Council President Tom Schuster asked the following question(s):
- Mr. Schuster asked if PEL representatives and city administration may visit Council caucus prior to the upcoming budget season for discussion related to the PEL Five (5) Year report.
- The city will work with PEL to identify a date for the caucus.
- Mr. Schuster kindly asks for a status on the city audit scheduled for receipt by Council by September 30th. What aspects remain outstanding and when are the items expected?
- The city anticipates the completed audit on September 30.
- Mr. Schuster asked if the city administration may assist in the now overgrown grass area between the Tripp Park Miss-E baseball field and the Tripp Park Community Center. Council receives conflicting information over who cleared the area during Summer months in recent years, the city or the league.
- The area was cut on Tues., Sept. 22.
- Mr. Schuster thanked the administration and city engineer for the informative responses to the question on the Meadow Avenue traffic study. He asked if the city and city engineer will be pursuing the sight distance updates in the near future for the area of the mini-mart?
- The city will review this with the engineer.
Council Vice President Patrick Flynn asked the following question(s):
- Councilman Flynn asked for more clarification and plans regarding an update and/or schedule for city DPW to paint road lines and turning lanes on the city streets that require lineage. Mr. Flynn stressed many road markings are worn and dangerous, particularly to out-of-town visitors not familiar with our streets. He respectfully asks the city administration if they may implement a plan for the city DPW to potentially work along with PennDOT to get some of the lines and turning lanes updated?
- The DPW Traffic Maintenance section expects to start painting directional arrows and lines beginning Mon., Sept. 28. DPW anticipated delivery of new arrow stencils on Fri., Sept. 25. Stencil delivery has been delayed by the manufacturer. PennDOT expects to complete line and traffic control painting on all state roads in Scranton by Oct. 31, 2026.
Council member Dr. Jessica Rothchild asked the following question(s):
- Dr. Rothchild asked if the city administration and Parks & Recreation may provide and update on the Tripp Park community Center building. Are any work or renovations currently being done? Will the building soon be available to civic groups or residents as rental for family social functions?
- As previously shared with Council, new flooring is being installed in the next two weeks, and the building will be used for winter activities provided by Scranton Parks and Recreation so that our activities and Code Blue can co-exist separately. We do not have the capacity to staff parties but would be available for certain civic needs.
- Council member Rothchild asked for clarification regarding the use of the pickleball courts at Nay Aug. Dr. Rothchild stressed that she is most happy with the pickleball courts to date, however, she kindly asks for more clarification on the balance of use between community needs and the organizations using the park. She cited the Communities Giving Back group that regularly held their annual Trunk of Treat benefit at the park area and were required to move elsewhere.
- The pickleball courts are heavily used, and currently only one league uses four of the courts on a Sunday. Parks and Recreation met with Giving Back to the Community and talked to the Rec Authority. There had been a miscommunication of the group’s needs. The space previously used by the group for its Annual Trunk or Treat did not have capacity for parking and traffic with increased activity in the park, so an alternate location in Nay Aug was suggested but the group declined. Plans for next year’s event options were discussed.
- Regarding Item 5B on the evening agenda, Dr. Rothchild asked for more a breakdown on costs for the new boilers and where the estimate was secured from, what some of that work would incorporate, and why it will cost that large amount?
- This project aims to enhance the department’s operational reliability by purchasing new boilers. The boilers will replace aging heating units, improve energy efficiency, and maintain safe, comfortable working conditions for fire personnel year-round.
The quote provided to the City, from Scranton Electric Heating and Colling, includes labor and materials necessary to remove (3) existing boilers. We will then supply and install (2) new hot water boilers. This installation includes all gas piping, drain piping, controls, and power wiring. The price for this work is $79,415.00.
- This project aims to enhance the department’s operational reliability by purchasing new boilers. The boilers will replace aging heating units, improve energy efficiency, and maintain safe, comfortable working conditions for fire personnel year-round.
- Dr. Rothchild asked if the city administration may advise status on when the first group of representatives on the Unsheltered Task Force would like to meet at Council caucus in October. All dates are open with the exception of Tuesday, October 27th.
- The OECD Director is reaching out to members of the Unsheltered Task Force for their availability for a caucus in October.
Councilman Sean McAndrew asked the following question(s):
- Mr. McAndrew thanked the administration for the tentative moving date in October related to the Fidelity Bank building. Mr. McAndrew again asked is there any updated interest or leads to lease out the 3rd floor space and with whom who the city is having discussion?
- The police department is in conversation with the District Attorney’s Office regarding this space. They would be an ideal tenant based on the close working relationship with SPD, but it’s premature to comment further at this time.
- Councilman McAndrew asked again regarding complaints from regular churchgoers attending the daily 6:30 a.m. mass at St. Peter’s Cathedral and asked if the city may request contractors to start daily construction at 7:00 or 7:30 a.m.
- The city will notify the engineers.
- Mr. McAndrew stressed again, per his request at the City Council caucus with Parks & Rec on July 21st, if Council may please have the written response from SPD Chief Thomas Carroll referencing his review and decision on denial for the Showmobile use by the cancer benefit party during the FIFA weekend? This written response was to be forthcoming per the City Business Administrator during the caucus with City Council.
- With reference to the showmobile application for the 7/18/26 event, as part of the standard process for requested street closures and resident special event requests, each department reviews the application. As part of the public safety review, there was already a scheduled and allocated event on the days that were requested by the application. The applicant was notified on April 23 that the City was unable to allocate resources for this event. As noted in the message (included below for your reference), that did not prevent the event from taking place. Allocating the show mobile and shutting down the requested streets required a public safety allocation, and other supporting departments, that was already assigned to a large, multi-day, downtown special event. We provided the following information to the applicant:
- Message to Applicant – April 23, 2026 at 3:41 pm
The City is unable to allocate its resources for this event. This does not prevent the event from moving forward independently; however, it will need to proceed without City services, which includes road closures, no parking signs, and the Show mobile.
- Message to Applicant – April 23, 2026 at 3:41 pm
- With reference to the showmobile application for the 7/18/26 event, as part of the standard process for requested street closures and resident special event requests, each department reviews the application. As part of the public safety review, there was already a scheduled and allocated event on the days that were requested by the application. The applicant was notified on April 23 that the City was unable to allocate resources for this event. As noted in the message (included below for your reference), that did not prevent the event from taking place. Allocating the show mobile and shutting down the requested streets required a public safety allocation, and other supporting departments, that was already assigned to a large, multi-day, downtown special event. We provided the following information to the applicant:
Councilman Mark McAndrew asked the following question(s):
- Regarding the city Pothole Hotline, Councilman McAndrew and Council President Schuster asked the following; How many reported potholes are still yet to be fixed that are in Scranton’s reporting software? What is the number of potholes still out there? How many were reported in 2025? How many were fixed in 2025? Is the city fixing more than are getting reported? Also important, how many reported and fixed in 2025 are again on the list for 2026?
- Potholes reported in 2025 were migrated into the new 311 system in 2026. From there, DPW staff and project management personnel have been assigned to monitor reports as they come in. There were 439 potholes reported in 2025 that were migrated into the new system. As of the morning of Sept. 24, there were 29 unresolved pothole complaints, eight of which are actually pave cut complaints. Council members may use this interactive dashboard see 311 records.
The charts on the left-hand side of the dashboard can act as interactive filters.For example, clicking the “pothole” bar under the Type of Request Chart will filter the map to only show potholes. This can be combined with lower charts, where selecting the “Completed” bar will then show pothole records that are completed on the map. Any filter that gets applied can be reset by clicking the original filtered category. For example, after filtering for “Pothole”, simply click the bar again to reset the filter and show all records on the map
- Potholes reported in 2025 were migrated into the new 311 system in 2026. From there, DPW staff and project management personnel have been assigned to monitor reports as they come in. There were 439 potholes reported in 2025 that were migrated into the new system. As of the morning of Sept. 24, there were 29 unresolved pothole complaints, eight of which are actually pave cut complaints. Council members may use this interactive dashboard see 311 records.
City of Scranton Council Responses – September 29, 2026 | PDF
Last modified: September 29, 2026
