Harrisburg City Council Work Session 9-3-24

e

Miss 5:30

p.m. would like to call our work session

to

order Mr Parker could you please call

the role yes Miss Daniels here

Miss Davis

present Miss green

present Mr Jones here M

rolls present Mr Rodriguez present Miss

Bowers present thank

you before we begin any committee

business I just wanted to note um the

city is experiencing some technical

difficulties with Channel 20 this

evening uh but but the YouTube um link

is live so if you're viewing please feel

free uh to view on

YouTube and the video will be U aired on

channel 20

tomorrow the first order of committee

business this evening is with the

administration

committee we have two bills for

discussion Bill four of

2024 and Bill five of

2024 and one resolution resolution 52 of

2024 Mr Parker could you please read

bill 4 of 2024 into the record please

yes an ordinance delegating authority to

the Secretary of

Transportation Commonwealth of

Pennsylvania Department of

Transportation to file with the Public

Utility Commission as may be required

for and on behalf of the city of

Harrisburg an application

for the construction SL reconstruction

of the 17th Street Bridge crossing over

railroad property and for the

appropriation of necessary rights of

way thank you good evening how are you

this evening good evening well thank you

great uh if you wouldn't mind uh

providing we'll just reintroducing

yourself I know you've been before us

before but for the benefit of uh those

viewing and members of the public and

then if you wouldn't mind um sharing a

brief synopsis of the bill sure my name

is Joel cers I'm relatively new city

engineer for for the city of

Harrisburg uh this project is an

interesting one it's uh part of the i83

widening project with the

new on and off ramps at 17 Street pendot

has kind of flagged the bridge for uh

replacement and

I guess uh part of this uh ordinance

would be

to kind of delegate penda to kind of

speak on our behalf when dealing with

the Public Utility Commission as well as

moroke Southern during RightWay uh

negotiations okay thank

you I don't have excuse me I don't have

any immediate questions I'll open the

floor to my colleagues who may have some

additional questions for you um I will

begin to my left with councilman Jones

any questions thank you president bars

um not at this time I don't thank you

thank you councilman

Rodriguez thank you madam chair uh thank

you for joining us this evening no

questions okay councilwoman Ros uh good

evening thank you for joining us it's a

pleasure seeing you again I just wanted

to know if if there was anything like um

how it would impact the public anything

we should know that maybe wasn't said in

the um the resolution I mean excuse me

the bill just for

any not that I could foresee a standard

Bridge replacement it just happens to

involve the railroad which makes it

tricky to to deal with okay thank you

that's it for me president Bowers thank

you vice president green uh thank you

for being here tonight but I don't have

any questions

thank you councilwoman Davis any

questions yes thank you president Bowers

is this the bridge and thank you for

being here first and foremost is this

the bridge right there at 17th and um

right before you get to the highway is

that the bridge that's going to be

replaced from 17th Street yeah it' be

between uh Paxton Street and book yes

okay just wanted to clarify that thank

you yes great right where the U on Rams

come yes yes and I know the railroad is

right there too so there's going to be

some coordinating and okay thank you

welcome thank you councilwoman Daniels

any questions no just one do you think

um the application will need to be

submitted

within yeah for for which what part well

it says that we're delegating to you the

authority to submit an application for

the the the construction that pendot

will ultimately handle but it it's not

not exactly happening right now right

now so like when do you think that well

I guess part of this is to get the

process started so they'll have to start

going through right away negotiations

and once they hear all that then

construction can begin I think it's

sated for um next

year the the construction itself to

start and but the right where can start

as soon as we

give them authority to speak on our

behalf okay that's it for me thank you

thank you any other additional

questions Madam chair just just for the

Public's clarification this particular

Bridge we own and the operative part of

this piece of legislation is when it's

done we own everything again and we will

have more right of way and space to take

care of them before we started but we

couldn't really have the capacity to do

this ourselves um and it is in

conjunction with the next piece of

legislation yes so but that's this is

our Bridge they've agreed to take care

of this for us uh and we agreed to make

sure we would take care of whatever they

acquire in our name in this process

there's a chance something will come

back to you when if real square footage

is acquired as part of a dedication to

the city okay thank you for

clarifying if there are no further

questions I move to add Bill 4 of

2024 to our next legislative session

agenda for a

vote next we have Bill five of

2024 Mr Parker could you please read it

into the

record

yes excuse me Bill five of 2024 an

ordinance delegating authority to the

Secretary of

Transportation Commonwealth of

Pennsylvania Department of

Transportation to file with the public

Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission

as may be required for and on behalf of

the city of Harrisburg an application

for the construction SL

reconstruction of the mlay Street Bridge

crossing over railroad property and for

the appropriation of any necessary

rights of

way thank

you Mr ciders do you have anything to

add uh relating to Bill five of

2024 for this project it's the

replacement of two pendot own bridges

over norfol Southern and Paxman Creek

they happen to

be on E either side are City owned roads

and that's kind of where um there could

be some conflict with the RightWay

agreements with northb Southern similar

to the 17 Street Bridge

thank

you I don't have any immediate questions

with this one either thank you for

clarifying I will open the floor to my

colleagues um who may have some

questions for you I'll begin with

councilwoman Daniels any questions the

same question as with the prior Bill

like when do you

anticipate the the work to start this

one is not as far along as the 17 Street

bridge I would imagine

we probably start

um Acquisitions would start later next

year and then construction

following that's it for me thank you

thank you councilwoman Davis any

questions than you yes does the mlay

Street Bridge Belong To The City or the

state

yes so yes it does it belongs to both

unfortunately pieces of it of ours piece

of it it's theirs oh okay so the portion

well I guess the whole bridge is in play

here to be repaired okay thank you no

further

questions thank you vice president green

any questions no I don't have any

questions thank you thank you

councilwoman RS any questions no I don't

have any questions but thank

you thank you councilman Rodriguez any

questions thank you madam chair no

questions for me

thank you and councilman Jones any

questions not at the

moment okay thank you if there's no

further discussion and no further

questions uh I move to add Bill five of

2024 to our next legislative session

agenda for a vote our final uh

discussion for the administration

committee is resolution 52 of

2024 Mr Parker could you please read it

into the record yes resolution 52 of

2024 a resolution authorizing the city

of Harrisburg to negotiate and enter

into a Professional Services contract

with State Street strategies LLC

LLC

d/b/a

one plus strategies for strategic

guidance and intelligent intelligence

gathering

for lobbying related

Services thank you I believe there are

Representatives

here thank you if you could please take

a moment to introduce yourselves and

then uh share some information regarding

your firm sure thank you very much for

having us here tonight my name is Jake

Corman I'm a former state senator here

in Pennsylvania was the uh majority

leader for six years and the president

pro 10 the last two years before I

retired in

2022 um since then we started this firm

called OnePlus strategies we're a little

over 15 16 months old now have over 120

clients have about just under 30

professionals working at our firm and uh

our vision for this new firm that we

created was to put a team together uh

that was prepared to Lobby on behalf of

our clients not necessarily an

ideological issue we put a team together

Pennsylvania being a purple State we

figured to be effective uh we needed

Republicans we needed Democrats we

needed people from the city we needed

people from rural areas uh so that we

could effectively argue and articulate

the message for our whatever client that

uh we may be serving into that time and

I think we' put that type of team

together uh and we're looking forward to

representing the city of Harrisburg is

personally for me my time in legislature

even though I represented the center

County Center part of the State State

College I didn't represent a city per se

uh something I was always very

passionate about uh working on behalf of

cities and buroughs because I've always

been a big believer that uh they are the

centerpiece of our communities uh and

their vibrancy is essential uh for the

community and and not only for the city

itself but for the communities around it

and so we look forward for the

opportunity to articulate and advocate

on your

behalf good evening honorable members of

council my name is Blake Lynch uh

formerly uh worked at wif as senior vice

president and chief impact officer of

the organization and prior to that I

served under two Meo administrations

here at the city of Harrisburg under

mayor Eric papus under mayor Linda

Thompson uh in a variety of roles uh

very passionate about the city uh having

family that uh lives here in the city

throughout from uh all the way from

projects to um out the Southside in

rosson street I'm in the city multiple

times every single week previously I ran

for Congress to represent the area

including the city because of my passion

working alongside our bravest men and

women every single day that are out in

the streets doing the work of the people

is something that I have tremendous

pride in uh especially with my father

being a harrisb cougar uh you know

always having that pride in representing

the city and everything that it repres

presents um so it is an honor to join

the uh The Firm OnePlus strategies the

bipartisan Firm made up of Republicans

Democrats and independents um as uh Jake

said we are close to 30 uh professionals

that work for the firm um and having a

variety of clients stretching uh the

Commonwealth and even federally as well

um I serve as a government relations

professional also known as as a

registered lobbyist and do represent

various clients as well on behalf of

their interest to try to make sure we

can help build that bridge uh between

the needs that help represent the

Commonwealth and also the interests of

our clients happy to answer any

questions you may have thank you so much

for your

time thank you um Mr Lynch I do have

maybe one question for you now it's

noted in this resolution that you will

serve as the liaison for the city of

Harrisburg is that accurate that is

correct and then also all 25 members of

the team of course are a part of this

effort to make sure that we're

successful in what has been laid out to

try to advocate for more fire protection

line item funding as well as more

funding for Parks and Recreation for

bettering the relationship with pendot a

host of other issues um that the mayor

has proposed through the RFP process so

in your

uh brief 16 months it may have seemed

like an eternity for you guys but how

many of your 100 plus clients are

municipal ities throughout the

Commonwealth sure uh formerly uh

formerly prior to change Administration

The Firm did represent the city of

Philadelphia um and then with a change

in administration they decided to select

another firm at this time we do not

represent any other municipality or

Township or burrow but we are working on

entities that are attached uh such we do

have clients that are airport

authorities and other municipal

authorities but not city or

burrow okay

my other question relates

to why now we know that the current

legislative session is nearing an end um

there are limited session days left why

now why not earlier in the year when you

could have been impactful uh with the

budget we did complete the RFP process

over a year ago

um and we are waiting for our time to be

presented uh as a finalist there were

three finalists that were remaining and

we were one of those and selected by the

administration at the appointed time

that they decided to complete the RFP

process uh so it's really a point of

timing if you note in your exhibit even

the engagement letter was written um

almost two months ago and was provided

um so we are ready and prepared to serve

with a new session getting ready to

begin here shortly actually

I don't have any other questions I will

open the floor to my colleagues who may

have some additional questions I'll

begin with councilman Jones any

questions um thank you president

Bowers um yeah

simply um similar to president's bars

questions um I'm just looking at this

and I would ask first I mean this may be

a question for for Neil um how many

other companies were looked at through

this

process I did know that I forgotten I

think there were at least five that

applied and three that were interviewed

um but this started quite a while

ago I'll kind of answer that um I was

part of the RFP committee it seems like

a couple of years ago at this point um

and there were five and we um scored

each of them and then heard nothing else

up until now

so you you saying you were a part of the

the team of selecting these companies or

yes I read over each RFP and I scored

each RFP and then I handed in my scoring

rubric to the previous business

administrator okay so you said five

years so this was clearly before B right

it was it started it started when the

city of Harrisburg found out uh that

literally our taxing Authority had been

on the negotiation table with no one at

the table um so which happens when

you're not there if something's got to

go something can go that's you um we

have uh it is lobbying that brought us

our taxing Authority it is lobbying that

brought us our fire protection monies uh

it our fire protection monies are about

$5 million they had been cut down to

about 425,000 at one point um so so

there were efforts to bring all that

back and to deal with other agency

things from the last Administration and

this Administration um but so so that's

what started this process was okay we

were we were advised the city of

Harrisburg taxing Authority was on the

table for a discussion um this past

session there was a bill to take our

fire dollars which is and divided up

amongst all municipalities that had a

State Building in it um where while we

have most of them that's a lot of parts

of the state to divide up the money so

it's really about a seat of the table at

the end of the day so uh I understand

the need for the firm um again um I um

Echo the sentiments of President Bowers

as why now and if um vice president

green um my other question would be

hopefully you can provide and you are

Neil can provide some clarity on this

for me if these uh were was one plus

strategies part of those that RFP

process when you originally did it if

not when did you got was there a new RFP

process and a rubric done on these on

these

companies yes they were part of the RFP

process um from my understanding no no

other company other than the ones that

were part of the RFP process were

interviewed or spoken to about this um

why it took so long I can't answer that

uh and I guess my question would be for

the other ones as well as for one plus

is is it the same team because uh the

RFP that we got and then the team that

we get could be completely different so

so I know that was a concern that I

discussed with the administration a year

ago anything Neil on that I cannot

answer that I don't know to answer that

question we our office does get involved

in the interview process the uh

interviews it was councilwoman green I

believe a representative of the

controller's office the finance office

and the business administrator the

finance director is gone the ba is gone

the the controller's office does not

participate in meetings like this over

you know they seen themselves as

assisting something like this so I I

have no information for

you okay um so I'll move on um to my

next question um explaining because our

residents can't see what we're looking

at far as in the scope of work so can

you explain some of the duties and um

expertise around those areas where that

are going to be taking place for what

$5,000 per month absolutely so in the

agreement um I believe is public record

you know that'll come on after this

meeting it is for strategic guidance it

is for relationship building it is to

help advocate for increasing maintaining

and increasing the fire protection line

item because 48% of the city is tax

exempt as we all know um and we believe

that the city has not been receiving its

fair share and we believe that the city

is entitled to much more which benefits

not just fire protection and EMS

services but really uh this the services

of roads and bridges and uh the impact

that so many residents coming in and out

of the in and out of the city every

single day represents uh so we'll be

advocating for that um having the

relationships that we already maintain

here in the city from working under two

mayor administrations uh I have a

knowledge and relationships that are

pretty strong when it comes to Public

Safety when it comes to uh different um

entities inside of the city so it helps

to articulate and Advocate on behalf of

the areas of the city without much of a

learning her um and really humbled for

that so when it comes to that we have

over 25 folks in The Firm a variety of

relationships that are very strong uh

including former leader of the of the

Senate right next to me who maintains

very very strong relationships and was a

part of helping to make that fire

protection uh increase to $5 million

happen during his tenure so we have

Advocates that are for the city

including our own elected

representatives that will be there at

the table with us

one one other thing um news monitoring

can you explain that what is that sure

that is policy updates that is bills

legislation as uh Neil had pointed out

um it's really again understanding the

bills that are coming um what

negotiations are going on conversations

that are happening and then providing

them back to the administration so

they're updated on that would you like

got

anything yes and we do that for all of

our

clients okay um for now I don't have any

further questions thank you president

bers thank you councilman jnes thank you

councilman Rodriguez any questions thank

you madam president uh thank you

gentlemen for joining us this evening um

I'm on the website I see Andrew a lot of

familiar faces um and this may be a

legal question are you aware of any

current possible conflicts or potential

coming up in the future uh beings though

you'll be lobbying for different pots of

you know financials um and some of these

may go to different groups with that tie

into each other at all eventually or is

there a great

separation we're not aware of any

conflicts obviously we' address those

early on if if we thought there were any

um certainly advocating on behalf of the

city is is unique to itself and so we

don't see any concerns or whatsoever

okay thank you no further questions

thank you councilwoman Ross any

questions thank you president Bowers I

just have one because most of mine have

been asked and answered I had saw under

um it was number four for like I I think

uh what your job will be your scope of

work and one of them was the

Pennsylvania Lobby and disclosure

compliance so I think it's paperwork and

the paperwork that you send in um at the

end of each year which is

$175 for each hourly for each um set of

paperwork that you send in so I was just

wondering like how much would that come

to like how much would you be sending in

just to see because I know yearly it's

going to already be $60,000 for the

5,000 a month so what would the other

cost look like that's actually going to

be included in retainer Services uh for

the city and we'll be doing and that is

to file on the city's behalf lobbying

disclosure that is reported quarterly um

we've already talked to Leo about that

through tiany and saying okay thank you

for clarifying that my pleasure that's

it for me okay thank you vice president

green any questions thank you I don't

really have many questions for you most

of them have already been um discussed I

guess one thing I is what's the biggest

asset you feel like you bring to the

city of harisburg

well I think our relationships and and

as I mentioned before it's important

that you know the legislature is very

close both in the state house where it's

102 101 in the state senate where it's I

believe 2822 you have a Democrat

Governor Republican Senate and so you

know when you're advocating on behalf of

your client you want to go to all the

doors no matter who's in charge no

matter who's in control and so we

developed when we developed this firm uh

to have have a strategy of individuals

who could go to whatever party whatever

individual whatever region to aate aate

in behalf of our clients uh

representative Paul Costa who came in

the legislature with me in the late 90s

he was a Democrat from Pittsburgh uh

representative Stan sailor who's just

retired uh two years ago as well as a

republican majority Appropriations

chairman in the house uh we have people

formerly under the Shapiro

Administration on our staff so you we

tried to develop relationships no matter

who's in charge because that will change

over time and you know we're not going

to be an effective firm if we can't

change with that and and be able to do

things and so and it's important in the

city when you're going through different

requests different issues that you're

trying to get that You' be able to get

into every door uh and I think that's

what we provided with the the um

diversity of our of our

firm thank you I don't have any further

questions at the time thank you

councilwoman Davis any questions thank

you president Bowers thank you for being

here this evening gentlemen I don't have

any questions my questions have been

answered thank you thank you

councilwoman Daniels any questions yeah

I just have a few so it looks like the

cap on the contract is

60,000 um which is about the same as the

cap we had with Maverick so can you

explain why we shifted from Maverick to

this

firm because there was that that

contract had expired and this was an RFP

process that that's all I can tell you

Maverick was not under contract during

this

Administration and uh when that expired

the mayor had put out for an RFP process

for a lob okay and

um I guess the rest for me is just

comments right now we don't have a ba we

don't have a Financial finance director

we don't have a communications director

we basically completely underst sta this

is not a high priority for me plus our

experience with the last lobbying firm

was pretty bad we ended up just giving

the Hudson building to one of its

principal

and I know you're saying that lobbyists

were what got us the fire money and the

taxing Authority but that Israel act 47

the threat of bankruptcy and um a

receiver so you know I don't want us to

um overvalue what we get plus some of

these tasks are things that our

employees should do right like our HR

person should be current on what the

current policy is you know if there's a

change in state law regarding employment

or whatever um and we have our state

repres resentatives too who you know do

advocate for us um

strongly up at the capital so I I don't

see this as a

priority at all in terms of what the

city needs right

now I just feel obligated because I've

been through the trenches and I'm going

to say that I started out not being in

favor of lobbyist and the last mayor

knew that but the only reason we have

permanent taxing Authority is because of

the strategy OS and put in place because

of a lobbyist it was an amendment to the

fiscal code done on the very last day of

a two-year term on the very last vote

strategized into place to give us EIT on

a permanent basis EIT is twice the

revenue of the LST the LST steps down um

we were the only ones to get that in the

Commonwealth of

Pennsylvania um so I'm just

saying you you can ask the prior people

because when I was in the room I was not

a fan of the idea but I will tell you it

worked and when I am wrong and something

works I'm willing to say out loud I was

wrong and it worked and it worked and we

are just as vulnerable uh now as we were

before uh we have the largest threat to

our taxing Authority because of the uh

loss of tax revenue from the high rise

that are coming we have the loss of the

Commonwealth in our own Office Buildings

I mean those are real threats and I am

not an advocate for one strategies I'm

an advocate for Harrisburg protecting

itself

uh up there on the hill because we

depend on them for much more than people

realize and if I may councilman um

councilwoman Daniels um just to Echo

that though because again if we look at

certain situations that we've already

been in um let's look at the Broad

Street Market for an example all right

so we have representative Kim repr

representative Madson um stand in front

of that building and say that they were

going to get money for that place um

they were involved in this last process

with the market so again um just not I

don't want to say throwing money out the

window because I do believe that there

is a need for lobbying just in certain

areas uh that's just my sentiments just

sharing in with uh councilwoman Daniel

said and I just wanted to add that

because what you just said Neil I do

believe we do need some lobbying in some

areas however again I wouldn't rate this

point at a at a high priority yeah I'm

I'm not saying what your priorities are

I am just saying that is a reality when

you when you don't have someone up on

the table uh in the room you are

vulnerable and we have been vulnerable

we have always had a state

representative up there that's every

single time it didn't stop us from

getting hit very hard um multiple times

um and so again I'm not advocating for

anyone entity I'm just saying my job is

to protect taxpayers of Harrisburg and

in the past it made a difference

thank you uh well let me respond for

first thank you councilwoman Daniels and

thank you councilman Jones for your

commentary I wholeheartedly agree thank

you solicitor Grover for your input

Council woman R you have another

question I did real quick because I know

when we were up here speaking and I know

um vice president green had mentioned

she was a part of the RFP process um

when these lobbyist came in front of us

in the different companies so can you

clarify for me I don't know if you can

now I don't think you all can cuz you

weren't part of the administration but

how long has it been since we've had a

lobbyist in that position that contract

expired either December of 2021 or

January 2022 so we've had that whole

time with no lobbyist and now it's I

guess I get confused because why is it

so important now but it wasn't in 2021

and maybe that's not directed to you

because you're not the administration I

don't know who could answer that but I

would want to know what is the push now

when we haven't had one since

20121 and now it feels like okay we have

to you know get this done now and you

know you're thinking about the money

that's

$60,000 and then we the RFP process was

done so long ago we don't even know if

it's the same people at the companies or

why they graded them the way they did so

it's it just feels like now it's just

here get one but it's not

for the right reason so nothing against

you all but I just trying to understand

it the only answer I have for you is

that there are those of us who speak uh

on a regular basis uh trying to prod

things along sometimes uh you know Mr

Hartman myself Mr Kelly I think all

tried to prod along that this is a

priority amongst many priorities and you

know a lot of things take a long time to

come forward the priority levels hasn't

changed it's just there's competing

priorities and we try to keep those

priorities on the radar you know against

everything else

um you know there there is discussions

with the state leaving two of our

largest buildings in the city that is

the kind of thing you need someone in

the room for the discussion to stop slow

down or whatever um it's not us alone in

those

buildings could I just add something on

sort of on the timing issue maybe help

clarify um so we answered the RP

obviously and we came in and met with

administrative staff probably March

April in that area and then came back uh

for next round of interviews I think

when they nailed it down to three people

or three firms and that was uh I believe

in June um and then when we were slacked

they said we wouldn't start until the

fall and a lot of that I understand the

concerned about well we just had a bu

what year was not this is all this year

this year I'm sorry um so what enables

us to do if we were able to complete

this contract here in the in the fall as

now we've gone past Labor Day we're now

officially in the we're not officially

in the fall but it feels like it um is

that it allows us to hit the ground

running uh on November 30th the

legislative session ends and every Bill

and every piece of legislation dies and

then on starting December 1st uh members

of the general assembly will start

introducing new legislation this will

allow us time to to meet with the mayor

Administration and whoever else would

like to have meetings with us to talk

about strategy and and things that we're

going to to be asked to try to

accomplish for you or defend for you as

was mentioned um and you know that

really starts December 1st um that's

when legislation will start being

introduced and so in a lot of ways the

timing does make sense because it we'll

be here and be ready into ground running

when the new session starts okay so this

is just for my edification can someone

clarify the timeline because it's sounds

like the original RFP was in 2021 but

then you're saying that you responded in

March your interviews were March so can

can someone sure um the original no no

for the city's timeline like yeah I

believe the there there were three steps

right there was an original resolution

in 2022 try to get a lobbyist on board

because our taxing Authority was

on uh the discussion block it was then

authorized to come back to city council

and an RFP was started in

2023 that did not lead to a uh ultimate

um Award of a lobbying contract and what

I understand is there was a

determination to reinie the applicants

from the prior submission in 20123 which

took place in

2024 are these are the ones that you

were a part of Vice President green this

is all the same process it just kind of

has been dragged out I believe it was

January of 23 that I turned in my

scoring

rubric so you you get go ahead so you

turn in the scoring rubric after the

interviews or before the

interviews January of 23 and then I

think the interviews were in

24 so a year later is when the

interviews were what was the 21 date you

gave new when the last contract expired

the end of 21 or beginning of 2022 okay

cuz when I said how long have we okay so

the rubrics were turning in

January I believe of 23 you all got a

call

this we the the firm and I believe the

three people or five people that

interviewed originally where there was a

first round of interviews then it was

then determined then three finalists we

then interviewed um in June of this year

and I was actually myself Jake and two

other members of the team interviewed

with the administration and the

representative Administration alongside

two other firms that were finalists as

well we all came in on the same day and

then from there we it was then this is

24 June of 2024 yes that was the

finalist round uh with two other firms

on the same day we actually saw saw each

other coming in out of City Hall um and

then from there it was then determined

after the final round of interviews

based on those who were in the room the

recommendation for

firm and I will note that city council

um asked several times throughout this

process I know president Bowers I know

councilmen Majors asked several times

what's going on with the lobbying

contract you know how we haven't heard

anything we haven't gotten any updates

so I know like for Council it was a

priority we kept trying to push it and

get it done because we felt like we did

want that representation um so it wasn't

like it wasn't like we weren't inquiring

about it it wasn't like city council

didn't feel like it was a priority uh

and then we were just waiting for the

the process to finish up from the

administration and for us to get

somebody down in front of us yeah and

and for me it's it's more so we we have

again we have state representatives that

are are doing some of this work um you

know to to make sure that we get what we

need here I mean they step in when they

feel the need to um

so yeah and I'm just I'm just curious to

see who else was at the table is there

any way that I can see that like those

the other rfps

I will coordinate with the mayor's

office to get counsel information all

right yeah because I'm behind you got to

understand it started before you were

here there's no question

right thank you so yes it it was a

priority we did inquire but uh per usual

the lack of communication as you can see

it was crickets until now I just wanted

to note just for everybody's reference

resolution 94 of

2020 authorized the

2021 um Professional Services agreement

with Maverick and that was

from January 1st of 2021 through

December 31st of

2021

94 of

2020 20 and that was for the 2021 year

can I ask another question when was the

intent for uh the of the award of this

come out when did that come

out uh when did we receive our letter is

that what you're asking the intent to

award you yes sure that was in June of

2024 same time you were having the after

the second after the second interview

okay a few weeks later we then received

a letter from the administration

announcing the intention to move forward

with our firm

and shortly thereafter we then provided

an engagement letter which is provided

in the attached that was July 1st of

[Music]

2024 the engagement letter was

sent are there any other questions

council members no just uh for me again

I just would like to get caught up on

how all of this played out

before I even make a decision that's

just where I am on this that's what I

was it's very hard for me to vote on

this because I don't know what the

original process was there's paperwork I

don't have so it's hard for me to just

say yes from just reading the resolution

because it took so long to get to us I

hear you and uh given the line of

questioning um that you gentlemen have

received this evening I would like to uh

table resolution 52 of

2024 if it will remain in the

administration

committee so this concludes uh the work

of the administration committee thank

you for joining us uh the next committee

business we will move to the budget and

finance committee I will defer to our uh

budget and finance committee chair vice

president green thank you president

Bowers uh for the budget and finance

committee tonight we are going to

discuss resolution 46 of 2024 resolution

46 is a resolution authorizing the city

of Harrisburg to participate in the

Dolphin County Bridge bundling program

to replace the bridge known as hbg -19

and negotiate and enter into an

intermunicipal call sharing agreement

and furtherance of such and who do we

have from the

city good evening Joel S city engineer

good evening if you could just give us a

quick synopsis of this we'd appreciate

it so this project is for the replace of

the Walnut Street bridge over jown Road

it's in

disrepair Sly

needs either Rehabilitation or

replacement and the longer we let it go

the worse worse it's

becoming this bridge bundling program is

a great opportunity for the city

to have the bridge

replaced I believe it's a the city would

be responsible for 2% of the overall

design and construction fee so it's just

an absolutely uh fantastic opportunity

for the

city thank you uh and then just looking

over this resolution it looks like the

city will be responsible for about

$34,988 in the C sharing agreement

that's correct if the the total amount

of construction which may fluctuate with

the

inflation right but as long as it comes

into around that

17

million excuse me can you speak into the

microphone or move it closer to you I

apologize didn't mean to interrupt no

I'm sorry uh so yes it would be about

35,000 if the total is 1 1.74 n million

no regardless of the the the total end

cost it will be only 2% of the the final

cost all right thank you and just

looking at this the estimated

construction is looking at about January

through August of

2026 estimated of

course estimated that would be a a

very rough estimate I I would probably

push it back even even a little further

just because this this agreement was

originally brought forward at the

beginning of this year and it's just

been delayed until now so it's going to

push

design and construction

back just as much as it's been delayed

so I'd say

even so 26 27 not this year not next

year okay um I don't have any questions

it looks like a a great opportunity for

the city uh to be able to get some work

done without having to pay too much and

get some much needed repairs to the

bridge uh I'm going to open up to my

colleague starting down to the far left

with councilman Jones any questions or

comments thank you vice president green

um I'm having a hard time locating this

bridge where are

we it's it's cuz Jonestown Road wut

Street I mean State Street goes into

Jonestown Road then you have Walnut on

here I'm lost it's just a little oneway

Street coming off State Street

bridge I think so it's it's hard to

describe as well

um would that be the Walnut Street

Bridge would that be up by like that

Dunkin Donuts up there that's Jonestown

Road it turns intoon right but there's a

little Bridge

there right there for the highway yeah

I'm kind of lost to where that is but my

other question would be um what you know

I don't know if if the city applied for

any uh grants for things like this

there's a lot of infrastructure money

out there and do are you aware if we

apply for any of

that I I do not know I just the the

bridge bundling project is through the

county and they oversee it I don't know

how they I don't know if we participate

and I just know that they're the ones

who sort of carry the ball on this they

get the engineers they get the designers

and

uh for something we own having everyone

else pick up the cost pretty much it's

usually easy yeah yeah I just again I

just would love to know where this

bridge is um I know we need I mean a lot

of bridges need to be repaired in the

city of Harrisburg but I would really

like to know that is if someone can help

me find where that

is is that is that something I could

follow up with you on yeah sure sure

sure not a deciding factor any I'm just

trying to like where is this Bridge

located at yeah yeah it's it's hard to

describe as well as imagine no further

presence um president green vice

president green thank you councilman

Rodriguez any questions uh thank you

madam chair that was pretty much the

same I I can't get a pinpoint on where

that bridge is and I was just

questioning would that be city limits or

I was that's that was one of my

questions as well it is within the city

it definitely is okay thank

you counter woman

raws uh hello no my question too was

just trying to figure out where it is

I'm trying to think of a

bridge that I can't even think I I see

Hills and things but I don't I don't see

any Bridges is there so I'm trying to

picture it but I mean no fault of yours

but just trying to figure out where

they're doing work at so people too if

anyone who can't picture it like oh okay

I know what that bridge is you know so

but yeah if you can let us know thank

you president

Bowers I don't think I have any

questions just clarifying so the cost

sharing split is uh 60% will be covered

by the county and 40% uh will be covered

by the city is that

correct except that 80% is covered by

the federal government 20 or 15 by the

state 3% by the county and two so that

is a 6040 but a

5% of the contract cost okay I got it

just wanted to clarify um and then my

other question was asked and answer

regarding the the timeline so thank

you coun tooman Davis

thank you vice president

green I am trying to think about where

this bridge could be

also um I don't know maybe at the top of

her street going around to Walnut

because you mentioned the city limits I

don't know that that's even a bridge

that's a street okay so it sounds like a

city council Field Trip J yeah because

when you get to 20th Street that's no

longer in the city you get this you

cross 20th it turns into pinbrook so I'm

I'm

really yeah I'm trying to find with

it Google Maps has taking me up State

Street like by um where state turns to

Walnut right there like that that

intersection right there near Rivington

Terrace man I'm lost but by the Civil

War Museum up in that this where

Google's taking me but we got a I think

we just have to

walk no other questions for

me thank you councilwoman Daniels no

questions thank you uh seeing no further

questions uh we look forward to finding

out exactly where the bridges just for

our curiosity I do have a location for

you so it's coming off straight street

it's Royal Terrace but it turns into

turns into one now I know where it is I

was like that's the only Bridge say Ro

ter that that I can see coming off yes

that bridge needs to work yes okay I was

just thinking that was the whole Bridge

like I didn't put it in pieces but yeah

cuz Ro Terrace is right there all right

but it's nowhere near Jonestown Road so

that threw me that's

where Jon road is nowhere near that so

in this location Jonestown Road also

turns into King

Street you oh man that's why okay king

and queen Jason so be royal Terrace and

then Queen is by Colonial Park okay and

then you go under the bridge and

it yeah once you said Ro terce you were

good that is the one

yeah so it's like intersection of four

streets right at that now got it okay

than well I'm glad we figured that out

uh without any further questions I will

recommend this on our to our next

legislative agenda

thank you very much thank

you next we're going to discuss

resolution 53 of 2024 which is a

resolution approving the fifth proposed

2024 budget reallocation confirming an

otherwise clarifying the intended

designation of Revenue replacement funds

under the American Rescue plan act as

being attributed to Public Safety

purposes under the general fund and

further confirming the award of certain

available funds excuse me certain

available general fund program dollars

to two two local organizations to

provide services for bridge

housing I will let you gentlemen take it

away once you get settled

[Music]

thank you for the paper

copies they're colorcoded as

wellik I had the same thing

thank thank you m

good evening Council Timothy Brooks the

budget manager and before you is the

fifth proposed budget um budget

reallocation for 2024

so uh what we did here on from this

budget reallocation was to make it a

little bit easier to understand because

there's a lot of movement part moving

Parts um the top half is going to be uh

and when I say the top half everything

in footnote a are going to be the asss

that we were requesting um for footnote

a under uh Bureau of fire and uh excuse

me sure under Bureau of Fire

um ultimately we had overages in their

overtime line and their Severance lines

related to overtime excess overtime and

then retirements that happened during

the course of the year um with these

retirements that happened during the

course of the year we had to you know

figure out how we were going to help the

overtime line and theed and the impacted

um retirement lines from you know

overtime and the impacted retirement

lines therefore what we were able to do

was utilize some of the unspent money

for the retirements that were that did

happen um the the people that were

retiring were high level um six figure

people we were able to utilize some of

the salary and wages that they would

have been um appropriated for this

year's pay and the remaining pays to be

able to offset the uh off the overtime

and impacted uh retirement

lines can you hear me well yeah okay I

wasit question okay um ultimately those

are um those are the Maneuvers that we

were trying to do to help

uh find the the available funds to to

help the overtime and retirement lines

um it still need it still left us with a

request of about $860,000 so that they

would have overtime for the remainder of

the year and they don't foresee any um

retirements throughout the rest of the

year so um their ask essentially is the

$860,000

here at the the bottom line um the other

the other things within uh foot no a is

the is the medical um medical like it

was last year has been coming in very

very high um Mr McCutchen here can

really kind of go into more detail about

that but um on a biweekly basis we're

coming in almost sometimes double on

what we're what we've anticipated

through the first half of the year or um

through the year period so um we're

looking to U add some add some funding

to the medical line so that we're able

to sustain through the remainder of the

year and then the last thing is um we

have pending legal settlements um and we

would like to create a reserve or not

even necessarily have a reserve but have

the money there to be able to pay for

those legal settlements as they happen

through the remainder of the year um and

what we did so that total ask is the 3.4

million um here under M cursor

um which includes the 860,000 plus the

2.6 for the uh medical and uh liability

settlement claims which comes to the 3.4

and what we were able to do so we didn't

have to impact the fund balance was we

were able to utilize unspent and

available um salary and wages um money

from other departments as well as uh

Revenue that exceeded what we projected

this year to be able to utilize that

those funds to pay for the uh the ass

that we have here in the amount of 3.4

million so that's what you'll see down

in B and C um as well as D here um and

what you'll see down in D in the

underneath the capital projects fund is

a um a movement of money for 900,000 I'm

pretty sure you guys are under under

understanding that the states through

project was not you know it got

cancelled therefore we had that amount

of money to be able to put to towards um

helping this

reallocation um for the medical fire and

liability claims and I think he got

postpone not canceled

right yes I'll yeld to your

terms okay but that in fact uh explains

what we're looking at in exhibit a and

how we were able to craft things to uh

make it work without touching the fund

balance I'm now open for questions

any questions I'm going to start to my

far right here guess it's not that far

but with coun tooman Daniels do you have

any questions regarding this

schedule this I mean this is probably

more for the administration but it looks

like some of these wages are because

people are currently not in those

roles are we not expecting to fill them

by the end of this year or like what how

many months of the so it's not a

question for you like how many months of

those maybe Brian knows it more

precisely how many months of like the

business administrator salary are we

assuming we're not

spending

or okay I don't

know that makes perfect sense and I

think Brian has a good answer for you

okay all right yes uh yeah yeah thank

you councilwoman Daniels good evening

everyone Brian McCutchen accounting

manager in the Bureau of financial

management

um yeah the salaries and wages we always

look at that uh throughout the year and

in this case it was it was pressed upon

to to try to remedy this need mainly for

fire Bureau and and the medical the um

the business administrator line it's the

second line down that's a perfect

example where you take the uh for the

previous business administration uh

administrator his salary for the year

through

through uh the second payroll in

August is you you just allocate that out

and then you you uh put that up against

what we've actually expend expended to

that point August 15th so there is a

there's a savings just because of his

departure uh similar to our our Bureau

with with the departure of the previous

Finance director but um those amounts

are relatively

small um if you look at the other lines

there are a bit bigger and that that

lends itself more to uh unfilled

positions uh throughout the year in

those particular departments um in the

law Bureau for example there's there's

not a full staff uh that that's been

effect for the the larger portion of

this year so that's why you see a larger

amount of available budget unspent

through August 15

42,000 so that's a safe thing it's a

safe har in in the sense of taking that

budget and purely reallocating it to the

lines that are the top half of the

schedule thank you and then this is just

for my edification so we're making these

transfer because we need to pay into

those things but I also assume there's

some liability that comes if we don't

pay those things in a timely manner what

do you know what that liability

is are you potential are you referring

to the salaries over time the the the

liability settlement claims yeah all

that that's a best estimate we we never

know you're right timing and uh and the

amount whenever they occur on on that

and we we get notified from our uh third

party administrator about when claims

have been finalized or settled and and

what the need the timing need to get

that uh those funds dispersed so we the

original appropriation for the year was

500k and it's so far this year you know

and I I knock on wood because it's only

75,000 that we've actually expended but

that's you can't it's not like another

expense you can't allocate it evenly

throughout the year you just never know

so we're just we're we're in a mindset

of preparedness to try to increase that

line in the event that something uh

unexpected might happen prior to year

end that's it for me thank you all right

you're welcome thank you and

councilwoman Davis thank you president

vice president

thank you Mr for being here this evening

um you mentioned the original

appropriation was 500,000 was that for

the medical fire for this that's that's

its uh its own unique line uh for

specifically for uh liability claims

that happen to finalize and settle and

then there's an Associated payout that

goes along with that okay thank you no

no other questions thank you

thank you president Bowers any questions

I don't have any questions thank you

thank you and councilwoman RS any

questions thank you vice president green

my my questions have been asked and

answered thank you thank you councilman

Rodriguez thank you madam chair no uh

questions currently but if I if anything

comes up I'll email them over to you all

right thank you very much and councilman

Jones Thank You vice president green

yeah so um my questions were asked and

answered but just to clarify um not just

the line item of the liability

settlement um that is you said that's

already been taken care of I think I

know where that's going so that that is

our annualized settlement fund for a

variety of claims and there is one that

we anticipate settling we've got what's

called an inter pleader for in the court

of common pleas which will eat up most

of that um that's why it needs to be

refunded with additional funds okay and

um do anticipate I mean to raise this

this number what you said to and I think

that's also coupled with the medical

expenses um can you explain that line to

me a little better where is uh is that

current employees um taking going to

medical or someone can you explain

that okay um it it's a combination of of

current employees and also retirees that

are that are covered under the city's um

Medical

other post-employment

benefits

uh fund or or or initiative um the the

claims tend to be I mean there's three

main claims claims that happen during

the year there's the the medical which

is capital blue uh the prescriptions

through Ben card and then there's Dental

claims so what what we've seen what

we've seen actually uh last year and

also it's it's continuing into

2024 especially during the first six

months

months uh Capital blue in particular

we've had claims the city pays those

claims uh weekly and it more times than

not unfortunately during the first six

months there's been instances where

during any one of those months the

claims for the week are double what

we're what we're normally used to seeing

uh now on the I'll say it on the

optimistic side July I noted there was a

little bit of a slowing but August is

coming back down uh in particular to

where we would like where I where I

would like our claims to be somewhere in

the uh $1 million per month or less

overall that's not just that's not just

medical that's that's everything okay um

so that's uh again that's that's similar

to our litigation claims or liability

claims you just never know what's coming

until we look at it and see it on a

Treasures report so um we're trying to

increase the budget uh not saying that

it's going to drop off and and go back

to what we would like to see but to

again just to be more prepared more

mindful to increase that line uh prior

to the end of the year so hopefully we

can cover hopefully this will be the

only request we we come to you you know

to increase this line for medical right

well yeah medical and under the

liability correct yeah I'm more

confident about the liability settlement

uh about more comfortable I should say

you know compared to Medical medical I'm

finally it's like coming up under coming

up finally to breathe underwater there's

been a just a long series you know six

months of this year has been very very

heavy so it's nice to see this a little

bit of a little bit of a a reversing of

the trend you know going into the second

half of this year actually well actually

this is through August so we're actually

two-thirds of the way but again August

has been the most positive month okay so

we I mean again I hear you using the

word to like anticipate of course we

don't want any to come down and get sued

about anything but so this is more of as

a a safety

precaution so to speak it's it's the

most it's one of the if not the most

it's one of the most difficult lines to

budget for during the year in times so

uh we don't we're hoping we're being uh

you know strong-minded or aggressive

enough to to request this amount and

that it it rides out in good shape for

the rest of the year so we don't have to

come back and and request an additional

amount and last question um was having a

little thought behind this too U with

the Bureau of fire um being in that

overtime I think it's over yeah it's

pretty high right but now it's I'm going

to ask is there a way that some of that

money comes back that uh yes uh and and

in fact chief line did a review with uh

both Tim and he briefly discussed with

me uh he feels very uh comfortable about

uh

overtime after July the last five months

of the year his need uh is

$415,000 um there is an offset in this

schedule to that for the fire bureau's

deployment for for certain emergency uh

events uh disaster type events and if

you look down um in the revenue section

which is down in the the best place is

the the green

Seas all right there's a revenue there's

a revenue line there that says FEMA usar

contract that's Urban search and rescue

and I I I talked specifically to the

chief about this so we we've already

exceeded what the city has originally

appropriated for the year and he has

additional funds coming so we're

increasing that line um to help offset

that to to fund these increases up above

an

expense U Mr Brian real quick um just to

piggy back off of councilman Jones is

there any way we could kind of bring the

other municipalities to the table that

we assist with because our like River

rescue we're going in different Burrows

different municipalities is there any

way that they can assist and take some

of the burden off the city

uh are you referring to like the three

Burrows that the city provides our fire

our fire is pretty extensive our fire

team when we talk about River rescue and

other services is there any way that we

can compensate some of you know

fiduciary um that we do lose uh with

other maybe intergovernmental agreements

or have them kind of jump on board um

because I know anline and the team they

do they're dispatched to quite a lot of

places we operate under mutual Aid

agreements that are longstanding and so

the terms are even back and forth across

the board with a guarantee one will show

up for the other is there a certain like

ceiling it's not really a threshold

because most of them are volunteer

departments gotcha okay thank you sure

and no further questions okay very

good thank you any other questions or

comments seeing none I'm going to

recommend that uh resolution 53 of 2024

be moved to our next legislative agenda

excuse me Council we actually have one

more exhibit thank you I

apologize i' like to get the questions

and then we can move along I think

that's kind of how we've done it before

moving right along to exhibit

B let me bring this

see much of this uh part of the

reallocation is

um largely appropriated toward the Broad

Street Market um restoration project um

making sure that we have the funds

accessible to to do the things that we

need to do as things come along within

the Broad Street Market project um the

other and I'll say with footnote B

eludes to uh is also um support funding

for the Dome relocation project um that

we've already put some money towards but

we need to put the additional money um

that was in our estimated cash Carri

over to be able to finish that project

the D relocation due from the uh i81 i83

Expansion Project that's happening up

down 83 D toity the

airport um those are the large those are

the the big pieces of it everything else

you see host municipality fees um

they're going to donate a portion of the

money for the Broad Street Market and

everything else is more or less the the

the accounting happening within um

moving the money for Street Market and

uh the D relocation

project thank you I'm going to keep to

the same order and start to my far right

with councilwoman Daniels any questions

questions thank you thank you

councilwoman Davis any questions no

questions thank you and president Bowers

any questions I don't have any questions

thank you councilwoman R any questions

yes I just had one question um I had

thought with the Broad Street Market we

were rewarded money and then also

insurance money so I was wondering how

much more do

we I mean we don't know how much more

we'll need but I'm

just I guess confused that I guess we

don't have enough or how much are we

leaving to the side for

it seems so just trying to be just

clarification so I know where we're at

because I feel like we're in the dark a

lot when it comes to it and Mr Baker I

think is in the back as well but some of

this comes out of our recommendation

that we can't sign contract without

funds on hand and some of the money

won't come in until we're further along

for insurance so was where is their

funds available in the city dollars to

to make sure we can execute contracts as

we go and we are one of the things in

front of you tonight is a u contract for

what's called a forensic auditor who's

going to be our conduit to Liberty

Mutual Insurance to make sure we

maximize our recovery so once that's

flowing it'll be a monthly report that

goes to them as we're in the

construction process with them and the

construction manager but to assure that

we can let the contracts in the first

place we have to have funding on hand to

do it and the money we got from the

state wasn't enough the money we got

from the state I thought the press

conference I thought was for the stone

building Am I Wrong well yeah that's

what I'm talking about stre Market yeah

Broad Street Market the stone stone

building the brick building is the

that's fire no I thought we got it for

the I thought it was for the brick

building it was for the brick it was for

the brick building and something can be

used for the stone building as well

350,000 or maybe I missed another

350,000 you could have I feel like I've

missed a lot with it um so when I speak

with the carrier I tell them that the

minimum cost of this project is $20

million okay that's the minimum cost

that we should anticipate and likely

more before we're done so that's the

that's the reality that the city's

dealing with in terms of this project

and uh

um there's a lot to be done and how much

have we gotten from insurance five so

but there's there's plenty of coverage

there's just certain items that are not

covered under the policy um including

Professional Services have a $25,000 cap

the frontend cost are Professional

Services Engineers Architects so those

things um but that's the policy but we

got it's 100 page long policy the

insurance policy and we are trying to

make sure it's got different buckets

that we get everything under the right

bucket to maximize our coverage which is

why the uh resolution 51 came up yes

thank you that was it for

me thank you and councilman Rodriguez

any questions um yes Madam chair thank

you um it it it does seem like often

there's a lot of funds thrown at this

project and it's kind of hard to sort it

all and keep track of it all so I I do

understand what council was saying and I

agree wholeheartedly um I guess

uh I can you come back to me Madam chair

I'm reading something currently thank

you I definitely can uh councilman Jones

any questions uh yes um so to get an

understanding of what you just just said

uh we need money to be in there to to

you know honor contracts to issue the

contract to issue them you know so so we

have to have the money on hand for

didn't we contract someone to handle

those for us recently what's that didn't

we just contract someone to but it's

still our money we when we issue a

contract for construction with

Architects next then Construction you

can't we can't issue a contract without

an appropriation in hand to go do it

right even if so we're waiting on

insurance money for the next phase you

know if we don't have the contract we

literally can't issue if we don't have

the money set aside and that brings me

to my next question so once we utilize

this money in that capacity when the

insurance money comes in is that

reimbursed is that money I will leave

the bookkeeping to finance but I think

you'll see it in the budget for 2025

okay how that comes about right now

we're trying to get to the Contracting

and being not stall in issuing contracts

okay and my next question would be the

1.3 would have been the money for uh one

plus strategies is that correct that

we're looking at here the transfer out

money in the green

B um sorry for the the confusion on that

that the green actually is just

Neighborhood Services as far far as

getting the uh the pen do RightWay money

that's been received that that's non

related to uh Broad Street Market okay

it's it's just in here showing that to

request this this move to have the

general fund disperse that money over to

Neighborhood Services because that's

where the public uh Public Works

director wishes to utilize it that's not

Broad Street Market but it's it's just

part of this schedule the blues the the

a the blue A's on this are all Broad

Street Market

okay so the 1.3 is not relevant to Broad

Street well that's I wasn't asking about

it for Broad Street I was saying for

like the consult cuz that was the same

number pretty much

for um one plus I want to say there's

for

60,000 oh I'm sorry yeah I'm getting

this mixed up I apologize you're right I

got numbers floating around in my head

got numbers floating around thank you I

know the

feeling all right thank you um any

further questions councilman Rodriguez

no it was answered thank you all right

um I do have one question um about the 1

million for the bridge housing it shows

that and that's not in this schedule

it's in the resolution itself right it's

showing a million dollars um for bridge

housing which was awarded to Christian

churches United and downtown daily bread

and the amounts of

500,000 great so so what this is It's

the law Bri recommend ation the council

already appropriated the million dollars

the mayor then was awarding it to two

entities to to to provide Bridge housing

as the services since they weren't named

in the budget you voted on we had to

find a way to bring it in front of

council to to make it happen so we

included them in this next budget

appropriation so it's a public

discussion that though are the two

entities that are getting contracts up

to $500,000 to complete Bridge housing

programs in the city um so there's a

contract that will go to each of them it

is my understanding is that October 1 is

a critical date for both of them to be

able to implement one of them has

additional funding from another source

um but that's as much as I know all

right and um will the contracts then

come back before us or they will not you

they'll be available but in order to get

it up and running by October 1 that's

why this was now and this and do we have

any information about like how like the

programs themselves about the actual

Bridge housing can we get any inform on

like I mean they were awarded the money

but I suppose they had ideas to how they

were going to spend it or what program

was going to be brought to the city um

sure I I believe uh we could get a

presentation from

dbhd because they're the ones who did

the leg work to get this here um I know

Miss Roberts wasn't available tonight

miss Martin Roberts um but I think her

office could arrange for presentation

yes so they could provide a presentation

before our vote at the next legislative

session I think that'll be very helpful

uh since Bridge housing I believe was a

brinch of city council I believe

President Bowers was the one who uh

wanted to make a sure that gotten there

so we're just interested as to what the

program developed into um which is one

of the reasons why we listed the

programs out the way we did so that we

could make sure we're informed and that

the Public's informed as the programs

actually develop so I I will speak with

the mayor's office and u u Miss Roberts

and we will make sure that the

presentation comes down all right thank

you any further questions or comments

from my

colleagues um I had thought when we did

with the arpa money because this is

where the bridge they're getting the

bridge housing I thought applications

were supposed to come down in front of

us to see how they would be awarding

that money that that was one of the

stipulations it's not the applications

is that somehow it has to come back in

front of you and that's this is this is

how the award determinations were made

already so this is how was getting it

back in front of city council I'm I

almost certain that was part of the

stipulation just so we just awarding

money but that there was a process fall

so it was fair to the community so sure

well I I was just Bridge housing is a

very narrow narrow thing that is our

understanding if the city's not been in

the business of bridge housing to do it

itself so it was finding people that do

that um I can't tell you how dbhd went

about that but I think the idea when we

had the discussion was there would be

the city would become a pass through

essentially to people providing Services

when uh those budget allocations were

being made cuz we don't do that

internally yeah right but the

administration I thought was supposed to

create like a application process and

then share it with us um letting us know

like how they were going to pick um

companies for the arpa money whether it

be for the bridge housing or what not

just to make sure that we were being uh

the public understood the process that

we were being fair transparent it feels

like that just went to the side and here

we just picked these two entities so

it's just confusing on how to say yes

this was fair not to say it wasn't but

just how it came about when that kind of

process was taken away and I know that

was a big thing when we were doing the

ARA money like how things were going to

be awarded what the application process

looked like and once we approved that

bill it went back to the administration

and they were supposed to um complete uh

applications or what that looked like

whatever it going to say what that uh

process was going to look like and then

let us know just so we were all

transparent so right and um that was a

discussion we had with the previous

director

um director Hill who unfortunately is no

longer with the city so it seems like

that wasn't exactly followed through

with um you know with the the transition

um I will say there were supposed to be

um Regular meeting set up uh discussing

the different offer projects that

invited the chair of the respective

departments so in this instance it would

have been councilwoman Davis that should

have been invited uh for parks and Rex

it should have been you if it was

something discussing Public Safety it

was supposed to be a councilman Jones or

whoever the respective chair was

um I don't think that that's I know an

initial meetings were set up with um

director Hill I don't think that uh any

other meetings were were set up or

followed through with so um that is

something from the administrative side

that was supposed to be happening and it

kind of seems like um they they want

with the position with the person not

the

position

right so I don't know where the ball

dropped there I mean I can't say to

fault of the current director of

building housing because if they weren't

given the information they're not going

to know but yeah that's something that

we can um we can request uh we can reach

out um Mr Parker if you could reach out

to the the directors that are left of

the different departments um and ask

them about uh meetings for the the arer

programs that were allocated because I

know you know things are still going on

they have their daily jobs that their

study working on so I can see how that

could be something that with Falls with

the cracks but if you could just reach

out and ask them um if we can get

updates on the different arer projects

uh and if there are meetings going on if

the respective chairs can be invited to

them certainly thank you any other

comments or questions there is one other

thing which goes to your uh discussion

about arpa the other thing that's in

this piece of legislation is an

accounting audit feature um the arpa

monies had categories eight of them

which could be awarded the council then

uh when we did the amended budget Last

Summer

turned it all into Revenue replacement

the remainders of the monies that money

then transferred in the general fund for

the budget to the state Grant fund L

item um for auditor purposes that means

it's no longer arpa money so the program

money is now State Grant programs um

there and this allocation recognizes

that uh or this this legislation piece

that the arpa money is being

appropriated as it was appropr being

treated for Public Safety salaries and

benefits because that is a simpler way

to account for it to the US Treasury

which most municipalities Most states

are doing they're they're taking the

part uh where you can simply make the

report that you haven't had sufficient

dollar items in this category which is

and then report your calculation and

show and it reduces the administrative

burden of reporting on the federal side

it doesn't change then frees up other

money you collected for other revenue

streams like real estate and others to

use for the program dollars it's a

fairly technical issue but it matters to

Auditors I I can tell you that because I

spent enough time with them talking to

us that they'd like another line in

these budget items simply to make sure

to to uh minimize risk of having to go

through an audit over um paperwork

compliance because we had sufficient

funds for Public Safety

dollars everything else we do will still

get audited it just won't be a federal

uh paperwork thing that we'd have to do

for each and every one of these items so

it's basically frees up administr

ability to do does that relate back to

Bill 5 23 yes it does so so they felt

the Consultants felt there was

conflicting language that they could

read into the bu because that bill was

amended I think three or four times um

and so they thought there was

conflicting language and they wanted

something just to clarify the public

safety feature so that when they're

making their reports on the city's

behalf that it's clear that's what the

money goes for and therefore the state

grant money that remained because of

arpa is then what's funding the programs

Council and the mayor we putting

forth thank you any other questions

comments

thoughts seeing none I will now move

this uh to our next legislative session

agenda uh and also requesting a report

from bbhd regarding um the bridge

housing

programs and that concludes budget and

finance committee vice president green

could I could I just comment real

briefly on on on the health of the

general fund I just thought we we bring

these schedules down and uh um you know

there there is an impact on on fund

balance a good example is the Broad

Street Market planning and this again

this movement of budget is just to try

to Main maintain or get to a state of

preparedness in in the event

that as as Neil mentioned there there is

a need to uh like at a minimum encumber

the money which takes budget of course

you know before the end of the year it

may or may not happen but we're trying

to be proactive and being prepared for

that so um but as as a follow on to that

through through August for the first

eight months of this

year uh the city right now through

through August has net revenue of it's

essentially Break Even but it's

approximately

$400,000 on the positive side uh our

cash position the end of August is just

over 20

million and the city has realized

through the end of August 70% of its

expected revenue and and that doesn't

include what we we always budget uh a

fund balance usage and that's not in

this calculation we've actually achieved

70% which is consistent to where we are

being two-thirds of the way through

through August um now our break we're

we're at break even through the through

through the end of August but we just

went through August which actually had

one of the months where you have three

payrolls and and you have three check

runs so there's a there's a tamping down

of uh it's heavier a in expense but for

the rest of the year it's going to be

the the normal

two uh payrolls to check runs per uh per

month and then also some some of our

larger Revenue items uh are are on the

menu so to speak coming up uh in in the

month of September namely the the

capital fire protection uh allocation

that we get from the Commonwealth and

and as well uh the the the uh uh pension

the municipal pension state aid which

flows through the uh Department of the

auditor general those two amounts

alone uh total around the $8.5 million

Mark so that's that's something of

course this month has been heavy on

expense September should be a much a

much better looking month so I just

wanted to summarize that real quick for

you thank you thank you we appreciate

that okay thank

you I'm going to Veer from the printed

agenda just for a moment I'd like to uh

instead of moving forward with Bill

building and housing committee next I'd

like to move directly to parks

recreation and enrichment committee uh

due to the participants having a hard

stop um so I will defer to our parks

recreation and enrichment committee

chair uh councilwoman Ross thank you

president Bowers good evening everybody

um today we will be going over

resolutions 50 and 51 of 202 24 Mr

Parker can you please read resolution 50

of

2024 yes resolution 50 of

2024 a resolution authorizing the city

of Harrisburg to negotiate and enter

into a Professional Services agreement

with Murphy and dher Architects to serve

as the architect sleng engineer firm for

the Recon I'm sorry for the restoration

Rehabilitation and reconstru

construction of the Broad Street Markets

red brick

building thank you very much is there

anyone here from the administration who

can speak further on this matter and

give more information to council and

residents good evening city council U my

name is David Baker I am the uh

facilities director for the city of

Harrisburg um what you have before you

would be an agreement to allow the city

to enter into a contract with uh Maran d

haer hope I'm saying that right and uh

what that would allow us to do is um you

know basically get an architect uh on

the the payroll we could start moving

forward with Design Services uh with

Engineering Services uh basically the

multitude of different things that need

to take place before we can do any sort

of construction bid or any sort of major

construction on the the uh facility

itself okay thank you very much

Oh I thought you were going to say

something else okay um thank you uh does

and I don't want to say the name

incorrectly Murphy and did have say it

please I don't want I'm going to hurt it

and I don't want to I want to give it

its power please you're not the first

Murphy and D Haver didn't Haver okay

well good evening to you is there any

extra information that you would like to

give us that maybe D M uh director Baker

did not um for Council and our residents

who are here are listening in well thank

you for inviting me here this evening uh

Murphy and D hay for Architects is a 28

person architectural firm um and we

specialize in historic buildings

renovation

restoration and we have quite a bit of

experience you know in the central

Pennsylvania region including a number

of restoring and improving a number of

of urban markets um and so we uh we

represent a team of uh not just

Architects but engineers and envelope

Specialists U Engineers of various types

structural mechanical uh the whole team

uh that will be necessary for the Broad

Street Market project so um we're uh

very pleased to be here uh our team is

ready to I used the word last week in

the interview our team is ready to

attack this project to make a negative

into a positive so thank you for that I

appreciate that um I know someone is on

Zoom at this and please can you state

who you are from the no they're not for

us I'm sorry okay 51

sorry okay thank you all right I'll see

if anyone has any other any questions I

know there's a hard stop my apologies um

I'll just start with I just have one

quick question because I know we have

Alexander and Cole they are our um

project

managers and I know my biggest question

was I know that they said they would be

doing 30% with um db& and disadvantaged

businesses and Enterprises is this fall

into that 30% and if not where are they

at now

currently with the 30% of compliance

yeah I can't answer where Alexander the

construction manager is um but our our

company uh is

a diversity and working with sdb and and

minority firms is a is a major focus of

our company um we were the Architects on

the Forum building that was just

finished turned out great and I think uh

our participation was just under 30% I

think on that project so it's it's very

important to us we reached out to a

number of those sdbe firms that we work

with uh uh shepher Associates is on our

team a number of the other ones were uh

too busy uh which is a good thing U uh

but it's very important to us I would

just note as an example um our office is

in York Pennsylvania we work a lot with

Christus addicts Associates Association

we uh we completed a we offered an

completed a six week course for uh 10th

and 11th grade 10 students uh every day

five days a week two hours a day uh to

give them exposure to architecture

planning engineering and uh field visit

so it's a ma it's a major part of our

our company and anything we can offer to

Alexander and and the city to U increase

participation roll

in okay thank you I know there's a did

you want to add something D I um I just

wanted to add on the the Alexander side

of thing so we haven't actually started

any sort of construction uh we've done

uh some light demolition we've done a

lot of sight cleanup a lot of uh safety

focused things so far and with what we

have done you know what little we have

done as of now I believe it's been more

than 50% um you know minority

participations I'm sorry s 50% of what I

would say it would be more than 50%

minority or women-owned businesses that

have had uh that kind of work done with

the Broad Street Market currently yeah

currently so we we've had demolition on

the Broad Street Market um and we've had

site cleanup uh we did the uh window

replacement so that was lead abatement

um we split it up into uh I think it was

five different groups that came in did

the work out at the market so um I can

get you guys exact numbers on that uh if

you'd like here in the future then that

way I'm not going to misspeak at all but

I do believe that we have a rather High

number for an M MBE wbe participation so

far okay yeah if you could get us the

information that would be great thank

you um I'll start here to my far left

with questions uh councilman Jo Jones

Thank You councilwoman Ross um I have

more of a a comment than anything um

thank you for for showing up and um

obviously you know I believe someone was

representing keeping eyes on this and

they say you were pretty high on the

mark to get this uh however I will say

this um through all the debacle through

the the BR Street Market you should have

been here earlier we didn't need to go

through all of that other process

believe if you were here you just you

just stay at yourself you come in you do

the drawings and you're ready to attack

and that was that was something that we

were trying to convey to our

community prior to you being here now I

think you should have been here far

before then you know but um I think

Alexander did a good job selecting you

so uh I just wanted to say thank

you thank you all right councilman

Rodriguez um thank you madam chair um so

just just to for my own edification

Alexander that firm actually chose you

guys they're a part of the selection

committee right so there there are uh I

think of six individuals on the grading

committee seven uh so we had seven

individuals on the grading committee and

Alexander had two people that uh are

fairly knowledgeable in this specific

project that were part of that graving

committee the rest were all City staff

or city members city employees that were

on the committee I must have been

mistaken I thought Alexander would be

the actual sole entity that would handle

things such as this no so we we reserve

the right to make all decisions in this

entire process from beginning to end um

Alexander will kind of guide us in

certain areas but for something such as

this we have our own procurement

policies that we follow and a rep from

Alexander um wasn't able to attend

tonight uh I I didn't think that you

guys would need anyone from Alexander

since we were discussing

um the architectural side of things but

we do have multiple people here that

were on the grading committee so they

can answer any questions hopefully that

you have specific architecture and the

construction would work hand inand

though correct they absolutely will yes

I think that would have been vital just

to have their uh maybe comments on it

but I appreciate you gentlemen for being

here this evening thank you no further

questions thank you very much uh

president Bowers do you have any

questions um no questions but I I guess

I'm just curious why you didn't mention

um other Urban markets that you have

revitalized including the York Central

Market the Lancaster Central Market and

the Annapolis Maryland City Dock Market

house um in addition to the form office

building and the governor's

residence just curious why didn't I

think that would be helpful in in making

your case I think I just said Urban

markets but yes we did we continue to be

involved in the York Central Market we

did a major

renovation uh number of years ago we've

done helped them out on smaller projects

there's a rack P project we're very

involved that that market like Broad

Street means a lot to the city it's more

than just a market same thing with

Lancaster Central Market we came up with

the master plan that really addressed

not just the facility but the operations

type of vendors so Lancaster Central

Market again it's it's crucial

institution in Lancaster we work with

Annapolis same thing uh you know working

with their vendors and situations in

Lexington Market uh we actually helped

them get started in Reinventing you know

the the new Lexington Market uh you in

Baltimore so in our region uh they mean

a lot to us I'm sorry I didn't mention

those very important project they are uh

that's okay I don't have any other

questions uh I uh seeing in Reading I

think I'm pretty confident in in the

work that you will do so thank you agree

uh vice president green do you have any

questions thank you I don't have many

questions um you guys have extensive

experience so I don't doubt you'll be

able to get the job done correctly um I

will just kind of comment something that

you you spoke of that piqued my interest

is working with Christmas addicts in the

youth program it would be great if we

could bring some of our youth from our

local high school to be a part of

redeveloping the Broad Street Market uh

and just get them to be a part of making

that history as well so I'd love if we

could pair with um you guys in

Harrisburg School District so that we

can make sure we get that done um and

get our kids exposure into architecture

as well great idea I had the same

thought I hope we can we want to make

that happen too I agree I we all look

forward to seeing that happen that would

be great I saw that too on your website

thank you for bringing that up vice

president green um but yeah that would

be really great so they can take uh

advantage of that and be part of redoing

it so they have a buying of it in

interest so that would be great um

councilwoman

Davis thank you councilwoman Ross thank

you gentlemen for being here this

evening my only question is in reference

to the

50% uh MB

MBE how did uh the contractor how did it

come about to be about 50% I know we

were receiving I know I was receiving

the um rfps or the proposal for bids uh

on pen bid and I did you know reach out

to people businesses that I know in the

city and send that information out to

them but how did that 50% come about was

it through our recommendations or

combination or because that's a high

number but I'm glad to hear yeah I mean

I I I I I can't pretend to know exactly

how it came about but I guarantee you

had to do with everyone's uh additional

participation in this I mean I know

Council reached out um we had a lot of

success with Alexander they have a lot

of uh local contacts that are minority

women owned businesses and they reached

out to those um I mean I don't discount

anyone um I think the the mayor's office

was reaching out I know my office was

reaching out everyone was reaching out

to local businesses we

specifically uh broke the project up as

small as we could

um to allow individuals that don't have

multi-million dollar companies to bid on

this and successfully bid on it uh there

were certain areas that we couldn't

break up into um more of a manageable

size and there were certain areas that

we didn't have local participation or we

didn't have minority own business it was

local um but only because we couldn't

you know like it safety wise it was we

were not able to do so but anywhere we

were able to do that we took advantage

of that and and that's how I think we

were able to to meet a much higher

normal number than normal when it comes

to that area okay thank you I appreciate

that um will you again be able to give

us the information in terms of who those

companies were yep I have it written

down here I can uh I can send the email

tomorrow as far as the exact contractors

and what they did for the thank you very

much no other

question um I just wanted to you want to

add a question well just a statement

okay uh can I get um councilwoman

Daniel's question first I'll come back

to you thank you councilwoman D no

questions okay go ahead councilman

Rodriguez director Baker I just wanted

to thank you for reaching out um because

absolutely you were looking for local

firms local contractors to help so I

appreciate the call a few weeks back I

believe it was um when you were looking

for something so to that I definitely uh

could thank you and you know great job

on

that thank you y okay if there's no

other questions I recommend that we put

resolution 50 of 2020 for in the next

legis lative

agenda I do have one question go ahead

do you have a business

card if you could give it to the clerk

he'll make sure we get it thank

you okay we'll move on to resolution 51

of 2024 when you're ready um Mr Parker

you can read it

in resolution 51 of

2024 a resolution authorizing the city

of Harrisburg to negotiate and enter

into a Professional Services agreement

with Marsh Claims Solutions forensic

accounting and claims services to

provide Insurance claim accounting

services to measure and document the

revenue and property damage loss of the

Broad Street Markets red brick

building thank you Mr Parker is anybody

here from the administration who give us

more information on resolution 51 of

2024 than this will be a joint effort

between Neil Grover and myself for

tonight um as far as uh this resolution

um The Limited knowledge I have on it uh

basically is to uh allow the city to

best optimize the information transfer

and the record transfer and the

efficiency uh from the city to our

insurance carrier also um you know

allowing the most transparency and

hopefully optimizing the uh funding that

we'll receive reive from our carrier as

well if I could interrupt I'm sorry we

have him on video now through Zoom Mr

John case who is with Marsh uh forensic

accouny and claim services okay thank

you hello Mr K thank you for let me be

here tonight pleasure meeting you

pleasure to meet you as well would you

like to add anything or before Mr Grover

tells us more about um how you will are

proposing to help the city with the

claims sure thank you for letting me

speak uh my name is John Casey I've been

a forensic accountant preparing claims

or auditing claims on behalf of

insurance companies for over 33 years um

based upon my experience what we can do

is assist or facilitate in maximizing

the recovery that you get from the

insurance policy via the terms and

conditions of the policy as we have vast

experience in knowing how to to maneuver

through all the minutia and Expediting

the you know timeliness in getting

Advanced payments and pushing this

through to the insurance company to

final

resolution thank you very much is there

anything else you all would like to add

before I ask for questions I don't have

any no only that that the second person

I met at the brick building after the

fire from our insurance company was a

forensic auditor uh and so U I believe

Mr Case had worked with the same firm

they did at one point so obviously the

carrier is going to be looking at this

very carefully each and every bill that

gets submitted and we just need someone

who speaks their language uh to make

sure that our our details are

approved okay thank you I don't have any

questions after reading the resolution I

did understand I think it's something

very important that we need and with his

experience I think that would be

excellent so I would I'm going to start

to my far right with um councilwoman

Daniels do you have any questions no

questions okay councilwoman Davis no

questions thank you you're welcome um

vice president green no questions thank

you for being here

tonight thank you president Bowers I

don't have any questions thank you

councilman Rodriguez no questions thank

you for joining us via virtual thank you

and uh councilman

Jones uh yes simple question uh how long

would it take for you to get through

this I see the billable hours of

85,000 and not to exceed that amount how

long do you think it'll take for you to

get through your

assessments can you be more specific on

what do you mean by getting through my

assessment um you're going to be well

can you share your scope of work again

you're going to look at to you're

assessing the damages the loss the

profits of the Broad Street Market

correct it's going to be a multitude of

things it's going to be the extra

expenses and any business income losses

that you have it's also going to be

working with your local people to

compile the property damage to maximize

recovery based upon the terms and

conditions of the policy and and what we

call it which bucket it falls under uh

some buckets have uh subl limits so we

want to maximize your recovery by

putting in that correct bucket um so we

can expeditiously get you Advanced

payments and a higher outcome

monetarily um as a result of of put into

a claim preparation package so again my

question would be do you have a

projected timeline on how long this will

take if if I it will take as long as the

repair process goes uh we work in

conjunction with the repair work um to

compile those invoices get in front of

the insurance carrier so they can review

expeditiously so we can recommend