##VIDEO ID:WgVCJmR1SmY## I'll go around the room then wor all right we're live we're recording everybody and good evening everyone we're going to get started I ask we all rise for the pledge to the flaged flag of the United States of America to the stand One Nation Mr Miller please call the rooll Mr Callahan Miss grmy Smith M quch present Miss lard present Miss Leon Miss Wilhelm pres and Mr col pres thank you Mr Miller uh Mr Callahan as he had mentioned at the previous meeting is out of the country traveling and councilwoman ksey Smith we send our regards that she's out of the area due to a loss in the family mayor Reynolds will be joining us a little later on in the meeting this evening I would just want to announce before we go through the agenda tonight that at the administration's request agenda item 7b1 involving the HRC appointment will be pulled from tonight's uh agenda so that the 7b1 one will not be voted on this evening moving on to the approval of the minutes from the September 17 2024 meeting any comments on the minutes minutes are approved moving on to public comment we're going to start with public comment on any subjects that we're not voting on this evening I will remind everyone of our five minute time limit our first Speaker signed up Mr Haynes hi everybody Bruce Hayes uh with the announcement this week of the start of the construction of the Walnut Street Garage um I thought I would come and I want to be on the record about this that I believe I believe when all of you voted when you voted to turn down the harb's recommendation regarding the uh the height of the and dimensions of the wellness Street Garage and their recommendation to not approve that um that there they're end up being an unintended consequence and um and that unintended consequence I believe is that I everybody I think was under the assumption including all of us that attended the two hard meetings that went till one o'clock in the morning that they never really vetted they never vetted the exterior the facade the paint colors or any of the of that in terms of when they were looking at the project because the issue was the height and it was so obviously you know obviously objectionable that in all the discussion that took place it was that they had some issues with the with the facade the colors the paint color how it Blends historically in the historic district but there was no sense spending uh another three or four hours on that after you know the when the real issue was the height and so when it came to you the issue uh was all about the height really there wasn't any discussion about the any of the facade stuff and I think there was there was an obvious understanding on their part there was an obvious understanding on our part that those of us who were involved in that that if in fact you overturned the height and the dimensions it would come back to the harb to then scrub the exterior of the garage as it's in terms of its compatibility uh that never happened and um I believe I believe that the right thing to do is to is to do that before they start the construction I mean nobody we're not revisiting the size of the garage the dimension of the garage the capacity of the garage I'm not here to talk about that and that would not be on their perview but basically we're talking about you know just doing the right thing for a building that's going to be in the historic district I know I know they felt it was coming back we all felt it was coming back it never went back and um so I would ask you to uh to give some strong consideration to that and discuss it and just say you know as city council people that are having a building built in our great historic district which just got a world heritage designation wouldn't you want that to be done and then obviously they would they would make their recommendations on that uh and then and then that those recommendations uh regarding that would come back to you for a final vote as well and so that's what I'm asking for you to revisit it and send it back to the harb for for the architectural details Etc and then come back to you I'd ask you to really revisit and I think it was an unintended consequence I don't think any of you intended that but that's what happened thank you thank you Mr Haynes our next speaker this evening Mary Joe MC Mary Joe mol 449 Grand View Boulevard I want to address the recent article regarding the betham area school district and its lack and its lack of testing for lead while I understand the district is a separate entity from the city as far as taxes and such I wonder if some clarification can be made regarding funding for such testing the a EPA has set a deadline of this month of October for the city to compile a complete a compilation of the extent of lead pipes within the city I am wondering if that list is finished or what is the time period for its completion Pennsylvania water lines are among the oldest in the country so I believe you can understand my concern P Pennsylvania is set to receive $152 million to help municipalities replace lead pipes I would like to know how much Bethlehem is set to receive I realize that I may have to wait until after the meeting to speak to someone but with budget hearings set to begin or may have already begun this is a valid concern T to taxpaying Residents I want if replacing lead pipes will include those in the schools or if that burden will fall in the district at an earlier meeting a concerned citizen questioned his water quality Mr basola said the city tests water as it leaves the facility does the city conduct any tests at various locations throughout the city after it leaves the plant does the city provide any test kits to its residents or does that expense fall upon the concerned resident the city period periodically flushes hydrants is the supply for line for the hydrants the same as those for residences I hope the city departments compiling their budgets are prudent in their deliberations and as such demonstrate restraint for frivolous or pork spending next year is not an election year so I trust that that will not be an incentive to raise taxes as stated in January when the current budget was adopted thank you thank you miss mcol our next speaker Janet I believe the last name is Barney Barry Barry apologies okay good evening evening um my intent tonight was to speak to you about the hypocrisy of Bethlehem being called a tree City USA but those remarks will have to wait as something more important is now my priority last Thursday violent crime came to East Hills neighborhood in which I was born and raised and where I call home what was a quiet and normal night changed in a second when a man was shot during a drug deal turned robbery turned homicide within a minute or two of shots fired the neighborhood was a wash in red and blue lights and Sirens pierced the silence I am sure I speak for many of my neighbors when I thank First Responders for their Swift AC action and chief Cott it was with well within two minutes that they showed up violent crime is said to be down in the country but that doesn't mean much when it lands on your doorstep I am here tonight to make a plea for a return of neighborhood patrols growing up I can remember police officers driving through the neighborhood and they got to know the children and adults it wasn't unusual for a police officer to park near our H our house to catch those who would blow off the stop sign knowing police frequent an area is without a doubt a deterrent East Hills today is much different from my youth children sit on skateboards and ride down the middle of the street they don't think of the consequences the bike Brigade rides the width of the roads challenging drivers and there are some drivers who treat Shakespeare as an Indie 500 qualifier patrols will allow for proactive rather than reactive policing soon the new newly built Apartments will be adding 1,000 plus to our part of Bethlehem so the onus is on city government to make sure we are safe and that Thursday night was a once in a-lifetime event thank you thank you that exhausts our list of who had signed up in advance so I'm going to go around the room is there anyone to the left who want to make comment Mr katola hi I'm r j Creed curatola of betham Pennsylvania uh hope you're all doing well tonight I changed my mind I'm going to be running as a Ryden for the mayor of our city of Bethlehem so if you vote for me if you want a better City and wish to pay less money than what ever spent for a mayor in any City in our United States in over 50 years vote for me I will listen to my advice that's given to me from our city council constituents but I will accept no more pay than an illicit man or woman who places Their Lives In Harm's Way for our country because I believe that being an elected official for any city is a chance to serve not only your community but your country because greater cities equal a greater USA I firmly and strongly and truly believe that our world is in the state that it's in with Wars homeless people crimes of VI violence in many of our major cities not only in our us but cities throughout the entire world is because there are too many people especially elected officials who have two fathers one their biological father and two their Incubus father and maybe even their succulent mother these individuals who we elect in power come off with their intellect with haved pomposity and their plastic Smiles like they're going to give you the world but in reality they only give you the crumbs that fall below the pockets of their own Pockets if anything at all they will do whatever it takes to gain power and money for themselves and their families whatever happens to everyone everything else in the world so be it as for myself all of the world and all of God's is my family I have no wives and kids that I know of but I was raised in the 60s 70s and 80s so anything's possible but no one has confronted me as of yet as being their father I can safely say that throughout my life I made it with the fair percentage of beautiful women I thank God that I'm very healthy and still alive today and put all I've been through uh read my book coming out soon to be on Amazon called my life was built on Miracles Google my pseudonym professional name j Creed and read more about me and hear some of my recorded music of songs that I wrote Google J Creed video World Anthem to hear and see me sing dance and play guitar on a song that I wrote to gain world peace and Harmony I did the video three years ago I don't look much different than that now except they don't touch up my beard anymore um the songs the song World Peace World Anthem is with World Peace records wake up rise up live for peace and was accepted by the United Nations where I spoke and was interviewed in New York City October before last by nanu Tong and Sandy Wong nanu Tong is the lady that puts together all the United Nations gatherings in New York City and La go on my Facebook page read my Treatise for one of my upcoming books that explains why our world is in the state that it's in it's a true ultimate of all horror movies if it made it made into a movie the book is called lill [Music] it thank you Mr cha anyone else that left who want to speak Mr Rodriguez Edie Rodriguez Holy Family Apartments uh first of all you know I've noticed while sitting over there seems to be that uh you know we're here to speak about for our 5 minute time time limit and but I noticed that certain certain members of the audience you know they criticize and mock you know uh whatever these individuals are saying or doing or the way that they act then they come up you know and they are all sincerity you know and they totally you want them everybody to believe what they're saying you know be more sincere about yourselves before you come up and and be mocking somebody else and it's not right uh next of all I have some concerns about my safety at Holy Holy Family Apartments I've tried to get some answers but I I got none uh only because it seems to be an unexisting Rule and it only can go so far uh the concern of mine is that the lady who lives downstairs of four different individual apartments two up two down one of them and they're both on oxygen on the first floor one of them smokes and chain smokes and that's where my concern is at if that were to blow up the apartment it would affect everybody in that building and wherever else that's my concern it's my safety it's my health because of the way she change smokes it travels to my apartment every single day I hardly get any rest during the course of the night because I'm blowing it out even though I got the best air purifiers air purifiers that anyone can buy big strong very effective but it's not doing the job that it could do while this lady chain smokes she manipulates the staff members over there uh because she's on the first floor can see when they are coming so and she's been told by other people uh who come close to her apartment what to do what to expect when they're coming so she's on the up and up on everything that that happens with the staff members so when they go in they just can't go in as they wish it has to be for a a number of reasons because it's subsidized by Hood and that's the other reason uh I am subsidized by Hud and there was a uh a ruling back in 2018 that stated as I read on my phone that there was a smoke band that was created in all public housing is this true can you search it out yourselves somebody get back to me particularly maybe Laura can help me out in that area uh maybe your attorney which I've asked whom I will speak to later on to make a call I need to know these things because it's affecting really my health my situation where I live where I'm hardly there I spend my time mostly going out somewhere or a plan of Fitness because I go there every other day if not every day so I am truly a community activist concerned about my community and the way I do things I try to help people out I'm not a person that is out to scam anybody or to steal from anybody so I changed my whole life around but there's devious people and people that just don't care in this world to make it un unpleasant for other people to live in a peaceful neighborhood where I live it's not peaceful over there at all and this is for shotty the maintenance guy because I'm asking you to go out and read what I just finished saying because this pertains to me at Holy Family you are not doing your job sufficiently enough shotty because you have refused to do the work and you told me in my face also the CEO has instructed certain members of the uh Staffing to get rid of him meaning me some time ago when I first started living there and his name is Joe and that still goes on they're in constant contact with this individual and that affects my way of living over there like I said I'm a peaceful individual I changed my whole life for the better and I just leave it at that and I thank you thank you Mr Rodriguez and I failed to mention at the top of the meeting our department heads are all here and I invite anyone to stick around who want to speak with any of them after the meeting or any members of Council individually I won't speak to HUD regulations because I don't know that what what Falls within the purview of the City versus the tenant's rights with whoever manages the property and things like that but I would be happy to speak after the meeting if you want to touch base Mr Rodriguez is there anyone is there anyone else that left who want to make comment I turn to the wide Center I'll start in the back and work my way to the front Mr Baron [Music] and also if everyone doesn't mind stating their name for the record for the clerk please my name is Frank Baron I live at 30 6 West Spruce Street in Bethlehem um I want to raise a concern um about the capital Improvement plan for 20 2005 2025 to 2029 uh specifically the um plan as it relates to Street improvements uh as I understand it from uh the uh plan the Lyon Street is to be converted from a two-way street a one-way Street to a two-way street and the cost of doing so is approximately 200 yeah $200 million uh if completed in 2025 and that the preliminary engineering and permitting work is expected to be started in late of uh 2024 um now both Lynden Street and Senter Street were made one-way streets when Bethlehem Steel uh was in business and um as a those streets served as a a way of getting commuters in and out of the steel steel has been gone since 1995 I believe um I've been a resident of the city of Bethlehem for about 30 years and I never had a problem with those one-way streets um the thing that concerns me though is less the convenience is the cost lyen Street um is estimated at uh more than $2 million and Center Street hasn't figure hasn't been uh um presented for um Center Street on the other hand the following page of the uh plan states that that the um city is going to spend about $2.5 million um in improvements and it UND and it states in in addition that we're currently insignificantly backlogged with this work my suggestion would be to skip that uh transition from oneway to two-way and use that $2 million instead to um make Street improvements Street overlays and uh grading whatever is necessary for um the coming year um this uh 2.5 million I think would help considerably in um improving the quality of life throughout this the city um you know I don't know how many complaints you get about potholes and uh um and uh other problems with the street but I think it would be better that money would be better spent on the um Road repairs rather than changing a two-way oneway Street to a two-way street um I should note that uh the average life expectancy of a residential street is about 21 years well we're Beyond 21 years in in most cases I think it's important that we try to catch up on this work rather than create uh um new problems simply by changing uh from a one-way Street to a two-way street so thank you very much thank you Mr Baron and I'll speak on when we're going to review that Capital plan which will be later this month but I do just want to clarify I may have misheard the number 200 million quoted it's two million it's okay I may have misheard it wouldn't be the first time I just want to clarify it it is a $2 million figure as it relates to to L street yeah correct correct you don't need to explain yourself to me Mr Baron we're gonna and I'll I'll speak more on that in a little bit later in the agenda again turn to the wide Center starting with the back row moving to the front was there anyone else who wanted to speak with Council in the middle hello um Harry Faber um so you guys know me I like to come up here and read quotes and talk about my reading I actually didn't find this quote myself my friend sent it to me and I was really um inspired by it I don't know if you've ever heard of Sophie scha she was 21 when she was executed in 1943 for leading a student resistance um against Hitler and the Nazis um she was a part of a group organization called The White Rose um and her final words were uh how can we expect righteousness to Prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up into indvidually to a righteous cause such a fine sunny day and I have to go but how many have to die on the battlefield in these days how many young promising lives what does my death matter if by our acts thousands are warned and alerted among the student body there will certainly be a Revolt um and the most inspiring part is obviously the beginning and that I really connected with um that especially since she was 21 and she gave up her life while in college um at the University of Munich and I just was thinking about how the American and Israeli governments condemn the people of Palestine people of Lebanon people of Syria Yemen Iran and more to the death for the actions of their governments but then what do you think should happen to us for our own complacency in this genocide do we too deserve to die for the terroristic actions of Our Own federal government even those like myself who are participating in the BDS movement protesting speaking out can we really say we did enough it's nearly been a year of the most Liv stream genocide in history Millions have been displaced if not murdered so I just ask when when do you think we'll be tried and sentenced as guilty and when the war machine comes for us and as you hold up your limbless babies and loved ones up to your cameras begging for help I wonder if the world will look away just as our country is looked away from the Palestinians Israeli apologists will will always say you know what do you think was going to happen when they attacked Israel as if they were saying yeah obviously Israel is going to butcher tens of if not hundreds of thousands of civilians if you try to resist it duh but the wildest part is that they truly believe this is a good defense for Israel's criminality I mean I've heard this stuff in this room In This Very Room yes Israel commits horrifying massacres against populations which oppose it whenever it can find an excuse to do so that's the problem going oh of course Israel killed thousands of kids it's Israel is in support of my position so what I ask uh city council as our local Representatives is that you hold up your end of the bargain and obviously you can't solve the crisis in the Middle East I would never ask you of that but I think we need to pressure the county the state and the FED more and I think you as our city officials it's kind of up to you I mean I'm trying to fit in the county council's into my schedule it's tight you guys know uh how I work but to those who think that this isn't affecting us one it is I mean it's it's our government and these are our resources which instead of being spent on infrastructure Health Care education on the people are instead being spent on the killing and maming of people abroad and I don't know if you guys are as well informed I mean I Iran just like launched um quite a few ballistic missiles at Israel today uh I believe Netanyahu fled um which shows how much he cares about his own people uh but it's it I I don't know I have panic attacks all the time I have panic attacks almost every day I wake up and I see more and more Bloodshed more and more news so many horrifying videos there was this guy um uh I I don't know how to pronounce his name but uh he posted a a video of showing three children under rubble and they were trapped under Rubble for roughly 15 hours before they suffocated and just thinking that that could have been me when I was born could have been any of us but Lu enough luck of the draw was born here and we're not experiencing that but that doesn't that doesn't matter it's it's people and someone who's not here um like to quote Martin Luther King like most white liberals do but Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere this is a grave Injustice that is being spent at the expense of our own resources and I think we need to do more in one condemning these atrocities and showing our solidarity with people experiencing this genocide that's what it is thank you thank you in the back corner hello my name is Juliet Rose I have been serving betham like coffee for like 10 years and I'm just really disgruntled right now and it was perfect timing that you guys were having city council um I just got out of work and wanted to get a burrito and I paid a dollar to park for 15 minutes and still ended up getting a ticket from the BPA because I took two minutes to pay for another 15 minutes for a dollar to wait for my burrito and now I have to deal with this headache for $15 um I feel like I'm getting bullied by the BPA and I'm probably far I'm sorry I'm just like really disgruntled and hungry because my burrito is in my car because I want to tell you guys that I really don't like the BPA um it's really frustrating to be a working class person who has to pay to park to just do her job and I feel like I'm getting bullied and everyone at that it's National Taco day or something and they were very busy so I had to pay $2 to park for a half an hour to wait for a burrito I really wish I could have gave them that $2 for a tip I did give them a tip and I wish I could have gave them $4 for a tip um so I have to do this now my time is valuable of course we bully Palestinians because we bully the working class in America um thank you and I hope you guys have a good day thank you I I don't want to keep you from your dinner D's waiting for you but um if you wanted to follow up through the website I so the betham park Authority does have their own board that has board meetings I encourage you to look at when that is which is on the city website or we could forward any information you wanted to to the executive director for the parking authority also I understand Mr sh Bill Shar 1898 Avenue a bunch of things but let me start off by saying that um the military aid to Israel should have been spend suspended some time ago the answer to the killing of innocent people is not to kill more innocent people and about Center Street and Lynden Street uh Center Street in particular divides neighborhoods and I've in the past I've said that struck me as a training ground for NASCAR as they try to get into jockey for position in the right lane so that they can be first aligned go north from Elizabeth Avenue um the U on the agenda I'm pleased to see that new business is now explicit uh where it has been implicit this is good it's good when the agenda shows what actually is going to happen I still have a suggestion to move approval of the minutes until after public comment so in case we disagree with something that's the minutes we have a chance to say it in time and then I noticed that even that single copy of the minutes is no longer outside at 6:30 and so I couldn't even check the minutes and what it says about what I said at the last meeting so I have to remember to print them out at the library I look at him at the library before him um another item here I got solicitation from a group called American Rivers uh they have a headquarters in DC at around 14th andk and they list the top 10 most endangered rivers in the United States and would you believe number seven is the Lehi River they say the the threat is harmful development I I want to get in touch with them and find out exactly what they mean and to close I have both a rant and a rave the Rave is first and it's very short the Rave is Gina in the office of Mike alol I talked to her today about Leaf pickups actually and she's on the ball she knows she's on top of things she's thoughtful she's specific she's friendly courteous kind I won't do the Boy Scout pledge um I think we should call out from time to time people in the city hall who are doing an exceptional job finally the rant this is rant number five in my 20 years here about little things and rants one through four still have not been corrected but I'll save those for another time if if you call the City's phone number which by the way is is a helpful thing when you're not sure which department number you want and you can call them and you get referred the uh and just just to be sure that you know what I'm talking about here the number is 610 uh 865 7,000 that's how I got to Gina actually um I if you call this number it's possible to find out what the hours are of City Hall and which I did and City Hall you I was told is open to 4:30 this is not true there may be stuff happening inside of City Hall until 4:30 hopefully but it is not open to the public until 4:30 the doors are locked at 4:15 now this goes back some months H the purpose I imagine is to um go cab got to accelerate um it misleads people if somebody says oh it's I can get there by 420 and pay my water bill and get that done no they if they come at 420 the door will be locked they have wasted a trip which shows disrespect for the citizens taxpaying citizens of the city thank [Music] you thank you Mr CH is there anyone else in the wide Center yes Terry Coy Grand View Boulevard bethlhem this may seem like trivial to some people but to me being a 12 26 PB dog owner I think it's very important we we mandate that children must be in car seats or seat beled in you must have your seat Bel on click it or ticket will there ever be a law to make sure that these animals in cars are seat beled or hooked in somehow I did have to stop suddenly this morning on my way up the street I was only on my street so I wasn't going fast but I caught Kota off guard and he ended up on the floor with his back end because he was harnessed and he could only go so far but I see people driving yeah they got their dog hooked in there hooked in their arm hanging out the window they stop fast that's a projectile out I have 126 pounds in the back seat if he's not hooked and I stop fast that's 126 pounds going past me into the windshield are there any mandates are there going to ever be a seat Bel law or restraint law of any kind for animals in the car instead of them just hanging out the windows all the time somebody yesterday passed me in a truck with some big dog I don't know what it was sitting in the front seat they had a collar I could not see any harness even if that collar was hooked they're choking or breaking the dog's neck but it the dog if they would stop fast that dog's going out the window because he's halfway out already so I think that's something that somewhere down the line needs to be checked into thank you thank you Miss cler is there anyone else in the wide Center who want to make comment turn to the right is there everyone to the right thank you that concludes our first public comment we didn't have anyone sign up for second public comment which is anything that we're voting on this evening so I Look to left anyone who want to comment on anything that's being voted on tonight's agenda to the center Mr sh uh item 10 D is forwards the recommendation from the historic Conservation Commission to approve the demolition of the single family residents at 3:30 East Fourth Street uh I went by there this afternoon and the exterior of the building is not terribly exciting but I it is I understand the building I I didn't make the meeting so I I'm but there were some background documents showing some terrible m in one of the three buildings that were requested demolition for so I can understand why the commission voted unanimously unanimously toh allow the demolition of this building but it raises a broader subject and here I'm going to propose a new activity for the city uh which would involve Court enforcement and I my understanding is code enforcement is UN as deficient as it exists right now but like Vince leardi once said you aim for per Perfection and you won't achieve it but in the in the process you'll hopefully achieve excellence and the subject I want to raise the phrase is uh in the in the planning profession I don't know if it's a term of art or not but the phrase is demolition by neglect and an example that I know a few specifics about is one of the other three demolitions on the agenda of the HCC at their last meeting and that's the former residence of the chief Gardener of the Eugene Grace estate which is now Holy Family Manor they came before the HCC I would say about 10 years ago seeking the demolition and did not make it so now it's 10 years later the building is still vacant it's in deteriorated condition and it makes it easier as time goes by to get it demolished because the people who have to approve these things say well it's hopeless now so one by one if the developers are willing to wait and some of them are very patient we can lose B buildings that contribute you know they're not important enough to get on the national register of historic places and they may not be in a historic district but they nonetheless contribute to the historic character of the city and we do pride ourselves and we sell it actually in in our marketing about the historic character of the city of Bethlehem but through demolition by neglect we allow these buildings to disappear one by one particularly on the south side but there's another example there on the on the Broad Street bridge and there's other examples in the city as well so what can we do to prevent this if we feel truly do feel that uh saving these buildings that that are not unique but uh do contribute to the historic atmosphere of the city which in my mind makes it more pleasant to live in instead of nondescript modern stuff well um the obvious solution is if a building is vacant you have to keep it maintained now this would require more code enforcement and as I said we're deficient right now apparently in that respect but it's something to think about for the future another Poss possibility is and this would be perhaps more Draconian your real estate tax doubles if the building a building is vacant for more than a certain period of time this would give owners an incentive to use not only maintain the buildings but put them to use and and we're right now we're talking about the lack of affordable housing so that could help with that as as well so time to think big we need more bigger thoughts in this city I feel and well as I've said if we really do care about the historic atmosphere in the city even about what's left on the South Side let's do something about it thank you thank you Mr sh is there anyone else in the wide Center of what's comment on anything we're voting on this evening I turn to the right anyone who want to comment on anything that council's voting on that concludes our second public comment thank you any old business for members of council Miss will yes uh as promised I wanted to follow up on some of the comments that were made at our last meeting uh regarding parking as the liais on to the parking authority uh I did speak to the individual who made those comments and as well as the Director of the parking authority so just um as it turns out that the issues were primarily related to information and education and um what was expressed here was uh sort of a difficulty in finding information whether it be signage or information on the website or the brochures so I I just wanted to take a moment to to sort of clarify some of the places that you can go to find this is not related to the comments that were made tonight um I have empathy for that person's lived experience and and ran out as you saw to to address that with her um this is again related to last last meeting so um a PL one place you can go for a lot of information about parking in Bethlehem is the website called it's Beth park.org and it's in fact quite easy to navigate along the right hand side is a a sidebar where you can just click easily on street parking garage permits Etc there are colorcoded maps downloadable PDFs of information for you um but also as as you know things change and we are very much in the midst of a parking uh change the landscape is changing in Bethlehem uh they in fact do have a very robust social media stream uh on Instagram it's at the Bethlehem parking authority where they are constantly uh sharing very upbeat and informative informational posts and videos about the parking changes um which I acknowledge are quite overwhelming I I understand that um but also with regard to the fact that we are sort of mid process here there is more to come there's more signage coming there will be signs in garages for example pointing you to where the the local business uh downtown districts are um as well as better signage around our kiosks um and uh a commitment to uh creating more accessible parking for people with disabilities these are just a couple of things that are to come so just know that we're we're in the middle of it so it's it's not perfected just yet um and lastly just with regard to that transition we are in the middle of of uh sort of changing our own behavior and habits around parking and so we have these new tiered zones which are you know nobody wants to pay more for parking but that sort of datadriven approach that um we pay a little more to park closer um but garages in fact and our speaker at the last meeting did comment on the great assets that we have in our parking garages the new garages on the Southside um and in fact I was surprised to learn that the new Street Garage is 200 feet from the Godfrey Daniels uh block which was the block that that individual was speaking about so it's just sort of getting it into our minds that um the garages aren't quite as far as far away as we think and in fact they're the least expensive longest term parking you can have at large just um also wanted to say please feel free to reach out as she did um and as hopefully our earlier commenter will to me or to to the director of the parking authority if you have questions as you sort of literally and figuratively navigate your way through the new uh changes in Bethlehem thank you thank you councilwoman any other old business for members of council any new business for members of council councilwoman Leo I I did have a question for the chief of police if she could address uh some of the the one comment that was brought up today it's uh I mean I think we've I think we've all um kind of watched uh the news play out but if you can just just give us what we can know about what happened at the East Hills area so it's a tragic event that occurred uh it was a drug deal gone bad a drug deal that turned into a robbery that turned into a homicide out in the area of Governor wolf so it actually happened on the roadway I believe it's the 1900 block of butztown Road um officers responded quickly and due to the amazing work of our officers and our detectives we were able to take into custody the 17-year-old suspect within a matter of 24 hours 17 yeah right thank I just wanted some clarification on that thank you any other new business for members of council thank you Chief cot councilwoman L uh yeah um I don't think anybody from the BPA is here tonight right correct um okay uh I just wanted to um recognize the comments that Mr Haynes made about the Walnut Street Garage um I am not sure what the process is for sending things officially back to harp uh but I do recall I I checked my notes while we were sitting here uh on my remarks that night and um certainly I did ask for further discussion of the facade um even if in an informal manner um so I do intend to follow up uh and see you know what has been talked about what uh could still be talked about um because I believe we had discussed everything from the front facade to even ideas for the back uh south facing wall so I I will be following up on that and just wanted to let you know I I'll just briefly interject as it relates to the comments um councilwoman layer reference you even in an informal Manner and our solicor Stewart here and I have U touch based on it and we'll we'll talk more following this meeting but I I don't so harb and the HCC those powers that process is given by ordinance to counil and I don't believe I'm going by memory when attorney Stewart and I visited it months ago and and we could revisit it you know prior to the next meeting to follow up but I I don't believe there's a mechanism in the ordinance objectively speaking now in this case the applicant is of course an authority of the city but every applicant has rights as we talk about the certificates of appropriateness and I I don't believe and if I'm wrong I'll correct myself at the next meeting but that there's anything that once a certificate of appropriateness is granted and then Community Economic Development moves forward with their approval process in terms of issuing permits I I don't believe Council has the the power given by the ordinance for any applicant regardless of project to then say okay now this needs to come back I I just don't believe that's that's a power that's given to us by the ordinance so again I can um it it will require a little more investigating between now and the next meeting but um that'll be done I've reviewed the ordinance and you are correct my memory is better than I I assume sometimes thank you attorney Stewart certainly can I ask a followup question to that go ahead um if if it's not given by ordinance if we do change the ordinance not not that I'm saying that that's what we should do but if we do change the ordance would it apply to this project or would it apply to all projects going forward and not this project the ordinance is based on State Statute never mind and and even if we did change the order there's just a a practical management to that that what what would a look back period even look like to do that but to to attorney Stewart's Point some of that and I'm not the lawyer up here uh is is based on State Statute and other guidelines councilwoman lar just to clarify um then in terms of informal conversation or you know like if they decide oh we're going to change this paint color um we are allowed to have those conversations there's just not a mechanism to formally send something back for harb approval correct I'm I'm gonna say correct attorney Stewart looks like she wants to uh give follow-up comment but just briefly to for my comment I mean I think that could be said for anything right like there's we we have informal conversations with applicants or individuals who do business with the city on a lot of things so from a my perspective on that I don't know you know in terms of um again the rights of the applicant uh there's a big difference between something like a formal committee meeting versus a um conversation to be had with the the applicant or whomever it would be attorney Stewart the other thing I would say is that typically when you have an application that is approved it is the approval is only within the scope of the application so that if something were if a plan were to change that could prompt yet another application any other new business from m Council Council quch yes I just wanted to um Mr BCA follow up on uh a question that a resident had tonight about um the lead pipes and I know that we've had um perhaps Mr mcol is not the right person but I thought um we're working on replacing uh lead lines that they that we have got funding um and uh if you could just give us a maybe a little summary of of the progress off the top of your head um the city had previously been awarded a $2.8 million Grant from pennvest a couple years ago to replace lead lines that project has since been completed we removed about 400 um depending on the regulatory regime you look at um whether it's EPA DP pu the goal is to get all the lead out of the system anywhere from the next 10 years to the next 30 Years depending on the regulatory agency you're dealing with uh so that gives us enough time to both inventory look for and then remove all those lead Services most utilities including Bethlehem do not have an accurate inventory of our service lines because all these lead Services were installed 100 years ago we do not have accurate records so unfortunately the it's not the only way but one way or the the we're going to have to approach this is to actually um uh do some um physical excavation to find you know where the lead occurs and then replace those lines accordingly that's why the Regulators have given us many many years to make this happen so it's not something that's going to happen overnight it's going to be at least a decade until we tackle this problem and the um that that funding is done but there will will be other funding opportunities to accomplish it or yes yes there will be additional future opportunities for funding is part of the uh infrastructure bill that the federal government passed a couple years ago that M there was more money uh allocated to pennvest to do out as either loan or Grant to municipalities utilities to remediate those lead services so that will that will continue to flow but we have to apply for that so we're going to be doing that next year and then finally with regard to the school buildings in particular U are in terms of doing excavation and exploration and things like that that would just be in the context of neighborhoods in general if you found neighborhood that where a school was based you might go look further or schools are a different topic the the regulations put the onus on the schools okay to remediate lead in the schools including their service lines and Lead uh Plumbing fixtures in the school buildings so that's where um if you recall that press conference that was held maybe a week or two ago by some Representatives because they were targeting the school districts because they understand that the current regulations put the onus on the school districts to take care of their lead um Plumbing if you will got it so then they would maybe be pursuing the funding correct independently of the city correct got it okay thank you very much thank you Mr Bosca councilwoman L sorry uh I did mean to ask also does the health Bureau have any testing kits available for people who might be wondering about their homes water or paint or or anything yes through the Miss Collins do you mind just briefly come to the microphone just so it's captured in the recording whomever thank you hi I'm Ben Berger uh the director of nursing at the betham health Bureau and the community connections program so we do have several programs so there's the leaden healthy homes where um home if we find lead in the homes homes are inspected if we find lead in the home by our lead inspectors it can be there's a lead abatement program that is free for the both the the owner of the home or the landlord who owns the home that the tenants rent um there's also another Healthy Home component to that but that's specifically targeted at the lead we also have just started um we have our new mobile van so we are going into the community and going to start doing voluntary capillary lead testing so that's just voluntarily if there's criteria that must be met for the kids and the families to get tested for lead you all kids should be tested for lead and we're hoping that the pediatricians are doing that but if they're not or if there's kids who don't aren't connected to pediatricians or who haven't been tested we can do a capillary lead test with um through our lead program if that were to come back high then we would send the kids for a Venus blood draw so a more significant blood draw to test the lead um and start the process of of care with their pediatrician so we are getting rolling with that with the capillary lead testing I don't know that we're going to have a lot of eager families volunteering their young ones to have their fingers break but we're hoping to do so with our um better blocks programs in our on our mobile van so there are um some pretty robust lead abatement programs available to families who qualify in the city it's great to hear thank you yeah you're welcome and the only brief followup I would have to that is that information is on the city website I would I haven't visited uh recently so I don't want to assume either if it is or if it's being worked on that's a good question I our capillary Le testing hasn't because we're I just literally finish up writing the protocols and getting everything organized with that um but we'll roll that out when we'll do um some campaigning with social media our lein healthy homes is going to be it's a pretty wellestablished program so that's going to be in various places probably under the betham health beer and then the city's um just under yeah because there'll definitely be information that's a longer standing program that we've had on the lead and healthy homes the lead abatement program thank you you're welcome any other new business for members of council all right thank you everybody G to move on to Communications Mr Miller 6A September 25th 2024 memorandum from city solicitor John fburg Jr with an attached use permit agreement resolution perit is Arts Quest and the activity is the 2024 ice rank at steel Stacks the agreement specifies event times and the duration use from November 22nd 2024 through January 1st 2025 premises is First Street from Founders way to the Eastern Terminus and resolution 10A will be voted on tonight 6B September 25th 2024 memorandum with an attached resolution from Laura Collins director of community and economic development Miss Collins seeks authorization to apply for up to $7 million from the US Department of Housing and Urban development's Pathways to removing obstacles to housing grant program funding received would assist with the implementation of the opening doors initiative and resolution 10B is on the agenda this evening also 6C September 17 2024 memorandum from Darlene heler director of Planning and Zoning with the attached 2025 through 2029 Capital Improvement program at its September 12th 2024 meeting the City Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend approval of the capital plan and a committee of the whole meeting has been scheduled for 6m on October 15 2024 here in town hall to review the Capital Improvements plan the five-year Capital Improvements plan for 2025 through 2029 will be reviewed and this is a preliminary review as we get into the budget process 6 the September 25th 2024 memorandum with a proposed resolution from city solicitor John spurk Jr requesting the destruction of records from his Department solicitor spurk has reviewed the municipal records retention Act and the records listed on the exhibit accompanying the memo fall within the categories where destruction is permitted thank you and that resolution will be placed on the October 15th city council agenda moving on to reports I have nothing to report this evening Mr Evans our reports moving along for our finance committee councilwoman quch thank you the finance committee met earlier tonight on Tuesday October 1st 2024 at 6m in town hall 11 budget adjustments were on the agenda the committee reviewed these adjustments and recommended that they be placed on council's agenda this evening Hillary quch member finance committee thank you we don't have any ordinance this evening for final passage so moving on to the mentioned new ordinances Mr Miller Bill 33 2024 ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehi and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the general fund budget for 2024 bill number 33 2024 is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss crampy Smith discussion we'll call the RO Miss quack I miss lard I miss Leon I miss Wilhelm hi and Mr colog I pass 5 Z Bill 34 2024 an ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the general fund budget for 2024 bill number 34 2024 is sponsored by Miss Leona Miss crampy Smith discussion call roll Miss quch i m l i Miss Leon I miss Wilhelm I Mr colum I pass 5 Z Bill 35 2024 an ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the general fund budget for 2024 bill number 35 2024 is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss kmy Smith discussion Mr K hi counc yes so um uh tonight I learned that uh this uh particular item involves passing um this half million dollars to the alley house project which is a project at Lehigh University and uh which is my employer and so I'll be recusing myself um on this matter there is another one further down the list where the money is actually flowing the opposite direction and it's my understanding from a discussion with our solicitor that that one is not that's not a conflict and so I won't be recusing myself on that one understood thank you councilwoman that's okay yeah well I will I'm also an employee of Lehi University and will be recusing myself from this vote thank you also councilman wam I have a quick question for our solicitor um are we good with the majority of we have a quorum of course uh if it's voted on in the affirmative by the members who are voting given that's a new ordinance we good for the first reading and the other thing I would say though is that a member who has recused vote when legally required to so then my followup to that is our two council members just disclosed their conflict but are you then saying that they can vote to satisfy the Quorum the I'm sorry under the ordinance they are permitted to do so yes understood so to the two council members who previously stated they were going to recuse themselves given that we have so pretty much what what we were getting at is we're we only have five members of council present we have two members of council using themselves so there would only be three members of council voting and we need a majority of full Council to pass a new ordinance we need four votes to pass right you can't do business without members then they're allowed to vote otherwise you would be precisely thank you to attorney Stewart and attorney spurk so to our members who already disclosed the conflict are you satisfied with the um recommendation of our Council solicitor and Mr Spark's words also I'd say as council president yes yes yes um I did fill out the form so um I don't know if that would be withdrawn or if it's just in order to State the conflict or whatever so I don't know what you do with the form you could it's simply don't record it thank you so I'm glad we sorted that out is there any other discussion for members of council then I will ask Mr Miller to call the role M quch I miss L I miss Leon I miss Wilhelm I and Mr cologne I passes 5 Z Bill 36 2024 ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the general fund budget for 2024 bill number 36 2024 sponsored by Miss Leona Miss grmy Smith discussion on 9d we'll call the rooll Miss quch I I miss Leon I miss Wilhelm I and Mr cologne I pass 5 Z Bill 37 2024 an ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the general fund budget for 2024 bill number 37 2024 sponsored by Miss Leona Miss crampy Smith discussion I just wanted to point out these are things that we heard about um tonight in in the finance committee meeting so I just wanted to point this one out in particular this grant will allow our um Health Bureau to train multiple police departments all the police departments in Northampton County um not just bethlehem's um in the and and also Supply equipment um to use for um folks who have Alzheimer's or autistic uh people who might be prone to wandering um there's a program where they they can wear arfid bracelets and then the the police departments can um can locate them if they go missing and so um I just think this is a great uh a great program and and uh knowing that all of the police departments in uh the county will be trained um means that if someone wanders um and they cross a jurisdictional line that's not going to be an issue thank you Miss quch any other discussion from members of council we'll call the rooll miss quch I miss lard I miss Leon I miss wiel I and Mr colom I pass 5 Z Bill 38 2024 ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the general fund budget for 2024 bill number 38 2024 sponsored by Miss Leona Miss cramy Smith discussion on Bill 30 just a little yeah a little more Enlightenment on this one um these funds will uh go towards uh a consultant to do work um on our zoning ordinance and a lot of community engagement around that um so that's we're just again these are first votes on these new ordinances but I just wanted to kind of clarify what that's for thank you any other discussion we'll call the RO miss quch I miss lard I miss Leon I miss Wilhelm I Mr col I pass 5 Bill 39 2024 an ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth and Pennsylvania amending the 2024 capital budget for non- utilities bill number 39 2024 is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss kmy Smith discussion it's a quick quick one on this yeah if you want I mean if anybody else has they can go first that's fine no the floor is yours Council um just uh to say that um this and also um 9i are uh incredible Grant funds that are coming to help support the uh the the big Improvement to Friendship Park and it's it's very exciting it's um it's like two-thirds of the total budget just in these two grants and so um big thanks to the laros foundation and the and the other uh outdoor recreation Legacy for item N I thank you Miss L uh yes these are amazing opportunities to uh receive this funding and I was just wondering um if councilwoman qu Tech you could explain um just the difference between the two things that were like are there different designations for what the funds are for or things like that I think you could ask Miss Collins that she'd probably have a better answer if we if we're allowed to I would say I I would defer the question to miss Collins me yeah just curious like specifically like are um is it designated for different parts of the projector no just generally for the park okay thank you you don't have to what the record show she responded no the uh any other discussion from members of council Mr Miller call the rooll is quch I is l i is Leon I is willhelm hi Mr cologne I passes 5 Z Bill 40224 ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the 2024 capital budget for non- utilities bill number 40 2024 is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss grmy Smith discussion Miss Leon we did discussed this earlier at the finance committee but I did want to highlight that these grants also allow for not only Improvement in the business District but allows for um uh increased accessibility with the curb cutouts um those are extremely expensive to do especially if it falls on the business owner so being able to get these grants um really helps out like our our small business community and accessibility in general and just to be specific this will cover fourth street from new to Broadway any other discussion from members of council Mr Miller miss quch I miss lard I miss Leon I Wilhelm I Mr colone all right pass 5 Z Bill 41 2024 ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the 2024 capital budget for non utilities bill number 41 2024 sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss kmy Smith discussion we'll call the roll miss quch I miss lard I miss Leon i m Wilhelm I and Mr colog I pass 5 and the final new ordinance Bill 42 2024 ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the Community Development block grant budget for 2024 bill number 42224 is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss crampsey Smith discussion call the rooll Miss quch I is lard I is Leon I willhelm I and Mr colog I pass 5 Z moving on to few resolutions resolution 10A be it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller and or such other City officials is deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute a use permit agreement with Arts quest for the 2024 ice rank at steel Stacks resolution is sponsored by Miss Leon and miss M Smith discussion we'll call the RO miss quch I miss lard I Leon i m Wilhelm I Mr colog I pass 5 Z resolution 10B be it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller are authorized and directed to execute all application forms necessary to apply for up to $7 million from the US Department of Housing and Urban development's Pathways to removing obstacles to housing grant program to assist with the implementation of the city's opening doors initiative be it further resolved that the appropriate City officials shall be authorized to execute all necessary documents and agreements resolution is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss grmy Smith discussion we'll call the rooll miss quch I miss L I miss Leon I miss Wilhelm I and Mr cologne I pass 5 resolution 10 C be it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the remaining funds from the Southside parks and playgrounds account are being transferred to 2022 correction 2020 housing Rehabilitation grants loans account transaction will not amend the total Community Development block grant fund resolution is sponsored by Miss Leon Miss grmy Smith discussion call roll miss quch I miss lard hi Miss Leon I miss Wilhelm I and Mr cologne I pass 5 Z and our last resolution 10d certificate of appropriateness under the provisions of the act of Pennsylvania legislature Bethlehem resolution is hereby granted for 3:30 East 4th Street to demolish existing single family dwelling to construct a three and a half story mixed juuse structure with commercial space on the first floor and four two bedroom dwelling units above at 3:30 East Forth Street resolution sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss crampy Smith discussion on the COA s Leo I have a quick comment about it um while I always hate to see demolition um within the outside historic district because so much has already been demoed uh this place obviously is in need of Demolition and to uh our community members comments earlier demolition by neglect not this applicant they didn't own the property forever but demolition by neglect is an interesting thing that if you're ever up at two o'clock in the morning you should really look into how demolition by neglect has been used to economically depressed areas that's it thank you councilwoman councilwoman lard I had a question about that topic that was brought up earlier um I believe it would be for Miss Collins uh so what are the guidelines for unoccupied structures they don't need to have certificates of occupancy of course if no one's occupying it but um what safeguards do we have in place to not lose things uh By You Know by demolition by neglect I would say that our our our biggest tool really is at the point at which something is blighted right and we have a pretty robust bright blighted property um process when a property gets to that point that we can um you know work through the Redevelopment Authority and the Planning Commission to blight something and um go from there but you know in terms of just enforcement of vacant properties generally um you know we often receive calls for like the exterior of a of a property like high grass and weeds and things like that that you know improve quality of life um but you are correct that there's they're not required to my knowledge to have a certificate of occupancy if they're not being occupied in terms of the structure itself so it would really just be external enforcement that would be possible I think so Mr spurk my m anything yeah code violations broken windows broken steps going up thank you any other discussion Miss quch um I I wanted to Echo um Miss Leon's sentiments and also say you know we this is going to be converted into more housing which you know we all agree more units more housing that's a um for the good um and uh to say that you know I have called about um you know an an OCC an unoccupied um residence in in my general neighborhood um a while back and uh There Was You Know trash broken windows uh an unlocked gate clearly people were kind of you know possibly living there if not just partying there things like that um and uh the the code enforcement came and they you know they they gave the warning letter and the place was cleaned up and and all of that um of course it's a continuous thing if if the if it is unoccupied it's kind of seems like it's not ending um I guess my question is um maybe one for the solicitors which is um is it possible are we are we allowed to have a requirement for internal inspection of unoccupied um buildings uh could that be something that we add to our um to our ordinance or is that something that again it's like State Statute and we're we're not allowed to mess with it is that like an NPC thing or I'll turn to I'll s attorney Stewart if you wanna answer that I mean that's that's an interesting proposal uh generally as uh Miss Collins said you are regulating pursuant to codes and ordinances could you put an ordinance in place to inspect properties without is the cause then because they're vacant is that what you're specifically looking for that you could in inspect right in the same way that we are able to um to put in place a an inspection regime for uh rental regulated rental uh properties where they have to be regulated they have to be uh inspected now every three years is it regardless of whether the the unit turns over um can we require every five years or something like that I mean is it is it within our our power to to do something like that the the residential rental ordinance is um kind of unto itself because you're you have a I don't want to call it a transience issue but you have people coming in and out and um owners making profit off of their their properties um the thing that strikes me and I'm happy for anyone else to the other lawyers in the room to jump in um is that you know as a as a threshold issue how do you know that a property is vacant so that that's I think an initial hurdle how do you define a vacant property um again generally you're inspecting because a property is not um in accordance with applicable codes and ordinances as the question was posed to the uh solicitors I'll brought into the attorneys Miss Collins included if you w to further attorney Stewart's comments at all I thought that attorney Stewart's comment initially about you mean just because it's vacant was instructive in a sense that like I wonder what what would be the Mischief you were trying to Remedy by such a law guess if I bought a property when my kids were 10 and just left it there Trimm the weeds and painted the exterior and kept it up but I never had anybody live in it what what what would be the Mischief remedied by by have an inspection requirement the only thought I had triggered by your comment thank you thank you it was just thoughts I was having as we were going about this and I appreciate the the lawyers weighing in it's an interesting question you know so thank thank you for the opportunity to ponder it any other discussion as it relates to resolution 10d Mr Miller will'll call the role quch I is lard I Leon I Wilhelm I Mr col I pass is 5- z that concludes tonight's agenda get home safely everyone this meeting is adjourned --------- ##VIDEO ID:tqSAYHUUxz8## I will call to order this meeting of the Bethlehem city council finance committee I'm Hillary quch member of the finance committee sitting in for Grace ksey Smith chair of the finance committee other committee members present are Rachel Leon the clerk will please call the role Miss gry Smith Miss quch present and Miss Lam present okay okay um there are 11 agenda items for tonight's meeting agenda items 1 through six are to review proposed adjustments to the general fund budget agenda items 7 through nine are to review proposed adjustments to the non-utility capital fund agenda items 10 and 11 are to review proposed adjustments to the Community Development block grant budget YouTube reminder if you started streaming this meeting after 6 PM please make sure to scroll ahead so that you your YouTube stream is current rather than a recording of an earlier portion of meeting public comment uh nobody signed up for public comment if there's anybody who wishes to speak I don't see any so we'll move along to agenda item number one the first agenda item is to review proposed adjustments to the general fund budget related to the capital I'm sorry to the chamber planter project I will call on a representative from the administration to discuss this request good evening hi um Tiffany Wismer uh the business manager for dced I will be presenting all of the um proposed amendments for dced um if you have any Project Specific questions um we have Laura here for for those questions so this first project is amending the budget to accept an additional, that we were granted from the Bethlehem chamber of comce for Planters on the North side anyone else from the administration want to comment no we won't have any other comments other than what CD provides if any questions we here to answer them thank you does Leon do you have any questions I don't have any questions either I'll accept a motion in a second to recommend approval of the administration's request and place the appropriate legislation on tonight's Council agenda so moved second the clerk will please call Ro I I passes I do I do that counting I do that right this pass uh 20 Z the appropriate legislation will be placed on tonight's Council agenda agenda item two review proposed adjustments to the general fund budget related to Professional Services representative on that one okay this is an adjust this an adjustment is the result of 5 ,000 application fee for the Curative Amendment hearing held earlier this year uh the requested action uh adds the money to the general fund thank you any questions Miss Leon no okay I don't have any either I'll accept a motion in a second to recommend approval of the administration's request yeah that's the right on place the appropriate legislation on tonight's Council agenda move second the clerk will please call the roll on the motion Miss Leon I miss I passes 20 the appropriate legislation will be placed on tonight's Council agenda I think I read the right thing there sorry about that um yes agenda item three the third agenda item is to review proposed adjustments to the general fund budget related to the fair alley house consultant I will call on a representative of the administration to discuss this request we received a small portion of a larger grant that was received by Lehigh University um the $40,000 that was received oh yeah say I think that's a different one this is number three oh Fair alley house got it got it got it it's in here somewhere hold on okay got it yep sorry about that uh this is this one is $500,000 um and this is a pass through grant that will go towards um assisting with distressed neighborhoods in preventing homelessness um do you have any questions okay um my only question is is it being passed through to leh Lehi University it is okay then I will need to recuse myself and we're going to need to move this to another uh night because we only have one vote I believe although actually I can I right that recation did say that yes that's if uh if my vote was necessary if we were short the if your vote was necessary and then you could recuse yourself at the normal council meeting so it wouldn't right okay okay that's fine okay I will not recuse myself because of the fact that we don't have a quorum thank you for bearing with me as I try to keep all of this in my head when I was unexpectedly having to do all of this at once um okay uh so then I don't have any questions that was my only question I'll accept a motion and a second to recommend approval of the administration's request and place the appropriate legislation on tonight's Council agenda so moved second the clerk will please call the role and the motion Miss Leon I and Miss qu I pass 20 Z the appropriate legislation will be placed on tonight's Council agenda agenda item number four the fourth agenda item is to review proposed adjustments to the general fund budget related to Women's Health Services I'll will call on a representative of the administration hi Sherry penan from the health we're requesting to create a new account in the name of Women Health Services for a grant that we received to expand Family Planning services and we'd like to start the account with a balance of $ 36,9 4865 thank you Miss Leon do you have any questions actually I had a general question about starting an account like once the account no longer becomes necessary do you close the account or do we just have this kind of like Women's Health Services account in perpetuity we un assign it from the budget but you can't get rid of it if it has a history okay got it but you just you don't see it on reports it won't be in every budget book but you can't really use it again because you can't rename it because it changes the history of it then uh so a follow-up question to that is do you have intentions of pursuing additional funds that might go into that account then in the future I'm sure that program division would try to do that great thank you um I will accept a motion and a second to recommend approval of the administration's request and to place appropriate legislation on tonight 's agenda so move uh second the clerk will please call the role on the motion Miss leom I and Miss qu I passes 20 Z the appropriate legislation will be placed on tonight's Council agenda we're on agenda item five the fifth agenda item is to review proposed adjustments to the general fund budget related to project Lifesaver I will ask a representative from the administration to discuss this request where requesting to create another new account in the title of project Lifesaver with a balance starting balance of $60,000 for a grant that we received to expand police departments who are trained in Project Lifesaver and to also provide them with the equipment necessary to do search and rescue for the project Lifesaver program thank you Miss Leon um so the the police department got the Grant and then it's you're creating an account or no we got the Grant health department got the grant will be provid the training for police departments and providing them with the search and rescue equipment so multiple police departments not just our own Police Department you'll be able to provide this training to correct our goal is to have every Police Department in Northampton County trained because we do provide bracelets to residents of Northampton County so that way if they cross borders they have a police department who can follow through with the search and rescue and the equipment tracks the bracelets the right it's a brace the equipment finds radio frequency for the bracel L correct awesome thank you so much um I will yeah here we go I will accept a motion and a second to re recommend approval of the administration's request and to place appropriate legislation on tonight's Council agenda so moved second the clerk will please call the role on the motion Miss Leon I and Miss qu I passes 20 the appropriate legislation will be placed on tonight's Council agenda agenda agenda item six this agenda item is to review proposed adjustments to the general fund budget related to the uh Lehi accessory dwelling units project I will ask a representative from the administration to discuss this request this is the one that I mistakenly was going over previously um so we are amending the budget to accept $40,000 of a a small portion of a large grant that Lehi un University received um to edit our zoning amendments specific to accessory dwelling units any questions Miss um yeah just a little bit of curiosity uh about a 40 $40,000 to that seems a little steep for resoning so I was just wondering does it cost $40,000 to to reone I'm assuming legal fees and and this so yeah um it's not it's for actually the study of it so like we are going to be working with Lehi to select a consultant who will like essentially what's happening is lehi's got a research Grant from HUD they've got experts over there Dr Karen bepi um Wes hayatt um who's working on the Alley house project so they are combining like their research and their student research with um a consultant who's an expert in like actually amending zoning ordinances really to take like the best practices in other places over you know the actual like compatibility elements right like how large the setback should be or you know other like zoning specific elements plus programmatic elements like what are the incentives that you can include in your zoning to get people to actually take advantage of these things so combining all that research with a consultant who will then like prepare basically a report and the actual documents so like they will prepare our zoning text amendments like they will prepare like the programmatic documents that will like be used to help actually implement the program down the road and they will also lead um like the uh Community engagement elements as well so like Lehi will be involved Community Action will be involved but they'll serve the more traditional like consultant role in that way to like get us to the final product yeah no notes on the the project itself I think it's just a bit of curiosity is like I guess is it we've been given the $40,000 because it makes most sense for the city to be the ones doing that because it's so City Reliant like Lehi would hire their own consultants and then put in here correct right so in in working with Lehi on like how to advance the AL house project we basically said like the zoning piece is the City's piece like certainly we want to work together and we want to take their research but ultimately like it's our Planning and Zoning Bureau and and city council who has to be comfortable with how all of that translates into ordinance here and so we fortunately have a really good relationship with Lehi where they accepted like that certainly makes sense so if we need this sort of money put aside to do the zoning element specifically like we're willing to write that into the Grant and give you that money so that you can then you know lead that process and we're working really closely with them on it but I think they ultimately understand that you know it's a city zoning ordinance so we have to be like most comfortable with what the final result of that is it's much appreciated know that that's coming from a grant outside of yeah yeah those were all the questions that I have I don't have any questions so I will accept a motion and a second to recommend approval of the administration request and to place appropriate legislation on tonight's Council agenda so move second the clerk will please call the role on the motion Miss Leo I and Miss qu I it passes 20 the appropriate legislation will be placed on tonight's Council agenda we are on agenda item number seven the seventh agenda item is to review proposed adjustments to the non-utility capital fund relating to uh Friendship Park improvements community Project funding I will call on a representative from the administration to discuss this request we are amending the budget to accept $320,000 uh 305 came from Community project funds and 15 came from the laros foundation to support the Friendship Park project Leon no I don't have any on questions on this one neither do I so I will accept a motion in a second to recommend approv of the administration's request and to place appropriate legislation on tonight's Council agenda so move second the clerk will please call the role on the motion Miss Leon I and Miss qu I passes 20 Z the appropriate legislation will be placed on tonight's Council agenda agenda item eight is to review proposed adjustments to the non-utility capital fund relating to the local Share account sidewalks we are requesting to amend the budget by 37 ,000 uh the city of Bethlehem was granted 370,000 from the Commonwealth of PA for sidewalk replacement in the Fourth Street business district is Le yeah I did have a couple questions about this is is this going to be like the same that was done on new uh it's not the same design um it's more like a replacement of the existing like brick brick like standard design on the Fourth Street corridor from uh New Street to Broadway and uh um is that going to do any of the handicap cutouts I'm curious as to some of the businesses that go along forth uh don't have the the accessibility cutouts just because they haven't the sidewalks haven't been updated so I was curious if that was it's cool if you don't have the answer right now I know it's a hypers specific no no I would just want to double check but yes yes we are doing that any like I actually believe that it's necessary like anytime that we do like Street or sidewalk improvements in an area that is not fully ADA Compliant we were required to like include that as part of the project and I I was also curious as to um so so we've done new and we've done fourth which is our like the Southside basically Central business district um and I was wondering if there was if it was just the hypers specific grant for that area or if there's other grant funding that we might be doing to update the business district on the North side so the focus for our application for this grant was the Southside and that came out of um for many many years I think even before I started hearing from the business owners along forth and at the Southside ARS District that there was a need there to replace the bricks um so that is why we targeted the LSA grant for the Southside specifically I believe I don't know the year before my time we had done something similar on the Northside I believe there was a sidewalk project in the historic district downtown um I think we'd have to revisit you know how long ago that was if there's a need for those improvements as well um and then also with the Northside alive neighborhood um initiative we are currently targeting a grant to do um like one of the business corridors there uh I think G Street is the street that we're targeting that's kind of what I was curious about like got Central Business districts that are doing well but then there's like these other pockets of like where there is thriving business it's not Central but I was curious as to if this is something that's going to you know spread out and do all of these yeah so so um our nor Selena our Norse out live coordinator is like very active in thinking about how that that um business district specifically continues to get support and so we are applying for a sidewalk Grant specifically similar to this one awesome thanks for going on that Journey with me appreciate it um you pretty much brought up the things that I wanted to know about so no no that's fine that's absolutely fine uh so um I will accept a motion and a second to recommend approval of the administration's request and to place appropriate legislation on tonight's Council agenda so moves second the clerk will please call the role on the motion Miss Leon I miss I at pass this 20 Z the appropriate legislation will be placed on tonight's Council agenda we are on agenda item nine and the ninth agenda item is to review proposed adjustments to the non-utility capital fund related to Friendship Park improvements outdoor recreation Legacy I will call on a representative of the administration to discuss this request we would like to amend the budget to accept $747,000 which was granted from the outdoor recreation Legacy partnership program um this is another grant that will go towards Friendship Park is they on I guess I'm I'm curious as to if the friendship Park renovation will take the entirety of that $747,000 it would take all of it there has been several grants put into this project um and I think the object is to spend it all down together um and we will do our best probably because there's cdbg money in there as well and the idea with cdbg is to spend the oldest money first so we will try to do that and then afterwards you know we will spend down the grants as as they are available thank you and so this go this is in addition to the one that we just talked about earlier that was 320,000 so that's over a million uh dollars towards this project which is exciting um do you offhand know the total uh project budget project budget so far is $1,878 and and6 8 okay so that's great I mean that's a huge chunk of it obviously and and hopefully they'll there might be some even more coming who knows um so I will accept a motion and a second to recommend approval of the administration's request and to place appropriate legislation on tonight's Council agenda so moved second the clerk will please call the RO on the motion Miss Leon I and Miss qu I it passes 20 the appropriate legis will be placed on tonight's Council agenda moving on to agenda item 10 the 10th agenda item is to review proposed adjustments to the Community Development block grant budget relating to parks and playgrounds I'll call on a representative of the administration to discuss this request we are requesting to amend the budget to take $769 from the 2020 Southside parks and playgrounds account um this account they expended all the money that they could possibly expend and this small amount was left over so what we're going to do is just take the small amount and then move it into housing rehab so we can spend down those funds everything in me is like nah don't take money from Southside Parks but there's literally it's $706 so I've got nothing my only question is um that when you take it out it still leaves $1,578 9 cents or is that money that's already obligated and expected to be spent it's just happens to still be in the account it was already expended okay all right so that was so you have to keep your budget at what it originally was and then decrease it got it but you know it's gone yes so this will take it to zero and right got it wonderful thank you very much I will accept a motion in a second to recommend approval of the administration's request and to replace appropriate leg istion on tonight's Council agenda so move second the clerk will please call the RO on the motion Miss Leon I miss qu I passes 20 Z the appropriate legislation will be placed on tonight's Council agenda uh we are on our final agenda item that's agenda item 11 the 11th agenda item is to review proposed adjustments to the Community Development block grant budget relating to home money I will call on a representative from the administration to discuss this request so this amendment um um seeks to add [Music] $372,500 and the Civic expense account to serve as the repayment for those findings does Leon any questions no I don't have any on this I appreciated the memo it made things really clear and and uh was very helpful to my understanding of the situation I will accept a motion and a second to recommend approval of the administration's request and to and to place appropriate legislation on tonight's Council agenda so moved second the clerk will please call the role on the motion miss leam I miss qu I passes 20 the appropriate legislation will be placed on tonight's Council agenda this meeting is adjourned I like pass through