1 Minutes of the Council of the City of Easton, Pa. April 9, 2025 Easton, Pa. Wednesday April 9, 2025 6:00p.m. City Council met in the stated session at the above date and time, in Council Chambers, located at the Easton Community Center, 901 Washington Blvd., to consider any business that may lawfully be brought before the body. The invocation was given by Mayor Panto, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL Present: Mr. Brown, Mr. Edinger, Mr. Pintabone, Mrs. Rose, Dr. Ruggles, Mrs. Sultana, Mayor Panto (7) Absent: (0) Also Participating in the meeting were Karen Roscioli, City Clerk; Luis Campos, City Administrator; Joel Scheer, City Solicitor; Dave Hopkins, Director of Public Works, Mark Lysynecky, Director ofFinance At the beginning oft the meeting there were 14+ in the audience APPROVAL OF AGENDA A motion to approve the agenda was made by Dr. Ruggles and seconded by Mr. Pintabone by the following vote: Yeas: Mr. Edinger, Mr. Pintabone, Mrs. Rose, Dr. Ruggles, Mrs. Sultana, Mayor Panto, Mr. Brown Nays: None (0) ACTION ON THE MINUTES A motion was made by Mr. Brown and seconded by Mr. Pintabone to approve the March 26, 2025, meeting minutes. The minutes were approved by the following vote. Yeas: Mr. Pintabone, Mrs. Rose, Dr. Ruggles, Mrs. Sultana, Mayor Panto, Mr. Brown, Mr. Edinger Nays: None (0) 2 PUBLIC COMMENT - Agenda Items Only There was no public comment at this time. CONSENT AGENDA n/a REPORTS RECEIVED BY COUNCIL n/a REPORTS OF COMMITTEES Mr. Brown, Chairperson of Finance: Introducing two Bills tonight. Bill #52 An ordinance Amending 2025 budget to re-appropriate funds to replace access and security systems in City Hall and Bill #54 An Ordinance amending the 2025 ARPA Budget to include two additional accounts not originally included. Resolution on the Agenda for Nesquehoning Memorial Park, Mr. Pintabone, Chairperson of Economic Development: attended the National Main Street Conference in Philadelphia. Presented workshops and presented city tour for out-of-state attendees of the NMSC. Worked with the Hologram Zoo contractors for fit out plans. I worked on the 2025 Commercial and Real Estate Open House. Applied $244,965.00 Bike Park at Hackett Park. Mrs. Rose, Chairperson of Planning and Codes: Just returned from Main Street Now conference in Philly. GEDP represented, and Easton DCED. Great networking. Will pull presentation files and send them to council. Planning meeting last week. Will be attending the Zoning meeting, agenda is on the city website Dr. Ruggles, Chairperson of Public Safety: we had a few retirements in the police department and will look to start replacing. Mr. Edinger, Chairperson of Public Works: n/a Mrs. Sultana, Chairperson of Administration: two resolution Salary and Wage and Intrepid Fiber optic. Thanked Council for last night's meeting, it was productive. Thanked the people of Easton who elected her to represent them. Was honored to be invited to the South Asian Elected official's dinner where she connected with many individuals from across the state. Will be organizing a meeting with two developers who are interested in doing work in Easton. Report of the Mayor: Centennial and Vanderveer Parks are being worked on. The Iron pigs are doing a shirt for Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton. They will hold Easton night on August 7. 3 Mr. Campos and Ms. Werner are working on a newsletter which should be coming out soon. Affordable homes near Shiloh, the sewer bid was awarded at last meeting, working on mobilized and working on the site. 3rd St sewer is being delayed due to the Easton holiday. 25 finalists for police physical test. We will hire 5 immediately. Attended the PML district meeting in Reading, Pa. City of Easton won an award. Last Monday we raised the Trans flag, was well attended. By Wednesday it was gone. It wasn't stolen, it was prematurely taken down by the city SO it will be put up again. Attended to 40 people from Wyoming. John Kingsley and his group did a good job. Easton Main Street is number 1 in the state and a finalist in the country. Report of the City Solicitor: The developer ofthe multi-family homes outside Morrison Avenue lost their case. They decided to file an appeal. Mr. Scheer will keep everyone updated. Report ofthe City Administrator: Working through final draft of newsletter and will share with Council. Platform is a good company. Any ideas are open for discussion. Mrs. Rose offered an idea. We could do different neighborhood issues to highlight the smaller businesses. The markets in general. Pension. We hit a high of95 million in early January today we started out at 82 million and finished shy of 89 million. Watching pension closely, it will affect us in budget through MMO. The last few years have been really good. First commonwealth signing a lease at neighborhood center. They are renting a room, staffing a couple days per week. Sublease must go through us. Having a physical place for answering questions. CORRESPONDENCE UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No. 52 (Ord. 5897)-An Ordinance. Amending the 2025 Budget to re-appropriate funds to Replace access and security systems in City Hall was approved on a motion by Mr. Pintabone, seconded by Mrs. Sultana by the following vote: Yeas: Mrs. Rose, Dr. Ruggles, Mrs. Sultana, Mayor Panto, Mr. Brown, Mr. Edinger, Mr. Pintabone (7) Nays: None (0) NEW BUSINESS The next item on the Agenda is a Resolution is a Resolution Re-appointing members of Authorities, Boards and Commissions The following Resolution was introduced by Mayor Panto 4 52-2025 The above Resolution was approved on motion by Mr. Pintabone seconded by Mrs. Rose by the following vote: Yeas: Dr. Ruggles, Mrs. Sultana, Mayor Panto, Mr. Brown, Mr. Edinger, Mr. Pintabone, Mrs. Rose (7) Nays: None (0) ## ######### The next item on the Agenda is a Resolution Authorizing the Public Works Department to purchase a medium duty dump truck for the Highway Department The following Resolution was introduced by Mr. Edinger 53-2025 The above Resolution was approved on motion by Mr. Edinger seconded by Mr. Pintabone by the following vote: Yeas: Mrs. Sultana, Mayor Panto, Mr. Brown, Mr. Edinger, Mr. Pintabone, Mrs. Rose, Dr. Ruggles (7) Nays: (0) The next item on the Agenda is a Resolution Authorizing the Public Works Department to purchase a hybrid pickup truck with cap for the Engineering Bureau The following Resolution was introduced by Mr. Edinger 54-2025 The above Resolution was approved on motion by Mr. Edinger seconded by Mr. Pintabone by the following vote: Yeas: Mayor Panto, Mr. Brown, Mr. Edinger, Mr. Pintabone, Mrs. Rose, Dr. Ruggles, Mrs. Sultana (7) Nays: (0) ## H ############ #### The next item on the Agenda is a Resolution Approving an Agreement with Xavier Landscape and Design for the rehabilitation ofl Nesquehoning Memorial Park 5 The following Resolution was introduced by Mr. Edinger 55-2025 The above Resolution was approved on motion by Mr. Brown seconded by Mr. Pintabone by the following vote: Yeas: Mr. Brown, Mr. Edinger, Mayor Panto, Mr. Pintabone, Mrs. Rose, Dr. Ruggles, Mrs. Sultana (7) Nays: (0) The next item on the Agenda is a Resolution Amending the 2025. Salary and Wage, Purchase ManagerSalary The following Resolution was introduced by Mrs. Sultana 56-2025 The above Resolution was approved on motion by Mrs. Sultana seconded by Mr. Pintabone by the following vote: Yeas: Mayor Panto, Mr. Pintabone, Mrs. Rose, Dr. Ruggles, Mrs. Sultana, Mr. Brown, Mr. Edinger (7) Nays: (0) The next item on the is a Resolution. Approving an Agreement with Intrepid Fiber Networks The following Resolution was introduced by Mrs. Sultana 57-2025 The above Resolution was approved on motion by Mrs. Sultana seconded by Mrs. Rose by the following vote: Yeas: Mr. Edinger, Mayor Panto, Mr. Pintabone, Mrs. Rose, Dr. Ruggles, Mrs. Sultana, Mr. Brown (7) Nays: (0) 6 The next items are two Bill being introduced: Bill No. 53 - An Ordinance adding one 15-minute parking space for drop offlpickup at A-Z Convenience. Store, 393 W. Berwick Street was introduced by Dr. Ruggles and ordered processed for adoption. Mr. Pintabone stated he cannot support this Bill. The store has been there for many years and never had a designated parking spot. Parking is bad on that block and don't want it. Mayor Panto asked the hours. Tuesday to Sunday 9-9. The problem is the mechanic's garage, and they take all the parking. Mr. Pintabone stated once the bank is used the residents parking there won'tl have a place to park. Mayor Panto then stated the problem is we have given SO many of these 15-minute parking spaces and if we don't give this on it will look like we are picking them. Mr. Pintabone then stated he personally believes it was a mistake giving out SO many and going forward we should stop. Bill No. 54 - An Ordinance Amending the 2025ARPA Budget to include two additional accounts not originally included, was introduced by Mr. Brown and ordered processed for adoption. PUBLIC COMMENT - On any matter John Gurman-advocating for his missing daughter Enci "Aubrey" Wu who has been missing for 3 months. Spoke about his wife and daughter. He spoke in depth of two businesses in Easton, accusing the owners ofh having something to do with his stepdaughters' disappearance. One store owner also came to the meeting to speak on behalf of herself. Argument between the two took place. Dominic Trabosci: spoke at the last council meeting. Same as last meeting he spoke on behalf oft becoming a Welcoming City. Tara Stephenson, (?)m Parsons St: Artie Ravitz, Easton: Asked what we are building at Hackett Park? Mr. Pintabone replied, a Bike Trail Could not hear the name: wanted to voice his support for a Welcoming City 7 Owner of Pollywogs and Petunias: an argument began between her and John Gurman. She then stated she came to confront Gurman and stand up for herself. They both argued for several minutes while she tried to defend herself. ADJOURNMENT With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:57 PM on the motion of Dr. Ruggles and Mrs. Sultana Yeas: Mayor Panto, Mr. Pintabone, Mrs. Rose, Dr. Ruggles, Mrs. Sultana, Mr. Brown, Mr. Edinger (7) Nays (0) Karen L. Roscioli City Clerk