[0:00] Anybody else? Anybody else? >> Monday meeting, Monday the 24th of

[0:04] August 2026, 3:02 p.m.

[0:09] Welcome. Welcome. Call to order.

[0:13] We have a quorum. Welcome. Quorum.

[0:18] Any conflicts of interest declarations on any action items?

[0:23] Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Minutes

[0:28] Welcome. >> Minutes from the

[0:30] » June 22nd, 20 Welcome. 26 meeting.

[0:35] Welcome. Look at those. Welcome. Welcome.

[0:39] » Motion to approve. >> Motion by Leslie is our second.

[0:43] » I second the motion. >> Seconded.

[0:46] » I >> Move that seconded. Any further

[0:50] discussion? Welcome.

[0:52] » Call for question on the motion. All those in favor signify by saying "Aye".

[0:56] » Aye. >> Aye. Motion carries unanimously.

[0:59] Public comment. Any public comment on the agenda?

[1:04] » No. >> No public comment.

[1:08] Welcome. >> Item number four.

[1:10] Chairman recognizes uh Welcome.

[1:13] » Executive Director Rich Fitzgerald for his

[1:16] Welcome. Words of wisdom. >> Words of wisdom.

[1:19] » Wow. Putting a little pressure on me, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Um

[1:24] Let me start off by thanking uh those and everybody really participated in

[1:28] this. The policy conference with long-range plan uh that we had the last

[1:33] meeting at South Point. Uh we were honored to have uh Lieutenant Governor

[1:36] Austin Davis come to present Excuse me, the picture up there. And a lot of

[1:41] stakeholders that really engaged throughout the whole process. And I know

[1:44] Lily Gobrecht ski, Director Gobrecht will go over more in detail uh that

[1:48] process and uh where it goes from here at that point. But I I thought it was

[1:53] very, very successful. Uh first thanks to friends in Washington County got it

[1:57] south point and it went went very well. Uh,

[2:00] next, the DC fly-in that is happens every year with the Allegheny on fronts

[2:06] and we've been doing it the last 3 years. Um, they're going to be a little

[2:09] bit later this year. Usually it occurs more in mid-December.

[2:13] Um, you see the the dates on there, the September 29th and 30th. Uh, DJ has been

[2:19] working with uh, Matt Smith and um, and Amy Downs on putting the process

[2:25] together. He can go through more of the details during his presentation. Uh, but

[2:29] again, we're going to be looking to have uh, some round table discussions with

[2:33] our friends in the business community uh, who obviously have businesses uh, in

[2:38] in your various counties, whether it be around manufacturing or other

[2:42] developments that could be could be possible. So, uh, with the Tech Council

[2:46] and the Tech Council and a few other uh, stakeholders, we're going to be making

[2:50] some presentations to our delegation on some of the needs obviously that we will

[2:54] be having. Uh, the other thing that obviously is a big deal is the uh,

[2:58] surface transportation uh, reauthorization.

[3:02] Um, right now it looks like a continuing resolution but we're hoping uh, that

[3:06] they can reauthorize it at a at a robust level to give us some of the needs uh,

[3:11] fill some of the needs that we have. Uh, some of the projects and uh,

[3:15] come about since our last meeting, obviously the Commercial Street Bridge

[3:19] opening at the uh, Parkway East. Uh, PennDOT, give them a lot of credit. They

[3:24] got that done uh, way ahead of schedule. Um, there was it is pretty they did a

[3:29] very good job with detours and getting people to be able to from some of the

[3:33] eastern suburbs of the Allegheny County and the eastern counties of Westmoreland

[3:38] and Indiana to be able to get into uh, into the city uh, relatively uh,

[3:43] as easily as they could when you close a road that has 100,000 cars a day going

[3:47] through it. Um, some of the upcoming projects that are be be next as we go

[3:52] from east to west, the Banksville Road data change is really about improving

[3:57] the flow from the Parkway West, which is one of the state

[4:00] one of the country's most congested areas coming down Green Tree Hill. And

[4:05] then and then the work that we had authorized for our local which you know,

[4:10] asked for a number of years ago, the bathtub project, the flooding project on

[4:14] the Parkway in in in town or the Monongahela River.

[4:18] So, really kudos to PennDOT for the for the good work that they had done.

[4:24] There's another huge huge project that PennDOT's involved with and Lily and

[4:27] Brasky again will go over this a little bit dealing with our friends in Homer

[4:31] City and some of the big equipment that they've got to get delivered there. I

[4:35] know there was a meeting last week with a lot of the communities going through

[4:38] and and and it's going to be uh it's going to be pretty impactful for for

[4:42] some of the folks who are there. Also, rural health care and again, a lot

[4:46] of this uh General Assembly will be going over this

[4:49] in the in the full commission meeting. Lily's stuff will be in the full

[4:53] commission meeting that she'll be going through some of the projects that we

[4:56] talked about. Our rural health care is the state is you know, continuing to

[5:00] put that plan together and we want to make sure that our

[5:03] that our region is is at the table and and part of what what's going on. So,

[5:08] General will be going over some of that in the full commission meeting. She'll

[5:11] also be going over the Build Back Better Regional Challenge Grant that this

[5:15] region was was given. It was one of the biggest grants

[5:18] that the nation gave out a number of years ago. It's coming to an end. It was

[5:22] originally designed to end in September. They've given a few month extension on

[5:28] that, but we've done some really good work on that challenge grant and and

[5:31] provided a lot of opportunities for workforce training and job applications

[5:37] for people throughout the region, which is very good. DJ is also going to go

[5:42] over the data center work. We we had that uh

[5:47] up at uh up in Butler County at the uh uh Steel Fitters

[5:51] uh about a month ago, uh which people were presenting some of our our

[5:55] hyperscalers and some of the folks on what what's going on. And we've seen,

[5:59] you know, some of the changes in the in the uh political environment when it

[6:02] comes to data centers since many of us have been been involved in this over the

[6:06] last year, year and a half. Uh obviously, the governor just last week

[6:10] came out with some major initiatives uh that uh maybe uh Laura can fill fill

[6:16] us in when DJ begins his presentation uh on a lot on a lot of that. So, um

[6:22] that was my presentation for the Executive Board of Workforce and more

[6:25] for the uh for the Kilgore Committee. The commission.

[6:31] To uh Rich, any questions on Rich's report?

[6:35] » Era. >> Um

[6:37] Could you speak to what kind of applicants you're looking for for the

[6:40] Build Back Better Challenge? Regional challenge.

[6:45] » We're at the We're at the short the Jenkins. You know, we have our point

[6:48] person on the domestic. >> So, we're at the tail end of this. We're

[6:51] pretty much most of the activities are going to end in the next 30 days with

[6:54] the the financial piece ending in the next 90 days. But, historically, um

[6:59] about 10,000 individuals have been trained across multiple facets, right?

[7:03] So, we've had uh through our community college everything from But, if if

[7:07] anybody's still interested in Some people uh CCAC still has scholarships

[7:11] available. The community college has still got scholarships available. The

[7:14] Workforce Investment Board still has dollars available.

[7:18] » So, this is money that's already been allocated to those entities and now

[7:22] they're just an extension on the money that they have the time to get it out to

[7:27] potential grantees. Okay. >> Yes.

[7:30] » This was awarded back, I think, in 2022. Uh previous administration, and yes, it

[7:36] is. >> So, if we don't get the money out, then

[7:38] it goes back. So, we want So, we want people who We want to enroll people in

[7:43] programs through the Workforce Investment Board and CCHEE and other

[7:46] community colleges up state as we have so that we can get that get them get

[7:51] that money in their pockets so that they can do these programs.

[7:54] » Yes, the majority is pretty much already obligated so have somebody there's still

[7:59] a little bit of scholarship money during the year but really most of everything's

[8:02] going to close out in this month but it's when you think about the fact that

[8:05] they're going to have to invoice us and everything else. Sure. The other

[8:08] challenge too is interesting fact about PDAs only a shut down for about 6 weeks.

[8:13] During and that closes out during our end of our grant. So, that was one of

[8:17] the reasons we also asked for the extension.

[8:19] » Yeah, the other challenge is that it was supposed to end for our sub awards on

[8:22] September 18th which is right in the middle of a month which is also

[8:26] especially for the university system it's right in the middle of a school

[8:29] year. So, we really wanted to allow all through it to the end of December for

[8:33] completers so we could say how many people actually started and finished.

[8:37] » Yes. >> And so what will happen and I'll talk

[8:39] about this more in the next week. Um, there were still some dollars available

[8:43] but I would say we're probably at about like 80 to 85% expenditure rate already

[8:47] and so who's still Allied Mechanical is probably one of our largest partners.

[8:51] They're for example maybe they have a couple hundred thousand dollars left.

[8:55] Um, CCAC might have a hundred thousand

[8:58] dollars left. Like small pockets of money but still talk to them because

[9:01] they're going to be follow up projects. >> You could send us a breakdown you know,

[9:05] I don't expect you to remember everything off the top of your head but

[9:07] if you could send us maybe by county what programs still have money's

[9:11] available. >> So that you know, we can tap into our

[9:14] networks of that we're actually tied to. Yeah.

[9:17] » And I'll mention this next week. My biggest concern believe it or not is on

[9:20] match. It's not on the actual. I think we're going to spend the dollars with no

[9:23] issue, right? So, a lot of this also is it's a reimbursement style grant which

[9:29] means John Smith might start that program and they can only ask us for

[9:33] money as they're training. Yeah, so that's that's the other challenge and

[9:37] the thing with equipment. They might have purchased the equipment, but they

[9:40] can't ask us for reimbursement until it's on site and then they invoice us

[9:43] back. So, this has been I'm really looking forward to when this is all said

[9:48] and done talking about the pros and cons on all of that. It's really

[9:50] It helped so many people, but when you think about federal dollars and how they

[9:55] can move quickly, we worked at the speed of of government

[9:58] or so with the speed of business and I think that was one of the the biggest

[10:01] challenges. And so, we've helped a ton of people, but we're in that real kind

[10:05] of the tail end of this. I I think we're going to come out of all of the issues,

[10:10] but I would I completely agree with you. I would love to that assistance just

[10:14] take us right over the edge. So, I will get that together. Thank you for that.

[10:17] » Thank you, Jen. Do you mind including me on that as well? I would love to.

[10:19] Absolutely. Great. Thanks.

[10:23] » Sorry.

[10:28] » The anyone else wants to Rich's report? Any questions?

[10:34] Okay, we're going to number five, OCM update.

[10:38] DJ Ryan, the has the floor.

[10:42] » Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Hi, everybody. Um I'm standing up here because I have a

[10:45] lot to talk to you about and I thought this would keep me uh

[10:49] keep me moving with it. So, um I I want to say like anybody has

[10:53] questions as we're going through this uh rather long presentation. Please feel

[10:56] free to let me know, but um there's a few things that we wanted to make sure

[10:59] that you had an in-depth uh knowledge on before we uh got into the fall. So, the

[11:04] first one of these um I know that some of you were at C-CAP and we talked about

[11:08] House Bill 522. I wanted to make sure that everyone on the executive committee

[11:12] was in the loop on this uh legislation. So, I'm going to start from the very

[11:15] beginning of this. Uh a bill was introduced by uh

[11:19] Representative Sharon Brooks. She's a representative from the northeastern

[11:22] part of the state and essentially it would When I When we saw this at first,

[11:27] we said that the legislation says a majority of MPO boards, meaning the the

[11:32] full commission, has to be made up of elected officials. I went, "Oh, okay,

[11:35] well, that's no problem. We already meet that requirement. We're fine."

[11:39] But, if you look deeper into the legislation, they define elected

[11:43] official to be a municipal official, not county official.

[11:47] Uh which I would I I'll give you a little bit of

[11:51] why I I think we ought to that would represent a challenge for an

[11:54] organization like ours, um specifically the fact that we have well over 500

[11:58] municipalities. So, how do you pick which ones are going to sit on the

[12:01] board? Um federal law requires us to have the city Pittsburgh on the board

[12:05] because they are the largest municipality in our area. But, uh beyond

[12:09] that, I don't you know, who wants to go through and pick out our favorite 20

[12:13] municipalities, whatever to put them on our board here. Um we have 55 voting

[12:18] members of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission. 29 of those are county-level

[12:23] elected officials right now. So, we either have to

[12:27] add another 28 municipal elected officials to our board, or we have to

[12:33] completely adjust the board size and do some other high-crazy math to figure

[12:36] this out. And because we are So, we are technically a

[12:41] you know, the the state permits us through legislation that was passed back

[12:44] in the '50s. I actually have a copy of it here that I was reading today.

[12:48] Um but we also are governed by a lot of

[12:51] federal requirements. So, we would have to when we went through some massive

[12:54] bylaws change that would fit you know, for this legislation, we have to go to

[12:58] the federal government as well. And there are some federal provisions that

[13:02] require proportional representation based on population as well. So, there

[13:06] could be situations in which we're seeing half of our board seats go to

[13:10] Allegheny County. And no offense to Allegheny County, but

[13:14] we have a lot more counties than than just one here. So, um this could create

[13:18] a lot of problems for an organization like ours. Um

[13:21] I will tell you that we had conversations with the other MPOs and

[13:25] RPOs in Pennsylvania, uh where we discussed this legislation

[13:29] and they all have very similar concerns. And so,

[13:34] uh what we did um at both SPC, but also DVRPC, Lehigh Valley, um North Northeast

[13:40] Commission, all of the MPOs and RPOs in the state got on a call. We agreed that

[13:46] it would be helpful to educate our elected officials on the impact of this

[13:50] legislation would have to us. And therefore, we sent a letter, um SPC sent

[13:54] individual letter and as did every other organization, um similar language, but

[13:58] yeah, all individual letters to uh Chairman Nielsen of the Transportation

[14:02] Committee, uh Representative Grove is the prime sponsor, Representative

[14:06] Benninghoff is the minority chair of transportation, and all of the

[14:09] co-sponsors. Simply explained to them that this would this would require some

[14:14] significant challenges on our end and might not do uh ultimately what you what

[14:19] you intend. Uh I want to make sure that you're all

[14:21] aware of that, but also um our friends at BUCANN were telling us there is

[14:26] I'm not I Chuck, you've been telling me if I'm putting words in your mouth,

[14:29] little to no chance that this legislation is going to move out of the

[14:31] Transportation Committee. Is that a fair characterization? Okay. Um so, I want to

[14:35] make sure that you all Did you hear that point? There's little to no chance this

[14:38] is moving out of transportation. Even less of a chance that it gets

[14:41] passed by the full house, passed by the Senate, and then adopted as law. So, I I

[14:46] but I want you to know that this is a discussion that's out there.

[14:49] Um if any of you have questions about the

[14:52] makeup of SPC, how it up you know, all the ins and outs of how we why we exist

[14:56] and how we exist, um I will try very hard to get an answer for you, but um

[15:00] there's a lot of different pieces to it, but I think it's safe to say that the

[15:03] opinion of of your staff at SPC is that uh the way that things are structured

[15:08] here right now seems to work pretty well for everybody. I'd like to keep it that

[15:10] way. Um

[15:12] does anybody have questions about that legislation before we

[15:17] move forward?

[15:20] » Just wondering what the intent was by representative to change the makeup.

[15:26] » So, as I understand it and um I don't want to say you know, this is a public

[15:31] meeting. I certainly don't want to say anything um

[15:33] that that I don't know for sure. But, as I understand it the representative uh

[15:37] used to serve as the mayor of a major municipality in her district and there

[15:42] is a infrastructure project there that the municipality and PennDOT are having

[15:48] some pretty severe disagreements on and the municipality doesn't feel that it's

[15:53] needs to represent it on their MPO board. And so, the other is a problem

[15:58] that she's trying to solve in her community.

[16:01] Um it is not in our opinion this the problem that can

[16:06] solve for the whole state.

[16:10] » Yeah, I agree. >> I just wanted to say that uh I think it

[16:12] was 2 years ago we did a all look at our bylaws.

[16:17] And you know, we didn't change things that we didn't think needed to be

[16:21] changed. But, there you know, there are representatives

[16:26] you know, of all um these entities. Your entities, you know, are represented

[16:32] here. Some that you appoint, some that are elected officials. So,

[16:36] if you looked at even all the appointed, you would see that they're you know,

[16:39] from various municipalities. >> Exactly. And we're yeah, I I agree with

[16:44] you on that. I mean, we're very I think we done a good job. Um this organization

[16:49] has done a good job. It ensures that you know, all voices are represented not

[16:53] only at the commission level, but also through the public participation panels

[16:56] that we have in each county and everything else. So, um again, I don't

[16:59] think this legislation is going anywhere. We will continue to watch very

[17:03] closely in case it does and uh you would

[17:06] you will all be my very first phone call if something happens.

[17:10] I'm not worried and the legislative session ends after the election and I'm

[17:13] fairly certain that I speak for

[17:15] so. I think we're safe.

[17:19] Anything else on this?

[17:23] Okay. Next

[17:25] as you as you probably know the federal government is discussing reauthorization

[17:30] of service transportation legislation. It seems like we're going to get a

[17:35] continuing resolution. That would get us past the November

[17:40] elections. What that means in essence is that there

[17:43] is no long-term plan but that they'll discuss it yeah. They're going to come

[17:48] back to this after the elections. It would maintain level funding for

[17:51] SPC's federal projects for the time being but it could affect some of our

[17:57] federal discretionary programs. So a CR could either delay or change the the

[18:02] specifics on some of these federal discretionary

[18:05] programs that we've announced. Lilly and I are going to keep tabs on

[18:09] these things and we'll certainly let you know if you hear anything about that.

[18:12] But for right now I don't is it safe to say we don't have to

[18:15] worry? >> Not probably most likely not the ones we

[18:18] announced all that like when we announced that we added that disclaimer

[18:22] just to make just to make sure that everyone is aware that that's always a

[18:25] possibility because we don't have any authorization of funding after September

[18:28] right now. Most likely what it could affect is

[18:32] other federal discretionary programs. So like if you're looking to apply for safe

[18:36] streets or build or back out like it could decrease the amount of funding if

[18:40] any that's available as part of those programs.

[18:45] » And of course we hope to we hope to see a long-term proposal that

[18:50] gives us as much money as we possibly can use.

[18:53] There are a couple of the Build America 250 Act is the name of the legislation

[18:56] that's working its way through the house. The Senate has not released a

[18:59] formal legislative package about service transportation but we do have a DC

[19:05] fly-in coming up so hopefully we'll learn some more at that and certainly

[19:09] get commissioners the opportunity to voice their opinions with the federal

[19:12] officials. >> Any questions on the real?

[19:15] » Is it real is it already expired? You don't expire?

[19:19] » It expires at the end of this fiscal year.

[19:22] » The end of September. >> September 30th.

[19:24] And the Um which is the same as the rest of the

[19:27] budget cycle. Um but we we're pretty confident that

[19:30] they're not going to ask any budget. We found that already.

[19:34] Any supplements it'll just be the It'll just be the

[19:37] CR. >> Okay.

[19:39] » Um That brings me to the DC fly-in. So most

[19:44] of you have done this with us before. If you haven't it's a really unique

[19:48] opportunity for us to get in front of federal officials directly

[19:52] and there's a lot of really discussion that happens in those meetings.

[19:56] This year is September 29th and 30th. Again, this this event is specifically

[20:01] for the elected county commissioners, county executive, and mayor

[20:06] that attend as part of our delegation. Of course the Allegheny Conference does

[20:09] invite other business leaders. So some of you who get invitations uh

[20:13] you know through other means, but the the conference has asked us to invite

[20:16] those folks. There's a kickoff event on the 29th and

[20:19] then a reception after that. And then on the 30th is the county spotlight event

[20:24] which is going to be a different format than what we did last

[20:28] year and then what than what we did in Harrisburg.

[20:31] They're they're going at this from a perspective of these priority industries

[20:35] that the federal government really needs to support here in Southwestern

[20:39] Pennsylvania. And there will be information you may have gotten the

[20:42] email while I've been standing up here actually from the Allegheny Oh, we

[20:46] great. How's that for timing? So you got an email from

[20:49] from Rich Fitzgerald Matt Smith inviting you with all the details. Book your

[20:53] hotels as soon as possible. They will run out. Um but if you have any

[20:57] questions about that please don't hesitate to let me know. We're still

[21:01] getting things together specifics and whatnot, but wanted to make sure you had

[21:04] the date. >> Is the hotel changed this year?

[21:07] » Yes, it is a different the hotel block is a different hotel than last year.

[21:11] A cheaper one. I think it's I'm not I think it's a nice

[21:14] hotel. It's a Hilton. It's fine. They take

[21:18] their directives. I judge my hotels solely based on

[21:22] whether they have

[21:26] Any questions about DC?

[21:32] Next I know Rich Lewis did this earlier. Governor Shapiro signed an executive

[21:37] order on the 18th regarding data centers. So

[21:41] when we went to Harrisburg we talked a lot about what the governor calls strict

[21:44] standards, responsible data center development. There were provisions in

[21:48] there that I know many of you have been hearing about in your communities.

[21:52] Concerns around everything from electricity and electricity costs to

[21:58] the two resource usage to kind of eyesore and light and noise pollution

[22:03] issues and things like that. I know we discussed that at length in

[22:06] Harrisburg. What the governor did was sign an executive order that basically

[22:10] says all of these things that he was that he's been pushing for and then many

[22:14] elected officials in Harrisburg pushing for now are requirements if you want to

[22:19] get a permit from the DEP. And so specifically I want to call out a

[22:23] couple things here. Any data center developer I'm major data

[22:28] center developer there's a kilowatt or megawatt number of it's it's pretty

[22:32] low threshold is required to bring your own electricity and pay all associated

[22:37] costs with transmission and everything else. There's some provisions there

[22:41] about PJM auctions and things like that. So it's

[22:44] pretty detailed. They also have to work with the local

[22:48] governments early in the process. So I've been talking to all of you and to

[22:52] many of your colleagues about community benefit agreements. I know I've come to

[22:56] several of your counties to discuss community benefit agreements.

[22:59] And this is going to be hopefully make it easier for

[23:04] you to execute a strong community benefit agreement. Um if you have if I

[23:08] haven't talked to you, you're interested in learning about this at all or I can

[23:11] be helpful or this organization can be helpful to you, please don't hesitate to

[23:14] reach out to us. Uh we want to make sure that your

[23:16] communities are getting what they deserve if they decide to have a data

[23:20] center into the community. Uh also, it requires them to uh

[23:24] developers to hire and train local workers. Uh

[23:28] and also addresses concerns like uh water and other natural resource uh

[23:34] usage issues. And again, all of this is conditional

[23:37] on getting the DEP uh permit approval. So, there's also I know several of you

[23:42] are working on uh changes to your zoning codes to

[23:45] uh specifically for data centers or any

[23:47] development similar to them. Uh and so, I know that this could be on

[23:51] top of what you're already doing. Some of it could be redundant, but um doing

[23:55] it statewide uh hopefully will make sure everyone is on the same playing field.

[23:59] Uh I know some of you are running into regulatory issues and you know, the

[24:02] amount of time you have to get all of the legislation through the DEP. So, um

[24:07] this is hopefully a help, but um again, we

[24:10] continue to monitor it and um you know, we'll happy to answer

[24:14] questions that you have on it, you know, case-by-case. Right now, I know Laura is

[24:17] here from the governor's office, so uh if you have any questions about this

[24:20] executive order that that she or I can be helpful with,

[24:24] I'm happy to answer them as we get thoughts on the back.

[24:27] » Yeah, and I'll just jump in and say this is really just to make sure that the

[24:31] local communities understand and support what's going on.

[24:35] And I will give a huge shoutout to DJ and the work that he's been doing

[24:39] already and that he will continue to do. I have, you know, there's five of me

[24:43] across Pennsylvania. No one else have been DJ that is doing this.

[24:47] Um it it's a really really lucky thing that we have here and

[24:52] I think that the main point behind um of the executive order is to make sure that

[24:57] the the good projects are getting through and the bad projects are not.

[25:01] So, I know that for so many of the projects here in Southwestern

[25:03] Pennsylvania, so much of this is already underway. So, kudos to and to the

[25:08] companies here and to all of you who have been working with them. Um

[25:12] to just to to throw out a few very specific things, um like DJ said,

[25:17] DEP is key here with basically without the DEP approval,

[25:21] nothing really will happen. So, contact DEP early and often. If you need the

[25:26] correct people, please please reach out to me. I'm happy to help with those

[25:29] connections if you need anything. Um and just

[25:35] be sure that your local communities um correct information. We know that in

[25:40] this online world, there is just so much misinformation out there um

[25:44] that may or may not apply to your So, I think education here is key um

[25:51] and communication. So, anything that we in the governor's office can do uh to

[25:56] continue these conversations, please reach out to me. I'm here.

[25:59] I'm happy to answer any questions. Right now or at any time.

[26:05] Be sure >> Any any question on this or for me or

[26:07] for her?

[26:10] » Yeah, be sure to send you all a copy if you'd like.

[26:13] » be great. >> All right, yeah.

[26:14] I'll do that. >> And then the amendment to our ordinance

[26:17] at the county, I think it looked at all the ordinance points to

[26:22] perjury. We looked at a lot of them.

[26:25] The commissioner from Loudoun County uh came to one of our

[26:31] one of our sessions in which you helped them.

[26:36] You were the MC for the making sure there were graded in for

[26:41] ordinance to make sure we protect the citizens of this county.

[26:46] » And Steuben County you zoning? >> Yes.

[26:48] » You have county it's not >> complete. It's only 31 42

[26:52] municipalities. They can either do it themselves

[26:56] So, make sure agreement to do the do it for it.

[27:00] We have 31, I think we have 42. But, we're going to share with this

[27:05] ordinance amendment with the other municipalities to do their own.

[27:08] Hopefully, they will

[27:10] you know, take a look at it as well. But, it's uh

[27:14] it's stringent, but it's you know, it's fair.

[27:17] Hopefully, you know, we can get that in place no

[27:21] later than October. So. >> Um one other thing to mention, and I

[27:25] know I've sent this to some of you after discussions, but DCD does have a local

[27:29] local toolkit that that can be shared with municipalities. Colonel John is

[27:33] online and so jump in with any other information on

[27:37] that. But, when I send out the material, that's all.

[27:41] » Be sure I have a copy of it in my office. So, if you want to

[27:44] » Yeah. Um we will uh you know, there's

[27:50] This is the construction of these facilities at our expense. So, I don't

[27:53] know if it's going to have a lot of impact not just to that community, but

[27:58] to larger communities. And uh I'm just previewing my report for you in the full

[28:02] commission meeting where we're going to talk about major uh the movement of

[28:05] freight major freight uh for the Commerce City project. And um so, I

[28:09] think that you will find that I we will keep

[28:13] talking to you about these issues about developments that are happening in the

[28:16] region. Uh not only legislative and policy

[28:19] developments, but the action and the construction of these assets. Congress

[28:22] has a lot to look at on the policy. Um all right, let me uh let me move on

[28:27] then um to a couple other things uh that I can

[28:31] go through a little quicker. Uh first of all, I wanted to let you know that the

[28:34] US Army Corps of Engineers uh who, you know, is near and dear to my heart, um

[28:39] and we have talked about a lot and worked with a lot around the locks and

[28:42] dams. Um I know several of you have worked with them on on other issues like

[28:45] the straw and whatnot. Um currently have a study with uh Chartiers Creek that

[28:49] Mason's working on uh through the Water Resource Center. And one of the great

[28:53] things about the Army Corps is that they're

[28:55] our district is the Pittsburgh district. It's a pretty large footprint that goes

[28:59] all the way to Ohio and West Virginia and uh I think even in the portions of

[29:03] New York. And under a new plan through the Army Corps, they're going to realign

[29:08] the boundaries for these districts and Pittsburgh will be moved under the

[29:13] Baltimore district. Um, issue.

[29:16] That is that annoys me a lot because it is

[29:20] another reason that, you know, Pittsburgh needs to be prominent with

[29:23] that replacement plan. And if you put the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in

[29:27] the same district as the Chesapeake Bay, I do not think that we're going to get

[29:30] the attention that we deserve. Um, I could stand up here for 3 hours to talk

[29:34] to you about how important the inland waterway system is here, but um

[29:37] I think I've done that at this point already the time that I've been here,

[29:40] but um they're the plan is the way they're

[29:44] doing it is that where whatever watershed your state capital is in

[29:47] is how they're they're pushing everybody in the whole state into that same thing.

[29:51] So, Chesapeake Bay watershed terrorist or something.

[29:54] Anyway, it's it's a problem for here. We would lose. Um

[29:59] and that there'll be a different district as soon as you cross the river

[30:02] out of Beaver County as soon as you cross the state line out of Beaver

[30:04] County on the Ohio River. Um and we would lose the entire Monongahela

[30:08] being in the same district and, you know, all of that. So, um

[30:12] it is it is a pretty big concern. It is not a congressional act that would

[30:17] change these boundaries, but uh Congressman Deluzio did put an amendment

[30:21] into the Water Resources Development Act, which is done every 3 years. Um and

[30:25] that is it is still in the bill. It's a good uh passed out of the committee uh

[30:28] unanimously. It's still in the bill. And um so we're hoping that it will stay

[30:34] there and it would essentially uh prohibit the Army Corps from doing this

[30:38] without any consultation or public outreach period.

[30:41] Um I many of you know I sit on the commission for the Port of Pittsburgh

[30:44] and this is something we're talking about a lot there. Uh, there is there

[30:48] may be an opportunity if this becomes a bigger debate for you as commissioners

[30:53] to weigh in. Uh, so we'll certainly keep you posted as that happens. But goal is

[30:57] to keep our our commander and our staff here in Pittsburgh.

[31:01] Uh, lastly, Keystone Transportation Funding Coalition.

[31:06] This is the group that we have been uh, that Lily and I have been meeting with.

[31:09] Um, thanks to Chuck and and Buchanan for for getting us into this into these

[31:14] meetings. Essentially, this is a group that wants to pass a new Act 89.

[31:19] Um, as you know, Act 89 ran out a couple years ago and uh,

[31:23] you know, there was a substantial over funding that's been that's been kind of

[31:26] stopping the gap, but we are we need to find a long-term solution and there's a

[31:31] pretty diverse group of people um, both from construction side, from

[31:35] transit advocates, from uh, local governments, um, from transit agencies,

[31:40] uh, also organizations like ours who have been sitting down and discussing

[31:44] uh, plans to help to craft a new piece of legislation uh, similar to Act 89.

[31:49] Uh, those meetings are continuing. We expect

[31:52] that next legislative session, so next year, uh, that you'll start to see some

[31:56] some advocacy in earnest there. And uh, we'll be reaching out to all of you to

[32:00] talk about that uh, when it becomes it becomes more concrete. And um, we are

[32:05] not planning and although we've done this sometimes in the past, there are no

[32:08] plans right now for a large contingent of commissioners to go to Harrisburg

[32:11] this fall. Um, especially since there's not a whole lot of session time anyway

[32:15] with the election. Um, but if uh, anybody has any particular issues that

[32:19] they need uh, they have questions on or need uh,

[32:23] anything answered, please don't hesitate to reach out to me or Chuck or

[32:26] Ken or Buchanan or you uh, in the next couple

[32:29] months. Anybody have questions on any of that?

[32:36] Well, I am all done. Uh, thank you all and uh you know, like

[32:39] I said, please don't hesitate to eat.

[32:43] » Thanks. Uh EJ

[32:46] about Uh we're going to now enter into

[32:49] executive session. Move to executive session.

[32:55] Look at this book. >> Hello.

[32:58] » It's a secret.

[33:03] » Then I was the staff in CTEs and I think we gave them a loan in 2025.

[33:09] » Yes, for me and you. >> Yeah, they could be, yeah, right. Yes,

[33:14] they were >> Glad to see them.

[33:16] » Yeah. >> from

[33:18] » I'm Germany. Yeah, so we gave EA the county gave them

[33:24] um a grant to do like some COVID-era EG money last

[33:29] year. >> So they were up five.

[33:31] » Handwashing station and some other like air filtration.

[33:34] » So >> Uh so we went down.

[33:38] Check in and we're working inside a hot like a vacant property. Spanned again,

[33:41] so Um They were just very grateful. So it

[33:45] was fun to see. >> And then Wylie's another one that we I

[33:47] think we've had shared >> Yeah, yeah, yes, we did a big Yeah, we

[33:50] did a big one for them. We just gave them another

[33:53] » Did we up that by like >> We got Earth Day. Yeah.

[33:56] » I think that's where we're at so. >> So

[33:58] » Yeah. >> And I can't stress this enough, y'all.

[34:00] Again, everything that you approve in this room is going to a small business

[34:03] and it helps them grow, right? Whether >> the business was sold, the equipment

[34:06] that you're >> that you were saying yes to, this truly

[34:09] is benefiting small business in our region and it and whether it's an

[34:12] Allegheny County or Fayette County, we we've done work in all of them. So Uh

[34:17] I'm so grateful for a loophole. I actually got a text from Todd saying if

[34:19] we could go after additional loan funds, can we do that? So we're going to be

[34:23] looking into that as well. It's just they don't offer them up as much as they

[34:26] used to. >> You talking about Wylie?

[34:28] » Weird about Wylie. >> Yeah, sure.

[34:31] » So the Rich would know this. So Welly started

[34:35] and I told the executive the story. So Ben played Little League for me.

[34:40] But he couldn't field for So he was on the bench giving out water

[34:44] bottles and that's where he came up with the idea.

[34:48] At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[34:50] » Ben does not cooperate.

[34:54] » He still can't field.

[35:00] You're starting. >> Yeah.

[35:01] » Yeah. >> Sorry.

[35:02] » No, it's Here's like this is how long these things take. I remember years and

[35:06] years ago, maybe four or five years, I had just been in the position a short

[35:09] period of time and he had reached out about any type of business grants, he

[35:12] said. Thinking about creating this then we're talking all about it. I said

[35:16] unfortunately for for-profit business, there's not a tremendous amount of

[35:19] things out there. So over the years he had worked with us and then

[35:22] talking to Todd who who runs our loan program, he said

[35:25] great company called Welly. I was like, "Ben!" I was like, "I'm so excited." And

[35:28] so we talked about his business and again, it just shows that these things

[35:32] don't always happen overnight, but the seeds that we plant here really do

[35:36] blossom into things that truly help our small businesses. So I just can't thank

[35:39] y'all enough. >> Small businesses to use.

[35:42] » That is so key cuz all interest >> my cousin's company in Westmoreland

[35:47] County is making caps. >> So don't we all I think it'll be the

[35:53] whole all the components will be made in Pennsylvania

[35:56] and it will be the first reusable water bottle ever to be made entirely in the

[36:01] United States. >> Yeah. Like if you look at

[36:05] » It's all They're all designed in the US and then they're made in China. So this

[36:08] will be the first water bottles that Uh no, this isn't a Welly. This is not a

[36:14] Welly. I'm waiting for them to

[36:21] » We need to move on now. We have here out of executive session meeting. We

[36:25] need a motion on action item on corporate resolution

[36:30] 06-26

[36:33] L L NTO Dental LLC. >> I'll make it.

[36:38] » Thank you. >> Pat makes a motion. Is there a second?

[36:41] » Second. >> Second by Dick.

[36:44] Motion is properly seconded. Further discussion.

[36:49] Vote for question on the motion. All those in favor of the motion signify by

[36:52] saying I. >> I.

[36:53] » I. Motion carries unanimously. >> Thank you so much.

[36:57] » Other business? Uh any to be talked about?

[37:02] » This is Shane. >> Shane.

[37:05] Reminder, the next meeting uh of the full commission and the executive

[37:09] committee is October the 26th,

[37:13] 2026. We have a motion to adjourn. >> I'll make it.

[37:17] » Second. >> Sarah's. Sarah second by

[37:22] » Be sure. >> Laura.

[37:24] All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I.

[37:27] » Motion carries unanimously. I feel motion adjourned.

[37:31] » We're good then.

Commission Executive Committee and Corporation Board of Directors Meeting - August 24, 2026

Transcript