2025 Budget Hearing Meeting #3 - 12/11/2024

J

we are going to start our third budget

hearing for the 2025 proposed budget for

the city of Harrisburg uh as we call the

meeting to order it is

5:39 and Mr truell if you could do the

roll

call good start

Miss

Daniels Miss Davis present Miss green

present Mr Jones here miss rolls present

Mr

Rodriguez Miss Bowers

present thank you I will note the

councilman Rodriguez is with us on

Zoom looks like the first office that we

will be speaking tool is the office of

the city

controller good evening if you wouldn't

mind introducing yourselves and then um

you can go over your PowerPoint

presentation and then we'll open it up

for

questions uh good evening city council

my name is William linberger I'm the

deputy City controller

with me is Mike Thomas City auditor and

Charlie Brunner Charlie de Brunner the

city controller couldn't be here tonight

do do a prior

commitment departmental

overview the office of the city

controller is an autonomous office of

city government headed by the city

controller an independently elected

official this office is responsible for

the review and approval of all

expenditures obligations of the City

performing the internal audit function

requires that all purchase orders

warrants contracts and agreements be

reviewed for compliance with third class

city code other state laws city of

Harrisburg administrative policies and

city

ordinances the signature of the city

controller is a legal requirement and

all of the forementioned documents this

off also issues monthly monthly

Financial reports to the mayor city

council which analyze revenue and expend

funds significant budget

changes please provide an explanation or

justification for any line item that

significantly increased or decreased

compared to

2004 the controller's office 2025

requested budget for non-personnel

related expenditures decreased by

$2,250 by eliminating the office

supplies line item

uh departmental

diversity Controllers Office has three

employees uh three males

white vacancies the controller's office

does not have any open

positions grants and special

projects the controller's office does

not have any grants or special projects

arpa

projects controller's office does not

have any arpa funed

projects new positions controller's

office do not have any new positions in

the 2025 proposed

budget year to dat

budgets does the current uh budget

proposal for 2025 aligned with the

year-to-date spending totals incurred th

far in

24 yes the controller's office 2025

proposed budget request aligns closely

with 20 2024 actuals are there any

instances where current year-to-date

spending in 20 2024

exceeds the corresponding line items for

2025 uh the controller's office does not

expect any 2024 expenditures to exceed

the 2025 proposed budget

request roll

exceeding 2%

increases the controller's office does

not have any management salary increases

in the 2025 requested budget that exceed

2% and that's all we

have thank you very much um it's pretty

simple uh I don't really have many

questions about it uh I do appreciate

the very important work that you all do

uh I'm going to start with any question

from my colleagues I'm going to start to

my immediate right with councilwoman

Davis thank you vice president green

good evening Mr ler

and good evening good

evening okay my question is how does the

projected budget allocation address the

long-term Financial

sustainability and what measures ensure

efficient use of resources across all

departments

so you mean Citywide not just pertaining

to the Controllers Office pertaining to

the city of

haris that's a that's a good question

um I mean our job as for the as the city

controller's office is to ensure the

safety of City assets uh our pre-audit

function

is designed to um prevent or help

prevent you know fraud

waste we review every single preit every

single uh

check to vendors payroll

checks we're a signatory on all purchase

orders we sign all

contracts so these are things that we

review as a normal part of our daily

function and I would like to think that

that process does help the city um

ensure the safety of its

assets thank you for the answering

that's my only question thank you

president

Bowers thank you for your presentation I

don't have any

questions thank you councilman

Rodriguez um can everyone hear me yes uh

thank you for your presentation um no

question for

me thank you councilman

Jones no

questions thank you very

much all

right it's all um thank you again for

your presentation I don't think any of

us have questions um so you can enjoy

the rest of your night thank you very

much thank you have a good evening you

as well thank

you next we will be speaking with the

Department of facilities and special

projects

all right good afternoon city council my

name is David Baker I'm the facilities

director for the city of Harrisburg um

I'd like to present my 2025 proposed

budget PowerPoint to you

um so one of the first questions we have

are any significant budget increases or

changes in general the only area in the

entire budget where we have a

significant increase would be a

miscellaneous contracted Services uh you

can read what's what's on the screen

there but in a nutshell the real reason

why we need to uh increase this line

item is so we can responsibly budget for

what we've seen year after year to be an

increasing need uh due to end of life

equipment um you know past due and

deferred maintenance throughout the

entire city so instead of coming to you

for a budget reallocation mid year uh

this is something that we would say we

know we're going to need it we're just

going to ask for it now

instead next

slide uh so the next slide would be our

diversity numbers uh as you can see the

percentages um in front of you there we

seem to be pretty well-rounded um not

only we have uh different um you know

racial makeups men women and people from

all different areas uh but we also have

a lot of uh we have different um life

experiences in our departments too uh we

have uh different age groups um you name

it so you know I feel really good about

our diversity um you know compliment as

of now uh the vacancy portion as you can

see we have no vacancies

uh so for grant funding and arpa funding

uh you can see that the cdbg CV funded

projects would be seventh in rner

seventh and uh rner at gorgus playground

uh Riverfront Park or river please

Reservoir spray

um I'm sorry I'm getting Tongue Tied uh

it would be Reservoir Park spray alley

and then we have Wilson Park uh as you

can see here that the design pce has

been complete you can see the um the

estimated completion date of December

2025 the arpa funed or general funded

projects would be the hall maner pool

you can see the cost associated with

that and then the complete mechanical

and HVAC replacement in the public

safety building you see our estimated

completion date uh for that which we are

coming very close to the total cost for

that project as well and then at the

very bottom uh dcn and dced funded

projects which would be res Park phase

two so uh year- to-day budget this is

another good one we can report that um

our proposed budget year to date for

2024 um it it's right where it should be

you know we don't see any anything that

we shouldn't and again the um the

spending uh won't exceed the proposed

20125

budget all right so here are some

Department highlights and we we have a

decent amount of these but I'll try and

go pretty briefly so as everyone knows

here we had the Broad Street Market

tragedy here um here's some pictures of

the tent uh how it looks on the inside

some of um the some pictures from

construction uh whenever we're putting

it up and then we'll have more on the BR

Street Market tent here in some future

slides um these pictures are some items

that the uh in-house staff for the city

did uh to further along the tent and

they they had a pretty signicant amount

of money these by no means are all the

projects but these are some of ones we

had pictures for um you can see there's

um the shed building in the bottom left

hand side that's a three-phase 480 volt

um Transformer room with a ton of

electricity it creates a huge amount of

BTUs and uh as soon as we put that in we

saw a need for thermostatically

controlled exhaust fan so again

internally we sourced everything we have

licens electricians on staff so you know

they took care of this so now it's a

safe area that we can supply power for

um you can see the hood vent exhaust

ventilation that we had to get the

preliminary Beginnings for and then um

the exhaust ventilation for the um

sanitary sewer lines in the the CMU

building as

well uh here are some more Broad Street

Market uh buildings whenever it came to

the preliminary demolition uh for the

market itself and you can see some of

the um wall Shoring where we actually

have a triple layer of brick wall there

but since we took down all the roof

supports um you know we had to do

additional wall showing for that and you

can see the completion date for this

project is still estimated to be around

May of

2026 so next are the uh FNB Stadium

project pictures we just started that

project uh it's only been so many days

we've been um actually doing

construction out there um but again you

can see uh a few pictures from some of

the potholing test pits and some small

excavation some internal Plumbing we've

doing internal work uh inside of the

stadium itself and the estimated date

for that is still September

2025 so these next pictures are uh some

pictures from the public safety building

um this is two projects in one so in the

top portion you see some HVAC inov ation

project which is part of our our

mechanical systems and HVAC replacement

project and then there's certain areas

in the the bottom picture where you see

some before pictures of the um the

entryway renovation and this is all for

Ada upgrades uh for Public Safety

improvements uh more ease of

accessibility for everyone and then you

know obviously we'll put um additional

wayfinding signage and everything else

the public needs to be able to get to

evidence and actually um interact with

the police officers in more of a

forward- facing situation compared to

what we currently

have uh these are some of the newer

pictures uh from that same exact area so

you can see we're relocating our

evidence Department from the basement U

garage area up into the first floor

where it used to be the old

Communication Center that's the middle

slide with all the shelves um they'll

have a small kitchenet area and an

unused um unused portion of the building

that is right next to the old

Communication Center uh they'll have uh

uh adaa bathrooms compared to what we

had before T compliant um you see the

the elevators this is more of a facade

change for the elevators and again in

the middle there um it's not complete

yet but we're as I said we're coming

pretty close to the end of this project

so uh there'll be wayfinding signage

there so uh the public can find where

they need to be in in an easy Fashion on

the bottom left uh that there will be a

bullet resistant window there with uh

what we're hoping to have a CSA posted

out um behind that window so they're

publicly faceing instead of being you

know back in a room somewhere where no

one no one can see them or hear them

they'll be out there for the public

they'll be able to help people um and uh

you know that's that's our goal for this

project um so here are some of the major

projects that we've completed in 2024

and then below are some of the major

projects that were were still working on

um a lot of them were really close to

being finished but um I'm not going to

read them all some of the projects that

we've done I can give you a little

insight on so the police substation roof

um the police substation is only roughly

around five to six years old

unfortunately the roof was uh absolutely

at its end of life um we had to have a

complete renovation of that roof uh down

to the insallation as far as repairs go

that was completed this year um the

reservoir park Mansion porch you can see

that on the top right uh that has been

many many years in the coming as far as

needing to be replaced uh so that entire

porch has been replaced and then you can

see there's multiple different areas

where we replaced uh carpeting which is

can't tell you how many years overdue um

so that's that's much needed as far as

looks and for air quality uh in both of

both of our buildings here um the uh

total hbac replacement project you can

see in there um at the very bottom you

see the amount of work orders that uh

our three facilities maintenance staff

have completed so far this year um so

just to to say it to say it is uh

they're busy I mean they're running

every day we have more work to do than

we can get done but you know we stay on

top of it and it's there's a lot of uh

emergency response that they're able to

complete and then every once in a while

we do have some time where we do a lot

of cost saving projects which you'll see

here in the future um down

below now we're good it's it's uh again

these are projects that are almost

complete but not quite as of

yet okay so uh completed projects for

2024 go to the next slide uh so some of

these projects these are by no means all

of the projects that we've done

internally uh to save money for the city

but here are some of the projects we had

pictures of um these are some of the

water bottle filling stations that we

had I'll start moving faster give me a

minute here

I all right so uh as you can see here

from the water bottle filling stations

we got quotes uh for around $21,000 to

install seven water bottle filling

stations in the um police station uh we

did it internally we had to purchase the

water fountain so it was around

$10,000 but um you know it's it's less

than half we spent doing it ourselves

and to date we saved over over 8,000

plastic bottles and they're fairly new

being put in all right next

slide uh so in this slide you can see

fire station one they had a rather

massive clog in a grease trap uh luckily

you know our our department knows all

the uh nooks and crannies all the

underground grease traps the direction

of piping uh we were able to run a sea

snake down into the sewer line we jetted

it um we pulled you know pulled a

suction on the tube itself and then uh

we're able to uh repair the the uh

damaged area and they're back up and

running uh these are the kinds of things

again we got a quote for pal to come out

and do it and it was around $2,500 again

that it's not even just the cost it's

also the time that we save uh the fire

department from not being open uh

because something like this they they

couldn't use any facilities they

couldn't use their sinks so they really

couldn't be in the fire station so when

we get things like this in the fire

station no heat calls uh hot water leing

um any clogs it's a priority for us no

matter what time or day because their

Union mandates they must have hot water

you know they must have water they must

there's certain things so to keep that

station open we make sure we prioritize

this stuff uh below there's a a day tank

it's a diesel tank for the generator

sits above ground uh something as simple

as a $100 part you know it's $1,500 cost

but again it's a life safety issue we

were able to address it as soon as the

problem came up instead of scheduling

something um getting you know

contractors in for quot to name it

so um this next slide shows you uh one

of the the construction projects that

they were able to do throughout the year

police brought to our attention that

they had additional space uh because my

staff removed um I think it was six

levers from the police records area uh

we actually came to you guys to get

permission to throw them away uh there

was no cost Associated to the city I

don't have that in here um we've had

other departments years and years past

they've actually paid to have these

things removed and it's a pretty

substantial amount they pay because of

the the um the Manpower involved in

removing them after we removed all these

retrievers uh they did an amazing job

with the floor because it it wasn't

taken care of for probably over 20 years

then they started framing running

electrical and everything else necessary

doing new load balancing up in the

ceiling they added two additional office

spaces for the police in this uh

formerly unused space and again you can

see the 25 $20,500 quote to do this job

we did it for

$6,200 all right uh this would be in the

public safety building this is a uh a

broken sewer line um keep it short you

can see it's gross we did it for 48

bucks instead of 2 200 um down below is

the uh Channel 20 uh new station they

wanted backdrops put in there it's

amazing idea I think Asher had it um so

they you know they do a lot of producing

in there and and this was a I think a

vital piece of what they needed so we

did it inhouse uh you can see you know

we're about half price of what it would

have cost if we would have outsourced

it um this would be some pictures of a

few uh light projects that we did

whether it be holding cells um the uh

police forensics parking area overhead

the um out outdoor parking or the police

sign but again we had to run wires we

had outdated uh you know sockets wires

and fixtures so everything was done in

house for Fairly substantial

savings uh Public Works uh they had new

lifts put in we ran um you know high

voltage power to the lifts and the roll

garage doors again you can see the

substantial savings that we had doing it

in house instead of

Outsourcing here's a a chart or a graph

that will show you all the cops put

together just from the slides like I

said by no means this is all the

projects that we've done

go to the next

Slide the next slide will just show you

everything all compiled together so you

can see um you it's SP a little over

$20,000 and it would have been almost

$70,000 for just the projects that we

have in this

PowerPoint all right um so the

performance

Matrix so our goals for projects that

we've worked on in or going to work on

in

2025 um below you can see the projects

um you know again you can you can read

these uh if you have any questions about

any specifically we can definitely go

over them in the end but most of these

things are are far far surpassed their

life and um it's it's not whether we

should do them it's just which ones are

prioritized first so we can you know

keep functioning as a as a city

here all right that's

it do you have any questions for me

thank you very much um I'm going to open

it to my colleagues for questions first

I'm going to start to my right here with

councilwoman Daniels do you have any

questions thank you councilwoman Davis

thank you vice president green thank you

for the uh clear PowerPoint in the

overview of all the projects and

everything um no questions thank you

thank you very much president Bowers any

questions uh yes thank you I just have

two questions my first is related to to

the pool renovation um it seemed like

there were updates for the other items

you discussed uh with the general arpa

allocations but you didn't share any

updates there I think um the last time

we had a public discussion around the

pool um we were discussing a soil study

in the area so I wanted to know um the

status of that study um and any other

updates so we we are in the uh the

beginning stages of that study we do

have the um the request for proposal out

there we do have uh you know we're going

to start moving forward with that

shortly uh as you know uh you are an

integral part of any sort of uh

Professional Services that we'd be

hiring so when we get to that point

which will hopefully be very soon here

we will be bringing it back down to city

council uh for approval and moving

forward with an outside firm to do the

geological studies for this project

thank you for that update and then my

second question is related to the Broad

Street Market um it's my understanding

that an internal design team or

committee was assembled is that accurate

yes it is okay and how many employees or

who's involved who are the members so we

have um we have internal members uh from

a few different departments we have um

external members for that are

Consultants that Focus um on projects

such as this you know specifically um so

we you know we we'll meet virtually

typically because we're you know from

all over the place and then uh they'll

kind of go over in Broad Strokes in the

direction that they you know think we

should be moving as far as

um you know what design layouts because

we're in the design phase right now so

they're just doing very very preliminary

designs um we met with the mayor today

about some um initial preliminary design

designs and and got her take and

Direction on those designs themselves um

and it's just it's a regular meeting

that we'll be having and hopefully since

one of the representatives on there is a

member of city council's office you know

that information is being reiterated to

city council it is I just wanted to

ensure that members of the public and

residents were aware that this uh team

had been assembled how many meetings

have you had uh I believe to date we've

had three meetings so far

okay I don't have any other questions

thank you sure thank you very much

councilwoman Ross thank you very much

vice president green um just a I have a

few questions but just a follow up on

President Bowers question um thank you

for being here tonight good evening

sorry let me start with that um director

Baker um is it allowed I don't know

maybe legal has to say for it to be

posted that we are we have an internal

group

um as uh members from different places

um in our um that are with the Broad

Street Market and like who's on that

group that is a focused group on the

design and like who the members are is

that allowed to be posted online just so

the public knows what's

happening okay thank you just to keep

everybody a breast of what's happening

keep them updated um my uh question was

about the uh 30% or 20 to 30% of um uh

disadvantaged businesses or women-owned

businesses that are participating in the

Senators field is there any um

information on how many or has that been

that goal been met yet or where is it at

and if there is any information would it

be able to be emailed to council just to

see where we're

at um I can I can check into the

information and if we have any sort of

updates on that I can make sure that

it's emailed to all of counsel okay

thank you yes and then um my other thing

was I just wanted to say thank you for

showing us what was being outsourced and

inhouse um I really enjoyed seeing that

because I know we have a lot of um

individuals within um our city here or I

shouldn't say in our city but here at

City Hall who are employed by the city

were able to do these jobs so I

definitely want to see that continue

where we're doing more more things

inhouse and Outsource so thank you for

showing us that that's it for me thank

you very much councilman Rodriguez any

questions thank you Madame vice

president thank you director Baker for

joining us this evening um I did have

questions geared around the pool that

Madame President had um already asked

but I did uh want to kind of touch on

what uh councilwoman RS was just

speaking about as far as seeing what's

outsourced and seeing what's done

inhouse I think it makes a really really

uh ideal and substantial difference in

when we look at the numbers and we see

the savings for the city um and I think

we even have a greater opportunity here

with Public Works coming down the pipe

where director Wes had um show me some

great ideas where we could do more

in-house demo and save the city you know

as opposed to always Outsourcing so if

we can do it you know homegrown from the

team I think it's the best way and it

just uh you know saves the city a lot of

money down the pipe but that's all I

have thank you

thank you very much councilman Jones yes

thank you good evening um same

sentiments man um keep saving us money

you're going places

kid uh the other thing is do I do want

to see that information this is one of

the things with FMB Stadium um just

making sure they um staying true to what

they put on paper so you can please let

us know if you can get that information

over to us and see um to make sure that

we're getting that involvement that was

in their language just again um as I did

they get the drawings done yet or for

the FMB field project yeah we're

actually starting we started

construction a few days ago okay so

we're moving right along all right just

just try to keep us updated in in in

that um area and I have no further

questions thank you very much uh I don't

really have many questions or any at

this point um the couple I had were

asked I will ask that you do get us

copies of um the things that have are

the things that's design phases have

been completed if we can get copies of

those designs I know looking at the

grants project looks like um there are

several of them that you said the design

phase is complete and the equipment is

ordered if we could get a copy of those

designs I think it would be great no

problem do all right any other questions

or

comments seeing none thank you very much

for your presentation tonight and um for

all the work your department does for

the city thank

you moving right along our next

department will be the Bureau of city

services or public

works good ready

sanation good evening uh ladies and

gentlemen if you could just introduce

yourselves um give an overview of your

department and then the floor is yours

to present how you pleas thank you good

evening mad Madame president barers vice

president green council members my name

is Dave West I'm director of public

works for the city of

Harrisburg to my left it's Joanne Gray

and to my further left is Austin Green

um Austin Griffin uh he's the deputy

director of Public

Works and Joe and gry is our

confidential

secretary we will go into the PowerPoint

and any questions asked after the

PowerPoint we have the entire

Administration which is the heads of

each department to answer questions in

detail if asked we'll all here to answer

anything that we can that's asked of

us so we will start with the Department

of Sanitation the department

overview the city of Harrisburg

sanitation department is responsible for

the removal of all trash and recycling

throughout the city of Harrisburg and

Burrows of Stilton Penbrook and

paang significant budget changes there

were uh quite a few increases will go

down to increases overtime was uh

increased $

79,2 uh this is a 41 number so I would

refer to finance if there's any

questions on

that non-uniform Pension Plan B was

increased

$196,000 and 21$

196,000

$21.32 this is also a 41 item that

Finance would need to clarify

legal was increased

12,500 uh the legal department has

things for our department and they make

requests for this budget amount so we

we're not we would refer to them on this

one as well power and street light was

increased $64,500 this was based off of

uh 2024 amounts and increases that will

be coming in

25 sore maintenance charges were

increased $133,000 this was also based

on 20 24 amounts and increases for next

year were in Incorporated in that number

disposal was increased

$454,000 this was also based on 2024

amounts um and increases due to the

increase in the contract that we have

with lax

wama recycling disposal was increased

41,500 also based on 2024 amounts and

projections for

stop loss premium was increased

$5,542

48 finance and HR can uh update you if

you have any questions on that as

well the the decreases are as medical

$174,450 uh again refer to finance for

that one lost time and medical 23,000

$550 again the finance department can

clarify on that composting disposal $1

19,000 was

removes property and crime premium

$88,700 Caucasian male 38

African-American males 10 Hispanic males

four Caucasian females four

African-American females and one

Hispanic

female the bilingual complement would be

11 the department currently does not

have any

vacancies there are no grants or special

projects AR projects provide an update

of ongoing arpa funded projects $1

million of arpa funding has been

appropriated for a trash bill assistance

please refer to the law Bureau and

finance department for

clarification there are no new positions

in the

department year-to-date budgets does the

current budget proposal for 2025 align

with the year-to date spending total

incurred thus far in 2024 yes the our

current spend does

align are there any instances where

current YTD spending in 2024

significantly exceeds the proposed

budget line items for 2025 there are no

instances there are no roles in

exceeding the 2% increase in the

department we'll move the departmental

highlights please explain 2024 goals and

progress made are 2024 goals goals were

to cut down on incidents within the

department and provide efficient service

to all customers efficient service has

been provided all year with the

Department running fully staffed we have

reduced incidents within the department

but will always have room to improve on

this incidents were cut by 25% due to

specific safety

training we will now move to the 2025

goals which are training for all current

and new employees we would like to cut

down on incidents within the department

and provide efficient service to all

customers residential and

Commercial we also want to promote a

positive work environment to increase

employee

productivity the performance

metrics are there any examples or

specific metrics benchmarks departments

use to evaluate the success of their

goals in

2025 tracking types of incidents in the

department and finding solutions for any

trans in incidents throughout the year

is one metric that we use our department

tracks the tons of trash and recycling

on a daily basis with the weight slips

generated at the incinerator as

well if we can move the highway

next excuse me Council would you like to

ask questions

per um Department yes we'll ask them um

after each present

so I'm going to start with our Public

Works chair uh councilman

Rodriguez thank you madam vice president

uh thank you team for joining us this

evening I'm pretty familiar with what's

being presented so I have um no

questions at this present time thank

you Council woman

RW good evening thank you all for being

here tonight I don't have any

questions president Bowers I just have

one question related to the 2025

goals to cut down on incidents within

the department can somebody clarify what

you mean by that okay we um throughout

the year in the sanitation department we

have incidents and various incidents

with our with our trash trucks with our

communication with uh residents and

business owners and we will continue in

training uh to

increase uh the communication and also

so to have different um trainings for

our trash truck drivers uh and our

labors so we just want to continue to

get better and learn from uh everything

that we go through that it doesn't

continue to happen within the

department thank you for

clarifying thank you councilwoman

Davis thank you vice president green

thank you for being here this evening

everyone um I want to commend you first

of all for the service that you are

doing out in the community um thank you

I know that there have been times when

the uh workers have missed say the

recycle in some uh neighborhoods maybe

one or two and then whenever you guys

are called back you come pretty quickly

to you know make that correction so and

there's other examples that I know of

personally in the community so I Just

Want to Thank You for Your Efficient see

there um the one question I have is in

regards to the decreases under property

and crime

premium can you give us a little bit of

background on that St

statistic uh that statistic uh would

have to come from the finance department

they are have the details to that

statistic

are they here

or

Brian good evening did you hear the

question oh repeat it quite honestly

could you repeat it for me please yes

thank you okay my question is in

reference to the

decreases um include same as sanitation

this is under your significant budget

changes the property and crime

premium can you explain that statistic

please uh yes SC uh gladly uh again

Brian Brian McCutchen accounting manager

uh that relates uh to when the city

renews its various

Insurance um

coverages uh last year at this time uh

related to Broad Street Market the city

uh incurred a huge premium increase in

its property insurance um better part of

1.6

million and we just went through uh

recently in October our our renewal for

the next coverage period so a big drop

uh instead of 1.6 the property

uh premium went down to $850,000

so with that in mind uh we

allocate uh Neighborhood Services picks

up some of that through uh an allocation

process we go through looking at

expenses so even though there's an

expense there it's it's dramatically

down from the prior year because of that

uh decrease in property coverage uh the

decrease in the premium that is okay I

understand so the premium is actually

88,000 um eight U approximately 850,000

it it it fell by almost 50% last year at

this time we were facing a premium that

was approximately 1.6 million and that

that was attributed to what happened

with Broad Street Market and also uh

there was damage here in city government

center it it all happened it was all

contained within uh

2023 I'm looking at

the property and crime premium I'm

looking at I'm not sure what this number

is it's 88 then there's a comma

61

z i

don't U I think they uh drafted that to

say the the decrease in that line in

that expense account is the 80 is it's

falling by $888,000

617 does that

excuse me just a little confusing the

way it's written there the

number

yeah okay thank you understand I don't

have any further questions

okay thank you yes you're

welcome councilman Daniels any

questions thank you very much any other

questions before we move on to Highway

I don't have any questions oh sorry

because I started and then councilman

Jones any

questions all right um we're ready for

for Highway all righty we'll move on to

our Highway Department within the public

works so the department overview for the

highway department the highway

department is responsible for snow

removal Paving Street Maintenance bul

and blight collection leaf collection

and inhouse demolitions and other

various emergency response situations

that may be needed throughout the city

of

Harrisburg the significant budget

changes will be the same as we just went

over for the sanitation

department the numbers you see in the

yellow box are a combination of

Sanitation and Highway departments the

breakdown for highway is as follows

there's 14 total five Caucasian males

eight African American males and one

Caucasian

female there are no vacancies within the

highway

department grants and special projects

provide an update on any grants or

special projects and progress within the

department the highway department uses

State liquid fuels funds to purchase the

asphalt to purchase an asphalt roller

this year special projects for 202 four

uh Paving projects and these projects

will also be highlighted in the slide of

our

highlights tornado cleanup and a blight

cleanup arpa

projects provide an update of ongoing

arpa funed

projects the department received

$500,000 to purchase equipment an

excavator and two high lifts were

purchased for demolition

new positions are there any position new

positions added to the any departments

for 2025 the highway department has had

added one position in the demolition

department for a demolition

specialist here to dat

budgets does the current budget proposal

for 2025 align with the YTD spending

totals incurred thus far in 2024 yes the

current spending does align and are

there any instances where the current

YTD spending in 2024 significantly

exceeds the proposed budgeted line items

for 2025 there are no

instances there are no increases

exceeding

2% and we will now go through the

highlights of the department please

explain the 2024 goals and progress

made one of our goals was was paved more

streets than 2023 in 2023 we paved 21

streets in 2024 we paved 34 streets

inhouse in-house demolitions in 2023 we

did 14 in 2024 we did

17 Leaf in yard Wass

collection we had a successful season

collecting

136.6 s tons of Woody waste and leaf

debris we wanted to have new approach on

communication so we made sure residents

were provided direct phone numbers to

get in contact with managers as

needed we would we wanted to continue to

address

emergencies which we were called out on

a tornado and we removed a total of 998

tons of tree debris a total of

2,463 hours across all Public Works

departments Highway Park maintenance

traffic and engineering and sanation

we responded to a house fire emergency

demolition at 205 and 207 North 15th

Street and we also responded to

a we had to secure a partial house

collapse that occurred at 326 South 14th

Street and we also wanted to continue to

take pride in our work

we will we will now move to our 2025

goals which is to continue to streamline

the paving and make it more efficient

Paving goal is always to maintain or

exceed the previous year's total we

would we want to implement a new

rotating demolition plan as well train

new employees and cross Trin the whole

highway department on with all

equipment continue to have successful

snow removal Seasons continue to have

successful leaf collection seasons

continue to successfully address

emergencies as they arise throughout the

city of

Harrisburg performance metrics are there

any examples or specific metrics

benchmarks departments use to evaluate

the success of their goals in

2025 the highway department evaluates

our goals on a month-to-month basis the

dynamic nature of the department

requires these flexible benchmarks based

on emergencies that arise that have to

be addressed right away scheduled

projects are evaluated on completion

time and completion hours these

benchmarks are used every year the

highway department uses weekly reports

to track all of our

results thank you very much I'm going to

open it up for questions I'm going to

start where I ended with councilman

Jones

present um this looks pretty good

gentlemen ladies

no questions thank you thank you

councilman

Rodriguez thank you um great

presentation Austin as uh usual um

everything looks as is I'm pretty

familiar with the work um I just the

only thing I did not see and it's

probably not in this department is the

highlights from Hotpot Saturdays um and

that was pretty substantial being over

150 tons uh pretty much volunteer

student Le Mr John I see him in the back

thinkk You' for help with that U making

sure those trucks and those loaders were

there on time with the staff so um you

know I just wanted to highlight that and

congratulate the department for their

work this year with the hot spot

Saturdays initiative respond we

apologize councilman he is on behalf for

the public works department that should

have been entered in our our slides and

it was an oversight I apologize oh no

worries no worries no worries thank you

I know you guys me well thank

you thank you tooman Ros thank you um I

don't have any questions I just want to

say thank you for the help um that you

gave my neighborhood that was one of the

neighborhoods hit the hardest from the

tornado um you all showed up you didn't

ask any questions the only question you

asked is how much can I help and where

else can I help and I and I just really

appreciate that um and that you you help

Belleview Park out cuz they really were

hit the hardest um with the the tornado

so just thank you great presentation I

don't have any questions just thanks

thank

you if I may I'll I'll um concur with

her sentiments um I reached out to you

guys for some consentuous service and

you definitely answered the call and got

out to see those uh the people that were

in need so I appreciate that as well and

I'm sure that the community does so

thanks thank you thank you president

Bowers thank you um I have a question

related to pay

[Music]

I believe that's Mr

Watson yes good evening good

evening um so I'll start with the

numbers for 2023 and 2024 and then the

goal for 2025 is just

to um maintain or exceed the previous

year's total do you ever have like a

number in mind that's a Target or you

just if you get to 35 we're good so yes

so what I did was um as our Paving

streamlines more um I have to take my

hat off to the employees in the highway

department uh as training goes on they

get better and better so to exceed the

previous year's goals um is always there

because once they get better like this

year um we worked on

um Paving and then at the end of the

season we sealed all of the streets well

the reason why I put um maintain uh or

exceed is we're going to implement a new

plan which is sealing the streets right

after we get done Paving okay so that's

why I put that down to try to complete

the street so we don't have to go back

and close the road off a second time and

can you share the tight window the

paving season includes uh just for uh

edification for members of the public

and residents so I'll say from May we'll

say from May to October 31st okay

technically okay now we do we do we

exceed that sometimes um maybe into like

the first week in November weather

permitting but the general Paving season

is May through October okay

and how can someone inquire about their

streets or a street near them um that

they feel um may require some Paving uh

just reach out to public works okay

reach out to

me my phone number and I'll come through

the street and usually will take care of

okay I'm asking because I reached out on

behalf of a resident um who was

unsuccessful in communicating with

public works so that's why I wanted to

know and then I in turn it there was

some delay in gaining a response when I

I called and I EMA email when I called

um I guess the assistant answered the

phone and and was sort of we were going

back and forth about the location of the

street and she was trying to tell me

that the street was not in the city of

Harrisburg so as you can imagine I was

very frustrated and I can see how

residents would easily be deterred like

who's calling on numerous times then

someone's going back and forth with you

about the location of a street that's

clearly in the city um and then no

response via email so I just wanted to

that's why I wanted to clarify the point

of contact and um inform whoever I spoke

with that Johnson Street is in the city

so yes yes I do I do remember that I did

go out and um I did view the street I

did talk to the young lady okay or the

lady yes I did mention to her that I

will put her Street on okay and I do

apologize for whoever answered the phone

I we will correct that make sure that if

anything comes into the city regarding

Paving that it's just transferred to me

or either my number is given so

apologize for that okay well thank you

very much for clarifying I don't have

any other questions may

I for the record we um that employee no

longer works for the city of Harrisburg

has been replaced and we will be um well

up on that okay well thank you um 6:34

happen

we will improve in that area okay thank

you you're

welcome um yes um Mr Watson um yesterday

and I apologize um sir if he's if he's

watching tonight um I forgot his name

but I will reach out to you about it's

regarding um Paving an alley and off of

silven Terrace he's been down here

several times and uh he emailed me and I

and I didn't get I got back to him right

away and then I didn't follow up with

him but he was down here last night so

um I'll go back through my emails and

try to make that connection thank you

and if uh I believe I know that Resident

also I did speak with him if that's the

alleyway behind malberry Street yes

exact there's some discrepancies on the

right away yes I did mention to him that

his street will be on the 2025 pavement

list as well great but I guess we can

just email all right

thanks Council Ross Yes um Mr Watson

while you're here and I just have one

question and good evening um president

bars made me think of um some just a

small concern who is in charge of the

online like for the potholes I think you

can like go online and fill out where

you think a pot who

is I I know I feel out something online

but I never got like a response like a

followup for 22nd and Chestnut like that

little Alleyway there were a lot of like

little pot holes and um like going up

the side of the sidewalk but that you

could easily hit with your car so I had

um filled out like a a pothole um

inquiry online on our website but I

never heard anything so I was just

wondering like what is the steps for

that like after you fill it out what do

what should I expect as a resident so I

was just while you were here I was just

wondering if you had an information on

that I believe that is a 311

informational okay um process um okay I

do say it may not be perfect at times I

I don't receive a lot of the requests

but uh after what you mentioning we will

look

into that procedure okay yes please yes

and anyway I can help with it let me

know I just knew I didn't get any

information so if I didn't there could

have been other residents who may not

have okay thank you may I respond yeah

okay uh councilwoman Ross we um we were

having that issue issue with the

311 um online being received from public

works and we had a meeting and we

addressed that to be responded to so it

can get back to 311 so they have the

information of the response as well as

ourselves so that wouldn't happen any

longer because what we used to do weed

to receive the online information

address the issue but we didn't get back

to the one1 um individuals who are out

front to respond to them let them know

that that was taken care of that was the

Gap that we closed with that situation

okay thank you thank you for the

explanation and clarification that was

it for me thank you councilwoman

Davis thank you vice president

green um congratulations you know I was

out in Belleview Park when the tornado

hit and I was very impressed

998 tons of tree debris I didn't think

you had the equipment or the manpower to

handle cleaning up all of that but you

did

outstanding that's all I can say because

these trees were huge huge huge huge

huge

trees um and then the other is I want to

also thank you for um responding to the

uh citizen that contacted me with

concerns about their street and you was

Mr West director West was able to go

there right away and and address the

situation and um you assured me that it

would be taken care of and so uh the

resident was happy to hear a response so

quickly from you so thank you again

thank you for all you do thank

you thank you councilwoman

Daniels thank you thank you very much um

but since we're on Paving uh I

do I do have a a question from a

resident about an alley behind Duke

Street I know they did speak with Mr

Griffin about it um they just wanted to

know if that list will be on the 2025

repaving list uh and and and just kind

of an update on the timeline on that um

and then also I'm always going to put

this plug in every year until it's done

Sycamore

Street next year Sycamore Street is on

uh one of cap one of c one of our

capital projects for 25 I am very

excited to hear that been advocating for

it for a long time U my car will

appreciate it along with many other cars

so it's Barry Hill Street our cars yes

ma'am yes yes all our cars

appreciate um I think that's all the

questions that I have I do want to say I

mean you guys still have a lot more

presentations to go but thank you all

for the work you do do um you're a very

forward- facing Department that a lot of

people don't realize as a forward-

facing department but you interact with

our residents every day of the week um

and various different points in their

lives uh and so I appreciate you guys um

because I know sometimes you get the

brunt of their frustration um you know

when they catch you out there CU they

don't always get to inter interact with

city employees uh and so you might hear

about things that have nothing to do

with your department but you guys always

handle it graciously uh and make for

sure that the information is relate so I

do want to say thank you uh even though

I know you still have a lot more to do

just wanted to get that out there thank

you thank

you uh sustainability next please

so the department overview overview for

sustainability the sustainability at the

city of Harrisburg is dedicated to

fostering environmental stewardship

resilience and Equitable development

throughout this the community our goal

is to create a sustainable City that

meets the needs of current Generations

without compromising the ability of

future generations to meet their own

needs to achieve this we Implement

initiatives focused on reducing

greenhouse gas emissions promoting

renewable energy enhancing resource

efficiency fering sustainable

transportation and engaging in Community

Education and

Outreach though through collaborative

efforts with stakeholders residents and

businesses we aim to build a thriving

resilient and Equitable City for

all significant budget

changes the increases to which this is

in the host fee

the increases are a Broad Street Fire

loss restore of

$500,000 the decreases are miscellaneous

contracted Services of

$2,123 miscellaneous supplies and

expenses at

$122,000 most of these are related to

facilities

projects the diversity in in the

department is one Caucasian

female the department has no

vacancies so I want to introduce our new

sustain sustainability coordinator

meline good

hi

I'm

sorry hi I'm meline I'm the new

sustainability coordinator um I've been

here just for a couple weeks now but I'm

really looking forward to what I can

accomplish as a

position so we'll move on to the grants

and special projects provide an update

on any grants or special projects in

progress within each department a 902

recycling gr Grant apply we applied for

this grant to acquire a new Leaf truck

this truck is particularly useful as it

is small enough to navigate City

Alleyway Alleyways and does not require

a commercial driver's license allowing

more employees to operate it

effectively the grant was awarded for

$200,000 a 904 renewal application for

Grant was also

done we appli to enhanced recycling

operations supporting ongoing

sustainability initiatives in Harrisburg

we're still waiting to hear back from

the Grant on that

one Energy Efficiency and conservation

block grant we secured $120,000 for

installing solar energy at fire station

one this project aims to enhance Energy

Efficiency and sustainability within the

community there no arpa funded

projects and no new

positions the year-to DAT budget does

the current budget proposal for 2025

align with the YTD spending totals

incurred thus far in

2024 yes the spending does align are

there any instances where the current

YTD spending in 2024 significantly

exceeds the proposed budgeted line items

for 2025 there are no

instances red seeding 2% there are

none we'll move to departmental

Highlights so please explain 2024 goals

and progress made greenhouse gas

inventory and climate action plan we

collaborated with John Hopkins

University to complete internal and

Community greenhouse gas inventories

bonified the city's greenhouse gas

emissions laying the groundwork for a

comprehensive climate action plan

progress to seeking Grant fun for the

imple implementation of this climate

action

plan our 2025 goals

are to continue to engage with kids on

sustainability through education and

community

events working towards renewing

Harrisburg sustainable community

community

certification a climate action plan for

the city will be created in partnership

with Penn State rather than John

Hopkins and we we don't have any

performance

metri thank you very much I don't have

any questions at the moment I'm going to

open it up to questions for my

colleagues I'll start to my right with

councilwoman

Daniel councilwoman Davis no

questions president Bowers I don't have

any questions thank you councilwoman

Ross um I just want to say welcome Miss

good um I look forward to to working

with you and what you bring to the city

sustainability is a big thing for me um

especially with the solar energy and

with our kids in the school district

understanding it more so I look forward

to working with you and seeing all the

great things you bring to the city but I

don't have any questions thank you very

much councilman

Rodriguez thank you madam vice president

and um yes welcome is good and I look

forward to working with you uh I was

working with the former sustainability

coordinator we had a few things going on

so I look forward to meeting with you

soon and um director West if you get a

moment can you have aronica uh reach out

to me whenever she gets a moment I just

want to ask her some questions that a

resident um inquired about but uh thank

you yes sir she's

here thank you very much uh councilman

Jones thank you no

questions thank you uh I just have one

question we used to have a recycling app

do we still use that recycling app it's

told residents like what days of the

week their recycling recycling could be

picked up uh what was recyclable and

what wasn't uh where the like they can

take their glass to be recycled uh since

we no longer accept it in our

BS foret that's still it's on the

website yes it's currently on the

website and we uh Continue to update it

okay thank you very much any other

questions or

comments seeing none thank you nice

meeting you and look forward to working

with you

I think the agenda shows us switching to

Parks but can we stay with

uh sensus all of your department you

guys can um present how you please okay

thank you thank you can we move to uh

vehicle maintenance

the departmental overview for the

vehicle maintenance

center the vehicle maintenance center is

responsible for the service of theti the

entire fleet of vehicles for the city of

Harrisburg which consists of 416

vehicles and

Equipment significant budget

changes the increases are as follows

other rentals was moved up to 100,000

motor fuels and Lube was moved up

100,000 vehicle parts and supplies was

were moved up 100,000 and Equipment

vehicle line item was moved up

15,000 and there were no

decreases the diversity I do have a

question on some of those um the other

rentals why was it moved up like are we

increasing our rentals are we renting

new things yes are these vehicles are

they Mach

good evening good even yes um my name

Brian schmidle I'm the vmc fleet manager

and yes the increase is for more

Vehicles added to the fleet through

Enterprise

okay that's the only question I had

about

that the diversity for the the

department we

have five Caucasian males

one Caucasian

female and two Hispanic

males the two Hispanic males are

by vacancies how many vacancies in exist

in each department the department

currently has one vacancy an auto

mechanic one we do have a candidate

currently in the hiring process for the

stre there are no grants or special

projects

there are no arpa funded

projects and there are no new

positions our

2025 YTD does

align and there are no instances where

our YTD spending in 2024 significantly

exceeds the proposed budgeted line items

for

2025 there are no roles exceeding uh 2%

increase

and we'll move to the

highlights our 2024 goals were to

eliminate vendor use as much as possible

and increase in-house work up to 100% if

possible our 2022 spend on vehicular

equipment which is the line item we pay

vendors for services

done that are not in-house was

$249,990 whereas in 23 the city spent 22

thou

$222,000 264 and now in 2024 the city

has only spent

[Music]

[Music]

$99,700 2024 we received

86,5

3110 and in 2023 we received

$172,450 70 in 2024 vmc also received a

check for $

69,8

35 from unclaimed checks from vehicles

that were sold in

2020 and our 2025 goal is to continue to

save the city money by doing a lot of

work inhouse and improve on

technological advancements in the

vehicle repair

industry the performance

Matrix an example would be the

department is working through munis with

every aspect of a vehicle repair this

means from the creation of a work order

to the mechanic finishing a repair the

entire process is tracked in munis we

also put up walls in our parts room to

keep inventory regulated

thank you very much I'm going to open up

to my colleagues for questions starting

to my far left with councilman Jones

thank you again no questions thank you

councilman

Rodriguez no questions for me thank you

thank

you thank you very much coun tooman RW

no questions for me thank you for being

here tonight thank you thank you thank

you president hours just have one

question if you could please share the

job description for the auto mechanic

one I'd appreciate it thank

you thank you yeah the job description

for autom mechanic one it's a basic um

you have to have a state inspection

emissions license for the a mechanic one

it's a light duty job it's not on the

heavy duty trucks it's more like police

cars and anything under like 9,000

PBS um Monday through Friday 7 to 3:30

um unforms provided it's it's a basic

mechanic job basic mechanics basic

knowledge we'll send a copy I can send

you a copy if you'd like okay no thank

you thank you very much councilwoman

Davis no questions and councilwoman

Daniels question thank you thank you

thank you very much any any other

questions or comments seeing none thank

you very much for being here tonight

thank you uh to the next part of your

department can we move the traffic now

please I see

I got it

up so the department overview for the

traffic department is as follows the

traffic department is responsible for 96

intersections over 6,000 streetlights

over 100,000 street signs and road

closures for all events within the city

of

Harrisburg significant budget

changes an increase to the equipment

vehic line of

$300,000 in 2025 from zero in 2024 to

accommodate the purchase of a digger

Derek

Truck Equipment other line increased by

$137,000 in 2025 to purchase a bucket

truck and the decreases of other rentals

from

25,000 in 2024 to $50 in 2025 is a typo

yeah excuse me that is a typo and it

will be corrected and sent to council as

a ended typo correction the number

should State

$50,000 that's

my yes there was also one too at that uh

18

8,6

17,32 on one of the lines it came up to

88,2

832 so you just missed a seven on that

one too so yes that's correct thank you

councilman and the uh other decrease

from operations equipment from 120,000

2024 to zero in

2025 departmental diversity the numbers

you see in the yellow box are a

combination of the traffic and and

engineering

department the breakdown for traffic is

as follows there are nine positions

total one Hispanic female three

African-American males one Hispanic male

and four Caucasian males with one being

Bilal there are no current vacancies in

the traffic

department grants and special projects

will be mentioned in the engineering

portion there are currently no arpa

funded projects there are no new

positions and the current budget does

align with the YTD spending totals for

2024 and

there are there any instances where the

parent YTD spending in 2024

significantly exceeds the proposed

budget to line items for 2025 the answer

is no to

that roles exceeding 2% what are the

role what what are the reasons and

justification for roles and salary

increases exceeding

2% Veronica LEF has taken on more

responsibility in her role as the

traffic manager the traffic department

now handles all events that go on in the

city she is a certified electrician who

can consult for the city on projects as

well and is called out to all emergency

calls in case there's traffic control

needed departmental

highlights we'll explain our 2024

goals to maintain all traffic signals

throughout the city of har throughout

the city this was done success

successfully throughout the year repair

street lights and Bell viw these were

all repaired troubleshoot problems with

the street lights on Front

Street figured out the problems and need

to budget money money to make the

repairs repaired lights at the reservoir

park and Italian Lake as

well 2025 goals maintain all traffic

signals throughout the city Continue to

update update street signs and street

lights throughout the

city performance

metrics we do weekly reporting is done

to track all work done in the department

and performance is also measured on

respon times to

emergencies thank you very much I'll

open up for questions I'll start to my

far right with councilwoman

Daniels councilwoman Davis thank you

vice president

green okay so you're going to update all

the street signs in the city eventually

is that right eventually how many have

have we updated any this year uh yes we

i s no I don't remember

but we've probably done close to 2,000

signs already this year can you send

that information to us then okay there

are lot our quter our fourth quarter

report will have the total for the year

as well too that's coming up I'm glad to

hear that because there are a lot of

streets in our city that need signs 90%

of the signs are not up to date thank

you other question thank you president

Bowers I just have one question about

the street lights so I know there was an

increase in the budget but um about how

many do you

think will be either repaired or

replaced through this budget through

2024 we've done quite a few of th those

will be on the fourth quarter report

also okay we have all those yes we have

all those numbers in the fourth quarter

report okay those quarterly reports are

helpful

very much so very much so and if you

need the uh information before the

fourth quarter report we can send it to

council right I have I have a it broke

down into weekly and then so I compile

it into a month and then we do the

quarter so I have all that if you guys

want it before then just curious um but

I look forward to reading the fourth uh

quarterly report they are available

online since we don't have a public

dialogue about them anymore so I did

want to note that in those there's

Paving updates where residents can learn

if their street is included and we'll

know about the street lights and street

signs so thank you thank you thank you

councilwoman Ross thank you good evening

thank you for being here Ronica you do

so much um so I just I just appreciate

anytime I tell you there's some

Christmas lights going on or if I can't

find you but I see you and say something

you're always um very helpful so know um

thank you uh very much um I do miss

having an open dialogue with the um

directors with our corer reports so I

will say that but they are online like

President Bower said but thank you all

and thank you for being here tonight

thank

you thank you councilman

Rodriguez thank you Madame vice

president um I have no questions uh

Veronica when you get a second can you

just reach out to me offline um just

regarding a resident's concern thank you

sure

councilman Jones yeah thank you um I

really don't have any questions just one

thing that um just not I mean for the

the 2% that was above the 2% increase

can you give me what that percentage

is the percentage of increase for for

Miss Lefever if I'm not mistaken I think

it's 4% okay thank you that's it thank

you very much any other questions or

comments seeing none thank you for being

here tonight U and we're ready for the

next

portion uh can we move to engineering

please

one second while I pull up and uh find

engineering

here good evening Council my name is

cers the city engineer I'll be giving

the update on

engineering the department of

engineering provides professional

Engineering Services

for maintenance of the city street

Bridges and everything in the right away

we ensure the construction of city

streets are in coordinance with city

ordinances state laws and Sound

Engineering

practices we manage Capital Improvement

projects and we develop projects to

incre increase safety throughout the

city so similarly to the previous

presentation this uh yellow box includes

traffic and Engineering within the

department of engineering we have five

positions one white female and four

white

males there are currently no vacancies

in our department

and we have no new positions requested

for

2025 we also have no positions within

the department that will have greater

than the 2%

increase currently have no ARA funded

projects so for

our 2025 budget it kind of looks like we

have a significant

decrease however I would like to note

that in 2024 our budget was

250,000 uh two 2025 we're requesting

255,000 we had

a increase in our allotment in 2024 to

330,000 due to a various factors one

being our

Consulting our previous Consulting

engineering contract ran out a new one

was awarded and that full amount was

then encumbered this is a full

multi-year contract and we encumbered

all the money up front which is kind of

why we

needed a higher amount than than um than

what was allocated in the original

budget we also had two I'm going to say

emergencies but two Grant projects that

came up that we either needed to start

this year or have finished by the end of

the year which would be a safety study

on 17th Street as well as her street

safety improvements and both of those

were outside the the scope of the new

engineering contract and we had

to increase

their budget that they had

um accounted for to for them to be able

to do the

work our year-to date budgets we are

both in line and no um no

overages so

why do we need Consulting Engineering

Services

the we need professional Engineering

Services to help us design um projects

that ensure the c um City maintains a

list of potential projects to help with

budgeting as well as safety improvements

a lot of these Capital Improvement

projects include require and match uh

due to the grant

requirements uh the design Serv are

eligible towards that match so it's it's

either we pay it in consulting or

construction um also for we also have

some construction inspection services

and these are needed to ensure all large

projects meet the requirements set by

the city and design plans and with only

five members we just do not have the

full-time staff to

handle these large capital projects in

house

and part of uh 2024

goals I came

in early uh summer and there's just a

backlog of project in the engineering

department and it was my goal to really

push these through so we can really

start to move forward with the new

projects and I'd like to go through a

couple of

those one was our Public Works Dome up

at the Public Works facility this is a

new dome to house garbage trucks as you

can

see a few construction

photos Capital Gateway was a pendot Le

project um we are still involved in it

and it is safety improvements from Front

Street to Second Street along Forester

Street and it's set to be completed in

the spring of

2025 chut street is a dced grant project

that was awarded and bid this year and

will set to begin in the spring of

2025 and just a few other uh

miscellaneous updates State Street we

are currently working in the closeout

phase of that project and working on a

settlement agreement with the the

contractor to pay him for work uh done

and then 17 Street as I mentioned before

was a traffic study founded funded by a

grant from represent Madson and that was

along 17th Street from Walnut Street to

Brookwood

Street and 2025 goals would be to kind

of really move the city forward with

pleas one is our new vision zero plan if

you uh anyone in the audience are

watching please scan the QR code to uh

take you to a a survey that we will then

use that information to help develop

future projects throughout the city we

really want uh to hear everyone's input

on this and we're also going to hold a

public meeting at the Public Works

building on January 30th of next

year uh some of other capital projects

uh we have a complete repaving and curb

ramp

upgrades along sycore street from 13th

to 19th we chose this street as it HS

the food Elementary and we really want

to

increase the safety of the U school

children with the curb ramp upgrades and

better marked cross

BLS and similarly on Barry Hill from

18th to 25th

Street uh there's multiple schools along

that Corridor and once again we just

want to make it safe for the

students then quite a few others that we

have on our list that are in preliminary

design and we really haven't started for

them too much if if you have any

questions on those please ask me at the

end thank

you and for our performance metrics

every design project has a specific

Milestone uh set at the project start

and we hold monthly meetings to

discuss project updates as they come

forward to make sure everything still on

task

thank you very much I'm going to start

with questions I'm going to try it again

this time uh was councilman Rodriguez

the Public Works

chair um no questions for me thank you

Council

RS thank you good evening Mr sliders

thank you for being here um my question

I think Mr Sakowski may have to come to

the mic it's just about the um a project

I didn't see in the budget for

engineering that dealt with the Civil

War Museum

I'm sorry question was good evening yes

so my question is over the summer I

worked with um some members of the

engineering department Mr ciders and

some other members about the retaining

wall um behind the Civil worm Museum the

parking lot

um it has it's almost like a sinkhole if

not one um and my fear is that it is

going to be something we're going to be

reactive to instead of proactive um I

know the Civil War Museum had got a

million dooll Grant and was looking for

a match uh a company did come out to um

give

a um say how much it could possibly cost

for the retaining wall to see if we

could match it so I was just wondering

um maybe why wasn't that part of the

budget so maybe we would be able to

match that to help with the retaining

wall at the Civil War Museum um and just

any update on how we are going to be

proactive about the issue we look at

that we did look at that

project upon further investigation uh it

was determined

that the city owns the retaining wall

the the museum commission is responsible

for maintenance of the retaining wall

the specific um retaining wall is a what

they call a green wall which has plants

on the front that it's actually

intergral to the wall to prevent back

fill from flowing out maintenance was

not upkept and the plants died out and

which allowed the back fill to flow out

through the front of the wall which

caused the sinkhole and it's currently

on hold until we determine uh specific

maintenance responsibilities and cost

sharing so did that answer your question

it

does and not that you didn't answer it

in a satisfying way because you were up

there you were very helpful I'm sure the

administration was when they heard what

the issue is but I just feel

like we're going to be very reactive to

it I when I seen it when I stood on it

when I looked over I was nervous like

you you almost feel like you were going

to fall over and um MC the old mcdevit

which is now the bridge program is right

there where they have plants growing

they have kids come

um I just don't want it to be us just

reacting to it and now we have to do

something um if the Civil War Museum has

a grant I just feel like we should do

more to try to see what we can do to

match it um now instead of trying trying

to wait when it falls cuz it's falling

now okay uh Joe and I can look into it a

little further and and report back to

you in the near future and what uh I I

don't know the details so I can't okay I

don't want to start saying something and

and bind the city to something that's

not correct so I appreciate that no I

I'm always a person if you don't have

the information please get it just

please let me know um so that we can

start trying to do something about it

and work with the Civil War Museum um so

we like I said before I will always say

it I'll be like a dead horse be

proactive so I think the primary thing

you have to determine whose

responsibility is what you know once you

do that then you can probably move

forward a little bit quicker think I

think that's the probably the situation

we're now is trying to determine who's

responsible for what uh I'd have to know

more about their particular Grant to

know what it pays for and uh you what

kind of match they need it's um

what type of Grant they do have so yeah

I it's a million dooll um match and it

was for the maintenance um certain the

updates and the parking lot was included

okay all right but yes but please let us

know please let Council know and keep us

updated on what our um next steps would

be for that we'll do thank

you thank you very much president

Bowers I don't have any questions per se

it's nice nice to know that Vision zero

is still alive and well 2.0 a revamp um

you mentioned the meeting on January

30th are there other meetings planned or

is that just a kickoff or what do you

envision with vision 0 2.0 so this

meeting is simply a initial public

meeting to go over results of the survey

um from there we'll then have regularly

scheduled progress meetings throughout

until we finalize the uh the pool plan

and how can um residents and members of

the public access the survey uh it's

it's both on our website and through the

QR code presented through the

presentation thank

you thank you councilwoman Davis thank

you vice president green good evening Mr

ciders one quick question the lights the

200 lights that uh the technology um was

ordered for have we started working on

those yet for the Safe Streets for all

Yes uh no we have not we're the next

step is to release a request for

proposal for preliminary

design okay any idea when that will be

done it'll be probably first quarter of

next year is when we will release the

RFP sure thank you welcome other

questions thank you councilwoman

Daniels thank you and councilman Jones

she didn't forgive me uh no

questions thank you very much I don't

have any questions either thank you

thank

you no questions about anything else

before we are released any other

questions for Public Works before they

um head on out for the

evening well maybe if you have updated

numbers on uncollected trash feas but

you don't have to answer that now okay

we'll get that to you as

well um maybe just one because I know

there was some reorganization the ETC

program um it runs out of the host fund

I think we had to reallocate like

$100,000 to them last year and I don't

see it was it2 200,000

okay I don't see it anywhere but I'm not

sure who that is under to answer that

question and I didn't know if it was

public works CU everything got

reorganized it's under public works but

we'll get the answer from the finance

department thank you can you repeat the

question yeah no no problem thank you Mr

Brooks for coming up here so the ETC

program we had to allocate funding for

that last year because there was not any

so I just was um yeah this year sorry oh

my gosh yeah because we're doing this

year we had had to reallocate money for

it so I want to make sure we don't have

to do that for 2025 we did

$200,000 um for that do you Etc program

yes it's where the environmental team

Court yes Mr Watson was hit of it not

that Mr Watson Mr it's um HUD and the

city usually would partner for maybe two

or three years they weren't the city

wasn't funding this program um the

program wasn't going to run this year we

it was brought to our attention and it

was addressed by Administration and

Council um it was

$200,000 that was given to them to

support their program and we just

wondered yeah I'll have to yield the

Neil for a response on that yeah that's

fine you

can essentially I think the

administration did not request that

money okay deputy director of Parks and

Recreation it is uh um funded for this

next year 2025 it's in the budget it's

in 2020 in the host fee what was it 200

or 150 200 I which line that would be

and you know you can get back to me cuz

I don't see it in here I could totally

be missing maybe it's under grants to

local units that's it thank you now I

see 4,000 y 240,000 yes okay thank you

so much clear it up about the misund no

don't be sorry we worked it out look

teamwork we all came together there you

go all right

got it thank you any other questions or

comments all done all right thank you uh

next we be moving on to Parks and

Recreations and park maintenance

you

it's

see some trees

no

good evening whenever you're ready

please feel free to start your

presentation please introduce yourselves

first uh go through your presentation

then we'll open it up for

questions I'm Kevin Sanders Parks and

Recreation manager for parks and

recreation Sasha Rose deputy director

for

Parks we're going to go to slide

one the first slide uh it just goes over

our cost effective um programming such

as summer

programs movie Nights bash The

Brownstone Winter

Wonderland it also covers Park

reservations and Park rental

supervision uh walks runs and outside

Gatherings parks and recreation grants

well Park Improvement and enhancements

we use a grant program for

those we also received uh we assist with

maintenance upkeep of our Park system

which consists of meing trimming uh

repairs safety checks pre- service sight

prep cleaning power wash

restrooms our significant changes uh one

is in our temporary seasonal line uh

we're requesting

500k that's to maintain competitive

wages to retain quality staff uh also

part of that is increases in

participation increases in offerings

Park maintenance is in need of a new

trash truck the pictures were provided

the trash truck does maintenance our

Park system on a day-to-day

basis travel increases are part of the

summer program the increases around

Transportation costs attendance

increases and uh the needed for more

more

buses all right and I just want to note

one thing the temporary line increase of

500,000 that's a change from what's in

the budget book right and the budget

book is 400,000 you guys are requesting

500 all right and then um that's the

only one that's not matching the budget

book correct all

right our department diversity uh with

in park maintenance they have eight

black men seven Hispanic six white and

one person R has four black

and um I'm going to keep interrupting

you but this does not include the

temporary um temporary uh employees uh

could we get the numbers for those as

well if you guys have them we don't have

that okay we don't track that all

right you can probably get that from HR

okay our next line are our

projects the tree vestment

project description of that on boing

with for services City's next steps for

2025 creating an RFP for tree inventory

and ifb for first year is a contractor

agreement senior program low income

at

Citywide removable trees and Brewing

under contract and

ongoing we're work and our Parks we're

also working on a master plan that's

ongoing the next phase there some public

meetings we're working on um P National

Pool and playground AKA pool 2 um Mr

vaker did provide an update um same

update we're under review and

procurement we're also working on gorgus

Park Wilson Park Seth rner um we do

anticipate first quarter construction

bid to take place um then Reservoir Park

is also part of that project we're

different phase there we have revised

drawings which will be ready for review

in January that project is a little bit

bigger and has two parts to it and that

is why it does encompass a couple delays

is a little bit different

other

projects Park maintenance and arus 99 be

root trees were planted in

2024 with about 30 volunteers 54 trees

removed over the last four months pretty

significant want to hear is the parks

left budget

then the next budget is Park

maintenance department

highlights Park maintenance also had a

pretty significant response to the

August storm which we wanted to

highlight um

Park maintenance had essentially stop

and and assist with that uh that was

towards the end of summer programming

itself in our Parks however we still had

our swimming pool program that would be

opening the next day we did have to

close um obviously with the storms but

that did require a lot of um all hands

on deck Park Rangers assistance as far

as some of the green doll checking

making sure floods wen't coming as well

the summer program attendance increased

um this year we had 2,000 people

attending the Bas as Brownstone our

candl making event was our most popular

we actually had to turn people away the

99 trees planted this year was pretty

significant we improved our overall pool

revenues this year and uh we improved we

felt we had improved coordination with

uh our intro departments with uh just

the first like four year with the

changes and Stu like that a lot of

improvements this is um this represents

some of the performance

Matrix um using sign outs attendance get

feedback forms um then capacity for

venues are all needed to um provide data

as well as um part of the make itself to

make sure that we're going to whether

we're going to bring back a program or

program needs a revamp

these are some of the um programs that

are highlighted we also use a matrix in

summer programming as well um inside of

our fil trips we've all used we use fi

trip forms and things that nature as

well as asking staff and asking people

that come to

conf some progress goals um 85 event 85%

excuse me of events spent targets um

increase of participation programs some

of the goals for

2025 is to um increase attendance at our

community events and our programs

completing our current projects which

are Wilson Park sth R gorus Park and

Reser

Park um bringing back the temporary line

budget the

$1,000 um will support staff current

wages are 15 through $18 per hour

original request was for 470 Prest was

reduced to

400,000 the 400,000 we do not F support

our current

curing

questions uh yes uh I'll open up to my

colleagues but first um

can you give me a breakdown of the

numbers on how you got to the 500,000

for the temporary

staffing

sure so this is based on um estimates

and reviewing our current staff as well

as the staff from two years ago and

breaking down um where current most of

the people currently are in the pay

structure that we're working and just

basing on how people were hired last

year um we came up with 99 staff total

we had so we had the pool we had 23

staff in the parks and playgrounds

direct

staff the numbers are pretty rough

around that

um and then the site leaders also is

about 24 give take sometimes we we

actually have a little bit less or

sometimes come CL

the adjustments at speed are based on

when we start having more and more

people sign up is when we start having

some

challenges because we don't know who's

going to actually show up so um some of

the larger Parks create certain changes

and challenges sometimes we do move

staff around um to accommodate those

things some of sometimes the managers

the management staff also participate it

is all hands on deck

all right um I did kind of talk to Miss

Ross a little beforehand so I'll kind of

give the public and the rest of my

council members um the calculations that

I kind of was looking for which is uh

about $18 an hour about 30 hours a week

for each student right roughly 30 hours

a week okay that's a question they work

about 30 hours a week it fluctuates the

hours

fluctuate yeah yes yeah some we but I

just want to make for sure the public

can hear CU they they won't have the

handout some hours could be 25 to 26 and

then some could be 33 34 and then again

we could be back to 25 26 all all in you

know it just depends on the schedule but

if we just kind of round it out to make

it easy just for for speaking purposes

because they can't see the handout about

$486 per summer for each youth for 100

youth that'll be about

$486,000 so that gets Us close to about

$500,000 it's about the the calculations

right rough estimates kind of how we got

to we didn't just P out the air right we

got these numbers based off of the

number of Youth we're looking to hire

which is about 100 youth averaging about

$18 an hour maybe a little less working

about 30 hours a week yes thank you I

just wanted to make sure everyone could

hear that since we had such a large

discussion about it um a couple of week

I just want to make for sure that that

everyone knows these numbers were

actually calculated it wasn't just a a

rash ask for an increase of

$100,000 um the night of the budget

hearing so I'm going to open it up to my

colleagues I'm going to start with the

parks and rec chair this time with a

coun tooman RWS thank you vice president

green um I really don't have a lot of

questions we speak all the time um Mr

Saunders and I speak to director Ross um

constantly um um I think my only thing

is and just I always say my concern well

first of all thank you for um all the

programming you all are having um

especially the Halloween event you have

up at The Brownstone um there the baby

goats were there this year they probably

there last year and I totally missed

them but this year they were there all

the kids had so much fun with them I did

my girls did um so it was it was really

fun to snuggle with the baby goat so

thank you for that and giving our uh

community that opportunity because not

everybody goes to the farm show where

they have them there too so sometimes

it's the local things that really count

um I'm just really

um I guess looking forward to what we do

with with the pools I know there's a lot

of things going on but um you know just

hoping we get everything straightened

out so we do have at least one pool in

the city I know some things are going on

with um the pull out the South and that

maybe that might not be um something

that we'll be able to do depending on

what comes back with the soil

testing um my other thing is um and I've

said it before cuz Miss Karen who is a

resident in Wilson's Park is looking for

some type of kitchen at or kitchen I

know you said you were drawing up new

plans um she is constantly talking to me

on um Facebook or messenger and it's

just really important to them so I just

hope that you know we're listening to

the things that they are saying they're

looking for at the parks but um other

than that I'll continue to keep in

contact with you I'm glad that we raised

the temporary line that was a concern

for me but I'm glad we were able to

raise it and um vice president green

pointed out some matrixes on why 500,000

would would be a good suit so thank you

I don't have any

questions thank you very much president

Bowers thank you I have questions

related to the temporary

employees and then uh around some of the

performance metrics for the new events

that took place this year so I'll start

with the temporary

employees um what percentage of

temporary staff returns annually I'm

asking because you said that this isn't

something that you track the number or

the uh

diversity metrics for the temporary

employees but somebody tracks it because

people are returning to be employed

annually so do we know what percentage

of the um the temporary staffers return

we could get that to you I don't want to

just give you some top in the

head this year probably it was close to

about 75% to

80% okay yeah like the

pools I think the pool's 100% return

okay and that's generally what you see

annually like the pool is where

everybody

returns our better performance years is

when we have more pool staff return

because we don't have to go chase them

okay

and so we're set at a 100 youth

regardless of if somebody's mom or

grandmother comes crying into the office

called 100 staff okay

100 staffers

yes like almost exactly to that got to

that number we have to be tight on that

number tight yes not go over okay thank

you because um can't tell you how many

people I've seen at the grocery store at

church um that are we just

completely

um I guess astonished maybe that's the

right word at the

um allocation that we had to make a few

weeks ago so I just wanted to make sure

we're clear 100 temporary

staffers now on to the metrics the

performance metrics and the goals so 85%

of the events met the

targets

[Music]

and the capacity for

or it looks like all of them well the

majority I'll say um was 30

people and the candle making

exceeded the 30 I think 31 people may

have come I guess I'm just curious to

know like do you intend

to conduct all of these events next year

and um I know it was noted when we spoke

a few weeks ago about the temp orary

employees um sometimes assisting with

these events as well so I guess it's a

twofold question do you intend to do all

of these events in

2025 no we don't don't but these events

that you see aren't the ones that's on

the weekend these are like for the

retirees that's on here um but the

weekend ones like the movie well Friday

Friday night weekend um Friday Night

movie series that we had

um Summer Staff may we may need them but

probably not we have our park rangers

that's there so they usually help out

what starting to help out okay so the

weekend events they may be needed or

they may not be needed okay okay just

wanted to clarify that and figure out if

these were

still um active events no we'll um have

uh Park Rangers put put more um effort

into that okay okay thank you I don't

have any other

questions oh wait wait yes I do sorry

it's related to The Host fee um the

appropriation

462000 grants to local units it's on

page 237 for anybody following along um

we noted earlier that is this entire

appropriation reserved for the

environmental team Corps or are other

local units or organizations eligible

for this

funding um the 200 is for the

environmental team Corp and I believe

the four um 40,000 is

for Co no no kaga have their own line

it's for um the music

series okay

okay okay thank you for claring

I don't have any other questions thank

you councilwoman Davis thank you vice

president green thank you for being here

this evening I don't have any

questions thank you councilwoman

Daniels thank you councilman

Jones uh

yes thank you vice president

green you're on the right

page I said you're on the pr page I'm

going back to the temporary line

um maybe Neil this is a question for you

but I'll ask it anyway um being that

there was an overs spinage of the

91,5 and some change the year to date is

at zero is that because we

um I guess addressed this the other day

when we we passed that

uh right you you made the correction

with that allocation right that's what

it did to change the line of them for

the year all right got you brought it up

and so the ass is still to

500 right then we'll go down to

uh

travel I'm not really getting these

numbers the budget was

for 45 so you overs spent by

$22,000 so to accommodate travel we did

we did some unique things to try to get

the funding down uh we did two um rfps

we spent sent quotes to a variety of bus

companies um to do this we did local

trips versus field trips to try to get

our numbers down we try to hold tight

around this as best as we can we do use

a secondary programming line to assist

when we go over in this area travel is

something that's hard to gauge because

we don't have real numbers from travel

like trans Transportation costs go up

you know every three four months while