Policy Work Session - 02/26/2025

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time is 5:43 p.m. I would like to

officially call our policy work session

to

order Mr trusdale could you please call

the role Miss

Daniels Miss

Davis Miss

green Mr

Jones Miss

rolls Mr Rodriguez present

Miss

Bowers present thank you uh please note

for the record uh as you heard vice

president green is joining us virtually

uh councilman Jones councilwoman Davis

and councilwoman Daniels are all excused

this

evening um I'll begin with just

introducing our uh discussion topic for

tonight uh it's around Workforce

Development um we are joined by uh the

site director for the center for

employment opportunities also known as

CEO Miss Kia

Hansard Kelly MGO uh she serves as the

Director of the Dolphin County

Department of solid waste management and

recycling Tom Rivera who serves as the

Pennsylvania eastern regional field

coordinator for asme Council 13 and a

city city solicitor uh Mr Neil Grover um

I will defer to our Public Works

committee chair chair councilman

Rodriguez to lead our discussion but I

did want to note before we begin um that

our policy work sessions are always

educational informative um and we are in

no way um

affirming Contracting or an agreement

with CEO um but we are hopeful that it

is something perhaps after learning more

about the organization and the work that

you're already doing throughout Dolphin

County that the city of Harrisburg may

be interested in moving forward with so

councilman Rodriguez thank you Madame

President um thank you all for joining

us this evening uh all familiar faces so

great seeing you all again um I was

introduced to to work of CEO a few years

back and I was just inspired on how we

can be um proactive in giving

re-entrance and you know just another

chance to stop recidivism and you know

just just give an extra heave ho when

it's really time to do so um I work very

closely with director West and a lot of

the work we do in the city but it's

never enough we always need extra hands

we always need whether it's um out of

operational time or OT time or weekends

when we don't have our normal labor

staff um my hopes is maybe we can find a

way where we can partner or perhaps

contract with CEO and and give the city

extra hands whether it's with blight or

uh illegal dumping or I mean there's so

many things it's fast and various but I

wanted to start um with Miss K Kia

hanser who is the site director for the

center for employment and opportunities

CEO um Miss Kia if you wanted to just

give a overview of what you do at CEO

and just about CEO and general for us

yes all right good evening thank you so

much for having us we are excited um to

be here uh so just to give you um some

context uh American prisons and jails

hold over 2.1 million individuals at any

given time and almost every one of these

individuals ual will return to their

Community this amounts to 10 million

individuals returning home to their

communities from state and federal

prisons and local jails each year many

of whom possess nothing but the clothes

on their back when they walk out in that

crucial time following their release

they're expected to reintegrate into

society and become productive citizens

on paper getting a job a place to live

and a car seemed like easy tasks to

accomplish However the fact that 77% of

released prisoners are rearrested within

5 years proves

otherwise once an individual re-enters

Society their likelihood of becoming a

contributing member of their Community

is dependent on whether they can secure

meaningful employment find a place to

live and have the education and skills

necessary to advance in life CEO the

largest re-entry organization in the

country helps men and women returning

from State Correctional institutions

establish a life not defined by their

convictions so CEO uh was uh founded in

New York City uh in

1996 uh we found that what we were doing

worked well and if we replicated our

model in other places would we have the

same success uh so we came to Dolphin

County in 2017 and I like to think we're

doing a pretty good job in Dolphin

County uh the way in which um

participants come to us they are

referred to us either by a parole agent

or a probation officer or it could be by

Word of Mouth we get a lot of walk-ins

um off the street they might have heard

about us through a friend uh or maybe a

probation officer or or parole agent

might have just um told them you know go

down to CEO see if they can you know

help you

out the first phase of our program is uh

a job Readiness phase where we have U

what is called p2e it's Pathways to

employment it is a 2day

orientation phase uh it is a paid

orientation during that orientation we

cover a lot of information uh we do life

skills training we do cognitive

behavioral therapy activities we talk

about how to answer the conviction

question because we want them to be

honest but that doesn't necessarily mean

you need to put everything out on the

table either

um we also talk about financial

empowerment you're now going to be

making money so we want to make sure

that they're going to be good stewards

of their resources once they complete

orientation what sets us apart from

other Workforce Development programs is

we provide them with immediate

transitional

employment that is key to reducing

recidivism people commit crime because

they need money let let's be clear so we

have have to provide meaningful

employment to people that are coming

home and I think we can all agree that

there are not enough employers that are

doing that so the way in which we're

able to do that is by having

Partnerships with whether it be

governmental agencies local

municipalities such as Dolphin County

whom we love very much and we love

you

um

businesses uh where we go go there and

do whatever scope of work is identified

so we currently partner with Dolphin

County uh Harrisburg Housing Authority

York housing authority and Dolphin

County Housing

Authority so this is a way for our

participants obviously not only to earn

a living but also to gain those hard

skills that are necessary to maintain

employment somewhere down the line

because a lot of our participants have

been incarcerated a very long time or

may um be in a situation where maybe

they've never been employed this might

be their very first job um so you know

keeping that in mind you know this is

hands-on experience for a lot of these

men and women um for instance we have a

a woman in our program now who served 32

years in Muny it's a long time right um

but you know she's in our program she's

working and she loves it um prior to

coming to she wasn't able to find

employment so programs like hours are

needed in this

community so while they are working on

our transitional work crew they are

coming into our office for vocational

appointments so they work four days a

week that fifth day they're coming into

the office for that vocational

appointment during that time we're

helping them create their resumes we're

doing mock interviews we're working

through whatever barriers might be

present that would prevent them from uh

being able to be employed full-time so

whether that be substance abuse issues

um if they need mental health treatment

if there are child care barriers

whatever those things may be whatever

barriers might be present we're going to

help you through those things because

again those things need to be addressed

we want to resolve all of those issues

so that when that full-time permanent

opportunity presents itself you're going

to be ready for it

we have a business account manager on

staff who is developing relationships

with Employers in our community we are

very thoughtful about the employers that

we're building relationships um there

are a lot of employers that say oh yeah

you know we hire people with backgrounds

but what happens they hire them two

weeks later background comes back they

reneg on offer that person's out of

employment again so we're very

thoughtful about

you know who we partner with because we

don't want to set our participants up

for failure uh so when our participants

find fulltime employment uh they then go

into what's called retention services so

we we follow our participants for

another year um so they continue to work

with us um we check in with them on a

monthly basis during that retention year

just to make sure things are still going

well if a barrier might present itself

um we will assist so maybe maybe they

get behind in their rent um maybe

there's a child care issue maybe there's

a crisis whatever uh may present itself

if we're in a position to help we're

going to do that because again the goal

is to keep you

employed and ensure you don't go back to

prison or jail but during that year they

can earn monetary incentives from us for

maintaining their employment so they can

earn up to an additional $500 from us um

for keeping their jobs so it's kind of

like free money uh so that's kind of

what we do uh in a nutshell the other

thing I do want to mention too is uh we

Pro we provide our participants prepaid

debit cards so they are paid daily that

is a blessing and a

curse uh because our participants they

like having money every day so it's you

know it's hard to get accustomed to um

getting used to getting a bi-weekly pay

as opposed to a daily pay but um it IT

addresses an immediate need because now

you know they're able to begin to pay On

Their fines and costs provide for

themselves and um provide for their

family so um the reason we are here we

are located in

Harrisburg makes the most sense that we

partner with the city uh the majority of

our participants live here um the

majority of them

that while they may not be from here

have the intention of staying here um

why not have them invest in this

community where they plan to stay um

restorative justice giving back to the

community um where they live so my hope

is you know what comes out of this is a

beautiful

partnership thank you thank you that was

very informative um does your colleague

want to share anything from his

experiences he's nervous just

introduction so this so this is Al

Alonzo Piper he is our social Enterprise

Manager so he is he supervises all of

our transitional work Crews so we

currently have six transitional work

Crews between all of our partners so

he's the guy to make sure make sure uh

that all of our crews get where they

need to go that they have all the

equipment that they need to have and

that our uh

supervisors uh are there and ensure that

our partici ipants uh get to and from

work safely

awesome thank you for that um so before

we uh go to Miss Kelly on just

experiences and uh how you guys work and

collaborate together um I'll give

Council a moment to see if they have any

questions for you directly uh start with

Madame

President uh thank you thank you for the

information that you shared um so I see

here that well no that you um contract

with both philadel Adelphia and

Pittsburgh um and the number of

participants um has increased it seems

in both cities uh since uh 2015 and

2016 So currently there are over

764 participants in

Harrisburg that's how many we've served

since we've opened since 2017 okay and

then

152 I served last year correct okay all

right well I don't have any immediate

questions I am curious to learn um more

about the partnership with Dolphin

County um so I that's all I have thank

you U Madam vice

president thank you very much good

evening and thank you guys for being

here um I know that you said that most

of the participants are from um federal

or state penitentiaries is there any way

that we could include like County

penitentiaries County jails just because

I know a lot of residents Paris end up

going back and forth between County jail

and they have the same issue of not

never get a job um and it's not programs

directed towards them oh absolutely so

uh on a regular basis I do presentations

at Dolphin County Prison have a really

good relationship with Warden Briggs in

addition to uh director Matt Miller at

work release we get referrals from U

Dolphin County work releasee center on a

consistent basis so we do accept people

on County Probation as well

okay that's good to know thank you

that's the only question I have right

now awesome uh councilwoman Ross good

evening everyone thank you for being

here excuse my tardiness um I was being

a mommy before I got here so um but um

no thank you for the presentation there

was a lot of information I definitely

would like to see how it works within

Dolphin County to get um a bigger view

of it I just had one small question I

know um a lot of individuals when they

do go to um even County prisons or state

one of the biggest issues is the

substance abuse and you did touch on it

a little bit and when they come back

into that same environment that's your

biggest test um I feel like sometimes to

to see if if you're going to continue to

make it out here or you return um what

can you just touch on a little bit like

how you all kind of counter that um to

just try to help them not um relapse in

in that

area so we we do have a Supportive

Services um component to what we do so

while we focus primarily on Workforce

Development um we realize that we have

to take a holistic approach to the work

that we do there there's no uh way

around that uh so in those instances

where we've had people that struggle

with substance abuse um if it is a

situation where this person has

disclosed um that they struggle with it

um and are not seeking treatment for it

um we definitely make referrals um for

that person and ensure that they follow

through on those referrals um if it's a

situation where um maybe they're um I

don't want to say shy but um intimidated

by um going to that service provider we

will accompany that person good um

because a lot of times uh we may be the

only support system that person has

especially if this person um is a

transplant um CEO might be the the only

family um he or she has so we do not

take that relationship lightly um so we

are going to ensure that not only do we

make the appropriate referrals um but

that um services are rendered and if

they aren't then I'm going to be making

calls to find out why they haven't been

rendered I know you

are yeah we we want our participants um

to be healthy yes um outside of you know

being a productive employee we want them

to be healthy period I love that thank

you so much that's it for me thank you

councilwoman RS all right so moving

forward um we will turn it over to the

director of Dolphin County Department of

solid waste management and recycling

Miss Kelly Miss Kelly how you doing good

how are you my on yes

um you

want oh yes that make it yeah there we

go make it a bit easier all right

perfect if you wanted to give um um your

synopsis on the relationship between um

the center and CEO and the work that's

been accomplished and current excuse me

current contract and things that you

guys are currently working on that would

be great yes so we have had a

relationship with CEO since July 10th

2023 and we started out with one crew of

eight participants and one crew leader I

believe and um now we're up to two Crews

uh so 16 participants a day two crew

leaders and it's been very it's been a

blessing for my department um we try to

help out and support our municipalities

and we understand that illegal dumping

obviously is an issue in the city we

work with Dave uh and Kevin all the time

as well in public works so um it just

was a perfect union so we are able to

every every day this is how it works um

the CEO

participants and supervisors meet at CEO

and then they arrive at our facility

every day at 8:30 a.m. or by 8:30 and

the two crew leaders um will come in and

they'll talk to our enforcement officer

our department has two Enforcement

Officers one that works directly with um

Dave's department and then uh one that

is for the other 39 municipalities so

that gentleman is responsible

for the CEO groups and he will um talk

to our other Enforcement Officers so if

they're aware of any um issues in the

city if there's like a little hot spot

that they can clean up then that's where

they go out and they clean it up we do

also have um an agreement with lax swama

Lancaster County Solid Waste Authority

for free disposal for this program and

um through our keep Dolphin County

beautiful affiliation we're now able to

um secure free supplies um as often as

we need them so we have the um garbage

bags um vests gloves and uh so just to

try to keep them with some PPE but since

um our relationship began in July of

20123 they have collected 45.8 tons so

if you I mean it may not sound like a

lot in the scheme of things but when you

think about 16 people out in the city

just picking up trash with litter

Pickers and putting in a trash bag every

day that's a lot of trash so I'm very

proud of the work that they do and um we

were actually able to hire one of the uh

crew leaders in our department so um you

know we like to see it come around full

circle because we want to be able to

help them out as well if we can and then

we were able to get another participant

hired at a company that works on our

recycling trucks so as a me as you know

I don't know what he does there but

something in the mechanic area so it's

just um it's good to see the the

participants come through um most I

really can't say I've met any of them

that don't want to do better for

themselves so I know that picking up

trash really isn't um very glorious or

you know uh a fun thing for them to do

but I think it's a great project for

them because it shows that they can

learn discipline and you know just

because you go to a job and you may not

like the duty you're still fulfilling

that obligation and so it shows

responsibility and due diligence which

appreciate thank you for that and you're

welc sounds like transitional

opportunities are right there so you

know upon re-entry work hard and then

you can transition to a full you know

benefit type of package type of deal

with maybe perhaps that could be p in

the sky for the city you know something

that really are dedicated and want to

pursue come right on that that sounds

amazing um so once again I'll open it

back up Madam president thank you um I

was wondering if you could please speak

to um the funding for this initiative

how is it funded

yes I will have to actually defer to Kia

because I was not involved in the

contract initially thank you you're

welcome okay so we applied for funding

through

pccd uh so we receive uh violence

intervention prevention funding through

pccd uh which pays um for our crews um

that we operate for the county

awesome thank you

all right that oh that was all Madam

president yes okay Madam vice

president I don't have any questions

right now I

had all right perfect councilwoman Ross

yeah same for me I was wondering about

funding so it's already been there and

then I'm pretty sure there's a vast

amount of Grants and opportunities out

there where this can relate to and we

could work with Miss vulmer and get

creative and you know figure it out um

especially with the wide diaspora of

work that it covers so I'm pretty sure

um and something that we could figure

out um so going right into our Union

considerations and labor impact Mr Tom

Rivera the PA eastern regional field

coordinator for asme Council 13 how you

doing Mr Riv good I'd like to say thank

you for inviting me absolutely taking

our folks into consideration here miss

key I appreciate the work that you and

your and your company's doing I think

it's

outstanding um unfortunately I don't

think my story will be as uplifting as

what we've heard so far right um um but

I don't want to be an obstacle more than

I have to be right so essentially you

know we represent all non-uniformed

employees in the city right so

essentially everything that's not done

from a confidential a

supervisor that's our bargaining unit

work right recognized as the exclusive

bargaining representative and all those

good things that I'm sure that you're

all aware of so I think from where I

stand um the only obstacle that that's

in front of me is making sure that

anything that were to transpire from any

kind of agreement moving forward with

CEO is that there's no duplication of

our work right I mean the work that's

the work that's covered by as bargaining

unit should remain this is not should

not be a means to avoiding

overtime uh scheduling weekend work

things of that nature so um I think it's

a tremendous program I think you deserve

uh humongous congratulations for the

work that you've already done and you

continue to do um again I I if there's a

place in the city that makes sense for

abs me it's not affected affecting our

folks you

know I would be in support right but um

obviously um what is in mind for what

needs to be done I think that really you

know what what's in consideration for

these folks to do within the city limits

is

is is what's going to probably dictate

you know where we go where the union

goes from here right so again I can't

express enough my concern about you know

the bargaining unit work stays in house

um but again I don't want to be too much

of a downer here right but but um that's

that's where we are MH so and I think um

that was the whole goal of actually

having you here too to see if you saw

any conflicts of interest that was I

know huge um concern of the Mayors and

the administration so we just want to

make sure we're being fair and equal for

all across the board and doing

everything in accordance and correctly

and if you saw any conflicts would you

be able to bring those up or um what we

should perhaps stay away from or what

would be you know considered great to go

after right I think I think those

answers could be I think those questions

could be answered a little further down

the road when we kind of identify what

work we're looking at here right um and

again I Ral you know me I'm going to be

straightforward absolutely and um you

know if if it makes sense it makes sense

if it doesn't I'll speak my mind for our

members right absolutely but again you

know I appreciate the work that you all

do our relationship with the

city has always been phenomenal Mr

Grover Mr West I appreciate everything

you all do for our members and the and

the residents of the city so thank you

yeah absolutely um Madam president any

questions from Mr Rivera no I don't

think I have any immediate questions I

would be curious to learn um where this

would be a good fit if it's not um

within Public Works is there another

space that could work um that would not

impact uh the bargaining work so that's

all that's the

question Matt um you had a Qui yeah I

just had a quick comment um so in in

other other um places that we've

contracted um this issue has come up

before and I I just want this to be on

the record that our intent is never to

um take work away from the you know

people in the union um our intent is to

support um the union workers um there

there's a lot of work to be done in the

city and whatever we can do to lighten

their load that is our hope um so I

don't I don't want you guys to think

that you know we're coming in to try to

take anyone's job that is not our intent

you know whatever we can do to help is

that is the

intent and I I no I I meant No Malice in

my statement No I just want you just for

the record just to have it on the record

yeah I appreciate that I appreciate that

awesome uh Madam vice

president thank you very much um just a

question more for the administration we

do contracts with outside agencies to do

things like maintain different lots and

other jobs at the time that's correct

right we we do put some things out for

bid that there is not enough manpower to

do and I'm sitting here trying to think

about that list as as everyone was

talking um but yeah there there there we

do things for like snow removal which we

do not have enough manpower for for

certain lot maintenance for certain tree

trimming you know and if you really

think about Rank and file you know we

even have sometimes cars have to go back

to dealers even though we have mechanics

and because of the warranties related to

but so the devil's always in details

right that's that's where it's at

so that was that was all

okay outside

contuse yeah they'll vary year to year

but we can get you a good example of the

different things we've done and every

one of those goes to an askme Labor

Management meeting we go down and we

talk about you know what what the

funding is what the need is and and

those type of things so uh the

administration both administrations I've

been in they try to get that information

to ask me first and have a have a you

know a direct discussion about do you

see this as taking on your work you know

and uh and sometimes the answer is yes

that's our work sometimes the answer is

you know that that's that that that we

can work with that

so is that

fair so no yeah again communication has

been outstanding since I've been a part

of representing the folks in

with with the leadership here

and we work well

absolutely mad vice president all

done just one more

questiones that

departments

may I I don't think there's any One path

it's it's assignment specific what need

is identified right and and sometimes it

comes in the course of planning a budget

sometimes it comes in the course of a

grand opportunity and that they can come

from almost any direction eventually it

ends up on the mayor's

desk all right thank you that's um

that's all my questions all right thank

you councilwoman

Ross I no I don't have any questions

that question um that vice president

green asked was kind of what I was

thinking too I know we do have things

out um for bid such as the Lots or snow

removal so I think it's a way to get

creative as long as all of our

communication stay open and transparent

I don't see any issue so and I I agree

um the union that's our brothers and

sisters so I by no mean have any attempt

to impede I just see it as a

supplemental initiative that we can get

to more you know that we don't uh

originally can get to or filter out but

um no thank you thank you for that and

now we'll move forward with legal

considerations uh Mr Neil Grover our

city solicitor and uh if if the chair

would indulge me I actually to ask a

couple questions make to make it uh some

clarity you talked about that you have

Crews for they're helping with

sanitation and there's three office in

state are there Crews that do other

things so what scope of whatever scope

of work is identified is identified by

the crew partner okay so we can do other

things so yeah so it's not just that

right correct right so that's and that

that part of the imagination is what are

the needs at a given time it may not

just be we already have enough guys out

there doing sanitation right now but is

there some other need we're not

fulfilling which kind of goes to that

you know we contract out the the fields

being cut you know we we do we you know

um we have 27 parks and playgrounds um

there's a lot of things now that's

that's ask me work but it just depends

on that the funding source can matter

that's a legal consideration and you

were saying that you get it through a

grant program so does Dolphin County get

the grant or does your organization get

the gr who applies for it who processes

it we applied for the grant right so

that that is also consideration because

that is a different scenario than the

city funding against its asme workers if

like we're using the tax dollars we have

we don't have access to the funds that a

third part is bringing so that again

devil will be in details you how you

work through it that's that's how it is

we would you know and we would take it

to asby but uh the um I'm

sure you could bring most directors in

and they would have a list of things

they'd love to do extra they can't do

and the question is what all bound by

here is the tax revenue that pays our

employees here and so if there's an

extra resource which is if and if you

think you design this the right way you

could have an extra it's an extra

Resource as opposed to taking the

resources and redirecting them you know

um and it doesn't mean we don't have a

contribution to it somehow um the uh and

then there's the ability to work with

other public entities in partnership

with this as well I mean so there's a

lot of there's a lot there I mean I

think the I think we would be

Administration will always start with

ask me like this is what the

possibilities are the mayor's office

would identify needs through her through

her offices of what's not being served

and I think frankly the mayor and all of

you who get the phone calls I'm glad I

don't get them know what people are

calling about that we can't get to right

I mean and there is things we can't get

to um and uh so it's really going to be

down to the the mechanics of that um and

uh uh but yeah so we we we you know to

me the one that comes to mind most

clearly that this parallels is the tree

work we do with grants and the demo work

we do with grants you know we we we we

have a demo crew in housee we have a

outside demo crew because we can't do it

all and it's a public safety concern to

get people trained to do demo and get it

down in time um the tree work is is very

much Grant funded so we have an in-house

tree crew and we have outside tree crew

that's paid through grant money and

we've worked that out with asme over the

years how that can work um so there are

are models that we can do it on so um so

it would really be down to specifics so

and it could change year to year I mean

what what kind of crew we need that

could change like season to season year

to year um and uh I think Mr West can

speak to you know we have a pipeline

that we've started where the city has

been employing uh former uh folks coming

out of the system um Mr weskin

department is the main Department that

does that over the years that started

with Mr Johnson and it's continued you

know and uh I think the city has uh had

uh good good success with that process

um so I think the city's much very much

encourages this you know we we had uh a

few years ago we did the ban the Box

thing on the application you know I mean

so it's been moving in this direction so

uh you know Mr wesk is here I think he

could speak better to that than me on to

what the program is um but yeah so there

there'd be it would be really the design

question you know what and and I think

as's part of the discussion for what

that design is um um you know I think

you we all know the needs of the city

outpace the money by a lot they just do

so absolutely and thank you um Madam

president any questions for solicitor

Grover no I I would just be curious of

the design I think if if this

is something that is or has become a

priority for the city then I think we

need to continue to move in this

direction um and figure out the design

however you mentioned communicating with

the mayor and speaking to her about the

direct needs or where she may see fit um

in previous conversations uh we faced

some

opposition um in this area so I I I

guess my question to you is um would it

do you think it would be more beneficial

to um discuss with Department

directors their needs that that CEO may

be able to meet or how should we proceed

in this yeah I think I think it starts

with a a conversation you know about

what it is I think this uh what was not

I think brought to the table before is

the source of funding okay right that's

the difference like like if we take if

we take real estate tax dollars and hire

people to do this labor we are now

violating the Union contract right that

that's a that's the black and white of

it um and so if there's other if other

resources are coming to the table it's

just a different animal and so again

would we the Devils would be the details

of the contracts and uh um and it might

end up with anou with this with with the

Union but we would need their sign on

First and so you know it would take a

while to plan that out um but I would

think you know the uh department heads

would speak with the mayor about their

needs and what they can and can't meet

um and again I think all the elected

people here know what they are because

you get the phone calls you know and you

don't have a tow truck to go fix the

problem so um the uh uh so yeah I I I

the type of contract matters a lot

there's contracts the city just won't

enter into you know by the nature of the

contract in terms of the terms and

conditions um you know uh and that's

where the issues come up you know then

we you know I'm I'm the person when the

person says that's a deal breaker I go I

agree and then we don't have a contract

right that happens more often than you

think with people that insist they

wanted their way with government money

um and that's that happens because our

job is to defend the government's tax

dollars um so uh so terms and conditions

always matter The Details Matter oh sure

and we usually can get people to get to

a point where they can see what our

needs is I mean the way you do a

contract is you figure out what each

other needs are and as long as you get

to something that satisfies the needs on

both sides you know that there's a

reason people those terms are in

agreement for both sides um and I don't

think the city does I don't think the

city does arbitrary terms you know we

the re we have reasons for the terms in

our agreements uh usually learning from

past mistakes you know that that's

that's why certain terms are in there

certain terms are not in there um and uh

so this can there can be an agreement if

the mayor's there the council would have

to probably approve it um they Council

doesn't approve M us with the asme but

uh if there's a third party agreement

like this would come to council

so one more question and then I will be

done it was around you mentioned um

perhaps seasonal participation or

seasonal how would that work with the

contract though is this something that

we would have to approve on say like a

quarterly basis or how would that work

or would be okay to so so contracts have

like an imagination part on the front

end and you try to make it as easy as

you can you know I I'm just asking no no

no so this is how that we do the bid

contracts right you figure out what you

need and eventually we started putting

out for bid the the snow removal and the

taking care of this place in the summer

together instead of doing two bids like

getting companies have enough capacity

to do both right but that takes

experience as you go through it and and

people saying this isn't working uh and

then they try to find another way to

work so a seasonal contract could be

still be uh that's when the work is like

just like we have a seasonal contract

we've had for people to come take care

of the pools right they the contract is

an annual contract but it the work is

limited to the time it's needed um and

sometimes they're multi-year contracts

you know or or automatic renew contracts

you know if no one cancels um so it just

depends on how the terms negotiated okay

so I have something

yes I would be remiss if I didn't offer

a a rebuttal to Mr Grover

um as a resident and uh homeowner and

taxpayer um

you know we we all live here and we all

see the condition of the

city the city has an

obligation to its

residents to provide safe and clean

neighborhoods CEO is willing to

offer uh its participants as a resource

but we shouldn't have to bring the money

to to the table as

well the city has an

obligation to clean

itself let's I I'm just you know I'm not

going to beat around the

bush right we've we've talked

about wanting to clean up the city for a

very long time and I and I know Public

Works is overworked they don't have

enough people so I'm not blaming them

because they can only do but so much

right so it doesn't lie with them so

we're coming with a solution but at the

same time we have to be met

halfway so the city has access to Grants

like we do

cdbg bring that money to the table let's

get it done we we can't bring the

resources and the money too we shouldn't

have to do that we we have to work in

tandem in order to get this stuff done

because at the end of the day when we

talk about um our tax base this is a

part of it people are not going to want

to move

here live here stay here if we don't do

our part to ensure that these

neighborhoods should look the way that

they need to

look and I actually don't think we're

saying different things what I'm saying

is the city could use grant money as as

opposed to tax money and it sounded like

you were saying we needed to bring the

grant that's what it no and I think I

think you were participating with us

getting it right because we would be

able to demonstrate that we have someone

who can carry out the work sounds like

that's what I'm saying so as opposed to

tax dollars all right great all right

thank you and I think I think just as a

sign of good faith I think we're all

pretty much on the same page it's just

because we don't want to conflict with

one another we want to respect each

other's space um and that's why Mr Tom's

here because we want to respect the

Union contract we knew that was

initially brought up and we never wanted

to conflict so we're just trying to work

through the Kinks and really make

something happen um you had one final

thought just on on the grant funding

piece the city has been successful um uh

with its own VIP Grant as far as I know

now I don't know how it's being utilized

but speak um do we have any update on

that I don't know if anybody here can

speak to that but we have what three

grants operating out of uh the Bureau of

police that's where it's housed now but

I don't know how that particular Grant

is being

utilized we we probably have more than

90 grants at the moment right just all

the different things we have large and

small so I mean we're pretty good at

getting grants oh sure I know but I I

wanted to speak to that one because that

is the grant that is uh funding the Cy's

the pccd participation so thank you I

don't have any other questions or

comments Madame vice

president thank you very much coun mrig

um just one question um would you be

able to provide cost analysis so that we

can estimate about how much we

looking yes so we had provided a

sample um contract at one point um to

Madame mayor uh in addition to a um

proposal but I can um provide that to

all of you as well and I think that's

the same one I so we have it we could if

you want to use that one we could just

reissue with the council yep we still

have that okay y awesome uh councilwoman

roll no I don't have any questions a lot

of things been cleared up about you know

how we could get grants how we can work

together I just really want to see us

work together our city we have more than

enough work I think for anybody to take

on and not um step on any barriers with

um ask me cuz is very important in the

work that they do but I think that we

can definitely find a way I hope to like

work together and get creative and um

we're really our City's excellent good

grants Miss vmer is she gets us um a lot

of great grants that helps us Implement

them into the city so I I definitely

think there's a way that we can um

figure it out so thank you and I I'd be

remissed if I didn't introduce the young

man here our director Wes if you wanted

to say a few things Mr Wes on how this

could benefit benit could could work out

your thoughts on it that would be

marvelous thank you

sir thank you council member Rodriguez

absolutely I was over there sitting on

my hands I wanted to speak so bad

um we the uh public works department we

have we have outsourced uh we have 416

lots that are owned by her um HRA

Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority that

we uh keep uh we contract out to keep

the grass cut throughout the entire

season as well as those same properties

we keep the snow off of the sidewalks of

those properties for insurance purposes

of the city

and that is contract out on uh a a

fiveyear basis

and we help whoever uh wins the contract

we help them by we haul all of the heavy

debris they place it on the corners and

we pick it up with our heavy equipment

because they don't C these companies

don't have the heavy equipment and and

that's bid it out uh every other year

awesome you know and also to collaborate

uh Capal region water because they are

the ones the city used to clean our own

streets with our highway department but

when capito region water took over the

water and sewer they also took over the

cleaning of the streets with the

sweepers that were take transferred to

them with the equipment and all the

transition so that they would need to be

involved if if as far as helping

organizations as your own to uh be a

part of helping uh keeping the city uh

clean as well and we we do invite

organizations that would like to be a

part of the solution you know of the

city as for example a very large One

wildart Ministries who uh we have B in

as to partner with cleaning not just

Allison Hill because we cleaned Uptown

we cleaned Midtown through through the

same organization and we continue to

grow as you are aware of with hpot

saturs that they are willing and other

organizations to help be a part of this

solution so I believe that everyone here

is on the same page it's it's putting

the mindset together to come up with the

resources and the history of how we are

here currently and the assets that we

have to currently do it and as well as

as Dolphin County and Kelly will tell

you we we have been working together

even um have the city pays uh one of her

employees half their salaries and as you

are well aware of that and it's just the

collaboration of everyone coming

together that I believe because it does

take all of us in order to change the

mindset because you can pick up trash

this week next week the whole month but

if you you don't change the mindset

it'll continue to happen again so you

just have to continue to keep coming

until you see him pick up a broom you

see him sweeping and you see them

helping and and they become part of

solution as far as the um the

corrections aspect the mayor has allowed

me to be able to hire uh employees that

have been incarcerated I have employees

who have been incarcerated for 20 years

for 10 years and they have not been

denied employ employment they work for

the sanitation department currently and

we are also working with crw they have a

gentleman who is certified he's

certified from pendot to train for CDL

so we are and and Tom from ask me he can

uh he what I'm looking

fores right

exactly he is uh part part of this

program that we're trying to put

together because we have employees who

are laborers who who want their CDL and

a CDL currently if you go to school cost

$5,000 so if if we have a trainer from

crw that's willing to help us take our

team to another level that that that

also helps with uh bringing in as far as

the skilled labor and and and the labor

itself we have uh uh quite a few

programs we worked with a Work Release

Center with Dolphin County with their

programs we're open to pretty much any

type of program that we can the largest

aspect of what happens is we have to

make sure that these entities are

ensured because as soon as something

happened we had an individual who worked

with us from work release and they cut

his finger so and it was a big issue

after that so as long as we have our our

ducks in a row as far as the insurance

purposes and all and those other things

then I think that we will be fine it

will be welcomed we have a lot of plans

and and Visions on taking the city into

the future of what we can do as far as

sanitation as the expansion of Stilton

uh Penbrook and Pang you know we as I uh

sharing with you earlier you know we are

putting together the next 5year plan for

uh Penbrook and paan currently as we

speak and we've already signed with

Stilton for the next five years so we

are continuing to grow and expand and we

welcome any anyone that's on a positive

level to help us get to where we're

going absolutely and I agree um with the

416 lots are those Union um Divi out or

how are those contracted or that's just

third party it's contracted out as a

bundle it's placed out as on a bid okay

and and once it's uh uh put placed out

there you get the three and then you

choose the one as together as an

organization of which direction that

you're going to go that's just

specifically for the lots for the spring

summer and fall but those same Lots

because the grass doesn't grow in the

winter they have the sidewalks sowal

right so that's where the snow removal

comes in for and then you have

um contract for that as well okay that

sounds great all right um I'll open it

up for any questions for director West

Madam president just one follow-up

question um you mentioned wildart

Ministry so they went through the

bidding

process no no that was a direct contract

no it it was actually they they

volunteered to help us throughout the

city as far as different clean ups and

that type of stuff okay as organizations

that I'm talking about we use to help

clean up okay thanks for clarifying I

don't have any other questions okay

thank you Madame vice

president no I don't have any questions

thank you all right councilwoman Ross

thank you for being here director West I

don't have any questions thank you all

right um does anyone have anything to

add before uh we go into public comment

Miss answerer yeah I just wanted to add

I'm glad he uh brought up about the CDL

I forgot to mention that um we

definitely want to put our participants

on um career Pathways as well so we do

have Advanced Training that we do offer

to our um active participants CDL being

one of them um CDL we have a welding

program we also have um an IT

certification program in addition to a

fiber optic technician um program all of

these um programs are offered uh at no

cost um to our participants so um we

also offer CDL as well that's good

that's amazing that's amazing so what

I'm gathering is that we're all willing

to work together to come up with

something creative that it's not really

uh going against any of our bargaining

agreements and everyone can be happy the

goal is you know especially with our

re-entrance to just introduce them back

and get them back to life as normal as

possible you know but sometimes normaly

is just different to what it looks like

to all of us and dealing with those

social emotional conditions and the

day-to-day struggles you know it's

difficult so my hopes by having all

these great wonderful professionals here

is that we can draft something creative

and really come up with a resolution and

get some more work done CU you know I

work with director West very closely and

it's a lot that we can get done we just

got to kind of see what it is work with

the mayor as tightly and closely as we

can and get some stuff done so I thank

you all for being here and um if there's

nothing more um we can go into the

public comment section of uh the meeting

um is there anything anyone would like

to add Miss Kelly uh Mr Rivera uh Neil

any last

sentiments I think it's just a matter of

detail I think that's what the matter of

detail is I think uh um I think we all

know I assume the pipeline for CEO of

people that you want to help is much

longer than the people you can help and

I I think Dave can attest to the

turnover we have in public works so

there every year there are opportunities

and it would sound like a place where we

could Foster people that eventually

would be working for us just like the

county insired people and uh this Public

Works has always tried to promote from

the bottom up I mean they train them

they give them opportunities and they

and they train and and they give people

a life and a career you know and uh and

um you know it sounds like there's a lot

of opportunity there it the the the

funding is always the magic issue right

and and um but you know and I think what

I think what you misconstrued is I'm

happy to have a partner that already

knows how to get funding because then

they know the same problems that we have

right it's not magic money it's got you

got you got to do work to keep getting

that funding and uh um and so that is uh

a process that that is doable now you

know we we have to worry about the grant

manager's a 24-hour a day job she she's

she's always going but uh but it is in

the details and I'd be happy to go back

to Mayor I think tap and talking to the

mayor about you know um you know how

this sort of fits the same things that

we've been talking about and please let

her know Council would love to work with

her side by side on this and try to you

know really scrap something up I will

pass that on on what would be the next

step in your opinion to move forward

just present it to the mayor so so my

next step is we'll talk to the mayor

we'll talk to uh other managers you know

there's a bi-weekly Senior Management

meeting okay um and and Public Works

isn't the only Department right right

absolutely and so I said the parks and

right y there's there's lots of things

and so um the uh but I think it's really

it's going to need a champion if that

makes any sense like everything to get

done needs a person internally that's

going to be the one that carries it

Forward absolutely um and you know and

that's a discussion to be had all right

well thank you all um I really enjoyed

this conversation um at this time we'll

opening up for public comment um just as

a reminder is 4minute uh limit that will

be kept by Mr trusdale uh we'll start

with our far right anyone want to engage

in public comment come on upset no

anyone to the middle all right hearing

none anyone to the

left all right hearing none um I

entertain

a motion motion to a journ I thought

usually mon like we giving cues but I we

entertain a motion to a journey so moved

it's 6:40 p.m. just for the record in a

second

second

second right um thank you all for

joining us Y and have great night thank

you for having me