160  City Council Meeting Minutes- - February: 26,2024  City Council Chambers, City Building, 16 West Scribner Avenue, DuBois, Pennsylvania onl Monday, February 26, 2024, at6p p.m.; Council convened att their regular City Council Meetingy with Mayor) Pat Reasingerin the Chair. Other Council Members present were. James Aughenbaugn, Shane Dietz, Elliot Gelfand and Jennifer. Jackson. Also present were: Interim City! Manager/City! Engineer/Public' Works Director, Chris Nasuti;! Interim Police Chief Shawn McCleary; Treasurer Lisa LaBrasca Becker; City Controller DavidVolpe; Reasinger announced, "Ther meetingy willl bef for discussion only! becauset the agenda didr not get postedt to the website within: 241 hours prior tot the meetingi in compliance witht the Sunshine Act. No decisions will ber made.- Thel Public Comments section willl bef for comments, not questions. We will address topics at thee end ofther meeting, ifp possible. Ifitr requires research, itv will! be addressed: att the next meeting." The meetingy was calledt to ordera at6 6 p.m. andt the Pledge ofA Allegiance wasl led by Reasinger. Reasinger explained ac changei in how meetings will be run going forward. "The: first meeting oft the monthy willl bet tos set the agenda. Thes secondr meeting oft ther monthi is when we'llbe doingr most ofc our voting. That willg give everyone time tok knowy whatv we'r ret talkinga about. Gather your questions and information and come! back tot the second meetinga anda ask questions. Minutes andi invoices will continue Council met in Executive Session priort tot tonight'smeetingt to discussl legal andj personneli issues. "'dI liket tot talk abouti the Neighborhood Fund. Iwould like Councilt to vote ont that. lt'sanewly opened account. We discussedi itinJ January. Iwent overt ther minutes, andi it was never voted on. Ididp putmy signature ont tos signt fort thel Neighborhood Fund, butI thoughti it would be greatf for the Council to know abouti ita as well. Iwould liket that addedi tot ther next meeting. You cana allv vote ont that when we opena "Regarding Item #12-2 2022 and: 2023 Audits. Iknows severalr meetings ago Chris handed over the: 2022 audit fory yout tor review. Therey was onei findingt thats said, 'You don'thave: af full-time accountant on staff top prepare thei financial statements." When! worked at DuFast Transit for 12 Ky years- -Icamei ina after the embezzlement- -1 that was at finding on our audit. My board didr noti findt that acceptable. Whatt they did and I'mr recommending! you consideri is theys separated outt the work between the auditor and: accountant. Our auditor dide essentially the accounting work. They came ina att the end ofe every quarter forac day, made adjustments' tot thej journal entries andg gavet themt tor my administrative assistant andi theni they prepared thei financials statements tob be: audited! by the auditor. So,t thati findingwas eliminated from anyf future audits. Therei isa a way to dot that without eliminating or replacing anyone's position. Essentially, youl have youra auditor whoi is doingt twoj jobs rightr now and you can split that responsibility out andi maybe! have an accountant comei inc quarterly and reconcile things andi maket thosej journal entriest for you. It'sj justa  and Administrative. Secretary, Korbis Slocum.  tob be voted ona ate eachi meeting." Executive Session (legal and personnel issues) Public Comments onA Agenda Items Only Lisal LaBrasca. Becker- CityTreasurer  new account." Kristen Vida- ChestnutAvenue  suggestiont to eliminate thati finding." Approval of Minutes and Registry ofl Invoices These will! bev voted on att ther next meeting.  OLDI BUSINESS int the community. DuBois Days  Donationi tol Neighborhood: Fund- - Mike Arblaster, Domtar  Arblaster presentedac checkt tot the Neighborhood: Fund to bet usedi fori the purchase andp planting oftrees Shawnl Leskys gave: an update ont the planning for DuBois Days 2024. "We have gottens some oft the logisticsi inp place. As oft this morning we are able to receivet fundsf fort thet first time. We'vel hired an accountant: anda CPA firm, bothl local. Our bank accounti is with NexTier Bank sof folks can make donations. This weekv we will attacha a GoFundMe account. We're on the agenda for youi folkst to consider the stipendy youl hada always giveni int the pastt to Community Days. Givent that we'res starting atz zero, we needa al littlel bito ofc overhead. We're already missings some! bookings- -1 food ande entertainment options- SOV whilet the gettingi is good wer needt tol books some ofthesef folks so we can provide two or possibly three days ofe entertainment. We'reh hopingt tol bolster activityi int the parkt tor maket upi fori lack ofap paradet this year. Ourr nexti in-person meeting ist tomorrow. Whenever: youl have a chance to vote, the stipend would  bep putt to good use."    161  City Council Meeting Minutes - February: 26, 2024 (continued)  Forest Management Plan Recommendations aboutt the overstory removal and! herbicides sprays.  Basedo ont the recommendation: from thel Kanes, att ther next meeting! Nasuti willl have arecommendation Nasuti'st recommendationi ist tol holdt the: 2023 rates. We'l have a discussion ont thata att ther next meeting. We'rea alsol lookingi into gettingr more chairs andi things for peoplet tou use att thep pool. There weret three Council Bills att the end ofz 2023 that were not acted upon: Registration ofF Residential Rental Units, Automobile Repair Facility andi Mechanical, Amusement Devices. We'llhavea a discussion: as tov whether orr not) you want to proceed with any ora allo ofthose orr none ofthose. Jackson wouldI liket tos see us somehow proceed further witht them. "Ithink wer needi to doa ai littler more researchy witht theb bills. I'm noth happy with thev wayt they're worded." Reasinger said, "thinkt ther rentall bill needst tol bes shaved down. Idon'tt thinki it'st the City'sr rightt tol know who rents myl house. Idon'ts seel how we cani inspectt thema alla atthes same time, butr maybe we cani inspect them whent they change! hands. Wheny youg getar newt tenant, we'll comei ina andi inspect." "Fort the amusement," Gelfands said, "I'd liket tor re-visitt the amount chargedf fort thes skill games." Reasinger announced,' "We'reg goingto have ameeting next Monday because wer needi to pay bills and Those werea approveda and: senti int tot the: state agencies. We put outa a Request for Proposal for Auditors but have not hada any responses tot that. Ihavel beeni inc contact with a couple sol Ishould havea recommendationt fory you att the nextr meeting, ifnott thet first official meetingin Marchi fort the 2023 audit.  2024 City Pool  Consideration of Council Bills  makes some decisions." 2022 andz 2023 Audits  Thez 2022 audit has beeni finalized and willl be putu up ont the website. This ordinance willl be discusseda at Monday's meeting. The Solicitor: shouldg give usa an update att the nextr meeting.  Compensation Ordinance RFP for Financial Services Sandy Township Section 108 Loan Dedication of Waterlines NEW BUSINESS Application for DCEDF Fire Study thata application. Itisaf frees study by! DCED. Approve Amended Consolidation. Agreement that were approved int the current budget.  Thesev weret the documents wel hadt to co-signf fort the sewer line project on Platt Road with Sandy Township. Tom willl havet those available for ust toa approve and execute atther nextr meeting. Atthe end of2 2023, wel hadi three individuals requestt to dedicate waterlines int the City of DuBois. One on ChestnutA Avenue, one on Oklahoma-Salem! Road andt the new waterlines tot thel Pfingstler Fieldhouse. We Itwasa approved att the. Joint Board. Because this is an actual grants study being done, eachi municipality has tot takei itback and getita approved. The applicationi isi iny yourp packet, SO we needa approvalto submit Itv was voted on atthe. Joint Board! last weekt to update the work oft the Solicitora and update Capital Purchases moret than $100,000.00. Theyr mustb be approvedi individually. This does noti include anyi items Nasutii introduced: Sgt. Shawn McCleary whoi is acting Police Chief while Blaine Clarkis out onp paid  needt to getT Tom'sadvice on how to movei forward witht those.  Police Chief  administrative leave. Hei is ont the day shift and willl bel heret five days aweek. Second Reading of Council Billl No. 1981- Robinson! Street Parking Second Reading of Council Bill No. 1979- -Vacate aP Portion of Fairway! Street These willl ber reada andy voted ona att ther next meeting.    162  City Council Meeting MM--yA.ACNEwA  Amend thel Industrial Sewer Use Ordinance  Wel have and ordinancet that governs whati industries can discharge to ours sewer: system. As part of our NPDES permitt toc operatet thes sewer plant, we'rer requiredt tor re-evaluate that everyi fivey years. Jeff Garrigan and HRGH have done that evaluation. The EPAI has approvedtheira analysis and asked that we, Sandyl Township and Falls Creek- because we alls share thes same sewer system- - adopt an Ordinance  updatingt the limitst thatp people can dischargei into ours system. Recommendationt to Appoint. Josh Benton tot the Redevelopment. Authority Letters ofl Interesti for City Committees: and Authorities  This willl be voted onr nextv week.  Weh have several vacancies ond our boards, committees, and authorities. Following up ons some oft the comments we'veh hadi from Council: andt the public,! thoughti it wouldb bea a good ideat to puta an advertisement ond our websitez and! lett them know whichb boards wel have openings on. Wev willl listallo of theb boards. Ifit'sfull, we'lll hold yourr name. Ifyoul have ani interesti int these committees or any future openings, send ane emailt toi inf@duboispa.goy These positions aref for City residents onlyv with exception "The Ordinances regardingr rentalp properties ands soi forth, my curiosityi is wheni there was aj pre-existing ordinance. What! happens tot them iftheyy werei improperly written or arer nol longer valid? Does the City havei to abandont that Ordinance? The one I'mt thinking about is about1 15) years ago the City passeda an Ordinance prohibiting people ofr moret than onet familyl livingi in al household. Kind oftryingt to prevent people from havingt two ort threer notr related persons livingi inal house. Iremember this specifically! had been passed. Fivey yearsl latera ahouse was! bought on our street! by ar realtor who rentedi it outt to drilling contractors. Al bus woulds show up everyr morningy with the drlling crew andt thoses six guys woulds get off andt the six guyst that spentt ther nighty would get oni ita andI leave. Wer never had: any problem witht those fellas, butla alwayst thoughtt that was ab blatant misuse oft this Ordinance. Ifyou'rey visitingthings liket this, whata about gettingr rid oft the Ordinances that don't do any good. We've got too many! laws, too many bills, toor manyt things, toor many people witht their fingers ini it. Why can't we pare things back, specifically witht ther rentalt things. My previous jobl camea across several housesi int the City that are actually commercial ventures ands should be considered! high hazard! based ont the occupancy. Thei things going on int theseh houses would require special attentioni inc case ofa ane emergency. Perhapsy your rental agreement should consider things like that. We don'tr needt to! knowy who's renting, your house, but does the City "Wel heard: att the. January 8 meetingt that Council hadt to get as subpoena to access the City'sf financial records. Iwas curious ast tov whatt the statusi is ont that. The second pointi is, I'm hopefuit therei isa an amendment int the worksf fori fees! being charged fort the skill games and machinesi inc ourt town. These businesses: are popping up all over our City. Thel beautys schoolp property was: recently soldf for $1.00 and wills soon! bel housinga another oft these establishments. EwouldI likei tos see an Ordinance puti inp placet to limit how many oft theset types of storefronts arei in: ablock. lwould welcome a discussioni int this direction. Positives growthi in ouro downtown area iss somethingt tol bel hopefulf fori int ther nearf future. Inr my opinion, the number ofs skillg games inc our downtown: appearst to! bei in direct conflict witht the efforts of the downtown revitalization groupt tor make our Cityr more welcomingtor residents and visitors. Ihave borroweda a quote from our Downtown DuBois Facebook page: Downtown ist the heart ands soul ofany community. Ifyou don'thave: al healthy downtown,) yous simply don'thave: al healthyt town.' Thank) you." "Ont that subject, Ireadi int the papert the Falls Creek Police were calleda andi therev was al large amount of moneyi int the skillg game. Sykesvillei is advertising an Ordinancei for skill games. As al Planning Commission we'ret tryingto! bep proactive. We wantedt to send thoset toy youf for scrutiny. Pd! liket tor revisitt the occupancy permit thati isi inc our Ordinance. Iseei it: ast broader thani isb being used here. They are newa and should) have and occupancy: permit. That's my opinion. Ithinky wel have a rightt to dot that. Ifyou're going tor revisitt those, Ithinky you're goingir int the right direction. As fara ask knowinge everyone who's! livingi int the house, a contact is whatv wer meant. Oftent thati ist thep person whoi is livingi int thel house, orit it can! bet the owner oft the building. No onei isl lookingt to see! how many people arel livingi int the house. We could! have somethingt that couldp prevent what the gentleman was saying. That'sac different uset than whatis "Asar mom, ana aunt, as sistera anda a citizen oft thist town,! Ithinki ity was highly Irresponsible oft the City tor not keep usi informed oft thes situationi that happened last week oft the abduction. We: area as smaller town, we  oft the Library! Board. Public Comments Wiliam Jones - ChestnutAvenue  needt to know whaty you're doingy with the housei ifit'sr not: forr residence?"  Deb Mechling-Monroes Street  Nancy Moore- = Green Ridge Drive  traditional: for single-family homes." Bobbi Mauthe- - Pifer Street    163  City Council Meeting Minutes- - February 26, 2024 (continued)  Bobbi Mauthe Pifer Street (continued)  havet tol lookoutf fore eacho other, we! havet tol bet theref for each other, we have tob be our own activists. Onlinei ity was ahorrors show. Wasi itt two men, threer men,t four men? Weret theyt this! kind ofe ethnicity or were theyt that? There was no confirmation. Itwasj just mass panice everywhere. Wasi itc ont this street? Didi ith happen? Didi itr noth happen? Thea actual person! hadt to come out and say, Thisi is what happened, wheni ith had! happened' for met to bei informed. This didi not happent before. They came out witha statement: saying,' This isv what! happened. Wez are outt there ont thes streets. Wea aret tryingt to figure out the situation.' Wer needt toi be proactive. Wer needt to keept the citizens oft this City protected and being toldy whath has! happened. Youd don't have tos givet ther nitty-gritty details that could prejudiceac case, but we "Ony your rentala agreement,! Ihaver rentalp propertiesi in DuBois. Idon't thinkl IS should invade your house ands space. Youl have nor rightt toi invader mine noi matter whol Ihavel livingt there. Are you goingt toi inspect thel houset fors safety issues? Are youg goingt toi tell me what colori top painti itnext? Keep a fine line. Don't overstepy your boundaries. Even herei in DuBois andi the whole way upi the government. You people are "'mj just requesting anu updatet tot the progress madei ini referencet to a question asked five weeks ago with regardst tol healthi insurancet that was providedt tos some current asv well asp past Council members and Mayor. The Solicitor att that time was directedt to looki intot thel legality ofti those people reimbursingthe "IV wouldl like toa address the Ordinancet for wheny you owna a rental property and your rent itc out. Ist the "agreey with Deb Mechling regardingt the action that Councili took att thel last meeting regardingt the cosmetology! building. The City has never been good with planning asav whole. We don't! havea comprehensive planf forc downtown. lusedt tos serve on Planning Commission andt the reality ofitis, it's nota as strong commission. We aret toor reactivei int this City. The onlyt time we wouldr meeto on! Planningy was whens somethingo came to Planningt to act upon. We didr not spend ourt time puttingt together strong Ordinances ands strong comprehensive plans. That's whaty we, asa a City, need to dos sot that whens skill games ofc chance! businesses come inv we'rer not reacting. Wea already! have aj plani inp place. Iwould liket to seet the City worky witha a consultant to comet togetherv with the downtown, looka at comprehensive plans, "lth hash been! brought tor my attention andl lwanti tos say,l know the! board! has! been wantingt to meet with thet fire department: andg got tot their differentf fire department: meetings ands seel howt things are done. I thinki it's wonderful: asav whole. But when find out that onlyt three arei invited andt two are excluded, think ourt transparencyt is not there and our unity and community isr nott there. Iwould hopet that everybody ont thatboard, ify you're goingt to dot that,) your make suret that everybody ont the boardi is "Ona as somberr note, the Cityl lostah heroi inl Dr.John Farr. Ireally feelt that some sort ofr recognition: should bea afforded his familyi inb bereavement: att the officialr meeting. Ihonestly don't knowy whatt tos say. Hev was suchah humanitarian inv workingy with! Habitat for Humanity and all the othert things he'sdone. Dr.John Jackson: addressed thet fire department meetings. "We werer meetingi just because we'ver never beent toa fire departmentr meeting. There was no exclusion. Therei ist transparency asr mucha as we can) be. Idon't have anythingt tol hide. l'vej justr neverb beent tot thet fire department before." Indrer responded, "'m perfectly finev witht that, but I'mj justs saying sometimest they should all go." Jacksont replied, "They're invitedt to." Gelfanda agreed. Reasingers said, "We'reg goingt to Friendshipt tomorrow night. Anybody that wantst to come." Indres said; "That'sg great. Thesef firemen needi more creditt than they get." "Onthe Ordinance question, that's part oft the Consolidation: to combine Ordinances andt tol looka ate every Ordinance ande every Code. That's probably theb best way to dot that. There's been al lot ofv work done on  havet tol keep the citizensi informed. Ithinkthat's ther mosti important thing."  Richard Phillips-T Tozier Avenue  overstepping) yourboundariesf for ourf freedom: sok keept thati inr mind. Thanky you."  Lindal London - Rumbarger Avenue  Cityf fori insurance that was provided tot them." water billi int thet tenant'sr name ort the owner'sname"  Resident ofE Pifers Street Kristen Vida - ChestnutAvenue  workv with our Planning Commission: and makingi ita robust commission."  Krisl Indre- - Green Glen Drive  included, notj just certain ones. Dot the rightt thing." William Jones - ChestnutA Avenue Farr certainiy willl bei missed."  Council Member and Staff Comments JimAughenbaugh  that already andv we'll continuei that work asi time evolves."    164  City Council Meeting "-A.ACAaSA  Acting Police Chiefs ShawnMcCleary Treasurerl Lisa LaBrascal Becker  "There'sab bunch of greatr men andv women downa att the police department. It'sanh honori forr met to work witht them anda assure the community that they will bep protectinga and: serving and outt there." "lt'st that time ofthe yeare everybody-1 taxes. County and City taxes willl be arriving onl Friday, March1. Wea arel here tol help) youl ify youl have any questions ori ifyoul losey yourb bill. Come and see us and we'lItake care ofy you. Ifyoul have escrow andy youd dor notr receivea ab bill, it's because it probably went toy your bank "IK knowy we'vel been gettingai lot ofp pushback that asv we ran ont transparencyt that we'rer not being transparent. 1,foro one, have nothingt tol hide with what we: are doing orl how we're doingi it." It'sbeena very big! learning process. There'sbeen: al lott to got through. Itisn'tj justt thei fact of Herm pers se. Thereisa lotr more we are finding. Each weekt therei is something new, soi if we don'tg get! backt toy you orthings haven'th been doner righta away, we're! handlingal lot. We'ret tryingtol learn everything. Iwill findi it hard for myselft to work witht twor members of Council that werei involvedi inal lot oft this foral lot ofy years. Forme, it'sahardp pillt tos swallow. Tol be overlyf friendly withi two councilmen that have approved allo ofthese bonuses fory years, it's hard forr met tos swallow. Maybel amr not as outgoing with two councilmen as) you wouldi likei tos seel but, tol bel honest, it's pretty! hard for met tov work with: somebodyt that has helped create ther messt that we'rei in rightr now. Itisn'tas simple thingt to clean up; itisal lot ofwork. Iread! hours' worth of paperwork every week. Ifyou don'tl like how we're doingi it, pleasel letr me! know a different wayto do it. Iknowt thet fire department ist thinkingt that we're doingt things wrong. Iknow! becauset things were donea a certain wayf foral long time that theyt think that'st ther right way. Unfortunately, we'rel learning as our Solicitort tells usb becausei itv was donei that way doesn't meani ity was right. It's just correcting allo of theset things. Asa City, we havet to correct. It'snotf fairt to ust to go through Consolidation: and put this on Sandy Township'sl lap. We: are diligently working withs sor manyi issues. Andl lami tryingt to work with. Jim ands Shane. isaid" 'hello' tot themt tonight and: spoke tot thema al little bit. Forr me, it'sab bigs step." Indre said, "1L understand that, but this iss something: you choset tot takei ito on and, unfortunately,you: are allt tov work Jackson continued, "Thisi is al bigv work inp progress. Ifyou have something that youy would! liket tos see us do, pleasel letr mel know. Ihave people come and seer me every day atr my work. IFthere'ssomething you'd! liket tos seeu us address, we'ret trying. Wel literally have stacks ofp paperst that we are goingt through. "Bear with us. They've been! here for eight weeks. I'veb beeni Mayor for eight weeks. Ihatet to admit this, butt thereis isak lotl don't! know. We willr maker mistakes. We will admitt them, and we will dob better." "Ify youl have concerns abouta anything, ify you want something worked on, reach outt to me. Myemailiso on thev website. I'm onF Facebook. Ihavea a Councilman page. Messager me onr my regular page. I'm! happy Thank) you, Sgt. McCleary, fori the extra work) you are doingr right now. And1 thankyou, Mike and Domtar, Reasingers said,' "Regarding thel bonuses. Idon'tthinki they were ever voted onb by Council. Ithinkt the past Mayora approvedt them afters gettings somethingh handedt to! him. Ithinkt that'showi itv was done." Reasinger reminded everyone there willl beas special Council meeting at 6:00 p.m. on! Monday, March 4,  andt the bank willl bep paying) yourt taxes. But always checkt tol bes sure."  Jennifer Jackson  together."  Reasingerr reminded the audiencet thisi isr nota a discussion: session.  Chris works sol hard. Pato does. We'retrying. And soi isJ Jima and Shane."  PatReasinger Elliot Gelfand Shane Dietz  tog getbacktoy you ass soon asp possible."  fory your donation. Hlookf forwardt tos seeinge everyone next Monday."  Adjourn 2024.  -  ATTEST:_ Y6rb Slocumn APPROVED:  CON