Agenda for this morning.

I know that many of our meetings have been pretty full.

Just to kind of run council through what we've got going on today.

We have the port authority here with us to kind of give us some updates here in caucus.

We have a presentation from the county view re-entry department uh program so that we'll hear uh from them and know that we don't have that budget item in front of us yet, but this is so that we can start learning more about the program and what's going to be coming um in front of us soon.

But as we start to look down this, I'd like to first open up to see if any counselors have questions on any of the ordinances are coming for final passage.

We have three before us today for final passage.

Does anybody have any questions on those?

We uh yes, we do have attorney Walkner here.

If we do have any questions on things that we're gonna see with the water authority.

He had sent his colleague last time who had answered a couple of the questions that we had posed.

If there are no questions on items for final reading, I would ask that we move to items for first reading and see if there are any questions pertaining to those before us.

Items four, five, and six are the uh historic designations that we saw in the public hearings.

Good morning.

If council doesn't have any questions on on those first readings, we can move on to new business as there is no old business items.

I will just ask then solicitor, could you give us an update on item number two under a new business, just kind of an overview.

I actually don't know what that is.

I think it's from the planning commission.

I think they need to I think there's something that came from the planning commission that you guys need to schedule a public hearing for, is my under my understanding.

Okay.

So I think but but it doesn't say because that you guys need to schedule a public hearing.

That's why it's part of my confusion.

Someone from planning.

I think that's what that is.

Slightly putting you on the spot, Cooper.

Sure.

Um we're looking at uh new business item number two.

It's a resolution for the plan revision for the new land development resolution of council of the city of Erie County Pennsylvania.

It's the Arc Terrace project, Cooper, and it's about the sewer tappens.

Do you do you have any information on that?

Um I don't.

We've been meeting with them to address some concerns from the engineering bureau.

Um and they've committed to making any adjustments that are needed.

Yeah, I I think it's just to approve the the sewer extensions for that project.

I mean, and I think council remembers this is the Arc Terrace Investment Project at Bayview Heights, that's on second and cherry.

Remember, you had that come before you have a question from the planning commission.

Um so I I think, and and we can get more information for you, but I think this is just to do a sewage uh sewer extension plan for that development.

That's my understanding.

So this is just step one of uh it's part of the land development.

Certainly that obviously that area needs additional sewer tap-ins for the development there.

Yeah.

Um the planning commission has approved the preliminary plan.

Um and before they submit their final plan, there's just a couple things I need to work through with engineering, and I think this is just an approval on that timeline.

All right, thank you.

Council, any other questions on any other items that we see on the agenda.

Then um, Mayor, I would do have if we could just give a brief update.

We had tabled, excuse me, the um security contract, and I did see that there was some discussion um in a meeting.

If we could just get a brief update on on where that is.

Sure, thank you.

So at your last meeting, um, I I I believe, given the budget concerns we face, I think everyone is paying a lot of attention to every dime, which we appreciate.

We're doing the same.

Um someone had noted, you know, the cost of uh the the current security contract for our um security in the lobby had ended as of May 31st, and we had put it out to bid for um a contract extension.

We had received um three bids, including the current company and another new company, but those were for three-year contracts for security in the lobby at a pretty high price.

I can't remember, but in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So you council had had asked that we table that, that we maybe look at that and understand if there was a less expensive way to do it.

So what we ended up doing was um we extended the contract with our current company in a month-to-month contract.

So they were done May 31st, but we asked them to continue on a month-to-month basis to give us a minute to see whether there's a honestly cheaper way to do security in the lobby.

So what we're asking, and and you know, just so council doesn't feel like this is a never-ending process, we'd like three months of that month to month with them to give us a minute to talk with you about what security could look like and how we might do that in a less expensive fashion.

So instead of entering into a three-year or one-year agreement, we're just doing a month-to-month contract with them and asking you to give us space for three months to come back to you with a with a hopefully less expensive but still safe plan for building security.

Thank you.

Um and then the question I have then would be then for the solicitor.

Remind me, we had upped the amount before things had to be triggered to be on our agenda, and I believe that this falls under that amount.

It does.

I think I believe the actual cost is around $2,250 per week.

So you do math, do the math.

That's right under $10,000.

Which is under the I believe the cap is like around $13,000.

So that would be fair statement.

So that way we're all on the same.

So when we don't see it on our agenda, that is why.

Um but I wanted us to have that update so we don't think that it's been lost in translation here.

Um but to know I guess the other question I will have is that that that cap a monthly cap, or is that an overall cap?

Well, we've turned it into like a bunch of mini contracts by going month to month, essentially.

So that's how I look at it.

And also the advice um from my end is that you know the proposal is 90 days.

Um so at the end of 90 days, I believe the city should firmly do one thing or another with either a year yearly type of contract or decide exactly what that way um it comes back before council for approval for something long term.

Thank you.

That's my opinion.

Any other questions on that from council?

Okay.

Um just as an update, we from last week's study session.

Uh we received information that the day prior to the study session session occurring with the parking authority that uh their executive director and their board chair and their solicitor were not able to attend.

We have given another contact.

We've reached out via the solicitor to request by I believe Friday a new date, um, giving a pretty hard deadline as to when we expect them to give us a date back where they can attend.

Uh we are invited to attend one of their board meetings, and um I said no that it needed to occur in a study meeting or study session with us so that the public could access and that it was here and we could we could display it through the through the city.

So just note that we have that.

Um and if if that deadline passes, I guess we move into a different type of discussion.

Any questions about anything here before I invite um Port Authority to to share?

Dr.

Titus, I will note that the parking authorities next meeting is June 9th.

Um that's this coming Tuesday at 8 30 a.m.

I intend to go to that meeting.

So if any of council would like to go with me, happy to to go together, but I am planning to attend.

Then I will go ahead and invite uh the the Port Authority to to give us an update on the plan that we all have in front of us.

Um Thank you, President Titus.

We appreciate the invite from our wonderful liaison councilwoman poll to be here today.

As many of you know, we do not have an ask by any means.

We just wanted to review this you know master plan refresh as we continue to work with the mayor, different aspects you know of the waterfront.

Um before we begin, we have our CFO Erica Knight with us here, we have our deputy executive director Anna France, we have board member David Ulig with us as well.

Um we're just excited here just to take a few moments to present this to you.

Um but uh Councilman Horton, you know how I am, and I gotta pay homage when I when I need to, and I want to make sure uh to pay that homage to you and all the time you spent with us from being in the community, you know, at the outreach we had over at East and really being involved in this process.

We thank you.

Councilwoman Flores, we thank you as well for your community involvement in this process.

And President Titus, our office still, you know, offer still stands.

We're ready for you to come.

We love when you come to fish, you know, at the port, but we'd love to show you more about what we're about and same to you, uh, Councilman, you know, troop as well.

Um, Councilwoman Schaff, we want to thank you too.

As you see in the acknowledgments, we know you were heavily involved in the outreach.

Uh, we know you and I've had some disagreements, and I appreciate Councilwoman Poll for bringing you down to the port to have you know further conversation to make sure we're on the same page, and I appreciate that.

Um but again, Councilwoman Poll, thank you so much for being our liaison and working with us every step of the way.

I do have to pay one more bit of homage to our former liaison, Councilman Brzezinski.

Um, you know, with that with that condemnation hearing we had and your testimony talking about the East Side and the impact this has had on you know the youth growing up that are now adults living on the East Side, we really appreciate that.

So without further ado, everyone knows how I am with the microphone.

I won't keep talking, but we'll bring our deputy executive director up to walk you through this master plan refresh very briefly.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Julie, and thank you all for letting us give a very quick overview.

There is a lot of information in this plan, and I'm gonna do my best to give you just the high uh high points here.

Um so I might talk quick, um, but please know that you've got what is the executive summary of the document, the plan itself in front of you, as well as the slides that we're gonna be walking through.

Um, and then the full plan as well as a very extensive extensive appendices is on our website.

Um I apologize.

How do I advance?

Oh, they don't think they put it pulled it up.

Oh, okay.

Well then you've got it in front of you and you can just follow along there.

Um so just a little explanation about the name.

Um we called this document the master plan refresh, a vision for the former Erie Coke site.

Um that's because back in 2018, many of you are aware that the port did um an extensive master plan for our facilities.

At that time, the port did not own the former Erie Coke site.

It was identified in that document as a goal and with a lot of hard work.

Um the the port acquired the former Erie Coke site um in 2024, which really gave us an opportunity to think creatively and strategically about how we might leverage that opportunity of a hundred additional acres of land and a hundred additional acres of water to better serve the community as a whole as well as port uh facilities.

So that's just an explanation for why we're calling this a refresh.

Uh moving on to the second page, um, just a little context in terms of the history of the site, kind of where we are now and where we're headed.

Um it's really, you know, it's important to consider that there has been industrial activity on the Erie Coke site for 185 years.

So this is a really important opportunity for Erie to think about what is the next 200 years look like for this site, for the waterfront, for Erie as a whole.

So that's what the the this plan is designed to do.

Um it's designed to really kind of reposition um the waterfront area and and this property in particular to support um current and future needs.

Um the the pro the planning process began in late 2024 with stakeholder meetings and then continued with extensive public outreach as well as a lot of analysis and then wrapped up just last month with the adoption of the plan by the Port Authority Board of Directors.

Um obviously we can't totally see what's in the future.

You know, there's gonna be unforeseen opportunities and challenges.

We still are doing environmental testing.

Um DEP is is still on the ground there.

So additional you know, questions and challenges will come to light.

But this the plan is really designed to just kind of create that framework and give us a path forward so that we can start the work of um cleaning up and then eventually redeveloping the property.

Uh moving on to the third page.

So obviously the environmental challenges are uh at the top of everyone's mind.

They are significant.

We are so grateful to the Pennsylvania uh Department of Environmental Protection for being our true partner and spending extensive resources and time understanding the nature of the environmental challenges there, which you know, as we're all familiar with, um, have impacted the neighborhoods around the site.

Um, and and you know, it's just of utmost priority that we address those challenges as we continue and think about uh redevelopment.

So the plan includes a summary of the results that DEP has found in their testing.

And that work again continues.

We anticipate that DEP will produce what they call a remediation alternatives analysis probably this year, which will help provide another layer of information and suggestions on how we move forward with cleanup.

This plan helps them do that work because we're giving them information about what the community wants to see on that site.

So it's a little bit of an iterative process, but the work is happening in tandem.

Moving on to the next page, market and economic analyses.

So the plan also takes a very close look at where we are with the Erie market and what is potential given current economic conditions on the site.

There's an update to work that the port had done back in 2022 to revisit some understandings and assumptions based on shipping activity.

There was a real estate demand analysis to understand what types of real estate are needed in different parts of Erie County based on growing industries.

And then also there's a study of maritime activities, which hadn't really been done.

And that that study found that there's a $115 million generated annually by the fishing and boating industry here in the Erie region.

So a lot of different pieces of that puzzle that are kind of combined in this document.

The emphasis on the on the plan and the recommendations is not to identify one particular industry that would be a good fit for the site, but to really understand how the site might accommodate different types of industries, you know, depending on where we're headed in Erie, and then also bringing in that community perspective.

And then that community perspective again was so important to this process.

So we had multiple levels of public outreach through the process.

Many of you participated in those activities.

Several hundred people involved throughout the uh throughout the planning work, either in person or online.

You know, we met at East Middle School, at ECAT, at the Port Office, at the Bayfront East Side Task Force.

So we were kind of all over the place.

And I will say that there wasn't necessarily one specific goal expressed by the community for the property, but there were themes that emerged.

And that those themes are discussed in detail in the planning document as well as in the appendices.

We have all of that input that is documented and attached to the to the plan.

We heard very clearly a desire for open and natural spaces along the waterfront, opportunities for jobs, you know, an increase to the tax base and more waterfront recreation.

So lots of you know different different goals that I think we can kind of work together to fit in the property.

And I will also say that this is not a one-and-done process.

So a couple really important points here.

Number one, um, we are continuing to collect feedback.

There's a feedback link on our website, um, and then as we move forward with work, we certainly expect to be back out in the community soliciting input and conversation as we move forward with different parts of the plan.

Um and then finally, we the port uh board of directors adopted a statement of policy, um, which again is on our website regarding presentations and proposals for the site.

So if those proposals are made to the board, they are shared on our website, and again the public can comment on those as they move forward.

Um ultimately this this document, it's a visioning document.

It gives us some options on how the site might be developed over time, depending on market opportunities and on the environmental conditions as we continue to understand them.

Um it you know, it kind of demonstrates the possibilities.

So full build out in terms of jobs created just through construction, could be anywhere from a thousand to eighteen hundred jobs.

A more conservative build out is estimated to result in nearly a thousand on-site permanent jobs, which would yield 128 million in annual GDP and 13.2 million dollars in combined federal, state, and local fiscal revenues.

So this wouldn't happen all at once.

There would be you know phase development over time, but it just gives you a sense of why we're trying to create value on this property.

It's so important for the future of Erie and supporting our economy here.

Um then there's different scenarios in terms of the development of open space.

Um of them, the more um I would say the more green version of this, projects 79 acres of green space, and that's just to give you a sense of scale, more than double the size of Frontier Park.

And then lastly, um the plan identifies more flexibility and opportunity for our port facilities, um, partners and tenants with all with expanded marina and boat storage.

So it is important that the site is on the water.

You know, the the plan reflects the fact that this is a waterfront property, and we need it to support port activities.

Um so work is continuing, partnerships are continuing.

We have been working very closely with the Erie County Redevelopment Authority on this journey.

Um, and again, DEP as I mentioned.

Um so that uh DEP report should be out this year.

Um there's a two million dollar federal federal allocation that is in the works, which will help us with some um demolition of some of this uh structures that are on the site.

Um and then we're just continuing to look for ways to connect the dots with other activities that are taking place in Erie and kind of um just chip away at this uh at this project because this is gonna be a multi-decade um journey, probably for for cleanup and and eventual redevelopment, but we gotta start.

We gotta start that work, um, and this plan is the first step toward it.

Um and then finally, for more information again, as I said, everything is on our website.

We encourage you to take a look there along with that public comment link and the statement of policy regarding presentations and proposals.

Um that was my very quick uh review.

Lots packed in.

Um, but if there are any questions, we're happy to uh respond.

You did a phenomenal job of just like that was that was great.

You did great.

Does anybody have any questions?

I know we this was a lot, and we might need some time to digest.

And as we get further into this, I think this will be a great study session for us eventually when we get to that point, so that way we can really dive into it and not have have you speed read so quickly.

So but thank you.

Um I don't have um any questions.

I just wanted to make a comment.

I will I loved seeing the updated plan.

I know a lot of people have asked what the plans were with the Coke product.

I mean the Coke product, the Coke plant, um, and being right next to the East Av boat launch, so they were you know concerned and worried that maybe some other developer would come in, but I'm happy that it's gonna continue to be public space, and I look forward to seeing the green space that's twice the size of Frontier Park, because that'll be great to use.

Echo that sentiment.

Just uh this is gonna be a resource when I know it's this is a long vision that we have to have, but um something that will be transformational for the for the east side and an investment that we've not we've not seen, and so I am excited for that, and especially for a space where there is people can go enjoy our waterfront.

And we want to make sure just to clarify that that is one option that we do have on the table.

So we're gonna make sure the public is still involved every step of the way, you know, the collaborating with the city, of course.

Um but you know, we we are not sure what the final steps will be, but again, as Anna mentioned, making sure the public is involved, and we're working directly you know with the mayor as well and you as council.

It's all about the collaboration.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's the part I'm most excited about is that all stakeholders are being involved in any planning as opposed to someone coming later and pontificating to them, as is often done.

Uh and so shout out to the Benedictines, uh Sister Pat Lupo, for sure.

Isy Lori, uh shout out to the sisters of St.

Joseph's and uh in uh Erie United uh for all the advocacy work that in all the other groups and my mother told me not to start naming people because inevitably you'll leave someone out.

But to all the other groups, uh stakeholders who cared enough to show up to some of the um public outreach meetings and uh thank you.

Uh Julie, you and Anna always uh you you never fail uh to uh present uh adequate presentations, and I know the money part of it is always taken care of with the Zerics.

You know that.

You know that, Councilman, no doubt.

You're not only for the work you've done with the port authority on it, but for the work that you do in our West Baseball.

It was a privilege doing a lot of the phenomenal work we're witnessing, a lot of the phenomenal work that you do when I was over at the county as the second right.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Dr.

Titus, can I just I just want to add um I really want to commend the port.

You know, this took an incredible amount of courage and fortitude for the port and the redevelopment authority to come together and act um to you know secure the site and to do this on behalf, I think, of the citizens of Erie, that I was on the board of the port at that time, and it was not an easy decision.

So I really want to commend the port and the redevelopment authority for that.

And you know, the way that they've conducted themselves in the public, I think is a model for others to follow that you know, lots of community involvement, lots of checking back in, lots of ability to full transparency on websites with information.

I think this is the way, particularly with a project of this magnitude.

I think we really need to commend them and ask that other organizations and developments follow the lead that they've that they've shown.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for securing federal and state dollars along the way to that's so important.

We have about four minutes before we head into our our public meeting.

Is there any other questions that we might want to ask?

Remind them of we do have a study session next week.

Uh it will it will not be canceled, it will be moving forward, and that is on our parks.

So just remember next next Thursday we will have that.

Um but if there are no other questions, then we can go ahead and pause caucus and get reset so we are ready for our public meeting.

Thank you.

Meeting to order, if we could get roll call, please.

Roll call for the city council meeting of Wednesday, June 3rd, 2026 at 9 a.m.

Council President Titus, here, members Brzezinski, Lores Horton, Paul Shaw and Truder.

Thank you.

At this time, we will stand for a moment of silence and the pledge of allegiance led by Councillor Horton.

One nation.

Motion to accept the minutes from the 520 26 City Council meeting and bills for payment on June 5th and 12th.

Members Rosinski, Flores, yes, Horton, Cole, yes, Shaw.

True?

Yes.

Titus.

Yes.

Just to for the public to have a quick over rundown of what we're doing.

We have a presentation this morning.

We have public comment.

There was some confusion, I think, about the way the agenda was written this time.

So I just wanted to clarify.

That will not occur until after public comment has concluded.

So we're not there's not going to be any disruption to public comment.

We will that is after, um, and that's related to the issues here that we have.

Uh and I'll go over this again, but it's real estate property and personnel.

Um, but at this point, I will go ahead and welcome up our presentation this morning uh from Sheila Seilman uh Silman, uh, the advisor and volunteer for the re-entry program.

Good morning, council.

My name is Bob Hess.

I'm the current program manager for the Erie County Ranch of Rancher Services and Support Alliance.

This is Sheila Sillman, she's the former um ECR SSA director and a current volunteer.

Uh my goal today is to introduce our program to everybody up here.

Um Ms.

Sillman will speak on some of the things that occurred prior to our program starting, and I will be happy to speak on everything about the program since we took it over uh on May 8th.

Okay.

So I'll turn it on.

And then I guess to just to provide also a little bit of more context.

So this will just be a brief presentation, uh knowing that we were gonna have further conversations that expand from this.

Um, just so council is also aware too.

So we'll be receiving information here.

Uh, but this is just kind of the beginning of a conversation for all of us.

So sorry.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dr.

Titus.

May I please introduce our staff that's here?

Yeah.

Okay, and we also have some of our advisory council that's here, and I'll just ask them to raise their hand.

But if our staff would please stand, we have um our case managers, uh Emily, Stacy, and Becky, and our client advocate Craig.

And then if our advice you guys can go ahead and sit, and if our advisory council members would please raise their hand.

Great, very good.

Thank you so very much.

So we are so grateful and thank you very much for um the invitation.

Um do I just ask someone to move the slide or do I have a clicker?

Oh, right here it is.

Thank you.

Here you go.

I'll I'll let him do the work.

So um according to uh slide one, very good.

At the time of when we were starting our program uh and doing the research, we do have evidence-based research.

This is the foundation of this program.

Approximately 1,250 people were returning to the community.

And as you can see, according to this, four point 40.2 percent were rearrested in three years.

Of that number, they were reincarcerated within three years with an overall recidivism rate of 50% within three years.

And we knew we had to do something.

So we had a strategy development.

And do you have handouts with you?

They would distribute it to at least council in our in our emails.

You do?

Okay, very good.

So in 2013, Erie together led and convened a group of stakeholders to explore the creation of a countywide reentry strategy.

And it's for all three levels of the criminal justice system federal, state, and criminal local criminal justice officials were there to help provide, and we also have faith-based representatives and also definitely former offenders.

We identified former offender challenges and goals and essential elements.

We looked at successful elements elsewhere, particularly in Lancaster, and we developed recommendations from that.

We also had focus groups with former offenders so that we could sit down and actually hear what was their concerns, what their barriers were.

This was meant to work alongside with the criminal justice system, not for them to overshadow us, not for them to hang over us in any way, shape, or form.

Two things.

The clients were individuals released from federal, state, county prison, re-entering into our county after serving a criminal conviction, andor people re-entering a law abiding life from a criminal network.

Number two is referring to the group violence reduction strategy, once termed as the call-in, and now is referred to as a peacekeeping group.

The challenges that we met to address, we identified these various areas that we thought were our priority.

Address education barriers, transportation barriers, safe, stable, sustainable housing, access to employment, how to address the criminal record issues when especially going to find housing and a job, and creating a stable community that provides a positive and supportive environment.

Pardon me, I'm trying to get this to flip.

Program goals.

First one was to reduce from 50%, get it lower, the recidivism rate.

As I shared with you before, having been in this line of work my entire career, knowing how individuals, when they're incarcerated, lose housing, lose children, lose jobs, lose stability, and having to start all over again.

That's one issue.

The other issue is having to think about community safety, of course.

But in addition to that, how does one start over again without that ongoing continued support with a with a re-entry program, having case managers, and a peer support, a client advocate who has that lived experience to kind of help folks walk that journey and help them along the way.

Access to adequate appropriate support services via case management, help the individual prepare for and obtain living wage jobs, and help that person become independent, self-sufficient.

The implementation was we had this one stop shop created back in 2016, and we got it off the ground in September of 2016, and when the ECRSSA or Erie County Reentry Services and Support Alliance was created.

With the support of the 1.2 million grant for three years from the foundation, the Erie Community Foundation in the United Way, it was launched and it landed in GCAC.

We're very grateful to them for housing it.

What I do want to point out is at that time the strategy included have an advisory council or board at over it to help guide it on its way to keep it within that the fidelity of the model.

GCAC and I and the Fidel, excuse me, the advisory council.

We all work together to get it off and keep it moving forward.

The governance of the program is like I said, is managed by the the advisory council.

We have since, and you see that plus there to the right of that, added a community council so that there's this back and forth conversation around what's going on in the in the community.

A lot has changed in 10 years.

We now have a community college.

There was an 814 shelter when I first started, and now that's changed how people can access housing.

There's also other programs going on, and so to have that ever-changing conversation so that we stay in touch, and also so that the community can stay in touch.

And we actually had our first meeting with the community council last week.

Program funding has been sustained through various grant funding at the local, state, and federal level since the implementation of the program.

I have to tell you, when I was doing the program for those uh four years, it's a lot of work having to find funding.

Uh it takes a lot of your focus as a supervisor as a worker, and a lot of energy.

And it can be very unstabling to the program.

The grant funding is not sustainable for long term either.

You do a lot of work and apply for a lot of grants that never you know ever get awarded.

They end up going to the bigger cities.

The primary goal has always been to achieve sustainability with county support.

I have met with uh well who was then Kathy Dahl Kemper many times and discussed it with her, talked to her about it, and at that time the county wasn't able to do it.

Discussions formalized in late 24, continued through 25 regarding the possible transition of the program to the county as the program we as we understood was running out of the money, and for three of the five positions at that time of the three of the five positions were in jeopardy of no longer having uh the ability to stay in place.

Our concerns we dressed at a October 2025 meeting led by Erie Together, identified the concerns.

I was at that meeting.

There was a lack of fidelity to the model.

Uh in ICM is intensive case management.

RC is resource coordination.

Resource coordination is a lower level of service, ICM is the higher level of service.

And the lack of fidelity of the model means that we were not receiving the data necessary to track the recidivism, track how many people were receiving services for various entities, whether it's drug and alcohol, mental health, finding housing, finding jobs.

We were getting information word of mouth, but you can't do data by word of mouth.

And so therefore, we had the conversation.

Yeah, go ahead.

Go ahead.

Yes.

That's the whole program.

Everything I hear about here is best practices in that.

Can you hear it?

I can hear you, yes.

You said everything, you said it the um I said everything and I'm here around here about anything.

Yes.

So you say you're not this program going without that?

With how long has the program been going on?

Without that collection.

I my understanding is since 2023.

I just wanted to make sure.

Yes.

Allow me to confirm.

Am I wrong?

No, I am correct.

Who's responsible for collecting that?

The um the house of the program, which was the YMCA.

Now, allow me to say 2023.

Well, allow me to say this.

The pro okay.

The pro I want to be fair and I want to be clear.

The how the program transition from GCAC in 22 to the Y.

At that time, they were utilizing the data collection that I had devised, which was simply a spreadsheet.

We did not have a client data system where you could electronically go in and click, click, click the information in.

It worked though.

The plant the staff would go in and they would insert through numbering system how to insert the data.

And it worked.

I monitored it.

I made sure they were doing what they were supposed to be doing.

For a thousand clients?

Sir?

For a thousand clients?

No, no, no.

A thousand clients is how many were coming back.

No, we didn't have a thousand clients.

No.

You're being saved.

Because right off the bat, that just says that's not unsustainable.

I mean, I don't know.

Yeah.

No, no, good question.

Absolutely not.

That was who was coming back to the community when we started the research back in 2013.

We were at the time.

Let me look.

So JCAC didn't collect data prior to the why?

ChiCAC did collect data prior to the why.

I was on I was the one under the system that you were doing.

That I the under the system I devised, correct.

With the spreadsheet.

The spreadsheet.

That spreadsheet followed to the Y.

It fell apart when program managers shifted.

After I left, a program manager was hired.

That program manager left.

That was, and then another program manager was hired, and I was asked to come back and go in 23, November of 23 to help train.

I did about three weeks to maybe a month of training, but did not get to the point of being able to do that part of the training.

They did not pick up any of the data and move forward with it from that point on.

How do you propose is the same system that you used aforementioned before?

And JCAT going to be the same data collecting system.

What you're going to do now?

Well, what they did is they ended up purchasing a client electronic system, but the data was not being uploaded into the system.

I don't want to hinder conversation.

I think that what I'm seeing there very quickly is that this is probably needs to be a study session where we can pull in for more conversation more in depth.

Sounds good.

So if we could let's go through this and then let's get something scheduled so that we can have time to collect, and then that way we can come up with more questions too.

I want well I I don't have a problem doing that, but the problem that I would have with doing that is interruption of services.

Thank you.

And well, I don't know because from where I'm sitting now, we don't have anything.

No, we do.

We do.

Yeah, that is not the case.

And then what we have now is the flip over from the different uh the reprogramming of the from our perspective of the C D B G funds of the city's portion.

Yes.

And so okay.

Yes.

We we are in service.

The program never ended.

It that the Y stopped serving May 8th.

He was hired April 21st.

And actually, there was that transition.

We actually had people coming up to him during the I'll let him speak to that during that time.

New staff has been hired.

Um do you want me to continue with this?

Or would you like to get to him?

I'd like to go through the presentation just I'm sorry.

No, you're okay.

You're okay.

Just to kind of keep us keep us on on track.

Because I do think that there's a lot of information.

So if we could if we could get through that overview, it'll give us a better indication of what we need to bring up in a and a more thorough study session.

Okay.

I'm happy to answer more detailed questions at another time if you want it.

No, I apologize for taking you off.

I'm just kind of slow like that sometimes.

You're not slow.

They're good questions.

Okay, so I'll go to no data to support reduction in recidivism, connections to services, or client success.

Lack of communication with partners.

Stakeholders identified no longer making referrals to the program due as to various issues.

And part of that was what part of the goal of our program is to do pre-entry, in other words, go into the institutions prior, meet the individual, and come out.

There was an issue around that.

Data was not being submitted for evaluation, while a new data system was put in place.

Here we go, July of 25.

Data was not provided until September of 25 was incomplete.

Of the data that was submitted, less than 7% of referrals were coming from jails and prisons, meaning no preentry services.

Needs identified among clients were low, did not align with glowing growing express needs expressed by community stakeholders.

The program was identifying less than 9% of clients having substance misuse issues, less than 12% having mental health issues.

I want to just kind of say this real quick.

We have percentages here, but whenever you look at data, you also want to have numbers, and we during those detail meetings can provide actual numbers.

Clients were marked as closure as successful in the program, but receiving less than 30 days of service, and in some cases, same day, open and closure.

That's really I don't I don't know what that means.

Did the person just come in and get a bus pass?

Did the person just come in and get access to one thing?

Generally, that's not case management.

I don't I don't know what that means.

Transition.

Transition to the program to the county was coordinated by the advisory council.

The YMC and the YMC administration started in January.

The Y MCA utilized local grant funds to maintain the full program until May 8th, giving the county time to get the program up and running to avoid disruption in service to clients.

Existing staff were strongly encouraged to apply for the positions through the county.

One applied, but withdrew the application.

I'm gonna let Bob speak to the current program status.

At the end of this, if it's okay, we're gonna have two people who are currently working in the program share with you how they feel about it.

So we're already at 9 30.

We typically do like 15 minutes of presentation for these.

I do want to I want to hear, but like if we could just kind of get it a little bit more brief.

Okay, so thank you.

Okay, you tell us what you're um that we that way we I don't want to cut anybody off and not take away platform, but I also want to make sure we get into the public comment and keep us on track.

Um we'll cut out the last two slides.

Go ahead.

Yeah, that's fine.

Um current program status, we're at the same location, 1631 Sassafrash Street, same phone number since January 2025.

We're centrally located on a bus line, which gives people access to our building and facility.

The program, as we mentioned before, is fully staffed now with myself, um, three caseworkers and a client advocate, and the majority of our staff do have uh lived experience.

So since I've been there in the last 30 days with my transition, some of the things that I've accomplished is we've connected, reconnected and re-established with certain entities in areas such as Career Link, Erie County Drug and Alcohol, Pyramid Healthcare, UPMC Safe Harbor, GCAC, Community Health Net, the Veteran Hospital, and there's there's more to that.

Um Erie County Drug and Alcohol and CareerLink have staffing in our office one time per week.

That's pursuant to our one-stop shop model.

We want to have everybody that is interested in being in our building there, so it's it's easy for our clients to maintain services from them.

Um we've also made connections with employers beyond TEP agencies.

I met with Wave Point, McCarty Printing and Don John.

Um they were absolutely willing to take re-entry clients.

Um, so we don't always have to use a temp agency.

This will be a better opportunity for those clients.

And we actually added two more uh employers last week.

Diaz uh Spring Service and Erie Plating Company are also interested in helping us as well.

Um I've also re-established our relationship with SCI Albion, the PA Community Correction Center, Erie County Prison, and federal probation.

We went over our referral process and really started to set up our our pre-entry processes, which is really important to our program.

Uh ECRSSA and adult probation.

The county funding for the ECRSSA is in the budget under Erie County Adult Probation Department.

The ECRSSA is not being run by adult probation.

We are completely separate entities and have different purposes and completely separate staff.

There's no probation officers that are employed in the re-entry program.

We do have a memorandum of understanding that is formally in place that outlines the expectations and confidentiality around information sharing between the two entities to protect clients' rights to privacy and to ensure the ECR SSA maintains its purpose of connecting individuals with the support that they need.

So we will not share that information with their probation officer unless they want us to.

Our delivery model.

Again, our goal for caseworkers to meet the clients prior to them being released in the community.

And the point of that is just to optimize plan and optimize individual success during that transition.

As we know, the greatest risk for recidivism is within the first uh year of release.

So our goal really is to see these people 30 to 60 days prior to them getting to the streets.

I know yesterday, uh, real quickly I was at SCI Albion.

There is somebody who was incarcerated for 20 years who maxes out a sentence, and he is returning back to Erie shortly.

So what our goal is right now is to have services ready for when he comes to Erie, so he has some support.

You want to speak on this part?

These are just how it looks to have the person surrounded to help get them out.

Client advocate, community mentor, the case worker.

Go ahead, get to the next one for the sake of time.

These are services around it.

The other one is uh the SS is just uh supportive services, and then the kind of things that we can get around to them.

Go ahead.

And then just transforming lives through the through the program.

I mean, we've been doing this since 2016.

And just let me say just real quick when when it went to the why, I that was the goal as well.

The the issue is it got off the fidelity of the model.

Allow us if we can to bring up two people who are working here.

Craig, you want to come up, please?

He's our client advocate.

Wouldn't mind share your thoughts on why the figure you decided to apply when you want to work.

I decided to uh come to the uh program because of a lot of individuals in the community.

I'm a barber for one, so I run into a lot of uh individuals that are recently released.

Uh they know that I have had issues uh years ago, so they watch me navigate, and they just want to know what I did and to navigate and to make it to where I am now, and I share those experiences with them, and that seems to help.

None of them seem to care about who's over the program or the politics involved with it.

That doesn't matter.

Do the resources work?

Are they there?

Help me navigate through them, and that's what I do.

I'm a client advocate, and that's what I do.

I advocate on behalf of the transitioning clients that mean return at home.

All the other stuff I leave it to the people who it's their job to do that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have one of our case workers too, if you mind.

Hi, my name is Becky.

I'm a caseworker with the re-entry program.

Um I went to the re-entry program because I was working as a certified recovery specialist because I have my own lived experience in addiction and mental health and starting my life over from absolutely nothing, losing my kids and trying to come back.

Um I was not incarcerated, but my father and my uncle were for most of my life, and I know that if they would have had someone like me, they might have been there a little bit more.

You know what I mean?

They were good people who were very institutionalized and didn't know how to re-enter society and live.

Um I that's my purpose.

I just want to help other other people do that and not feel alone.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone has any other questions for myself or any of my staff?

Please just a quick comment.

I would like to know who the community members are.

If it's not if it's I'd like to know who the community members are on the community um advisory board.

And just through my notice when you introduce uh the main advisory board, some of the people that I know and respect uh have the utmost respect for, but I didn't see a defense attorney or criminal defense or someone from public defenders office, and I just always thought it'd be nice to have some type of balance.

Bob Oliver is on our community advisory board.

From the teleport defenders from the public defender's office.

And um we have we had a can I have that thing?

I think that's a good idea.

I just wanted to make that Bob Oliver is on there.

Yeah, it's in the it's in the um no, he's not here today, but it is in the uh PowerPoint.

We also have uh Scott Conauer from DNA, Lana Reese from DHS, uh we also have uh Brian Johansson from City Mission, Jenny Hagerty from Mercy Center for Women.

Um I'm trying to think who all was there.

We have the ICU there for the ICU.

If it's in the document that you sent us, that would be fine.

I'm not trying to relate to toes to the line.

Well, we have or you could just forward it to our clerk, Ms.

We actually have we can we're glad to do that.

And then I'll have our clerk reach out to to like get something scheduled.

We'll match calendars, and that way we can won't feel so rushed, and we can sit down and have a just a longer dialogue.

Okay.

Thank you.

You're very welcome.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate the questions.

Thank you.

Thank you all for coming to Bob and Beth is good senior, Maryette's good senior, too.

Okay.

So this will move us into the request for repository sales.

Is anybody here for a repository sale?

Is anyone here for a repository sale?

Is anyone here for a repository sale?

All right.

This will move us into the public comment section.

Um we do have the sign-up list.

Make sure that you are signing in, and then you, when you're coming up to the podium, you're please listening for the timer, so you have five minutes, um, and state your name and your municipality for the record uh so that we we can clearly hear and follow up.

Go ahead.

Elizabeth Stanton Harbor Creek.

This past week I had the privilege of being in the presence of statespeople.

I had I want to express my gratitude for their generosity of gifting their apple ample time, coming with openness to listen to the concerns expressed, and their thorough explanation for the positions they set forth.

I would like to lay out some of the more basic characteristics differences between a politician and a statesperson.

A politician's focus is to win elections, public approval, and partisan support.

Whereas a staters focus is the long-term welfare of their constituents and future generations.

A politician's philosophy tends to adapt policies based on the shifting public sentiment.

Whereas a statesperson's philosophy is grounded in principles and deep wisdom.

A politician's priority, a politician priorities prioritizes compromise for immediate gain of power and political loyalty.

Whereas a statesperson is willing to make unpopular decisions, even sacrifice their career for the greater good.

I would like to commend you as a role model of plain talk, clear communication that gets directly to the point, avoiding confusing jargon, unnecessary fillers, and overly complex phrasing so that an audience can easily understand the first time they hear or read your message.

I commend you for straight talk, plain, honest direct communication without a hidden agenda.

I commend you for power sharing, decision making designed to prevent concentration of power in a single entity, and which promotes inclusivity.

I commend you for moral integrity, consistent and unwavering alignment of your actions and your principles and values.

Doing the right thing when no one is watching, particularly when it requires sacrifice and courage.

Thank you, Dr.

Titus, for your statesperson's leadership.

Thank you.

My name is Julia Jacobs, and I'm a resident of the East Side.

I am back to address the mayor's behaviors that I briefly addressed last meeting.

And for starters, I want to confidently assure that I am approaching this matter with the utmost empathy for all parties involved.

However, I believe the unprofessionalism I witnessed is symbolic, an ideal demonstration of a much broader issue that many, including myself, feel uncomfortable confronting head-on.

I speak as somebody who's spent considerable time and energy reflecting on my own cognitive bias, unlearning stereotypes I've been taught from an early age, and deconstructing prejudice attitudes I was conditioned to hold.

It's silly to assume that my goal for those of us guilty of ignorance is to hide and shame ourselves.

Shame is scientifically not productive.

My intention is not to cast shame, but rather to advocate for the residents who have been continuously shamed and ignored.

Constituents' demands for accountability are not equivalent to aggression.

These are the uncomfortable conversations you campaigned on confronting with care and integrity.

I appreciate Dr.

Titus's mention that events which we as community want government officials to attend should be forwarded to clerk for easier distribution of info.

However, I'm not here because of a single incident lacking professionalism.

I'm unfortunately standing up here because Mayor Devlin demonstrated a clear and confident lack of regard for constituents' grievances.

I constantly consider the complexities of her job, but I must also acknowledge how little attention I feel she's paid thus far to some of our most vulnerable populations.

In your walk and talk video, celebrating your first hundred days in office, you reiterated your administration's focus of quote, making sure you are heard and that city government is working for you.

But who is the you that you've been making sure is heard?

Who are you ensuring that city government is working for?

You claimed you sat down with hundreds of residents to hear concerns related to housing, youth, and business development.

I'd like to know what portion of those residents live on the east side.

When you reflect on your first hundred days, do you evaluate whether you adequately represented the entire city or only the most profitable and politically active regions?

How many unhoused individuals have you heard from?

How many parents and youth of the Erie Public Schools have you connected with about concerns?

Have you engaged with any of the student body or administration of the community college?

It should be noted that the majority of the students there are from the east side.

These are actionable ideas that we as constituents shouldn't have to come up with for you.

We elected you based on promises that you would justly initiate this work to represent our best interests.

When a longtime Erie resident has repeatedly requested for voices of some of the city's most economically disadvantaged citizens to be heard, you responded by dismissing him and then proceeded to make poor and unprofessional excuses for your lack of engagement.

That response is far from an accountable one.

According to research, your response is an example of defensive bolstering.

A coping strategy used in response to being held accountable where the individual resorts to rationalizing past behaviors and self-justifying.

Choosing the most effective coping skill, which should aim to understand, shift perspective, and subscribe to the forum's view is only invested in by individuals when they feel it is required of them.

I'm here to ensure you feel required to make real improvements in providing the whole city with transparency, accountability, and fair representation.

Although we were not in the room to hear, I do appreciate that you took a moment to acknowledge your inappropriate behavior, though I would not consider your remarks an apology.

It's a poor exclue excuse to claim you were, quote, distracted when realistically you were observed being consciously disrespectful via nonverbal communication.

Your demeanor changed the instant I walked up to this podium.

You leaned into the desk with your body facing me, held eye contact so long that I became uncomfortable, and immediately expressed a desire to understand my points.

Only a minute prior, you were just as alert and expressive, but in a way that you in a way that showed you did not like what Mr.

Cooley had to say.

You demonstrated that you had it in you that day, that hour to be respectful in the face of criticism.

It's now your sole responsibility to reflect and deconstruct the internal bias that made you so confidently preserve double standards like those.

For you to acknowledge your behavior as anything less than disrespectful is for you to dodge accountability on the matter.

According to the University of Texas, the 55387 formula describes how much of communication is nonverbal.

55% of communication is attributed to body language.

That's more than half.

38% is attributed to the tone of voice, and only 7% is attributed attributed to the actual spoken words.

This is just to demonstrate the importance of non-verbal communication, especially if your direct verbal communication is subpar.

I can only imagine the nonverbal and outright disrespect.

You're willing to disrespect to vulnerable voices in private behind closed doors when you're not being carefully observed by concerned community members like myself.

As I told County Council last night, an apology without changed behavior is manipulation, and we will not be manipulated forever.

Thank you.

Thank you.

None of the details.

What I wanted to say to the mayor and to you is that we like the way things are going.

The mayor met with you back on uh the 9th of August.

She came to an apartment association meeting a few weeks ago, provided an update, and I think there's true communication, and I think there's great opportunity for collaboration, so that as we move forward, it's a product that uh there's neither a room full of people objecting or a legal process, which none of us benefit from.

So uh we want to commend the mayor for beginning the process of communication and uh look forward to collaborating with the members of the board of the apartment association, of which there are 1,150, by the way, that are meaningful.

And uh the you know, the stereotype of the negative landlord is accurate in a very minor portion of the rental ownership of the department association member.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Madam Mayor.

Um I sat through that pen that presentation this morning and was disgusted.

Her name.

This Michelle Dovishaw, Eerie PA.

The stuff they gave was from 2016, 10 years ago, a decade ago.

Mr.

Horton, you're always talking about the 10 years on taxes.

That's a whole generation to fifth grade, right?

Um the program that was at the Y, there's a lot going on saying that supposedly people were doing bad things.

That's what we've been hearing, right?

I call BS on all of it.

Because this advisory board that you have.

I put in for an open request because it now belongs to Erie County, right?

So it would follow right to nose.

Haven't heard back yet.

But when they mentioned the people that were on it, we're talking about an enormity of advisory board, but an advisory board is just to give advice.

They have no power.

So why are certain people on that advisory board moving and shaking and move this program?

I have been approached by multiple people that one of these people, Amy Isert, has had meetings with people and have asked them to get us to be quiet.

When somebody asked me to be quiet, it makes me speak louder.

Because most of these people don't know what is gonna happen.

That program that was running with their recidivism rate is unstoppable.

Mr.

Alan Brown right there, somebody during the presentation said, Oh, there was a person from Albion with 20 years.

47 years, 47 years of incarceration came out and he was the lead on it, right?

But oh, I'm sorry, he wasn't allowed to apply.

Because how many felons do you know work for the probation office?

They can't say they can keep it separate.

Um in 10 years in a decade of program changes.

We've been hearing a whole lot about lack of fidelity.

The statistics were being turned in, but they weren't being turned in to Mercyhurst, and that's the problem.

We were paying Mercy Hearst for 16 hours a month at $85 an hour for the statistics in these HIPAA protected information to be handed to students.

Now I don't know about you, but uh if I have something wrong with me that I don't want everybody knowing, that kind of sounds bad to me.

I am sick and tired of people in this city doing what they want for the almighty dollar.

I'm sick of it.

That program, recidivism rate, was astronomical, the people that they had in there was astronomical, and they loved what they did, but you cannot put re-entry under probation.

Probation is corrective, it's mandatory.

Re-entry is voluntary.

The majority of people that were in the program told their caseworkers before it closed, yeah, there was a break.

There was a break.

Um, that they wouldn't go to probation.

How are you supposed to go in there and feel comfortable when right through that door right there is somebody that can say you're going back to prison, sorry?

You slipped up.

I worked in recovery, drug and alcohol, I've worked at Harbor Creek Youth Services.

I have seen it, but to allow this to continue.

I couldn't be at county council last night, but we are formerly positioning them to rescind it and pull it back.

And I am asking you not to hand over no money until they correct this program that they stole.

Thank you.

Thank you.

One, I it is my hope that the new re-entry program is successful, but I will say that the statistics that they showed about half the people going back to prison or going back to jail, those are their statistics.

Those are the county statistics who already manages probation and parole in our community.

Those are their statistics where half the people are failing.

And now we put this program under the umbrella of a program where half the people are failing, and we're supposed to get better results.

And the data that they I hear, which I can't confirm say that the uh recidivism rate was like one-fourth of what it is in the county in this program, and so that's why this program was so critical.

I took some time while I was in the audience to look up Erie together.

I viewed a room of 27 white people.

Okay.

How and you know, according to the last client advocate, up to 75% of these people we are dealing with come from a cultural background.

And so it's not just about the program, it's whether the people you have hired are culturally competent to manage the people that they're supposed to manage.

And I have the same problem.

And I don't know.

But we do know that representation matters.

There's studies that if a black kid has a black teacher, he's 60 times more likely to graduate from high school.

So if you say that it transferable, that if you have people who look like you trying to help you, working with you, not just at the client level, but at the case management level, you're gonna do a better job.

It's gonna be more successful.

And what I do object to is where we can get a room where there's 26 white people who claim that they represent this city and decide that they want to make policy for people who don't even look like them.

It's sad.

But uh one of the other reasons I come here was to talk about the um the marketplace.

Um if it's not gonna be a go, you know.

I was in contact with the former uh eerie events uh director back when he was still there, and we're talking about rebuilding the Roger Young Park.

Little known trivia, Casey Wells' first job after college was being the director of the Roger Young Park and pool.

And we talked about how if we built it up, that the Erie events could take over managing it, and it was just uh initial conversations and it didn't go very far because the last administration were not sold out on the ideal of upgrading that.

But I say if the ice house, if the market house is not going in, maybe something acceptable would be a recreational and sports facility on the east side at the Roger Young, somebody someplace that will get in something for the actual people.

And I think that was the biggest thing for the people was that they didn't feel like how this market house was any help or any assistance to them.

And so I would ask the mayor to look into that possibility that if the money's not going to be used there, that we can build uh sports and recreational complex that rivals those that we can find outside our cities, and our kids don't have to drive or bust themselves in order to take part in those amenities.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jennifer Kennedy, city resident.

Here to speak on behalf of ECR SSA, which has served hundreds of people last year, helping returning citizens find employment, housing, mentoring, health care, and community support built on the belief that people are more than the worst mistake they've ever made.

And that's why so many of us are struggling to understand this decision before dismantling a program that served hundreds of Erie residents.

Where is the public evidence that the replacement would do any better?

So thank you very much for having a deeper study done calling for that.

Um and please don't fund it until we have all the facts because their side is missing a lot of facts as well.

If ECR SSA is helping people find jobs, which they are, find housing, reconnect with their families and stay out of jail.

Why are we replacing a proven community-based model without showing the public the data?

What problem is being solved by moving it?

Because from where many of us sit, Erie has already already has enough problems that are not receiving the attention they deserve.

Families on the East and the West sides are struggling to find safe and affordable housing.

Many residents still feel unheard when they raise concerns about racial inequities and unequal investment in their neighborhoods.

People want to see resources flowing into communities that have been overlooked for far too long.

I want to see that.

I'm an Eastside dweller as well.

I want to see resources being equally distributed in our city.

This decision sends the wrong message at the wrong time.

Instead of strengthening a program that helps stabilize families and neighborhoods, we are risking the loss of a community-led approach that has earned trust and trust matters, especially in communities where trust and government has already been strained.

Government can supervise people, but communities change people.

Mentors and employees change people.

Faith leaders, neighbors, and community organizations, change people, not government.

Government can administer programs, but communities change lives.

If we lose the community's trust and ownership of this work, we lose we risk losing the very ingredient that made it successful in the first place.

One of the principles behind re-entry is that people deserve a second chance when they make a mistake.

We ask our returning citizens to learn, grow, and do better.

Tonight, today, I'm asking the same of our government.

This decision was made in error.

The public was not fully heard.

The long-term consequences were not fully considered.

We are willing to give the powers that be a second chance to fix this mistake.

Real leadership is not refusing to change course.

Real leadership is having the courage to admit when a better path exists and to take that better path.

I urge you today to use whatever influence and authority you have to ask the hard questions, demand transparency, and fight to preserve what is working.

Because safe neighborhoods, stronger families, housing stabilities, racial inequities, racial equity, and successful reentry are not separate issues.

They're all together.

They're all connected.

And we deserve solutions that bring people together, not decisions that move us further apart.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning, council, good morning, mayor.

I'm here to talk about housing like I always do.

But I typically talk about the renter housing crisis.

But during the last two years that I've been going out into the community and trying to collect stories, as much as I'm hearing a lot of crises in the renter housing market, there is a housing crisis among homeowners.

And what I'm finding is that my people, black people, are often being targeted.

They're losing their homes, they're not getting support repairing their homes.

And right now there's a person who was at council maybe one or two months ago who came here.

Her mom passed down a house, but because the house fell into disrepair, she's finding a hard time on her fixed income, limited income to repair the house.

And uh her she and her daughter were kicked out of an apartment last month, and she is currently living in a shelter, although she has a house that she owns and just needs support getting it repaired.

I'm here preceding the next speaker because racism, no matter what topic comes up here at the podium, whether it's re-entry, housing, education, it is a crisis in our city.

Black people are being forgotten, and whether it is intentional and explicit racism, racism where we're being targeted and harm is intentionally done to us.

What also often is happening in the city is that there's neglect and that neglect impacts us.

It causes private pain and suffering that we're expected to take on on our own.

And so I've asked the next speaker to come out and make their private pain public, hoping that US council or you as the mayor of the broader community hears what happened to them and can provide support and find some way to create some resolution because it is not right for homeowners to have their property taken away and be put into the terrible housing uh the renter housing market that we have that is limited and expensive.

Uh so with that, I'll allow the next speaker to come up.

Morning, council, Madam Mayor.

Uh my name is John Coker.

Um just one moment, please.

Sorry, this is my first time doing this, so I'm kind of nervous.

Okay, um, I have prepared a statement that I would like to share with all of you today.

Um, good morning, members of city council.

My name is John Coker, and I'm a lifelong resident of Erie, Pennsylvania, as are my parents, Gina Foster Coker and the late Kenneth Coker.

I'm coming before you today on behalf of myself, my mother, who could not be here today, and my late grandparents, John and Gwendolyn Harden Foster.

I'm here to share a difficult situation that is my family has been facing for the past year and a half.

My grandparents purchased their home at 321 East Sixth Street in 1981.

Their home was completely paid off and had been in our family ever since.

And it has excuse me, it has been one of the only two homes that I've ever lived in.

In the late summer of 2024, we received a green uh notice stating that there was a property tax balance of approximately $1,800 that was due on September 30th.

Wanting to make sure everything was handled correctly, we contacted contacted the tax office and confirmed that this was the amount that was owed.

We pay the balance in full on September 26th and receive confirmation that the payment had been processed.

Then, during the first week of October, we received a certified letter from the tax office informing us that the property had been auctioned off due to an unpaid balance of $800.

Needless to say, we were shocked and confused.

We made multiple trips to the courthouse, uh, multiple trips and phone calls to the courthouse, and were sent back and forth between different different offices seeking answers.

We were informed that there was a limited time period of which uh in which the sale could be contested.

However, there was another complication.

The property was not in my mother's name.

It belonged to my grandparents, John and Gwendolyn Foster.

My mother also did not have power of attorney, and therefore did not have the legal authority to challenge the sale herself.

The responsibility to fight the case would have fallen upon my grandfather, who was still of sound mind, John Foster.

Unfortunately, at that same exact time, my grandfather suffered a severe heart attack at the age of 90 years old.

Excuse me, uh, in November 2024, he was hospitalized and eventually passed away in January of 2025.

Through the generosity of our neighbor across the street, we were loaned $3,000 to retain an attorney.

We consulted with lawyers and believed we had found a law firm willing to take our case.

However, we later discovered that the individual who purchased the property at the tax sale was also being represented by that same law firm.

Because of that conflict of interest, they were forced to withdraw from representing us.

Even if they had remained on the case, our financial circumstances made things extremely difficult.

My mother and uh my mother had been laid off from work and I was unemployed at the time.

The costs associated with a prolonged legal battle were simply beyond our means.

At one point, uh we attended a court hearing seeking an extension of a grace period on the hopes of buying more time to resolve the situation.

The circumstances surrounding the case were so unusual that the gentleman briefing the judge on the matters before the court remarked something to the effect of quote, Your Honor, in all my years of doing this, I have never seen so many people here for such reasons.

End quote.

Between the difficulty of securing legal representation, our financial hardships, countless trips to the courthouse, my grandfather's declining health and eventual passing, we did not have the resources or ability to continue fighting the case, and we were left with no other option but to let the house go.

Um where am I?

After the sale, we were able to work out a lease agreement with the purchaser of the house so that we could remain in our home.

However, the lease is up at the end of this month, June 2026.

Today, my mother and I face the very real possibility of not only losing the home that we have lived in, but the home that has been in our family for 45 years.

We did what we believed we were supposed to do.

We paid the amount we were told that was owed, we sought legal counsel, we spent countless hours trying to navigate uh complicated process while simultaneously caring for a dying family member.

Yet, despite these efforts, a fully paid-off home that had been in our family for nearly half a century was lost.

Counsel, I am not here today to seek sympathy.

I am here because I believe that our story deserves to be heard, and I hope that it can bring awareness to how difficult and overwhelming these situations can be for ordinary families.

And I hope that they can bring awareness to how difficult and overwhelming these situations can be for ordinary families.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Deontay Cooley, lifelong Erie resident.

Um, I got a couple of different things to say.

Um, as far as like the re-entry thing, like we literally just sat here for half an hour longer watching the presentation about re-entry.

This is not the first time it's been a thing.

It's been a thing at the county council meeting, city council meeting, so on and so forth.

From what I'm hearing, the program is still existing.

But even like what blows my mind, what really truly blows my mind is when we're advocating for helping people and we're talking about the population.

Where are the people?

Where are the people who are receiving these services and the re-entrance?

We don't know if this program is beneficial.

We don't know if this program is not beneficial because what we are not hearing from is the people who are actually receiving these services.

While we're not rehearing, while we're not hearing from these people, we're taking up time, we're using resources to where our city council building is turning into a courthouse to where it's like, okay, now we're asking questions, we're trying to figure out all of these things.

And what I'm seeing is guess pretty much from what I'm hearing is they're saying the program is still running, they are bringing people saying we're running the program, they brought Craig's brother.

This is my brother.

I know his story.

So, you know, when you talk about having people advocate for these things and people who are actually from those backgrounds, I believe that that has been proven.

On the flip side, I'm not seeing anybody who is saying, yes, we need these services, or yes, I completed this program, or yes, I've graduated from this program.

This is such a great program.

And it's like, where is all of this concern coming from?

It's only coming because an event was held at Mercy Hirsch University, and I was like, oh, this is a popular thing.

Because we haven't been hearing about the uh community review board anymore.

People aren't talking about that anymore.

People aren't talking about the body cameras anymore.

It seems like every single time that there's a trending subject and there's something that's popular on social media, we feed into it.

And then what I'm also noticing is our local government is feeding into some of the Facebook stuff because, or the social media stuff because we want to save face.

But again, I would ask the people who are advocating legitimately, where are the people that you are speaking for?

Like, there has not been anybody who said, Well, when I got out of jail, the ECR-SSA has done these things for me.

There's nobody that said, When's this since this program has got shut down?

My life has been horrible.

So it's like we're just arguing, we're fighting, and we're screaming when there are legitimate real concerns going on in our city.

Because again, I speak for the betterment of black people.

And when you think about, we've had public meetings about ECR SSA, public meetings about the market house, public meetings about hotels.

But again, Michael Keys came up here and spoke about the Roger Young Park.

Can we have a public meeting about the Roger Young Park?

Can we have a public meeting about the East Side?

Can we talk about some of the investments that are gonna come there?

Because I see Ryan Bizarro just, I don't need no cops because I want to be able to go.

I see Ryan Bizarro just invested some money in the downtown Erie.

Can we get an investment on the east side?

Can we get some investments in our community centers?

You guys toured the community centers.

I remember the one summer when uh Miss Flores was the president, and she was she was gracious enough to host um council meetings at those community centers.

But in the process of us going to those community centers, we see the conditions of those community centers.

I grew up attending those community centers, eating from the free lunch in the park.

I learned how to play tennis from being um participant in Holy Trinity at the Columbus Park.

But again, we're not thinking about this stuff.

Spoons Court, the perfect the court is perfect.

You look at McKinley Park, it's cracks all in the sidewalk.

I mean, you can't play basketball there, there's no tennis nets.

The Roger Young is a mess, and those are places that we frequent on the east side.

If you look at Broad Street, all of those, there's a whole business district of stuff that's just shut down, and there seems to be no concern for where poor people are living, where black people are living.

And another thing, it bothers me to see that there are black people on this council, and we're only hearing from one who are speaking for black concerns.

And yes, I'm calling you out, sir, because it comes a point in time to where you're taking up a seat and you're not advocating for our people in our community, and you are us, bro.

You are from where we come from.

You frequented these places, but we don't hear you up here.

We don't hear you in caucus, and I'm glad that Mr.

Horton is here because the statement that he made, we know the market house is gonna come.

The nine million dollars, absolutely, nobody's gonna turn that down.

They're gonna be able to have the appeal and turn, but again, what he said was what about us on the east side?

What about black people who are fighting and crying?

A man was shot and killed in at his girlfriend's house.

So again, I've had history working in in prisons, history working with people in re-entry.

That is not a major concern of mine right now.

My concern is the east side of Erie, the lack of investments in our community centers, the lack of investment in our people.

But what we'll do is we will have these study workshops in these sessions to try to talk to people and ask them questions for free.

But then when we want solutions, we'll pay these consulting agencies to come into our city and figure out the problems.

So why can't we invest in the people who actually live here, who see the problems, who are solving the problems?

Why can't we get 30 minutes in this room with slideshows and all of that and your full attention?

Why can't public comments be stopped about black poor people who want to thrive and who want to survive in our city?

All of us aren't criminals, all of us aren't bad people, there are successful educated black people, and I'm tired of seeing public meetings and people coming down here screaming.

And I'm tired of seeing public meetings and people coming down here screaming.

When Gary comes down here, what is and I'm gonna go over my father.

When Gary comes down here, he brings a whole new American community.

When the apartment association comes on here, they bring the landlords.

When Marty comes down here for the unhoused community, she brings people.

Thank you.

Good morning.

I'm Mary Beulet, and I'm the executive director of Erie Together.

And I wasn't planning to speak today, but there are just a couple points I wanted to make in relationship to some of the things I heard today.

Obviously, speaking about re-entry, uh the first thing I wanted to tell you is that when we developed the re-entry strategy back starting in 2013, we worked with a group of between 30 and 40 people over the course of three years to develop that strategy.

That group that we worked with was very diverse in terms of their backgrounds and their experience, was very diverse in terms of the racial and ethic, ethnic composition, and it was representative of people who had lived experience and also had the expertise that was needed to help us understand what the real challenges were.

So that was a three-year process.

We met every month, sometimes we met every other month, but it was a lot of work from a lot of people.

What we learned through recent activity in the program was that job placement was very important, and there was a lot of effort being placed on job placement, but the other issues that were identified through the creation of this strategy were not being addressed as specifically and with as much importance.

So things like access to education, access to transportation, access to safe, stable, sustainable housing, access to a supportive community, those kinds of things that everyone in the room said were very paramount to the success of people returning back to the community, were not receiving as much focus.

So when we talk about lack of fidelity to the model, we're not just talking talking about not receiving data, we're talking about those kinds of things were not being addressed additionally.

We also recognize that there were different levels of service that were important to people coming back to the community, whether that be intensive case management for those people who were medium to high recidivism risk versus resource coordination for those who were lower recidivism risk.

That was not being followed either.

So we had some real concerns about how that program was progressing in the most recent years.

And then when you couple that with the fact that we weren't receiving the data we needed, we couldn't tell what the impact was, right?

We knew where there were job placements, but what about the rest of it?

It is a holistic approach that we needed to be following, and we weren't seeing that.

When we transitioned the program over to the county, that gives us the benefit of having a stable situation financially because we, you know, we're chasing grant money for years, very hard to do that.

When you can't find the funding to support the services, you can't serve the clients, right?

So when the program transitioned over to the county, I just wanted to note this was a discussion that was happening in tandem with the YMCA for us to move this over.

We coordinated that move with them.

And um, what that did is it gives us the stability, but it also gives us the opportunity to make sure that we get back to that original model, which all of the experts and all of the people with lived experience said was important in terms of ensuring the success of people coming back, and we will have the opportunity now to collect the data that we need to determine if we're making an impact or whether we need to make changes.

So thank you for having me.

I'll sign in now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning.

It's nice to see you all again.

We need you.

Could you just state your name?

I'm sorry.

Mimi O'Connor, City of Erie.

We need you, and we need our deeper understanding, and I appreciate that you have already said that you will go deeply into this issue regarding ECR-SSA.

What is happening there?

To my knowledge, ECRSSA has a terrific track track record of success, reducing recidivism, strengthening families, connecting individuals, returning from incarceration with highly effective community-based support services to just as a short list.

Data is important.

Budgets are important.

People are most important.

Success has many forms.

Programs that contribute to shifting perception of rehabilitation from punitive to positive and productive is critical in reducing stigma and isolation and acknowledging the importance of trauma-informed care in responding to those formerly incarcerated in a direct and practical way in order to lift them upward instead of falling back down.

Because it's about people.

Thank you.

Thank you.

First, I just want to say happy pride, and thank you for continuing to be a sanctuary city.

And just a reminder to the public if you are in the queer community to check the laws before travel, especially related to ID and bathrooms.

What should be mentioned first is the lack of professional demeanor by a few employees here on official business and how that translates into confidence in their job skills, attitudes, and relationship with re-entry clients.

I'm appalled.

I know plenty of nonprofits who are sustained for many many years successfully on CDBG and other grants.

Um that's how nonprofits work.

Most of them do get grant money.

They hire grant writers and get grant money.

Um why does the comfort of the client require off-site meeting places?

Why can't they come there?

Is it because it's located, they have to go past the sheriff, they have to go through a metal detector, they have to see parole improbation officers where it's causing them so much trauma, they can't walk in the building, and so they have to have these very private conversations in the public place instead.

That's the that's your other opportunity instead of putting it somewhere where the people you're trying to help can feel safe where they're being helped.

Um why does self-report of mental health and substance abuse by self-selected clients be such a concern of an advisory board when the recidivism rate is so incredibly low.

What they're doing is clearly working, and these are self-reported numbers.

I don't know what you want the caseworkers to do if they ask the question and they say, No, I don't have any mental health problems.

Um if you have a job, all the other stuff falls into place.

Everything else is better if you can freaking afford to live.

Uh, you can't go to school and be in parole and have your full-time job, have the hours that you have to have.

It's too much.

It's it's almost impossible for anybody to currently be doing.

Um the same-day closure thing.

Um, I know the answer to that.

I unfortunately have only been studying this about two months.

But if you're not from Erie County, you get dropped off at the ER at the Erie City Mission, whether you have a bus pass or not, or whether they have beds or not, and given 20 dollars.

They say, see you later.

So these people walk into the re-entry program because they have nowhere to go.

They have 20 dollars, and all re-entry can do because you are not a citizen of the county, is give you a bus pass.

So you know what that means?

They're open and closed on the same day.

But that also looks this makes the success rate inflate higher because it's just people that you're giving a bus pass to that you haven't helped at all.

Um women also can rarely be served in Erie County because there's no program here for them.

Um I mean, this is just a huge thing.

There's no place for women to go.

Women are on parole sitting at the prison because they don't have a place to live.

Unless you have family who can take you in, you're not coming to Erie because there's no place for you here.

And um, I guess I guess just lastly, there's so many questions.

There's just so many questions that that still need to be answered.

I'm just really asking that you don't give them money until we have more answers.

Thank you.

After a couple of things that I've heard mentioned.

Um Firstly, I actually want to acknowledge what Deontay said.

I think as myself as a white individual, I think it's important that we always hold space for someone who is saying that they're not being heard enough or that they're not being seen enough.

So I think personally I'm going to really reflect on that, and I think we will be in touch with people that were part of the re-entry program and get them to come speak.

My biggest concern with this was that there was no competitive bid that was issued.

Regardless if the program was funded with grants and donations, which the program was funded.

I've heard someone say it was inconsistently funded, but then I read somewhere else that the program was also funded for the next four years.

This is this morning, actually, when I was sitting in this meeting, I received an email that it would take 30 days to get those records back.

I just find it weird that it's going to take 30 days for those, but somehow Bob Cataldi did not file a rationale request to add the ordinance to the finance and personnel meeting until a week before the meeting.

So if we were in such bad financial status for so long, why did that only get filed a week before?

Again, I just I know you guys have a background in law and you like to follow processes apparently, so let's look back at that one before we accept some money.

Thank you.

Good morning.

I am a resident of Edinburgh, Pennsylvania, but I'm here to speak.

I didn't plan on speaking, but uh just feel compelled to do so.

I've heard my name a lot in terms of discussions around this issue.

Umfortunately, I well, fortunately, I have had the opportunity to have discussions with people who have reached out to me and asked.

Um, a lot of the people who are saying my name I've I've never even met.

And I think it's unfortunate that we live in a world right now that unfortunately I think we all have the same ultimate goal, but in terms of the communication, it's just breaking down and and it's broken.

And so I just wanted to say thank you to City Council for providing the opportunity to do a presentation to engage in a study session.

I don't think, and I only speak for myself, but I guess I don't speak for an advisory.

Um, but I'd welcome questions.

You should have the hard questions when it comes to dealing with people.

I'm the numbers person, but I get that.

I get that numbers are people.

My own cousin is a homicide victim in Erie in 2020.

Uh, so I get that that numbers are people.

I I don't overlook that.

Um, but I just wanted to say thank you for the opportunity.

I came here primarily today to listen.

Um, and I appreciate that opportunity.

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Ebony Frith.

Um, I'm the director at the Erie Community Correction Center.

I also did not plan on speaking, but I just wanted to say a few things based on some of the things I heard.

First, I would just say that I have because I work at the Erie Community Correction Center, I've worked with re-entry program since it started as a counselor, as the director in the institution when they used to come into SCI Albion and I worked at SCI Albion.

We have always worked in partnership to do the best that we can for the men who are returning to the community.

They need a lot of support and things that we just can't provide as employees of the Department of Corrections.

We've depended on the re-entry program to fill the gaps to have conversations and work with them in ways that we couldn't with the Department of Corrections.

I would say that since the when the program was taken over by the YMCA, there was a change.

There was a definite breakdown in relationship and there was a change in services.

What our re-entrants, we call them re-entrance, returning to the community.

We provide transitional housing.

They need a lot more than what we provide.

So when we make referrals to the re-entry program, what we were used to before is they received mentorship, they worked on issues other than just employment.

Um they talked about all of those things.

It's not just employment.

If it was just employment, we we wouldn't have this issue.

There's a multitude of issues that people need to work with work on and have that type of support.

I can say that our men do go to the program and they still go up there right now, but what they're used to is they go for a bus pass.

Um very very quick things.

So to say that's that's what success looks like.

That's not what success looks like.

Because for us in 120 days, what we're saying is you you have to get a place.

You know, your time at our facility is up, and we expect you to transition into the community.

What we were looking for is maybe services that can help with the transition, not just um getting just getting a job that a lot of people can't necessarily keep.

Um there's drug and alcohol issues and mental health issues, and if those things aren't addressed, you don't maintain a job.

What you do is you ruin a good job.

You ruin a good job because as soon as you get a decent job, you haven't addressed those issues, and it does not last.

This is a difficult population to work with.

It's it's difficult, and it it requires a lot of effort and a lot of different strategies, and it's a lot more than just getting a job.

A lot of people need a lot of assistance.

Um I would ask that you I'm I'm glad there's going to be a study session, but I would ask that you support the new staff that's coming on.

One of the other reasons, it would not be a good idea to still have that at the YMCA, have it where it's at.

People who have different issues, you know, that we have sex offenders who are in the community who are also trying to make a change.

They should not be going into the YMCA.

There's kids there.

And if parents knew that, I don't think they would be comfortable, which I did have a conversation with people at the YMCA about that issue that it's not a good idea to have it here when you have different offenders going into the building where there's children.

So that that was one of the reasons having it at that location.

The people who come from our facility, we have about 400 men who come through our facility, re-entering the community per year.

They have no issue going up into the office.

They're not on probation.

And a lot of the people that are served through the community, they're not on probation.

Some people are still inmates serving their um sentence in the community, some people are on parole and not on probation.

Uh some people have already maxed their sentence and looking for assistance.

So the major the people who are serviced are not affected by probation.

Some of them are, but other ones aren't.

And I think that people kind of forget those things.

There, there's a lot of different things, and I think in general, what I've heard, people are speaking from the heart, and they care about what happens to this population.

They want to see them successful.

And this new program, going back to the fidelity of the program is really what works.

Those numbers of the recivism, that that's for a short period.

That has nothing to do with you know, a year down the line, uh, two years down the line.

That's when you're gonna look at what those rates are.

30 days or getting a bus pass, or I got a job at this place, and then you should you're shut off.

And I can say I know some of our people, they don't go back.

They get that, they get their bus pass and then they're done.

You can't consider that a success.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, council.

My name is Michael Haas.

I live on the east side of Erie.

Um I just I didn't expect to speak today, but uh I I feel the need to bring a few things to light.

Um First off is I used to live in the R West Bayfront neighborhood before moving to the east side, and I can tell you with certainty that there is a stark difference between those two neighborhoods, and I believe that it's incumbent upon this council to make those two areas equal.

I believe also that there has been an abdication of responsibility, not only by this council, but by county council as well.

In asking for information from uh a population that doesn't have the resources nor ability that this council or other councils do.

Um I did not expect to come to this meeting today.

I have not participated and shown up at as many meetings as I would like to.

Um that's a difficult thing to do, to show up.

And I think that expecting the people who are most affected, the people who are most at risk to come show up and to give counsel, to give government the information that they require to anticipate the needs of government is asking and abdicating the responsibility that you have.

Twenty years ago, it would have been much harder to collect a large amount of information.

Now, through social media, through data aggregation, that is much more feasible.

You can also just go out into the communities, walk around and talk to people.

I love Erie, and I have seen many, many of my peers leave.

I expect many more will leave in the next few years.

And I want to comment also on the nonverbal communication.

In my time sitting here watching this meeting, I've seen several council members be almost exclusively on their cell phones or seem to not be paying attention at different moments in time.

As a citizen of this community, and someone who doesn't attend a ton of meetings but comes here, that felt very dismissive and broke a bit of trust that I had between myself and my government.

I hope that you're able to earn that trust back.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Madam Mayor, Council people.

My name is Alan Brown, and I live in Northeast.

I have two unfortunate distinctions.

The first is I was the first 16-year-old child certified as an adult in his county, given a life sentence, during Gerald Ford's reign.

So I went to jail at 16 years old.

I came home doing Biden's reign, 47 years later.

Extremely motivated?

Yes.

Yes.

The most important thing I've heard in this room, and I hope it came from your hearts, because it seems to be a mandatory act, the Pledge of Allegiance.

Liberty and justice for all.

That moves me every time I hear it.

The Constitution is not some old dusty parchment that was composed in a mildewed basement somewhere.

It was written as a with a beam of light by God's own hand.

There is no such thing as a job, and I use the term lightly, as a professional, that warrants you to have the power to slam a steel curtain shut between the Constitution and those exiting prisons.

In honor of Craig's brother's question, these re-entry people, as it's addressed, aren't here because for the first time in their lives, they have jobs at Erie's largest industries, like Erie's Magnetics, McShane Welding, Don John Schild building, Lincoln Medals.

They have jobs.

They're working.

They're not just out there on the street, they can run down here.

It would be nice if they could be here.

But that really bears no light or statement that justifies treating a group of people as if there's a steel curtain that slams between them and the Constitution because they were in prison.

If you delete delude yourself into believing that once a person goes to prison, once they're on the inside of that fence, that no matter how long they're there, no matter how much they better themselves, that they lack redeemable qualities, you are not much of a human being.

It isn't about me.

It's about the fathers and mothers who are still in prison, waiting to exit, that now have no hope.

At no time have we ever died, nor will we?

It amazes me that people have such a colorful imagination to sit here and draw all of these stories for you.

I was always under the impression that re-entry was about bettering the people exiting and bettering the community.

Don't think that industry has not been affected by this as well.

I don't know if any of you sat last night at the council.

But I brought one an owner of one of Erie's largest industries there last night to tell you that.

Not only does he have 40 people from us, but he suffers a lot of client loss because he don't get any more.

From Erie, and got that ship out of the water.

With 30 something people that we placed there.

It wasn't about money.

We didn't make money off of our people.

We didn't send people to BPS where they get eight or nine dollar hourly wage.

We got them sustainable wages at every place we sent them.

And it was always Erie's biggest industries that accepted them.

These people aren't ponds.

They're human beings.

They're fathers, their siblings, their sons, their grandbabies.

They have every right to the happiness that each of you have.

And I would like you to not answer this question for me, but look in your heart for it.

If it was your child or someone you loved or was important to you, would it have been so easy to slam the door shut on them like that?

Would it have been so easy to have the emotionally calloused about the fallout that would come from a hasty decision based?

That's uh the time.

So nearly anything.

Thank you.

Thank you.

First timer, I'll learn.

All right, I didn't know.

It wasn't here.

Good morning.

I wasn't gonna do this, but I've had enough.

Could you say your name, sorry?

I'm Brother D.

Darrell Craig Sr.

I've been in re-entry for the last 40 something years.

I spent 31 years of my life in the system.

Can I get a witness, Mr.

Horton?

There's been some things said here today that are outright lies.

Outright lies.

I didn't want to call nobody out.

But first of all, outside of Mr.

Horton and Mayor Deblin, nobody has come and asked the people who've been working in re-entry a damn thing from this side, except for Mr.

Jones, who I went to and begged him to reapply.

So I don't know where the narrative come from that he was told he couldn't apply and he was shot down because he's got a criminal record.

We ain't got criminal records.

So that makes no sense.

But the narratives that's being floated are to fulfill somebody else's agenda.

And I get it.

I get it.

First of all, to the lady that got up talking about they didn't talk to anybody from the re-entry community, any ex-fellings or anything.

I held the focus group when this program started, and the room was full.

Can I get a witness, Judge Petini?

I did three presentations between the House of Prayer Church and Erie One about this program.

I've been here since its inception.

I'm invested in this.

When I leave here sometime today, I'll be over at the courthouse bailing my own son out.

So people need to watch their mouths about what they're saying.

Is that still a thing?

Is that still a thing is what I want to know?

Because apparently some people ain't doing it.

Do your research.

Come to the people that know who are there.

I'll tell you what, if you take this program and tie it up in this, like it's being done, is hurting my son.

It's hurting those people that are coming home.

I'm the guy that live next door to people who get murdered.

I'm the guy whose son gets shot two or three times.

So all of you who don't live in our community, call yourself representing our community, you can keep rocks with me because you don't represent me.

And you don't represent none of the people I know.

Yeah, that part right there.

And then last thing I'll say the young man spoke eloquently about bringing information from the people who live down there.

I happen to have the biggest street team in the city of Erie for the last uh 15 years.

We have about 50 people that live in the community that show up gaily.

Be more than willing to talk to you about anything east side.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Brother D, thank you for your comments.

I appreciate you.

I have never had an issue with you, and I don't intend to have one.

Um I I do want to say that neither one of us know what goes on in our families.

So I think it was all very important to understand that I may have similar issues that you have that you just don't know about.

Depend regardless of where I live.

Um my concern is not Can you state your name?

Yes, Cindy Triber, I'm sorry, born and bred in Erie and uh raised or live in Erie or Edinburgh currently, I'm sorry.

Um our concern with ECRSSA is not that it is needed, it is desperately needed, but it is desperately needed to be done properly, and there are situations that have occurred where that has not happened.

There's there's um groups and situations being referred to that were that it is being misrepresented that they are being created right now, and they were already created by the Y, and we have documentation from that.

So when we're talking about proof, like we have letters, we have documentation about these programs and these things that were happening within the Y ECRSS team.

So when a presentation is made, hey, we're doing this, we're doing this, we're doing this, we're doing this.

Yeah, well, that's because they were doing it already, right?

Um, I think one of the problems here, well, there's two problems.

Number one, nobody who is advocating for any kind of justice wants to go speak to anybody when we're getting phone calls from nonprofit leaders and persons that are being told to tell us to shut up.

I'm not gonna go have a conversation with somebody who does that.

I'm just not.

That's intimidation, and I'm not interested in that kind of dialogue.

I'm not.

I have not threatened anybody, and I don't expect that that's an appropriate way to respond or to create a dialogue.

And that's happened several times now.

Um need to remember that while we are trying to create a program that is better than anything that it's been, the way to do it is to not do it in probation.

It's a different model.

We have so much emotional tension tied up around probation and parole in the past year, and for many people long before that.

Okay, and not it's not just people in the stream, it's people here.

We all have situations that are identifiable with each other.

And because I may not have in a neighborhood or somebody else may not live in my neighborhood does not mean that we should not be acknowledging that humanity needs to be the focus.

And I don't think that that's what's happening.

I think the data is being driven, that there are hurt feelings that were that were created that have created ulterior motives.

Um, and I think that that's sad, because as Deontay said, like we're not talking to the re-entry people.

I will tell you that several of the major industries were going to actually pay their people to come down and talk.

But they're working.

That's kind of the point.

They're working, and they already get phone calls at nine o'clock to be with their probation at 10 o'clock, and then they have to go check in here and they have to go and check in there.

And luckily, those industries are tolerant and patient of those schedules.

Um, but they're not gonna be here if they're working.

Um I think there needs to be a town hall, a huge conversation in the county and city with people who represent all of the parts and pieces of this.

Paul Gamble spoke last night very eloquently on his role in starting ECRSSA and how disappointed he is and how and what has happened.

Don John came down and spoke last night.

There are people from all different aspects of how this program is running and being affected and affecting others that are speaking.

Okay.

But the ultimate situation is if if there are facts that are not being shared, then that creates distrust.

So anything that I have said has come from paperwork.

It's come from documents.

It's come from PA budgets, it's come from letters, it's come from budgets, it's come from grants.

It's I'm not if I wanted to get up here and be emotional, you would see a wholly different side of me because I I am very emotional and I would be standing here crying.

But that's that's not my place, and that's not my right to cry tears for somebody who's struggling.

That's I I don't feel that that's appropriate.

If people can work together, this would be a different story.

But there are some of us who are trying to, and there's some of us who are not.

And I think each one of those groups are getting involved with maybe some malfeasance, nefarious other intentions, or just being told things.

I'm not sure.

Um there is no hidden agenda for me.

I I'm not benefiting at all here.

None whatsoever.

I have no aspirations for political.

I'm going back to school, I have two grandchildren, I live in Edinburgh.

I'm here because I'm trying to do something right.

I'm trying to do it the right way.

Thank you.

My name is Linda Graffius, born and raised in Erie, but live in Milk Creek.

I don't have to say anything about ECRSA because my daughter does that so eloquently.

But I do want to uh also address what um was observed and the young man spoke about was the use of phones.

We are asking our children to not have their phones at school, and I would like to see that happen here.

It's no reason that anybody has to have their phone out scrolling, and then that shows their body language too.

Most of you are very attentive.

But there was one person in particular was very offended.

And that's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Dr.

Tyler?

Yes.

I won't take the unusual opportunity.

Because we normally don't respond.

Uh but you send us information.

And you email it to us.

And while you're presenting.

Oftentimes we're looking at that information.

Some of y'all don't send us no one pagers.

You send us, you know.

And so, yeah, uh speak for me.

I probably will be on my phone.

Because I'm checking information.

Anybody who knows me know I I stay in school long.

But I stayed there long enough to learn how to read.

Sometimes that even means in between the lines.

So just give me some grace.

No, no, don't let it bother you too much.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else here for public comment?

Anyone else for public comment?

Anyone else for public comment?

Uh council, at this point, I would like to call for a motion for us to go into executive session.

So move.

Can we go ahead and take the the vote on that motion?

Lori, could you we need to take a vote?

Oh, sorry.

I'll get to vote for Kathy.

Motion by President Titus, seconded by Member Horton to go into executive session.

Members Brzezinski.

Flores.

Yes.

Horton.

Yes.

Poll.

Yes.

Choff.

Troop.

Yeah.

Titus.

Yes.

So at this point we have the majority vote.

We will go into executive session about real estate and personnel issues.

And council, we will meet over in chambers over here.

In the caucus?

Okay, City Council will recontinue the regular meeting.

It is 1125.

And just as um a reminder, we just met in executive session to discover or to discuss uh real team and uh personnel.

I just completely lost my words there, so thank you.

All right.

Now we'll go back into our regular agenda.

Okay, ordinances for final passage.

Council file number 16609, official ordinance 30, 2026.

An ordinance amending ordinance number 26, 1958, the traffic code of the city of Erie by the installation of stop signs at three intersections.

Number one, McArthur Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue stopping at McArthur.

Number two, Atkins Street and Birch Court, stopping on Birch Court.

Number three, West 39th Street and Fruit Street, stopping at Fruit Street.

Sponsored by Councilmember Troops, seconded by Councilmember Horton, the Council File Ordinance number 16609, and now known as official file ordinance 30 2026 be finally passed by City Council.

Members Brzezinski?

Yes.

Flores.

Yes.

Horton?

Yes.

Pole?

Yes.

Shaw.

Yes.

Troop.

Yes.

Titus.

Yes.

City Council pass official file ordinance 30, 2026.

Finally by Yay 7A 0.

Councilfile number 16610, official ordinance 31, 2026.

An ordinance of the City Council of the City of Erie, the city determining to incur lease rental debt evidence by the guarantee and revenue bond at the maximum principal amount of $2,784,063.

To be authorized and issued by the Erie City Water Authority in connection with the construction alteration and improvements to the public water distribution facilities in and about this city, including but not limited to the customer side.

Galvanized service line replacement project, phase five and paying related costs, fees, and expenses, specifying the realistic useful life of the project, authorizing and directing the appropriate officers of the city to take certain actions and to execute certain documents, including a guarantee agreement between the city as guarantor and the Erie City Water Authority and the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, approving the form, maximum guaranteed amounts and sources of payment of the guarantee agreement, creating a sinking fund in connection with such guarantee obligations and appointing a sinking fund depository and providing for the repeal of all inconsistent ordinances or parts of ordinances.

Sponsored by Councilmember Schaff, seconded by Councilmember Brzezinski.

The Council File Ordinance Bill number 16610 and now known as the Fish File Ordinance 31 2026 be finally passed by City Council.

Members Brzezinski?

Yes.

Flores.

Yes.

Shaw?

Yes.

Yes.

Titus.

Yes.

City Council pass the fish file ordinance 31, 2026, finally by Yay 7A 0.

Council file number 16611 32 2026.

An ordinance of the City Council of the City of Erie, the city determining to incur lease rental debt evidence by the guaranteed revenue bond and the maximum principal amount of $8 million to be authorized and issued by Erie City Water Authority in connection with the construction alteration and improvements to the public water distribution facilities in and about this city, including but not limited to the West 12th Street maintenance facility renovation and distribution system programmatic financing and paying related costs, fees and expenses, specifying the realistic useful life of the project, authorizing and directing appropriate officer of the city to take certain actions and to execute certain documents, including a guarantee agreement between the city as guarantor and the Erie City Water Authority and the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, approving the form, maximum guaranteed amounts and sources of payment of the guarantee agreement, creating a sinking fund in connection with such guarantee obligations and appointing a sinking fund depository and providing for the repeal of all inconsistent ordinances or parts of ordinances.

Sponsored by council member Shaw.

Second by Councilmember Brzezinski.

The council file ordinance bill number 16611 and now known as the Fish File Ordinance 32 2026 be finally passed by City Council.

Members Brzezinski Flores Horton Pole Shaw True Titus.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

City Council pass of fish file ordinance 32 2026.

Finally by Yay 7A 0.

Ordinances for first reading.

Councilfile number 16612, appropriating the sum of 254,061 dollars from unappropriated and anticipated revenue to be received from the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Urban Development, which is HUD for the following emergency solutions, emergency solutions 26 projects.

Sponsored by Councilmember Shaw, seconded by Councilmember Brzezinski.

The Council file ordinate 16612 haven't been read is hereby adopted on first reading by city council.

Members Brzezinski Flores Horton Yes Pole Yes Shaw Troop Yes Titus Yes City Council Reddit adopt Council File Ordinance 16612 by Yay 7 Nay Zero on first reading Council File number 16613 an ordinance appropriating a sum of 797,014 and 86 cents from unappropriated and anticipated revenue to be received from the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD for the following home M26 projects sponsored by Councilmember Shaw seconded by Councilmember Brzezinski.

The Council File Ordinance number 16613 haven't been read as hereby adopted on first reading by city council.

Members Brzezinski Flores Horton Poll Shaw Titus.

Yes.

City Council.

Reading and voting very fast.

Council File Ordinance 16 613 by Yay 70 on first reading.

Council file number 16614.

An ordinance appropriating a sum of $2,995 from unappropriated and anticipated revenue to be received from the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD and $5,000 program income for a total of $2,914,512 for the following community development grant blocked grant CD 26 projects.

Sponsored by Councilmember Schaff, seconded by Councilmember Brzezinski.

The Council File Ordinance 16614 haven't been read as hereby adopted on first reading by City Council.

Members Brzezinski Flores Polly Shaw True Titus Yes.

City Council Renot Adopt Council File Ordinance 16614 by Yay 70 on first reading.

Council file number 16615, an order amending the City of Erie Zoning Ordinance to designate the former Erie Labor Temple 1701707 State Street as a historic site pursuant to Article 7 of the revised City of Erie Zoning Ordinance number 80 2005 and to amend the zoning map to reflect such designation sponsored by councilmember shop seconded by council member Brzezinski.

The council file ordinance 16615 haven't been read as hereby adopted on first reading by city council.

Members Brzezinski?

Yes.

Flores, yes, Porton.

Yes.

Shaw.

Yes.

True.

Titus.

Yes.

City Council rent it adopt.

Councilfile Ordinance 16615 by Yay 70 and first reading.

Council file number 16616.

An ordinance amending the City of Erie zoning ordinance designate the Erie Manicor Club 1607 state as a historic site pursuant to Article 7 of the revised City of Erie zoning ordinance number 80 2005 and to amend the zoning map to reflect such designation.

Sponsored by Councilmember Schoff, seconded by Councilmember Brzezinski.

The Council File Ordinance number 16616 haven't been read as hereby adopted on first reading by City Council.

Members Brzezinski?

Yes.

Yes.

Shaw troop type.

Yes.

City Council rent and adopt Council File Ordinance 16616 by Yay 7A on first reading.

Council file number 16617, an ordinance amending the City of Erie zoning ordinance to designate the South Erie Iron Works Company Building 1919 Peach.

Erie, Pennsylvania is a historic site pursuant to Article 7 of the revised City of Erie Zoning Ordinance number 80, 2005, and to amend the zoning map to reflect such designation.

Sponsored by you guessed it.

Councilmember Shaw, seconded by Councilmember Brzezinski.

Council file ordinance 16617.

Haven't been read as hereby adopted on first reading by City Council.

Members of Brzezinski.

Yes.

Flora's poll show tight.

Yes.

City Council read out of Dop.

Council File Ordinance 16617 by Yay 7 Nay Zero on first reading.

Laura, I have to leave.

Okay.

Just let me know.

Thank you.

Oh good.

Well, sir.

Last day of school.

New business.

There is no new business, correct?

No old business, but there is new business.

Oh, sorry.

Yes.

Do we need a first and a second?

Make a motion to move the balance.

I'll second that.

Take the box.

Okay.

Motion to move the balance of the agenda.

Any separations.

No.

Nope.

I think we're good the way we're good.

Moving the bounce to the agenda.

Members Brzezinski, Flores.

Yes.

Shaw Troop Titus.

Yes.

Resolution passes.

We move on to committee reports.

Okay.

We'll go ahead and start with you, Councilor Paul.

Thank you.

I just want to start by the gentleman that was here.

I appreciate everything he said and for coming in.

Excuse me.

I try very much to be attentive to everyone that speaks.

And if uh he saw me not looking, I write.

So I just want to make sure that was cleared up.

I attended the excuse me, the Veterans Memorial Park on Glow and Park Avenue, Memorial Day.

It was a very somber and needed.

Excuse me, I had a port authority meeting last Wednesday, and which she spoke of, or what they spoke of this morning, was what they went over last week.

So I was very happy that they can come here and let the public know that they're still working, and it's a long it's gonna be a long haul.

Um, but I think we're moving in the right direction and listening to the citizens down there that have been affected by the Coke plant for four years.

The environmental advisory board was here and they're always doing good.

I found out that they have three openings on the board.

So if anyone's interested, um, I reach out to anybody that cares about the environment and wants to have a say to sign up, you know, to be maybe put on board, or to even come to their monthly meeting just to listen to see what they do.

I attended um last Friday, the ground breaking at the trust, the upcoming trust hotel that when I was growing up was a Baldwin building, then changed to the Renaissance Center.

Uh it's a good project.

Hopefully, they can you know.

I'm just glad that they're knocking not knocking down all these beautiful buildings anymore.

Um just revitalizing them somehow.

And it's not all on the city, it's private investor with you know private funding.

So the historic preservation meeting was held on Monday, and that's always very interesting because it coincides with the ballroom building.

And that's always very interesting because it coincides with the Baldwin building.

Um it's just it's just good to see because I can remember going up and down State Street and all those buildings are gone or made into not so nice buildings anymore.

But that was before we had anyone to speak up.

Um people just bought the buildings and did what they wanted to do.

So firefighter pension meeting was yesterday, and we had two retirees, uh Firefighter Frays retired, and assistant chief Greg Purchase.

So I wish them both well in their upcoming endeavors.

You know, wonderful retirement.

That's it.

Thank you.

Counselor Forrest.

Um my committee reports come later in the week.

Uh, have uh the parking authority next Tuesday, so I will try to attend through Zoom.

Um it's just while I'm in commute to work, so it's kind of not the best time.

But I also wanted to um mention that if people are in interested in getting involved with the environmental caucus, you just have to reach out to um the environmental caucus.

They will put you on the Zoom, I mean, well, on the email list so that you know when the meetings are, but it's the last meeting of the month.

I think it's the fourth Wednesday, if I'm not mistaken.

Um but they are trying to just be more environmentally conscious.

We do border the lake, so that's our fresh water, so it is um good for us to be aware of what is being worked on, but also that this group of people are trying to work with developers that way our building material is more environmentally friendly.

I know they've been trying to get a plastic bag ban going on just because there's so much um plastic waste and we are consuming that, and that's not good.

So if you are interested, that is an option um for you to be involved, and you can go back and re-watch any of the meetings um through Zoom.

Well, not through Zoom, but uh the Facebook and our YouTube channel.

I also wanted to um mention that with it getting warm, please as uh motor vehicleists, please be aware of the pedestrians that are walking or physically disabled and are intellectually disabled, need a little bit more time than what we're giving when people are crossing the road, but also down by the Blasco Library.

Some cars are aware that they are supposed to stop for pedestrians, and some just blow through.

Um and that's kind of dangerous when we're have the right-of-way technically as pedestrians and people might not be all there to know that they should stop.

I work with intellectually disabled, so I'm always teaching my client to be aware of the parking lot and the driveway and making sure that she is aware of the dangers of vehicles because just because you see them doesn't mean they see you.

Um I also wanted to say that with school getting out, please be mindful of going through residential rate um neighborhoods because sometimes we're a little bit speed happy and we're going a little bit faster than the 25 mile an hour speed limit, and the last thing we need to do is be the reason why a family is experiencing a tragic summer because we weren't paying attention.

So just be mindful of the children who are enjoying their summer because this is the best time of the year for them.

And that's all I wanted to report.

Thank you.

Uh Councilor Brzezinski, and we'll go ahead and work our way down.

Um Councilor Brzezinski, if you would like to give you a report.

Uh things uh are I think you all know that you uh made your convention center a little bit uneasy last meeting.

Uh I would caution you folks to maybe because I'm old, I use my brain more than my heart.

But when you turn down a tremendous opportunity for the Bayfront because of birds that might fly into a two-story building.

Uh it's no wonder we're the laughing stock.

Thank God that uh let me be proactive on this.

In the future, whenever we have anything like this, we should have the planning commission and the zoning commission come to us in the study session or whatever and get all of those questions answered before they put us on a spot.

Now a lot of you folks you've been around City Hall and stuff, but you're still brand new.

So it's tough to try to make a decision when all the bricks are being piled on your shoulders.

I understand that.

But you can't cave in.

If you don't trust the planning commission and zoning commission, get rid of the damn thing.

And bringing people that do it.

Fortunately, we do have a good group up there, a group that works well.

And to scream and yell that we're closing the garage doors after all the cars are stolen.

It doesn't make sense.

I digress.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to that next vote, and we can finally uh move forward with it.

If anybody has any questions, please, if you don't come to me, come to somebody, get your answers before the meeting.

Otherwise, you're gonna be fool's early.

Uh airport authority, so many things are happening, but with the gas crunch and Iran one day this way and the other day the other way.

Uh everybody's kind of moving slowly with the flights that we're gonna add to Chicago and things like that.

I have nothing to report on it yet, but uh once we do get a full handle on it, uh be the first to know.

Sorry that I had to land based, but uh we gotta do a better job, folks.

That's all I'm saying.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Councilor Horton.

Sure.

Um I attended the uh housing authority.

You probably have to, I don't think that I attended the housing authority uh legislative breakfast, uh and they laid out their um three year plan or annual plan.

They had some interesting things.

Um I think she's gonna send the uh PowerPoint over.

Uh for those who weren't able to make it.

I recommend that you look at it since housing is a critical part of what we're trying to do.

Um we appointed a land bank uh representative from council.

Thank you, Mayor, thank you, counsel.

Um, and uh EJ Feich, uh, who's gonna work intrico uh with the building for property management.

I'm trying to get this verbiage still right as we go through the change uh over those things, and I do realize uh that the last week's or week and a half ago, the financial uh press conference where we talked about the 12 million.

I do think that that elevated a should have elevated us to a sense of urgency uh to do some stuff.

And so a lot of the things I'm trying to do is not be distracted by what's coming down here, but uh some of those distractions are healthy.

And one of those distractions was I met with Erie United.

Uh they want to talk about housing, and I sat with them for about an hour and a half, uh, listened to some of their concerns, fielded as many questions as I could.

Uh told them that uh at some point uh maybe they would might consider bringing that stuff to us collectively.

Uh and I asked them, you know, I'm always throwing in that to Dr.

Titus.

So Dr.

Titus might be able to facilitate you doing his presentation as opposed to trying to run us all down one by one and give us the information.

I'm of the same mindset.

I am my mother's child.

Uh uh fantastic things happen when you get all stakeholders in one room as opposed to receiving information piecemeal.

Um we didn't have a blind review board meeting.

Um the land bank has a moratorium on purchasing uh homes until they work out all of the things or impediments that would prevent them from clearing all of the bills or liens or all of that type of stuff off the property.

Uh I attended Chief Bowers ceremony out front here, um, which has a former officer and come from a family of officers.

Uh there they're uh they're always meaningful to me.

And a few days prior to that, we actually did the um fallen soldiers memorial uh on South Park Road here.

That concludes my report.

Thank you, Councilor Shaw.

Thank you, Dr.

Titus.

I um a week ago, Thursday, went to the drug treatment court graduation at the Erie County Courthouse, and there's nothing better than to see people succeed in their stories, and happen to sit behind a person who um went up to receive their certificate of no more probation, and it uh truly was very heartful um to be there and it's just very moving.

And it truly was very heartful to be there.

And it's just very moving.

So I think it's very supportive.

The courthouse was that room was full completely.

You know, it was dedicated to saying congratulations and best wishes to the people who were graduating.

It was wonderful.

I attended the water authority meeting, the historic commission this week, trade licensing board, and attended the Veterans Memorial Service at the Veterans Memorial Park.

And that is a beautiful park.

It's very moving.

And I am glad to see it where it is as well.

People should go down there and reflect.

And I also attended the ceremony of the lowering of the flag for our past Chief Bowers who had passed away.

And grateful for all the people who were able to attend with the RibFest going on or you know, building up there.

I'm sure there was parking issues and things like that.

So that's great that Erie comes out and supports, gives support.

And it's good to hear the RIPFest was well attended and very delicious.

I can attest to that.

And because school is getting out, um definitely have to piggyback on what everyone's saying as far as you really need to be safe out there.

Um I witness accidents almost happening every single day.

So be careful and also want to extend my congratulations to assistant chief Greg Purchase and Aaron Frays and the fire department for retiring.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So I'll keep my report brief.

What I I guess what I would ask also, though, of the public is that we make sure that we are addressing the administration and council and not necessarily uh using this as an opportunity to argue with one another in here because I think that that takes away from the solutions that we can create together and to work collaboratively together.

I saw that I always get a little cautious when it when I just see some groups maybe who are coming in and addressing one another versus addressing us because this really is the opportunity for us to come up with solutions and to work together.

I still don't think we've mastered uh the best way to to respond to the public, and so I am open for suggestions from the from the bot the body here, so we're not leaving the public feeling like we're not listening.

Um I also want to I I've met with Erie County United and uh also for about a a little around an hour.

Um I did leave that meeting feeling that we are there's there's a shift in in how they want to approach um just with some of the community advocates and really wanting to coordinate um and bring solutions together uh and changes that we as as counsel in a and a body can enact.

So I left there feeling very positive with with the things that we're gonna do together.

I met with the superintendent to address some of the issues that I'm seeing in as it not only as I wear my council hat, but some of the other hats around the rise, especially in xenophobia, uh, and left that meaning feeling again that we all want to do better, that we are aware that there is a crisis happening not just here in the city but across many of the the cities uh in the US and that the solutions are being discussed right now.

I also would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge, and this is a call out to not just council, but to those who are listening that there is a steady and consistent rise around suicidality and loss of young life.

We had another young person and their life this week, who is a member of the Erie Public School system, and this is uh multiple this this past year, and all of the things that we hear during public comment are absolutely related and connected to this.

And so this is this is a call upon every elected official and every community uh leader to also center this as part of the conversation is um our our young people are believing and that that there is no future and that there is a deep loss of hope and that we it is on us to help create that and to create pathways forward.

With that being said, um it is imperative that we acknowledge that it is Pride Month because you can't be yourself unless you can see yourself.

And so this month celebrates those who have endured various amounts of oppression and still do not have access to civil rights and find themselves uh target to not just the federal uh administration but also just hate in general.

Uh we also have our Juneteenth celebration that we'll talk more um about.

But to I I challenge all of us to really look at the history of what Pride Month is uh and to look at the history of Juneteenth so we can understand why those celebrations are so important and to make sure that we are showing up and and honoring uh the festivities that we'll see throughout the month.

Uh and with that, I'll conclude my report and pass over to the controller.

Hi, um my report's brief this this week.

Um just want to say we're still working hard in the controller's office, uh, still continuing to work with mindfulness and intentionality.

Uh we're organizing and researching on many important issues up in our office, and just kind of after the first 120 days, um, we we've learned a lot and uh we're workflow is going really well.

Um so I'm I'm very thankful for my staff.

Uh I'm also thankful that we're collaborating well with other offices and departments uh in City Hall, and we're grateful for all the city employees who work so diligently.

Um they do great work.

And also I'm thankful to Mayor Devlin for her thoughtfulness and willingness to do uh the difficult tasks that are coming up to ensure the longevity of our city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor.

Thank you.

I will also be brief.

Um just a couple of shout-outs.

I appreciate the controller's comments as well.

Uh we had some really terrible wind uh storms last weekend over Memorial Day, and then of course the Ribfest coming right after there.

Our public works team has just worked so hard during the the wind and the cleanup and then Ribfest, working with the police department and special events.

So just want to give them a shout out.

As the controller noted, people work very, very hard uh around here always, but sometimes particularly.

Um I also want to say I spoke at uh Erie High's graduation on Saturday.

Want to congratulate all of our graduates from our Erie's public schools as well as those that attend um private schools and charter schools in our area.

We wish them all the best and you know, hope to Dr.

Titus to your point, give them a message of hope, and let them know that they have a place here, um that they belong here, and we need to do better to make sure that they see that.

So I want to note that.

Um also want to call out uh the initiative that my office has launched with a partnership through change.org.

Uh change.org is a national organization that tries to help communities really engage in civic discussion.

I think we see the need for that, the need for people to be heard, and then to take that and translate it into policy and into action.

So would encourage people to follow that effort on um the city's social media pages.

There's opportunities to lend your voice and then to work with us again to turn that into policy.

So we're we're looking forward to that partnership and that participation.

Uh and lastly, I'm I'm sad that a couple of uh our colleagues on city council had to leave because specifically for Miss Flores, I wanted to let her know probably one of the most impactful things I did over the past two weeks was attend a love your block celebration at Roger Young Park on Saturday.

And I will say that I was there, they were taking a little time to get set up, so I had some time, and I just walked the park because I felt like you know, it had been a very long time, if ever, that I had done that truly the entire way around.

And I didn't like what I saw.

Um I saw a basketball court that had an enormous amount of cracks in it that looked very dangerous.

I saw a pool building that just didn't look the best, and I saw enormous softball fields that don't seem to be excuse me, being used.

So I came back yesterday, met with my leadership team, and I met with the parks department.

Um we will be immediately creating uh fixing the cracks in the court um and the basketball court at Roger Young immediately uh just to go over there and and do a band-aid approach.

And then I have tasked the parks department to give me proposals on what it would take to fully uh redo the basketball court and what it would take to turn the softball courts, the softball fields there into soccer fields.

We hear over and over again that that community is crying out for soccer, and we're not listening.

Um and so even to some of the comments that were made today, I've made that a priority.

I let my team know that yesterday.

I know money is tight, but we do have parks money, as counselor Flores reminds us often.

So I just want to let council know that we have decided this is the priority, at least in the beginning.

We'll work with planning on the parks plan that comes out in your study session.

Um, but we will immediately be taking care of the urgent needs, and then uh I've tasked them with a larger conversation.

So just want to say that it's unfortunate at the end of a meeting everybody's gone.

Um, but I do think that's important for me to for me to say out loud that that that is our priority.

So with that, we're at noon.

Thank you.

Thank you, council.

Thank you.

So do you have a report?

Just reminder, market house uh revotes on Tuesday, June 9th.

And we welcomed our deputy solicitor.

Oh, that's right.

There is the deputy solicitor.

Um I have a meet I had a meeting at 11 that I couldn't attend, and so I assigned her the task of leaving her at 11 to go handle that matter.

But yeah, well here we are now up to staff of three in the solicitor's office.

Uh one of those two for deputy solicitors uh and reminder next week we do just to kind of reiterate what the solicitor just said we have a uh special meeting on Tuesday, uh and then we have our study session that Thursday.

So we will we will be alive and active in this chamber next week.

And with that, we will conclude this meeting.

City council adjourned to 1201.