but residents has gotten to a point of being a dangerous situation uh and they're not respecting the lights nor are they respecting the vehicles they're at a stop at a red light and they're rushing right through to get to the other side and sometimes you get multiple individuals doing this they're loud they're noisy and they don't belong on city streets I don't believe that also the mural and yasco park should continue to exist uh the person one of the persons has a criminal background that made that mural whether it be one or the other I'll leave it at that I personally know this I'm asking that uh to go back to the way that the city had the complaints being taken in from City residents Angela what was her name Angela uh the one that was complaining about the garbage on Cherokee Street she was right I went back there and I saw what she was talking about and she sent me pictures I gave her we we're connecting and she's right there is garbage there's a currently a mattress at 422 outside hanging on the wall that's ridiculous these things should be happening what has been done regarding the water fountain issue in the city especially with the heat wve that's going on now I'm talking about city council members and the mayor even though the mayor is not here and possibly the one that I'm talking about is Mr Callahan but I'll be respectful when speaking at times with each other you got to remember that we need to hear also what you're talking about and not being repetitious with each other this is mon is disrespectful towards the people that are coming here and it's continuous it's been happening a couple times already and I'm asking which I already asked the young lady from the city when someone is speaking on a Podium either fix that mic over there because it's too low and have something installed better than like these that we can hear the public can hear what in the world used to talking to you I mean you got somebody that's talking at the podium on that side talking directly to city council but the general public is not hearing what you are discussing I didn't come here for this I came here to speak and be heard and I want to hear everything that's that's spoken Mr Rodriguez I'll give you 10 seconds to wrap it up and regarding n pen I was assisted by n pen legal office and let me tell you they rejected my intake so you're referring you keep on constantly saying North P this and North P that that doesn't work for anyone thank you Mr Rodriguez was there anyone else before I uh conclude public comment who hadn't had a chance to speak who wanted to about anything not being voted on this evening second not tonight Mr Rodriguez well thank you we're going to move on to Second public comment this is for any ordinance or resolution that's being voted on tonight on the agenda no one had signed up in advance so again I'll go around the room is there anyone to the left who wants to make comment on anything that we're voting on this evening I turn to the wide Center anyone want to make comment on anything that we're voting on tonight turn to the right seeing none that concludes public comment any old business for members of council any new business for members of council I'll start with Miss quch thank you um I did uh want to bring up a couple of questions that folks had asked and hope that um members of the administration could address them um Mr basca uh the comment about the water and sewer bills has there been a delay in the delivery of the most recent Water and Sewer bills I don't think we've gotten ours I'm not aware of any but I can certainly find out okay the last cycle right it's by the quarter so it would be the end of March and then the end of we send 3,000 bills out every week so okay um so they actually on kind of rolling so it's everybody's on a rolling quarter okay well three thou every 3,000 is every so that everybody gets a bill every quarter but it's it's on rolling weeks rolling quarters okay but I'll find out if something sometimes you know because we have third party print the bills there could be a delay there there could be a delay with the Postal Service sometimes I know what happened back during Co um but I'll find out if there was an issue lately with the last couple cycles and with regard to using a third party I mean that's just more economical more efficient more've been doing it for more than 10 years since before I started and um it's one of those services that we've contracted out we do the same with taxes right all the billing and then all of the the uh payment of the the processing of the checks then goes to third party as well so and it and it's cost effective it's more more economical than having City staff for instance absolutely okay thank you very much and then um Chief cot we did start to talk about dirt bikes um when you weren't here at our last meeting and I think that um if I recall correctly the mayor suggested that we chat more about it when you were able to be here so if you could just give us an update on you know maybe what the city's doing or to this I mean this clearly is especially in the summer it really does become kind of a nuisance situation absolutely so it's something that we're actively working on with not only the Northampton County District Attorney's office but also our city solicitor's office and I'm going to be reaching out to councilwoman Leon to have a public safety meeting set up to discuss it and a new ordinance that I'm I'm currently drafting to help us address this pervasive issue um and I think probably the next question that people would ask about an ordinance would be enforcement because um do we we don't have you don't think we have the legal standing that we need in order to to stop it without a new ordinance so there was a new and forgive me it escapes me right now but there was a new law passed in the state of Pennsylvania in regard to dirt bikes and our ability to seize them a local ordinance would make it easier for us to seize the dirt bikes after they're taken into police you know the individuals taken into police custody um but also there are some nuances that some other municipalities are using in regard to gas stations and where these individuals are fueling up at um that would enable us to to help cut back on the amount of illegal dirt bikes that are in the city so there's a some interesting things that we're going to be putting into the ordinance that I'm I'm very anxious to let everyone know about it I I feel that it could make um somewhat of an impact on the problem that we're facing right and I mean I don't you know want to stop anyone from being able to get to work or anything like that right so if you're you know you're using an ebike or you're using a moped or something like that this is the the situation with this has become a real Hazard for pedestrians for cyclists for children you know in neighborhoods and things like that where it's just the excessive speed obviously the noise is is um you know uh very unpleasant also obviously but um so I'm I'm more looking at it from that kind of safety perspective and um so yeah I appreciate that well we'll look forward to learning more about the ordinance thank you thank you um and then I just uh had a few thoughts connecting some of the things that folks have said tonight um and um you know I think we are up here trying to do our best uh to um solve the problems of people in the city to make this the city a better place to live I think that the fact that we do have a housing crunch um does show that people do want to live here um I think we're we're experiencing at this time um a shift where this um smaller cities like Bethlehem not just Bethlehem but smaller cities like Bethlehem that used to have a lot of naturally affordable housing um that that has um that has shrunk and so now we don't have that leg up that folks would come to a small City like ours to experience um I do want to say that yes there is a community meeting tonight there have been numerous Community meetings on housing affordability um the city has uh had the Administration has held um numerous meetings uh Community meetings where everybody's been invited and there has been food um I've attended quite a few of them I've spoken to many people who live in this city at those meetings um I think that sometimes folks don't attend meetings when they think something isn't going to impact them um instead of being kind of open to the subject in general and uh wanting to learn more but there have there has been a lot of Outreach I also attended the the Mana meeting um gosh it's probably how long ago was that was like May yeah it was in May yeah so early May so I did felt like almost two months ago um certainly heard people's concerns there tried to uh speak with folks about what's actually in the opening doors uh report uh the the voluminous data which yes was obtained through a consultant because that's kind of how you have to do things um and the results of of of that report are already yielding benefits in terms of um programming Grant grants and things like that the um the Gateway project at East Fourth street so I just I want to say that um uh I'm out there I'm listening uh I have been listening and uh I read everybody's emails so I'm well aware of how people feel um something that um Mr Faber said that connected to something another person said was you know you were talking about wanting to um address the issues in the city and make things better um and um we also obviously have people in this city who have a very different opinion of what making things better might be um and uh so sometimes it's hard because uh not everybody agrees with what uh you might think is making things better so I'm still going to be fighting the good fight for affordable housing for welcoming people um and uh believing that housing is um a human right and that people should be able to afford to live in a place like Bethlehem um whether they are a a server or a doctor um and uh that's just going to continue to be part of the work that I do here for as long as the people of Bethlehem will have me thank you thank you any other new business for members of council councilwoman KY thank you thank you um Chief Cott I don't want you to get up again but um thank you and I'm I'm very um convinced that you're doing everything you can about the bikes but I was just wonder I saw like allentown's us in Pennsylvania State Police Aviation unit assisted them I mean is that a possibility or do you think that's not um a good route to go looking at the volume of the problem I think it's more prevalent in Allentown don't get me wrong I'm not saying we don't have the illegal dirt bikes here but it it's nowhere near the volume that allentown's experiencing so that is a big ask from the Pennsylvania State Police is to have their Aviation unit assist and I'm I'm very happy for chief Roa that that partnership is occurring and that they were able to seize the number of dirt bikes that they did this past week and a half but um it's something that I I don't want to say that we wouldn't explore in the future if the problem persists and and gets to be more of an issue uh but at this time I I don't think that it's it's something that would be um as successful here in our our city okay that makes sense thank you thank um the only other thing I wanted to say was um regarding the community meeting tonight which is um being held regarding the housing um First Presbyterian and our opening doors consultant um I didn't vote for the consultant because I do feel that we do use Consultants too frequently in the city I even when I was working for County government in human services I always felt like the money from the government should go more toward Direct Services for people versus Consultants um I love the way uh mayor panto had the groups of people who were in the field of Housing and East and get together and they had a task force and they basically told him what to do with the rescue fund money and I think that that's what we could have done in Bethlehem um I also knew of some other Consultants that I think would have um you know done more as far as getting us funding um than the one that was selected which I didn't vote for and while I agree there's been numerous meetings about housing there's never been a meeting to my knowledge at the same time as a council meeting and I was really torn tonight as to what meeting to attend because I've had a lot of people reach out to me I live in the community fairly um close to where um all the people are upset and I really wanted to attend that meeting tonight but I felt that I had a duty to attend Council ESP especially since we wouldn't have a forum if I did not attend it and I want it on the record that in the future um I propose that if there is a meeting with the um the community in the city such as hap is happening tonight that it not be um scheduled the same night as a council meeting I quite frankly um you know I'm not convinced that it wasn't deliberate that it was scheduled the same time as a council meeting because it's the only one that has been and I feel that I feel strongly that my role as a council member is to represent all the people in the community and if I can't be at that meeting tonight it's more difficult for me to represent them thank God they are reaching out to me and I'm reaching back and you know my door's always open and my phone's always on to speak to people but I really had a a real problem and I asked repeatedly at the last meeting to reschedule a meeting and was told that it couldn't be but I want it on the record that in the future um I really think it's a disservice to have meetings such as this the same night as a council meeting thank you thank you councilwoman any other new business for members of council Mr B I had one quick question if you don't mind coming back to the lecturn just as it relates to the billing and I appreciate some of that Insight I didn't know that bills are I mean Mak sense given the volume of bills that are sent out but given that some of the um some of the operation because it's essentially outsourced in third party can you speak to is there the event that there would be let's say a delay in getting bills out or someone is getting um you you know a bill right before due date or anything like that what kind of grace period is there as it relates to paying bills every Bill carries a a penalty if you if you missed the deadline but if the bills if people do not receive the bill by like the you know within a certain time frame from of of the deadline then we'll use our discretion in waving those fees I think it's going to be on a Case by case bases I like I said I have to take a look and see exactly what if what if any problem occurred in the past couple of billing Cycles if they if they did go out late but would we would usually try to accommodate customers if they did get the bill late and then they have to turn around and mail it right away and it gets to the the U processing center late so and then they get charge the penalty you know so we'll we'll take a look at that and see if there's something that we would need to adjust and that's fair yeah we're not in the business of like penalizing people if if they get the mail late and then they then they then a penalty gets automatically thank you Mr I just think it's relevant to note that there is you do have the ability to wave any late fees yes if something like that happened where they got the bill late yes we we would take care of that understood thank you Mr Bros any other new business before we move on Communications Mr Miller communication 6A June 5th 2024 memorandum and proposed resolution from police chief Michelle cot regarding special event parking during Music Fest 2024 time period will be from 12:00 pm on Friday August 2nd through 11:59 p.m. on Sunday August 11th north side and Southside Provisions are proposed and are detailed on a map that is attached as an exhibit and resolution 10A is on the agenda communication 6B June 11th 2024 memorandum and proposed resolution from Edward boscola director of water and sewer resources Mr boscola recommends a contract with j and Bradley Construction Company Incorporated of Bethlehem to provide labor and materials to replace city-owned 100-year-old 8in water M on Main Street in Freemansburg cost is $846,000 and resolution 10B is on the agenda communication 6C June 11th 2024 memorandum from city solicitor johnf spke Jr with an attached use permit agreement and resolution permit is the lehab valley Grace Brethren Church and the event is Bible reading Marathon event times are noon to 900 PM August 2nd through 11th the duration is noon until 11:00 a.m. to uh uh a correction is 11:00 a.m. till 9:15 p.m. August 2nd through August 11th specified premises is a portion of Johnson Park along Old York Road immediately prior to the foot Bridge as shown on unattached exhibit and resolution 10 C is on the agenda communication 6D June 11th 2024 memorandum from city solicitor johnf spurk Jr with an attached use permit agreement and resolution permit is the n Knights Motorcycle Club and the sub permit is Arts Quest the event is the 2024 vetfest event times are 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. a on both July 13th and 14th the duration is 8:00 a.m. until 700 p.m. on both July 13th and 14th specified premises is First Street from Founders way to the Eastern Terminus and resolution 10d is on the agenda communication 6E June 11th 2024 memorandum from city solicitor John fburg Jr with an attached use permit agreement and resolution permit is CR Christmas City Spirits LLC and the sub permit is the Redevelopment authority of the city of Bethlehem the event is the blueberry bounce launch party the event time is 11:00 a.m. until 400 p.m. on July 20th duration of the permit is from 9:00 a to 5:00 P p.m. on July 20th specified premises or locations in and adjacent to the sunning Courtyard is specified in an attached exhibit and resolution 10 is on the agenda communication 6f June 12th 24 memorandum from city solicitor johnb Jr and attached use per permit agreement and resolution per is the Bethlehem star Lodge Number 20 with sub permites being Redevelopment authority of the city of Bethlehem and Christmas City Spirits LLC the event is 48th banal fop conference entertainment event at the sun in Courtyard event times are 5: to 9:00 p.m. on July 15th the duration will be 4: to1 p.m. on July 15th specified premises or locations in and around adjac in and adjacent to the sun in Courtyard specified in attached exhibit resolution 10f is on the agenda 6G the June 12th 2024 memorandum from city solicitor John fburg Jr with an attached use permit agreement and resolution permit is the betham star Lodge Number 20 and the sub permit is steel Pub LLC event times are 5: to 9:00 p.m. on July 16th the duration is 3: to 11:00 p.m. on July 16th specified premises is first street from pul Street to immediately before the entrance to the steel ice parking lot and ten is on the agenda lastly communication 10 excuse me 6 h a June 12th 2024 memorandum from city solicitor John spk Jr with an attached resolution and intergovernmental cooperation agreement between the Bethlehem Area School District and the City of Bethlehem police department agreement authorizes City police to enforce violations captured by bus Patrol cameras of motorist passing stop Bethlehem Area School District buses and resolution 10 H is on the agenda Tonight reports I have one appointment this evening Mr Miller councilmanic appointment Nicole Jen Carelli Bethlehem Area Public Library board resolution is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss Wilhelm so before I open up to discussion I'll just say I brought forward Miss Jen's name she had reached out there was uh I appreciated there was a few people kind of at least inquired about serving on the library board and Miss Jen Carelli showed interest and has been someone who not only utilizes the library is someone who um executive director Burke over at the library is familiar with and he and I briefly um had a conversation about the appointment and he also feels it's someone who would be very um agrees with the mission of the library in terms of um supporting Library operations and someone who would be involved as a board member uh kind of person we look for to volunteer on these boards so that is why I brought her name forward this evening any other discussion Mr Miller please call the role Miss Wilhelm hi Miss grmy Smith hi Miss quch hi and Mr colum I I pass this 4 Z have nothing else to report tonight Mr Evans to quick for the reports for the mayor last Thursday he had the opportunity to attend a ceremony at Northeast that recognized achievements of members of our Police Department uh he reported that it was a a wonderful night he wanted to thank all of the police and their families for coming out uh in regards to our police and fire we have new him um graduates fire academy last week graduated F uh seven um out of the Allentown fire academy and they entered the force immediately and we just had four candidates or recruits graduate from the police academy so they will also be joining our ranks as well the recruiting efforts in both divisions will uh continue with an attempt and the goal to you know go up to full force as quick as possible thank you thank you Mr Evans moving on to our ordinances for final passage Mr Miller Bill 17 2024 ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending article 347 of the codified ordinances of the city of Bethlehem titled Municipal claims for delinquent accounts schedule of attorney fees to be added bill number 17 2024 is sponsored by Miss Leon and Mr cologne any discussion on the ordinance we'll call the roll Miss Wilhelm I miss KY Smith hi Miss quch I and Mr colum I passes 4 zero Bill 18 2024 an ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the 2024 capital budget for non- utilities bill number 18 2024 is sponsored by Miss Leon and Mr cologne discussion we'll call the roll Miss Wilhelm I miss grmy Smith I miss quch I and Mr colum I passes 40 there are no new ordinances this evening moving on to resolutions resolution 10A resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that during the period 12 noon Friday August 2nd 20124 through 11:59 p.m. on Sunday August 11 2024 and in connection with the 2024 Music Fest Festival all violations of the provisions of article 531 parking generally and the subsection specified in the resolution shall carry the modified findes as specified in the resolution resolution is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss Wilhelm discussion we'll call roll Miss Wilhelm hi Miss KY Smith I miss quch I and Mr colum I passes 4 Z resolution 10B be it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller Andor such other City officials is deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute all documents and agreements with j and Bradley Construction Company Incorporated to install a water man in Freemansburg resolution is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss Wilhelm discussion we'll call roll Miss Wilhelm I miss KY Smith I miss quch I and Mr cologne I passage 4 Z resolution 10 C be it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller Endor such other City officials as deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute a use permit agreement with the Lehigh Valley Grace Brethren Church for a Bible reading Marathon resolution sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss Wilhelm discussion we'll call the rooll Miss Wilhelm I miss grmy Smith I miss quch I and Mr colum I passes 4 Z 10 D be it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller Andor such other City officials as deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute a use permit agreement with the N Knights for the 2024 vetfest resolution sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss Wilhelm discussion we'll call the RO Miss Wilhelm I Miss kmy Smith I miss quch I and Mr colum I pass 4 Z resolution 10e be it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller Andor such other City officials is deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized execute a use permit agreement with Christmas City Spirits loc for the blueberry bounce launch party resolution is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss Wilhelm discussion call the r Miss Wilhelm hi Miss cramy Smith I miss quch I and Mr colom I passage 40 resolution 10f be it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller Andor such other City officials is deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized executed use permit agreement with bethleem star lodge number 20 for the 48th biannual fop conference entertainment event at Sun in Courtyard resolution sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss Wilhelm discussion we'll call the rooll Miss Wilhelm I miss crampy Smith I miss quch I and Mr colom I pass this 4 Z and resolution 10g be it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller Andor such other City officials as deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute a use permit agreement with Bethlehem star lodge number 20 for the 48th banial fop conference entertainment event at steel Pub resolution is sponsored by Leon and Miss Wilhelm discussion I'll just say before we call the rooll on the group of use per agreements tonight I know I made a a light-hearted comment uh at one of our previous meetings I don't remember I could just be wrong I'm going by my own recollection where we've had this many use permit agreements agenda after agenda and it's just really encouraging to see I know some of them are newer programs like how we use the greenway and how we use the Rose Garden some of these as we heard are um Statewide events that are being held in Bethlehem this year which is always great when people come from around the Commonwealth to the city and even just other new community events so I appreciate um well one under the law Bureau is busier when all this is going on but also just seeing the different that there's a lot of variation in some of these events so it's nice to see uh new things going on and hope we just continue to keep growing the way we showcase our city and use our public spaces for these community events any other discussion we'll call the role miss wilham I miss grmy Smith hi Miss quch hi Mr Kum I pass 4 Z and lastly resolution 10 each be resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controll or Endor such other City officials as deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute an intergovernmental cooperation agreement between the Bethlehem Area School District and the City of Bethlehem police department to provide School safety law enforcement resolution is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss Wilhelm discussion quick question y uh Chief cot is this for you this is I'm guessing would be question for you um so this is an inter um this isn't the question yet um this is an intergovernmental agreement between the Bethlehem the city of Bethlehem our police department and the Bethlehem Area School District and so from what I understand from reading this is that the school district um is using like a technology a company called bus Patrol that is intended to um capture when people violate the stop arm right they go around the stop arm obviously extremely dangerous behavior that we all condemn um so this is just uh if I'm understanding it correctly to uh to have the agreement that that um our Police Department gets the film or the data or whatever and then pursues a a civil um a civil like a ticket or a or something like that or correct after a review process so unfortunately there are times where there are malfunctions or where an individual didn't exactly break the law so we have our officers review that footage um if there is a violation they will site uh if there isn't um they'll they'll let it go okay great and so they're just beginning to implement this on the buses so we have been doing this this and council did approve a uh intergovernmental agreement prior this came about from new legislation in Harrisburg that updated the law okay um so that's why you have this updated document in front of you okay thank you Chief can you just speak to how it's updated so basically before the law was very vague and gray uh believe it or not on how an individual can contest and plead not guilty for the citation now it it it covers it and it it's much more um written out [Music] and easy for an individual to do so does that help with enforcement or make it more difficult to enforce uh it it helps with enforcement and it and it helps individuals that feel like they're unjustly um being cited it gives them a course of action to um to contest it and and correct me if I'm wrong but I I think I asked this question when we voted on this last year the citation goes to the registered owner of the vehicle so if my brother is driveing my car and is there's a violation I I get cited correct okay thank you Chief Kai any other questions from members of council thank you Chief thank you M Miller call the rooll Miss Wilhelm hi Miss grmy Smith hi Miss quch hi and Mr colog I passes 4 Z that concludes our agenda get home safe everybody is there second