--------- on the phone or or meet in person anytime. This first finance meeting here is usually a busy one. You'll see there are 10 items. We made an attempt to control that number. There are some others that we did put a hold on. But what that does mean is we will be requesting another finance meeting
sometime sooner than later. Uh the reason for the first is uh you know the clear fact it's beginning the year. We want to reconcile some from some accounts when we set the capital budget for the budget season. and it's September. We take cuts at 9:30. So
numbers that you see at budget time for the most part, unless it was um through a discussion through a particular department, the default position is we use that 9:30 number rather than trying to guess or project, which some places do, we use a 930. Uh and then this time
of year, we need to reconcile whether we use all of it or more or less of it. That's what our what number 10 and that that's a bit of a extensive one in and it of itself and then on top of that uh since our last meeting has been two months because it's a new council committees were set so that we
appreciate you being with us tonight we have 10 items for you I'm going to handle one and two police will do three fire chief will do four and five we have our health director for number six CED for number seven and nine water sewer for eight and our director budget
finance will kind of lead number 10 so We have almost just about every department represented tonight. Member memo number one is a year-end adjustment. And what memo one is doing
is tying the actual usage from three accounts in 0901. Those are the community recovery funded down the homeless initiative and affordable housing from what was at 9:30 to what the actual use was. And you'll see some somewhere a little bit lower. And on on
top of that, there's a separate 0901 in there, 95012 downtown initiative. And I'll take you back to September. In September, we added 150,000 to this account at finance committ. It may have gone No, it didn't
go directly to the account. It was a finance committee where we discussed it and moved 150 into the count. That was accumulated savings. It was money that was not spent over a period of several years in the downtown initiative. and that the plan for that money and what was voted on at that time was that money
would be then spent sent to Moravian University. They uh with regard to World Heritage, they took on the responsibility responsibilities of hiring a project our site coordinator and um the the
part or the um pledge from the city was $150,000. So that's what was voted on. um the year ran out before that invoice. They're still working through some logistical steps as they bring that into fruition. The coordinator was hired. You
may have met her at this time or since then. Um but there are several groups working including the university, including the city, including Historic Betham Partnership. And uh because it got past the check time, that 150 was not spent. This is simply moving into
this year's budget. So that 150 that was voted on can indeed be sent to Raven University for the items that we that we talked about last fall. So that's memo one. >> Thank you, Mr. Evans. Mr. Aman, do you have any questions? >> No, sir.
>> Mr. Evans, the only question I have and just as we start our first uh finance committee meeting, as you referenced, we have another one soon. Can you just give the committee a brief background of when budget transfers come to council? Uh, obviously the administration has some
discretion how you're able to move money during the year. We don't come to we don't come to council, nor do I think should you come to council every time you have to move some money around. Can you just briefly educate the committee on the threshold that meets when you send a memo over and request a committee meeting?
>> Yes. Yeah. Come to council. Anytime we're going to add something, we want to increase any line item, it's going to come to council. We're asking for more if it's moving uh budget neutral. If we are moving within there are there are restraints to
moving money. There are some administrative as you said discretion in order to keep the lights on from day to day. These are projections that we put in the um in September and there are times when we may need to find something for something that came up just unlike in real life in any government or any
business. Not everything is always exact. So if there's a need to do that the limitations we have are that we can move 5% of any category that would be the categories are personnel materials and supplies purchase services
and then equipment. So we can move up to not just in the transaction but the accumulated value over the period of the year. So if we we can't you move five and then 5% tomorrow the next time it's 5% total from one line to another within a department. So public works is the
example we can move across the bureaus up and down 5% but we can't move it into community development or police or fire anything within the departments or if it goes into civic expenses the 901 or general expenses 081 that's going to trigger the need and requirement to come
to council. Um, typically during the year we'll have several council meetings. Typical agenda might be four to six, you know, four to eight agenda items. The first one of the year, again, just because of the pent up demand and the turnover, the year is always going to be a little bit larger. But, uh, again, so the next one, what you don't
see tonight is the water and sewer capital that we are just about could have been ready to go, but we're trying to space it out as we can because those are similar to memo number 10. Tonight, the reconciliation of the capital fund. There are a lot of accounts in that
particular fund. So, we'll hold on to that. But we would we will be making a request to meet again, not the next meeting, but sometime in in March. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Evans, for that background. I didn't have any other questions as it relates to item one. The
uh we're not going to Mr. Aman, just so you know, historically we would vote on every item. Tonight we're just going to have one broad vote on the group just for sake of everybody's time. Welcome, Councilwoman Quitec. The No problem. I was just saying we're just finishing up
agenda item one. We're not going to vote individually on all of them. I'll welcome us voting on them as a group at the end of the uh the committee meeting. >> Got it. >> So, we'll move on to agenda item two. two is also
a carryover of funds from the 2025 budget. At the end of the year, money was identified to purchase equipment and you'll see in the reason for their proposal is a purchase of new office furniture. If you look up top is the amount being
transferred down below there under I say down below it's under the expenses two different accounts. 0507 is that's public works and that's the facilities bureau. That equipment or that furniture entails different conference rooms and that's A100 B504.
0601 is listed as equipment that also is for furniture that 0601 is the police department. So there is some furnishings are being um renovated throughout the police department. We've attempted to do do that through time different divisions
um to upgrade their facilities. Any questions from any member of the committee? I I just had one, Mr. Evans. So for the 35,000 for the police department renovations, you said that's for renovations, correct? >> Or chief maybe? >> Yes. I I would ask to turn to chief
>> just so Thank you. >> If the renov is the renovation ongoing or is this the entirety of what these furnishings are going to look like? I guess my question is if if there's a renovation, where are we at in that renovation project? So, it's going to be
for new office furniture for the records room personnel as well as our police traffic bureau. >> Okay. >> So, desks uh with the half wall cubicles, new chairs, um filing cabinets. Uh where we're at right now,
we uh have been dealing with a vendor. Uh we had them come in, do measurements, give us a quote. Uh we feel confident in the the product that they were able to show us. Um, we were able to demo the chairs, uh, kind of look at the the desks that they have in stock. So, we're
we're at the point right now where we're ready to purchase set equipment. >> And will there be future purchases for other divisions coming? >> If you remember, um, Mr. Evans, correct me, it was probably five years ago we did the criminal investigations
division. We, uh, we upgraded all of their furnishings as well. So, it it's something that we evaluate on a yearly basis. Okay. >> Uh just, you know, what the the status and the the uh the capabilities are of what we have in
stock and what we're able to utilize for our personnel. >> Okay. Thank you, Chief. Yeah, if you visit the police department, if you move back near Chief's office, was a nice op center got upgraded nicely. Um the fifth floor additional space was created. A AARP used to be a tenant in city hall.
we got to the point where it didn't seem to make sense when we're looking for space and we have tenants that maybe don't need to be here in the first place. So, they found another home and that happened and that created significant additional space, but then they need to furnish it um adequately. So, we that was one and then also if you
come in to the elevators to the garage, if you make a left chief was just talking about all the way down, it's restricted area. We can't get in unless we have a guided tour to take you back. But they did a nice job both internally when I say renovations, it's paint, the IT, the wiring all gets tucked away. So rather it was getting a little bit quite
outdated and very much in need of a facelift and just um something much more appropriate. So that was done and again I was trying to think about that pre and postco when that that was done when you're speaking of but all around all a couple of them were a couple years ago going 21 arrows I'm thinking.
>> Thank you. We can move on to agenda item three. And >> this is a grant uh JAG grant for Chief Cut. So this is for the justice assistance grant. Um there was a balance
left over from last year that we're simply looking to have transferred over to this year. >> Any questions from the committee? Councilwoman, >> just a quick one. So, um assuming we get another grant this year, we can add them
together and spend them together. >> Yes. >> Awesome. >> However, um the uh the federal government still has not released any information on the 2025 JAG grant. So, we're still waiting on that as well as the 2026. >> Yeah, I'm just looking. 2024.
>> Yes. >> And then, Chief, how long do you have to spend this money that's rolling over? So for this particular grant, uh I believe it's 2028. >> Okay. >> So we have some time to spend that money. >> Thank you. Any other questions from the
committee? >> Thank you, Chief. >> Thank you. >> Item four. Four. We're going to move into >> four and five will be fire chief. >> Uh good evening. Item number four is a
$5,000 grant awarded to the fire department through FM Global Insurance. Uh this grant is awarded to fire departments throughout the country uh that basically meet the minimum criteria uh through training and inspection and enforcement. Uh we re we're lucky enough to receive $5,000. This grant is going
to be used for IT needs such as switching over to iPads uh from our current MDTs and buying the necessary equipment and hardware to mount those within within the apparatus. Any questions? >> How many current vehicles are already
updated with this with this technology? Where would this take us then after this? >> Uh so we are actually still in the testing phase. We are switching from the large uh MDT laptop computers that we carry to iPads. >> Um our inspection division as well as our administrative staff has been using
those for about six months. They're still working some bugs out. Uh but what this is going to allow us to do is start start installing them in the apparatus. We find them to be capable of doing everything that the new software does uh except we can purchase three of the iPads and mounts for the price of one
MDT. So we we we're hoping it's going to be a very cost-effective move for us. >> May I just ask somewhat related, does does police also use a similar a similar piece of equipment for their vehicles? Are they sticking with laptops? I I don't I know they're not the same, but
>> we stick to the MDTs, the mobile data ter terminals, which are basically tough books, rug ruggedized laptops for our officers. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Anything else? Any other questions? I don't have any. Thanks, Chief. We can
move on to six. Excuse me, five. >> Yes. Item number five is a 2025 PER grant, which is a pipeline emergency response grant that has been awarded to the fire department in the amount of
$55,455. Uh this award this grant is awarded through FEMA and we plan on utilizing utilizing this grant to purchase equipment such as combustible gas monitoring equipment that would be used in pipeline or rail type emergencies.
>> Thank you, Chief. Any questions from the committee? I I just had one uh have we received this grant before? Is this a typical award? >> Uh yes, in the past we have received both of these grants in various amounts uh just not in consecutive years.
>> Understood. Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> We can move on to item six. Six is health and we have health director Kristen Wenrich. >> Welcome Miss Wenwick. >> Good evening. So we just received a
grant. We were notified in December that we were receiving a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Health to work on maternal health initiatives. So, a new account is requested to be created um both for um other cost type expenses but also for temporary help as it will
be paying for staffing. And then the uh second uh is an amend is a an increase and that's just a rollover from 2025. That's with our workforce development grant that was paying for a communication plan and also for a community health needs assessment. The work wasn't completed in 2025, so we had
to allocate those uh expenses for 2026. >> Thank you. Any questions from the committee? >> Uh pardon my ignorance. How does uh how does one take advantage of this kind of funding as as a person in terms of like the emergency hotel stays etc. So this
this grant is I don't know if you're familiar with our community connections program >> loosely. Sure. >> So we have a community connections program. We have social work a team of social workers that work closely with police department. We get referrals um of people with all types of different social service gaps. So what this grant
is trying to do is it's trying to merge our home visiting and partners for healthy baby program um where we work with families and and new parents with community connections. So most of the individuals will be community connections clients. So if they come through um as far as a referral and they
have unmet needs such as housing or or food insecurity, we'll be able to utilize some of these funds to assist in that manner. >> Thank you so much. No further questions for me, >> Councilwoman. >> Thank you, M.
Thank you. Item seven, we'll do seven and nine together. That works for me. >> Thank you. >> Hi, good evening. Uh if you don't mind, I will actually start with number nine uh which has the the full scope of the
ESG, the emergency solutions grant uh amendments for the budget. So, we were awarded in um 2024 the fiscal year 24 emergency solutions grant. We've talked about that before. We administer that on behalf of I believe seven uh nonprofit
organizations. Uh it's homelessness prevention, street outreach, emergency emergency shelter, and rapid rehousing. Um we were also at the end of last year added an additional $150,000. There was some additional funding
available from the Commonwealth and when we saw what was happening in Allentown and Bethlehem with some of the encampment um clearing, we went in um together with the Lehigh Valley Regional Homelessness Advisory Board and asked for some more money as part of this grant to support with those efforts. Um,
so that's how you get to the 559 total for the fiscal year 24. And then also we were just awarded uh for our fiscal year 25 an additional $400,000. So we're adding all of that into um this year's budget. So you'll see the the revenue
and the expense accounts for both of those under number nine. And then going back to number seven, one of the awardees of the grant. So we we are a pass through for the ESG, but one of the awardies is the health bureau. Um so
they are getting $20,000 of that 150 additional uh that we were awarded at the end of last year um for some programs that were running specifically out of the health bureau. So we are adding um in number seven, we are adding that revenue and expense into the general fund. So they're they're
presented separately because the ESG money exists in what's usually like our HUD account, like our um O9, I believe. 09 and then the health money is in the general fund budget. >> Thank you, Miss Collins. Any questions?
I I just have a quick question. So, the city acts as a pass through as is outlined in the memo for the recipients. Who does the reporting go to then? >> So, the reporting comes back to us and then we submit it to the state. So, in in our office, um, our housing policy
lead and then also our grants administrator, they work through all the grant agreements, and then they also are responsible for coordinating with each of the recipients, which I think we're now up to 14 total. So, we get um their invoices, we process their payments, um,
we also get their reporting that's due to the state and and kind of funnel all that up to the Commonwealth. >> And compliance is typically where it needs to be, I would assume. >> So far, yes. Yeah, it is. Um, you know, it's it's f federal money. It comes through the state, but it's federal money, so it is fairly complicated, but
um we're we're handling it well. >> Thank you, Miss Collins. We we could go to seven. >> Are we >> Oh, yes. I I had mentioned seven is just for the health bureau general fund portion. >> Oh, sorry about that.
>> $20,000. >> We're good on questions from the committee. Thank you. Thanks. >> So item eight. >> Eight, uh, Ed Boscola, our director of water and sewer resources.
>> Okay. So, uh, this is, uh, the addition of a a staffing uh, person in the water fund. So, we have a we had a recent retirement from the sewer fund, an account clerk at the wastewater treatment plant. We are not going to
fill that position. his roles are going to be assumed by others in the department. Um, and we feel a need to create some additional maintenance support up at our water water filtration plant. So, it'll be headcount neutral
for the entire water and sewer fund, uh, water and sewer department, I should say. And the budget amendment is to add the salary number into the water fund to account for that new that new position. Any
questions? >> I don't have any questions, Mr. Buscoll. Thank you. And we could go to 10. >> Um, I'll take that one. Um, this memo is an annual exercise. When we originally submitted the proposed 2026 non-utility
capital budget, in most cases, we presented numbers that were equal to the 930 2025 balances. And so in January um of 26, we compare the 930 to 2025
balances to the 123125 balances and calculate the differences. And this memo um reflects those changes. And I'd like also like to add that um the list of these projects are only um
this list only includes expenditures that were previous previously approved by council either through the budget process or through a finance committee meeting. >> Thank you, Miss Larch. >> You're welcome. >> Any questions from the committee members?
Uh just seeing the the $2 million difference, if I'm reading it correctly. Yeah, about $2 million difference. Can you call to any ma anything major um significant that would have caused that or is it just really a conglomeration? >> There's a couple projects. Um Friendship Park um as of 9:30 they were expecting
it to be completed. So we budgeted zero for Friendship Park. Um let me >> if you see Friendship if you're tracking it there. Sorry. 69999 662048 and the first meal is halfway down on the back side.
Um the under the expense oh the first page is our revenues and if you go back three pages or you can tell what um funding source if you look at the budget unit you can see what the budget unit tells you what the funding source was.
For example 62017 was 2017 bond money. Um 62019 was 2019 bond money. So, but if you go all the way to the end, there's a 6999 and that's um funding through um grants
um interfund transfers from the general fund um UGI um expense reimbursements. It's various funding sources. So, the large items, the one I was referring to was a 699 Friendship Park.
When we were originally budgeting Friendship Park, they were expecting it to be completed as a 9:30, but it wasn't and we um adjusted it for 700 707,000. Um also at um police vehicles um during
the um one of the f later finance committee meetings we transferred um savings from the police over to escrow and that's to get that into that went up 600,000. The rest are just reconced
to. It's just an estimate on the other ones. >> Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. >> Any other questions from the committee? >> I don't have any questions, Miss Larchic, but I will recognize our controller, Mr. Yaso, is here tonight,
so I was going to invite him up to the lect turn to give any comment he would like to. Mr. Yaso, >> thank you. Uh, just a note on the on the last agenda item, the adjustments to non-utility capital. Um, it obviously
has a lot of moving parts in that one agenda item. Um my note for uh for council is at at at this point or excuse me for the committee at this point you know what we try to do is look at all these balances
and again most of them are adjustments from what either was not spent in the fourth quarter or uh was spent in the in the fourth quarter and we try to verify them all through uh basically running expenditure uh analysis reports right
Um, so the one I cannot verify and it's one of the smaller ones, uh, only a 5,825, uh, dollar adjustment when you're looking at that full 2 million. Um, but it is the East Broad Street corridor
improvement. Um, through the different expenditure analysis reports we ran, we were unable to tie that number in any way. We did meet with Mr. Evans and Miss Lazarek this afternoon. um and we're kind of given an explanation, but at this point I don't have any physical
documentation um have access to or been provided with any any physical uh documentation that I can tie that number to. So that's just a note for the for the committee.
>> Thank you, Mr. Yaso. I'm going to ask a question related to what the controller just shared. Can is it what can you share with this committee about that? >> I sent the reconciliations how I came up with my numbers and I have um so I'm
waiting for questions. I sent the I have spreadsheets with reconciliations. I was waiting for questions for if there were any others. I was the person we're in the process of reconciling the grants and I know what that is. It had to do with matching matching a calculation of
matching a grant like I think it was like 85% was supposed to be grant money and we had a 15% match and when it was originally presented um the 15% was based on the funding and not the total
project. And so that's what that was an additional match that we needed to uh of I think it's rec fees I believe but I have to meet with Carol Stone who reconciles the grants. >> So the and just so I'm understanding
correctly it's 58.25. Is that the amount that we're talking about? >> Yes. >> And Miss Laric, what's your level of confidence that that's from recck fees? >> I'm not sure if it's recck fee but it has to do with the match. I remember that part of it. >> Okay. And Mr. Yasu, you don't need to come
back down to the mic, but of all the projects that are listed, that was the only one that you had something you want to share tonight. Correct. Understood. Thank you, Mr. Yo. >> Anything else the administration wants to share before I open it up to committee members for any other comments
before we vote? >> No, sir. Any other questions or comments from members of the committee? So, as I had mentioned at the top of the meeting, uh historically we would vote one by one. I will accept a motion and a
second to consider all 10 agenda items as a group. >> So moved. >> Motion by Councilwoman Quiet. >> I'll second. >> Second by Mr. Aean. Any discussion on the motion? There's none. Mr. Miller, call the role on the motion to vote on
them as a group. >> Mr. Raymond, >> I miss >> I. >> And Mr. Cologne, >> I passes 300. All right. Now, we will >> Thank you. >> Now, I will Well, we still got a vote on them. So, I I will accept a motion and a
second to send the groups to full counsel to, Forgive me, I'm a little out of practice. I will accept a motion and a second to recommend approval of all 10 items uh in the group on tonight's
council agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Councilwoman. >> Motion by Mr. Aman, second by Councilwoman Quitech. Mr. Miller, call the role. >> Mr. Raymond, >> I miss >> I. >> And Mr. Cologne, >> I passes 30.
The reference legislative items will be placed on tonight's city council agenda. >> Thank you. Thank you everybody. Meeting is journed. Part: 2
Madam President and I'll mail it to you. >> Someone didn't sign. >> Good evening everyone. We're going to get started on our council meeting for the evening. If we could all rise for the pledge to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> The clerk can call a role. >> Mr. Raymond, >> present. >> Mr. Callahan, >> present.
>> Mr. Colog, >> present. >> Miss Daniels, >> present. >> Miss, >> present. Miss Leairard and Miss Liam >> present. We would like to congratulate Councilwoman Leard on the expansion of her ever growing family and so she will not be joining us for the next couple of
council meetings. U moving on to the approval of the minutes? Any comments on the the minutes? The minutes stand approved. Moving on to public comment. The first public comment is on subjects not being voted on. A
reminder, there is a fivem minute time limit for public comment. Starting off with the people who have signed up to vote. First, I have Mike Garcia. >> Good evening. Thank you for letting me
speak out. Uh my I live out here on Church Street, 72 East Church Street. That is um born and raised in the southside which was Northampton Heights. I'm kind of disappointed with uh all the
buildings that we have going on here in Bethlehem. It's taken it just taking the city u just taken away the Christmas city itself. Uh it's getting to look a little bit like Williamsburg on the south side. And when I say that, uh,
it's it's just I [snorts] don't know. Uh, who'sever doing all the development better start hiring Americans. Okay. We got an issue. The people that build the board apartments there, uh, all from Latin
America, Turkey, Colombia, Mexico. Why can't we have our own people here in America? This country was built by the Americans. Of course, the Europeans came and
settled here. My father come hereund and some years ago from Mexico back then in his 20s. He worked in Betham Steel Company. He was brought in by Brasto's uh leader who was Pedro Gonzalez. Pedro
was a good man. He got all the Mexicans to work and the heist itself was built so many homes for the Mexicans when they came. They set them up to let them live there. And then all of a sudden things
changed around. I don't know if you folks remember, I think was 54 when I was shining shoes. I was in uh Leo's Cafe and uh they had some MPs coming in taking out the
Mexicans that were here for a number of years working in the steel industry. And the reason for that, they didn't need them anymore. They brought in the Puerto Ricans from Puerto Rico because they didn't speak English. They figure they're going to keep these
guys to break the union is what it was all about back then. also low wages. This is not anything to do with the city of course, but I think we better start waking up in this country and show the
respect toward one another. We have big issues and it's got to stop. I I I don't care what party you folks are with or whatever, you got to start showing respect and the understanding of
one's feelings. We all have our feelings and you got to respect everybody's opinion no matter what it is. If you're for transgenders, gays, or whatever, that's your business. But don't shove it on the people who don't want to see
these kids being crucified with this transgender stuff. We have big problems. Okay. Where's the mayor? I thought he would be here. I wish he would have an open door policy. I've been coming around 60 years
in here. Bob Dones, Cunningham, Callahan, Marinson, Gordon Mer. Well, back then, Mayor Schaefer was here during the 50s, but we had good leadership back then.
All of a sudden, it's just all greed with all concernment with music festivities continuously. Everybody goes, "Arts quest is the major thing in our city." Well, there's the homeless. What about them?
And they're being allowed to loiter out here in a do so out here in the city hall. I I I just can't understand it. The country has changed. Well, that's all I got to say. Okay.
Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Garcia. >> Next, I have Alex Miller. [clears throat] >> Alex Miller, at Monakasi Street. Uh, tonight I'm here to comment on the city's use of flock safety. Uh for those unfamiliar, Flock builds itself as a
public safety technology ecosystem which provides safety solutions to law enforcement, neighborhoods, and businesses. Flock sells license plate readers, security cameras, gunshot detectors, and now remarkably drones, as well as software solutions that synthesize audiovisisual data to produce
a mass surveillance network. They now sell to more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies in more than 6,000 communities. Current estimates vary between 80 and 100,000 cameras around the nation from just one company alone. Flock also
offers an AI powered search tool for this data called Free Form. You can type in any term like man in green hat and blue hoodie and Flock's platform will comb the video footage collected in our community to find relevant targets. Functionally, a law enforcement agent can now Google someone's car, bike, or
appearance, apparently for any reason whatsoever or no reason at all. Back in October, Senator Ryan Widen of Oregon opened an inquiry into Flock's practices. In an open letter, his office concluded that Flock does not require law enforcement users to enter case
specific reasons, nor does Flock prohibit law enforcement customers from entering meaningless generic reasons such as investigation or crime. Last week, 404 media reported that in response to grassroots flock camera mapping efforts, several law enforcement
agencies have actually encouraged personnel to be quote as vague as permissible in justifying their queries. In the wake of nationwide protests in 2025 and using flock data obtained through open records request, the Electronic Frontier Foundation discovered that several law enforcement
agencies provided quote only a few words or even just one. In many cases, the word used was just protest. In December, reporters at 404 Media actually managed to surveil themselves using flock camera feeds that were left exposed to the open internet. The team
was able to surveil children at play in parks, watch themselves using crosswalks, and follow cars around a city. Quote, "The cameras were left not just live streaming to the internet for anyone who could find the link, but in many cases, their administrative portals were left open with no logging credentials required whatsoever."
Last month, a quote, "Handful of police departments that use Flock unwittingly leaked details of millions of surveillance targets and a large number of active police investigations around the country because they failed to redact license plate information in public records releases.
And I would be remiss if I did not mention the widely reported assistance that Flock Tools and Software have contributed to ISIS heinous activities in cooperation with local law enforcement subscribers. Outcry from the ACLU, the University of Washington, and countless local media
outlets let led Flock to patch certain issues with its product. But to to think that these issues could not arise once more would be laughable. ICE has already been to Bethlehem. And just today, we find out that DHS has purchased two warehouses in Hamburg and Skookul Haven,
probably to warehouse human beings. To quote Senator Widen's letter once more, Flock confirmed that it misled state and local law enforcement customers. Customers were inaccurately informed that Flock did not have relationship with DHS while pilot programs with sub agencies of DHS were
briefly active. Quote, "The company has adopted a see no evil approach of not proactively auditing the searches done by its law enforcement customers because as the c the company's chief communications officer told the press, it is not Flock's job to police the
police." In my view, in Senator Widen's view, local elected officials can best protect their constituents from the inevitable abuses of flock cameras by removing flock from their communities. I know that this is one contract with one firm, but proliferation of new
technology has a tendency to happen very slowly and then all at once and often not for the best. I urge you to end the city's partnership with an endorsement of flock safety. Do not continue to pay a company that that is at best grossly negligent and complicit in unspeakable
state-led violence and cruelty. So many realms of modern life have been forever changed by Silicon Valley's ethos. Move fast and break things. Surely we should not apply this to our civil li civil liberties. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Miller.
>> You're welcome to stay and seek with any of us after or if you have any questions for our chief of police, she can meet you in the hallway. Um, moving on to Mr. Will Weber >> Mark Will Weber 66 West Elizabeth Avenue talking about u
utility issues in in general and water specifically of course [snorts] um [clears throat] I don't know how many council members look at um complainers of Bethlehem site there's about I think they have about nine or 10,000 people that look at it. So, a lot of people a lot of it's
frivolous like people complaining that somebody took up two parking spaces at Target or something. But, but some of it I think is really valuable because you as council people can get sort of a a heartbeat from what's going out on out there in the community. And I saw one
last week that really really made me feel sad, man. This lady was on there saying that her electric bill for the month was $420. She has a tiny little place on the southside, makes her living cleaning houses and
small businesses. So, she puts her it's it it has electric board heat. So, that's that's why it's so high. But, um you [clears throat] know, she was freaking out justifiably. You know, she's like, "How am I going to even pay this?" And uh if you remember uh Senator
Boscolola warned everybody about a year ago that you know electric prices were going to go through the roof and um that kind of thing. I really feel like the next real uh battlefield in class warfare was going to be over utilities. You know the guy from PPNL made 9
million three years ago and this lady is wondering how she's going to pay her monthly bill. And it's going to it's going to come to a head at some point. Now, as I've said before, I realize council can't do much about uh electric prices, that kind of thing, but you can do something about water. You know, I
was going to circle back to water, right? So, um these water apps uh can save people a lot of money and they can keep people off um Mr. Buscola's payment plan and they can save you from being ambushed by a big uh beautiful quarterly
bill that you'll get if you have a leak and you don't know about it. Uh, I think earlier in the year I told you about this guy down in Fairmont, West Virginia. He's retired now, but the guy's name David Sago or Sego. I'm not sure how he pronounces it. Uh, and in
2016 2017, he already had smart meters in Fairmont, West Virginia. I didn't even know where the place was. It's about 10 miles south of Morgantown, apparently. But it actually is almost kind of like a model uh project of how things should be
done with smart meters and more importantly the protective app that goes in because by 2018 he had that protective app on everybody's phone in Fairmont, West Virginia. It's only eight years ago. Uh
and you know what I loved? I read an article about it and when when he got around to um putting in the giving the people these downloadable apps to protect them against big bills, he said this was the crown jewel of my project. It was the most important part of it for
him even though he knew the smart meters in themselves was going to make money for the water department because inevitably I think they had like 15% of their meters old meters were slow or not working at all. So he knew as soon as he put these new meters in, they were going
to regain all that that increased revenue. But the crown jewel was the protective app that he gave the people. And that's what it looks like when you have water department that actually works with in conjunction with the
people. Uh and and by the way, the guy, you know, you know that old adage, you get what you pay for. It's sort of an insinuation that if you don't shell out big bucks, you're not going to get the real talent. Well, Mr. Sega was making $81,000 when he did that for his community. There's a lot of uh laid off
co-workers and stuff, so he knew it was important. Uh he wasn't making a six figure salary for 10 years. Uh so, you don't always get what you pay for. You want somebody that's motivated to do the right thing for the community. And uh
that's what I hope happens here. But I think you're going to have to walk it all the way to the finish line, council, because um I think really what he wanted to do was jam 37,000 smart meters down the public's throat and not give them the one thing that was good for them,
which is that protective app. So without that, it's good for him, but it's not good for us. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Will Weber. That exhaust list of people who signed up beforehand. Um, so moving on to in the room public
comment on things not being voted on. Mr. Faber, >> Harry Faber, I think I've been gone for too long. I think I signed up for the wrong one. >> It's okay. I know you're uh >> I I crossed it off. >> Appreciate it. Um, words fail me. uh my
present vocabulary does not do justice for the feelings I have nor the horrors we are witnessing in the present. The sheer scale of injustice is unquantifiable. There is a quote from the book uh the divide by Jason Hickle that essentially goes like this. Society should be judged
by its capacity to do versus what's actually being done. And human civilization in the present has the capacity to ensure decent living standards for all while simultaneously taking care of the planet and being sustainable. By what we are doing versus what we could be doing, we are the worst
generations in history. I would like to relate that to what's happening in this country and what our local government is doing. Obviously, I know Bethlehem city government can't dismantle ICE as an organization, but there are measures that could be taken which aren't. We need legislation
preventing law enforcement from sharing information and resources with ICE. This is a bare minimum. You cannot claim to care and be on the side of the working class while not doing the bare minimum. We cannot use terms like systemic issues without addressing the system we live
under. That being capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy, white supremacy. As it's been said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Inaction is action. By not acting, you enable the ethnic cleansing of our community. Bethlehem needs to be the shining star, the guiding light in
opposing fascism in the Lehigh Valley, not just another cog in the machine. I also want to second everything that Alex said. I thought he did a wonderful job. And really, we need to do more. We can't be a cog in the machine. And as the mayor should already know, we need to be
a little revolutionary. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Faber. Turning to the center. Does anyone have public comment on things? Mr. Shire, [clears throat and cough] Bill Shire, 1898 Avenue. Well,
[clears throat] no, no more Mr. Nice Guy. I I have to channel uh Gilda Rner once again from Saturday Night Live. Never mind. I had some nice things to say say about
snow removal at the last meeting, but I discovered it with the recent uh snowstorm, which was more substantial. Uh same old same old. Snow pushed in front of the car, snow pushed behind the car, snow pushed alongside the car, and
snow pushed under the car. But thanks to my neighbor and her snowblower and a young man named Javier Javier from Queens who now living in Allentown, I was able to get up and go.
Leaving uh the library one night, I happened upon a little interesting little picture here at the intersection of Church Street and that little street to the east of City Hall. I forget the name, but a front loader was dumping
snow into a dump truck. Oh, that's that's that's that's pretty good. And that caused me to wonder if it would be possible to do more of that in the future. How much would it cost? How
much would we have to add on to the property tax? But I think it's worth worth thinking about. Um, I'd like to segue into the parking authority. Um, [clears throat] the let let me just
say that it won't come as a great surprise to you that the parking authority is not universally loved in this city. Um, in fact, I know of someone who says likes to say
that the parking authority has too much authority and not enough parking. They And I'm wondering if it's possible. I imagine they have some sort of financial statement, but I haven't in
the 23 years I've been back, I have never encountered such a thing. I think it would be very interesting to say the least if their annual statement perhaps of expenditures and what they went for and revenue and so on were made more
public. Uh the and so instead of well and then also there's business about the big white box. It's going to loom over Main Street.
Seven stories. I'll remind you that Gordy Mau said to me once that his biggest mistake as mayor was urban renewal and he realized the future was around the corner on Main Street. Having a sevenstory building
somewhat dominating Mainstream reminds me of the fable of killing the goose that laid the golden egg. It's going to detract from the appeal of Main Street. Back again to the parking authority.
The Well, instead of a parking authority, we have a parking authority. Okay. I'd like to add on to uh what Mr. Garcia said with a little thought of my own about
people being here and deserving to be here and so on. See, [clears throat] this is a statement of personal feeling. But it seems to me that if somebody wants to live here
and is willing, if able to work and subscribes to our laws and to our beliefs, our ideals, to me, they are already an American.
Andif Oh my goodness. 50 seconds left. Uh, [laughter] I want to piggy back on Harry, but now I forget what it was I wanted to say, so I'll have to save that for another meeting. >> We'll be here next time. >> Good night. >> Good night, Mr. Sher.
Anyone else in the center? Mr. Antalics. Mr. Antalics. Mr. Antalics. >> [clears throat and snorts] [cough] [clears throat] >> Steven Antalik 737 Ridge, the approval of the city budget was
which allows the hiring of several individuals as code enforcement officers of the Department of Community and Economic Development. And a recent vote by this body to not replace the Ford dismissed fireman has sent a
very clear message to the community. Revenue enhancement over public safety. This was well aired by this speaker during the public meeting section of the agenda at the last meeting
and was followed up by the council person who voted for a fireman replacement and rejection of the budget approving personal personnel additions to of code enforcement officers by this
council members questioning the fire chief about excessive of overtime. The two new additions to council, although pressed to speak out for the firemen, did not respond to the urging.
This speaker would like to know this evening as to how they might have voted. Were they then sitting behind that table when the foreman issue was highly discussed? Will they now support the vocal council
member in getting answers by following up on his questions? Support for this local council for this vocal council member was lost when a supportive
member ran for mayor rather than for reelection to this council. The strong person will certainly be missed by all of us as a public servant.
Also, will those five votes against the fireman replacement still hold their opinion? This is a concern of the public as exemplified by the turnout the evening
of the initial vote. We wish to and deserve to know. We wish to and deserve to know. Will we again sit through Bethlehem's version of the silence of the lambs?
I am speaking to our public servants and not private citizens. >> Thank you, Mr. Analex. Does anyone else from the center have comment on something not being voted on this evening to the right? Right. Moving on to public
comment on things being voted on. I don't have anyone signed up for things being voted on. So, all right. Turning to the center, Mr. Antalix. >> This is for the second. >> Yeah. On things being voted on. You're the first hand I saw. >> Very good. >> Mhm.
Bear with me. [clears throat] Still Antalics. One could say that anyone who chooses the profession as a member of the community's police force is in fact choosing an honorable and noble
profession since their goal is the welfare and safety of the community. The community in turn provides a free arm free firearm in the performance of this duty.
Upon completion of this service and upon retirement, the retiree has been granted by tradition and appro approved unanimously by this body the ability to purchase that firearm.
Why would anyone wish to deny this very honorable retiree to purchase this weapon? has a weapon now in the hands of this retiree sudden become a threat to the community as equal to those on ruling
individual who also own them. If this retiree is denied the purchase and is forced to person one on the open open marketplace thus does not punish the retiree with an additional cost.
Let's examine the negative vote on firearm purchase. [snorts] If the decision is from a private person, then one could argue that this is their right.
But if the individual is an elected official and could one argue that vote is contrary to public will and tradition since it places private opinion over the will of the community. Since elected
official is a public servant come next election, let us say you can fool some of the people some of the time and you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.
Thank you, Mr. Antalics. Anyone else in the center want to make public comment on things being voted on this evening? To the right. All right, that concludes public comment. Moving on
to old business. Do any council members have old business? Okay, moving on to new business. Do any council members have new business to address?
>> Squeeze. >> Um I I did want to follow up on Mr. Miller's um questions. Um and um perhaps Chief Cot could join us at the microphone. So Chief, we talked about Flock um in terms of the license plate readers uh a
while back because somebody had brought it up and we do contract with them for with um with Flock for the license plate readers and at the time um you I believe that um um Mr. Spur also confirmed that in the contract we do not share
that data, right? It stays within our Can you explain that part? >> Correct. So we are the sole owners of that data that information and [snorts] we do not put it on uh any
opensource website that's available to the public. Um I am aware of what transpired. some police departments for one reason or another decided to release all of that information un
redacted. Um it makes no sense. I I I can't speak to why they would do that, but uh that that did indeed happen, but that's something that we're not in the practice of. And when I said that about it kind of being locked down, I meant that in other words, um, Flock doesn't have a right to take our license plate
reader data and and use it or sell it or or share it or >> Correct. Correct. >> So that's um And then in terms of the cameras, um, do we contract with Flock for our cameras? >> We do not. We contract with Genitech for
our cameras. We do not have any Flock cameras. Um, we only have Flock automated license plate readers. The automated license plate readers will take um short burst of a license plate that goes by and maintain that
information. I believe it's for 90 days. Uh I I will double check on that for you, but uh we do not have any of the I believe it's called the Flock Falcon uh cameras that some other jurisdictions have.
>> Thank you. That was helpful. Um I don't have any more questions for you right now. Um, and then I just wanted to say that uh I was in a room with 400 people on Friday night uh who are as concerned and
worried and scared and angry about what's going on. Um, I think we all heard the news about um the purchase of the warehouse in uh Burks County with some alarm uh and know that we're not the Lehigh Valley is not alone in that something like 23 different
municipalities have woken up to this news as well. Um, but our uh our city and our valley is full of uh really good people who care and want to protect their neighbors and and want to do the right thing. Um, and uh, and I just
wanted to um, just to point that out that I I couldn't believe there were 400 people in this room um, on Friday night when it was just it was such an overflow they had to break us up into two groups to have the meeting. Um, and so I I want to
thank everybody who came out to that uh, and uh, who continued to look out for their neighbors. That's all. >> Anyone else have new business that they want to address? I just have two two quick uh things. Um
Mr. Shai, I I couldn't agree with you anymore on the uh on that white box. Um I think it's going to be atrocious as far as the height. Uh and not only that, um it's not only Bethlehem land that we're selling to a developer, it's
historic Bethleam land. That that acreage there is in the historic district. And for this administration to allow historic Bethleam land gets sold to a developer, I think was a disgrace. And I've fought it as much as I possibly could during all the discussions. And
you know, it it went through anyways, but I'm with you and I totally understand your your uh concern about it. Um, Mr. Evans, I just saw in the end of year statement that there's a 7 above and
beyond what we projected. There was a $700,000 initial uh uh additional profit to the golf course over what was budgeted as a profit >> last year in the budget. Are you talking about the budget?
>> Yeah. In Yeah. And the budget book, the budget, the the numbers that we got sent, there was an additional $700,000 in profit above what we expected to have, which was in the budget book. >> Mhm. >> That $700,000, what happens with that? Did that go into the general fund?
>> No. No. The funds are all segregated. Uh that's a conversation we had back at budget time. Like we really can't do water to to do general or the general to do the sewer and the golf is the golf. Uh at this point the primary objective for that funding is to
replace repair the barn that's next to recycling center where the roof is falling off the walls becoming a safety hazard and it is used to store equipment um as well as it's a chemical rooms and you know which building I'm talking about. It's a pretty large it's a a
barnlike structure. So, um, Mike Alol and his team, members of his team has have been out to evaluate that barn. It is structurally, um, not able to be renovated, so it's going to be taken down, um, some de demolition and then
rebuilt. So, that's what we're appropriated though for it. >> What's that? >> Wasn't that money already appropriated and set aside for rebuilding it in the budget? >> That's what it's going towards it. Yeah. >> Well, this is new revenue. It was last year's the 2025
revenue that exceeded and that was is planned to move over into the golf account to handle that project which still doesn't have a full price tag on it. So I believe in the coming weeks and maybe Mr. Alol I look over my left shoulder to double
check with him. He's had um engineers out to determine the design and build what is the cost to get it done. We don't know what that number is yet cuz you got to take it down, remove it and then build. So until I I don't know what that number is going to be. I look to them to do it and then they will handle
that. So that's that's number one objective right now to because it is going to become a safety issue with the >> I was under the impression during the budget hearing for this year. >> Yeah. that the money that was already uh there was discuss there was a discussion
when we were talking about the golf course >> that we were already putting money aside for that everybody was aware of that uh garage or that barn needing work. So there was already money set aside for that. This is an additional $700,000 of
what was what what what was in the budget book as far as our profit was concerned. >> What we're saving towards the total will be maybe around close to a million dollars. But that's what that barn may be until we till we know. We don't know. So that's >> so any and all profits in the future
from the golf course stays in the golf course fund. >> Each fund is segregated. Yeah. Yeah. The funds don't crisscross the water, sewer fund, the golf fund, the liquid fuels fund, the storm water fund and general fund. >> But don't we do budget transfers all the time? >> Not between the funds.
>> Within funds. >> Within the fund. Yes. But never never across funds. We also use money from the fund to pay for health insurance uh workers. The fund pays Yeah. If you look
in the golf budget, medical's paid in there, pensions paid in there. There's so there is a self-sustaining funds and you'll see the line items that do that. >> So at no point would we ever take profit money from the golf course and use it any other place. it would all stay in
the golf course fund >> or or to pay for things associated. So like for example, it's the same thing we do with the water authority and things like that. So like whatever percentage and you know we do a maximus study I believe that is similar. So like whatever like the golf course doesn't have their own solicitor. They don't
have their own HR department. So just it's similar to the conversation we've had with other funds. So, whatever that is percentage-wise, like there is a number there that, and I'm making this up, where it's like $4,300 goes to pay for the HR version of
whatever the HR services are, but that is set by the Maximus study that we talk about. So, essentially, because they're not, you know, they don't have HR, they don't have healthcare, they don't have stuff like that. Those are costs then that are that that are sent over, but
that number is capped at the number. So, if your point is like once we hit that number based on the study, like if the golf course has a good year and there's not a lot of rain and there's good weather and they bring in an extra$1 $150,000, we don't get more of that in the general fund. That stays over there in their operating fund and has allowed
them to do some more projects. >> Got it. My my whole goal and asking just I want to be quick with this because I don't want to take up a lot of time, but I just uh as Mr. and Alex was talking about uh during budget hearings, we all had talked about possibly finding a way
uh to fund uh after we had our budget hearings the four additional firefighters for the last six months of the year. I want to I want to be analyzing as much as we can uh between now and the next month, month and a half to try to come up with the funding for
the 400 I think it was $60,000 for the four firemen. I am not going to let that die. I I'm going to keep pushing that until we get uh these guys fully staffed. I I I know there's a study going to go on, but um the stud is going to tell us exactly what the firemen are
already telling us. They're overworked and it's exactly telling us what you what you guys were telling us that um there's so much overtime needed that they don't even want they're being forced to do mandatory overtime. So, in my eyes,
maybe I'm convoluted in my thought pro process, but when we're forcing people to do mandatory overtime, they don't even want to do overtime. Normally, they want to do overtime for the extra money when they don't want to do overtime and they're being forced to do overtime. That's telling us we need more staffing.
So, uh I I would hope that we have a discussion as uh as the months go on here in the next few months about trying to come up with the the money uh for the four additional firemen. So that's that's my whole thought process. I was hoping that we could I I knew that we
use some of the money for um paying a pro uh payroll over there and healthcare and benefits and stuff and I was hoping that there was some way uh [clears throat] possible that we could uh if it was council's will we still can't override that?
>> No. And it's the same it's the same conversation we had a couple months ago as far as and I know that during the budget process you had suggested the property tax increase there's a lot of different revenue functions within the city that is money that has to go to that particular operating expense
>> and that's a state law or a city >> that's a state that's a state law backed up by state case law as well. >> Thank you. that which is the idea if you bring in $100 to provide a service that $100 needs to go to pay for the overhead as far as that service is concerned. >> Thank you. But if we're also using some
of that money uh for legal fees that might have been used by our solicitor, right? Isn't it true that at at some time isn't do they ever use the fire department over there? Does a fire department ever h have to go over there
>> and do any inspections or anything like that like fire inspections or things like that? >> We the numbers that we use come out of the Maximus study. Who are the professionals that necessarily measure that? Um I I don't do maximus studies for a living, but I would assume that, you know, maybe you could find a city
where you have frequent fires at a at a golf course by which that becomes a legitimate expense. Um but that's not something that I've ever seen in any maximum study I I have seen as far as as far as fire services are concerned. >> Thank you. And um
last thing is I I need to have a I need to schedule a meeting at some point in the future and I'm just asking for a real quick uh a answer on this. Uh, I need to have a um a safety meeting on uh new construction over at the Walnut Street garage. And I'm wondering what
subcommittee that would be. Would that be community economic development or >> I believe we moved uh I believe we moved the parking authority under community economic development from public safety. So it would be community economic development and that would be up to the to that chair. Yeah. >> Thank you.
>> All right. Um so does any other counsel? >> Thank you. President Leon, I I just want to follow up on what Mr. Callahan was saying because I think it's very important if we're going to continue having these conversations that we kind of remember our our recent history that
relates to them. Mr. Evans, the Maximus study that was referenced um to those who maybe weren't here during during budget season, but essentially we have to prove any any money that we're taking out of that enterprise, right? So golf is its own enterprise, water is its own
enterprise, sewer is its own enterprise. So, if we're going to move money around, we have to have a legitimate um backup to support moving that out because I think the the issue we ran into, and this doesn't finish my thought, is that anytime we're charging
user fees, so golf, I'm not supporting the golf fund with property taxes because I don't golf. The folks who go and play around and run a cart are supporting golf. Water, we turn on the tap, we run the water. That's why a cash balance remains in these funds that
maintains the the fund maintains the cash balance and we don't transfer it between different funds. So to so I guess it's a two-part question, correct? The maximum study is pretty much our proof to charge for administrative
functions to funds outside of the general fund and then also even within the general fund, we would have to any user fees have to be dedicated be spent on what they're coming in for. >> Correct. >> That that's correct. Yeah, the funds are
created for that purpose to be run and to be self-sufficient. So that's why we designed revenues to meet expenses according to each particular son fund. For example, you cannot increase a water fee, ask for water fee increase and then hire more police. The water fee is for
the wa users of that water system or the golf system or the the storm water projects. That money that comes in there stays in a separate account. We can't raid that account for a quick fix. It needs to stay within that storm water fund and handle storm water projects. So
that's why it's isolated and audited and budgeted in that manner >> and any charges to that individual account, >> right? And so that we understand if it's an account that needs support, it's a maximus study is what we look to. And that's again done by an outside
>> agency that determines how much support is the golf course. As as the mayor said, it doesn't have its own human resources or financial services. So after it pays all the bills and pays a medical and pays a pension, it pays the general fund 150,000 according to the maximus study, that's where that number
comes from to the city to cover those supports, administrative supports. Yeah. >> Thank you. And again, I'll state to gentleman to my left and full counsel as we continue having these conversations through the year, just to remember, we
talked about this uh a handful of weeks ago during budget season. we talked about again tonight just there there's there's rules that we must follow as we look to get creative with things. Thank you. >> Right. Any other comment from members of
council? Right. The only thing I will say is because this will be a continuing conversation. I'm just going to keep track of what we've discussed. So so far we've discussed basically payment in lie of fees um that that fee and enterprise funds. So so far those two are off the table. So, as we continue to look, those
two are kind of we'll backer those and just continue to look in a different direction as we continue to look for money. All right, we're going to move on to communications. Communication 6A, >> January 20th, 2026 memorandum and proposed resolution from public works
director Michael Alall. Mr. All call recommends an agreement with Arbor Pro Incorporated of California to provide an inventory that details the location, size, and condition of street trees throughout the city. Cost is $96,750, and the inventory is to be completed
within 8 weeks. There are no renewals. Arbor Pro was the lowest of four qualified biders. And resolution 10A is on the the agenda communication 6B. >> A January 23rd, 2026 memorandum from police chief Michelle Kot with an attached resolution an agreement for the
purchase of a duty weapon by retired officer of the Bethlehem Police Department. Pursuant to the third class city code, retired officers may purchase their duty firearms at fair market value. >> Resolution 10B is on the agenda. Communication 6C. A January 26, 2026
memorandum and proposed resolution from business administrator Eric Evans. Mr. Evans recommends an agreement with the Center for Public Safety Management LLC to conduct an objective and comprehensive fire and EMS apparatus protection and efficiency study. Cost is
not to exceed $82,740. Work is to begin within 30 calendar days from the notice to proceed and is to be completed within 120 calendar days thereafter. There are no renewals. >> Resolution 10C is on the agenda communication 16.
>> A January 28th, 2026 memorandum and proposed resolution from Laura Collins, director of community and economic development. Miss Collins recommends an agreement with JLS Surveying LLC of effort to provide land surveying services for two parcels associated with
the greenway. Cost is $6,300 and is to be completed by December 31st, 2026. There are no renewals. Resolution 10D is on the agenda communication 6E. >> A January 23rd, 2026 correspondence from Lahood Law representing Rym Cowboy
Company. The applicant seeks approval of an intermunicipal transfer of Pennsylvania retail restaurant liquor license R8050, which was previously issued to Eastn Meat and Produce Corporation for licensed premises located at 250 Line
Street in the city of East, Northampton County, to the new licensed premises located at 217 Broadway in Bethlehem, Northampton County. I will accept the motion in a second to schedule a public hearing on this proposed interunal liquor license transfer on Tuesday,
March 17th, 2026 at 7 p.m. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Councilman Quitec, second by Councilman Cologne. The clerk will call the role on the motion. >> Mr. Callahan, >> I. >> Mr. Cologne, >> I.
>> Miss Daniels, >> I. >> Miss Quiet, >> I. >> Miss Leairard, Miss Aman, uh, Mr. Vermont >> I >> and Miss Le >> I. The public hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, March 17th, 2026 at 700 p.m.
>> A res a resolution will be placed on the March 17th council agenda. Moving on to reports. Um I don't have much other than we will be adjusting how we do the the council minutes. If you'll see that this recent set of minutes was
a shortened version. The only thought process I had around that is that we do have the live stream online and it's part of our our record. So just to ease up on the city clerks for the right now we will have a more condensed so it's going to capture everything that we're legally required to capture by our
minutes. It will just be slightly more condensed. Um moving on to mayor's report. [clears throat] >> Uh thank you. First of all I want to uh just pass along my congratulations as well to Councilwoman Larair on the addition. Um, and hopefully she's not
listening right now, but um uh just uh you know when I saw the pictures just beautiful and congratulations to her. Um I also want to uh thank um our staff and also I think uh Council President Leon and Councilwoman Quitech were at our opening doors meeting um a couple weeks
ago. So just I really want to thank you uh for coming out. Um it's important to be able to talk about those projects as they move along and I just want to thank Miss Collins and Mr. tool and everybody that that works so hard um to be able to uh make the presentation. I want to thank uh County Executive um Seagull
from Lehigh County for coming over as well um to talk about housing. Um just a couple other things. Uh I do want to uh thank uh Mr. Alcohol and his whole group for their snow removal efforts. Um it is uh it is [clears throat] a challenge obviously when snow comes quickly and
then when it gets cold um that it just stays around for a long time and uh you know it really was for us a tale of two different weekends obviously with two different snow um uh levels of snow. This was the first time we actually called a snow emergency in the city in about five years. Um so during our first
term there wasn't one. So the last one actually went back to February 2021. Um, so there are some operations that we had not done in five years and I thought it went really well. I do want to thank Mr. Alcohol. Um, and [clears throat] one just note is that and you I know some of
you know this is that when there's a snowstorm and we don't call a snow emergency, we can't mandate anybody extra to come out. So when we call a snow emergency, then there is the idea that they have no choice but to come out to be able to and that influences our
ability to be able to remove snow, to be able to get cars off the road and things like that. >> So it is it's and I know this issue has come up as far as like forced overtime and things like that. streets department, water department, our police department, every department at certain times has the situation where for
whatever particular reason there might be a situation where there's overtime that is necessary. Our snow removal operations often are dependent on how many people choose to come out or not to come out. It's in their contract. It's collectively bargained. We can ask, we can ask nicely. Um but it is just it is
always one of the considerations when we think about snow removal and things like that. Um but our guys came out um bunch of shifts uh people came out to work. They were able to move as much snow as they can. Obviously when you're dealing with over a foot of snow and it's cold
and you're in a city, there's only so many places you can put the snow, which is why we've continued to do removal um in both the day shift and the night shift to hit a lot of the different main areas and so on and so forth. Um and I want to thank I want to thank all of those uh individuals and especially Mr.
alcohol who I think this is not an exaggeration doesn't sleep when it's snowing. Um so he's both watching our own AVL system to see where people are where he's looking at other cities to see how well they're doing at snow removal watching the forecast. So I just I really want to thank Mr. Alcohol um
and obviously connected to some of this as well as many of you may know is both in the city and outside of the city and some of the surrounding areas um there have been an increase in water main breaks with how cold it has been. Um so Mr. bus goals guys have really been busy the last couple weeks as well. Some
working nights, working weekends to both uh respond to um uh pipes that have burst and just sometimes those issues end up leading to other issues and things like that. So I wanted to particularly thank um those two those two um departments that have really been working. And the last thing I would just
say, and I think a couple people were here, is um last Friday, I guess it was, the days blur together. We had our opening for the Coalition for Appropriate Transportation over at the Walnut Street garage, and it was um it was just a truly special room. There was it was packed. There was a vibrancy that
you don't find in many rooms. um and people just coming together under this idea that um you know we can be more efficient about moving around that we can have doors that are open to people to come in to learn about bikes, learn about transportation, just a real community space that would not have been
possible if we didn't make the right decisions about how to build that garage. And that was a topic and a theme with a lot of people that were there from CAT. Um I think many of you know I think um some of you might have been involved. They walked all of their bikes from all the way out at their old
location, which was miles, probably a couple miles, two miles, two and a half miles. I see council tech saying yes, it was cold. Um and uh but it's a it's a just a really special opportunity um that we have and Atlanta was there and planning commission was there, DC&R
individuals there talking about how the city of Betham gets it right, how how happy they are to be supporting our parks program. It just really was one of those days when you look at the private and the public sector coming together with a little bit of a unique idea um that uh is it turned out to be a success
and it's going to be it's going to be a success and there was a lot of talk about how you don't need to choose to be something that you can be everything that you can put a coalition for transportation um retail space in a parking garage and reach different people. So it is the
type of unique partnership that I want to thank Scott Slingerland. I want to thank Cat. I want to thank um LVTS, which helped to support um CAT moving forward. All of their donors, all of their board, he's the only employee they have um that works full-time, for kind of really doing something special that
was an idea and a concept and turned into something that's just going to it's going to help people out and it's going to help us to be able to have further conversations about having bike culture and pedestrian culture center to downtown. um lowering the reliance that we have on individual vehicles and just
seeing what happens when you choose to make the right sophisticated smart growth urban decisions. So, I want to thank everybody that helped us to get to this point. Um and more exciting news coming soon as it relates to that. So, thank you uh President Leon. >> Thank you. Moving on to committee reports. Mr. Plum.
>> Thank you, President. The finance committee met earlier this evening at 6 p.m. in town hall. 10 proposed budget adjustments were discussed, most of which dealt with adding grant money received by several departments and 2025 year-end budget reconciliations.
As a result, all 10 bills have been advanced to this agenda for council this evening as proposed for first reading. Thank you. >> Thank you. And before we move on to ordinances for final passage, I also want to pass along my thanks to Mr.
Alcohol. I did check on you last last week. Um, but I would be remiss if I didn't do so publicly. I live on a tertiary tertiary tertiary road. Um, so we don't see uh a lot of the removal because that is obviously reserved for
the primary roads. That's where everybody is at. Um, but even on my road, I was able to get safely to and from taking my son to school. I couldn't go 60 and slam on the brakes, but I I could get to school safely. Um it really is a herculean task to get through a
statewide snow emergency and our snow emergency here. So thank you to you and your crew. Moving on to ordinances for final passage. AA >> ordinance of the city of Bethlehem, counties of Lehi and North Ampen, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, amending article 1701 of the codified ordinance
is entitled Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code by adopting the 2021 Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code. Bill number 02206 is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss Quiet. >> Discussion on the ordinance.
The clerk will call the role. >> Mr. Callahan. >> I. >> Mr. Cologne. >> I. >> Miss. Daniels. >> I. >> Miss Guate. >> I. >> Mr. Aman. >> I. >> And Miss Leon. >> I. Passes 60. And moving on to new
ordinances. Uh because this has been discussed, I would accept the motion and a second uh to combine 9A through 9J with a reminder that we can pull anything out that we would like to if we would like to discuss them, but I would accept the motion in a second.
>> So move second. >> Moved by Mr. Callahan, seconded by Mr. Cologne. The clerk will call the role on the motion. >> Mr. Callahan, >> I. >> Mr. Cologne, >> I. >> Miss Daniels, >> I. Miss Quiet >> I. >> Mr. Aeman
>> I. >> And Miss Leon >> I. Motion passes 6. The clerk will read ordinances 9A through 9J. >> Ordinance 9A. An ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehi and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the general fund budget for
2026. 9B. An ordinance of the city of Bethlehem, counties of Lehi and Northampton, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, amending the general bud fund budget for 2026. 9 C. An ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehi and Northampton, Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, amending the general fund budget for 2026. 9 D, an ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehi and Northampton, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, amending the general fund budget for 2026. 9 E, an ordinance of the city of Bethlehem, counties of Lehi
and Northampton. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the general fund budget for 2026. 9F an ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehi and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the general budget fun general fund
budget for 2026. 9G an ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehi and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the general fund budget for 2026. 9H, an ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehi and Northampton, Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, amending the water fund budget for 2026. 9 I, an ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehi and Northampton, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, amending the community development block grant fund for 2026.
and 9J, an ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehi and Northampton, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, amending the non-utility capital fund budget for 2026. Bills 03 2026 through TW uh bill 20 correction 12
of 2026 are sponsored by Mr. Aean and Miss Quietch. >> Any discussion, Mr. Plant? >> Thank you, President. As I'd stated uh a couple minutes ago, we reviewed all 10 of these tonight at finance committee. I thank Mr. Evans and all members of the
administration who came out because it did cover a lot of different departments. Ultimately, it's just a lot of routine end of the year transfers, some grant money that came through and then um moving one position between departments, but ultimately it's headcount neutral. So, I don't think
there was anything um it was all fairly routine. Any other discussion? >> The clerk will call the role. >> Mr. Callahan, >> I. >> Mr. Cologne, >> I. >> Miss Daniels, >> I. >> Miss Quiet, >> I. >> Mr. Raymond, >> I.
>> And Miss Leon, >> I. Passes 60. Moving on to resolutions. Resolution 10A. Be it resolved by the council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller and/or such other city officials is deemed appropriate by the city solicitor hereby
authorized to execute an agreement with Arbor Pro Incorporated to provide a street tree inventory. Resolution is sponsored by Mr. Aman and Miss Quiet. >> Discussion. >> The clerk will call the role. >> Mr. Callahan >> I. >> Mr. Blum. [clears throat] >> I.
>> Miss Daniels >> I. >> Miss. >> Mr. Aman. >> I. >> And Miss Leon. I passes 6. Resolution 10B. >> Be it resolved by the council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and the controller and/or such other city officials is deemed appropriate by the
city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute an agreement to effectuate the transfer of the cityisssued handgun assigned to Lieutenant Michael Duzio, a retired city police officer. Resolution is sponsored by Mr. Aean and Miss Quitech.
>> Discussion. The clerk will call the role. >> Mr. Callahan. >> I. >> Mr. Cologne. >> Hi. >> Miss Daniels. >> I. >> Miss. Fu. >> Nay. >> Mr. Aean. >> I. >> And Miss. Leon. >> I. Passes 51. Resolution 10.
>> It resolved by the council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller and/or such other city officials deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute an agreement with the center for public safety management to provide a fire and EMS study. Resolution is
sponsored by Mr. Aean and Miss Quiet. >> Discussion. The clerk will call the role. >> Mr. Callahan. >> I. >> Mr. Cologne. >> I. >> Daniels. >> I. >> Miss Quiet. >> I. >> Mr. Aman. >> I. >> Miss. Leon.
>> I. Passes 60. Resolution 10D. Be it resolved by the council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller and/or such other city officials as deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute an agreement with JLS Survey LLC to provide
a boundary and land area survey of two parcels. The resolution is sponsored by Mr. Aean and Miss Quiet. >> Discussion the clerk will call the role. >> Mr. Callahan >> I. >> Mr. Cologne >> I. >> Miss Daniels >> I. >> Miss Quiet. I
>> Mr. Raymond >> I >> Miss Leon >> I passes 60 resolution 10E. >> It resolved by the council of the city of Bethlehem in accordance with the municipal records manual hereby authorizes the disposal of human resources public records as set forth in
exhibit A. Resolution is sponsored by Mr. Aean and Miss Quuitech. >> Discussion clerk will call the role. >> Mr. Callahan >> I. >> Mr. Cologne >> I. >> Miss Daniels >> I. >> Miss Quiet. I >> Mr. Aman >> I >> Miss Leon
>> I passes 6. That concludes the city business for tonight. Get home safe everyone. >> Enjoy your day.