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1 SCRANTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING
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5 HELD:
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7 Tuesday, May 26, 2009
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9 LOCATION:
10 Council Chambers
11 Scranton City Hall
12 340 North Washington Avenue
13 Scranton, Pennsylvania
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CATHENE S. NARDOZZI, RPR - OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER
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2 CITY OF SCRANTON COUNCIL:
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MR. ROBERT MCGOFF, PRESIDENT
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6 MS. JUDY GATELLI, VICE-PRESIDENT
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MS. JANET E. EVANS
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9 MS. SHERRY FANUCCI
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MR. WILLIAM COURTRIGHT
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12 MS. KAY GARVEY, CITY CLERK
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MR. SUE MAGNOTTA, ASSISTANT CITY CLERK
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15 MR. AMIL MINORA, SOLICITOR
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1 (Pledge of Allegiance recited and
2 moment of reflection observed.)
3 MR. MCGOFF: Roll call, please.
4 MS. MAGNOTTA: Mrs. Evans.
5 MS. EVANS: Here.
6 MS. MAGNOTTA: Mrs. Fanucci.
7 MS. FANUCCI: Here.
8 MS. MAGNOTTA: Mr. McGoff.
9 MR. MCGOFF: Here.
10 MS. MAGNOTTA: Mr. Courtright.
11 MR. COURTRIGHT: Here.
12 MS. MAGNOTTA: Ms. Gatelli.
13 MS. GATELLI: Here.
14 MR. MCGOFF: Dispense with the
15 reading of the minutes. Third Order.
16 MS. GARVEY: 3-A. TAX COLLECTION
17 COMPARISON REPORTS RECEIVED FROM THE SINGLE
18 TAX OFFICE ON MAY 11, 2009.
19 MR. MCGOFF: Are there any comments?
20 If not, received and filed.
21 MS. GARVEY: 3-B. APPLICATIONS AND
22 DECISIONS RENDERED BY THE ZONING HEARING
23 BOARD MEETING HELD ON MAY 13, 2009.
24 MR. MCGOFF: Are there any comments?
25 If not, received and filed.
4
1 MS. GARVEY: 3-C. CONTROLLER'S REPORT
2 FOR THE MONTH ENDING APRIL 30, 2009.
3 MR. MCGOFF: Are there any comments?
4 If not, received and filed.
5 MS. GARVEY: 3-D. MINUTES OF THE
6 COMPOSITE PENSION BOARD MEETING HELD ON
7 APRIL 22, 2009.
8 MR. MCGOFF: Are there any comments?
9 If not, received and filed.
10 MS. GARVEY: 3-E. AGENDA FOR THE
11 ZONING HEARING BOARD MEETING TO BE HELD JUNE
12 10, 2009.
13 MR. MCGOFF: Are there any comments?
14 If not, received and filed.
15 MS. GARVEY: That's it for Third
16 Order.
17 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you. Any
18 announcements from anyone?
19 MS. GATELLI: Just two things. First
20 of all, I would like to congratulate Mrs.
21 Evans on her win for city council, and I
22 would like to congratulate Mr. Courtright
23 who is our new tax collector.
24 Please remember in your prayers for
25 Mr. Sam Cali, I don't think if any of you
5
1 knew him, but he certainly was a
2 philanthropist in the community for many,
3 many years and if you had the pleasure of
4 knowing him or meeting him you would have
5 known his kindness and his love for his
6 community, and I'm sure you read his
7 obituary, which was several columns long.
8 He is a certainly a tribute and we should
9 recognize him here at this council meeting.
10 Also, I would like you to keep in
11 your prayers my former priest at St.
12 Francis, Monsignor Anthony Marra. He was at
13 our church for 25 years and then went to St.
14 Anthony's in Dunmore and I'd like you to
15 please remember him in your prayers. He was
16 truly a wonderful man and did very good
17 things for St. Francis of Assisi and for St.
18 Anthony's in Dunmore, and that's all I have.
19 Thank you.
20 MS. EVANS: I'd like to welcome a new
21 business, Sharon's Restaurant, to Scranton.
22 It opened a few days ago and is located at
23 411 South Washington Avenue across from CB
24 Scott, and I learned their hours are 6:30 to
25 2:30 and I do wish Sharon's Restaurant good
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1 luck and great successes in the future.
2 The Upper Hill Ecumenical Committee
3 will conduct one additional Friendly's fun
4 night on Wednesday, June 10, from 5 to 8
5 p.m. at Friendly's in Dunmore. This will be
6 the last fun night until the fall and will
7 salute Monsignor Sicanolfi and St. Francis
8 of Assisi food kitchen. Please remember
9 there is no summer vacation at the food
10 kitchen. Your support would be greatly
11 appreciated.
12 MR. MCGOFF: My apologies, I had
13 something for the Relay for Life, the dates
14 at home, and in my haste to get here I left
15 it. Please take a look in the newspaper.
16 Relay for Life is something that's held
17 every year and it's a great benefit to the
18 community and it's a wonderful cause and if
19 I haven't missed the date I will try and
20 have it for next week.
21 I'd like to also announce that on
22 June 21, Father's Day, there is going to be
23 the initial -- hopefully, initial Father's
24 Day five-mile run conducted by the Prostate
25 Cancer Awareness Alliance. The proceeds of
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1 the event will benefit prostate cancer
2 awareness. The race director is a prostate
3 cancer survivor, Bob Reslin, and many of the
4 people working on the event are also
5 prostate cancer survivors. We are hoping to
6 have a great race and we put some work into
7 it and just keep it in mind and maybe
8 runners can go to Active.com or NEPA
9 Runners.com or also PCAANEPA.org and there's
10 a link to the race. We would welcome any
11 support, any participants or volunteers for
12 the race, and thank you. Fourth order,
13 citizens' participation. Mike Dudek.
14 MR. DUDEK: Mike Dudek, 608 Depot
15 Street, I live here in the Plot. Again,
16 congratulations to Mrs. Evans on her
17 victory, Mr. Courtright on your victory and
18 you will have our best wishes that you will
19 be able to bring some stability to the
20 office that you will be entering into and we
21 know that it needs help. Good luck to you,
22 Mr. Courtright.
23 MR. COURTRIGHT: Thank you.
24 MR. DUDEK: Now, the last time that
25 I spoke on the topic similar to this was in
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1 December of 2009 when we had our new council
2 first sworn in, and I pointed out to the new
3 members at the time that when you take an
4 office like this a council person gets more
5 heat, more flack and more problems than any
6 other elected official because you are where
7 the rubber meets the road. You have the
8 most obvious direct contact with the
9 citizens that come to address you about any
10 issue, and that in a sense you have to
11 surrender some of your own First Amendment
12 Rights of freedom of speech and take the
13 brick bats that are coming your way because
14 95 percent of the people that come to use
15 this, this mic, have a problem, and people
16 who have a problem usually have some sort of
17 pain attached to it.
18 And even if the assaults on you as
19 council people are unfair, it was up to you
20 to suck it up on take it, and I honestly
21 think that the election results showed that
22 some of you were not able to take the heat
23 and that's the only reason why you did lose.
24 I hate to say it, but it's true. Two good
25 people just didn't do the job the right way
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1 and this is a result of it. You should have
2 paid attention when I mentioned this to you.
3 Nevertheless, we now have a council
4 that's a lame duck council because come
5 December two of you are gone, but we still
6 have city business between now and December
7 when the changeover comes to keep a breast
8 of, and I'm going to ask on behalf of
9 everybody in this city to please work
10 together.
11 And I'm going to give you one issue
12 to think about where you can all work
13 together with the mayor because I found one
14 issue where believe it or not Mayor Doherty
15 is right on target. How many of you here
16 who ever heard of the town of Renton,
17 Washington? Anybody on council? Did you
18 ever hear of the town of Renton,
19 R-E-N-T-O-N? Anybody here? One person.
20 Renton, Washington, has a bigger library
21 than Scranton does and Renton, Washington,
22 is probably no bigger than Dunmore. If you
23 go to the library in Renton, Washington,
24 it's a remarkable building because a river
25 runs under it. The building was
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1 architecturally designed to straddle a
2 river, it's an architectural gem in the town
3 of Renton and they have a brand new library.
4 We have Mayor Doherty dragging our
5 two county commissioners along with him on
6 the idea of building a library and this is
7 the absolute optimum time to strike. The
8 reason is because of stimulus money.
9 Because of that, we have a very unique
10 opportunity, a very small window of time to
11 get the library. We get this library by
12 doing a couple of things:
13 Number one, we get Lackawanna Junior
14 College on board by promising them that if
15 we get a library built in South Side,
16 Lackawanna County College, will be given the
17 Albright Memorial Library for it's college
18 library.
19 MS. FANUCCI: They can't.
20 MR. DUDEK: Why not?
21 MS. FANUCCI: Because it's -- we
22 can't deed that to anyone else.
23 MR. DUDEK: Pardon?
24 MS. FANUCCI: That library cannot be
25 given to anyone else.
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1 MR. DUDEK: Which one, the Albright?
2 MS. FANUCCI: Yes. Yes.
3 MR. DUDEK: Okay. So even if that
4 can't be done this library could be built
5 with federal money with very little or no
6 money from the state or the City of Scranton
7 and for the naysayers here who don't believe
8 me, I brought $23 million worth of flood
9 money in here along with Tom Preambo and not
10 one penny of it came from the city and not
11 one penny of it came from the state and Tom
12 and I were both honored by the state
13 assembly, by the general assembly for doing
14 it.
15 What I am telling you is that this
16 library could be built without any pain to
17 the taxpayers because stimulus money is out
18 there for the project and I think that if
19 people work together when the mayor and the
20 county commissioners to go after it you can
21 still build it. I think that this is
22 something that should be pursued, okay?
23 As to the Albright library, even if
24 you can't deed it to the school I think it's
25 possible to give that college maximum access
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1 to it so that they can work together with
2 it. Thank you.
3 MR. MCGOFF: Andy Sbaraglia.
4 MR. SBARAGALI: Andy Sbaraglia,
5 citizen of Scranton. Fellow Scrantonians, I
6 wish you would read some of the money coming
7 in from the tax collection comparison
8 report. You would find out if that holds
9 true for the end of the year there will be
10 no hole in the budget. In fact, there will
11 be a surplus, and it's true. The figures
12 coming in or astronomical over what they
13 were a year ago. I wish you would read that
14 out to the people so they know what that
15 office is doing no matter who is going to be
16 in charge of it. It has to continue
17 somewhat like it's doing now to generate
18 money coming into this place. In fact, if
19 we had all of the money that we were
20 supposed to be getting there wouldn't have
21 been no taxes raised.
22 Okay, let's go to -- I'm not going
23 to get into that too much and that's your
24 5-C, the places and business, I just was
25 laughing about what I read in it. It said
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1 they have to give one more job, but 51
2 percent of that job has to low interest. If
3 I could figure out how to cut a person in
4 half so we got 51 percent there and
5 49 percent the other side, it's sounds like
6 a solid deal that you would come in. She
7 knows how to do the cut that way.
8 Okay, let's go onto 6-A, Reading by
9 Title, this is the money coming in: We got
10 $1,401,886 for -- I assume -- from what I
11 read in this thing it's supposed to be for
12 the homeless and for people who are going to
13 lose their homes. It is it right or wrong?
14 I haven't looked at how that money was
15 divided? All I know is that's what it said
16 in the backup, and the other $916,485 we can
17 lend out to whoever we want to lend it out
18 to because as long as it complies with HUD's
19 regulations, from what I read.
20 MS. FANUCCI: Right.
21 MR. SBARAGLIA: Now, I don't know how
22 the money is being divided out, but I wish
23 you people would find out how it would be
24 divided out and come here and speak to the
25 people, come and tell them how it's being
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1 divided because we are all in the dark about
2 what happens in the backup. I read the
3 backup, but 99 percent of the people in
4 Scranton do not read the backup. It's too
5 bad it's not on the internet and getting in
6 there where you can draw it all over. It's
7 quite cumbersome in some places. There is
8 like 100 pages there almost -- I shouldn't
9 say that, but at least 30 pages just for
10 that $20,000. It's just standard logistics
11 I guess, so it has to be in there and it's
12 very, very redundant, but the basic was,
13 like I said before, 25,000 to this
14 restaurant that's open now, but the one
15 employee. I don't know, it's just sort of
16 funny.
17 Okay, let's go on now. He mentioned
18 the library. I wouldn't mention the library
19 too much because right now it's something
20 that may or may not be in the works, but
21 what gets me is when we built our new high
22 school or we built any schools, why isn't
23 the library put on the first floor able to
24 be sealed off from the rest of the building
25 and open at night? We would have so many
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1 more libraries available at night. Why
2 don't they do that? But, people don't think
3 when they do things. That's the problem
4 with any organization that seems to be in
5 this city. They don't go farther than their
6 nose. I don't know why they do that, but
7 they do do that, and we could have one -- we
8 could have a library down there at the new
9 school. We are building a school I think up
10 there in West Side again, that could have
11 been designed with a small library and so
12 forth and so on, but we don't do that. We
13 like to keep building new stuff, but like I
14 said before, the political parties exist for
15 one purpose and not necessarily to help us.
16 Patronage and contracts, so that's
17 why we get these buildings being built all
18 over creation not because it's really going
19 to help the people, that's only something
20 that may happen. I don't know what we going
21 to do, where -- that 16 million has to come
22 from somewhere. It's nice to see somebody
23 comes up and say there is 16 million, go and
24 do what you want to do, but it's not a fact.
25 The location is not necessarily the best,
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1 I'm sorry, Judy. South Side is not
2 necessarily the best, it should be down in
3 the central city somewhere where the whole
4 city can come to it because really -- I
5 thank you.
6 MS. GATELLI: Mr. Spindler.
7 MR. SPINDLER: Les Spindler,
8 resident and homeowner and taxpayer. I,
9 too, would like to congratulate
10 Mr. Courtright and Mrs. Evans on their
11 wonderful victories and, Mr. Courtright,
12 good luck in your new position, you got your
13 work cut out for you.
14 First of all, I want to talk about
15 something we were supposed to a long time.
16 The Friday before the election, Attorney
17 Chris Cullen called Steve Corbett of WILK
18 talk radio and was talking about the stolen
19 political signs of Gary DiBileo. He said
20 the police have finished their
21 investigation, they have identified two
22 people who stole the signs, they have two
23 videotapes of the people, they have
24 identified the two people, Mr. Cullen said
25 they are connected to the Scranton Police
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1 Department, the report was given to Ray
2 Hayes, to Chief Elliott and the mayor, the
3 report has been sitting on their desks for
4 weeks, nothing has been done. This is a
5 crime that's been committed and these people
6 covered it up because these people that were
7 in the video are also connected to Chris
8 Doherty, and they covered is up because they
9 didn't want Chris Doherty's name smeared.
10 And the Chief and Ray Hayes should
11 resign because they are covering up a crime
12 and not doing their job, they should be
13 fired or resign and they should be arrested
14 for covering up a crime, and the mayor
15 should resign also because he knows about
16 it, and this is fact because Steve Corbett
17 has a copy of the report and WNEP has a copy
18 of the report, and I know this for a fact,
19 so I think council should send a letter to
20 those involved here asking that charges be
21 pressed against these people that stole the
22 signs.
23 Moving on, that same week a woman, I
24 won't say her name, but she said she lives
25 on the corner of Greenridge Street and
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1 Washington Avenue, I'll make this quick
2 because it's a long story, she and her
3 husband were called to put Doherty signs in
4 their yard, they said, "No, we are not
5 putting anybody's signs in our yard."
6 Two days later on a Sunday morning
7 the woman went out to get her Sunday paper,
8 there were approximately 68 stickers she
9 said, Doherty stickers, on her front porch,
10 on her fence, and this is not me saying it,
11 it's her, a police report was filed. Her
12 husband was out of town, two days later the
13 husband came home, the wife heard him
14 arguing outside with somebody, she comes
15 running out and the person with the stickers
16 was back again in their driveway, they
17 caught him red-handed and I'm not going to
18 mention names, but this person is a very,
19 very close relative of the mayor. It just
20 shows this mayor will do anything to win a
21 campaign. It's unbelievable. He is so
22 underhanded, so corrupt, it's just
23 unbelievable.
24 And here is another example of his
25 corruption, on election day the Aroma Cafe
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1 on Mulberry Street was giving out flyers,
2 "Vote for Chris Doherty, we'll give you a
3 ride to the polls and a free panini."
4 This was stopped by a judge. A
5 judge told them to stop it because it's
6 illegal. This is many things that Chris
7 Doherty has done illegal in his whole career
8 as mayor and nothing has been done. Charges
9 should be brought against him for running a
10 campaign like this and whoever else is
11 involved, and this is all fact because a
12 copy of that flyer was faxed to Steve
13 Corbett and he read it on the air.
14 Next thing, I have to talk about the
15 library, also. I have to disagree with
16 Mr. Dudek, with today's technology we do not
17 need a new library. How many people go to
18 the library to study? Almost every
19 household has a computer in it. You can get
20 more on the computer than you can with a
21 library. I totally disagree. We don't a
22 need a new library, our Albright library is
23 just fine, and where are we going to get
24 $16 million anyway? I guess that's all I
25 have. Thank you.
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1 MR. MCGOFF: Jim Stucker.
2 MR. STUCKER: I'm glad I voted for
3 Janet and Courtright. I voted for the other
4 two guys, so I feel sorry about Gary
5 DiBileo, he lost, but I hope he got another
6 chance, I'd be happy. Now back to our
7 holes, Mayor Doherty has got to do something
8 for the city now. I heard he got back in to
9 be a mayor now he's got to do something. We
10 got to get these roads fixed. Where is the
11 money going where these holes can be fixed?
12 Like, I was over at Greenridge the other day
13 and I was riding the side roads and the
14 roads were full of holes. They got to --
15 Mayor Doherty he's -- -where is this money
16 going? That's what I'd like to know? Where
17 is the money going? He should do something
18 for these roads.
19 Now, if Gary DiBileo he would have
20 gotten something done for the city. He
21 would. No if's about it. You got to work
22 with the man now. If you are don't work
23 with him he's not going to do nothing, get
24 the lights fixed, gets the roads, don't
25 worry about Nay Aug Park, that should be out
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1 of his mind now. The garbage has got to be
2 picked up. I have been riding around with
3 my buddy Pat today, the garbage ain't picked
4 up like it's supposed to be. And they are
5 complaining about the dogs, about building
6 the thing up at the park, the dog cage or
7 something like that, he's got to do
8 something I don't know care. And that red
9 house on Greenridge never got tore down.
10 MR. COURTRIGHT: I know, Jim, it
11 should be torn town. They boarded it up,
12 though.
13 MR. STUCKER: He's got to tear it
14 down. The other thing is right there by the
15 corner of Greenridge Street there is two big
16 houses there. They should be tore down,
17 too, because it's abandoned houses. So you
18 got to do something. I don't care what.
19 MR. COURTRIGHT: Okay, Jim.
20 MR. STUCKER: Pat told me he said for
21 both of you he is glad both of you won.
22 MR. COURTRIGHT: Tell him we said
23 thanks, all right.
24 MR. STUCKER: I had a good time at
25 the party, at Gary's. Yeah. Yeah. I
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1 didn't see Janet there. I wish she was
2 there.
3 MS. EVANS: Where?
4 MR. STUCKER: At DiBileo's party at
5 the Taurus Club.
6 MS. EVANS: At the Taurus Club.
7 MR. COURTRIGHT: She was sick, Jim.
8 MR. STUCKER: I know. Yeah. All
9 right.
10 MR. COURTRIGHT: Okay, Jim.
11 MS. EVANS: Thank you.
12 MR. MCGOFF: Stephanie Gawel.
13 MS. GAWEL: Good evening, Council.
14 First, I'd like to say what an Honor and
15 privilege it was working for Gary DiBileo's
16 campaign, I worked a lot. I met a lot of
17 nice, nice people out there, it was -- it
18 really very educational.
19 Second, I'd like to congratulate
20 Mrs. Evans and Mr. Courtright, and I would
21 like to wish Mrs. Gatelli and Mr. Fanucci
22 well in their future endeavors.
23 All right, now the nice part is
24 over. Mayor Doherty continues to sell the
25 Irish charm and lie to the city and
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1 continues to divide the city. Again, I
2 encourage the people of Scranton to call the
3 Times Leader, start getting the Saturday
4 paper which will eventually maybe cause --
5 get a second paper in the City of Scranton
6 because as far as I'm concerned the only one
7 that was pathetic and obstructionist,
8 etcetera, was the Scranton Times. Again, I
9 had cancelled the paper, they continue to
10 deliver it, I believe that editorial page is
11 their for their opinions not the whole
12 paper.
13 I would like to address some
14 comments that were made two weeks ago. I
15 write my own thoughts. I do not speak -- I
16 do speak with other speakers. They are
17 nice, but as it was said, the same people.
18 That's why I continually encourage other
19 people to come and speak. I also, again,
20 believe that Mrs. Williams is entitled to
21 her opinion, but she comes in with such hate
22 and disgust that it's hard to listen to her.
23 I would also like to address former
24 mayor Dave Wenzel. I want to say that I and
25 a lot of other people have lost a lot of
24
1 respect for you. For you to endorse a man
2 who is does not support the men and women
3 who put their lives on the line keeping the
4 citizens of the Scranton safe from crime and
5 fires and etcetera, is appalling to me.
6 He put his life on the line and he
7 paid the price and yet he doesn't seem to
8 think that it's necessary to either look
9 after our firemen or our policemen when you
10 are endorsing Mayor Doherty, and that's
11 ashame, and they are not scare tactics when
12 you know what's going on in South Side,
13 etcetera and when you know that it's just
14 nonsense and I can't believe that he ever
15 did that.
16 And that's it for tonight. I just
17 needed to vent tonight and wish everybody
18 well and I will see you next week.
19 MR. MCGOFF: Ron Ellman.
20 MS. ELLMAN: Ronnie Ellman,
21 homeowner, member of the Taxpayers'
22 Association. Well, isn't a great mystery
23 how some things turned out, I'm talking
24 about the election. I have had several
25 people ask me what it's like to have to eat
25
1 my words. I don't think, you know, I don't
2 think I have to eat my words. Mayor Doherty
3 won the battle and lost the war. He is like
4 a lame duck mayor for the next four years,
5 so he is useless. He has no -- nothing to
6 offer his supporters anymore. To me, I'm
7 going to read this: Doherty ran a
8 deplorable, despicable, disgusting, filthy
9 dirty campaign against two very good and
10 honorable men that out to be proud of the
11 way they ran theirs. These two men only
12 offered the city hope and inspiration, not
13 no 30 or 40 years of continuous debt.
14 You know, tomorrow morning I look in
15 the mirror and I see this old face that's
16 wore out two or three bodies, but when I
17 leave if i goes someplace I have the warmth
18 and friendship and shake hands with people
19 and give some guys a hug that Doherty would
20 never sincerely have, did just won't have it
21 like that. When he looked in that mirror, I
22 don't know, he is just going to see a cold,
23 unfriendly, just the atmosphere he gives
24 out.
25 I read in the paper where he wants
26
1 to run against Kanjorski and has
2 aspirations, it seems like one of the
3 prerequisites in this state to run for
4 governor you have to be the worst absolute
5 mayor the city ever had like Philadelphia,
6 you know, and that's -- he sure fills the
7 shoes there, but if he runs against
8 Kanjorski, who I didn't vote and I don't
9 like, that man will eat him up and spit him
10 out in little piece, and it won't be like
11 running against Mr. DiBileo, and I believe
12 that we'll see a lot of Mr. DiBileo when
13 Chris Doherty is gone and forgotten.
14 And about the library, I'm in favor
15 of it, but not in no wore out old bank
16 building and not in South Side. The library
17 should be where everybody could get to it
18 and get so many people and the children
19 especially come to the library in buses.
20 It's a lot easier to go downtown than it is
21 to ride all over the place and there is only
22 going to be "X" amount of stimulus dollars.
23 I keep reading and hearing we have stimulus
24 dollars coming for this, that and the other
25 thing. It's limited for crying out loud.
27
1 How much do you think we are going to get?
2 I would like to see Mr. Doherty
3 promote a library, and I wish we could do
4 something about a zoo, but that's further
5 down the road, but I would rather see money
6 given for the zoo than the trains out there,
7 and I went to the trains once, I don't know,
8 10, 15 years ago and it was very enjoyable,
9 but I have never had any desire to go back,
10 but like I said, a zoo for is for children
11 and families and they will come and come and
12 come and never quit coming because I grew up
13 in Memphis and that's how it was for
14 families, it was just a family thing you
15 went to and it was always different, and
16 it's just sad that we couldn't, you know, we
17 couldn't keep the little one we had. I
18 understand both sides of the argument, but I
19 wish Mrs. Evans and Mr. Courtright the best.
20 Can I come to your office and show you my
21 paperwork? Nobody else paid in attention to
22 me.
23 MR. COURTRIGHT: You are not going to
24 end up on the floor, are you?
25 MS. FANUCCI: Ronnie, what does your
28
1 shirt say?
2 MR. ELLMAN: Pardon?
3 MS. FANUCCI: Pull your shirt down,
4 we can't see what it says. Your shirt. We
5 need to know what your shirt says.
6 MS. ELLMAN: I don't know what it
7 says.
8 MS. FANUCCI: "I'm smiling because I
9 have no idea what's going on."
10 MR. ELLMAN: Miss Rosie puts things
11 out for me.
12 MS. FANUCCI: That's so cute.
13 MR. ELLMAN: If I come in here I will
14 put two socks out or anything, purple with
15 stripes. And let me tell you something
16 embarrassing real quick, when I took my Army
17 physical all of these big guys are standing
18 there with little briefs on, my momma used
19 to buy me these boxer shorts in all
20 different colors and stripes and everything
21 and I looked like a fool. I did. I looked
22 like a fool standing there, but what are you
23 going to do. Thank you.
24 MR. MCGOFF: Brett McCloe.
25 MR. MCCLOE: Good evening. My name
29
1 is Brett McCloe, Scranton, Pennsylvania
2 taxpayer. First off, I would like to say
3 congratulations to Mrs. Evans and
4 Mr. Courtright for their victories in last
5 week's primary, but I also want to
6 congratulate Mr. DiBileo for running a
7 campaign based on the hope of returning to
8 fiscally responsible city government and
9 restoring faith in the universal time-tested
10 methods it takes to achieve that goal, but
11 unfortunately 52 percent of the voters of
12 this city, including strangely enough some
13 Republicans, who voted more like opportunist
14 than those with conservative principals,
15 they along with a lot of Democrats didn't,
16 couldn't or wouldn't consider the merits of
17 progress through fiscal responsibility as
18 fixed on shiny things associated with the
19 perception of progress. They couldn't see
20 the forest for the trees.
21 Two weeks ago Miss Fanucci said
22 something I sort of agreed with. She said
23 something very compelling that helped me
24 understand and realize even more that our
25 city is a living, breathing organism that
30
1 mimics our actions and is not unlike the
2 humans that are charged with this operation.
3 A study and comparison was made
4 between how she saw herself and the City of
5 Scranton, not word for word, but in the
6 sense she said everyone wishes for something
7 different and has their own opinions about
8 the progress of this city and how this city
9 should be run.
10 Next she said every morning when she
11 gets up she wishes she was a size six, but
12 when she looks in the mirror it just isn't
13 so. This statement really has nothing to do
14 with her or anyone's weight problems and
15 neither do my comments. To me, it's about
16 the fiscal health of a living, breathing
17 organism called Scranton. It made we think,
18 what would it be like to be a size six city
19 in comparison to our present fiscal health?
20 What is a size six city? How do we get
21 there and do we fully understand the
22 sacrifices and hard work it would take to
23 turn a wish into a dream then turn that
24 dream into a reality.
25 Over the past seven years this city
31
1 has looked in the mirror and developed a new
2 model, let's fake it until we make it, and
3 learn to surround and cloak itself with
4 expensive tax exempt buildings, businesses
5 and institutions of higher learning that
6 gobbled up the city like a virus because of
7 a belief in the trickle down theory that in
8 reality evaporates up as much tax dollars as
9 Mr. Doherty can provide under the guise of
10 economic development and what trickles down
11 is not enough to develop a stable economy.
12 This poverty sustaining policy
13 forges visions of economic prosperity that
14 may or may not do the body good. I fear a
15 six-month scorched earth spending and
16 borrowing campaign that will further bloat
17 our city and force us into even more debt,
18 perhaps downtown will get a Ferris wheel and
19 cotton candy street lamps to show the world
20 that Scranton is a great place to live and
21 they will ooh and ah as the citizens of this
22 city watch our tax dollars explode and
23 disintegrate in the air like fireworks. At
24 any rate, there is a new day coming and the
25 good news is the people of this city have
32
1 voted to get on the treadmill to economic
2 recovery through fiscal responsibility even
3 though we elected to do so with a doughnut
4 in our hand. Thank you.
5 MR. MCGOFF: Marie Schumacher.
6 MS. SCHUMACHER: Good evening. Marie
7 Schumacher, resident and member of the
8 Taxpayers' Association. I'd like to start
9 with some good news, unlike last year, the
10 Scranton High School did participate in the
11 Armed Services parade this year and I was
12 very happy to see that as did a number of
13 other high schools, however, what was
14 disappointing was that for Memorial Day the
15 city website, the parks and recreation page,
16 chose to feature and promote a wrestling
17 match to be held sometime in the future and
18 not the Nay Aug services, and to add insult
19 to injury, they provided an incorrect time
20 for the service. They were only off by an
21 hour and a half. I think the IT needs to do
22 a whole lot better than what they have been
23 doing.
24 And now to my favorite subject, the
25 Ice Box deal. To refresh, back six years
33
1 ago in January we were told that this was
2 the Ice Box deal: $600,000 for 99 years at
3 $1 a year until the city moved the DPW at
4 which time Mr. Burke is obligated to buy the
5 land for whatever balance is left on the
6 lease. So six from $600,000 you can do the
7 math, that's what Mr. Burke owes us.
8 I have been asking why back in,
9 again, three years ago in 2006 city council
10 never even introduced the resolution that
11 was sent to them, and I'm glad they did
12 because it would have extended these
13 payments out forever and it had no interest,
14 but that aside, apparently, when it was sent
15 back there were no instructions on what
16 council liked or disliked about it and any
17 instructions to return it apparently.
18 You have had Mr. Minora on the 28th
19 of last month almost a whole month ago, Mr.
20 Minora said, "I spoke to Mr. Greco twice and
21 the last conversation he had with me was
22 that he did not believe --" did not believe,
23 not did not know, "but did not believe the
24 prerequisites triggering payment had
25 occurred yet. All of them hadn't occurred,
34
1 at least that's what he felt, and there was
2 one portion of it that he wanted to look and
3 he was going to get back to me."
4 I did a Right-to-Know to the open
5 records officer for the Scranton
6 Redevelopment Authority who subsequent to
7 his response told me that it was either
8 prepared or cleared with Mr. Greco and it
9 says: "Based on my review of our records to
10 the best of my knowledge our office does not
11 have any documents concerning an agreement
12 with BRT Ice, LP, in it's possession."
13 So, I mean, what's going on? I
14 really resent being jerked around like this
15 and told things that are obviously not true.
16 Which was the lie or are all they lies? Was
17 that not the agreement that $600,000 was
18 going to be paid?
19 MS. FANUCCI: No, it wasn't.
20 MS. SCHUMACHER: When the DPW moved--
21 MS. FANUCCI: It wasn't --
22 MS. SCHUMACHER: It's my time.
23 MS. FANUCCI: So you don't want the
24 answers again.
25 MS. SCHUMACHER: In motions. Thank
35
1 you. Okay, well, awaiting my answers in
2 motions, the next thing and I hope it's
3 honest and truthful and I hope we can
4 proceed because I think the city certainly
5 needs the money. I'm still waiting for the
6 proof of the $600,000 or -- yeah, $600,000,
7 the 6,000 jobs that the mayor claims that he
8 created because his own budget, as I gave
9 you the figures last time, his own budget
10 does not support, but rather shows a decline
11 in the numbers -- either in the numbers of
12 people working or the numbers of people who
13 are working but have slipped below the
14 $12,000 threshold at which point you would
15 no longer have to pay the $52 local services
16 tax, so I hope that we are going to get some
17 either support or admission that that was an
18 outright lie again.
19 As far as the library, I couldn't
20 disagree more with Mr. Dudek. I remember
21 back in the mid 90's we got a lot of
22 policemen and it was one of those things the
23 politics -- there was politics behind it
24 because it was meant to assuage the people
25 who were going to lose their jobs, but -- if
36
1 I may complete this one? Thank you. But
2 that money expired and when this money
3 expired you either let the police officers
4 go or the city had to pick up the funds.
5 This is a the exact same thing. If you get
6 the stimulus money it has to be spent in two
7 years and then you are stuck, the city is
8 once again and the county, is stuck for
9 keeping the collections up-to-date and
10 paying the employees and it does belong
11 downtown. Thank you very much.
12 MR. MCGOFF: Bill Jackowitz.
13 MR. JACKOWITZ: Bill Jackowitz, South
14 Scranton resident and member of the
15 Taxpayers' Association. The election:
16 Congratulations to Doherty, Evans, Rogan,
17 Joyce, Morgan and Miller. My hope, the
18 making of a better government. Four years
19 ago after the election, I stated that we
20 would have two new council persons and my
21 hope was that they would work together and
22 work with the people to improve Scranton.
23 That did not happen. Again, I will say
24 welcome to new council members, whomever
25 they may be. I hope again is they will work
37
1 together to improve Scranton and make
2 Scranton a better place for all residents,
3 not just the chosen few.
4 Single Tax Office, Mr. Courtright,
5 the law has been violated and it's continued
6 to be broken, Single Tax Law 1929. What are
7 you going to do about that? Where is the
8 district attorney? Hopefully, the FBI will
9 reopen the investigation? How about the
10 audit of the Single Tax Office? When and
11 where and by whom? Special privileges
12 should not be granted because of friendships
13 or organizations that you belong in. We
14 need an investigation in this office, laws
15 have been broken and it needs to be done.
16 The law is just that, the law.
17 City council, new majority,
18 hopefully the mayor and council will work
19 together. Voting "yes" all the time is not
20 the answer. Voting "no" all the time is not
21 the answer either. Each vote should be
22 thoroughly researched and talked about
23 before you cast that vote. Remember, every
24 vote that is taken by city council affects
25 every citizen and residence of Scranton, not
38
1 just the few chosen citizens.
2 Voting turnout was low. The
3 residents of the City of Scranton need to
4 really take a more active role in the
5 governing of the city. Remember, you as
6 citizens live here, play here and sometimes
7 actually work in the city. Poor and
8 dishonest government is the result of lack
9 of voters' participation. Councilwoman
10 Evans again proved that the voters are
11 paying attention. The highest number of
12 votes in the election on the Democratic and
13 Republican side.
14 March 2009 unemployment rate, 9.2
15 percent. Someone really needs to look into
16 this serious matter. All of the new
17 projects and developments will amount to
18 very little if citizens are not capable of
19 enjoying them because they have no money.
20 Remember, a new building does not bring
21 prosperity or happiness to the residents.
22 Liveable wage jobs will. Just because you
23 have a job does not mean that you are
24 capable of maintaining your household
25 expenses.
39
1 Mayor Doherty and city council needs
2 to work together with the Scranton Chamber
3 of Commerce and that needs to start tonight.
4 I feel the first step should be to invite
5 the Chamber to a city council meeting and
6 discuss the matter openly and freely with
7 the residents. Listen and watch. No more
8 back door meetings. Open up city
9 government. Remember, fair, honest and open
10 government works. Behind the door closed
11 door government does not work.
12 President McGoff, put the gavel down
13 and start gaveling council members when they
14 are out of order. What is fair is fair and
15 rules are for everybody to follow.
16 Campaigning at council meetings did not
17 work. The voters seen right through the
18 smoke and mirrors.
19 I would like to offer a suggestion,
20 city council, mayor and his administration,
21 schedule a townhall meeting where residents
22 can approach their elected official with
23 questions, possibly in a high school
24 auditorium. The city of Scranton is divided
25 and must work hard at becoming one again.
40
1 Without new ideas, discussions and working
2 together, the city will not recover from the
3 distressed status.
4 By the way, when asked a question,
5 an elected officials should take the time to
6 answer the question. If you are not capable
7 of answering the question, then take the
8 time to do the research. A phone call or an
9 e-mail does not constitute research. If you
10 want to represent the people then do that.
11 Words mean nothing until they are put into
12 action. Voting records are your actions.
13 The voters looked at the voting records on
14 19th of May. Good job, voters, I commend
15 you.
16 Okay, we got the Kids Swim Free
17 Program starting again for the third year.
18 You can make checks payable to: Kids Swim
19 Free. Mail the checks to 1416 South Webster
20 Avenue, Scranton, Pa., 18505. This is the
21 third year that the Taxpayers' Association
22 is sponsoring this. So far we have
23 sponsored over 4,000 kids swimming in two
24 years. We want to continue it so, please,
25 make a check out to "Kids Swim Free." Mail
41
1 that check to 1416 South Webster Avenue,
2 Scranton, Pennsylvania, 18505.
3 MR. MCGOFF: Bill Braddick.
4 MR. BRADDICK: Good evening,
5 Council. Thank you for the opportunity to
6 speak. My name is William Braddick and I am
7 a proud citizen of the great City of
8 Scranton and I'd like to congratulate Mrs.
9 Evans on her victory, well done.
10 Mr. Courtright on his victory and look
11 forward to the things that he will do in
12 that office. Congratulate our mayor, Chris
13 Doherty, on his victory, and more
14 importantly and more to the point,
15 congratulate Mrs. Gatelli and Mrs. Fanucci
16 on their victory, the victory that is their
17 accomplishment of the time that they served
18 here and the good deeds that they helped get
19 done with the help of the rest of council in
20 some tough circumstances, the opposition
21 that they faced during it, that they
22 continue to face during it, and the future
23 that's in front of both of them as well as
24 the future that's in front of you, Mrs.
25 Evans, as you take the reigns of this
42
1 council and hopefully spread your wings and
2 let your abilities take us where we need to
3 go.
4 I am the founding and presently sole
5 member of the Legion of Hope, looking
6 forward to what this city is possible of
7 accomplishing through the correct
8 leadership, seeing these groups that were
9 opposed working together. I think we have a
10 great opportunity in front of us, and I
11 think we may have the right people there to
12 do it, so I am hopeful, and I am a legion of
13 one right now and we will see how many join
14 me, but I am a legion.
15 I would like to just take one second
16 and remind everybody that ICC in the Hill
17 Section still has a food pantry running and
18 they are a little low. The good Monsignor
19 Essef and his whole gang up there and do
20 wonderful things. Anyone that has the
21 opportunity to drop off anything extra that
22 you have and other than that, I thank you
23 for your time.
24 MR. MCGOFF: Other speakers?
25 MS. O'MALLEY: Hello, Barbara
43
1 O'Malley, city resident. Today's Scranton
2 Times article, "ECTV moving downtown" is yet
3 another twist in the sordid tail of ECTV. I
4 am dizzy trying to follow the statements of
5 John Darcy, ECTV president, and Mark
6 Migliore, ECTV executive director, as they
7 attempt to rationalize the financial
8 benefits to the taxpayers of ECTV's latest
9 move.
10 Although, ECTV received $100,000
11 from the City of Scranton, it has fallen
12 short on fulfilling it's supporter's
13 promises. Council persons Gatelli, Fanucci
14 and McGoff approved ECTV's funding over the
15 objections of many citizens who pointed out
16 the flaws in ECTV's business plan and it's
17 shaky management structure.
18 Citizens also warn that operating a
19 TV studio at 933 Prescott Avenue was a
20 violation of the city's zoning code and it
21 was fool hearty to invest money in the
22 building. Unfortunately, they too were
23 ignored and we are paying for the results.
24 According to Mr. Darcy, $19,000 of
25 taxpayers' money was used for improvements
44
1 at the studio at 933 Prescott Avenue which
2 is now being vacated. Mr. Migliore, ECTV
3 executive director, called criticism of
4 these expenditures, and I quote, "Complete
5 nonsense."
6 No matter how hard John Darcy, Mark
7 Migliore and Tom Welby of the Committee that
8 selected ECTV try to convince us that the
9 new downtown location is terrific, it is yet
10 another ill-conceived step by ECTV on the
11 taxpayers' dime.
12 According to reports, ECTV is said
13 to sign a lease with Scranton Mall
14 Associates for 3,600 square feet of studio
15 space at 114 Wyoming Avenue in downtown
16 Scranton. Office space in downtown Scranton
17 ranges from $12 to $20 a square foot
18 depending on services. Where is ECTV
19 getting roughly $4,000 to pay the rent at
20 114 Wyoming Avenue? Is this a viable plan
21 fort the longrun or will the taxpayers'
22 money again be wasted on a short-term fix?
23 Today's newspaper article also
24 states with the exception of the $19,000 to
25 improve the now vacated studio, most of the
45
1 money ECTV received from the city was spent
2 on equipment. What about money budgeted for
3 salaries?
4 As a condition of the loan between
5 the city and the ECTV, ECTV had to create
6 three full-time permanent paid jobs.
7 According to a letter from Lori Reed, Deputy
8 Director of OECT -- excuse me, OECD, ECTV
9 did fulfill that requirement and the loan
10 has been forgiven. Where did the funds come
11 for three full-time salaries if most of the
12 money was spent on the equipment and
13 improvements?
14 Is ECTV playing a shell game with
15 public funds? Something just doesn't add up
16 unless this $100,000 is like manna from
17 heaven. Even Mr. Welby, ECTV's faithful
18 cheerleader said in today's paper that he
19 was, and I quote, "curious about the costs."
20 I would hope that the members of
21 this body would share Mr. Welby's curiosity
22 and be very, very wary of any attempts to
23 funnel additional monies to ECTV. Thank
24 you.
25 MR. MCGOFF: Anyone else?
46
1 MS. WARDELL: Good evening, Council.
2 My name is Mary Ann Wardell.
3 Congratulations, Janet and Bill.
4 MS. EVANS: Thank you.
5 MS. WARDELL: I am here to question
6 about the library. Stimulus money would be
7 used to build that library. Who is
8 responsible for maintaining it? The county,
9 currently taxes property owners a library
10 tax to take care of that library. The
11 county is not interested in building another
12 library, so where does the financial burden
13 fall if this new library is built? Who was
14 going to pay for this new library, to
15 maintain this library? And anybody can
16 answer who knows the answer?
17 MS. EVANS: I don't have an answer
18 that's set in stone, but I would agree with
19 you that the libraries fall under the county
20 library system, and as you mentioned, the
21 three commissioners have unanimously agreed
22 that at this time the county cannot afford
23 to maintain a new library within the City of
24 Scranton. I would assume that if the
25 library is built that we very likely may see
47
1 a tax increase in terms of the library taxes
2 that we pay in order to foot the bills for
3 the employee's salaries and the maintenance
4 and equipment necessary to keep such an
5 endeavor running daily.
6 MS. WARDELL: So that you are looking
7 at adding more taxes or more cost to the
8 residents of the city to put a library over
9 in South Side, which is not centrally
10 located, and we have a beautiful library
11 here in town which anybody can get at to,
12 all they have to do is hop on a bus, where
13 does anybody get the idea that the residents
14 of this city in Scranton can afford to pay
15 for another library? I personally can't
16 afford it. I'm on a fixed income. There is
17 no way I can afford anymore library taxes or
18 any more property taxes or anymore wage
19 taxes. We are taxed out here. We are
20 absolutely taxed out.
21 And it's a question of priority.
22 The money is coming from a stimulus package,
23 and that's great, that's to create jobs, but
24 I would think that if you look at your
25 priorities especially in this city that
48
1 there would be other priorities that would
2 come ahead of a library when we have a
3 magnificent one here in Scranton.
4 And really I just have one more
5 thing to say, I'm very glad that come
6 January you, Mrs. Fanucci, will not be here.
7 You have been an embarrassment to this city
8 tore four years with your sarcastic remarks
9 and --
10 MR. MCGOFF: That's out of you order.
11 MS. WARDELL -- and your treatment
12 of -- yes, you know what, Mr. McGoff -
13 MR. MCGOFF: I'm sorry, Mrs. Wardell,
14 that is out of order.
15 MS. WARDELL: No. I agree, I am out
16 of order and you know what, she has been out
17 of order for four years.
18 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you.
19 MS. WARDELL: Thank you.
20 MR. TALIMINI: Joe Talimini, resident
21 of Scranton. The issue I have to bring up
22 is a little more tangible than what we have
23 heard tonight. All this fantastic paving
24 that's going on in this city, I'd like to
25 know where it is, because our senior
49
1 citizens up there, and especially those who
2 are handicapped and in wheelchairs, still
3 can't get across the city streets and, I
4 mean, you know, there are five members up
5 there on that council and if you can't walk
6 out that front door and see the condition of
7 those streets and the sidewalks and the
8 crosswalks you are totally blind.
9 MS. GATELLI: That's true. It's
10 terrible.
11 MR. TALIMINI: Because we had one of
12 our gentleman come down here and speak to
13 our public safety director who didn't even
14 know that these conditions existed. He
15 actually took him on a walking tour. Of
16 course, this is pretty bad because this guy
17 is on a fixed income, he is in a power
18 chair, etcetera. Unfortunately, he does
19 have to get downtown to the stores when they
20 are open and he has to go to the banks when
21 he gets his money. But, you know, I cannot
22 believe that the people in this building who
23 are overpaid, most of them, and those of you
24 who are elected do not know that you cannot
25 even get across that street out there in a
50
1 wheelchair. I mean, are you totally dense
2 or just don't you look and see what's going
3 on out there?
4 It's sad. Now, you also have an
5 item on here with funding for homeless,
6 etcetera. Did they give the money last
7 year? Did they ever get the money that they
8 were promised, the homeless shelter?
9 MS. GATELLI: I think this is
10 additional money.
11 MR. TALIMINI: I know, but did they
12 ever get the money they were promised last
13 year?
14 MS. GATELLI: Yes, the homeless gets
15 the money.
16 MR. TALIMINI: Because they are in
17 need of again and I was asked by one of the
18 people who is down there, he can't come here
19 because he is also handicapped, if they are
20 going to get any money this year at all and
21 I told them if they didn't please let me
22 know because we will see that they do.
23 Another thing, has anybody ever
24 looked at the top of this particular
25 building? This sunny tower we have up
51
1 there? It's in deplorable condition. There
2 is a window out which has been out since I
3 know of and it needs a paint job up there,
4 and no wonder there is pigeon dung up there
5 with the window wide open they can come in
6 and out freely.
7 It's just, you know, I question do
8 you people see or don't you have any idea or
9 don't you care? And I that goes for all
10 five of you, and I know the other ones don't
11 care. They just -- they are here for their
12 paycheck and that's all it amounts to, and I
13 would love to see you do something, you have
14 got another six or seven months to go,
15 please, consider the fact that these people
16 need you, that's why you are up here. Thank
17 you.
18 MS. FRANUS: Fay Franus, Scranton.
19 Congratulations, Mrs. Evans. This election
20 isn't really over yet, we don't know who is
21 running or anything, but I would just like
22 to say that no matter who wins the people
23 will be voting and whatever they decide is
24 what they want and I'm not necessarily in
25 favor of putting people down, like, I
52
1 disagree with Mrs. Wardell, I don't believe
2 in that. I mean, I know Judy and Sherry and
3 I have words and things like that.
4 MS. GATELLI: Actually, Fay, I'm
5 going to miss you.
6 MS. FRANUS: Me too.
7 MS. GATELLI: Believe it or not.
8 MS. FRANUS: No, seriously --
9 MS. GATELLI: I know you like my
10 little doggy, too.
11 MS. FRANUS: I do.
12 MS. GATELLI: It's not personal, I
13 know that.
14 MS. FRANUS: No, that's what I'm
15 trying to say.
16 MS. GATELLI: We have gotten along
17 in the past and we will again.
18 MS. FRANUS: Yes, and that's what
19 I'm trying to say. We are here for the
20 better of the city no matter what and I hope
21 you both of, you know, win in November or
22 whatever you are doing, I hope you do
23 something else that you enjoy and, like I
24 say, the election isn't over, part of it
25 isn't over anyway, and I hope everybody does
53
1 well, Billy and -- that's all I want to say.
2 Good luck to everybody.
3 MS. GATELLI: Thank you.
4 MR. JONES: Bob Jones, Scranton.
5 Everybody summed what I want to say tonight,
6 so I'd just like to say three things, Janet
7 Evans, Bill Courtright, and Scranton
8 firefighters. And, yeah, I still have my
9 little red sign and you can't take it.
10 Thank you.
11 MR. UNGVARSKY: Good evening, City
12 Council, I'm Tom Ungvarsky and I'm a member
13 of the Scranton Lackawanna County Taxpayers'
14 Association. I'd like to congratulate Janet
15 Evans and Mr. Courtright on their victories.
16 MS. EVANS: Thank you.
17 MR. UNGVARSKY: Well, Mr. Doherty
18 won and I lost. I hope that Mr. Doherty has
19 the right idea because I believe Scranton is
20 a working man's town. We have had mines and
21 factories here and they have been
22 hardworking people. Mr. Doherty had the
23 idea that he can open up loft apartments and
24 boutiques and downtown eateries and attract
25 well-paying jobs to this city. I hope the
54
1 book that he read gave him the right idea
2 because I think that Scranton is going to
3 suffer in the longrun. Thank you.
4 MR. ANCHERANI: Good evening. Nelson
5 Ancherani, First Amendment Rights. This
6 coming January we will see a new council in
7 these chambers. It is my belief that
8 between now and then numerous pieces of
9 legislation will be pushed through. As
10 Mrs. Fanucci has admitted she is a rubber
11 stamper, this would be a great time for her
12 to shed that title along with Miss Gatelli
13 and Mr. McGoff.
14 For four years Ms. Fanucci, Ms.
15 Gattelli and Mr. McGoff, have voted and
16 passed record budgets. They have passed
17 numerous borrowing and spending legislation.
18 They passed the 25 percent tax increase and
19 it appears another one will be coming for
20 2010 when we have a deficit of 5.5 million
21 when we don't have the money from the tax
22 office. This is an opportunity for you
23 three to shed the rubber stamper titles and
24 come to the rescue of the Scranton taxpayers
25 who for eight years have endured record
55
1 budgets and record borrowing and reckless
2 spending borrowing and spending.
3 Reckless borrowing example: 35
4 million borrowed the Scranton Parking
5 Authority, 59 million in interest is going
6 to be paid back, plus giving the Scranton
7 Parking Authority $879,000 this year for
8 Scranton Parking Authority citation issuers,
9 whoever they are.
10 Reckless spending examples are
11 millions on outside attorneys and
12 consultants. If there was more time I could
13 name many, many more. With that B & S we
14 are approximately 300 million in the whole
15 in long-term debt, debt that are great
16 grandchildren will be paying off. With that
17 said, it is my belief and I predict for 2010
18 there will be another 25 percent tax
19 increase, much more borrowing, and another
20 record budget. There are ways to save money
21 and give the taxpayers' relief, but I don't
22 believe we will see that until the new
23 council takes over in January. If I'm wrong
24 I'll be the first one to admit it.
25 Just to clarify, I have lived in
56
1 this city all my life. I would have left
2 years ago if I didn't love it. For the
3 better part of my life, I did what most of
4 the people did and are still doing, ignoring
5 what's going on. Shame on me and to quote
6 Shebo: I wondered what the fuss was about
7 when Joe Clifford and "Jack is Back" Fosta
8 argued against issues that they felt were
9 bad for the city. They loved their city and
10 now more people are carrying on where they
11 left off.
12 I love my city as much as any other
13 person in this chambers. Thanks to the
14 internet and informed council speakers, it
15 is much easier to get information that we
16 won't get from the slimes. We won't be kept
17 in the dark like we used to be. Politicians
18 don't like when their sheep alone to watch
19 and are looking over their shoulders. Keep
20 it up, council speakers.
21 And I just want to say that what I
22 say is not scripted. Thank you.
23 MR. MCGOFF: Point of clarification,
24 Mr. Ancherani, you can only blame me for two
25 and a half years, not four.
57
1 MR. ANCHERANI: Pardon?
2 MR. MCGOFF: I said you can only
3 blame me for two and a half years, not four.
4 MR. ANCHERANI: Two and a half,
5 okay.
6 MS. GATELLI: Are we going on the
7 lunch bet this time, Nelson?
8 MR. ANCHERANI: Pardon?
9 MS. GATELLI: We doing the lunch bet
10 again?
11 MS. ANCHERANI: Yes.
12 MS. GATELLI: Come on.
13 MR. ANCHERANI: It will go to
14 charity.
15 MS. GATELLI: You reneged on me last
16 year.
17 MR. MCGOFF: Mrs. Evans, if there are
18 no other speakers.
19 MS. HUMPHRIES: Oh, hold on a
20 minute. May the peace of Jesus Christ be
21 with everybody. Congratulations Mrs. Evans,
22 you finally made it. I hope you make it
23 higher.
24 MS. EVANS: Thank you.
25 MS. HUMPHRIES: Mr. Courtright,
58
1 congratulations. Mrs. Fanucci and Mrs.
2 Gatelli they went. I think you tried to do
3 the best you could, but in the support of a
4 president that's supposedly Christian and
5 the people that are getting in office and
6 supporting the killing of the unborn, it's
7 the same as communism as far as I'm
8 concerned.
9 I want to ask a question, I didn't
10 know the estimate, but Mr. Boscov was loaned
11 a lot of money and I know he gave to the
12 party of Mr. Doherty. With the situation,
13 the financial situation in the City of
14 Scranton, how can that be done, that's
15 number one? I think you could probably get
16 an answer to Channel 16. Mr. Courtright,
17 you are going to be the big tax boy and I'm
18 so proud. Could you tell me something about
19 that, was it $30,000, $3,000? What was the
20 estimate?
21 MR. COURTRIGHT: What Mr. Boscov gave
22 Mr. Doherty? I have no idea.
23 MS. HUMPHRIES: Well, isn't it
24 supposed to be documented for the City of
25 Scranton, number one?
59
1 MR. COURTRIGHT: Are you talking
2 about his campaign contributions?
3 MS. HUMPHRIES: The loan. There was
4 supposed to be a loan. How could there be a
5 loan, number one, when our city is in
6 duress, a depression and everything, number
7 one. I am in love with the library, but
8 that one is fine right now until we get out
9 of the hole. I hope some day we will see a
10 beautiful library when we do get out of the
11 hole. The other thing I want to say the
12 journalist I had asked him something, how
13 come they do not say anything about my
14 speaking which everybody stops me and they
15 love me and they can't understand why the
16 comments are, and our country, our
17 journalists that got killed in other
18 countries that are martyrs, why doesn't our
19 people that are journalist speak the truth,
20 not just support one person, cover
21 everything that's being hidden in the City
22 of Scranton, the corruption in the City of
23 Scranton, because this appalling when you
24 got to speak to somebody in another country.
25 Now, there is treason, number one,
60
1 when you go up against your country, but
2 there is also -- there is corruption in your
3 country you got to do what you got to do to
4 straighten it out.
5 I think it's appalling, number one,
6 that they do not cover the truth. They are
7 afraid of me because I know the truth and I
8 think it's wrong. I think it's wrong to see
9 buildings blown up and people sitting back
10 when they seen documents by scientists and
11 all being brought in and cigarettes being
12 burnt or getting your bank papers saying,
13 Phyllis, burn a debt. That is wrong.
14 What they have done is equal to that
15 Guantanamo or whatever that place what they
16 have done to me, even some of the church
17 people. I think it's wrong. I think it's
18 unholy. I think it's corrupt and when they
19 cover when people are raped and attacked and
20 they cover and they put whatever they want
21 they are all going to be striped of their
22 jobs. I'm honest to God as God as my
23 witness. Bishop Martino, we got to get
24 together and we got to show what really
25 happened in the City of Scranton. I am for
61
1 peace. I am for peace. I am for
2 forgiveness, but I am for justice, and we
3 got to get some of these corrupt SOB's out.
4 God forgive me, I'll go to
5 confession, I'll be absolved of my sin. I
6 love yous and I hope you all do a wonderful
7 job.
8 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you.
9 MS. HUMPHRIES: And I'm sure they
10 will cut this out, too.
11 MR. GERVASI: Good evening, City
12 Council. My name is Dave Gervasi, Scranton
13 firefighter and resident. I just want to be
14 real brief. I want to congratulate
15 Mr. Courtright on your victory and I'd like
16 to congratulate Mrs. Evans.
17 MS. EVANS: Thank you.
18 MR. GERVASI: And I'd also like to
19 say even though we didn't agree much, Mrs.
20 Fanucci and Mrs. Gatelli, congratulations.
21 You have a load of your mind right now
22 probably, but I want to thank you for your
23 service, I know it's a struggle on
24 everybody. And, like I said, we didn't
25 agree much on anything, but thank you for
62
1 your service to the community. That's all.
2 MR. MCGOFF: Mrs. Evans.
3 MS. EVANS: Thank you. Good evening.
4 As you know, the primary election is now
5 behind us and the November or general
6 election moves in the near future. Seeking
7 elected office is not an easy task, rather,
8 it requires strength, courage, and
9 sacrifice, a love for people, a sense of
10 humor and at times a thick skin. Campaigns
11 also demand sacrifices from candidates
12 families, friends, and supporters, but at
13 this end of the day we all love our city and
14 want the best for the people of Scranton and
15 at the end of the day all of the candidates
16 are owed thanks.
17 I am so very grateful for your
18 support on primary election day. My
19 teammates, Mr. Rogan and Mr. Joyce and I,
20 deeply appreciate the confidence and trust
21 you have placed in us and we firmly share
22 your desire for open, honest and financially
23 sound government. We don't take anything or
24 any one of you for granted and we fully
25 realize we have another race to run and
63
1 another battle to be won in November, and
2 with God's help and your help our city will
3 not only continue to progress, but also
4 change for the better in the future.
5 Contrary to the opinions of some
6 political pundits and naysayers, I have not
7 been idle during my years on city council
8 and have fought hard for what I know is
9 right for the people of Scranton. The
10 issues were and are tax increases, massive
11 debt, inflated budgets, job creations and no
12 accountability. The question is not so much
13 what will a new council do if and when it is
14 finally able to legislate and vote
15 independently, but what will the mayor do if
16 and when for the first time since 2002 he
17 has no veto power and no rubber stamp? What
18 will he do if he has to live within his
19 means?
20 I think most of you know what I will
21 do, but will the mayor communicate and
22 negotiate? I believe there is a first time
23 for everything and with your help the time
24 to open the windows and doors in city hall
25 and let the light of accountability and
64
1 fiscal responsibility shine in will come.
2 Now, in regard to the library in
3 South Scranton that was mentioned earlier, I
4 do not support it's construction at this
5 time nor do I support passing the cost to
6 county government. After all, the county
7 constituents are, indeed, city constituents
8 and it's simply a matter of passing the buck
9 to the county, but it's really not passing
10 the buck because the same people are going
11 to get the bill.
12 Next, just to update the status of
13 the city's 2008 audit, the Single Tax Office
14 provided a response to the auditor's
15 confirmation letter on May 17, 2009. The
16 Sewer Authority and the Parking Authority's
17 2008 financial statements were also
18 received, although the Redevelopment
19 Authority report will not be issued until
20 it's July meeting.
21 In addition, there are 18 items that
22 must be provided by the business manager and
23 OECD. Despite these obstacles, we can try
24 to remain hopeful that the 2008 audit may be
25 received prior to council's recess in
65
1 August.
2 Also, on May 12, council received a
3 copy of a letter from the United States
4 Department of Transportation Federal
5 Railroad Administration to Congressman
6 Kanjorski. The Chrome-Lynn Pennsylvania
7 Regional Office will investigate council's
8 concerns regarding the deplorable condition
9 of railroad cars located near Lomma
10 Industries.
11 Finally, to date, I have not
12 received responses from the mayor regarding
13 two issues: First, he has not put in
14 writing his decision not to close the
15 firehouses. Second, he has provided neither
16 the location nor the funding source of
17 student housing for the Commonwealth Medical
18 School.
19 It seems the mayor intends to
20 aggressively pursue a library in South Side,
21 however, before he begins this project the
22 people would like answers to their previous
23 questions. Kay, please send a memo
24 requesting a response to both items on or
25 before June 5, 2009.
66
1 Also, Kay, I have not received the
2 financial figures for the DPW which were
3 long ago provided for the police and the
4 firefighters by Stu Renda and neither have I
5 received the health care contributions and
6 salaries for every management position which
7 were also requested from the Mr. Renda.
8 Please send him a memo requesting complete
9 information for management and the DPW on or
10 before June 5, 2009.
11 Also, a letter to Daron Northeast.
12 I was notified today that the dirt and dust
13 had become intolerable again. Daron
14 Northeast must keep their property wet to
15 prevent this problem for residents of
16 Dickson Avenue and Delaware Street.
17 And, finally, please send another
18 request for "no parking" signs on Moosic
19 Street to the proper department of the DPW,
20 and that's it.
21 MS. GATELLI: I just have a few
22 items this evening. We received a letter,
23 there was a meeting last Thursday with the
24 three governing bodies and the Single Tax
25 Office, and everyone had agreed that the Tax
67
1 Office would put together an operating
2 budget so that we can review it, the three
3 taxes bodies would review it. Obviously,
4 the budget is not enough what's being given
5 by the school district and the city, and I
6 also discussed this with future tax
7 collector, Bill Courtright, and he agreed
8 that there needs to be a budget for the tax
9 office so that they can function, so I will
10 keep you informed on that.
11 Also, there were five applicants for
12 the controller's job in the Single Tax
13 Office, they are going to be contacting the
14 city and the school district to consult with
15 them about these applicants. My only
16 question was I don't know how they are going
17 to pay a controller that's not in the budget
18 already, so I would like to send a letter to
19 Mr. McGovern and Mrs. Vitali asking them
20 where the funds are going to come from and
21 what the salary would be for a controller in
22 this office, so that we know what's going
23 on.
24 The railroad cars, I did meet with
25 the gentleman from the Federal Rail
68
1 Authority, Mr. Seth Ford. He inspected the
2 property and he agreed that there were some
3 things that needed to be addressed. The
4 railroad cars are very near to the street
5 and we requested that they be moved back so
6 that the site distance would be a little
7 better. The property is not
8 well-maintained, it's littered and the grass
9 is very high, and he was going to send his
10 recommendations to the Rail Authority, so we
11 will wait to hear further on what they have
12 to say on that.
13 There is a balance on the Junior
14 City Council raising funds when they were
15 here and there is a balance of $2,360.71.
16 That account was in my name and the Junior
17 City Council and I had asked Mrs. Garvey to
18 contact Rosanne Novembrino because we wanted
19 to donate it to the police memorial that's
20 planned for outside of city hall and we are
21 awaiting Rosanne Novembrino getting an
22 account with signatures to transfer the
23 money, but I just wanted you to know that
24 that's where that money will be going if and
25 when the account gets set up, and that's all
69
1 I have. Thank you.
2 MS. FANUCCI: I only have one thing
3 that's on tonight's agenda that I want to
4 speak about. We have a loan that we are
5 giving the City Cafe. They are a restaurant
6 that is on 309 Washington Avenue. The
7 purpose of the loan would be to assist in
8 equipment, purchasing equipment and capital.
9 It's $25,000 and 5 percent for the term of
10 the loan, which is ten years. The total
11 project cost for the renovations will be
12 $100,000. The city will hold the equipment
13 as collateral, also.
14 There is -- I don't know if -- I'm
15 looking to see it Andy left, but there is
16 one job equivalent is the purpose of it,
17 they have to do one job when they take out a
18 loan for $25,000, but they are hiring six
19 people, so although they are meeting the
20 required amount of hired they are actually
21 hiring six additional people, so that is a
22 good loan.
23 That is all I have on the agenda
24 tonight. Obviously, I'm going to speak on
25 some of the comments made tonight because I
70
1 can. I have to say, Mrs. Wardell, as much
2 as you don't like who I am or what I have
3 stood for I have to say I have outclassed
4 you by tonight's performance. We understand
5 you are czared up with Mrs. Evans and you do
6 a wonderful job and I want to --
7 MR. MCGOFF: Mrs. -- she was out of
8 order.
9 MS. FANUCCI: She talked the whole
10 time, she talked the whole time and I'm
11 doing the same thing.
12 MR. MCGOFF: Excuse me.
13 MS. FANUCCI: I'm defending what was
14 said about me in a public meeting. These
15 meetings have turned --
16 MR. MCGOFF: I gaveled her out of
17 order and --
18 MS. FANUCCI: -- into politics from
19 day one.
20 MR. MCGOFF: -- I'm asking you to
21 refrain.
22 MS. FANUCCI: All right, I will not
23 speak on her. This forum, as I talked,
24 everything tonight was politics. Politics
25 from the start to finish. In fact, I
71
1 believe we violated probably four to five
2 ethics codes here tonight from even this
3 podium violations from made. For some
4 reason that's acceptable. The election is
5 over. I am very proud of my mayor. I
6 certainly will support him in every way. I
7 will stamp away for the next six months
8 while I'm here. I'm very proud of that.
9 I believe that the citizens of
10 Scranton came out and did what they wanted
11 to do and I believe that's a wonderful
12 thing. I'm okay with the fact that my
13 election did not work out the way I planned,
14 but in the long run I believe the city is
15 safe and the best interests will be upheld,
16 and that is all I have ever cared about.
17 I know that I was not supposed to
18 push back in this forum and it was supposed
19 to be all about the people taking over here
20 and this was their only outlet, but to me
21 that would be -- it would irresponsible,
22 irresponsible for me to say it's okay for
23 you to come here and spew whatever it is you
24 are spewing on a weekly basis and not stick
25 up for the rest of the people who are out
72
1 there who like where they live, who believe
2 in the city and who actually have the best
3 interest at heart not just for their own
4 personal agendas.
5 I believe the personal agendas were
6 motivated by what takes place in this forum
7 and I was okay sticking up for it and I
8 certainly sleep very well at night knowing
9 that I did what I needed to do for myself
10 and for all of the people out there who
11 actually have faith in what could happen in
12 the city when you work together.
13 The division is strong and has been
14 strong for years, way before I even got here
15 and it will continue to be that way because
16 of people who come up to this podium week
17 after week with their personal agendas, and
18 I certainly won't mention the names.
19 I find it sad, I find it almost that
20 you should go out and find other ways to
21 make this place a better place. If you have
22 the time to come here and spew your very
23 distorted views of where we live, I believe
24 there are many people who deserve help.
25 Take that energy, help, volunteer, do
73
1 something productive, do something wonderful
2 for the people who are out there working
3 hard every day.
4 Funny how tonight I had to listen
5 about the library and how we don't need a
6 library and everybody has computers. That's
7 not accurate. There are many homes who
8 can't afford computers, many more than you
9 understand, and you should go to the library
10 and see how people are waiting for the
11 computer room where they can't get in. They
12 can't check e-mails, they can't put resumes
13 out, the kids can't do their homework. Why?
14 Because they don't have computers. So I
15 know when you come in here and you say my
16 interest is in the best interest of the city
17 and you believe that others have different
18 motives, but you can't talk out one side of
19 your mouth. You can't say you are
20 interested in the city, but yet people don't
21 deserve the same opportunity they you have
22 or I have. Yeah, I'm lucky I have a
23 computer and I think we are all, I'm not
24 sure about Bill, Bill tries to stay off it
25 as much as possible, but everybody else
74
1 deserves the same opportunity, so next time,
2 the next week after we realize what has
3 happened here and we come to terms with what
4 is going on, I hope you come in here with a
5 better idea and some solutions, you know,
6 not just the problems because we all know
7 there is problems because come in with real
8 solutions and want the answers that are
9 given to that are real answers. Don't look
10 for answers that are only good to move your
11 agendas or move what you are looking to do.
12 Accept answers for what they are, sometimes
13 they are the answers and that all there is.
14 Yes, the Ice Box, we answered the
15 Ice Box question for you four or five times.
16 You will not accept it, but that's okay.
17 I'm not going to waste my time answering
18 something you won't accept. We are being
19 held up a sign in the back about the Ice
20 Box. You have to understand that everything
21 is not as easy as saying you should do this
22 or we should have that. It doesn't work
23 that way. The stimulus money, for example,
24 again we talked about that tonight, that is
25 going to be a long process and there is so
75
1 many compliances that are going to go along
2 with it, it is not going to be as easy as 20
3 people signing up and us giving them checks.
4 That's just not how it is, but let's hope
5 next week we can move past this and realize
6 that although the division has been made and
7 the mayor did win, and I love the fact that
8 the election process took place and I love
9 the fact that that's what it's all about.
10 It is what it is and I'm happy with that
11 just like I'm happy with the Recovery Plan
12 passing, just like I'm happy with the fact
13 that it is time to move on. Thank God it is
14 time to put it down and move on, and I am
15 hoping that when you look at yourselves you
16 can do the same also, and that's is all I
17 have. Thank you.
18 MR. COURTRIGHT: I would like to
19 thank everybody that came out and voted and
20 congratulations to all the candidates, not
21 just the ones that won. I congratulate them
22 for putting themselves out there. It's not
23 easy to run and anybody that's ever run will
24 tell you that it's a difficult task as Mrs.
25 Evans I think said, although, it's more
76
1 difficult on our families than it is on
2 ourselves, so congratulations to all that
3 put themselves out there.
4 Kay, if everyone on council here
5 agrees, I think it's childish these people
6 that steal political signs and I don't think
7 there is any candidate that would disagree
8 with that, but we had some serious
9 accusations made there this evening about
10 information being withheld, and obstructing
11 justice. If the rest of the council would
12 agree I would ask that we send a letter to
13 Dave Elliott and ask him does, in fact, does
14 he have information to who stole these signs
15 and if he does what is going to be done with
16 it, so that we can put this issue to rest.
17 As we all said, the election is over but
18 let's get this sign issue done once and for
19 all. Is there anybody on council that would
20 object to us asking Mr. Elliott? So, if we
21 could just him if he has information if he
22 does what's going to happen with it so we
23 can put this to rest. Yeah, I'll make a
24 motion that we send a letter to police chief
25 Dave Elliott asking him to update us on the
77
1 sign issue.
2 MS. FANUCCI: Second.
3 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? All
4 in favor signify by saying aye.
5 MS. EVANS: Aye.
6 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
7 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
8 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
9 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed? The
10 ayes have it and so moved.
11 MR. COURTRIGHT: And just one
12 question, Mr. Minora, and I don't know if
13 you can answer this, but we did ask for a
14 letter to be sent a couple of weeks back
15 about this declaratory judgment for the
16 money that's at the tax office. I don't see
17 how we are going to fill a hole in the
18 budget if we don't get that money, so I
19 don't know if there is any response to our
20 letter that we sent out our not? Have we
21 received a response?
22 MR. MINORA: Actually, I spoke to
23 Attorney Patterson today and her thought is
24 to first try and get all of the lawyers in a
25 room and see whether or not there can be
78
1 some kind of agreement without the need of a
2 lawsuit which, of course, would be better if
3 it's possible to do and faster, and I think
4 that's your thinking. I don't know how far
5 along she has gone with that idea, but we
6 did speak today and that was what she
7 related to me.
8 MR. COURTRIGHT: If you could ask, if
9 it's not too much trouble, if they can
10 update us on a weekly basis where this
11 stands because I just don't know what we are
12 going to do if we don't get that money, how
13 are we going to fill that whole in the
14 budget, and I'm concerned about that, and
15 maybe she can just drop us a note every week
16 saying where we stand with this. If all
17 taxing bodies that's the way to go and if
18 not what are we going to do?
19 MR. MINORA: I'll be glad to ask
20 her. We have talked about it pretty
21 regularly and after the letter went out to
22 her she spoke to me about, you know, what my
23 thinking was, what the idea behind it was
24 because the letter was rudimentary in terms
25 of just making suggestion without any legal
79
1 theory behind it, so we talked about that at
2 length and I don't think she has any great
3 opposition to it, I think she just thinks
4 it's a faster track if she can get everybody
5 in the room, all of the other lawyers and
6 bodies that they represent to stipulate to
7 doing this without the necessity of the
8 litigation, and frankly, if that can be
9 done, you know, that's a meeting.
10 MR. COURTRIGHT: Well, yeah.
11 Whatever it takes to resolve it so that the
12 city gets whatever money they do have coming
13 to them and I'd just appreciate if she would
14 update us.
15 MR. MINORA: I'll follow-up with her.
16 I'm sorry?
17 MS. EVANS: I'm sorry, would you
18 while you are in discussions with Attorney
19 Patterson, would you ask her if she will be
20 serving as the counsel to the tax office,
21 particularly in light of the fact that
22 evidently we are going to be paying for a
23 controller to oversee day-to-day operations?
24 MR. MINORA: I'll be glad to ask her
25 that.
80
1 MS. EVANS: Thank you.
2 MR. MINORA: Although, I think she
3 talked to me and she gave us a letter today
4 about all of the bodies meeting and coming
5 to some intergovernmental agreement
6 including the collector of taxes to resolve
7 a lot of these issues on a cooperative basis
8 and I don't know if that was one of them or
9 not, but I'll be sure to ask her.
10 MS. EVANS: Thank you.
11 MR. COURTRIGHT: And that's all I
12 have. Thank you.
13 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you. A number of
14 things: First, we did receive a notice of
15 the -- from -- or a copy of the is it
16 stipulation on Tripp Park, is that the
17 correct term? Attorney Minora is writing.
18 MR. MINORA: I'm sorry.
19 MR. MCGOFF: The stipulation from
20 Judge Minora is what -- concerning Tripp
21 Park?
22 MR. MINORA: Concerning Tripp Park,
23 and again, it's a stipulation that was
24 reduced to order, a Court order allowing
25 for -- let me jump back. There was first a
81
1 freeze put on any kind of development or
2 alterations, some of which were not going to
3 contribute to the flooding problems up
4 there, but a blanket order included
5 everything, so this stipulation is meant to
6 allow for I guess certain repairs and I
7 didn't enumerate all of those, but household
8 building projects that would not contribute
9 to the flooding problems, so by stipulation
10 which is now reduced to an order are going
11 to be allowed.
12 MR. MCGOFF: And it's my -- this was
13 agreed to by all parties?
14 MS. GATELLI: Yes.
15 MR. MINORA: Yes, by stipulation,
16 yes.
17 MR. MCGOFF: Just to let the public
18 know that, you know, there is some progress
19 in that area.
20 Also, Mr. Jackowitz, if you would
21 please at the end of the meeting or at some
22 point in time if you could give the address
23 for the donations to someone from Channel 61
24 hopefully they would scroll it so that it
25 would seen and you may receive some
82
1 additional -- from some additional sources
2 and I think we would all agree if Channel 61
3 would do that that we would encourage it.
4 And just I think at times in dealing
5 with this library I don't want to get into a
6 debate on something that's not on the
7 agenda, but I think at times some people are
8 led to believe that the proposition for
9 building a library in South Side would mean
10 that the Albright library would close. I
11 believe that the proposition is that South
12 Side library would be in addition to, not in
13 place of the Albright, and as far as I know
14 I have no the seen or been made aware of any
15 plan for the building and/or the operation
16 of the library. I will certainly ask this
17 week if there is anything that's even close
18 to concrete as far as that is concerned and
19 at least maybe we can, you know, discuss
20 what's firm rather than suppositions.
21 And last thing on the election,
22 again, congratulations to everyone who is
23 involved. I think the one thing that was
24 glaring to me in this election -- in an
25 election that had such impact for the City
83
1 of Scranton that many areas of the city
2 there was such a poor turnout. It would
3 have -- I think that we need to do something
4 to encourage more people to be involved and
5 not just a -- I think in some places what
6 was the total number it was somewhere around
7 50 percent maybe of eligible voters and that
8 should be more especially in an election
9 where there was a great deal at stake and
10 hopefully in the future that will improve,
11 and that is all I have. Mrs. Garvey.
12 MS. GARVEY: FIFTH ORDER. 5-B. FOR
13 INTRODUCTION - AN ORDINANCE - TRANSFERRING
14 THE FUNDS FROM FUND 03 GENERAL FUND CITY
15 LIQUID FUEL ACCOUNTS WHICH FUNDS AND
16 ACCOUNTS ARE NO LONGER NEEDED FOR THE
17 CONDUCT OF CITY BUSINESS, AND ABOLISHING AND
18 CLOSING SAID ACCOUNTS AND TRANSFERRING THE
19 FUNDS REMAINING IN THESE ACCOUNTS TO THE
20 CASH LIQUID FUELS INVEST ACCOUNT.
21 MR. MCGOFF: At this time I'll
22 entertain a motion that Item 5-B be
23 introduced into it's proper committee.
24 MR. COURTRIGHT: So moved.
25 MS. FANUCCI: Second.
84
1 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? All
2 in favor signify by saying aye.
3 MS. EVANS: Aye.
4 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
5 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
6 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
7 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed? The
8 ayes have it and so moved.
9 MS. GARVEY: 5-C. FOR INTRODUCTION -
10 A RESOLUTION - AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND
11 OTHER APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS FOR THE
12 CITY OF SCRANTON TO ENTER INTO A LOAN
13 AGREEMENT AND MAKE A LOAN FROM THE ECONOMIC
14 DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION LOAN PROGRAM,
15 PROJECT NO. 009.500.4 IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO
16 EXCEED $25,000.00 TO D & MS, LLC D/B/A CITY
17 CAFÉ TO ASSIST AN ELIGIBLE PROJECT.
18 MR. MCGOFF: At this time I'll
19 entertain a motion that Item 5-C be
20 introduced into it's proper committee.
21 MR. COURTRIGHT: So moved.
22 MS. FANUCCI: Second.
23 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? All
24 in favor signify by saying aye.
25 MS. EVANS: Aye.
85
1 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
2 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
3 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
4 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed? The
5 ayes have it and so moved.
6 MS. GARVEY: SIXTH ORDER. 6-A.
7 READING BY TITLE - FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 67,
8 2009 - AN ORDINANCE - AMENDING FILE OF
9 COUNCIL NO. 123, 2007, ENTITLED, "AN
10 ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND OTHER
11 APPROPRIATE OFFICIALS OF THE CITY OF
12 SCRANTON TO TAKE ALL NECESSARY ACTIONS TO
13 IMPLEMENT THE CONSOLIDATED SUBMISSION FOR
14 COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS
15 (AS AMENDED) TO BE FUNDED UNDER THE
16 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG)
17 PROGRAM, HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP (HOME)
18 PROGRAM AND EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT (ESG)
19 PROGRAM", BY AMENDING THE CONSOLIDATED PLAN
20 AND THE 2008 ACTION PLAN TO INCLUDE NEW