Good morning and welcome to the pre-agenda interviews for Tuesday, January twentieth, two thousand twenty-six for the equipment leasing authority.

Would a clerk please read the title of the bill?

Bill Twenty-five resolution appointing Sharon Warner as a board member of the equipment leasing authority for a term to end March thirty-first, two thousand twenty-eight, serving the remainder of the term for a seat vacated by Lisa Frank.

And Bill Twenty-six resolution appointing Sheldon Williams as a board member of the Equipment Leasing Authority for a term to end June fifteenth, two thousand twenty-six, serving the remainder of the term for a seat vacated by Lee Schmidt.

And for the record, we're joined by Councilwoman Schrosberger and Councilwoman Warwick.

Moved to Pittsburgh in twenty seventeen with my family.

Um to be closer to family that we had here in Pennsylvania.

Uh, for the past eight years, first in a legal role, and then for the past five years as the chief operating officer of our corporate responsibility group.

Um our fleet and trying to figure out how we can shore up better resources for the great men and women who work for the city and need uh need vehicles that meet all of their needs.

Uh, worked in public safety first as a paramedic, then also as a police officer.

2011 I took a early retirement, had the time, not the age, so I could pursue ordination as a pastor, while also becoming a national expert in explosives where for which I taught across the country for many years.

In 2022, I then relinquished my post as a pastor and became a full-time faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh where I worked as an assistant professor in the emergency medicine program at the University of Pittsburgh, also responsible for that department's efforts in the School of Health and Rehabilitative Sciences and Community England.

My life service since being a young man has been serving and served as a public servant first and as one in the ministerial role, served the academia, served in academia and now come back to serve once again in this leadership role.

And so I just look forward to making these opportunities to lead our efforts.

I kind of communicate communicate often that I'm here to be at the bridge and I continue to be that which also brings me to why I'm accepting this role on this board.

Knowing the importance of our fleet and having a a fleet that is capable of responding to our needs versus one who had to use that fleet now being responsible to make sure we give the resources necessary so our people or men and women can do their jobs I look forward to opportunity to serve on this board.

Thank you very much.

And with that I'll open it up to members I'll start with Council Strasberger.

Thank you Mr.

Chair, Mr President, thank you both for your uh it's it's a it feels a little cart before horse no pun intended because we haven't yet actually um we're not confirming you you know fully for or we haven't had the opportunity to interview you or talk to you for your positions but um we understand that's more typical for directors and not chiefs but um uh uh really happy to be here today to discuss the equipment leasing authority and your positions on that on on that really important as you mentioned authority um given your backgrounds I think it's um bodes well for the authority and you know I'm grateful to my colleague who you'll hear from I'm assuming next council woman um Warwick um for starting the discussion this year as to you know ideas outside of the box to fully to ensure that our vehicle fleet is fully funded in future years when the council when it's a brand new council and there's no institutional memory of what we went through this past budget season which was reckoning with a budget that didn't sufficiently fund our vehicle fleet and the almost emergency status we're at at this juncture of understanding that we should be putting you know 31 million dollars per year into our fleet to dig out of the hole that we're in and having some some challenges with that so I'm I'm I'm open to that discussion I'm open to whatever discussion and I guess that leads me to my question or my um my hope and I guess it's a question of you know if there are ideas um either that you're willing to or ready to discuss now or not in the future that think about um creative new ways to dedicate funding to the ELA to our vehicle fleet to minimize the amount that we are um spending on repairs that could be unnecessary if we had newer vehicles um whether that is you know what we hear from other entities and other municipalities that we get conflicting ideas it might be okay that might not be okay per standards of you know of of using bonds to pay for fleet in in addition to other long-term uses you know we were at the engine 18 fire station right and understanding that that was a a a vehicle that was 20 years old maybe we shouldn't be 20 years old uh we shouldn't have 20 year old uh fire engines um supporting the city but um that's as long as some other assets that we have that we use bond payments to um to fund um but I guess you know if there are any ideas that that you can borrow from other places that you've worked other um municipalities um other levels of government I'm open to hear them now and if not um happy to continue that discussion you know at another time as I become more aware of the the issues uh one um hearing about it prior to coming to the government to begin my onboarding and starting to work to it I kind of got a grasp of kind some of the concerns that you all were kind of um explaining as we were going through the budget process and then my own even understanding of some of the issues I've had historically um just being a a person who was working on the streets and and what it put it initially in me was this burden of okay how do I step into this role as the public safety director even before assuming the post of being on this board how do I make sure we have the right resources secondarily I was even more alarmed as I become more aware of the issues and the problems and the magnitude of the problem for an example as you said we went and visited the station

And then my own even understanding of some of the issues I've had historically, um, just being a person who was working on the streets.

And and what it put it initially in me was this burden of okay, how do I step into this role as the public safety director, even before assuming the post of being on this board, how do I make sure we have the right resources?

Secondarily, I was even more alarmed as I become more aware of the issues and the problems and the magnitude of the problem.

For an example, as you said, we went and visited the station and they said they were using older equipment, but I was even more alarmed that even if we had the money today and could buy brand new fire trucks, it would take two to four years before they even hit the street.

And that's if we had all the monies today.

So to answer your question as I've become a more aware of the challenges, I would think that one of our issues, one of the things that would be my driving force is try to prevent the crisis moments wherever possible.

Um if that means that we have better ways of of viewing how we're managing our fleet fleet, are we managing them effectively as per the service, um, schedule service, stuff like that, and how we're responsive, but also having plans in place to make sure that we can at least um replace our fleet in more timely manner um wherever uh possible.

So thinking creatively would think about where do we buy equipment that might give us some some uh longer time and use out of our equipment, but also how we're effectively maintaining that to make sure we're staying on schedule so we can get the best use out of our equipment, and then making sure that we have a replacement schedule that keeps us from getting to crisis mode.

Yeah, and I would add to that, um, you know, as we are sort of getting a sense of what everything looks like at the moment, you know, it's we've been here for two weeks, and so we're trying to really get our arms around what is the current state, what is already in play, and then how are we prioritizing?

So it's really been a matter of sort of um just organizing how all of that looks at the same time looking at neighboring um municipalities, looking at municipalities across the country who may have different ways of doing this.

I think as you said, thinking outside the box, willing to look at pretty much any option that comes to us.

Some of them will be uh, you know, a no-brainer of, well, that's not going to work in Pittsburgh because of this reason, but some of them we might not have thought of and could work really well in our city.

So I think at the same time, we're trying to come up with new ideas, but really try and figure out, get our arms around what the current problem is and what it looks like.

Um I will say that the mayor himself is fully dedicated to this and I think is willing to look at any options that we might be able to bring to him on this front.

So um I do think you know we have his commitment as well to make sure that we get this, we get this done and we get it moving back onto the right path.

And I'll note that you know we have a really great um fleet manager who has put in with with that team put in a comprehensive prioritization list and you know, when when we can when we ask the question, it's even much more complicated than I think we realize or seen, but when we ask the question as council members, if we had um you know, 100 million dollars to spend today, do you know exactly where you spend it?

And they can say yes, that's a really good sign.

So you're starting from a place of strength in terms of knowledge, and then it's just about finding finding the funding to bolster that and finding a sustainable path.

Um it feels very much like we um it's almost it's almost difficult to triage at this point, and then to say what would we do if we had sufficient funding for you know five or ten years because no one has envisioned that.

So can we get to the point where we're not just saying this is what we need for next year, but this is what we this is the envisioning an actual um uh abundance of funding to be able to sustain us through the next five and ten years and get on solid ground again.

Um I'm I'm sure other questions will come up, but those are the main points that I had on my mind and what I wanted to hit today.

And um, you know, thanks for your willingness to serve, thanks for the willingness to really put all into this.

This is as you can tell, an incredibly important issue for council members going into this next year.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman Warberg.

Yeah, thank you.

Um, so thank you for being here and you know, for your willingness to come work at the city.

I know it's it's a lot and it's a big responsibility, and you know, it's going for especially going from the private sector, it really is public service, right?

It's uh we don't do it for the money.

That's you know.

Um so yeah, just looking at um at your both of your resumes, and of course we'll talk about, but you know, I'm I'm very glad to see what I what seems to be two multitaskers for sure, right, with lots of experience, and um uh I I'm also I'm really glad to see um the you know the COO experience at PNC, you know, finance it, like you know, because all of these things, right?

And especially here we're talking about fleet like that really comes into play.

And of course, with public safety, having all the the um, you know, the various experiences across the public safety departments, right, to really understand the needs of the of the the the folks working on the ground.

Um that's very helpful.

And of course, in this conversation with the fleet, right, even more so if you have like the financial and the legal understanding too.

Um I know that the uh trans dev contract is not something that is is under the purview of the ELA, however, um that's something we've talked about a lot and would be and I know controller Heitzler has thoughts on that contract, and um it would be interesting to to have a some a f fresh eyes on that contract, right?

Uh from a legal perspective, um just in terms of what we should expect at the very least in terms of documentation, right?

Of um of repairs and whatnot.

Um but but at any rate, um uh so yeah, and as the councilwoman mentioned, uh uh Furman Maurice has or we we my understanding is that he has created a tracking tool, and I don't know how I haven't seen this tool, but um that it is uh a very effective tool.