Harrisburg City Council Work Session - September 17th, 2024

the time is

five

5:42

p.m. I would like to officially call our

work session to

order Mr trusdale could you please call

the role Miss

Daniels Miss Davis present Miss green

present Mr Jones here Miss Rose present

Mr Rodriguez present Miss

Bowers present thank you uh please note

for the meeting record that councilwoman

Daniels is excused this evening just a

few comments before before we begin our

committee business I noted during last

week's legislative session that uh we

would hear from interim director Martin

Roberts related to the arba funding and

programming updates um she is unable to

join us this evening so please look for

those updates to come during a future

meeting we'll move right into our

committee business um I will begin with

the work of the administration committee

we have two resolutions before us

resolution 44 of

2024 and resolution 49 of

2024 Mr trale could you please read both

into the record resolution 44 2024 a

resolution appointing Miss Elaine Barber

to serve on the board of directors of

capital region water a municipal

Authority resolution 49 2024 a

resolution appointing Connie zler to

serve on the Harrisburg Architectural

Review Board of the city of Harrisburg

thank you Miss Barber if you wouldn't

mind joining us um if you could please

turn on the microphone in front of you

and move it close to you so that

everyone is able to hear

you it's on you can have a seat I'm

sorry

good evening thanks for joining us good

evening before we begin any questioning

I'll just note uh read some of the

resolution just to remind everyone of

the uh Capitol region water board and

its makeup and how we arrived here so

pursuant to the municipalities

authorities act the city of Harrisburg

organized an incorporated a municipal

Authority now known as Capitol region

water which current currently provides

Drinking Water waste waste water and

storm water services throughout the city

and Beyond under the statutory framework

provided through the act and Articles of

Incorporation crw is governed by a five

member board who serve staggered

five-year terms the current staggered

terms of board seats should expire in

2025

2026 2027

7

2028 and

2029 reposing confidence and Trust in

the ability of Elaine Barber to capably

perform the duties incumbent upon the

position mayor Williams has appointed

Miss Barbara to serve on the board of

Capitol region

water Miss Barbara is a resident and

taxpayer of the city of Harrisburg she

is a member of the intergovernmental

cooperation Authority for the city of

Harrisburg and the vice president of the

Coalition of the black trade

unionist the preceding crw board members

term expired on January 4th

2024 Miss Elaine Barber is appointed to

the Capitol region water board of

directors for a term expiring January 4

2029 so Miss Barbara if you wouldn't

mind um taking a few minutes just to

introduce yourself um to the council

members and to the members of the public

listening okay I'm Elaine Barber as you

uh pretty much I'm gonna say the same

things that you kind of highlighted

there already I am a resident of the

city of

Harrisburg uh been a resident for more

years and I can

remember didn't grow wasn't born and

raised here but did have worked here

most of my adult life I've spent here I

currently work for uh ashme Council 13

which is a labor union uh prior to that

I uh worked for the Dolphin County

nursing home which later became Spring

Creek so I'm trained as an LPN but as

again I work currently work for

abme um

active in the community very um um or

interested in what's going on in the

community like to hear um and be aware

of what's going on I'm active in my

local church which is harres and M

church I don't know I welcome any

questions that you may have I'm not sure

what you want to know about me you're

fine thank you I just have one question

before I open the floor to my colleagues

who may have some additional questions

for you uh what impact do you believe

you will be able to make as a member of

the Capitol region water board of

directors I hope that as I hear um

whatever the issues are whatever kind of

things we're talking about is by being a

resident of the city um and

a regular person regular I one second

can you move the mic phone closer to

you how's that is that any better yes

thank you um I was what I was saying was

as a resident of the city um and just an

an average person I just hope to be able

to put put that input in I think

sometimes

um people may not be as aware as they

should be of of what the common the

everyday citizen how they feel about

various issues so I hope that I can

bring and and and

offer input from that

perspective sounds good thank you I'll

now open the floor to my colleagues who

may have some additional questions for

you I'll begin to my left with

councilman Jones any questions yes thank

you president Bowers how are you Miss

Barber okay how are you good good so my

questions would be um where how did you

learn about this position where your

approach is this something that you

sought out I was approached

okay and do you have an interest in

serving obviously you're here but what's

your interest in serving on this sport

as I said I think I I could you know I'd

like to be able to give some input on I

you know I'm not sure everything that

the board would be um involved with in

discussing but I I hope that I can give

offer some additional perspective to

issues as they come up okay do you think

that there would be any conflicts of

interests um being at ask me and um your

other positions you think this will

bring up any conflicts of interest if

you serving in that

capacity personally I don't think so I

think that if there was a conflict and

and I thought about that um because we

do represent um employees at Capitol

region water and so in those issues if

if it were a conflict if if I couldn't

be fair and objective which

is that's what's at my core fair and

objective that's why being in a employee

at asked me being when I became a member

there being an employee there my whole

reasoning for that was things need to be

fair and equal among everyone so if I

don't feel that I could be fair then I

would recuse myself from those things

but yes I do think I could um last

question for now uh have you toured this

facility you know how everything works

up there have I toured CW I've been in

some parts of crw I have not toured the

um the actual plans if that's what

you're asking but I no you haven't seen

so what what did you what did you see

what did you experience so in my in my

capacity as um an asby staff

representative because I did represent

those employees at one time on full

transparency I don't represent them now

I have a different position i' asked me

now um so when I would go there I've

been to the administrative building and

then I've been to the building to the

plant

um on off of her street there but only

in the offices didn't go through any

actual

plans okay so now you don't have any

idea what the scope of work that you'll

be doing Serving on this

board the scope of work yes like you

said you you you wanted to you don't

know what what your what capacity you're

going to be serving you don't know what

you're going to actually be doing so I'm

just did you inquire about any of this

before being after being approached did

you really think about what you're going

to be doing on this

board I have asked as some no I haven't

gotten any clear answers but I did ask

yeah okay no further

questions thank you councilman Rodriguez

any questions thank you Madame President

how you doing Miss Barbara I'm good I'm

pretty sure we've been in the field

quite a few times um I guess I have a

question for our solicitor um uh

solicitor Grover would I need to recuse

myself due to my daytime job working

closely with asy at times or even being

sponsored for different initiatives

throughout the the year I'd have to ask

you like i' have to sit down with you

and see what those are I just don't I

don't know enough about what you're

doing the daytime involves asks me okay

um because the answer is maybe okay so

okay all right just wanted to make sure

because we do a lot of work in the

community and I just want to make sure

I'm being fair and look look over

everything but uh I have been in the

field with you and the team and I love

what ask me does so I just keep up the

great work and I'll kind of go through

it with the solicitor further and see if

I'm even able to cast vote for you but

keep up to great work thank

you thank you councilwoman Ross any

questions thank you thank you Miss

Barbara for being here um this evening

been willing to serve um most of my

questions were asked I just kind of had

more of a comment um if you are um if we

do vote Yes and you are awarded a spot

on the um the uh the board I would say

one of the biggest issues that I know

I've come encountered with in some

residents are the water bills and the

lack of transparency of um why sometimes

you only get an actual reading but then

sometimes you get an estimate reading

and um then four months later you get a

bill that says well you had four months

of an estimate this is the actual so

here's your $500 bill and then there is

no

conversation about it and I

think that some of us just aren't

knowledgeable about what that water bill

is supposed to look like if I see $64

I'm not going to keep investigating I'm

going to pay my six you know it's low

and I wouldn't know that it shouldn't be

that way so I feel like there needs to

be more

education um more caring about how these

bills are being created and how they're

going out into the community and there's

nothing wrong with learning sessions

there's nothing wrong with having

something inside of your water bill to

give you more information about things

so I would just say if you are awarded a

spot on this I I really would like for

you to be a voice for our residents and

um what's really happening especially

when it come when it comes to building

so that's it for me thank you thank you

vice president green any questions thank

you very much Miss Barber um I

appreciate you being here tonight I

don't really have any questions for you

um I appreciate your willingness to

serve and be a part of this board uh I

will say being a member of the plan

commission before I was on city council

um a lot of a lot of board members when

they first join there is a large

learning curve you might have a vast

idea of what you're doing but you learn

a lot when you're there so I will say um

to my council members please do provide

some Grace uh she might not know exactly

what she's doing the day she shows up

but that's kind of part of the process

so thank you for your willingness to do

it thank you thank you councilwoman

Davis any questions thank you um good

evening evening Mrs Barber and thank you

for being here this evening also thank

you for being willing to serve um on

Capitol region

water board and I also agree that as a

new board member you just never know

what's going to come up so you know as

issues arise or conversations then you

address those at the time they come up

um but thank you for being an advocate

for our community for our residents I

look at as also a nurse the cleanliness

of the water and the environmental

factors is what's really really

important so excuse me I know you have

that eye for making sure that our water

is clean and if there's anything that

needs to be addressed questions then you

would be an advocate for us so again

thank you for being willing to serve

thank you that's

it thank you are there any other

questions or comments for Miss

Barber okay thank you very much

okay next we have resolution 49 of 2024

it was previously read but is Miss

Ziggler present

thanks okay good evening welcome if you

wouldn't mind well before we begin any

questioning and introducing yourself

I'll just note what the

resolution reads so this is a resolution

appointing uh miss Connie Ziggler to

serve on the Harrisburg Architectural

Review Board of the city of Harrisburg

the members of the board shall consist

of one registered architect one

licensed real estate broker one building

inspector of the city and four

additional persons with a knowledge of

an interest in preservation of the

historic overlay district and reside

therein appointees to the board Shall

Serve for a term of 3 years or for the

unexpired portion of a vacated

term Miss Ziggler is a resident of the

city of Harrisburg Miss Ziggler has

knowledge of and interest in

preservation of the historic overlay

district and resides in an eligible

historic

district there is a vacancy on the board

in the seat forly occupied by Miss cie

Tennis so you would be um your

appointment shall be for the term of

three years beginning October 1st

2024 and shall expire on October 1st

2027 so if you wouldn't mind taking a

few minutes to introduce

yourself good evening counselors my name

is Connie Ziggler um I am a new Resident

to Harrisburg I moved here at the end of

April

2024 um

after doing a lot of research about the

place I wanted to move to which included

a big body of water and beautiful

architecture those are two of the most

important things um and I feel like I I

hit that nail on the head um in

Harrisburg I have a friend who lives

here and he was giving me good advice

including you know what neighborhoods I

might enjoy living in I've always lived

in an urban walkable neighborhood and I

do here um I was trying to calculate on

the way here I think I correctly figured

that I've been working in preservation

for 34 years um from not just working in

it but also just loving it it's just

what I do for fun um I have a Instagram

page where when I'm just walking around

I take photos and then I look up the

history that's just my own thing for fun

um I have been a staff person on a

preservation commission I've worked

primarily in the private field doing um

studies for federal projects to be sure

that they don't have negative impacts on

historic properties I've done that for

decades now I write National register

nominations I still do that

um I've been as a volunteer on a main

street board and on a when I lived in

Providence Rhode Island on their hist

markers board so it it's a

passion

um and a volunteer to become one of the

most hated people in the city I think is

probably part of it that I expect and

and it's so important to me preservation

is so important that you just kind of

have to live with that because you know

you're helping to take care of the

future of your city so

okay thank you well welcome to

Harrisburg thank

you um I just have one question same

question I asked Miss Barber what impact

do you believe that you will be able to

make as a member of the historical

Architectural Review

Board well I think I've been able to

I've been involved in preservation from

an architectural review from kind of all

aspects of it and I've also rehabbed

through three homes myself um so and

I've lived in preservation

districts and worked to save buildings

also worked to be sure buildings that

are unsafe don't and are not savable can

come down and make a space for someone

else to have a home um so I think I

bring all of those aspects together and

also just because it is personal to me

it's not what I it is what I do for a

living but it's

also I don't

anticipate doing it to make money from a

position like this I I anticipate doing

it because I'm just trying to be sure

Harrisburg remains as beautiful as it

is thank

you I will now open the floor to my

colleagues who may have some additional

questions for you I'll begin this time

to my right with councilwoman Davis any

questions thank you president Bowers

thank you you for being here and for

being willing to serve I don't have any

questions okay thank you vice president

green any questions thank you president

Bowers I don't have many questions for

you um welcome to Harrisburg uh glad you

chose us we do have a lot of beautiful

architecture and historic building so I

know you'll have plenty photos for your

Instagram um one question I have is such

a new Resident how did you find out

about the board and what makes you

interested in joining um you know

because I I am the person that I am I

immediately started looking to see where

are the historic districts am I in a

historic district and then when I got on

the website the city's website and it

said that there were looking for someone

to fill this position I just went ahead

and sent my resume and said Well I this

is something that I could do I have I

have an awful lot of experience in a

very narrow area really but I I would

assume that there are not a lot of

people who have more experience than me

in that field and so it seemed like it

is a way I could become involved in my

new

city thank you very much I appreciate it

thanks thank you councilwoman Ross any

questions uh good evening Miss Ziggler

thank you for being here today um I

don't have any questions but I

definitely love your enthusiasm and

welcome to Harrisburg and I I enjoy that

you jumped in two feet and you know

ready to already you know work and help

and um see your new cities so thank

you thank you councilwoman Rod oh excuse

me councilman Rodriguez thank you madam

president um thank you Miss Ziggler for

being here this evening which uh

historic district in the city would you

say is your

favorite

oh

well I gosh that was really hard I

really love the area along the river

just because I'm also a really a water

person and I'm happen to live in that in

that District um in the Midtown area

that is along Susana so

I but I'd have a hard time picking a

favorite um did you ever get a chance to

go to the historic Harrisburg

Association cross the street from the

Broad Street Market yeah you have a lot

of great preserves inside there I'd

recommend you to check that out yep um

let Mr Dave say counil send you over to

check them out thank you thank you for

your willingness to serve thank you

madam president thank you Council

Jones uh thank you president Bowers

um let's see first can you tell me what

large body of water

no Hannah river that pond no I'm messing

with you um I do see your uh your

background and something for me that's

something that is important and um the

passion for for these type of things you

know uh we can work in a lot of spaces

that

they provide us money I I just love your

conversation this isn't about money for

you um this is more uh passion driven

and I think those are the type of uh

people that we need in these spaces and

uh being that you're not from here is a

plus as well I know that may seem

strange to some people but that's a plus

as well because um it gives you an

opportunity to meet people new and and

not be tainted by a lot of things so um

I just I'm impressed with your your

resume and thank you for your

willingness to

serve thank you are there any other

additional questions or comments for

Miss

Ziggler okay thank you very much for

joining

us so as you may or maybe we'll remind

everyone for board service to any board

a statement of financial interest is

needed uh to be filed in the city clerk

and office of city council for 10 days

prior to any action being taken on the

appointment by Council so at this point

I will table both resolution 44 of 20124

and resolution 49 of

2024 until we receive those statements

of financial interest and then our 10day

clock will

begin in which we can then take some

action but thank you both for joining us

this

evening so this

concludes the work of the administration

committee next we will move to the

community and economic development

committee I will lead discussion in the

absence of our chair councilwoman

Daniels we have one resolution ution for

discussion resolution 57 of

2024 Mr trale could you please read it

into the

record resolution 57 2024 a resolution

approving the preliminary final

subdivision plan for the 1529 South 13th

Street submitted by Janine and Jim

spango to separate the existing parcel

into three individual lots for each of

the three residences on

site thank you let's see Mr Knight is

present and okay our applicant is

present as

well okay

okay good evening

everyone Mr Knight we'll start with you

if you wouldn't mind providing an

overview of resolution 57 2024 for us

please uh sure uh so the um application

for review before city council tonight

is a uh preliminary final subdivision

for for 1529 South 13 Street uh this is

a lot actually where uh South 13th

Street kind of turns from going north

south to towards the river um and along

uh the bottom the southern portion of

that stretch where it makes that turn

between uh the green belt and 13th

Street is a parcel with three uh

detached single family homes on it um I

believe uh in their uh testimony at the

Planning Commission meeting they had

indicate the applicants had indicated

that uh um the properties had come into

their possession at various times so

that's why it's kind of uh like um a bit

of a unique situation where you don't

really have individual single family

homes like this on a single lot um and

uh they've just kind of acred them over

time and so what the applicants are

looking to do now uh is uh subdivide uh

this full parcel into three individual

Parcels with a um single family detached

home on each of them uh the proposed

subdivision will conformed to the uh

applicable um aspects of the zoning code

with respects to the uh Frontage of the

lot um on a public RightWay the size of

the lot uh ensuring that uh the lines

are drawn such that uh the existing

structures on site will not uh create uh

non-conforming issues like encroachment

to setbacks and things of that nature um

so it's a fairly uh straightforward um

and um you know Common Sense uh proposal

to uh subdivide this as the applicants

are proposing to do uh with that being

said uh the Planning Commission

recommended that city council approve

the request uh without conditions uh for

the following reasons the proposed

subdivision will create individual Lots

which are all in conformance with the

applicable zoning regulations regarding

use development standards and off street

parking uh and the proposal will advance

in a minor manner manner the goals of

the city's comprehensive plan through

the creation of individual residential

lots which are more viable as home

ownership opportunities than the current

lot configur

ation thank you very much we have our

applicants present um did you want to

add anything else to Mr Knight's

overview no so hi council members my

name is Allison Hannah um I'm from penon

Associates the plan preparer of the

subdivision plan and just to piggyback

off of what Mr Knight went over um very

simple plan um just wanted to reiterate

that there's no construction no

demolition going to be happening it's

simply just taking that one large parcel

and putting it into three properties for

each of those houses how it should be so

it's easily sellable to um people within

the city of the Harrisburg and also the

applicant here as well um if you have

any questions um for

her thank you very much I don't have any

questions it seems pretty

straightforward to me I'll now open the

floor to my colleagues who may have some

questions for either of you I'll begin

uh with our building and housing

committee chair councilwoman Davis any

questions thank you president Bowers no

it's pretty clean cut I read everything

and there's no construction no breaking

of ground so no no no questions thank

you nice seeing you this evening okay

thank you vice president green any

questions thank you president Bowers no

I don't have any questions I mean

looking at it I would have assumed it

was three lots to begin with so this

only makes sense thank you thank you

councilwoman Ros any questions good

evening to you both thank you for coming

and um yeah no questions right I thought

it

was three houses and that's so weird

that it was just one big lot so thank

you for making sense of it and coming to

do so so I don't have any questions

thank you councilman Rodriguez any

questions thank you madam president um

thank you ladies for joining us and

direct night um just so I'm clear um cuz

I'm looking at the address and it looks

like just one parcel will that one

parcel be divided into three units yes

and currently right now all of those

houses have individual addresses as they

are right now so it's we're basically

just adding in two lines to make them

three lots okay and then will that are

the taxes the same will that still just

be towards one like unit or does that

open up different Avenues so I believe

the the idea for this is is they're

going to be sold to different people so

those owners will will have their own

separate taxes until someone purchases

exactly yes okay okay so that' be three

different taxes to the county yes okay

thank you no further questions thank you

councilman Jones any questions yeah not

not really um yeah that was just my

understanding as well just to make sure

so uh once this is approved does that

fall into that space now now um will

will the taxes be attached to that once

we approve if we approve um you know

separating those lots um how does that

look for as taxes so that will be up to

the coffin County tax assessment office

when they get the notice of the

subdivision uh just like you do for a

consolidation they go back out and take

a look and they base it on where it is

right now in terms of of of tax

Assessments in the area but but there

would be three separate tax bills and

they'll you have a partial number for

each which is how they do it um so I'm

not quite sure what they do when they

get subdivisions with I don't if they

had a-h two at the end I don't know how

they do it for for creating the partial

number but they will add a partial

number that's unique to each of the

three plots okay yeah because I seen the

different addresses I think it was 23 25

and 29 31 I think yeah y that's right

okay um yeah and I really like the idea

of splitting them up like that it really

helps the city uh and being that there's

no construction and I see that all of

them have off street parking so I think

this is a great idea and thank you for

applying there any other final

questions seeing and hearing none thank

you all for joining us this evening

thank you on behalf of chair Daniels I

move to add resolution 57 of

2024 to our next legislative session

agenda for a

vote this concludes the work of the

community and economic development

committee next we will hear from the

parks and parks recreation and

enrichment committee I'll defer to our

chair chair

RS thank you president Bowers and good

evening again to everybody um tonight

the parks recreation and enrichment

committee have two resolutions that we

will be talking about today resolution

54 and resolution 58 um to start with

resolution 54 Mr truell can you please

read that in resolution 54 2024 a

resolution ratifying the Professional

Services agreement with stall Schaefer

engineering to provide certain

Engineering Services for improvements

and facility upgrades to the city-owned

stadium presently known as FNB field

thank you so much Mr trale is there

anyone here from Administration to give

us more information on resolution

54 good afternoon city council my name

is David Baker the city of Harrisburg um

our facilities Department director and

beside me is Deb reart is our senior

project manager for

this thank you uh good evening to you

both and the floor is yours uh so this

resolution is a ratification uh to stall

Schaffer uh and Associates uh for

potholing services that were that were

performed at the city island or the

senator Stadium uh project to uh verify

where we had utilities underground to

figure out the depth of those before we

started doing actual

construction um the ratification

purposes were needed uh because we are

under fairly tight time constraints uh

due to the uh construction timeline that

has to happen during the off seon and

the um MLB requirements of the stadium

up upgrades uh that were we kind of like

up against the wall as far as time goes

uh so we uh move forward with the uh

$7,000 contract to have the pot holing

done um and we do have uh stall shaer

virtually uh to answer any sort of

questions if you have any additional

questions on

this thank you um oh is that it I'm

sorry yep that's it unless you have any

any further questions I'm happy to

answer

you oh okay so I thought you said

something um sorry about that um thank

you

um my only one question was um because

we are doing the we're trying to get 30%

of making sure we have 30% participation

from our our

disadvantaged um

Enterprises where are we at with that

and do they fall into this scope I don't

believe that stall Schaefer engineering

firm does fall into the scope it's uh

I'm thinking a fairly small um you know

number of people that do the pooling

type of work here

um as far as where we are with the the

percentages uh I you know we haven't

started actual construction as of yet so

right now we're still in our design

phase we did go out to uh bid for all

the construction companies that came

back so I'm hoping here short short L

we'll be able to come up with some

numbers for you as far as who is

responding and who gets those bids

awarded to them as well okay thank you

yes please keep us a breast on where we

are with that 30% that's very important

because it was a promise made and right

now um Alexandria is on two projects so

we want to make sure they are staying in

that 30% realm um I'll start with

questions um I'll start with councilman

Jones Thank You councilwoman Ross

um my question would be for

administration um can you tell me we do

have a department that does pothole

services in our city

right the potholing of this nature I do

not believe we do what's this nature

what's different than a a pothole that's

in the middle of State Street so if we

have poth holing in the streets where

they actually take like a hot mix or a

cold patch and they'll put it down and

then they'll compact that coold patch

after they've cleaned the actual pothole

this type of potholing is they're

they're doing it's more like an air

Spade uh type excavation in the ground

where they take water and air and a

special tool and it will remove the soil

from the ground in a manner that won't

destroy any sort of utilities that might

be below that so they can find the depth

of that utility so if we have a fiber

optic line or a sewage line or a gas

line or whatever it may be our utility

companies after our pa1 calls they'll

not here's where it is but they don't

know the depth in which it is and so if

if we have a a gas line that's 80 inches

underground we might not we might not

hit it whatsoever but we can't take that

chance if we have a large gas line where

we start Excavating at 60 Ines and all

of a sudden it's up much higher and we

tear into a gas line and you know blow

up half our stadium so we take

precaution precautions such as this to

tell us exactly where it is we're not

relying on records that could be faulty

or old old information we physically

know where these these items are and how

how would they go about doing that I

mean what's going to be the difference

is there camera how and and how many pth

holes are we talking about and I don't

want to cut you off M uh director Baker

but so that Mr Jones question is

answered efficiently not to say you

cannot but since um this is not your

scope of work um could Mr um I'm not

sure who is on the um Zoom right now but

would he be able to please answer that

question for us I think he's a

representative from the

company did you hear the question sir

sir

they go in with a back truck and a water

Spade shovel and physically excavate

that area to be able to put a survey rod

down in underground and locate the top

of those pipes um I believe four

potholes were done excavated surveyed

and

reclaimed and that cost that cost $7,000

did you hear my

question no I didn't I'm sorry and that

cost almost $8,000 for four P

holes between getting the the equipment

out there and updating base mapping and

the serang yes it was

$7,000 okay thank you so my my next

question is for you Mr Baker so we do

have equipment to do um is there there's

no kind of partnership with our

equipment and their expertise there is

there yes so the equipment we have for

potholing and their equipment for

potholing are just they're completely

different and they have the same name so

it's confusing but they're totally

totally different types of equipment and

totally different expertises that that

do this type of

work okay no further questions thank you

uh Council will Ross you're welcome

councilman Jones uh councilman Rodriguez

uh thank you madam chair can you come

back to me please something yes that's

fine president Bowers do you have any

questions I don't have any questions at

the moment thank you you're welcome vice

president

green thank you councilwoman RS um and

just to clarify we're ratifying this so

the work has already been

done it's just cutting the check just

afterward saying it's done we're

approving it it's already done so it's

not really a question of are we going

with them just do we agree with the fact

that we want with them or just ratifying

this is a ratification yes and so Madam

just so we're clear these are the

engineers that did the geothermal

digging for the for the Senators before

we were we had them and you know so they

were the ones who had already done into

the ground and the geothermal is to

determine whether or not um whether we

had to put casin in the ground how deep

things were they were already doing the

probe of the island and took the samples

and did that uh before we had this so

they were already familiar with the this

company yes this company this

engineering company they came in through

the Senators and you and Cole previously

to do the digging which had to be done

as a as a prerequisite of geothermal

work um I just think this has got a bad

name when they call it potholing they

you know they they weren't here to fill

potholes they were here to determine for

utility search where things were which

is an underground exploration as opposed

to a topping off of a hole in the ground

that sounds more that's what we were

doing so it just has a stupid name for L

yeah so and and and I don't recall

seeing any of this so vice president

green I didn't see I don't recall any of

this so it would it would not have come

to council because it was the Senators

the Senators did the geothermal okay

which is which which is a prerequisite

to doing any construction all right so

so but what you just explained sounds a

whole lot better than a pothole so this

whole process took place uh when Council

was on Hiatus and as I was saying we do

have a rather tight timeline for it so

you know we felt since there the

engineers on site are ready that we'd

allow them to move forward with this so

we wouldn't have to stop construction

and miss our timelines and our windows

for the for the actual uh construction

process between the the games and

everything else that we're doing we have

so many different um you know windows we

have to meet or we cannot get done in

the the period of time that we are

telling the MLB individuals that we're

hoping to meet as far as our Windows go

yeah I didn't hear the first part you

said and I do understand you had to wait

till the seasons and not happening again

till you can get some of this work done

but I didn't hear the first part that

you said I was saying that this all came

about when Council was on Hiatus that's

why we didn't come to council asking for

permission to do this that's why it's a

ratification uh just because of the

timeline that we were faced with

okay all right um councilwoman uh

Daniels I mean Davis excuse me do you

have any questions

thank you councilwoman RS no I don't

have any questions at this time all

right oh thank you um thank you both for

being here and explaining this a little

more as well um I do recommend that we

put resolution

54 oh sorry Mr Jones or Mr Rodriguez

thank you madam chair um thank you

director Baker for being here I just

have a I guess sometimes I get confused

because when we speak of engineering

it's not my expertise but I know

Alexander is on the hook for two major

projects this one of them if they are

the project manager why is there

continuous absence when we speak of

these typ projects shouldn't a

representative be here now I know the

city reserves etc etc etc but we are

talking about a lot of money and they

contracted you and Cole which actually

provides the very Services we're

speaking of so it just kind of gets

fuzzy for me um could you help clear

that up for a bit sure so so uh the

Senators St the Senators actually

contracted with ying and Cole first so

ying and Cole was the one that had um

stall schaer who's the engineer that

we're speaking of uh they had them on

site at first so they they were dealing

with them before Alexander ever came on

board uh I'm reading the article now

where it says Alexander actually

contracted you in

Co am I misspeaking now no not okay yeah

I so we went before Council and got the

approval for Alexander to come on board

um but Y and Cole that was done I ne was

that done in a ratification as well two

different things right so you and Cole

was brought in by the Senators before we

got here right before there was a

commitment from the city to go forward

um because you and Cole is the entity

recommended by Major League Baseball as

the engineers who did the surveys of all

minor league parks in the country so

they could satisfy their Union contract

um they had already done that part of

the work then un Co came back here for

their contract with the city because

their contract with uh the Senators

doesn't isn't enforcable against the

city so we have a contract with

Alexander as the contract manager the

next stage is to bring in an engineer

architectural firm which is uan Cole you

and Cole came in and they didn't they

weren't using their engineering seals

because

the way that they were brought in by

Major League Baseball and the Senators

this engineering company was the one

they brought in to affiliate with just

so either you have both in your company

as an architect or you want have you one

you affiliate with they don't have

internal engineering they didn't have

here so they affiliated with this

company for the geothermal so they

already had some familiarity with the

project so so yes we have a contract

with both a construction manager and an

architect it wasn't one with a

full-blown engineering operation which

is why we had to bring them

in does that does that help not really

because your question is why isn't why

isn't a construction manager here Point

does at what point does Alexander start

they've been starting okay but this is

well this is here because the city code

says Council has to vote on the

professional service agreement an

engineering agreement it's a

professional service agreement that's

why this is here um and I just feel like

we're like Contracting people that kind

of do the same work well they're all in

the same affiliation almost but but they

are different companies and as far as I

know you neither would of the other two

would do the kind of what we're talking

about the underground exploration that

they would bring just like there right

now for for FMB field there are eight

separate bids out because they they you

break up the pieces of the project to

different Specialties which is normal

for a large construction project who's

going to do the electrical who's going

to do the plumbing who's going to be H

now a company may do all of those and

put a bid in on each of them but they

have to bid them under the separations

Act separately that's what requires the

government to bid things out separately

on construction projects um is it

complicated yes is it Byzantine yes um

but it is it's what the state law

requires of us in terms of public

bidding understood is there

anywhere there we're keeping a

repository a documentation of like the

work Alexander is uh actually completing

along the way that would be facilities

working with them on what they've been

doing is that something that can be

shared with Council sure yeah we can I

mean we meet with with Alexander on a

daily basis um about both our projects

so that be interest in to see thank you

no further

questions all right thank you um I would

recommend that we place resolution 54 of

2004 on our next legislative

agenda and now we'll move on to

resolution 58 of

2024 um Mr trell could you please read

that

in resolution 58 2024 a resolution

ratifying the city of harrisburg's

acceptance of a federal financial

assistance Award of $2 million under the

INF inflation reduction Act made by the

United States Department of Agriculture

through the US Forest Service for the

Harrisburg tree investment

project thank you very much Mr Chow is

there anyone here from the

administration that can give us more

information on resolution 58 of

2024 yes Cody leg City Forester hello

Cody make sure you pull it up really

close to you and speak into it thank you

all right well um please give us more

information on resolution

58 yes um thanks for having me um so

yeah the USDA Forest Service um Urban

and Community forestry program has

awarded the um excuse me can yeah louder

speak directly I know you have a very

soft voice I didn't mean to interrupt

but please move it closer to you so

everybody can hear you than yeah so I'll

be I'll begin again um the USDA Forest

Service Urban and Community forestry

program um has awarded uh the city of

Harrisburg a a grant for $2 million um

through the inflation reduction act um

and this this project is titled

Harrisburg tree investment project this

project is largely focused on um large

scale systematic pruning removal and

planting of Street

trees um throughout different regions

annually of the um of the

city uh a portion of of these funds are

also going to be used to conduct a new

uh Street tree inventory um the last one

the city had had done was about a decade

ago um also a portion of the These funds

will

also um resubscribe our uh tree

inventory software which we recently

acquired um and then another small

portion of these funds will be used to

um to focus on community engagement and

and Outreach uh efforts um I guess it's

important to note that these funds are

um waved of match um since the city does

qualify for um dis disadvantaged areas

um as outlined from uh the federal

government so that is a broad summary of

of the

project thank you very much um is there

anything else you want to add to that M

Ross okay um I really didn't have a lot

of questions I was looking when I was

looking at the resolution I was um happy

to see that it is definitely going to be

helping towards not just our tree

inventory but making sure we're um

planting trees that aren't going to have

a long-term impact on our city residents

as they current as most of our trees

currently do now um and also a financial

impact that's the the biggest um part

for a lot of our residents they are

having to take on the burden of taking

down trees that they didn't plan um or

that are really impeding into their yard

and it's just a lot of issues so I think

that um when I was able to see that in

the resolution I really hope that um we

are able to use this um $2 million to

really make a an impact on um on our

tree problem that we have imp plant

trees that are not going to grow so

enormously big that um it's just this

long-term effects are just really um

brutal so um thank you for that and

thank you for um giving us more

information um I just one question

though

um we only get this once this is awarded

to us one time correct okay that's what

I wanted to make sure I kept seeing

longterm and I was like wait is this

like a it's a multiple year project

okay thank you very much I just wanted

to clarify that I'm going to start to my

right this time with um councilwoman uh

Davis thank you councilwoman RS I don't

have any questions at this time thank

you you're welcome vice president green

thank you I don't have any questions

myself thank you you're welcome um

president Bowers I don't have any

questions thank you you're welcome uh

councilman Rodriguez thank you madam

chair uh thank you both for joining us

how do you um distinguish would are like

the indigenous species of the trees that

were originally here where is that

information located you mean for like

like a native sort of species yeah yeah

I was just kind of looking through the

draft and it says that we'd be like

replanting and just because they're

already native hairs because they

naturally will grow how do we go about

finding out which ones those are sure so

so we do have a um a street tree list

that is on the website and it does list

some native um species of trees that we

primarily like to to plant um the

plantings are going to largely come down

to um my opinion being the city Forester

we want to plant the right tree in the

right place um as councilwoman RS

suggested we don't want to plant a large

tree in the back on the you know

underneath the power lines or in a small

tree Pit Where where we see these these

large large issues come up so how long

have you been with the city um coming up

a year and a half a little over a year

and a half and how long have you reside

or do you reside in the I reside outside

the city gotta so one issue I know is

prevalent when we're planning or those

larger trees or the larger species when

they crack the concrete up they really

destroy home value and property so just

try to keep that in mind that yeah and I

will comment on that a little bit um

it's a problem that's almost unavoidable

um even if you plant a smaller tree it

does it's it's inevitable to happen um

there are some engineering um

solutions that you could do but that's a

that's a much bigger project that is

guys are the profession you know you

know digging up soil and you know using

some sort of alternative um you know

structural substance so yes picking a

small AR tree does help but um a lot of

times it's a it's a bigger issue I would

encourage any way we can be proactive to

alleviate some of that because we don't

want to repeat you know past mistakes so

right just keeping that in mind as we

move forward but thank you and I'll say

this too um we do have funds in this

grant to um help with tree expansions

now it's a caveat we can't fix um raise

sidewalks but increasing them might

indirectly help out with um any of those

raising issues definitely not fix I

understand that would be the homeowners

issue but if we get the correct things

planned it on time we may be able to

prevent it moving forward um but thank

you no further question thank you

councilman Jones uh yes councilwoman

Ross um my sentiments are the same about

the trees I am a person that had to deal

with that and it is very painfully

expensive had to cut down my own tree

get my pipes fixed it is horrible what

happens there so please don't put one on

my

street it's just a small one just a

small one yeah no I don't need them I

don't need them UMES but my only

question is um you said some of this

money is going to be used for outreach

what does that look like so we also did

just hire a um community outreach

Forester to take the part-time position

that's still funded with um I believe

it's host host post funds um that would

be her role to kind of uh spearhead that

that effort um I Envision it kind of

pcking back off of the summer programs

where they have different uh curriculum

based you know not just tree focused

um events but maybe just kind of a broad

sustain ability environmentally um

geared topics uh that's kind of the the

biggest portion but um you know using

funds for infographics just general

Outreach to the public just so they're

aware of the project and maybe just kind

of get more informed about trees in

general right so what would that again

what would that look like like far as

going out um just on the city's website

or is this other avenues uh mail

anything like that yeah that's all fair

game um I think kind of getting into the

the the schools themselves uh is kind of

the primary the what the the schools uh

the the schools in the the different

areas of the city where where work will

be happening um you know that that's

kind of the I guess first step I think

can kind of Branch out from from there

okay yeah I think it would be great to

make sure because again you know

everybody in this city have an issue

with trees and I think they would be

very interested in learning about some

some of these things so I just hope that

the Outreach part goes uh fairly well um

in the best way that you possibly can do

that and I don't have any further

questions thank

you thank you I don't have any questions

either um so I am going to be

recommending that resolution 58 of

2024 um be put on the next legislative

agenda and that concludes the business

of the Parks and Recreation and

enrichment committee thank you both for

being here tonight thank

you thank you our final committee

business this evening is with the public

works committee I will defer to our

Public Works committee chair councilman

Rodriguez thank you madam president um

today in the public works committee

we'll be discussing res resolution 55 of

2024 uh Deputy clerk trale can you read

resolution 55 of 2024 into the record

please

resolution 55 2024 a resolution of the

Council of the city of Harrisburg

authorizing and appointing Joel ciders

city engineer as the city of

harrisburg's design to execute any forms

documents contracts and reimbursement

agreements in the Pennsylvania

Department of transportations electronic

engineering and construction management

system and reimbursement and

reimbursement Agreement System thank you

for that and I see we have uh engineer

ciders with us thank you for joining us

this evening um if you wouldn't mind

give us a brief overhaul of resolution

55 of 2024 please uh certainly so ecms

is pen dos kind of goto solution to

administer um construction projects and

consultant agreements and the r system

is similar but it's more geared towards

reimbursement agreements so it's all all

electronic P um the city would get

involved with that system when there is

a a project a 10. Le project within the

city limits or if a certain project

within the city has um certain Grant uh

stipulations to it we would also have to

go through that system as well

and historically this Authority uh did

with the city engineer position uh with

it being vacant

it had been temporarily granted

elsewhere and we were just trying to get

it back and Consolidated into the

engineer

position right thank you for that and

that would make you um kind of like the

fiduciary signatory for those pendot

different initiatives kind of similar

yes and you'll be able to sign on behalf

of the city right I would um kind of add

that it would still go through legal

review for absolutely Y and then uh

solicitor Grover there's a question for

you is this similar to what we had to do

for former engineer snow it is and in

the inter room you did it for um Miss

Kelly because there has to be a

signatory to get into the system y um

and we are a slave to that computer

system so awesome understand all right

so I will open it up to my colleagues on

Council starting with my immediate left

councilman Jones Thank You councilman

Rodriguez no questions thank you um

Madam RS thank you good evening for

being here I don't have any questions

Madam president good evening no

questions thank you Madame vice

president good evening I don't have any

questions for you councilwoman Davis

thank you councilman Rodriguez no

questions this evening um is there

anything you'd like to

add no I'm good all right um so with

that being said one further time one

last time any questions no all right so

I'd like to move to add resolution 55 of

2024 to our next legislative session and

that concludes the work for the public

works committee thank you thank you

thank you at this time we will open the

floor for public comment just a few

housekeeping notes before we begin

please state your name and your address

for the meeting record if you don't feel

comfortable sharing your address please

share the vicinity in which you live

within the city you will have four

minutes to share your comments Mr

trusdale will serve as our timekeeper

and I will begin to my right is there

anyone that would like to offer public

comment seeing and hearing no one anyone

in the middle

section okay seeing and hearing no one

anyone to my

left seeing and hearing no one the time

is 6:44 p.m. I will entertain a motion

to a journ so move is there a second

second thank you we stand a

journ for