[3:00] OK. Can you say hi, Joanna?

[3:11] Hey, everybody.

[3:15] All right. Then you can just mute and...

[3:18] Yeah, we'll do.

[3:20] I can't see my phone when you're here, so maybe text gen or something if you want to say something.

[3:27] OK, we'll do. Thanks.

[3:29] Yep.

[3:59] OK.

[4:16] I'm just going to turn everybody on.

[4:19] Yes.

[4:21] That's you.

[4:23] I didn't ask you.

[4:25] You just do the electives first?

[4:31] I didn't have any, so just my regular whip.

[4:49] OK. We're going to get started.

[4:51] I'm going to call the meeting in order.

[4:53] Pledge of Allegiance.

[4:57] Pledge of Allegiance.

[5:14] I'm going to call roll.

[5:16] Councilwoman Misako.

[5:18] Here.

[5:19] Councilwoman Bolden.

[5:21] Here.

[5:23] Councilman Leaman.

[5:25] Here.

[5:26] Councilman Fabis.

[5:27] Here.

[5:28] Councilman Maggio.

[5:29] Here.

[5:30] I am also here.

[5:31] We have the Mayor and the Fire Chief and the Burner Manager and our Junior Councilperson, Ian Spoboswood.

[5:40] Welcome, everybody.

[5:42] We have registered comments from the public tonight.

[5:44] Yes, we do.

[5:46] of Marcy and Caleb Sturgis, wish to speak about air quality.

[5:55] I'll tell you, I grabbed one of those sheets ahead of time stillers.

[5:59] Five minutes, I'll give you one minute notice if you need it.

[6:04] I assume so, just have to say it.

[6:07] We are Caleb and Marcy Sturgis, 3253 Wayne Bell Avenue,

[6:11] and our comments are related to air quality.

[6:14] First, I just wanted to say we addressed you guys a few months ago

[6:17] about the ventilation noise for the Jean-Louis restaurant,

[6:20] and Ben, I wanted to thank you publicly.

[6:22] They built a plywood structure around it,

[6:25] and the noise is a lot less than it used to be.

[6:28] Now, granted, we still have ACs going and stuff,

[6:30] so we'll see what happens this fall,

[6:32] but I just wanted to publicly thank you for taking our concern seriously.

[6:36] I appreciate it.

[6:37] My pleasure now.

[6:38] What we want to do is talk about air quality right now.

[6:41] I think everybody here knows that Allegheny County

[6:44] has some of the poorest air quality in the nation, actually.

[6:48] One of the things that I've noticed in and around Dormont in the past few years

[6:53] is how many fire pits are in people's backyards.

[6:57] It's fun, it's relaxing,

[6:59] it's not when you have houses that are as close together as we do here in Dormont.

[7:04] When you burn firewood,

[7:06] Allegheny County stipulates that you can only burn dry, seasoned firewood.

[7:11] There are people that are burning greenwood and wetwood and plywood.

[7:17] We actually had a neighbor through the alley

[7:20] that they were burning old paper files in their fire pit.

[7:25] There's a bunch of neighbors out.

[7:27] We thought some of these houses was on fire.

[7:29] This was just a few weeks ago.

[7:31] I mean, I see fire pits all over the place

[7:34] that are feet away from property lines,

[7:36] which is completely against code.

[7:38] I see people burning all sorts of things

[7:40] that they shouldn't be burning, Matt.

[7:42] You probably get a bunch of calls about this.

[7:44] I really don't see anybody regulating this.

[7:46] I don't see anybody enforcing this.

[7:49] We have these older houses that don't have central AC.

[7:53] You can't open your windows when you have people at the fire pit.

[7:56] It's not like the smoke stays in property lines.

[7:59] You know, with the elderly, with children,

[8:02] people with respiratory issues,

[8:04] everybody is affected by these fire pits.

[8:08] I am actually one of the people with respiratory issues myself.

[8:11] I'm an asthmatic, and it's not just the smoke.

[8:16] It's the particulates that you get from these things.

[8:18] The way the houses are built in this area,

[8:20] they're still meant to breathe.

[8:22] They were some of the definitely early age construction.

[8:26] It doesn't matter where you are.

[8:29] The materials definitely get inside your house.

[8:33] Some of the issues that we keep on coming back to

[8:36] is just air pollution in general,

[8:39] that we have failing grades across the board

[8:43] inside the county for our air pollution and air quality.

[8:47] The main thing that we keep on to deal with

[8:51] is the smoke coming across property lines.

[8:54] Most people inside this borough

[8:57] are on a tenth of an acre or less.

[9:00] The topography of the area does not permit for smoke

[9:04] just to rise directly above the property.

[9:08] Any sort of a prevailing...

[9:10] Two minutes more.

[9:12] This smoke does not rise straight up

[9:14] as any sort of prevailing breeze

[9:16] will cause it to definitely just drift

[9:18] in other people's properties or windows

[9:20] on a nice night like tonight.

[9:22] We're literally just waiting for somebody

[9:24] to start burning something and to fill a browse.

[9:27] Just so you know, the clearance that you have to have

[9:30] from the outside of a fire pit

[9:32] is 15 feet to any structure, any property line,

[9:35] or any public access way, including roads, streets,

[9:39] sidewalks, and alleys.

[9:41] Any lot that is under 35 feet wide

[9:43] does not meet this clearance.

[9:45] You are literally...

[9:47] In order to enforce this, which you have to do,

[9:50] you're going to have neighbors

[9:52] on fire pit and we can't.

[9:54] My suggestion would be to do

[9:56] what the City of Ambridge has done.

[9:58] They have houses very similar to ours

[10:00] without the topography, however,

[10:02] and they had a complete ban of fire pits

[10:04] within their city limits.

[10:06] Everybody's happy, their air quality's better,

[10:08] and it's a lot safer of an environment.

[10:11] Thanks for listening.

[10:13] Thank you.

[10:15] It's a health issue, it's a nuisance,

[10:17] but it's also a safety issue.

[10:19] The proximity to property lines,

[10:21] does permit sparks to go

[10:23] across other property lines

[10:25] and potentially create a fire word,

[10:27] which is going to be a lot more disastrous

[10:29] than just a normal nuisance.

[10:31] Good job.

[10:33] Thank you.

[10:35] Thank you.

[10:37] Any other registered comments?

[10:41] No further registered comments.

[10:43] Okay.

[10:51] Test, test.

[10:53] Is it working?

[10:55] Can you hear this okay?

[10:57] Okay.

[10:59] Sorry about that.

[11:01] Okay.

[11:03] Let's go over the consent agenda.

[11:05] We have a change order for motion A.

[11:09] Do you want to talk about that a little bit, Ben?

[11:11] Yes, so the change order

[11:13] for our road and construction alley project,

[11:17] the number looks much higher

[11:19] than what our actual number is.

[11:21] So while it's 152,483,

[11:25] this includes the sidewalk work

[11:27] that we are doing

[11:29] in conjunction with residents.

[11:31] So we've tested this

[11:33] on a smaller scale last year

[11:35] and expanded quite a bit this year.

[11:39] And I've spoken to Mr Favis' committee

[11:41] about this.

[11:43] A lot of people saw

[11:45] the program that Brentwood started

[11:47] to fix sidewalks

[11:49] throughout the community.

[11:51] We started in a

[11:55] less controversial way

[11:57] or a little easier way

[11:59] where where we had a construction zone

[12:01] that was going to be

[12:03] happening for the year,

[12:05] code enforcement staff

[12:07] went through and assessed all the sidewalks

[12:09] in that area.

[12:11] And then we provided notice

[12:13] to those residents

[12:15] with the contract price

[12:17] that we had through our contractor

[12:19] saying we can replace

[12:21] all of your bad sidewalk

[12:23] at this price.

[12:25] You're going to have to replace it one way or another.

[12:27] This is the best time to do it

[12:29] because we can get you a much better rate.

[12:31] And a lot of people jumped on board with that.

[12:33] But then we took it

[12:35] a step further and we sent letters

[12:37] to everyone else in that area

[12:39] whether even if their sidewalks were not

[12:41] bad enough to require

[12:43] code enforcement action.

[12:45] And basically stated

[12:47] we know that it's not that bad.

[12:49] However, this is one of the best opportunities

[12:51] you will have to get nice new sidewalks

[12:53] put in at a decent price.

[12:55] And a lot of people took us up on that.

[12:57] One gentleman

[12:59] around Glenmore I think replaced like

[13:01] everything in front of his house as well as

[13:03] the sidewalk going up to the front door.

[13:05] Dr. Schneider is a property

[13:07] property place.

[13:09] The place everything along

[13:11] Glenmore.

[13:13] Great.

[13:15] So,

[13:17] and it's not just in this area.

[13:19] We also have this over on ordinance

[13:21] in a variety

[13:23] of places that we've been doing this

[13:25] kind of work.

[13:27] So a large section

[13:29] of this number is that and will be

[13:31] recouped from people paying

[13:33] their bills back to us.

[13:35] In general, we're

[13:37] trying to keep people to one year

[13:39] payments to pay back these.

[13:41] There are some cases though that we've talked about

[13:43] going as far as two years out

[13:45] just to help

[13:47] with some of the payments that people need to make.

[13:49] Trying to keep it as fair as possible

[13:51] while improving the borough.

[13:53] So

[13:55] that inflates our number for our change order

[13:57] because anything that is not in the

[13:59] actual contract, the original

[14:01] contract itself has to show up

[14:03] in that change order.

[14:05] The largest

[14:07] cycle piece to this is

[14:09] the

[14:11] expected work at the

[14:13] end of Dwight Avenue

[14:15] that I've been telling council about in my

[14:17] weekly reports.

[14:19] Once you get down

[14:21] to the end of Dwight which is

[14:23] scheduled for total reconstruction

[14:25] there is nothing

[14:27] to hold the road up

[14:29] and water is running

[14:31] off of our roadway down the hill

[14:33] which was not a problem before

[14:35] under normal rains

[14:37] but with the

[14:39] changes to the types of weather

[14:41] and with the severe weather that we keep getting

[14:43] it has become an issue

[14:45] such that there is a lot more water

[14:47] which is starting to cause erosion

[14:49] at the end of the roadway and we have to be able to support the road

[14:51] and take care of that water.

[14:53] So

[14:55] we've worked with

[14:57] the construction company to create a plan

[14:59] to put in

[15:00] And a catch basin at the end and then create a channel system that will take the water down

[15:06] to the creek that it ends up in. But that project alone will cost around $60,000, but it is really

[15:14] a necessity at this point. I said this was not an issue before, but this year has really

[15:20] shown us some extreme weather more frequently than what we have had in the past. Hence,

[15:27] the amount of the change order for that project. Any questions? Other questions on that item?

[15:38] The next item, which I just had received that morning, the morning that I put this together

[15:46] so I did not have an opportunity to retype the state's contract, but this is a five-year

[15:55] agreement that we put together with PennDOT. This is for the winter maintenance along West

[16:04] Liberty Avenue and McFarland. The borough does the winter maintenance and PennDOT compensates

[16:11] us for the work that we do. They do an annual calculation. Our roads, I believe, are what

[16:18] they consider Class B, which, I think, pays out $1938 per mile, something along those lines.

[16:35] So it's not a huge amount of money that this brings in for it, but PennDOT does compensate

[16:42] us for the work that we do plowing, insulting those areas. However, our agreement has

[16:48] expired, so this is to renew with another five-year agreement.

[16:52] Is this $1938 per episode or per season? No, no, no, per season.

[16:58] Okay. Is that this is not? It's not a lot of money, but it's this or we wait for

[17:09] PennDOT to show up to clear. Right, and it's our street anyway, so even if it

[17:14] wasn't a state road, we'd be clearing it. So this is... It's nice to get something.

[17:20] Yeah, great. Okay, fair enough. That makes a lot of sense.

[17:26] Hey, Ben. Well, can I interrupt? Joanna said the video is not working on the

[17:31] broadcast. Just FYI. I don't know if there's anything. Can you see if the camera's on?

[17:36] Is the light on? Oh, it's not on.

[17:44] You can go look at my computer. It should still be up, but...

[17:47] Just wanted to let you know in case you were concerned. Thank you.

[17:51] Okay, moving on to action items. That's public comment time.

[17:56] Does anybody have public comment on the consent agenda motions?

[18:01] Okay, action items. So under the action items, we have a motion to approve a memorandum of

[18:09] understanding with the Dormant Police Association for the promotion of Clark

[18:12] Wataki to Sergeant. We have discussed this item in the past or at the point that

[18:19] we need to approve this. So what we have talked about is that we have...

[18:31] Don't worry. Two sergeants who could go anytime they want at this point.

[18:41] And we have an existing promotional list. However, there's no guarantee that one of

[18:49] them will leave before that list expires. So rather than having to go through the entire

[18:56] testing process all over again, the union has worked with us and what we'd like to do

[19:04] is promote Clark Wataki to Sergeant now with the understanding that he will still be paid

[19:11] at his patrolman's rate while he continues to work in that role. However,

[19:19] as soon as one of those retirements happen, we will have somebody already

[19:22] to fill in to that position without the needs to wait to go through the entire retesting process,

[19:29] which is that we've experienced can take some time. Especially for these promotional exams,

[19:36] they have to be given several months just of study time before you can even test.

[19:46] Mr. Rushford has reviewed the agreement. The union is in favor of this

[19:51] Chief Physignani and I are both in favor of this as well.

[19:58] When are the dates for the two sergeants who are retiring?

[20:00] What are the like the very last dates that they can go to?

[20:05] Who are they?

[20:06] Officer Zewisha has 17 months left. So whatever 17 months today is.

[20:11] And Officer Kelly has 22 months, 21 months.

[20:16] Okay, but they could go at any time.

[20:18] Those are, well Kelly is a separate issue. Sergeant Briglia is the other one who is not

[20:25] in the drop plan, but he does not have to enter it. I believe he's eligible this year.

[20:31] Oh, to ask you what time he is, but he's eligible, yes.

[20:37] His plans are more up in the air still. He could go at any time, but

[20:44] the drop plan means they have to go by that certain date,

[20:50] but they can leave before then if they want to.

[20:54] So if the right position were to come up elsewhere,

[20:58] they could give us a couple of weeks notice and be gone.

[21:03] Okay, thank you.

[21:07] Okay, any other questions from Council?

[21:11] Okay, public comment?

[21:14] Okay, do we have any discussion items?

[21:23] Anybody?

[21:26] We'll use time to announce our

[21:33] budget meetings. Let me give you one second to get the right format here.

[21:37] So the first budget meeting will be held on September 24th at 6 p.m.

[21:46] here in Council Chambers. We will follow the same basic format for the meetings that we did last

[21:52] year, so that is essentially pitch night. The department heads will come in for the meeting

[22:00] to discuss any requests that they have for their departments.

[22:10] We can go over any of those issues. You should have all of the information before then on the

[22:16] SharePoint site, but that night they will be here to answer questions and to go over their requests.

[22:25] And then I believe we are then at Tuesday the 22nd.

[22:31] What about Tuesday, October 1st?

[22:32] I'm sorry.

[22:34] The 24th. What time is that again?

[22:37] 6 p.m.

[22:38] 6 p.m.

[22:38] Great.

[22:40] Yeah.

[22:42] Sorry, yes.

[22:42] And then

[22:43] yeah, Tuesday the 1st is the next session, so that's following last year's model will be when the

[22:56] primary decisions are made. And then we will meet again on the 22nd in order to just review

[23:08] after everyone has had time to think about the decisions that they have made to see if they

[23:11] have second thoughts on anything.

[23:14] What's the third date?

[23:15] The 22nd.

[23:18] All meetings at 6 p.m. I will have food for each of those.

[23:29] With that I was, what's that?

[23:35] Six o'clock of course.

[23:37] Yeah, correct.

[23:40] And I was going to make the recommendation that we consider canceling the next agenda meeting

[23:49] rather than trying to meet two nights in a row for lengthy periods of time because

[23:55] you'll have September the 30th for the agenda meeting, then we would be right back on October

[24:00] 1st. It's another thing that we did last year. We canceled one of those agenda meetings

[24:06] because it was so close in with our budget schedule.

[24:10] So that would be the September 30th meeting.

[24:12] Yeah, that's just recommendation. We can still meet then if you want, but

[24:18] considering the extra load of the budget schedule, it's just an option.

[24:26] Hey Ben, I'm sorry if I missed something in one of your emails. I read the two proposals

[24:30] you sent for the zoning rewrite. Are we going to have a chance to talk about those

[24:34] before we would need to talk about them for the budget? It looks like we're going to skip

[24:39] an agenda meeting that would maybe be the time.

[24:42] Council is not the first review of the zoning proposals. That will go through the Planning

[24:50] Commission next, and the Planning Commission should be making a recommendation to the Council.

[24:57] However, I wanted to make sure that all of Council had that as early as possible.

[25:00] Sorry, I might have read it quickly and missed that. I'm sorry.

[25:03] No, I may not have had it in there because since I was off at the end of last week,

[25:08] I had to rush to get everything out on time. Dover Cole just got me their updated proposal

[25:16] that morning as well. Yeah, I saw that, yeah. Okay.

[25:22] Does anybody have an issue with canceling the September 30th agenda meeting?

[25:28] I say we go ahead and do it.

[25:30] I'm sorry, Danielle. I couldn't hear what you said.

[25:32] I was just asking if anybody has an issue with canceling the September 30th agenda meeting

[25:37] since we're having the October 1st budget meeting the next day.

[25:42] I'm cool.

[25:47] It's my anniversary, so I'll take that day.

[25:51] Okay, so we're going to cancel that meeting.

[25:53] That worked out well.

[25:55] Not because it's my anniversary, though.

[25:57] Yeah, I was unaware of the anniversary before the recommendation.

[26:02] I kept a lid on that just because I was waiting to see.

[26:07] Okay, so we have all the budget meetings. Any other discussion items at this point?

[26:15] Okay.

[26:18] Ian, do you have anything that you'd like to say today?

[26:20] Well, I'll go back to school.

[26:24] Oh, yeah, Danielle. I'm going to start at school again today.

[26:27] Start here.

[26:28] Hit your button.

[26:28] No, he was on.

Borough Council Agenda Meeting

Transcript