303  City Council Meeting Minute - May 22, 2023  City Council Chambers, City Building, 16 West Scribner Avenue, DuBois, Pennsylvania on! Monday, May22, 2023 @ 6p p.m.; Council convened: att their regular City Council Meeting with CouncilVice President, Councilwoman Diane Bernardo, int the Chair. Other Council Members present were: James Aughenbaugh, Shane Dietz, and Shannon Gabriel. Also present were: Toni Cherry; Interim City Manager/City! Engineer/Public' Works Director, Chris Nasuti; Redevelopment Authority Director/Assistant Public) Works Superintendent, Joel Mitchell; Police Chief, Blaine Clark; Corporal, Randy Young; Finance Officer, DeLean Shepherd; Code Enforcement/Zoning: Officer, Zac Lawhead; and Administrative Secretary, The meeting was calledt to ordera at6 61 p.m. andi the Pledge of Allegiance was led! by Councilwoman The motion was madel by Aughenbaugh: and seconded! by Gabriel that Council excuse Mayor EdwardL. Walshi from the evening proceedings. Roll cally vote was asf follows: Aughenbaugh, yea; Gabriel, yea;  Bobbie Shaffer. Bernardo.  Excuse Mayor EdwardLWalsh  Dietz,) yea; Bernardo, yea. Motion passed 4-0. City Council Meeting Minutes -May 8,2023 yea; Dietz, yea; Bernardo, abstain. Motionp passed3 3-0. Work Session Meeting Minutes- - May 18,2023 Dietz,) yea; Bernardo,) yea. Motion passed 4-0.  Approval of Minutes  The motion wasr made! by Dietz ands seconded by Aughenbaugh that Council approve the City Council Meeting Minutes of May 8,2 2023, as presented. Roll call vote was asf follows: Aughenbaugh, yea; Gabriel, Ther motion was madel by Gabriel and seconded by Dietz that Council approve the Work Session. Meeting Minutes of May1 18, 2023, as presented. Roll call vote was ast follows: Aughenbaugh,yea; Gabriel,yea; Interim Manager Nasuti statedt that ana additional bill had! been addedi for Rumbarger Cemetery, ana annual donation of $10,0001 for maintenance. The motion wasr madeb by Gabriela and seconded by Aughenbaugh that Councila approvet the Purchase Order Listing by Vendor Name dated May 18, 2023, in the amount of $511,172.11;t the Purchase Order Listing byF POI Number dated May: 22, 2023, int the amount of $10,000; the Check Register! by Checkl ID dated May 17, 2023 int the: amount of $39,300.81; andt the Check Register by Checkl ID (Pennvest- -Sewer Plant) dated May 18, 2023, ini thea amount of$ $3,566,137-79 as presented by the Finance Officer. Rollo call vote was asf follows: Aughenbaugh, yea; Gabriel,) yea; Dietz,) yea; Bernardo, Ms. Gillaugh read al letters she dropped offt to Council requestingt that. June 17,2 2023, be proclaimed "Tre'Sean Wiggins Day"i int the City of DuBois. Councilwoman Gabriel said shev wasn'ts speaking fora all of Council, buts she didn'ti feeli itv wouldb bea aj problem; but tol bei inc compliance with the Sunshine. Act, we will I'mt tryingt tor maket this as simple asp possible. lam going! back tol May1 14, 2018, a Council Meeting where City Manager Suplizio explained that ata anE Executive! Session! heldp priort tot the Council Meeting which! had to do witha al lands sale at our watershed. The parcel of2 20- - 26 acres was beings soldb by Orner Farms fora price of $4,762.50 ana acre. The City Manager statedt that the Councili is always looking for opportunities to extendt their land around the watershed: since we! believe our wateri is ourr most valuable resource. Tryzna clarified with Councilwoman Bernardo that wateri is our most valuable resource. She confirmeditis. Tryznay went ont tos say thatt the motion wasi madeb by Walsha ands seconded by Bernardo andi the motion passed 5-0. This is where itb becomesi interesting, City Manager Suplizio sent the Orner family two letters, onei inA April 2018 stating that the City of DuBois wasi interested! in buying the land and another letter on May1 16, 2018, two days after Councilr met statingt thatt the City of DuBois and also GPA Group, LLChad interest inb buying the land. The GPA Group wasr never mentionedi int the minutes oft the Council Meeting on! May 14, 2018. Amazinglyt therei is nol hard copy ofe eitherl letteri int thet files oft the City of DuBois. Another interesting facti is that event though the City votedt top purchase: 20 -26 acres, the property was subdividedi intot three parcels andt this was not doneb byt the Orner Family; they refused to doit. On. June 29, 2018, the City of DuBois ended up with one parcel of7.7 acres, not: 26 acres, atac cost of $34,398. The othert twop parcels were 10.22 acres, and 10 acres were purchased! by GPA Group, LLC- Kathryn A. Mitchell ont thes same day oft the City's purchase. June: 29, 2018,f for $89,427. Thisi isi in contrast to Council wantingto purchase, top protectt their watershed, the: 26 acres. Anotheri interesting facti ist that the GPA Group, LLC-  Registry ofl Invoices  yea. Motion passed4-0. Public Comments  Aviana Gllaugh-TURNABOUTL Boxing, 4563 RocktonJ Road, DuBois  addt that tot ther nexta agenda (June 12th). Ron Tryzna -120 South Avenue, DuBois    304  City Council Meeting Minute - May 22, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Ron Tryzna -120 South Avenue, DuBois (Cont'd.) acrest thaty you votedi for? How cant this occur?  Randy. J. Mitchell, turned arounda and soldp parcel3 (10 acres) on. July2 2, 2019, to John F.S Suplizio for$ $1 consideration. Inas Statement of Financial Interest that City Manager, John "Herm" Suplizio completed on January 13, 2020, the City Manager failedt tol list the 10-acrep parcel as agift ofr reale estatei interest. So, did the City Manager evene explain toy yout the Council that the city only purchased7-7 acres andr not the 26 City Solicitor Toni Cherry responded. Mr. Tryzna, havey yous seen the parcel? Tryzna confirmed hel had. Cherry continued, theny youy willl knowi it was not,t therea are not trees ont that parcel. Ther most valuable part,i it's off Christian Ridge Road, of thatp property for the City of DuBois ist the roadway that extends from Christian Ridge Roadt to other property owned! byt the City of DuBois thati is att the rear oft the City's watershed area. The Cityl lookedt top purchase landi that has trees oni it,t this property was notp property that normally wouldi impact the City'sy watershedl because thel land! had! been depleteda as farmland. Thati is not something that we use,' whati isr mosti important tot the cityi ist that the City ends upy with ther roadway, if youv were out therey youv woulds seet the City has a gate across that roadway. Our concern, was to make sure that wej protectedt the watershedi from vehicles that might enter tot the back oft the watershed with that road. Thep propertyi itself was beingr marketed byar realtor. The sale wasi infact! handled! by the Orner's lawyer. Tryzna said anda also GPA Groups lawyer. Cherry confirmed. Tryzna askedi ift the Council was awaret that the City! hads sent outa abrush! hogt to cut downa al lot ofs stuff ont those properties, you: actually hada a guys go out and cuta al lot of brush down on allt three properties. Cherry asked when, whath he was talking about? Tryzna statedh he can'tg give ane exact date, but he cant find out. Cherry said OK, quitet frankly l'mi not aware oft that. I'm only aware oft the facti thati itb borders Christian Ridge Roada andi for the City that'sal larger pricet thant the Cityp pays per acret for propertyt that does not have timber oni it. Tryzna asked ifits should! have been! brought upa ata Councilr meeting. He went ont tos sayt that the Council votedto purchase: 26a acres andi that's whatt thej parceli isl listedo over ont ther map. Cherry stated that! her understanding was that the Council votedt to explorei itf forap period oft time. Tryzna stated not they voted top purchasei it. Tryzna askedi ifs she wantedi the minutes fromi ther meeting, Cherry statedr nos shel had seen them. Cherry went ont tos say thatt thev valuablep portion was the property fort the City of DuBois wast the7 acres andt ther roadway, ther rest ofi itv wouldr not! have been of value. Ithinkt the money could! havel been Hei is wondering ift there are any contracts that go past. January 1, 2026, with eitherav vendor ora an employee. Councilwoman Gabriel clarified, past. January1 1,2 2026? Reasinger confirmed: after Consolidation. Gabriel: stated Blaine Clark's contract was extendeda at few months agot tol help duringt the transition. Hopefully the new City Council willh hirea a Chief, because hev willl ber retiring at the end oft that Reasinger directed his questions to Nasuti. There wast talka at few years ago about extending the Rails to Trailst to go between DuBois andF Falls Creek. Nasuti confirmed. Reasinger wantedt to! knowi ifthere! has beena any progress ont that. Nasutis statedt that. Joel Mitchell and Shawn Arbaugh have beeny working on that, hea asked Mitchell fori the consultant. Mitchell saidF Pashik! MTR. Nasuti went on ands saidt that we hada ag grant to dop planning andi that was completed. Reasinger wantedt tol know when the project would bec completed. Naustis saidt that wast for planning, wer need tof findt ther money to do the: actual project. The! Executive Sessiont that was calledI last Saturday, I'ma assumingi it was aboutt the $93,000 that magically appearedi int the Christmas gift bag. I'mj just wondering whyt the defense attorney for the previous City Manager wasi inc ont that meeting. Ata an Executive Session that was called! hurriedly fora Saturday morning, why wouldac defense attorney for Mr. Supliziol bei int that meeting ifit was about the money. Solicitor Cherrys saidb because the defense attorney wantst toh have control over statements that areb being madea andi theyi intendt tou uset that ast their defense: att trial, that's why he was! here. Jackson askedi if there was any morei information: aboutt the moneyt that camei intot the city, ifyoul have anything you wouldl like to addi toi it, ors say abouti ita ata all? Cherry stated,1 I'm goingt tol let the defense Council say.7 Their defense for Mr. Suplizioi ist thatt ther money was keptt there, for both Community Fund money and Community Days money anda all oft thati information was turned over. The AG was advised, Icant telly yout that. (Someone keptr moving their papers around, lcouldi not hear the conversation for a short period.) Jackson askedif it disappeared from thel United Wayi in! December. She askedf for confirmation. Cherry saidr no. It would have! been when thet transition occurred! between thef former director andi the new director. Jackson said ity wasn't December. Cherry said nor ma'am. Jackson: saidh her last question concerned an Ordinance. This Ordinance that talks about property signage ona ab business, on other property, was that changed? Youl knowy you are nota allowedt top put signage, business signage, on another property, ithadb beent that wayf fory years andl I'mj just questioningi ift that Ordinance was changed or wheni it was changed. Cherry statedt therei is ane exception there. : Jackson interrupted ands said ohi is there. Cherry continued,  spente elsewhere, but ther roadway was the essential element fort the city.  Pat Reasinger- 206 E.Logan Avenue, DuBois  year.  Jennifer. Jackson 441 N. Brady ST    305  City Council Meeting Minute - May 22, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Jennifer. Jackson- 44 N.E Brady ST (Cont'd.)  ify youl have ar resort therei is languagei in there. That Ordinancel has beeni ine effect for quites some time. Jackson askedi ift ther resortp part wasi int theref from years ago? Cherry confirmedi itv was. Cherry saidif Jackson wouldl like,) you can geta a copy oft that. Jackson: said: she would love that andt the date. Cherry statedt that Mr. Lawhead wouldg gett thati forh her. Jackson: saids shez appreciated Cherry answeringh her My understandingi isy your answert to Mr. Tryznai ist the city only owns7a acres. Cherry confirmed. Brubaker then why was citye equipment and city employees on cityt time ont the 10 acres owned! by. John Suplizio. He has video evidence ofi it. Hev wouldl liket tok know who authorizedi it. Theys should bet firedf for doingi it. Cherry stateds she has nol knowledge ofit. Brubaker: said hel has video evidence ofita and knows the city Her subjecti is water, Diane,) youl have saidi it,i it's our most valuable resource. So, knowing that waterisa commodity: thati isr regulated byt the PUCE because wes selli itt tos Sandy Township, andt toi fracking companies. Aret there consequences from the PUCift the sale. of water,i ift thosep proceeds dor not 100% go backi into the Water Fund? Solicitor Cherry answered: andis stated that therev was nor requirement, Ibelieve youa are referring tot thes sale of watert to EOG and EQTbacki inz 2010, 2011 and: 2012. Allt those companies were not ablet to drillt themselves; 5o, theyy were willingt top paya aj premiumi fort the city'sreserve. The City! hadt the rightt to, att that point, use ofa ane extra 3,000,000 gallons. They were willing top paya ap premium ift the city wouldg guaranteet that that water would be available tot them were theyt tor needi it. They didi not. The actual watert they used was puti into what we callt the Water Fund. Ther rest oft the money was puti into the General Fund. Whichl consider tob bea absolutely correct, andl P'll telly youv why. Allt the assets like the reservoir, the wells, the Water Treatment Plant, the lines, and equipment all owned, not by ane entity known ast the Water Bureaul but byt the City of DuBois and all oft those assets have been paidf for by the taxpayers oft the City of DuBois. I'm goingt tot take youb back brieflyt toz 20 years ago when the City of DuBois paido offa PennVESTI loan tor raiset ther rates, because thei taxpayers oft the City of DuBois were paying farr moret for watert than the customers outside of thel boundaries oft the City of DuBois. Once we didt that,t then we were ablet to equalize the rates. But we never really reimbursed the taxpayers oft the City of DuBois for allt thosey years whent they paidf foras system. We wentt throught two PUC filings after that money was depositedi intot the General Fund. Wheny you do theF PUC filings, youh hire a consultant to set ther ratea andy your must disclose all of that. All of that passedr mustard with the PUC. What wel have alsoi is thatp people who are employees oft the City of DuBois arel leasedi ina ane employment agreement to "the Water Bureau". One oft the things we! have always! hada aj problem withi int terms of PUCI ratei filingsis that our assets are old. Thei reservoir has beeni ine existencei fora a very long time, SOV wheny you: are trying to calculate ap proper rate,) your must taket the depreciated value of allt those assets. So, thati is why we started doing! leases with the water bureau for proper compensation of whati it costs the citizens oft the City of DuBois top provide servicet to the customers outsidet the corporate! boundaries. All oft that was disclosedi int twor ratef filings. Therei is nos secrett there. Dol llegally think that ist the appropriatey way, wheny youa arer not actually! havingt the water used. It wasi miscellaneous income ont the audits, it was listed asad donation;1 consider that tob beh highlya appropriate. That money! belongs tot the residents of DuBois so The motion was made! by Gabriel ands seconded by Aughenbaugh that Council approve the requests from Downtown DuBois, Inc. for the: annual use oft the Pershing Parking Lot Saturday mornings andi free parkingi in that lot until 11:30 a.m. from. June: 24t through October7. Roll call vote was as follows: Aughenbaugh, yea; Gabriel,) yea; Dietz, yea; Bernardo,) yea. Motion passed 4-0. Councilwoman Bernardoi readt the proclamationi ini its entirety and ended with "Godb bless our troops". The motion was made by Aughenbaugh ands seconded! by Gabrielt that Council proclaim May 29, 2023, Memorial Dayi int the City of DuBois anda ask thata allr residents observei it with appropriate ceremonies. Roll call vote was asf follows: Aughenbaugn, yea; Gabriel,) yea; Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea. Motion passed 4-0. Nasutis statedt that wee executedt the contract with Boyer & Ritter from Camp Hill, the amount tot the agreement was $125,000, soi it was within budget; our first meetingi is June 5, he will report after that how our kickoffr meeting went; andi its should bet finishedi in 121 months from. June 5th. Hopefully we can get  questions tonight.  Eric Brubaker- - 320 W. Second Avenue, DuBois  employee that didi ita and! hei iss surel he didi it under orders. Kristen) Vida - 929 Chestnut Avenue, DuBois  that their taxes arel held atal lower rates sincet they paidf for the assets.  Requests from Downtown! DuBois, Inc.  Proclamation- - Memorial Day  Forensic Financial Analysis  done quicker but the engagement! letteri isf for 12 months.    306  City Council Meeting Minute - May 22, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Loan! Interest Ratel Benchmark  This camef froms S&TBank, wel have threel loans, Ibelieve they ares summarized int thel back, theiri interest rates aret tiedt tol LIBOR, thati interest rate! benchmarki is going away. Itv willr nol longer exist at the end of June. Congress has actually passed ana actt thati ify you! have this and don'tleave: any change that your will switch over to SOFR (Secured Overnight Financial Rate)a automatically. S&Tis recommending we memorialize thati inp papera and after everyones signs them we will switch over to SOFR. Ihave talked to Anthony Ditka, ourb bond Council, thisi is pretty standard andh her recommends we memorialize this also. Thisi isf for ourt threel loans wel have atS&T. lt'sa$9,000,000, $4,600,000, and $4,400,000 loan. Bernardo askedf for Council wishes. Gabriel asked what! happensi ifitisr not done. Nasutis statedt thati ifitisr not done itwilla automatically: switcht tot that; mustb be doneb between now and June. Gabriel askedi if Council could taket the document: andi read overi it and puti it onf fort the next meeting. The motion was made! by Aughenbaugh and seconded by Gabrielt that Councilt table this item until ther next meeting. Roll call vote was asf follows: Aughenbaugh, yea; Gabriel,) yea; Dietz,) yea; Bernardo, yea. Motion passed 4-0. Nasutis statedt they met with the architectt today, hopefully he'llb bel backl here withint the next 30 dayst to present thet final plant to Councila and request authorization tos go out forb bids. Ifallg goes well, we willl be under construction byr mid-September: andr ready for ther next ball season. Hev went ont tos say that hej just wantedt to give anu update, wea ares still securing the permits thati is what we are waiting for rightr now. Exciting project and we'rer moving forward. Aughenbaugh confirmed we can dot the planning even though we don'th have thep permits. Nasuti statedi thisi is why wez are waiting 30 days, we willl know where thep permits are at, we'llh have thet final plans done and havea al bettert time framet then. Someone asked whatt they were constructing. Nasuti stated, ar new softballf field wheret thei footballi fieldi int the parkis now. Gabriel askeda about the T-Ballf field. Nasutis statedt that we arel lookinga at different options. Currently we are lookinga atas softball field, al basketball court, pickleball has become veryi in demand SO... Nasutis statedv wer receiveda a $131,000 grant fromi the Susquenanna River Basint to addi to ourl leak detection system. We will be ablet top purchase approximately 1001 newl loggers; currently wel have 186 outt there right now. So, we're goingt tol have as sizablei increaset tot that tof find thes source of our unaccountable water. This should! help usr reducei thate evenr more. That willl help us monitor our leaks and keep themi in check and! keep ourr rates asl low as possible. Aughenbaugh: askedi ifv we still have the company comei in  Ballfields Update  l'llhavei thet final plant for you. Council Comments  onceay year and check forl leaks. Nasuti saidr no. Executive: Session was calledf for Personnel. yea; Bernardo, yea. Motionp passed4-0.  Adjourn  There! beingr not further business tot transact; ther motion was made! by Gabriela and seconded! by Aughenbaught that Councila adjourn. Roll call vote was ast follows: Aughenbaugh,yea; Gabriel, yea; Dietz, ARL  ATTEST: