COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, April 3, 2024 10:10 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCILMEMBER MARK SQUILLA, CHAIR COUNCILMEMBER CINDY BASS COUNCILMEMBER JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILMEMBER KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON COUNCILMEMBER QUETCY LOZADA COUNCILMEMBER ISAIAH THOMAS BILLS 240176, 240177, and 240178 - - 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC.
Good morning, everyone. Sorry for the delay. Today is Wednesday, April 3rd. Welcome to the hearing of the Committee on Appropriations. I note that the hour has come and a quorum of the Committee is present. To my left, Councilmember Lozada, Councilmember Bass, Councilmember Gilmore Richardson. We now have a quorum. The hearing is called to order. This is the public hearing of the Committee on Appropriations regarding Bills No. 16 240176, 240177, 241078. Mr. McMonagle, would you please read the title of the bills.
Bill No. 240176, an ordinance authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2024 from the General Fund, certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions, and the Grants Revenue Fund, certain or all City offices, departments, 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. boards and commissions, to the General Fund, certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions and to the Aviation Fund, certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions. Bill No. 240177, an ordinance 9 amending Bill No. 230145, entitled "An ordinance to adopt a Fiscal 2024 Capital Budget," by revising various appropriation amounts and totals, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 240178, an ordinance 15 amending Bill No. 230144, entitled "An ordinance to adopt a Capital Program for the six Fiscal Years 2024 through 2029 Inclusive," by revising various appropriation amounts and totals to conform to amendments to the FY2024 Capital Budget Ordinance, all under certain terms and conditions.
Thank you. Please call the first panel to 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. testify.
Can we please have Sabrina Maynard. (Witness approached witness table.)
Thank you, Sabrina. Just state your name for the record and you can proceed with your testimony.
Good morning. Hello. Sabrina Maynard, Deputy Finance Director.
Before you get started, just for the record, Councilmember Thomas is present for the hearing. Thank you.
Good morning, Chair Squilla and members of the Appropriations Committee. I am Sabrina Maynard, Deputy Finance Director. I'm joined by my colleagues from Finance, along with representatives from each department that has a request in the transfer ordinance. I'm here to testify 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. in support of Bill No. 240176, which is the proposed FY24 spring midyear transfer ordinance; Bill No. 240177, which amends Bill No. 230144, entitled "An ordinance 6 to adopt a Capital Program for the six Fiscal Years 2024 through 2029 Inclusive"; and Bill No. 240178, which amends Bill No. 230145, entitled "An ordinance to adopt a Fiscal 2024 Capital Budget." You have also received written testimony from each department that has a request in the transfer ordinance. These ordinances are needed to address areas where funds are being realigned or shortages have occurred as well as to expedite certain investments in materials, supplies, and equipment that will be critical for Mayor Parker's plans to make Philadelphia the cleanest, greenest, and safest big city in the nation, with economic opportunity for all. We have also made changes to 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. the bills to reflect requests made by Councilmembers. I thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I would like to request a suspension of the rules so that these ordinances can be considered at the next session of Council. If you have any questions, we would be happy to answer them. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. For the record, before we ask questions, Councilmember Gauthier is present for the hearing. Councilmember Richardson.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. And thank you, Sabrina, for your testimony. I just wanted to for the record confirm the latest and last round of caucus amendments that were negotiated this morning with the Committee. If you could confirm those amendments to your 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. understanding for the record, please.
All right. We added $500,000 for tree pruning in Parks and Recreation; $750,000 in Council Class 200; $200,000 in Council Class 300 and 400; $500,000 for Mural Arts; $325,000 in FY24 for Sheriff space needs; $2 million in the Aviation Fund for additional tax-related costs that has no General Fund impact. On the capital side, $250,000 for some street lighting in the Streets Department; $300,000 for a repair to Malcolm X; 3 million for Eastwick in capital under Parks and Rec; and 400,000 for Vare pool. We also adjusted the contribution to the Budget Stabilization Reserve, which had been set as 15 million in '24 and we adjusted it back to '25. 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC.
All right. I have additional questions, Mr. Chair.
Feel free. 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC.
Thank you very much. This is for the Office of Homeless Services relative to the $850,000 request. (Witness approached witness table.)
Good morning. Dave Holloman, Interim Executive Director for the Office of Homeless Services.
So you're requesting a transfer of $850,000 in Class 100 funds to Class 200 to address a back payment to three vendors. It is our understanding that's HopePHL, Philabundance, and Lintons Kirkbride Food Service; is that correct?
Yes. It's to request that transfer from Class 100 to 200 to maintain current operations, yes.
4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. Excellent. How are these vendors selected for this payment?
Those vendors are selected through our process of RFI. Many of those vendors have been contracted with the Office of Homeless Service through many years as partners in those areas of services.
Excellent. And in November 2023 during the last transfer ordinance process, you stated that ODAAT was owed $420,333, U.S. Facilities was owed $2,435,110, and 1260 was owed $840,180 in FY24 payments. Why were these vendors not selected for payment?
I can get back to you with additional details around those matters there.
Will that be before we have to vote this morning? 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC.
No. So many of those vendors, as many of you know, despite our budgetary challenges, we were on a calendar fiscal year. Many of those contracts that we signed, especially for FY24, crossed over a couple fiscal years, so there could have been some budgetary challenges around payment options for them, as we are rectifying those issues right now.
Excellent. In the document you provided to this Committee on March 22nd, you accounted for a decrease in U.S. Facilities costs of $100,000 due to savings realized by hiring janitorial staff.
Yes, we did. As you know, U.S. Facility has been one of our great partners around operating some of the migrant shelters and also with some of the COVID related. We thought that after looking at an analysis and 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. where we could have some cost savings, we thought that bringing on six custodial workers through the civil service process would align with having some cost savings there. However, like OHS, with many other City departments, that process took a little bit longer where we were expecting a little bit more cost savings. We were finally able to bring them on around February, late February, March, which we are projecting some cost savings there on the budget.
Okay. Excellent. Do we owe U.S. Facilities $2 million?
I would have to get back with you with that final number, how much we owe them.
I'm asking because I need to understand how we are accounting for any reduction in costs.
So what U.S. Facility does, they subcontract with 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. organization Team Clean. We were paying an average of about $70,000 per month on those bills. With the addition of bringing on custodial workers, six custodial workers, with an average salary between $37,000 to $40,000 a year, we were projecting out for six months as we move to a City fiscal year contract starting January 1st.
Okay. In the document you provided to this Committee again on March 22nd, you accounted for an $850,000 transfer from Class 100 to Class 200. There are 16 positions listed as vacant in the 17 Department. Can you please detail which 18 unit within OHS these positions are 19 located? 20
Yes. Thank you 21 for that question. So many of those 22 positions are through our Prevention and 23 Diversion Unit, intake unit, which we see a high turnover, because many of those positions are social worker. They have a 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. very progressive track for advancement throughout the City, so that position always has a high turnover. We have some in our Contracts and Fiscal Unit, which we are looking to beef up, but as I stated before to you in writing, we see many turnovers in the intake units where many of those positions are social work, and the City has a very progressive advance placement with the social work unit where they can progress to higher positions throughout the City.
I see. And I know I did ask earlier in the separate budget process regarding the process to look at a compensation analysis and I'm awaiting that information to see whether or not OHS was included in the most recent compensation analysis that has taken place within some City departments, as stated by the new CAO.
Can you repeat -4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC.
In the FY25 Operating Budget in Brief, the $850,000 in Class 100 is added back into the FY25 budget. So if you're dealing with this vacancy issue, why do you need the funds reallocated in FY25?
Yeah. So for Class 100, we on average, I think -- and we're not anomalous. It takes about four to six months on average right now to fill civil service positions. We're projecting out because of the delay that we have seen with filling certain positions that this will help with our Class 200. As you are aware, moving from a calendar year contract with many of our providers and immediately starting City fiscal year January 1st, there were contracts that was previously signed by 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. my previous executor that we had to rectify the budget because we were projected to have a close to $5 million overspend. So as a way to address some of those actions, we were looking at where we could have some cost savings throughout all of our classes to make sure that we have maintained levels of services.
Thank you. In the document you provided to this Committee on March 22nd, you accounted underspend for 100 new units, saying they will not be online until March of 2024 and notated $924,000 in savings. Which vendor is supplying these beds?
There are going to be a number of different vendors that 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. we're RFPing out from the non-profit world to support that permanent supportive housing.
So if they say 1260 -- let's just say 1260. In November of 2023, you stated that we owed 1260 $840,108 for conformed contract for 100 units previously funded through the Housing Trust Fund. Why has that amount increased?
Why has that amount increased if we notated $924,000 in savings?
Well, 1260 has some cost savings there because there was some delay in filling a number of those units that were projected out. Again, we were trying to adjust for contracts that were previously signed to address the budgetary challenges there. Those contracts, as I want to make very clear, they were on a calendar year, and so 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. trying to adjust those budgets to meet the overall cost neutral that we are trying to project that $5 million -- to address that $5 million projected spending over, we had to adjust certain contracts to meet the needs, but many of our providers where you have seen underspend in that, we had to adjust that in our budget cut scenario to meet the needs of current services.
Excellent. In the document that you also provided to this Committee on March 22nd, you accounted for $1,552,324 in savings for contractors who underspend, and you listed those contractors as 1260, PHMC, SELF, RHD, and Sanctuary Village. In the documents you provided in November, you stated that we owed the following. Have these vendors been paid for those expenses that they incurred FY21 through '23? And that would be 1260 at $840,180 for the 100 units that were 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. previously paid by the Housing Trust Fund already, PHMC $293,960 for shallow rent, SELF is $1,448,045 for shelter combo and $203,099 for winter, and RHD would be $42,377 for Woodstock.
Yes. Many of those vendors that we're relating to here, we had a deficit in our balance with them from FY21, '22, and '23. The majority of those vendors have either been paid or in the current process of being paid very shortly. We have been working with our Finance team, City Finance team, to make sure that, one, all the invoices are correct, that we're taking multi-levels of accountability to make sure that everything is done in a due process way. We apologized to those vendors if it has caused any significant delay, but what I am here today to report, that over 75 percent of those vendors have been paid from FY21 to '22 to '23 and the remainder are currently in process. 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC.
Okay. The last percent are in 4 process. And so that's not a double ask 5 for a double payment? I'm just seeking 6 to understand relative to the units that 7 were already funded under the Housing 8 Trust Fund. 9
Yeah. So the 10 funds that we're requesting today to help 11 support current level of funding, as many 12 of you know, the City of Philadelphia 13 received a significant amount of money 14 during the COVID expenditure. Some of 15 those monies were directly related to 16 shelters, some were rapid rehousing, 17 which many of those contracts expired 18 9/30/2023. Because those contracts were 19 signed during that last calendar year, 20 these here would offset some of those 21 deficits that were running on those 22 contracts. 23
24 Okay. And then, lastly -- and I'll 25 submit the balance of my questions in the 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. interest of time because we are in budget -- in the document you provided to this Committee again on March 22nd, you accounted for $348,803 in lease savings from the Eliza Shirley relocation, but in the document you provided in November, that same amount of money was listed as an FY24 for the new site and that the site development was already underway. Was the relocation paused?
So that site, we actually just got confirmation to move into that site of 216 North Broad Street. We looked at the lease of that site and it would be -- there were some costs that incurred -- that will be incurred there, and so it was really a cost neutral. The site that we're currently at now at Eliza Shirley, we have not had an active commitment on the lease there for a number of years there.
Okay. So could you detail the lease savings? 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC.
Okay. For the record, I have an additional eight questions that I will submit to the Office of Homeless Services for written response.
Thank you, Councilmember. And thank you, David. Wait, Dave. Another question. Councilmember Gauthier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, Mr. Holloman.
I wanted to dig in a little more on the request from the Admin. 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. So this is a revenue-neutral request that is asking to move $850,000 from Class 100 to 200, and I wanted to just understand a little bit more about the request. So, for instance, the request is asking to move $428,000 to HopePHL for Gloria's Place shelter, which is in the Third District. Can you talk more about what that $428,000 would cover?
Yes. So Gloria's Place in your district, Councilwoman, we opened that site -- well, the City of Philadelphia opened that site as a result of a tragedy of Lindley Tower closing. At that time, that was the only building that could accommodate families out of that tragedy. Also, we were also faced with a significant number of larger families showing up in the dead heat of the winter at our intake sites. There was a decision made at that time to place some of the families in that location. 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. However, we did not have budgetary authority to do that, and this happened under my previous executor, to make a decision there to place families there. Those costs accrued because we didn't have budgetary authority to do that. And so this request here will help resolve some of the finance, the debts that we accrued by having families at Gloria's Place.
So just to pause for a second. These are services that have already been provided by HopePHL, which is a non-profit?
So this is like a half a million dollars that they incurred in services that we have not paid them for yet?
Okay. So I just wanted to zone in on that a little bit more, because clearly we have to take care of that expense on the 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. behalf of that non-profit doing critical work in our community.
Thank you. Are there any other questions from the Committee? (No response.)
Thank you for your testimony. Mr. McMonagle, can you please read the next person to testify. Mr. Dubow, can you come up real quick? I know you thought you were out of here. (Witness approached witness table.)
Real quick, we had some negotiations during the process of the transfer ordinance and some of the concerns from Councilmembers was agreements on budgetary requests that 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. aren't really included in this transfer ordinance but are agreed to, and we'll be receiving things in writing for that. It was mainly on some Rebuild projects. And we just want to make sure that we are in agreement of a commitment for those projects and if we could just get them on the record. I know we have Councilmember Bass and Councilmember Lozada who wanted to make sure that we have that. Can you just go over how the Rebuild borrowing will happen and then how that commitment will be set forth?
Yeah. So Rob Dubow, Finance Director. So the next Rebuild borrowing is likely to happen around June. The borrowing size will be based on our cash flow needs, and projects that are ready to go will be prioritized. Projects we've talked about, Barrett, Panati -- is that pronouncing it correctly? Yes -- those -- Aparna can actually come help me with this. They're 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. ready to go, so they would move as part of that borrowing, and the third one, that would also be part of that borrowing.
And the third one, I guess can Aparna elaborate on --
If Aparna just wants to explain that those projects are ready. I know McPherson is a little more complicated, but how the borrowing then will be used to make sure those projects move forward.
Good morning. Aparna Palantino, Director of Capital Projects. Yes. So two projects have already been bid. Panati and Barrett are 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. ready to go into construction immediately. We can proceed very soon knowing that the balance of the funding will become available as part of the next bond issuance. And McPherson, there is a project currently underway, and the larger project there will continue with the funds from the bond issuance.
And if the bond is happening, obviously there's other projects that are still not completed in scope of those projects or cost. Would there be a third borrowing at some point to consider them?
Yeah. We've always planned on doing three borrowings. So, yes, we anticipate that there will be a third borrowing.
Is there anybody from the Administration who will be testifying? 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. (No response.)
Seeing none, are there any other questions? Councilmember Bass.
Thank you. I just really wanted to thank the Administration for being on the record and for the transparency. It's been a great opportunity to work together, and we appreciate that this is really the beginning of a new relationship, and so we just really appreciate the transparency and the willingness to go on the record on these matters. So thank you so much.
I too wanted to echo those sentiments and really thank the Administration, Rob, to your team and Sabrina, everyone who worked with us on this process. We had a wonderful negotiation, and I'm certainly very appreciative of everything that you 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. all were able to do to help us deliver on behalf of our constituents. Thank you very, very much.
Thank you. I also want to thank our team on Council and Helen for her great work and efforts all hours of the morning and all hours after midnight. So thank Helen for her great efforts and work. And, Mr. McMonagle, is there anybody else here to testify on any of the Appropriations bills in front of us today?
We do have some public comment. Can I please have Paul Birdsong, Marc Postell, Mazzie Casher, and Brian Gordon, please. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Thank you all for participating in the civic process. If you just want to state your name for the record and then proceed with 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. your testimony.
Good morning, everyone. My name is Mazzie Casher. I'm the co-founder of the Philly Truce Foundation. I'm here to address -- I wrote the numbers down, but all of them actually, 76, 77, and 78. So we are here -- some others are going to speak, but we are here as members of the community who have given time and energy to patrolling our communities where gun violence is most problematic and most impactful. We're coming here today to ask for the support of this Committee to take this out of a volunteer operation into a paid operation, and what that looks like is, there are 4,000 men on State Road right now. They're going to cycle in and out of our community in a matter of days or weeks or months. There's 42,000 people on parole and probation right now in the City, and the DA is prosecuting 50,000 cases a year. 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. So our proposal is that justice-impacted men be employed, whether it be through diversion, through perhaps the DA's Office or a judge such as Judge Sawyer, as a condition of probation on any justice-impacted diversion matter or as a reentry requirement, to be employed as community-led visible deterrents, what we call Peace Patrol. So we are here to ask you today that as you negotiate with the Mayor over this budget, negotiation cycle, that there be extreme priority given to funding community-led, visible, physical deterrents in the communities most impacted by gun violence. So to give you an example of how effective this has been in our modeling of it, last year we concluded a campaign called Operation Hug the Block. It was 77 consecutive nights on the blocks identified by the District Attorney's Office as the most violent in recent history, meaning having ten or 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. more shootings on those blocks I think going back to 2015. Thirty-five of those nights were in the 24th Police District, the 7th District. We measured the data from those nights, because we were there most consecutively in a single police district. Year over year, August to November, 2023 compared to 2022, there was a 64 percent reduction in shootings, 62 percent reduction in violent shootings, and I believe an 84 percent reduction in shootings of people under the age of when we compared the time 16 that we were there to the year prior. Of 17 course, violence was trending down and we 18 cannot claim all of that, but we certainly contributed. During that time, we had the privilege to cultivate a working relationship with the Philadelphia Police Department, particularly again we spent most time in the 24th District. We developed a rapport. After we received 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. some threats, some of you rallied to our aid, and with that, we were able to leverage additional security from the Sheriff's Department. And so essentially as we look at what's in the budget or what's proposed, we see $25 million proposed for anti-violence initiatives, and for us on the ground, we haven't seen anything that looks even remotely like a state of emergency response. So we're asking that we raise -- put some energy into that right now while we have the opportunity to negotiate with the Mayor, right? m. m. m. That costs $640,000 for one year. That's not a lot of money. 6 million, we can stand up 15 bases. I see in this budget they want 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. 200 new cars for million, right? Cops ride around all day. That's beautiful. It's never going to be enough cops. It's many more of us than there is them, and until the community is in the place -- first place of securing the community, it will never be secure. That's just the reality of it. I think I don't have any more else to say, except that I would like to present or have this entered into the record, you know, what that budget looks like. I don't know how that works, if I could present it to City Council. Thank you.
And some other folks are going to speak, but many of you know me. Third District, 8th District, 7th District all benefited tremendously from this. So I'm asking you to please hear what we're saying and take action. The action that we're requesting is to prioritize all violence intervention spending on visible, 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. physical deterrents by community members, ideally justice-impacted men, in partnership with the Police, and we're asking that we do this in a way that -- nothing else in the gun violence prevention world can get funded before this or no organization receiving gun violence funding cannot participate in visible, physical, community-led deterrents. There's a lot of money that goes out, and all prevention and all long-term stuff is cool, but until we stop the bleeding, most of that other stuff not going to really amount to a whole lot, particularly of people being and feeling safe. We're having kids shot up at bus stops, and we're getting great responses, but it's too late. We have the power to preventively preempt a lot of this. And so we're asking you to partner with us to prioritize -- again, 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. I'm going to state it again -- that all violence prevention money that gets spent in the coming fiscal year is spent on organizations willing to do physical, visible, community-led deterrents. That is what we commonly hear as boots on the ground, but we're going to take that verbiage out, because everybody thinks they're boots on the ground. That's not the case.
Thank you for your testimony. - - - (Applause.) - - -
Anybody else want to testify on -- state your name for the record and then proceed.
My name is Paul Birdsong. I represent the Los Angeles, Michigan, and Philadelphia Chapters of 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. New Age Panther Party under the tutelage of the original Black Panther Party, but a separate organization. We employ new tactics where we work with police, we work with city council, we work with government officials in order to collectively bring about the good of the Black community. We are for the protection of the Black man, woman, and child by any means necessary. We are here today to speak on behalf of the City of Philadelphia, not the organization but the people. We are here to request, number one, like he said, like the brother said, we do want boots on the ground or a preventative measure that is derived of people from the community, civilians from the community, also an initiative that would employ people coming back from the community from incarceration to be a preventative measure to stop violence in the community, but we want to take it a step further. 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. Cities that have an up-to-date, state-of-the-art forensics facility that is capable of solving murders solve two problems. Number one, closure for the mothers of homicide victims who are still waiting. CBS reported in 2023 that 50 percent of the homicides in the City of Philadelphia go unsolved due to an obsolete forensics lab that is severely compromised and understaffed and underfunded. So we are requesting, along with the propositions that Mayor Cherelle Parker has made public, that immediate attention is given to the fact that Philadelphia has an obsolete and useless forensics lab that neither deters crime or solves it. If CBS News reports with actual statistics that 50 percent of the homicides in Philadelphia -- excuse me, sir. Sir? Sir? In the gray suit. Sir, Councilman Mark, I'm speaking to you guys. 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC.
Pardon me. We were just confirming the amount that has already been allocated for the forensics lab you were speaking about.
Because we were listening and we wanted to be able to tell you at the end of your testimony how much was allocated to this process. We were just confirming that.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And we not only want to confirm that money has been allocated to it, but we want to confirm that there are plans to actually put that money into action immediately, because, again, if 50 percent of the homicides in 2023 were unsolved, how many were unsolved in 2022 and in 2021 and in 2020? How many mothers are waiting from 2018, '17, and '16 to find out who murdered their child? And then why would people stop murdering 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. people in Philadelphia if they don't have to worry about the crime getting solved in the first place? So we want those things to go into -- I know there's budgets allocated. I know people have talked about money and the signed paper saying we're going to give money to this, but we want a tangible action to be taken immediately.
Thank you. Thank you. And that's what we were clarifying, the $50 million for the forensic lab. It is an important aspect of the Mayor budget request. Council will be discussing that during the budget process. And that money is something that I think most of the members on Council also strongly agree with, not only just to allocate the money but to put the money directly into use immediately so that we could update our services there. So thank you for your time.
Do you have a 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. timeline as to when the action would be taken as far as getting us that forensic lab?
Well, there's twenty-two five going in immediately, so to build that out. The timeline of when it will be completed, we could get back to you on that.
So I just wanted to state that the Administration under Kenney, which continues under Mayor Parker, has been working on this, has been taking action on this. They issued a request for proposals last year for sites for the forensics lab. They are trying to make a decision between two sites. One of them is in my district that I'm pulling for, but there's real action in terms of --
What's the 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. deadline on that decision-making?
I mean, there's no deadline, but to have the City in active conversations about a physical project, you know, is just an indication that this is something that's moving forward. So at this point, the City has to actually select a site and then begin with the actual work.
We understand this site is supposed to be selected by the summer.
Yes, to that have site, but then you have to build it out and you got to get the equipment necessary. But that's just the selection of the site and then build it. So it won't be up and running in the summertime. But I know people are frustrated sometimes with government and how long it takes to get things done, but the good thing is that the money is 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. there, the will is there, and you have both Council and the Administration pushing to get this up and running to do the things that you testified about, is to get closure for folks and really to get the proper information so that the proper -- and we don't have mistakes if we're sentencing people for crimes maybe they didn't do. You have enough evidence and all the evidence there to make sure that people who do commit those crimes suffer the consequences of that. Councilmember.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. And I just wanted to clarify for the record based on your testimony that under the proposed amendment to Bill 20 No. 240176, which is one of the bills that you all mentioned that you were here to testify on, under 2.18, it says, "The Police Department, Payments to Other Funds, $22.5 million," that is for the forensic lab. We're moving that money up 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. to this fiscal year so that we can help address the cost to get that facility and that process up and running. So that is a part of the bill that we are discussing today for the forensics lab.
Okay. I have one more really quick question, right? If the forensics lab, getting closures for those mothers of homicide victims and also making it a preventative measure against further homicides is a priority, then why isn't there an established deadline in making that decision so that it can move forward?
Pleasure meeting you, sir. Thank you for being here. Thank you for advocating for our communities and for your -- to see your government in action.
All power to the 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. people.
Absolutely. When you look at the type of construction that's going to happen, you can't necessarily put a deadline on construction. We are asking and advocating for there to be dollars allocated so the RFP goes out so that we can select a location, but because this is taxpayer dollars, the process to determine not just where it will be but who will build it limits our scope to be able to give the Administration an essential timeline. We have to do our part by allocating the money, which is what we're doing today. We're expediting the process and moving up the timeline by giving them the money now instead of waiting for a year or two down the line, but it's not realistic for us to go to the Administration and say, you have to have the forensic lab built by a certain 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. time. We can ask them to have a deadline for when they'll select a location, but the reality is --
I think that your request will be taken and we will discuss it as a collective body to see what's realistic and what we can do and what we can ask the Administration for. But we can't ask them for a specific deadline for the ribbon cutting.
The completion of it, yeah, I understand, but the deadline for the selection of the site so that that process can even be started, that's the deadline that I'm asking for.
So allow us to consider your request. We appreciate you coming down to see your government in action, and I think your request is one that we will definitely consider. I can't speak for 17 members, but I don't think what you're asking for 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. is something that's unreasonable. So thank you.
Thank you. And thank you for being here today. I just wanted to echo what Councilman Thomas just added and just say that we -- this body will be paying attention and looking for a timeline that is reasonable. I don't think it would be reasonable for us to say you have to have it done in 30 days or 60 days.
Especially if it's going to be something that's going to work.
Exactly. And so we want to be reasonable. A year from now is not -- like that's not 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. acceptable. But we are going to be paying very close attention. I can see that you're going to be paying close attention as well.
And so we'll be checking to make sure that this is moving. And obviously because there's work being done on it right now, there's money being put into the pot for it, this is moving forward. So I just wanted to reassure you that it is going to be happening.
Thank you. Thank you so much. And as you see, you spurred conversation amongst the Committee also, which is very good. So thank you for your testimony. Who is next to testify? Just state your name for the record and 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. proceed.
Hi. My name is NaDerah Griffin, Board member, Treasurer and Chair of Fundraising for Philly Truce. I am here today to let you know that it is imperative that we receive funding from City Council to help with our mission and our safe path monitoring, our summit programs. And since 1973 to 2023, there has been approximately 350 homicides here in Philadelphia affecting men of color, primarily Black men, 80 percent of men in color. It's imperative that we have individuals from our communities to bridge the gap with the Police Department, to bridge the gap with our public officials, to bridge the gap with the community, to bridge the gap with the businesses within our community to help our community. Our Black men and women, Black and brown men and women, need to see and engage with individuals that they can 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. relate to, and we can relate to no other than the people from the community. We can relate to no other than the people from the community who has been impacted by the crime and violence, who has been impacted by incarceration. We need these individuals to be -- to not only be volunteers, but they need to be employed. We need to show them that they are individuals that are of worth that we are concerned about. We want to uplift them, bring back hope, and have them to believe in the system again. We cannot believe in the system if the system does not work with us, if the system does not work for us. So we're asking you to do everything in your power to make sure that we get some funding so we can continue to advocate and support the Black and brown men in our communities, because we have kept this community up as far as we can keep it up and we're asking you to support us. We need your support. We're asking you 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. for your support, and we beg of your support. And we shouldn't have to beg of your support, but we're tired of our Black and brown men being impacted by death and crime. We want to minimize this pipeline to prison. And the reason why I say minimize and not stop, because we cannot stop crime, and I do believe that those individuals when crimes are committed, that you need to serve your time or some actions need to take place, but there are a lot of individuals who are wrongfully accused. There are a lot of individuals who are wrongfully convicted and incarcerated, but we want to stop that with our youth, and with your help, we can do it. Please help. Thank you.
Thank 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. you so much for your testimony, and as you see, there is money in the budget for violence prevention grant dollars. I know the District Attorney also has violent prevention grant dollars, and we work with the Administration on disbursing that to organizations who have positive outcomes. So I think it's important to us as a Council to work with the Administration on how that money is spent. So thank you.
Good morning, Council, Chair Squilla, and members of the Finance Committee. My name is Brian Gordon. I'm an attorney, constitutional -- I guess a democracy attorney and a Board member and advisor to Philly Truce. I'm here this morning really to deliver one important message. You have the power through your spending to reduce or end violence in Philadelphia in the next five years. Perhaps even in the 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. next one, one year. I wanted to share with you some nuts and bolts ideas that I gathered when I ran for higher office and I spoke -- I asked questions and I went to corner stores, barber shops, salons and lunch places in North and West Philadelphia. How do you end violence, and really to address what these wonderful people have come forward today. And this is how I got connected with Philly Truce, is that they really are part of the answer, and I encourage you to make sure there is substantial funding to prevent violence as opposed to interdiction and deterrence. These are important, but they're not -- it's not going to end it, and we've seen that. That experiment has been run and it's been a failure. So how do we do it? What I learned from speaking to people in the street is three things that get converted into policy: Teach kids right and wrong from home, if possible, as early as 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. possible. Two, keep kids occupied, after school, weekends, and the summer. And, three, bring the trades back to public school in addition to college-bound, in addition to teaching kids practical knowledge about how to start a business and getting right out of high school. Give kids hope and -- not just hope and option. Give kids a vision for how they can be productive members of society. Part of this is school; part of it is you. So I want to just go down this quick list for you, because I know my time is limited. So number one -- so here's nine quick ideas, mostly yours. Support quality community-based programs like Philly Truce that do effective outreach into the most violent blocks in Philadelphia where most shootings occur. They engage young people, moms, dads, caregivers in non-violence and recruit 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. and mentor young people with skill sets for productive lives. Two, this is the schools. Teach citizenship, 14-year opportunity in public schools for a program to teach kids how to be productive citizens and strategies for success. Three, we already talked about bringing the trades back to public school. Let me go to more your area. Four, keep children occupied to keep them far from crime. Prevent youth and crime violence. Give children in neighborhoods where shooting and crimes occur -- really every school, but if you don't have infinite resources, concentrate on those neighborhoods. Opportunities for sports, art, music, theatre, STEM - science, technology, engineering, and math - tree planting and computers, for example. Keep them occupied. If every kid in a high crime neighborhood is occupied and with things that they learn, then crime goes down. 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. Five, encourage families to teach and have discussions with their children about values of kindness, empathy, respect for themselves, respect for others, setting goals and avoiding trouble. Six, create a role for community and volunteer organizations and businesses to end violence. Seven, community policing. Pay police to meet with neighbors on the evenings and weekends and to organize sports, games, and leagues for kids. We do that. You need to do more. Second, walk the beat in every high crime neighborhood. Get the police out of the police cars. In West Philadelphia, there's a mosque where they wanted to do this program to have a member of the mosque walk with the police around the 47th Street masjid. They said the police told them that they couldn't do it because they didn't have the personnel.
This is 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. a force multiplier for the police. Encourage police departments to patrol neighborhoods where they grew up or where they currently live. It's people from the neighborhood come back to the neighborhood. Have police walk with a member of a volunteer organization. I spoke about that. Those are some of the basic ideas. I'm happy to share more with you if you're interested, but the bottom line is fund. You have the power to fund prevention and with organizations like Philly Truce. Thanks so much.
Thank you for your testimony. Are there any other members to 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. testify?
Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. McMonagle, you can please call the next group to testify.
Can we please have Emmanuel Bussie, James Lamber, Jamal Johnson, and Tonya Bah. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
I just wanted to take an opportunity to commend Philly Truce and Jamal Johnson of Stop Killing Us for Operation Hug the Block. I think it's an amazing initiative. I've 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. gotten the opportunity to get to know Jamal pretty well and I think his message that every citizen can play a role in reducing gun violence in this city is very powerful and inspiring, and Jamal has been an example of that. Back in 2021, I guess, Jamal launched a hunger strike that lasted almost a month outside of this building to get then-Mayor Kenney to acknowledge this Council's resolution to enact a citywide emergency around the issue of gun violence, and since then, I've seen him just model this principle that all of us can be a part of the solution. I had the opportunity to go out with Operation Hug the Block with Mazzie and Jamal in West Philly, and we were as a group patrolling blocks, we were chanting. I thought people were going to get mad at the chanting because it was pretty late, but it was actually cool to see how many neighbors came out and interacted with us and were appreciative 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. of the presence. And so I really, really like what you guys are doing. I do think it's effective and something that we should be getting other people to model that they can make a difference in making their community safer, and I hope that we can find a way to support you, but I just wanted to take a moment to thank you. - - - (Applause.) - - -
Thank you. Emmanuel, if you want to state your name for the record and proceed.
So for the record, my name is Emmanuel Bussie. It's great being here. I feel like it's like a homecoming. You left high school, you left college, you come back home. I know most of you before your political career even began, and some of you who I'm sitting right in front of, I said run. I 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. don't care who runs. Run. So it's kind of weird being here and looking at some of you that I've known pretty much all my adult life and watched you guys grow. What you see here is a group of people that have -- you know I'm a member of A Different Kind of Democratic, progressive group for progress. We're the disrupters in the City. But we don't need to disrupt Council, because -- I laugh because everything that we're saying here today, you already know. We can't tell you anything that you haven't known, don't have an experience. You have kids here. Cindy has a daughter here. Isaiah have a growing family. It seem like it growing every year. We can't tell you anything you don't already know about this city, about gun violence. The reason why we really came here, we didn't come here to ask for money. As you know, A Different Kind of Democratic and P2, we never ask for 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. money, right? We never ask for money. Our advocacy is always for a better city, right, for us to work together, cooperation, collaboration, right? Isaiah helped found P2. 2011 Professional Progress got started. Isaiah was one of the founding members. We started Professional Progress to bring everybody together. The reason we came here today is to ask you to help us bring everybody else together, right? You can allocate the fund, but people don't have to spend them. We're asking you to partner with us to ask the state and the feds and anybody else allocating money to research, data collection to put the money on the ground. Put the money into a visible presence just for a window. Try it. In God we trust. Everybody else bring data. The data is, it costs us $175,000 per shooting. That's the cost of a shooting from NBC. 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. Philly -- when we hit the streets with Philly Truce on the ground, had 1,000 shootings. That's $175 million. That was the cost when we hit the ground. That was $175 million that we spend after the shooting. And what we're telling you -- because we need you to be innovative thinkers, right? You are the next -- I remember when I used to come back here in 2017, '18, '19 when Jamie just first got here, I used to say, you guys are the smartest, brightest, most technological City Council we've ever had. I bragged about you guys. I say the same thing. But here's what I need you to do: I need you to be bold and aggressive about the gun violence piece. I need you to think out of the box and don't be afraid to try different things. I'm in IT. We pilot stuff, right? We pilot stuff. We don't roll out anything. We don't implement anything. We pilot it. 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. What I'm asking you guys to do is be that bold, aggressive thinkers. Take calculated risk, right? The Administration before this was too scared to take risks, calculated, deliberate risk. I need you guys to be bold about solving this problem. If I'm sharing with you guys -- and you can look at the data too -- that we spend 175 million just before we hit the street, what if you invested that money in the front end? How much could we save of not just the City, our medical community, the District Attorney's Office, the Police Department? I mean, we all save when we stop it on the front end. And what we're saying is -- you guys know. I'mma just say it. We got a lot of poverty pimps out here, right, that they actually feed and eat off the gun violence, and they write these budgets and these proposals and they make with the CEO's salary. Damn near half 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. the damn budget is paying the CEO of these organizations.
You got 100 organizations with 100 CEOs making more money than you guys sitting up here, right? We got to stop that. You guys got to be the thinkers, say, no, no more. To hell with offending people, right? We funding our communities and are hooking people up. If you from my district and you got a gun violence program, I'll make sure you get a little money so you don't come at me during election stuff. We got to stop that. We got to stop the poverty pimping. We got to stop hooking organizations up in our neighborhoods. We know what work. We know what work. My man Shula actually -- I'm not a gun violence dude. I'm going to tell you right now. That's not me. I'm education, economic. Education, economic. I'm in the gun violence fight because I have to be, right? Because we need a voice for the gun violence fight. 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. Darrell Shula said to me, Bussie, I went to the young boy and I put my hand -- he about to pull his thing out. I put my hand on his pocket, said, no, we don't want to do that. I'm like, damn, I'm not doing that. Like we got people that's actually talking to the shooters, stopping shooters from shooting that we ain't funding, but we funding -- I don't want to mention any names, because then everybody will say, Emmanuel hate me, but you know we funding people to sit up in these damn offices, ride around Lexuses and Benzes, right? We got to stop that, and you guys got to be bold enough to say enough is enough, because it could be one of your kids. ) - - -
It could be one of my kids. Thank God my kids got out. My 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. kids in college. Thank God they made it out, but I shouldn't have to think like that. I shouldn't have to think thank God my kids got out. And you guys can help us solve it. You can't solve it. Stop trying to blame City Council. Y'all don't understand how this works. They actually allocate the money, but it don't have to get spent. They not the problem. What we need City Council to do is partner with us to actually find the problems and implement and execute those problems. Stop goddamned blaming City Council, right? Look at who is spending the money. And I'm not blaming our Mayor neither, because we need to give her a chance to succeed. I wasn't for the Mayor, but I love her and I want her to succeed. I bumped hands with her because I want her to succeed, and we all should want her to succeed. So we're asking -- look, to 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. hell with all the slogans, One Philly, One Philly. We got to meet it. You guys got to be big enough. Y'all know who it is. Y'all know better than all the stuff we up here going to testify. Y'all know better than us. Y'all done lived it, then been through it. We got to stop the poverty pimp. We got to stop everybody that's eating and feeding off gun violence and murders in our town that ain't really affected it. Visible, physical deterrents. Let's try to focus on that from now to the end of the summer and see what happens. Pilot. All the money going into data and research. Y'all know we don't need no more damn data and research. Put the money on the ground. Thank you very much, everybody.
Thank you. Thank you, Manny, and -- - - - (Applause.) 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. - - -
Hopefully you'll be more excited next time you testify.
No. 9 Thank you. You spoke the truth. I mean, nothing we can say that you said wasn't true. So thank you so much for that. Please state your name for the record and proceed.
Jamal Johnson. I'm sure y'all know me, for good or bad reasons. I'm here because I also believe that we need physical deterrents, but also think that one thing that's lacking that's been absent and that no one hardly speaks about is the community engagement. I think when we have all these listening tours and these town halls, a lot of these people can't get there, and a lot of people are in homes that are hostage to this crime that's going on and people 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. seem to forget. We can take care of the youth. We can address trauma, but we still have people in homes that don't feel like they can walk around the City, and nobody is knocking on their doors and bringing the resources to them instead of waiting for them to come to whatever building you happen to be in where you want to have your town hall. As you know, I know I've been known for extremes and trying to address gun violence in Philadelphia, because I take it very seriously, but it came to a point where I felt like I need to come off the street. So I retired after our last Hug the Block. At least I hope I'm retired. People don't believe me. But the thing is this: We do need something, and Philly Truce is the thing we need. I was out there before Philly Truce came on the scene, but I was asking for Philly Truce. Well, now we got one, so let's put it out there. 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. I've asked, as you all know, everybody -- and I wish Kenyatta Johnson was here, but I don't see the President right now. But I've asked him and everyone, including you all, for a physical presence on the streets. I've been doing that for years. And even when I didn't get one, I was that physical presence. Even though I know that there were other organizations that were doing it also, but not to the level that we needed. So I guess what I'm saying to you is, if we got bad blood, put it aside. If we got good blood, then let's use that as my leverage to say fund Philly Truce, please. Thank you.
Thank 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. you so much. State your name and then proceed.
Tonya Bah. Hard act to follow. So you may know that I'm the mom of autistic twins, and they too were able to get out of Philadelphia public school system. And what was heart-wrenching was, I want to say last summer and it was around 11 o'clock at night and we heard gunshots. Now, the thing about the gunshots in my neighborhood, which is the Eighth District, Cindy Bass -- and we thank you for the work that you do and that you're going to do. In my neighborhood, we have the 35th Police District up there. So I heard the gunshots. I didn't hear any sirens and I didn't hear the helicopter. So I said, oh, they got away, which was a good thing, because we don't want bodies laying out in the street dying, bleeding 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. out of young people. But it was somebody on my block. It was a classmate of my daughter's, and he laid there and he bled out. And the violence that happens in our areas and in our neighborhoods will continue until we actually put credible messengers in charge of how we handle things. We have credible messengers, and we have a non-traditional City Council now. I mean, this is unbelievable, and I am very grateful. Just like putting a public bank into law. Now, it still needs to be funded and we still need to seat the board, but just like putting a public bank into law and looking for non-traditional ways to help solve some of the problems that we have, we are asking that you look into a non-traditional model, which is Philly Truce. Now, a lot of non-profits have received a lot of money, and they believe themselves to be credible messengers, but 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. the work is not being done. We see what's happening, and the police cannot make things just go away. If it was up to having more police to make us safe, then North Philadelphia, which has six different entities of police, would be the safest area to live, SEPTA Police, Temple Police, PHA Police, Philadelphia Police, the State Troopers, and there's another. I just can't think of it right now. And it hasn't made things any safer. But when we were walking around in parts of Kensington and other parts of the City, people came out of their houses with their children and they were very excited to see people in a non-traditional way think about what they needed to do to help stop some of the violence. We're asking that when you allocate funds, that you look at it from a different lens, as a parent, as a sister, a sibling, brother, taxpayer, all 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. of those things, because you are all of those things. You are our non-traditional response to ending gun violence and ending or at least slowing down mass incarceration. Thank you. - - - (Applause.) - - -
Thank you for your testimony. Do we know if there was a proposal submitted for a grant from Philly Truce? Do you know?
Not recently on the City level. But let me respond to that. So what I'm really looking for you are guys to do -- and this is something we talked about. Cindy know this. We've been talking about this forever, right? Dedicated funding for this, right? Let it be a line item in the budget so we don't have to keep asking for grant money. And then, listen, when there's 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. competition, it's the opposite of collaboration, right? When you put these grants out there, now you got this group competing with this group for this. Do a line -- Philly Truce -- what we want you to do is put a line item in the budget for this kind of work and specifically for visible, physical deterrents. I don't know how else to say that. But we don't get funded. It's all out of pocket. This is money coming from Michigan and Chicago and this is all out of -- mainly out of pocket, but we need a line -- we want you to do something that hasn't been done. That's what I want y'all to do, right? Do the stuff that haven't been done. Do groundbreaking stuff. I keep looking at Isaiah, because every time I think about groundbreaking, I think -- but we need you to do groundbreaking stuff, a line item budget for this kind of work.
Thank 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. you. Thank you so much. I do want to thank everyone who testified. The civic pride and the civic involvement is what is going to help resolve these issues. So thank you so much, and keep up the great work. Thank you. Are there any other questions or anyone else to testify on the Appropriation bills today? (No response.)
Seeing none, thank you. That will conclude our public hearing for the Committee, as we now go into a public meeting to consider the action to be taken on these bills before the Committee today. We will now go into our public meeting. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Gilmore Richardson for a motion on the amendment to Bill No. 25 240176. 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I offer an amendment to Bill No. 240176. A copy of the amendment has been circulated to all members of the Committee. I move that the amendment to Bill No. 240176 be approved. (Duly seconded.)
The Chair notes for the record Councilmember Thomas seconds the motion. It has been moved and properly seconded that an amendment to Bill No. 15 240176 be approved. All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and the motion carries. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Gilmore Richardson for a 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. motion on Bill No. 240176, as amended.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that Bill No. 240176, as amended, be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended as to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
The Chair notes for the record Councilmember Thomas seconds the motion. It has been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 240176, as amended, be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further moved that the rules of Council be suspended as to permit the first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying aye. (Aye.) 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC.
The ayes have it, and the motion carries. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Gilmore Richardson for a motion on the amendment to Bill No. 10 240177.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I offer an amendment to Bill No. 240177. A copy of the amendment has been circulated to all members of the Committee. I move that the amendment to Bill No. 240177 be approved. (Duly seconded.)
The Chair notes for the record that Councilmember Thomas seconds the motion. It has been moved and properly seconded that the amendment to Bill No. 24 240177 be approved. All those in favor of the 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and the motion carries and the amendment to Bill No. 240177 has been approved. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Gilmore Richardson for a motion on Bill No. 240177, as amended.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that Bill No. 240177, as amended, be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended as to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
The Chair notes for the record Councilmember Thomas seconds the motion. 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. It has been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 240177, as amended, be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further moved that the rules of Council be suspended as to permit the first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and the motion carries. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Gilmore Richardson for a motion on Bill No. 240178.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I offer an amendment to Bill No. 240178. A copy of the amendment has been circulated to all members of the Committee. 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. I move that the amendment to Bill No. 240178 be approved. (Duly seconded.)
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Thomas seconds the motion. It has been moved and properly seconded that the amendment to Bill No. 10 240178 be approved. All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and the motion carries and amendment to Bill No. 240178 has been approved. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Gilmore Richardson for a motion on Bill No. 240178, as amended.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC. Bill No. 240178, as amended, be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended as to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
The Chair notes for the record Councilmember Thomas seconds the motion. It has been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 240178, as amended, be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further moved that the rules of Council be suspended as to permit the first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
Those opposed? (No response.) 4/3/24 - APPROPRIATIONS - BILLS 240176, ETC.
The ayes have it, and the motion carries. This will conclude the business before the Committee of Appropriations today. Thank you all very much for your attendance and testifying. - - - (Committee on Appropriations concluded at 11:24 a.m.) - - CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. -------------------- MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)