52  City Council Meeting Minutes - August 14, 2023  City Council Chambers, City Building, 16 West Scribner Avenue, DuBois, Pennsylvania on Monday, August 14, 2023 @ 6p.m.; Council convened: at their regular City Council Meeting with Mayor Walsh int the Chair. Other Council Members present were: James Aughenbaugh, Diane Bernardo, Shane Dietz, Pat Reasinger and City Treasurer, Lisa LaBrasca Becker. Also present were: City Solicitor, Toni Cherry; Acting City Manager/City EngineerPubicWorks: Director, Chris Nasuti; Public Works Superintendent, Scott Farrell; Redevelopment. Authority Director/Assistant Public Works Superintendent, Joel Mitchell; Code Enforcement/Zoning: Officer, Zac Lawhead; Finance Officer, DeLean Shepherd; Police Chief, Blaine Clark; Corporal Randy Young; Officer Molly Lord; OfficerLance Thompson; Finance. Assistant/Water Department, Dayna Bowley; and Administrative Secretary, Ther meeting was calledt to ordera at 6p p.m. andi the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mayor Walsh.  Bobbie Shaffer.  Resolution of Condolence- - Eugene R. Mabie  RESOLUTION  WHEREAS the City ofD DuBois wass saddenedt tol learn oft the death ofc ourf former Patrolman, Code Enforcement and WHEREAS, EUGENER R. MABIE servedi inv various positions from October 14,1 1957 untill November 28, 1978;f filling thesei important positions with distinction anda advantaget tot thet taxpayers oft the City ofD DuBois; always conscientious to theh highest degreei int these positions oft trusta andr moved only! byt theb besti interests ofhis fellow citizens. NOW,T THEREFORE, BE ITF RESOLVED,! byt the Governing Bodyi in Council assembledt this 14th day of August: 2023, thatit ite expressi its deepest regret ands sorrow att thel loss of, EUGENE R.I MABIE, and! hereby officially extend ane expression of FURTHERMORE, BEI ITR RESOLVED, thatt this Resolutionk bes spread upont ther minutes oft this meetinga andt thata NOW,T THEREFORE, BEI ITF RESOLVED, that thel Mayora and City Council oft the City of DuBois, Pennsylvania, hereby certifyt thatt thef foregoingisat true ando correct copy ofaF Resolution dulya adoptedb byan majority vote oft the DuBois City Councila atar regular meeting! held on August 14, 2023, ands said Resolution! hasb been recordedi int thel Minutes of the City INV WITNESSV WHEREOF, wes set our hands and causet the Officials seal oft the City of DuBois, Pennsylvania, tob be The motion was madeb by Aughenbaugh: ands seconded by Bernardo that Council approve the Resolution of Condolence for Eugene R.I Mabie as presented. Roll cally vote was as follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh,yea; Reasinger, yea; Walsh, yea. Motion passed 5-0. Ther motion was madeb by Dietz and seconded by Reasinger that Council approve the1 1t Public Hearing Meeting Minutes dated July: 24,2023, concerning 2023 CDBG as presented. Roll call votev was asi follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger, yea; Walsh, yea. Motion passed The motion was made byA Aughenbaugh: and seconded by Bernardo that Council approve the City Council Meeting Minutes ofJ July: 24, 2023, as presented. Roll call vote was ast follows: Dietz,yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger, yea; Walsh, yea. Motion passed 5-0. The motion was made! by Reasinger and: seconded! by Walsht that Council approve the Work Session Meeting Minutes of August 10, 2023, as presented. Roll call vote was asf follows: Dietz, abstain due toa absence, Bernardo, abstain due to absence; Aughenbaugh, abstain due to absence; Reasinger, The motion was made! by Dietz and: seconded by Reasinger that Council approve the Check Register by CheckI IDC datedA August1 10, 2023, int the amount of $6,930.11 andt the Purchase Order Listing by Vendor Name datedA August 10, 2023, int the amount of $265,481.47- Roll call vote was ast follows: Dietz,) yea; Bernardo,yea; Aughenbaugh,yea; Reasinger,yea; Walsh,yea. Motion passed 5-0.  Health Officer ande exemplary citizen, EUGENEF R.I MABIE, onA August4 4,2 2023; and  profounds sympathyt toh hisf family fort their personal loss. copyt thereofb bef forwardedi tot thef family ofE EUGENE R. MABIE.  Councila andr remains ine effect as ofthisc date. affixedt this 14th day ofAugust2 2023.  Approval of Minutes 1st Publich Hearing - 2023 CDBG  5-0.  City Council Meeting Minutes- L July24,2023  Work Session Meeting Minutes - August 10,2023 yea; Walsh, yea. Motion passed: 2-0. Registry of Invoices    53  City Council Meeting Minutes - August 14, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Public Comments  Mayor Walsha askedt that we don't haver repeat questions and Councilman. Aughenbaugh askedt that peoples stand and tryt to get closert tot the recorder ast the recordingi is hardt to! hear. Ihad this greats speech planned! buta as things came to light today, realized Councili is goingt to do whatt they wantt tonight andy payout Mr. Suplizio. Ijust wondered ify youhave ever watchedt the movie "AI Few Good Men" with Tom Cruisea and Jack Nicholson. Tom Cruisei ist barraging him with questions andi Nicholson says, "Youv wanta answers" and Cruise replies, "wantt thet truth" and Nicholson says, "You can't handle thet truth". Whilet the citizens of DuBois deserve thet truth, we can handle) jt. Wel have hadr millions of dollars spent frivolously. We can'tf financially maintain what we have. Mr. Suplizio has grossly mismanaged the funds oft this City and we are now goingt to payt the price; or, should! Isay come January whent the new Councili iss seated. This has alll been a convoluted shell game, robbing Petert toj pay Paul. As of Friday, we didi not have thef funds to make our yearly obligation to the city workers pension fund. Let's also not forget about the refinancing ofl loans, where did that extrar money go? Diane, Jim, Eddie, and Shane, yous go ahead and pay Mr. Suplizio but bea awaret that we asi individuals cans sue andt the City willr not pay a dimet toward yourl legal fees come thet first oft they year. Citizens of DuBois, youe elected me tof fight fort this city andI am tonight, andl will continue to dos SO untily youa askr me not to. Icall as spade as spade, I'mr notl liket these people on Council sitting upt there. Iholdi myself and everyone accountable. lam not doing this for me, I'm doingt this for the citizens of DuBois. Ileavey youy with this quote," "A man who doesn't know thet truth  Jennifer. Jackson- 42 N. Brady ST  isa ani idiot; but ar man that knows thet trutha and calls ital liei isac crook." Galileo JimJ Jackson: askedi ift there was al responset fromt the mayor.  Councilman, Aughenbaugh stated thatlo don't know about the mayor, but! know that not to long ago wel had everythingi inl linef for thel budget fori the remainder of 2023. So, how can those statements be madet that we don'thaver money for thej pension plan. Idon't know where you're getting your information, because that was never provided tor me or any member of Council. Ify youh have something to share, information that youg gott that we don't have, don't! know why we would not  have had that information presentedt to us. Jennifer said, soi it'sab balanced! budget. Jennifer said, was ital balanced budget?  Interim City Manager Nasuti saidy yes,i itis ab balanced budget. Mayor Walshs said, it) has always been ab balanced budget. Nasuti clarified ifs shei is askingi if on Fridayi it was balanced.  Jackson: said, nor no nol hasi ita always been al balanced budget. Ist therea al linei int there ont the sewer and  waterf fund.  Nasutis said, yest those funds are covered.  Jackson askedi ift there was al linei item ont there about the... what dol Iwant tos say....) you are drawing 4.81 million (prompted by Reasinger)f from the water and sewerf fund. Reasinger said frome each. Jackson askedy whati it brings in. Reasinger said noti that much. Reasinger went ont to say he doesn't  havei the figure, but it doesn'th bringi int that much. Jackson said, soi itisn not al balanced! budget.  Reasinger said! Iwouldn't even calli itab budget, it'sal Mr. Suplizio shitshow. Hej just threwt things together andi ita always worked out because het found money wherever! he could.  Michael Clements: said, andt that's whath he did for the budget. Walshi madei itv very clear abouta anyone speaking out. Jackson: said thatv wasj just hers speech. Thank) you.  Councilwoman Bernardo interrupted and statedt that. Jennifer has the floorr right now and Mayor    54  City Council Meeting Minutes = August 14, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Jennifer Jackson- - 42 N. BradyST(Contd.) thati is uncovered that we don't know...  Councilman Aughenbaugh: saidt thati information Pat, you nevers shared with any of us; something Reasinger interrupted ands said, youg guys have beenl looking att that budget for1 15years. Aughenbaugh: said, wel have hada al balanced budget, paidf for projects, and never raised taxesi in1 15 Reasingeri interrupted again and: said, your never raisedt taxes because Herm refinanced loans to get moneyt to payt the bills. Hev wouldt take al loan that was $10,000,000.. don'tk know... $10,000,000 after itv was paidf for $5,000,000,1 he'dy would refinancei it take the $5,000,000 and usei itf for your budget.  years...  Thati is nota ab balanced! budget. Aughenbaugh: said, thati isy your opinion. Reasinger and Aughenbaughi talked over each other.  Reasinger said, when! look att the budget, there wasn'te even al budgeted to actual number anda percentage ofv wherey youa are at. InJ June yous should be! 50% on everythinglasked' for that andi itv was given to me. Idon't know! how youe ever read the budgeti it, how couldy your readi it? Idon't have a speech prepared. Int the line of balancing budgets ands sof forth; recently you: sold an amount oft timber offt the watershed that you are near and dear top protect tol help pay for..funds.let's: say twor months ago ata Council meeting. Thet funds fromt thei timber sales helped to balance thel budget for that month. Iwas there on Saturday night when we got that torrential downpour andi there was ar river ofr mud that wenta across whatever the name oft that roadi is...the reservoir road..Mayor Walshs saids seven-mile road. Jones askedi ifit was a seven-mile road oncei it's split there? There was ar river ofr mud coming off oft that new cutting and that isj just whatt trees do theyl helpp protect the watershed, they! help protect the forest; they help protect theg growth. Idon't carei ifthet trees arer rotting, where they ares standing, they are stillp protecting thes soila andl keepingi it inp place. True that was a substantiall raini fally we got; Thearditv was %-34 of ani inch inl less than an hour. Still, we arej justr raping thel landf for af few pennies. The Council has mentioned previously that wel have top protect our water resource. Ihave flownr my drone over the reservoir recently andit litis filled withs silt ands sediment. Therei is just a channel downt through the middle, the rest ofi ity you can seei is clearly filledy withs sediment fromt the: streams up above. Ithink) your really needt to consider that ther next time youa are going tot try tos sell. Watershed timber toj just! help balance budget, isi it worth it? Idon'tt thinks sO. My second comment is youl had Council Meeting with only you! present? Reasinger statedi it was al Work Session. Jones saidy youl hadar meeting with one person present, what'st that about. Don'ty you needt tol have sevent tol have a quorum? Mayor Walsh corrected! him andi told him therei is only five on Council. Reasinger said we only needt threef for a quorum. Jones said threet for a quorum then) your made quorum. Reasinger saidi ity wasn'treally: a meeting. Everyone int the crowd began talking. Nasutis saidt there were no motions made. Jones said and there shouldn't havel beenk he continued, youv walkedi ina and there was no meeting why waste) your timej just walk Mayor Walsh statedt thatt there was as scheduled timber cut, it wasn't just pulled out oft the air. We have at forester thatr manages our timber property, this was scheduled anda actually it was abouta yearl later than what we originally scheduledi it for. Jones, so) you didn't doi it as ane emergency. Walshs saidr no we didn't. Jones continued, you didn't doi ita as ane emergency we needr money! kind of thing, andi can appreciate that. Mayor Walshs saidb buty you: saidt that. Jones said wellt that was whati it looked like. Jones continued; I'm still sayingi it looked like we: soldt timber tol balance the budget; that was saidi ina a Council Meeting! by this fellow, pointing at Chris Nasuti. Nasuti said, ohr nol Inever said thatt tol balance the budget. Jones saidr noy yous saidy yous sold timber, andi it helped! balance the budget ors something tot that effect. Nasuti said itv was budgeted at $300,000 and came in at $450,000 SO we hada additional funds for our budget.. Jones said he doesn't carei ify youz are doingy what you're doing.I just wantt to sayy wer needt top protect the environment around thev watershed. Why cut all oft these trees downf for af few dollars. Mayor Walshs said, thati is why wel havea at forester. Jones said, and foresters care aboutt thet trees andy yeah, thist treei is going tor rota and! bey worthless int ten years we needt to cuti it down now. He doesn't care aboutt the undergrowth: and allt the erosioni that is goingt to take place SO on and sof forth. Yous should have been out therei itj just looked! like those California  Bill Jones 618 Chestnut Ave  back out. Reasinger said, we set thea agenda.    55  City Council Meeting Minutes - August 14, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Bill Jones - 618 Chestnut/ Ave (Cont'd.)  things it was justr mudg going across the road. Mud. Mud.  Nasutis stated exactly right, we doi itb by recommendation of our forester. Reasinger said hel hada question, he noticed that ity was donel like what hev would call clear cut, everything was cut down and Ithought tol be conservative thaty youy woulds select cut trees andl leaves some standing forl later. It was down. Nasuti said obviously I'mr nota andl I'm sure Councilisr not an expert at that. Reasinger said hei isn't either. Nasutis saidt thati is why wet taket the recommendation ofap professional forester. She has a question on! how Council feels about our police wearing cameras, the reason she asks is she heard on TVt that thes statei is goingt to start that. She was talkingt to our District. Attorney andH he saidt that Clearfield: and Sandy and her named: some others but! Ican'tremember what he: said already do wear them. Wez are theb biggest area ofp people and our police do not wear cameras andl I'm wondering whyr not and whati is your plant for cameras fort them. Mayor Walsht turned the meeting overt to Chief Clark to answerb because we are int the process of doingt thate exact thingr rightr now. Chief Clarks said we werei int thep process because wel hadr received ag grant ayear agof for cameras. The cameras were ordered, then they cameb back and cut that out oft the grant. Now Ihavet tot finda way tof fiti iti into the! budget to get the cameras ori find another grant somewhere. Kurts asked how muchac camera costs. Chief Clarks said off the top ofH his head! he really doesn't know. Nasutis saida couple oft things weret taken out, tasers was one oft them; wet found another source fori thet tasers just last month. Kurts believes that cameras are extremelyi important. Mayor Walsh agreed with that. Kurts went ont tos sayt that the city should be finding a wayt top purchase them. Councilwoman Bernado: askedt tor makea a comment: Shes said, Bev youj just made the statement thaty yout talked with Mr. Sayers, doy your realize that our police department: andt the drugt task forcel brings inal huge amount ofr money its givent tot the District Attorney. That money thatt they confiscate, and Chief correct me ifl I'my wrong, because youa andI Ihave hadt this conversation. Youl bringi inal lot ofr money from the drug busts andi that goes rightt to Mr. Sayers, goes to the County. What I'm asking) youa and other people to do, its one thing tot talkt to Mr. Sayers but ask him why he doesn't give that money backt tot the City of DuBois. Kurts said, that's) yourj job. Bernardo said,) you'reac citizen ande everyone Jen! brought up the pension andt the ensuing conversation" that followed. My question is what our yearly ongoing obligationt towards the pension fund. Nasutis stated that thel MMO this yearis $750,000. Gelfand continued: andy withi the budget and thet turmoil willy we be: able to meett those obligations? Nasuti confirmed we would. Gelfand askedh havey youp projectedi into thef future! how long we: are ablei tor meet the obligation. Nasuti said wel havet the actuaries looking at the amounti for 2024, 2025 whichl believe are duei in September SO we willh have an answer then. Tilly we gett the reporti from thea actuary! don't! know whatt that number is going tol be. Wey will workt the budget forward fromi there. Gelfand askedi if we did a large payout to Mr. Suplizio how willt that affect our ability tor meet our pension obligations? Nasutis said we'llh havet tos see what thati is. Ican't answer that without knowing. Gelfand said, you don't know what the amount would! be? Reasinger said how mucha are we paying? Gelfand: saidt thet totalp payout wouldh be. Reasinger said! he has some numbers that! hey worked on. It depends onv whatt the decisioni is. His salary is $110,000 ay year; ify you payt that out and finishi itis $157,846.20; he: always gota al bonus like $64,000- $65,000 a year ont top of the $110,000; so, ify yout taket that number it's $248,462. Now also hel has 30 weeks ofs sickl leave and vacation. Someone: askedh howr many? Reasinger said he wants 30 weeks. Now if you doi that number at $110,000 ay yeart that'saa additional: $62,302. Ifyou doi ita at $170,000 it's an extra $98,076; ther number is somewhere. between $157, 846.20 and $258,269. Not to mention when youp pay! him out,! he'sg goingt tot take his pension. His pension, because how he didi itisg goingt tol be $98,629.86 per year. Michael Clement askedi if that included thef fact that..Mayor Walshi interrupted. Councilwoman Bernardoi reminded. Mr. Clement aboutt the rules. Mr. Clement stated that Mr. Reasinger motioned tol him, Mr. Reasinger said hei is not done. Mr. Clement said Mr. Reasinger pointed at him het thought he wanted himi to speak, he: apologies. Mr. Walshs saidib believe Mr. Gelfand has the floor. Reasinger said and I'm not done, here's how this happened. Mr. Suplizio was Mayor for eight years, aml correct? Nasuti confirmed. He wanted tot turn his Mayor time into retirement time. Thes state wouldn't: allow! him to convert his Mayort time; thisi is what Iheard. I didn't wantt tol bringt this out) yet, because I'don't' have allt the facts. Idon't have thea actuary. Whenl bring outa ap problem llike tob bringa a solution withi it. Idon't haveas solution tonight. Iwill havei it and willl bringi itt toy you. Hei founda ap pension company that would! let him converti it. Buti to change he hadt tog get75% oft ther non-uniformed workers to votet to change. Pretty slick of him, here's what! he  Bev Kurts-504F Rainbow DR  has thatj job, everybody as a citizen hast thej jobt tol be: asking questions.  Elliot Gelfand- -15-HighlandSI    56  City Council Meeting Minutes - August 14, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Elliot Gelfand- -15. Highland ST (Cont'd.)  said, het tooki it from 1.75% ofy your payt towardy your retirement fore every) year you work. He changed that to: 2.5% and! he went 50%r maxt to 90% max. One oft the reasons we are going tol havet this...thisi is justt the start oft thes shortfall oft thep pension fund. Mr. Supliziol has cost the city over time, Ihaven't heardf from thea actuaries yet,! butt theya ares going to giver me ar number. I'm guessing millions of dollars. Allb because of greeda and self-serve. Now the way! he gott the people to vote fori it was he gavet themr more pension. Why? Who wouldn't vote for that. Buti it was so good, sog great, why didn'tt they doi itf fort the uniform pension. He didi itf for ther non-uniform not ourp policemen. He only didi itf for himself. One other thing, this Council might not have known about it, butl Iguarantee Ms. Cherry! knew abouti it. Shes shouldr not have let that happen. Solicitor Cherry said, Idon't negotiate the contract, we have Union lawyer who takes care oft those things. Reasinger said he sawt the letters, he gotl lettersf from people sayingi it was ag good thing. But he didn't tellt theme everything to Gelfand saids sO whaty you are saying ist there will be: ane effect onj pensions.... Reasinger interrupted ands said absolutely. Reasinger continued, he has askedt the actuary top project ahead, andl Thave not gott thoset figures.I really wanted tol have those before brought all of this out. Councilwoman Bernardo: saidt that would have! beenr nice. Aughenbaugh asked whot the actuaryis. Nasuti said he thinks are pension companyi is Gerardi for the non-uniform andf for the uniformS&T. Mayor sorry! was called, thought Pat! had called upon me. Two things, Pat, cany you clarify for usi if we weret top payout tonight arey your including that inl his pension; because, surely it was towarda pension thing. Reasinger said, Idon'tk know; I'mi not part of that, lami int the dark. Clement askedi if hev was being cut out oft that discussion. Reasinger said that is pretty: strong, butr no one has talkedt to me abouti it. Statement to our Council and Ms. Cherry: Lets talk about legacy for a moment, Diane, Jim, Eddiey you! have served ont this City Council since: 2012; there havel beens some good things donei in this city. Ican lists some for you, inf fact! dida a wholer radios show ont themy you can listent tol didi it with the Mayor. But) yourl legacy is goingt tol bei ify you dot tonight whats some! have said they are goingt to do, whichist to pay out Mr. Suplizio. You are goingt to dot this for your friend att the cost of our city andy your city employees. Your legacy will always bet that youh helped! bankrupt the city and our pension plan allb because) you wantt tot take care ofy yourf friends rather than the peoplet that put youi in office. Shane,) you weren't here for all oft this, so) you also get tor make av veryi important vote tonight ift that's whaty youa are goingt to do. limplore all of your not to doi it. Ms. Cherry you are probably one ofthel longest serving Solicitors int the Commonwealth. Legacyi is going tol bei important about how all ofy youa are going tol ber rememberedi from this moment on. Pat Reasingeri is exempt because he just gota appointed. No doubt, hei is going to vote no. Ifyou all votey yes,) yourl legacy allt those good things youh have done, again youl have dones some good things, will be completely forever ruined. Idon't livei int the city, but Iwork for Magnus Marketing and for the fields. I've been working since ther remodel oft the fieldsi in: 2016. Bringing teams, bringingi int tournaments, helping thel local teams witht tournaments. Wej just held an Eastern Regional, one off five ini the country that brought nine teams in. Hotels were: sold out, businesses opened fora a dayt tol hosti theset teams when they are closed normally ona a Monday or Tuesday. Itisb bringingi inr more money than people realize. Thej joy ourl localk kids havei that gett top play ont thosef fieldsi is unmatched. Maybe come downt tos some of their games. The City Classic games whichb brings ine everybody. The Small College World Series was sold out this year because Penn State DuBois wasi ini it once again winning their fourth title. So someone not knowing allt thei information: ands speak out oni itist notr right. Wheny wel bust our butt maintaining thoset fields. The city workers, Ihads someone complement met the first year, those were the cleanest public bathrooms they! have everys seen..ata a city park. That's how hard our city works fort those fields; tor maintain them andt tol keept them active. Localt teams getj just ast much playing time as travel teams. On Deck unfortunately! hadt to closei fori three months but wea arel busy as ever. Ihave multiple teams coming in, multiple players; Justin Miknis wantst to come back and havei instruction, One question andt then a comment. Regarding yourp pension doy youl know what the percentage oni it ist thel last time? The actuaries gavey you... Nasutis said he does! know that exactr number, but he will geti itf for Mr. Glass. Mr. Glass said hel believes thati is very relevant tot the situation. Obviously, anything under 90% starts tol look al little dicey. Reasingers said he could telll himt that our payment to  gett thosel letters. It'sas shame, whatt they did to my cityi ist terrible.  Michael Clement 1 171 N.Brady ST  Please dot the right thing for thep peoplei int the City of DuBois.  Amanadal Rosman- - PenfieldJ PA  givel lessons.  Dave Glass Live in DuBois andj isa Clearfield County Commissioner    57  City Council Meeting Minutes- - August 14, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Dave Glass - Livei in DuBois andi isa Clearfield County Commissioner (Cont'd.)  thep pension fundi inz 2014) was $251,724 andi inz 2023 budgetedi is, because the: statet tells us, $1,258,673 butl don't know whatt thep percenti is. Glass saidt top puti iti into correct contexti itish happening in al lot ofp places, because the market was down! last year. Itc depends ony your assumedi rate ofr return, that wouldb be veryi interesting information tol know. Ifthat! has beenr manipulated to tryt tor make the numbers look better. Reasinger feelsi ity will be better this) year. Glass yeah, yeah,! Igeti it, we are dealing witht thes same thingi int the County. Iknowt fromt the shortt term al littlet bit ofab bump, buti itis important to understand allt the variables beforey your make a decision like this. That gets to my comment: Youp putt this gentlemani ina ai tough spot (referringt to Nasuti) andl Idon't know whaty your plans are! heret tonight,! prefer tot talk about whaty you: aret thinking of doing with thei former Manager's contract; don'ts support that. Ithink this! board shouldr really takea a pass ont that and let ther next boardi make decisions liket that. Butl don'tt thinkt that comes as a surprise. I'm here also to speak forh him, Ican'ti imagine thep position you put! himi int toi try to clean upt thisr mess. Icertainly hopet thaty you are not thinking of getting rid of Mr. Nasuti. So,! am also here on his..not on! his behalf, becausel he didn't know Iwas coming. Ididn'tt talk tol him ata all. When! Isawt the Manager's Position, Ijust wantedt to makes sure he wasn't ont the chopping block! because that would! bei takinga I'mr not here tot talk about budgets, sorry. Ani interesting sidebart to our previous guest. Iwas travelling to Ocean City with mys soni ina another vehicle and hes said Dady you! have to turni ther radio station ont to AM 1480 or1 1420 whatever. Berlin Maryland was broadcasting: ag game from DuBois, Pennsylvania. They couldr not be more pleased with thet facilities, thep people, our restaurants;! mean itv was gushing out oft ther microphone. I'm 400 miles fromr nowhere, listening to an AM radio station talking about DuBois, Pennsylvania and playing ont these! beautiful fieldsi in ourf facilities. So that is my sidebar. (His phoner rang. it was his wife) Idid digress,! do apologize. lami the project manager fort the Veteran's Memoriali int the city parka andl Ineedt toi inform City Councili that we are goingt to an upgrade. Wev willb bet taking thep pavers outa andr relaying them. Ify you have beent tot ther memorial, you seet thatt they are catawampus. Ith has beenj just about 12 years and our landscaper, David Hoare, will be working ont that project between now and Memorial Day coming up. Ifv we haves somet tape around ther memorial Council should be aware of what we are doing. He addressed Nasuti andi told him! hey would like tos gety with him and! bring! him upi to speedi in case Council has any other questions. Council thanky you veryr much for allowing the SAL of Post 17t top putt that veteran's memorial in. God Bless OurVeterans. Thank) you. Nasutis said, I'm sure) youa are aware that we are assisting Ms. Knarr,! want tor make suret that whaty youa are doingi isn'ti in conflict with whats she is doing. Mr.Abbott said Ijust wantt tor make sure) you understand that you can be! heldp personally liablet for your actions tonighti ify youp payout Herm Suplizio. Doy you understand what that means. I'm noti talking about suing Council as av wholea and where the insurance company is going to comei ina and save you. lam talking abouty youp personally. Now! Iknowt that this Council has beeni in contact with: severall lawf firms andt they! havea advisedy you with that. But Ms. Cherry continues toi illa advise) you. Idon't understand why youl listent tol her. Her barki is1 louder than her bite. Iknows shel has puta al lot ofs sugari int that Kool- Aidt that gets served out here. But! lami telling) you, doy your really wantt tor risk your personal assets by listeningt tol her. She continually lies to us as taxpayers andy youz as Council. The mostr recently held Council Meeting shep puts her hands up' "IH have nothing to doy with Herm's contract." At thev Work Session, Ron Trzynag gavey yout ther minutes from thez 20151 meeting where yes Toni Cherry advices City Council on! Herm's employment contract. Ithadr no morals clausei includedi ini it. She claims she! had nothing to do withit it. That was al lie, she invoiced the city fori it. Imean come on. Ido not understand; youa are going tor risk thel livelihoods oft the city workers by paying out that contract. lam asking) yout tor really reconsider that. Arey you willing tor risk) your personal assets as she continues to leady youa astray. Sher might notl havet talkedt toy you about as surcharge action for al breach of financial duties. She might not have mentioned that toy you. Ifthati ist the case,) youy willl be held liable andy will have to pay! backt that personally. Wel havea already spoken to attorneys as well. Youl know true characteri isr revealed during the most challenging times. Iwant tol know what your actions are going tol bet tonight and! how youy will ber remembered heret tonight. Youl know Dianei in September 2020 wheny you contacted. Jena and! landh had as sit down. Youy wantedi us tor runt for Council. You strategizedy with us and you: aired the dirty laundry of Council. Youy weret the blacks sheep ati that time. Bernardo: said! I did not. She went ont to: say, she was there att thatr meeting andl Iwant tot telly you. : everyonet talked over each other. Kristens said Ihavet thef floor now. Mayor Walsh said yourt three minutes are up. Vidas said, lam sorry Eddie but shei interruptedi me. Jimy you're! here for Toni, Shane  bads situation andr makingi itr muchy worse. Barry Abbott- -7 716 Treasure Lake  he sawi that andH he willy work with! her ifs something comes up.  Kristen Vida - Chestnut Avenue    58  City Council Meeting Minutes- - August 14, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Kristen Vida- - Chestnut Avenue (Cont'd.)  youa are Herm's) yes man, Eddiey you leave me speechless. lama asking you to dot the right thing Councilwoman Bernardo: askedt to respond to that, first Kristen! said toy you: and. Jeny you! have every right tor run. Int terms of dirtyl laundry, whaty youy were trying to find out was aboutt the elevator att the ballf fields. That is exactly whaty youy were tryingt tot find out. Ididn't sit ands strategize withy you. Kristens said, ohy yes you did. Inf fact,) you... Bernardo: saidl got thef floor now. Kristen said Dianel cans still correct you. Bernardo: said lam goingt to correct you. Kristens said yout told us that Herm ordered Bobbie Shaffer to destroy minutes froma a meeting with theg gas company. You filed an ethics.... they began talking over each other again. Kristen: askedi for. Jennifer. Jacksons confirmation; Mayor Walsh stated! hey was going tor respond tos some oft that, the City Manager's contract.. did some research oni it.1 1979 Ron Rich was givena contract, 1986 Pat Nuzzo was given a contract, 2001 Ron Trzyna was given a contract andH Herm Suplizioi in: 2009. Whaty you were referringt to in2 2015, Toni didr not rewrite, Ms. Cherry did notr rewrite the contract, she separatedi iti into three categories: Manager, Water, and Sewage. Thati ist the onlyt thing she didt tot the contract inz 2015. It was the original contract that he wrotei inz 2009j justr modified for PUC filings nothing addedr nothing  tonight.  Jennifers saidy yesy youd did. Bernardo: said no....  subtracted. Mark Zmitravich- DuBois  I'ml hear allt this talk about! buying outt the contract or whatever, wel haven't heard anything yet from Council. Iwould actually liket tol know why and whyr rightr now. Imeani itisa alls speculation rightr now. I'dl liket tol knowt ther reason why youy would doi it. Instead of waiting untili itg goest to court. It's goingt to courtr rightr now, So why would wel be even talking about buying outr rightr now before: something happens. He could bei innocent or guilty, we don't! knowy yet. So, Idon't know why we are doing Mayor Walsh said Idoa agree Mr. Suplizio is noti innocent and not guilty right now. We: are leaving Mr. Nasuti hanging with thisi interim position. Mr. Suplizio isr not going to come back to work here after allt that has gone on. Hel had a 10-year contract which goest to April 15, 2025, therei is about one year ands seven months left onl hist ten year contract. It'sa viable contract andy we'll move ont fromt there. Reasinger hada a comment: Mr. Suplizio's contract was signed March 9, 2015, Ihave anote! here from Gabriel andF Ferai that saysi in: 2015 the city worked with at former partner of mine, Rich Miller, andI can't read the mumblej jumble from Herm's contract that'si inz 2015. Mayor Walsh said 2009. Reasinger saidi is says: 2015 right! here. This isf from these attorneys. Theirs suggestedo contract does not have a moral clausei ini it,i ito doesH have at termination clausei ini it. Accordingt toa al lawf firm it was 2015. Mayor Walsh saidi that ist thel latest contract. Reasinger saidy yes. Walsh was not on Council when he presented his original contract. Itv was my understanding thatt that same lawi firm wrote up the original contract. Reasinger said! hel has a copy oft that contract that they did inz 2015 right here. Directed his question tol Mr. Nasuti. Ont the 24th of. July, the last official city meeting! believe thaty you took somet timei tor reiterate that) youy were! happy witht thet terms of your current contract which includeds someone ofas salary bonus somewhere! int the neighborhood of $8,000ay year. You saida fewt timesi int that meeting, ifir remember that you were happy. Nasuti confirmed. So, when Mr. Walsht the Mayors says that we'rel leaving) youl hanging. I'mj just making sure that your opinion hasn't changed that) youf feel that what youa are paidr nowi iss satisfactory. So, are they using that as a reason tor makei this! buy out. It'snoth because) youy wanti it ore expect it, you arel happy witha as) yous said before; nothing! has changed. Nasutis stated! hel has not askedi for anything. Icouldn't! hear what Aughenbaugh: said ity wasi nota al bonus the $8,00, right? Nasutis said no, no, noi it was salary. Aughenbaugh: said ity was pay. Aughenbaugh: said he mentioneda a bonus. Lesky saida additional to Ihads some different topicslplanned ont talking about, butt thisi ist to urgent andl have spent sincet the  what wea are doing! here. Ibelieve yous shoulde explaini it.  I'mi not saying anymore until we gett toi itl later oni int the evening.  You calli it old; you calli itr newi it'sa contract inz 2015.  Shawn Lesky- - DuBois Live  Lesky! hadt tos sayf fromt there.  his normal pay. Nasutis stated! hel has no contract..  Debbie Mechling-N Munroe ST    59  City Council Meeting Minutes = August 14, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Debbie Mechling -Munroe ST( (Cont'd.)  last Council Meeting Ihaveb been reviewinga all oft the newspaper articles andi the affidavit byt the grandj jury andI Ihavej just beenb basically reviewinga al lot oft things because Iwantedt tot try to clear things upi inr my mind ast tot the sequence ofe events was. After reviewing all that, Ijust want to doa a littler review withi the rest of you. March of2 2023 our City Manager was placed on paid administrative leave! by Council." Thea action was taken! by Councila after hearingt the City Manager was thes subject ofa extensive investigation by the Pennsylvanial State Police, the Attorney General's Office, and the Grand. Juryi investigation. Enough cause was found byt thei investigating officers thatf felony thief and misdemeanor fraud charges were filed against our City Manager. The Grand. Juryi investigators also foundt that our City Manager used his position to enter into contracts with business for which! he receivedp personal benefits. This was takent fromt the Courier Express on Marchz 21, 2023. Iknow this is allo oldr news, butl Istill maintaini that our City Manager wages should haveb been! held in escrow pending ther result oft thet trial. Ani innocent verdict his wages wait for him, a guilty verdict his wages aref forfeit ands stay with the city. Our community has limited tax dollars due toa a decreasing population. Presently itis is about 8,000, a very! highp percentage oft tax-exempt properties because of schools, churches, hospitals, andf fields, about 461 to 48 percent of our tax base. Wel have a very high population ofr retired citizens ona af fixedi income. Where aret thet tax dollars going to come fromto support new projects? Liket ther newi firet truck on order, wherei ist thatr money coming from? On Wednesday, March: 22, the Courier Express quoted a our City Solicitor, Toni Cherry, withs saying the Council's response tot the City Manager's charges: "Council willr remain vigilant in our oversight of cityf funds andi it's employees." Five months havep passed sincet this investigation came tot thep public's attention. Duringt that time $270,000 of our cityt taxr monies havel been paid for legalt fees as aresult oft these charges. Itis way pastt time for Council tot follow through witht their statement ands start My question is: Deals with consolidation andi the non-uniform employees from Sandy Township. I wasn't ona any finance committees duringt the consolidation work thel last twoy years. Whent they come over willt they! bes subject tot the pension, willt they! have ap pensionj just liket the city workers or hast that not been determined? Nasuti stated that! has not been determined. Mollica continued saying, sot therei isa chance that.... doubti ift the city workers wouldy want to go to a 401Kt type puti is that a possibility. Nasutis said,! Ihaver noi idea. Mollica and Nasuti talked over each other. Mollica saidI wasn't surel had! been determined. When PEL (Pennsylvania Economy League) did thes studies, did they figurei int the cost off future pensions for when people retire? Ihaven't: studied thet figures, lookeda ats some oft the other categories that said the combined tax rate might be 17.2%, whichl doubt is goingt to happen now with allt the.... that was backi in: 2020. Nasutis said I'mr not sure how that was calculated. Mayor Walshs saidi it was calculated. Mollica said: soi it was calculated using thef figures like the...did they knowt the exactf figures. Walsh confirmed they did;t they were projected. Mollica said hei iss stilll looking forwardt to consolidation. After all oft this, we will come back to work. Iknow whatever the cost, being one will help to deal with the costi ini thet future. Ithink we needt to Maybe we coulda afford our funding of our employee pension plani if we didn'tg give bonuses, we don't payf fora1 12" waterline tot the Solicitor'shotel, we stop paying a Solicitor who bills ust for projects that she does not work ona a/k/ai thel Maple Avenue Turnback: for where $35,000 was paid Ms. Clement justs so) youu understand, my lawf firm preformed extensive searches of all the properties oila and gast rights int thev watershed area. Whichy would bee everys single property thati is owned by the City of DuBois anda advanced costs ont that. The cost oft that billing would havel been $35,000. There are other matters that wel handled fori the City of DuBois. Ratheri than! billt that tot the city and haveit come out oft the General Fund, PennDOT allocated monies for thet turnback. That money did not come fromt taxpayers oft the city. Ultimately ito comes fromt taxpayers of the Commonwealth: of Pennsylvania through whatever monies PennDOT has. What we electedi to do, because theb billsf for they varioust things we did were! higher thant the $35,000 but wet took $35,000 and accepted that as payment out oft the PennDOT allocatedi funds. That's what we do. So, we didn't takei itf from the Nasutis said Maple Avenue bill wasn't paid from PennDOT, it was paid by us. Solicitor Cherry said from monies allocated from PennDOT. Reasinger askedi ifv we have ever seen ani itemized! bill yet.  being vigilant.  Sam Mollica-S Sandy Township Resident & Supervisor  consolidate. Hopefully that happens. Kathleen Clement - Chestnut Ave  andi trivials spending of city vehicles andl ballp parks.  City Solicitor Cherry's Rebuttal:  general fund wet tooki itf froma af $3.4-$3-71 million allocation from PennDOT.    60  City Council Meeting Minutes- - August 14, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Kathleen Clement - Chestnut Ave (Cont'd.) want. Becausel 6 expect that will ber more than $35,000.  Cherry said, Iwillg give youa ani itemized bill ofa alls services that haven't been paidi ift thati is what you Mr. Jones wantedt tos speak; Mayor Walshi informed him his three minutes were up. Ms. Kurts thought he was talkingt tol her, Mayor Walsht told! her nos she hada abouta a minute and al half left but Ms. Cherry,) youa are saying, youd did not writet the contract. However, youv would! have had the opportunity to discuss with this board andr make ar recommendation: ofv whetheri they passedt that contract or not. Youk knewi it didn't! havea a morals clausei ini it. Which! would think you would have wanted themt tor reject them. So, youd did have a definite influence on whether they passed or not. Solicitor Cherry stateds sher read the contract and Ireadt ther numbers coming out ofs St. Marys when they consolidated for what ther recommended: salary would bet for thep position oft ther manager ofa water, manager fort the sewer, andac cityr managers contract. Ilooked att the numbers, yes,Idid. Kurts askedi ifs sher recommended it. That they pass that contract or didy your not recommend. Cherry stated sher recommended thati the numbers werei inl line with what other municipalities were Kurts asked aboutt thev wording. Cherry saidl Idor not! havea ar recollection thatl Imade any objections to thev wording. Kurts said! buty you're the Solicitor. Cherry said, thought that ity was satisfactory, andl thought tot this day,! thought that Mr. Suplizio dida a veryf fine job ofr moving this cityf forward. Downtown DuBois Parking Study Report- - Downtown DuBois, Inc. - Julie Stewart Wishy wel hadp pickeda a different day to dot this but...iti is whati itis. Several people asked Ms. Stewart tos speak louder ast they couldn't hear. (was only ablet toy pick up bits and pieces a copy oft the documents she refers toi is onf file.) Web brought several documents andy willt takej justa at few moments top passt them out. Wel haveb been working since early March with the city with Chris and. Joe Mitchell onap parking studyt thati includes our downtown businesses' parking strategy. We surveyed approximately 885 businesses within our footprint. Some oft them were directi interviews, others were analysis ofb buildings ands spaces available. Councilman Reasinger asked what. Julie's assistants' joby was; hes stated! hei is ani intern for Downtown DuBois, his namei is Dominic. Dominic started the presentation. We conducted: al business survey ofa all the! businesses in downtown DuBois. We were trying tos get as gauge ont the parking for DuBois; private, public and! howr many spaces they have. One oft the reasons we didt this was tos see what parking DuBois has andi ifitis is efficient fori the customers that comei into downtown DuBois. One oft thet things that great cities have is good parking structure andt thati is why! big companies toi the downtown. The Parking Data ata Glanceis al brief summary of whaty wes gathered. Street parking paida and free there are 147 spots; for the employees and customers 721; parking lots freea andi meteredt therea are 157 spots; ify yout take all oft those numbers for downtown parking therei is 1,026 parking spots. With thes survey we conducted we wanted to see twot things: One was justt tos seei ifa allt thel businesses have enough parking, becausei ita affects them economically. Thes second was to get theiri issues and insight ony what could bel better or anything we could dot tol help local businesses. Some oft the common: survey responses were top promotes signage for lots and alongt the street. Therei is some confusion when customers come downtown, they don't know wherei toy park andv what's free andv what's tol be paidf for. Another common response is trying tos geta a mobile app because oft the wayt technologyi is used. Al lot of people think we needr more parking andt that was one oft thet things we were tryingt to decidel based oni the: survey. We found that we really don'tr need anymore parking butr needt top promote wherey youa are allowed to park. Brady Street! businesses suggested we slow downt thet traffic al little bit! because cars fly through there. Julies saids some oft the recommendations werei increasing parking, but we didi identify we! have al lot ofp parkingi itisj justr not readily visible because of our tight footprint. Downtown DuBois has a unique layout compared toa al lot of our neighbors here. Part of ourj jobi isi identifying parking spaces and finding them was al big part that. Wev worked closely witht the city,t the city has already ordered and installeds some PennDOT: approveds signage, and wel haver more that needs tol be put up. We: are actually requesting that Councila allowi inserts tol bep puti into the water bills for ther next cycle witha mapt that al local citizen knowa and be distributing: additional parking mapi tot the hotels ands sof forth around thea area and all of our businesses. The cityl has, Ihopel can speak tot this, initiateda a grant  he'dg give! hert twor minutes. Bev Kurts - 504 Rainbow Dr  Because youa are the City Solicitor.  paying.    61  City Council Meeting Minutes - August 14, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Downtown DuBois Parking Study Report- - Downtown DuBois, Inc. - Julie Stewart (Cont'd.) application tol DCEDt to developi this lot ons Scribner to actuallyi increasei it! by: 20 spaces, sot that's goingt to goal longy wayt tol help. That should! help witht thef footprint, they mayl havet to walkafew blocks, itv willa alleviate: some oft the congestion thati is perceived tol be happening. Basically, thati is what wel have for now, this isr not a comprehensive: study, we are not engineers, we are not consultants. Ity was a effort to utilize our Penn Statei intern and give hima a challenging project. We puta asr much data asv we coulda analysis and then do additional studies going forward with other groups. This was building andl business only, whichr really gave us a goodl looka atal lot of other things. They have understanding oft their customers, employees, tenants, their building andt their own Nasuti said we appreciate working with you,t thank) you. Julie and Dom. Got al lot ofi feedback from theb businesses and have parking signs, some up already some tos go up. the: speed limit signs have already been put up. The digit speed sign! has beeni installed sop people can recognize what their Request appointment of Molly O'Bryon' Welpott of 3071 N.F Fourth STt toi the DuBois Housing The motion was madel by Reasinger ands seconded! by Aughenbaugh that Council approve the request toa appoint Molly O'Bryon-Welpott: to the DuBois Housing Authority Boardi fulfilling thet term of Ms. Leiber with hert term ending January 1,2025. Roll call vote was asi follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugn, yea; Reasinger,yea; Walsh,yea. Motionp passed 5-0. Nasutis saidt thisi ist the continued discussion of our lastr meeting, Aughenbaugh: asked fort two weeks tot thinka abouti it and discuss it. Councilman. Aughenbaugh: statedt that hel has not heard any comments backt to me on cancelling the Work Session. Itwasj just reviewing the agenda for the meeting Monday night. Ihavel heardr nothing backs sincet the last Council meeting. MayorWalshs said hel hasn'te either. Councilman Reasinger said he! knows he'st the one thatr madet the motion andl Ihave beenk kind ofr rethinking a littleb bit,! Ithinki itis isr nice that the citizens have another chance tor make comments. So,! lam goingt to...I Iwould like tos seet that stayi inp place until at least the first oft the year. Alright? Does anyone! have anything tos say aboutt that ora anything? Deb Mechling askedi ifthere was any chancei in changing thet time. Becauset that is ap problem for people who are working. Reasinger said, met too. Reasinger saidi ith has beent that wayf fora a long time. I'm alright withi it, don'tl likei ith but don't changei ith because ofr me. Councilwoman Bernardo: said one oft the reasons the Work Session fory years has been at4 41 p.m. ist to accommodate staff. Reasinger said sot they don't! have to come back. Bernado) yes so, they don'th have to come back again. Reasinger saidt that makes sense. Bernardo went on, they! havet to comeb back on Monday; why make them come back again because wel haves staff that aren'tj just! herei in DuBois. Mechling askeda abouta a compromise,! was thinking5 p.m. but whata about 4:30 p.m. Imeani for me tos shut my business down at 3:30 p.m. in order tol bea at your Work Session at 4;t that really limits my workday. But even 4:30 p.m. would! be easier for me. Which, you don'th havet to change it for me. Councilman Reasinger said the normal workday stops at 4p.m. here att the city; that is probably why youl hadi itt that way. Council confirmed. Mayor Walsh Request from Priority Media for West Long Avenue from! N.F Franklin ST tol Brady STE be closed to traffic beginning at 4:30] p.m. on1 Tuesday, October 31, 2023, for the annual Halloween Parade Ther motion was made! by Aughenbaugh and seconded! by Reasinger that Council approve the request from Priority Media for West Long Avenue from! N.F Franklin! STt to Brady STbe closed to traffic beginninga at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday October 31, 2023, for the annuall Halloween Parade. Roll call vote was asf follows: Dietz,yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh,yea; Reasinger,y yea; Walsh, yea. Request for Intermunicipal Liquor License Transfer from ARCI Restaurants, LLC, 1802 Daisy ST, Mayor Walshs statedt that would! bet the old. Jared Bar. Nasuti saidy yes,t the old. Jared Bar, Julios, we received ar request which Iforwarded to Ms. Cherry. Idon't know,1 Ithink youg got a copy oft that. So, cany wes seta al hearing date? Cherry confirmed we can. Cherry said we can: set the hearing date and time that they can attend. Ity would probably be besti ifitp preceded the actual meeting of Council so that Council cant then vote ont thet transfer. There was some discussion ont the date; Zaci Lawhead, Code Enforcement/Zoning Officer, stated that theyr requested the: 28th. Cherry saidt that's fine then. Nasuti asked! how mucht time we willr needi fori that. Cherry said they are goingt tol havet to present,!  experience.  speedi ist for the next two weeks. Thanks again fory your help. Authority Boardf fulfilling thet term of Ms. Leiber ending. January 1, 2025  Work Session  saida ast therei isr no actioni tol bet taken ont that, we will move forward.  Motion passed 5-0.  Clearfield tol Public House onJ Jared, LLC, 29 S.Jared! ST    62  City Council Meeting Minutes - August 14, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Request for Intermunicipal Liquor License Transfer1 from ARC Restaurants, LLC, 1802 Daisy ST, woulds start at5 5:30 p.m. or5 5:45 p.m. asit cane extent over intot ther meeting. We canj just start the meeting later. Councilman Reasinger hada ac question for Chief Clark ony whether another liquor licensei int town would case ani issue. Chief Clarks said! he didn't think: so. Mayor Walshs stated they! had one downt theref for years, whent they solditt tos someone elsea andi the. Jared Bar shutdown they got rid of thel license. Ther motion was made by Aughenbaugh: and seconded by Dietzt that Council: set the Public Hearing concerning thei intermunicipal liquorl licenset transfer between. ARC Restaurants, Clearfield and the Public House on. Jared, DuBois onl Monday, September 28, 2023, at5 5:30 p.m. Roll call vote was asi follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger, yea; Walsh, yea. Request from Becky McTavish to appoint. Julie Stewart tot the Library Board with term ending Ther motion was made! by Bernardo: and: seconded by Reasinger that Councila approve ther request from Becky McTavishi toa appoint. Julie Stewart tot the Library Board with her term ending December 31,2 2025. Roll cally vote was asf follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger,yea;  Clearfield to Public House on. Jared, LLC, 29 S.. Jared ST( (Cont'd.)  Motion passed5 5-0. December: 31, 2025  Walsh, yea. Motion passed 5-0. Tabulations & Recommendations: EHRG BIDDER  Coke Hill Areal Water Distribution Main Replacement Project  Replace August14,2  BASEBID Alternate No. 01 721,411.00s 160,650.00 881,499.00 1,081,180.00_s 1,091,162.00 1,182,941.00_s 567,000.00 1,225,350.00s  LLC  315,000.00 157,500.00 194,040.00 378,000.00  Recommendation will be givena att the Monday, August: 28,2023, City Council Meeting.  Paving  Nasutis stated thatt the bid actually came inf $40,000 underv what was projected. He isr recommending that we award the contract tol HRI, Inc. int the amount of$ $205,671.00. The motion was made by Reasinger ands seconded! by Dietz that Council accept the recommendation: oft the Interim City Manager and award the contract tol HRI, Inci int the amount of $205,671.00. Roll call vote was as follows: Dietz,) yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger,yea; Walsh,yea. Motion passed5-  0.  House Demolitions Memo DuBoisCayCounl 8112023  CityofDuBois  $7,500.00    63  City Council Meeting Minutes - August 14, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Tabulations & Recommendations: (Cont'd.)  21South. JaredST  Ther motion wasi made by Aughenbaugh: and seconded by Reasinger that Council accept the recommendation oft thel Interim City Manager and awardt the contract tol Ellenberger Excavating in thea amount of $9,500.00. Roll call vote was asf follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo,) yea; Aughenbaugh, Ther motion was made! by Reasinger ands seconded: by Dietz that Council accept the recommendation oft thel Interim City Manager and awardt thec contract tol Ellenberger Excavating int the amount of $7,500.00. Roll call vote was ast follows: Dietz,) yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger, Ther motion was made! by Dietz ands seconded by Reasinger that Council accept the recommendation oft thel Interim City Manager and awardt the contract tol Dave Roman Excavatingi in the amount of $8,240.00. Roll call vote was ast follows: Dietz,yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger, Nasutis statedt that lasty year wel bidi these out with Sandy Township and! het feels it worked out well. He expects we can dot that again this) year. Thisi isf for sandy, 2A, and antiskid. Use for pipet trenches andf for closings. Mayor Walsha askedi if wey were doing it with Sandy again. Nasuti stated! he was meeting with Arbaugh tomorrow he would discussi it then: sol he couldt takei itl before Sandy also. The motion was madel by Aughenbaugh: and seconded! by Deitz that Council authorize advertisingt for aggregates. Roll cally vote was ast follows: Dietz,) yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger, Request from! DuBois Area) Youth Football for use of the stage on September 12, 2023, fora Nasutis stated that allt the paperworki is in order. The motion wasi made by Bernardo and: seconded! by Aughenbaugh that Council approvet the request from DuBois Area Youth Football for use ofthe stage on September 12, 2023, fora a cheerleading expo. Roll call vote was ast follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh,yea; Remsingeryeawashye. Motion passed5 5-0. Request second Public Hearing concerning: 2023 Community Block Grant Program on Monday, Nasuti said we hadi thet first one here where we solicited projects and we needt tos schedulet the second one! before we can go aheadv with filingt the application. Mitchell saidi ifa anyone has any projects, pleaser reach out tor mei int ther meantime. The motion was made by Aughenbaugh: and seconded by Reasingert that Council approve the request fora as second Public Hearing concerning the 2023 Community Block Grant Program on! Monday, September 11, 2023, at 5:45 p.m. Roll call vote was asf follows: Dietz,) yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger, yea; Walsh, yea. Motion Nasuti stated that thisi is one oft the few private water lines wes still have connected to our system. Thisi iss similar tov what! happened at few years ago on Twelfth. Street. There ares six property owners 'ont this linet they! have alls submitted a request for ust tot take over thep private water line. Aughenbaugh: asked where. Nasuti said Oklahoma Salem Road. It's like what we previously did on Twelfth Street. Aughenbaugh askedi ifity was by Sylvain Heights. Nasutis said past Sylvain Heights to right ont top oft thel hilla at Whitewave therei isa ameter pitt there, there are six homes that go from there outt to Sunset! Ithinki is thel last one. We haveg gone andi inspected the area, found the: shutoffs and are agreeable tot taking it over. Ithink we needt tot turn this overt tot the Solicitori to draw upa an Ordinance. Ist that correct? Cherry confirmed. Solicitor Cherry! hada a question, arey yous sellingt tot the meter int the contract ora are you actually delivering directly to each oft the properties. Nasutis said therei isr no contract, water goes. : Cherry! Ineed to know. -...Nasutii it goes to each individual home. Ther motion wasr made! by Aughenbaugh and seconded! by Dietz that Council directt the Solicitort to draw up the Ordinance fori the Oklahoma Salem Waterline Project. Roll call vote was as follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo,) yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasingeryeswashyea. Motion passed 5-0.  yea; Reasingeryeswaishyea Motion passed5 5-0.  307SoutharedsT  yea; Walsh,yea. Motion passed 5-0. 119 West) Weber Avenue  yea; Walsh, yea. Motion passed 5-0. Request authorization to advertise for Aggregates  yea; Walsh, yea. Motion passed 5-0. cheerleading expo.  September 11, 2023, at5 5:45 p.m.  passed 5-0.  Oklahoma-Salem Waterline    64  City Council Meeting Minutes-A August 14, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Financial Director  Councilwoman Bernardos said: she was goingt tot tryt to be brief ont this. Abouta a montha agol Iwent backa ands started looking at past audits. Iwent back2 25) years andi int those: 25) years wel havel hadt three managers, two auditingf firms, aj plethora of City Council people, different people int the finance office, sO on ands sot forth. One oft thet things thought was veryi interesting was that back 25) years ago our auditor advised us that we should change from the cash basis ofa accounting to the accrual method. 25years ago. Withini those 25 years, andI Iwant peoplet to understand this isn't about people Iwant tol keep people away fromt this. It doesn't matter who ther manager was, it doesn't matter who was sitting here; it doesn'tr matter. What Ifound was in all the audits there were financial discrepancies that were reported. There were no exceptions. It didn'tmatter who was manager, it didn'tr matter whoy was on Council the discrepancies are there. Three oft the things that really stood out tor me, was our auditors brought out transferring oft funds from one account to another, that'sa a deficiency; putting funds int the wrong account; and checks not recorded. So, what has resulted ina allt the audits shows a material weakness int thei financial reporting. Ifyoul look at deficiencies, youl know what a deficiency is, but a material weakness is at financial misstatement or financial irregularity that has occurred over time. lam going to again because oft time, again! Icould pull out anya audit, butI Ithinkt this one reallys sumsi it up thel best. How can wet take away fromr not only the current Council but the upcoming Council. How can wer reduce ther risk of misstatements anda anyk kind ofr reportingi irregularity? I'm looking ahead on this also. Again,) you can go to any of those 25-year audits andy youz are goingt tot findt the wording very very similar tot this: They! have reportedt that where wea arer right nowa andi this has been climbing andt the City of DuBois, Pennsylvaniai is determined not tob bea al lowr risk auditee. Whichl Ithinki isa ani interesting wayt to phrase it. That we area ar not low-risk auditee. So,! how do we change that, how do we overcome. What we needt to do, againi it doesn't matter who is on Council or whoi is manager as long as we don't! listent to thea auditor's suggestions youa are going tot find! basically the same problems. So, going back toi the auditorsI said take people awayf fromi this. The: auditor talks about material weaknesses, those are thei internal controls overt financial reporting. Internal control over financial reportingi includes controls over financial statement preparation, whichy would prevent and detectt thoser misstatements or anyi irregularities inf financial statements. Ina ani ideal situation wei follow what the auditors have beent telling us for years. We have allt taken ont ther risk. Because we didn't want tos spend any more money top protect our city. Wej justt thought we were alright. Over: 25 years.I could probably go back int the audits but that wouldr mean Bobbie would have tos go up to where everythingiss storedt to get tot those audits. But I'mt talking about: 25) years ofr notl listening to our audits. Ijust gave the cash basis andt the accrual method that we arej justr now gettingt to. Ladies and gentlemen and Council we cannot allowt thei incoming Council, we cannot allow them tot facet this risk situation. Herei is what our auditors havet toldu us, that "Internal Controls System over Financial Reporting included individual that would havet technicall knowledge and experience oft ther reportr requirements of generally accepted accounting principals and theg government: accounting standards boards". Backi in approximately, and Ihavet to saya approximately: 2003 Ithinki it was the GASBI Ithink they calli it, wanted allr municipalities in Pennsylvania tos go from cash basis tot the accrual method. We arej just doingi itn now, 25 years later. I'm only bringing this forward because wes got get our city out oft this risks situation. We cannot afford this. This has nothing to do with thep personality involved. Please keep thisi inr mind. I'm only reading from impartial andp partial audits whetheri itis Mr. Meholick and his company who didt this or Mr. Piccirillo's firm. City Council andr management madea a conscious decision to acceptt thec degree ofr risk. Itis only fromt these material weaknesses as thel benefit of the reduced risk doesr notj justify thea additional cost necessary to reduce the risk. Ireadt this now and thinkh how ridiculous we were. What ist thats saying about! being pennywise and pound foolish or something liket that. Reasinger saida a dayl late and a dollars short. Bernado said a dayl late andac dollar shortt too. Ladies and gentlemen again DeLeany youa arei int thes situation; you: are doinga a great joby you really are. Again, this has nothingt to do withp people, this has to do with our audit. They are recommending thati in ordert tot taket the risk away fromt the city to makes sure that misstatements and miscalculations andi monies being puti int the wrongf funds which checks accidentally not being recorded: andi monies! being transferred! backa andi forthi ina accounts; they are recommending that we need aj personnelr responsible for accounting andr recording functions oft the city with al level of knowledge and experiencet tor review, approve and accept responsibility: for thef financial statements. Between the 25) years, wel havel hadr many people inf finance, wel have never had anyone with the credentials or anyone whop possesses the appropriate level oft technical knowledge ande experience of as generally accepted accounting principles ing government: accounting. This is very serious. Many of youa are here andr ran! because oft thet three things Imentioned. Money being transferred from one fundt to another, checki maybe not being recorded accurately, and putting fundsi ini the wrong accounts. Thati is not going tos stop unless we do something abouti it. Ido not wantt the: 2024 Council to2 2024 management, Chris or whoeveri it happens to be,! do not want our cityt to stayi int this high-    65  City Council Meeting Minutes - August 14, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Financial Director (Cont'd.)  risks situation ofr misstatements. Lacking the! kind of oversight that we truly need.  Kristen Vida requested" toa ask a question. Bernardo: said! hold on, hold on I'm not doney yet. Iputal lot oft timei into this. Because I'mg going tol bea al resident here. Inr material weaknesses, ifv we don'th bring on! board: someone that is goingt tol help us with this then we: are just going to continue down the same path. Idon't want. Jeni to dot that, Idon'ty want Elliot to doi it,l don't want Patrick to doi it,l don't want. Jim or Shane;l dor not want the cityt tor movef forward withi thel high riskt that wel have. Deficiencies don't' go away. Itreally requires technical expertise that abides byt theg general accepted accounting principles. Wel havet the opportunity right now again to putt the! brakes on all oft this, think whate even makes this more crucialt than anythingi is Mr. Mollica pointed out we're oni the verge ofc consolidation. It'snot just 171 million dollars ofr revenues inc our budget but! hast to do with what we own: this building, public library, reservoir, water wells, fire stations, buildings for public works, sewage & watert treatment plants, allt the equipment wel have, the parking lots, thep parks, etc. We have top putt theb brakes ont this. What we really need more thane ever, inl light ofa all this stufft thati is happeningt this year andi inp particular this) yeart this has beena al hard year. Wer need tol bring on someone whol hast thate expertise. Tol bringt this community downt toa al low-rise community. Council we! have the opportunityt to change the direction of Council, itisi in our hands, and! am asking Council Mr. Reasinger said, no considering thatl will be part of 2024 andI Ihave worked with DeLean andl  what arey yous goingt to do abouti it. What doy youy want to do abouti it. Mr. Mollica askedi ift there would havet tol bea aj joint decision with Sandy. thinkt they world ofh her I'm happy with keeping herv wheres shei is. Bernardo: said shei isr nott talking about DeLean.  Reasinger said we don't! have the moneyt tol hire a CPA or ana accountant.  Bernardo: said wait al minute, as reported int the Courier Express by Elaine Haskins as of June: 27,2023, John Semancik is hiredb byt the DuBois. Area School District witha as salary of $67,000. He'sa CPA and he's the Assistant Business Manager. lami not saying wet fire or do anything; we need help, and we need! help now. Because things aren'tg goingt to change. So, Council what doy youy want to do abouti it. Councilman Dietz said! based on all of our audits, which all sayt thes same thing, Iwould like to makea a motiont that we advertise for al Financial Director, interested candidates apply by Friday, August 25th that gives people two weeks to! but in. Mollica said wouldy youl have top presenti it to Sandy Township. Mayor Walshs said not untili thef first oft theyear. Mollica: said hei thought the agreement said anything now... youg guys could onlyl hire.. Bernardo: saidl Ibelieve we are allowed to explore the possibility. Everyone startedi talking. Bernardo: said whether wel hires someone or not, ifv we don't explore the possibility then we arer negligent. Bernardo continued, Shaney your made: a motion.... Mayor Walsh said one second, I'm talking toi Mr. Nasuti. Hej just brought upa ay very valid point, Ithink) youl have already researched;: after. January 1,2 2023, wer musth have the approval of Sandy Township for new hires. Everyone startedt talking. Aughenbaugh: said! he willl look att that, but no onei iss saying we're hiring. Bernardo: said I'mj just saying we need the opportunity after 25) years ofa audits.... Why can't wet take al look att thej possibilities? Wel have tot take al look at possibilities, ort the audit is goingt to say Lindal London askedi ift thatr report hasa always beent that same condition. 25 years ith has come back thaty youa are! highi risk. Bernardo confirmed it has. So, now..Bernardo saidi ith has gotten worse because ith has neverb been dealt with. Never been dealt with. London said, never been dealt with by your Council. Bernardos said, by everyone that hass served on Council or ini management over the last 25years. Someone: saidy whot toldy yout toi ignore it. Bernardo said we alll have ignoredi it allt the DeLean Shepherd askedt tos speak. She asked if Sandy Township has a CPA on staff. Mollica said not that hel knows of. So, they arei int the same financial condition as wea are! basically witht their staff. But Bernardo: said, Idon't! knowl didn't look at2 25) years oft their audits. Everyone started talking at once. Walshs saidv we have ar motion ont thef floor and Bernardo saidi itv was seconded. Mayor Walsh  the same thing.  Councilpersons: all ofr management over thel lastz 25) years. itisap problem right now witht the City of DuBois. Bernardo: askedt thatt the gavel! bel lowered.    66  City Council Meeting Minutes- August 14, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Financial Director (Cont'd.)  questioned thes second. Bernardo stated thats shes seconded it. Mayor Walsh said we have motion properly: secondedi toa advertise foraF Financial Directora andy verified that Nasuti would check with Sandy Township. Nasutia askedt tor make a comment, he saidt thez 25th; Dietz saidy yest two weeks. Nasutis said thisi ist today sol by thet time wes geti it the paper the earlies it would be iny would! be Thursday or Friday. Dietz wantedt tol knowi if Council wantedi to go out two weeks from there. Nasutis said, justs saying) youy would probably only have a week for people tor respond. Dietz said August 315t. Walshi reiterated ther motion was madea and: seconded asked! her any questions, Bernardo asked for clarification ont the date. Nasuti confirmed. August 318t. Walsh: saida again, we're not saying we're! hirings someone we are exploring thet feasibility ofi it. Roll call vote was ast follows: Dietz,yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger, no; Walsh, yea. Motionp passed 4-1. Councilman, Aughenbaugh said there hasb been al lot of discussion tonight and before; Ihavet talked to Path before oni it the Manager's contract youy were! here with Mr. Nasuti; wel had: started to discuss that. We: arej justt tryingt to move forward. We wantt to dos something with this contract, we are bound byi itl legally by parts oft that contract, things! liket that. Iwantt tor make a motion tol looka at paying outt the manager's contract andt terminate his employment once that part ist resolved. Councilman Reasinger askedi if he put an: amount ora anything. Aughenbaugh: said once that amount hast been determined. Wel have to work on doingi it. Mayor Walsha askedf for as second and Councilman Dietz seconded the motion. Elliot Gelfand askedi ifiti is a motion toi investigate or payito out? Councilman. Aughenbaugh: saidt there are some things wer needt toj pay out. Someone: askedi if they could! have ar number. Mayor Walshs said we willg givey youar number. Someone said will or won't. Walshs said will. Gelfand once again saida are your going toi investigate it or payi it? Aughenbaugh said wev will determine ita andt then once it's determined then we will pay it out then terminate the employment. Someone: askedi ifitv will requirer more motions? Ora all yout tryingt tor rolli iti into one. Will ther next steps requirer more motions? Mayor Walsha asked Councilman, Aughenbaugh tor repeat the motion oner more time. Aughenbaugh: said her makes ar motion to as Isaidt there are certain things we dol have top payi in Mr. Sulpizio's contract, we knowt that for at fact there are legalities. We will pay out the contract once wet find out what that amount willl be, then we willt terminate the employment of Someone askedi if wet terminated himr now. Aughenbaugh said thati is not what! Isaid. Once we determine the amount, we will pay out the contract and then we willt terminate Mr. Sulpizio's employment. Gelfand askedi ift there would be another vote after this. Talking broke out Aughenbaugh saidh his motion was to negotiate the termination oft the contract. Does that suffice everyone. Everyone saidr no. Gelfand said are youg going tor negotiate and come back and tell us Mayor Walshs said we havea a motion ont the floor that we are goingt to negotiate and buy outt the contract of Mr. Suplizio; thent terminate his employment from the City of DuBois. Gelfand once Councilwoman Bernardo: asked where we were ont the motion rightr now. Mayor Walsh: said we are gettingr readyt to vote. The whole place went crazy. Walsh: said justs said the motion. Gelfand once againa askedi ift therei isg going to be another vote aftert this. Areyoug going toi investigate orr not oris this the votet top payi it outr nor matter how muchi ito costs? Much discussion again. Mayor Walshs saids sot ther motion ont thet floori is tor move forward withi negotiating for a number fora buy out of Mr. Suipizio'scontract, then terminate his employment withi the City of DuBois. Councilman Reasinger said! hel had a question, he said your needt tos statet that once that numberi is given, we will come backt to Councila and vote ont that number. Mayor Walsht thati is correct. Someone asked who willr negotiate. Mayor Walshs said Herm Suplizio. Someone said whol hei is negotiating with. Mayor Walsh said, City Council. Roll callv vote was as follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo,) yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger, no; Walsh,yea. Motionp passed 4-1. Mayor Walsha askedt to adjourn, Councilman. Aughenbaugh said hel hada another item concerning  Manager's Position  Mr. Suplizio once that isr resolved.  everywhere.  what the amount willl be?  againa askedi ift there would bea another vote after that.  Reasinger said! he believes that number: should bez zero.    67  City Council Meeting Minutes- August 14,2023 (Cont'd.)  Manager'sPosition: (Cont'd.) the Manager's Position. Advertise for Manager Position fort that position. terminated Hermy yet.  Councilman. Aughenbaugh: said undert that Manager's Position, also moving forwardI would liket to make ar motion to advertise fort the Manager's position and strongly encourage Mr. Nasutit toa apply Michael Clement said) you! haven't terminated how can youa advertisei for the position. Youl haven't  Aughenbaugh said, we can'ta advertise the position inj preparation1 fori it? Councilwoman Bernardo: stated that shes secondedi the motion.  Councilman Reasinger hada a question ont the motion, het thinks wes shouldj just offer him thej job. (round ofa applause) Reasinger stated hel has stepped up. Bernardos said wei interviewed for City Council. Aughenbaugh: said Istatedi inr my motion that Istrongly suggest that Interim Manager Nasuti apply for thep position. We'll do our due diligence ands seei if anyone wants toi internally or externally; we didi itv with Council fillingt the position. Roll call vote was ast follows: Dietz,yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger, no; Walsh, yea. Motionp passed 4-1. There! beingr not further business tot transact; the motion was made by Bernardo: and seconded! by Aughenbaugh that Council adjourn. Roll cally vote was ast follows: Dietz,yea;E Bernardo,yea;  Adjourn  Aughenbaughryea Reasinger,yea; Walsh,yea. Motion passed5-0. p4p  14