COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON FINANCE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, December 12, 2006, 11 a.m. - - - Bill 060108 - Authorizing Water Commissioner and Procurement Commissioner to enter into a service contract with the Philadelphia Municipal Authority... Bill 060109 - Approving extension of term of existence of Philadelphia Municipal Authority... (Recessed to 1/31/07, 10 a.m.) - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Specialists 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 12/12/06 Recessed Finance Committee Meeting
Good afternoon. We certainly would like to thank everyone for their patience. I regret that one of the reporters thought this was a spectacle. I disagree. I believe that when you have important issues that affect the future of the city and the future of the workforce and the future of contract and what happens and how you do business, that it's worth every moment we spend on it. I believe that with regard to Bills 060108 and 109, we are committed to trying to work the issues out that affect us all. I would hope that those on both sides of the issue would realize that and realize and see that these negotiations here that you were watching could have been done in a back room, but I hope that you will see that all sides were talking, and we were trying to do it in good faith. 3 12/12/06 Recessed Finance Committee Meeting I believe in democracy, I believe in the process, and I hope that all of us realize that we were trying to work out difficult decisions to these important issues that affect many of you who work, many of you who want the contract and all of us who are a part of it. Having said that, on January 31st, at 10 a.m, we will continue the hearing on these bills we're requesting, and we have committed as a committee to meet informally before then to ensure that what happened, because we promised you at our first hearing that both sides would meet and we would meet on this issue, we hope that those who want to do the work in the future will stay committed to the project as the labor force, as the workers, and that we who are involved in the city and what happens with the administration will realize that this was worth the time it takes to get it right. 4 12/12/06 Recessed Finance Committee Meeting Having said that, we will recess this hearing until January 31st, at a.m. 5 And, again, this committee the 6 Committee on Finance commits to meet 7 informally before we meet formally so 8 that when we have our formal meeting, 9 hopefully, we will have all of these 10 hard issue resolved with everyone working together. I hope that all of you have a blessed holiday and that we're all right, one with the other. Thank you. (Applause.) * * * 5 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings of the recessed meeting of the Council Committee on Finance are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me on Tuesday, December 12, 2006, and that this is a true and correct statement of same. __________________________________ JOSEPHINE CARDILLO Registered Professional Reporter (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 reporter.)