the Irish TOS came up to Amilia and she's just like and they went up to her Aaron was ready to show them away but she didn't care she was just she had the best time I was thinking about that on was it Sunday or Saturday they the parade was Saturday um yeah I was wondering how she like you yeah she's a little it was her first parade and she did very well she did great it was so cute because so sweet and then I'm like kids are 24 almost and 21 like repl is no my house what she's not at my house Officer school she's reporting April 15 communica their readings so they can they yeah there to and about 10% of those they have difficulties yeah as far as I know none of those three are coming I think it's more set to go um here I'll leave them with give give them a minute to get back here grace andan started making my rounds today I asked I asked if the do we can I'm in the home stretches and we Cann you know like a literature review so much of it is Ryan did you see Gray she's at the B we'll give we'll give it a couple minutes so much I think like April my graduation made but I'm finishing up work from last semester they let me conf I wrote it when you have chance I'm I tell everyone then I'm just not control or else I just have other things to we'll give it another two minutes before okay so it's showing because of this new setup yes hear us talking so YouTube is rying yes okay with this showing did you hear that YouTube is running now because we have the go-to set up for the attorney for the um so she's available if needed right correct once grace we'll get Grace to quarter after Grace and Brian you good and we're recording on YouTube already all right here and Colleen you good good evening everyone thanks for coming out we're going to get started I ask we all rise for the pledge to the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Alison clerk to call the RO Please Mr Callahan present grmy Smith present Miss quak present Miss lard present Miss Leon Miss Wilhelm pres and Mr colum president thank you councilwoman Leon will not be joining us this evening as she is under the weather before we continue on with our agenda I will accept a motion and a second to amend tonight's agenda to move agenda item 3A subjects not being voted on this evening to the bottom of the agenda to be our last agenda item for this evening so Mo second motion by councilman Callahan second by councilwoman cramsey Smith discussion so I will simply say again what we just motion to do is to revise tonight's agenda and move our public comment for anything that's not being voted on to the very end of tonight's agenda uh I will be very uh Direct in saying this is inir response to our last council meeting our primary function here at these Council meetings is to vote on and execute City business as was well reported and to anyone that was in this room two weeks ago we were not able to get on any voting matters at the last meeting we have had the last two Council meetings hours of public comment and Council has heard and I would even say been respectful to those that were addressing Council uh even if we disagreed at times whether it was things that Council memb said people who spoke at the Lector and said but we tried to show everyone a certain amount of respect and courtesy as people speak at the Lector allowing everyone their five minutes that will continue tonight but we have to get to our agenda and we had to pull agenda items from the last meeting to tonight so now we have new business that has uh come up in the last two weeks on top of what was our last agenda agenda so we're going to move on with the agenda as was advertised uh except we'll have public comment on anything not being voted on as our last agenda item this evening depending on the vote is there any other comment from members of council as it relates to the motion on the floor before I ask Mr Miller to call the role Mr Miller please call the role M Wilhelm I Mr Callahan I M pamy Smith i m quch i m lard I Mr col I passes 70 public comment on non-agenda items will be the last item on tonight's agenda and before I proceed I'll just remind everyone as I spoke about courtesy and respect uh we have uh the last couple meeting's been atypical where we've had a lot of uh disruption whether it be Applause whether it be uh opposing views in the room things like that we may have that again tonight and I'll repeat myself in asking everyone to be courteous to whoever is to your left right behind you in front of you as you would ask for the same courtesy we've never asked anyone to excuse themselves from town hall at least never in my time on Council which is approaching a decade now I don't look forward or wish to start having to do that but if I feel anyone is being disruptive to the point where it's impeding our progress to move forward with this meeting I will politely and directly ask someone to refrain from interrupting and if that continues may have to ask someone to excuse themselves from town hall again I don't say this as um wanting to speak it into reality but we do have to be able to move on with our meetings thank you and then we have a few citations this evening for City retirees they include John Lawrence Scott Ryan and Thomas Galloway I don't believe any of the three are here tonight just want to scan the room real quick to make sure that Mr Lawrence Ryan or Galloway neither are here and they are not so we will make sure that our city clerk gets them the citations from city council approval of minutes we have our approval of minutes for the March 5th 2024 agenda any discussion on the minutes seeing none the minutes stand approved moving on to public comment we're going to start with ordinances and resolutions to be voted on this evening again this is for anything whether resolution or ordinance that is on the agenda for Council vote we only have one person signed up Harry Farber is Mr Farber is this is this some is this something that is an agenda item this evening all on the agenda I read the whole agenda all right starting with uh uh 10B records destruction uh the Community Development block grant payment vouchers and revolving Loan Fund bank statements uh why are you trying to destroy documents surrounding money do you have something to hide is there corruption amongst the council this is insane why from 2 16 these are from 2016 documents they're not very old so why are you trying to get rid of these documents that's disgusting I vote no do not destroy any financial documents uh second on the agenda I would like to address oh I do want to give you guys some credit you are all very caring about bethlehem's historic aesthetic the last three things on the agenda are herb certificates uh of appropriateness and I appreciate that I adore history I all I do is read history and I adore preserving it truly but when are you going to start valuing people the same way you value that I'm not but you are tainted with blood in my eyes sure you didn't pull the trigger but you did nothing if a group of people were to rob a store and a person amongst the group were to kill someone they'd all be charged with murder so why are you exempt you are complicit in this genocide you hold a position of power and yet you do nothing you give false lies you Pro you promise and yet you do nothing uh and most importantly I want to address uh the disgusting budget changes so from my understanding there's a decrease in Revenue coming from the ARP act Bethlehem is losing $28,500 okay that stinks right so to compensate for the loss in Revenue you proposed to cut over TW you proposed to cut $2,263 from the community Recovery Fund and $3,267 from the homeless initiative and at the same time you plan on giving Northampton County Police an additional $20,000 as a grant which they do not have to pay back because that's how grants are you don't have to pay the they don't have to pay the $20,000 back and no one is asking for this this is insane to give our money to the prison industrial system and I'm not saying that all cops are b i mean i I could say it I'm not saying that the people the police here are bad people but it is a fact that this is an oppressive system read the new Jim Crow it's not it's not my job to educate you okay so Northampton County uh by the way is a private prison for profit and per 100,000 people of the number of violent crimes reported in Northampton County because this is going to Northampton County Jail was 22 per 100,000 people considering that we are a college party town I'm sure a lot of these were related to alcohol in 2022 the number number of deaths due to homicide per 100,000 population was 1.88 this is not a violent County so stop stealing money from Social programs to fund the prison industrial system I propose instead that we take $28,000 500 or $28,500 the loss of Revenue out of Mayor Reynolds salary of $90,500 and further I propose any increase in police funding also be taken out of Mayor Reynolds salary the median household income in Northampton County is $77,000 in Bethlehem specifically the medium house old income is $627 personally I do not believe you work $330,000 harder or more than the average Bethlehem citizen mayor Reynolds so why again do you make 50% more than the average person while actively cutting Community spending I make less than $30,000 a year and I can promise you you do not work harder than me and one last thing I want to get off my chest while I have time I just have to say the Fourth of July fireworks I get it you know it's a I've been going to the Fourth of July fireworks my whole life I've grown up in Bethlehem my whole life but at some point like do you guys not experience cognitive dissonance we are launching fireworks at the same time us made bombs are being dropped on guys that killing innocent civilians like the the US May bombs are are being dropped relentlessly and indiscriminately on Gaza this is called a Scorch Earth campaign and Israel has a history filled with it in 1956 the Suz war on Egypt when forced to pull out of the Seas territory they destroyed every road Railroad and structure of or of structure of value in Egypt and of the occupied territory in 2006 Israel invaded Lebanon and after a ceasefire which Israel sought for uh on which became approved on August 12th 2006 the Israeli military scattered more than a million cluster bomblets across Southern Lebanon this is just two incidents of Israel's among Israel's dense terroristic history to reiterate the absurdity of us celebrating our own Liberation from colonialism while simultaneously oppressing and abetting a genocide the cognitive dissonance is insane $33,000 to celebrate what how are the oppressors that now that's just me speaking that's all I got to say I'm gross down thank you there is no one else signed up for anything that's being voted on the on the agenda this evening so as is typical I'll go around the room starting with the left is there anyone to the left who wants to talk about any ordinance or resolution that we're going to be voting on tonight I turn to the wide Center I'll start with Mr Shire in the front and then continue through Bill Shire 1898 in Avenue now for a change of pace I want to comment on the agenda item uh changing Council rules to restrict public uh speakers to citizens of the city or people who own property in the city I have mixed feelings about this on the one hand I'm kind of proud of the fact that the Bethlehem city council for at least the 21 years I've been coming here allows people from outside the city to speak but after last week's meeting and the disrespect shown to this Council and to the city of Bethlehem I am also sympathetic to the motion I take no position on it it's um I will point out that the previous speaker uh violated Council rules already by making a personal attack upon the mayor now the mayor and I have a lot of disagreements but I am personally offended when people come into this room and act in a disrespectful way we have a tradition in Bethlehem that as much as we may disagree on things we act with Civility and decorum we are open we discuss things but we do not disrupt and make personal attacks thank you very much thank you Mr sh I'll just remind everyone real quick we're not voting on that resolution this evening it is being read into the record as a communication but a vote will take place at the next meeting on any amendments to our Council rules anyone else in the center who want to speak on agenda item in the center hello um I'm also speaking on M kmy Smith's resolution um so I'd like to start out by saying uh the justification written in here is related to the sunshine lawly we we're not voting any rules changes that is agenda I clarify sorry and that's that's get this muted so it's muted okay thank you Mr Bosa Mr Miller Miss L for your attention to that now again just to clarify we are not voting this evening on any changes to our Council rules it's going to be right into the record as a communication to be voted on at the next council meeting if I wasn't clear on that before I apologize is there anyone else in the center who wanted to make comment on anything that council is taking a vote on this evening as an ordinance or a resolution seeing none I'm going to continue on to the right is there anyone to the right who wanted to make comment on any resolutions or ordinances that Council was voting on this evening thank you we're going to continue on with our agenda and then I'll go back for public comment when we're done with the agenda old business any old business for members of council before we get into the old business from our agenda from the last meeting so we're going to go under old business to communication 6A a February 22nd 2024 memorandum from business administrator Eric Evans with an attached resolution memo explains a resolution that would correct the intended resident rate of $375 for use of the ilix mill facility an incorrect amount of $425 was reviewed at a related finance committee meeting and later approved by council at the February 20th meeting the non-resident rate of 475 was correct and resolution 10 C is on the agenda this evening communication 6B February 22nd 2024 memorandum with a proposed resolution from Public Works director Michael alcohol Mr alcohol alcol recommends that a contract be awarded to Garden State fireworks Incorporated in Millington New Jersey to provide the July 4th firework show cost is $33,000 the rain date is July 5th there are no renewals and resolution 10d is on the agenda communication 6C February 28th 2024 meum from solicitor John fburg Jr with an attached use permit agreement and resolution permit is the American Association of University women Bethlehem Branch to use the Earl e Schaefer ice rank to hold its 2024 AAW book fair event dates are April 25th through April 29th 2024 and the duration of the permit of April 1st through April 29th 2024 and resolution 10e is on the agenda communication 6D February 28th 2024 memorandum from solicitor johnb Jr with an attached use permit agreement and resolution Perma is work to live LLC doing business as run Le High Valley for use of public property specified as Main Street from River Street to Broad Street and never place right away and a fight parcel along West Walnut Street event is the 2024 Brew to brew run which will take place between 10:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on April 13th 2024 permit duration will be from 8:00 a.m. until 400 p.m on April 13 2024 and resolution 10f is on the agenda moving on to reports Mr Mayor I have one administrative order at this time I H hereby appoint Roco Bel trami 728 High Street bethle PA 18018 to the position of assistant city solicitor and this appointment is effective as of March 19th 2024 administrative order Rocko belamy Esquire assistant city solicitor the resolution sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss crampy Smith discussion on the appointment I'll just say I'll be supporting this evening and Mr Bel tramy if all goes well welcome to the law Bureau please call the rooll M Wilhelm I Mr Callahan i m Smith I miss quch i m lard I and Mr colog I passes 60 M Mr Mayor no I think the rest of my report is during the next understood so make sure agenda moving on to ordinances for final passage Mr Miller please read Bill 3 2024 an ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the general front budget for 2024 Bill Z 3 2024 sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss grmy Smith discussion M I'd like to give Mr Evans an opportunity to um this was something that we went over I believe in the finance committee these were things that we had done in the finance committee I believe um but just an opportunity to um explain to the folks here and and on YouTube what this kind of budget adjustment means that we're not taking money away from a program um and giving it to another program but rather if you could just give a little primer on what this actually means what we're voting yeah this is uh not any change in priorities or allocations it's simply a timing adjustment uh at when we are preparing the budget that begins in August September October by November it's at Council we have to make estimates about how much might be left in any Capital account for any project or purchase that needs to be made by late October go to the printer so it can be in the hands of uh the council and the public by November uh as and as you might assume many of the construction projects go a little quicker or a little slower weather dependent vendor dependent all kinds of dependencies that cause that number not to be exactly right on the mark So at the end of the year when we actually take our cut to know our picture on 12:31 of how much was spent we need to tie that back to the estimate that was made several months earlier so the difference in the projections and the actual to tie it back together is what you see here we have to tie the budget to the the new year so we know whether if we spent more than we projected there's less left in it you'll see a negative if we didn't spend as much for whatever holdup was it might have been a supply chain issue we thought it would arrive it did not and then that amount is added to that budget line item that's simply what we're talking about tonight so there's no changes in priorities or projects thank you yes you're welcome any other discussion on the agenda item please call roll Miss willhelm hi Mr Callahan hi M gry Smith hi miss quch I miss lard I and Mr colone I pass to 60 please read bill 4 2024 an ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the general fund for 2024 Bill 04 2024 sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss KY Smith discussion M qu once again I just uh perhaps is Chief cot here I don't know hi Chief so I I just want to uh clarify this um the the money is not actually going uh this is a grant that we received from Northampton County I believe is that correct it is yes ma'am so we're not actually giving money to Northampton County's Police Department or or prisons or anything like that through this correct it's their first responder Grant it's available to all the different municipalities in Northampton County and the purpose uh if I recall correctly was for um ballistic Shields to go into our Patrol vehicles uh in case God forbid of a a you day shooting um where officers are able to respond and and and hopefully save lives thank you any other discussion on the agenda item Mr Miller please call the rooll thank you Chief cot Miss Wilhelm hi Mr Callahan hi M grmy Smith hi Miss quch hi Miss I and Mr colum I pass a 60 Bill 5 2024 ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the general fund budget for 2024 Bill 05 2024 sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss grmy Smith discussion call the rooll Miss Wilhelm I Mr Callahan I miss grmy Smith I miss quch I miss l I and Mr colum I passes 60 Bill 6 2024 ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the general fund budget for 2024 Bill 06 2024 is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss grmy Smith discussion we'll call the role Miss Wilhelm I Mr Callahan I miss kmy Smith I miss quch I miss l i Mr cologne I pass a 60 Bill 7 2024 ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and North Hampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the 2024 storm waterer fund budget adjustment Bill 07 2024 is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss crampy Smith discussion M quch yes uh just a clarification that this is again kind of an accounting situation um you're not this money exists in the storm water budget and it's it's being moved into a place where it can be used is that is that what's going on yeah storm water budget is similar to uh what we talked for with talked about with the end the adjustment with Recovery Fund or with the general Capital fund it's projects that were not completed or were completed quicker than we thought or not as quickly as we thought time the money that was projected to be spent versus what was actually spent at 1231 and just balancing that out and balancing it out yes yeah allocated to something else that yeah thank you any other discussion on the agenda item we'll call the rooll Miss Wilhelm I Mr Callahan I M grmy Smith I miss quch I miss lard I and Mr colom I pass 60 Bill 8 2024 ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the 2024 capital budget for non utilities Bill 08 2024 is sponsored by Miss Leona Miss kmy Smith discussion we'll call the role Miss Wilhelm hi Mr Callahan hi M gron Smith hi M quch I miss layard I and Mr colum I passes 60 resolutions please read resolution 10A be it resolved that the Aramark sports and entertainment services LLC has requested the approval of the Council of the city of Bethlehem nor impon County for the proposed transfer of Pennsylvania restaurant liquor license R 1386 66 purchased in plcb auction for use at a new restaurant at Wind Creek Casino 77 Wind Creek Boulevard Bethlehem Northampton County with the understanding that said transfer must be approved at a later date by the Pennsylvania liquor control board resolution sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss kmy Smith before I open up to discussion I just wanted to make it uh apparent that Miss Freeman who addressed council at the public hearing at the last meeting is available remotely she's not local to the Lehigh Valley so we saved her the gas driving back out if there is if there are any questions for her any discussion on the intermunicipal liquor license transfer seeing none Miss Freeman I thank you for availing yourself uh this evening Mr Miller please call the rooll M Wilhelm hi Mr Callahan hi M Grampy Smith hi miss quch I miss lard hi and Mr colum I passes 6 resolution 10B be it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem in accordance with the municipal records manual hereby authorizes the disposal of public records in the Department of community and economic development has set forth in exhibit a the resolution sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss kmy Smith discussion just uh I'm not sure if um Miss Collins is here or somebody else said hi there you are um if you could just uh explain um sort of the the records retention act and how long we need to keep records um and you know what this process is about I believe the municipal records retention Act was passed by Council around 2008 and that sets out the schedule by which All City departments have to dispose of Records um so we I think like other departments periodically um you know go through our various records and make sure that we um are disposing of the things in accordance with the retention act um and for cdbg and home we also are governed by Hud's rules so in this instance we looked at both of those um rules and and disposed of the records accordingly thank you any other discussion we'll call the RO Miss Wilhelm I Mr Callahan I M grmy Smith I miss quch I miss l i and Mr col I pass 60 Resolution 10 C be it resolved by the Council of the city of bethle that the daily resident rate for the ilix mill facility be reduced from $425 to $375 resolution sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss crampsey Smith discussion we'll call the role Miss wilham I Mr Callahan I miss kmy Smith I miss quch I miss lard I and Mr clone I pass 60 Resolution 10d be it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and the controller Andor such other City officials as deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute all documents and agreements with Garden State fireworks Incorporated to provide the Fourth of July fireworks shell resolution is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss kmy Smith discussion we'll call the rooll Miss Wilhelm hi Mr Callahan hi M grmy Smith hi miss quch I miss l i and Mr clone I pass the 60 Resolution e 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 American Association of University women Bethlehem Branch for the 2024 AAUW book fair resolution is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss crampy Smith discussion we'll call the RO Miss Wilhelm I Mr Callahan I M grmy Smith i m quak i Miss lard I and Mr colum I pass 60 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 for hereby authorized to execute a use permit agreement with work to live LLC doing business as renle High Valley for the Brew to brew run event resolution is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss grmy Smith discussion we'll call the RO Miss Wilhelm I Mr Callahan I miss KY Smith I miss quch I miss lard I and Mr col I pass 60 and resolution 10g certificate of appropriateness under the provisions of the act of Pennsylvania legislature Bethlehem resolution is hereby granted for 375 13th Avenue to construct a second floor Edition to top an existing first floor enclosed rear Edition at the North wing of the main dwelling as an enclosure for a new elevator resolution is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss crampy Smith discussion we'll call the rooll Miss Wilhelm I Mr Callahan I miss kmy Smith I miss quch I miss lard I and Mr clone I that concludes our old agenda moving on to new business any new business from members of council Miss qu I'm still getting adjusted to the the new business being here um I just wanted to say uh I was very grateful to be able to join with uh this with um the Department of Community Economic Development and others uh and representatives of different um nonprofits and things um last week when the Department of Housing and Urban Development came for a site visit on the choice neighborhoods uh planning Grant um that is a a partnership of the Bethlehem housing authority and uh the city um and as Council eaon uh I just wanted to report that it was a really good um visit they uh got a chance to really understand better um the uh opportunities uh in terms of people and neighborhoods and um the the assets that are in the neighborhood we we visited uh Rockland Park we visited um a little bit with just Bourne um which is right at you know which is a neighbor to the pemro uh neighborhood which is the neighborhood that is the subject of the of the planning Grant um and so I just wanted to thank the city uh Administration for inviting me to join on that visit and uh very excited about uh the continued progress of this project any other new business members Council councilwoman lar uh yeah just a brief followup we had talked at I think it was two meetings ago now uh where we approved the parks and wreck fees for the year for the swimming pools um and I have talked to to um Jody in the Parks and R office and a meeting with um Mr Evans tomorrow uh to talk about some options for making the pools uh accessible to people who might not be able to afford them uh so more to come on that but but there is progress and conversation underway thank you Miss L any other new business for members of council councilman CR Smith um I just had a question I'm not sure who can um address it but we received an email from a constituent that was concerned about um a bethle parking authority meeting regarding the garage and um from what his email said that it sounded like it was a a closed meeting and um the Press wasn't allowed it was only certain residents were that were allowed can anyone in the administration speak to that we received the same communication I believe Mr ferram sent to All of city council um I believe it was received yesterday or today um but I mean I think it was a conversation between the parking authority and neighboring property owners but before that I think his communication speak for itself it had nothing to do with us nothing to do with any any City Representatives or anything like that nobody nobody else was there but I believe has his memo stated and I don't have it in front of me I saw the email come through at some point I think he said that he had some meetings with property owners but I'm not but beyond that whatever is in this in the memo that was I think between Mr feram the parking authority and the and the the surrounded Property Owners okay my my concern is just that if if what the constituent is stating if there's any two to it like first of all um I don't think we should parking authority should be having closed meetings and only inviting select people and also I'm concerned about Sunshine Law violation so um I can reach out to Mr feron regarding that and I'm also wondering someone had reached out to me while certain why certain meters on Marcus Street have red bags on them and it looks like there's a note that says this uh designated for certain Property Owners but not all there's only a few does anybody know why that is that would be a question for Mr fernstrom I I I don't know they they bag the meters for permits moving I I I couldn't I couldn't all right thanks Mr calan I I and on that same subject I I just think Mr fom probably should have been here today uh I think this is the first time that you know that we Pro possibly could have addressed uh the collapse of the um of the garage during the uh uh tear down and um you know and the uh the beam that you know that fell on the uh adjacent property I you know I think someone should have been here just to um review with us uh what happened um and what the reports from the um the engineers uh stated so that's on that topic um on another topic I um we are Mr I I don't know when you had proposed it but I don't know if you want to handle this or if one of your staff members do but can you just give me I'm hearing a lot of talk from residents that are very upset about this open doors policy that is being proposed by you and your Department of Economic Development um tell me Tell the residents if you can reassure them that are in edgeboro and uh Manana and these other areas that their zoning is not changing that at no time is I mean I I would hope this is the case what's happening with this open doors policy is it is it going to be possible for somebody to go in there into a single family um neighborhood and change and and putting something in there multi family lowincome or moderate income housing in there in a single family neighborhood is that what the is that what is that what it's trying to do I mean I don't know what the changes I would start by asking if you've had a chance to read the opening doors I have not and that's why I'm asking you about it because I wanted I wanted to hear from you and I just think it's well I I would start by the idea that it is a almost 100 page document uh we've talked about it just to give some of the background because I think it's important here is it's about a 100 page document that there's been a process that city council has went through with the community and with City Administration for over a year um and I think it's important to read the whole document and we've had multiple public meetings about it I'm going to get to the answer to question um but we've had multiple public meetings about it I think Mr tulo had reached out to everybody on city council when opening doors was finished in January and had offered to be able to sit down with anybody to be able to go through the information um to be able to explain where opening doors came from and I think it is an opportunity to provide perspective on just like how we brought opening doors together and it was not like nobody told us that we had to do it but the combination of the money that we had allocated from arpa and the fact that we wanted to make it a community process led us down the road that we went down and opening doors as you probably probably well if you haven't read it I would highly encourage you to read it I would highly encourage you to read through the whole thing can you see so you can see how the different parts fit together um was formed with a steering committee of the biggest institutions we have here in the city of Bethlehem St Luke's Lehi Valley the Bethlehem Area School District Moravian Lehi a bunch of different nonprofits that work in this field and it really came together after months and months of people talking about what our housing crisis was both in the city of Bethlehem and the Lehigh Valley um and that process involved I believe about 3,500 Community surveys um and to reflect the fact that we have a housing crisis not just here in Bethlehem but throughout the Lehigh Valley um and the biggest takeaway when you if you read all of opening doors is obviously what our housing crisis is the fact that uh rent for a single family um for a for a single apartment has increased over 50% over the past 5 years uh median sales price for home in betham has gone from 180,000 over 300,000 uh it's not just an ethical issue but it's an economic issue and you know I was just over at lvdc before this um and you know Mr Cunningham had brought up that you know he hears from everybody about how we have this issue so what opening doors is about is it's about a process that brings together the biggest institutions we have to focus on what potential solutions could be now if you haven't read it it lays out 10 different potential areas of strategies and they include taking a look at zoning adus taking a look at landlord incentive programs taking a look at Gap financing for affordable housing projects site acquisition to be able to invest in affordable housing uh Choice neighborhoods which was mentioned before eviction prevention adjusting our affordable housing programs to be able to uh Target truly low income people working with state legislator and the state to be able to focus on housing and then finally working regionally to increase our housing Supply where the not to speak over each other Mr I know also want to I as a simple question but it's and you're getting an answer that I speak to myself I'm look forward to hearing the answer at some point i' like to get the is is it my question was is it possible my question was is it possible for you Mr Callan he's answer he he acknowledged that he's gonna explicitly answer your question with background I'd appreciate if you got to the point of my question and this is this is America Mr C and you can pick the questions but you pick the answers I ask everyone to continue with your answer please Mr Mayor and the perspective having to do with the process that we went through the process that it is absolutely you're always able to reach out I know last week you had reached out to Mr alall about Paving Madison Avenue where you have your new house so I know you're able to contact the administration with questions is important to be able to provide the perspec Please assign motive I I I I apologize I think it was just a fact I ask everybody to please be as Mr alol said it's it's on the list already right Mr Mr it's one of the worst roads in the city I'm gonna diverge into a conversation about Paving he brought it up I'm just addressing his his we're not going to speak over each other Mr Mayor please finish your answer I will president clone my point was just that the best way to learn about these particular issues one that the other five people currently are on city council here is to take advantage of the opportunities that there are opportunities to meet with the administration and that the choice for whatever people make when they choose not to meet with the administration not review beforehand then requires the proper perspective to be able to put questions into account and if you read opening doors and what it says in there and what we've talked about and what we've shared with every neighbor we are going to the school district to talk about this we had a meeting back in January where we discuss this um publicly we're having opening doors meetings throughout the rest of the year to talk about the progress on the different priorities going forward um and as far as the zoning is concerned as we have said to many different people this was a suggestion that came in no work has been done on that the last time we took a look at our zoning code um which we updated in 2012 it was a process that took almost five years while it would not take five years no mayor no Administration is able to change zoning if you were decided to go to ask for a zoning variance you go to the zoning hearing board if somebody would to be bring forward some type of zoning change that would go before city council if the administration was to oppose a zoning change city council would vote on it but none of those decisions have been made none of the research has been done that is a multi-year process that takes reaching out to people and if you talk to Miss heler who did this the first time uh you know about 15 years ago it involves neighborhood meetings it involves and if you take a look at the zoning code it is important to notice and I know we had this conversation last year about a couple different things what is allowed by right what requires special exception what necessarily um you need to be able to uh go to the zoning hering board for all important nuances and details that can't just be come up within a couple of months um so I would tell you as far as the zoning piece is concerned it is a it is a piece that no work has begun we're not going to bring forth anything you know we have reached out to be able to correct some misperceptions um about what people necessarily are looking to do it came forward as a suggestion to look at in the open indoors policy but I would say two things as I wrap up my comments one is I would suggest anybody that is interested in the issue of affordable housing to come to our public meetings to read through opening doors a process that this community worked for over a year to put together um and to understand that the biggest thing that we are dealing with here is a housing crisis and all of those conversations are going to be public and they all require city council approval um as far as any major changes or any minor changes and that there's nothing on the horizon there and this is is a point that we continue to tell people and you know Miss Collins Miss satula myself Miss heler we've offered to meet with every single group that ever has any questions about this particular issue thank you Mr clone have have you have you talked to anybody from edgeboro Community we have talked to people from every neighborhood and I can tell you that mount AR that because I'm I'm I've talked to these people and not one of them have heard from you or your departments Mr not one Mr clone it's a simple question I'm just telling you let him answer when you ask a question the completion of the question is what allows the other person to ask a follow-up question this isn't gym class you can't cut me off here as far as when I'm answering everyone taxe I ask everyone to please stop talking over each other we need to act civil in this in this I will again ask everyone Mr when you ask a question please if you're gonna ask a question directed to the mayor please allow him time to finish his answer to the question I'd like to have an apology for Mr Reynolds we're we're not gonna get into now I'm sorry to referencing your your your your experience as a gym teacher I don't like to be I don't like to be interrupted health and physical is a room I apologize health and physical education I apologize I would would compl I would like to be able to complete my cont to not be interrupted go ahead my response was a retort to the fact that I can't answer a question without being interrupted and the answer to the particular question I believe I have the opportunity to be able to complete at when I would like to so this there are a lot of things that we have talked about publicly have to do with opening doors we continue to reach out we've reached out to people that have contacted us in different neighborhoods um and offered the opportunity to be able to go out and talk to them and we have some of those scheduled but I will also tell you that none of this work has started none of the work having to do with looking at zoning other what is in opening doors and I can tell you and this is important information as well what it says in opening doors as far as looking at how do you build appropriate scale neighborhoods how do you look at scale and form how do you do infill all of these words are just as important as words that people want to cut out of page 73 or whatever it might be in opening doors but the the deal remains and it will continue to remain and we have these opening doors meetings on the books we had the first one in January we're going to have another one I believe at some point early in May and we're going to have these meetings that are public to talk about the progress that we've made on these issues as a whole with that being said they we also will be able to share information with people at the appropriate time on the issue of zoning no work has been done yet so there isn't necessarily anything to share as far as research but anything that is done in that realm will be talked about publicly and absolutely if there if and when there's an appropriate time people will go out out and to be able to have these conversations to come up with any potential recommendations are are you in favor of changing the zoning so that an individual could go in or the city could go in and put a multif family housing project in a single family neighborhood are you in favor of that Mr Callahan I'm in favor if if there were things that we necessarily felt stolling about we would have never taken on this public process of taking 3,500 surveys in Etc what is laid out in opening doors is a road map going forward there have not been conversations there has not been any research done yet so to try to say that what I'm in favor of or what I'm not in favor of I'm in favor of the process playing out is there something in this is my last question on it is there something in open I haven't read it and and as you said it's 100 some of pages is there something currently in open doors right now that allows or suggests that that people can go into a single family neighborhood and and have the uh if it's if if it's approved is there something in open doors right now that allows for multi family units to go into a single family neighborhood what Curr currently what opening door suggests is looking at zoning and it it suggests looking at different options so for example like in my neighborhood or in most of the neighborhoods we live in by right it allows you to do different things whether or not twin fan twin home H or single family homes or whatever it might be it calls for looking into that process that's that's what it calls for are you in favor that to look into the process to have the conversation we are going to have the conversation I just told you that City staff is going to research this issue as it relates Miss heler did something very similar 15 years ago which led to zoning code changes what those changes necessarily looked like in the zoning code like we can take a look at what they actually were but the process sounds a lot scarier than it actually is and it is a process that has not begun yet and it is also not a process that we have any real opinion on other than the fact that we think we should take a look at it which reflects what came out of that Community process that involved 3,500 different people and all of those different institutions when the uh draft was done it went out to Lehi St Luke's maravan all of them and what is delivered there is not what I believe or what Miss satula believes or what Miss Collins believes it is a collection of all the different steering committee partners and the 3,500 people that responded and came out to the meetings those people don't live in the in those neighborhoods St Luke's doesn't live in that neighborhood Lea University doesn't live in that neighborhood the people the residents that are in that neighborhood are up in arms right now and I think you're going to hear from them soon because they are they uh saw an article in the paper I don't know what the gentleman I think it was Mr thod and uh I've been getting phone calls out non-stop so I I you know I think one of the things that makes Bethlehem betham is our neighborhoods and people uh have been living in these neighborhoods and they're very comfortable with the way things are right now and I don't think and they've spent a lot of money and they've spent a lot of time uh and and they decided to build our families and raise their families in these single family neighborhoods and I don't think they are too kind right now about changing the zoning uh to multif family units and if that's and from what I'm being told that's what's in the open doors policy that you and your Administration are P are pushing it's not up to Lehi University it's not up to St Luke's it's not the Le Val hospital it's up to the neighbors the neighbors that live there have ownership in those neighborhoods and I would just ask them if if instead of calling counsel uh send start sending your letters and come to Council meetings and start speaking up because that's what's got to be done before the process gets too far down the road thank you Mr calan so one thing I'll remind everyone who's listening and in the room the opening doors uh PDF plan is on the city's website believe it's uh 90 something pages that is accessible to anyone who wants to visit it on the city website read through it read what's in there read what's not in there and um I believe we had a uh Community economic development meeting last year or maybe even a couple or two meetings I believe it was two meetings to address some of these programs that when this process kicked off back then and we heard some um feedback from the administration at this time so these conversations have been going on I wasn't on Mr Callahan I I've recognized that I'm sharing with everyone in the room that anyone who's interested in reading up on it could either go back to the council YouTube channel to watch the community uh development committee meetings the two that were had about this and then also can read what's published on the city website in the opening doors PDF it's all right there for anyone to read so any other new business for members of council councilwoman Wilhelm yes on the subject of soliciting public uh input I was going to share that I was very pleased to attend a meeting at uh the Fowler Center and the south south Bethlehem Campus of Northampton Community College um where many Bethlehem residents um in particular residents of the souths side gathered to give their input on a uh potential future community center on the south side it was a very uh well attended meeting very robust and very positive energy as folks shared very openly their thoughtful uh perspectives on on what a potential community center on the South Side um might might provide to Res resident some novel ideas were shared I certainly learned a lot um and also to those in the room and to those listening I strongly encourage that you follow uh the city's uh social media accounts it's a really um excellent place to learn about upcoming meetings to which the public is invited um mayor Reynolds referred to the 3500 surveys that were received with regard to the opening door strategy but those meetings continue uh in public opinion is solicited regularly so I do encourage you to follow along and attend um whether you're on Council or not you're invited to attend those meetings thank you thank you any other new business for members of council before we proceed Mr Callahan I just like to ask uh Chief cot a couple questions Chief there there was uh um about two months ago there was two shootings in the city you I'm to one that stands out in my mind yes the other one I'm I'm and last month or two weeks ago there was another one correct yes and then I was informed by a realtor um maybe about a month ago two people on the Southside were jumped in severe head injuries and went to St Luke's you know what I'm talking about I know of one individual that was injured um not two are we seeing an increase in crime right now for some reason or is it just is that is that the norm right now or I don't want to say it's the norm right now but we're not seeing a significant increase in in criminal activity so we've had three gunshots in the last two months that's that's the norm so we had one individual that was injured uh by uh by by a bullet um however the other were shots fired calls into a into a building um it's consistent with prior years was were those Two Shots individual incidences or were they one they were they were each unique and and specific so there there were two different gun fires gunshots and then La two weeks ago there was another gunshot yes so we had three gun situations being fired in the last two months yes one individual was injured and taken to the hospital and treated um we're currently looking for the individual that was involved in that but the other were shots fired I believe at residents was was struck and and what happened to the individual that was jumped on the southide and and was in a comb or something at St Luke's I'm not aware of that all right um is there an air a place that the residents can go in to um online and see like any police reports that day or any type of uh incidences so I I know we release a daily blot to the to the news media uh as well as our social media pages are very very Ive um I I know that a prior speaker came and and spoke about a website that would have uh the daily contributions the daily blot um from the Department uh we utilize the UCR page through the Pennsylvania State Police which provide individuals with the relative location of crimes occurring uh as to you know keep an individual's privacy um if they're involved in a a major incident um so not to give away any identifying characteristics do you do you know off the top your head how many shootings we had in 2022 no not off the top of my head how about 2023 not off the top of my head but I I can tell you that we are a very very safe city as opposed to a lot please don't interrupt and talk over each other no I'm not just go ahead I'm sorry as as opposed to um some other cities our size in the Commonwealth we are a very very safe City yeah I I just I'm I'm concerned because I think three shootings in since the beginning of the year is is a little abnormal I don't think that's normal for a city of betham and I think you would agree with that understood okay thank you any other new business for members of council I will say that we are going to have a committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday March 26th here in town hall at 6 p.m. M this is our by anual council member ethics training seminar as is required by ordinance and then the department heads I'm sure will be joining us also for that uh ethics training also so again that's Tuesday March 26 at 6m here in town hall continuing on with our agenda Communications communication 6E March 5th 2024 memorandum with an attached resolution from Health director Kristen wrick Miss wirick recommends a contract with Cedar Crest College valentown to prepare the community connections evaluation cost is of the contract is $19,500 the work is to be completed by August 31st 2024 there are no renewals and resolution 10 each is on the agenda communication 6f March 12th 2024 memorandum with an attached proposed resolution from council member Grace kmy Smith recommending an amendment to the rules of council M grmy Smith recommends limiting public comments to Residents Andor taxpayers of the city of Bethlehem this change would conform with the Sunshine Law And as as is required by our Council rules this resolution will be placed on the April 2nd city council agenda communication 6G March 13th 2024 memorandum from Sandra sell director of of purchasing Miss sell provided an attached list of equipment Vehicles recommended for sale within the next 60 days at an online auction the proposed auction is in accordance with provisions of resolution 2009 95 and if council is no objection to the property listed the items may be added to the online auction if Council would like to discuss a specific item the same shall be removed from the list and discussed at the next council meeting on April 2nd would any member of council like to remove any item from the list and discuss it at the next city council meeting seeing that's not it will be communicated to the purch ing director the city council has no objections to auctioning the listed property communication 6h March 13th 20124 memorandum with an attached resolution from Michael alol director of Public Works Mr alol recommends the contract with gnb Construction Group of fille trios to construct 91 Ada curb ramps in conjunction with Paving activities throughout the city cost of the contract is $667,500 completed within 90 days from the notice to proceed there are no renewals contractor was selected as the lowest responsible qualified bidder among seven bids resolution 10i is on the agenda moving on to reports Mr Mayor I have several administrative orders the first one is I hear hereby appoint Sarah satula uh 722 West Market Street Beth P 1808 the blight of property Review Committee this appointment is effective as of March 19th 2024 administrative order 20248 Sarah culo blighted property Review Committee resolution is sponsored by Miss Wilhelm and Miss quch discussion we'll call the rooll Miss Wilhelm I Mr Callahan I mson Smith i m quch i m l i and Mr col I pass this 60 uh I hereby appoint Craig larer 324 Franklin Street betham 1808 the Fine Arts commission this appointment is effective as of March 19th 2024 administrative order 20249 Craig lmer the Fine Arts commission resolution is sponsored by Miss Wilhelm and Miss quch discussion call the roll Miss Wilhelm I Mr Callahan I M grmy Smith I miss quch I miss lard I and Mr colog I passes 6 Z I hereby appoint SK Kate scuffle 2317 minck Road alltown Pi 181 104 to the Fine Arts commission this appointment is effective as of March 19th 2024 administrative order 20241 Kate scuffle to the Fine Arts commission the resolution is sponsored by Miss Wilhelm and Miss quch discussion we'll call the RO Miss Wilhelm I Mr Callahan hi M grmy Smith hi M qu hi Miss L hi and Mr col hi pass the 60 I here by reappoint Vince gentle cor 7 West Washington Avenue bethl P 1808 in the Fine Arts commission this appointment is effective as of March 19th 2024 administrative order 20241 Vince gentle cor Fine Arts commission the resolution sponsored by Miss Wilhelm and Miss qu discussion we'll call the rooll Miss Wilhelm hi Mr Callahan all righty Smith hi Miss quch hi Miss lard hi Mr colog I passes 60 I hereby reappoint Tracy samelson 282 Westminster Road Beth P 18017 the Redevelopment Authority this appointment is effective as of March 19 2024 administrative order 20242 to reappoint Tracy Samson to the Redevelopment Authority resolution is sponsored by Miss Wilhelm and Miss quch discussion we'll call the RO Miss Wilhelm hi Mr Callahan I M grmy Smith I m quch I miss lard I Mr cologne I passes 60 I hearby appoint uh Peter schneck 2014 Pine tab Trail bethle P 1807 to the zoning hearing board this appointment is Ive as of March 19th 2024 administrative order 20243 Peter Schnack zoning hearing board resolution sponsored by Miss Wilhelm and Miss quch discussion we'll call the RO Miss Wilhelm hi Mr Callahan all Smith I miss quch I miss lard I Mr colom I pass 60 I hereby appoint Paige Van Wart 42 West Market Street betham P 18018 in the zoning hearing board this appointment is effective as of March 19th 2024 for administrative order 20244 paig van W to the zoning hearing board the resolution sponsored by Miss Wilhelm and Miss quch discussion Mr Callahan I I had just wished that she was here I I I just want to I I think she's very qualified um I just did I wanted to find out her stance on uh on where she is on this open doors uh policy so uh unfortunately she's not here so I I will be supporting her she is qualified but uh I do question where her um uh support is in thought processes when it comes to the mayor's uh uh proposal for this new uh uh zoning uh for open doors thank you any other discussion Miss Willam yes just before we move on from these appointments I wanted to thank these and all individuals who serve on our authorities boards and commissions volunteering their time and talents we're grateful for your expertise thank you any other discussion for members of council we'll call the rooll Miss Wilhelm Mr Callahan hi M gy Smith hi M quch hi m l hi Mr col I passes 60 thank you I have several reports first one though just as far as the authorities boards and commissions are concerned uh just in case um people are curious we had looked it up um sometimes these are reappointments sometimes these are to fulfill vacancies uh and sometimes they are expired appointments and people either choose and they are not interested um or we decide to appoint some somebody else and just to let people know in case you were curious since the beginning of our Administration um we have 32 reappointments of people that were on board authorities boards commissions previously that we reappointed um there were 12 that we appointed for the remainder of unexpired terms people that have resigned or left and then 24 expired terms and just as a thought process as far as like how do we necessarily go about the doing this process um the two things that we look for the most is a level of sophistication as far as um how they're going to approach the work um as well as what is their interest in this particular subject matter um because these positions are almost all completely unpaid um and one thing I would say as well is that you know sometimes people wonder about what that process is and we look to balance out different types of expertise some of those boards require certain jobs or certain positions to be filled like missula with a blighted property Review Committee there is the administration representative that goes on to that committee um but I can tell you that there are never any real litus tests and if you take a look at the people that we have appointed in the past two and a half years or almost um some of them have gotten on to boards and commissions and disagreed with Administration uh policies which is fine and that's the way this works there's never any how do you feel about this how do you not feel about this um it is just basically are you going to look at it from an intellectual point of view and are you going to be committed to the job um so you know as we go forward I think it's always helpful just to kind of put out um that every once in a while but like that is the process we go through but as we said out of the 64 people that we have appointed 32 were reappointments 12 were uh appointments for unexpired terms when people left and then 24 expired terms some of those expired terms are actually a little bit unexpired because people have stopped showing up or they moved or they did something else and rather than resigning with two or three or four months to go they just have stopped going to meetings just in case people were wondering uh I have several reports because I wasn't able to give the reports last time the first one is we had reached out to city council um and I think we had discussed this at one of the uh Council meetings about our pension fund um at the time and I know I we had sent a communication to council um but we did get back that 2023 number which our pension funded returned 11.3% our expected rate of return is 7% um so that is very good as we've said before 2021 was a good year about 15% but then we like every other City lost about 9% in 2022 so 2023 the 11.3% puts us ahead of the game as far as 2024 is concerned which is very important as far as our um Mo MMOs are concerned um and the rest of the budget um couple other things one is that uh Miss Sour and I held a press conference yesterday um for a celebration that's upcoming of uh both women's History Month um and African-American history month of a celebration that's going to be at the library uh next Saturday March 30th from 12: until 3: um if you don't don't know anything about the story the story continues I would highly recommend you taking a look at it a very dedicated group of individuals on March 28th we are once again celebrating transgender day of visibility outside in pyro Plaza so I believe that's next Thursday um at 11:00 a.m. so once again we are we will be there celebrating um uh Paving season is getting ready to start I think later on tonight you guys are voting on the first 88 curb ramp um but uh Mr alcol has uh relayed that that Paving season the in theous stuff is going to start near uh the end of April as a reminder and I talked about this during the budget uh that as a city in um uh uh 2018 2019 we did about uh 23 miles of roads and in 2020 2021 over that period about 27 miles then 22 and 23 we did 47 miles and then in 24 and 25 we were set to do 50 miles um so we've really been able to increase that with the support of uh of city council um couple other things is Miss Santoro finished the update if you want to take a look at how we're investing in all those different things through webuild Bethlehem whether or not it's food access or affordable housing or homelessness um now up on our website it's kind of got some of our um small medium long-term goals how we necessarily work with people out in the community uh it really a lot of work went into it with department heads and different people that are in those different spheres uh so I I would highly recommend when you have an opportunity to go check out the updated version of the webuild Bethlehem website uh Chief Aki wanted me to mention that engine nine has finally arrived into Bethlehem if you remember we actually ordered this about two years ago but through supply chain issues it took that long to get here and I've learned a lot about how we have consistent parts and a lot of our vehicles and we want to be able to make sure they go in at the beginning to make it easier on the people in our garage and save money over the long term uh so that um that uh that engine nine uh which I think we purchased about two years ago has uh reached uh reach Bethlehem uh Miss Soro also we completed our five in-person sessions for the first time here in City Hall welcoming and affirming our lgbtq plus Community uh that training involved about 134 individuals it came through from Bradberry Sullivan uh so I want to publicly thank them and I want to thank uh Miss santor for organizing that as well as Mr Evans here in City Hall um like I said this was the first time we had ever done that and about 134 employees came through so we're excited to continue that training going forward um and then just two other comments I believe uh councilman quch hit on that voice that visit from uh HUD uh last Thursday with the choice neighborhood which was really an exciting day I was only able to participate at the beginning um but I know that there were those various trips throughout the neighborhood um to kind of help us to take a look at what we not just this planning process over the next two years but also what that implementation process could look like how you necessarily Finance this but our Partnerships with the school district they had a great stop in Lincoln um as councilman quch reference so that is that is really exciting stuff as far as that choice neighborhood is concerned um and then uh Miss wilham as well referenced our community our community center uh Community caucus last week which was really good as we're focusing on the needs assessment right now as far as what needs are being met versus what different holes there are to to be able to uh be filled within uh South Bethlehem that brought together a lot of Community Partners it brought in people that don't usually come to these meetings um and whatever their feedback is about concerns or positive or this is great it was a great opportunity for us to be able to have those conversations and I want to thank all the city staff Miss tulo and Miss Collins and Miss Santoro and a lot of other City staff that attended even though they didn't need to um there was no requirement to do it they just wanted to be a part of that process and I know that people are very um happy about the way that night went and then the last thing I would just say is you know I know many of you were there we had a very very successful St Patrick's Day parade on Saturday um and I just want to publicly thank Miss recer from and Miss Rutherford from the Celtic cultural Alliance I want to thank all of the hard workers with in City Hall um that made that happen I want to thank Miss Wendling and everybody with the chamber Mr Gardner with the DBA uh we did something new Miss Stein and I have been working on this for almost two years um to get this going I want to thank Council for the support in the 2024 budget um I heard from a couple of business owners that said it was the biggest day they've ever had um and that was um and they will tell you when it's not always the biggest day they've ever had um but they were very um they're very thankful to the group of of people and you know we just played one part in that but bringing people together to be able to have this just huge day um and it you know the parade started I think we started on Seventh Avenue um but people came out they asked you know are we doing it next year how do we make it bigger and things like that and like I said it took a lot of work working with our Traffic Division and the police department and just getting a lot of volunteers and miss recer and we all know Kel the classic has had a tough tough couple of tough years the last couple years so it was just a it was a really truly special day and there were a lot of great vibes as we say you know opening day here in Bethlehem um so it's a it's a it's a great thing and I just want to thank everybody publicly for that because there was a lot of hard work that went into that thank you president Clint thank you mayor Reynolds Mr Callahan for the public works committee report uh the uh Public Works committee uh met this evening March 19th 2024 6 PM there was one agenda item it was an item involving a discussion on water meters billing and related matters uh this meeting was informational purposes only and there was no votes taken and we we'll uh uh adjourning sometime in the future with hopefully uh some type of a a compromise to deal with uh uh these water bills of individuals who uh for a variety of reasons um we can't find an answer of why uh their water meter reading was so high and uh with no leaks so we'll be discussing it later on thank you thank you Mr Callahan we don't have any ordinances for final passage tonight nor do we have any new ordinances for moving on to resolutions Mr Miller resolution 10h be resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller and or such other City officials deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute a contract with Cedar Crest College to perform the community connections evaluation resolution sponsored by Miss Wilhelm and Miss quch discussion we'll call the role Miss Wilhelm I Mr Callahan hi M grmy Smith hi M quack Hi l hi Mr colog I passes 60 Resolution 10 I be it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller Andor such other City officials deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute a contract with gmbb Construction Group to provide Ada curb ramps resolution sponsored by Miss Wilhelm and Miss quch discussion we'll call just a a question um are these like concentrating on a particular area or are they spread out throughout the city the ones coming up the curb ramps are they like in a particular area or are they spread out throughout the city theye out throughout the city we try to uh you know we have a road Management program where we rate all the streets of condition that's what you use as a guide for which streets are due to be paid based on number of including obviously their tradition as mentioned and when we do annually select the streets we do try to hit most areas in the city we don't try to get bogged on any particular area for obvious reasons we want to see you know provide benefits throughout the city not in anyone concentrated are so ask question all over the city thank you I I have any other discussion Mr Callan Mr alol so uh can you explain the rating system that and that we have for grading the roads uh every uh two years our inspectors go out and they uh survey uh every lane mile we have over 260 miles of roads in the city and they observe cracking po holdes trench repairs and the general condition of each Road and they rate it in a a system it's called the Wisconsin rating system uh based on different numerical ratings of different conditions Street and they come up with a composite rating for each Street it gets entered into a database and uh the roads are rated A 1 through six b 1 through six a a being the worst a all right so I I just wanted to uh address it I brought attention to you of a road that I drive on a regular basis and you had told me it's rated what I believe it's a an A so that's a pre bad Road right yeah okay thank you any other discussion we'll call the RO on the resolution m willhelm i Mr Callahan i m SMI I Mr I miss lard i and m clone I passes 60 I'll accept a motion as second to consider resolutions 10j through 10l as a group so moved second motion by councilwoman WI second by councilwoman quch any discussion on the motion to consider the coas as a group Al clerk to call the roll on the motion Miss Wilhelm hi Mr Callahan hi M grmy Smith hi Miss quch hi Miss lard hi and Mr colog I motion passes 60 Mr Miller please read the coa's certificates of appropriateness under the provisions of the act of the Pennsylvania legislature Bethlehem resolutions are hereby granted for 323 Center Street to install handc Hardscape fencing and Landscape components as shown on the proposed Landscaping plant for 49 lyen Street to paint all doors windows trim and siding as well as to replace the rear door and replace missing shutters and 458 Main Street to install two new storefront signs one is a wall sign and one is a blade sign resolutions are sponsored by Miss Wilhelm and miss quch any discussion Mr Miller call the rooll please miss Will hel hi Mr Callahan hi M cramy Smith hi M quch hi m l hi and Mr colog I coa's pass 60 now we will move on before we adjourn to our public comment for anything not being voted on this evening we do have our signup sheet and then I'll open it up to the rest of the room so we will so our agenda is over there will be no more voting this evening and now we'll start with Mr an Alex stepen and tex 737 Ridge we are seated in this chamber by freedoms of speech and assembly as guaranteed by the US Constitution this assembly also represents the most fundamental form of of American democracy the the community town hall meeting or in our case betham city council meeting citizens observe their local government in action and have the opportunity to voice their dis displeasures all done in a peaceful manner at the Overflow February 13th council meeting a large number of speakers passionately pled for resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East this effort was supported by a large number of local mutal citizens at the equally High attended March five meeting of council the proponents of the ceasefire resolution were outraged by council's present presentation of a letter of support rather than a resolution this resulted in the offended taking over the meeting in a disorderly manner and ignoring a direct order by the highest law enforcement officer of the City by forcing the meeting to an abrupt end these offenders could have suffered serious consequences if cited by the police chief for misdemeanors of the second and third class for violation of chapter 51 obstructing a government operation in chapter 55 for disorderly conduct at a government meeting both under Pennsylvania Title 18 titled crimes and offenses penes if convicted could be a fine and imprisonment up to a year these unlawful actions may have put in Jeopardy previous local citizen support for the effort it may be safe to assume that no previous council meeting ever has been shut down by similar actions there's a very another very serious aspect of these law breaking actions if had if they had been noted that a large n it had been noted that a large number of attendees remain seated during the Pledge of Allegiance aspect of the agenda provoking the idea that these IND that these individuals are not citizen of the us since many speakers refer to local universities remain seated during the pledge we may safely assume that they are holders of FJ and M forms of student visas others might be here as permanent residents enjoying rights and privileges equal to Citizens but holding a green card but be extremely cautious for misdemeanors as well as as felonies are noted by The Intern the immigration and naturalization service and Department of home and security thank you Mr analex our next speaker signed up this evening Natalie sobrinski hi Natalie serinsky 722 Delwood Street and I wanted to talk about the lack of affordable housing in Bethlehem and why Council should continue to support the opening doors policies and projects like the one being championed by first First Presbyterian Church including um future look at what to do with the lot next to the parking garage the Lehigh Valley rental market is currently higher than cost than Philadelphia this means that many people are struggling to find an affordable place to live as a result they may be forced into overcrowded in unsafe conditions or even become homeless providing affordable housing in Bethlehem is crucial for several reasons first and foremost it ensures that everyone regardless of their income has access to a safe and decent place to live this is not just a matter of basic human dignity but also a health and well-being living in overcrowded and substandard housing can lead to a range of health problems including respiratory illness and mental health issues affordable housing also plays a key role in reducing poverty and inequality when people spend a large portion of their income on housing they have less money available for other essential needs such as food Healthcare and education by providing affordable housing we can help people break out of the cycle of poverty and improve their quality of life furthermore affordable housing is essential for building strong and vibrant communities when people have stable and secure housing they are more likely to become actively engaged in their communities whether through volunteering participating in local events like our parades or simply getting to know their neighbors the sense of community enhances the quality of life for all the residents of Bethlehem and contributes to the overall social fabric of the city implementing policies and projects that promote affordable housing and more housing in Bethlehem are not just a moral imperative it is a practical necessity it improves health and well-being reduces poverty and inequality and strengthens communities I encourage you in the future to continue to support policies that promote housing in bethlhem thank you thank you our next person signed up Mo Kaku are they here I'm going to continue on next speaker Mark will Weber Mar Weber 66 West is with Avenue um councilman Callahan next time you offer me to speak after after that first meeting I'm going to I'm going to jump on it but uh be that as it may I'll go forward I want to thank uh the the council people that were on the Public Works committee for asking some very pointed uh and I think wellth thought out questions on the water thing I got some allergies going on so if my voice dies that's what's going on uh so I think it's very important um there's there's some aspects that you can't discuss everything I certainly can't in 4 and A2 minutes but uh the the punative process also needs to be looked at because um I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say it's a disingenuous process but I really think it's uh um a little smok in mirrors going on because what happens when they hit you with one of these Mega bills is they say you go of course you're outraged and you say well you know I'm not going to pay it and they go well you got to pay it or we're going to start hitting you up with penalty fees and so then you go well I want to contest it and they'll look you in the eye and they'll say yeah you can contest it go right ahead but nobody ever wins okay but they don't tell you that and I think um council could play a role in that too I'm doing that on the drip our citizens uh uh Facebook page which is uh just rolled through 250 members and uh anybody that ask me hey I want to fight this I contest it I'll say well you can but and they'll let you but even if your plumber comes back like ours did and found nothing they're going to say oh that's nice pay us okay so that's the punitive process I think I'm actually more upset than the original thing because to use a uh a term from Texas holdom I've played a few of hands there uh you're throwing good money after bad and they let you do it they they know you're going to lose nobody's ever won and if you get the right plumber he'll even tell you that so uh that needs to be looked at going forward but I one of my main goals with the drip was to get Council involved and put a set of eyes on these guys because they basically function as their own little uh Thom inside the city and uh you're not going to get any help from them uh to quote Dante's Inferno they should have this over the logo of their office uh abandon all hope ye you enter here because you won't get anything from them okay unless you want to count the the offer of the uh sewer waiver now so council's really the only hope going forward and I think if a rash of these Mega bills break out you guys are now poised and in tune about it um uh I've heard that the mayor pontificate for a full hour in the parking garage but I haven't heard word one from the mayor's office about the water situation nothing and that's uh extremely disappointing so uh and Mr basola he said it again tonight was quoted in the morning call article uh well the water had to go somewhere he said well you know where it didn't go it didn't go in my basement that was as dry as the Mojave Desert wasn't there uh it didn't pull up in my backyard and freeze it was January and create the second biggest ice skating rank in Bethlehem and it didn't came in my ceiling or my walls so basically I'm going to go to my grave knowing that this guy ripped me off for 500 bucks and that's how I feel and will always feel and I'm just trying to help other people going forward thanks our next speaker signed up is Weber Sally wever 66 West Elizabeth Avenue um thank you again for the opportunity to speak uh we'd also like to thank the morning call um The Express Times leh have Valley live fmz and leh have Valley News whose extensive article came out yesterday which was fabulous um we are issue has now gone to the inter to the national news um outlets and we have been being followed which is very you know makes us feel good like at least we are trying to do something to help other people um a quick refresh we were gone for 35 days last year in January and we're build for 54,000 gallons of water the year before our total usage for the entire year was 20 6,000 Gall so this was more than double uh 54,000 gallons of water would fill the Le the uh Liberty swimming pool twice and six to 10 tanker trucks would have to pull up in front of my house and fill up for that amount of water it's extensive we had no leaks we had no damage we had no flooded basement tonight I would like to address Mr bosc's responses to the Bethlehem authority to fmz with his memo that was available tonight and to we have Ali live he claimed the leak would lose one gallon a minute resulting in 1440 gallons lost daily I've researched this I found nothing close to this in any of my research if something if a leak was this extensive there would be major damage within days um when he was responding ing to the water authorities director who commented that our um the number was uh the quest quantity of of water was off the charts that we were charged for he said I'm losing my SP spot here um it was probably a running toilet which is what he always says do the math so I did that I did the math according to the EPA and the Bethlehem water department website a running toilet loses up to 200 gallons a day that's about 6,000 gallons a month if our toilet was running in those 35 days it would it taken 270 days to go through 54,000 gallons of water we were gone 35 again just a reminder the EPA also has some leaks leakage information an average faucet leaking which we've all had loses seven gallons a day that would have taken 7,7 14 days to go through that water a significant running leak loses 30 gallons a day equal 1,800 days a steady stream leap which would be a major leap loses about a 100 gallons a day that would have taken four 540 days so I did the math and it didn't work out to the water department um he also said that some people came back and were very surprised to find a Big Bill but they had a flooded basement we had no water in my in the basement we had no caved in ceilings we had no caved in walls we came home to a perfectly normal house I'd also like to address the number of formal complaints or disputes since 2015 28 seems like a very low number to me but after I thought about it I thought um really very few people file a dispute we know 12 other cases in the last 12 months of people who have had very similar situations out of the 12 we would be number 13 we're the only people who filed a dispute so I think that number is very misleading to council because I think there are a lot more of these Mega bills that are just being paid off because to file a dispute you have to have money you have to pay people to come in and insect you have to have time you have to have the energy and you have to have the perseverance which a lot of people don't have all of those put together and they just give up they get angry and they pay the bill it was also claimed that in these 28 disputes all the meters were tested and they were 100% working they test for one test and that's it we are we we asked them to do a second test and they refused thank you Miss wool Weber our next speaker signed up this evening I'm gonna say David C because I don't want to mispronounce the last name speaking on about the trip also is she here yeah to leave okay our next speaker signed up is Angela Mitchell good evening my name is Angela Mitchell reside at 4:30 Cherokee Street and first and foremost I'm excited about the community center that's coming to the south side of Bethlehem and I am excited about the better blocks for Bethlehem that's getting ready to happen and I thank you all for hearing my voice when I come out to the meetings and I speak up and tonight I bring to you these are my three concerns a housing court or mediation Court in city of Bethlehem a need for afford able and safe place to live for all Need for Community Center for services to all including the seniors the students and Etc so first I want to talk about the housing court or mediation court for all in the Lehi Valley you have legal aid here if you're not very low income with children you're not qualified in New York City I lived there for 28 years we had a Housing Court we had a mediation court today in the Leigh Valley there are more landlords than homeowners throughout the city of Bethlehem on my block there are 29 land landlords and seven of us that are [Music] homeowners I really concerned because a lot of things are happening we have shootouts we have crime we have domestic violence going on we have all kinds of things that happen during the day and at night last night I just heard some body calling Mama Mama Mama and yelling at his tip of his lungs I couldn't tell where it was coming from 500 block Dakota Street I did not know where it was coming from we need more lights I'm concerned about the landlords not maintaining their properties inside and outside all the garbage I've been talking about this and I'm thanking I'm thanking you all for addressing my concerns I know everything doesn't happen overnight but we need to address some things I'm glad to hear about the open door I would like to know more about it when the meetings are happening because I have a lot to say I was born and raised here but I moved to New York and I lived for 28 years and I've been back here for 13 years and a lot of things are happening and people don't know about them I'm concerned about not feeling safe that I can walk down my block or down Cherokee Street I used to walk all times and nights days and I had no problems today you got to be careful now I'm really concerned because I lived in New York um city for 28 years in George Washington height I lived on 162nd Street there was crime all around 163rd 159 you knew where not to walk but here it's happening in our backyards in our front yards and I'm really really concerned about that we have a need for affordable housing we need clean safe places to live we need to address the homelessness here in the leeh High Valley because it is astronomical people are living in their cars people are living underneath the bridge we need to address those things I don't know if po houses would help but something needs to be done and I thank you for allowing me to speak and I just want to say it takes a community to bring forth change housing matters Health matters life matters and safety matter when I left here it was a safe place to live I used to come back from New York and I love to be here I love to walk I love to breathe a fresh air I loved everything about the city of Bethlehem things are changing and we need to change with the time thank you m m our next speaker signed up Alex H Alex hir 738 Center Street going to start with an unpaid advertisement for Flow by mowing it's a water monitoring device that you can install yourself in your house I have one for property 300 miles away from here and I can tell you right now I have zero water flow and if I had unexpected water flow I can hit a button I won't my son's there right now and turn it off for the whole house so um it sounds like the city's new meters may have some of those features where you can keep a lot closer track of the water uh I don't know know if they have any sort of a shut off function um but if they do that would be great um I did this because I was worried about damage being far away and not being able to respond quickly enough but certainly um this and devices like this might be really useful for people it was expensive it's like 500 bucks but apparently you know one bad quarterly bill can more than Eclipse that so again no no investment in the or anything like that but I've had it for two years and it's worked great and other than a teenage son taking long showers um I haven't gotten any alerts that's that actually happens he'll be thrilled that I just said this on a public record um and it's only turned the water off on them a couple times um so that being said uh I've now reached 613 days as a U property owner part-time resident of the city of Bethlehem who is unable to uh purchase a residential parking permit for my home that is in a zoned area the fzone please help me and thank you and have a good night thank you Mr H next speaker is Carol Baylor good evening my name is Carol Baylor I live at 1427 Calypso Avenue we hear a lot about bethlehem's sister cities shishun and to toab bayashi in Japan and so on but not so much about our namesake City Bethlehem and the Israeli occupied West Bank that Bethlehem is dominated by a separation wall built in 2002 2004 by is by Israel Palestinians cannot move Beyond Bethlehem freely we take it for granted popping over to allent town well Palestinians that live in Bethlehem cannot freely go to Jerusalem which is the same distance away as allat toown is to us the Reverend Gunther Isaac a Palestinian Lutheran minister at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bethlehem West Bank delivered a powerful sermon last December for Christmas time it was entitled Christ under the rebel in it he says I want you to look in the mirror and ask where was I when Gaza was going through a genocide now at last council meeting I spoke up advocating for Bethlehem to pass a ceasefire now excuse me resolution unfortunately after 5 hours of public comment the meeting was adjourned without taking up the resolution the reason given was that it would violate the sunshine law however the irony is that the council violated the sun Sunshine Law by adopting and sending a letter to other government officers without pror not public notification or comment at the last meeting I handed out fabric uh poppies the poppy is the national flower of Palestine and it symbolizes the con the connection of Palestinians to the land and honors the dead this time I would like to give you a watermelon pen that I made in 1967 Israel banned the display of the Palestinian FL flag the Israeli Army arrested anyone who displayed it Banning the flag officially ended in 1993 however one can still be detained and or arrested for disturbing the pieace if they dis display the flag so the watermelon with its green white black and red colors of the Palestinian flag became a symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation lasting ceasefire now thank you thank you our next speaker is Ana amatul can't make me follow up after her she's great all right hi my name is Ania I'm at to I won't be disclosing my address I would actually first like to state that I am a daughter of a mother who worked over 30 years as a social worker in the last 15 years of her work she worked in housing so I'm really passionate about affordable housing so I appreciate the efforts that Bethlehem is taking And discussing this um and as a child who started out in affordable housing that's where I grew up first in New Jersey before we came to Pennsylvania now where I'm going to go next martially might be a little bit harsh I am disappointed in the stance that was taken and I am disappointed at the past meeting and I'm disappointed that the voice of the people was silenced in a different way and I'm furious that the letter that the council presented was considered better than a resolution even though cities all over the US have passed resolutions and it has Aid it in change I am shamed that you have failed your oath to the people that you made promises and you lied I am proud that the right people came together and passed the people's resolution no we are not here to ask for a ceasefire resolution because we have the people's resolution and that is more powerful but we will be here whether by little or by many to hold you accountable for the actions to remind you that the people's voices matter that the people's voices of the entire leehigh Valley matters these are cities that have been United for years these are cities that my entire family has come from I have five lines of family here as my parents who converted there my mother's um ma name is Starling and then we have the Holmes and then we have the samsons and then we have the alfreds and we are all over the Lehigh Valley and I represent all of those voes if you pass a resolution which I know we will not there's no vote on it tonight but the next meeting it will be the silence you are silencing the voices of the people in reality because you fear to hear the people speak the truth to the atrocities and to call out your cowardice to pass this resolution in the next meeting which we will be there to discuss and not the ceasefire that was originally promised which was a lie CU we didn't get it is a show to where your morals lie and that is unfortunate to say the least as for any disrespect you felt happened that the last meeting understand we felt the same disrespect as we watch the numbers go up as we've entered the Blessed month of Ramadan and our brothers and sisters are breaking their fast with grass soup and the same which is the exact same thing that the Irish used to have to eat during their occupation they were also OCC occupied so when you were celebrating St Patrick's say I hope you remember the actual history of the Irish and understand that they stand in their local government and their higher government government with Palestine and there is s and there are some who mind you who are fasting that don't get to start or in their fast because they have no food or water they are in a continuous fast but yet your disrespect is felt but the lives of thousands under occupation is much louder or at least it should be and yes even at the city level remember how South Africa started to gain its freedom through the local government we will see you at the next meeting thank you our next speaker signed up is youir good evening my name is yira a resident of the Lehigh Valley um by a quick show of hands do any does anyone here know who Rachel Corey is I didn't think so Rachel Corey a 23 Rachel Corey a 23-year-old American citizen born in Olympia Washington on April 10th 1979 who was brutally murdered at the hands of is not Real's occupational forces via bulldozer while while peacefully protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes in Gaza March 16th 2003 this past Saturday while you guys were celebrating St Patrick's Day numerous people throughout the United States were recognizing the 21st anniversary of her assassination 20 long years before October 7th a date which many people use ignorantly to justify The Continuous genocide currently taking place in Gaza Rachel Corey was a human rights Defender and a peace activist who was crushed to death by an armored is not rails military bulldozer while standing in front of a palestin family's home for hours in an attempt to non-violently protest that is not Real's government policy of Civilian home demolitions do you know what happened to her after she was savagely trampled I mean besides dying a slow and agonizing death as the bulldozer continued its Rampage is not real then through a massive pancake party referencing the common American phrase flat as a pancake in celebration of her death I was not here for the last city council meeting but I was here for the first one the one where you councilman Brian Callahan assured us that we would see a ceasefire resolution drawn up the one where you yourself stated that it was imperative we draw one up for fear that it was that it would be and I quote watered down see what you perhaps were ignorantly unaware of is the influence that zionists have over our politics through funding through bribery and even coercion but we knew we are not asking for The Bravery of Rachel Cary who positioned herself in immediate danger that resulted in her untimely and very sad death we are asking that you from the comfort of your privileged comfortable seats that we the people have bestowed upon you to be a mouthpiece for Humanity and to do what is morally right I also wanted to talk about um Grace Krampus Smith's resolution the reason I chose not to State my address is for fear of doxing fear of harassment and fear of threat to my person furthermore I do not feel that it's necessary for me to live in this actual city of Bethlehem for me to express that this resolution should not limitate residents in the surrounding areas who contribute to the economic growth of Bethlehem nor do I believe that allowing people who have currently or are considering living and or conducting business would hinder the city of Bethlehem in any way if you disagree then maybe consider re-evaluating why you chose to run for city council I lived in Bethlehem for a numer of years birthing all three of my beautiful babies in St Luke's Bethlehem and continuously supporting local businesses throughout the years President Michael G cologne himself stated multiple times in previous meetings that all were welcome going so far as to extend the podium to those who hadn't even signed up to speak this resolution has only solidified our knowledge in that councilmen and women can be bought persuaded and cered as I stated previously despite giving us your word that you would draft a ceasefire resolution you instead drafted an insulting resolution to further silence people who are at this point begging our elected officials to speak on our behalfs regarding human rights I will end with a direct quote from our mayor William Reynolds earlier this evening this is America thank you next up is Mary Joe m s too long Mary Joe mol 449 Grand View Boulevard in 2023 I have attended a planning meeting in allent town and numerous Planning and Zoning meetings in Bethlehem regarding a proposed 37 apartment complex on the former Benet Toyota dealership lot located at 2300 Hanover Avenue in Allentown in 2235 West Broad Street in Bethlehem n Norton herck of B ax LLC only holds an equitable title to the said property not a legal title holder property is zoned CL neighborhood commercial within this zoning District the city restricts bu building length to 180 ft this equals half the length of a football field including the end zone the developer submitted plans for four buildings all more than 180 ft one or more pushing lengths of 290 ft sealed Zone requires neighborhood commercial on the first floor of the building building along an arterial arterial Street Handover Avenue Brad street the building height allows for four allows for five stories PL submitted propose all buildings built upon podiums allowing parking underneath which raises the height of to five or six stories the city ordinance does not include the parking in the building height this boggles my mind but that is something Beyond My Control b b ax sought zoning relief for both ordinances zoning granted relief for the usage variants allowing parking instead of commercial buildings along Hanover Avenue and West Broad Street this is under appeal with Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas by both the city planning zoning office Teresa clber Paul fondel and myself as interveners bethin zoning denied the dimensional variants the report was issued on September 29th 2023 and the report stated all parties had 30 days to file an appeal with the city or with the court the city filed its appeal for the usage variants on October 24th the interv interveners of filed their Appeal on 10 October 27th within the 30-day time limit on November 3rd b b ax cross filed a cross appeal for the dimensional variance on December 1st 2023 the attorney for the interveners filed a motion to quash the the cross appeal for not filing within the 30-day time on December 28th the city also filed a motion to quash the cross Appeal on January 2 of this year the court issued a rule an order quashing the cross appeal this past Thursday the attorney for Norton herck of BH bahs James Preston went before the plan commission seeking a Curative Amendment to the city's 180t building length within the CL zoning District I'm not versed in all the legal aspects of such a request the president of the Planning Commission in his 15 years on the Planning Commission has never SE had such a request brought before him I strongly urge all members to thoroughly do your due diligence and educate yourselves in this matter granting this request will not will not merely impact the proposed development but impact the all the development within CL zones in the city liming the length to 180 ft within the seal Zone the city had to do this for a reason Darlene hel and Matt desin and the planing commission denied this request um and on April 30th of this year the attorney Preston will come before this body to present present his argument for this Curative Amendment he did not show all his cards so I ask that you further so that you please talk to all parties involved in the city and get their professional expertise I have also given my contact information to all council members and will gladly invite you to meet my neighbors and myself to express our concerns to you I also invite you to come and walk the neighborhood with myself and my neighbors and see for yourself the impact this will have on our neighborhood the three major cities Allentown bethleem and Easton All face affordable housing issues a news story on 69 News Today highlighted Easton's rejection of a developers request to construct 256 apartments on a 45.4 Acre Site the original proposal was for 412 units the property I'm referring I am referring to is 8.74 Acres with 3177 Apartments thank you m m okay I understand there's differences but the mass of that thank you ma'am next is Valerie Newman hello um with regard to Miss kmy Smith's proposition for resolution um there is some wording relating to this conforming to the Sunshine Law which strictly speaking it does um the Sunshine Law does not prohibit public comment from people outside the jurisdiction it's a positive affirmation of the right of people within the jurisdiction to comment I just think that it's twisty wording to say that this is about the Sunshine Law what you're actually saying is that there's there's nothing legally prohibiting you from making this Rule and it's no longer convenient for you to allow other commenters I wish you would just be straight about that it really doesn't have anything to do with the Sunshine Law in terms of stating addresses other people have said this this kind of enforcement concerns me because of the very real fear of doxing in the internet age anyone who comes with their name face and address to a city council meeting is having that posted publicly on YouTube The Dangers are different than 20 to 30 years ago and some members of the Lehi Valley Palestine Coalition have refrained from providing addresses in the past specifically for this reason and members have been doxed it has happened and they continue to be harassed in their personal lives um I'm also concerned about how personal attacks and what is relevant to City businesses defined this is arbitrary and can easily be used as a tool to curb Free Speech if I have a negative opinion of a council member I should be able to express that and there's a fine line between public and personal likewise if I believe something is of concern to the city I at least deserve my five minutes to make my case um and if you pass this resolution you will be shutting out many valuable perspectives and will further erode the trust between you and your constituency I say that as a Bethlehem resident um in addition I'd like to address something I heard earlier in this meeting in public comment I think it's very racist to assume that people are not citizens because they don't stand for the pledge um I don't stand for the pledge and it's because I don't believe in what says and that's all and I further would say that people who are citizens uh also people who are not citizens also deserve to have their voice heard there are neighbors just the same um regardless of the status of their residency um with regard to the last meeting um basically what disappointed me is that you're action leading up to the March 5th meeting demonstrates a lack of political will and a lack of a sense of urgency in turn our Coalition demonstrated that we do have political will and a sense of urgency very fervently um a promise was broken and we responded with an act of Civil Disobedience and yes civil obedience is disruptive we all know that it causes offense and inconvenience um and when we look at history it's it's lionized in the past and deeply unpopular in the present it's also imperative to any social movement intending to make a difference so we disrupted the meeting to hold you accountable to what you said you would do I do respect your commitment to following the Sunshine Law I've seen Town councils obate their agendas deliberately to keep opposition out and there's a good reason for that law however um it's the events leading up to the meeting and even during the meeting that disappoint me um I feel there were ways to have a resolution draft on the table and they they were just not followed through one they were rejected the resolution it didn't necessarily need to be co-authored anyone of you could have proposed it as for wording you found the time to agree on wording for a letter we didn't ask for and not for a resolution we did ask for um why couldn't that language be reworked for the resolution why throw your hands in the air and give up um and if you needed more time legally speaking the Sunshine Law requires 24-hour notice I believe that the resolution was not submitted by a self-imposed deadline of a week before which is not required in the law according to my best understanding thank you thank you next signed up is Teresa o I'm sorry is Teresa here then I will continue to Harry believe favor so I just want to address a couple things that were talked about I sat for the Pledge of Allegiance why because why am I pledging pledging allegiance to a flag I don't care about a flag I care about the people I care about everybody in this room I'm not going to pledge allegiance to a flag that the Pledge of Allegiance originated during the Cold War like in the fight against communism like why am I pledging allegiance to a flag of a country that does not care about the people I'll pledge to the people in this room that's what I'll pledge to I'm not standing for a pledge of allegiance that's insane I don't care about a flag I care about people you guys don't seem to care about people and that hurts it hurts a lot how can you expect us to believe a word you say when you lied a month ago a month ago I was at the meeting I was a first speaker and you guys promised that you were going to draft a resolution they said it they said it way better than I can I I honestly get too heated up here because it's so so frustrating dealing with you people it's disgusting you promise and promise and you fail and fail you are oppressors that's what you guys are doing you lie and you oppress like it's that simple one month ago you promised you'd write a ceasefire resolution and you couldn't do at the meeting because you wanted to be precise with your language you want to be precise and that's fair you know what I understood it I accepted it at the meeting a month ago what I do not accept and I refuse to accept is the wording used in the letter which was not a resolution like promise like we've already established that you lied about you wrote a letter and the wording was not precise it was the exact opposite you condemned Hamas you failed to use the word genocide you fail to use the word apartheid you failed to use the words ethnic cleansing so how is this precise uh someone made an endorsement so I'd like to endorse another thing mayor Reynolds you love farbod as do I this is the new book He's teaching in his class Palestine Israel and the US Empire by Richard Becker I read the first edition from 2009 cover to cover twice and I just finished this one and let me tell you it's great it is all- encompassing of the history the hund another book I have is the Hundred Years War on Palestine please educate yourselves on the thing before making outrageous claims and allowing these zionists to propagate the issues and just spread false lies that have been proven time and time again to be what it I just said is propaganda history will always be doomed to repeat itself if we keep the ignorant and self-interested in power you guys get paid a salary not a lot May Reynolds gets paid a lot you guys don't and that's fair but yet you fail us time and time again you've chosen to put the interests of yourselves above your civil and moral duty to serve the people of this city due to your failures I humbly ask that you resign each and every one of you because you do not deserve this position you are unqualified you do not care about the people it is disgusting it is a disgrace also I just want to say since we're talking a lot about social media I don't have social media but I do know I'm just going to list 10 journalists that you can follow you can see the horror I can't sleep at night because of the horror I've seen they post it every every day every day they post the horror so here's some 10 journalists that I just listed or that that I've gathered Abdul Hakim Abu rash that is one Ali J Muhammed Al masri Al Al far fari I don't I'm not really good with anunciation so forgive me but I can gladly give you the the ads Muhammad Salama wasen Nasir Muhammad aler B motaz aaza pla alad these 10 people either lived in Gaza and are still living there and documenting their firstand experiences or they had to flee and evacuate such as MZ aaza and pesia and I also just want to say one more thing you listed a bunch of nonprofit organizations nonprofit but I don't know if you're aware the people at the top of these nonprofit organizations seem to be making a lot of profit to the tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars if millions of dollars so their interest in social housing which I'm grateful I'm going to read the hundred The Opening Doors 100 documents and I'm going to annotate it and I'm going to write a paper because social housing the answer is solved we figured at socialized housing red Vienna I that was my final research paper at moravan with Dr Richard Crome like the socialized housing it's solved we figured it out it's we have people capitalists that hoard wealth that buy up Mo Millions upon millions of dollars of HS and apartment buildings and they exploit the working people and Rob them of every penny they can just for a human natural right to live in a home the same thing is can be said for food for water I mean people here are getting gas lit in their water bill that's insane and you guys do nothing you are disgraces I beg you no resign you guys are disgraces that exhausts our list of everyone that signed up so as it's customary I'll go around the room starting here on the left Mr katola and then go to the backgr hi I'm Ry Kura born in raised in Bethlehem Pennsylvania own the home on 813 laof Street in Bethlehem Pennsylvania and um I being a being a peace activist with wake up R of live for peace that's uh over plus 24hour plus podcast that's linked to the United Nations on September 21st with musicians and mus musical acts and peace activists talking and singing about world peace and unity in the city of Bethlehem where I live and where you live most of us I was appalled to hear three shootings I'm appalled to hear more violence no we could stop it in Bethlehem they could stop it in Palestine they could stop it in Philadelphia wherever the violence is you will eliminate a lot of violence if you make an article anybody body commits an act of violence unless no matter if they're they're part of it what but the thing is unless they want to save somebody and it's proven that they saved the life then it's an act of violence once you get out of jail or serve your time pay your fine you're no longer permitted in the city of Bethlehem ever barred forever if you're trespassing in the city of Bethlehem you will pay a fine and maybe go to jail that's an article that I think should be should be pushed upon I don't think we need to have violence in Bethlehem anywhere in the world if they make that law people may think twice I mean a normal response is somebody pushes you okay you're going to push them back they hit you're going to hit them back but if it's came to the situation where the police feel you're both at fault you can never be back in the city of Bethlehem now if they can bar me from Arts quest for making a racist joke about the Mexicans when I perform Mexican restaurants all over the tri-state area and I'm met my friend Jose was here at the Mexico Lindo restaurant I'm there at least every second Saturday on 7:20 Main Street but yet since I made a joke about the Mexican people I was barred forever from Arts Quest so in other words if I the person that wound up getting a problem with me if he would have wound up saying something to me and I would have stuck him in his rear end with a pencil I probably would have serve time for a few months and walked the Streets of Bethlehem but I I was only making a statement because he ripped me one I ripped him another one okay so I would have served time but I would have been walking the streets of Bethlehem I still would have been doing comedy shows at Arts Quest but I can't do comedy shows I can't even play music there it was a comedy situation Arts Quest banned me forever now the city of Bethlehem if somebody commits a violent crime you should be able to ban that person forever to be in the city of Bethlehem in Palestine they do the same thing you ban a person forever from Palestine if they committed a act of violence anywhere Philadelphia everywhere and we should be an example in Bethlehem to pass the law to Bar anyone that commits an act of violence that's what I have to say that about that now they took my time I can't say about the parking authority which I think is another situation that's really a a profit organization that we're giving their our streets so they can go ahead and ticket us and find us so we could pay money to them to live it doesn't make sense they don't have that many parking spaces but they give out parking permits to everybody I went there to try to give them s suggestions but no they don't take the suggestions they go ahead and make things better and handicap spots me like hey I come back from Philadelphia from doing a performance 3:00 in the morning I can't find parking I park somewhere in my car stalls and I got a ticket but anyway it is what it is but the thing is we're not we can't go too much about parking authority because my time's almost up 10 seconds but definitely put a thing about the acts of violence nobody walks the Streets of Bethlehem if you commit an act of violence that's my time in the back Mr Rodriguez you'll be next then good evening everyone um my name is veto Russo I live at 704 Hillside Avenue right here in Bethlehem um I would first like to wholeheartedly agree with the speakers this evening that highlighted the violence in Gaza this is no mere occupation it is genocidal I could not have said their words better myself ceire now this is my first time speaking at one of these and I have to say I've been wholly disappointed at the council and their decisions this evening I understand agreement on smaller issues but the unanimous agreement on every single resolution is baffling the city of Bethlehem needs to grow and needs to strive to do better and the people elect you for this Council they trust you they put their faith in you to lead and all I've seen tonight is lukewarm acceptance and frankly boredom from our Council the gentleman behind me earlier spoke of some decorum we have here some ways to behave we do not take part in personal attacks we argue respectfully yet I sat here and I watched the mayor and the councilmen launching insults at each other about being a gym teacher for minutes on end does this quum not applied to them the councilman argued with the mayor an attempt to persuade Council and the people of Bethlehem that we need less housing near minutes after we hear about how they're reallocating money from public funds to riot shields and we to believe this is in bethlehem's best interest I'm dismayed by all of this I live in Bethlehem I go to university here and and I work in community service here the first meeting I attend it's it's the people who are unable to speak almost immediately their right to speak their mind is shot down by Council and pushed off to the next meeting I urge the council you must realize the importance of the people's right to speak and to the people you must show up for this you must show them that you care about different perspectives you care about bettering this city but hey maybe we could get councilman's road fixed thank you thank you our next speaker Mr Rodriguez Eddie Rodriguez 336 13th Avenue you know I have something written there which I can't hear here to address but after seeing what I'm seeing and not coming to this these meetings for a very long time I have my reasons I'm dealing with a lot of issues but understandable Soul you know everybody has their voices and their opinions but it is important to voice your opinion with control with respect and not to disgrace yourselves because that's what you're doing disgracing yourselves disrespecting council members disrespecting the mayor if the mayor made a mistake he apologize for it please accept that that's it there's no going you know like this and getting agitated seems to be one of my bad days 40 years ago when I used to act that way but I gain control and that's what it's all about respecting yourselves to you can respect others not the disrespect name calling that's acting like a 2-year-old coming here to arouse the ways of conso and the ways that the people deal with this these meetings over the years to try and change that you can't there are laws here and the law is what proceeds we must abide by that I came here for another reason uh where I live uh there's something going on you know where the Holy Family Apartments and I have to name them I got cop from uh a couple years in moravan house and I was living in a condition where I never knew about and they had ASB bestus and I was breathing this in for the longest time for 10 years now it's affecting my health my upper respiratory you may not seem or look to see that you know to recognize this inside of me but where I live in that studio apartment I suffer every day and every night and I'm hardly there I'm at the gym and cron SM knows that I do do what I can for my country and I do what I can for my city because I'm an ex addict and I know what it is to change and it hurts my feelings to see these type of actions here War should be more in a control fashion and it's not whatever happens in Gaza happens in Gaza we have nothing to do with that let the government deal with that voice your opinions in a in a controlled fashion yes but to disrupt the meeting where is usually the same old thing or because the console doesn't have a a a certain kind of a look a board and look as expressed big deal I have the same one every day but what I'm trying to say about the Holy Family is is that the baseboards over there are covered with the baseboard but the outside of it and through joining adjoining Apartments the smoke travels through and that's where I'm affected every day and I like to say something about the CEO Joe and I will direct this to him that he has to stop saying to his property manager and his staff members to get rid of Eddie Rodriguez that's unkind I'm hardly there I don't disrupt anybody's feelings or the apartment units or the people I love people that's why I became a community activist whenever I could help the community because I saw what was happening in the city bathroom with drugs and so on so forth I live that life but I gain control of it and that's what I want to say tonight please don't disrupt these meetings speak in a control fashion voice your opinions in a control fashion hear what they have to say because they have a lot a lot to say and these are laws i c about them thank you thank you Mr Rodriguez was there anyone to the left who want to speak tonight who has not had an opportunity I'll turn to the wide Center I'll go from left to right uh I'll start in the back uh my name is Mike staffer I live in Bethlehem may not look like it now because I just had kidney surgery five months ago so got a little bit out of shape because it's been hard to walk but I'm getting better I say that because I'm a marine veteran uh I join the Marines when some of the people that spoke here were just a twinkle in your mom and dad's eye I was on the aircraft carrier USS nits during the hostage crisis in Iran where I was 18 years old cruising up and down the Persian Gulf getting ready to go in and when I came back as an 18-year-old I got down on my hands and knees and I kissed the cement and everybody that spoke tonight disparagingly about our country and our flag you're going to go home tonight and you're going to get to sleep without fear of being arrested for what you said because there's people on watch tonight under that flag protecting you I'll just leave it at that the other thing I would just calmly say to some of the young people in this room I admire you your passion and I don't look down on you for your youth but I'm going to give you some free advice to help you gain more influence trust me when you raise your voice nobody pays attention more I'm telling you they shut down also the last meeting I heard at least two or three people use the phrase well we demand you do this so you you must do it oh really because you demand it we have to do it no sorry that's not how the world Works World Works through people coming here giving their time listening to opinions and voting that's how the world works the world doesn't work because you say and I'm sorry I have to literally mimic it because it made such an impression on me I won't mention the name but I clearly remember a girl saying well I demand it so you have to do it oh really oh oh you demand it okay that settles it there you go no that's not how the world works so that's some some free advice now I just want to say as a citizen I have a great concern that your time is being used up in a way that you can't address the city's needs my old boss used to say Mike don't come with the problem come with a solution so I'm bringing you a solution to think about I know the Bethlehem School Board they have a limit so they balance it and I commend you uh president of the council I I admire you greatly you give people the freedom to speak and I got to tell you I I I do I admire that um there's a balance I'm not sure you have to give people five hours to speak and then you can't get your agenda done I would propose a a balance I would cut it down from 5 minutes to maybe two maybe two or three two or three minutes because beyond that it's Hyperbole and it's grandstanding okay if you can't say it sit down the other thing is I believe you have the right to get creative why not put some of the public comment at the end of the meeting why not I've seen people here and make comments get up they put their jacket on and they leave but they've used up two hours of your time so public comment yes but balanced public comment so you can get your job done too okay I don't think anything I don't think we would begrudge you that I could foresee a situation where your agenda says open courtesy of the floor for 30 minutes 45 minutes and then at the end of the meeting if somebody wants to wait around till midnight and talk fine knock yourself out but um I want to close by saying you guys have come under a a lot of attack some of these people don't even know your names they know nothing about you can I say to the people in this room these people do not have the power to fix every problem in the world they don't and I don't agree with what a lot of the things they do but I do respect the fact that they're here and they're trying and they're working okay so I'm going to close in a calm steady voice and say thank you thank you continuing from left to right for anyone who hasn't had a chance to speak yet yes ma'am Terry kyber 345 gra view buard um doing this on the Fly here tonight some of you may not like some of the things I've said over the times I've been here talking about our neighborhood um about the development that's going on at Handover apartments up there that's not going on yet thank you Lord um and some of the stuff that we've repeated over and over and over again the reason we do this is because we care we care about our neighborhood we care get what gets built there we care what we have to look at in the future years bhx was denied the appeal for 180 ft by the zoning board the cross appeal was quashed and now he's going for Curative Amendment which will affect more than just this one project if it is approved by you guys when does no become no he was told no twice now he's going for a third time are you going to allow it to happen and give him the the right to build longer than 180 ft we ask you to please not come and see our neighborhood as Mary Joe said Michael clone you walked our neighborhood with us already you know what it's like it's very similar to yours can't imagine how you'd feel I know you can't be built behind your house because of what's there now but supposing there was a lot behind your house and this was going to happen there I can't I what would you be thinking what would you be would you be fighting like we are all the time help us to keep this we know something's going to be built we don't we don't we are not against that we know something will be built there all we're asking is that you help us to keep it reasonable keep it down to three stories if possible keep keep the buildings at the 180 length our houses are two stories in the whole area there the town houses are two stories our neighborhood's fairly quiet because there's not a massive amount of traffic yet so all we ask is that you just please come and join us take a walk around our neighborhood you know will'll gladly Paul Paul's not here tonight and I know he feels the same way as as we do because the three of us have been fighting for this or over a year now so thank you thank you continue to go from left to right was there anyone else who wants to make comment Mr sh and then I'll continue on those are 1898 and Avenue I'm going to try to be positive again tonight um and add a little bit to what I said at the last meeting uh the ceasefire resolution is uh no-brainer in a way there's been far too much killing in Gaza but it's an nonstarter unfortunately with Mr Netanyahu in power he will reject it if he comments at all uh there are some negotiations starting up again I understand on a temporary ceas fire it's not the real answer and who knows what's if anything will be accomplished there netanyahu's once is still talking about eliminating H Hamas completely that's an impossibility and he he should know better and he's also helping Hamas to recruit more members by treating Gaza the way he is uh there's some additional problems the air drops are well and good as far as they go but it's very inefficient the port that we're building on the coast is going to take a couple of months besides what do you do when the stuff is offloaded onto land which gets us to the trucks and I just heard today the uh I believe this gentleman was uh is in charge of un Aid um interesting he speaks with a uh English accent not the kind that you usually hear but very articulate and very knowledgeable he says they they're getting 250 food trucks into Gaza on a good day before the pandemic it was 500 sometimes 750 one of the problems is the Israeli inspection of the trucks for weapons before they're allowed in so I'm going to amend my proposal from the last meeting when I said uh the US and oh by the way our president is getting tougher and tougher on Israel he even called for elections uh the other day and he said Netanyahu is uh hurting Israel which he is doing so uh I last week I said we should be flooding Gaza with humanitarian Aid any country that asks for an armed escort we should provide boots on the ground that's something that the White House so far has ruled out but we're getting closer to that point I think one of the reasons for boots on the ground is because I've heard that the gangs sometimes Commander these convoys and then sell the food and make money today on NPR there was a report that a bag of flour today in North Gaza is $400 so uh amending my previous proposal is we should offer whether Mr Netanyahu likes it or not armed escort to any Bonafide legitimate humanitarian Aid that requested an armed escort to prevent commandeering and we should also offer to help the Israelis with the screening of the trucks before they go in so that just no weapons on board and by then perhaps we would have US troops over most of Gaza and we would have not only a ceasefire but an effective ceasefire thank you Mr shy continuing on to the right I'll start here in the front and then to the middle row hi Kelsey Weber I'm not going to disclose my address I'm a Bethlehem resident um so off topic kind of um I just wanted to address that over the past six months to a year um we've been having a lot of accidents car accidents um in between uh Center Street and East Gap Street along the lines between uh Center and High I should say on East Gap Street and um there's been a lot of issues with Strays in the area getting hit on the road so um my family and I we know of a lot of the Strays in there area straight cats and um I know that's a whole issue on itself but a lot of them been hit and killed unfortunately and it's due to I think no stop sign in between those two lights um because drivers are speeding in between um Center and High there in between those two lights um in between sorry Center and London Street anyways back to regular agenda topic um I just wanted to come up here and speak today I didn't have any prepared really um but I'm here to represent everybody else here who has spoken already on the uh Gaza situation um honestly we're obviously very very disappointed in the reaction from City Council on what has been done and what hasn't been done and the excuses as to why um the atrocities continue day in and day out we see it on our phones worsening and worsening and there's been nothing done on a local level to say that you speak for us or that you care about these situations and that raises alarms because then what if one of your residents got attacked on the streets or somebody who represents what we represent got attacked on the streets and they're a citizen of Bethlehem would you go to defend them and say that they deserve to be defended as well I haven't heard heard any any of the council members or anybody speak up on that on that behalf of the safety of their City members um I wanted to remind you as all of us are going to continue to remind you of what you fail to do the last couple of meetings and what you continue to fail to do our people's resolution will not be watered down so we are not going to continue to ask you to write your own resolution because that bridge has been passed so from here on out we will continue to show our faces show our voices to remind you that we are still here we're still here about our City's issues we're still here about a global issue that all of us here are concerned about in one way or another it affects us all whether it affects our taxes it affects our housing it affects our roads anything this all affects the citizens so we're going to continue to disrupt and disrupting is effective it is because what else is not effective if not disruption we're constantly on this brink of oh well maybe we should be quiet maybe we should be peaceful but peaceful is not always the best path of resistance and resisting is the only way forward because resisting is the only thing that gives us change because if we continue to do do the same thing that's not resistance that's the same boring droll things that we've been doing over and over and over again we have no resistance we have no change because there's no passion there's no energy the past two meetings and I've never been to Council meetings before all of this but the past two meetings I'm sure and I'm almost certain that none of you have seen that much passion none of you have seen that much energy coming out of people talking about such passionate topics to the point of disruption and that means something that doesn't just mean we don't care it means we care more than you can possibly imagine so we will continue to show up and I will say as almost a direct quote but we will show up in our schools in our careers in our daily lives but I can say that this is what the powers that be have decided will be normal as quoted by Aaron bushnel thank you for your time thank you in the center you uh my name is Ria and I am a Bethlehem resident 371 Park Avenue um I know the the resolution uh for limiting public commentary is going um forward for a vote next week I am highly disappointed in this resolution I was extremely surprised that it was brought forth by councilwoman GR R um I remember you had said that you were a counselor and you've worked with folks that have been traumatized and you're sympathetic towards people's feelings so out of everyone I thought maybe you would understand why 200 people in this room got upset last week or two weeks ago whenever it was that was a show of emotion I'd also like to say that nobody got physically hurt when that happened we got loud and I don't apologize honestly I'm not sorry for it this country itself was established on protesting higher Powers Boston te party does anyone recall that at all why are we here it was against the taxation also to say that um Israel does not have an effect on this area specifically is wrong because as somebody whose family has an engineering company and works with developers I can tell you right now there are plenty of Israeli Developers coming here to these areas buying out property and charging folks out the butt for rent so it is affecting us and this is a problem and it goes back to our federal tax money also going towards Israel Israel is innately in this country deeply and affecting all of us and to say that this is not our problem it's an international problem no it's it's a national problem it's a national problem when they're coming here buying out our properties um when we can't even even have like affordable housing and I do I uh read the open doors thing I I do appreciate that I like it a lot I'm sorry you had to go through back and forth on that um so I appreciate the efforts of doing going forward with this kind of stuff to have affordable housing I I looked at the report and it said that you had to have an income of $300,000 to be able to afford a home in Bethlehem that's insane that means I will never be able to afford a home in betham as a 30-year-old um but anyway sorry um back to what I was saying earlier I do not I do not approve or not approve but I do not support the resolution that is BR being brought up forth next week and to assume that um Bethlehem residents aren't coming out and everybody was from the outside is um ignorant there were plenty of bethleem residents that came up here um and spoke um for Gaza and for other issues that were brought forth um and if we weren't paying attention before we're definitely paying attention now and we will continue to pay attention and I'll leave it off with this come November we will remember for any election coming up for anyone that's sitting in front of us front of us today or whoever is going to come forth um moving forward thank you was there anyone else in the wide Center who would to make comment who hasn't had chance to yet I saw that Mr car to it so just before I continue over is there anyone to the right who want to make comment yes in the back my name is Tommy pesi I'm a resident in Bethlehem before I get to uh my main points I just want to also express my support for those who are here uh speaking for housing affordability but the main reason I'm here is to ask members of city council and our mayor to do everything you possibly can to facilitate a ceasefire in Gaza to push the needle I in a way appreciated your your letter from two weeks ago but it really completely failed to meet the urgency of the moment it didn't even specifically call for a ceasefire um and I understand some of the reason was the for a certain news cycle the Biden administration had used the rhetoric of of a ceasefire without actually uh doing any policy that would enact a permanent ceasefire um so I don't think there's any any reason you should look at those headlines and and think that you know the federal government is working to do that right now um and I remind everybody that there have been uh Israel has killed over 30,000 people in Gaza in the current genocide uh just in the past few months there are millions of refugees millions of people starving like it's unimaginable these numbers I don't know if you've seen the the videos of children forging just for grass that's all there's nothing to eat they just eat grass to to keep their stomachs full not to sustain them at all um and I'm here it you know it's understandably odd to talk about this at a city council meeting that our federal government is complicit in this genocide and they have in the most charitable view failed to stop it but but but they're complicit real realistically so I'm coming to my city government to the next level down to ask you to do everything you can to pressure Federal officials to stop the genocide uh the US sends four billion in dollars every year to Israel's military the there's current legislation right now sitting in Congress that would send tens of billions more that's that's unacceptable um if you if you don't care about the the ethics of it uh there's a legal argument that this can't happen uh we have some statutory law called the Ley law uh which requires the state department and defense department to cut off transfers of any military aid to quote a unit of the security forces of a fing country if the secretary of state has credible information that such unit has committed a gross violation of Human Rights uh so I think there's a clear starting point from the international court of justice that has have ruled that there it's plausibly a genocide right it is a genocide um so I'm here to ask you to do everything you can to pressure Federal officials I call Susan wild and Bob Casey and John fedman every week it's it's demotivating I should do it every day right to just leave a voicemail and that's the end of it and they don't take any action um I'm certain that every single one of you on Council and our mayor either has Susan Wild's personal phone number or you could get it in a moment's notice every single one of you should be calling her directly and telling her to push for a ceasefire right you have the power to do that I know being elected to see Council that might not have been the top of your mind but you have this platform and you need to use it to stop to do everything you can it's it's really you're more imperative in my view uh so yeah I don't know why there hasn't really been an explanation why you you didn't bring that resolution uh you could you know you could still do it I don't really trust that you will but you know tonight every single one of you uh council members Callahan and KY Smith and quch and clone and L and Wilhelm and Liam is not here uh you could make personal statements right now after public comment calling for a permanent ceasefire come to our press who are thank thank you to the press for uh covering the community's push and calls for a ceasefire I'd ask that every single one of you do the same and call for a permanent ceasefire thank you was there anyone else to the right who wanted to make comment this evening who has not had an opportunity to before I adjourn anyone else who didn't have a chance to speak I thank you everyone for your comments tonight get home safely --------- um this is um a chair of the Public Works uh committee um the other committee members are Hillary quch and Colleen L and clerk will please call the role Mr Callahan present M quch present M pres um I'm going to accept uh before we get into uh our discussion I'll accept uh public comment at the beginning of the meeting on any item to be discussed uh tonight with a five minute time limit and if you have any public comment now would be the time to do it anybody on the left anybody in the middle Mr analex I would also like to remind everybody that's uh if anybody's on YouTube if you're streaming it uh if you start watching the meeting on YouTube after 6 PM please make sure to scroll the time uh bar all the way ahead so that the YouTube stream is current rather than a recording of an earlier portion of the meeting question the question I have is this um it's more of a technical question than a usage question can a meter if a meter reads High and the reported usage by the meter extremely higher than normal and since the meters are digital rotational digital devices the question I have is the gentleman who has been coming to here about his problem is digitally speaking what would be the normal reading at a low or normal usage versus at the high usage in in terms of two numbers of like 7576 or whatever so has that ever been determined whether that's physically possible for the meter to fail in that manner but the question the answer to that would be H the digital difference between the two actual usages the real versus the reported by the meter so I don't know what who can answer that Mr Anal I I will uh be more than happy to to ask that question to Mr busola when when he has the floor okay very good thank you thank you anybody else on the in the middle upper right okay anybody on the right side over here all right um again there's only one item on uh on the um subject matter tonight about the water meter billing and related matters um I would like to turn it over to Mr boscola uh who's the head of the the Water and Sewer Department uh he had forwarded to uh Council all of council and and everybody on this committee has a copy of his memo and I would like for him to just uh review some of the information that that we were privy to Mr R thank you thank the uh committee for giving me the opportunity to present uh our information on our metering and billing systems so I prepared a brief PowerPoint presentation should take about 15 minutes to get through and then I can uh entertain some questions sure I have with me Jason Davis he's over here he's our the manager of our commercial operations Bureau so he can also help with uh any specific uh questions that we might have so accurate and reliable water metering is crucial to ensure that customers are being charged fairly and accurately for their individual water consumption we take this responsibility seriously our commercial operations Bureau is comprised of 11 employees who take care of metering and billing services for approximately 37,000 customers there are dedicated public servants who do a commendable job to ensure that metering and billing is accurate and that all billing disputes are addressed promptly and fairly in accordance with city ordinances and the water tariff and we'll talk about the difference in a couple slides we strive to resolve all disputes in a fair manner but it's important to recognize that we must have uniform rules for metering and billing so that the system is fair for all customers I'll present some evidence to suggest suest that our metering and billing systems are fair and accurate and the public can be assured that their water and sewer bills reflect actual consumption as measured by their water meter so we start with just the type of meters we have because that's the nuts and bolts of our measurement and billing system so we have generally speaking three types of meters in our system all are highly reliable and accurate and last for many years with little to no maintenance the first is the positive displacement meter these are the older style mechanical meters they have moving Parts water flow through the through the meter rotates a disc which measures the volume and that gets translated to the register on the meter and actually I should I should hand these out so you have these as my show in time sorry so the bra so the brass one that miss lared is holding that's the old style positive displacement meter we have currently 21,000 in our system most of them were installed in the 90s the failure mode for that type of meter is such that they stop working they have internal rotating parts over time those parts wear out they Jam they corrode The Meters stop working that's the common failure mode for those type of meters but even if they even if they fail to register water can still pass through the meter so the service doesn't stop if the me if the meter stops registering the second Ty type type of meter is electromagnetic that's the other one light gray in color plastic house they they are the new style they're battery powered there's no moving Parts what are the battery creates a magnetic field there's around a flow chamber as the water flows through the flow chamber it induces a voltage the voltage is proportional to flow and that's how the flow gets measured um very basic electromagnetic um technology we current have 14,000 of those meters in our system we started installing them more than 10 years AG more than 10 years ago about 12 to 14 years ago because the goal is to replace all of the positive displacement meters with the new electro magnetic meters those two type of meters are commonly used on all our residential applications the other type of meter is the turban meter I I don't have one of them because they're too big um they're used are industrial large commercial applications um they're for high flow customers the water flow spins a uh an impeller a turbine if you will and that is in proportional to the flow going through the meter and we have about 2,000 of those meters in their system so we need to replace all those old positive displacement meters they're 30 a lot of them are 30 years old and basically at the end of their useful life so we have a a replacement plan project to replace all those meters we have 20,000 to go the goal is to do 4,000 meters a year for the next five years we actually started in 23 we we we replaced 4,000 last year we're going to do another 4,000 this year and every year for the next five years we've budgeted $2 million a year to do this project at the end of 2028 all residential customers will have new meters that's the goal it's the census ey Pearl that's the making model of that plastic meter they're battery powered they're designed to last 20 years and they come with a 20-year warranty so how do we transfer data from the meter to our Billing System so we have two ways of doing that you have the old under the old system and now the new system the old system those with still have the brass positive displacement meters you use the touchpad so the meter reader the person has to go out to your house with a with a reading device and measure they go to the outside of your house everybody has it's called a touchpad a little black device it's connected via a wire from the meter to this so the so the meter rator does not have to go in get into your house anymore um to get their meter read so the downside on this that old system is that you're only getting one read per quarter per person per per per res per customer that data gets then downloaded into our Billing System and it generates the bills that people get every quarter the new system that we're installing it's called automated metering infrastructure so we are going to be installing in addition to the new census meters we're installing these end points they're called it's a radio frequency unit again it gets installed on the outside of the home and it is a communication device so instead of the meter reader having to go to the house to pick up the Read that read now gets transmitted via radio frequency signal to centrally located towers that are located around the city um and then that the that data gets then downloaded into our Billing System the new system is capable of collecting reads every hour so whereas the old system you can only get one data point per quarter the new system I can get one data point per hour so multiply that over a quarter that's over 2,000 data points now per customer so that will help as I as I'll into notifications in a couple slides with the ability for us to be to notify customers Qui quick question yeah is it is it red every hour if only if someone's driving by with the the other no it's all it's all via um centrally installed permanent towers that we have we don't we don't do the driveby okay there are some systems out there that still that do the driveby but we we elected to go to the next step to have centrally located permanent Towers thank you yeah we currently have 12,000 customers on the new system so it's we're about a third of the way there obviously the goal is to get 100% build out and again along with the meter project we're installing the goal is to install 4,000 of these every year along with the meters so that at the end of five years we'll have approximately 95% of our customers on the new system and we'll get the remaining 5% um shortly thereafter so so how do we address billing disputes so the Tariff and the ordinance city ordinance include specific language on how we address billing disputes the Tariff if you recall the water tariff is issued by the Pu that covers policy for customers outside city city ordinances covers policy for customers inside the city they both contain identical language in this regard customers can file a dispute they call our customer um service center hey I have a high read can you help us out we try to assist the TR the customer with troubleshooting but now when I say by troubleshooting we're not plumbers we don't NE we're not we're not licensed plumbers so we don't necessarily go to people's houses although in some cases we do to try and help them identify where potential leakage or high usage can occur because we know based on experience there are very common causes for high usage leaking faucets leaking toilets running toilets uh hose running in the backyard a uh hot water boiler that's making up a lot or blowing down water um detach garage Plumbing in the back yard that's in Plumbing in unheated spaces that freezes and then breaks we see a lot of lot of issues that and we try and help customers to pinpoint where to look for areas where they may be experiencing High usage so in the Tariff and ordinance there are prescribed remedies to address abnormal usage and you can test the meter and there's remedies for whether the meter is either fast or slow or stopped and it's and it's in black and white in the ordinance and a tariff fortunately for us or for the system again just to clarify how how accurate our metering system is since 2015 we've only received 28 formal requests for meter tests from customers all 28 resulted in 100% accurate meters again it's just another piece of evidence to show that our metering is accurate also verbatim in the Tariff and ordinance they State clearly that no adjustment of the amount registered is permitted for any reason except malfunction of the meter or Upon A positive showing by the customer in instances of excess of usage where the usage resulted from circumstances beyond their ability to control so it doesn't give a whole lot of leeway to give credit if you will for people with un known usage or leaks or running faucets or the like uh Plumbing failures meter testing so just another word about meter testing so yeah like I said we only did 28 official customer requested meter tests in the past 10 years we also as a matter of practice test our meters randomly the ones that we replace since 2015 we've tested approximately 2,000 meters just to check the the the uh the overall accuracy of our meter stock of those 2,000 meters 97% test tested accurate 100% accurate 3% tested slow or Under reporting or stopped and 0% tested fast there have been 650 stopped meters identified in the past 10 years again that's the remember what I said the the positive displacement meters their their common failure mode is the internal parts wear out they stop turning they under register and they just stop recording and then we have to replace them we also do not back charge customers if we do find a stop meter so we you know we're we're not out to hit people with with fees that go into back you know back calculate what their usage would have been you know we're not we're not in that business of doing that these are older meters that we have to replace anyway um there's no evidence to suggest that meter speed up or run fast or measure flow more flow than actually moves through the meter physically impossible there's been no problems encountered with the new electromagnetic meters they've been in service for 10 years no problems have been identified with the transfer of the meter reading through our billing database either through the touchpad system or the new uh radio frequency units so high high usage so I know Council has expressed interest in in understanding the process that we use to alert customers of excessive usage and we we we try our best to do that now unfortunately for the older system the older meters like I said you're only getting one data point one read per quarter but after that quarter after every quarter we run re billing reports to identify customers where their usage exceeds 50% of their average and then we attempt to notify those customers the downside with that is that that notification is obviously occurring after the fact right so you're getting a read every quarter you get a high read we try to notify you but of course that potential leakage already occurred right so you're only getting a potential notification once every three months with the new system because like remember now I'm getting 2,000 data points per quarter it it the system now runs daily reports so now I know if somebody has a high read on a daily basis and it'll generate a high flow alarm again so those are checked daily so that allows us to more proactively contact customer MERS so that it's not we're not waiting for that next quarterly Bill all right so that they can more quickly identify any potential problems that occur now on average we get that happens on a that happens on a daily basis daily basis yes we we get we check the system for high flow alarms on a daily basis now we get about 10 to 20 of these high flow um notifications a month so that's roughly once per once per day or once every other day roughly speaking so it's not like we get them it's not like we get a lot every day we're only getting one a day or one every other day on average so how how is the um how is the resident notified then is it usually by phone call now now I will acknowledge this is another shortcoming of this system you have 37,000 customers we have names and addresses for everybody right because everybody gets mailed a bill we do not have phone numbers and emails for all 37,000 customers plus people change phones people move um emails change so that is a challenge to keep up with timely notification process for customers just because that database is very difficult to keep up the date for 37,000 customers and I'll be honest with you I'm sure there's plenty of customers who do not want to give out their phone numbers or emails right but we we include on every bill there's a little you know when you respond on your bill on the back it says you know update your contact information name address phone email so we give we try and prompt customers to kind of give them give us their contact information so we're able to contact them out of the out of the 10 or 20 a month you said right yes so how many times out of the 10 or 20 a month is there a problem in contacting communicating yeah so there's only two two or two or three a month where they know the high bill is going to be coming they're usually pretty quick to so if if the if uh I know it's two or three a month if we can't get a hold them either through an email uh an upto-date email or phone is it possible to have someone go out and drop a notice on problemes when it's a tenant you don't for the information to the L right go I'm sorry that's okay um so we do have this process in place to be able to notify customers and obviously the goal is at the end of the day if and after over the next five years as you get more customers on this new system um at the end of Five Years everybody will be on the new system and will'll be able to track everybody's usage and be able to notify people in a more timely manner and then ju just finally just to kind of give you a couple case studies of some of some real data and some real issues that we run into um just on the right there I give you some flow rate numbers so like for a gallon a minute leak say or a gallon per minute that is left unattended to that would result in 1,400 gallons per day 10,000 gallons per week 43,000 gallons a month so it adds up pretty quickly and obviously if it's two gallons a minute you're just doubling everything so these the the usage can add up fairly quickly if it's left unaddressed so customer a these are real customer uh cases normal usage was 8,000 gall a quarter one one quarter it went up to 48,000 gallons we contacted them the customer acknowledged a leaking toilet he after corrective action the usage returned to normal the customer was responsible for his water and sewer bill just just off the Top If You Don't the answer it's fine but what is 43,000 gallons cost a a resident 5 time 40 is $200 $200 roughly that's just water yeah yeah not then you got the sewer on top of it that's another four three something four four it' be $4 per uh times 40 $150 roughly 500 recycl City res yeah all right now that gets to be the customer B so again this person 20,000 gallons per quarter went up to 72,000 now he he identified a leak in his law irrigation system after corrective action usage returned to normal now in this case we could apply to sewer credit for that usage above his Norm because because he was able to show that the water did not go down a sanitary drain right so we gave him a credit on his sewer he's still responsible for the water bill but we gave him a credit on his SE customer C very similar normal usage 10,000 gallons Peak to two over 200,000 gallons so just to show you how much volume can disappear how much water can disappear fairly quickly if left left un addressed now this guy this person had a leak in his in an unfinished crawl space um he didn't know was something I don't know the exact Arrangement but he had a leak in his in his Plumbing corrected the problem returned to normal and again we appli a sewer credit um because it did not go down to sanitary drain but he was responsible for the water and in that case 200,000 gallons is about a$1 thousand water bill all right so it can add up quickly if if left unaddressed so oops that's all I had formally so if there's any questions about metering and billing I'll open it up to the other committee members M qu thank you um I had a few questions um so with reference to um the 2,000 meters that you've tested since 2015 um H can you walk us through how they get tested how does that happen so so the nor normal course course of business we we're replacing meters every year um we take the meter back to the shop there's a there's a um calibrated test rig back at the shop it gets calibrated every year it is it is nothing more fancy than a tank of a known volume you hook the meter up to the tank you're drawing down a tank so many gallons and if say 10 gallons comes out of the tank and and the meter reads 10 gallons it checks out now we do it at different flow rates um depending on the size of meter and we follow guidelines in awwa that's the American Waterworks Association trade group that that publishes a lot of um guidelines and recommendations on how to do all kinds of things on the water system so these so it's not possible to test a water meter while it's still in use it literally does have to be removed been brought back to the lab in order to test correct so if uh there was uh a customer who had a dispute and you changed out their water meter then you would take you would take that one back and test it yeah typically what we would do yeah so the customers who who request a test will take the meter back to the shop we're going to put a new meter in because the odds are the meter that we're pulling out is an old one anyway so we're going to take that back we put a new meter in so we don't have to go back into the house we take that old meter back and test it and report back to the customer that says okay here's here's the results of the test pass fail or otherwise and then and then you kind of go from there okay um so then uh with regard to the um the customers I'll just say the will weers who are here today so I'm just um that you did offer them a a sewer credit I believe is that correct yes and so um and again I'm just really asking this for information um the practice with the sewer credit is in cases where um you can somehow demonstrate that the water didn't hit the sanitary sewer system so I'm just wondering in in was that determined or how do you determine that we we try and give customers the benefit of the doubt to be perfectly honest so you know some you're dealing with often times very unque situations with every customer every household every every potential problem is unique so you know we're not out to you know just gouge customers with high bills if they can reasonably show or or if it's undeterminate or if there's some at least reasonable attempt to say okay there's a leak in the system some something happened the meter check out fine right so if the meter test accurate I'm sorry but you're responsible for the water use but you don't know where the water went to so we'll try we'll give you sewer credit on that extra usage that over usage so generally speaking our our sewer bill is based on our our water usage with the assumption that everything that flows through our houses does does hit the sanitary sewer that's correct on generally speaking 90% of all water used in household applications goes down to drain if you just think about where how you use water in your home um so there isn't an actual measuring the water that exits correct sewer is the sewer bill is based on your meter water meter okay yes that was helpful thank you very much um Mr spurk I think this is more of a legal question um um the um the language of the ordinance um could you bring that slide back up again thank you so in the language it says um no adjustment of reg of amount registered as permitted I understand that of course it would be it would be um chaos if we were just like ah we'll just say it was probably what you did last year or last quarter or I can understand that that we have to have a standard here um but it says um accept malfunction of meter or Upon A positive showing by the customer in instances of excessive usage that the usage resulted from circumstances Beyond his ability to control is there any kind of additional understanding of what it means circumstances Beyond his ability to control I think that's interpreted as like a vandalism broke your outdoor water faucet or somebody broke in your house and broke a pipe or a sinkhole and that broke a pipe um truck ran in your house I mean something catastrophic like that beyond the control as opposed to my mother-in-law's 97 and she doesn't hear well and theil running Beyond her control she can't hear or something like that right as a practical matter it would have to be something no other way to interpret it I think that's rational other than did thank you and interpretation Mr bucola is kind of done on a case-by Case basis if there's a dispute about whether or not the circumstances were beyond the their ability to control yes yes thank you um so I did have one question about or maybe it's a suggestion I don't know about the notifications with the new with the Ami system um and trying to gather more uh emails and phone numbers although it sounds to me like you're getting about a 90% where you're able to contact them but you're saying some of them it's it's maybe in person with a door hanger or or some or a piece of mail um and just that I mean knowing that on the back there is that hey update your information it would be great if there could be something that went into the bills some quarter in the near future um that says you know we're updating our system and we'll be able to give sort of real time you know if you want to know if your if your usage is high um let give us this information and we'll be able to contact you I would just suggest maybe doing a little bit more of a push on it um maybe when we get to maybe 50% or something like that yeah I think we're we're trying to get to some you know level of you know um uh push like you say uh we only have I think 14,000 to roughly a third of our customers right so we're not quite we're not quite there yet but I would say over the next couple years certainly is it is it possible to determine uh I mean this would be tricky I guess you would have to do an a separate mailing I suppose if you could determine who you have now on the Ami system and send them a a a separate letter just asking just informing them of this very nice feature of the new system and uh just thoughts about that so because it is a great feature of the new system and I'm glad that you're um you know making taking advantage of the of the uh the alarm and and notifying people it's good to know that that's happening um and finally what is the average leakage rate or or use rate of like a toilet that's running how how much goes through there on a daily basis it's it's variable I mean think think about standard modern United toilets in the United States now I think are two and a half gallons per flush right and when you when you flush your your toilet how long does it take to fill the tank less than a minute right maybe 30 seconds so toilet if a toilet flapper is wide open it's probably passing between four and five gallons a minute and where is that water going the sanitary system okay so it's going into the tank and out of the tank correct it's just going straight through going it's just okay just it's just a straight shot um you can tell I'm a plumber by the way down it's water down the drain is what it is and again it's all is it is it partially you know we we run into those cases all the time is the is the flapper partially open is It Wide Open was it open for a day was it open for a week you know it's it's all it's all variable okay and then I did I just realized that I did have one last question and that is in the use uh the the case study of the um un The Unfinished crawl space was that water found in the house I mean was it there was no evidence of a ceiling didn't collapse uh no the homeowner had run a pipe from his house to his detached garage and it ran through unfinished crawl space with gravel and it was just leaking into the gravel and going into the ground okay there was no evidence on the surface at all thank you very much thank you Miss Leen uh yeah uh thank you I I have several questions uh some of them are more on the technical side some are on the legal side some are on the customer service side so I'll HTE youall um so for the um the smart meters the ey Pearl I believe that is um do they have a mechanical index I actually think I saw that when I passed it like that um could be checked if there's an anomaly so if somebody calls and says I think this was wrong can someone come out and look at their meter for a physical backup reading in case there was an error let's with the data yes yes if you yes there's a register yes there's a digital readout on the meter yes is that part of the standard process if someone calls with a contested bill yeah we would yes we would pull the yes if we pull the meter to test it we would check the register make sure it's it matches our billing record and yeah the laptop yeah okay [Music] um and when you say uh no problems have been encountered with the transfer of meter reads to the database does that mean that there's been no reported problems or are you spot checking your database as well like you said you check the meters every time you replace them or a lot of times so so there's you know the system is the system is in constant communication we have Central Towers um that communicate with the meters so they run so there are kind of like diagnostic checks to make sure like the the meter is communicating properly that it is like the batter is okay um like I said we get the high flow alarms I think there's a low I think there's like a no flow like if like if there's like no water alarm so so they can be Pro so that there's diagnostic checks that occur on a daily basis within the system to make sure that things are working properly um this is more on the legal side so there's identical language right now between the uh tariff and the ordinance are we obligated to have identical language or are we allowed to because we obviously can't control the Pu tariff right that's beyond the scope of city but we can Control ordinances so are we allowed to make changes to the ordinance and Al and Lead the non City residents having different rules than the in City residents yes okay um but but I would say it's been our practice to be fair to every customer both in city and outside City sure to have Fair rules for that are for everybody understood but but in theory yes you could have different rules uh for both inside outside cting okay um in the project uh you know transitioning to the I Pearl Smart Meters um and the simultaneous work to transfer to the Ami um reporting system is that being done inhouse is that contracted like U I'm just wondering like how we determine that 4,000 a year is what we can handle uh doing combination we uh this is um the first time we've used the contractor since the 90s when they did the last Mass meter replacement so we're using a combination of a contractor and our in-house meter uh staff so our in we only have three meter uh repair techs um at full staff I can we can replace about 1500 meters a year with those three people um to do the other 2500 to get the 4,000 we hired a contractor so that contractor um under contract with the city they make all the notifications they have a staff that to go out replace all the meters and and um and install all the end points last year was the first year we did that and I think it went pretty smooth I there were hardly any complaints at all we did for 4,000 and so with contractors would it be a pretty significant budget increase to try to speed up the replacement Beyond 4,000 a year two $2 million a year to do 4,000 so right yes okay just just do the math yeah yeah um the go you know when we started this last year we we went in thinking we're going to need $10 million over a five year Peri over a six year period or six years or five years yeah six year period roughly $10 million so um that's just you know the these um these are 145 bucks a piece the meters are about the same um so that's about you know 200 um $300 in parts per house plus labor so it's it's an expensive proposition um understood um sorry my questions I was like adding them as we went so they're a little bit out of order here uh the language of from the Tariff and the ordinance that uh talk about no adjustment of the numbers that makes sense we shouldn't be tinkering with with utility numbers however has it been considered ever to offer not an adjustment of the meter numbers but an anomaly credit that could be applied once every five years to a household if there's something bizarre and unexplainable that happen no I guess that's the that's the short answer because you know these cases are so rare there just hasn't been a need to do anything like that and like I said at the outset the whole premise here is to establish rules that are fair for everybody so you know if you start giving somebody a break for this un unexplained usage then I got to give somebody else a break and and then and then it starts it starts to unravel right slippery there's the potential for it to unravel um because we do run into situations all the time people like I said have faucets running toilets running they they um bacon houses landlord tenant issues um there there's an innumerable number of pro potential problems that we run into do with usage that doesn't get managed well at the property level um and then we're we're kind of asked to kind of get in the middle of that um so we're trying to be fair to everybody if the meter is accurate you know that that's what we have to go on as as a utility as the accuracy of our metering understood um kind of going further on that accuracy and um you know it does seem like they are very accurate with the data you've uh presented um what is the industry standard for like I know you test them when they come off um but is there a standard for calibration like I know the I Pearl spec sheet uh reference Conformity to like four different uh standards is that a Conformity at the point of manufacturer is it expected to stay within that Conformity for the whole life of the meter yes yes so the meters are you know calibrated the Factory they're they're they come with a guarantee and per per the specs that you mentioned um the only time we would calibrate them is upon request or at the end of life or at some point in the future there is no mechanism for uh mid stream calibration like we like we talked about earlier and it doesn't fall under any sort of weights and measures program like gas pumps or no okay correct they're they're they they have there's long long history of of of water metering that goes back a hundred years um the um the syst the meters are accurate and um yeah I guess that's all I you know that's all that's all I have to say about that okay um and then moving to just a couple questions about the customer service side of it and the the process is that uh Bill contesting process posted somewhere that's easy for customers to find like online or like do they just kind of have to call like is there like a stepbystep guide somewhere that says if you're concern they they'll call us because they get the high Bill and they they're kind of have questions first of all about you know what is causing this and then we email the the form to them if they request okay and I mean it's just like any utility bill it's going to have contact information if you have questions about your bill contact such and such yeah um so you know people are not shy about calling us if there's a problem um and you know like my other utility bills right I'm a bit of a like it geek um right so I like to go I'll go into like my PPL portal and I'll look at like all the different usage that they're estimating for this and that um and I can see pretty quickly like what the rates are um is that Poss possible instead of like having to phone call and mail and all of this to have a portal that people could see that is the ultimate goal and I think we're we're starting to look into that as a potentially set up you know we' have to work with our it Network and systems to set up like a customer portal like you say I know other utilities do it where you can go in look at your account pay your bill look at your usage and do all those things I don't think we're not there yet um but that is that is a a a vision if you will for our system once we get through this this whole meter so that would be looked at for like after the whole replacement project well I think between now and then we're going to start we're we're looking at some platform there's a couple of different kind of models out there and you know software packages that we're looking at now um to see if there's something we can start incorporating into our sort of database to allow customers to log in okay thank you that's all my questions thank you uh I would like to rec recognize uh Miss kmy Smith she uh showed up uh about 20 minutes ago so I I failed to recognize that she came here do you have any questions yeah okay thank you I'll try not to be repetitive because I had many of the same questions that were asked already um but going back to the Tariff and ordinance I'm wondering um where it states Upon A positive showing by the customer so how how do you define that like if a customer um that they can how do you define that they can prove that there's you know circumstances beyond their control is it like rule out everything just trying to get a handle on that you know the difference between um positive showing by the customer and they'll get you know a re a refund or whatever or those who don't have a positive showing I take that to me positive we can't find anything else it must be your fault that would be a negative show you have nothing else to go by so it must be the meter positive showing would be kind of the examples I gave before like sinkhole pipe inside the house something if it were something like like I said motherinlaw 97 doesn't hear well it's not our fault or something like the pool boy or the Lawn Boy left the faucet running out how would you show that could just be the customer gone for two weeks and the toilet ran but they say well must have been the pool board so I guess I'm just trying to get a handle on like if if there's a customer that um rules everything possibly out as far as like a league you know they hire a plumber they they go to Great Lengths to try to prove that um there's no logistical reason for this water bill like how do we differentiate between a positive showing that right you know circumstances beyond their control versus circumstances within their control but again like Mr spurk was saying the customer didn't show that I this water positively leaked because of a fire or of because this person vandalize the house there's there needs to be some sort of feedback from the customer that says this is what happened right so instead of ruling out everything there needs to be uh evidence or proof correct because because up against that is the meters that okay by way of example in June 19th 2018 this same customer called about a high billly bill was 40,000 instead of the usual 10,000 compared to 2023 when it was 50,000 instead of 40,000 and at that time they were informed well you ought to check your toilets and we never heard get from the customer found right because it similar volume I'm just thinking of customers that you know they go to the um you know trouble of hiring a a plumber and they you know they look at at every Avenue and nothing can be found and there's it's just like an unsolved mystery you know yes and that's that's concerning so um one thing I I'm thinking I know the answer but I guess they must have solved the higher Bill and it happened that time right but other times where we we've had customers recently who say they tried everything they hire a plumber and there's just there's no resolution we don't know what happened I mean I guess youd have to put like an intent now a speeding ticket even though your speedometer show maybe speedometer was off and showed you speed but but the state policeman has his radar calibrated every month and go by the radar read they didn't intend to speed electricity usage they'll check the meter how many times would you say that's happened a parking meter if really intended to get there before the meter expired but it didn't so as of the meter and there's no intent to take this water just some point a lot of and of the way the presumption works and would be in our experience we do this every day for a living right the metering is accurate the water's going the water has to go the water goes somewhere the meter goes through the meter it has to go somewhere whether the customer knows or not whether it's a leak somewhere goes down a toilet goes down a drain we know based on our experience and talking with customers every day that there are solutions there are there are answers to these questions out there um okay um just the water just does not evaporate Into Thin Air it goes somewhere the meter Rec The Meters do not lie oh so for we have the new meters and the old meters I I did some research looks like there's some apps out there that people can get that can notify them if there's excessive usage will that work with the old meters at all these apps that people can can download or not customers will those apps work with the current meters or only the no no there's two like clamps that actually go on the pipe independent of the meter that you can get that work on your home Wi-Fi there's two different styles I'm not sure if the names of them off my head um but they don't require any Plumbing you can buy them to clamp to the pipe above the meter and it'll communicate with your Wi-Fi and it'll send you you can track it or keep alerts or not sure of all the functionality of it but it it seems to be and it will work with the old meters also like the current meters yeah it can work with whatever it doesn't connect to the meter at all it doesn't connect to the meter but I I think you're you're may be alluding to something that uh Miss L was kind of hinting at creating a a portal if you will that would only be possible with the new style meters you know uh because that that data is you know collected every um hour um okay um not with the old style but what you're saying C work with the old style where they can still monitor right that would be on the C okay um okay what was my other questions here um and the only other thing I'd add is you know we talked about phone numbers and emails and I know we only have like a third of the new meet uh meters but I would say even just putting a little slip in you know once a year or twice a year saying you know we're in the transition of updating all the meters it'll take like four years and if you give us your phone number and email we can alert you if there's any excessive usage I just think that's a good idea you or I know we talked about the cost are there any grants out there to offset the meter upgrades any kind of Grants or any kind of money we can get from the state and the FEDS to speed up the upgrading of the Meers all um 99% of all funding for water and sewer infrastructure comes through pennvest um pen vest typically I think is you know roughly 90% loan it's a 90% loan funded program maybe 10% grants a lot of the grants are set aside for lowincome areas of the state but it's certainly something we can look into and even our grant our grant writer can assist with that because we have a grant writer so that' be good okay um what's the projected life of the new meter do you have any idea 20 years 20 years so we have to do it all over again in 20 years M all right thank you uh I go ahead this is just a request for a follow-up figure because I don't expect you'd have it on the spot and I know we're almost out of time um I'm curious you said about that it's very rare and you gave some numbers for how many um extra ra charges uh happen or uh you went through like the number of failed meters and the number of slow meters and then so I'm curious how much money has been brought in on identified High usage Bills versus all of the credits for uh when a meter fails to not like fails to the position of it's not reading and we the city loses money on that and doesn't go after it um curious what the proportions are thank you we'll see what we can thanks run some numbers and see what we can find out so so my final questions are um so you had said uh during your presentation that there's three basic readings uh fault readings there's a fast uh uh slow and a stopped meter so we have this designation of a fast meter MH but we've never had it An Occurrence of a fast meter correct ever not in my not since I've been here all right what happens when a so a homeowner is filling up a pool are they getting they're getting charged for the water and the sewer no we give him a credit on his sewer he pays for the water how do we know how much water is going in in in the pool though we do an we we work with him to get an estimate on his V of his pool they also have a permit with the city that explains how many gallons their pool is or if it's above ground pool the calculations are very easy if it's in ground pool the amount of gallons contained in the pool is in the permanent office so I just check with permitting and then we give them based on that or if we have an electronic meter we can tell them to fill it you know overnight for these days and we can go in and read it or we could have them get a reading when they start and get a reading when they fish fin although we do require that the two readings be pretty close together not over the period of a week or two right listen my my my my whole uh purpose in trying to have this meeting was was was one informational number two I I want to I want to try to come up with the you know with the other committee members and come up with a a venue or an Avenue to address these obviously cases where uh residents feel like you know I I don't have a pool um I had a plumber I don't have a leak uh I was away and my usage is you know astronomically higher than it it could ever be I mean it's so I that was the whole purpose of me calling this meeting I don't know what where we go from here I appreciate all the information I think I'd like to soak it in and talk with some other uh you know committee members about where where we go from here I don't know if we could have like um um some type of committee I don't know if it's legal to do that to to review these cases uh on on a individual basis it doesn't sound like we have I think I think you said there was 18 to 20 um cases a month and of those I I think you said um 10 to 20 and I think of almost all of them you said were were corrected with uh you know either a leak was found or something and I get that I had a property um on Hay Street a rental property many years ago and when I got the the quarterly Bill obviously the the the tenant had um a leak leak and flaer I got it was like $850 bill I wasn't happy about it but you know it it was what it was and and I paid it uh and and I had it fixed but I I I think it is refreshing to know that uh a large amount of the meters are being flipped over to these new meters which is a good thing and there's multiple readings on uh a monthly basis up to 2,000 and people are being notified I feels uh you know I feel bad for the people who have been build uh what they what they believe is unfairly uh and I wish that we could get these newer meters uh installed quicker how many what's the percentage of Bethlehem residents that do not have the new meters do we know that top of my head we're kind of working from the outside in yeah it's it's probably I know new construct I just built a home for my daughter and and hers her house has the new meter my house has the old meter so I'm just assuming that all new construction is going in with the new meters correct yeah I don't know if we have the exact numbers on in in City versus out city is it possible for us to start working on replacing the city residence meters first that that's what we're doing with this Mass meter uh replacement project so the the the contractor last year he was all he was on the southide so we're doing all Southside this year we're going to finish up Southside and go to start in the west so we're g cont then we're g to go start going to the West Side so these next five years it's he's he's hitting the meat of the of our customer base which is in the city core yeah most I don't know if this is accurate or not but I I assumed from um or I would assume that most of the um older meters are inside the city and H Handover Township and betham Township some some of the other areas a majority of those are probably you know the newer meters how long have the newer meters been on the market a couple years the new the new ipros yeah well we started installing them about 10 to 14 years ago all right so they've been in service for yeah I and I would just be curious you know see if we could start focusing on the city residents meters first because obviously those meters are probably along with the piping you know it's probably the older part part of the system versus you know outside the city area so uh I I think that's it for now I just out a uh a cour to see to the will re weers I if you have any comment You' like to make real quick before we end the meeting if not I'd like to adjourn it I but I would like to give you the opportunity to speak I I I know I spoke to you you know before about some of the situations that uh you know that happened and I if you want to make uh a statement I I would allow you this time now if not I mean it's totally up to you I'm not I'm not trying to put you on a spot thank you thank you is there any other questions from anybody on the anybody else thank you uh this meeting is adjourned