Good evening, everyone.

I ask that we all rise for the pledge to the flag.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God in the physical liberty and justice for all.

First and foremost, I want to welcome Cadet Troop 830 from East Tales Moravian Church for being with us here tonight.

We're very happy to have you all.

Glad to have you here to engage with this civic discussion.

Can the clerk please call the roll?

Mr.

Callahan.

Present.

Ms.

Gramsci Smith.

Present.

Present.

Ms.

Laird.

Present.

Ms.

Wilhelm.

Present.

Mr.

Cologne and Ms.

Leon.

All right.

Prior to the consideration of the regular agenda items, city council will conduct a public hearing.

This public hearing is to receive public comment on the request for the intermunicipal transfer of restaurant liquor license number R 61034.

From Spring Mineral Restaurant and Bar LLC of 702 to 706 Main Street, Northampton Borough, Northampton County to Cigar Page Bethlehem LLC at 1010 Harvard Avenue, Bethlehem, Northampton County.

This public meeting is called to order concerning a request for the intermunicipal transfer of restaurant liquor license R 61034 from Spring Mineral Restaurant and Bar LLC of 702 to 706 Main Street Northampton, Northampton County to Cigar Page Bethlehem LLC at 1010 Harvard Avenue, Bethlehem, Northampton County.

I will now recognize the representative of the applicant.

Good evening.

I'm an attorney at Norris McLaughlin and we represent Cigar Page Bethelm LLC.

But I'm going to be giving a general overview of what the request is and how we intend to use the license.

They consist of A1 is the letter and application requesting the intermunicipal transfer.

A two is certifications from council and the applicant regarding service and posting.

A three are just some basic aerial maps to orient council on where the proposed location is for the license.

And then A4 is just some tentative renderings as to what the facility will look like once constructed.

So as indicated, we're requesting the intermunicipal transfer of a restaurant liquor license to 1010 Harvard Avenue for Cigar Page LLC.

The sole purpose of the hearing is to determine whether allowing the liquor license at this location would adversely affect the health, safety, and general welfare of the community.

The transfer from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, and of course, would be obligated to comply all ordinary city ordinances and codes.

Once construction is completed, the location will have more than adequate parking and will be well suited for adding the liquor license.

If you're not familiar with the location, it's it's essentially right on Route 412, um close to the border of the borough of Hellertown and the city of Bethlehem.

Um and the access to the site in the building will be both through a back entrance on Harvard Avenue and also through a primary front entrance on Route 412, um, which is Hellertown Road.

Um, as part of our application, we've submitted renderings which show the proposed layout of the premises, which will generally consist primarily of a main ground level floor and a small second floor mezzanine.

Um there will also be an outdoor patio facing Route 412.

Um, however, there'll be no outdoor speakers or music permitted on the patio on the outside portion.

Um the bar and restaurant is expected to see have seating for approximately 200 to 225 patrons, um, with approximately 45 of those seats being bar seats and the rest of the seating being reserved for table and loud seating as indicated.

You can see on exhibit A4 in the renderings, um, essentially what the site is going to look like and what the license premises would look like once constructed.

The anticipated menu will consist of upscale American fair with simple and middle to higher end offerings, burgers, flatbreads, and similar type of American food.

The tentative opening date is not for approximately a year.

As noted, the building needs to be constructed, but they're targeting an opening date of October or November of 2026.

If the liquor license is improved, is anticipated to create approximately 25 brand new jobs in the city of Bethlehem.

And additionally, the applicant is planning to relocate its corporate headquarters to the to this site in Bethlehem, which will bring an additional approximately 50 jobs.

So we're we're hoping to create about 75 jobs in the city of Bethlehem at the site.

As noted, the proposed use would involve the sale of beer, wine, cocktails, and spirits as a bar and restaurant in conjunction with retail cigar sales.

The applicant does not anticipate making to go sales, a large part of its business model, if at all, and to go sales if if they were to occur are not anticipated to exceed 5% of the total alcohol sales.

The anticipated hours for the premises for the use of the liquor license would be Monday through Wednesday from 11 a.m.

to 10 p.m.

And then Thursday through Saturday from 10 p.m.

10 a.m.

to 10 p.m.

with hours on Sunday being 10 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

So this is not designed to be a late night establishment.

It's primarily a bar and restaurant and cigar sales.

There will be limited entertainment in form of TVs for sporting events and occasional indoor live music.

The reason we're requesting the intermunicipal transfer, as you can imagine, is because the applicant was unable to find a license available in the county that was already resident within the city of Bethlehem.

That's why we've uh have a private sale to acquire license R61034, which is currently owned by Spring Mineral Restaurant and Bar LLC, which was last using the license at 702 to 706 Main Street in Northampton, Pennsylvania.

As part of using the liquor license at the proposed location, the applicant will ensure that the property has adequate scare footage and seating and there'll be prepared food via the in-house restaurant.

The applicant will be staffing the licensed premises with staff age 18 years or older to comply with Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board regulations.

And the applicant takes safety and security of its patrons extremely seriously.

So the entire licensed premises will be covered by security cameras with cameras specifically focused on the areas in which uh alcohol is sold and consumed.

The applicant will be strictly following PLC requirements for identifying customers and ensuring their legal age to consume alcohol and also making sure that all staff involved in the sale or service of alcohol are trained through the responsible alcohol management program.

So that is essentially what we are planning to do at the site.

Um as indicated, um, the CEO of Cigar Page, Keith Myers here.

Um Keith, did I get all the details of how you plan to use the license correct?

Yes, I think you adequately covered it.

Okay.

And is there anything else you'd like to add for council's consideration?

Uh no, I just thank council for considering it.

We're uh we're uh the license is an integral part of the plan there.

And um, we like Anthony referred to, we're uh we plan at least 75 jobs to be brought into the city and um and hope to grow from there.

Um so with that we'd move for the admissions of exhibit A1 through A4.

Um, and myself or Mr.

Meyer would be happy to answer any questions from council.

All right, thank you.

I will now recognize members of council for questions or comments, unless you prefer to reserve those until deliberation under agenda item 10A.

I better ask now.

So okay, thank you.

Thank you for presentation.

And it's great to hear um, you know, the new jobs in the area.

I just have a few simple questions.

I was wondering since it is a cigar bar, whatever, are there going to be designated areas for smoking, or is that is the smoking going to be allowed throughout the whole area?

Um we'll pursue a clean air in air indoor um exemption for for cigar retail sales as long as we're meeting a minimum threshold of percentage of tobacco sales.

Um, but I think the plan is to have the vast, the vast majority, if not all of the bar and restaurant area available for smoking.

That's correct.

Yep.

Okay.

Thank you.

I was just wondering because I know if you can have food, sometimes you cannot have smoking, but um, and I understand as cigars, but we just have so many people in the valley that have lung issues now and asthma.

Um, and the only other issue I have is I know the area, but I'm just want to clarify is it going to be uh neighboring more like warehouse industrial business?

Like the I don't think there's any residential near you, neighboring that area, correct?

Yeah, if if you look at um we've tried to depict that on exhibit A3.

Um so we've circled in red on exhibit A3 essentially where the site will will be.

Um and there's a little marking showing the entrance off Hellertown Road.

Um you are correct, it's predominantly a uh uh commercial and industrial area.

Um four winds concrete is basically back there.

Um and there's a couple other you know commercial industrial buildings back there.

Um the it's kind of up, the site's kind of up on a hill.

Um, but there's residences, but not in the immediate vicinity.

There's nearby Princeton Avenue um to closer towards the Bethlehem side of the site.

Um, but we expect you know, the way the site's being built out, it's it's not gonna be right in a neighborhood.

It's gonna basically be an industrial area shielded from from the surrounding area.

Okay, thank you.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

So that actually was my question was about the Princeton um avenue area.

Can you give us a sense of uh actual distance in terms of uh yards or um it looks like there are backyards or uh it's a little it's a little hard to tell, but it looks like there could be backyards that would be kind of uh abutting the property?

Yeah, I mean, I don't know if we have construction plans that show the specific square footage.

Um the the building itself is not gonna be directly close to those backyards.

Um obviously, you know, there's gonna be stormwater infrastructure and the typical things you would see when you're developing a commercial industrial site.

So, you know, we'll obviously be complying with all the setbacks and things of that nature.

So um, you know, although we we serve notice to all the the that's what I was going to ask.

Thank you.

Yeah, we serve notice to all the local residents, but yeah.

Okay, good to know.

Thank you.

Is that all right?

Good one, Kira?

Yeah.

Uh I was just curious, how many locations do you currently manage?

Uh we we manage there's only one warehouse distribution center in East Allen Township, and it's not a retail establishment.

So this is the first.

Okay, great.

Um, and uh I then you my question was do you have a precedent of and obviously you don't, but would you consider um with your food and drink establishment working with local partners, local breweries, um wineries, distilleries, food purveyors to sort of partner um with some of the the purveyors that we have uh providing local goods?

Yeah, that's a great question.

And I and we certainly do that would be appealing and not um and that would be something we would certainly be interested in.

Right.

That would be great if you would do that.

Thank you.

That's that's all the questions.

You mentioned you'll be seeking a clean air uh exemption to make most of the facility a smoking facility.

Um is your plan contingent on that on receiving that, or would you be opening this business even if you don't get the clean air exception?

Um I I think we would need the exemption to to operate.

Um, but as I understand it, there's no real risk that we won't get that exemption because we'll meet all of the requirements and you know, we'll be posting the facility to advise people that you know smoking is permitted in the facility.

Um so yeah, I think it's an integral part of what we're doing, but we we certainly expect to get it.

Where does that fall in the process of development?

I'm not uh extremely familiar with that exemption.

Yeah, I I believe as part of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board application, um, we'll have to apply for that exemption um because otherwise you can be if you don't have the exemption, um you can be cited by the liquor control enforcement for essentially allowing smoking without the exemption.

Um so it would be certainly this is the first step to get the transfer approved, hopefully.

Um, and then we would pursue that exemption before we were before we were open and certainly before we were licensed.

And does your plan um since one of the things we consider with these liquor license transfers is the health of the community?

What is it do um to address like health needs for anyone who the 75 people who may be working there?

Um, like are is that somehow handled in the exemption that people get additional health care or extra breaks or certain ventilation requirements, like uh how is that all addressed?

Um I don't think extra health care is part of it, but um, and and Mr.

Meyer, maybe I'll speak to the air handling of the facility, but what's common in these types of facilities is um significant air filtration systems if if you've ever been to um an establishment like this, um they're not designed to be small, smoky, smoky rooms where you just by being there you're going to you know get a lot of secondhand smoke.

Um, yeah, if you can you can kind of see the way this is designed, it has the second floor mezzanine.

It's very high ceilings, and it's going to be a big open area.

Um, and that's that's kind of typical for these types of facilities to have you know significant um air handling facilities within the building, um, more than you would have in a normal place that didn't allow this type of um you know consumption of tobacco.

But you know, can you comment on that at all?

Well, I would yes, I agree with what you said, but we we were very interested in having it, uh, the air exchange um being very advanced because that that's something important to our customers as well, as well as our employees.

Um, no one wants to um, even those who enjoy occasional cigars don't want to have uh smell like smoke or um, so that's that's a priority of ours.

Thank you.

Okay.

Well, most of the questions I have were already answered.

It's really interesting to see a restaurant in uh an industrial area.

That's I appreciate that.

There's not a lot of restaurants down that row as far as Bethlehem restaurants.

Howlertown has some great ones, but it'd be great to see some restaurants down there.

Definitely appreciate the addition of 75 jobs.

That sounds wonderful.

Um I will now recognize members of the public for comment with regards to this specific application.

Uh, we didn't have anyone sign up prior to, so I'll turn to the left.

Turn to the broad center.

Yes, sir.

I didn't I just wanted to uh quickly add I turned around and asked Ms.

Collins and Miss Mr.

Simonson in these type of facilities, there are additional code requirements as far as um the air filtration and things like that.

So that would be part of that process as well.

Um, so and I think that's fairly, I don't know, but I think it's fairly consistent with anybody that seeks the exemption as well.

Just the amount of like the air you have to testify to that.

You have got to have your CO that for as far as that is concerned, because councilman Laird's got had a great question.

But that is something that apparently is worked into that kind of kind of code process when you're considering a facility like that that's going to have an exemption.

Okay, did you have anything more to add before I move back on to the public?

No, I think that's it.

Right, thank you.

Um, anyone from the broad center and anyone to the right.

Right, resolution 10A is on tonight's agenda, and that concludes the public hearing.

Thank you.

Okay, moving on to approval of the minutes.

Does anyone have any comments on the minutes?

Any council person comments on the minutes?

Gonna move on to public comments on subjects not being voted on this evening with a five-minute time limit.

YouTube reminder if you start this meeting after 7 p.m., please make sure to scroll ahead so that this the YouTube stream is a is current rather than a recording of an earlier portion of the meeting.

All right.

The first person I have signed up is Corey Calavota.

I apologize if I messed up that name.

You can come up.

Corey Calaboda, Bath Pennsylvania.

Good evening, everyone.

First, I want to sincerely thank the city council and also everybody here for your dedication to preserving the history, the charm, and the beauty of this city.

Um, for my childhood memories of the magic of Bethlehem today, nothing compares to the old-fashioned wonder the Christmas city continues to offer for decades.

One of the most cherished things uh of the city has been the sound of horses' hooves clapping down main street.

Carriage rides have been a Bethlehem tradition for nearly 50 years, and I'm proud to say that Bethlehem Carriage Company has been part of that tradition for almost 20 of them.

My name is Corey Calaboda, and I'm here to introduce myself.

I am the owner of Bethlehem Carriage Company.

Um, to the city council and also introduce myself to the community as well.

Our mission is simple is to bring joy and wonder to the residents and visitors through the carriage rides that showcase the very best of our city.

In recent years, there has been growing discussion nationwide about the use of working animals.

We want to provide transparency, share factual information, and demonstrate our unwavering commitment to the highest standards of animal care safety and community engagement.

Like Bethlehem's mounted patrol horses, our carriage horses are among the happiest and most well cared for in Pennsylvania.

We go far beyond industry standards providing chiropractic care and massages beyond standard feeding costs, our annual expenditures on nutritional supplements.

Have the receipts right here, exceed 1,500 per horse.

Comparison for comparison, the average American spends only about $550 per year on supplements, and the majority of horse owners do not purchase supplements at all for the horses.

We also partner with one of the region's top natural health care practitioners using natural custom shoes.

These are plastic shoes better for their joints and pads that extend their comfort and soundness for over four years compared to traditional metal shoes.

Most of our Pertron draft horses are rescues who now enjoy parameter lives and fulfilling gentler careers, doing what they were bred to do and truly love pulling carriages and connecting with people.

It's always touching to see visitors laid up when they meet our horses.

For many, it's the very first time they've ever seen a horse.

As a professional horse trainer with over 30 years of experience in equine psychology and natural horse care, I welcome any questions about our practice.

There's been misinformation shared by groups outside of Bethlehem.

And I assure you, those examples do not reflect on our operation.

You're all welcome to visit, meet our horses and see firsthand how they live and thrive.

I'm confident you'll find that our standards far exceed national averages and address any concerns about the horses.

On a lighthearted note, if any of us can enjoy the same level of care in 10 months off the rest of the year that our horses do, we'd be living the dream just like Bethlehem Carriage Company's horses.

Beyond the joy we bring, our company also contributes significantly to Bethlehem's economy.

Our drivers act as ambassadors, guiding tens of thousands of visitors to local shops, restaurants, and attractions each season, often in areas with limited foot traffic.

Every dollar a tourist spend stays here, strengthening our local businesses and community.

If you know of any businesses that could use uh, especially council members, if you know of any businesses that could use or uh a boost this holiday season, please have them reach out to me.

We'd love to collaborate.

Um, tonight I've also brought um seven carriage ride vouchers for the council to distribute as you see fit, perhaps to a city employee, a family in need, or anyone who could use a little extra holiday cheer this year.

And if there's an organization that could benefit from a donation of our services, please let me know as well.

It's truly an honor to be a part of this city's cherished Christmas traditions, helping families make memories while celebrating Bethlehem's history and spirit.

Before I close, I'd like to invite all of you to join us before the Bethlehem uh tree lighting on Black Friday from 2:30 to 4 o'clock for our Christmas carriage kickoff.

Um come meet our horses, enjoy hot cider and donuts, and um, if you uh can be among the first 60 guests who we're gonna be offering free winter wagon rides.

Um, we'd love to give you all of you one of those spots.

Um, everybody here if you're interested, so please come early to make sure you get one of those spots.

Awesome.

It's uh it's been a pleasure speaking with you tonight.

Thank you all for your time, support, and for helping preserve the heart and tradition of Bethlehem, the true Christmas City USA.

Uh thank you.

And um, just before we we move on, uh I we would I would prefer it if you would keep those seven vouchers and either give them to someone in the audience tonight or uh to the first seven people who show up or families in need who might not be able to do a carriage ride thing, just you know, so keep our propriety going on here.

But thank you very much for the gesture.

Okay, much appreciated.

Thank you.

All right, moving on to the next person signed up, Terry Koiber.

Hi, Terry Kloiber Bethlehem.

Um, I just came along for support for Corey.

I've known Corey since uh 1989 when I was baptized at the same church she went, she went to, and her father was my Sunday school teacher after I was baptized.

And um I acquired a horse not too long after that from someone who was in my Sunday school class and had the opportunity to move him up to where Corey lives, her family's farm.

And I just want to say he was there for 11 years and he was well taken care of there.

So I am pushing the fact that she does take care of her horses.

Dan was the happiest guy up there.

Um, and I really enjoyed going up there.

Prior to my hip surgery in May of 2024, I was one of Corey's grooms on her carriage rides every in the winter.

And what that means is I sit next to the driver, and when the people get on the carriage, I turn around and say, Hey, welcome to Bethlehem Carriage Company.

My name is Terry, and our driver tonight is, and our horses tonight are, and I introduce the horses, how old they are, what they're all about.

And then I just make conversation for just about two minutes with the with the uh people on the carriage ride, and I can't tell you how much fun it is to talk to those kids.

Have you ever been on a carriage ride before?

No, my gosh, those horses are so big, you know, and and just the joy that these kids have when you tell them the information about these horses.

The parents love it.

I mean, it's really it's really a neat thing.

And if you ever get the chance to do it, please do.

Um these horses, like I said, are by, I mean, my horse was big, but he wasn't big like these guys are.

And to be standing there with a horse whose back is up here and his head is way up there, it's a little intimidating.

But for the training that Corey does, uh, the same as the police horses with the desensitation for noises and sudden movements around them.

Um, it she does a wonderful job with them.

So I'm not afraid to be around those big horses, and hopefully you'll be around them a lot this winter.

So if you ever get the chance to um see the horses come downtown, um, give Corey a call, go see them.

Please do.

I know you'll appreciate it.

Thanks.

Thank you, Terry.

Uh, the next person I have signed up is Mark Will Weber.

Uh Mark Weber, uh 66 West Elizabeth Avenue.

Uh, I'm here mainly just to keep uh the issue about the downloadable water apps, the protective apps in the spotlight so it doesn't get forgotten and brushed under the table here.

So uh I'm gonna appear semi-regularly just to bring up uh the topic again and anything new I can bring to the topic.

I think it was about a year ago that Senator Lisa Boscola wrote that um uh nice op-ed about uh the abuses of big electric and uh warning us that everybody's electric prices were gonna go up, and she certainly was uh spot on about that.

Everybody's electric has gone up.

Uh at the time I I mentioned that the I find it kind of ironic though that she didn't mention water at all.

Um and I thought about it the other day, and I thought, gee, you know, she wants to do something about utility abuse and prices.

Maybe she at the breakfast table over coffee could say, hey Ed, when you go in, could you kind of put your shoulder to the wheel on this uh downloadable apps like Ion Water or Aquahawk, as we brought up before, because it's a very important thing that right now I don't think we have.

We have a sort of a vague uh I wouldn't even call it a promise, a vague suggestion that that maybe um there'll be um something done on the budget where they're gonna put in for it.

Okay, but it it needs to be done, and it's done on a fairly regular uh basis at many, many other cities that are comparable to Bethlehem that have it, either iron water, aqua hawk, smart water, there's a bunch of different names for it.

Because without it, it's just business as usual.

It's uh meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

There's really no protection for for people uh against uh a big water bill that they'll get at the end of the quarter.

Where if they have one of these downloadable apps, they'll know within an hour uh that there's a leak and they can do something about it.

So they won't get blindsided by it.

Um yeah, and there's uh there's so many cities.

I have like 30 on this sheet here that uh do have these apps, and they're they're very um good for the consumer.

That they're the only good thing about the smart meters that's good for the citizen consumer.

Everything else is good for those guys.

They're making more money.

They're already making tens of thousands of dollars of new revenue on smart meters, and when they have all 37,000 in, they stand to make hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Okay.

So uh Mr.

Boscola was wringing his hands uh a couple uh meetings ago about well, uh, you know, it's gonna cost 100,000.

You're gonna make at least 700,000 when you get them all up and running.

How about kicking a thousand back for the little guys for a little protection on that?

That would be a good thing to do.

Um, as I've gone through like some of these other cities, it's really interesting.

Today I looked at one South Lake, Texas.

All right, it's a it's a 30,000 people right outside of Dallas.

I think uh the demographics are fairly close to ours.

And the mayor, the mayor comes on and promotes uh eye on water in a little video.

You should look at it will be really good.

Uh he comes on and and says, Wow, this is a great thing, and I think all the citizens in our community should sign up for it.

And then it'll save you lots of money, and it will save considerable out of water for the community.

So I thought that was incredible.

I thought this is what leadership looks like on this water issue when the mayor's involved.

And he was involved partly because he had suffered a leak because he had a pipe that burst beneath his house, but he knew about it within hours because he had Ion water.

He had a pipe that burst beneath his house, but he knew about it within hours because he had Ile water.

So uh without it, he would have found out three months later when he got his quarterly bill for a grand or 1200.

So this is why it's important, can't be forgotten, and shouldn't be forgotten.

So, you know, I hope we keep this issue visible.

Um at the end of the day, are we, you know, or the the citizens of Bethlehem not as worthy as uh people in uh Santa Fe or Texarkana Ann Arbor, Michigan, Appleton, Wisconsin, Dayton, Ohio.

Shouldn't we be treated the same same way and get the same respect and protection uh against these big water bills?

And I'm gonna keep asking until I feel uh a full throated commitment from people, which I haven't heard yet.

So um thanks again.

Thank you, Mr.

Will Webber.

That exhausts list of people who have signed up, so I'm gonna turn to the left.

Does anyone want to say anything?

Okay, uh broad center.

Does anyone have public in the back first and I'll make my way down?

Good evening, everybody.

My name is Kyle Dalton, uh 611 River Drive.

I'm a Bethle Firefighter and the treasurer of the Bethlehem Firefighters Association.

Um, I want to begin by thanking the administration, members of council uh for continuing to invest in the fire department's apparatus and equipment.

Um, keeping our apparatus replacement plan on track despite inflation and rising costs shows a commitment to public safety, and we do appreciate it.

As we look ahead, I hope we can carry that same focus into personnel, particularly at Engine Company 9, which continues to operate without a supervisor.

A role that isn't just about rank, it's about leadership, accountability, and safety for our newest members.

Right now, 32 of our 72 firefighters, 44 percent of them have less than two years of experience in one of the most unforgiving jobs in the world.

And the 15 recruits we anticipate being hired next year will all start with none.

It's exciting to see new growth in the department and in the community, but it also highlights the need for mentorship and supervision at every level.

Staffing engine nine with an officer would improve on-seni leadership, strengthening the span of control, and support faster and more consistent rescue service to the people who live, work, and play in Bethlehem.

The whole city is growing as families and businesses move here every year.

Restoring that position doesn't just strengthen the fire department, it adds value to this community, ensuring that the same level of professionalism exists across every part of our city.

I'd encourage the public safety committee to explore what it would take to restore that officer position at Company Nine.

It's an operational change that would yield a large community benefit for our public servants and the people who rely on us.

Thank you for your time, your partnership, and your continued commitment to building Bethlon.

Thank you.

Um, anyone else in the Broad Center?

Uh Mr.

Caratola, I'm working my I'm working my way down, Mr.

Caratella.

You could I I said I was working my way down, so if you would like to speak the first place.

My name's Art Arthur Curatola of A13 Law for Street, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Mike, can you get Mike on?

Yeah, it's on.

Yeah, just get closer to it.

Yo, yo.

Okay.

That's cool.

Everything's good.

So, like that should be saying, yo, Adrian.

But I'm not gonna do that.

But anyway, uh, any Adrian's here, sorry.

Uh for if I need you, but anyway, I'm Artie Curatola from A13 Lawford Street in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Um, on a more serious note, I like to rectify the problem that we have with the homeless situation.

I would have been homeless if I wasn't able to play guitar properly and sing properly, and oh I would never had a place to crash when I was younger in the 60s.

Um, but however, I always managed to find a place.

But 30 years later, after I was out of the military in 1968, 1969, it's 1998.

I found it a little bit harder.

I was sleeping on park benches and the subways, and so I figured, okay, well, there's something I should do.

I should apply for SSI.

Now they saw military veteran when I applied, but they never guided me.

Nobody ever guided me.

Let's eliminate the problem with the military veterans and start giving them the aid that they need.

If they are discharged because of medical reasons, or be a general discharge because they couldn't adapt to military life with honorable conditions.

Let's be an example in Bethlehem and reach out to them and see how they're doing and see that they apply properly.

As far as the homeless that weren't military veterans, let's see if they are physically disabled.

They have problems that they get the SSI that they need.

But the SSI should not be given to military veterans because the government then gives a military veterans a lot less than what they should be getting.

I didn't accept military, I didn't accept benefits from the VA until 2015.

But now I get 3800 a month.

If I would have got that when I was younger, I would have been married and had children.

But however, the thing is we gotta guide the people to apply properly, especially the veterans.

There should be in Bethlehem, should not be a situation of disabled of military of homeless veterans, military veterans.

That should not be a situation.

So we need to try to guide them in the right direction, not let them go for years and years, and then they apply for SSI and they wait, and then SSI tells them in 2014, like they told me, Mr.

Curatola.

If you don't apply for VA benefits, if you ever need SSI in the future, you will never get it because you're not complying to regulations.

They should have told me that in 1998.

I would have gotten a lot more benefits, and I wouldn't have to focus in on what's gonna happen to me later on down the road.

So the thing is let's be an example in Bethlehem and help the homeless, especially the homeless veterans.

Uh let's take that out of our vocabulary in Bethlehem and be an example to help the veterans when they get out of the military to help guide them in the right direction.

And anybody that's homeless, they don't have to be homeless.

They can get a house on the south side of Bethlehem for 125,000, and um two people can't afford it, and that's less than a third of their income if they're getting SSI.

But we got to help them get SSI if they're eligible for it.

If they are totally not competent, then they need some other kind of help.

But we need to not have them run wandering around on the streets in the cold and in the heat.

That's not humane.

Let's be an example in Bethlehem, please.

Let's help the homeless people, especially the homeless veterans.

God bless you.

Thank you, Mr.

Caratola.

Miss Mary Joe McCall.

I just have a comment.

Um, I believe at the last meeting or two meetings prior, I had inquired about the my Bethlehem's fall winter booklet that I had not received.

Michael Clone had gotten his, and he lives fairly close to me.

I waited a week and a half, almost two weeks, hadn't gotten it.

I contacted the mayor's office.

One person in the office called me back and said that they were printed, they go from the printer to a mail place to be sent out, and it's up to the mail house to determine who gets them and who doesn't.

I thought, well, I'm paying taxes, and you're paying for a mailing fee and a printing fee and all this other kind of things.

I should be getting it, it shouldn't be random.

Someone, a second person then called me from the mayor's office and said, I explained that to her, and she said, Oh no, that's not right.

I'm thinking, well, there's a miscommunication somewhere, and I had got I had requested three to be sent to me, one for myself and two for two other neighbors, which I had gotten, but nobody else on the neighborhood has gotten them.

But nobody else on the neighborhood has gotten them.

And that just doesn't seem right.

That you know, the only way you get it is if you call and complain.

That there's you should look into that, because there's something wrong with that.

And you could sit there and have a smirk or whatever you want to do, but I pay my taxes every year, and my ta and I'm on a fixed income.

We as residents deserve better.

And unfortunately, I don't see much future in the city with the election results.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else from the Broad Center?

Anyone to the right?

Right, moving on to by the way, I have my hand up.

Oh, I did not see you.

Um if you can come up.

Stephen and Alex, 77 Ridge.

I'd mentioned before that a city's best served if people in council are its best.

And is my opinion that what we have behind that table are not the city's best coming January, it'll remain that way.

Why?

Simply if you registered in the wrong party and are superior candidate, you will not get elected.

That's just the way it is, which deprived the city of its best.

People that came to council meetings, they would see how people are performing, and they would vote accordingly.

How does this go on?

I'm gonna take it back to the 30s.

And half blocked down was Webster School, elementary school, and election day, all the politicians had a standardized form voting card, and they paid us kids 25 cents to hand them out, and in that process, I got to know a very fine gentleman, brilliant person, an inventor, who decided to run for a council, didn't make it.

Why?

He was a Republican, and I was told something by him, which has stuck with me.

He looked me in the eye and he said, Steve, I'm gonna tell you something.

If the Republican Party appointed a person biblical fame born on the December 25th as their candidate for mayor, and the opposing party, the Democratic Party, appointed a cartoon character by the name of Mickey Mouse on the ballot.

Guess who would win?

And that that time, Mickey Mouse would win.

But that's the way it was in political days when Mr.

Yasko ran this the political leader in the city, strong armed the city being democratic, and the wards had ward leaders who are democratic, and a product of that process was Mr.

Rooney, who became a congressman because he was poster boy for Mr.

Yasco, and Mr.

Rooney had a reputation of being a fun guy.

He was a fun guy, and his nickname was spooks, but fortunately, he was the poster boy for Mr.

Yasko, and he then got to Congress.

So will this ever change?

Time will tell.

Which was popular then comes to play now, and that adage is you can fool some of the people all of the time.

And all of some of the people all the time, all the people, some of the time, and not all the people all the time.

I hope I got that right, but I think I don't know what I'm trying to say.

But uh whether that comes to live in Bethlehem.

Let's all be good citizens.

We put our heads on our pillows to let's hope it happens.

Next time around, those who don't deserve to be behind that table won't be sitting sitting there.

So good luck, Bethlehem.

Thank you.

Uh moving on to a public comment on anything being voted on.

No one has signed up prior, so I'll turn to the left to my left.

Turn to the center.

Does anyone have comments on anything being voted on tonight?

And turning to the right.

Right.

That concludes public comment.

Moving on to old business.

Do any members of council have any old business?

All right.

Moving on to new business.

Um, before I open up to council, we're gonna read the 2026 budget meeting schedule.

Um I will accept the motion and a second to set the date for adoption of the 2026 budget on Tuesday, December 16th at 7 p.m.

in town hall.

So moved.

Second.

Any discussion on the motion?

The clerk will call the roll.

Ms.

Wilhelm.

Aye.

Mr.

Callahan.

Aye.

Ms.

Crampsy Smith.

Aye.

Ms.

Quitech.

Aye.

Ms.

Laird.

Aye.

And Ms.

Leon.

Aye.

The motion passes 6-0.

The adoption of the 2026 budget is scheduled to take place at 7 p.m.

on Tuesday, December 16th in town hall.

Other dates for consideration of the 2026 budget are as follows.

Monday, November 10th, 2025 at 6 p.m.

will be the first budget meeting.

The budget meeting will cover water fund revenue and expenses, water capital budget, sewer fund revenue and expenses, sewer capital budget, public works department, liquid fuels fund, stormwater fund, and non-utility capital fund.

Wednesday, November 12th at 2025 at 6 p.m., the second budget meeting will cover the golf course enterprise fund administration, council, mayor, treasurer, controller, and law bureau, general fund revenue, general expenses, civic expenses, and debt services.

Tuesday, November 18th, 2025 at 7 p.m.

will be a city council meeting with the first reading of the 2026 budget ordinances.

Thursday, November 20th, 2025 at 6 p.m.

will be the third budget meeting, and that will cover the community and development departments, community development block grant fund, the police department, and that's it.

Thursday, December 4th, 2025 at 6 p.m.

There will be a final budget meeting.

This meeting will only occur if necessary, and this meeting is for amendments to the budget.

Monday, November 24th, 2025 at 6 p.m.

will be a backup budget meeting.

This meeting will only occur if rescheduling of a prior budget meeting is necessary.

All right.

So that is our schedule for the budget.

So turning to council, does anyone have any new business?

Councilman Cramps.

Thank you.

I just wanted to ask what the status is of as presented tonight, um, the fire company engine company number nine and the supervisor.

Is that um a vacant position at this time or somebody something that you're working on?

Uh it is not a vacant position, it's been an ongoing conversation as far as that situation is concerned.

Um, one of the things I would say is that um uh several months ago I had uh told Chief Griffin in relation to Music Fest, but to any event, if something had come up by which he felt that it was um that he needed to have somebody out there as far as there an event going on or whatever it might be, or like in the case of Music Fest for 10 days, if they thought there was any shift pressure, he had his own decision-making ability to use as needed as basis there and so on and so forth.

It's not as a simple of a question though, as far as like putting somebody out there, because we have obviously multiple shifts.

So then if you're going to put somebody out there all the time, you essentially would need four new supervisors, and then those four people would need to be backfilled as far as on the line is concerned.

Now we'll get a better idea once we're able to get up to our full staffing, which as we know we have been putting money towards over the past couple of years to send the two classes, and we plan to do that again in 2026.

But part of the um RFP that we had put out as the administration in conjunction with the IFF, which we've been working on for months and months, and the responses came back on Friday, is taking a look at all of the different staffing configurations going forward as far as need, as far as type of calls are concerned, as um as far as like shift uh, you know, it just taking a look at what our deployment of staff is um and getting a better understanding of what that those needs would be as far as going forward is concerned.

Okay, thanks.

I guess I just want to get clear.

So um at that particular engine company, is there is it just firefighters there and no supervisor or no officer?

Chief Chief Griffin could explain that situation a little bit better as far as who is there and who's not there.

Okay, thank you.

Good evening.

Again, uh so on a regular basis, that fire station is staffed with two firefighters.

There is not an officer present at that station.

Uh, the officer who works out of company six, which is located on Broad Street, covers company six's territory as well as the territory for engine company nine.

And what is engine company nine?

Is that where is that located?

Uh that is located at Catasacle Road that served the northwest portion of the city.

Okay.

So the so the officer on Broad Street would also be covering um the Catasaka Road one engine company nine if needed.

That is correct.

Yes.

Correct.

Okay.

All right.

Um thank you.

Appreciate it.

And I guess the other question I have is I know um, you know, we had a uh public safety meeting about the firefighters and their staffing study.

Um, and I guess I'm just confused because it sounds like the city with the IAFF is also doing another study.

And is that going to be more on resources or is it going to be on personnel also?

Well, I would first share your characterization as confused because uh, you know, we had not um excuse me.

The use of the word confusion is we were also confused last week, and I was confused because obviously we were doing our budget presentation on Thursday, and there was the meeting in the middle of the day on Wednesday, um, and we did not have any of the information beforehand.

We didn't have anything.

So having to answer questions about that was obviously an impossibility because that information was presented without us and by us.

I'm not just talking about myself or the mayor's office, but I'm also talking about Chief Griffin and those within the administration.

So we and I also was just as far as the timing was concerned.

I mean, this has been a process that Chief Griffin and actually before Chief Griffin, Chief Reich had started probably six, seven, eight months ago, as far as looking at what that RFP would be.

There hasn't been a study like this as far as the police department is concerned, since I believe 1998 or 1999, somewhere around there.

Is that correct, Chief?

Um, as far as taking a look at all of the aspects of the fire department, as far as call volume, as far as staffing is concerned, as far as paramedic calls, all of those things.

So if you're if the question is is the scope of what we have been working on for seven or eight months that we drafted an RFP that the IFFF was included in the drafting of the language for, and we put that out um to bid.

And I believe we received the responses last Friday, and I believe we got six or seven responses, seven responses.

Um, that is much more extensive about as far as the future of the department is concerned, and staffing is one piece of it, but it is a much wider conversation that are other issues that have come up as far as equipment is concerned, as far as facilities are concerned, as just the future of the fire department.

And now that we have the RPs in, do you have any idea like the target date that the study will start and be completed?

So we're reviewing those RFPs.

Um, you know, like I said, we just got them on Friday.

So the goal, I believe, Mr.

Evans is to have a uh to, and maybe you can talk a little bit more about that internal process there.

Uh a group of us met this afternoon to kind of lay out the schedule best we can.

We know that the budget hearings are going on.

We know the Thanksgiving holidays coming up.

So we all brought our calendars and at this time, the third week of November would be meeting to evaluate each of the seven.

It gives us the two-week period in order to study them, evaluate them, come with our own insights, and have a long conversation about who the finalist may be.

Okay.

At that time, we make a decision on who the finalists might be.

We're going to want to interview them and talk to them live, whether it be remote or in person, and that's scheduled to take place.

We have two dates at this point held for interviews, and that's the second week of December, 10th and 11th.

So then after that, we would decide who which would be the preferred group to come forward to who would act as the consultant to be able to complete this study in the first part of 2026, exactly how long that takes, oftentimes between when council votes on it, and then the consultant gets hired to come in and do the work.

Um sometimes there's contract language there, but our goal is to have it done obviously with the right amount of time, but at some point in 2026, depending on how much work there is to be done.

Okay, thank you.

Do in the RFPs, do they did they give a time frame as far as how long they feel they need to do the study or what it will take them to complete it?

In the RFP, we requested that they could complete it in five months.

We know that that's part of the conversation we're gonna have when we actually narrow it down to the final couple because uh we did get some inquiry when you put the RPA RFP out, there's an opportunity for organizations to reach out with specific questions.

And one of the questions we did get was that time period flexible.

And you know, we do have an interest in completing it and bringing it to completion at a reasonable time frame, but we also want to give also the time to be comprehensive.

This is fire and EMS, it is site location, it's apparatus, it's a maintenance of it, it's the scheduling, it's response time.

So it's gonna be quite lengthy.

So we want to give it time that's due, but also continue to keep it on a tight timeline and push it to conclusions so we can move forward.

And part of the consult management, uh, consultant management is obviously understanding what you want them to do and what you don't want.

And one of the things that we've done so well as a city when we've hired consultants to be able to come in is get them not to necessarily um look at things that we aren't asking them to look at or waste time or whatever that might be.

So anytime you hire anybody to come in, there's that time period as well.

And hopefully it's just you know, a couple weeks when you're working on a contract, as far as we're gonna spend eight hours in this or 10 hours in this or whatever it might be.

Um, but obviously we'll try to we'll try to move that ahead as quickly as possible um to be able to get the consultant approved, hired, and doing the important work that consultants do.

Okay, thank you.

And two other questions, just um, who will be involved in deciding on with the RFP?

I mean, I know it will be administration, I assume fire chief will the IAFF be involved.

Yeah, unlike in their study, they have been involved in the crafting of the RFP, and we were not involved in anything having to do with their study, but they have been there from day one as far as the crafting of the RFP is concerned.

Um, they will be in on the interviews as well, and they will have uh an opinion to be stated there.

Um, and then there will be a collected decision, and then that contract will come, as do all of these contracts to uh city council to be approved.

Okay.

And I know that it sounds like this has been in the process for a couple of months.

I'm not sure of the dynamic um particulars.

I know we went through the study, but I'm just wondering has it been thought of that since they've already done a study and it's only on staffing.

Um, well, it is more than staffing because it was also on the um engine companies, but would it be in the interest of of saving money and time?

Would it be um uh thoughtful to think that it might be redundant to do another one and maybe look at their study and see what we got from their study and if there's something we need more so that we know we could uh have it, it would be less as far as the study goes.

We wouldn't need to have it as extensive as previously planned.

Uh no, I don't think so, because I mean the union paid for their own study to come in to be able to look at their own issues through their own lens.

Um, so obviously that will be a piece of information that people will be able to look at moving forward.

But the crafting of the RFP and the process that we have followed um for the last seven, eight, nine months has been pretty comprehensive about the type of um document that we're looking for.

And to ask somebody to come in and basically say, well, we want you to deal with these particular givens, like it's a geometry problem, uh, I think would really limit somebody's ability to take a look at something intellectually.

Um, and we didn't spend any money on that study.

The IFF did or however they decide to pay for that.

Um, so we do not believe it would be redundant, and I don't really, and it's not really my place to go through intellectually as far as like what was in their study um that we may look at as far as the methodology is concerned.

Um, but and this is probably not the best place to do that.

Um, but we would not believe that there was anything in there that would therefore preclude the group decision or the group process that we followed to hire somebody to come in and do a professional study.

Okay, thank you.

Any other new business?

Uh Chief.

Could you um I know that the person who spoke about the uh position that is shared uh for that company nine um was talking a little bit about what that role would do with mentorship and and leadership.

Can you just explain a little bit more about the position being discussed?

Like what is um what is that person's role?

So what it what is being shared across the two duty, the two uh sites right now.

Okay, are you you referring to what is the role of the company level officer, basically?

Okay.

So the the role of the company level officer, uh they're the supervisor in charge of the firehouse for that district.

They maintain the the day-to-day operations, they oversee the day-to-day operations of the station, and they're the first arriving officer uh in that district on a fire or EMS call.

So they are tasked with initially beginning the response phase and the incident management phase of a call for that incident uh until relieved by a high lever supervisor, such as assistant chief or someone who may arrive on scene uh based upon the size of the internet.

So if there are two incidents going on, um, and one is you know, Catasauqua Road number nine is uh responding, and the other one is in the area that Broad Street would be responding, then where does that shared officer go?

Uh that shared officer would go to the first call that they were dispatched to.

Once they're dispatched to an incident, they would be considered committed on that incident, and we would have to dispatch another officer from another engine or piece of equipment, either from the northeast part of the city or the south side uh to come over and act as the uh the arriving officer for that incident.

Okay.

And then in terms of the day-to-day, so are they like um coming up with the staffing schedules and uh the building maintenance that like that type of thing?

Uh yes, the day-to-day operations would include station and apparatus maintenance, uh the what we classify as the chore or job of the day, also the daily training assignment.

Uh, but the scheduling is done by the assistant chief who oversees the entire platoon, and that individual works out of our station on on the south side.

Okay.

Uh thank you.

You're welcome.

Um before I move on to you, Councilwoman Wilhelm.

I just want to make sure I address uh councilman Callahan.

Uh thank you.

I apologize for not being in uh in chambers and I got a stomach ache.

I'm not feeling well.

But uh Mr.

Reynolds, would it be possible?

I I I wasn't on council the first two years of um of your uh mayorship.

Would it be possible to get a list of all the consultants that uh we've hired in the last four years and the dollar month that we've spent on that?

I think we've provided that information before.

Um, but we can try to find wherever it was that we hired those people that were a good use of the money, yes.

Yeah, I'd appreciate if you if you could just have um someone email it to me and you know and copy the rest of the council.

I and I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you, councilwoman Wilhelm.

I don't have any further questions about this matter.

So if anybody else no, no, you go ahead.

Okay.

Um I I wanted to thank Ms.

Calavo, yes, for uh your remarks tonight, uh, and Ms.

Kloiber for your endorsement.

I've not heard any particular comments or complaints about Bethlem Carriage Company, but uh it is one of those things you it's hard to tell um from the outside without an intimate knowledge or relationship with the animals, and it's something that folks do wonder about with regard to working animals, and especially since they are present at a very busy time, a cold time, um, people do wonder.

So I think um not just that you came here to speak about it, but that you were transparent enough to invite us to uh participate, come close, learn more.

I appreciate that.

So thank you.

Um also just wanted to take a moment to congratulate Mayor Reynolds, Mr.

Yasso, Ms.

Daniels, uh, Mr.

Amon, and of course, my colleagues, councilwoman Leon and Councilwoman QuiaTech.

Um, as it relates in particular to my colleagues up here, I I you know have to say that Bethlehem could not hope for two more dedicated, thoughtful, hardworking and wise council people sitting up here behind this desk.

And um, I certainly uh as a constituent will feel grateful to have them continuing to serve for four more years.

Thank you.

Uh Councilwoman Laird, I think I moved on from you a little quick.

So yes, uh, thank you.

So just uh two things that I wanted the uh people here and watching online to be aware of.

Um one is tomorrow evening.

Um there's a an annual meeting for the North Side Alive neighborhood.

And um it's at the Bethlehem YMCA from six till eight.

There's usually good food.

There's a lot of updates, including there will be updates about um friendship park, uh, which is really getting to an exciting point in uh construction and hopefully we'll be uh wrapped up pretty soon.

Um the other thing that I wanted people to be aware of also has to do with parks.

Um November 12th, uh, which is next Tuesday, is the final virtual public meeting for the 40 and 10 Bethlehem Parks Master Plan project.

That is on Zoom and is linked uh from the city website.

But um there'll be some really exciting uh information about plans and recommendations for our park system uh across the whole city.

So anyone who's um is interested in any of the parks in the city uh would find that interesting.

Um I believe that's it.

Thank you.

Uh thank you.

Um, I just have have two things.

One was um, I feel like I might have misinterpreted the uh public safety study.

It felt like it was a little bit more collaborative in my understanding of the study that was done.

Um that there was much more involvement with the administration, that all the data came from the administration.

Is that not the case?

Like how involved were you was was the entirety of the administration public safety component of the administration in that IFF study.

Yeah, as far as asking for, I believe they requested GIS data.

GIS data, which was what they had had utilized there.

Um I'm not sure what other data requests might have been asked for.

But as far as questions, and like I said, I don't really want to.

We've really laid out a process by which I think we're doing something in a comprehensive, collaborative, sophisticated way.

So I don't really want to demean what was in there from the from the process point of view.

Yeah, and I don't I don't want to do that either.

It it I thought that this would be a supplement to or a different perspective too.

I like multiple and and they don't they don't owe us that.

Like there's not, I don't want I don't want to to make it seem as if there was some like legal obligation or even some statutory obligation.

There was there was none of those.

It was just as far as relationship.

Right.

So I was I thought that it might have been more comprehensive than then just GIS.

I appreciated the GIS that it was very insightful, but I thought maybe there would have been like some personnel information or anything like that that was um asked or requested.

So maybe if we could do a follow-up about that, like what what information was actually requested from the administration.

So um we still have access to the study.

I'm still gonna be looking at it.

So I would like to know none.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Um all right, pivoting away from that.

Uh I just had a appreciate you coming down and speaking about um the horses around Christmas time.

And it's always been a dream of mine to see mainstream, I know it's not popular, but main street closed to through traffic, especially on the weekends because it is so um so intense down there, but it would be really cool, especially as the city continues to grow.

And you know, we're Christmas City USA, amazing hotel, all the horses would be really good to see.

Um more pedestrian flow down there and a little bit less vehicular traffic.

All right.

So moving on uh did the administration of anything else before we move on.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Are you moving on from new business?

Yeah, okay.

I just saw one more thing to add.

Okay, I'm not sure, but I I might have heard, but I think that um we might have been remiss to know.

I also congratulate Joe Daniels that got elected also.

I'm not sure if you mentioned her at this point.

I didn't hear her name.

Thank you.

All right, moving on to communications, communications exact.

An October 29th, 2025 memorandum and proposed ordinance from Chief Building Inspector Michael Simonson and director of community and economic development, Laura Collins.

Mr.

Simonson and Ms.

Collins recommend revisions to city article 1702 involving fees for the enforcement of the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Company.

Specified uh code correct correction as specified in the memo.

The memo also proposes raising these fees to cover the cost of hiring two additional employees to handle the increasing workload of the code enforcement bureau.

And ordinance nine is on the agenda communication six B.

An October 29th, 2025 memorandum and proposed ordinance from Health Director Kristen Wenrick.

Ms.

Wenrick recommends revisions to city article 1113 involving food code regulations and fees.

These were last raised in 2014.

Meanwhile, operational costs have increased and responsibilities have expanded, meaning that the fees charged no longer cover the health bureau's costs for providing the services.

The proposed increase would set fees comparable to those of local municipalities and allow for cost recovery of licensing and inspection services.

An ordinance nine B is on the agenda.

Moving on to reports, uh nothing for the president's report, uh Mayor's report.

Yeah, um I would just start with um extending the congratulations to all of the um council people yesterday that had won.

And I think that um one of the beautiful things about our city is the diverse group of elected officials we have and the diverse group of community leaders.

And I think that every era has um people in America that are elected by their peers.

Um, and the people that we elect in 2025 are different than they were 20 or 30 or 40 years ago because it's a reflection of who we are as a city.

And having been here for all 44 of my years, um, I can say that in a very detached way from this job is if I take a look at our school board, our city council, our elected officials, our community leaders, there's never been a time that I, and I think people this year have spoken loud and clearly about what type of city they want to live in, where the elected officials in our community and behind that table have done such a good job to represent both who we are and who we want to be, both as people that live in our city and as Americans.

And you know, when I was watching last night a lot of those election results, and I was people see people celebrating, um, there was a spirit there that I think that we all feel in a regular basis because we live in the city of Bethlehem.

And that's not due to any one person or any one group of people, that's due to a culture that has been built up over years of people in the city leading and saying that there are things we can be proud of, but we always should be self-reflecting, thinking about what we can do to make the city even better.

And no two people ever agree 100%.

Um, but our collective efforts and what we've been able to accomplish as a community, pre-dating when we got into this office or pre-dating when people got behind that side of the table up through today has been impressive.

And it is something that we are going to continue.

Um, and a lot of my updates here are a couple having to do with events that Councilman Laird mentioned, are a reflection of the progress that we're making.

And if you have an opportunity to get out to these events, I really, really encourage you to because it just shows how much work our community is doing.

Um, and we're all partners in that work.

So, you know, um, as uh Councilman Laird has mentioned tomorrow is the North Side Alive meeting from six to eight at the YMCA, where Selena and the crew are just gonna do a great job of running through all of the work that we've done this year, all of the projects that are going into the future.

We're starting a new planning process for that particular neighborhood because the first one has been so successful and it grew out of the plan that we did now seven or eight years ago.

Um so if you have a chance to get down there, please do.

Uh the 40 and 10 and uh uh councilman Laird talked about Friendship Park, which is completion almost there, minus the grass, which is hard to grow right now, and minus the water feature, which you can't really turn on in the middle of November if you don't want actual water problems.

Um, but it is what Friendship Park is doing as well is it's shown us what is capable and it's been the it's gonna be the model for how we take a look at our other parks um that are going to be included in 40 and 10.

So if you have an opportunity, um that's a virtual meeting as well to be able to weigh in on that.

Um, we're gonna have a big meeting in February where it becomes kind of our like annual parks meeting.

And this one is gonna kind of kick off 40 and 10.

Um, but we've gotten a lot done.

I know several of you were at the budget presentation last week as far as our parks are concerned, and they're places where people can go and interact with people that aren't like them and where we truly meet other people.

And that's the beauty of the park.

And that's the beauty of the idea that we're investing in our community.

Um also on November 13th, five to seven, we have our Southside tomorrow um annual update over at the Fowler Center, um, which is another one that Ms.

Smith and everybody from CADCB will be leading with uh city staff to talk about a lot of the great projects that have gone into um into that on um uh November 19th from six to eight at the YMCA as well.

We have our complete streets public meeting um where we're gonna allow where it's gonna be uh kind of like the first uh um uh public meeting there as we talk about building those streets.

So if you have a chance to get out there, our uh climate action plan annual meeting is on November 20th from nine to 10 here.

That's also streaming.

Um, so all of these things have a combination of community leaders, nonprofit leaders, city staff that aren't always at these meetings that are working day in and day out to do the things and you guys get the contracts and things like that.

Um, so if you have an opportunity, it's an example of government working, of positivity working, of bringing people together, of collaboration, and it's just exciting because we do so much of the grind as far as approving contracts and we have to do the engineering study and we have to do this study and so on and so forth.

But then to see the projects and we are finishing projects, we're starting projects, we're in their middle projects as a community, and uh probably the biggest set of projects we haven't taken on yet, which is our 40 and 10, which is gonna talk about all the exciting park projects that we're taking on.

Um, and then obviously our tree lighting is coming up at 4:30 on Friday, the 28th.

Um, and then also if you have an opportunity, we have our um uh first walnut week kicking off on Monday, uh November 17th, which is going to be um we're going to uh there's something each day of the week um leading up to the garage opening on Thursday.

Um, but once again, I I just want to thank city council because the fact that we took a look at our parking system from a holistic point of view, thinking about how do we encourage short-term parkers to stay in the street, how do we get long term parkers into the garage?

How do we get long-term parkers into the garage?

How do we not overbuild in one location?

How do we look at parking supply?

How do we look at the rates to be able to affect how long people are staying at those meters?

All of those things seem like technical things that people will be like, oh, it's data.

It's what's data mean, what's data mean?

Data is a collection of experiences, and data is the way you can drive decisions.

And one of the things that we've been able to do by not following the general 20th century American, like let's do what we just did, or let's make it bigger, is that we've been able to find ways to save money to be able to invest.

So Steve Fernström, who has done just a wonderful job of everything having to do with Walnut Street, the Walnut Street Garage construction, has been able to pay the parking authority over 300,000 to buy new light poles that are able to hang the new decorations that you're gonna see on Broad Street, on Main Street, on Walnut Street.

Um, and we're lighting those and returning those lights on on Monday to kind of kick off the week and kick off our holiday season.

Um, but that is only possible because we save the opportunity cost of not building excess parking that people are gonna park in like 0.5% of the time.

And even though those meetings were, I wouldn't call them difficult, they were of like minor difficulty, but like what it ended up doing now, like we are in the precipice of having a parking system that works that is efficient, and the parking authority, and I'll finish with this.

The parking authority doesn't want people's money, they want to be able to use money as the way to regulate who parks short term and who parks long term.

But then the idea that I put back in Bethlehem 2017 is to be able to put those funds back into the community.

So when you're paying for parking regulation, it's going back to be able to pay for these things that people want in their downtown.

And Mr.

Fernstrom is about to be able, he he's made, we've purchased them about a 340,000 investment in these street lights that are going to be able to give people the decorations they've been looking for for years that are gonna be able to give people the lights to be able to look for.

We're gonna be able to hang the baskets that people want, because we were able to make a series of good decisions.

So in this process, as we go through the budget, and I will finish there, and we talk about like where we are today.

It's always about how do you set up all those decisions beforehand to be able to get to the payoff by which people drive down the street and they're like, wow, government's really working.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Moving on to committee chair reports, the public safety committee met on Wednesday, October 29th, 2025 in town hall.

There was one agenda item to be reviewed involving the fire department, IAFF study, staffing study of the union presented findings of the study, and the information was taken under advisement.

No votes or other official action were taken.

Rachel Leon, Chairwoman, Public Safety Committee.

Moving on to ordinances for final passage.

Ordinance 8A.

Ordinance of the City of Bethlehem, Counties of Lehigh and Northampton, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, listing courtway and right-of-way widths for certain city streets.

Bill number 44, 2025 is sponsored by Ms.

Wilhelm and Ms.

Leone.

Discussion on 8A.

The clerk will call the roll.

Ms.

Wilhelm.

Hi.

Hi.

Ms.

Gramsci Smith.

I'm quite layered.

Hi.

Ms.

Liam.

Aye.

The ordinance passes uh 60.

New ordinances.

An ordinance of the city of Bethlehem, Counties of Lehigh and Northampton, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending article 1702 of the City of Bethlehem Codified Ordinance is titled Fees for the Enforcement of Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code, Act Number 45, 1999.

Bill number 45, 2025 is sponsored by Ms.

Wilhelm and Ms.

Cramsey Smith.

Discussion.

The clerk will call the roll.

Ms.

Wilhelm.

I'm Callahan.

Ms.

Crampsy Smith.

Hi.

Ms.

Quid Tech.

Aye.

Ms.

Laird.

Ms.

Leon.

Aye.

Passes 6-0.

The clerk will read Bill.

Number 46, 2025.

An ordinance of the City of Bethlehem Counties of Lehigh and Northampton, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending Article 1113 of the City of Bethlehem Codified Ordinance is titled Food Code Regulation.

Bill number 46, 2025, is sponsored by Ms.

Wilhelm and Ms.

Cramsey Smith.

Discussion.

Councilman Crampsy Smith?

You can go first.

No, I look this way first.

Okay.

I just have a couple of questions regarding this.

So this is regarding um health inspections.

Oh, thank you.

The one question is what about does this include like the vendors at the farmers market?

Yes.

Okay.

So how will that work?

Will they have to pay?

Because the, you know, they may be at two or three different farmers' markets in the city, you know, like Rose Garden, Lehigh.

Um, I can't think of the other one, but and then they'll be at different times.

Are they gonna have to pay so so that's how it how it's set up now, but you can get a vendor license depending on if you're um a vendor that's at multiple venues in the city, there's a specific category for that.

And it will maybe so it's broken down how it is now.

Okay, so for like those vendors, will they only have to pay once then?

Yes.

Okay, they only have to pay once, and then they could go to all the, and that will be the administrative fee as well as the inspection charge.

Yeah, so that doesn't change, nothing changes as far as how things are categorized and the process that works now, it's just increasing the fees slightly.

Okay, okay.

And the only other question I had is um, and I know I mean it's been a long time since we we looked at the fees and and up them.

So I can understand the need to increase the fees, but um, I'm just thinking about you know, now since we don't have a budget at the federal or state level, and many entities are they don't have the money they need, like especially the schools.

I'm looking at um the education on page three, I guess it is, that there'll be an increase for like um, I guess it's 75 dollars for care facilities like daycares, nursing homes, educational institutions, including the schools.

Um, when is this look we're looking at having this if it passes being in impacted right away, right?

Well, right now we're in our licensing season, so we typically send out the license renewals in October and then they're renewed in November and December.

So that they're currently under this structure now, so it won't be until next year.

Correct.

Okay, all right, great.

That helps.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Councilman there.

Yeah, um, I certainly understand the need to increase uh fees as time goes on and businesses are um increasing in the city, which is fantastic.

Um question I had, and I I actually was uh talking a bit with Ms.

Collins about this even before this came on our agenda.

Was uh it's my understanding that if there's a commercial kitchen that smaller businesses are working out of, the commercial kitchen gets inspected in general, correct?

And then each business requires a separate inspection, correct?

So there could be instances where there's um a commercial kitchen that's renting out to smaller vendors that might have inspectors going out like frequently, um, depending on how many people are renting from them.

And I I understood um parts of the conversation that we had about that different businesses may be using different equipment that needs to be checked or have different processes that need to be checked, but it also seemed like wow, that could get to be a lot for both the site and for the inspector's workload.

Um, so I'm wondering if you know, saying, okay, we if this the fee structure passes tonight, could we also be taking a look though at the uh the process to make sure that we're being as efficient as we can be?

Like even if it's looking at okay, um a commercial kitchen has a a few different types of licenses for different types of businesses or something like that.

I don't know if it's possible, but I just I wanted to make sure that as we're increasing staffing and increasing fees in different areas that we also are auditing our uh processes to make sure that they update uh with with our our times and needs in the community as well.

Well, I can tell you from our standpoint when we um schedule inspections, we're always looking at geographics to that.

So we're not going from one area of the city to another.

So um, I can't speak with 100% certainty that we're able to inspect all of those same um entities that are using that commercial kitchen, but it's certainly something that we try to do.

Okay, um, yeah.

And is there any uh like routine?

You said we're in a season right now where um the letters are going out.

Is there a routine time frame each year where the like inspection processes are reviewed or every X number of years or anything like that?

I mean, we talk about it on a regular basis.

We you know, meet with our staff um every week.

So um talk about what's working, what's not working?

That's just kind of part of our routine operations.

Okay.

Um we do ask our um the entities that we inspect, like to provide customer satisfaction surveys.

So there's always open to do feed, you know, provide feedback if something they see that can be improved.

Okay, all right, thank you.

Any other function?

Just one question.

I was curious if you have a sense once these are implemented.

Um, do you have a sense of what percent annual revenue increase you're looking at?

It's about 43,000.

And percentage-wise, taking the same.

So right now right now, um, roughly with with the current numbers, we're at 160,735.

Okay.

Is what we anticipate receiving.

And then that would go up to 203,670.

Thank you.

Any other I'm sorry, I just I forgot two things.

On page three, I just wanted to clarify.

So it says a mobile food establishment.

Is that considered like a food truck?

Yes.

Okay.

And I guess I'm just wondering because most of the increases are like $25 average, 50, but that one um it seems to be the largest is a hundred dollars.

Is there a reason why that's such a larger increase?

We did look at um comparable uh cities.

So we looked at Allentown and Easton as well.

Um so most of the proposed increases are either aligned with the neighboring municipalities or slightly under.

Okay.

So they those other municipalities do charge more they for the food trucks.

Correct.

Okay.

And then the um location specific temporary food establishments, are those considered vendors or who what category who falls into that category?

Yeah, so like a vendor say that they're at music fest or there are multiple festivals or more of like a what we call stick stand.

So they don't have more like a truck.

I'm thinking of the um the farmer market vendors.

Would they fall under that?

Yes.

Okay, and what was what's the rate now for them?

Because it says 125, but I don't see like a different rate.

So I'm sorry, which one are you looking at?

Number five, location specific temporary food establishment.

Um, I'm sorry, I don't have a copy of the actual ordinance.

I just have my spreadsheet.

Because it's listed.

Um annual site specific is 75 currently, and then that would go to 125.

Okay.

So it should be read, it should be crossed out.

They should have on the ordinance.

Um you should have the initial that's crossed out and then the proposed.

Okay.

So that's gonna be an increase of 50.

Okay.

And again, is that because other municipalities have that similar correct?

And we're actually lower, right?

Even with our proposed increase, we're lower.

Okay.

And our neighboring municipalities.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

I just have this is an annual basis, right?

Correct.

So if something's going up $50, that means it's going up basically four dollars a month.

Correct.

Okay, thank you.

Okay.

All right.

If there's nothing else, um, the clerk will call the roll.

Ms.

Wilhelm.

I Mr.

Callahan.

I'm Grampson Smith.

I believe I is Laird.

I Ms.

Leon.

I passes 6-0.

Moving on to resolutions, resolution 10A.

You resolved that cigar page, Bethlehem LLC has requested the approval by the council of the city of Bethlehem, Northampton County for the proposed transfer of Pennsylvania restaurant liquor license number R61034.

Barbade page Bethlehem LLC at 1010 Harvard Avenue, Bethlehem, Northampton County, with the understanding that said transfer must be approved at a later date by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

Resolution is sponsored by Ms.

Wilhelm and Ms.

Ramsey Smith.

Discussion.

I do.

Councilman Calyan.

Yeah, I just want to thank uh the um the guys that um presented tonight in uh the owners that are putting this forward.

Uh I want to thank you for investing in the city of Bethlehem, and um I wish you well and uh a lot of uh success with your business.

Thank you.

Anything else?

Councilman White.

Yes.

Um so I asked my questions of the applicant already during the hearing, but I had a couple of questions for the city administration.

Um would be uh, are you uh do you know offhand how many um smoking and food and alcohol establishments are within the city right now?

Uh I do not have those numbers off the top of my head um as far as exactly what those numbers would be, but we certainly could try to find them for you if we know.

I'm not sure we track, yeah.

We don't track like smoking.

I mean, we could pull like different health licenses possibly as far as restaurants are concerned.

Yeah, I guess I wasn't sure because of like the exemptions if those if there's like a list of what businesses have those clean air exemptions or something like that.

No, I I yeah, they don't they don't I think people just deal directly with the liquor control board there.

Okay.

Um to your knowledge, are there any uh I was trying to look uh during the hearing, but uh just in case I've missed anything.

Are there any initiatives within our climate action plan or our health uh bureau long-term planning um that would be uh seeking to you know limit the types of these businesses in the city or anything like that?

I I would say we we don't have anything specific.

Um, when it comes to smoking establishments, there are different types of smoking establishments and they're regulated by different people, right?

Like if you're thinking about um places that have food and also have smoking, like that's an LCB, like there's state regulation related to that, and they don't even necessarily like come through the city for that.

Um, or if it's like a CBD shop or you know, things that fall into that category, that's also like state regulated.

Um, you know, enforcement is more like legal and also kind of wishy-washy.

Um what I understand.

Um, so so we don't, you know, for a variety of reasons, like we don't really have a lot of touch points necessarily on smoking specific establishments.

So we we we just really don't like track that necessarily.

Okay, and uh enforcement also would not fall to the I I know you said there are some uh additional requirements for the construction, right?

Uh is there any additional burden on our administrative staff for this type of establishment beyond that like there are some additional things to look for in construction inspections?

I don't I don't believe so.

No, okay, thank you.

All right, any other discussion?

The clerk will call the roll.

Ms.

Wilhelm.

Aye, Mr.

Callahan, aye, Ms.

Cramsey Smith.

Aye, Ms.

Queatech.

Aye, Ms.

Laird and Ms.

Leon.

Aye.

Resolution passes five one.

Moving on to 10B.

Certificate of appropriateness under the provisions of the act of the Pennsylvania legislature, Bethlehem resolution is hereby granted for 23 East Third Street to install backlit letters within the sign band as signage for a new commercial tenant.

Resolution is sponsored by Ms.

Wilhelm and Ms.

Gramscy Smith.

Discussion.

Clerk will call the roll.

Ms.

Wilhelm.

Aye.

Mr.

Callahan.

I'm Gramsy Smith.

Aye.

Ms.

Quietek.

Aye.

Ms.

Laird.

Aye.

And Ms.

Liam.

Aye.

Passes 6-0 and resolution 10 C.

Certificate of appropriateness under the provisions of the Act of the Pennsylvania legislature, Bethlehem resolution is hereby granted for 14 through 36 West 3rd Street to construct a rooftop outdoor seating area, pergola, and glass railing and receive approval to use alternate facade materials, including brick, precast details, and carport finishes.

Resolution is sponsored by Ms.

Wilhelm and Ms.

Cramcy Smith.

Discussion.

The clerk will call the roll.

Ms.

Wilhelm.

Aye.

Mr.

Callahan.

I'm Crim C.

Smith.

Aye.

Ms.

Quietek.

Aye.

Ms.

Laird.

Aye.

And Ms.

Leon.

Aye.

Houses 60.

And that concludes our agenda for tonight.

Get home safe, everybody.