Harrisburg City Council Legislative Session - September 24th 2024

we are going to host our legislative

caucus and then our legislative session

will follow

immediately I will call the meeting to

order Mr trusdale will lead our roll

call the invocation will be led by

councilwoman Daniels if she is able to

join virtually in time if not I will

leave the invocation in her absence the

Pledge of Allegiance will be led by vice

president green for communications this

evening we are joined by John J

ski ski Skil ski I will always call you

ski so I apologize if I said your last

name wrong who serves as president and

CEO of Harrisburg Area Community College

we are recognizing their 60th

anniversary

we will then open the floor for Courtesy

of the floor followed by the approval of

minutes for the legislative session that

occurred on September 10th

2024 then we will have reports of

committees uh I will deliver the first

report on behalf of the administration

committee on the work session of

September 17th

2024 next I will deliver uh the on

behalf of chair Daniels our community

and economic development committee chair

uh report on the work session of

September 17

2024 next you will hear from chair RW on

behalf of the parks recreation and

enrichment committee on the work session

of September 17

2024 and I will deliver a very brief

report on behalf of chair

Rodriguez and the Public Works committee

on the work session of September 17 2024

in his absence we do not have any

ordinances for first reading ordinances

for Amendment or ordinances for final

passage we will then move to resolutions

we have resolution 54 of 2024 which we

will vote upon resolution 55 of 2024

which we will vote upon resolution 57 of

2024 which we will vote upon and

resolution 58 of 2024 which we will vote

upon resolution 59 of 2024 will move to

the administration committee resolution

60 of 2024 will move to the budget and

finance committee resolution 61 of 2024

will move to the public works committee

and resolution 62 of

2024 will also move to the public works

committee is there any old business for

disc discussion council

members no any new

business no okay then we will

adjourn we

are

okay all right so the time is 6:04 p.m.

I will officially call our legislative

session to

order Mr trale could you please call the

role Miss

Daniels Miss Davis present Miss green

present Mr Jones here Miss Rose present

Mr

Rodriguez Miss Bowers present thank you

please note for the meeting record that

both councilwoman Daniels and councilman

Rodriguez are excused this evening

just a note before we continue with our

meeting agenda uh we are experiencing

some technical difficulties with Channel

20 for anybody that is trying to view

there uh you will have to view uh on

YouTube um however the meeting video

will be available and broadcasted on

channel 20 tomorrow so I just wanted to

note

that uh in councilwoman Daniel's absence

I will lead the invocation

um if everyone could please join me in a

moment of silence for all of the bered

families within the city of

Harrisburg our children and youth and um

please just join me in a moment of

silence for for peace in our

city thank you the Pledge of Allegiance

will be led by vice president green

FL un

States thank you vice president green

for communications this evening we are

joined by Dr ski president and CEO of

Harrisburg area Community

College thank you madam president and

good evening everyone it is such a joy

to see you Jared thanks for inviting us

to celebrate our favorite Community

College can I just start out real quick

by asking I hope you give me a little

privilege how many of you either

attended or graduated from

hack okay good we'll make sure you get a

t-shirt than you're going that's right

we'll get you one too anyway I just I

really want to celebrate the college it

is our 60th Year we're the oldest

community College in the Commonwealth of

Pennsylvania we are also the largest in

Pennsylvania and we believe and I'm sure

you do as well we're the finest in

Pennsylvania and so uh we really do

appreciate this opportunity to celebrate

60 years we have over 100,000 alumni in

our entire service region as you may

know Harrisburg was the first of the

five campuses and it is still our

largest campus serving obviously the

Harrisburg Area three ities Perry

Cumberland and dolin really maintain

presence there while the other campuses

at Gettysburg Lebanon Lancaster and York

take care of those communities but for

tonight the most important is our

Harrisburg campus uh one of the things

that uh is a little trivia for you you

wonder what's the average age of a

community college student well it's

24 and what we have is we have 75%

nearly 75% of all our students close to

20,000 students are working part-time

and as you may know

66% of all the students that are coming

to heck are female and we have 33% of

all our students students of color bip

Puck we're the there our largest

transfer institutions may be to organ

institutions you went to Millersville is

number one Penn State Harrisburg is

number two and number three is

Shippensburg those are the top three

transfer institutions uh of the college

now programming we have the large

largest nursing program in the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania the largest

and the best is that right thank you

very much um it is the largest and our

Pass rates are are exceptional um our

nursing students are really coveted by

many of the hospitals and rehab centers

around so that is something that we are

very very proud about uh the next part

has to do with Workforce Development we

are very engaged with business and

industry and so we're providing all

types of training to businesses in our

area we work closely with Harrisburg

High School through dual enrollment so

there's Juniors and seniors in high

school many of them are taking classes

with us as Juniors and seniors and we

have a very good working relationship

with Harrisburg University where many of

our students do transfer including many

of our nursing students because of their

fine nursing program as well so there

are some real ties we are the largest

provider of first responder training in

central Pennsylvania so as you know off

of 81 if you see the buildings and all

we're doing fire police training um

paramedic EMT EMS just an unbelievable

facility and I would love to invite you

to come so we could give you a tour uh

of the facility if time allows whenever

just please reach out to

me as I come to the end what I wanted to

say is that our Midtown Center we own

the building on Fourth and Riley and in

that facility is is welding robotics me

mechatronics HVAC and a variety of other

programs and the second floor is where

we do our GED and ESL training so I hope

that this brief presentation will allow

you to see that we do offer a lot of

training and education from Cradle to

grave we like to say so we work with

young parents to help them or we provide

senior education as well we do have two

institutions on our haris campus Lock

Haven university has their physicians

assistant program on our campus and

Leadership Harrisburg just moved into

one of our buildings as well so again we

are so grateful we have this opportunity

to kind of talk a little about our

favorite Community College and if

there's any way that you can come on

campus or or have any questions feel

free always to ask and I'm open to any

questions that you may have now of your

favorite Community College thank you

very much does anyone have any

questions um well thank you so much for

coming tonight and um presenting all of

the great facts about hack it's

definitely a staple in our community I

don't have any questions but my aunt

attended hack um before she went to

Temple and from what I know she was the

first Miss hack when it happened so

great um so that's a fun things they

talk about that a lot so that's great so

thank you for welcome talking I was just

in event on Sunday and it was

interesting I met several couples who

met at hack and married at hack back in

the

day wow yes Mr ski thank you um I I

don't have any questions either I just

uh sharing the sentiments of council Wen

RW um you guys are really a fixture in

our community um I see a lot of the work

that you're doing um and I appreciate

your involvement of making yourself

accessible to this community I see you

everywhere all the events always

promoting keep my eyes on you sir yeah

that's right all of the uh events and

and they're important um and it's good

to know that Lock Haven has a chapter

down here one of my sons graduated from

there um but I just appreciate the uh

the work that you are putting out there

and and making it available to the

residents here um in the city of

Harrisburg and we continue to watch you

grow and support um all your endeavors

and that's all I have you know that

education is the transforming power so

we're trying to to make it accessible

for everyone we like to say we're the

onramp to higher

education thank you any other

questions okay that's fine you don't

have questions just a comment to say

thank you for coming and um I am alumni

from hack I'm I'm glad to know that the

Physicians assistance program is there

because I know a couple people were

interested in that leg there so I'll

probably be reaching out to you for for

more information but thank you again for

coming nice to see you thank you very

much yes thank you all for what you're

doing as

well thank you I do have a proclamation

if you wouldn't mind indulging me for a

few minutes appreciate that the city of

Harrisburg Pennsylvania office of city

council and office of city

clerk Proclamation whereas the city of

Harrisburg applauds the Harrisburg area

Community college or hack for their

dedicated service to the city of

Harrisburg and the greater Harrisburg

area for 60 years and whereas Harrisburg

Area Community College was founded on

February 14th

1964 hack is the First Community College

in Pennsylvania hack holds the

distinction as the largest and oldest

Community College in Pennsylvania and

whereas hack offers more than 100

programs across five campuses and online

through various fields of study

including Arts and Humanities business

and

Hospitality engineering technology

English General Studies health careers

legal and Public Safety math and

computer technology science social

science trades and technology and

whereas hack is the home of the Rose

lman Arts Center which includes two

theaters the rose lman art gallery and

classrooms and facilities for theater

music and Fine Art and whereas hack

offers interc Colgate Sports Esports

Student Activities programming student

leadership opportunities Intercultural

programs volunteer opportunities and

Civic engagement and whereas hack boasts

more than

110,000 alumni across the globe and now

therefore be it hereby proclaimed that

Harrisburg city council commends hack

for their dedication to higher education

and be it further Proclaim that

Harrisburg city council wishes to extend

best wishes for a successful 60th

anniversary

celebration signed and attested in the

city of Harrisburg Pennsylvania Michael

J Parker city clerk Danielle El Bowers

Harrisburg city council if you wouldn't

mind joining us for a photo I know you

love a photo op Dr ski thank

you for

what not

going for

okay thank you we will now move forward

with our agenda as printed we will now

move to Courtesy of the floor just a few

housekeeping notes before we begin if

you wouldn't mind stating your name and

your address for the meeting record if

you don't feel comfortable sharing your

address please share the vicinity in

which you live within the city you will

have 4 minutes to share your comments Mr

trusdale will serve as our timekeeper

and I'll begin to my right is there

anyone that would like to offer public

comment seeing and hearing no one anyone

in the middle

section okay seeing and hearing no one

anyone's my

left seeing and hearing no one one we

will move forward with the approval of

minutes for the legislative session that

occurred on September 10th

2024 council members are there any

revisions to those meeting

minutes okay seeing in hearing none the

minutes stand approved we will now move

to reports of

committees I will deliver the first

report on behalf of the administration

committee on the work session that

occurred on September 7 17

2024 on Tuesday September 17th 2024 the

administration committee met to discuss

two resolutions resolution 44 of

2024 a resolution appointing Miss Elaine

Barber to serve on the board of

directors of Capitol region water and

Municipal

Authority and resolution 49 of

2024 a resolution appointing Connie Z

igler to serve on the Harrisburg

Architectural Review Board of the city

of

Harrisburg Miss Barbara was present to

answer any questions council members had

for her Miss Barbara introduced herself

she is currently employed by asme local

labor union an active member in the

community and a member of Harris am zign

Church council members asked the

following questions what impact do you

hope to have or make as a member member

of the Capitol region water board of

directors how did you learn of the

position what is your interest in

serving are there any conflicts of

interest have you toured crw any idea of

the scope of work of the board and then

there was a recusal question Miss

Barbara replied that she believes that

she will be able to make an impact as a

resident she was approached regarding

the board vacancy she has toward some

part

but she has spent more time in the

administra administration

building she has asked about the scope

of work of the board but she hasn't

received any clear answers Miss Barbara

has no known conflicts of interest

councilman Rodriguez inquired about

recusing himself from the vote given his

community work with as there were

comments made related to the reading of

water bills uh residents knowing the

difference between an estimate reading

and an actual reading and cleanliness of

water and other environmental

factors Miss Ziggler was present to

answer any questions council members had

as well uh she introduced herself as a

new Resident to the city of Harrisburg

as of April

2024 Miss Ziggler has been working in

the preservation field for 34 years she

even has an Instagram page dedicated to

Historic preservation

council members ask the following

questions what impact do you hope to

make as a member of

har how did you find out about the board

and which historic district is your

favorite Miss Ziggler shared that she is

involved in all aspects of preservation

and she's worked in the past to save

buildings she believes preservation is

personal to her she found the board by

doing her own research on the city's

website and simply submitted her res

she believes she has experience in a

narrow field and feels she could be an

asset her favorite historic district is

along the sasquan river in the Midtown

area both resolutions were tabled and

will remain in

committee statements of financial

interest are required to be filed within

the city clerk and City Council Office

for 10 days prior to any action being

being taken by Council

as a result no action will be taken on

either resolution this

evening this concludes the

administration committee

report next I will deliver the community

and economic development committee

report on behalf of chair Daniels on the

work session of September 17th

2024 before the community and economic

development committee um was resolution

57 of

2024 a resolution approving the

preliminary and final subdivision plan

for 1529 South 13 Street submitted by

Jean and Jim Spagnola to separate the

existing parcel into three individual

lots for each of the three residences on

site um Mr Jeffrey night planning

director was present on behalf of the

administration to answer any questions

council members had he provided an

overview of the uh resolution noting

that um it was a the goal was to

subdivide a parcel into three family

homes um the applicant and another

representative were present noting that

this was just a simple plan um no

demolition was really needed and and

this uh subdivi division of into three

family homes would make the properties

um more viable to sell council members

asked the qual the following questions

there was a clarifying question asked

related

to the one parcel being divided into

three separate Lots um and then there

would be of course three separate

addresses as a result so that was

clarification that was needed uh there

was a question regarding taxes would

taxes be the same um so yes three owners

would then have three separate um taxes

that they're responsible for um once

approved so next steps uh would taxes be

attached so that was a follow-up

question solicitor Grover responded um

that the Dolphin County Tax Assessor's

office would have three separate tax

bases um due to the three separate

parcels and there is off street

parking I would recommend uh support of

resolution 57 of

2024 um as it seemed pretty

straightforward held no punches and

council members seem to um be supportive

of the measure and the uh division into

three separate residences so so this

concludes uh the report for the

community and economic development

committee the next report you will hear

will be shared by chair Ros on behalf of

the parks recreation and enrichment

committee on the work session of

September 17

2024 thank you president Bowers good

evening everyone here and

online uh resolution 54 of

2024 is a resolution ratifying the

professional service agreement with

stall and Sheffer engineering to provide

Engineering Services for improvements

and facility upgrades to the city-owned

stadium currently known as FNB field was

discussed director Baker and deputy

director Deb Reinhardt were present to

provide insights director Baker

explained that this resolution this

ratification is necessary due to time

constraints and work that has already

been compl completed notably four large

potholes at FNB fi required filling

which was executed by uh stall and sheer

engineering consequently a payment

approval of $

7,985 is needed director Baker also

highlighted that stall and Sheffer was

were selected due to their prior

knowledge of the project and having

conducted geothermic work during the

pre-construction phase of FNB fied

questions raised were why were our

skilled city workers who regularly

perform pothole filling not utilized for

the task why is the cost for filling for

pothole so high if uh the company could

have just used the city's equipment and

why aren't representatives from uing Co

and Alexandri and Co present at Council

meetings when discussing projects they

manage responses to those questions were

our city work workers were unable to

perform the required work at fnba

Stadium because they do not have

equipment that accurately accesses the

death of the potholes additionally while

the equipment may share the same name it

is not it is different types it has

different types of

capabilities uh represent representation

from ying and Cole and Alexander and

Cole are not at C meetings is

unknown next resolution 58 of 20

24 was presented which is a resolution

ratifying the city of harrisburg's

acceptance of a federal financial

assistance Award of $2 million under the

inflation reduction act awarded by the

United States Department of Agriculture

through US Forest Services service for

the Harrisburg tree investment

project Cody Harrisburg City's tree

Forester provided further details

regarding ing resolution 58 he explained

that this project aims to enhance

harrisburg's shade tree shade tree

program by offering new tree inventory

pruning Services tree removal assistance

and replanting of Street trees ensuring

minimum long-term impact on residents to

accept the award the city must enter

into a long-term Grant agreement with

the US Forest Service Cody also

mentioned that a per portion of the

funds will beow AED for conducting a

tree inventory and providing access to

tree pruning

software questions raised were the

following how can we identify which

trees are native and how will the funds

be used for outreach and what will

Outreach activities look like responses

to council members questions were as

followed a street tree list is available

on our website detailing which trees are

native to the area a community outreach

Forester has recently been hired and it

is anticipated that she will conduct

Hands-On activities with students in

schools and hold informational sessions

within the community I am asking my

fellow council members to vote Yes on

both resolutions 54 and 58 and that

concludes the business for the parks and

recck and enrichment Department thank

you thank

you the final report you will hear this

evening I will deliver on behalf of

chair Rodriguez our Public Works

committee chair in his absence on the

work session of September 17th

2024 on Tuesday September 17th 2024 the

Public Works committee met to discuss

one resolution resolution 55 of

2024 a resolution of the Council of the

city of Harrisburg authorizing and

appointing Joel ciders city engineer as

the city of harrisburg's designed to

execute any forms documents contracts

and reimbursement agreements in the

Pennsylvania Department of

transportations electronic engineering

and construction management system and

reimbursement Agreement System uh

council members didn't have any

questions we've gone through um

designating uh individuals uh to serve

as the electronic um

um executor for documents and forms in

the past so there were no questions

asked as a result I would ask uh for

support of resolution 55 of

2024 uh to ensure that the city of

Harrisburg um is represented and has

designation and can formally execute any

forms documents contracts and

reimbursement agreements in the pendi

electronic engineering and construction

management system and reimbursement

Agreement System so this concludes uh

the Public Works committee

report we will now move forward with our

meeting agenda we do not have any

ordinances for first reading ordinances

for Amendment or ordinances for final

passage we will move to resolutions the

first resolution for consideration is

resolution 54 of 2024 Mr trusdale could

you please read it into the record res

resolution 54 2024 a resolution

ratifying the Professional Services

agreement with stall schaer engineering

to provide certain Engineering Services

for improvements and facility upgrades

to the city-owned stadium presently

known as FNB field thank you council

members are there any questions comments

or concerns related to resolution 54 of

2024 okay seeing and hearing them Mr

trusdale could you please call the vote

Miss

Davis Miss

yes Mr Jones yay Miss rolls yes Miss

Bowers yes resolution 54 2024 passes by

vote of 5 to zero thank you next we have

resolution 55 of 2024 Mr trusdale could

you please read it into the

record resolution 55 2024 a resolution

of the Council of the city of Harrisburg

authorizing and appointing Joel S city

engineer as the city of Harrisburg

design to execute any forms documents

contracts and reimbursement agreements

in the Pennsylvania Department of

transportation's electronic engineering

and construction management system and

reimbursement Agreement System thank you

council members are there any questions

comments or concerns related to

resolution 55 of

2024 okay seeing and hearing now Mr

trale could you please call the vote

Miss Davis yes Miss Green

yes Mr Jones yay Miss rolls yes Miss

Bowers yes resolution 55 2024 passes by

vote of 5 to zero thank you next we have

resolution 57 of 2024 Mr trusdale could

you please read it into the record

resolution 57 2024 a resolution

approving the preliminary slf final

subdivision plan for 1529 South 13 stre

submitted by Jean and Jim spagnolo to

separate the existing parcel into three

individual lots for each of the three

residents on site thank you council

members are there any questions comments

or concerns councilman Jones yes thank

you uh president Bowers but um I heard

you say in your report did we get a

response about um would those taxes be

there immediately or no just but I guess

upon selling but would they be built

moving forward

development plan gets filed with the

county it'll be a process to get it on

the public record over there and once

they do that I can't tell you how long

it takes for the parcel numbers to come

because that's controlled by the county

but that activity will then trigger a

new bill so that's it

okay okay any other questions comments

or concerns related to resolution 57 of

2024 okay seeing and hearing them Mr

trusdale could you please call the vote

Miss Davis yes Miss green yes Mr Jones

yay Miss rolls yes Miss Bowers yes

resolution 57 2024 passes by vote of 5

to

zero thank you next we have resolution

58 of 2024 Mr trusdale could you please

read it into the

record resolution 58 2024 a resolution

ratifying the city of harrisburg's

acceptance of a federal financial

assistance Award of $2 million under the

inflation reduction Act made by the

United States Department of Agriculture

through the US Forest Service for the

city or for the Harrisburg tree

investment

project thank you council members are

there any questions comments or concerns

related to resolution 58 of

2024 seeing and hearing none Mr trusdale

could you please call the vote Miss

Davis yes Miss green yes Mr Jones yay

Miss Rose yes Miss bers yes resolution

58 2024 passes by vote of 5 to zero

thank

you next we have resolution 59 of 2024

Mr trusdale could you please read it

into the record resolution 59 2024 a

resolution recommending the appointment

of Mr Joel ciders to serve on the Tri

County Regional Planning Commission for

a 2-year term thankk you madam chair if

I may yes um could I suggest that you

suspend the rules and vote on this one

because this is a multi-layer thing and

we've had each of our engineers in this

role in the past and the county we can't

get a vote with the county with the seat

until they vote so it has to go from

this board to a vote over there and

you've just heard from Mr Sor that's

past week and he's here tonight if you

want to have any other further questions

okay I wasn't aware that it was time

sensitive so no it's not really it's

that we just won't have a vote until we

have a seat filled okay you know so the

city it's good to have a vote when you

have a vote so okay well I'll entertain

a motion to suspend the rules for

discussion so moved thank you is there a

second second thank you if you wouldn't

mind joining us

good evening good evening thanks for

being here

tonight okay

so one second

okay just for everyone's

reference um the Tri County Regional

Planning Commission was established in

1966 by the Cumberland dolphin and Perry

County Boards of

Commissioners um as permitted under the

Pennsylvania municipalities planning

code the

tcpc is comprised of 19 members

including one representative from each

County Board of Commissioners four

members from each of the dolin and Perry

County Planning commissions one at large

member from dolphin and Perry County to

represent the entirety of the county and

the remaining seven members are

appointed based upon recommendations

from the local governments of the

regional planning areas which include

the city of

Harrisburg so Mr ciders our city

engineer is uh recommended for

appointment to serve on the Tri County

Regional Commission

for a 2year

term I think we're well aware of I don't

think we need an introduction at this

point but I guess what do you think that

what value do you believe that you will

be able to bring um to the tri count

Regional Planning

Commission so the Tri County Regional

Planning Commission kind of uh directs

federal funds for transportation

projects

um being the city engineer I have a good

understanding of what the what the city

needs I also have 20 years of experience

in the transportation engineering field

and I I think that kind

of kind of sells itself almost where you

can I know what

they're shooting for I can kind of

direct them towards what the city

needs I've also worked with u penda is

also

part of that U not part of the

commission but they they do work in the

region with with the

commission okay well thank you I'll open

the floor um to my colleagues who may

have some additional questions for you

I'll begin with councilman Jones any

questions uh thank you president BS no

no questions um you have a very good

resume and pretty familiar with some of

the things you do so thank you thank you

councilwoman RS any questions um good

evening Mr cider thank you president

Bowers um same sentiments I don't really

have any questions I think one we do

need representation on any board we can

get any representation on especially

when it deals with um pots of money or

projects that can come to the city and

with you being the city engineer I think

that's pretty straightforward and the

experience you have and I think the time

you take with the city already um and

the well the job you're doing so um no

no questions okay thank you you vice

president green any questions thank you

very much I don't have any questions for

you it seems to be pretty simple thank

you councilwoman Davis any questions

thank you president bow no questions

okay well thank you for being here I

will entertain a motion to resume our

legislative

session so move is there second second

thank you so before us we have

resolution 59 of

2024 Mr trale could you please read it

into the record one final

time resolution 59 2024 a resolution

recommending the appointment of Mr Joel

cers to serve on the Tri County Regional

Planning Commission for a two-year term

thank you council members are there any

final questions comments or concerns

related to resolution 59 of

2024 okay seeing and hearing none Mr

trusdale could you please call the

vote Miss Davis yes Miss

green yes Mr Jones yay Miss rolls yes

Miss Bowers yes resolution 59 2024

passes by a vote of 5 to zero thank you

next we have resolution 60 of 2024 Mr

trale could you please read it into the

record resolution 60 2024 a resolution

authorizing the city of Harrisburg to

amend its Professional Services

agreement with M duel C for the purpose

of providing additional audit

preparation services to the city of

Harrisburg thank you resolution 60 of

2024 will move to the budget and finance

committee next we have resolution 61 of

2024 Mr trale could you please read it

into the record resolution 61 2024 a

resolution authorizing the submission of

a dolphin County local share Municipal

Grant application of up to

$300,000 to fund the purchase and in

sttion of a new salt dome for the public

works facility thank you resolution 61

of 2024 will move to the public works

committee our final resolution uh this

evening is resolution 62 of

2024 Mr trusdale could you please read

it into the record resolution 62 2024 a

resolution ratifying a United States

Department of Transportation Safe

Streets and roads for all Grant

application and authorizing the city of

Harrisburg to execute any agreements

forms and documents related to the award

of

$955,000

to implement traffic signal timing in

the downtown area thank you resolution

62 of 2024 will also move to the public

works committee is there any old

Business Council

Members okay seeing and hearing none any

new

business okay seeing and hearing none

the time is 6:4 33 p.m. I will entertain

a motion to adjourn so move is there a

second second thank you we stand a

journ e