282  City Council Meeting Minutes - April 24, 2023  City Council Chambers, City Building, 161 West Scribner Avenue, DuBois, Pennsylvania on! Monday, Aprilz 24, 2023 @ 6p.m.; Council convened at their regular City Council Meeting with Mayor Walshin the Chair. Other Council Members present were: Diane Bernardo, James Aughenbaugh, Shane Dietz, ands Shannon Gabriel and City Controller, DavidV Volpe. Also present were: Toni Cherry; Interim City Manager/City Engineer/Public Works Director, Chris Nasuti; Public Works Superintendent, Scott Farrell; Redevelopment. Authority Director/Assistant Public' Works Superintendent, Joe Mitchell; Finance Officer, DeLean Shepherd; Code Enforcement/Zoning: Officer, Zac Lawhead; Corporal Randy Young; Police Chief, Blaine Clark and Administrative Secretary, Bobbie Ther meeting was calledi to ordera at 6p p.m. andt the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mayor Walsh. Ther motion was made by Aughenbaugh: and seconded by Dietz that Council approve ther minutes of April 10, 2023, as presented. Roll call vote was as follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, Councilwoman Gabriel askedt that this item bet tabled as the titley was the wrong description. She requested the title be corrected: andt thei item be put ont the next Council Meeting agenda. Ther motion was made! by Gabriela and: seconded! by Bernardo that Council approve the Purchase Order Listing by' Vendor Name dated April: 20, 2023, int the amount of $4,316,669.56; the Check Register by Checkl ID dated Aprilz 20, 2023, int the amount $2,650.44; andt the Check Register by Check Date (Sewer Plant Pennvest Account) datedA April 20, 2023, ini thea amount of $2,979,693-51a5 presented byt theF Finance Officer. Roll call vote was ast follows: Dietz,) yea; Bernardo, yea; Dennis Raybuck- - Born and Raisedi in DuBois Various businesses in DuBois since1 1979 Stated! hel hada a comment, he does not usually speak out as he's nota a political person, but het feels hel has au unique perspective on what's going on. He wantedt to express his empathy fori the Council as well as all others involvedi int the business with the City of DuBois fori the situation you are currently facingi inr regardt toi the allegations madea against Herm Suplizio and by extension against all ofy you. Twenty years ago,! Iwould have read the allegations int thei indictment against Herma and said tor myself, "Wows someoner musth have been caught int the cookiej jar." That was at time whenl had muchr more respect and confidence in our federal agencies. The confidence ended about 18 years ago when myself and my company, International Custom Products, was falsely accused! by US Customs and Border Protectioni fori the numerous felony acts including frauda and smuggling of improper goodsi intot the United States. At that time some of the same local people who havel been commenting on our current situation were gleefully spreading those allegations around our area statingt that my company would be out oft business and Iwould bei inj jail. The problem was, none of the charges weret true andt theg government losti inc court where the Department of Justice normally loses 98% oft their court cases. We weres successfuli ina alls seven cases. Itcostmyf family both financially and emotionally: andt took 12) yearsf for us to prevail. Given the experience, Iwant to encourage everyone tot take al breath and allow the process! here top play out however uncomfortable itmay be. Ihaver read: statements from Community members int the paper that have beens spoken here in Council Chambers. Int the spirit oft taking a breath, let usi review a couple oft them. "Council members: should be ashamed: and shoulda all resign." Ihopey youg gavet thiss statement not thought at alla asi itisr ridiculous. Att this timet these arej just allegations and willr remains soi ifand until they can be proveni inac court ofl law. People want to' "restore thei integrity of DuBois government." Really? So far,r none oft thei integrity! has beenl lost; allegations don't dor much of anything. Yous should not make statements regarding the situation eitheri ins support of or against Mr. Suplizio. Ithink this is also ridiculous asl Imentioned previously that by exemption ori insinuation youa are alli involved int the situation. You all have beeni instrumental in Design, Finance, Planning, Construction, andI Ihave followed your achievements over thep past year. Yous should all bep proud oft those accomplishments. (The audience startedt top protest that Mr. Raybuck was taking over3 minutes. Mayor Walshs showed the audience he was keeping track oft time onl his phone.) Was its smart to give Herm Suplizioa  Shaffer.  Approval of Minutes  City Council Meeting Minutes -April 10,2 2023 yea; Gabriel, yea; Walsh, yea. Motion passed5 5-0. Work Session Meeting Minutes Aprilz 20, 2023  Registry of Invoices  Aughenbaugh, yea; Gabriel, yea; Walsh,) yea. Motionp passed5-0.  Public Comments    283  City Council Meeting Minutes - April 24, 2023 (Cont'd)  Public Comments (Cont'd.)  Dennis Raybuck- Born and Raised in DuBois - Various businesses in DuBois since 1979 (Cont'd.) 10) year contract backi inz 2015? Ithinkt the propers scalet toj judge this would be,i is the City of DuBois better off because of. : (Att this point Mr. Raybuck was cut off as his time was up.) Councilwoman Bernardo: asked Mr. Raybuck to come back again toi finish his statement. (The crowd started to object.) Bernardo told themt to wait andl let us be civilt to each other. "Mr. Raybuck took thei timet tor makea as statement justl likey youl had takent thei time and hel has notl had ac chance to finish it." "Ani invitation for someonet to come! back is only thep polite thingt to do." "Mr. Raybuck anytime youy want to come back, come back." Mr. Raybuck asked ifhes should keep going..the crowds said no. lalready knowt the answer tot this question I'm abouti to ask, wantt to givet the City Council and the Solicitor the opportunityt tot tell thet trutht to the taxpayers of DuBois. Has the City paid with taxpayer money upwards of $250,000 tot the private defense of our former City Manager, John' "Herm" Suplizio. City Solicitor Cherrys stated that Ms.. Jackson would have toi file a Right-to-Know: to get that information. Youdon't gett to ask questions; youg gett to make comments. Doal Right-to-Know. Ididal Right-to-Know: on April 13, 2023, was at the same Council Chambers top preview al Right-to- Know documents relating the City of DuBois' relationship with Allegheny Strategy Partners. The request wast tos seea all documents, thea agreement,: and all contracts with Allegheny Strategic Partners and thel DuBois City Council Minutes relating tot the approval ofs said agreements and contracts. Of course, the City of DuBois was not ablet to produce the original signed document ora signed copy oft the original dated. January1 1,2021. Iwas told the original signed document was att the PA/ Attorney General's Office andi iti is hard tol believe that a signed copy wouldr not be ont the premises oft the City of DuBois. Iknowi int thep past, there would ber multiple signed copies int thei filei in the City of DuBois. Also, at that time,! wasi informed! by the Interim City Manager thatr no City Council Minutes existedp pertainingt tot thea approval by Council ofs saida agreement. Ihadi requested the City Council Minutes relating to approval ofs saida agreement contract andi those minutes were not given tor me even thoughl requested them. The agreement with Allegheny Strategy Partners began January 1,2021, witha a monthly $5,000 retainer and expenses required. Iwouldl like ana answer confirmingi ift thisi ist true. Itisr my understanding thatt the City is still under contract with Allegheny Strategy Partners; ify youg go on Pennsylvania Department of Statev website ands search lobbying directory youy willi findi the City of DuBois isione of five citiest that pays lobbying firms. Has anyone on Council ever questioned the $5,0001 monthly payments whent they were reviewing payments? Especially, asr no agreement was evera approved. Iwould think the Council members, especially the ones that were past Controllers wouldr really bei interestedi int these payments. The interesting point int the agreement is all communications between the City of DuBois and Allegheny Strategy Partners wouldg got through our United Postal Service or ane email using hermsuplzo@hotmalkcom. aj private emaila address instead oft the City of DuBois' officiale emaila address @duboispa.gov. How cant that be? My questiont tot taxpayersi is do we ask the City Council Members to do their dutyt tor read and review and question all future agreements, contracts, and payments pertaining to all City business. Again... Mr. Supliziol has the powers in his contract, according tot theA Administrative Code, to do contracts. The purpose oft that was tol have this lobbying firm lobby forg grant money. Inr response toi that contract, the City received $4,000,0001 in grants andi the Council is aware oft that. So, was it Tryzna stated, atl his time talkingt to Chris Nasuti, he: asked what theyl had received, and he hads said  Jennifer. Jackson Torrell 42 N. Brady St.  Ron Tryzna -120 South Avenue  provide oversight.  City Solicitor Cherry stated shes was going tor respond now:  productive? Ther matht tells mey yesi ity was.  he didn't know.  Solicitor Cherry stated her may not know! but! knowi it was $4,000,000.  Tryzna thanked the Solicitor.  Solicitor Cherry stated thatl I'mt telling you, buty youd don't wantt tol heari it. Tryzna askedi ift the documents shouldn't have been! here. Cherry stated, here's thep problem; aml happy that the AG's office camei ina and confiscated documents that theys should not have confiscated: and that they took    284  City Council Meeting Minutes - April 24, 2023 (Cont'd)  City Solicitor Cherry stateds shes was goingt tor respond now: (Cont'd.)  things thatt they shouldn't havet taken, andt that they took things that were noti int theirs subpoenas? I ami most unhappy aboutt that and thati is why wea are trying to gather documents back and trying to reconstruct it. lama also unhappy thatt they allege that therei is money missing from the UnitedV Way when! Thave the documents that indicate that therei is nor money missingf from the United Way. Aml unhappy that the AG called our auditors andt told them they werer not tot begint thez 2021 audit until September of 2022 andt that theyt toldt those auditors that they were nott tot tell Council. Aml happy aboutt that, nos sirl ami not. Iconsider that official oppression, the onlyr reason the Council found that outi ist they askedt themy whyt they werel latet this) year. Their comment was we were told by theA AGr not to doi ita and weret toldi noti tot tell you. When we askedt them top putt that in writing, theys said they weret too afraid. So, there we are, we weren'ts supposed tol havet toldy you. Doest that answer your question? There are al lot oft things l'am notl happy about with this AG'si investigation. Icant tell you this, those of us who have been! lawyers for a longt time and! have worked with the AG are concerned, Interim Manager Nasuti stated wel hadi interest fromf four different firms, two ultimately submitted proposals. We arer reviewing those with DCED. Italked with DCEDt today and they thought that would be at two-week process before we could get approval. They requested that wes get Councili to authorize: and executet the grant amendment and the agreement with the DCED selected consultants Councilwoman Gabriels statedt that she wants tor makei it very clear to the people whoy were not here Thursday night. DCEDV will choose the auditor, we do not gett to chooset the auditor. They will let us know whoi theya areg going to choose. Itis ana approximate 9-1 12-month process for the Forensic Audita and every single account within the City of DuBois that uses the City of DuBois tax ID (because the comment has beenr made ons social media- - makes sure alla accounts arei included) everya account that used the cityt tax ID will bei included int that forensic audit. l'assure you;i it will bei included. Nasutis stated that DCEDI will maket their decision with ouri input, they arer not going toi ignore our input. We're checking references, going through proposals, talking with DCED as time goes on! but Request for Council toa authorize: ande executet the grant amendment and the agreement with DCED Thei motion was madel by Gabriel ands seconded by Dietz that Council authorize executing the grant amendment with DCED and the agreement withs selected consultants. Roll call vote was asf follows: Dietz,) yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh,) yea; Gabriel, yea; Walsh, yea. Motionp passed5 15-0. Interim Manager Nasuti stated that Sandy Township voted ont this on Monday soi it's on) your platet to seei ify youy would like tol have a meeting as well. They would like tol have a meeting on May: 22, 2023,at 6p.m. here in Council Chambers and they wish tos suspend alla activity until that time. The motion was madel by Gabriela ands seconded by Dietz that the Council approve the DuBois/Sandy. Joint Board Meeting onl May: 22, 2023, at6 6 p.m. Allo consolidation meetings will be suspended untilt thatt time. Roll call vote was as follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Gabriel, yea; Walsh, nay. Mayor Walshs stated hey voted no as he doesn'ti feelt thatt the meetings should be suspended. New Dumpster Hours begin Wednesday, May 4, 2023-7a-m.-7P-m. @ City Garage  but not surprised. That's alll Thave tot tell you.  Forensic Financial Analysis  ifthat agreementi is within the $200,000 grant budget.  they will! have the ultimate: say of who gets hired. selected consultants fori not more than $200,000.  10 Person DuBois/Sandy. Joint Board Meeting- - May; 22, 2023 @ 6p.m.  Motion! passed 4-1.  Informational CDBG Consultant Contract  This was a contract that we put out a couple months ago, we didi itj jointly with Sandy Township, 5o wel have the same consultant; goingi intot the consolidation. We have met and boths selected Urban Design Ventures as our consultant. This will be and optional yearly renewalf for up toi five years. Mayor Walsha askedi ifs Sandy had already voted ont this. Mitchell confirmed thatt theyl have. Roll call    285  City Council Meeting Minutes - April 24, 2023 (Cont'd)  CDBG Consultant Contract (Cont'd.)  vote was as follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Gabriel, yea; Walsh, yea. Motion Resolution No. 2023-0365 - PennDOT- Sidewalk Maintenance Maple Avenue Phasel II oft thel Maple Avenue Project. Sandyi is the lead ont this. The new resolution: states that we will enforce our ordinance. Our ordinance makes the property owner responsible for the maintenance oft thes sidewalk. Wej just needt to affirmt that in our resolution.  passed5 5-0.  CITY OF DUBOIS, PENNSYLVANIA POBOX408 16W.SCRIBNERAVE. DUBOIS, PENNSYLVANIA 15801  TELEPHONE: 8143712000 FAX: 814:3711290  CITY OF DUBOIS Clearfield County, Pennsylvania Resolution! No.: 2023-0365  ARESOLUTION OF1 THEC COUNCIL OFT THEC CITY OFD DUBOIS, CLEARFELDCOUNTY, AFFIRMING THE ENFORCEMENT OFC CHAPTER3 385,A ARTICLEI III, SECTION 385-10FT THEC CITY OFI DUBOIS CODE OF ORDINANCESF FORT THEC CONSTRUCTIONA ANDE REPAIRO OFS SIDEWALKS. WHEREAS, MapleA Avenueisaroadwayi undert thejurisdictionc oft the City ofD DuBois; and WHEREAS, Sandy7 Townshipp proposest toc construct approximately: 2,000L LFofsi sidewalky within theDuBois Cityn municipalboundarys alongn MapleA Avenue. proposeds sidewalksa along MapleA Avenue, withinti theD DuBois Cityn municipalb boundary, willbe maintainedbye enforcemento ofChapter 385, Articlel II, Section3 385-110ft thec Cityo of DuBois Coded of Ordinances, whichrequires ownerso ofp propertya abuttingo ona anys street, includings state! highways,t to construct, pave, repavea andrepairt thes sidewalk, curba andg gutter alongs suchp property ats suchg grades andu unders suchregulations: asmayb bep prescribedbyt the CityE Engineer. RESOLVED,t this2 24" day ofApri,2 2023, inpublici meetingo dulyr noticeda anda assembled.  NOWT  ITISH HEREBYF RESOLVEDbyt the Councilo oft the Cityo ofDuBoist that the  CITYOFD DUBOIS  5  Bobbie.J J.S Gahr Coundlofehedlydfpusis  EdwardL-Walsh- Mayor8 &P Presidento ofCouncil  CERTIFIEDt truez andcorrecto copyo ofF Resolution! No.2 2023-0365a oypadhptssesbyoy,  Ther motion wasi madel byA Aughenbaugh: and seconded by Bernardoi that Councila approve Resolution No.: 2023-0365- - PennDOT- Sidewalk Maintenance - Maple Avenue as presented. Roll call vote was asf follows: Dietz,) yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Gabriel,) yea; Walsh,yea. Motion passed5 Request tor reappoint Nancy Moore, Diane Bernardo, and. Joe Becker to the DuBois Planning The motion was madel by Aughenbaugh and: seconded! by Dietzt that Council re-appoint Nancy Moore, Diane Bernardo, and. Joe Becker tot the Planning Commission with their term ending on December31, 2025. Roll call vote was asf follows: Dietz,yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Gabriel, nay; Request from. Joe Mitchell, Redevelopment. Authority Director, tor reappoint Pat Reasinger tot the City of DuBois Redevelopment. Authority for ai five-year term ending May 4, 2028. Ther motion was made! by Gabriel and: seconded! by Aughenbaugh that Council approve the request from. Joe Mitchell andi re-appoint Pat Reasinger to the City of DuBois Redevelopment. Authority fora five-year term ending May 4,2028. Roll cally vote was as follows: Dietz,yea; Bernardo, yea;  -0.  Commission: for at term ending December 31, 2025.  Walsh,) yea. Motion passed 4-1  Aughenbaugh, yea; Gabriel, yea; Walsh, yea. Motion passed5 5-0.  Civil Service Test  Interim Manager Nasutis statedt that wel have a retirement this yeara and we wouldl like toi institute the Civil Service Test tor makez al list of potential hires int that department. Gabriel asked whent the    286  City Council Meeting Minutes - April 24, 2023 (Cont'd)  Civil Service Test (Cont'd.)  retireei isl leaving. Clarks stated that therei ist not an official day, but Julyi is when we expect himt to start using! his time and! he willl be gone! byt thee end oft they year. The motion was made by Gabriela and seconded byA Aughenbaugh that Council authorize Clarka and Nasuti top plana anda advertise for a Civil Service Test. Roll call vote was as follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Gabriel, Ibelieve when Chief Federici came anda askedf fori thea approvalt tol have Community Days, we also promised that we would continue updating periodically. Wel have, just to. clear the air ons some things, reviewed thei items within the affidavit. Wel have invoices that we! believe are acceptable for allt the expenses that were int that affidavit. We understand that we willl be havinga a parti int the Financial Analysis wheni it happens, SOV wel look forward to participating int that and cooperating wholeheartedly withi ity wheni it does happen. Wehave ar mailing coming out'very soont that solicits donations like wel havei int the past witht the reminder that all money we raise goes backi into the Communityt toy put ona a great event with asr many freei items as we possibly can fori the City of DuBois. Wel have already! bookeds some oft the entertainment: fori this year. Ican't drop any! bigr names yet as they! haven'th beens signed out. As an extral layer ofa added protection, we did contract witha at third party tol handle allt the donations and provide us with allt the paperwork, vet all of our contracts, and provide 10995 att the endo of they year. It's something wel have been doing, but we want to make sure wel have the utmost confidence in usf fromt the Community while we pullt the event off this year. Thank you, aheado of time, fory your support andy your donations this year. We look forward toa ag great  yea; Walsh,yea. Motion passed5-0. Community Days Update  year. Council Comments Police Chief Blaine Clark  Ms. Bernardo had askeda ay while back about pedestrians being struck on Brady Street as well as Main Street andi solicited Corporal McCleary tol help me with this. We came up with since Aprilz 27,2 2021, wel hadi fivep pedestrians struck. 2- Long & Brady;1 - Boulevardi & Park; 1Scribner & Brady;1 1-L Long8 & Main Allv were people making! left handt turns. Our conclusion was they are not afforded time to cross the street. He went ont tos sayi it doesn't: sound likea al lot, buti itisf for allt the foot traffic wel have. Many of us turn ont thet faucet and we get clean water, and we takei iti forg granted, but want toi tell you,! beena at tireless advocatei for our DuBpis watera assets. Shes showed everyone her private file, shes stateds shel has testified before the USI EPA and the PAI DEP four different times. Ihavel hada a ton ofr meetings withs state officials and Matt Gabler took my material and! his aids puti iti into af form that couldb be presentedi ink Harrisburg. Matt was ablet to geti it, but noti into committee because the US EPAcame out andr rubbers stamped this. Of course, as soon as they rubber stampt then DEP follows suit. Right now thisi injection well is proposed for less than three miles from our water wells. Our water wells are under threat from the permitted class 2 deepi injection well. What does that mean class 2? They cant take upt to 30,000 gallons off fracked water and pumpi iti into the grounda day. Now, one might say, "Hey, what's theb bigo deale event though it's closet toy your water wells." When yous study what was underneath the City of DuBois and our area youy willi find shafts1 1and2 coal mines that have not ever beeni inspected sincet they were: shut down about 50 years ago. They are filled witha acidr mine drainage watert fromt ther mines. We sitr right onal major Appalachian fault! line withi fissures all over the place that they can't event figure out wheret thesef fissures are going. They hada al leaka att their deepi injection well on the other end oft the county. Itv wenta a while beforei it was discovered. Ifv we go awhile, that couldb be our water wells. Ineed every one ofy youl here to get as angry as lam about it. This is) your water. Wel have done everything we cant tor makei its safe andi this Council has worked right along withr me, and theyl have signed anyl letter thatl have asked them to try to gett this issuei inf front ofl legislators. They havea always signed them, they! have beena at meetings with me, they have been advocates as well. Asa a matter off fact, Ican'ti remember the date must! have beena around: 2012 - 2013 when we adopted a Water Protection Plan. That Water Protection Plani included datal loggers. Those date loggers are puti into the! head waters that feed into our reservoir and monitor any contaminants that come froma aboveg ground, below ground or off Interstate 80. Iwill continue tof fight this and anyone who wants to geta al hold ofr me,l Iwill share my information. Ihavea all my testimonies, Ihave everything; you cant take parts and use them. Ifwe don'tgets something done, ana accident is going to happen, and data loggers aren't going to help us  Councilwoman Diane Bernardo    287  City Council Meeting Minutes - April 24, 2023(Cont'd)  Council Comments (Cont'd.) Councilwoman Diane Bernardo - (Cont'd.)  because we can't cover all the water that comes into our reservoir. You cant telll I'm angry abouti it because EPA: andt the US governments should have better oversight wheni it comes tot the waterways oft the United States of America. I'm mada at DEP because as a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection1 they! knew what was under our ground, yet they rubber stampedi it because ity was one moret thing offt thes shelf. We ares still under threat, never takei for granted that that injection well won't! happen! because they are permitted. Weh have been ablet tos slowi it down sincez 2010 whent this whole battle started. Event though there's no Marcellus going oni in Pennsylvania, therei is stillr riskt tob bringt their frack water to us because it's called interstate commerce. Interstate Commerce. Frackedy water and poison can goi into whiles someone else willl line hisp pockets. Again, wet take for granted that therei is goingt tol bet that cleany wateri for us. Ilivedi ina community wheret the reservoir was contaminated, it was my first teachingi job, it was horrible. We had tol bring port-a-potties into the schools, the kids couldn't get al hot lunchy which, tos somel kids,is their onlyl hotl lunch. They couldn't get al hot lunch; theys got peanut butter andj jelly sandwich. The restaurants in our community couldr not operate, wel hadt tol have bottled water brought in. This wento ont for almost a whole year,! lleftt that community because Ihad gotten engaged, andI Imoved tob be withr myi fiancée. I'm not surel how longi itt took thesep poor people tos get out oft that situation. I want) yout tok know that introduced Council Bill No. 1892 andl thank Ms. Cherry for beinga a great help with that construction becausei itp prohibits the construction of disposali injection wells, seismic graphic surveying ors seismic testing and that commercial extraction ofr natural gas ina all residential, office commercial: andi transitional: zoning district, districts within the corporate boundaries int the City of DuBois. Now wel had tos givet thems someplace to go, becausei ifwe can't! have themg go someplace then they can sue us. So, wel havea al littlep piece of Industrial property thatr really isr not appropriate. Ine essence, don't wantt this tob bet taken as anti-drilling, thisi is about safety. That's the bottom line. Wheny you drill then be safe about it. Tim Keister, Pro Chem Tech, (corporate headquarters isi in Colorado): positioned in Brockway, Pennsylvania, at the old Brockway Glass Headquarters building. He has ap patent ont taking fracked water, taking out the salts, etc. Treatingit tot the pointi it canl be put! backi into a sewaget treatment plant andt treated for ust to drink. What do we needa a Class 2 Deep Injection Welli for when wel have somebody right! here int thes state of Pennsylvania seven miles downt ther road witha ap permit tot take our most precious andi most valuable resource..water: and givei it back to us without pollutingi it. Isee wel have Sam Mollical here, any other Sandy Township Supervisors? I'm goingt tor read thisb because thisi isf for all of us on Council, all ofu us. Ai few months ago, all of us sitting here votedr not tof forma a water authority. Sandy Township has a water authority. I'lItelly youy whyl haye al big question mark oni it because: statel law: sayst that it isa appointed officials. Sam, itisa appointed officials ont the board, not elected and thati is whaty you have on) your board. (Sam tried toi interject.) The reason we votedr no for water authority is by owning our water, we control our destiny.. Think aboutt that wheny youd own your home, you control your destiny. (Sam tried toi interject again.) I'mi telling people why we voted no. Wev voted no becauser number one, anA Authority does not have to answer to anyt taxpayeri int this room. They can sell off our watera assets, they cans sell off part oft them, they cans sell off all ofit. Hey Treasure Lake has Aqua, why nots selli it to Aqua. Not only can anA Authority raiser rates, maintenance fees, come up with construction plans andi they don'thave to geta approval froma any municipal government whether itis Sandy Township, DuBois, ort thec combination between thet two. The only course of action that we citizens would! have ifv wei formeda a water authority is we would! have to got to court andi in Clearfield County we would have to got tot the Clearfield County Court of Common Pleas. So, wheny youl hear this thrown around about water authority andl let's do a water authority and ther next Council let's doa a water authority, please think about whati said. Iftherei is anything) you take away fromt today, do not leta a watera authority happen because we have gott to controlt the water that we Clarified that we votedt tok keep our water system the same way that itisa and allow the new Council tor make the decision as to whether or not they want an authority, or the City continue tor maintain the water as we currently do. So,i it was ay yes orr noy vote either wayi it was justt to maintaina as we currently operate the way we aret through the end oft this time. Then let the new Council vote.  have because this isj justt tooi important to oura area.  Councilwoman Shannon Gabriel    288  City Council Meeting Minutes - April2 24, 2023 (Cont'd)  Council Comments (Cont'd.) City Solicitor Toni Cherry  Wel have been advised! by Clearfield County Commissioners that they arer not goingt to givet the City of DuBois a$ $200,000 grant that was previously promised to the City of DuBois for usei in constructing andr repairingi infrastructure. She went ont tor makei it clear to all of you, aside from thef fact thatit was pretty disingenuous because Iwould think they would havet to know this, but maybet they don't; ifthe City ofD DuBois weret to accept that $200,000 grant, first ofa allitisr matching So wev would then have too come up with another $200,000 ort tryt tou use our owni facility as part oft that. But why we wouldi nota accept ita anyway and thati is whatl Iwould! hope that the Commissioners allr realizei is because when we didt the $83,000,000+ loani for thei improvement and construction ofa Wastewater Plant anda allo oft thel lines, wea also received whichise excellent news, ap principall loani forgiveness andit is actually: grant int thez amount of over $4,000,000 which doesn't havear match. Totake the $200,000 we would! havet tos subtracti fromt that $4,000,000 grant $200,000. So, Iwant the citizens of DuBois to know this and tor realize that you are notl losingr money. I'm gladr my neighborsins Sandy Township are going tog get thati moneyb because they need tof finish that line sot they can connect itto the City's Plant. Ithink wer need top provide that service tot them. But therei is nol loss tot the City of DuBois. Not! by dollars, not bys grants, not byp projects. None, just so) youl knowt that. Justa couple construction updates: Finished paving on Maple Avenue last week. They will start tomorrow bothr millinga and paving the other streets int the City of DuBois and then! liney painting will start on May 18t. Hopefully by the second week inl May, everything willl be paveda andj painted. The mayor stated hel hada labriefs statement. Thanky youf for everyone cominga againa as usual. Inlight ofe everything thati is going on, Ms. Cherry, our Attorney, last week, put ana article int the paper thatl standb behind 100%. This Council and myself! have never been contacted! by the Attorney General or the State Policet tog givea a statement ort tog give any explanation, whichl finda appalling. How cant they dov what they! have done without even getting our position? Iknow that one oft thef first thingsi Ihad Mr. Nasuti dov whenh hel became the actingN Manager wasi investigate one charge that was $3,000 check that wass stolen from the city. Itt took them 10 to1 15 minutes toi find outt there was nos stolen check. Itv was areimbursement whichl Ibelieve wel have already explained. The check was written outi inl November: and wasn't cashed until late January or February. Attorney Generals said that our manager stole money; hec didr not. This City's financial positioni isi in great shape, wez arer moving forward with allo of ourp projects. There have been some messages out there on Facebook that we: are not going tob be doing the Sewage Treatment Plant andy we'rer notg going tof finish the end oft the boulevard, we're notg going to dot this ort that. We are moving forward with everything, andI am very proud oft thes staff, Mr. Nasuti's job, and Council fore everything they have done. We don't always agree, buty we get things done. Iwill bey your mayorf for atl least ther next eight months, likei it or hate itl'm going tol be here. Wez areg going to continue tor move forward and finish ourp projects. There being nof further business to transact, ther motion was made by Gabriel and secondedb by Aughenbaugh that Council adjourn. Roll call vote was asf follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea; Cpy Ck  Interim City Manager Chris Nasuti Mayor Edwardi L. Walsh  Adjourn  Aughenbaugh, yea; Gabriel, yea; Walsh,) yea. Motion passed5-0.  -  ATTEST