72  City Council Meeting Minutes - August 28, 2023  City Council Chambers, City Building, 16 West Scribner. Avenue, DuBois, Pennsylvania on Monday, August 28, 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 (Phone), Shane Dietz, and Pat Reasinger. Also present were: Interim City Manager/City Engineer/Public Works Director, Chris Nasuti; Redevelopment. Authority Director/Assistant Public Works Superintendent, Joel Mitchell; Code Enforcement/Zoning: Officer, Zac Lawhead; Finance Officer, DeLean Shepherd; Police Chief, Blaine Clark; Corporal Lanny Prosper; Corporal Randy Young; and Ther meeting was calledt to order at 6p p.m. andi the Pledge of Allegiance was led! by Mayor Walsh. Ther motion was made! by Dietz ands seconded! by Aughenbaugh that Council approve the City Council Meeting Minutes of August 14, 2023, asp presented. Roll call vote was as follows: Dietz,yea; Ther motion was made! by Aughenbaugh ands seconded by Reasinger that Council approve the Work Session Meeting Minutes of August2 24, 2023, as presented. Roll call votey was asf follows: Dietz,yea; The motion was made by Reasinger to payt thel bills. (Auto Draft dated August 24,2 2023 ini the amount of $11,604.85; the General Fund datedA August: 24, 2023 int thea amount of$431,145.172 and the PennVEST dated August 24, 2023 int the: amount of $2,959,227.66) Councilman. Aughenbaugh: said! he hada a question, int these invoices there are some for lifei insurance (DeLean said groupl life insurance) and healthi insurance; SOV with the injunction, would wel have to change thatr number? Ms. Shepherd asked, tot take Herm out oft thep payment? Aughenbaugh confirmed. Reasinger stated he would adjust! his motiont top payt theb bills with thee exception of anything that includes Herm. Councilman Aughenbaugh: secondedt the motion. Mayor Walshr repeated the motion, paying the invoices as presented excluding any payments that are due Mr. Suplizio. DeLean: said) youd can'tj just not pay healthcare; hel has tol be offered Cobra. Ican'tj just cancel him because whati ifhe chooses Cobra orif he wins. Icould hold thec check foral little bit like til Wednesday, butl Ican'tj just not... Nasutis said we willi investigate what we are supposed to do with that. We won'tmaket thep payment fori thes salary, but we will checki intot the healthi insurance. Councilwoman Bernardo: asked that the motion be repeated. Walshs said the motioni is top paya all bills as presented with thee exception ofa any items on the autopayt that were due tol Mr. Suplizio. Roll callv vote was asf follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea;  Administrative: Secretary, Bobbie Shaffer.  Approval of Minutes  City Council Meeting Minutes - August 14, 2023  Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger, yea; Walshy yea. Motion passed 4-0. Work Session Meeting Minutes - August 24,2 2023  Aughenbaugh,; yea; Reasinger, yea; Walshy yea. Motion passed 4-0.  Registry ofl Invoices  Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger, yea; Walshyea. Motion passed 5-0.  Public Comments Jennifer. Jackson- - 421 N. Brady ST  So, I'mg goingt tot take usb backali little bit; 2020 May wel had al letter int the paperf from a concerned citizen, doy youa allr remember that? Our Solicitor said the city! has nothing to! hide and shey wants criminal charges brought ifv warranted. So, let's seet therei isag grandj juryi investigation what last year, correctr mei ifl'm wrong; Hermf found out hev would! bei indictedi in December. This year, nothing happened, Hermi is still working, Hermi is getting paid. The citizens have come, wel have askedy yout to dot ther right thingr numerous times. Here wea are, wel havet formeda a committee, wel have filed ani injunction against you andi now you have been subpoenaed: alongy witht the Solicitor tot testify) Wednesday. Are you willing at this point toy yet dot the right thing. Because youl have tor realize wea are not backing down. We'vea asked, we havel begged yout to dot ther right thing. Wet filed thei injunction, andy we will continue tof fight, andy you! have alll been subpoenaeds soi it willl bei interesting Wednesday and Mr. Suplizio was also subpoenaed. So, wel have askedy yout to dor rightt thinga andy you have yet to doi it. We are asking you: again, just doi the rightt thing for Cany youe explain tor me verbally the Right tol Knows stuff; what dol Ihave to dot tor request it. Just al letter fromr mei inv writingo or doy you havea a special form? Nasutis stated that there isaf form ont the website. Jones askedi ifitv was on! DuBois' website. Nasutic confirmed: and statedi they are also ont the website of Office of Open Records for Pennsylvania. Mr.. Jones said, his concerni ish hel has ag good friend who retired. andl left here andl lives inF Floridal he wasa a vice president ofap prominent insurance company. Heg gets the Couriera and quote" "I justr read the Couriera article ont the meeting Monday regarding pension changes Suplizio supported. Trana aj pension planf for many, years,t the changes he made even though supportedb by  the citizenst that electedy youi isa ally we: ask. Bill Jones- Chestnut Ave    73  City Council Meeting Minutes - August 28, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Bill Jones - Chestnut Ave (Cont'd.)  theu uniona ande employees violates his fiduciary responsibility tot the plan. Changingt the unit credits to: 2.5% per year without actuarial analysisi is absurd.1 hope someone invokeds somel legal action ont theser moves. Government plans (thisi isv wherey your needt top pay attention) are not protected by ERSA or PPGC, that is the Employee Retirement Insurance, Act ort the Public whatever. So, the citizens of DuBois willl be on the hookf fort the pension liabilities, ort thej plan will default, andi the courts will decide the resolution which includes cuttinge employee benefits. It'sal biggerr mess thanl thinke everyone understands." Thisi ishis observation. Iwouldl like tos submita a Rightt tol Know Act to aski ifa ana actuarily study was donel before these changes werer made. Because her may welll have endangered thei finances of the entire cityb by doing this. Nasuti stated that thet form is on our website and on Pennsylvania's Office of Open Records. Wea are investigating howt things changedtranspired and what wer need to dot to movet forwardi tot fixt the Duringt thel last Councilr meeting onA August 14th there was much discussion and questions with regardto the City Manager position. Idid go! back and watch the meeting of the recorded live streamt tol helpr me understand: some ofv whaty was said. Approximately 40 minutes into thel livestream. Mayor Walshs said! he did some research" about the past contracts. He stated thati in1 1979 Ron! Rich was givena a contract, in 1986 Pati Nuzzo was givena a contract, in: 2001 Ron Trzyna was given a contract, andi finallyi inz 2009 Herm Suplizio was givena a contract. That eveningl was contacted by Mr. Trzyna and askedi ifl Iwould complete al Right tok Know abouth his specific contract as! hey was unavailable to dos soi inp person. Ididi file the request onl Tuesday, August 15th. Byt the end oft that week, received the responset from Chris Nasuti whichs stated "Aftera ane extensives search of our cityf files it was determined that the requested document does not exist. When wes searched the minutes a contract for Mr. Trzyna was never mentioned. He was first introduced tot the Council ast the City Manager on April 23,2001." Ad copy oft thisl letter was sent tot ther mayor and members oft the City Council. Ronl hadi iny years pasts sharedi that information withs some that hel had never hadr nor signedac contract. So, he was curious tos see what document would be presented. Mr. Trzyna was correcti ins statingt that! he didn't have a contract withi the City of DuBois. Yet ourr mayor who stated that he did' "research", commented otherwise. Onei issue of concerni is how freelyt things can be stated fromj people and they arer not held accountable for what theys say. Ido remember speaking earlier this yeari inac Council Meetinga and: stressing two wordst tot the current Mayor, Members oft the Council, and the Solicitor; thoset two words were Awareness and Accountability. In light of allt that has happened over the past fiver months since that meeting no one should assume that whati iss said willr necessarily bet thet truth. I don't enjoyt the feeling of being skeptical but little things like whatl Ihavej just presented cant turni into biggeri issuesi int the overall picture. What hash happened tor morals and telling thet truthr no matter whois offended. Secondly, since Mr. Trzyna, whoy proceeded Mr. Suplizio, as the City Manager of DuBois hadr no contract whatg guideline orf foundation was ever usedt to create a contract for Mr. Suplizio? Its seems clear that the contract creators, whoever they were, feltt that the sky was the limit. Most recently the current Council ist tryingt tor maket that ridiculous payoffe excluding Mr. Reasinger. Aml Isurprised? No. Aml saddened: and discouraged? Yes. However, fortunately, plans! have beenh haltedf fort thei timel being. Ijust! have one question, arey yous goingt tot fightt thei injunction andi ifs so, why? Mayor Walsh: said hei is going on Wednesday tot testify, and Plla answer their questions. That's alll can tell you. Councilman Hel has af fewt things tot talk about, last time Iwas herel lasked some questions about the status oft the pension. Mr. Nasutig got back tor me ands saidt that att the end ofz 2021,1 believe the report said March of 2022,1 it was 782f fundedv with an 8% assumedi rate ofr return. Neither oft thoser numbers are very good, mind you. Just top puti it out there, this iss something wea at the County deal with onal regular basis. Anything over 7is dangerous and8 8isr really! high. Ifyoul have al badi market yeari it really can damage the actuariala assumptions. Anything under 80%1 Istart to worry. Now tonightl Icomei in,l Ithink we areg goingt to haver more discussion about thisl later but, ity was mentioned: tor me asl goth here that we arer now at 58% funded. Folkst thati isr reda alert, danger, people are not goingt tog getp paidi ift this keeps up. Idon't know what's going on! here. They would! ber runningr me out oft town onar raili if we were overseeing thep pension fort the county employees andi itv was at5 58% lalways saidap pensioni isa aj promise, it's not promised toy you itisp promisedt to everyone who came before who bustedt their butts all oft these years. Youhave an obligationt tor make suret that youg get thist fixed. How we got here,l don't know. You definitely have to lalso want tot talka al little bit about what Ms. Bernardo: said last week about 25 straighty years ofb bad audits. Immediately, Isaid, and: she was talking about addings someone, therei is a City Controller. llooked upt the duties oft the City Controller anda accordingt toy your charter it basically saidt they are supposedt to review allt thee expenditures oft the city monies etc. etc.. Likewise audit or with the consent of Council  problem.  Lindal London- 527 Rumbarger Avenue  Kathleen Clement Chestnut Avenue Aughenbaugh: said, met too.  Dave Glass County Commissioner- DuBois Resident  taket this bullb by thel horns, 58%j justs shocks me.    74  City Council Meeting Minutes - August 28, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Dave Glass - County Commissioner- - DuBois Resident (Cont'd.) wonderv where we'rea ata and! how we goth here with allt this.  choose tob ber made! by ana accountant: ana annuala audit. Basically, look over and be that check andb balance ona allt thei finances oft thec city. Iknow our controller int the county, when wes startedt to go off ther rail and he says time out,) you can't dot this andH here's why. The last three controllers arei int this room. Ijust Finally, I'm goingt tos sayt this stuff! has been going ont fors sixi months, eighteen ify youg go backt tot thei initial raid, all wel hear from Council basically! has been defense of Herm. Therel has beenr not talk about a serious review ofi internal polices, there! has beenn no reala acknowledgement of bad practices. Morei importantly, no apologies tot thep people oft this city. Doubling: andt tripling on! bad decisions. The public spokei in May,l meany wel had elections they made clear what their wishes were, that should have beena a message. All these people that come here every weeks shouldb be: a message.) When's the message goingt tog get I'ma angry,! am frustrated, lam discouraged, forr not ther reason your mayt think. Ijust want to understand whent the action of onei individual falls one everyone else. When did wel havei this mobi mentality where ..because oft thea alleged allegations against Herm (Referring to. Jennifer. Jackson yes, Isee, I'mi not concerned: abouty you, I'mi nota afraid ofy you)t that beings said, dov we! believe int the presumption of innocence? Do wel know what that is? Iwould hope that none ofy you: arei inh his position. Idon't really care, not concerned: about! him. Whatl do care: abouti is oura attitude and ourt total disregard fori the people upl here, they arey your neighbors, they are) yourf friends. They are good people your used tos shake their handa ands say hey Jim! how arey you doing, hey Eddiel how! have you doing. Wel have allj just decided wea areg goingt tol be garisha andp putrid top people who don'tr necessarily deserveit. We arer not thej judge andj jury. We don'ts gett to decide. We are not upt there, we can be ugly, andy we can! be al bully (Referringt to Jennifer. Jackson- is what Iseet fromy you, Iseer nothingb buta al bully mentality)iti isr noty what the City Council needs. DuBois does not needa al bully theyr needs someone that hasg good character, that can! be calm, that cant treat people with respect,) youg gott to givei itto getit it. Ify youy wantr respect fromj people,) youl havei to giveit it. Thonestly don't care about allt the other politics. Ijust don't understand, if we are going to come together as a community, ifwea are goingt to! bec one. Iknow alot ofy your people, lwas born andr raised here. The crap on GoDuBois, allt that garbagei isj justp pitiful, it'sj just pathetic and uglyi it'sr noti necessary and it's ar reflection ony yous guys whoever your may! bei ift thes shoei fits. We can do thisi inal loving way. Inay way that represents who wea are asac community instead of beings SO ugly andi fretful. Idon't! know everything thati isr reallys going on, l'mj justs startingt to geti involved because ont the online presence and! how pitifulit is. Wea are ag group; wea are at town;l love this town. Idon't understand what thel bigs gripi is, Ireally haven't totally investigatedi it. Ihaven't gott tot that point becausel IC can't get pasta allt thet freak'in ugliness ofe everybody's attitudes and! behaviors. Not everybody. You're angry,! Igeti it thev wholel Herm thing, hei is being prosecuted: andl Igett that, butt thep professionals are dealing with it. The chips willi fall wheret they may, then we can! be: angry. Let's dos goodi for the community, you cans say ally yous want,) you can scream ands shout,) youd can claimy yourselft to beah hero, buta actions : Ifyoua are goingt tol bes setting upt there you're goingt to get what) you give. Youl better follow through on what youp promise because youa are setting) yourself up fori failure. It'seasy tos standa ands sayl want this, Iwantt that, whyi is thisg going on. We ares stilla a community, love thy neighbor. Didy your miss that lesson in Sunday school: some ofy you? Idon't even! know who half ofy youp people are, alll know is whenl look online ands seei the bullying andt the stupid names attacking peoplei itsf freak'inp pathetic andi it's not eveny well done. Honestlyi itis comical, andi itj just makes) youl look stupid. That's alll Thavet tos say. Do better peoplei in DuBois because you are all my family. I'mg goingt to changet thet topic al little bit, want tog go back tot the. July 24th, Council meeting whent the Comcast agreement between thet franchise andt the cityr residents was approved by Council. As we are all aware, there willl bea a 5%f feei from each Comcast subscriber given from Comcast tot the city which will basically eliminate: any competition: from other cablep providers in our community. lam curious as tol how many Comcast subscribers are presently under contracti int the city. What ist the projected dollar amount fromt thes 5%f feei that willb bea awardedt tot the city? Whata account willt the 5%r monies be placed anda at the  through? Melody Frank- DuBois  Iwant my kids tos grow up with something beautiful instead ofs something So ugly.  Deb Mechling - Munroe ST  presentt time aret there any earmarks scheduled for these monies? Nasutis stated he couldn't answer thatr right now, but hev will get her ana answer.  Denny Skraba - Musicfest  Iwrote downa ai few.t things! here andl just wantt tol kind ofa address them. Actually, itisr more onap positive note. Asy youz alll know,! Irant the Musicfest concerts int thep park thisy year for 2023. Thisp past Thursday was thei finald concert. Iwantt tot thank the Council fori finding thet funding for all oft these groups. Dan Wallace provided thes sounda ande everyonet that worked with mei tor maket these concerts possible. Ibroughtin some new groupst this year and tried to givet the people ay variety ofr music like Rock, Dixieland, Polkas,    75  City Council Meeting Minutes-A August 28, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Denny Skraba - Musicfest (Cont'd.)  different things like that. Naturallyl hear pros and cons. Iknowl can't please everyone. Ourage category oft these concerts has been changing the lasto couple years. Wea are getting some younger people downt there. There are people that Thaver never actually ever thoughtt that Iwould ever see attend concerts downa att the park. So,1 thought that was aj positive thing andi it was great. Jack Averills started thesec concerts over: 35) years ago, Jeff Baronick along with myself have kept the concerts going. This year Ididt themb by myself. Sot that makesi it over 40+) yearst that wel have been having these concerts int the park. Ift thet fundingi is availablef fori thez 2024 budget, Ijust wanty yout tol knowt that Twill once again! head these if yous SOV wish. Iwould like tos gets started ont this earlier like November, butl Iknow with everything thati isp presently going oni int the cityt thatr may not bep possible. So, eveni ifl would gets started sometime in January,! Ispoke with! Dan Wallacey who did thes sounda againa and! hei is on! board with doingi iti for: 2024 if we want him. lamk kind ofa asking could we maybe get al little bit ofar rough number, don'tfaint over this, like maybe $8,0001 int the budget fori it. Nowt that's, whenl Isay $8,000 doesn't mean I'm goingt to spend $8,000. Iknow! how to deal witht thesep people, and-l can get their figures down al little bit. Butl Iwould like tol havet thatl little bit of cushion justi in case. Iwantt tol keept the concerts at 10 concerts before we were doing 11,1 lwant tol keept them at1 10. Iwant tol basei ito oni if we are goingt tol have Community Days againr nexty year, liket the weeka after. Sort of like we didt thisy year, butl Ithink Community Days this year was av weekl later. That being said, Ihope we can keept theset things going. Ithink itisag good thing for the community, there are other communities: around herel like Punxsutawney and Brockway that have them andl justt thinki it'sag goodt thing for our citizens and people int the area. Mayor Walsht thanked Mr. Skrabai fors spearheading thatt this) year. You dida ay wonderful job. AddI Item to Agenda- Employment Status of City Manager Herm Suplizio Councilwoman Bernardo asked that we: add Mr. Suplizio's Employment Statust tot the agenda. Mayor Walsha askedi ift that wasi int thet form ofar motion; Bernardo replied yes. Mayor Walshs statedt that Dianei is askingt toa adda ana agenda item this evening; the Employment Status of City Manager Herm Suplizio. Councilman, Aughenbaugh: seconded. Roll cally vote was asf follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo,yea; Reluctantly! make ar motiont that wet terminate Mr. Suplizio's Employment with the City of DuBois effective Friday, August 31,2 2023. Therev was some discussion because the; 31t is actually al Thursday, so the effective date wasi movedt to Friday, September1 1,2023. Councilman Aughenbaugh stated that everyoney wantsi its soh hev woulds secondi it. Mayor Walshs stated wel have ar motion that was secondedi to endI Mr. Suplizio's employment: from the City of DuBois effective 09/01. Mr. Reasinger hada a question on that motion. Ther reason! I'm concerned: abouti itish him asking for ap pension buyout. Ift that happens there isr noy wayi foru ust tog get... tos stop his pension. Ifhel has committed: af felony, his pension is gone. Ifheg gets ap payout from that...ify we: allowt that theya arer not goingt tol bea able to get that back. You guys think that $250,000 payoffi isal lot, that could be $500,000- $750,000 out oft thep pension fund thati itc cannot afford. Councilman, Aughenbaugh: askedf for clarification. Reasinger asked) Ed/ Andrulonis ifheh had any information onp pension buyouts. Andrulonis stated! hei is familiar;t they! hada as similar situation they terminatedi they person's employment, and they couldn't restrict thei individual: from takingt their pension. Reasinger saida al buyout ora al normal. Andrulonis saidi it was their normal pension, they canr rolli it over into their own. We couldr noth hold the pension once wet terminated thei individual. Aughenbaugh clarified you couldr not hold thep pension. Andrulonis said youd cannot! hold the pension once they aret terminated, itis their'st tor rolli into another qualified plan orl IRA or whatever. Reasinger said that thisi is only ai temporary injunction. Andrulonis said, whileh hei iss still employed yous still have control oft that pension. Reasinger saidl Ihatet tos sayi itb but I'dI liket tol keep! him oni for thatr reason. Everyone startedt talkinga about the injunction; Reasinger saidy you don't know if thati isp permanent or not. You couldt terminate him today, the injunction couldi falla away, and! he couldg gett the pension andy we wouldr never see that money. The pension fundi is already... It'sr not thep placet tol bringi itu up buti it's noti ing goods shape. I'Il talk about that later. Thati isar real big concerng guys. Roll call vote was asi follows: Dietz,yea; Bernardo,) yea; (Aughenbaugh was unsure, Reasinger began telling! himi if he getst terminated therei is nothing, we can doi tos stopi it. He could geta a one-time buyout. Aml Iright? EdA Andrulonis said how about at third party outside legal opinion ont the ramifications of payingi it out. That is what suggest, I'm not an expert. Aughenbaugh: asked Andrulonis to repeat his comment.. Andrulonis andA Aughenbaugh talked over eacho other.) Aughenbaugh, abstain; Reasinger, nay; Walshi nay. Motion deniedz 2-2--0. Mayor Walsh: said they wouldr revisiti ini two weeks once they received some legal advice.  Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger,) yea; Walshy yea. Motion passed 5-0. Employment Status of City Manager Herm Suplizio    76  City Council Meeting Minutes- - August 28, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Request to change the Public Hearing set for Monday, August 28, 2023, at5 5:30 p.m. to Monday, September 25, 2023, at5 5:30 p.m. concerning thel Intermunicipal Liquor License Transfer from ARC Restaurants, LLC, 1802 Daisy ST, Clearfieldi tol Thel Public House on. Jared, LLC, 29 S. Jared! ST Interim City Manager Nasuti stated that the applicant requested the change so they could bei in attendance. Ther motion was made by Aughenbaugh: and seconded by Reasinger that Council approve ther request that the Publick Hearing set for Monday, August 28, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. concerning the Intermunicipal Liquor License Transfer be changed to September 25, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. Roll call vote was asf follows: Dietz,yea; Bernardo,yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger,yea; Request that Council appoint retired employee Tim Edwards tot the Pension Committee Ther motion was madel by Aughenbaugh: and seconded by Bernardo that Council appoint retired employee Tim Edwards to the Pension Committee. Roll call vote was as follows: Dietz,yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger, yea; Walsh yea. Motion passed 5-0. Elect Voting Delegate and Alternate for 2023 Municipal Leadership Summit - October5 5- -8, 2023; The motion was made by Aughenbaugh: ands seconded by Dietz that Council appoint Diane Bernardo ast the delegate tot the: 2023 Municipal Leadership Summit. Councilman Reasinger wondered: at the choice; Councilwoman Bernardoy will nol longer be on Council in January. Mayor Walshi informed him thati ini the past the delegate has always broughti importanti information back. City Treasurer LaBrascal Beckeri told Council andi the audience aboutt the year she attended and allt thei information she was able tol bring back. Theye even asked! her to runt the Controller Convention, buta as she is nota full-time controller, shei isn't qualified. Councilman. Aughenbaughi told Councilman Reasinger that he couldb be alternate ifhe would like; he declined. Roll call vote was as follows: Dietz,yea; Bernardo, Library Keystone Committees Grant Program permission tol bidk HVACI Equipment Replacement Redevelopment. Authority Director Mitchelli informed Council that the grant isi int the City's name, and we willl be givingi itt tot the Library Authority. The motion was madel by Reasinger and secondedby Aughenbaugh that Council authorize: advertising for bidsi for HVACE Equipment Replacement. Roll call vote was asf follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger,yes; Walshyea. Recommendation- - Cokel Hill Area Water Distribution Main Replacement Project Interim City Manager Nasutir recommended that Council reject the bids as they came inr much higher than the funding. Hes suggests wer re-bidi int the spring. Ther motion was made by Dietza ands seconded by Aughenbaugh that Council accept the recommendation: oft thel Interim City Manager andr reject the bidsf for the Coke Hill Areal Water Distribution Main Replacement Project. Roll call vote was as follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger,yes; Walsh yea. Motion passed5 5- Recommendation- Purchase: additional Zonescan leak detection! loggers $163,823.22 Interim City Manager Nasuti statedi that we currently have 186 loggers out there to trackl leaks. Reasinger said it'sag goodp program andy will continue tol benefit the community. The motion was made! by Reasinger and seconded by Aughenbaught that Council accept the recommendation: from Interim City Manager Nasutia andy purchase additional Zonescanl leak detection loggers int the amount of$ $163,823.22 (SRCB Grant- $131,220 and DuBois Local Match-$32,603). Roll call vote was as follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh,) yea; Reasinger,yes; Walshyea. Motion passed5- Request from DuBois Area High School to close Division ST & Beaver DR at 5:45 p.m. for approximately 45 minutes on September 29th as they conduct their Homecoming Parade from the Ther motiony was made! by Dietz and: seconded by Reasinger that Council approve the request from DuBois Area High Schoolt to close Division ST& Beaver DR: at 5:451 p.m. for approximately 45 minutes on September 29th as they conduct their Homecoming Parade fromt the High Schoolt to Mansell Stadium. Councilwoman Bernardo: asked Chief Clark ift therei is any problem with ther request. He said no, since they! have stopped performing alongt the wayi ity was better last year. Roll call vote was asf follows: Dietz,y yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh,) yea; Reasinger,) yes; Walshy yea. Motion passed  Walshy yea. Motion passed 5-0.  held at Wind Creek Hoteli in Bethlehem.  yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger, nay; Walshy yea. Motion passed 4-1.  Motion passed 5-0.  0.  0.  High Schoolt tol Mansell Stadium.  5-0.    77  City Council Meeting Minutes - August 28, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Authorization toj purchase Fire Truck  Mayor Walsha asked ChiefE Brooks tot talk aboutt thisi item. Brooks stated thati iti ist to replace Goodwill's truck. Thet total amountf fori thet truckis is $567,879 ofv which DCED provideda ag granti int the amount of $400,000 the remainder $167,879 ist the Fire Department's share. Councilman. Aughenbaugh: stated that the last few trucks were paidf for by the hospital. Hel believes they have donated: approximately $1,000,000 for firet trucks through the years. Ther motion was made by Reasinger and seconded! by Aughenbaugh that Council authorize thep purchase ofaf fire truck for Goodwill Hose Company. Roll cally vote was as follows: Dietz,) yea; Bernardo,y yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger,yes;, Walshy yea. Kathleen Clements askeda a question about the firet truck. With Sandy and DuBois merging anda all thesef fire houses are goingt to come together why would wel buy a new firet trucki ifallt the fire houses ares going tob be... Mayor Walshs said, because wer needi it rightr now. Goodwill's truck is... Brooks jumpedi ina and: said the trucki isa almost 30) years old. Clement said I'mi nots saying don't doi itl I'mj just saying.... Brooks said asf far ast the merger with the fire department, we did have a plan before! buti it looksl like we are going tol have tos start froms scratcha again. Clement said, believe mel lovet thet fire Reasinger said, trees. That's al nice change. So wel have fifteen trees coming fromt the state, we need top plant thosei inp public lands. Once weg gett them, we will have Scott, whoi isf from Penn State Extension, helpu us with that. Redevelopment has decided tol buys seven trees att the cost of $500a tree toj puti int thep private lots on! Maple Avenue. Isent out a mailer, we hads seven people say that we couldp putat tree int their yard. We ares going top pay for that and putt thei trees int their yards, Councilman Aughenbaugh: said that brings something up that wel have talked about before, about having our Forester comei ina andt talk. Mr.. Jones hads some questions about the cut on the watershed. Heisavery veryl knowledgeable man. Councilman Reasinger said he would liket to talk tol him. Aughenbaugh: said that is goingt tol happen, he'll have some more information to share with everyone. Nasutis said hel hast talked tol Mr. Kane about that he isg goingt to arrange for one of the meetings hopefullyi in September he can come down and educate us all ont forest management at the Councilman Reasinger said hel has dones some extensive research ont the Pension Plan. Dave was right, talked tol Davel beforel Icame tot the meeting abouti it. Oura actuary... the actuary thati is comingi inr real recent, is going tol be at 8% assumedi interest rate that we get on our pension is5 58% funded. Thati is very poor, andi thati is at8 8%. Ihave askeds severalt times like four times for 7,7%a and 8. Today! asked fora a 3%i increase inp pay overt thosey years Ihavey yet to get that. The one thatis comingi isg goingt tol be 58%a andi the MMOi is 766 or 764. Nasuti said the numbers that wej just received onl Thursday or Friday. We dol havea al Pension Committee meeting scheduled for September gth so wey willg geta al little more concretei information then and can meet with themi face toi face and dialog, buty we: arel lookingi intot the pension. Itis something that needs addressed obviously. Mr. Glass brought that up, Ihavel beeni int touchy with him andi invited him tot the meeting on the 8th as well. We are working on the pension;i iti isr not beingi ignored. Reasinger went ona ands stated that the Uniform onet fori the Policei isi in verys goods shape. He then asked DeLeani ifity was ate 6.25 or 6.50; it's at 90% will avery! lowi interest rate. Itisi in verys good shape. DeLean askedi ifh he means the assumed interest, he confirmed, she believes it's at 6.50. Reasinger saidi it's a decent amount. It's the Non-Uniform for all the other workers ini the cityt thati is trouble. He said there were a couple of letters, andy we should geta a report from S&TE Bank very soon ont the S&Td onest the Police Pension. There is another fund that runs the city workers. Iwould ask that we move that from 8t this year to7.5.1 Ithink moving itto 7isj just too muchi in one year. Ithinky we shouldi move that to7-5. We talked to at financial advisor thats suggested that to us. That wouldr maket the city payr more money in; ini fact, they are going to havet tos sooner orl later anyway. Let's geta ahead oft the game, sure up the pension plan andi makei it good for allt the workers thata are goingt tor retire anda all the ones that already! have retired. There was no,) whent the change was madet there wasi no actuarial report donet that, I'm aware of. Nasutis said we willi investigate ands see what we cant find. Councilman, Aughenbaugh: said ont the Pension Board, thev way it was made upl l'mj pretty surei ity was through an ordinance. Nasuti saidi itis. Councilman Aughenbaugh: feels we'll have to change the ordinance, because talking there should be a financial advisor ont the pension committee. Reasinger said he did the research, but hei is no expert, they need  Motion passed 5-0.  department. Trees  Redevelopment: isg goingt to. Any questions about trees?  reservoir. Pension Plan    78  City Council Meeting Minutes- - August 28, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Pension Plan (Cont'd.)  someone toa advise either a CPA, someone familiar with pensions, oraf financial advisor on that. Kristen' Vida asked when was the lastt time the Pension Committee met. Reasinger said in: 2019; Walshs said prior COVID. Reasinger said, theyy willb ber meeting again on September 8th. Vida asked about the ordinance, were they tor meet annually, bi-annually? Nasutis said atl least once ay year. Nasuti continued, that we dol haves some issues that wer need toa address. Iwould liket tog gathera all thei information, gett thei information onk how to change that ordinance SO we can appoint other people. Wec cani inviteg guests. September 8th wey willl have guests there, they can assist our committee! ina assessing the situation. Reasinger saidi itisr not terrible because wel have time. Time is on our side;i int teni tot twenty years' time this canb bet fixed. Idon't want to scare anyone or anything liket that. Itis goodi it was identified andy will bet fixed. Walsh saidh he and Pat met on Friday witha gentleman and he said thati it's noti ing goods shape, but! hes saidi ify yous startr now, it willl bei in good Bob Swope said hep probably shouldn't say this, butt this is my opinion andir my opinion only. Itc does noti involve any other citye employees or anything like that. Iwouldp please askt that wel look ata all the information, get all thei information your need, and talkt tov whoever wer needt tol before youl bring this back again. This isg giving us al bad name, it's making) yous guys look like) your giving out free money, like Hermy was giving out freer money, it's making the city employees lookl like idiots andl don't want that tol happen. Iwould appreciate itify youg guys would get all the information your need andi for the communityt tol holdo on, please let them dot the work, please. Therel has beena a lot of gossip some of itist not true and wel knowi it's not true, pleasel let them gett their information first before yous start We: actually have the grant application to dos some parking work and we have parties' interest ina also purchasing thel lott toi improve ont their own. So, we willi fullyi investigate both options. We wouldl like toa advertise thep propertyt tos seei ifv we can geti interested parties top purchase the lot and develop it. It's the parking lota across the street, the S&TP Parking Lot. The motion was made by Aughenbaugh ands seconded by Dietzt that Council authorize advertising for bids, just becausey youa advertise doesn't mean youl havet tos selli it, for the Scribner Avenue Parking Lot. Roll call vote was asi follows: Dietz, yea; Bernardo, yea; Aughenbaugh, yea; Reasinger, yes; Walshy yea. Motion passed 5-0. She woulda appreciate itife everyone was kindt tot thes staff out there. Therei is al lot going on, we are the front, thet faces, andy we would appreciate iti ify youy would bel kind. As far as the Controller, the City of DuBoisi is very primitive with what they are allowedt to do; we compare the checks withi the receipts. Wec don't! havea af full-time Controlleri int the City of DuBois; we are elected by you. Wei take our orders from Councila and payt the bills, thati is what we do. Wel have all done a great job ofit,if I'm the current Controller. I'm here ify you ever have any questions instead of assuming thaty you know whatl Ido or assuming thatr maybel lamo doing something wrong come and: see me. Iconsider myselfa ap pretty friendly person. Youa are welcome to callr me, callt the city office, they can give mea message. Iwill happily cally you back. Ifiti is permitted, you can see whatl dov whenl doi it, Idon't LaBrasca Becker askedt toa addi tot that, Dave does not have an office andI barely have an office; I'm Volpe asked Ms. Frankl herr name, Ihavel beent thinking about thata al lot. When Iwalki int this roomi it's filledy with negative and there are sOI many nicet things that are going oni int this town. Like all of you new people who willl be up here, I'ms sure youy want tol ber respected andt trusted andy we want that too. Igetk kind of disgusted wheneverl comet tot these meetings, andi itisa allr negative negative negative. Ithink we allr need tol listent tov what Melody said andi remember that we alll live here and  Reasinger said he doesn't! know how tog get that started with and ordinance.  shapei int twenty years. Ifv we keeps going att this rate, we arei int trouble.  hanging us, them, and everyone. Scribner Avenue Parking Lot  City Treasurer, Lisal LaBrasca Becker  youl have questions you can come tor me personally.  City Controller, David Volpe  havea anything tol hide.  usually int thei front, SO we don't'r really havet full time offices. But we are here.  wea allv want what's best.    79  City Council Meeting Minutes - August 28, 2023 (Cont'd.)  Interim City Manager, Chris Nasuti  Couple ofp positive things. Wel had ar new guys start int the Water Department today, Mike Borelli retired itt took as av whilet to make surel hadi itint the budget, advertised ini thep paper, welcome Derek Heckathorne to our water groupt today. Workingy with a group thati isi interested inj putting together avolunteer fair. Clearfield County did that last week ort two weeks agor need, there is interest here top putt together at fair where organizations cans gett together in one place. People can sign up for different organizations, noti the City of DuBois but other places tol be able to give! back. People looking for opportunities tol help outi int the city. Coke! Hill sewer project is done, there are a couple. ofl littlet things to check up on, things they needt to complete but other than thati its done. Division Streett trafficl light the news signali is up andi the old onei is out. They arei fixing the radius now: soi the trucks canr maket thei turn. Hopefully they willb be out oft there int the next few weeks. The Sewer Plant is doing well, thei treatment basins arei inj place, thep power buildingi is going up. The: sewer work on ther northside ands southside oft thes streami is moving alongy well. Thel bridge is complete, ther roadi is almost complete SO we dol haves some good things going. Aughenbaugh asked ifit was ons schedule. Therel beingr not further business to transact, the motiony was made! byA Aughenbaugh: and seconded by Dietzt that Council adjourn. Roll call vote was as follows: Dietz,) yea; Bernardo,) yea; Aughenbaugh,  Nasuti confirmed. Adjourn  yea; Reasinger,yes; Walshy yea. Motion passed 5-0.  ATTEST:  Ca  APPROVED:  na  Uchy