Harrisburg City Council Work Session - October 15th, 2024

the time is 5:31 p.m. I'd like to be

mindful of everyone's time and call our

work session to

order Mr trusdale could you please call

the rooll Miss

Daniels Miss Davis

present Miss green present Mr Jones here

Miss Rose present Mr Rodriguez present

Miss Bowers

present thank you uh we have a fairly

short agenda I think we'll see uh this

evening we'll begin with committee

business from the administration

committee we have two resolutions for

discussion resolution 64 of 2024 and

resolution 65 of

2024 Mr trusdale could you please read

resolution 64 of 2024 into the record

resolution

64224 a resolution of the city of

Harrisburg to author authorize the

filing of a statement of Revival of the

Cumberland dolphin Harrisburg Transit

Authority also known as Capital Area

Transit Authority pursuant to the

municipal municip IP alties authorities

act to extend its term of existence for

a period not to exceed 50

years thank you we are joined virtually

by Mr Richard

far there we go if I can get myself off

M mute there we go hey good evening

thank you for uh inviting me to this

evening's meeting and uh to talk briefly

about resolution

64 um we as you know recently created

the SES Regional Transportation

authority and honestly in the excitement

of all that we happen to lose track of

the fact that the Capital Area transits

Charter was going to expire and that's

what's happened and so we do need to

renew this because um the capitol Area

Transit Authority um Authority needs to

continue to exist because it employs all

of the employees and so we did try to

take action to renew it but the

Secretary of State pushed back and

requested that it is um the resolution

for which we provided to you here um

it's

um um um the the T term is escaping me

it's the it's the renewal of and not the

extension of and so we had to re uh do

the resolution and represent it so

that's what we're asking the council to

take action

on thank you very much I believe it's

the you

were deemed to file a statement of

Revival thank you you're welcome excuse

me and that was of the Cumberland

dolphin Harrisburg Authority Transit

Authority also known as the Capital Area

Transit Authority as you

mentioned yes that's correct okay well I

it seems pretty straightforward thank

you for joining us I don't have any

questions I will open the floor to my

colleagues who may have some additional

questions for you I will begin with

councilwoman Dave any questions thank

you president Bowers no it seems

straightforward to me as well thank you

for being here this evening thank you

vice president green any questions uh

thank you president Bowers I don't have

any questions for you all tonight thank

you for being here thank you

councilwoman RS any

questions good evening thank you for

joining us but I don't have any

questions okay councilman rodrigue has

any questions thank you madam president

thank you for joining us virtually and

no I don't have any questions thank you

councilman Jones any questions uh no

thank you I have no

questions okay well thank you very much

for joining us this evening I move to

add resolution 64 of 2024 to our next

legislative session agenda for a formal

vote next we have resolution 65 of

20124 Mr trusdale could you please read

it into the record resolution 652 24 a

resolution authorizing the city of

Harrisburg to negotiate and enter into a

multi-year agreement with Hera property

registry LLC to register for closed

properties within the

city thank

you we are joined by Mr CJ

Johnson of uh good evening how are

you I'm great how are you guys doing

fine thank you if you wouldn't mind uh

introducing yourself and providing a

brief overview of resolution 65 of 2024

please my name is CJ Johnson I'm the CEO

of Hera property registry I was the

former General Council of pramps uh that

was a contractor you guys used

previously uh for your foreclosure and

vacant property registry uh I started

the company uh a couple years ago to uh

hopefully do a better job and and

incorporate

um more foreclosure data for cities so

we could make uh or give the data to

cities to make better decisions related

to affordable housing problems and other

issues that are uh common amongst the

cities that we work with we're currently

uh in 185 cities

Nationwide uh and we're working to to

grow uh we purchased all of the data out

of the bankruptcy of of proamp so we

have all the the previous history of of

all the Harrisburg data um that was

being registered and and um all the

Foreclosure data that that was available

in that system through the years that

Harrisburg was working with pramps and

uh this resolution would allow our

company to continue that work and uh

continue working with the banking

partners that we have to make sure that

not only are the properties registered

according to your ordinance uh but

they're maintained according to the

ordinance as well uh and we've built

those relationships over the years

and uh we make sure that they're

following your ordinance and we're

notifying them uh within the time

constraints of your ordinance

requirements uh and and we give all of

uh the city of Harrisburg staff the

ability to to log in and uh view that

information and um do what you guys uh

deem necessary to ensure that all

properties are compliant within the

foreclosure and making property

ordinance

thank you um I just have one question I

just wanted to I like to review the

terms so I note here that uh this is an

initial agreement uh that will run for

two years um then after the initial

initial two-year period the agreement

would automatically renew for a further

term of one year with the consent of

both

parties correct

okay I will open the floor now to my

colleagues who may have some additional

questions I'll begin with our uh

building and housing committee chair

councilwoman uh Davis thank you

president Bowers and good evening thank

you for being

here thank you um I was looking at the

scope of work the pricing schedule and

the additional fees and the question I

have is will the will will there be a

backend cost I noticed it says services

are provided no upfront cost to the

community but are there any backend

costs that you perceive or

foresee no no we we don't charge any uh

backend costs the fee that is in the

contract is the only fee that we charge

um and and what we do is if if we don't

collect a registration we don't get

paid okay and then in terms of the

titles typically a bank

would hold on to a title if a property

forecloses and I read somewhere in your

literature that you would take title can

you explain or give me a little bit more

insight what that language

means we we don't take title to any

properties uh we're simply providing the

data uh and that's it so uh when the

bank takes title uh we're tracking that

uh so we'll we'll track it from the date

that the list pendant is filed at the

very beginning of the Foreclosure action

all the way to when it's uh sold to a a

new Resident uh and taxpayer um and then

we we end the obligation by the bank at

that point but we do not take any title

to any properties okay great thank you

for um answering those questions no more

questions sure thank you vice president

green any questions thank you president

Bowers I don't have many questions I

guess just for the Public's edification

um um it says that you would retain $125

of each registration fee and 33% of any

late fees and then any uh any balance

will be remitted to the city of

Harrisburg so essentially you guys do

the work and we get a a 30 a portion of

what you

collect correct yeah we we would get a a

portion of the total fee and uh if

there's any late fees that that acre

according to your ordinance um that

takes the you know our staff a little

additional time to make sure that we

track down those parties and ensure uh

compliance and registration and that

would be the the late fee that would be

included in there and then once we

collect the fee we remit the balance uh

monthly back to the city of Harrisburg

uh with a spreadsheet of everything

that's been collected and that can be

reviewed at any time uh during the month

uh with any logins that's all

transparent within our

system Madam chair just uh that's an

error on our part this was the version

we met with um their representatives and

the mayor and the fee was going to stay

um basically half of what the fee is so

we get half and they get half so I think

the fee is $200 for every six months so

the 125 was supposed to be a correction

that we're making and it just got

through this version because it was the

version on the system okay all right

which was the exact same that's correct

we don't we don't take any more than 50%

of the fee if it's less than $200 or

$200 or less

thank you that's good to know um and

then as far as the the data you said

that it would be uh available to City

staff because you guys are pretty

transparent um how would it be made

available I know uh with the previous

vendor they said it was available but it

seemed like every time um someone tried

to access it it just wasn't uh easily or

readily available so how will you guys

make that

available so on the front end what we do

is we get every name of every staff

member uh that needs access and we set

up all the Ins And so there's no issue

in the future of of not being able to

log in uh on the front the very front

before we even uh load all new data in

you'll be able to see all the historical

information and you'll be able to take a

look at anything coming in any

registrations coming in throughout the

month through your logins all right

thank you very much I don't have any

further

questions thank you councilwoman RS any

questions thank you president bers and

good evening Mr Johnson thank you for

joining us um today um I was very

interested in hearing what you had to

say about the um this registry it's been

something I've been looking at because

we do have a lot of um abandoned

buildings per se or um vacant ones and

the thing that I've noticed the most is

sometimes residents don't know what's

happening with them uh so I know in

Baltimore they were using QR codes to be

able to scan it um residents work

especially to see what's happen

happening with the vacant um lot or

abandoned building and I was wondering

is that something you would be able to

help the city do with the registry that

you

compile absolutely I mean that's

something that we can consider uh doing

I mean we're always innovating things

for our clients and if it's a QR code

that you guys would like to use for the

public uh we can take that into

consideration uh and and put that on our

list of of uh expedited items for for

our development team to put in there so

that way if we get uh you know an issue

and you guys want to put those on on

buildings we can absolutely do that it's

not that difficult for us to do does

that come with an extra cost is it part

of um what you're

providing no extra cost so Council rolls

our ordinance at this stage only

provides for the Foreclosure registry

some municipalities have both we do not

have both in here that's something

that's been discussed as coming um we

instead

deal with vacant uh Lots through um the

sanitation department and they're

recording of those and they share those

with other departments including

treasury um but we don't have an

ordinance for a vacant registry although

that's something that could be

considered yes and it could happen with

the registry that Mr John compile right

there's two different things so

basically there's for their for their

work it's recorded in a courthouse

somewhere that it's in foreclosure where

it's vacant sometimes you just can't

even find the owner it is and where they

are and you know why it's vacant

um that is a product we provide for

other clients of ours um it just depends

on your ordinance and whether you pass

an ordinance that has that requirement

so um you know as the policy makers you

guys decide that that's something that

you would want to include and that is a

product that we do offer if uh that is

the policy decision of the council right

thank you I think that the thing is that

I've noticed is because we don't have I

don't want to say out of but possibly

out ofd registry we haven't had we had

Pro Champs who weren't doing as much as

they needed to that's why I was I wanted

to ask you that question to see how we

do um change the ordinance or um mend it

so that it's better but first we need a

good registry so that's what I my

question was moving towards but thank

you both Neil and Mr Johnson for that it

allows me to know that um if you if we

do approve what you would like to do it

is help ful in moving forward for our

city so thank

you absolutely that's it for

me thank you councilman Rodriguez any

questions um thank you Madame President

um thank you for joining us uh is it

rich or Clifford CJ CJ um sir I've had a

chance to speak to other reps from the

organization and I think it's a benefit

would you be able to speak on how it

differs from the current service

uh I I mean I think my understanding is

that the current service um they're out

of business they're not doing a whole

lot they uh you know but the difference

between what we are doing now and what

they were doing I think which is it is

an important distinction yeah and it was

brought up briefly uh you know before in

the meeting but uh our customer service

is our Forefront of how we uh interact

with our customers and how we interact

with our clients um we have a positive

relationship with

uh we have a very positive relationship

with our clients we're constantly

reaching out asking for feedback making

sure it's exactly how they want it uh

and we're working to make sure that uh

your Registries are including the best

most upto-date information and we're

using our Ai and machine learning

engines to uh ensure that the data is

correct and I think that's a big

distinction um we don't have a team of

50 people in a different country that

are uh you know looking through data and

making human errors we are doing this

through uh Ai and machine learning which

uh our our error rate is is

0.1% so um that's a big distinction uh

we make sure that we're constantly uh

asking our clients what they're what

they need and and and how we can help

them understand the needs for affordable

housing you know I understand you guys

uh use a lot of the American Rescue plan

uh funds for affordable housing another

iives um so we're we're cognizant of

those issues that that are that our

cities are dealing with um and we're

trying to make sure that our registry

data is the best data that is being used

for the city staff so they when they're

looking at how to use funds that are

being brought in by federal grants or

state grants um they can be best use uh

that information to make good decisions

for the city thank you thank you for

that answer that was um more geared

towards like the execution and energy of

The Firm I meant more as far as like the

numbers or financial if you're at

liberty to speak to

that sure sure uh I mean looking back it

really every year is different depending

on how many foreclosures are filed I

know Pro Champs previously who you were

working with they were at a 60 to 70%

compliance rate and we're at a 95 90 95%

compliance rate and that really depends

on the reason why we can't collect them

all is you get firms that declare

bankruptcy which you can't go and

collect funds from them or you wait in l

online and and you typically don't get

anything from them or uh there's just

firms that just don't exist anymore they

transfer and it's impossible to track

them down so there there's very few of

those but we've built a very strong

relationship with the banking entities

uh that pay a majority of these fees so

we can um make sure that they're paid on

time and uh that they comply with your

ordinance and they know what those

ordinance requirements are which is why

we have such a high compliance rate um

and and also uh we work very strongly

with legal departments to provide them

uh the packet so if they do want to take

uh properties to code enforcement

hearings they have everything they need

to to have a successful hearing as a

lawyer myself I've done 30,000 Plus Code

Enforcement hearings related to these

specific foreclosure hearings and and uh

foreclosure registry properties so I

know exactly what's needed to to pass

legal muster to make sure that uh these

banks are held account

but um typically since we've done that

uh we we've got our compliance rates up

to about 90 95% which is the main

difference and that's that speaks

volumes about a 30 to 35% effecacy

efficacy rate um higher than who we're

using currently that's speaks volumes

but that's exactly what I was looking

for thank you no further questions Madam

president thank you councilman Jones any

questions yes Madam president how you

doing

sir great how are you good good simple

question

um once these properties are registered

um can you explain just for public

purposes how uh the maintenance what

does that look like um the grass cutting

because uh I know I had a business that

and I want to know if these Services is

this because you're dealing with banks

as well um I had a business um through

uh Safeguard right and what I did was

property preservation so I would go and

do TurnKey trash out the property if

there was grass Cuts or or snow removal

things like that can you explain how

these Services uh will be provided to

the community because that seems to be

one of the biggest issues here in the

city with some of these properties

sitting the way that they are and the

grass and and things are not being

maintained so can you give us a little

explanation on

that sure sure and it sounds like you

really have a good understanding of how

it's supposed to work uh working with

Safeguard Safeguard is one of the the

top property preservation companies that

that is registered in our system and

they Reg a lot of properties through our

through our system and what we do is we

ensure that the local contacts that they

contact out and they contract out for

these services are included within uh

the contact information that we collect

and we make sure that they're they're

aware of uh the local requirements so on

every registration that that we send out

by notice um and when they're coming

into to register we ensure that the the

ordinance requirements related to to

maintenance is clearly spelled out um in

plain English not uh so we break down

the ordinance requirements for for them

uh and we put it in a plain English

format so we we let them know in

multiple in multiple ways uh what they

have to do to maintain the properties

and what the requirements are for the

contacts that they hire uh as far as

local contacts and local companies

similar to what what you spoke about uh

need to do to make sure that uh the

grass is cut snow is is is removed and

and any other Cod issue related to uh

not only the code that's in Harrisburg

but related to this particular ordinance

so uh that that also speaks to the

previous question that we had and the

difference that we have is we're we're

clearly spelling out those requirements

to the parties uh not just the banks uh

because the banks you know you there's

multiple layers of of who is in charge

of of doing uh the work for this but we

we get it down to the local level um so

we know exactly who is responsible and

we get their information so if there is

an issue and it doesn't get done your

code officers can call the phone number

for the 24-hour local contact and say

hey look we need the we need the graph

cut we need the the pool covered we need

the the windows boarded up and and

here's your timeline and here's what we

need to do so we have all of that

spelled out very clearly within our

system that's good because that's what

um I was really wanted to get out there

because some of the times you know um in

our city you know people think that

codes I mean you you will be working

closely with codes

correct we we do and and more

importantly what what we really uh love

to implement and we're we're doing this

uh very soon is allowing the code

officers to to put in their violations

into our system and it sends automatic

emails to those contacts and it's not

even if they haven't registered we know

the local contacts because we know the

universe of the people that they work

with so uh you know we we keep that uh

we keep that database uh comprised of

that information but we allow your your

team to make sure that they're uh

putting that information in there So

eventually if they're just not

responding you have a itemized database

of something to take to a code

enforcement hearing for proof and

evidence that so there's no real

argument against not doing it right so

it pretty much works as if um codes

because again um you know a lot of the

people people here think that at times

that things aren't happening the way

that they would like them and you know

there are limitations with codes if you

file it if they site a property or

parcel um it goes on to the district

justice level it's no longer any

enforcement there so I see that was one

of my next questions with the

non-compliance you just keeping a a

database of the non-compliance so it

could be added to when codes goes to

court or what not to have that

information readily available

every item is is kept within each

property's uh ID so um if there's an

issue with a particular property and

it's it's it's added to that property ID

and you click on that property

everything is itemized there and you can

download it you can send it to you and

you guys can take that uh with the

evidence however you need it to all

right no further questions thank

you thank you thank

you councilwoman Daniel did you have any

questions um yes and I apologize you may

have answered some of these I showed up

a little bit late um so just to reminder

uh what's the split between what Hera

gets and what the city gets um we get

50/50 split on the fee what's the fee

right now is it 200 still 200 per six

month the ordinance hasn't changed it's

the same ordinance okay okay and um Can

someone uh go over the review the

history again uh when did the last

company kind of stop

functioning yeah I I I don't have that

committed to memory they may we got

notice and put in our notice to cancel

the contract they were in the equivalent

of bankruptcy in a Florida legal system

we weren't going to pay anyone to go

down to Florida uh because we didn't see

any money left to go get um uh we have

June 2023 great when it

finalized so

correct and then in the meantime what

have we been doing doing we actually

evaluated this in a lot of detail about

whether this was something that could be

brought in housee whether there were

other options out there ultimately

conclusion was that was not going to be

effective to have it in-house and then

it just became a recognition that we're

leaving money on the table right now

under the ordinance there's people that

do pay directly to treasury um but very

few um and where there's there and there

is no registry for them to look at so um

so the registry is just went stagnant

when these guys went into their

proceedings down in Florida um so uh you

know the the analysis was uh that we

needed to bring a company back in and

Hara was doing this so okay and

regarding Hara I think you probably

answered this but how long have you guys

been in

business we started the company uh May

of

20123 and since then we've our 185 uh

Municipal clients since then okay and

that's it for me thank

you thank you are there any other

additional questions yes president

Bowers thank you Mr Johnson just uh one

more question are there any properties

uh currently well you may not know this

right now but are there any properties

in general that you that you may not be

able to register and

monitor perhaps um properties that are

attached to a

trust no uh it really depends on your

ordinance um so so we have our data

analysts go through the ordinance we

have an ordinance maintenance Tool uh

what we'll do is we'll put all your

business rules in um and we'll make sure

that any data that comes in uh complies

with those strict requirements of the

ordinance and if there's something that

for instance it's a trust or something

that's a little bit difficult to find

it'll kick it back to our our research

team and they'll go through and and find

the the party the responsible party uh

email phone number uh the actual human

and not the entity so we can find

somebody to talk to on how to deal with

these

properties the reason why I ask this

question is because we have quite a few

properties in the city of Harrisburg

that have just been sitting for years

and years and years and years and

they're overgrown they haven't been

touched

so how long do you think once your uh

contract is enforced here with the city

do you think that you would be able to

go through the entire

city um to address the all these

different properties so most of those

properties are not going to be captured

in this ordinance those are vacant

properties uh what's captured is those

that have a formal foreclosure

proceeding filed in a courthouse okay so

those cases have a lifespan right from

you know they were longer after the 2008

collaps but they have a lifespan where

you're only going to be in foreclosure

for so long until the property is sold

um and you know that is the current

version of the ordinance as uh think

Miss R was asking we could update the

ordinance and add uh conditions to add a

vacant property ordinance but they are

they are different things so okay thank

you for

clarifying thank you Mr

Johnson sure and if you do have a list

of properties that you'd like us take a

look at I mean that's our our data team

looks at that and because you know if

you're a client we have no problem

trying to help code to to locate some of

the parties the so your officers can can

reach out to them that's not something

that's uncommon that we do I appreciate

that I do have a list thank

you okay thank you I just wanted to

clarify that in the agreement on page

two subsection C it mentions the fee so

for those that asked about the 50% or

50/50 split it's noted there um I think

the pricing schedule that vice president

green mentioned was something a separate

document that was previously provided by

Hera so I just wanted to note that that

is noted in the agreement with in

exhibit okay if there are no further

questions or comments related to

resolution 65 of

2024 I move to add it to our next

legislative session agenda for a vote so

this concludes the work of the

administration committee next we will

hear from the Public Safety Committee I

will defer to our Public Safety

Committee chair councilman Jones Thank

You president Bowers see deputy chief

young and Mr Angel o

Craig step to the

floor state your name title

yeah and Mr trudell can you please read

resolution 63 2024 into the record

resolution 63 2024 a resolution

authorizing the city of Harrisburg to

negotiate and enter into a Professional

Services agreement with the Research

Foundation of the City University of New

York on behalf of the national network

for safe communities at John J College

to provide Consulting and Training

Services to support the group grou

violence Intervention

Program thank

you all right um deputy chief young um

just quick overview um can you give us a

little quick overview of what this

resolution is certainly good evening I'm

deputy chief young uh so the resolution

basically uh what we're doing is we're

seeking Consulting and Training Services

to Aid uh the work uh to reduce uh

violence in the city can you pull your

mic a little closer yes I can hear you

down

speak that and acronyms sorry

right uh we would like to contract uh

with nnc or the uh national network for

safe communities uh for assistance in

the continuing implementation uh of a

comprehensive group violence

intervention strategy uh NC

nnsc um is a Pioneer for in group

intervention uh and only the only

organization the contracts with

municipalities to ensure successful

implementation of the group's violence

intervention uh this is a two-year

contract for 160,000

$165,000 for Consulting and Training

Services which is funded through uh the

this will be through pccd or the

Pennsylvania commissional crime and

delinquency uh the scope of the services

for this contract um basically what

we're doing is an experienced team from

nnc will work directly with us to

support the continued implementation of

the group violence inter uh Intervention

which includes providing strategic

advice you'll have to slow me down I

tend to get a little

fast all right uh strategic advice to

help Partners uh shift the way they work

together deliver antiviolence messaging

and uh execute on uh enforcement and

services promises to reduce violence the

strategy will be structured uh with the

specific intention of developing

accountability processes and mechanisms

that empower the project manager and

other Partners to ultimately own

Fidelity of the implementation nnc will

continue to train and support the

project manager to coordinate

implementation of gvi on behalf of uh

the city uh nnsc will work with

additional project Partners committed to

the successful implementation of gvi uh

including providing training uh once the

support and Outreach coordinators

identified uh nnsc will provide

operational services and training as

well to that

person um nnc will conduct uh dedicated

regular virtual sessions with uh project

manager and other key Partners uh to

guide the strategy implementation of gvi

and plan and support additional

investments in a

comprehensive uh strategy to provide

expert guidance on any challenges these

sessions will occur uh every other week

for the first year of the agreement and

then shift the monthly and the final

year of the agreement nnc will request

quarterly virtual conferences with

executive members uh for the purpose of

discussing the progress in

implementation reviewing aformentioned

rubric and building consensus around

identified short medium and long-term

goals nnse anticipates facilitating this

quarterly discussions at the onset of

the contract but it uh expects the

management of this update and discussion

process will shift longterm to the

project manager with participation and

feedback from nnc nnc will provide 101

intensive strategic uh advising sessions

uh to us in year one and two of the

agreement uh the to assess

implementation progress meet with

stakeholders conduct training uh and

guide Partners to the implementation uh

challenges to the ground additional

support from nnse According to the

contract will be provided uh in

accountability and project management

tools these tools include project

management guide and uh tracking

documents specific to planning Callins

tracking messaging uh and providing

speaker feedback as well as

implementation of the

rubric uh access to group violence

interven intervention University

training um modules nnc has developed a

suite of group violence intervention

University online modules uh Each of

which is designed to cover specific

theortical and operational topics key to

the implementation of the gbi topics

range from uh nature of street gangs uh

groups sorry uh to strategic law

enforcement to planning uh call-in and

are meant to equip the local trainers

with both the guidance and the content

necessary to deliver their own message

uh nnc will make these modules available

to us and will work to adapt them uh

where the necess uh where necessary to

specific conditions uh here in this in

Harrisburg and as far as the fee

schedule on this how it's broken down um

on the last page of the contract

uh it gives you the fee schedule um the

first one's listed there is is $50,000 I

guess to get us started and then in

January 1 of 2025 is

$23,000 June 1st of 2025 is another 23

2026 follows the same schedule and then

January 1st of 2027 which is the final

invoice of

$23,000 okay so basically this is just a

grant that's going to provide continued

Consulting through John J and you know

the

nnc and um training corre now I can turn

to Mr Craig you go ahead and introduce

yourself sir please for the record uh

great evening I'm Angelo Craig project

manager for the gvi I don't know if this

thing is on yeah it's on so um can you

explain um How uh these These funds are

going to be used for the training and

and what that looks like and just give

us a brief overview of some of the

things because I know you guys have

already been actively busy with gvi um

this is a great opportunity for us to

share with the community and some of the

steps that have been taken thus far I

know a lot of people feel that this is

behind but I know you guys are

continuing to work towards um finding a

resolution for some of the things that

are happening in the city of Harrisburg

so can you

explain um I Heard deputy chief Young

talk about um uh the call in and also uh

custom notification so just give a brief

overview of where we are and how these

funds will be used for your training uh

purposes and

Consulting uh thank you councilman Jones

so to first answer some of your question

which is um the trainings will help for

I don't think a lot of people realize

that right now it's just me by

myself uh and there's another component

to this which is you heard deputy chief

young say to support an Outreach

coordinator which would kind of be my

other hand so to speak um so they would

do a lot of the paperwork a lot of the

relationship building why I'm out there

doing a lot of the for lack of a better

term a lot of on on the boots um

training and um networking with the

community in terms of reducing the gun

violence so the nnc provides a structure

that from day one um helps you an helps

answer and maintain questions um

processes and the initiative of the gvi

strategy to make sure we're going about

it in a very strategic way to help

reduce you know the gun violence issue

as most of you know for those who don't

it's a

nationwide um epidemic so therefore it's

a nationwide Grant um um as we all know

we' all been comp compared to York so

even with York being eight years in they

still have a skeleton model that they

still contract with nnc so even as much

as they've grown they still use them for

Support Services as well um so in this

case with myself being less than a year

in and we still haven't hired a uh

support Outreach coordinator the

trainings and development would continue

to further develop and implement us so

we can continue to grow and and attack

this Nationwide

epidemic um as far as again ter the

terminology I refresh you the custom

notifications are where we have started

uh I believe our first stepout date was

October 29th I'm sorry August 29th um

the custom notifications are again in

individuals that have been identified

via through gang task force or with um

our incident reviews we go out and knock

on those individuals homes and they can

be yes adult and

juveniles and these are the ones who've

been identified as again a GMI which is

a group member

involved um they may be involved in a

group and they may be involved in the

gang or both um but again the strategy

states that not all gangs or groups but

all not all groups are gangs but all all

gangs are groups so that's why they call

it group violence not gang violence for

that particular reason again with that

being

said the custom notifications we have

started um we've I believe considering

myself uh Sergeant

Chapman um officer VES and Captain Wier

we're going out once a week on Thursdays

um we're trying to find a niche time

we've been going out between 12:30 and 1

returning back to you know station

between 4 and 5 depending on how

successful in terms of people being

accessible being home um I did have my

own figures here where we've made uh 50

contacts we we've attempted to uh go out

to 50 uh homes and out of those 50 we've

made 11 contacts in in terms of getting

people talking to them and helping them

start to make some pivoting and life

choices with our provider uh sheet that

I do hand out once we enter to the home

uh the good news is that's

22% the better news is because you

thought I was going to say bad news the

better news is that number would be

higher but we've come into a obstacle

where a lot of those addresses are no

longer valid not due to anyone's fault

but because of the trans it in society

and population that we're dealing with

they're moving at a you know higher

alarming rate that you know people would

like to believe so imagine if you know

we could really get to people whose

addresses you know are a little bit more

stable um that number will be a lot

higher so considering we started in

August and it's the middle of October

and we've made contacts I'm following up

with people um

weekly sometimes or four times a week so

again just in that small time they have

this 22% and again the only reason the

number is not higher is because again

you know some sometimes just trying to

get to people you know have access to

them because of their addresses are not

violent uh there was one occasion where

we had three or four addresses for one

individual and we hit all three

addresses that day and they were gone

from all the three those addresses uh so

again going back to nnc we can then use

them as a blueprint to when we run

across obstacles like this how they

would help us navigate through some of

these Waters um again we are going to

have our first call in in

December I believe the date is December

11th don't quote me but I'm confid in

that date and again the Callin is the

structure again that the NSC has

provided where we identify individuals

that we will bring in it's a structured

format that everyone hasn't you know

credible Messengers and um voices of

reason and different types of voices and

and people get to speak to these

individuals it's usually they call it a

one-sided conversation uh I know

councilman Jones as well as DC and

myself we've been down New York and I've

seen you know two of those and again

it's a very powerful and engaging

opportunity to help uh get these young

men and women you know to you know make

Better Life Choices

so I know I've said a lot um we we've

also been in the schools um I know

you're doing something parallel with the

the the gun violence so we're in the

schools talking about the gvi we've done

assemblies we've hit nine of the I

believe 12 schools so far um the first

week of school uh just let myself be

known letting G I be known uh

introducing the csas which you know are

the uh community service AIDS and again

just trying to make an impact as much as

I can again considering you know I'm by

myself for the most part um and just

having the support of the commissioner

DC um councilman Jones and and I think

in that short period of time I want

people to really understand the impact

that we have done just you know again

with the short-handed staff that we're

working with and that's why we need this

grant to continue to have that support

and Outreach uh again pun intendent and

when we get to support an Outreach

coordinator that person so I don't have

to take time to go try to train them by

myself they can get it from the nnc and

they can answer all their questions and

allow me to continue to keep moving

forward and and moving this gvi into the

space that you know we're already

starting to make a positive Den

then okay um thank you for that and and

so my colleagues are aware um as uh Mr

Craig had uh you know briefly mentioned

um I believe it's November 1st we're

going to be going into um all of the

schools um you know to uh especially

we're starting out in the Harrisburg

School District but we're going to be

going in all of the schools and

addressing Our Youth and having them

speak to us to let them know to let us

know what we can do to help them and uh

you know to help end some of this

violence and of the resources that they

may need um other than that um for far

as this Grand money is some of these

money is going to be used to train some

of the creditable messengers and the

csas if if I'm

correct yeah go ahead yes the there's a

uh all right so the term credible

messenger does not have one definition

so there are different levels as we like

to say there's different layers of

credible Messengers but the credible

Messengers that we're looking to train

for are those individuals that have used

to be in the life of crime but have

turned their life around and want to now

engage in helping the youth and turn

their life around now again they will

have to be vetted to to the police

department so we uh are training uh we

contracted with a gentleman out of

Chicago Chicago and LA are the two

founding cities that have started

credible messenger training

because of the big gang violence

obviously in California and Chicago um

so the gentleman's name is I believe too

Hardman uh they they he's what they

would call one of the ogs of um credible

messenger training he's trained a lot of

the ones underneath him uh so he's

looking to come here and we have up the

ability to train up to 20 individuals so

of those 20 um we're going to use our

six uh csas he will then train them for

two full days between eight 10 hour

sessions there will be a followup once

he leaves uh I know I think we have

three to four follow-up uh training

sessions available once he leaves and

then they will get a certified credible

messenger training which would again

work on skills and abilities and again

to help to engage when we go out to

these individuals homes so again I'm

very confident in my abilities in this

position and why I took it uh but one

thing I cannot say uh when we go out to

these homes one thing I know that my

limitation is I've never been

arrested Captain minder's never been

arrested Sergeant Chapman's never been

arrested okay we give that me neither

but no no so the credible messenger is

an important piece because it's

something that I like to say when we

give them the cake that messenger can be

the icing on the cake because again you

know a lot of these people they're

they're looking at us when we come in

there because they're used to seeing

either police officers or probation

officers so when I come in and I say hey

my name is Angelo I'm gbi I'm here to

help you they're looking at me like a

yeah whatever because it's new so they

don't trust me to to a degree you know

and I always say to him I said I know

you're probably asking you're probably

waiting to say hey where was I at last

week at 4:00 because that's normally the

questions they get but when I don't ask

them that and I share with them the

services even on the way out the door

they're still kind of looking like all

right he's still going to ask me where

was I at so my point is even though we

get a if I had to use a number maybe a

60 to 70% Buy in when we're there that

credible messenger can like I said add

that icing to the cake and say hey this

is real I used to be in the life so so

it just adds a little bit of

authenticity and genuiness because again

until the word gets out and we've

established our own reputation with gvi

is they're not familiar with it they

still think we're coming to arrest them

even though we tell them we're not even

though the police officers show up in

playing clothes plain clothing even

though they still have their Badges and

their guns just it's still foreign to

them so they don't trust it yet so we

have to earn that respect and that

credible messenger training piece is

going to be very very Val to us once we

enter these homes again to to make that

hard pivot for these people to

understand that this is real all right

thank you and last last question I

promise from

me um uh how is it going with the

creditable messengers how is your search

going uh I know um you've been you've

helpful you know and providing some

names between uh we've had a list that

was generated before I got here uh

provided to me from Adrian I know you've

been uh a tool a useful tool um and

myself um against Sergeant Chapman so I

think at this point we we should be able

to hit that 20 person Mark when um the

trainer does officially sign on that um

we we'll have our own set of credible

Messengers and that's important because

we were looking at another agency and

their cutable Messengers at one point

they had six and they had had two and

they had one so we decided that we were

more comfortable having our own pool to

to choose from didn't they rely on

someone else's uncertainty pool

depending on their access and job

status thank you um deputy chief young

you have anything to add are you good no

I'm good all right so I'll open the

floor up to my colleagues I'll start to

my immediate right councilman Rodriguez

thank you chair Jones um thank you DC

Young for joining us thank you gentlemen

for being here as always um when

councilman Jones had asked you how we

were doing with the credible Messengers

you had said pretty much when the

trainer signs on we'll kind of dig

deeper into that so as of right now

there are none correct there are none

okay okay awesome and then and and let

me add to that yeah so we have we have a

pool of people that we need to start

vetting to get to that point so I mean

that

process they they have 20 names of

people that they're they're looking at

to bring them on so that process has

started are they out on the street yet

no I mean that that seems to be the

biggest challenge at this point I think

if you talk to him or Captain Winder uh

sporting Outreach coordinator right now

is listed in our budget as a part-time

position uh what we're doing oh what we

got uh it's actually budgeted it's

actually budgeted for a part-time

position and it's it's incredibly hard

to find somebody to do that on a

part-time basis so what we did for next

year what we're proposing to do for next

year since we got the funding for that

it would be covered through the grant

was make that a full-time position and

then that way we can move forward with

that to get him the help he needs and

then the resources in play that way this

thing will start moving a little faster

it flutters so it it moved and then it

sort of kind of slowed a little bit it's

starting to get traction again I mean

when they're out in the community

they're out there uh when when York was

here or uh it was Pine Bluff came from

Arkansas um so they were out they were

moving around and that sort of kind of I

mean it started get getting some

traction again the hope would be by

making a full-time position with all the

bells and whistles it'll entice um

correct it it it'll it gets the

resources to it that is what it really

needs to take off absolutely um you had

mentioned the csas briefly as far as

introducing them what role do they play

in the gvi grant uh right now um that's

a good question right now there a

minimal role they're right now I'm using

them just in the aspect of when we go to

school assemblies um talking to the

principles we've got positive feedback

from all principles that they're present

in the schools uh they they've gotten

pretty much car blond from every school

that we've attended that the principls

would like their presence in the school

um because again it presents to them

another enforcement and Authority agent

in in the schools uh so I'm using them

just and as extension of gvi because I

like to present us as a team when I go

out there in the school capacity now

that was never in their initial

agreement as far as contractual is that

something we would have to go back to

the unions and renegotiate or is that

pretty much their good to go into the

schools and work with the

schools I don't know so if I may uh

Council councilman Rodriguez yeah um so

you're talking about the csas um and

there's nothing that needs to be

renegotiated as far as um them being in

the union or I mean this is a part of

the scope that they're under even with

the gvi they're included in this gvi

right right right initially though that

wasn't in their scope of work and then

they changed the scope of work so I just

want to make sure we're all in

compliance and clear on their duties we

can double check with ask me before and

that's typically what we do is we'll go

to askme if there's if you want to call

it a change of work condition yes which

I'm not certain that because I know

there was even mixup if they could take

it if they can't take it if there was a

lot going on at one point correct so I

mean we'll we'll double check but and

make sure that's within the abilities uh

within uh what CSA do and and good with

with the as Union can do that you had

alluded kind of to director Houston that

she's no longer involved or no longer

with the Department mention okay okay

you had said shardan um something about

Alicia

left I recall he was talking about the

list of uh well the

question still with us no okay okay okay

um is this for ARA compliance that we

need to get the um contract with the

college because they are in compliance

with the gvi grant or this is just to

supplement to make it a bit broader so I

I think in everything that I see here

within the contract they're the people

that actually do it so they're the ones

at Yorker and I think we're we're York's

about six years ahead of us so we're

still trying to play catch up to that

I'm sorry my question was are we looking

forward to contract with them to be in

compliance with the arbor grant that we

initially put in no no okay okay okay

okay is this a matching Grant by chance

uh do we match funds with pccd they

reimburse the full it's a reimburse fund

okay so this is yeah it's all fully

reimbursed through pccd pccd awesome

doesn't cost well it doesn't cost the

city um the funds are coming through the

pccd um you had mentioned uh 22% of the

50 people um which was about 11

individuals you guys made contact with

what are the some of the services um

because you said you had spoken made

contact to try to get them back on the

right track

what were some of those services that

you utilized or contacted to help them

move forward in a brighter

light well I guess just for the resident

standpoint because they can't see what

you handed me it would be great just to

kind of articulate it thank

you my provider list um the provider

list has right

and uh I yes answer the mic thank you

it's called My Provider list and right

now it has uh six different types of

providers that are um have agreed to

work with the gvi right now is the drug

and alcohol the second one would be Tri

County

OIC uh the third one would be SCPA Works

South Central Pennsylvania Works uh the

next one would be Justice for hopes then

we have a merit Choice Credit Union in

and then a miracle for sure each one has

broken down with the definition of what

they do contact person and the services

that they provide all these providers

are for free so when we walk into a home

there is no expectation except for

compliance there's no financial

obligation to any of these individuals

yes sir um what was the luck you've had

with any of these providers actually

assisting those 11

individuals I I don't I don't understand

the question you made contact with 11

individuals and offered Services was

there any turnaround or any success with

those Services well success is a process

so again we just started this in at the

end of August so we have we're trying to

get young men out of a life of crime

there's crime men more than men commit

crimes excuse me there's other genders

than men that commit crimes right now

we've touched 11 men so in this case uh

that's why the followup is consistent

with me uh because again they get hot

for a couple days and they go cold then

they get hot then they get cold so again

just following up with them making sure

that they honor their commitment I had a

young man uh who um he said he didn't

have a license so I offered to go take

him down to pendock to get his license

then he got his license I had another

young man uh who just this week he have

a contact down at um um

on Front Street

um the office off services on 100 Front

Street uh what's what's it called it's I

forget the 1100 right

by oh okay okay okay so there's a

contact down there so again just

following up with him playing phone tag

the building 1100 on front I'm just

trying to think of the you know Dolphin

County drug and alcohol relocated I'm

not talking about drug and alcohol okay

okay um uh

it it escapes me right now there's still

there's still units yeah CMU is still

there um but this one has to do with

jobs okay um oh you're talking about CEO

Career Link career oh career so got you

got you got you there's a young man so

again down by the appalation brewery yes

so again just following up with him uh

trying to make sure he sets up his

meeting time I had another young man

again I spoke to him today um he was

going to go to Tri County OIC because he

wants to to enter into a program to get

his G

so again it's it's a lot of followup so

again people don't understand how this

gvi thing is a process so you know you

just going knock on people's door and

say hey I know you've been committing

you know crimes you've been doing this

so I'm gonna give you this and I never

follow up and we know you're going to do

it on your own I completely understand I

actually had the committee when we first

spoke about it four years ago so that's

the only reason why I'm speaking no no

not just I'm just saying overall but

sometimes people in the community to the

common resident they don't have an idea

you know it's just jargon to them so try

to bring it down as simple as we can and

granulate it but I do appreciate your

answers um DC thank you for joining us

uh no further questions Cher Jones Thank

you thank you councilwoman Ros you have

any questions thank you very much um

just a comment off of what um the

dialogue you and Mr Rodriguez we having

thank you for being here both tonight I

think too the reason why people aren't I

know my cup that

big um sometimes because I'm one of them

not knowing exactly what's happening is

Maybe we need to communicate more with

press conferences or just connecting the

community more with what's happening and

the steps being taken because I do think

we're doing things I think objectives

are being met I just think nobody knows

that they are right so you don't know

what you don't know so I think I don't

know if John Jay puts in a a piece of

that of how you contact the community or

reach out to them and let them know

what's happening or how you update them

maybe a newsletter I don't know but

something that allow ows them to know

hey we are working I know you all see

York all the time on TV and everybody

wants us to do what they do but I do

understand we have to do what's best for

us and create our own blueprint but then

if maybe we can PE put a piece in there

that says this is how I reach out the

community I do think it would be um

really helpful so that's support that's

a great Point councilman um R is the

support and Outreach coordinator that

would fall under a little bit of their

job description okay to help with it so

again I'm trying to balance

all his pieces Yeah by myself right

exactly but you're you're exactly right

that's that that's why it's so critical

that we get that support Outreach

coordinate position yeah oh great

question thank you and I just um one

more thing I was wondering because we

were speaking about like the credible

messenger and the training the support

Outreach coordinator what about the

officer I know that's a piece in it I

believe that I I think um there's an

officer assigned to that point that they

go in with you I don't know everything

they do but are you still vetting

officers for that is that part of what

John Jay would do like where where are

you at in the status of locating have

what we call our gvi team and like just

the names I mentioned earlier a sergeant

Chapman and officer VZ and or Captain

Winder dependent on his availability how

much work DC's given him to do

particular so he doesn't always get the

come out so he likes to play DC he has a

lot of work okay so he would be it and

and again and again uh councilman

Rodriguez not offended to you great

questions um but what they do they go in

and ensure the safety okay you guys ask

all the right questions so my respons is

sometimes uh sensitive because I hear it

and I'm like you you people some and I

say people community

sometimes I really can't think I'm going

to do all this by myself right you you

you know CU it's like sometimes when I

hear there's a shooting they go where

where was the gvi guy I'm like wow

that's your first thought when there was

a shooting where where was I at um but

again that tells you the work we have to

do and I'm not mad because I know they

want change so it's coming from a good

place but to answer your question they

what we call it a soft handoff so they

go in there because again I don't carry

a weapon and that's part of the great

thing about it so when I do go in there

and say Hey you know I'm of police

officer so again trying to diffuse them

to make them more comfortable okay uh

but again we called a soft hand off they

knock on the door they they introduce

then they give me the soft hand off then

at that point we we engage we go into

the home uh kind of sit down they kind

of keep an eye on the surroundings they

ask who's in the house and again just to

provide everyone safety but the point is

it's the same people all the time so

it's either myself um Sergeant Chapman

officer Vas or Captain Winder and when

like uh councilman Rodriguez said once

we get that credible messenger then they

will be on the team okay yeah it falls

within the community services division

and that's where all those the the uh

the officers are assigned that's okay

thank you that was it for me I

appreciate it thank you okay and one

thing to add to that too far as

visibility for uh Mr Craig one of the

things that um they are doing is I hate

to use the word but I think it's kind of

through um as marketing him to put him

in the space kind of how we met with uh

Tiff loow in York um they gave her her

own space I mean of course she she has a

little further reach at the moment

however um I think it it is important so

that's why I'm including him in some of

the things that I'm doing in the

community to also give him more

accessibility and a uh visibility all

right um uh president

Bowers I don't have any questions thank

you

thank you uh vice president green uh

thank you thank you both for being here

tonight I'm glad to hear about some of

the information about what is going on

with the gvi program because we don't

get a lot of of information I know I WR

out a couple of times not to you but to

the commissioner and I didn't really get

a reply back as to what was going on

with the program um I understand it's

been a busy time and a lot of things

going on so I appreciate you being here

tonight uh you're always welcome to come

down and just give us an update um shoot

us an email anything and I guess we can

do the same vice versa because you do

have a light lot on your plate so thank

you for being here as far as questions I

feel like that n kind of asked a lot of

them so I don't have any questions for

you but I do appreciate your work thank

you I appreciate you

appreciate vice president green um

councilwoman Davis thank you councilman

Jones my sentiments are the same as uh

vice president greens uh thank you for

the dialogue because I have been able to

kind of connect the dots and get better

vision of what is actually going on so I

don't have any other question any

questions at all thank you for your work

thank you all thank you uh councilwoman

Daniels yeah this is just to refresh my

memory on the relationship like one um

there was a reason why John J uses COI

in particular does anyone remember

why they were they were the ones to

actually create the program of G okay

and then um what's the contractual

relationship so the between John J and

Cooney and us because we're entering the

contract but coone is the sub gry of

John

J I don't know the answer to that

without going back and reading it so I

didn't prepare the contract so I can get

you that answer before your next me yeah

like just the sense of what the

structure is and that's it for me I'll

lay it out for you

y all right um anyone else have any

other questions or concerns right here

here all right thank you gentlemen um I

would ask that uh resolutions that ends

the work of uh Public Safety and I would

ask that resolution 63 of 2024 be moved

to our next legislative session and I

hope that my colleagues support this

resolution thank you thank you thank

you

keep okay I got plenty I got plenty

what's that what he say

yes thank you yeah well before I leave

so again you can have that that's why I

wanted to give you one so again so if

when people do start to ask what it is

so you have a little visual presentation

you can explain to them what we're doing

when we're going out to these homes so

that we kind of maybe answer some of the

questions that most of us are

getting you're

welcome thank thank you we will now move

forward with our meeting agenda we will

open the floor for public comment not

sure if there will be any participants

but we'll still move forward uh please

state your name and your address for the

meeting record if you don't feel

comfortable sharing your address please

share the vicinity in which you live

within the city you'll have four minutes

to share your comments Mr trusdale will

serve as our timekeeper I'll begin to my

right is there anyone that would like to

offer public comments

seeing and hearing no one anyone in the

middle section seeing and hearing no one

anyone to my left seeing and hearing no

one the time is 6:39 p.m. I will

entertain a motion to

adjourn so Mo second thank you we stand

to journ council members please remember

we have an executive session immediately

following thank

you

for

e

e e