We are recording everyone, just so you know. YouTube's going. Good evening everyone. We're going to get started. Ask that we all rise for the pledge to the flag. 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. Mr. Mr. Miller, please call the role. Mr. Callahan, present. Miss Grampy Smith, present. Miss Quay, present. Miss
Leairard, present. Miss Leon, Miss Wilhelm, present. And Mr. Col, present. Councilwoman Leon is not going to be with us this evening as she is on vacation. So, we have a public hearing tonight. Prior to consideration of the regular
agenda item, city council will conduct a public hearing. Public hearing number one is going to be related to the Department of Community and Economic Developments 2025 CDBG and home funding recommendations. This public hearing is forformational
purposes only. There will be no votes taken during the public hearing. In connection with this public hearing, there is one communication. Mr. Miller, please read that communication. A June 25th, 2025 memorandum from Robert Vidoni, housing and community development administrator, submitting
materials for review by city council during this evening's public hearing for the 2025 community development block grant and home investment partnership program allocations. For program year 2025, the city will receive1,418,36 in CDBG funds and $417,183.96
in home money. Thank you. The public hearing is called to order. I'll start with whoever from the administration wants to discuss the proposed 2025 CDBG and home funding recommendations. Mr. Vidon, I see you come to the mic if
you don't mind just identifying yourself for the audience who might not be familiar with who you are. Mr. Vidoni. Hello, Mr. Cologne. My name is Robert Vidoni. I'm the housing and community development administrator for the city of Bethlehem, the CDBG and home manager.
And today we will I will uh try to keep this brief. So this is uh we have an annual hearing. We have two annual hearings every year. And this is our annual hearing in council. And tonight we are here to go through the administration's proposed program year
2025 CDBG and home allocations and also talk a little about our annual action plan process and our consolidated planning process. So you have a presentation. So I'm just going to run through that.
So recently, uh, HUD released our allocations for program year 2025 and, uh, compared to 2024, our CDBG award was basically the same, went up by $3,000, and our home award increased approximately 15%. Again, our 2025 CDBG
award was $1,418,000 and change, and our home award was $417,000 and change. So just a quick summary, uh, community development blockrat funding is federal funding and it comes to us through an
annual formula that HUD applies to our jurisdiction based upon a bunch of demographic and housing factors. So there is a formula used to come up with what the city um gets on an annual basis. CDBG
activities have to either benefit low and moderate income populations, prevent or eliminate slums or blight or address urgent community needs. And with our program, basically low and moderate income populations are are those that are targeted with with this funding. So
CDBG funding supports a wide variety of activities whether it's economic development, revitalizing neighborhoods, blight, um housing initiatives, improves improving facilities and services and public services. So uh a grantee like
the city of Bethlehem, we operate on an annual cycle and we also operate on a 5-year consolidated planning cycle. So this cycle we have our 2025 action plan as well as our um next 5-year consolidated plan. So today's hearing is
part of those are basically part of those two processes. The home program, the home investment partnerships program was established in 1990 to assist low-income households. Funds are awarded annually as a formula grant based on housing supply, poverty,
and other factors. The uh program funds housing activities including direct rental and purchase assistance, building, acquiring, and rehabilitating affordable housing for rent or ownership. All home money is directed towards families that are at or below 80
80% of the area median income. The intent of the home program is to increase the supply and quality of affordable housing, to help expand the nonprofit sector in connection with its capacity to to build and rehab housing, to strengthen state and local government
capacity to provide housing, and to leverage private sector investment. Um, that's that's very important, the leveraging aspect for both CDBG and home. This money is is meant to sort of build project capital stacks and to be assembled with other funding. Uh that
that's a key key purpose. So as to the city of Bethlehem home programs, currently we have a home buyer purchaser assistance program, the Bethleam home buyer assistance program called BHAP and that's a in part administered by a nonprofit partner. We also have uh other
we could we can accept home applications for construction of new housing, construction of new rental housing, and rehabilitation of of housing. So now just to get to our 2025 um the administration's recommendations,
proposals, requests that are coming to council right now. So for our program year 2025, we had 23 CDBG funding requests totaling 1,837,912. 20 requests were recommended for funding
totaling $1,418,36. So there were 15 external non- city applicants and 13 of those were recommended for funding. Home we had um three applications that were all recommended for funding. But I just want to back up for a second. I missed something very important. So CDBG
there's a very large constraint that we face is that there is a limitation of uh 15% uh we cannot give out more public service funding on an annual basis than is equal to 15% of our annual grant and right now that means that uh we hit our
cap at around $212,000. by far the largest you we always have many many more public service requests that come in from nonprofits than we can fund under these cap constraints. So whenever you're looking at a potential
CDBG program that's a vital a vital thing to to note. We would obviously uh all the applications were were great applications were great programs and uh it's just impossible to fund all of those public service applicants. There
will be a little more on that. So, generally unfunded CDBG applicants are encouraged to apply for future CDB grant funding subject to continued funding availability. Um, on an annual basis, we usually open CDBG applications in the in the winter
and we evaluate the applications in in the spring. And then it's closer to the end of the year that we we usually get our uh the money from HUD and then we engage we execute grant agreements and then we're actually able to start distributing the money and and start the
projects. So when we are unable to fund applicants generally we recommend they also inquire or figure out whether they're eligible for other city uh resources and grant programs particularly the community
recovery fund. um you know that would be the the next cycle in 2026. Also, we attempt to direct them to other state, local, and federal resources. So, in terms of our 2025 recommended
allocations, 20% is capped for administration, that's program admin. Uh we discussed the 15% service cap. So right now we are um recommending that 49% of the allocation
go towards housing activities. Public facilities is 14% and uh the neighborhood revitalization strategy area which is also called the north side alive that's uh 2% of of this particular grant. the the next page for home, we
have a 10% recommendation and under the home program, we're capped at 10% for program admin. There's also a mandatory allocation for community housing development organizations and that's a minimum 15% allocation and then we have
an additional um like future affordable housing projects. So I will just quickly run through I know there will be questions. I'm just going to run through the recommended uh projects and try not to dwell on them too long.
So this project list comes from the allocation spreadsheet which you all have and copies are out there. So for CDBG program administration 20%
um we recommended the uh $283,661 for community action development corporation Bethleam tenant advocacy program $15,000 allocation Betham Emergency Shelter 67,746 Hogar Kria are recommending 20,000
Lehigh Valley Center for Independent Living 15,000 Um, as you could see, share volunteer caregiving 10,000. Hispanic center Lehigh Valley Food Pantry is a 20,000 recommended allocation. New Bethany representative pay program is 50,000
recommended. North Penn Legal Services 15,000. Calv Betham Home Buyer Assistance Program Administration and Housing Counseling 25,000. Um, community action Betham residential facade rehab program 66,000.
On the next page, we have uh city housing rehab grants and loans. This is $358,000 and change. Program delivery, which is related to our owner occupied housing rehab program, $241,500.
New Bethany drop-in center construction for 75,000. Holy Family Senior Center fire system improvements 75,000 Gap Street corridor improvements $199,990. Um, city west fourth street corridor
improvements $100,000. Future uh projects $53,4 is a north side alive strategy preparation that's $24,710 and the city redevelopment authority
blight elimination program $30,641. As you can see, the recommended home allocations are on the next page. So, we have city program admin $41,718. Uh, CHROT allocation, that's a minimum.
We have to have at least 15% $62,578 and affordable housing project requests, $312,888. uh an important part of I guess a distinction between CDBG and home. We accept CDBG applications during a fixed period each year when we open. Home
applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Home applications are are very complex. I mean both all of this money is heavily regulated and when we evaluate applications a key part of that is taking into account um you know not
just prior year grant funding to this applicant but can the applica you know is the applicant well suited to handle the administrative requirements and burdens of of the money. um applications can take months particularly home applications to go
through and to underwrite them and to basically come up with all the documents that you need to put in the file for HUD and when they come and monitor the programs. So that is an important thing to have um to have some funding that is
available when applications come in is a very important planning aspect. So, as I mentioned before, we are in our five-year consolidated planning process. So, I'm not going to go through every
single one of these slides, but slides slide 18 through I think 22. Over this long process, we came up with a bunch of priority needs that were identified um through the
consultation with a wide range of local nonprofits, organizations, individuals, stakeholders. And so we basically have the priority needs summarized in these slides as well as sort of outcome indicators. But if
you're interested to look at those, I'm not going to go through every single one. Now, I'm assuming there's there may be more detailed questions, but in terms of next steps in this process, the administration is planning on submitting
a resolution for council consideration at the July 15th council meeting. and that would be requesting approval to submit the recommended allocations to HUD along with planning documents for our annual action plan, our 5-year
consolidated plan and uh other ancillary documents. So, we are under a a strict HUD deadline. Uh the next sort of provided CDBG funding is is still here. We heavily publicized the applications
and hopefully come fall and winter we're going to go out to the community and again say we are um opening up CDBG applications. I went quickly through the the actual programs because many of you have heard
about them before and I figure you you may have individual questions on those. Thank you, Mr. Vidon. Anything else from the administration? Thank you. I'll open it up to members of council. Any questions or comments from Mr. Vidoni regarding his presentation?
I'll start with Councilwoman Leairard. Thank you for your uh presentation. Um few questions. So, when we're looking at the timeline and funds become uh available most likely towards the end of
the year that they're being used for, um can you just I I it's a refresher question. Um this is reimbursement funding, right? So, these programs are underway. They're not waiting necessarily for this funding to come through, but they may be
planning on that reimbursement coming in. they it different organizations handle that in a different way. So when we execute grant agreements, the grant agreement covers the year starting January 1st for incurred costs. Um some
organizations wait until they actually have the executed contract. It depends on their indivi, you know, their individual financial controls and practices, but they're all reimbursements. Um okay. And for the home funding, you
talked about the complexity of the applications. Um, and some of that seems I understand like that's not something that the city can do anything about. Those are federal uh guidelines for all of the auditing and all of that that has to take place.
Um, but when we're talking about vulnerable populations who benefit from those dollars, then it seems like there might already be some extra barriers in place and then it's a really really honorous process to get access to the funding. Are we allowed to use any of
the funding to create opportunities or tools to help people with the process? Well, we that's a huge part of what we do. We're always available to provide technical assistance. I frequently talk to
organizations or individuals who, hey, is this is this project potentially, you know, could we possibly get home money here? Is a CDBG eligible? So, we spend a lot of time talking with uh organizations and individuals about possible projects. That's a a huge part.
We are always here to to assist in that respect. Uh in terms of it, it is absolutely a barrier. uh to Yes, I I agree 100%. It's hard to get around that barrier, but we attempt to give maximal
assistance and attention to individuals and organizations when they, you know, if if they have a project that's reasonably eligible and we think this is plausible and doesn't present uh immense financial or legal risk to the city. I mean those things are all factors but we
absolutely are always here to talk to anybody about potential projects and we'll help them through that process. Okay. So when uh it says like a certain percentage of the funding is for administration then that includes helping people through the process. Yes.
Um okay excellent. Um and then had one other question that I am now going to be blanking on. Oh, the um facade improvement, the residential facade program. Um I'm
somewhat familiar with that program from uh some work I've done with North Side Alive. Um and I know that for a while there there was a challenge getting um contractors to enough contractors to provide bids to get it approved through the process and therefore some of the
money was just kind of sitting. Are we still running into issues with that type of thing or has uh the contractor market become more responsive uh to quotes for those types of jobs? The contractor
challenge is still exists and that's a a sort of balancing struggle to to find contractors that can deal with the compliance and turn out a good product, you know, in a in a reasonable time frame. And again, we work with the
subreients to try to balance red tape. And I mean, we're these programs are here to try to get the money out into the community organizations into individuals to actually, you know, help people. And it is a barrier. Often the administrative
red tape. It's it's a it's a barrier. So we have a a give and take uh a as to what there's certain things we absolutely have to require and um it's a sort of ongoing conversation. It's a huge challenge of my job is how
to balance liability liability protection. I mean we could protect ourselves maximally by not granting any funds. Okay. So but that's not a good option. So we are I think those challenges are still there but we try to
on an annual basis we're constantly asking is this particular requirement overly ownorous you know what's the proper balancing here got it okay and then um thinking forward like it said as long as funds are available people are
encouraged to apply who maybe didn't get funds this time um is there any more sense at this point uh of whether these funds will continue into future years. Is that looking pretty
solid at this point or I wouldn't I wouldn't say solid. I would say that the as as you know, so in trying to figure out this the big beautiful bill passed in the Senate today and trying to figure out well what is in that um you know it
was not clear that the HUD funding for these programs was touched in the 900page the big beautiful bill. However, we're we're monitoring it and working on you know there there's a whole committee process. So as to what we looked at
before this meeting, we did not see, you know, no more CDBG or we're finding at 50%. Uh we are paying attention to it and trying to figure that out. I wouldn't say it is clear at this point in time. Thank you. And just to add to that, two things. One is he's referring
to that descriptively, not as the way he feels about what's in the bill. Yes. And also the name has also been officially changed as as as happens um as far as the bill is concerned. Um but it was uh what's likely to include CDBG is more likely to include what their fiscal year
appropriation is that they're talking about doing by the end of July. So untouched by whatever shenanigans have occurred over the past 24 hours and what's shenanigans going to occur um moving forward. So separate kind of budget resolution. If they're doing continuum resolution or a full year, I
think that's up for conversation um as far as what they were going to do, but it was not something future CDBG allocations not necessarily something that they could touch through the reconciliation process, which is what the they have been trying to get around as much as they can over the past couple
of weeks. it was, you know, more limited scope. And ju for the record and for the minutes, we will insert the correct bill number. And now I'll call it the July 4th first Senate reconciliation bill. Just in case one of the reporters is watching and then quotes you in the article. I don't I don't want us to have
anybody there. So thank you. Thank you. So I will recognize Mayor Reynolds joined us. Welcome, Mayor. Any other questions for Mr. Rodon or the administration? Mr. Callahan? I do. Um the Robert the uh the money for the uh
program admin and planning costs. So um by law it's only 20% on that and then 10% on the other column. So how many people work on this? So there are different staff members
that work on different components and may have a certain time built to the CDBG or home program. currently in community development. There there is me. We have one grants compliance specialist. We have two housing rehab staff. There are also
other DCED staff members that work on different aspects of CDBG or home programs. So, but I would say the the core staff right now is is four, but there's partial beyond. So, so does you.
And who else? There is a grants specialist that's a a compliance a compliance and monitoring specialist. Who's that? Like a name I just don't know. Oh. Um Ellie Ne. She is our She just started.
We're very happy to have her on board. And who's the third? The third is Perry Risoto is and Sheila Brat from the housing uh rehab unit. Yeah. I just asked because I mean are all of them working on it full-time? No, it's like a part-time
thing like it's a small part of the year, right? It's a so it it it sort of depends on on the timing, but we there's a lot of federal money and other grants that we we work on. For instance, the housing rehab staff works on housing rehab uh cases that could be funded with
RDA money, state money, you know, they work with health and they work with health on lead money. So there's various money that goes into these projects. So they're they're not um 100% constantly CDBG or or home. Yeah.
How how much time out of your whole year do you would you ask I mean just have to type I'm not going to hold you to it. Like I mean 10% of your work year 20%. I mean I would probably say 50ish or Yeah. I I just I just think that, you know, if
you add the 283 and then the 41,700 from the other, you know, the other category, it's over it's over 325,000 an hour, that just seems a lot of money to be using from these programs that could be used on, you know, for the community on a on administrative costs. You know,
it just it seems to me, this is just my opinion. I'm not saying it's true, but it's my opinion that that we're we're helping subsidize almost a whole department on on these two funds here. I mean, I I
don't want to go over salaries. I know what your salary is and Miss Collins is, you know, based on our budgets, but if I mean, if you just look at if if you guys were working on this full-time, it almost pays for all for you and the other three people. So on a full-time basis,
I I I I understand I think just an important aspect of of what what we do is the the grant compliance and the legal aspect. So having having money it it there are
people that need to deal with like you can have the money you can't just so if you give the money to projects and programs there's like a long a long tale of compliance where you have to have people deal with those things submit HUD reports. So it's um the the people and
the fees that go into admin. It's not just for helping organizations uh figure out whether they could get CDBG to your home. And that's a big part of what we do. It's also going back years and dealing with dealing with HUD audits and trying to prevent situations where the
city is going to be liable for repayments. So a huge part of So if you were to just say, well, let's have no one. I'm not saying anybody's recommending this. You significantly increase the liability of city
forced repayments to HUD. So it's it's a balancing. Yeah. But it would still be you or one of the other three that are doing this stuff throughout the year, right? I I mean I just I just think that, you know, it's an extreme amount of money to
be taken from this program to help fund the administrative aspects of it. I mean, it almost pays for the full-time yearly salaries of you and the other three employees. And I'm sure you guys aren't working on it 100% of the year.
I'll just can I can I Yeah, go ahead. respond to that just a bit. Um, you know, I I will say I believe that HUD puts the 20% uh amount there because they anticipate that their grantees will spend around about that for administration because of
the compliance challenges because of the technical assistance because that is what's required really to run you know the CDBG and the home program effectively in entitlement communities and participating jurisdictions which we are. We have a very lean team compared
to our counterparts. I I think Allentown's team is about three times the size as ours. Um and they, you know, similarly I I don't know exactly what their breakdown is, but I would anticipate that they also spend, you know, 20%, most jurisdictions, I would
say, spend that 20% on um their uh staff and on compliance. And I'll also add that in addition to salaries, we do like every other jurisdiction, which we've talked about before, um we do also have a HUD specific um consultant that
assists in compliance matters as well, which is another thing that HUD recommends and that, you know, Allentown, the county, other other communities have as well. That's our Michael Baker contract, which you see annually, which is another component of that overall program. How much is that?
Um it's uh their contract includes CDBG and other federal compliance that's funded through different funding sources like community project funding. I think the allocation from CDBG is around $90,000 and what is that for like legal advice
for for compliance, right? So that's includes um ERR assistance, the environmental review process. Um they have specialists who do that. They have um other folks who assist on other compliance matters for both CDBG and home. Absolutely. For all these home HUD
projects, you need to do these extensive environmental reviews. Some are easier than others, but some are it and just to so it is sort of um it can change over time the allocations and the amounts of time that we're spending um o over time.
But I I just I do think again it's very important to understand that that at least I think it is that the the compliance of protecting the city against repayment liability and mistakes is uh is a vital aspect of our of our
job and it's not you know something that is is fun or that many people you know recognize or understand. Everybody gets annoyed with you when you're just trying to you know deal with the compliance. Everybody hates uh compliance or people that come in and say, "Hey, you need to
do it this way and blah blah blah." You're not you're not a popular person as the side will go. I mean, I mean, it it would really be impossible to run the program without the staff that we have. Um and again, we're running it on an extremely lean basis. If the suggestion is pay for it out of general funds and
rather than here, I mean, I think that would be counter to what most communities do. I think because you know HUD anticipates that you spend those these dollars to run the program but you certainly need this amount of people if not more to run the program. We h we have a very lean very lean program. So,
so Ellie, Perry, and uh and Sheila, they're they're full-time. That's all they do is is is this uh program. There are all there are multiple federal programs that we work on and there are multiple there's
multiple state programs like I would say we work on projects and those projects could have federal, state, local money all in one project. And so there's different aspects, but we are only allowed to bill for the HUD the CDBG related projects. We we can't bill HUD
and CDBG dollars unless they're working on CBG programs and they you know there's rigorous Yeah, we tracking and compliance. Do you have to track the amount of time that they're spending on it? Is there ever a time at the end of the year where there's excess funds left
over on the administrative end? We can we can roll funds over. Yes, if we do. there's money left over from the administrative funding portion of it. We can use that the for this year for additional grants to other um well we
could we could never put it into any of the public service projects because that is always capped at 15% of our total allocations. So even if we have leftover admin money, we can't put that into public service projects because no matter where the no matter
where the money is coming from, you can only ever do 15% total. So, we'd have to send the money back to uh the federal government. We can we can roll it over year to year and reallocate it to projects that aren't subject to to caps.
I'm just curious like last year like did we have any money left over from the administrative end that we rolled over to this year? I would like to I think we should talk discuss it with the business manager. I mean, I believe that there were some
I I don't know if I'd call them rollover or excess, but there there was we would I would say yes, but what exactly that came from, we would I think we would just need to discuss that. Is it possible to um not not next
meeting whenever you guys can do it just break down the the salaries of those three with yours just for us to get an idea and the amount of time that that we build to uh um HUD as far as like the
administrative end of it. We we can talk about it and see what would be appropriate. I'd appreciate Yeah. trying to get a handle on it a little bit better for next year's fund. and you know for the budget this year. Thank you, Councilwoman Will. Thank you
for the presentation. Um I guess just to follow up on what Councilman Callahan was saying, I I think the way I understand it is that the the work that supports administration in this the funds that
support uh the administration in this work are in service of the organizations who have applied. So you're a part of their team in essence just to sort of help myself understand it. Is that fair to say? Uh absolutely. For instance, an
organization they have a construction project. We work closely. I mean there's organizations we have, you know, bi-weekly, sometimes weekly meetings. If they're, let's say they're going to go out to bid for a construction project, there's tons of different compliance. We have to look at all their documents. We, you know, help them. We look through all
their bidding documents to make sure this is there, that's there. where we help them with the just the the overall project management. While they're responsible for it, we do have an interest in it and we work very very closely on an assortment of different projects with the nonprofits. So, it is a long-term relationship in in essence.
Um, and I I ask that and try to frame it that way just to sort of caution anyone, myself included, to not think of this as that those funds not being in service of those organizations that in fact it could go elsewhere and serve organizations. it is those funds are
serving organizations. Um, thank you for helping me understand that. I was curious, did we have any new applicants and or recipients this year? There were there were two new two new applicants
and recipients. When I when I say new, when I say new, I will say they had not applied in the last maybe three cycles. Okay. Can't guarantee they haven't applied since the '9s, but Got it. Um, are you digging for more information? Okay. I I mean, we generally don't like
to there there were I don't need to know new applicants. Yeah, that's that's all I wanted to know. Um, and how often do we see new applicants coming through? Most of the applicants are uh repeat applicants.
I I would say every every two years. I mean, we may have a new one, one to two new ones uh per cycle. Sometime there might only be one new applicant and and as was mentioned before there are lot there are very significant barriers to to even applying
for this money let alone you know dealing with all the compliance at the after your contract. Yeah it's not an inviting process. I am aware of that and and I I really do value the uh effort that you put in to support organizations in making their way through this very
very ownorous process. Um two quick questions. One is um are there limitations in terms of how many times an organization can apply in succession or uh to the amount they can apply for based on their own budgets? I'm sorry if you said this already, but I I don't
recall. I didn't me no I did not mention that. So we don't have hard and fast rules on you can only apply you know you can as of now you can apply every year. A big part of our application evaluation is looking to see have you received funding, you know, going back five, ten
years. I mean, we we look at prior grant history and that's that's a very important. Another factor is I would say the how large of a if you apply and you're asking 100% ask and you say give you know we would like 100% for the CDBG
project. We we ideally like to see leverage other funding so that the organization has you know money and interest in that you know in in the project and I would say like in balancing all these different factors this there's a score boost I would say
you know when there is other money involved um but no specific match is required home we have a 25% match CDBG there's not a mandatory match okay and lastly you had mentioned sort of soon enough you'll going out to the community
with this information. I think someone asks this every year, but could you say into the microphone how folks can learn uh where they can find information about the next funding cycle? Uh they it will it will be on the cities if they Google
City of Bethlehem CDBG or they call if they if they want to call me or if they would like to email me, they'll find you know CDBG resources, forms and uh you know discussion of the annual process. Okay. So, they're welcome to contact you
directly. Absolutely. I get contacted directly frequently. I'm sure you do. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Members of council? Councilwoman Cranley Smith. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Doni. And, um, for all these great programs also, um, I guess I
have just observation or question. Um, you know, most of these programs are, I mean, really necessary and are hitting affordable housing, which is great. My only question is um one is um North Pan Legal Services. I see they they asked for 25,000 and they got 15. And I'm just
wondering because I feel like that is an entity that really can help to keep people in their homes like was there a reason that we couldn't give them what they needed or give them more money? So there's a there's a cap on public on public service. So the cap aspect was
important to it. Additionally, we have recently given North Pen Legal Services additional funding and we would have the ability to if it was characterized depending upon the activity um you could potentially but I would say that the
public service cap was the main issue and and and prior prior funding that they've received and additionally the fair housing requirements uh have been altered on a federal level. So that
also but I would say that the public service cap was the primary constraint with this activity. What is the cap? Do you know I've had it's 15 15% and so it's about 212,000 assuming our current allocation amount. So is what would the cap be that they could receive? That
would be total 200,000 just for all service. So that would be total of all the grants that we give. Correct. This would be the to total of like if we have a $100 allocation, we can only give $15 for this program year to public service
activities. So it's a cap like from money coming from us, right? And how that's characterized. So it would be the whole the whole fun the whole budget of all the public service program activities, not just like North Pan would have their own cap. It's just within that correct part of the Okay.
and and there's because I I guess um you know I know um these programs are very necessary but I see that as something because I've just truly have had so many phone calls in the last probably year and a half or two years from um elected
other elected officials and individuals that were being evicted like without prior notice and you know they needed a lot of legal help let's put it that way. So, I just know that there's a lot of people out there, renters that really need a lot of legal help just from my experience in the last year or two. So, and North I just want to say North Pin
Legal Services is an absolutely fantastic organization that provides vital services. I've recommended on many occasions uh individuals to call. Right. Absolutely. And that's why I would say anything anything we could do because I could see them as a service just based again on all the people that reach out
to me that um they're really in need of and I know they're really they're really um just like many entities are they're really like low staffed and really swamped and they don't have enough lawyers to do what they need to do. So the other thing I was wondering about is I guess it's just an observation is the
um the the GP street quarter. Now, that's part of north north um north side of lie, but that's 200,000. Um and it just seems like a lot. Like I mean it's it's certainly I I guess my
perspective is um I think it's a great thing to do, but I don't see GPR as one of the most highly um pedestrian traffic streets in the city. And then I see something like North Pan Legal Services or other areas that need help with affordable housing and legal services
and in my mind like because we have such an affordable housing crisis and um you know economically a crisis for many people it's probably going to get worse. I I would feel like I would like to pri I would prioritize that more so and then the things that
while it's important I don't see it that it is a necessity right now that it could wait whereas we need to get people housing and that can't wait. Do you know what I'm saying? Absolutely. So I guess that's just my observation. I just wanted to get I guess the thought process or what went into deciding that
the 200,000 would go toward GP street improvements. Well, they're in different buckets just because the G gap street is not cap. It's not subject to the the cap. So, the first thing we basically do is okay, what are the different buckets
and how much public service funding do we have? And based on the amount of public service applications that came in, we had, you know, dramatically more asks than we were able to fund based on that cap. So it wasn't so the money wouldn't the way the activity is
structured be fungeable between reducing GP street and just moving it into uh North Penn because North Penn's capped it's a legal I'm sorry it's a public service activity. Would we be able to um transfer some of
the money at least or even all of it if we decided that it could wait from the GP street to something that would target more the housing issue? There are issues. There are there are options there are future there are options to
assess whether there could be additional funds that could go or whether things could be restructured or whether there could be there things that could but but sort of outside the scope of this particular action plan. Okay. I I think
Robert is it correct to say as a short answer like no we cannot move any of the GE street money into any of the public service projects. So that includes uh North Penn, that includes um even our housing rehab program like that you know that they're not
transferable. Yeah, I know you said that. I guess my question is can we transfer to any other entity that will help with housing? Not that has I mean not that has applied that we have evaluated in this process. So theoretically if there were a different
project that had come forward like a capital related project that has a housing component. Although those would probably be home dollars, but if there's a way you could fit it into a CDBG category possibly, but we didn't have a project like that come forward like not in this
cycle, but it could hypothetically come in the future. Yes. And just to add to that, we try to find people to apply for people within this bucket understanding the dollars that need to be used here as far as what the cap is compared to the other areas. So whether or not you're looking at Dub Bethany or Holy Family,
like there not only are there not other construction applications, we even have reached out and the few organizations that are willing to take it on have to deal with things like prevailing wage and all sorts of different factors that then they tell us no when we ask them are they able to apply for it. So when
you look at the public service, the ones that could be moved would be out of the other ones that Mr. Vidon have highlighted in blue that have the PS next to them. Um, with Community Action, Emergency BES, Hogar Cra, uh, Leah Valley Center for Independent Living,
Share, Hispanic Center, New Bethany. Those are the only ones to be able to keep within the caps. But on the construction side, we are constantly trying to find other people and we have other people look into it, but the application doesn't necessarily make sense because what it means as far as
compliance for the dollars versus how large their project is going to be and so on and so forth. But in in that is always where our first our first thought is like is there somebody out there doing housing that we can contact to apply that makes sense as far as that project is concerned. Traditionally,
we've had a very hard time finding non city projects to fund through CDBG with capital dollars. There were a couple years where almost all like a ton of money went to like our own streets related projects. Um, you know, in more recent years, you would have seen like
the YMCA project. Holy Family has come in with capital projects, but there's as as the mayor said, there's very few organizations because of how ownorous um these dollars are to use and administer that have that have come in. But we've been fortunate to have more external projects recently. Yeah. But there are
definitely internal frustrations as well as far as what those caps are versus what the demand is out there. Like if it was up to us and we didn't have to deal with any caps, this num these numbers would look a lot different. But we're dealing with what we're dealing with partly because of the caps. The other thing that happens in the construction situation too is like sometimes projects
haven't closed out previous projects that they've taken on and that's on them to be able to close out with project A from 2017 or 2019 or 2021 before they're necessarily able to apply again and be eligible again. This is a lot of what we
do as far as talking about what the best use is and trying to get these organizations to get through these complicated kind of compliance things. And one of the things that Mr. Voni does well with his legal background is being able to try to help these organizations who often only have one or two people to
be able to get this to the place where they're able to access these dollars. But this is I mean I think I've looked at 18 or 19 of these now and I I remember you know 20 years ago you know Tony Hannah talking about the same issue as far as like not only the caps but also how difficult it is for people
outside of outside of city hall to be able to apply for construction with the different um requirements especially the prevailing wage issue. Okay. Thank you. So I just have two questions then related to it. So just so I'm clear. So like on page five that's where like the
GP street improvement is. So would the other um activities above there like housing rehab um the RDA, the blight prevention, would that money be able to be transferred into those activities then because it's under the same
category? That that is more flexible. Those are not capped. I'm sorry there. Yeah. Yes. I would say those are more flexible. Those are not subject to caps. Okay. And then the only other second question is also would that
money be able to be transferred and used to streets like we said in the past we use streets and again I'm just this is just my mindset because I'm all about triage and priority especially when it comes to money because of growing up in poverty let's put it that way and I think the number one issue that people
have out there is housing and number two are the streets and it's not like that I'm against street improvement but I'm looking in my mind as prioritizing what the people of the city are saying Are there big issues? So would that secondly, could that money be transferred to do the streets
as it was in the done in the past? Oh, it would have to meet a number of criteria. It would have to be low to moderate income areas. We had, you know, public works has not requested money for streets this year. Um, you know, and in terms of community demand, I would argue
that, you know, the North Side Alive communitydriven neighborhood revitalization strategy area organization, you know, has like that is where that project originated. And, you know, Mr. Venon will tell you that the uh, Nursa designation, which is a HUD
designation, also has um, very, you know, strict requirements that we do use dollars in that area. So, you know, looking in the North Side Alive area is a is is a priority because again that's required by HUD with the designation. So, if we're looking in that
neighborhood on what are the priority projects, we look to you know the the communitydriven organization for their feedback and that that was the feedback we got from that from that group which is why we have prioritized it as a project. We do we have to show HUD all
sorts of different investment into that into that area. It's not just something you know That's those are my um observations and and my thoughts. I know that it probably will not happen because I won't I'll be outboed on it, but I just think that maybe, you know, now and
in the future, it's just a matter of, you know, really prioritizing that which is the most needed in our community. So, thank you. Excuse me. Thank you, Councilwoman. Any other comments for Mr. Vidoni or the administration? Uh, I'll just make a couple couple brief
questions and then remarks. Mr. Mr. Vidoni, our uh the allocations we went over amount to $3,000 more for 2025 than 2024. Correct. Correct. Is that t what's typically what we see or expect as an
increase year-over-year historically? Is the is the number relatively flat? Have we seen spikes some years over others? Have we seen decreases? Um, in general, let me just I will tell you, we we have seen since 1991, we've seen it go up to
$2 million. Um, we've seen it $1,600,000. The last few years, it's been, if you just give me just give me one second here. I just think we'd all benefit from a general trend if it's been staying the same, decreasing a little bit. So, so
through 20 2016, it went up incrementally, and when I mean incrementally, I would say below $100,000 year-over-year increase or decreased incrementally. Um, like 2016, the CDBG allocation was
$1,276,000. The 2024 allocation was 1,415 and we're looking at 1418. there's bigger bigger swings in in home over time. The allocations have reduced, you know, when
you factor in inflation and and they've reduced in an absolute sense and in a relative sense. Yeah. And I and I appreciate you mentioning that as it relates to decrease because like we talk about sort of like the casino host fee when a number stays flat but all the other operating costs, capital costs,
personnel costs, everything goes up. even if we're seeing these incremental increases over what whatever interval we want to look at when you factor in inflation and the cost of doing business we're just not able to get as much done so I think that just bears mentioning
and you had alluded to there were 23 requests and 20 uh applications awarded the three that were not awarded what's your level of confidence in general that those three if either other funding sources can't be identified side or is
there potential to sort of um work with them to make those applications either an a grantee next year or find an alternative funding source next year. I would some of some of them one of them
is a current grantee. Okay. uh and then two two of them I would say with some you know possibly restructuring or alterations in their application and some discussions about how to structure projects and exactly like what I I would say there is hypothetical future
potential depending upon what they were to come with the city with understood and were I would also just add I apologize for jumping in um I believe that the others have also already applied for the community recovery fund or we are going to consider them during the community recovery fund process And
just as a reminder, I mean, that fund was created, you know, when when Mayor Reynolds created it, you know, a couple years ago with the goal of being a more flexible funding source, and you can see that in the number of applicants we have for that program. We have, I believe
this funding source, 75 different organizations have applied. So although you'll only see maybe one or two new organizations apply for CDBG at home every year um because of how ownorous that is you know on the on the on the flip side because of how we've tried
very hard to provide a much more flexible funding source through the community recovery fund you know that that is an alternative for even those few organizations that aren't CDBG eligible you know we will consider them with the community recovery fund applications and can you just remind me in terms of
the community recovery fund When are those grantees announced? So, we just closed the application uh window. I would say about a month ago. What month? It's July 1st now. About a month ago. We we closed those.
So, we're in the very initial review stages. We're likely to um announce in the fall of this year. Okay. Thank you, Miss Collins. And then, as you mentioned, Mr. Vidoni that these are these are highly regulated dollars. I do
just want to point out you are an attorney. Miss Collins is an attorney. I believe the one of the staff members who worked under you is an attorney. Correct. Currently was a parallegal and and previously an attorney. An attorney. So and that just to me speaks to sort of
the you think your classes fell there on the floor there, Mr. Voni. But the it just speaks to just sort of the the complexity, the nuance, all that goes into just learning how to manage these dollars, learning how to help educate,
you know, starting with educating yourselves, then educating the community and helping this helping them navigate this process. This being my 10th year on council, I've heard time and time again how some of our nonprofits and we all know them are working on we talk about us working with um a skeleton crew for
lack of a better way of putting it are I don't think a lot of our nonprofits have a robust staffing either and they're just they're wearing different hats and and they're spinning a lot of plates at the same time. So my point is I appreciate kind of the expertise that the the technical skills that your staff
bring to work every day and then the time they take to help educate the broader community that's applying for these dollars as they're not something that um I don't know if just reading a handbook is sufficient for somebody to learn how to do that. Can you speak to I know you'd mentioned we want to protect
ourselves from liability. Um, historically, have we ever had to repay any um, CDBG or home dollars to the federal government for non-compliance that you can think of? Yes. Okay. And it's a free I mean it happens with any municipalities. It's a common
occurrence. So the and I guess my point of that is we are being audited, reviewed. It's not just emailing in reports that go nowhere. So that that just speaks to the importance of making sure that all the eyes are dotted, all the tees are crossed. So, I appreciate
all the the time, the skill, the effort that that you and your department put into that. One of the questions uh I believe was answered, but as we were talking about, you know, how we exhaust these dollars for administrative fees, everything has to be accounted for. Correct? If you spend however many hours
on it, that's reflected somewhere in a report that's audited or looked at by other Everybody has I mean, it's just everything about this money is heavily regulated. Understood. And then I guess just the final comment I'll make I'll have any more questions is that as we
talk about administrative costs and things like that and this has come up different budget seasons the last few years. We've been very fortunate for the last number of years here in the city of Bethlehem and city hall to receive a lot of different grants. I mean we've talked about money coming into Broad Street,
money coming into parks. Uh we've at different times talked about and and been happy about the money coming in. those typically grants are not they're not knocking on our door to hand out grants. So I think when just as you receive more awards there's more
administration that goes into it more time goes into applying for to recognizing the funding sources getting the data together to apply for the funding sources receive the funding sources the reporting the regulation that goes into it. So I think just on paper a byproduct of the monies that we
have coming in is that we have to put money in in some way whether it's CDBG for administrative costs, general fund dollars when we look at our budget, whatever would be just to make sure that we're um managing the strings that come attached to getting these different awards. Mayor Reynolds, you want to on
that? Yeah, just quickly and that goes across the whole organization. It's not it's in DC who obviously has taken on a lot of this, but it's also in public works. It's illegal. Like there's never been a time where city hall employees are as busy as they are now because every time we do, for example, we have a
Broad Street meeting coming up that you got seven or eight or nine different people. That's new work that wasn't being done three years ago and we didn't have that grant for $10 million to look at a uh you know a project that's going to take three years or whatever it might be. So you're right, it is good, but every time we get one of these things
and also we're always trying to balance out and people around here consistently and the two people that complain the least about this within their departments that are the people that do the most work are Mr. Alol and Miss Collins as far as what their two departments take on when we get these
grants as far as surveys and easements. And the other place that just a ton of work is going through is the legal bureau with Mr. Spur is just I mean every time we get one of these things and especially with the federal grants it's become almost a you know you can't turn around without people talking about
how difficult it is sometimes to be able to spend this money and there are outside organizations that don't apply that don't get this money because they can't deal with it. And we have very very sophisticated people that are here till 5 6 7 o'clock at night some nights just trying to make sure we do
everything. But the upside of that is because we are compliant and we do this, it increases the trust that the state and the federal government has and then they're giving us more money which is mostly a good thing but it is leading to increased increased amount of work um there. But yeah, it is there is the the
most underrated aspect of our success is just the sophistication, the hard work of city employees, as you referenced, including many people that might be attorneys or engineers in these different jobs that just know what they need to do to be able to not just get the money, but get the project done.
Getting the money oftentimes is the easiest part. It's getting the project done. So, I appreciate the the the acknowledgement of that because that is something that's going on throughout the city. Yeah. I have no other questions or comments other than Thank you, Mr. Vidoni, Miss Collins, Mayor Reynolds, any other feedback from council?
Miss Collins, do you want to add something? I I just wanted to publicly thank Mr. Vidoni for putting all this together and also congratulate him. He did just have a new baby 10 days ago and um you know has has continued to man this program and you know bring us here
uh today and and get the presentation together again with a tight staff. We recognize and appreciate um how much hard work you're putting in and congratulations. But he chose to come tonight. We we that was that was his choice. I'm not going to ask him. People aren't working that hard. I absolutely come back within a week. Wouldn't have
any go get some rest. Mr. Pony, do we have any public comment tonight? So, this is specifically on the public hearing which would be the CDBG and home presentation that we heard. Do I open up to the the wide center? Did anyone want to make comment on the presentation?
Yes, sir. I'll I'll remind everybody just like our council meetings, this is time to make comment on anything we heard and I do ask everyone pardon to uh respect our five-minute time limit. And if you don't mind giving your name for the record for our city clerk, Mike
O'Hare, 632 4th Avenue. Uh just a couple questions I had when I looked over the um the draft plan. And of course I'm not an expert on it. So these may be easy questions to uh answer. I I did email Mr. Vidoni, but I guess he's very busy
uh with the new baby and and everything else. So there were five questions I had. One was uh is the 1.4 million and the and the you know 400,000 is that for one year or is that spread out over five years? I I couldn't quite catch that
whether whether you know it was going to be just a one like a five-year grant or you get that every single year. And um then the other question I had was when I was looking at the plan, there are four census tracks in the city uh 105,
108, 110, and 112 that are designated as like the the most disadvantaged areas. Two of those are the south basically the south side of Bethlehem. The other one is up in the Marva Marvine Pemrook area and
the other one kind of circles north side 27 the north side 2027 area. So my question was um are those funds being used to benefit those census tracks? I think I see some
of that going like to the north side area, but I'm not sure about the southside areas and the Moravine Pembrook area, how that those funds are used to benefit those areas. And then just to go in the weeds a little bit,
the HUD identifies um households uh who are they consider in need of help in four ways. cost burden, um overcrowding, um inadequate kitchen facilities and in
inadequate plumbing facilities. And so, how does a city identify those? How do you how do you tell how do you know a house doesn't have a proper kitchen or proper bathroom? Uh do they self-report? Is that come come through the city
zoning officer or something or, you know, code enforcement or something like that? It was just a question I had. And um the goals on pages 132 to 136, some of them are specific to North Side 2027,
but a lot of them seem very vague to me. Uh or they're specific and maybe I I think you kind of answered that a little bit tonight. Some of them didn't really see u to me they didn't seem very specific. Were there specific projects, specific facade, you know, houses that
you're going to work on? Um, and then the the last thing was uh the analysis of impediments. The AI report claims there are systemic unfair housing practices in the city. Um, the way I
take it and it seems like those claims are based on um outside reports, like they're taking outside reports and saying that applies to the city and some questionable real estate advertisements. Like there were
some advertisements that they said this is this is potentially discriminatory, so it proves that there's unfair housing practices in the city. that seemed to me a little a little shaky. So, those are just um some of my thoughts. Mr. Vidon,
you're very busy. And uh thanks for thanks for listening. Thank you, Mr. O'Hare. I I will remind everybody as this time for comment. There also will be no action tonight. There will be a resolution in a future council agenda. So, the council will have further
opportunity to ask questions that we might have before we vote on anything. And of course, Mr. Voni in between his infant can respond at his convenience. Any other feedback? Mr. Antalics.
Stephen Antalis. I didn't intend to ask a question, but the gentleman provoked a thought. Um, considering the southside, the dramatic change in the structure of the southside in terms of housing.
50, 60 years ago, it was residential and single families owned many of the properties and rented to students per room. And that's dramatically changed because a quite a center core of the city is now
student housing. And whether these rules and regulations apply to student housing equivalent to single family homes, I don't know whether that's a valid
question, but the point being that uh it certainly affected the quality of life on the south side. Um so whether that's a factor in calculating what
you're calculating is it or isn't isn't isn't it and u at what point are they going to change the zoning to make it three persons as unrelated considered family rather than five which
exacerbates and continues the problem that existed which created the problem in the first place. Thank you, Mr. Antalics. Anyone else want to make comment on Mr. Von's presentation? Okay, thank you everyone.
A related proposed resolution will be placed on council's July 15, 2025 agenda. The public hearing is adjourned. We'll move on to our regular council meeting approval of the minutes for June 17, 2025. Any comments on the minutes?
Seeing none, we'll continue on. Moving on to public comment. So, this will be our first our public comment. We'll start with anything not being voted on. Again, I ask everyone to recognize the fivem minute time limit. We had one person sign up in advanced.
In advance, Arty Curuto. Hi, I'm Arty Curuto. Hey, 13 law street in Pennsylvania. Um, I'd like to make it clear, especially for anybody in any of the Mayberry RFD New Jerseys that
are listening, we in Bethlehem have an unbeatable police force and deserve the JAG grant federal and state funds
more than with any of these these cities or burls that wind up having police forces where their police officers do not respect their badges. They commit uh perjury, police brutality, conditions
becoming of a police officer and uh excessive force. We don't do that in Bethlehem. as I was a witness from a person who I personally know, I'm not going to mention his name, but a few
weeks ago, if he would have did what he did in some of those places in New Jersey, they would have hurt him. I was harassed and assaulted by police in Asbury, New Jersey on my birthday on
June 22nd at a place that I performed at for over 3 hours. I was only supposed to perform for three hours. The person did not that owned the place did not stop us from performing. He got all upset because I had a vegan cake that I gave
to the people that he said I can bring and give to the people. He said, "Now my people aren't going to have dessert. They're not going to spend 10 $15 on dessert. I'm not paying you." I said, "Look, oh no, sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned his name." Um,
I said, you know, really the fact remains that you told me to it's okay to bring the cake and we played, we performed for you. Consumer
theft is what it is. If somebody came to your place and ran up a $300 bill and they didn't pay because they said, "Your waitress didn't bring us any water, but yet they ate all your food. the police would take him or her away
and charge her. But anyway, not in this case. I was charged and arrested. And then I spent about 4 hours in a hospital around 11:00 p.m. to around 2:30 in the morning the next day. Later that day, I
had to return to the ER. Today on July 1st, I had to see my family doctor at the Veterans Administration about an ongoing problem that was caused by approximately a 30-year-old cop who I
believe never served our country. If you could take a look at the video that the police officer had on his jacket as he was facing me, you will clearly see that I didn't do anything out of line and there was no need for the officer's
overzealous actions upon using excessive force on a 77year-old US Army military veteran who weighs only about 140 lbs, especially on on his birthday. He never even asked me if I
was a military veteran, even though I was wearing a bandana of the United States flag on my head. However, I did say to him, "Is this the way that you treat all American military veterans who serve your country so that you can have a prestigious job that you apparently
don't appreciate having?" That's the most insulting thing I said to him. You can call me if you wish. My phone number is 4846356411. Since this incident, I haven't been
sleeping that well. I've written 10 books in within two years and had my first one published on Amazon and Kindle. The publishing of my first book put me through less stress than what I went through on my birthday on June 22nd. And
publishing of my first book, Malibu, turned all my hair white. But all these Mayberry RFD police forces, they should not get as much money as Betham police at Beth Betham, Pennsylvania and other cities that are
upstanding get. They shouldn't get anything. And if I have anything to do about it, I will file the papers to make sure that Asbury, New Jersey, and other parts of New Jersey will not get any JAG grant
or at least a lot less than what they're normally getting. So, you can thank me if you're getting a few 50 or $100,000 or more less. God bless you. But Betham deserves it. We deserve the grant money.
Thank you, Mr. Collola. So that exhausts our list of who had signed up in advance. So I'll go around the room as is custom. Is there anyone to the left who want to make comment for public comment? I'll turn to the center. Anyone in the wide center? Mr. Shire, 1890 Eaton Avenue.
As Arnold once said, I'm back. surgery was successful. I can report that the grass is not only greener on the other side, it's greener everywhere. This was a cataract surgery for those who don't know.
Um, I found two copies of what appears to be a new map and guide out in the city hall library lobby. And it's not a booklet anymore. or it's just
a fold down. So they don't mention the restaurants and everything, but it still does not exel acknowledge the existence of the west side. There's a north side and a south side,
but anyone who didn't know would assume there's no west side. And doesn't even mention Burnside Plantation this time. Well, actually it does in the text, but not in the map. And one other thing, I learned that the
Touchdown Theater was founded in 1891. So, on to one more thing. I would like to applaud the answers of the police chief to questions about immigration in the current issue of the Bethlehem Press. This thoughtful and sensitive response
makes me even prouder to be a native of Bethlehem. But what can we do to resist this senseless abduction of working people who only wish to live and work in a country where they can feel relatively safe while obeying the laws.
We are told to passively resist. What form can that take? Well, it is distressing that only one name is known of the 17 kidnapped from 510 flats. One thing we can do is to publicize
these abductions by maintaining a list of the names of the abductees with pictures if possible. This idea came from my sister and she mentioned the uh back when Argentina had the military hunter in control and people were
disappearing and permanently actually in that case and so we could perhaps do something like this here. At the very least I hope that someone somewhere is compiling the numbers nationwide.
It would however be a mistake for any governmental entity to do endeavor to do this for this national administration has exhibited a propensity to punish anyone who publicly disagrees with it.
It's good to be back. Thank you, Mr. Shire. Is there anyone else in the wide center who said I'll go left to right, sir, in the back left corner or my back left. Thank you. Uh, how you doing? I'm Brett Schaefer. Uh, I just wanted to I wasn't going to
say anything, but I passed a sign and I came in late. I wanted to read it. Uh, it's here. Please respect your new town hall. No food or drink permitted inside.
Only water allowed. is I wasn't sure if that was a new sign, but last week uh specifically Brian Callahan, right? You know what I'm about to say, sir. I'll ask you to address either myself as chair or all of council. Okay.
Sorry, but I mean only one guy was like, "Yeah, I ate a pretzel. I apologize." A pretzel. Mr. We're not going to get into a back and forth, gentlemen. Is that what you came here to talk about? Mr. Callahan, I'm going to ask you to not interject. Gentlemen, Mr. Callahan, he has the floor. So, I'm going to ask him
to continue his comment. I'm just having a dialogue. You're You're interrupting him. Go ahead. I'll hang out. Gentlemen, I'm gonna ask one more time to stop this. Sir, please keep going. Mr. Callahan, I'll ask you to recognize normal rules of decorum. Sir, I'll ask
you to address me as chair or off counsel. Continue with your comments, please. Let me uh take a second to think about what was just said under someone's breath that's sitting up there with you. Sorry. Give me a second.
I'll read the first two words of that sign again. Please respect. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. O'Hare. I believe you had your hand up. I won't take
Michael O'Hare. I won't take a lot of time. Um, just one of the things I wanted to bring up about these ICE raids that we're that we're experiencing in the city. One of the things I haven't heard about is the employer responsibility. Employers are responsible to make sure that employees are vetted correctly,
that they're working legally, that um they're following all the laws, that they're OSHA trained, etc., etc. And we haven't heard one thing about that in this whole discussion. And I'm not expecting city council to do necessarily anything about that. But I just want to bring that perspective into the
discussion. I know that um this building was built by a very, you know, well-known developer in the city. I know that there's a lot of campaign contributions that that people receive from developers. I know that there are principles that work for that developer
that are connected to people that sit on city council. None of that's necessarily incorrect, but I just want to bring the perspective that an employer is responsible to make sure that the people who are working for the for him are vetted correctly and are legal to work.
Um, think about I know of at least one other contractor that bid on that job and didn't get the job because they were charging too much, but they make sure that all of their employees are vetted and legal to work. So, where is the responsibility for this employer that
that this employer that allowed these illegals to be working in that in that building? And who who knows how they're being treated? Are they being treated correctly? If you're working illegally, that gives that employer a lot of power over you. They can they and I'm not
saying it happened or didn't happen. They can threaten you. They can reduce your wages. They can do all kinds of things that that create a power an unbalanced power situation. So, that's a perspective that we all need to consider when we're uh talking about this whole
situation with ICE and the arrests and uh people working in the country illegally. And then I'll just uh conclude by saying that um basically people are going to treat you the way you treat them. So if the city's going to adopt a posture of non-ooperation,
they're going to adopt a posture of we're going to stiff arm the federal government. That's the way they're going to treat you. They're not going to cooperate with you. So, I I really do think the city should in appropriate ways uh cooperate with federal
authorities so that we can make sure that things are done better in our city. And then uh Mr. Call, thank you for the great work on the streets. They look terrific, especially up there along North Street. Um great work and tell your team uh great job.
Thank you, Mr. O'Hire, Mr. Antalics, and then Mr. favor. This was this was intended for last meeting, so I'll do it tonight. Um, in an earlier council meeting, a number
of individuals spoke about the traffic problems on Pennsylvania Avenue that this may be the fourth time this problem was brought up at council by private citizens. It took chastising a chastising comment by another citizen to
provoke council to become engaged during new business. Hark back to the days of Schweer and or Delgraso. Council members then acted as public servants and responded to citizens needs as they were publicly aired. When a
citizen today uses the public meeting to complain that the administration is not responding or not listening to their complaints and then turn to council for relief, they are told to speak to an administration official who might be present at the end of the meeting. No
assistance or relief is offered by council unless provoked. In the past, citizens were allowed time to speak to fully express their thoughts on matters of import to them with council president exercising control over content and time without the aid of
a clock telling them when what time it is to end. Today, council president appears to be obsessed with the idiot device for he just after five seconds after speaking time had expired rudely in rudely interrupted the speaker in the
middle of a thought. The speaker appeared to be severely offended by the rude behavior by for they then left the podium and stormed out of the room. It appears that council president was more interested in control than rather than content.
This behavior has provoked a number of responsible citizens from further attendance to council meetings. A council member has recently taken upon themselves to become the judge of content of citizen public comments. The
criticism is generally insulting and been erroneous on occasion and in one case provoke disastrous after effects resulting from the use of an incendiary word. The third class city code has elements
like the sunshine act which are designed to protect the citizens from the potential abuse of elected officials lest they forget that they are public servants and not lords and masters of the estate and the citizens who chose them and paid them as public servants
are not their serves. The decline of democratic government we are witnessing on the national level seems to have found its way to Bethlehem. I have two minutes left. I here's what I intend to say this evening. Rather brief, but um
a few days ago I found myself on third street driving past the arch question construction site. I pulled to the curb with the assistance and with the assistance of proper music allowed my mind to wander it back into
the past. I saw Treble's fish market and recalled its famous slogan. If it swims, we have it. Nearby was a famous wholesale theater of the Reedus banana distribution building which not which
served the entire Lehigh Valley. The busy breakfast and lunch diner along with other historic buildings there. They are all gone now. What stands there is a large empty lot awaiting for a new tenant awaiting for
its new tenant. The new arts quest building. Sad for we are also witnessing the ongoing destruction of Southside history. Council members with extended city occupancy voted for the COA which would
have saved the building but still allowed saved the old buildings but still allowed for the new construction. While council members with minimum residency voted for destruction of the historic sites rarely if ever dwelling
upon the impact on Southside's history. This is a danger of voting into office people of a needy or if not poor knowledge of city history in a relative relativistic sense and by
comparing them to long-term residents. These late arrivals might also be classed as transients. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Favor. Ary Faber. First, I would like to discuss the purpose of the last meeting's demonstration. 17 people were kidnapped
on June 11th in the heart of the city. 17 people who were working on rehousing the displaced from the 510 Flats fire on May 2nd. To honor those stolen from us and force this administration to answer and reflect on their failure, we use 17 minutes of our collective public comment
for silence. I personally asked this administration council and Bethlehem PD who their loyalties are to and what they are going to do to bring these people home. My comrades and I were met with avoidant eyes and mocking gestures, not to mention the mayor leaving halfway
through public comment. It was clear to me and everyone in this room how incapable this government is for protecting its people. I said it then and I'll say it again. Shame. You are unfit to wield any power or authority over the people of the city. Now, I said at the last meeting, quote, listen to
the language I am using because we must not minimize nor justify. We must recognize this for what it is. End quote. But upon further reflection and analysis, I would like to correct myself. This is not just kidnapping or human trafficking, but the literal physical enslavement of these
unfortunate souls. That is more precisely what ICE and the ERRO are doing. According to the article migrant bodies as commodities by Gabriel Eskandari, uh as of July 2023, 90.8% of immigration detention occurred in for-profit
detention centers. We know that many of the people kidnapped by ICE have been shipped to torture prison camps such as SECOT in El Salvador. We also know that they are currently building concentration camps here in the state such as Alligator Alcatraz. We know that as of as of June 15th, there were more
than 56,000 people who are being labeled as illegal immigrants in government custody when we only have the capacity for 41,000. And at least 10 have died in ICE custody since January 1st. This number, however, hides and minimizes this atrocity for what it is. People see
10 people Den and might think, "Oh, that's not that many." But there are tens of thousands of people not getting the medical attention they need, not getting the medication they need. A 5-month pregnant woman was forced to deliver her stillborn child while her feet were shackled after weeks of begging for medical attention and not
receiving it. But she doesn't make it into the list of the 10 people and neither does her dead child. We have already crossed all the red lines. Would it be outrageous if we were pushing people to their deaths out of airplanes? Yes. What we are seeing should cause the
same type of outrage from you. These are concentration camps. This is ethnic cleansing. We are just early. We are just early enough in the process that we haven't gotten to mass murder and death yet. That is what's coming down the line. Stop waiting for some new horrific
outrage. What is already happening happening is outrageous and bad enough. We must stop this. If this country and this city allows the enslavement of its own population, then we do not deserve to exist. I personally will not be attending the upcoming music fest. I encourage all of my comrades to boycott
and strike as well. There is no time for celebration. 17 people were abducted in the city. Still no word. There is still no word where they are, if they are okay, or what this administration is doing to bring them back. This political structure only speaks one language, and it's the language of profits. It's about
time the working class hits the ruling class where it hurts. I am calling for a boycott of the entirety of Musicfest. Until Bethlehem terminates any and all ICE collaboration, until this administration participates in community actions such as the emer emergency response network, and most importantly,
Bethlehem must bring these people home. Boycott, divest, sanction. We will demonstrate. We will boycott. We will strike. We gave you 17 minutes at the last meeting to prepare. Now it is the time for action. As Dr. King said, quote,
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." End quote. No justice, no peace. Thank you, Mr. Favor. Anybody else in the wide center? Miss Nan. Hello, Valerie Nan. Um, I am speaking
off the cuff today, but I do have something to say, which is I I was really disappointed in the way this last meeting was run um the previous council meeting. um which I did express at the
time, but I I really do feel that what whatever you guys were trying to achieve administratively by um moving the public comment to the end backfired horrifically. And I think you guys felt
that um because I'm here all the time clearly and I know you guys and I know how you work and what you do. Not everyone is as familiar and so when you do something like that like it really
read to a lot of people as contempt and you can see that they didn't come back. Um, and really your entire discussion in the new business section regarding the ICE
raid just was entirely chaotic. It It didn't There were no ideas brought to the table. There were no solutions. There wasn't even really information. Um,
and you really just made it look like you don't know what you're doing, honestly. Um, and I think the only council member who I saw bringing a lot of, um, productive
uh, discourse to the table was Miss Lan, who is not present today, it appears. Um, like a lot of the people who came to the past meeting, I don't know if you realize
this, but they are committed activists. Um, they may not show up here all the time. That's not their style. But these are people who are verifying ICE sightings with their own eyes and
reporting them, getting legal help for people. There are people who are bringing groceries to people who are afraid to leave their house right now and go shopping. And so when they hear, "We can't do
anything. We can't do anything. we don't even know anything. That's really frustrating because these are people who are doing something. And so I took in my last comment uh at the last meeting
before my minute of silence, I asked you like what are you doing to bring these people home? Maybe that answer is not something that can be addressed by council, but you you should be doing something and
saying things like, oh, you know, throw throw some money to charity, you know, that that can help. There are organizations certainly that deserve the money, but we we need to be looking out for our neighbors. We need to be looking
left, right, the people who are next door to us, who we pass by every day and helping those people on a practical level. Um like this
this is a difficult time in history clearly. But I if you look at Palestine, there is a genocide going on over there where we're now at the point where
people are being shot out shot at as they uh go and try to um receive food aid which has been severely restricted. We're now seeing these plain clothes
kidnappings here on American soil. And I truly do believe the boomerang effect, the boomerang effect is coming into play here. Um, and that people need to really step up and do things here and now
before it gets worse. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Nan. Did I miss anyone who had to make comment during public comment? Sir, uh, Sebastian Zavaruka, 341 Spring Street, Bethlehem. Um, yeah, my public
comment is just to kind of reiterate some things I had said last week. Um, there, you know, to echo some of the members of the audience, um, there wasn't much consensus or plan in place. Uh I did have a proposal which I'm going to try and approach each one of you
individually if the time allows after this meeting of uh a letter that I think could be drafted as a resolution um with all of your signatures and it's just collectively acknowledging our fourth and 14th amendment rights as citizens um and residents of this community which is
to you know as we have discussed the emergency response network is something where people like myself are going out and responding to these calls on a moment's notice. and it would build confidence for myself if you all would collectively acknowledge those rights and vocalize
them as well as to build that confidence within the community. Now, this letter I have is tailored with my understanding and language of the 14 and 14th amendment rights and you all have for those that I talked to you all said you needed some time and some decompression
after last uh meeting. I was surprised and appreciative of Brian Callahan was the only one to sign it. Um, and I'm looking for more of your signatures as well. And again, it's just to acknowledge your understanding of what
the rules and laws uh and our inherent rights are as citizens in this community of which you're sworn to. And I think just by uplifting that and vocalizing that, it'll help bolster the community and see how you guys are, you know, prioritizing those rights and respecting them in our community. So, this is a
letter that has also been passed um in another town in Georgia. Um and so it's it's something that can be done. Um and I hope to find partnership and uh unity with you to pass a resolution. Thank you. Thank you.
Was there anyone else who hasn't had an opportunity to make comment who wish to this evening? Going to continue on with our agenda. Next public comment, pardon. As for any ordinance or resolution that's being voted on, we didn't have
anyone sign up. Would anyone like to make comment on any of the three agenda items we're voting on tonight? Seeing none, we'll continue on. Old business. Any old business from members of council? New business. Any new business from
members of council? Councilwoman Cleuitech. Thank you. Um, first of all, I agree with u Mr. favors shirt and uh many of the things that were said during public comment tonight.
Um I don't scream from the deis so I keep that for uh at home but I have certainly been doing a lot of it certainly in the last 6 months and much earlier than that. Uh and I do
absolutely confirm your your constitutional rights. Um Sebastian, thank you for your efforts. Thank you to everyone um on the emergency response group for their efforts for the people who came and spoke at the last meeting for the people who can who come uh
meeting after meeting to express their views. Um I also uh on a very different note but um one that I think is was um a highlight for last week for me was um I really appreciated the work of um the uh
folks in um Miss Collins team u Miss Sulo and Miss Dario uh for planning an amazing uh trip to Philadelphia for uh residents of the Pemrook neighborhood as well as some of us who got to tag along. um who are working on
the choice neighborhood planning grant to meet with the Philadelphia Housing Authority, the fourth largest housing authority in the nation, I learned, which is amazing. Um they have 80,000 residents in their public housing, which is um slightly more than the number of residents we have in just our fair city
altogether. Uh which again also blew me away. um the work they've done to uh increase uh affordable housing um in in Philadelphia with their choice neighborhood grants, leveraging hundreds of millions of dollars. Um taking over
old high school buildings and transforming them into workforce development for uh the neighborhood. Um it was all incredibly impressive and inspiring. Um, and it was great to spend a day um with folks again from the Penrook community and and elsewhere um
from our nonprofit partners um learning uh and soaking up that information from um a really highly accomplished housing authority. That's all I had. Thank you, Councilwoman. Any other new business? Mr. Callahan, uh a couple things. Um
Chief Cot, um you got a second. Can you just is there any update on the shooting at Yasco Park? Just that it continues to be under investigation. However, I am very very pleased with the progress of the investigation by our criminal investigations division as well
as our patrol officers. So, unfortunately, I can't give any more information at this time that may jeopardize that investigation, but I'm I'm very satisfied with the status of it. Yeah, if you could just let us know as as time goes on. And then and then how about that standoff that was on New
Street? Was was that a shooting or just a an incident? So that was that was an inc domestic incident that unfortunately got out of hand and an individual barricaded himself inside the residence and we were able to without incident successfully um have that individual
come outside and and get him the help that he needs. Thank you. You're welcome. And I want to I want to deeply apologize to um everybody up here for having a bag of uh pretzels at the last meeting. Um often just let's not
interrupt please. Mr. Callahan, I'm uh I often uh I I have a driving school as we all work but I often uh come straight from a driving lesson straight here and because of the uh the length of that meeting uh I get angry sometimes. So, I
apologize for the uh causing a meltdown over a bag of chips or a bag of pretzels. So, if it if I should be hungry again, I'll remove room myself from the uh uh city hall and I'll just sit out in the hall and have my my pretzel. I don't want I don't want to
upset anybody. Thank you. Let's continue on with new business. Any other new business from members of council? Mr. Miller, please read 6A. June 24th, 2025 memorandum and proposed lease
agreement and resolution of business administrator Eric Evans. Memorandum recommends a lease agreement involving the Clubhouse Grill LLC for a restaurant at the Bethlehem Golf Club. Current lease with the same entity is scheduled to expire on December 31st, 2025. The
action tonight would authorize a 7-year extension beginning January 1st, 2026 and ending on December 31st of 2032. And resolution 10A is on the agenda 6B June 20th, 2025 memorandum and proposed
resolution from Joseph Vlok, director of financial services, requesting the destruction of records from his department. Mr. Vloic has viewed the municipal records retention act and the records listed on the exhibit accompanying the memo fall within the categories where destruction is
permitted. And a resolution will be placed on the July 5th city council agenda. So, moving on to reports. My report, a couple announcements. The first is the police pension board appeal hearing, which I had previously announced had to
be rescheduled. So, it's rescheduled from June 24th at 6 p.m. to August 12th at 6 p.m. here in town hall. So again, that police pension board appeal hearing will be August 12th here in town hall at 6 pm. And also a reminder that a public
hearing has been set for 7 PM on July 15th to discuss extensive amendments to the city's subdivision and land development ordinance. That review will take place like tonight's public hearing at the beginning of the regular council meeting here in town hall. The other
thing I just wanted to touch on briefly in light of sort of some of the back and forth that we all sat through earlier and some of the comments relative to to other meetings. I as president of council and this being, you know, as I wind down my last, you know, 10 or so
meetings, I've always tried to express civility up here in the center. Whether you agree with me or not, I'm not here to convince you of that. But you'll notice I typically refer to people as Mr. or Miss if I know your name. I try not to interrupt people except for foul language and I address that. Um whether
however I talk outside of this room is irrelevant. I don't swear up here. I ask everybody to also recognize sort of the use of language. I think we live in a time where civility is incrementally eroding, especially as it comes from,
you know, Washington DC, where we have the president of the United States using the F-word uh publicly when being asked by the media. I just don't think there's any place for that. I don't think we need to use snarky remarks when addressing members of the public. I don't appreciate members of the public
yelling up here. I understand emotions run a little high sometimes. I think we all have to do instead of looking at externalities, look at what are we doing to invite such comments and then be mature starting with members of council and I ask for you know the respect from
the the audience also that this is a city council meeting the first and third Tuesday of every month. I know some are more well attended. Sometimes emotions are running high like the last council meeting. Sometimes they're not as well attended like tonight. I'm happy everybody made it out tonight.
Regardless of what's on the agenda, regardless of the day I've had at work, regardless of the day we've all had, regardless of if you know, whatever it is we're dealing with, my expectation of myself is to act with civility and respect towards everyone. As you've
heard me say before, and I'll repeat it. I'll repeat it till my last meeting here in the center. Whether you agree with me or not, I try to, if nothing else, even if you don't feel heard, that you at least felt you could stand there and give your five minutes however you chose to. And similarly, I think we as council
members should show everyone that respect as we don't engage in a back and forth, and I've repeated that time and time again to not interrupt anyone when they're speaking. One of my pet peeves, as you've heard, is also talking over each other. I think people have been pretty good about it. I ask that we
continue doing that especially for my last 10 or so meetings and just come into this town hall as we're so fortunate to do the remainder of the year at least under my you know council presidency to just think what are we doing rather than take grievance when
our names come up and sometimes I take grievance but again I try not to interrupt people when they do such and I do appreciate everyone watching their language you know who you are if I've interrupted you before so that is all I'm going to say on my report tonight and I'm moving on. Mr. President, can I
make a comment? No, Mr. Callahan, that's just my president's report. I'm going to move on with the agenda tonight. Thank you. I'll make it next meeting. Understood, Mr. Mayor. Uh yeah, thank you. Just a couple of uh quick reports. Uh first of all is as I had mentioned last time, uh and as the council had
supported, um uh Captain Griffin, soon to be Chief Griffin, um Chief Reich is retiring from the city this uh week. Uh Thursday is his last day. He is here as always as a trooper in attendance um for this meeting, but uh you know I just
can't I I made some comments last time and you know I think everybody understands the fantastic job he's done both since he took over as chief but also in a career that spanned almost three decades. um is committed to the city of Bethlehem and you know we
obviously wish Chief Reich well on his way but as a as just a you know a little note on his professionalism he has been working to the bell um as far as musicfest preparations as far as all of the transition handoffs with Chief Elect
Griffin um it's uh he has uh Chief Reich is he's he only knows how to do things one way which is the way you know a lot of our employees do but I just can't thank him enough for all the fantastic work he's done for the fire department and all the all the service he's provided. And um you know, Chief Griffin
is going to take over right in time for July 4th. So um make sure you're calling him and emailing him, you know, over the weekend. Um but uh and and you know we couldn't be happier either about uh you know Chief Griffin taking over and already in the past couple weeks he's
just done doing a phenomenal job and you know um I could not be more thankful and appreciative for both of them but I do if you have a moment at the end of the meeting just or uh please thank Chief Reich. I know that he uh he is old-fashioned in his sense of service to
this community and to the city and we are going to miss him. Chief Griffin's gonna do a fantastic job, but it's always bittersweet when you're when um employees like Chief Reich are retiring. So, I just want to publicly thank uh Chief Chief Reich for an unbelievable job. And I don't know if you're coming
back for your citation or not, so I do think we should give you a big round of applause. Um, at the other end of their career with the city, we do have Miss Fletcher here in the back. Um, who probably didn't want me to recognize her, but she is our new director of planning and zoning. I know many of you have met her.
Um, also uh, you know, stepping into just the unbelievable shoes of uh, Darlene Heler. Um, but Miss Fletcher is uh, doing a fantastic job. And if you haven't had a chance to talk to her or meet with her, uh, one of the things I know she's doing this summer is trying to get around to talk to everybody, meet with everybody. um you know um so please
if you have an opportunity to sit down and talk to her. She's um uh she's got a lot of great ideas um and uh she's she's already been a great addition to the team. Um and then just my third and final um announcement is um Miss Santoro
and myself have been working on um and we posted something on social media about it today. Um on July 26th we are actually hosting a panel and a flag raising in commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act. Um here in town hall
from 11 to 12:15 and we are um titling it reflecting on progress advancing accessibility a panel on disability rights in Bethlehem. Um and we've gotten partnerships with the United Way um with um uh Spellellar's empowering education
non-speakers uh Leah University Art Galleries, LUAG, the library, the human relations commission in the city um to be able to put together this panel and then afterwards we are going to um raise the uh flag outside in uh as I said
commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the passing of the ADA um which we hope will become an annual thing moving forward. We have a lot of great people on the panel, um, uh, business owners, uh, people within our community, um, some people that have talked about these
issues on a national level from Bethlehem. Um, uh, Shane Burkaw is going to join us through Zoom. So, we have a really wonderful group, but we want it to be, uh, the beginning of a new tradition that we're doing every year. And I think now and this a conversation
that's come up a lot when we talk about the ADA and we talk about what the ADA was about and the idea about giving people the opportunity and giving them what they need to be successful. Um it's very familiar to a lot of the conversations we're having now in a lot
of different ways as far as what it means to build an equitable community. So, we believe strongly that this is going to be a beautiful day where we're going to talk about the things that are going well, the things that the city needs to improve on, the things that America needs to improve on in this area. And I encourage everybody to come
out. So, it's 11 to 12:15 is the panel. Um, and then we are going to uh go outside, make a couple remarks from 12:20 to 12:30. And that concludes my report. President Cologne, thank you. Thank you, Mayor. We do not have any committee reports this evening, nor do
we have any ordinances for final passage. So, Mr. Miller, moving on to new ordinances. Please read bill 312025. This actually is for second reading. Oh, pardon. I misread.
A is read 8A. Ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehi and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the 2025 capital budget for non-utilities. Bill number 31 2025 is sponsored by Miss Crampy Smith and Miss Wilhelm. Discussion.
Mr. Miller, please call the role. Miss Lair, I. Miss Wilhelm, I. Mr. Callahan, hi. Miss Grampy Smith. Hi. Miss Quiet. Hi. And Mr. Cologne. I pass 6 8B. An ordinance of the city of Bethlehem, counties of Lehi and Northampton,
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, amending the general fund for 2025. Bill number 32, 2025 is sponsored by Miss Crampy Smith and Miss Wilhelm. Discussion. Call the RO. Miss Leard, I. Miss Wilhelm. I. Mr. Callahan. Hi. Miss
Grampy Smith. Hi. Miss Quiet. Hi. And Mr. Cologne. I pass 6. We don't have any new ordinances this evening. And then we have one loan resolution 10A. We have 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 a lease agreement with the clubhouse grill LLC and any agreements and documents as deemed necessary by the city solicitor for a restaurant at the Bethlehem Golf Club. Resolution is sponsored by Miss
Leon and Miss Crampy Smith. Discussion. Mr. Callahan. Uh just a quick question. Uh Mr. Spur that on the uh under six um A1 or AI I guess it is uh Lisa's first
option to cater. Is that new language? Let me defer to Mr. Evans who was the party that actually negotiated. No, no, that's the same. I thought I thought that if they were using the uh pavilion the people like a golf like if they had
a golf tournament there I thought they were allowed to bring in their own food but they couldn't they had to buy the liquor from um the clubhouse but I thought that the that they were allowed to bring in their own food. What do you mean like tournaments? If you have a tournament you can bring your own food. Freedom of liberty had like
you know a golf tournament. Yes. I they were always allowed to bring in their own food. There's a couple that are still recognized that are grandfathered under that agreement with Mr. Donnelly and the clubhouse grill. So those will continue to the football team, the the basketball, the freedom, the high schools. Yes. Yeah. All right. Yeah. And
then the I just want to make sure. So the the lease or the the liquor license remains with the city. Yes. It's his until the the lease is over and then it's it's back it retains in our possession. Yes. Yeah. That all that all
stays the same. Thank you. Sure. Any other discussion for members of council? Mr. Miller, please call the role. Miss Lair, I. Miss Wilhelm, I. Mr. Callahan, I. Miss Grampy Smith, I. Miss Quitech, I. And Mr. Cologne. Uh, and passes 6.
That concludes tonight's agenda. Get home safely, everyone, and have a safe holiday weekend.