Harrisburg City Council - Work Session - 04/16/2024

for

the time is 5:30 p.m. I'd like to be

mindful of our time so I will call the

work session to

order Mr trale could you please call the

role Miss

Daniels Miss Davis Pres

Miss

green Mr Jones here Miss Rose presid Mr

Rodriguez present Miss

Bowers present thank

you okay so we have a a pretty hefty

agenda this evening so that's why I

wanted to make sure we started on time

we're going to deviate from the agenda

as as printed and begin with the uh

Public Works committee so I will defer

to our Public Works committee chair

chair Rodriguez thank you madam

president today the Public Works

committee will be meeting to discuss

resolution 23 of 204 d204 um Mr trale

can you please read resolution 23 of is

that 204 of 2024 2024 okay all right of

2024 and for the record please

resolution 23 2024 a resolution of the

Council of the city of Harrisburg

authorizing and appointing Austin

Griffin deputy director of Public Works

as the city of harrisburg's design to

execute any forms documents contracts

and reimbursement agreements in the

Pennsylvania Department of

transportations electronic engineering

and construction management system in

reimbursement Agreement System thank you

for that and just for the record it is

resolution 23 of 2024 I see Deputy

Griffin here would you like to step up

and uh give us a quick review of

resolution 23 please

good evening thank you for joining us

yes sir evening Council good

evening this

resol is it okay good evening Council go

thank you this resolution is to make me

the signature in the uh ecms pend ecms

system which is the uh engineering and

construction management system which is

a site that provides current information

on pend dos construction projects

construction contracts and Consulting

agreements the capital Gateway project

at front and for is a current city

project that is being administered

through ecms currently with the

departure of Dan snow I will need to be

able to go into the ecms website and

fulfill certain obligations on the

city's

behalf we currently need to approve the

resumés for the Consulting construction

inspection inspectors from tww

Consultants that pendot has chosen

chosen to be on this project awesome so

this would be imperative due to Mr snow

um stepping down we would need someone

to fill that void yes sir okay and would

this add any conflict to your current

role at all that you know about no but

in public works whatever needs done is

is our current role so awesome awesome

all right I'll open it up for questions

starting to my immediate left councilman

Jones no questions at this time thank

you to my right councilwoman Ross no

questions at this time but good evening

thank you for being here today thank you

thank you Madame President good evening

I don't have any questions thank you

thank you Madame vice

president good evening um I don't have

any questions regarding this resolution

thank you thank you absolutely

councilwoman Davis thank you no

questions all right

um if I I hear no further questions one

more time any anything further from

Council hearing nothing I would like to

um put forward a motion to add this

added to our next legislative session

and uh Deputy chrisan would you like to

add anything before you before we close

it down no sir all right um so with that

being said that concludes the work of

the Public Works committee um pass it

back over to Madame President thank you

thank you very much we will now go back

to the beginning of the agenda with the

work of the administration

committee we will receive the first

quarterly report for

2024 from the office of equity and

compliance

e

good okay all right good evening Council

I just first like to start off with an

apology for uh Missing uh on the second

when I was out of town scheduled

conflict

uh from the uh previous work session so

I'll start off with an apology and

thankful to still be at the top of the

agenda some in some way uh so we'll just

go right into it and I'll just start off

by saying slides one two five six and

seven has remained the same um that's

job description duties so forth and so

on uh with regards to slides 3 4 and 8

um that's what I'll be addressing this

evening and then of course open up for

questions as you see

fit so our um quarterly report reads as

follows our office continues to have

ongoing meetings with the disparity

study professionals from throughout the

nation uh working throughout uh working

throughout the country on best

evidence-based best practices for

implementation of the disparity studies

recommendations uh we have designed a

small marage Equity Roundtable work

group um that's prepared to deliver

language for Council and mayor Williams

to consider before the end of of April

2024 our final small work group is

scheduled to meet this Thursday the 18th

we've met for a month a little over a

month straight but officially uh for one

month um our office was a part of the

visit Hershey Harrisburg Dei listening

session um as they consider ways to or

their organization can be more engaging

of current residents and businesses

while simultaneously attracting to more

diverse population of visitors to the

city and its surrounding

areas uh our office uh continues to have

ongoing meetings with colleagues who

proactively work to ensure Dei efforts

up until this point uh since the summer

of 2020 when the M murder of Brother

Floyd had everybody up in arms and

corporations and everyone else was

coming out in support of De efforts and

Equity efforts now since the scotus

report um of last 2023 uh people were

seeing that as a way to uh back track

and uh kind of move away from the um

the uh in Equity Endeavors that a lot of

people had talked about initially so

I've been having ongoing meetings uh

with Dei colleagues um to make sure that

we fortify uh some type of a group uh

effort to make sure that if and or when

it comes to Harrisburg uh we're well

prepared and we all take a stand with

regards to still being you know strong

on di efforts and equity and inclusivity

with

intentionality um I'll move on to say

our office uh continues to to meet with

and have open lines of communication

with organizations such as but not

limited to pinots Council on inclusive

Excellence Center for Independent excuse

me Center for Independent Living the

department of General services and

African-American chamber for

Pennsylvania New Jersey and

Delaware uh our office has met with

Department directors ongoing since our

um uh our first uh quarter meeting I'm

sorry since our last

meeting um in which we discuss what I

presented the city council in terms of

us doing a better job with um

intentional inclusivity efforts um

around how we spend our city public

dollars uh I'll just go back over our

annual goals am I supposed to be

changing this

sir okay I blew

it yeah thank

you about that

sorry sorry sorry sorry it's all my

fault all right so I apologize

that's that was the last slide uh

talking about our courtly report our our

cly summary

rather and then I'll just go over our

office uh annual goals

which we continue uh to work more

closely with Miss Hillary Green in

procurement services and compliance

manager and City solicitor's office uh

both offices are aware of um are and

reive ongoing information about the

mayor's Equity Round Table small group

work sessions uh around the disparity

study

recommendations uh we um Advocate

another goal was advocate for additional

immunis system tabs to fully activate uh

to be fully activate in order to track

the dbe spin overall and one of the

things um that we're doing is we're

making daily calls out of our office and

working towards the completion of this

goal uh we talked about creating and

streamlining in a process to track the

time of business comes from the time of

business comes into the mertile office

until that business uh starts to receive

contracts and or P requests or or and or

are part of PO requests in terms of

being engaged with how we're spending

our public

dollars uh our office receives monthly

data uh showing new business

applications from the Mercantile and tax

office uh emergency request spend is

being communicated to our office um as

well when they when they happen to occur

as we know we had a track the trailer

incident sometime ago about two months

or so ago over on Paxton Street where a

light pole was knocked down over on our

17th in pxton a purchase or I'm sorry

emergency order such as that was um

communicated me

not only to my office but of course

through the proper channels and so we're

now in the loop in terms of how the spin

is happening um with that so we also

talked about building a more robust um

directory which levels the plane field

regarding the utilization of co-stars

and other state approved options which

do not necessarily consider you know

mwdbe status when they're honestly not

say legally avoiding the traditional

bidding

process uh if you look at our February

March February March our office uh has

reached out to 390 businesses of the

2,299 that are um currently in the munit

system and I just broke that down in

terms of who we made contact with so

forth and so on who um actually said

they were certified and then a

percentage that actually sent in their

certifications to prove that they were

certified so we're tracking that as well

and then of course the January March

nums our our office continues to track

the DB spin a traditional way while

building the ongoing dbe directory and

then our dbe numbers which I'm going to

talk touch on when I close um from

January February and March as we saw um

they were you know very low and we had

that discussion last time um but there

is something that we've uh decided

internally to have a discussion about

that I'm going to bring forward here

tonight with full transparency that so

that we're all on the same page um and

of course continue to review we we l

reports uh to identify mwdbe spin inter

departmentally uh that's continuing to

go well U great help from Mr Brooks our

budget manager uh in terms of showing

how to we can extract uh data into

departmentally um as part of he's also

part of the marriage Equity round table

or in small group work session I should

say and Mr Steve bortner out it has been

a tremendous help as well and first uh

finally the um the need to fortify

the relationship with um Center for

American progress gun violence

prevention division um gun violence

prevention overall Center for American

progress in cities

United and basically there's a follow-up

meeting U that's going to be ongoing uh

Captain Winder and Mr um Angelo um Craig

actually had a meeting uh we all sat

down with M Charlotte Plains from the

Attorney General's office who's one of

the foremost gvi experts

you know throughout the state as well as

Mr Steve Bishop who is with the an Casey

Foundation has lots of resources around

the same area to continue to assist the

city as we go into full implementation

of the RGV Grant um in terms of

impacting the city and part of that was

as we discussed to make sure that

although there's the police side and

everything how that's taken off to make

sure that there's equity in terms of How

It's launched in the city to ensure that

individuals outside of law enforcement

are in impact or involved with the gvi

Grant from the

onset and of course these are the slides

that stay the same U as you know I don't

have a budget in my my

office special projects are

grants still two of

us and um of course in community

engagement the only thing that I'll

highlight that has changed that's not

ongoing has been of course we're still

uh meeting in terms of the pens

Statewide black developers Coalition in

the Harrisburg Hershey Harrisburg di

efforts that I talked about earlier

being engaged

in

okay so before

I before I take questions what I like to

say is one of the things that we talked

about was you know our abysmal numbers

in terms of the the engagement and what

I found was or we found as a team um

having in departmental meetings was that

there's a lot of things that are in that

monthly spend that we really can't

control um for example um of the I took

one month it was February I took

February and we spent

5,142

6295 and if you look at where we spent

$1,752 8008

8 it was in tuition

reimbursements it was Medicare Part B it

was service contracts with Tyler

Technologies uh Verizon Comcast crw UGI

ppnl employee traveling benefits postage

Patriot news advertisement things like

that which are there's no competition

with the United States Post Office for

example there's no real competition for

ppnl there's no real competition for UGI

and so that number of um

1.75

1,752

18818 if that is backed out from the $

5,142

6295 our numbers change and what I mean

by that is that number from the 5

million number goes down to uh

$3,389 8

$14.77 and at that point instead of

having a a dbe uh percentage that

particular month of somewh the

neighborhood of

5.3% we go to

14.8% now that's still not the 20% and

it's still not good enough but it surely

is in

5.3 and so things like that is what I

want to bring forward to let you know

the types of conversation that's going

on it's not padding numbers in full

transparency it's like we have have no

choice but to use the incinerator and

that fee and that TP you know whatever

that case may may be it is what it is or

parking if that's something that we you

know are paying for in terms of garage

uh parking Etc like that so that

concludes my report at this

time thank

you um I have a question it's related to

your goals but it notes um work that was

done in February and March about the

Outreach to businesses so 398 businesses

out of the

2,299 businesses that are in munis um

where is that larger number coming from

is that the current

um

mwdbe business like database that the

city already has or what where's that

larger number

2,299 99,000 2,299

yes uh that's the number of the total

businesses that are actually in munits

now every business every business okay

yes

um okay and then 22 identified as

DBS yes okay okay thanks for clarifying

I just wasn't sure

um where that larger number came from

but it's a total business anybody ever I

know but I was wondering if um because I

know there was some discussion for a

while that the directory I guess that

was online um of

mwdbe was a little dated and wasn't

um

uh very City specific it may have been

more countywide so I was just curious

um maybe the status of that is that what

you're referencing to update that

directory or are you looking to build a

new one a combination of both so we're

that one is being updated as we go and

because we're getting new businesses you

know weekly we'll say we get a monthly

report from Mike Hughes and Miss Janelle

over there uh and then we actually

called those new businesses to see if

they are actually dbe certified and or

like to self-certified so this way we

create some type of portal so we

encourage them uh to you know

self-certified if they qualify and then

from there we give them information

relative to becoming dbe certified

overall Statewide okay thank you I don't

have any other questions I will open the

floor to my colleagues I'll begin with

councilman Jones any

questions thank you president barish um

how you doing Mr sing all right coun um

my question again is just uh simply I

see uh the spend here and I see the

efforts in trying trying to uh be more

inclusive uh hopefully that's local um I

know some things you won't be able to

compete with um in that regard however

um a resolution I think would kind of

help us you know uh Target um is there a

reason why we don't have it or is there

something we can collaborate on are you

just waiting hands

down and collaboration is great that's

part of the mirrors Equity round the

small group work session that's so I was

alluded to earlier we're trying to um

come up with the framework if you will

of policy and of course lay something in

front of you all as well as the

solicitors office and uh mayor Williams

to consider to actually move forward

into legislation all right so you have a

timeline when you would begin this work

or would like to begin this so the 18th

is our final small work session our

small work mayor's Equity Town mayor's

Equity Roundtable work group and at that

point we're planning to um release we've

been working on okay um right now you

know that for me that that's something I

think that is very important again so we

can do some more

um

what are we safe

yeah uh yeah I think something like that

will just um help us identify more

people that we can I hate to use the

word Target but you know spread yeah

spread this thing around a little bit um

but I don't have any further questions

thank you president bars thank you

councilman Rodriguez any questions um no

uh my question was geared towards the

398 businesses that you had touched on

so thank you director Singleton for

being here and uh just to Echo the

statements of um Mr Jones any help I

could assist in know I'll definitely be

more than willing to appreciate thank

you madam thank you councilwoman RS any

questions uh thank you for being here

tonight U Mr Singleton and for your

presentation um I don't know if I have

any questions directly for you it might

be more towards the

administration um just still wondering

if you're at any of the meetings that

we're having for the different projects

that we have out since um you are our

equity and compliance director and um

you have a you're working on trying to

make sure the businesses are included

that um have the N wbde or DB um CER

ification so just wondering still if

you'll be part of those meetings if

you're not but I'm guessing you still

don't have a seat at the table to a

certain extent okay so I don't know if

there I don't think any Administration

is here that i' be answered that I mean

we're I'm not excluded I don't believe

from from any meetings um scheduling

wise if you look at you know things are

coming before you all I mean no they are

it's true but are you there to before to

be able to speak on hey these are here

are some companies or you know I don't

know how the conversations go cuz I'm

not at the meetings I'm not privy to

that because for some some of them would

be a conflict of interest since we vote

on things um I don't know if you're even

allowed to be a part of the bid process

I don't I don't know what you're allowed

to do and are are allowed to do but one

job description clearly defines being a

part of yeah I saw that right so yeah

but I you know but I think I guess I

have to maybe ask somebody from

Administration but thank you for the

work that you are are doing so far um

like you said it's 15% it's not 20 yet

but um it's better than the 5% so um I

just look forward look continue to look

forward to um you know more businesses

being able to participate in some of the

projects happen in Harrisburg now

remember the 20% that the disparity

study speaks about is the floor not the

ceiling thank

you uh I apologize I I was thinking

about that 20% too I forgot that the

question that I have for you um are you

familiar with this language uh with

the with the um the master format you

familiar with that language help me out

you're not no all right I I I don't need

to bring that I I'll actually have a

conversation with you all right okay all

right apologize that's okay vice

president green any questions thank you

president B hours uh thank you for being

here tonight Mr Singleton sure um also

thank you for taking a deeper dive into

the numbers and kind of breaking out

some of those uncontrolled spends uh

that we really don't have that option to

spend on to really look at what our

discretionary spending is so we can

really see the percentages a little

better um I think that's really

important especially when we're trying

to come up with some of this legislation

uh it helps us to understand what our

numbers really are um I don't really

have many questions I guess just looking

at um our small businesses and our

minority businesses in the city are we

having any educational work sessions or

anything to um inform them how they can

learn about some of these bidding

processes or some of the contracts

available or even how to declare

themselves as a minority business and

become certified so part of it part of

the education that I was educated on is

uh language you know and I've been

updated so as opposed to you know us

even in our work sessions talking about

being a minority business because we

know overall we're not the minor we

minoritized and so we start talking

about um diverse business as disparity

study speaks to um that leads us back to

clearly um doing more in terms of for

example putting a disparity study on the

website um part of the uh

recommendations I know that's going to

come back is having more pre uh pre-bid

meeting opportunities to engage with

City like doing doing business with the

city type of um engagement sessions and

there's been suggestions about talking

about um doing something the promo on

channel 20 having that continuously

running and or and we got to go back

again remember the bids are one thing

and we only do maybe on average three to

five bids but we spend money you know

monthly and so it's about the supplies

it's about you know Professional

Services and spaces that we're in other

spaces we're in outside of just

construction or the bidding process

you know it's about you know Supplier

Diversity overall okay thank you um I

look forward to some of those doing

business with the city sessions because

I think it's really important to make

sure the people here know how to do

business with the city and what all

needs to be done so that's discussion

with the directors as well you know that

we're having that we're going to be

having coming out of this the small

group work sessions okay also thinking

those work sessions will learn more of

what the businesses need um in order to

make it easier to do business with the

city you know some of the small

businesses complain about um insurance

requirements and different things um and

kind of having that open conversation I

think allows us to become better work

Partners as well so thank you one of the

big things is payment a lot of

businesses choose not to deal with the

city to a certain degree because they

they they need they need paid right away

not the 45 days not the 30 days or

whatever you know so there's something

that may be that you know could be

worked on as we move forward that is um

an an intentional barrier of timely pay

which is we're we're not breaking any

rules or anything but that is something

that is a um artificial barrier we'll

say in terms of for some small

businesses in their U decision not to do

business with the city so not they're

not necessarily being excluded it's a

choice that they're saying I can't wait

to be paid right all right well thank

you I appreciate

that thank you councilwoman Davis

anything thank you thank you president

Bowers yes I'd like to sentiment uh vice

president Green's comments and also ask

if someone is certified wbe through the

city's application are they able to work

outside of the city with those

certifications or are they confined to

the city so we don't certify so we're

not a certifying body that's be like

Statewide or national emsdc Etc so it's

like reverse engineer it you'll be

certified in a larger area than the city

that allows you to work in the city as a

certified entity because we don't

actually certify the self-certification

I spoke of is you know for example you

show up as you know black woman business

owner um at that point if you choose to

say that's who you are that's what your

business represents you could

self-certify as such that doesn't

necessarily mean you're certified

overall so if there's certain funds that

are requiring actual dbe certification

you may a federal funds most of the

times do you may you won't be qualified

at the point for that through

self-certification but we have you in

the pipeline now which we can now walk

you through the process oftentimes free

um in terms of we don't charge but is

you know we can lead you into um

resources that are free to help you get

certified thank you and so how would

some of the business businesses in the

city connect with you uh to be walked

through that that process so a lot of

times when they come in to First

register their business in the mertile

tax office that we have a great

relationship um they send them right

over or if they have questions such as

you know dbe certification Etc and even

if they don't if we see them we mean

then Mr Collins myself we see them we're

going to the water fountain or something

we ask them you know stop over to our

office if you're interested in you know

DB certific Etc veteran own business so

forth and so on so we have this

conversation we're

aggressive okay thank you we're engaging

check thank you very much Mr Singleton

that those are all the questions I have

thank you councilwoman Daniels any

questions have any questions thank you

all right thank you thank you thank you

thank

you next we have resolution 21 of 2024

Mr trusdale could you please read it

into the record

resolution 21 2024 a resolution

authorizing the city of Harrisburg to

negotiate and enter into a Professional

Services agreement with revised software

systems for the purpose of redesigning

upgrading and hosting the website for

the city of

Harrisburg thank you

okay good evening everyone good evening

uh members of council uh my name is Matt

mael I'm the communications director for

the city I'm joined by procurement

manager Hillary green and deputy

director of Information Technology

Nathan grumbine uh City economic

development director Jason Graves is

also a member of our assembled team but

was not able to be with us tonight um we

are joined virtually uh by Thomas Jean

from revise we'll get him in here in uh

just a minute you do through here

okay Jared I will leave that up to

you

okay

okay he says he was in the waiting room

before

so

okay all right I uh I let him no um in

the meantime uh we did prepare a few

remarks uh for Council in regards to

resolution 21 of 2024 uh we are very

gracious that it is on the agenda for

tonight's work session and the three of

us and hopefully Mr Gan when he arrives

uh we're able to answer any questions

that you may have Harrisburg pa.gov is

the city's primary source of

communication to the public in the month

of March it was visited 45,000 times of

which there were 61,000 page views our

most visited Pages include the parking

enforcement page careers and jobs page

Bureau of codes page trash and recycling

and artsfest Pages our conversations on

seeking out the need to redesign

Harrisburg pa.gov started in August of

2023 the main issues we noticed with the

current website were slow upload speeds

a disjointed and outdated menu design

Ada accessibility which did not reach

good standards and an extreme extremely

unfriendly mobile interface for your

reference website scores are considered

good if it falls between an 80 to 100%

range the Ada accessibility for

Harrisburg pa.gov is fine at 78% however

its desktop speed is 64% mobile speed is

25% and other miscellaneous best

practices like a website Simplicity

navigation responsiveness convenience

and user friendliness that should

typically be in the 90 to 100% range are

at

75% we do not employ a web master and

since an overwhelming amount of website

upkeep fell on to me and Nate grumbine

plus it had been a few years since our

last website design we decided it best

to start from scratch and bring

Harrisburg pa.gov into a modern era with

a focus on Sleek design accessibility

and mobile priority I requested $220,000

in the communication bureau's budget to

go towards this project Hillary green

was brought into the fold and put out a

request for proposals in mid January our

RFP was open for one month and brought

in 32 hits of interest from 29 cities 15

States and Canada due to the high volume

of Interest we determined we could

narrow our focus by only moving forward

with companies with experience building

government sites a brief sidebar I need

to correct a statement I made two weeks

ago at my quarterly report president

Bowers asked me if we had looked at any

Harrisburg based companies I said there

was interest from Lower Paxton town ship

based mind bured Solutions as the only

Harrisburg company to respond to our RFP

in going back and doing research for the

presentation I discovered that one other

company notoria marketing and design

Solutions is based in Harrisburg and did

express interest in the project however

they indicated that they had no

experience with government websites and

expressed an understanding why we chose

not to move forward with them that said

we hope to find a way to work with

notoria as a local company in the future

we were able to narrow our list from 32

down to 15 potential clients of which

our group viewed one by one reviewing

their resumés and current website

designs we identified seven companies to

move forward with in an interview stage

and met virtually with each one a

handful of companies presented us with

full proposals with quotes some came in

over our $20,000 budget most met the

budget exactly and revise a minority

business Enterprise which we eventually

were unanimous in selecting them as our

Top Choice came in under budget at this

time we can address any questions that

Council may

have thank you for clarifying and

sharing that another Harrisburg based

company U was interested in this

opportunity um that's helpful I think

you also provided

background of how you guys

um decided that this was necessary I did

want to know and I know you

mentioned um during your quarterly

report that Revis is based in Troy

Michigan I just wanted to clarify that

yes

okay

um the the proposed fee is

$119,600

with a

$6,400 annual support and hosting fee um

well we have I know we you mentioned we

don't have a Web Master employed but

with the um I guess the support and

hosting fee would we have any

accessibility to assist with that or is

that

completely

um offered by revise so um revise does

offer technical support once the website

would go live it would still fall on the

people of city of Harrisburg the employe

to maintain the website one of our goals

and requests in this is that we have a

more templ templated approach to

building the website because right now

we're in WordPress things can go ride

people can make it look any way they

want um so they have the ability to

create a template that will standardize

how everything looks on the site to make

it easier for people to maintain on

their own um the the goal here was also

to find a simp

we call a CMS content management system

in the background that we can train

other people in each division so that

they can come in and update their own

sections okay the security is there in

place that they can only get to the

pages that they should be getting to and

the that was one of the main goals that

I was brought in to keep an eye on when

we were looking at Solutions was

security maintainability and everything

um revise offered a very strong solution

there and yes um the 6,000 I forget the

exact figure there

6,400 um um we do have it does have

budget um yearly for maintaining the

current website as it is so that falls

within our annual budget as well to move

forward with that support so um they

would be there technically to help us

with the hosting and everything that way

and I do believe that they do offer some

support services if we are having issues

like adding a new page and that type of

stuff as well okay and anybody can

access that support um I'm not or would

it just be funneled through it uh it

would be

funneled um whoever is going to be the

administrator on that so I'm not sure

exactly we didn't necessarily but if it

does come down to that it could take on

that onus of saying hey this needs to go

out to revise or Mt could take on that

we have those two points of contact to

say hey this needs to go to revise and

we can open that support ticket with

them okay thank you um my other question

was just timeline I see in the RFP I

think the intended deadline is September

of 2024 is that correct we initially put

September of 2024 because and Hillary

can address this because she filled out

the RFP I believe we needed to put

something in there but we are

not yeah so I actually have uh Thomas

Jean from revise on speakerphone with us

uh now um he can speak more to the

timeline of the project that he's going

to be working on uh we were looking for

some point in the fourth quarter of the

Year Loosely

okay would

who

green yeah sure I I have uh I have Tom I

have Thomas Jean from revise with us

right now Thomas can you uh hear us

you're on speaker phone in har city

council I can hear you can you all hear

me no let try try one more time can you

hear me now

yes uh president Bowers can you uh

repeat the question to Mr uh Gan about

uh the timeline yes my question was

related to the timeline I noted in the

RFP that the intended deadline was

September of

2024 so I just wanted to know if that

was accurate or if um that something has

changed on your

[Music]

end yeah um that is still possible there

are a few things that are um really up

to you all on how quickly we move

through the project um there's a few

phases where we need your approval like

the design um things like that so

September is still possible I would give

it about a 50% chance if it's if it's an

absolute requirement that we do it it

can definitely happen but certain fourth

quarter of this year is um very

reasonable and I would expect most of

our projects starting this month or next

month will easily be be live before then

so okay thank

you I don't have any other questions

I'll open the floor uh to my colleagues

who may have some additional questions

for either Mr Jean or the panel

councilwoman Daniels any questions um

so this is just web design service

basically and some and hosting um will

we as if they're doing some of the

changes and they are doing the hosting

will our staff be able to also kind of

co-

update yes so the whole premise of this

uh the RFP was that they deliver a

website to us that we would be able to

maintain as well so they're going to be

doing The Upfront lift of design coding

um which we don't have a full staff to

be able to handle that um my my plate is

completely full yes I used to do that in

the past but that it's outside the realm

of what we have the availability to do

in it nor do we have the design

expertise inhouse to be able to do

everything that revise can do for us but

the maintaining of it yes there'll be a

webcms kind of like we have WordPress

now this will be another way that we can

log in it won't be WordPress but that we

can still get in and maintain that

content and make up to the minute

updates as we need we're not going to be

reliant on them to make any of the

updates necessarily to the content in

the future um it will just be them doing

the work of converting what we already

have into a good format and cleaning it

up to make it more presentable to the

public and just this is just also

clarification so at this price point

they're not responsible for kind of

security issues and breaches right where

our department I is kind of

responsible well so that's a good

question um we will have what we can in

place to protect it but they will

ultimately be hosting the website so the

platform is based off the security of

theirs I've assessed what they've given

us against everything and the security

standards meet what we would be able to

do here in the city so I have no doubts

that the site will be secure safe and

resilient to attacks um we will still

keep the security in place that we have

in front of the website known as Cloud

fler that's a web proxy that helps block

U malicious attacks before they would

even get an attempt to attack the

website before it would get to the host

themselves okay so and then this is just

for again for personal edification do

you mind going back and reminding us who

was the company that designed this one

and how much did that cost um and I

don't have the figures oh sorry remember

sorry um the company was Gavin they are

based out of the Lancaster area um I

don't have the figures on how much we

spent on that because that was before my

time I would have to go back and find

that information out uh I believe that

website was done in 2000 or 2001 or 20

202 or

2021 calendar oh sorry 20 2017 or 2018

so it has been quite a few years since

it's been refreshed okay and that's it

for me thank

you thank you councilwoman Davis any

questions thank you president Bowers no

questions for me thank you thank you

vice president green any questions thank

you president Bowers thank you all for

being here tonight uh the one question

that I had was asked and answered

already thank

you thank you councilwoman

Ross thank you president Bowers thank

you for being here tonight just a just a

little bit more clarity on the clarity

on the security piece um as you said um

re sorry I'm going to say it wrong and I

don't want to and it's in front of

me I just couldn't

um reaz it's

called revise I'm sorry like went away

they will handle the security up front

for how long until we have to then they

we will be paying them for hosting so as

long as they are our web host they will

also be responsible for the security the

backup and all that of the website right

so I guess I'm asking I didn't see it in

here and I'm sorry if I missed it how

long will we be paying them for that um

as of right now I'm not sure that it

goes year to year so um with the with

the hosting and support so that would be

a yearly cost on top of what we're doing

right now it's committed for a year I

believe with the 20,000 that's we get a

yearly commit of pro security web

protection and then it'll be

Revisited next

year I'm just seeing how the how the

fees would go as the years sure uh I'm

I'm going to bring Mr Gan in to uh

answer that question in terms of uh what

revise would be uh ultimately

responsible for uh councilwoman RS could

you please repeat the question to Mr

Jean yes and Gan I'm sorry about

mispronouncing the name of your company

um but I was wondering Revis for I'm

guessing the first year part of the

20,000 is going to cover security for

the Harrisburg website but then after

that um what would the cost be for an

upkeep of

security sure yeah great question so we

um in our so we have a sales agreement

of course that um you may or may not

have seen but um up to four years yearly

we are um we would host it maintain it

secure it for a cost of

$6,400 per year um that'll remain flat

each year it won't go up you can also

opt out um yearly so you're not stuck

with us for four years if if you don't

like us or anything like that um so y

it'd be for at least four years we would

commit to you uh we hope you commit to

us for that long as well but you don't

have to up front so it's kind of you get

to have your cake and eat it too as they

say um also if you do happen to be with

us through the fourth year we do

redesign the site for free in that

fourth year or thereafter um so you'll

be you know refreshed at that point and

then from there you get to decide if you

want to continue with us or go year to

year at that point so um generally most

of our clients stick around for a long

time once they're in the family as we

say yeah you did get you do have your

cake and eat into with that no that

thank you very much that answered my

question thank you councilman Rodriguez

any questions yes thank you Madame

President uh thank you Jean um

Communications team it team thank you

for joining us um I guess I will um ask

Jean a few a pair of questions first um

Jean can you hear

me I can hear you yes awesome um with

the web uh hosting does that include our

URL fees our search engine optimization

fees and emails integrated as

well it does not include the emails um

you you'll continue to pay pay whoever

you're paying for those um separately um

search engine optimization we do some of

that uh automatically and then also

allow you to edit it um so the city

staff will be able to make changes to

the search engine optimization um but

I'm not sure exactly what you're

currently doing so it's going to depend

on what you're currently doing whether

we can replicate that or not the good

news with City websites is that you're

not typically com be competing with you

know hundreds of other uh city of

harrisburgers across the country so

generally you're you're still going to

be on the first page of uh of Google

honestly regardless of your website

vendor but we we do have a few uh

methods and tricks behind the scenes

that that make it better for sure I was

more um speaking gearing towards

programming and initiatives which do get

replicated so if someone wanted a

specific like City initiative and not

just like random would they be able to

input that and maybe say Allison Hill

they'd be able to know all the

programming on Allison Hill or Southside

Etc through the city not just of course

there'll only be one Harrisburg pa.gov

but I meant just the things that go with

the website search engine optimization

would really help locate that

immediately for the people that are

looking on the search engine um would

emails I guess this would be to uh Matt

or whomever would emails be something

down the line would be looking to

integrate or would we still host the

emails um in

house um I'm not exactly sure what you

mean by that so we H the email for the

city of Harrisburg is handled through U

Microsoft 365 so that is completely

separate of any website if you're

looking to do like web email forms on

the website that's a communication form

on the website but if you're talking

about the actual posting use of the

email that's all handled by it they

would have nothing to do with that yep

so when you go to the URL because we're

keeping the same URL I'm guessing

correct yes typically when you get a web

hosting that would come with a set of

maybe emails or Etc so we'll keep it

internal and still they'll be in charge

of

the.gov is that what we'll still pay

them for the dog we still we still have

the full ownership of the URL Harrisburg

pa.gov we will be directing the web

traffic to go to their server and host

from there all the email and all the

other services that we have done as of

now will remain the same and nothing

will change so it's really kind of just

designed for the most part with a little

upkeep for the most part it it's the

hosting of the actual web pages

themselves that they will be managing

everything else just like right now we

pay Gavin a hosting fee and they host

the WordPress website

so we'll be taking that off of Gavin's

plate moving that to revise and they

will be doing the hosting right

everything else stays the same as it I

only ask because traditionally with web

hosting comes emails server emails Etc

and that's that's at a lower business

level when you get to the Enterprise

level all of that is always separated

and you don't get email with hosting and

that at the Enterprise level okay okay

but it will still have to channel

through the.gov URL correct yeah nothing

will change with that because we are in

control of the Harrisburg pa.gov okay so

then we wouldn't have to worry about

email transition so then um who would

design who would approve that final

design um Mr Jean had alluded to once

the design gets approved who will make

that approval that that'll be us as a

group so uh the three of us plus uh

Jason Graves who also has experience

with the website design uh Nate here has

experience with the website design um

the four of us have

been working on this from the start uh

we think we have a nice uh Team here um

so what we will do is we will make this

as collaborative as possible but uh the

four of us will ultimately decide with

the help of uh Mr Thomas Jee here from

revise that uh what the ultimate design

will look like okay I just think because

just my idea just thinking out loud with

knowing how full some of our plates are

or already it may be a great idea to

have them like solely host is that ever

in consideration or um you would have to

keep in charge of like because of the

government emails you would have to keep

in charge of majority of

it um I'm not exactly sure what you mean

so typically it seems like they'll be

hosting but we'll still be holding on to

a lot of the responsibilities is it was

it ever being considered like to allow

we we won't ever be Outsourcing any of

the email or anything like that because

of the close coupling to all of our

security that that's all intertwined

with okay um we wouldn't want to put

that onus on a third party and things

like that right because it's all tied to

our Integrated Security on all of our

servers y so that's something that has

to stay internal yep it has to be sacred

absolutely and and then Matt um director

maelle how would this make the website

more efficient for public officials or

directors to upload maybe their event or

what they have going on or how can they

easily get that over to who would be

doing that sure so I think the main

thing that we're going to see here once

a website is designed or redesigned is

the Simplicity of navigating the website

that's the primary reason if you go

through harberg pa.gov

now sometimes it can take you three four

clicks to get to where you want to go

and even then you've got four different

Parks and Recreation Pages we've got

hundreds of broken links on the website

there's a lot of cleanup and that's

ultimately one of the impetuses why

we're doing this in the first place is

because we do not have the time or the

energy to go through every single uh bit

and clean this up uh what we'll see when

this is all said and done is an easy to

navigate clean website uh that people

can go to uh that that highlights the

city of Harrisburg and not just its

beauty but also a lot of great things

that we are doing within the city and

not trying to make it look like a

government website because a lot of

people a lot of times like the current

website can get hung up on bureaucracy

especially with the way that it's sorted

people want to you know as I mentioned

in in the report here we know the main

pages that people go to more than

anything else those typically don't

change how can we make this how can we

make those uh web pages stand out more

and make it easier for people to get to

so that they don't have to go clicking

through multiple Pages just to get to

where they want to go my apologies that

would be for the like everyday viewer

logging on I meant more from a

perspective of an elected official let's

say parks and wck has something going on

how easy will it be for maybe

councilwoman RWS to get maybe the

information for her upcoming event

uploaded into the right space so she

instead of say hey follow me on Facebook

go to the web page or the council's web

page and everything will be there do do

you mean how easy will it be for someone

like councilwoman RS to go in and post

herself or either that or to get the

information to the one posting okay that

well getting the information to someone

who's posting is will be no different

than what it currently is

um which is get the information to me or

get the information to someone in it we

post it Bing Bang Boom it's it's done uh

revise will be offering training

sessions for you know the new website

just basically

here is how to click around here's how

to post um modern updates to what we are

currently used to the posting aspect of

this uh won't be uh complicated once it

is online though it'll be a lot easier

for people to find awesome thank you no

further questions thank you yep thank

you councilman Jones any questions uh

just real quick man uh uh I I'm I'm

looking always looking at the numbers

and just like my colleagues you know I'm

a little worried about that

6400 uh price tag so one of the

questions I have um why is it four years

that we have to do there that amount of

time it takes for people to whoever's

going to take over that responsibility

to get acclimated with your

system I'm sorry could you repeat the

question one more

okay um we are not tied to four years um

we have that price lock for hosting and

support on the platform for four years

um it's yes $6,400 a year but when you

look at in terms of hosting and all that

um at a high level this is a reasonable

rate of Hosting um we could potentially

look to bring that internal but that is

then opening up our internal networks to

attacks and it's opening a hole for

cyber security attacks into the city

infrastructure so have it hosted in the

cloud like they're going to be hosting

all set some of that security cost

that's going to an onus on us so that we

can keep ourselves safer so that's one

of the nice reasons for having another

hosting provider for the website itself

instead of us taking it on because in

the end that $6,400 is a small price to

pay compared to all the additional

software monitoring and everything that

we're going to have to do to make sure

that we are not getting attacked

internally got you um thank you for that

explanation and the other thing is uh I

will say that the websites are very user

friendly I took my time I looked around

uh got on the one that you guys did out

in California um it is very user

friendly and I think I was worried about

that price tag and I said oh wait a

minute this is was cool I like the work

so that's all I have thank

you thank you there any other questions

okay seeing and hearing none thank you

very much this concludes the work of the

administration committee we will now

move to the community and economic

development committee I will defer to

our community and economic development

committee chair chair

Daniels thank you so it looks like we

have a report from the Bureau of

planning um Mr Knight if you don't mind

coming up and I understand you're just

coming returning from a break so feel

free to keep it short and just up give

us updates of or anything that has

deviated from the last report that you

provided unless other council members

have specific

worked on you with you on an issue that

they wanted you to report on sure um no

I just tried to provide a uh brief

update uh from the uh early report the

fourth quarter3 report yeah this

is

okay there we go um so this is generally

the same first slide from the earlier um

uh presentation

uh the only addition is um a notation

that we generally work with the city

Engineers office pretty closely on

Transportation related projects for

example uh I was in this morning with um

U Mr Griffin uh and our representative

from wpon gy on the maret Street Bridge

Project at the pendot headquarters so I

wanted to make sure I added that in to

kind of give some depth to what the

department does um as far as the

quarterly summary uh the first uh

quarter has been um definitely big uh

busier than um the fourth quarter of

2023 and I think generally busier than

uh uh our um quarters overall probably

in large part due to Staffing shortages

which uh you know kind of hurts the

capacity but we also seem to have just

gotten a large amount of um permits and

inquiries coming into the uh Department

which kind of portends I think um more

projects coming through throughout the

year we usually kind of see that uptick

ahead of time as people determine you

know what they're going to be doing for

the year as far as developments or you

know historic review projects um so you

know our additional projects are pretty

much the same comprehensive plan updates

uh updating Bureau applications uh just

finished uh some coordination with the

theodes bureau to update some of the

documents so that we can reduce the

overall number of documents uh and also

streamline the review process and make

sure that um prospective property owners

are getting more accurate information up

front uh on um the uh properties are

purchasing so that we don't run into

issues where um they did not get correct

information and it kind of you know

throws a wrench into whatever their

reuse or Redevelopment plans are um the

uh CRS uh uh research is kind of an

ongoing project for us uh that our urban

planner one um is kind of our Point

person on and then uh coordinating with

it and various departments like codes um

with the munus uh platform launch and

again that kind of speaks to the

coordination we had a little bit uh with

the cach bureau on those documents

because I believe they're going to be

going up maybe in May um so we're trying

to get out ahead of that uh goals for

the first quarter were largely um the

same as uh what was the final quarter of

2023 um filling the vacant positions uh

we had a an interview for the historic

preservation specialist last week um and

uh so we're expecting to make a decision

on that by the end of this week um and

uh hoping to schedule a interview for a

qualified candidate we got for the

deputy planning director position uh

still waiting to hear back from that um

the comprehensive plan documentation uh

again Distributing that to other

departments uh and then working on the

story maps for the the website um the

zoning Amendment packages uh I think I

kind of briefly touched on that in the

fourth quarter uh discussion where we're

looking at um you know the documents now

probably 15 years since it's been

developed at the end of the uh 2008 2010

uh so you know while it's I think served

us fairly well I think there's

definitely some things we can change

based on uh the projects that have come

in and kind of the way uh maybe uh the

world's changed here a little bit in the

um in the intervening years uh and we'll

be bringing those before the city

council um CRS documentation again uh

and then application documentation and

again that's an ongoing thing I think

we're making some pretty good progress

I'd like to move a little bit faster but

uh again our capacity issues are a

little bit of a um hindrance to that

uh the real big uh update here um was

for the budget spend I wanted to give

you guys uh pardon me some uh um firm

numbers on what that looks like um so

again our uh budget is primarily

Staffing uh and then the um zoning

hearing board meetings that constitutes

you know almost 90% of our budget uh and

then you kind of have a breakdown for

the Three core components of the uh

zoning hearing board uh meetings uh

which our legal advertisements our

stenographer and our solicitor uh so I

think uh those numbers kind of speak to

the fact that our reviews uh while they

haven't necessarily we haven't

necessarily been having a low volume of

them have been fairly short um so that's

kind of kept the uh cost down um on on

some of those

things uh this is um again mostly a

recitation from the uh fourth quarter

2023 presentation about what we're

looking to do uh and you know while

there has been some um again capacity

issues I think we are moving forward on

all of these fronts um just not quite as

fast as I'd

like uh and then this is kind of um an

update on uh those two uh outstanding

vacancies uh that I just noted

previously uh again this slide uh with

regard to community engagement um is

largely recitation from the fourth

quarter um you know we have seen uh some

uh um movement and progress in the uh

permitting and getting uh sorry the

applications and uh the getting new

documentation online um ongoing uh

project and uh hopefully here by the end

of April we'll have all new versions of

the application documents up we won't

have the Spanish vers language versions

up but um hopefully we'll have these new

um updated applications available for

the public and that's all we have okay

thank you so much does anyone have any

questions for Mr n

go I's have one um with your uh

community outreach and engagement this

is the only way that you're going to

reach out to the community VIA

website um I mean right now we have two

people in the department uh so we aren't

able to necessarily get out into the

community I'm hoping if we're able to

fill both of those positions I know back

when we had um uh our previous historic

preservation specialist uh historic

preservation specialist he was out at

like HHA meetings um to uh answer

questions that people who reside in

historic districts may have um and I was

able to be freed up for things like

going down to shy pooke to have

discussions with um Property Owners down

there about our flood plane program uh

so really um I think this is the primary

way we'll be in increasing our

engagement um and you know I think it's

not just updating the documents but it's

about the information we put in them as

well um because a lot of the followup

questions we get even for people within

the zoning relief for um Land

Development process

um are something that's kind of in our

applications now or in the zoning code

but it's not maybe necessarily clear

it's not right in front of them it's not

um compiled into a single place so we're

hoping by that by doing that people have

more information upfront to have those

answers that you know they might

otherwise be reaching out to us for or

you know waiting on responses for all

right so if you have those POs positions

field um can you just share with us what

that would look like with that Outreach

other than what you just explained

um well like I said I think it would

probably be um initially reaching out to

organizations um to um work with whoever

their attendees are or their membership

groups are on on things like historic

preservation um uh trainings or um Q&A

sessions uh that's that's a big one um

because we do have a lot of uh property

turnover and so people coming into the

city may not be aware of what their um

responsibilities are as far as that's

concerned um um we'd like as a big part

of the uh flood plane uh the CRS

documentation is putting together a plan

for public information uh and what that

is based on is really kind of going out

to individual communities especially

those that are within flood planes to

say you know here's what's going to

happen during a flood event in your

neighborhood or if you're in the Cameron

Street Corridor in this Corridor um

here's how we are going to let you know

here is when we're going to let you know

we'll get you know a notice of the river

crusting 5 hours before will happen so

you'll get a um you know an email or

maybe we'll have like a phone tree or

something like that um and then what the

next steps are to make sure that during

that flood event uh you're first of all

saving you know lives uh making sure

that people aren't wandering into

someplace with um you know uh down power

lines or something like that um but also

making sure we're you know preserving

property and and possessions to the mo

to the greatest extent so um you know

that might involve okay once you get a

call uh your first step is to go down

and shut off the power your next step is

to bring everything up to your second

floor so worst case scenario your first

floor gets flooded at least you know

most of the stuff most of your valuables

are out of the Harm's Way so you know I

think the direction that that engagement

goes in could um go in a lot of

directions uh based on exactly what

you're discussing and um you know kind

of what areas uh of the city you're

discussing it both geographically and

topically thank you think that's

important uh to make sure that you know

we're informing you know the residents

and the people that's uh in those areas

what to do how to do it all those things

so I just wanted to know the other than

this way of versus the the two bodies

you're down right yep all right so

hopefully you can get those position

filled but thank you I have no further

questions thank you does anyone else

have any other

questions okay thank you um next we're

going to see resolution 25 hypen 2024 um

Mr Trel do you mind reading it into the

record resolution 25 2024 a resolution

approving the preliminary final land

development plan for 1610 North Fourth

Street submitted by Midtown

Redevelopment LLC to consolidate 19

bacon parcels and constructed four-story

36 unit senior senior apartment building

with first floor commercial space along

with Associated

improvements thank you um Mr Knight if

you don't mind giving us a brief history

of uh the process and then we'll have

the applicants uh elaborate on their

application

sure so uh this uh lot consolidation and

land development plan uh is again for um

1610 North four Street which is really

just a project site comprised of uh 19

vacant lots and um some small uh public

rights of way like paper streets um

running in between these um and there is

a concurrent Street vacation uh

application process uh or application

that has been filed and we'll need to go

through uh a public hearing before city

council here um but there's no time

limit on that as opposed to uh this

application so that's why this is being

uh heard first um as noted the uh

project is going to be a four-story um

building uh kind of in an L-shaped um

along both I believe with frontages on

both Clinton Street and North Fourth

Street um the frontage along North

Fourth stre Street will feature um I

think it's I don't know that it's been

reserved for any particular business

it's kind of uh commercial space SL uh

potentially community space depending on

what the applicants end up doing with

the space and then there there's an

access to a first floor uh garage um off

of Clinton Street uh the project also

has another Associated accessory parking

lot uh just to the West uh bounding this

project site that's accessible directly

from Logan Street um and uh above that

there will be the 36 um senior

apartments um on site uh and so um as

part of this process uh the applicants

also needed to secure zoning relief um

for things like setback encroachment and

uh the proposed use um and the

applicants did receive that uh in late

2022 um so the applicants have their

zoning relief in hand um and now again

they're bringing both the uh Street

vacation process uh and or Street

vacation application and the uh lot

consolidation and Land Development uh

plan application before city council

here uh as far as uh the resolution from

the Harrisburg Planning Commission uh

the Planning Commission uh recommended

uh by a unanimous vote uh that city

council approved the request uh with the

following conditions um the applicant

providing a formal photometric plan uh

to confirm consistency with the

environmental performance standards and

7331 of the zoning code um the applicant

is install will install a VAR facade

treatment similar to that submitted with

the current application document so uh

the initial um rendering of the project

was a little bit kind of plain and being

that it's uh a you know larger building

um within the context of this block and

uh kind of this street uh we wanted to

make sure that the building as best as

possible Blended in uh with the kind of

row home uh streetscape uh of the block

to the North and South here so the

design that the applicants have uh does

do that it kind of does a little bit of

a I think ephus and brick um uh uh

alternating pattern so it kind of has

the appearance of row homes just a a

story uh taller than the surrounding

properties uh parking lot curb cuts are

going to feature a driveway access

points as opposed to Street cuts and

that just means that um the access

points are brought up to the level of

the sidewalk so it slows Vehicles as

they go in and out um ensuring again uh

better pedestrian safety um the

applicants will coordinate with the

Department of Public Works to confirm

the size and location of The Refuge

collection on site and update the

billing accounts obviously with a new

development on vacant land we want to

make sure that uh the um the refug

containers can handle the load and that

the city's DPW trash trucks can access

uh the uh trash containers whatever they

may be um so we just always encourage uh

applicants to work directly with the DPW

to make sure that that that's uh done to

their standards uh the applicant will

coordinate with the City Arborist on the

species of trees and installation of

appropriately sized and located tree

pits and they are uh proposing um

sidewalk tree pits along North Fourth

Street uh the applicant uh the plan

Bureau recommends the applicant consider

incorporating Community benefits um on

the properties to which the access

walkway will run uh onto Harris Street

um so there's a small bit of uh there's

two narrow Lots at the southern end of

this project site that go through from

the center of the block um to uh Harris

Street and has a little proposed walkway

and we just want to make sure that's

filled with something other than just a

grassy lawn so that uh again there are

benefits um to the public whether that's

storm water management or um you know

pollinator plants or something like that

um and then finally uh the applicant

will receive city council approval of

the associated Street vacation request

uh the Planning Commission recommends um

by unanimous vote that the city council

approve the request for the following

reasons the applicant has received

approval from the zoning hearing board

for the various zoning relief requests

needed to effectuate the project as

proposed and as concurrently submitted

the street vacation application

necessary to consolidate the Lots uh

approval of the proposal will not alter

the essential character of the

neighborhood which features other mixed

use and medium density apartments and

will bring benefits by developing long

vacant Lots meeting pedestrian bicycle

bicyclist and Driver needs by installing

and improving sidewalks uh incorporating

bike storage and providing sufficient

off street parking for residents uh the

project the proposed project will

provide much needed senior housing units

for the community while also increasing

the customer base for local businesses

and providing space uh for new small

businesses the proposed project will

have a minimal impact on the existing

off street parking apply given that one

off street parking space will be

provided for each proposed unit with

available guest spaces on site as well

and finally The Proposal will add new

units to the neighborhood and activate

the street and surrounding community on

nights and weekends and contribute to a

growing customer base to support local

businesses thank you um and from the lob

are there anytime sensibility

sensitivities related to this

ordinance This Land Development

yeah as of right now

do you know that do you know that they C

Jeff yeah I'm not TR the top my head I

think he's right I want to say like May

18th or something like that that range

so there is there is a date it's just

because it one

tomorrow

okay thank you um so if the applicants

could please introduce yourselves and

give us a sense of the project that

you're trying to work on yeah good

evening um Matthew fer with RJ fish

Associates here um representing the

design engineer for the project um I

thought Mr Knight gave a pretty thorough

overview of everything um regarding the

parking breakdown um 12 of the parking

spaces are going to be kind of a surface

lot outside of the building first floor

first level parking under the building

will be about 30 spaces um there are a

number of unopened unimproved um alley

rways going through the project uh we

have submitted the paperwork to uh

vacate those rways um Matt long has held

uh two community outreach meetings on

that too with uh the neighbors as well

so you can speak a little more to the

attending to that and came up to

that um we're in a receipt of the

comments from both the city

crw um and the Conservation District we

don't have any issues complying with any

of the comments and conditions

placed by the Planning

Commission with that I'd uh open coun

for any questions and if Matt wants that

anything that de yep uh just uh noting

again this is the 36 unit Senior Living

U this has the parking on the first

floor primarily was the surface parking

lot as Matt said um

Ander any questions and then this is

just for to help me visually of the 19

Lots it looks like a lot of the area is

cleared out out of the 19 Lots how many

of them have structures on them or do

any of them have structures on okay so

it is that okay okay and that's it for

me I'll open up to council elstar to my

far left councilman Jones Thank You

councilwoman Daniels um I have a couple

questions uh when you talk about uh the

senior living um what type of amenities

what type of festivities will be

provided for them um in that area is

very limited things for them to do so

when we look at we thinking about our

seniors we don't want them to just be in

a nice place but we want them to be able

to do something as well so what what do

you have yep absolutely uh so this

project is actually part of a four-part

project um a few of the council members

were here we had phase one about a year

and a half two years ago um that

incorporates a community center on the

first floor um and then this one will

have retail commercial spaces fronting

along for Street inside the building

itself there'll be the community space

on each floor uh there'll be a makeshift

not makeshift gym um there'll be it's

not I don't want to call it a full gym

but it's going to be a gym for the

tenants uh this is going to be you know

active Senior Living this isn't going to

be assisted or anything that way uh but

additionally with the next two phases

that are coming down the line here uh

they Encompass a lot of the area around

there and there'll be U several

amenities being added with commercial

retail spaces and everything to kind of

help this project as well all right um

and um one of the other things I see you

guys checked a lot of the boxes maybe I

missed something uh you checked a lot of

everybody checked off and said every

every all this is a goal one of the

things I didn't hear though um Community

uh approval you guys have reached out in

that community in that area to see if

this is something yeah you know so so

since uh the beginning of this proposal

started in

2021 early

2021 um specifically on this building

we've had eight we so we had two

meetings in reference to the U Street

vacations the paper Alle that go on here

uh but addition to that we had six other

community outreach sessions that touched

on this building and the project the

larger project as a whole uh and also um

I believe it was the sometime in 2020 we

presented to city council here uh we had

a breakdown of each phase that included

this went through it we tried to reach

out to um you know any of the nonprofits

in the area um and just have several

Community a session okay um so they how

were they I mean they felt that this is

something that yep and these have gone

on um we've had uh public comment at all

the Planning Commission hearings uh the

zoning hearings and everything that way

W see okay uh my other question would be

um when you say there would be a limited

effect on the parking you know this is a

huge issue in the city of Harrisburg so

what limited effect do you think that

this will have in that area well we

figured with we have more parking than

there are Apartments there and with this

being Senior Living we're not expecting

every person to have two vehicles um the

breakdown of the apartments is one and

two bedrooms um I'm what I mean

specifically is for the residents around

this project so if you look at Fourth

Street now there this is all vacant land

there's no parking on that side if you

go down you'll see a few uh until you

get farther down four street so any I

don't think it's going to have a large

effect on the parking in that area

because there is nothing in that area

it's it's widely vacant okay last

question um I hear a lot of um uh retail

space in uh

uh commercial um things of that nature

have you reached out into or do you plan

to reach out into this community would

this project create any jobs in this

community would would any local vendors

be utilized in the construction process

a absolutely um so as I gave U about two

years ago when I presented to council uh

we always reach out the city first uh

that we're based in the city the the

Builder is based in the city the

developer is based in the city as well

uh we always always reach out um and

have several pre bid conferences we

don't just do the you know the general

template of okay we posted it on a board

we try to have as many community

outreach sessions on the bidding process

as well so you have a list of uh local

vendors or something like that all right

I would love to see take a look at that

if you can share that with me I would

love to see that I think my council

members would also love to see that

thank you on on that I'd like to note uh

when we met in uh 2020 and presented I

actually bought some of the contractors

that were City based uh with to discuss

their involvement on prior projects and

of course they' be involved in these on

I appreciate you doing that a lot of

people are building in this uh community

and um there's some jobs needed around

here so we would love to help our

community share in the growth of the

city so I love to see what you have I

appreciate you no further questions

thank you cman

Rodriguez thank you madam chair um thank

you all for joining us this evening I

just have to ask e this very sentiment

from councilman Jones um being MBE wbe

specific um are is that included in the

list that you were given um is that a

list that you might need again uh

updated we have and we uh continually

update as much as possible uh one of the

things we addressed before is the

Builder component of this has always

exceeded 20% at least U minority

participation on any of these projects

um I don't think we'll ever going to get

under that threshold and again when we

had met in 22 to present all four phases

um you know the members that we bought

with the contractors that we use often

um are you know the ones we had we had

City Base we had minority contractors

with and we always reached out to them

first uh there's been several projects

that we've had uh certain phases of

projects that we've took on on other

developments where we've met or exceeded

uh we had um one phase of a project on

six and qu where we exceeded 90% City

based employment on that base awesome

awesome if there ever is a need um feel

free to contact director Singleton um

our Dei department and he can get you

updated list if need be um then

also I don't mean to sound like a broken

record I I know you had mentioned

community outreach and approval and when

the question was asked as far as their

reception you have kind of alluded back

to the hearings that take place in this

building but I guess uh and he had

stepped out for a minute but I always

like to be very specific at those events

or at those community-driven events what

was the participation like was there

comments made by the public at those

specific events what was it like five or

six people just like hey we need this so

uh to give a kind of breakdown in 21 and

22 and even into 23 uh we had uh met

with uh friends in Midtown and Mac those

are the two local that have the

jurisdiction that area um and hosted

events with them uh hail on to co we did

virtual events uh we had public popup uh

sessions where we actually went out to

every location that we were proposing to

build had the boards out put the tent up

uh welcome to anyone we had visitors

sign in I know at one of those events we

had well over 100 signatures we've kind

of submitted those throughout the

process uh we've had uh presentations at

historic Harrisburg um we've tried to

check any box and get as much

involvement and every one of them is a

Q&A and we typically print out packets

that they can take with them we've had

several people before you know they take

the packet and they'll email they'll ask

their questions we'll respond uh and you

know sometimes we've had some that will

come we've had few that come to every

single meeting and it's been a continual

dialogue and as Jeff would test to you

know there's been back and forth with

the community we've altered the

appearance of the buildings we've other

buildings not this building in

particular but we've cut down you know

height restrictions and stuff to bring

them down so there's definitely been

some back and forth a little wiggle room

move it here change it there that's what

I was looking for that the community

itself actually has Insight actually has

a little bit of say so and you guys I

mean um Communications there's a little

bit of feedback on my mic if you have an

opportunity to adjust thank you um but

just your ability to be transparent and

just really flow about the convers I

really appreciate it so no further

questions thank you thank you

councilwoman

R thank you very much um councilwoman

Daniels and thank you for being here

tonight sorry if it wasn't too close

enough for me well one thank you for

your um participation with the MB and WB

um Enterprises um before the question

was asked I did see that you said you um

like to have at least 20% so um thank

you I love the 90% but um 20 thank you

again um I just had a few questions um

one what will the timeline be on this

project kind of from start to finish

roughly so uh the overall construction

is an 18 months construction um now the

actual breaking ground we haven't sent a

tenative date because we're we're just

submitting plans on phase one to the

codes Bureau this week um there was a

lot of back and forth with a lot

consolidations on that and it got tied

up in Dolphin County Assessor for over a

year so I don't want to publicly say

we're going to break around this year

and then we can't get through the

paperwork within this this year even

okay no thank you for that additive I

don't I know I didn't know that so it it

allows me to see what the timeline is um

my other question was once the um

apartments are finished and yes we do

need affordable housing for our senior

citizens here um what will the pricing

and advertisement look like for those um

individuals so this is 55 plus the

expectation is that most are going to be

on a fixed income so it's going to be

fall close to the fair market rents okay

and how will you advertise or well that

that's not really up to you that's not

your part correct uh so there will be a

management company for the building that

uh Works in senior housing and that you

know they go through their normal right

that's what I thought okay thank you and

um how many apartments will be 8

accessible uh I believe almost all of

them will have other I couldn't find

that in here so that's why I wanted to

ask okay so almost all

of know type A or B ad

accessible okay thank you um yeah that

was all of my questions thank you very

much okay thank you president Bowers I

don't have any questions thank you

president uh vice president

green thank you thank you for being here

tonight um I don't really have any

question on this thank you councilwoman

Davis thank you councilwoman Daniels

thank you for being here this

evening uh

so this is Senior

Living these uh seniors are this will

not be an an assisted living facility

correct okay so the seniors are they're

uh independent it's kind of Independent

Living okay um would like also to

connect with Mr Carl Singleton in

reference to the wbe that component um

is very important as uh you know the

council member

mentioned typically when you're building

I'm assuming this isn't your first

project are you notifying the community

uh and how do you notify the community

when you're going to start yep uh so

what we've done and we gone through the

typical bid sites procore uh smart bid

the Dodge reports and everything that

way but we've also gone as far typically

any

job Facebook um different uh Community

um like historic Harrisburg we've used

them as a kind of a posting place um

reached out and again we have a u

catalog of MBE and wbe contractors that

we notify each time would it be too much

to ask that you send a flyer to the

residents in that area letting them know

the date and the time that you're going

to start I know construction starts very

early in the morning because it's

happening in my neighborhood right now

6:30 7:00 in the morning and it can be

very

disturbing to the

community um but it's helpful and

considerate I think that you know when

you send something out uh a letter or a

flyer to each you know member in that

Community um i' would appreciate

that the let's see here

uh I think that's all for me thank you

madam chair I had one more question go

ahead thank you um as far as security

once this is said and done how will you

guys either upscale the security in the

area or enhance the building um to make

it more safe for the seniors um so this

is even majority of the parking is

self-contained and it's kind it's it's

one big L shape and it takes up the

whole area um you know there will be a

security staff there'll be cameras above

and beyond it we got asked that question

at uh I believe it was the first zoning

hearing board that we went to and I mean

we can do as much as that's possible

just with the security camera

with yeah we had spoken about in other

projects the possibility of maybe a

small substation in the area or in the

facility itself I would encourage you to

definitely talk to Public Safety or

Captain um someone to see if even that

would be an option just to make sure we

put a tighter sale on the area after

development that would be amazing um

also uh with the WB MBE inclusion did

you consider using any local union um

laborers in the from the area uh so we

always reach out um we haven't got much

response in the past on other projects

but we always solicit to them okay and

just just on that was the substation

mentioned that uh not a project that we

developed but a project we assisted with

uh one uh Blake Lynch was here uh we had

met with Blake and commissioner Carter

about the possibility of a substation

when we working on that project so

familiar with yes that I think that

would be a great um addition plus if I

can get in contact with one of you

gentlemen I do know a few local unions

that hire young minorities from the area

that would probably be a great addition

to the

project yeah what would probably be the

easiest way to get back in contact with

one of you gentlemen send you my contact

person thank you um no further questions

manager I just have one is there a

visual I was just wondering of what this

may look like I didn't in the paperwork

it's like black and white it was like I

mean I only really saw the vacant lot I

was just wondering if it's not it's okay

it was more of like measurements and a

blueprint yeah I needed yeah I couldn't

really see what it was going to look

like if it's it's not a requirement on

here I just and you don't have to give

it to me that could be something you

could email

us that's what I was asking to see if

there was a

3D it just helps me see it thank you and

Miss Dez had a question thank you

councilwoman Daniels and this me this

question is for director Knight just

because I'm curious I don't know um are

there any has there been a time when you

have two groups uh bidding or interested

in the same uh parcel for development

Land Development and how do you handle

that with uh not usually we usually get

uh I guess the process the project comes

to us after somebody secured uh

ownership so if there's a bidding

between them between two parties uh we

won't usually hear about it till

somebody secur the site and then is

ready to move forward with the

proposal thank you no further questions

councilwoman Davis that's more of an

event that happens with the Harrisburg

Development Authority but they're the

one when they're putting together a

project and I think part of this project

had two competing entities way back when

was for the first time in a long time um

so but that's really where that comes

from because they're they hold those

blocks of land um you know when they

have uh become vake so okay thank you

very much that was helpful okay thank

you and are you on a time constraint or

are you still going through some of the

other processes that would you be okay

with us putting this not on tomorrow's

agenda but two weeks well

that's okay so as long as we're within

that time frame then I I'd rather Rec

I'd recommend that we put it on the

agenda

for I think your next voting session is

May 14th yeah and if the if the deemed I

mean either ways it will be deemed

approve or I so I will note this just

because the last condition in this

particular Land Development plan

actually is a street vacation so that's

still going to come back to council

under chapter

9117 so the council will get to see this

project Pro a little bit more you know

as that comes down um and and there are

a few I to Dot and t t i to Dot and T to

cross before that can come down here so

the 14th is beyond I don't know I don't

have

the if you want to use that dat yeah

that's we'll Grant the extension thank

you I appreciate that awesome and and

yes so what's the next legislative

session May 14th okay so I recommend

that we add this to the May 14th agenda

okay thank you um and then just uh for

community and economic development

committee business um we're getting

ready to um begin the cdbg process and

if there's any organization here I see

some organizations that have questions

about the contract for the 2022 year

just know that theyve um sent inquiries

about that and as soon as I get feedback

for that I will get back to you that's

it for me thank you thank you before we

move to budget and finance I failed to

move resolution 21 of 2024 to our next

legislative session agenda for a vote

next we have budget and finance

committee I will defer to our budget and

finance committee chair vice president

green thank you president Bowers uh for

the budget and finance committee we'll

be discussing resolution 24 of 2024 a

resolution approving the third proposed

2024 budget reallocation in order to

appropriate certain monies locally

designated as re Revenue replacement

funding through an award under the

American rescue plan act to provide for

specified projects and who from the city

will be presenting

this there were people here earlier

good evening if you all could introduce

yourselves um and your relation to the

project and then just go over whatever

presentation you

have Kevin Sanders parks recreation

manager Sasha Rose deputy director

Parks David B can you guys hear me this

David Baker uh facilities

director let me get this PowerPoint

started for you guys can you hear me

okay in the speaker it's a little low

all right so I have handouts uh for

Council if you guys would like

them thank

you this go up there on it's

up yeah

thank

you is that big enough for you guys or

do you want full screen on there there

it is is it okay it's full screen now so

it's better oh okay

magic all right so in front of you we

have a uh a proposal request EST uh for

a $2 million uh portion of an $8 million

total project and the $2 million ask is

to fund the uh Hall Manor Redevelopment

project phase one of two and to fund the

Jackson lick uh maintenance and upkeep

to get the pool open for this summer

season uh for the home Miner project you

can see we're requesting .945 million

and Jackson lick uh we'd like to divide

out of that $255,000

for the hall Miner pool the breakdown

for the 1.94 five million for phase one

would be for Professional Services we're

asking for

$700,000 uh that would entail our

engineering uh Consulting uh

architectural Environmental Studies and

other things such as those uh you see

some pictures of some generic uh pool

deconstruction uh for the demo work uh

the demo and site prep we're estimating

around $220,000

that would be removing uh all existing

uh buildings material Plumbing utilities

and Hauling them off

site um the utilities would be all the

main sewer laterals uh poble water

electricity and any other items needed

for the utilities uh for the structure

um the average unknowns we're giving

ourselves for the entirety of the

project would be a little over

$200,000 uh the earthw work and um storm

Water Maintenance side of things if a

retention Pond is told you know we're

told we're needed something along those

lines we're estimating around

$100,000 site Improvement would be after

the demolition work has been done that's

estimated to be around $100,000 that

would be to uh make sure there's no uh

runoff issues irrigation issues we don't

have any bug population problems uh

receding and then if we were to move

forward with the entire project the

filter house has an estimated $210,000

cost to it

the second phase of this project would

be for the remaining $6 million um below

here are some of the possibilities that

we could put into uh this structure

these are all options um the pool would

be completely Ada accessible uh the

activity pool would be for all ages uh

the new pool house would allow showering

changing areas uh everything would be

new up to date we'd have a Zero Entry

pool uh that would allow you to wheel a

wheelchair or any wheeled item straight

from the pool deck into the pool or body

of water itself uh we'd have water

features as a possibility um the spray

amenities we'd have uh completely Ada

and all ability able um the parking area

itself you'd be able to park unload and

then wheel right from the parking area

into the um the water features

themselves and then obviously uh another

possibility would be a small business

incubator whether we do food trucks or

something from local business local

businesses could come by um just as

different options and things we could

supply to the public

there uh before you here is a um kind of

a a

condensed um schedule we can show you it

gives you a little visual visualization

of the processes that we have to go

through uh this is somewhat high level

but it does color code and show how long

we expect this project to take it's

going to to be estimated to be a little

bit over two years for the entirety of

the project um and there there are

obviously lots of variables but you can

see each phase of the project here so if

you have any questions about

that uh so the next project we have on

here this is for Jackson lick um this

shows you we're planning on doing a lot

of In-House repairs to Jackson lick

minus the expansion joint replacement um

we'll actually be doing inhouse work to

do the pool shell epoxy uh to do any and

all necessary Plumbing upgrades or needs

in the the shower rooms uh the roofing

will be outsourced but as you can see

the the list of things on here we plan

on doing inhouse just because of our our

time constraints we really need to get

moving on this as soon as we are

allocated funding for

this and then here is a uh calendar that

shows you the timeline in which we're uh

going to be facing to get these items

completed so we can get the pool

open and then our last slide here it

kind of shows you a solid representation

of the project in its entirety you can

see the um $8 million as a total High

chart here uh $2 million is over to the

right and you can see each individual

area that it's broken down into and what

we'll be spending those funds on

thank you very much anything else for

your

presentation uh just um

anything you would like to add um just

that everything all these things are

contingent they're all estimates uh

they're not factual it's just these are

estimates okay things are subject to

change all right thank you um I do have

I guess a couple of small well big

questions to start with um as far as the

numbers so I think the document that is

posted

online um one is requesting the entire 8

million not 2 million and it shows

Jackson l pool repair is at

350,000 there was an amended version

that came down last night um right but

on the website that like still posted

for the public like on

ecodes it's still showing the old

version yeah so it's not hyperlink to

that agenda but if you go on ecodes

you'll see resolution 24 amended okay

all right because I thought I had gotten

the version with the 55,000 so it

surprised me when I saw the 350,000

version so the correct numbers will be

55,000 for the Jackson lick repairs and

then

1.94 five million for the South Hall

Manor pool repairs or phase one yes

okay all right and then the total

request is just for the 2 million or

it's for the 8 million with 6 million

being air marked so the total request is

for an $8 million uh amount but that's

just to be earmarked for the pool repair

or rebuild in itself so it doesn't get

used for other items we'll just be

requesting the use of a $2 million

allotment uh once we get all of our

engineering um you know information back

we get all the Environmental Studies

back and we actually see what's

underneath the pool shell itself we'll

know how and if we can move forward with

these projects we can also then bring

back all of our um our renderings that

we'll be receiving from The Architects

and share them with Council and make

sure that everything is is on par and

looking the way you guys want it to

before we move forward with any sort of

construction

itself okay so and the resolution what

it does with the 6 million it actually

allocates it for the first time and puts

it in a restricted fund for capital

projects limited to the pool so

basically it's not there now council

could undo that in the future but right

now that's where it would go so it's

clear it's not still in the arpa pile at

that point it's in a restricted fund

directed for the

pool for future use all right thank you

um at the moment I don't have any other

questions I'm going to open it up to my

colleagues I'm going to start to my uh

immediate right with councilwoman

Davis thank you vice president green can

you just explain to the public what the

filter houses you have a a lot of

$210,000 what is a fil your house so it

would be a structure solely

um solely there just to make sure that

we keep whatever type of water is

running through these structures clean

so whether it be like a sand based

filter it runs a chlorination system um

it's going to be to recirculate the

existing water that we have and then to

add new water and chemicals into the

water that's going in there to keep

everything clean and sanitary

sanitary thank thank you no further

questions thank you president

Bowers I think I have two questions but

I may have more so I'm I guess my first

question is

um is related to the design we keep

going back to this design and all of

these things the spray park we've been

crystal

clear the people and Council don't want

that we want to Simply replace repair

and replace the South Harrisburg pool so

that's one thing the second thing

um the Jackson Lake project for this

year

uh I'm I guess I'm

just wondering

um what's the urgency to date to utilize

These funds

uh so to repair the Jackson lck pool

this year we've we've dropped the number

down to $55,000 so the reason we're

trying to get it from this money is so

we we have that to to fix the pool with

and just the back story to that is if we

can get through another year we're

hoping that then we can use our earmark

cdbg CV funds for Jackson lick to do a

complete rebuild to that pool as well so

that's a $5 million um pot of money we

have earmarked for that pool through

cdbg CV funding so as far as the urgency

we just need to to utilize the fund so

we can keep it up and running at this

point and the condition it's in it

wouldn't be feasible to allow the public

in the pool or you know physically

possible as far as keeping it up and

running and I could give you some

context if you wish Madam president sure

so we we received this award for the 5

million and at the time of the budget it

was anticipated that we would be

proceeding faster than we can there's a

legal tie up with the property okay um

which is stopping us from

starting okay yeah and so they did not

put the money to do this immediate

opening in the budget because the

anticipation was we'd be Full Tilt with

the 5 million million okay and then when

they mayor originally discussed the 350

the first version you saw when the

analysis came down and they can David

and Sasha can correct me if I'm wrong

that put the opening of the pool with

the 350 in late August if we did all

that so basically the kids would have no

pool for the whole summer so that's why

it's this version um of doing this

portion of it having a pool for the

summer and then hopefully by the end of

the summer the other legal issues

resolved and they can move forward um

with the uh $5 million to do the upgrade

they're supposed to do a Jackson

link thank you for the clarity sir I

don't think I have any other questions