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1 SCRANTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING
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5 HELD:
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7 Tuesday, September 15, 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
11 (Not present)
12 MS. KAY GARVEY, CITY CLERK
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MR. NEIL COOLICAN, ASSISTANT CITY CLERK
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15 MR. AMIL MINORA, SOLICITOR
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1 (Pledge of Allegiance recited and moment of reflection
2 observed.)
3 MR.MCGOFF: Roll call, please?
4 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.
5 MS. EVANS: Here.
6 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli.
7 MS. GATELLI: Here.
8 MR. COOLICAN: Ms. Fanucci.
9 MS. FANUCCI: Here.
10 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright. Mr.
11 McGoff.
12 MR. MCGOFF: Here. Once again, for
13 the record just make note that
14 Mr. Courtright did inform counsel that he
15 would be unable to attend tonight's meeting.
16 Dispense with the reading of the minutes.
17 MS. GARVEY: 3-A. 2008 AUDIT FOR THE
18 SCRANTON REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY.
19 MR. MCGOFF: Are there any comments?
20 If not, received and filed.
21 MS. GARVEY: 3-B. TAX COLLECTION
22 COMPARISON REPORTS RECEIVED FROM THE SINGLE
23 TAX OFFICE ON SEPTEMBER 8, 2009.
24 MR. MCGOFF: Are there any comments?
25 If not, received and filed.
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1 MS. GARVEY: That's it for Third Ord.
2 MR. MCGOFF: At Mrs. Evans' requests
3 and the agreement of the other members of
4 council, we are going to change the order
5 this evening, the order of the meeting this
6 evening. We will have Fifth Order motions
7 then we will have time to speak on the
8 agenda, then we will go through the agenda
9 items and then there will be a second time
10 for citizens' participation as we had done
11 that in the summer on occasion. So at this
12 time we will go to our 5-A motions.
13 MS. EVANS: I'm going to combine I
14 think my motions this evening with
15 announcements and I'll begin with some of
16 the announcements and then move right into
17 my information. On Friday, September 18,
18 National POW/MIA Recognition Day will be
19 observed. Please remember in your prayers
20 those missing in action who never returned
21 home as well as prisoners of the war who
22 returned from foreign soil. Fly the POW/MIA
23 flag if you have one and take time to thank
24 a veteran.
25 In October, Comcast will make the
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1 following changes to your cable channels:
2 Government access Channel 61 will move to
3 Channel 19. Educational access Channel 62
4 will move to Channel 21. Comcast has not
5 supplied the date in October when these
6 changes will occur. Viewers must remain
7 aware and observant.
8 An Aid's Walk will conducted in
9 start, September 19, at Nay Aug Park.
10 Registration is $10 and open at 10 a.m. The
11 walk begins at 11:30 a.m. All proceeds
12 benefit the Scranton Temple Health Center.
13 Please support this very worthy cause.
14 Also, the IAFF Local 860 is
15 sponsoring "Help a Brother Out" in honor of
16 Michael J. Snyder, tomorrow evening,
17 September 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Hometown
18 Hero Tavern, 109 East Drinker Street in
19 Dunmore. Mike is a full-time firefighter
20 and was injured during a rescue in February
21 of 2006. His medical bills have been piling
22 up and his union brothers have decided to
23 help. There will be live bands, raffles,
24 firefighters versus police officers contests
25 as well as a motorcycle antique car show
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1 with trophies. Cash bar and special food
2 deals will be available. In other words,
3 there is something for everyone and you
4 don't need to be a civil servant to enjoy,
5 all are welcome.
6 Good evening. On September 8
7 council received the September year-to-date
8 comparisons from the Scranton Tax Office
9 which are as follows:
10 Real estate tax, $12,088,351, a
11 decrease of $74,001. Wage tax, $14,110,925,
12 a decrease of $2,110,232. Local services
13 tax, $1,253,584, an increase of $252,855.
14 The business privilege mercantile tax,
15 $1,670,726, an increase of $13,985. Totals
16 shows an overall decrease of $1,917,393 in
17 tax revenue as compared to September 2008.
18 Tax office Solicitor Attorney John
19 McGovern also indicated in the news report
20 that the tax office intends to distribute
21 the balance of the 888 money to the city
22 this month. I contacted Attorney McGovern
23 last week to learn the date of distribution
24 and the dollar amount of the 888 money since
25 the administration needs to cover the
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1 5.5 million line item revenue contained in
2 the 2009 operating budget. He responded
3 that before the 888 money will be
4 distributed two issues must be resolved:
5 The first issue is to confirm with
6 the accountants that the Scranton Tax Office
7 employees properly handled the coding issue.
8 The accountants are scheduled to be in town
9 later this week.
10 The second issue involves the manner
11 in which to distribute the money. Attorney
12 McGovern states that there is a system
13 glitch which does not allow for the 888
14 money to be distributed.
15 He ends by stating: "Assuming we
16 can accomplish these goals, the money will
17 be distributed."
18 On a related note, Attorney McGovern
19 referenced a proposed administrative
20 agreement which may provide the city school
21 district and the county greater access and
22 control over the Scranton Tax Office. The
23 agreement was drafted at the request of the
24 business administrators for the three local
25 taxing bodies. It's my understanding that
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1 the business administrators, the current tax
2 collector and her solicitor compromise the
3 group which is a drafting and overseeing
4 this agreement. However, since merely three
5 months remain in the term of the current tax
6 collector, I believe that the next tax
7 collector should have membership in this
8 group because he will be the official to
9 carry out the terms of this agreement. In
10 addition, his presence at such
11 administrative agreement meetings will
12 enable him to directly inform city council
13 of the progress of the agreement.
14 Therefore, I move that Scranton City
15 Council send a letter to the Lackawanna
16 County Commissioners, the Scranton School
17 Board and the Mayor requesting that
18 Mr. William Courtright, tax collector elect
19 and Scranton city councilman, is present at
20 all meetings related to the administrative
21 agreement to create access and control over
22 the Scranton Tax Office.
23 MS. GATELLI: I'll second that.
24 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? Don't
25 we already have legislation appointing
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1 people to that?
2 MS. EVANS: Those are the individuals
3 who will -- that's a committee who will
4 decide which tax office is going to collect
5 taxes for the entire region, so these are
6 two different groups of people.
7 MR. MCGOFF: I'm sorry. Anyone else?
8 All in favor signify by saying aye.
9 MS. EVANS: Aye.
10 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
11 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
12 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed? The
13 ayes have it and so moved.
14 MS. EVANS: Thank you. Last week
15 Councilman Courtright and I met with
16 Assistant District Attorney Gene Talerico
17 and the county's grant writer. At the
18 suggestion of Attorney Talerico, it was
19 agreed that all council members submit
20 questions concerning the 2008 and 2009 JAG
21 grants directly to Councilman Courtright who
22 will organize the inquiries and present them
23 to the grant writer for her written
24 responses. I am in agreement with this
25 procedure since it will provide a written
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1 statement and record of the facts which none
2 of the several prior between city officials
3 and county employees have produced.
4 At such time as the grant writer's
5 responses are received, both the questions
6 and answers will be ready to the public at
7 the regularly scheduled council meeting. At
8 this time I can say that I was impressed by
9 the professionalism, hard work and honesty
10 demonstrated by the grant writer.
11 Further, it is neither her job duty
12 nor responsibility as a part-time grant
13 writer for the City of Scranton to report to
14 the city's legal department and request the
15 preparation of grant related legislation to
16 be presented to Scranton City Council. Like
17 all employees, she takes orders from her
18 supervisor. Evidence of the supervisor's
19 role is present in the September 3, 2009,
20 letter from Chief Elliott to Attorney
21 Patterson, city solicitor, requesting
22 legislation for approval of agreement and
23 creation of a special account into which
24 these funds may be received.
25 Further, the city employs a grant
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1 writer and has done so for many years. Why
2 the city grant writer was transferred out of
3 the police headquarters, I do not know. Why
4 the city grant writer was no longer
5 permitted to apply for police grants, I do
6 not know. However, the police chief and the
7 mayor hired a part-time grant writer to
8 prepare police grants because they no longer
9 wish to use the services of our city grant
10 writer, thereby, creating a duplications of
11 services.
12 I have no doubt that the city grant
13 writer is fully capable of doing this work
14 and if there were any area in need of
15 updating or instruction she long ago could
16 have been informed or instructed by the
17 county's grant writer.
18 In addition, I learned that county
19 grants are publically presented to the
20 county commissioners at their meetings.
21 County grant applications include budget,
22 purpose and time frame in order that the
23 commissioners and taxpayers are fully aware
24 of the dollar amounts and the intended use
25 of each grant. It is called transparency
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1 and accountability. No such procedure is
2 followed by the city in that public
3 presentations of grants by department heads
4 do not occur. As a result, city council and
5 the taxpayers are often times unaware of the
6 exact use of grants, the funds available in
7 accounts, the time constraints, the
8 successful and unsuccessful grants,
9 etcetera.
10 For example, the 2008 JAG grant was
11 to be used for police overtime and to ensure
12 that police officers were staffing each part
13 of the City of Scranton, yet those funds
14 remain untouched and no account appears to
15 have been created to provide for the
16 electronic transfer of money from the
17 federal government to the City of Scranton.
18 We are all aware that many shifts have been
19 sorely understaffed in the police department
20 in 2008 and 2009 and as of this moment we
21 all deserve an answer. We had funding. Why
22 didn't we use it?
23 And another obvious question, how
24 does the same mistake happen in two
25 consecutive years? Innocent mistakes and
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1 colossal misunderstanding were products of
2 being human. We all make mistakes, however,
3 the same mistake made a second time is no
4 longer innocent, causes suspicion and
5 mistrust of the public and calls for an
6 examination of all police grants and monies
7 received from 2002 through the present.
8 At this time, with my colleagues'
9 agreement, I ask that all grant application
10 and receipts will be presented publically by
11 department heads at regularly scheduled city
12 council meetings in order to restore the
13 public's faith in local government and
14 provided proof transparency in local
15 government. Do you agree? I don't know
16 that --
17 MR. MCGOFF: Was that a motion?
18 MS. EVANS: Well, I didn't put it in
19 the form of the motion, I was just -- I can
20 if you would like.
21 MR. MCGOFF: I didn't know if it
22 was --
23 MS. EVANS: No, it wasn't.
24 MR. MCGOFF: -- if anyone needed to
25 second that.
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1 MS. EVANS: I was just asking if you
2 were in agreement with having all department
3 heads present their grant application
4 publically so that the people are aware of
5 the work that they are doing and hopefully
6 the monies that can be coming to the city
7 and the projects that they will be used for.
8 MR. MCGOFF: I believe that that's a
9 good idea. I don't know that we can require
10 it.
11 MS. EVANS: No, we can't.
12 MR. MCGOFF: I know we can request
13 it.
14 MS. EVANS: We are requesting, we are
15 not requiring.
16 MR. MCGOFF: I think that's fine --
17 or at least I am in compliance with --
18 MS. GATELLI: Yes.
19 MS. FANUCCI: Yes, it's great.
20 MS. EVANS: Thank you. So, Kay, if
21 you could please send a letter to the mayor
22 informing him of council's request for grant
23 reports by department heads.
24 MR. MCGOFF: I didn't want to
25 interrupt, but since we are -- you are
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1 talking about the JAG grants, do we need
2 to-- and I'm going to ask Attorney Minora,
3 do we need legislation for the 2008 JAG
4 grants? I know we have legislation on for
5 tonight for 2009, but we have never done
6 anything on 2008.
7 MS. EVANS: Correct. Well, no
8 account was ever created.
9 MR. MINORA: I believe 2008 had the
10 same problems as 2000?
11 MS. EVANS: Yes, and no account was
12 ever created.
13 MR. MINORA: I didn't see all of
14 the documents floating around about that or
15 not, but I mean, through the federal
16 government, but I would assume the federal
17 government would allow the city to keep
18 their grants and past ex post facto
19 legislation, but I don't know that, but we
20 would have to, I would assume, to comply
21 unless they changed regulations between '08
22 and '09 which I, again, doubt but I don't
23 know.
24 MR. MCGOFF: Again --
25 MR. MINORA: There's a lot of ifs in
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1 there and I'm sorry. There is just no way
2 for me to be able to give you a concrete
3 answer on that.
4 MR. MCGOFF: Since we are -- with
5 again, with the acceptance of council, I'm
6 going to ask Attorney Patterson if she would
7 prepare legislation for the 2008 grants.
8 MS. EVANS: Yes.
9 MR. MCGOFF: Whether that's something
10 that we need to do, I think just it would
11 probably be safe to do that.
12 MR. MINORA: I would assume that
13 would be the conservative smart way to go
14 without any down side.
15 MS. EVANS: Yes.
16 MR. MCGOFF: I'm sorry to interrupt.
17 MS. EVANS: Thank you. Next, I'm
18 pleased to report that OECD director Linda
19 Aebli met in caucus with city council
20 earlier this evening and that Scranton
21 Parking Authority executive director Robert
22 Scopelitti will attend a council caucus next
23 Tuesday, September 22, at 5:30 and I wanted
24 to thank President McGoff for acting swiftly
25 on my requests and for scheduling these
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1 meetings.
2 Finally, I have a few citizens'
3 requests for the week: Residents request an
4 update on the status of the traffic light
5 for Meadow Avenue and River Street. Please
6 provide council with an up to the minute
7 report as soon as possible.
8 Several citizens have asked that the
9 traffic light at the corner of Wyoming
10 Avenue and Lackawanna would be checked. The
11 speed at which the light changes makes it
12 nearly impossible for pedestrian to cross
13 the street.
14 Residents from several sections of
15 the city ask that the areas around catch
16 basins would be cleaned prior to the winter
17 months.
18 A second request to Mr. Oleski,
19 public safety. On August 6, 2009, you were
20 sent a letter regarding a West Scranton
21 restaurant. Residents of the 1100 block of
22 Lafayette Street continue to complain of the
23 smoke from wood burning stoves that pollute
24 their homes and neighborhoods. Send a
25 written report to council on or before
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1 September 28 regarding this complaint.
2 And to the residents of Lafayette
3 Street, I'm sorry that nothing has been
4 done. I don't have the power to cite any
5 individual or business nor do I have the
6 power to suspend or fire employees who fail
7 to do their jobs. Only the mayor holds that
8 power and all employees will respond to his
9 directives. For whatever their reasons not
10 all employees will act on requests from
11 council. This is and has long been
12 frustrating to me because I don't make these
13 requests for myself, as I have said before,
14 I ask city employees to help the residents
15 and the taxpayers with their problems and
16 provide the services for which they are
17 paying their taxes.
18 To the residents of Emmett Street, I
19 learned that the owners of the blighted
20 condemned properties on Emmett Street are
21 appealing the condemnation and demolition.
22 I appeal will be heard next week I believe.
23 However, the condemned structures are
24 definitely a health and safety hazard since
25 they are infested with insects and dirt and
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1 parts of the structures appears collapsible
2 at any time. If the owners of the appeal is
3 not granted, unfortunately, they cannot
4 appeal once again to a higher court which
5 again delays the demolition of these
6 properties.
7 330 Spring Street, the house was
8 condemned in 2005, released, and condemned
9 once again in 2007. This ongoing
10 problematic property is highly overgrown.
11 Mr. Seitzinger is well aware of this
12 situation and had agreed to address it in
13 the past on more and one occasion.
14 And I also learned that the unit
15 block of Crown Avenue had it's potholes
16 patched this morning. I believe that may be
17 the first work that's been doing there in a
18 very long time. I'm very grateful for that
19 and it is my hope that eventually that small
20 stretch of road will be paved since it
21 hasn't been paved in over 40 years, and
22 that's it.
23 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you. Mrs.
24 Gatelli?
25 MS. GATELLI: First announcement that
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1 I have today is that on Thursday evening,
2 this Thursday the 17th, there will be a
3 macaroni dinner at the South Side Senior
4 Citizen Center on the 400 block of Alder
5 Street from 4 to 7 p.m. The cost is 8.50
6 and the Dante Club will be doing the
7 cooking.
8 The next I received a notice today
9 from Carl Graziano in the police department
10 that the police department launched a new
11 community information service where you can
12 get notices on your cell phone or on your
13 computer about things that are important and
14 happening in your city and in your
15 neighborhood. It's free, and to receive the
16 messages you have to log onto WWW.Nixel.
17 Com. N-I-X-L-E. And if Kay could please
18 have that put on Channel 61. It is very
19 informative. I also have my cell phone on
20 the Scranton Times and WNEP for the weather,
21 so it is a very popular thing to do on your
22 cell phone and you can know street closings
23 and fires and police calls on your cell
24 phone.
25 The next thing is I called PennDOT
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1 quite some time ago about the traffic light
2 on Meadow and River and I was told that
3 under the study that they had done, the
4 traffic study, that it was no longer going
5 to be included because they were putting the
6 light at the ramp off of 81 and they were
7 fixing the light on Moosic and Meadow, so as
8 far as I know that light is not going to be
9 there as far as I was told.
10 The second thing Faccia Luna I got
11 some calls on that, too, I called and asked
12 I was told that the inspectors were there,
13 he has all of the necessary permits and the
14 approvals and that, you know, he is not
15 interfering with the neighbors. Also, La
16 Trattoria has one of those ovens. I know
17 there is an odor to it, but there are houses
18 over there, too. As long as they meet the
19 requirements I don't know that there is
20 anything beyond that that can be done of
21 ovens in a restaurant.
22 I sent Chief Elliott a letter
23 regarding the neighborhood police patrols
24 and I received a written response. There
25 are ten officers assigned to neighborhood
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1 police patrols. There is one vacancy, there
2 is one at the police academy, and there are
3 four injured, so out of ten we only have
4 five that are working. I don't know what
5 can be done when an officer gets injured if
6 we can replace them, but maybe that's why we
7 are having a problem finding our police
8 patrols because four are injured, one hasn't
9 been filled and one is at the police
10 academy. And there is only one in West
11 Side, there is only -- there is none in
12 South Side, two in the Hill, and one in the
13 Plot/Pinebrook, so if we can maybe send the
14 chief a letter asking him, you know, can't
15 other people be put in these positions when
16 they are injured because it certainly is a
17 detriment to the neighborhood when the
18 officer is -- he might be out injured for a
19 year and, you know, then we don't have a
20 police officer.
21 And we did complain, we had an Elm
22 Street steering committee yesterday and we
23 complained about prostitutes on Cedar
24 Avenue, and I know that this officer, I
25 spoke to him back in April, and he was aware
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1 of the activity there and see if we can't do
2 some type of sting operation over there. I
3 understand there is one on the 100 and 200
4 block of Prospect Avenue, also, so if we can
5 possibly do something along those lines it
6 would be very, very helpful.
7 MS. EVANS: Mrs. Gatelli, through
8 this JAG grants those sting operations are
9 funded, so I think it could be done.
10 MS. GATELLI: Yes, I think so, too.
11 Also on there, when Mrs. Evans talked about
12 meeting with Jill Summa, I met with her
13 myself today and, you know, discussed what
14 had happened with her. I don't think that
15 it was her responsibility, although, in her
16 letter she stated that it was approved by
17 council. But, you know, I'm not sure she
18 was told that. She is just an employee and,
19 you know, it's unfortunate because if
20 someone forgot or made a mistake, like
21 Mrs. Evans said we all make them, I make ten
22 of them a day at least, you know, we are all
23 human we are going to make mistakes, we are
24 going to forget especially when you get
25 older you forget a lot, but you know, that's
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1 understandable and it's okay if that's what
2 happened. I'm not sure if that's what
3 happened, but if it did it's okay, just say
4 you forgot or, you know, you didn't realize
5 it or whatever, and it can be rectified. We
6 can rectify everything but death. That's
7 the only thing can't be rectified or worked
8 out with people, so I think we should stay
9 on that and try to work it out, not to blame
10 anyone, not to criticize anyone because I
11 think everybody makes mistakes, but I hope
12 that we can just get it worked out and move
13 on and do it right from now on.
14 I spoke to the zoning officer about
15 Tom and Jerry's. I keep calling it that
16 because that's what I know it as, although,
17 that's not the same name of it now, 0and he
18 has filed a zoning citation and the hearing
19 will be in October. I will be present at
20 the hearing, if I have to take a day off
21 I'll be there and I'm going to encourage the
22 neighbors also to attend the hearing.
23 I also had wanted to report about
24 the $4 million that we are going to be
25 allegedly getting from the Single Tax
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1 Office. I asked Mrs. Garvey last week I
2 don't know if she heard me, but I requested
3 a list of all the employees from the tax
4 office, I don't know if you sent that letter
5 because I didn't see it in my mail yet, but
6 I would like to see a list of the employees
7 there and their titles and their job
8 descriptions. They are asking for two other
9 people to be hired for a controller and a
10 solicitor and I'm not sure that that's
11 necessary. I know that the solicitor should
12 be the city solicitor under the state law,
13 so I would be uncomfortable with that
14 position and was always aware that there was
15 an accountant that worked there you. Now, I
16 don't know if he is a CPA, but I thought he
17 was. I could be wrong, but it would be nice
18 to see a list of the employees and exactly
19 what they do over there. And that's all I
20 have. Thank you.
21 MS. FANUCCI: I don't have much
22 either. I have a question actually for the
23 fellow council members about we discussed
24 last week about the field and people
25 collecting money up there, I had two phone
26
1 calls regarding this and is this criminal?
2 Like, do I need to steer these people toward
3 a magistrate now level or what, because if
4 this is what's happening it's in violation
5 of these -- I mean, they are spending this
6 money paying someone actually to play on
7 field that's free, so at what point and how
8 do you steer them without, you know, we
9 obviously can't do anything, create
10 legislation or do anything to help them, but
11 if this is happening out there there should
12 be some way to guide them that they can
13 actually take some pursuit on this as a
14 team, you know, as a group because obviously
15 you've had a few, I've had a few and
16 Mrs. Gatelli had a few. So I would think
17 that the magistrate level would probably be
18 the first step and I wanted to make --
19 MS. GATELLI: Amil, what did you
20 think?
21 MR. MINORA: I beg your pardon. I
22 was reading something else.
23 MS. GATELLI: I know we are really
24 boring.
25 MS. FANUCCI: We are. We really are.
27
1 MR. MINORA: I had another issue I
2 was looking up.
3 MS. FANUCCI: In regards to people
4 calling about someone collecting money for
5 them to play on the soccer field and knowing
6 that it is a public field and they are not
7 allowed to, I wanted to make a public
8 statement on what they can do recoursewise.
9 Is it better to do a magistrate level? I
10 mean, this is obviously a crime and
11 something that we have to --
12 MR. MINORA: That would be a fraud,
13 wouldn't it? That would be a fraud, a theft
14 by fraud.
15 MS. EVANS: The only thing though, I
16 agree with you and I had --
17 MS. FANUCCI: The phone calls as
18 well.
19 MS. EVANS: Yes. The only thing that
20 occurred to me since the last week and,
21 Mr. McGoff, I bet you would be familiar with
22 this, too, because you are very involved in
23 athletics throughout your lifetime, when any
24 -- not softball, I mean, well, athletics,
25 this is soccer we are discussing now, but
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1 whether it's softball, soccer --
2 MS. GATELLI: Actually, it is
3 softball. I was correct. It is the
4 softball league.
5 MS. EVANS: Whether they are paying a
6 fee to use the field or not it was my
7 understanding there was no fee to use the
8 field, but there would be other fees
9 involved from --
10 MS. GATELLI: League fees.
11 MS. EVANS: There are league dues,
12 there are maintenance fees --
13 MS. GATELLI: These were above and
14 beyond.
15 MS. EVANS: -- for the field and then
16 there are umpires, referees, officials who
17 have to be paid for every game that's
18 played.
19 MS. FANUCCI: That's done from the
20 league.
21 MS. EVANS: So when you belong to a
22 league you are paying league dues that are
23 going to pay for those requirements.
24 MS. FANUCCI: Right, but this is a
25 little extra so --
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1 MS. EVANS: So I don't if that's what
2 the money was for or -- you know.
3 MS. FANUCCI: This was --
4 MS. EVANS: I don't think --
5 MS. GATELLI: People seemed to think
6 it was rent.
7 MS. EVANS: I was going to ask that
8 question --
9 MS. FANUCCI: It was rent fees --
10 MS. GATELLI: It was not to play, it
11 was for the rent to the field.
12 MS. EVANS: Do you know if they paid
13 it beyond that? I never thought to ask.
14 MR. MCGOFF: Could we go to --
15 perhaps let Attorney Minora finish what he
16 started. Maybe it would --
17 MR. MINORA: As I understood the
18 complaint somebody was holding themselves
19 out to be a person in charge of the field
20 and collecting what was, in fact, a fee to
21 use the field.
22 MS. FANUCCI: Correct.
23 MR. MINORA: They had to authority to
24 do that --
25 MS. FANUCCI: Correct.
30
1 MS. GATELLI: The field is free.
2 MR. MINORA: It is a theft by fraud.
3 MS. GATELLI: I can't get anybody to
4 come forward because they were afraid of
5 retaliation.
6 MR. MCGOFF: I think what's happening
7 here is that we are getting involved in
8 something that's --
9 MS. EVANS: City council cannot be --
10 MS. FANUCCI: That was what I said
11 but I did want to say publically to the
12 people because this obviously something
13 that's going on and it's very -- it's a type
14 of bullying that's beyond what's going on.
15 MR. MCGOFF: And I think you are
16 right and --
17 MS. FANUCCI: And I believe that the
18 people who are watching this who have come
19 to us should know that there is something
20 they can do if they want to, you know, and
21 make sure that this doesn't happen next year
22 and the year after and the year because --
23 MS. GATELLI: Well, they were
24 notified by letter by the University of
25 Scranton.
31
1 MS. FANUCCI: By the university,
2 right.
3 MS. GATELLI: So the person that did
4 it was notified not to do it anymore.
5 MR. MCGOFF: Please, I --
6 MS. FANUCCI: That's all. I just
7 want to say -- that's all, I just wanted to
8 make that statement because that makes me
9 sad.
10 MR. MCGOFF: I would say that in
11 going back to what Mrs. Evans said as well,
12 I think it would be incumbent upon the
13 people that are paying this fee to find out
14 exactly what it is that they are paying,
15 whether it's a rental fee, whether it's a
16 league registration, whether it's officials,
17 whether it's maintenance, without knowing
18 exactly what they are paying they may, in
19 fact, you know, paying legitimate fees, more
20 likely than not they are paying something
21 that they shouldn't I'm sure, but I would
22 suggest that the individuals contact someone
23 probably at the magistrate's level to at
24 least determine what it is they are paying
25 and then determine if, in fact, they have
32
1 been defrauded.
2 MS. FANUCCI: It's just sad. Also, I
3 just want to welcome a new business, this is
4 an antique store downtown, and it was nice
5 to actually see that going in because it
6 seemed a lot more homey now that we have a
7 beautiful store, Wendell & Company opened up
8 and he is on 214 Wyoming Avenue, and it
9 really is a great store, so if anybody is
10 downtown please stop in and say hello. I
11 was very impressed with what he had in, a
12 lot of old Scranton signs of Wyoming Avenue.
13 A lot of prints that you haven't seen,
14 signed prints from years and years past, so
15 if you want to stop down it would be a great
16 idea. And actually that is all I have.
17 Thank you.
18 MR. MCGOFF: Thank. A couple of
19 quick things. First, the grand opening of
20 the Harriet Beecher Stowe apartments is
21 going to be -- or the ribbon cutting is
22 going to be conducted and Friday,
23 September 25. If you are not familiar with
24 it, United Neighborhood Centers refurbished
25 the old Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary
33
1 School in South Scranton into 18 apartments,
2 one, two and three-bedroom apartments. If
3 you have a chance there is an open house
4 from 11 to 6 p.m. on Friday, September 25.
5 I had the opportunity to go through
6 there with the -- with Mr. Handley. The
7 apartments are amazing. There is one on the
8 third floor that faces out towards West
9 Mountain and has a huge window with an
10 unobstructed view of the entire valley. The
11 apartments were really very nice. They have
12 done a great job in refurbishing that school
13 into something that is a benefit to that
14 part of the our community. So if you have a
15 chance please attend that open house.
16 Also, we have a notification of the
17 ribbon cutting for the Boundless playground
18 at McDade Park. Boundless Playground is a
19 handicap accessible playground located at
20 McDade Park. This is the being -- the
21 formal ribbon cutting is being held on
22 Tuesday, September 22, at 10 a.m., obviously
23 at McDade Park at the playground, and that
24 was.
25 Oh, one other item that we received,
34
1 I believe we all received, if not I will
2 make copies, I didn't have a chance
3 beforehand, a communication from Mr. Lomma
4 and I guess it's Lomma Investments. He had
5 written to us before concerning the railroad
6 cars that are placed down along South
7 Washington Avenue in this area. It includes
8 a number of pictures. I know we've dealt
9 with it before. We received some
10 correspondence and at one point in time
11 those railroad cars were actually moved.
12 MS. EVANS: And they are back. I saw
13 them.
14 MR. MCGOFF: And it seems as though
15 it's a little cat and mouse game being
16 played that whenever somebody wants to
17 inspect or whatever the railroad cars
18 disappear for awhile and then they reappear
19 when it seems as though there is no longer a
20 need to hide them. I think that I will try
21 and look into this again.
22 MS. GATELLI: I had the Federal Rail
23 Authority here with Congressman Kanjorski.
24 They did move the rail cars, they are not
25 right near the sidewalk like they used to
35
1 be. I was told, and you will see the
2 correspondence that we have received from
3 there over the it must be two years now that
4 I have been meeting over there with
5 Mr. Lomma and Wayne and Bob Sheridan, and it
6 is a business. It's interstate commerce
7 and, you know, there is not really much you
8 can do about it because it's a rail yard, so
9 what they have done has been to move the
10 rail cars. There used to be eight of them
11 there, now there is only two.
12 So I don't know how much further we
13 can go with the federal government, but I
14 just thank Congressman Kanjorski. The man
15 that came said that he usually comes for
16 safety issues were the railroad. He really
17 has nothing to do with, you know, a rail
18 yard is a rail yard and he said, you know,
19 there is really not much you can do about
20 it, but we tried to make it, you know, as
21 esthetically pleasing as possible being that
22 it was a gateway to South Scranton where we
23 are trying to make our neighborhood a more
24 pleasant place to be.
25 But, you know, we can call him
36
1 again, but I don't know how far we are going
2 to go. There is an empty lot next to that I
3 don't know who owns it, but that's also a
4 disgrace. So, you know, maybe we can get on
5 that, lot too.
6 MR. MCGOFF: And I guess my
7 suggestion was maybe to, you know, make
8 contact again and at least appeal to civic--
9 MS. GATELLI: Mr. Lomma was present
10 at all of the meetings when we met with
11 those people.
12 MR. MCGOFF: And just, you know, go
13 back through the idea of being a good
14 neighbor, if nothing else and, you know,
15 civic responsibility to, you know, help in
16 the neighborhoods. I don't know that that
17 will work, but at least we can give it
18 another try. And that is all I have.
19 As I said before, we will now move
20 to citizens' participation on agenda items.
21 If anyone has to speak on specific agenda
22 items we will do that three minutes, please.
23 I won't go by the list. Please just come
24 forward as --
25 MR. SBARAGLIA: Andy Sbaraglia,
37
1 citizen of Scranton, fellow Scrantonian.
2 Well, let's go onto the agenda items, 5-B,
3 subordinating a loan. First of all, the
4 bank doesn't consider that building to be
5 worth over $1 million or they wouldn't ask
6 you to subordinate the loan. Before you go
7 around subordinating loans, you should get a
8 realtor to guarantee the value of what you
9 are subordinating. This is why you have
10 trouble with Molly Brannigan's. If you had
11 looked at what they're putting up for
12 collateral. Now, originally it was a good
13 loan in 2006. I considered GAR building
14 worth more than $250,000. That was a good
15 loan then, but is it a good loan now when
16 you subordinate it or are you just looking
17 for another hole to dig us into. This is a
18 problem.
19 You lost Molly Brannigan's because
20 you never looked at the collateral and you
21 subordinated the loan and what happens when
22 you subordinate the loan. You didn't even
23 question it to see if we are going to get
24 our money back or what we could do to get
25 our money back or how much of the money we
38
1 could get back. I doubt any. I doubt that
2 loan is a total loss because you subordinate
3 it. You can't subordinate loans without
4 knowing the value of that loan when you
5 subordinate it.
6 In other words, when you subordinate
7 like this building here, GAR, that building
8 has to be worth more than $1 million before
9 you can subordinate it. That way you are
10 protecting the people of Scranton that you
11 are elected to protect. You are not here to
12 protect the banks. I don't know why you
13 try -- always try to protect the banks when
14 you were elected by the people and not by
15 the banks.
16 I understand -- all you have to do
17 is make sure when you subordinate the loan
18 the people of Scranton are protected. And
19 that's easy to do. You just have to look at
20 the value of the property, and that's not
21 hard to do. In fact, they should have
22 already told you that. What the value of
23 this building actually is. Oh, well, I
24 guess I'm -- let's try to get through
25 another one.
39
1 Your 7-C. 7-C has to do with cost
2 overruns at the bridge. I tell you they are
3 soothsayers down there. That bridge is not
4 open so how they figured out they are going
5 to have all of these cost overruns when the
6 original was 1.5 million then I think it
7 went up to 7.5 million, I feel a lot more
8 comfortable if that bridge was open and it
9 was finally finished and then we would know
10 what all of the costs runs were. Thank you.
11 MR. QUINN: Ozzie Quinn, Taxpayers'
12 Association. You know what, the
13 mismanagement of OECD is obvious, there is
14 OECD resolutions that I'm speaking on here.
15 There was for the last four years, and
16 Mrs. Fanucci I asked you about this and I
17 think you denied this, for the last four
18 years have been 2000 -- July of 2005 HUD
19 monitored the OECD and they found four
20 findings, and it took four years to answer
21 those findings, okay, and actually answer
22 them, I'm going to give you briefly, okay?
23 Finding one, HUD found insufficient
24 documentation in the file of architectural
25 engineering costs to pay for the
40
1 redevelopment of the 500 block of Lackawanna
2 Avenue. HUD accepted the approval of it
3 March 29 of this year, postdated the checks,
4 okay?
5 Friday, the city is in violation of
6 record keeping of the records requirements
7 in that there is no documentation in
8 evidence that everything is in compliance.
9 That again was approved March 26, '09, since
10 2005, you know, with Hailstone and Renda.
11 The agreements with businesses do not
12 contain the requirement provisions and the
13 stuff the city has no basis for determining
14 if such transactions as or will comply with
15 the national objectives. Again, March 26,
16 2005.
17 Economic development, growth. Grow
18 Scranton. No underwriting of the loans.
19 Can you believe that? SRA, subrecipient of
20 1.5 million CDBG funds for economic
21 development. HUD said the agreement does
22 not identify the specific national
23 objectives in regard to jobs, documentation,
24 that was approved April of 2009. Conflicts
25 of interest with Attorney Andrew Hailstone,
41
1 father of Sara Hailstone, director of OECD.
2 The city -- the attorney acted for a
3 business that receives CDBG funds.
4 Woolworth Corporation was not paid by CDBG
5 funds according to Woolworth and so far they
6 accepted that, okay.
7 Now, what I'm saying, obviously have
8 after four years of documentation that I'm
9 going to give you, Mrs. Fanucci, it's been
10 stealth. Everything is stealth over there
11 at OECD. Mr. Doherty says the paper they
12 don't hold anything back. Did anybody know
13 about these monitoring reviews of millions
14 of dollars. I remember, I mentioned it to
15 you and you didn't know anything about this,
16 Mrs. Fanucci, so obviously you didn't. I
17 accept that and what you said about it,
18 okay?
19 So I'm going to give you the
20 documentation. I requested the
21 documentation under the Freedom of
22 Information Act and received it, okay, and
23 they gave it to me on all of the
24 documentation, all right? And it's ashame
25 if you people just sit here and accept what
42
1 they tell you because we are being taken
2 around and being given the wrong information
3 and it's taxpayers' money and it shouldn't
4 be. You know, I hope you people look at
5 this here stuff and I hope you address it
6 for me, Mrs. Fanucci, next week, okay?
7 Because it's a real shame. Million dollars
8 of dollars. Mr. McGoff, I know you won't be
9 because you won't --
10 MR. MCGOFF: Excuse me, your time is
11 up, Mr. Quinn. Don't be insulting.
12 MS. GATELLI: Mr. Quinn, I just want
13 to talk to you for a minute.
14 MR. QUINN: Sure.
15 MS. GATELLI: I'm not sure how many
16 findings were there when Mr. Washo and I
17 were there, but we had findings, there were
18 findings every year under Jimmy Connors,
19 many findings under the Steamtown Mall,
20 there were findings under Jimmy McNulty.
21 MR. QUINN: Definitely.
22 MS. GATELLI: So this is nothing
23 new. I don't want the public to think that
24 this is just Chris Doherty's, you know,
25 taking this money because that's what some
43
1 people want you to believe.
2 MR. QUINN: No, I didn't say he is
3 taking money.
4 MS. GATELLI: That somebody is taking
5 this money. These are things that were done
6 and they weren't done properly or they --
7 MR. QUINN: That's right.
8 MS. GATELLI: -- didn't qualify or
9 for some reason the jobs weren't created,
10 but it happens under every OECD director
11 that I can always remember had audit
12 findings from HUD.
13 MR. QUINN: Shouldn't city council
14 be made aware of that?
15 MS. GATELLI: It's checks and
16 balances and it's the way the OECD program
17 works.
18 MR. QUINN: Well, city council
19 should be aware of those findings because
20 it's taxpayers' money.
21 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you.
22 MR. QUINN: Don't try to cover up --
23 MS. GATELLI: No, it should be. It
24 should be. I agree with you there.
25 MS. FANUCCI: The good thing is that
44
1 we know that when it gets out of hand you
2 get a red flag.
3 MR. QUINN: That was a red flag.
4 MS. FANUCCI: Right, but the next
5 day --
6 MR. QUINN: Four years. Four years
7 to answer that.
8 MS. FANUCCI: I know. I know.
9 Jeannie, baby.
10 MS. SUETTA: Jean Suetta. Hey, look
11 at me talking about the agenda. 6-B. I
12 attended a meeting up at Weston Park
13 February of '08 and the mayor said he was
14 going to put a Heritage Block from Martin
15 Dutch Gap up to Rockwell Avenue Park down
16 along Leggett's Creek, blah, blah, blah.
17 That's not in the budget.
18 MS. FANUCCI: No.
19 MS. SUETTA: And is the lighted
20 baseball field in the budget?
21 MS. FANUCCI: No.
22 MS. SUETTA: These poor guys gotta go
23 to Forty-Fort, Plymouth, I mean, how long
24 before they get a baseball field? Please
25 give me an answer. It's not in the budget,
45
1 you know, and they took South Side off them.
2 Now I hear they are going to take Pinebrook
3 off of them because they are going to make
4 that into a field for the University of
5 Scranton.
6 MS. GATELLI: Lackawanna Junior
7 College.
8 MS. SUETTA: Lackawanna Junior
9 College. Where do our guys gotta go? Down
10 the line and that ain't right. They work
11 here, they pay their taxes, they want to
12 play ball here. Why should they --
13 MS. GATELLI: Tell them to contact
14 Connell Park, you know, we have a beautiful
15 field up there and we do rent it out to
16 various organization.
17 MS. SUETTA: Rent it out.
18 MS. GATELLI: Tell them to come up
19 and see Mr. Petrucci.
20 MR. SUETTA: Mr. Petrucci.
21 MS. GATELLI: At Connell Park.
22 MS. SUETTA: Like I'm going to
23 remember that.
24 MS. GATELLI: Well, call me.
25 MS. SUETTA: I can't remember
46
1 yesterday. But, really they were promised a
2 lighted field --
3 MS. GATELLI: No, I agree with you,
4 but in the meantime, you know, they can call
5 Connell Park and see if they can --
6 MS. SUETTA: The practice field,
7 that's what they are going to do with
8 Pinebrook. Louie is making it into a
9 practice field for Lackawanna State College.
10 MS. FANUCCI: Lackawanna College.
11 MS. SUETTA: So our guys at night
12 they got Rockwell and where, Forty-Fort,
13 Plymouth. You know, the price of gas and
14 everything these guys can't afford it. I
15 used to play softball and I was good.
16 MS. FANUCCI: I bet you were good.
17 MS. SUETTA: Yes, I was. All right.
18 MS. GATELLI: Thank you.
19 MS. SUETTA: Find out about the
20 lighted field.
21 MS. GATELLI: Okay, thanks.
22 MS. SUETTA: And talk about the walk.
23 The mayor attended that meeting, he said
24 there would be a walk. Poor Janet couldn't'
25 walk it. All right. Thank you very much.
47
1 MS. SCHUMACHER: Marie Schumacher,
2 citizen and member of the Taxpayers'
3 Association. I don't know what to say, I
4 would like answers on some of these, but I
5 can't say I'll wait for the answer in
6 motions because we have already done
7 motions. 5-B, I think this subordination
8 should not be approved. First, the address
9 is not that of the Assessor's Office for the
10 property which is the official I believe
11 address. That shows a Penn Avenue address.
12 And I would like to know if the property was
13 appraised at all and if it was what the
14 appraisal value was because it is either --
15 according to the Assessor's Office it is
16 either severely underassessed or it's going
17 to be severely overmortgaged and the
18 taxpayers should not be at the end of the
19 line. We have done that too many times and
20 every time we lose, or almost every time.
21 5-C, I would like to know what that
22 flat fee and if this item was in the budget.
23 5-D, is this Mr. Laser that's being
24 appointed to this commission the same one
25 who is chair of the SRA?
48
1 MS. EVANS: Yes.
2 MS. SCHUMACHER: And is there
3 compensation for that?
4 MS. EVANS: No.
5 MS. SCHUMACHER: So there is no
6 conflict of interest there at all.
7 MS. GATELLI: Why would there be?
8 MS. SCHUMACHER: With his job or the
9 SRA. I don't know.
10 MS. GATELLI: Well, he is a
11 certified public accountant, so I think he
12 is qualified.
13 MS. SCHUMACHER: Wait, I only got
14 three minutes.
15 MS. GATELLI: We'll give you a few
16 minutes, I just wanted to clarify that.
17 MS. SCHUMACHER: Thank you. I want
18 to get back on again the capital budget.
19 Jean just mentioned a few items that weren't
20 in there, the streets that are to be paved
21 are not in there, and I know that they are
22 known because there was a solicitation.
23 Hanlon's Grove is not part of the budget.
24 The only thing -- there was a new pavilion
25 in the budget for Nay Aug Park, but I don't
49
1 know if that covers the Schmelfining
2 Pavilion rehab, but -- the Schemelfining
3 rehab was not in the budget, and even though
4 I believe it was paid for by Lackawanna
5 County Leadership, it should still be an
6 item in the budget.
7 The zoo building is not in there,
8 the dog park long since finished is not in
9 there. Those are just a few examples and I
10 think it should be returned to the
11 administration because it is in
12 noncompliance with the Home Rule Charter and
13 I would hope that you would send it back to
14 the administration and ask them to comply
15 with Section 904 I believe of the Home Rule
16 Charter and let's see what we are really
17 going to do.
18 There were computers bought, those
19 are items that are supposed to be in the
20 capital budget, they are not in there
21 either, so it needs a whole lot of work.
22 Thank you.
23 MR. MCGOFF: Anyone else?
24 MR. DOBRZYN: Good evening, Council.
25 Dave Dobrzyn, resident of Scranton and
50
1 member of the Taxpayers' and on 7-C which
2 Angie just spoke about, to me there has to
3 be something wrong with the bidding process
4 where a cost overrun goes from 1 1/2 million
5 dollars to $7.5 million. It's -- that's
6 crazy. I could see $1.7 million or
7 $2 million, but not 7.5. I really wish
8 somebody some day could investigate this.
9 And I seen a little article on Fox
10 Business, they like to chirp about a lot of
11 things, and according to them that the whole
12 business bidding process in this entire
13 country is offbase because nobody is ever
14 penalized for cost overruns and you put in
15 an ungodly cheap bid, which is basically
16 dishonest, steal the business out from
17 other -- some other person possibly even an
18 honest construction outfit and then it turns
19 into this. It's just crazy. I can't
20 understand it and I wish our newspaper would
21 hop on that, put a little article or a news
22 article or whatever someday and how these
23 costs overruns get to be from 1.5 million to
24 7.5 million. Thank you, and I'll catch you
25 later.
51
1 MS. GATELLI: Peace out. That's what
2 the kids say.
3 MR. MCGOFF: 5-B.
4 MS. GARVEY: 5-B. FOR INTRODUCTION -
5 A RESOLUTION - AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND
6 OTHER APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS FOR THE
7 CITY OF SCRANTON TO ENTER INTO A
8 SUBORDINATION AGREEMENT TO SUBORDINATE ITS
9 RECORDED MORTGAGE DATED MAY 1, 2006 IN THE
10 PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF $250,000.00. SECURED
11 UPON THE HISTORIC GAR BUILDING LOCATED AT
12 305 LINDEN STREET, SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA
13 (THE "PROPERTY"), TO A FIRST MORTGAGE IN THE
14 AMOUNT OF $800,000.00 THAT DTK VENTURES,
15 L.P. INTENDS TO GRANT TO FIRST LIBERTY BANK
16 AND TRUST ON THE PROPERTY.
17 MR. MCGOFF: At this time I'll
18 entertain a motion that Item 5-B be
19 introduced into it's proper committee.
20 MS. FANUCCI: So moved.
21 MS. EVANS: Second.
22 MR. MCGOFF: On the question?
23 MS. EVANS: I do believe that this
24 the city should be paid in full just as the
25 bank was paid in full, so I will be voting
52
1 "no."
2 MR. MCGOFF: All those in favor of
3 introduction signify by saying aye.
4 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
5 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
6 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed?
7 MS. EVANS: No.
8 MR. MCGOFF: The ayes have it and so
9 moved.
10 MS. GARVEY: 5-C. FOR INTRODUCTION -
11 A RESOLUTION - AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND
12 OTHER APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS TO EXECUTE
13 A MUSIC PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT FOR LOCAL
14 GOVERNMENT ENTITIES WITH BROADCAST MUSIC,
15 INC. ("BMI") TO LICENSE THE PERFORMANCE OF
16 MUSIC EVENTS IN THE CITY OF SCRANTON FOR A
17 FLAT ANNUAL FEE.
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 MS. FANUCCI: So moved.
22 MS. EVANS: Second.
23 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? All
24 in favor of introduction signify by saying
25 aye.
53
1 MS. EVANS: Aye.
2 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
3 MS. GATELLI: 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. 81,
8 2009 - AN ORDINANCE - ESTABLISHING PERMIT
9 PARKING ONLY IN THE 700 BLOCK OF EAST OLIVE
10 STREET FROM MADISON AVENUE TO MOIR COURT.
11 MR. MCGOFF: You have heard reading
12 by title of Item 6-A, what is your pleasure?
13 MS. EVANS: I move that Item 6-A
14 pass reading by title.
15 MS. FANUCCI: Second.
16 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? All
17 in favor signify by saying aye.
18 MS. EVANS: Aye.
19 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
20 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
21 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed? The
22 ayes have it and so moved.
23 MS. GARVEY: We need to make a motion
24 to hold a public hearing next week at 6:15.
25 We have one at 6:00 for the capital budget,
54
1 so we could hold it at 6:15.
2 MR. MCGOFF: Someone? I'll make a
3 motion to conduct a public hearing at 6:15
4 on Item 6-B.
5 MS. FANUCCI: Second.
6 MR. MCGOFF: 6-A -- excuse me. On
7 the question? All in favor signify by
8 saying aye.
9 MS. EVANS: Aye.
10 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
11 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
12 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed? The
13 ayes have it and so moved.
14 MS. GARVEY: 6-B. READING BY TITLE -
15 FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 82, 2009 - AN ORDINANCE
16 -TO APPROVE AND ACCEPT THE CITY OF
17 SCRANTON'S UPDATE FOR 2010 FOR THE CAPITAL
18 BUDGET IMPROVEMENT PLAN OF 2008, WHICH IS
19 THE SECOND-YEAR REVISION AND EXTENSION OF
20 THE 2008 FIVE-YEAR PLAN.
21 MR. MCGOFF: You have heard reading
22 by title of Item 6-B, what is your pleasure?
23 MS. FANUCCI: I move that Item 6-B
24 pass reading by title.
25 MR. MCGOFF: I'll second. On the
55
1 question?
2 MS. EVANS: Yes. As has been the
3 case so often in the past, the capital
4 budget presented by the mayor is in
5 violation of Section 904 of the Home Rule
6 Charter. The budget does not contain
7 supporting information as to the necessity
8 for each capital improvement, estimated
9 costs and recommended times schedules for
10 such improvements.
11 Also, it fails to contain the
12 estimated annual cost of operating and
13 maintaining the facilities to be constructed
14 or required. The capital budget is a
15 cursory update of appropriation figures
16 which is meaningless to the untrained eye
17 and provides no explanation for projects
18 that are in the process or have been
19 included and financed in prior budgets, but
20 which failed to occur. Therefore, I'll be
21 voting "no.".
22 MR. MCGOFF: Anyone else? All those
23 in favor signify by saying aye.
24 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
25 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed?
56
1 MS. EVANS: No.
2 MS. GATELLI: No. I think we should
3 have a bit more. I agree. I think we
4 should get a bit more. I want so the dog
5 park and things in there that I did not.
6 MR. MCGOFF: Then that's defeated.
7 MS. GARVEY: 6-C. READING BY TITLE -
8 FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 83, 2009 - AN ORDINANCE-
9 AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND OTHER APPROPRIATE
10 OFFICIALS OF THE CITY OF SCRANTON TO TAKE
11 ALL NECESSARY ACTIONS TO IMPLEMENT THE
12 CONSOLIDATED SUBMISSION FOR COMMUNITY
13 PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS TO BE
14 FUNDED UNDER THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK
15 GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM, HOME INVESTMENT
16 PARTNERSHIP (HOME) PROGRAM AND EMERGENCY
17 SHELTER GRANT (ESG) PROGRAM.
18 MR. MCGOFF: You have heard reading
19 by title of Item 6-C, what is your pleasure?
20 MS. EVANS: I move that Item 6-C pass
21 reading by title.
22 MS. FANUCCI: Second.
23 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? All in
24 favor signify by saying aye.
25 MS. EVANS: Aye.
57
1 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
2 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
3 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed? The
4 ayes have it and so moved.
5 MS. GARVEY: 6-D. READING BY TITLE -
6 FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 84, 2009 - AN ORDINANCE-
7 AMENDING FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 49, 2006 AS
8 AMENDED ENTITLED, "AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING
9 THE MAYOR AND OTHER APPROPRIATE OFFICIALS OF
10 THE CITY OF SCRANTON TO TAKE ALL NECESSARY
11 ACTIONS TO IMPLEMENT THE CONSOLIDATED
12 SUBMISSION FOR COMMUNITY PLANNING AND
13 DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS TO BE FUNDED UNDER THE
14 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG)
15 PROGRAM, HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP (HOME)
16 PROGRAM AND EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT (ESG)
17 PROGRAM", BY TRANSFERRING $241,000.00 FROM
18 PROJECT 07-225 SLIBCO TO PROJECT 05-154
19 FRIENDSHIP HOUSE.
20 MR. MCGOFF: You have heard reading
21 by title of item 6-D, what is your pleasure?
22 MS. FANUCCI: Mr. Chairman, I move
23 that Item 6-D passes reading by title.
24 MS. EVANS: Second.
25 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? All
58
1 in favor signify by saying aye.
2 MS. EVANS: Aye.
3 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
4 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
5 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed? The
6 ayes have it and so moved.
7 MS. GARVEY: 6-E. READING BY TITLE -
8 FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 85, 2009 - AN ORDINANCE-
9 CREATING AND ESTABLISHING SPECIAL CITY
10 ACCOUNT NO. 02.229594 ENTITLED "BJA FY 09
11 RECOVERY ACT EDWARD BYRNE MEMORIAL JUSTICE
12 ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM LOCAL
13 SOLICITATION".
14 MR. MCGOFF: You have heard reading
15 by title of Item 6-E, what is your pleasure?
16 MS. FANUCCI: Mr. Chairman, I move
17 that Item 6-E pass reading by title.
18 MS. EVANS: Second.
19 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? I just
20 on the question we had been requested to
21 move 6-E and 6-F into Seventh Order if
22 possible. I believe it's so that they can
23 receive the funds and distribute them to the
24 other communities that are involved. I will
25 make a motion after both are -- if both are
59
1 approved, I'm going to make a motion to move
2 them to Seventh Order this evening.
3 MS. GATELLI: Then if anybody wants
4 to talk about them.
5 MR. MCGOFF: Yes.
6 MS. GATELLI: Right?
7 MR. MCGOFF: 6-E. All those in favor
8 signify by saying aye.
9 MS. EVANS: Aye.
10 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
11 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
12 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed? The
13 ayes have it and so moved. All those this
14 favor.
15 MS. GARVEY: 6-F. READING BY TITLE -
16 FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 86, 2009 - AN ORDINANCE-
17 AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND OTHER APPROPRIATE
18 CITY OFFICIALS TO ACCEPT FUNDS FROM THE BJA
19 FY 09 RECOVERY ACT EDWARD BYRNE MEMORIAL
20 JUSTICE ASSISTANCE GRANT (JAG) PROGRAM LOCAL
21 SOLICITATION IN THE AMOUNT OF $264,201.00
22 AND DISBURSE SAID FUNDS IN ACCORDANCE WITH
23 THE GRANT APPLICATION.
24 MR. MCGOFF: You have heard reading
25 by title of Item 6-F, what is your pleasure?
60
1 MS. FANUCCI: I move that Item 6-F
2 passes reading by title.
3 MS. EVANS: Second.
4 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? All
5 in favor signify by saying aye.
6 MS. EVANS: Aye.
7 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
8 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
9 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed? The
10 ayes have it and so moved. I'd like to make
11 a motion to move 6-E and 6-F into Seventh
12 Order.
13 MS. FANUCCI: Second.
14 MR. MCGOFF: On the question?
15 MS. EVANS: My reservation on this
16 would be that Mr. Courtright was the chair
17 of this committee and who is basically
18 conducting further examination of this
19 situation behind this hasn't concluded with
20 whatever measures he is asking of council
21 and that would that would be that we submit
22 our questions in writing to the county grant
23 writer and so I think everyone would be
24 better served to allow this to go into it's
25 natural order next week when Mr. Courtright
61
1 will be present and when the information can
2 be collected hopefully and presented
3 publically.
4 MS. FANUCCI: Is your understanding
5 that this is going to impact the fact that
6 we might not get the --
7 MS. EVANS: I don't believe so. I
8 don't believe so.
9 MR. MCGOFF: I know that the
10 funds they are -- they are asking us to do
11 this, the funds are approved, they are ready
12 to be drawn upon and they need to be
13 distributed to the -- this is the one that
14 includes three other --
15 MS. GATELLI: Municipalities.
16 MS. FANUCCI: Municipalities. So
17 they need it, too.
18 MS. GATELLI: And it's for equipment.
19 MR. MCGOFF: It's my understanding
20 that Mr. Courtright understood that this was
21 a possibility and that he was not opposed to
22 having these passed.
23 MS. FANUCCI: Regardless, we didn't
24 violated any laws, which is a good thing.
25 We didn't do anything federally. So, I
62
1 mean, we suffered --
2 MR. MCGOFF: I don't think that --
3 MS. FANUCCI: Right -- that's okay,
4 but it wouldn't hurt us in any manner
5 citywide.
6 MS. EVANS: Right.
7 MS. FANUCCI: But we don't want to
8 tie up other people's funding because of --
9 I mean, regardless that investigation has to
10 go on and what happens there we proceed
11 accordingly, but it's not going to impact
12 these -- this funding regardless.
13 MS. EVANS: No. I understand that,
14 but if you are saying, Mr. McGoff, that you
15 spoke with Mr. Courtright about this and he
16 knew that it would be moved on and he
17 doesn't feel that it wouldn't affect --
18 MR. MCGOFF: He knew it was a
19 possibility.
20 MS. EVANS: That doesn't affect what
21 he is doing.
22 MR. MCGOFF: Yes. He knew there was
23 the possibility and he -- he didn't object,
24 let's put it that way. I'm not going to say
25 that, you know, that he outright said, you
63
1 know, go ahead and do it, but we had talked
2 about it and he knew that -- he knew this
3 was a possibility.
4 MS. EVANS: Okay.
5 MR. MCGOFF: The motion is to move
6 6-E and 6-F into Seventh Order. All in
7 favor signify by saying aye.
8 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
9 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
10 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed?
11 MS. EVANS: No.
12 MR. MCGOFF: The ayes have it and so
13 moved.
14 MS. GARVEY: SEVENTH ORDER. 7-A.
15 FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON
16 FINANCE - FOR ADOPTION - FILE OF COUNCIL NO.
17 79, 2009 - CREATING AND ESTABLISHING A NEW
18 ACCOUNT FOR THE CITY OF SCRANTON'S OFFICE OF
19 ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ("OECD")
20 TITLED NEIGHBORHOOD STABILIZATION PROGRAM
21 ("NSP") ACCOUNT NO. 9A.0101 FOR THE RECEIPT
22 AND DISBURSEMENT OF GRANT FUNDS RECEIVED
23 FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
24 DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC
25 DEVELOPMENT ("DCED").
64
1 MR. MCGOFF: What is the
2 recommendation of the Chairperson for the
3 Committee on Finance?
4 MS. GATELLI: As Chair for Finance, I
5 recommend final passage of Item 7-A.
6 MS. FANUCCI: Second.
7 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? Roll
8 call, please?
9 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.
10 MS. EVANS: Yes.
11 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli.
12 MS. GATELLI. Yes.
13 MR. COOLICAN: Ms. Fanucci.
14 MS. FANUCCI: Yes.
15 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright. Mr.
16 McGoff.
17 MR. MCGOFF: Yes. I hereby declare
18 Item 7-A legally and lawfully adopted.
19 MS. GARVEY: 7-B. FOR CONSIDERATION-
20 BY THE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE - FOR ADOPTION -
21 FILE OF COUNCIL NO. 80, 2009 - CREATING AND
22 ESTABLISHING A NEW ACCOUNT FOR THE CITY OF
23 SCRANTON'S OFFICE OF ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY
24 DEVELOPMENT ("OECD") TITLED ENERGY
25 EFFICIENCY AND CONSERVATION BLOCK GRANT
65
1 PROGRAM ACCOUNT NO. 10A.0101 FOR THE RECEIPT
2 AND DISBURSEMENT OF GRANT FUNDS RECEIVED
3 FROM THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
4 ("DOE").
5 MR. MCGOFF: What is the
6 recommendation of the Chair for the
7 Committee on Finance?
8 MS. GATELLI: As Chair for the
9 Committee on Finance, I recommend final
10 passage of Item 7-B.
11 MS. FANUCCI: Second.
12 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? Roll
13 call, please?
14 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.
15 MS. EVANS: Yes.
16 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli.
17 MS. GATELLI. Yes.
18 MR. COOLICAN: Ms. Fanucci.
19 MS. FANUCCI: Yes.
20 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright. Mr.
21 McGoff.
22 MR. MCGOFF: Yes. I hereby declare
23 Item 7-B legally and lawfully adopted.
24 MS. GARVEY: 7-C. FOR CONSIDERATION
25 BY THE COMMITTEE ON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
66
1 FOR ADOPTION - RESOLUTION NO. 173, 2009 -
2 AMENDING RESOLUTION 122, 2009 ENTITLED
3 "AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND OTHER APPROPRIATE
4 CITY OFFICIALS TO EXECUTE AND ENTER INTO
5 SUPPLEMENTAL REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT NO.
6 040809-F WITH THE COMMONWEALTH OF
7 PENNSYLVANIA, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
8 REGARDING THE LACKAWANNA AVENUE BRIDGE
9 PROJECT FOR THE PURPOSE OF INCREASING THE
10 CONSTRUCTION PHASE OF THE PROJECT DUE TO
11 CONSTRUCTION COSTS OVER-RUNS" TO REFLECT
12 LOWER CONSTRUCTION COSTS AS SET FORTH ON
13 EXHIBIT "AAAAAAA" PROJECT COSTS APPENDED TO
14 SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT NO. 040809-F.
15 MR. MCGOFF: What is the
16 recommendation of the Chair for the
17 Committee on Community Development?
18 MS. FANUCCI: As Chairperson for the
19 Committee on Community Development, I
20 recommend final passage of Item 7-C.
21 MS. EVANS: Second.
22 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? Roll
23 call, please?
24 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.
25 MS. EVANS: Yes.
67
1 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli.
2 MS. GATELLI. Yes.
3 MR. COOLICAN: Ms. Fanucci.
4 MS. FANUCCI: Yes.
5 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright. Mr.
6 McGoff.
7 MR. MCGOFF: Yes. I hereby declare
8 Item 7-C legally and lawfully adopted.
9 MS. GARVEY: 7-D. FOR CONSIDERATION
10 BY THE COMMITTEE ON RULES - FOR ADOPTION -
11 RESOLUTION NO. 174, 2009 - AUTHORIZING
12 APPOINTMENT OF THE CITY OF SCRANTON'S
13 REPRESENTATIVES TO THE TAX COLLECTION
14 COMMITTEE ("TCC") PURSUANT TO ACT 32 OF
15 2008.
16 MR. MCGOFF: As Chair for the
17 Committee on Rules, I recommend final
18 passage of Item 7-D.
19 MS. GATELLI: Second.
20 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? Roll
21 call, please?
22 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.
23 MS. EVANS: Yes.
24 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli.
25 MS. GATELLI. Yes.
68
1 MR. COOLICAN: Ms. Fanucci.
2 MS. FANUCCI: Yes.
3 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright. Mr.
4 McGoff.
5 MR. MCGOFF: Yes. I hereby declare
6 Item 7-D legally and lawfully adopted. If
7 there is anyone that would like to speak on
8 item 6-E, 6-F that we have moved into
9 Seventh Order please come to the podium.
10 Mrs. Garvey?
11 MS. GARVEY: 7-E, which was formerly
12 6-E. FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON
13 FINANCE - FOR ADOPTION - FILE OF COUNCIL NO.
14 85, 2009 - CREATING AND ESTABLISHING
15 SPECIAL CITY ACCOUNT NO. 02.229594 ENTITLED
16 "BJA FY 09 RECOVERY ACT EDWARD BYRNE
17 MEMORIAL JUSTICE ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM
18 LOCAL SOLICITATION".
19 MR. MCGOFF: I realize that we kind
20 of jumped the gun on this, we need a
21 temporary chair for public safety -- or is
22 this final --
23 MS. GARVEY: I believe these are in
24 the committee, there should be marked on the
25 legislation if you look in there. It should
69
1 be in the Committee on Finance because of
2 the grants.
3 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you. What is the
4 recommendation of the Chair for the
5 Committee on Finance?
6 MS. GATELLI: As Chair for the
7 Committee on Finance, I recommend final
8 passage of Item 7-E.
9 MR. FANUCCI: Second.
10 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? Roll
11 call, please?
12 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.
13 MS. EVANS: Yes.
14 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli.
15 MS. GATELLI. Yes.
16 MR. COOLICAN: Ms. Fanucci.
17 MS. FANUCCI: Yes.
18 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright. Mr.
19 McGoff.
20 MR. MCGOFF: Yes. I hereby declare
21 Item 7-E legally and lawfully adopted.
22 MS. GARVEY: 7-F, which was formerly
23 6-F. FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMITTEE ON
24 FINANCE - FOR ADOPTION - FILE OF COUNCIL NO.
25 86, 2009 - AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND OTHER
70
1 APPROPRIATE CITY OFFICIALS TO ACCEPT FUNDS
2 FROM THE BJA FY 09 RECOVERY ACT EDWARD BYRNE
3 MEMORIAL JUSTICE ASSISTANCE GRANT (JAG)
4 PROGRAM LOCAL SOLICITATION IN THE AMOUNT OF
5 $264,201.00 AND DISBURSE SAID FUNDS IN
6 ACCORDANCE WITH THE GRANT APPLICATION.
7 MR. MCGOFF: What is the
8 recommendation of the Chair for the
9 Committee on Finance?
10 MS. GATELLI: As the Chair on
11 Finance, I recommend final passage of Item
12 7-F.
13 MS. FANUCCI: Second.
14 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? Roll
15 call, please?
16 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.
17 MS. EVANS: Yes.
18 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli.
19 MS. GATELLI. Yes.
20 MR. COOLICAN: Ms. Fanucci.
21 MS. FANUCCI: Yes.
22 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright. Mr.
23 McGoff.
24 MR. MCGOFF: Yes. I hereby declare
25 Item 7-F legally and lawfully adopted.
71
1 MS. EVANS: Mr. McGoff, before you
2 began citizens' participation, I was asked
3 to make this announcement, apparently there
4 were some problems this evening with the
5 council meeting, I believe it may have been
6 with the audio, and these are problems that
7 Comcast has been addressing this evening, so
8 I believe it was not going through ECTV, but
9 it's rather a Comcast issue.
10 And just one last thing, a gentleman
11 who came before us last week about a trash
12 compactor being located right next to his
13 house by the University of Scranton, rather
14 than halting that installation, as you can
15 see the University has now constructed a
16 fence around there, concrete platform on
17 which they'll place the trash compactor and
18 you can see the gentleman's home which is
19 closely located to it in the pictures.
20 So, I'm going to ask Kay, I don't
21 know offhand what our ordinances would be
22 pertaining to dumpsters and trash
23 compactors, if we could look through those,
24 see if there is anything we can find at all
25 pertaining to any type of city legislation
72
1 that's going to prevent the location of this
2 trash compactor right in the middle of a
3 neighborhood, and if we are not able to find
4 anything, you know, let's see if there is
5 some state agency that can be contacted to
6 come as well because certainly the noise and
7 the odor that will emanate from this piece
8 of equipment is going to be intolerable to
9 the residents.
10 MR. MCGOFF: With that, I'll try and
11 get in touch with Mr. Farrell, also --
12 MS. EVANS: That would be very
13 helpful.
14 MR. MCGOFF: -- to see what it is --
15 if there is something that can be done from
16 the universities' end, if they are aware of
17 the problem if that can be done.
18 MS. EVANS: Thank you.
19 MR. MCGOFF: We'll now return to
20 citizens' participation. Andy Sbaraglia.
21 MR. SBARAGLIA: Andy Sbaraglia,
22 citizen of Scranton. Fellow Scrantonians, I
23 was very interested in how they rationalize
24 the loans as being in default or just being
25 late. I got a kick out of it, but if you
73
1 ever read the contracts it's very specific
2 the things they have to do. Apparently, we
3 got two laws in this city, one for the poor
4 working class man and one for the business
5 class man. If the people do not adhere to
6 their loan and the preventions of their loan
7 contract, why are you crucifying the people
8 of Scranton with these huge fines if they
9 don't pay their taxes. Surely when you pay
10 off a loan it's the same thing like paying
11 taxes. It's something that was taken out
12 that should be done, but for some reason or
13 other they have great leeway in this OECD,
14 and I don't understand why.
15 I still don't understand why they
16 don't classify Boscov's as being defunct,
17 people are paying for and continue to pay
18 for it and have been paying for it for
19 years. He is opening the things up because
20 Boscov's is a great contributor to the city
21 and in many ways than just hiring people.
22 Is he a good man for when it comes times for
23 contributions. Him and his wife have been
24 very generous to the city administration.
25 Is that the reason why we don't force
74
1 Boscov's to pay his own 108 loan or is it's
2 just another thing that belongs to the city
3 with this two tier system we have here.
4 The politicians are immune from the
5 federal laws and that's not right. Laws are
6 being violated constantly by the
7 administration in Scranton, by the Tax
8 Office and so forth and so on. They were
9 all violations. Violations of laws, but yet
10 if a poor person spits on the sidewalk he
11 could be arrested because he doesn't have
12 the pull of a politician. This is what's
13 wrong in this city. This is the reason why
14 we are defunct. We have too much politics
15 involved instead of reason and you have no
16 intention of ever having reason. Politics
17 is there and that's the way it goes.
18 People don't pay, I shouldn't say
19 they don't contribute that much, the
20 contributors are usually the people with
21 money that want their favors and they get
22 them.
23 I got my two minutes, huh?
24 MR. MCGOFF: Ozzie Quinn. Marie
25 Schumacher.
75
1 MS. SCHUMACHER: Marie Schumacher,
2 resident and member of the taxpayers' group.
3 I have a lot of short items tonight, I hope.
4 First, I'd like to know what is the status
5 of the Comcast contract? Does it expire at
6 the end of this year and will the new
7 contract be solely between the mayor and
8 Comcast or will council participate? I
9 would hope that council will participate?
10 Next --
11 MR. MCGOFF: Quick response? They
12 are currently negotiating.
13 MS. SCHUMACHER: Who is the "they"?
14 MR. MCGOFF: At the meeting when I
15 was here it was Mr. Renda, Attorney
16 Patterson, the mayor, representatives from
17 Comcast --
18 MS. SCHUMACHER: And you?
19 MR. MCGOFF: I was not at the
20 meeting, I was here for some other business,
21 but I know this they met. There may have
22 been someone else there, too, I'm not sure.
23 MS. SCHUMACHER: Well, I would hope
24 that it would be between -- that council
25 will be involved this time. Also, I would
76
1 like to know what it the audit status and
2 what is the status of the streetlight timing
3 project? Gas prices are going up again, and
4 if you recall that had to be requested -- an
5 extension had to be requested because we
6 didn't act in ten years and I think it's
7 time we get off the dime and I would hope
8 that council would make a motion next week
9 to the engineer to get that moving.
10 Again, properties on -- it was
11 mentioned last week, two more properties on
12 Madison Avenue were transferred to the
13 University of Scranton, the former Presswood
14 has gone from the tax rolls to a nonprofit
15 and I would like to know what the current
16 percent of properties that are taxable and
17 that are tax exempt are in this city.
18 Awhile back, I submitted -- the
19 mayor in his state of the city address noted
20 that 30 properties had been condemned and I
21 asked for the condemnation notices. I
22 received them, I don't think they were all
23 the ones that he talked about because some
24 of them were after his speech, but I did
25 notice that, number one, not all of them had
77
1 liens put against them, as a matter of fact,
2 very few had liens put against them and I
3 thought the policy was to lien any property.
4 Next, none of the improvements have
5 been taken off the assessor's rolls, and I
6 would request that LIPS be requested to
7 provide demolition notices to the county
8 assessor so that those properties are
9 properly shown as vacant lots now. A couple
10 more?
11 MR. MCGOFF: Please.
12 MS. SCHUMACHER: What happened to the
13 Home Rules Charter update? It has been
14 almost a year since that recommendation came
15 and nothing, and then I'll finish with it's
16 been five months since the city filled the
17 job to aid the rental registrations and I
18 would like to know how many additional
19 properties have been registered. And I'll
20 be back next week, good Lord willing. Thank
21 you.
22 MR. MCGOFF: Les Spindler.
23 MR. SPINDLER: Good evening, Council.
24 Les Spindler, city homeowner and taxpayer.
25 I think it was earlier this year,
78
1 Mrs. Gatelli, you were questioned about
2 attorney's fees which they added up to I
3 think it was $38,000 and you said you were
4 going to pay that.
5 MS. GATELLI: No, I didn't say I was
6 going to pay that. I said I was going to
7 pay the personal fees that I have incurred
8 with the attorney. I don't know what they
9 have amounted to because I haven't met with
10 him yet, and that's private information.
11 MR. SPINDLER: Don't know what the
12 fees are, well, I have come across it --
13 MS. GATELLI: And I was sued first,
14 Mr. Spindler?
15 MR. SPINDLER: Pardon me?
16 MS. GATELLI: I was sued first.
17 MR. SPINDLER: Okay, it doesn't
18 matter.
19 MS. GATELLI: Mine was only a
20 countersuit.
21 MR. SPINDLER: I heard the city paid
22 your fees and that's not right.
23 MS. GATELLI: If it's related to city
24 council then, yes, they did.
25 MR. SPINDLER: It wasn't related to
79
1 city council. It was private business.
2 MS. GATELLI: Do you have those
3 documents to prove that?
4 MR. SPINDLER: It was in the paper.
5 MS. GATELLI: No, it wasn't.
6 MR. SPINDLER: Okay. I just think --
7 you used that as part of your $50,000 to
8 support your write-in campaign, and that was
9 a funny.
10 MS. FANUCCI: Yeah, it was funny.
11 MS. GATELLI: I'm going to be very
12 disappointed if you didn't write me in.
13 MR. SPINDLER: Last week Mrs. Fanucci
14 voted against Councilwoman Evans' motion and
15 she said, "Other promising businesses
16 shouldn't be penalized."
17 Well, Mrs. Fanucci, I guess
18 according to you every business is a
19 promising business because you vote "yes"
20 for every one.
21 MS. FANUCCI: They certainly are.
22 MR. SPINDLER: Yet Molly Brannigan's
23 wasn't, Michael's Luxury Eyewear wasn't, and
24 neither was Vidas Tapas Bar, so obviously
25 you were wrong.
80
1 MS. FANUCCI: Les, if you open a
2 business I'll support you, too.
3 MS. GATELLI: I think they all were
4 passed by council.
5 MR. SPINDLER: I might if I can get
6 on of those loans --
7 MS. GATELLI: Mr. Spindler, I think
8 they all had five council. I think
9 everybody voted for them.
10 MS. FANUCCI: Yeah. No, it's just
11 me.
12 MR. SPINDLER: I don't know.
13 MS. FANUCCI: It's only me. It's
14 only me who likes --
15 MR. SPINDLER: Well --
16 MS. FANUCCI: --in the city, remember
17 that.
18 MR. SPINDLER: Next thing, in the
19 Doherty newsletter today, Mayor Chris
20 Doherty also defended OECD saying he knew
21 loans to Molly Brannigan's and Michael's
22 Luxury Eyewear and Vidas Tapas Bar were in
23 peril. Why didn't he let anybody else know?
24 And further on, Mrs. Fanucci, "I
25 don't feel like we were mislead,
81
1 Mrs. Fanucci said, but we obviously didn't
2 know what was going on."
3 Well, the mayor knew what was going
4 on, so I guess he didn't feel it was proper
5 to inform you people so somebody is not
6 telling the truth.
7 Last week Mr. Ellman was here with a
8 whole page from the newspaper, a list of tax
9 delinquent taxpayers, why isn't NCC going
10 after these taxpayers? The one person was
11 $400,000 in delinquent taxes. Why isn't NCC
12 doing their job? They collect off the
13 little guy. I got letters from them, taxes
14 I supposedly didn't pay and I had the
15 receipts that I paid them. Two minutes? I
16 have five minutes. I didn't talk on the
17 other things.
18 MS. FANUCCI: The rules were changed
19 sorry, Les for tonight. They did that for
20 Mrs. Evans.
21 MS. GATELLI: We changed it.
22 MR. SPINDLER: It was three and two
23 and I didn't have a chance -- I didn't talk
24 on the agenda, so I'm going to keep talking.
25 Take me to Court.
82
1 MS. FANUCCI: It's riveting.
2 MR. SPINDLER: Incompetent Chief
3 Elliott --
4 MS. GATELLI: Yeah, it's a free for
5 all anyway, so you might as well go. Talk
6 as long as you want.
7 MS. FANUCCI: Go for it, Les.
8 MR. SPINDLER: Having Scranton Night
9 Out --
10 MS. GATELLI: Keep on going.
11 MR. SPINDLER: -- instead of National
12 Night Out because we have an incompetent
13 chief, he doesn't want National Night Out
14 whenever everybody else has it on August 4,
15 he disregards -- or he degrades female
16 police officers, didn't go through the
17 proper procedures to get grants, the man
18 should be fired. He is a totally
19 incompetent police chief, and National Night
20 Out, it's called National Night Out for
21 everybody to have it on the same night and
22 he wants to have Scranton Night Out. I
23 guess people in this administration can do
24 whatever they want to do and get away with
25 it.
83
1 And, Mrs. Fanucci, you are always
2 talking about progress in this city, well,
3 I'll tell you what's in progress, walking to
4 La Festa on Labor Day weekend up Linden
5 Street I saw progress, on the corner of Penn
6 and Linden and Wyoming and Linden, two holes
7 in the ground with ugly fences around them
8 where buildings were torn down and there was
9 supposed to be progress built there. Well,
10 on Wyoming and Linden it says "For Sale" on
11 the fence. So there is no progress going on
12 there.
13 MS. FANUCCI: Actually, Les --
14 MR. SPINDLER: Let me finish, please.
15 MS. FANUCCI: Oh, you don't want to
16 know about things, you just want to -- okay.
17 No, go ahead, as long as you're good.
18 MS. GATELLI: We are going to have
19 freedom tonight.
20 MR. SPINDLER: Well, I have my five
21 minutes. Now I lost my train of thought.
22 There is two holes in the ground and I
23 was --
24 MR. MINORA: There is your five.
25 MR. SPINDLER: -- walking on the
84
1 street with people not from the city and I
2 was embarrassed to say I was from this city
3 with those two eyesores of supposedly
4 progress, and that's -- holes in the ground.
5 That's progress.
6 MS. FANUCCI: Les, keep watching
7 those holes, baby, because there is going to
8 be buildings soon and you can be standing
9 right next to them.
10 MR. SPINDLER: That's why there's a
11 "For Sale" on them --
12 MS. FANUCCI: I'll come and take your
13 picture next to them, honey, I promise.
14 MR. SPINDLER: When they go out of
15 business.
16 MR. MCGOFF: Brett McCloe.
17 MR. MCCLOE: Thank you. My name is
18 Brett McCloe, Scranton taxpayer. I'm going
19 to cut this up a little bit so I can keep
20 within your time constraints. What I was
21 going to say what could have the City of
22 Scranton done with $720,000 to promote and
23 foster economic development other than
24 counting it as a loss in a rush to promote
25 progress at any cost. At some point we, the
85
1 citizens, are going to be held accountable
2 for all of the lending and borrowing of
3 state and federal monies because we seem to
4 be getting a misuse of hundreds of
5 thousands, maybe millions of dollars in
6 state and federal monies at taxpayers'
7 expense for the sake of image.
8 I just think it would be the
9 citizens of this city and the mayor maybe
10 four years from now, the next mayor, who
11 will have to make the really tough decisions
12 to lead Scranton into more fiscally
13 responsible and prosper, hopefully this will
14 happen sooner than later in the election of
15 new council, but the citizens of the city
16 rely on the words that comes from the mouths
17 of our elected officials. We elect
18 officials to turn those words into action
19 regardless if we agree with them or not, but
20 far too often they become hollow as with the
21 institution of Scranton's first smoking ban.
22 I mean, many of you looked us right in the
23 eye and you told us we must obey because it
24 was the law then it was overturned we were