2/21/12: Harrisburg School District Proposes a School Calendar Change

No, it’s not year round school. Rather it’s an adjustment to the end and start dates of the year. Authored by Superintendent Dr. Sybill Knight-Burney, the new calendar proposes to shift the start and end dates of the school year about two weeks. The purpose for starting early and ending early is to allow more time for classroom instruction before the PSSAs.

Other changes of note are the duration of school days for students:

• K-6th grades–the Superintendent proposes change from 8:20am–2:50pm to 8:45am–3:30pm
• 7th & 8th grades–the Superintendent proposes change from 8:00am–2:50pm to 8:30am–3:30pm
• 9th-12th grades–the Superintendent proposes change from 7:20am–2:20pm to 7:45am–2:45pm

The School Board of Directors will vote on the proposed School Calendar at its regular meeting on February 28th at 6:30pm.

The public is invited to give feedback on the proposed school calendar at a special meeting of The Academic, Instruction, and Student Services Committee of the Board of School Directors at 6:00pm on Thursday, February 23rd (2101 N. Front Street, Building 2, Harrisburg).

If you are unable to make the meeting, see here to access Board of Directors’ email addresses to send them your comments. 

See the proposed School Calendar here.

2/18/12: David Black is appointed to Harrisburg's Municipal Financial Recovery Advisory Committee

Per Senate Bill 1151, which is Harrisburg’s Receivership, a Municipal Financial Recovery Advisory Committee is designated to “meet and consult” with the Receiver David Unkovic on his Recovery Plan for the City of Harrisburg. 

This Committee is to be comprised of the Mayor (or designee), City Council President (or designee), a Dauphin County representative, and a Governor-appointed representative. Yesterday, February 17, 2012, Governor Corbett appointed David Black, President of President & CEO of the Harrisburg Regional Chamber and Capital Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC). 

Ultimately a public supporter of the City’s takeover by the State, Black participated in Harrisburg’s Act 47 process, submitting testimony at the public hearings as well as frequently publicly commenting on the City’s situation:

• The Patriot News–“David Black of the Harrisburg Regional Chamber: Act 47 is definitive path to better future”
• Act 47 Testimony of David Black
• The Patriot News–“Harrisburg Chamber of Commerce announces support of Harrisburg takeover legislation”).

Most recently, David Black’s name was in the news in relation to the State-acquired Forum Place building on Walnut Street Harrisburg. In that deal, CREDC is leasing the building from the Pennsylvania Economic Develop Financing Authority which issued the bonds to purchase the building. In return, CREDC will lease the building to the Department of General Services. (Bloomberg–“Pennsylvania Agency’s Sale Will Pay for Building Tied to Dauphin Default“)

The Dauphin County Commissioners have not yet announced their appointee to the Municipal Financial Recovery Advisory Committee.

Once the Receiver’s Plan is in place, the Committee is tasked with meeting with the Receiver at least twice a month to discuss the Recovery Plan and its initiatives in accordance with the PA Sunshine Act. There is no compensation for being on the Committee, and the representatives’ tenure is the duration of the Receiver’s–two years or until relinquished of duty.

2/15/12: Harriburg City Council votes "no" to the Mayor's Spokesman Robert Philbin

In an unanimous vote last night, City Council passed the revised 2012 Budget, and despite Receiver David Unkovic’s plan calling for the reinstatement of the City’s Director of Communications, City Council didn’t do so and passed the budget without it. Now, if the Receiver’s Plan is approved by the Commonwealth Court, then he will have to get a Court order to give the Mayor her Spokesman. 

Read more at The Burg News: “No Spokesman Position as Council Passes Revised Budget”

2/12/12: Former Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed To Be Honored

From the February 2012 edition of Clark Resources newsletter: 

The 2012 Capital Region Heart Ball will be held on February 25th.  This annual gala benefits the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association and brings people together to raise awareness for the great causes.This year, the honoree at the Ball is Stephen R. Reed, CEO of Reed Strategic ofReed Strategic Advisors, LLC, a professional consulting firm, who served 28 years as Mayor of Harrisburg and is a former Dauphin County Commissioner and State House Member. His lifetime of public service and his having led the nationally- recognized urban economic development revitalization of Harrisburg and American cities are the basis for his having been chosen.

2/10/12: City of Harrisburg Crime Stats from January 29th through February 4th

• 29 thefts
• 14 robberies
• 15 burglaries
• 33 assaults
• 2 shootings

2/4/12: City of Harrisburg Crime Stats for the month of January

• 191 Thefts
• 48 Robberies
• 51 Burglaries
• 110 Assaults
• 14 Shootings
• 3 Arsons

Via Spotcrime and compiled by Jan Konkle

1/31/12: City of Harrisburg Crime Stats for January 22nd through the 28th

• 41 Thefts
• 9 Robberies
  • 17th and Berryhill Streets (Allison Hill)
  • 2 1200 block  Mulberry Street (Allison Hill)
  • 1st block N 19th Street (Allison Hill)
  • 200 block Hummel Street (Allison Hill)
  • 1800 block Regina Street (Allison Hill)
  • 1800 block Zarker Street (Allison Hill)
  • 300 blk Walnut (Downtown)
  • 2900 blk Jefferson (Uptown)
• 9 Burglaries
• 27 Assaults
• 2 Shootings
• 2 Arsons

Via Spotcrime and compiled by Jan Konkle

1/30/12: Dauphin County Democrats Decide on an Open Primary for State Seats

At The Dauphin County Democratic Committee (DCDC) Meeting on January 28th, local Dems voted to endorse Gene Stilp for the 11th Congressional District and Harry Perkinson for the 4th Congressional District. The City of Harrisburg now falls in the 4th. 

For State Senate and Representative seats, DCDC voted for an open primary, no endorsements.

As of now the City of Harrisburg is back in the 15th Senate District with Rob Teplitz the Democrat in the race.

Democrat candidates for the 103rd State Representative seat are Patty Kim; Gloria Martin Roberts; Karl Singleton; Roy Christ. With all of these candidates officially on twitter, it makes for an interesting component to the race for the 103rd. See a stream of their tweets here: 103rd Race on Twitter (unfortunatley, you have to be signed into twitter to see it. just how it works).

The Primary Election is on April 24, 2012. 

1/27/12: Harrisburg School Board Rejects American Paradigm's Charter School Applications

In the second wave of applicant considerations, the Harrisburg School Board of Directors voted 8-0 (with Director Destiny Hodges absent) to reject the Philadelphia-based American Paradigm Schools applications for charter schools in the City of Harrisburg. 

The proposals called for two charter school locations in closed City elementary schools Lincoln & Hamilton. Mayor Linda Thompson and former City Council President Gloria Martin Roberts publicly endorsed American Paradigm in October 2011.

The proposed Board for the Hamilton location called Capital City Charter School was Gloria Martin Roberts; Bryan Wade (former Thompson Administration Ombudsman); and Brenda Alton (Thompson Administration Director of Parks, Rec, & Enrichment).

The proposed Board for the Lincoln location called Academy of Nation Builders Charter School was Gloria Martin Roberts; Alan Kennedy Shaffer; Camille Erice; Nate Gadsen; & Rabbi Hava Pell.

In a Roxbury News interview after the vote, School Director Brendan Murray said the applicants had not actually secured the proposed locations, which was a problem for the Board. He also said the curriculum of the proposals was “not on par with what we needed to be looking for.” Murrary stated there was very little community support for these charter schools declaring that after American Paradigm made its presentation, which was a couple of months ago, previous supporters approached him and stated, “This is different from what they presented to us and we don’t want this.” (video–“Harrisburg School Directors reject charter schools”)

Two more charter school applications remain on the docket but will be considered in February or March.

1/25/12: City of Harrisburg Crime Stats for 1/15 to 1/21

Via Spotcrime and compiled by Jan Konkle:

• 53 thefts
• 9 robberies
  • 2 in Hall Manor
  • 1 in 500 block of S. Front Street (Shipoke)
  • 1 in 100 block of N 2nd Street
  • 1 in 300 block of N 2nd Street
  • 1 in 1700 block of N Front Street
  • 1 in 2300 block of Susquehanna Street
  • 1 in 2300 block of N 3rd Street
  • 1 in 500 block of Seneca Street
• 13 burglaries
• 19 assaults
• 2 shootings
• 1 arsons

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1/25/12: Four Candidates for Retiring PA Representative Ron Buxton's Seat

As of now, four City of Harrisburg residents have announced their candidacies for representative of the 103rd District of Pennsylvania (in order of their announcements):

• current City Council member Patty Kim
• retired City Council member Gloria Martin Robert
• former (and ousted) Harrisburg School Board Director and two-time candidate for this seat, Karl Singleton
• Roy Christ, who just recently ended a term as a Harrisburg School Board Director

The deadline to circulate petitions is February 14th.

1/23/12: The City of Harrisburg Spokesman Is Still Here

During the 2012 Budget Process, Harrisburg City Council cut 12 positions including “Communications Director/Senior Assistant to the Mayor,” a position held by Robert Philbin with a salary of $82,891 a year. 

His position was eliminated on January 12th when Harrisburg City Council voted 6-1 to override the Mayor’s veto of the Council-amended  2012  Budget thereby reinstating the Budget cuts.

Since that point in time, Philbin has publicly declared he is working as a “volunteer,” pro bono at the discretion of the Mayor until Receiver David Unkovic’s Recovery Plan is filed on February 6th. (See Roxbury News video here. See The Patriot News article “Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson’s aides caught in budget fight with City Council”).

While there is no chance that Philbin can receive a paycheck from the City Controller’s office since his position is not in the Budget, it would seem appropriate to have a “pro bono contract” in place outlining his job description, the terms of his service, and addressing any liabilities in relationship to Philbin’s access to City facilities, records, and information. After all, he is operating as an official representative of the City.

However, a January 23rd Right to Know request to the City asking for a copy of the contract Philbin is currently working under resulted in a denial because no such contract exists. In response to the RTK request, it was stated, “Currently there are NO service/consulting contracts since his position was terminated.” 

Thus, the City of Harrisburg’s volunteer employee is working on terms not accessible to the public.

.

1/22/12: Harrisburg Councilman's call for Federal Investigation

Brad Koplinski statement issued Thursday, January 19th: 

Today, I called for a Federal investigation into the financial transactions that led to Harrisburg’s financial crisis.

The forensic audit produced by the Harrisburg Authority, and released yesterday, has brought facts into what many of us had heard through rumor. I am grateful for those at the Harrisburg Authority who pushed for the audit and saw it through to this result. It showed that there were conflicts of interest and that individuals and entities did not have the best interests of the taxpayers at heart. The objective was to close bond deals, without consideration as to whether the debt could be paid back, leaving the taxpayers left to pay the bill. Law firms, bond insurers and financial advisors and government bodies knew or should have known that this was a shaky deal at best and not a good one for the taxpayers. They were more concerned about the almighty dollar than doing the right thing.

However, there remain many unanswered questions that only a body with subpeona power can answer. Individuals with vital information refused to be interviewed or provide documents to the audit team. Accordingly, I am asking U.S. Department of Justice to fully investigate the 2003 and 2007 bond transactions, as well as other financial dealings that helped cause Harrisburg’s fiscal debacle.

This past June, I, my colleagues on Council, along with Debt Watch Harrisburg and other concerned citizens collected hundreds of signatures on petitions calling for a probe of these dealings. The release of the forensic audit, its findings and unanswered questions show the need for a renewed call for this important investigation.

Additionally, I am putting forth a resolution, to be voted on this Tuesday by City Council, that asks for a full investigation by federal authorities of these matters. I hope that all of my colleagues support this call for justice for the taxpayers.

Thank you for all of your work and support to help make those in power accountable and to insure what is best for the residents of our city and region.

1/17/12: City of Harrisburg Crime Stats for 1/8 to 1/14

Via Spotcrime and compiled by Jan Konkle:

• 43 thefts
• 8 robberies (7 were on Allison Hill; 1 was in the 1900 block of N 3rd St.)
• 11 burglaries
• 23 assaults
• 5 shootings
  • 2400 Market St., outside of John Harris High School
  • 19th and Ethel Sts. during a robbery
  • 1800 Park St.
  • 1600  Park St.
  • 17th and Park Sts.  (The last two were on 1/13 and there may be a discrepancy as to where the one shooting occurred. Victim claims to have been shot on Park St but no one heard shots. Police are still investigating.)

1/12/12: The race for the 103rd...another hat in. 

PA State Representative Ron Buxton (D) will retire at the end of 2012 after 19 years as representative of the 103rd.

Karl Singleton is the most recent to join fellow Democrats and City of Harrisburg residents Councilwoman Patty Kim and former Councilwoman Gloria Martin Roberts in the race.   

This will be Singleton’s third run for the 103rd seat. He ran and lost against Buxton in 2008 and 2009.  

1/10/12: Harrisburg City Council tables the Override Vote 

After getting the parameters set, City Council tables the vote to Override the Mayoral Veto of the 2012 Council-passed Budget. By law, City Council must wait 3 days to vote on overriding the Mayor’s veto. The vote will take place on Thursday, January 12th at 5:30pm.

See Mayor Linda Thompson’s memo to City Council  regarding her veto: From the Mayor to City Council

1/9/12: Harrisburg Mayor & Council get situated for next steps

Three things occurred late Monday afternoon: 

1) The Mayor vetoed the Council-amended 2012 Budget.

2) President Wanda Williams added “Override Of Mayoral Veto” to City Council’s first Legislative Session agenda. The meeting is tomorrow, Tuesday, January 10th at 6:00pm.

3) 2012 City Council Committees got adjusted. Susan Brown Wilson and Brad Koplinski switched assignments. The new City Council Committee Chairs are as follows:

• Wanda Williams, President and Chair of Administration Committee
• Eugenia Smith, Vice President and Chair of Public Safety Committee
• Brad Koplinski, Chair of Budget & Finance Committee
• Kelly Summerford, Chair Building & Housing Committee
• Susan Brown Wilson, Chair Community & Economic Development Committee
• Patty Kim, Chair Parks, Recreation, and Enrichment Committee
• Sandra Reid, Chair Public Works Committe

1/6/12: City of Harrisburg's new City Council Committees

Part of Council’s new year reorganization is electing a new president and vice president. On January 3rd, a special public meeting was held at which Wanda Williams was elected President and Eugenia Smith Vice President.  Both unanimously. 

One of the first acts of Council President is to assign each councilor to a City Council Committee. Assignments are typically 2 years long, with re-consideration after the first year.

President Wanda Williams formalized this act on Friday, January 6th.

As of January 9th, the new City Council Committees are as follows: 

ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE
Wanda R. D. Williams, President /Chair
All Council Members

BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE
Susan Brown-Wilson, Chair
Brad Koplinski and Sandra R. Reid, members

BUILDING AND HOUSING COMMITTEE
Kelly Summerford, Chair
Susan Brown-Wilson and Eugenia G. Smith, members

COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
Brad Koplinski, Chair
Eugenia Smith and Susan Brown-Wilson, members

PARKS AND RECREATION COMMITTEE
Patty Kim, Chair
Kelly D. Summerford and Sandra R. Reid, members

PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
Eugenia G. Smith, Chair
Brad Koplinski and Patty Kim, members

PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE
Sandra R. Reid, Chair
Kelly Summerford and Patty Kim, members

The President is an ex-officio member of all committees

Each chair is expected to hold regular meetings to discuss issues in his/her committee. As issues come into City Council, they are “placed” in committee where they are publicly discussed in detail before coming out of committee for all of City Council’s consideration, such as the 2012 Budget, which was in the Budget & Finance Committee, the committee amended it, voted the it out of committee, took it to City Council and the whole body voted on it. Thereby making it a law. 

It’s often argued that the public has the most information, opportunity, and influence in City Council committee meetings. 

1/4/12: CIT Capital vs. The Harrisburg Authority

Point of issue is $25 million which CIT says THA owes for a additional capital Barlow Projects, Inc, required in 2005 to finish the Incinerator retrofit. 

Through a series of actions that resulted in a complicated arrangement, CIT claims THA is responsible for the owed money. THA asserts the agreement is “void and unenforceable.” 

The case is now being heard in Federal Court in front of Judge John E. Jones III. The THA witness list (includes participants in the original deal as well as expert witnesses): 

Andy Giorgione
Dan Lispi, 
Tom Mealy
Bruce Foreman
Dave Traeger 
Gerald Yarnall 
Dan Miller 

The Court Documents

1/3/12: The 2012 Budget as Amended & Passed by City Council.

2012 Budget With Amendments

Cut positions: 

• Communications Director/Senior Assistant to the Mayor
• Ombudsman/Assistant to the Mayor 
• Deputy City Solicitor
• Senior Accountant
• IT Administration & Communications Assistant
• Health Officer
• Executive Director HBG Broadcast Network
• Economic Development Director
• Demolition Specialist
• Motor Equipment Operator
• Motive Body Mechanic
• Labor II (Public Works)

12/28/11: Post-Christmas catch-up. 

Before the holiday, a few things happened in the City of Harrisburg….here’s a run-down:

• Harrisburg Receiver will get to intervene in the TD Bank et al. case. Some of the City’s creditors are seeking a receiver for the Incinerator as well as the City’s “first dollar” to pay the Incinerator debt. Yet last week, all parties conferred with the Judge and agreed–Harrisburg Receiver David Unkovic can intervene in the case. His motion will be granted (if it hasn’t already been yet).

• Appeal of the appeal. On the 22nd, Harrisburg City Council Majority’s attorney Mark Schwartz filed an Appeal to the dismissal of the previous Appeal to the Federal Bankruptcy Court’s dismissal of the City’s Chapter 9 Petition.

• City Council finished its review of the Mayor’s proposed 2012 Budget. Most of them don’t seemed satisfied that the numbers add up. This week, they’ll vote on it. (UPDATE: on the night the vote was scheduled, City Council unanimously voted to table the vote one night. Budget & Finance Chair Susan Brown Wilson said a “gaping hole” was found and that changes are coming with a possible Council reopening of the Budget in January.)

• Crime in the City. Harrisburg crime stats for 12/19-12/25: 54 thefts, 10 robberies, 17 burglaries, 26 assaults, and 2 shootings. 

12/21/11: The Commonwealth Court grants the Receiver an extension for his Recovery Plan

On December 16th Harrisburg Receiver filed a Motion for Extension of Time, requesting 30 days longer to work on his Financial Recovery Plan for the City.

It was granted and now David Unkovic has until February 6th to file his Recovery Plan with the State. Until then, the City of Harrisburg is to continue operating under the Emergency Action Plan issued by the Secretary of DCED on November 3rd. See here. 

Per the Commonwealth Court docket:

12/20/11

Document Name: Order Granting Application for Extension of Time to File, Brobson, P. Kevin

Comment: Upon consideration of the “motion for extension of time to” filed on behalf of David Unkovic, in his capacity as Reciever [sic] for the city of Harrisburg, and it appearing that the Dep. oc [sic] Comm. and Economic Dev. and the Honorable Linda Thompson, Mayor of the City of Harrisburg, Consent to the motion, the motion is granted. Mr. Unkovic shal submit the recovery plan, as required by Paragraph 4 of the Court’s December 2, 2011 order, no later than February 6, 2012.

12/19/11: Harrisburg Receiver meets the Public and answers its questions.

On Monday December 19th, Harrisburg Receiver David Unkovic attended a Public Forum at the Midtown Scholar, and for the first time since he was confirmed by the Commonwealth Court on December 2nd, answered the questions of the masses as asked by them.

It was stated that upwards of 150 people attended. Thus, feedback was prolific. Below is a series of conglomerated highlights extracted from the evening’s dialogue with the audience as collected from various arenas of public comment:

• Unkovic has asked the State for an additional 30 days to submit his plan. If his extension request is approved, his Recovery Plan would be presented in February rather than on January 3rd. 
• As of now, Unkovic says, “I don’t have a plan.” 
• Results of the Incinerator forensic audit are forthcoming. Having seen it this far along, Unkovic says he is troubled by the “odd things” he’s seen.
• He’s concerned about the lack of a performance bond in 2003, the 2007 financing, and interest rate swaps of the Incinerator.
• Unkovic is not here to seek criminal charges or go after people legally.
• He will use what he has seen in the forensic audit to negotiate with creditors. He believes they must contribute, too, along with all other stakeholders.
• Unkovic will not comment on on-going negotiations.
• Lawsuits against the City are moving along, most specifically, the suit filed by TD Bank, Assured Guaranty, and M&T Bank asking for a Receiver for the Incinerator as well as the City’s “first dollar.” 
• Unkovic has filed a Petition to Intervene in this particular case, and the hearing scheduled for 12/20 has been postponed (see his Petition here). His main concern is developing a Recovery Plan, not dealing with lawsuits.
• Per the State law, only the Receiver and the Secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development can file for Chapter 9. Unkovic nods to the law which rules Chapter 9 is off the table for Harrisburg until July 2012.
• The sale/lease of the City’s assets will be a part of the Receiver’s Recovery Plan. He stresses, though, that RFP’s will be part of the process.
• Unkovic is not sure that a Tax Abatement Program will be part of his Recovery Plan saying that at this point in time, it would be impair the City’s revenue.
• He acknowledges the financial connections and burden of the Harrisburg School District. However, he says he’s only here to address the City’s structural and Authority debt. 
• The Receiver can force City officials to follow his plan via a Writ of Mandamus. 
• Unkovic believes in regionalism and sees the City as a center of the region. He stated, “The City should be embraced.” 
• Unkovic is a Democrat. 
• The City of Harrisburg Receiver’s website where the public can access documents and make comments: Office of the Receiver.
• There will be another Public Forum on Tuesday, December 27 at 6:00pm (location to be confirmed).–postponed

12/13/11: Federal Court dismisses Harrisburg City Council's Appeal to its Ruling.

On Saturday December 10th, the City Council Majority’s attorney Mark Schwartz filed an Appeal to Judge Mary France’s dismissal of Harrisburg’s Bankruptcy Petition. Today, the Judge struck down the Appeal as untimely citing that it was not filed within the timeframe permitted by the Courts. The confusion seems to arise from the fact that the Judge’s Order to Dismiss the City’s Bankruptcy Petition and the Judge’s Opinion on that Order were filed separate and apart from one another. While the Order was filed on November 23rd, the Opinion was filed December 5th. The Judge says no matter—the clock started clicking when the Order was filed. Therefore, an Appeal needed to be filed by December 7th. 

Read: Order striking appeal

Read: Opinion denying motion for extension of time

12/9/11: Metro Bank is foreclosing on Mayor Linda Thompson's City property.

Not having made a payment since September 17, 2011, the bank has begun the proceedings to foreclose on the property in the City, which the Mayor calls her “childhood home.” Before becoming the Mayor of Harrisburg, Linda Thompson used this property to house her non-profit organization, Loveship, Inc. The purpose of Loveship was to counsel and assist people with mortgage payments.

The Mayor Linda Thompson also owes back taxes of $1,086 on the same property and has not made a payment since May 2011. At that time, she made a payment of $600, yet has not made a payment since. Despite her professing she is on a payment plan, Dauphin County states no formal, agreed upon payment plan is in place.

Read: Metro Bank Foreclosure Filing on HBG Mayor

12/5/11: Federal Judge issues her Written Opinion on her Order to Dismiss the City's Ch. 9 Petition

Access: Judge France’s Written Opinion on Harrisburg Bankruptcy Dismissal

12/2/11: Commonwealth Court rules in favor of David Unkovic as Receiver of the City of Harrisburg.

After one day of deliberation, Commonwealth Court Judge Kelley issues his ruling approving the appointement of David Unkovic as the Receiver of the City of Harrisburg. The first ever Pennsylvania 3rd Class City in Receivership. 

Now per the statute, the Receiver has 30 days to present a Financial Recovery Plan to the Commonwealth Court. While the Receiver is not bound to it, he may use the previous Act 47 Harrisburg Recovery Plans (the Coordinator’s or the Mayor’s) as a basis for his own plan. Initially, the Mayor had requested that the Court mandate the use of her Act 47 Plan by the Receiver, but during the Receiver Petition Hearing, she dropped that formal request. Afterwards she stated she realized “the law wasn’t really on our side” to change Senate Bill 1151. However, the Mayor said she won’t stop fighting to get the Receiver to use her Plan as a starting point. 

Read: Memorandum and Order for the Appointment of David Unkovic as Receiver of the City of Harrisburg

12/1/11: City of Harrisburg residents file a federal lawsuit against the Receivership.

Press statement:

Harrisburg Residents File Federal Lawsuit to Enjoin State Takeover of Harrisburg

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania:  December 1, 2011 – Three prominent Harrisburg citizens have filed a civil-rights action today in United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania alleging that Senate Bill 1151, amending Act 47, violates their federal right to due process and equal protection of the laws guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  Plaintiffs ask the Court to declare Senate Bill 1151 unconstitutional and enjoin its enforcement by Governor Corbett and his “receiver” designee, David Unkovic.

Senate Bill 1151 (amending Act 47) authorizing the Governor to order, by decree, the suspension of representative democracy in Harrisburg over key municipal functions granted to all other citizens of Third Class cities impairs plaintiffs’ fundamental right to exercise the municipal franchise on terms equal with all other citizens of Third Class cities within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania – a right guaranteed by Article III §§20 and 32 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, the debasement of which, violates the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

• Senate Bill 1151 improperly delegates legislative authority in the Governor to suspend representative democracy, by decree, in Harrisburg over key municipal functions – rights granted to all other Third Class cities, in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment;

• Senate Bill 1151 is “special legislation” in violation of legislative constraints placed on the General Assembly by the state constitution and which targets the City of Harrisburg and its citizens for special treatment for their refusal to adopt the Commonwealth’s flawed recovery plan and to prevent Harrisburg from imposing a “commuter tax” opposed by suburban lawmakers, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The plaintiffs are:

• The Reverend Earl L. Harris is the senior pastor of St. Paul Baptist church and First Vice-President of the Interdenominational Ministers Conference of Greater Harrisburg.  Rev. Harris, a champion for social justice in Harrisburg, earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from Howard University, his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh and his Master’s in Divinity from Virginia Union University.

• Nevin Mindlin is the former Republican mayoral candidate for the City of Harrisburg.  Mr. Mindlin has written and spoken extensively about Harrisburg’s current financial distress.  Mr. Mindlin received his undergraduate degree in psychology and animal ethology from Goddard Collage and his Master’s degree in political science from Lehigh University.

• Eric Jenkins has participated extensively in public  debates  on viable options for the recovery of Harrisburg’s financial situation.  Mr. Jenkins’ status as a leader in the labor movement gives him unique insight and understanding on the need to draft a balanced recovery plan for the City of Harrisburg.

11/30/11: The Mayor's Budget. 

Presented on Tuesday, November 22nd, it’s not quite yet clear what will happen to the City’s budget process if and once the Receiver, David Unkovic, takes charge of the City’s finances. The next typical step is for City Council to begin public hearings to review the budget. Council must vote on it by December 31st, under usual circumstances. 

For an overview of the Mayor’s budget along with her analysis of each City department: Mayor Thompson’s 2012 Executive Summary 

For the budget: Mayor Thompson’s 2012 Proposed Budget 

11/29/11: State Receiver for Harrisburg Preliminary Objections Hearing has been cancelled. 

In light of the Federal Bankruptcy Court dismissing the City of Harrisburg’s Chapter 9 petition, the Mayor has asked and has been granted the cancellation of the Preliminary Objections Hearing. 

The State should respond to the Mayor’s “New Matter” by the Petition Hearing on Thursday, December 1st at 10:00am. 

New Matter: While the Mayor “denies” parts of the call for a need for a Receiver for Harrisburg, if one is appointed, the Mayor’s primary objective is to get the Commonwealth Court to mandate the Receiver to use her  Financial Recovery Plan, the one she developed per Act 47.  

The Mayor wants her plan to be the Court-ordered Financial Recovery Plan that the Receiver must use during his appointment. In fact, should the Receiver be appointed, the Mayor believes it “inappropriate and not justified” for the Receiver to even use the Fiscal Emergency Plan developed by DCED until he can develop his own plan. The Mayor asserts her plan should be used right away.

The Mayor also argues there’s no need for a Receiver for the statuted two years and states that the Receiver should only be in Harrisburg for no longer than one year.

From the Commonwealth Court, Order Filed 11/28/2011 Per Curiam:

Upon consideration of the “motion of the city of Harrisburg to dismiss as moot the PO’s of certain members of Harrisburg City (Council) (City of Council) to the DCED petition for appointment of receiver for the City of Harrisburg and related relief pursuant to subsection 702 of Act 47 as amended,” filed on behalf of the Honorable Linda Thompson, Mayor, and it appearing that City Council’s PO’s to the petition for appointment of a receiver allege only that Council’s bankruptcy petition filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania stayed any proceedings before this Court and further appearing that the Bankruptcy Court Dismissed the bankruptcy petition, the motion to dismiss the City Council’s PO is granted. The Mayor’s amended PO’s to the City Council’s PO’s are dismissed as moot. The telephone conference call set for 11-29-2011 at 1:00 p.m. is CANCELLED.

Hearing on the petitioner’s petition for appointment of reciever and related relief remains set for 12-1-2011 at 10:00am in Courtroom 3001, Pa Judicial Center, 601Commonwealth Ave., Harrisburg, Pa 17106. A pre-hearing conference shall be conducted at 9:00 am, in Courtroom 3001, and counsel shall be prepared to discuss the anticipated length of the hearing and testimony of witnesses.

Read: The City of Harrisburg Response & New Matter

11/28/11: The City of Harrisburg will argue its Objections. (corrected)

The hearing on “Preliminary Objections to the State’s Petition for Receivership” is scheduled for Tuesday, November 29th at 1:00pm.  Location: To Be Announced

Both the City Council majority and the Mayor have “objections” to the State Receiver. The City Council members objected to the expedited scheduling of the Receivership hearings and declared (amongst other things) the hearings violated the City’s Chapter 9 Bankruptcy petition’s “automatic stay.”

While the Mayor “denies” parts of the call for a need for a Receiver for Harrisburg, if one is appointed, the Mayor’s primary objective is to get the Commonwealth Court to mandate the Receiver to use her  Financial Recovery Plan, the one she developed per Act 47.  

In light of the City’s Chapter 9 Bankruptcy Petition dismissed by the Federal Courts, the City Council majority’s attorney Mark Schwartz will no longer argue preliminary objections to the State’s Receiver. Read his letter of withdrawal here: Letter to the Commonwealth Court Nov 25, 2011. It is unclear if the City Council majority will still provide arguments based on their other procedural points of objection. 

However, the Mayor on behalf of the citizens of the City of Harrisburg has objected to City Council majority’s Preliminary Objection, which will be argued during this first hearing. 

Also, the Mayor posed a “New Matter” which may come up during the Preliminary Objection Hearing. As outlined below on 11/22, the Mayor wants her plan to be the Court-ordered Financial Recovery Plan that the Receiver must use during his appointment. In fact, should the Receiver be appointed, the Mayor believes it “inappropriate and not justified” for the Receiver to even use the Fiscal Emergency Plan developed by DCED until he can develop his own plan. The Mayor asserts her plan should be used right away. 

The Mayor also argues there’s no need for a Receiver for the statuted two years and states that the Receiver should only be in Harrisburg for no longer than one year.  

The Preliminary Objections hearing is a telephone hearing and per the Commonwealth Court’s own Internal Operating Procedures:

§ 67.7. Duty Rosters; Teleconference Proceedings.

Where the presentation of evidence is not involved, a duty judge may conduct an argument by conference telephone equipped with loudspeaker, pursuant to an order fixing the argument date and the time at which the court shall call counsel at their respective offices to proceed, and stating the location where the judge will sit, which shall be open to public access.

At this time, the Order does not state what particular judge’s chambers, merely stating the telephone call “shall originate from the chambers of a designated judge of the Commonwealth Court.”  Based on the above cited procedure, it would seem that a Commonwealth Court’s judge’s chambers will be open to the public to hear the Mayor’s argument, most primarily, why her Financial Recovery Plan should be the one used by the Receiver.

Read: The City of Harrisburg Response & New Matter

Read: Commonwealth Court’s Order on Preliminary Objections

11/22/11: The Mayor of the Harrisburg responds to the State's Petition for a Receiver of the City.  

See here: The City of Harrisburg Response & New Matter

The New Matter: The Mayor’s attorneys respond to the State proposal for a Receiver by declaring that outside of the Incinerator guarantees, the City is fine with its other obligations. Since the value of Harrisburg’s assets is greater than the City’s obligations, the Mayor states “the City is not insolvent.”

To assure this solvency, the Mayor asserts that her “reasonable” Act 47 Plan should be the Recovery Plan used by the Receiver. She states not only will her plan alleviate the City’s fiscal problems, she also contends it will establish a surplus in 2012.

The Mayor sees no need for the Receiver to develop an alternative Recovery Plan, including the Emergency Fiscal Plan and even goes so far to declare such development “inappropriate and not justified.”  The Mayor’s Act 47 Plan suffices and the Receiver should merely implement it. That’s what she wants the Commonwealth Court to make happen. 

That being the case, the attorneys for the Mayor argue there’s no need for a Receiver for 2 years. She only sees the need for a Receiver for 1 year at most. 

In “the new matter,” the Mayor’s response to the State’s Petition for Receivership also stresses the Court should make sure the Receiver strives to get more concessions from creditors rather than just blanket lease/sell the Incinerator and Parking Garages. 

Lastly, the Mayor wants the Governor and Dauphin County appointees to the Advisory Committee to the Receiver named ASAP as well as a meeting of all set for 7 days within appointment of the Receiver. The Advisory Committee will consist of the Mayor, the City Council President, one State appointee, and one Dauphin County appointee. 

11/21/11: City Council's attorney Mark Schwartz files a Preliminary Objection to the State's Petition for a Receiver for the City of Harrisburg. 

He argues that the Automatic Stay of Chapter 9 Bankruptcy Protection prevents the filing of the Petition. Schwartz says Harrisburg’s bankruptcy hearing first then deal with the Receiver. See here: Objection to Appointment of a Receiver.

11/19/11: The nominated Receiver for the City of Harrisburg is David Unkovic. 

The law firm of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP has also been retained to work on the City’s recovery plan. Up until this past Thursday, Unkovic was Chief Counsel for PA’s Department of Community & Economic Development. However, he formally resigned from that post seemingly in anticipation of his new appointment. Per the fiscal note attached to Senate Bill 1151, Harrisburg’s cost for the Receiver for 2 years will be $1.15M to $1.55M. See fiscal note here.

11/19/11: PA Department of Community & Economic Development's press release.

On filing a petition in Commonwealth Court for a Receiver for the City of Harrisburg.  Followed by Harrisburg City Council Majority’s response.

Nov. 18, 2011

Corbett Administration Files Petition to Appoint Receiver for Harrisburg

Harrisburg – Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Secretary C. Alan Walker, under the direction of Governor Tom Corbett, filed a petition today with the Commonwealth Court to appoint David Unkovic as the receiver for the distressed City of Harrisburg.

“The city’s failure to come to an agreement on an acceptable recovery plan has forced the commonwealth to take this action,” Corbett said. “As more time goes by without action, the city’s financial situation continues to get worse. With his more than 30 years of experience in public finance, I have the utmost confidence in David Unkovic’s ability to develop and implement solutions that will address the city’s fiscal difficulties and mounting debt.”

Mr. Unkovic has more than 30 years of experience in public finance, primarily as bond counsel on tax-exempt financings for Pennsylvania local governments, authorities, school districts and nonprofit corporations. Unkovic earned his law degree from Harvard Law School and his undergraduate degree in political science, summa cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania. He has been named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer by Law & Politics in the area of Bonds and Government Finance.

The commonwealth will also retain the services of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, a firm based in Washington, D.C., which was selected because of the expertise and experience of its Municipal Recovery & Restructuring group. The group specializes in the areas of public finance, insolvency, tax, public policy, public-private partnerships, employee benefits and labor, government contracting, government affairs and governance – all important areas that will be addressed in the recovery plan. The firm will also work with the forensic consultants hired by the Harrisburg Authority, to review the incinerator financings.

The governor is authorized by the provisions of Act 47, as amended by Senate Bill 1151, to direct the DCED Secretary to file a petition in Commonwealth Court to appoint a receiver following the declaration of fiscal emergency in a distressed third-class city. Governor Corbett, on Nov. 16, directed Secretary Walker to file a petition with the Commonwealth Court.

The Commonwealth Court is required to hold a hearing within 15 days of the filing and will have 60 days from the date the petition was filed to make a determination. The determination will be based on three main criteria: 30 days have passed since the declaration of fiscal emergency; the governing body of the distressed city has failed to adopt an ordinance to enact an acceptable fiscal recovery plan; and a fiscal emergency continues to exist.

Once appointed, the receiver is tasked with developing and submitting a fiscal recovery plan to the Commonwealth Court, DCED Secretary, city council and the mayor within 30 days of being appointed. The court must conduct a hearing on the recovery plan within 30 days of receipt of the receiver’s plan and confirm a plan within 60 days of receipt.

When a plan is confirmed by the court, a four-member advisory committee will be established that will include the mayor and city council president of Harrisburg, an appointee of the Dauphin County commissioners and an appointee of the governor. The advisory committee will meet with the receiver at least twice a month and will be consulted by the receiver before exercising certain powers and duties.

During receivership, the city’s governing body and authorities will continue to carry out the duties of their respective offices as long as no decision or action conflicts with the receiver’s fiscal recovery plan. The receiver may petition the Commonwealth Court to issue a writ of mandamus if the authorities and elected officials of Harrisburg fail to undertake the actions of the recovery plan.

For more information about McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, visit mckennalong.com.

********

Statement of Majority of Harrisburg City Council on the Appointment of the State Receiver

The following statement has been issued by Councilpersons Eugenia Smith, Wanda Williams, Susan Brown Wilson and Brad Koplinski:

The majority of Council still believes that the Act 47 plans would not have worked and the receiver process is even worse for the taxpayers of our city. Bankruptcy is the only option that will allow for a global solution with shared pain by all stakeholders – that was made clear when AGM stopped attending negotiation sessions for the consent agreement last week. They won’t negotiate in good faith with anyone – the city or the receiver. The Mayor should drop her objections to bankruptcy and join the majority of Council in support of this action.

The receiver must still be approved by the Commonwealth Court, which can take up to 60 days and then, we believe, properly approved by the Federal bankruptcy judge. The next hearing on the status of the bankruptcy filing is on November 23rd. We ask that the state have respect for the Federal bankruptcy process, instead of again putting the heaviest of hands on the Capital City. This is simply the latest instance in which the state has not taken steps to help Harrisburg, but hinder it. Everyone that has followed the process knows that the solution will be a combination of new revenue and debt forgiveness – the option of taxing our way out of this is not viable. The state should come to its senses and start to become part of the solution and not part of the continuing problem.

11/15/11: Mayor of Harrisburg's handout. 

After the she held a press conference on the City’s failure to develop a Consent Agreement in time to ward off State Receivership, Mayor Linda Thompson handed out the following information packet, a compare/contrast of Senate Bill 1151 (“Takeover Bill”) and Chapter 9 (Municipal Bankruptcy). Several claims and amounts are laid out, and there has already been serious inquiry into the accuracies of what is presented in the 14 easy-to-read pages. Read it here: Mayor’s Handout

11/15/11: The City of Harrisburg failed to meet the deadline to file a Consent Agreement. 

Now the Governor of PA is within his jurisdiction to direct the Secretary of DCED to petition the Commonwealth Court for a named Receiver to be appointed to control and manage the fiscal operations of the City of Harrisburg. The Receiver will be required to develop a Recovery Plan for the City (it can be the Coordinator’s Act 47 Plan). Until the Plan is developed, the Receiver will be charged with implementing the Secretary of DCED’s Emergency Fiscal Plan dated November 3rd (see here). From the point of the State’s filing of the petition for Receivership in Commonwealth Court, the process of Harrisburg getting its Receiver should all happen within 60 days. The Governor has stated that the petition will most likely be filed this week. At that point, the name of the Receiver will be publicized. Harrisburg’s Chapter 9 Municipal Bankruptcy Protection hearing is scheduled for November 23rd. 

On the morning of November 14th, the City Council Majority issued the following release:

CITY COUNCIL MAJORITY ISSUED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT

HARRISBURG: Without the Mayor’s supplying a budget and without Assured Guaranty at the table, the creditors meeting scheduled for Monday morning is a meaningless exercise.

************************

Around noon on November 14th, City Council President sent out the following email via the City Clerk’s Office:

A continuation meeting was held this morning at 10AM with Creditors, The Mayor, DCED, Dauphin County, Covanta and Assured Guaranty, who was on stand-by to acknowledge whether or not City Council had four members willing to negotiate. All of the above mentioned parties discussed their willingness to negotiate and devise a consent agreement; however negotiations were stalled because only three council members were present. 

Therefore, it was determined that negotiations could not continue and a consent agreement could not be established without the agreement of (at least) four council members. Because these negotiations reached a stalemate based on not having a majority of council involved – the negotiation process is closed and the meeting for tonight at 5:05PM has been cancelled.

Gloria Martin Roberts
President, Harrisburg City Council

11/10/11: Mayor Thompson came to the meeting with a Consent Agreement in hand. 

On Thursday, November 10th, the Harrisburg Mayor and City Council members along with representatives of PA’s Department of Community & Economic Development met to negotiate with creditors. However, it seems that didn’t happen. Previous to the 10:00am meeting, primary creditor bond insurer Assured Guaranty sent a letter to the Mayor saying not only did they refuse the City’s request of $100M in debt forgiveness, but also that they would not attend the Creditors’ Meeting. For hours, certain City officials (one City Council members couldn’t attend, another left early) attempted to develop a new approach to negotiations with the City’s creditors. The meeting broke “for lunch” with a reconvene time of 7:00pm that evening. When they all gathered for the 7:00pm meeting, the Mayor had a plan in her hand, which she presented to City Council, thereby ending dialogue. When asked for her 2012 Budget in order to approach the structural deficit issues of the Consent Agreement, Mayor Thompson’s response is firm–City Council will see it November 22nd when she presents it to the public. No gains made, in less than an hour, the meeting was over. It was heard said that the last words of the meeting were City Council President Gloria Martin Roberts saying, “Cancel Monday.” The Public Consent Agreement meeting is to continue on Monday, November 14th at 5:05pm followed by a City Council vote on a Consent Agreement to present to the State by the deadline of end of the day Monday. 

Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson public comment on the Creditors’ Meeting:

After hours of meetings yesterday in an attempt to hold together past creditor agreements in the face of City Council’s demand for a lump payment of $100 million from all creditors this week, City Mayor Linda D. Thompson said today that she is ready to review any plan City Council sends her way.

“My administration put a plan on the table last evening to address all of the issues we discussed in our consent agreement meetings to date; now it’s up to those council members who publicly favor bankruptcy to present some version of an agreement that’s acceptable to DCED by Monday,” Mayor Thompson said tonight. “I’ve done all I can do.”

Mayor Thompson said she remains available to meet and discuss any plan Council proposes through the holiday weekend; however time is running out on the process, and she said the city will accept state receivership if that becomes necessary next week.

“We’ve all given it our best shot, so let’s see what Council chooses to do in whatever time they have left,” Mayor Thompson added. “I’m ready to move this city forward toward fiscal solvency immediately.”

**********

Harrisburg City Council Majority’s response:

COUNCIL MAJORITY CALLS ON MAYOR TO STOP STONEWALLING BUDGET REQUEST, AGM TO COME TO THE TABLE

Mayor Continues to Hide Next Year’s Budget Proposal from Council: AGM Continues to Refuse to Negotiate

HARRISBURG: With a Monday afternoon deadline to avoid a state takeover of the City of Harrisburg looming, Mayor Thompson continues to stonewall City Council’s request to review her proposed budget for next year and Assured Guarantee Mutual refuses to participate in good faith negotiations to reach an equitable settlement.  Needless to say, without hard numbers on which to base its deliberations and the continued absence of the primary creditor no consent agreement can be reached. Despite the Mayor’s unwillingness to share critical financial information and the intransigence of AGM, City Council  is ready to get back to work if all the stakeholders agree to participate and the Mayor stops hiding the depth of the city’s fiscal challenge from Council.

Under current plans the giant Wall Street firm anticipates payment in full despite its questionable role in the Resource Recovery retrofit debacle.  AGM  is unwilling to admit any fault. Consequently, a majority of Council sought protection for the City from the Federal Bankruptcy Court in an effort to have an impartial judge review the facts and determine the degree of liability. We would hope the judgment will be made by the preponderance of evidence.

see the letter from Assured Guaranty to the Harrisburg Mayor below.

11/10/11: The City of Harrisburg asks for $100M and Assured Guaranty responds. 

The bond insurer says NO WAY to the City’s starting point of $100M in concessions: Letter to Mayor Thompson from Assured Guaranty

Harrisburg City Council Majority responds to bond insurer’s letter:

CITY COUNCIL MAJORITY DISAPPOINTED WITH AGM RESPONSE 

Bond Insurer Assured Guarantee Turns Down City Council Majority’s  Appeal for Fair Settlement to Incinerator Debt

HARRISBURG: The risks involved in the incinerator retrofit should have been obvious to all the stakeholders from the very beginning.  After all, it involved unproven technology that was to be installed by a contractor ill equipped to do the job. There were serious concerns that the project was doomed to failure expressed at the time. Now, a collective amnesia about who knew what about the project and when they knew it has overtaken the debate. The parties that enabled the project and could be held partially financially responsible have joined forces to point their collective finger at the city as the sole transgressor.

So, it should come as no surprise to anyone that Assured Guarantee has rejected the City Council’s appeal for a realistic settlement and joined Dauphin County and the Commonwealth in trying to place the entire blame for the incinerator fiasco on the City of Harrisburg.

However, the truth is that each had a significant role in green lighting the project and each should be held responsible for their share of the blame.  After all, the County co-signed the bond obligation despite the many obvious risks. The Commonwealth verified the debt as self liquidating despite the fuzzy math presented to it. And Assured Guarantee insured the bonds despite the numerous red flags its due diligence should have uncovered.

The retrofit was a shared debacle and cleaning up the aftermath should be a shared responsibility. Dauphin County and Assured Guarantee have a large financial stake in deflecting blame on the city.  Mayor Thompson seems to be committed to accepting blame and letting the others off the hook with minimal accountability.

Just a few days ago,  Cate Long, a guest contributor to Reuters.com who writes about the retail fixed income markets including municipal bonds, wrote the following:

“So less than a week ago the Mayor of Harrisburg was not sure about how much debt her city would have left after selling its best assets. The size of the debt load is the most important question in the fight for Harrisburg’s survival, but unfortunately the city’s financial situation is anything but straightforward….   I’d really encourage the mayor and city council to claw their way into federal bankruptcy court where they will have an opportunity to settle all creditor claims equitably. Bond insurers and other creditors that are owed millions know the numbers cold and will do anything to gain the largest settlement from this deal. They don’t view fairness…. as the endpoint in this game.”

A fair settlement has been our goal from the beginning.

11/8/11: So what's this mean? 

Commonwealth Court determines the City of Harrisburg doesn’t have to honor the former Mayor’s contract deal with the Fraternal Order of the Police. It’s an intriguing next step in the City of Harrisburg’s battle with the FOP, one of the three unions the City must deal with. Per the Act 47 Plans (either of them) none of the Act 47 initiatives can work without a renegotiation of union contracts, to the tune of $18 million in concessions over 5 years or Harrisburg’s solvency plan just won’t work.  Commonwealth Court’s Decision

11/4/11: Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson in New York City. 

On November 2nd, the Harrisburg Mayor attended the Bloomberg State & Municipal Finance Conference. She was a featured speaker and gave a talk entitled, “The Harrisburg Incinerator Challenge.” Below is the transcript of her talk. 

BLOOMBERG PANEL, THE HARRISBURG INCINERATOR CHALLENGE

NOVEMBER 2, 2011

SPEAKERS:
LINDA D. THOMPSON, MAYOR, CITY OF HARRISBURG, PA

JONATHAN WEIL, BLOOMBERG NEWS

JONATHAN WEIL, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Thank you for joining
us. For those of you who don’t know here, Linda Thompson’s
been mayor of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania since January 2010
when she succeeded Stephen Reed, who’d been the mayor since,
like, the 1700s or –

(LAUGHTER)

LINDA D. THOMPSON, MAYOR, CITY OF HARRISBURG, PA: Be
nice.

WEIL: She was first elected to the city council in 2001.
She’s a Democrat. Last month, Harrisburg became the first
state capital in at least four decades to file for a chapter
9 bankruptcy protection.

According to the bankruptcy petition, the city’s
guaranteed debts for about $240 million, largely related to
an incinerator project, with $65 million of it overdue. My
reporting was that Harrisburg has skipped principle interest
payments on the incinerator debts since 2009 but has not
defaulted on its general obligation bonds. Correct me if
there are any –

THOMPSON: Yes. There were –

WEIL: — flaws here.

THOMPSON: There are some corrections, but we’ll get to
that.

WEIL: OK. The city faces a debt five times the size of
its general fund budget, namely due to the planned overhaul
and expansion of the incinerator.

Now, you objected to the move, approved by a bare
majority of the city council, to file for bankruptcy. And
again, for those in the audience who haven’t followed this
closely, could you summarize for us, how did Harrisburg get
in this mess in the first place, and why were you opposed to
filing for bankruptcy?

THOMPSON: Well, first of all, thank you for having me.
It’s a great opportunity to tell more of a boots on the
ground story. Because of course we love our media, but the
truth doesn’t always get out.

I am a first-term mayor. Eight-year councilwoman. And we
inherited a mess in terms of my administration. We had a
mayor in office for 20 — 27 years. Did a great job up until
a certain point, and just became unchecked. And as a result,
we had this situation today.

How did we get here? There are two serious primary
issues here financially. The city of Harrisburg cosigned
behind one of our municipal corporations of a retrofit
facility. We used to be the owners and operators of this –
of the incinerator up until 1993.

Actually, 2000 — 93. In 93, we sold it to the
Harrisburg Authority, the Harrisburg Authority allowed us to
continue to manage it up until 2003, when we hired a company
called Barlow Projects under the guise of taking our system
that was causing us financial pain because of EPA and DEP
violations.

As a result, they brought in this new technology that
was supposed to work, 21st century, and he ran out of money.
The project went awry and there was no performance bond on
the deal.

As a result, there had to be some additional borrowing.
An additional $65 million of borrowing to fix what the $125
million project was supposed to initially do for us.

So, the city was no longer the managers. We then at 2006
turned it over to a company called Covanta, an energy
company, to actually get the facility up and running with the
$65 million additional borrowing.

Covanta, of course, needed a $35 million construction
loan and $25 million of working capital on top of the six –
on top of the $25 million.

And then, incidentally, we found out later on that there
was some secret borrowing of a $25 million CIT agreement
between the Harrisburg Authority and this company called CIT
that’s now being litigated.

So, that’s how we got to the tune of $310 million, not
242. In the meantime, the city of Harrisburg guaranteed all
of the debt on the incinerator, the entire debt of $288
million, first co-signer. Our county government, who is a
sitting government in our city, was the secondary co- signer.

So, in other words, it would — it had a domino trigger.
If the city of Harrisburg could not back those bonds
payments, if the Harrisburg Authority could not pay them,
which ended up being the case,

I don’t ever recall that the Harrisburg Authority ever
making any of its bond payments. The city had to kick in and
make them for several years using some of the debt reserve
funding. And ultimately, the — the county commissioners had
to come in because the city could no longer take on the debt
bond payments on behalf of the Harrisburg Authority.

So, the $65 million you referenced is not really $65
million. When we had a recovery plan, it was up to $75
million, and since they’re still making bond payments, it’s
probably going to be an additional $75 million, maybe $78
million to $80 million that we will owe with our three
primary creditors, which is Covanta, AGM — and the county –
the county government.

Because if in fact the county government could not make
the bond payment then it kicks back into Assured’s pocket to
pay the bond. And each one of us had been affected one way or
another in paying the bond payments.

WEIL: There’s a truism in investing that you should know
what you’re investing in when you make that decision.
Everything that you just described, and I know that’s just a
synopsis, is just — impossible to follow from the outside.

THOMPSON: And again, when I was a councilwoman, city
council did not go on the experts of the administration, we
hired our own independent consultants to advise us, and they
gave us a report, and the indicated that — we asked,
actually, three sound questions, and it was, was the
equipment — was the technology sound? Would the funding
work? Will the number work? And will it be environmentally
sound? Because those are the three issues that kept us in
trouble.

And the report came back a resounding yes, that they
would, and it would be in the best interests of the city.

Because the incinerator was supposed to be used for the
region, which is why we got our county government to back the
bonds, because they also take their trash there. And it was
supposed to be turned into a resource recovery facility where
it would also generate extra revenue, such as steam, the sale
of electricity.

And because the project went awry, those components
never even materialized. And so, yes, here we are today.

So, council — the only thing we regret now, those
members, which included me, we regret is that we didn’t have
the legal expertise to really dissect the documents that took
place after we gained the legislative approval to determine
whether it was — there was a performance bond on it. We
didn’t find this out until years later.

WEIL: The governor of the state has now set in motion a
process immediately to a state takeover. We reported today,
Bloomberg News, that he’s interviewing candidates for — to
possibly be a receiver for Harrisburg. How would you view
state receivership for Harrisburg?

THOMPSON: Well, as we continue to talk about how we got
here, we are — there’s two scenarios here, as I said. We
have the incinerator conundrum, and we also have a city
that’s deemed as structurally deficit.

And we always have mandates that we never have enough
money to take care of, our unfunded mandates. So, we’re
really creatures of the state.

We have a — a city that is highly non-taxed. We have a
great deal of universities, colleges, and non-profits,
hospitals, and our very own state government and county
government are tax exempt. So, that really does — does a
crippling effect on our city in terms of gaining revenue for
taxation.

In addition, we have unfunded mandates. We have about
7,000 unfunded mandates on our municipality. Municipalities
in the state of Pennsylvania all have these same mandates,
and all of our mayors in the city of — in the state of
Pennsylvania are grappling with these unfunded mandates.

And we actually have formed a coalition, 29 mayors, and
we organize with our think tanks a proposal to our governor
about how the state can aid us to help address our structural
deficits.

WEIL: Are you hoping for a receivership, then?

THOMPSON: Absolutely not. And in fact, I — the Senate
Bill 1151 was introduced to force council to the table.
Unfortunately, we do have elected officials that want to pay
politics, and some are aspiring to be the next mayor. And
that gets in the way sometimes.

But for the most part, we have a spirit of cooperation
in our city. Our government is cooperating, the mayor is
cooperating with the governor, our county commissioners are
cooperating.

And we’re also trying to whip up our creditors. As I
said, we have three primary creditors, which is Assured,
Covanta, and also the county government, and nobody wants our
city to go into bankruptcy.

WEIL: What type of concessions are you expecting from
them?

THOMPSON: From who?

WEIL: The three creditors you just named?

THOMPSON: Well, again, when the recovery plan was
implemented, in 2010 — let me back up — I took our city
into a distressed state. Our state government helps its
municipalities out when they get into financial trouble.

And so I put ourselves up under the state to be able to
get some financial assistance and some technical assistance
that often municipalities and mayors don’t have beyond our
scope of expertise.

And we — the state awarded us that status. So, with
that comes high, competent consultants and also technical
assistance in terms of financial support.

So, that’s the avenue I took. We got a coordinator out
of that, and they came in and dissected our structural outlay
and determined that we had several matters and that they put
together a recovery plan.

The recovery plan included a number of things.
Internally, scaling back our government, renegotiating our
union contracts, and at the same time, looking for ways to
get our non-profit organizations to be a part of a pilot
program to give in lieu of property taxes.

It also calls for us leveraging our assets. We have two
assets. Of course, the resource recovery facility is, by the
way, is operating finally at its high capacity and it’s able
to make enough money to pay for its operations.

And just now, we’re starting to see a little bit of
surplus, but not enough to make its bond payments. So, that’s
a good sign there, because it is a very lucrative asset.

At the same time, we have parking garages, and that was
also a recommendation in this recovery plan.

When it went before council three times, when council
voted down the first recovery plan saying it was too onerous
on the taxpayers, it kicked the coordinator out and put the
mayor automatically in place, which is uncharted waters.

So, I became the coordinator, made adjustments to the
plan where I actually was able to use some things that the
state didn’t want as a leverage to get them to give us more
money, and it worked.

So, we got an additional $2.5 million out of our state,
because they’re tax-exempt and they own more than 50 percent
of property in our city. And also got our county government
to give us some money, because they also are tax-exempt, so I
got them to give an additional $1 million.

And I did some other changes, and council rejected two
of those plans. They rejected three recovery plans, and the
state actually was forced to implement legislation called
Senate Bill 1151 to force council to the table and put them
in a very limited time frame, 30 days, which is where we are
with the discussion about receivership.

I certainly don’t want our state coming in –

WEIL: If you think that’s where it’s going to be.

THOMPSON: I don’t think so. I think council now
understands that the pressure’s on them, that it would be
your deciding factor and it would be on your political bite
saying that you allowed your state — your city to be taken
over by your governor.

The governor has his own problems, and believe me, he
does have them. He doesn’t want our city. But at the same
time, we share a common understanding that we want our city
to become solvent again.

We can get through this. We want to cooperate with our
creditors. We want to honor our debt. But at the same time,
we also want our creditors to know that in this bond world,
there’s risk, and there’s rewards.

And I’m of the mindset that we can use our assets to
leverage those assets to do what they need to do for us in
the meantime to get us up out of this and get us a long-term
sustainability plan, and that’s precisely what my goal has
been as the mayor.

WEIL: The governor and the city’s — some of the city’s
creditors have joined you in opposing the bankruptcy
petition. The bankruptcy judge has set a short November 30 –
23rd hearing in the case. That’s actually after the point in
which there might be a receivership appointed.

THOMPSON: Precisely.

WEIL: What do you hope, expect will come out of that
bankruptcy proceeding?

THOMPSON: Well, as you noted to this community, that I
oppose the bankruptcy. I oppose the bankruptcy. I’m no
bankruptcy expert, judge, or attorney. But at the same time,
I believe our problem is solvable. And this is what I’ve been
constantly saying to our legislative branch of government. We
have assets. And unfortunately as a mayor, I don’t want to
sell our lucrative assets.

But it — as complex as this matter is, I try to keep it
simple for the average voter and resident, that if you have a
house and you have earned that house in terms of having 100
percent equity in that house, and you lost your job, no fault
of your own, you got yourself into trouble, you ran up your
credit cards, you have no ability to pay those credit cards
and your credit card company takes you to court.

And if you go to court, the judge is going to want to
know what’s your solution. What’s your plan? What’s your –
of paying your debt?

WEIL: And on that –

THOMPSON: You’ve got to leverage — you’ve got to
leverage that house. You’ve got to get the equity out of
there and pay off those credit cards, which is what I’m
talking about in terms of our leasing of our garages, so –

WEIL: And on that note, you’ve — we’ve reported that
you’ve said that Harrisburg — you believe Harrisburg will be
able to meet its debt obligations and payroll three months
for the rest of the year. What about three months from now?
Six months from now? A year from now?

THOMPSON: Well, in the recovery play, there is long-term
sustainability and strategies put in place. The biggest
strategy that we have to painstakingly do, and that is
leveraging our assets.

We have a very lucrative parking facility, and we have a
sound resource recovery facility, now. And combined, we can
get that debt bought down on the incinerator and ultimately
do all of our internal cleansing of scaling back our
government, which are things I’ve already done.

I’ve scaled back our government costs about 20 percent,
personnel reductions 10 percent. And we expect to have a
recovery plan and some solvency by 2014.

WEIL: OK. Three months from now, do you believe that the
city will be able to meet its debt obligations and meet its
payroll?

THOMPSON: If everything works according to the plan,
yes. We’ll be back on a slow recovery track.

WEIL: Bill?

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Simeon’s (ph) got some
questions, and I’ve got some questions for the mayor, so why
don’t — Simeon, why don’t you take the audience questions.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: I think one thing we’ve
figured out here is that when you’re in financial distress,
it’s quite procedurally driven, and I have a –

THOMPSON: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: — procedural question from
Seth Brunby (ph) of Debt Wire. “While the city council is the
petitioner, the mayor is the party that is filing all motions
to continue the city’s business in the ordinary course. If
the court ultimately accepts the petition, who will manage
the city and represent it in court? And if it’s the mayor’s
office, can you withdraw the petition?”

THOMPSON: Well, I’m not the attorney here. I can’t
answer the question whether I can withdraw the petition. I’d
rather do the pre- stages. I believe that there was a
procedural defect in what council did.

We operate under a third-class charter code which says
that there’s a strong mayor form of government under a plan
A, which says that the mayor is the one that ultimately, if
council decides to put in a resolution about the bankruptcy,
I’m the one that actually has to move that process forward.

So, that’s why I’m protesting through litigation that
procedure was defective and actually the mayor has the power
to do what council did. So, that’s the argument there. And
we’re going to wait for the judge to decide.

In the meantime, I’m going to honor the law that the
governor signed, which is 11 bill — 1151 that says that we
must move forward with a recovery or else.

So again, I’m no expert in terms of being a bankruptcy
attorney, which is why I hired a law firm to do that for me.
So, if the judge ultimately says that the city is insolvent
and/or it doesn’t have the ability to make the case in terms
of not being able to pay these three — biggest two- thirds
of our debt, then I’ll honor the judge’s decision.

But again, my whole goal is to really work with our
creditors. Because listen. Bankruptcy will have rippling
effects in — not only for the state, but for the region and
for the city. And long-term rippling effects.

We have, as I said, structural — structural deficits,
and we have a great deal of unfunded mandates, often where we
need capital. We need bonding, borrowing, in order to be able
to deal with our mandated infrastructure needs.

And we don’t have a pay as we go system. It’s just
impossible to have that kind of system as a municipality. So,
we need some help from our state, too. So, we’ve been making
some concessions to our state. I — the governor has
committed to helping the city out, and we’re going to hold
him to task.

My biggest stickler right now in this recovery plan is
that I want AGM, I want the county, and I want Covanta to
understand that if we happen — have to leverage our most
lucrative asset, which is our parking garages, that we want
them to make some concessions.

And they have made some concessions, but not sufficient
enough for me as a mayor to get rid of the stranded debt.
There is stranded debt after we sell the incinerator. All –
restructured recovery facility. And we leverage and lease our
parking garages.

As a mayor, I don’t want any more debt after that until
we can fully get our structural deficits in line and get a
solid clear pathway at being able to meet our debt
obligations.

Because again, we’ve been challenged in our general
obligations, as well, but we haven’t missed a payment. And I
don’t want to have to continue to struggle like this, so they
have to take some hits.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: I’ve actually got key two
questions related to that that have come in from — by
e-mail. One is, well, what about the stranded debt? If you
sell or lease the parking garages and the incinerator, you
still have, the questioner said, “around $180 million of
stranded debt.” I don’t know if that’s a correct figure or
not.

THOMPSON: Well, I don’t –

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: The second — the second
question is, another question said, another questioner said,
aren’t the incinerator and the garage some of the greatest
bargains available on the muni asset market anywhere right
now?

THOMPSON: Let me deal with the first question. Listen. A
mayor’s got to do what a mayor’s got to do. And the fact of
the matter is, I haven’t seen anyone to bring me a plan that
demonstrates that there’s a check out there waiting for me to
pay $310 million of debt.

Which is why I said we have a spirit of cooperation here
against — with all stakeholders. AGM stands to lose on this.
The county stands to lose. And so does the city of Harrisburg
and our state government. So, we all have to be big boys and
girls in the room and do what we do best, and that is to
solve our challenges.

The stranded debt issue is what we’re at the table

battling about, and I’ve made it no secret to the state, the
county, AGM, and Covanta that I will not settle for a deal
that will leave any amount of stranded debt on the table.

And again, I’m not quite sure if the person is correct
about $100 million stranded debt. I have someone checking the
numbers now so that when we go into the next meeting, I
organized a meeting with all of our creditors within this
20-day timeline that we have under this emergency completion
date that the governor imposed on us through 11 bill 50 –
Senate Bill 1151.

I organized a creditors meeting because it even says
that we can meet with our creditors in a private room. So, we
have a creditors meeting scheduled on the 7th of November,
and all of the creditors are coming into the table, and
that’s where we’ll all roll up our sleeves and bang it out.
And the goal is to get the stranded debt off the table.

And I suspect that everybody’s going to work
cooperatively because particularly those leaders who are
working together, such as the state, the county, AGM, and
Assure, and hopefully our city council, will come out with
our — with our game faces on saying that we’ve resolved this
issue. There won’t be any takeover, and that all the parties
have taken their equally shared hits and get our city back to
solvency.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Thank you very much.

THOMPSON: OK. Thank you.

10/28/11: Office of the Mayor has requested the Federal Bankruptcy Court have an Expedited Hearing 

This hearing request has been granted and has been scheduled for Tuesday, November 1st at 10:30am. Basically, the City requested this hearing in order to obtain “Court proof” that the City of Harrisburg can continue to pay its routine expenses, such as payroll, vendors, and certain creditors. While this is not an ordinary or perhaps lawfully necessary step in the Chapter 9 petition process, it appears the Harrisburg Mayor’s attorneys have requested this action so that the Thompson Administration can assure people and businesses that indeed, the City is still open for business. 

The Court documents on this request: 

• Mayor’s Motion for Order Confirming Authority to Pay Vendors
• Chap 9 Mayor’s Office Proposed Order on Confirming Right to Pay Venders et al
• Chap 9 Proposed Order of Mayor’s Office for Expedited Hearing
• Chap 9 Order Granting Expediting Hearing on Payment

10/25/11: Governor Corbett officially declares Harrisburg "a fiscal emergency." 

From the PA’s Office of the Governor

News for Immediate Release

Oct. 24, 2011

Governor Corbett Declares Fiscal Emergency in City of Harrisburg

Harrisburg – Governor Tom Corbett today declared a fiscal emergency in the distressed city of Harrisburg to ensure that vital municipal services are maintained.

“City council’s failure to enact a recovery plan in order to deal with the city’s distressed finances has led me to declare a fiscal emergency,” Corbett said. “This action ensures that vital services will continue and public safety will be protected.”

In accordance with Act 47 as amended, the governor is authorized to declare a fiscal emergency, after it is determined that a distressed third-class city has failed to adopt a fiscal recovery plan and is insolvent, projected to be insolvent within 180 days or unable to provide citizens with vital services.

The criteria to declare a fiscal emergency in Harrisburg is met because the city council has failed to adopt the Act 47 coordinator’s fiscal recovery plan or the mayor’s fiscal recovery plan, and the city’s continued default on debt obligations related to its resource-recovery facility.

As a result of the declaration, the governor will now direct the secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) — within 10 days –to develop an Emergency Action Plan for the city of Harrisburg to coordinate vital services and ensure public safety. Services include police and firefighting, water and wastewater, trash collection, payroll, and pension and debt payments.

During a fiscal emergency, the city’s authorities and elected officials will continue to carry out the duties of their respective offices as long as no decision or action conflicts with the emergency action plan.

With the signing of this declaration, Harrisburg has a final opportunity to develop or agree to a financial recovery plan that is acceptable to the DCED secretary. Harrisburg city council has a total of 30 days to complete this action, including 20 days to prepare and submit a recovery plan to the DCED secretary, three days for the secretary to review and determine if the plan is sufficient to overcome the city’s financial distress, and seven days to pass an ordinance to enact the agreed-upon recovery plan.

10/20/11: Governor Corbett signs Senate Bill 1151.

From the PA’s Office of the Governor

 News for Immediate Release

Oct. 20, 2011

Governor Corbett Signs Senate Bill 1151

Harrisburg – Governor Tom Corbett today signed into law Senate Bill 1151, a measure that authorizes the governor to declare a fiscal emergency and appoint a receiver to develop and implement a fiscal recovery plan when a distressed third-class city fails to do so under Act 47.

“I remain a strong proponent for municipal governments tackling their own problems and coming together to develop a fiscal recovery plan when necessary,” Corbett said. “But when that fails to happen, the state has to take action to ensure public safety.

“The bill signed into law today will help to enforce Act 47 when municipalities fail to adopt a fiscal recovery plan, making it clear that if there is a failure to act, the state will intervene,” Corbett added. “This legislation does not change the overall goal, and that goal is for distressed third-class cities to adopt and implement a fiscal recovery plan that will lead to solvency.” 

Under the new law, the governor can declare a fiscal emergency, after it is determined that a distressed third-class city is insolvent or projected to be insolvent within 180 days, unable to provide citizens with vital services and has failed to adopt a fiscal recovery plan.

Even when fiscal emergency is declared, the distressed third-class city is given a final opportunity to develop a fiscal recovery plan that is acceptable to the secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). If an acceptable plan is adopted, a takeover is averted and the distressed city moves forward with implementing the plan.

When a fiscal emergency is declared, the following actions become available:

· The DCED secretary is granted emergency powers to develop an Emergency Action Plan in the distressed municipality to coordinate vital services and ensure public safety. Services include police and firefighting, water and wastewater, trash collection, payroll, and pension and debt payments.

· The governor can petition the Commonwealth Court for the distressed third-class city to be placed into receivership. The receiver will have 30 days to develop a fiscal recovery plan that will be submitted to the Commonwealth Court for approval. Once approved, the receiver will be charged with implementing the plan and will have control of the municipality’s financial matters relating to the recovery plan.

However, if an acceptable plan is adopted within 30 days of the petition, state intervention is averted and the distressed city moves forward with implementing their approved plan.

Additionally, the bill creates a four-member advisory committee that includes the mayor and city council president of the distressed third-class city, an appointee of the affected county and an appointee of the governor. It also prohibits the levying of a commuter tax on non-residents.

To read the full text of Senate Bill 1151, visit the General Assembly’s website at www.legis.state.pa.us.

10/19/11: City Council members release a statement

After the PA House gives final passage to Senate Bill 1151 a.k.a the Harrisburg Takeover Bill. Right before the vote, Representative Ron Buxton took the floor as “representative of the City of Harrisburg” and asked for support of the bill.  Final House vote: 177-18.

Statement by Harrisburg City Councilmembers Eugenia Smith, Susan Brown Wilson, Wanda Williams and Brad Koplinski

We are not surprised by the actions taken by the State Senate and House.  The legislature, led by Senator Jeff Piccola, has changed the rules of how Act 47 works after Harrisburg entered the process.  That is not right and it is un-American.  First they attempted to restrict the city’s ability to generate revenue and negotiate with its creditors, which were allowed in the Act 47 law, as well as penalize the city if it filed for bankruptcy.  But that wasn’t good enough.  Now this takeover legislation gives a receiver unlimited power to sell any resource the city and its authorities have, without allowing Harrisburg an alternate source of revenue.  Wall Street can get paid 100 cents on the dollar and the people of Harrisburg will be subjected to exorbinant property tax and other increases so that we can pay our operating budget.  And after all the city’s assets are sold and the city is on its knees, the receiver has the ability to file for bankruptcy to pick the bones of our city clean.  But by then, all the creditors have been paid, so the bankruptcy would go after our employees and pensioners.  And according to the House Committee on Appropriations, the receiver will cost over $2 million a year to provide these services. 

The City Council lawfully filed a petition for bankruptcy last week to protect the taxpayers of Harrisburg.  This was to allow all the parties to sit at the table, so that there can be a global solution with shared pain, with all the stakeholders providing a substantive, but fair contribution to solving Harrisburg’s financial crisis.  This process also stops all of the current lawsuits against the city and allows everyone to take a step back and reconsider their contributions to this solution.  We ask that the Governor either not sign or not implement SB 1151, to allow time for the bankruptcy process to work through the system. 

10/14/11: The State of PA objects to the filing of Harrisburg's Chapter 9 Bankruptcy Protection. 

Without hiding his contempt for City Council’s actions, the State wants to put  ”a quick end to this ill-advised and transparent gambit fostered by a bare majority faction of Harrisburg’s city council that has consistently obstructed the financial recovery process and whose transparent attempt now to ‘send a message’ to the Commonwealth and Harrisburg’s creditors represents a paten violation of existing state law.” Read the entirely to the State’s filed objection: Objection by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

10/14/11: U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary France will hold a Status Conference on Monday, 10/13 9:30am

The City of Harrisburg (Mayor Thompson) has requested an emergency status conference to discuss the bankruptcy filing which the City is claiming is “invalid.” For the reasons and intent, read the motion filed by the City: Motion to Hold Status Conference. Also, the Order Setting The Status Conference.

10/14/11: The Lawyers. 

In the wake of City Council authorizing the filing of Chapter 9 bankruptcy, “stakeholders” have started to lawyer up. Here’s who will be billing the taxpayers from all directions—The City Council has Mark D. Schwartz, Esquire. The Thompson Administration, i.e. “The City” has hired the firm of Tucker Arsenberg, P.C. Dauphin County has hired McNees Wallace & Nurrick for Chapter 9 representation. And despite the State of PA having a league of attorneys in the Office of General Counsel and the Office of the Attorney General, the law firm of Cozen & O’Connor has been retained to represent the State in Harrisburg’s bankruptcy case. 

10/13/11: The Mayor didn't know about the bankruptcy filing.

On Wednesday, Mayor Linda Thompson scheduled a 2:30pm press conference to discuss City Council’s previous night vote to a) hiring legal counsel and b) get ready a petition to file Chapter 9 bankruptcy. However, right before the press conference the while still in her office, the Mayor was informed the City of Harrisburg had filed for Chapter 9 the night before and that the paperwork had been officially processed that morning. Apparently, the outraged Mayor embarked on a loud tirade saying that what she was going to present at her presser was irrelevant in light of the new information she had just been given. She carried forth, though, and was seemingly (at first) calm as can be when she finally came downstairs to meet the press. It was part way through the press conference when the Mayor did disclose she had “just been advised of the filing.” She said outside counsel had been gotten to deal with the Chapter 9 filing. “We’ll let you know who it is when the contract’s signed.”  (for the record, the filed petition was published first on this site around 10:45am Wednesday morning, and the Patriot News published it around 12:30pm. By 2:30pm it seems most of the world knew it besides the Harrisburg Mayor.)

10/12/11: Filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court

Harrisburg’s Chapter 9 Municipal Bankruptcy Petition. City of Harrisburg Chapter 9 Petition

10/3/11: City Council President sends a letter to Mark Swartz, Esquire. 

The City Council’s newly retained legal counsel–and tells him to “cease and desist.” She cc’s City, Dauphin County, and State officials. Letter to Mr Schwartz Regarding Res-43-2011

10/2/11: Acting City Solicitor deems vote to retain the legal counsel of Mark Schwartz "invalid." 

Here’s his opinion: Hess’ Opinion to City Council

9/30/11: Mark Schwartz, Esquire begins to act as the City Council's attorney. 

On the 28th–the day after Council vote 4-2 to appoint Schwartz as their legal counsel in the Harrisburg Debt Crisis–the attorney sent a letter to General Counsel to the Governor introducing himself and requesting a meeting. (note: while The Patriot News previously presented a draft of the letter, here is the final letter sent to the State)–Letter from Mark Schwartz, Esquire to Stephen Aichele, Esquire

9/29/11: The City's Acting Solicitor has deemed the Resolution City Council passed to retain the legal representative services of Attorney Mark Schwartz  "invalid." Per @HbgPattyKim (Councilwoman Patty Kim's twitter handle), "City solicitor calls the passage of last night's resolution approving Mr. Schwartz "not valid." Requests a draft resolution be submitted." It hasn't yet been publicized on what grounds the Acting Solicitor has made his determination.

9/29/11: Senate Bill 1151 as amended (the Grell Amendment) passes the PA House 185-9. 

Who are the 9 who voted “nay”? 3 Republicans–Representatives Emerick, Krieger, & Metzgar. 6 Democrats–Representatives Bradford, DePasquale, Freeman, Kavulich, Samuelson, & Shapiro. Representative Ron Buxton–Harrisburg’s rep–voted “yes”. And clearly he nodded to the Dem caucus to go ahead and vote “yes,” too.  As to be expected, Representative Glen Grell (R) voted “yes” on the Senate Bill 1151 itself, however, when the Majority Leader Mike Turzai brought the bill to the floor and requested a motion to bring it up for vote (a preliminary move prior to the actual vote on a bill), Rep Grell voted, “no.” Seems he wanted to table it. 

9/28/11:  City Council appoints Mark D. Schwartz to represent Harrisburg City Council. 

“Be it hereby resolved, that the City Council of Harrisburg does specially appoint and thereby retain Mark D. Schwartz, Esquire, as their legal counsel to advise, consult, and represent the City Council in matter arising from or related the Harrisburg Debt Crisis and in such other agreed upon matters that may arise from time to time, with the terms and conditions of compensation to be determined by mutual agreement.” Passed 4-2 (President Gloria Martin Roberts was not present). Click here for Mark Schwartz’s resumé. 

9/28/11: The House likes the Grell Amendment. 

On second consideration, the PA House of Representatives voted “yes” on Piccola’s Senate Bill 1151 including the Grell Amendment. Of the five amendments put forth to SB 1151, the House only approved Grell’s (see here for a breakdown of Grell’s Amendment). Representatives will have a final vote on SB 1151 as amended as early as Wednesday the 28th. Once approved in the House, the Bill goes back to the Senate for concurrence. Projected time for the Senate vote on SB 1151 w/Grell Amendment is the week of October 17th. 

9/26/11: Just released to the public and yet to be analyzed by Harrisburg residents

The Grell Amendment to Senate Bill 1151 aka “Piccola’s Harrisburg Takeover Bill.” To be voted on in the House on Tuesday, September 27th. Back to the Senate then passed by Wednesday the 28th before the General Assembly leaves for the Jewish New Year? A possibility. Representative Glen Grell’s Amendment to SB 1151

9/26/11: The City of Harrisburg has no Health Inspector. 

It seems that has been the case for about two months now. Thus, it’s on the State to inspect the City’s restaurants, grocery stores, and food places. Regular inspections? Most likely not until Harrisburg hires a new inspector. With its own shortfalls to contend with, the PA Department of Health will probably only conduct inspections of City establishments on a complaint basis. 

9/21/11: Shipoke residents will not be fined, no time line to get the debris out.  

When pressed by the press to clarify the confusion about Shipoke, flood debris, and fines, the Mayor said she’s not going to fine Shipoke residents. She said she’s “not sure who authorized that.”  Of course, a reporter asked then how it happened that Harrisburg Codes Enforcement officers were out and about telling residents they would be fined, and the Mayor could barely hold her temper as she declared she’s “Chief Executive Officer of this City and I just told you to report out that they will not be fined. Period.” Linda Thompson may be the CEO of HBG, but apparently someone else is calling the shots, especially if “someone” took it upon themselves to tell City residents they will be fined. On Tuesday, at the bequest of Representative Ron Buxton, PennDot & the Turnpike workers entered Shipoke and helped the City get rid of flood debris. Roxbury News–“No fines for Shipoke–2″

9/20/11: Harrisburg City Codes Enforcement walk Shipoke 

Citizens were informed that City collection of flood debris ended three days beforehand, yet that was unbeknownst to citizens so they continued to put out the trash for collection. As they worked, Code Enforcement officers walked around to spread the Thompson Administration’s decree–2 days to haul away the stuff or risk being fined upwards $1000 a week. After discouraged public outcry, the Administration pulled back it’s “haul or fine” directive one week. And finally released a written public notice the evening of the 19th: Media Alert – Flood Clean Up Update. Now the question is, where can Harrisburg residents find the ordinance explaining the difference between “non compliance regarding debris” and “regular collectable trash?” 

9/19/11: Speaking of changes to the Mayor's Act 47 Plan 

From Draft to Final, here’s Bill Cluck’s inventory: Act 47 Review of Mayor’s Final Plan

9/16/11: The Mayor added something. 

On Friday September 15th, WHTM abc27′s Chris Cekot reported a story on Public Financial Management (PFM) and Harrisburg. PFM is the current financial advisor to the Harrisburg Parking Authority. PFM also advised the Harrisburg Authority on the 2007 Incinerator bond.

In his story, Cekot referred to a condition in the Mayor’s Act 47:

All parties involved in the Resource Recovery Facility RRF (aka incinerator) during the 2003 and or 2007 bond transactions not be permitted to participate in any restructuring/construction of debt and or involving transactions related to the Mayor’s Act 47 Recovery Plan.

This is what abc27 reported was part of the Mayor’s Act 47 Plan, yet it should be emphasized that this condition is found on page 5 of the Executive Letter of the Mayor’s DRAFT Act 47 Plan (filed 8/2/11).

While this same condition, in the same language is also found on the 5th page of the Executive Letter of the Mayor’s FINAL Act 47 Plan (filed 8/22/11), however, what is different is:

Section D0S1 (page 57 DRAFT/page 58 FINAL)

The following phrase is found in Section D0S1 of the FINAL Plan but not in Section D0S1 of the DRAFT Plan:

All parties involved in the Resource Recovery Facility RRF (aka incinerator) during the 2003 and or 2007 bond transactions not be permitted to participate in any restructuring/construction of debt and or involving transactions related to the Mayor’s Act 47 Recovery Plan. This will need to be weighed on a case by case basis.

Note the bold addition.

9/15/11 WHTM abc27 story: “Firm helps with budget crisis, after advising incinerator loans”

9/14/11: Mayor Thompson continues her critique of City Council members.  

In reply to a tweet from Councilman Brad Koplinski about why he voted no to move along the Harrisburg Parking Authority loan of $10.65 million, 10.75% taxable interest, the Thompson Administration issued a series of statements posted on the City of Harrisburg’s website. Brad Koplinski issued a statement of his own in reply.

City of Harrisburg–Media Clarification

City of Harrisburg–Media Clarification – Update

Brad Koplinski’s Statement:

Harrisburg City Councilman Brad Koplinski’s Statement On Use Of City’s Official Website And The Commonwealth’s Advance Of Pension Funds To The City

Today, the city has twice used its official website for political purposes to call into question my vote against the Harrisburg Parking Authority’s loan last evening and my basis for it, as well as other Councilmembers’ votes against the Act 47 plans.  This misuse of the city’s website is appalling.

Last night at the Harrisburg City Council meeting, I stated a procedure to be able to pay the city’s GO debt payment and this week’s payroll for the city – without having to immediately resort to an outrageous loan that Council approved.

As of yesterday, the City of Harrisburg had $2,035,124 cash on hand, according to both the Administration and the City Controller’s office.  Additionally, it was confirmed to me that the Commonwealth would be advancing at least $2.5 million in advance pension payments to the city no later than this afternoon.  According to the city’s numbers, that $4.5 million would have been enough to pay the GO debt payment and make payroll.  And it would have given the financial advisors for the Harrisburg Parking Authority more time to negotiate a better interest rate than the 8.25% and potentially 10.75% interest rates that we will pay for this loan.  The question of whether we truly needed the full $7.4 million to get the city through the end of the year at this exorbinent interest rate still exists as well.

As I stated at the meeting, and was confirmed by the Mayor last night and today – the Commonwealth wired $2.6 million in advance pension payments to the city, allowing it to pay the GO debt and make payroll.  However, Council passed an outrageous loan in which the city could pay $16 million to take out $7.4 million.

During the pressure filled session last night, the Administration’s Robert Kroboth did not bring up the advanced payment from the Commonwealth – I brought it up to him.  For him not to bring up this vital piece of information and instead simply pressure Council members to “pass this loan or else” was irresponsible.  If the Administration did not have the same information that I had that the money was coming from the Commonwealth – they are irresponsible and in the dark.  If they did know, they were not telling the truth and keeping Council and the taxpayers of the city in the dark.

For the Administration to use the official city website to malign City Council members is outrageous.  I would think that the top stories of the City’s website would have information about where those affected by the flood can go for help and other important topics rather than attacks on publicly elected officials.

9/14/11: No need to worry, Harrisburg. 

After all is said and done–the City’s assets leveraged–yes, absolutely the stranded debt will be no more. Despite the extreme difficulty in projecting it, The Thompson Administration is confident that the stranded debt will not be over $26 million. And they have a letter to assure them of such: Letter from the Act 47 Team on Stranded Debt

9/14/11: Again, again. 

Harrisburg City Council votes “no” on the Mayor’s Act 47 Plan. It votes “yes” to enable more borrowing to pay off debt. 

9/13/11: The Harrisburg Parking Authority Board meeting 9/12/11.

Roxbury News Video:

1) “Harrisburg Parking Authority_____A $10,645,000 Loan”

2) “Harrisburg Parking Authority____A $10,645,000 Loan-2“

3) “Harrisburg Parking Authority__A $10,645,000 Loan-3″

4) “Harrisburg Parking Authority__A $10,645,000 Loan-4″

5) “Harrisburg Parking Authority__A $10,645,000 Loan-5″

6) “Harrisburg Parking Authority___Corky”

7) “Hbg Parking Authority Vote _Series U-1 U-2 U-3 Bonds”

8 ) “Hbg Parking Authority  _Neil Grover”

9/12/11: The City Treasurer urged City Council members to vote against the Mayor's Act 47 Plan.  

In his letter, Paul Wambach discusses the Mayor’s failure to meet with the City Treasurer or City Controller to discuss the Act 47 Plan, points out inaccuracies in the Mayor’s Plan, and highlights a violation of Harrisburg City Ordinance and Third Class City Code. City Treasurer Letter to City Council Members

9/8/11: Fire Chief Tallioni is in Connecticut. 

On Wednesday, September 7th during a press conference on the status of the Harrisburg Parking Authority loan, Mayor Linda Thompson declared a State of Emergency for the City of Harrisburg. Harrisburg Chief of Police and the Assistant Chief of the Fire Department stood with her. It was notable that Chief Talioni, the Fire Chief was not there.  In response to a reporter’s question about the City exercising emergency initiatives and the the Dept of Fire’s involvement , Thompson said she was using Building & Housing, Public Works, & Parks & Rec staff. She didn’t know what the Fire Department was doing, and no answer was given by the flustered Deputy Fire Chief Neff. Luckily for him, Linda Thompson quickly answered for him. Word is Chief Talioni is in Connecticut looking for a job. And has been for the past few storms in the City.

9/6/11: On Saturday, September 3rd, a notice was posted.

The Patriot News posted an announcement that City Council will reconsider its vote to pass the Mayor’s Act 47 Plan. The last time City Council rejected the Coordinator’s Plan, a similar notice announcing a re-vote was posted. However, before that re-vote could take place, it was cancelled. Thus, this re-vote could be cancelled, too, depending on what happens in the next few days. As Governor Corbett said, the ball’s in City Council’s court. 

HARRISBURG CITY COUNCIL SHALL RECONSIDER THE PASSAGE OF

Harrisburg City Council shall reconsider the passage of Bill 9-2011 at the Legislative Session on Tuesday, September 13, at 6:00 PM, to be held in the City Council Chambers, Room 101 of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. City Government Center, 10 North Second Street, Harrisburg, PA. 

Said Bill is created for the purpose of the following: Bill 9-2011 – An Ordinance adopting and approving the implementation of the Mayor’s Act 47 Recovery Plan for the City of Harrisburg pursuant to the Municipalities Financial Recovery Act and authorizing and instructing the preparation for enactment, adoption and execution of any ordinances, resolutions or agreements and other documents necessary for the implementation of the Recovery Plan. 

A revised Recovery Plan was filed by the Mayor’s Office with the City Clerk on August 22, 2011, and was available for viewing at the Office of the City Clerk, and the Dauphin County Law Library (4th Floor, Front and Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101). On August 31, 2011 Council voted in the negative 4-3 of the recovery plan, as revised. Please note that this meeting on September 13, 2011 is to reconsider that vote.

Copies of said Bill 9-2011 have been filed with the Patriot News and the Dauphin County Law Library (4th Floor, Front and Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101), or are available from the Office of the City Clerk at 10 North Second Street, Suite 1, Harrisburg, PA 17101, Phone: (717) 255-3060.

If any accommodations are required to assist with attendance to the meeting, or if additional information is requested regarding the content of the meeting listed above, please contact the Office of City Clerk at 255-3060. The City of Harrisburg will make every effort to provide reasonable accommodations.

9/2/11: Piccola calls Harrisburg City Council's vote rejecting the Mayor's Act 47 Plan "irresponsible and reckless." 

Piccola Calls City Officials’ Latest Actions ‘Reckless’ & Urges Governor to Enforce Law and Plan for State Takeover

HARRISBURG – State Senator Jeffrey E. Piccola (R-15) condemned the majority of Harrisburg City Council today for once again failing to adopt a recovery plan that would turnaround the financial crisis plaguing the Capital City, labeling their most recent actions as ‘irresponsible and reckless,’ and called on Governor Corbett to freeze state assistance until legislation is approved to provide for a state takeover of the city’s finances.  

“Yet again, these locally elected officials have proven their inability to come to the table and compromise on a plan that is responsible for Harrisburg – a plan that is fiscally sound and provides the necessary road to recovery addressing both the incinerator debt and ongoing structural budget deficit.  This latest activity or ‘lack-there-of’ proves that we cannot wait any longer for a positive outcome and cannot continue down this path of irresponsible decision making and complete lack of leadership by those elected to manage the Capital City’s fiscal affairs,” he said.  “This Mayor and Council have not taken productive action in over 1 ½ years; we’ve already waited too long and cannot afford to further delay.” 

Reacting to the outcome of a vote by City Council on Wednesday evening when members rejected the Mayor’s proposed recovery plan, Piccola emphasized that ‘time is of the essence’ and reiterated his intentions to push  for legislation he has sponsored providing for state oversight of Harrisburg’s financial affairs.  “Senate Bill 1151 remains very much on the table and would provide for the creation of a management board to force implementation of the Act 47 plan and provide much-needed oversight of the city’s troubles.  Until that legislation is enacted which I hope will be adopted as soon as we return to session, I urge the Governor to enforce the law by withholding any pending state funding until the management board is in place,” he added. 

Senate Bill 1151 – amends Act 47 of 1987, known as the “Municipalities Financial Recovery Act,” providing for the creation of a management board for distressed cities of the third class failing to adopt or implement the Act 47 coordinator’s plan.  The bill currently awaits consideration by the House of Representatives.   

“I will be working with my colleagues in the House as well as Governor Corbett to ensure my legislation is adopted for it is the only hope for a responsible plan that can put Harrisburg’s affairs in order without bankruptcy, and without a tax or any new burden on the city’s commuters.  Such a hike would be a major increase for city wage earners,” Piccola said.   

9/1/11: The Republican City Council candidates emerge to begin their campaign. 

Following City Council’s vote on the Mayor’s Act 47 Plan, the three Republican candidates–Ruth Cruz, Allen Bair, and Michael Bretz–issued a join statement deriding their Democratic opponents–Brad Koplinski and Susan Brown Wilson–for their rejections of the Mayor’s Plan. While it is generally assumed that the D’s who won in the Primary Election are the winners of the General Election, this press release shows the R’s want a race…and it’s begun. 

Brad Koplinski and Susan Brown-Wilson join Mayor Linda Thompson’s failed path of inaction. 

From the point Mayor Linda Thompson was sworn in, Harrisburg had been facing ongoing deficits and long term Harrisburg Authority debt. Those same problems should have been apparent to Councilmembers Brad Koplinski and Susan Brown-Wilson. 

Tonight, Koplinski and Susan Brown Wilson continued Mayor Linda Thompson’s failed path of choosing to do nothing over acting in the best interests of Harrisburg’s residents. Koplinski and Brown-Wilson have consistently failed to take action, and have put personal squabbles ahead of finding solutions. Their latest decision places Harrisburg in jeopardy of losing all state funding at a time when Harrisburg’s infrastructure is crumbling, Harrisburg’s residents do not feel safe, and the Harrisburg School District is already under a severe amount of stress.  

“Harrisburg deserves more from our elected representation. Harrisburg deserves a City Council that will put forward detailed proposals and not ignore our neighbors’ needs,” said Harrisburg City Council candidate Mike Bretz. 

“Their failure to do anything shows that we need people who are willing to make hard decisions rather than fall back on their elected positions,” said City Council candidate Allen Bair. 

“This is failed leadership, and we should not put up with it anymore. We need to come together as a community and put people on City Council who will work for the citizens, rather than themselves,” said City Council candidate Ruth Cruz. 

We need people who are willing to do what is best for those who call Harrisburg “home.” We need Allen Bair, Ruth Cruz, and Mike Bretz on Harrisburg City Council. 

8/29/11: Per Mayor Thompson, the Governor support her Act 47 Plan. 

For the first time since taking office, Governor Corbett made time to meet with Mayor Linda Thompson to discuss the capital city’s financial distress. The Governor has not made a statement about his meeting with Harrisburg’s Mayor, and in fact, said no to a press request about it. Thus, Thompson has gotten to define the meeting herself and during a press conference on Friday August 26th, she stated “the governor again expressed his full support of my plan.” Mayor Thompson’s Press Release on her meeting with the Governor: Governor Supports Mayor Thompson’s Recovery Plan. However, in a letter to the Mayor dated August 23rd, the Governor doesn’t actually come out and say he supports the Mayor’s Act 47 Plan. He does say, though, that Dauphin County & AGM should each put their “intention” in writing to be included in the Mayor’s Plan before Council’s vote: Governor Corbett’s Response to City’s Recovery Plan.

8/22/11: The Harrisburg City Council Administrative Committee meeting, Monday 8/22/11. 

After months of accruing business to address and scheduling and rescheduling, Gloria Martin Roberts, Chair of the Administrative Committee, held a meeting. Relatively short notice of this finally-set meeting may have resulted in little attendance, but fortunately, William Cluck attended and wrote a recap, which he posted on the pennlive forum immediately after the meeting. Great thanks to Bill. As originally reported here on 8/11/11 (scroll down to that date to read), the Harrisburg Parking Authority (HPA) is meeting challenges during the process of securing the $6-8 million Mayor Linda Thompson is counting on. The money would go towards paying the City of Harrisburg “pre-paid rent” on a lease of land underneath the Walnut, Chestnut, and Fifth Streets Garages. The Mayor is looking for this loan to close the 2011 budget deficit and get the City through the end of the year.  Unfortunately, though, the HPA is meeting challenges in obtaining the loan, and per tonight’s presentation, they still have not yet received it. 

  

Meeting Agenda: here

Bill Cluck’s recap:

Tonight’s city council administration committee reviewed resolution to approve the RFP for the auction of the wild west artifacts. Although the city had budgeted proceeds from the sale in both the 2010 and 2011 budgets, the mid-year budget review acknowledges they will not see proceeds this year. The resolution had been prepared by the administration in May and wasn’t addressed until tonight.

All members were present except Susan Brown Wilson and Patty Kim.

The Parking Authority made a presentation where they presented the possibility of loaning the city $7.5 million to balance this year’s budget. Here’s the deal: the city would agree to extend the lease for the land under 3 garages from 2016 to 2026. The parking authority would obtain a private bank loan for $7.5 million as pre-payment of rent. The proceeds, after professional fees, would be used to make payroll for the city through first paycheck of 2012 and pay vendors. Pay back of the loan would be $850,000 annually for 15 years. The amount of the loan is based upon the limit of the authority’s ability to take on additional debt this year. The $850,000 would be deducted from the amount the parking authority presently pays to the city. Total repayment will be $11 million.

The representatives of the parking authority admitted they have yet to receive a commitment from a bank willing to make the loan.

Council also reviewed an extension of the franchise agreement with Comcast- which expired one year ago. Comcast will provide the city a grant of $225,000 for new equipment for the WHBG studios (so we can have more religious programming featuring her holiness).

I suggested once again the need for an independent board to prepare a strategic plan and take over oversight of the programming content. In 2005 WHBG generated $78,000 in revenue. Last year, only $18,000.

And incredibly, there was no press of any type at the meeting. WGAL and Fox43 walked out as the parking authority presentation began.

And we wonder why the residents aren’t informed of what their council is doing.

8/22/11: City of Harrisburg co-applicant for Dauphin County Local Share Municipal Gaming Grants. 

• City is Co-applicant for Tri-County HDC Gaming Grant to Develop 25 Homes in South Allison Hill
• City of Harrisburg is Co-applicant for Dauphin County Historical Society Gaming Grant for John Harris Mansion Repairs
• City is Co-applicant for Harrisburg River Rescue and Emergency Services Grant
• City is Co-applicant for $250,000 YWCA of Greater Harrisburg Gaming Grant

8/19/11: The big one has been scheduled--TD Bank vs THA, City and City Treasurer. 

Hearings have been set in the largest case against The Harrisburg Authority and the City of Harrisburg–Motion for Mandamus and Other Relief, which seeks an Order mandating the City give its revenues to the Creditors (on the 2007 notes). That has been scheduled for September 22 at 11am and September 23rd at 9am.  Then on October 17th at 9am and October 19th at 9am, the hearing has been scheduled to consider the Appointment of a Receiver for The Harrisburg Authority.  Read: Scheduling Order TD Bank Case

8/17/11: Another word on the Mayor's Act 47 Plan by Mayor Linda Thompson. 

Act 47 Change Will Come Swiftly Mayor Says.

8/15/11: In the wake of the Mayor's Act 47 Plan meeting. 

Mayor Linda Thompson’s press release on her Act 47 Plan. City Council is scheduled to vote on the plan in a Special Legislative Session Wednesday August 31st at 6:00pm.

Following the mandated public hearing on the Mayor’s Act 47 Recovery Plan for the City of Harrisburg last week, Mayor Linda D. Thompson remains optimistic that the plan has gained broad support across the general public as well as among stakeholders and most public officials.

“Those who view the Act 47 process, under the PA Municipalities Financial Recovery Act, as a political football are making a huge error in judgment.” Mayor Thompson said today.

The Mayor said citizens don’t care about political points gained or lost along the way in this recovery process; “they want decisions made and a plan of action to get their city back on financial track.” Mayor Thompson said.

“Everywhere I go I hear criticism that elected officials are not moving fast enough to address the pressing financial problems facing this city and I agree with them!” The Mayor added.

“We have a sound, realistic plan in place,” the Mayor added, “and no one has produced a better plan. The key stakeholders are at the table and negotiating.” Mayor Thompson said, “We’re sharing the pain and protecting our citizens. We can see light at the end of the tunnel and it is sunlight, not a oncoming train; so the public is quite justified in asking their elected officials, what are we waiting for?”
Change will come swiftly.

Mayor Thompson’s administration has already begun implementing parts of her plan which pertain to the structural deficit – the deficit that is build into the operations of the city by faulty management decisions in previous administrations. Deficits caused, for example, by unnecessary and prematurely negotiated increases in union contracts by the previous mayor.

Mayor Thompson has also proposed a new rental agreement between the City and the Harrisburg Parking Authority for the duration of the existing 2016 land use agreement, which covers three parcels of City land currently used for parking structures, in exchange for an immediate payment of $6-8 million.

“This will deal directly with the inherited structural deficit and assure sufficient cash flow moving into 2012,” the Mayor said. “It also positions the authority for an immediate RFP to lease the system and include several revenue streams.”

The Mayor noted that both transactions will require approval by City Council.

“We’re also moving forward with comprehensive blight reform to accelerate development investment in the city,” the Mayor mentioned last week during a press conference announcing the pending sale of the 11 acre Harrisburg Postal Service site.

“This investment in the postal property opens up the potential for development of a transportation ‘hub” of mixed use structures along that important City gateway.” The Mayor added.

“We’re also moving forward with PILOT strategies; debt collection of the much abused city small business loan program in the past; as well as other economies which will balance the city’s structural deficits.” The Mayor said.

For example Mayor Thompson has already reduced city staff by approximately 20% and reduced overall operational costs by about 11% since coming to office. “I do not anticipate any further cuts in City staff if my plan is approved.” The Mayor said.

The Mayor pointed to the City Department of Parks, Recreation & Enrichment as an example of the impact of current staff limitations.The department is responsible for the maintenance of more than 400 acres of land around the city, with a staff that has been reduced from 32 employees down to the current compliment of only 11 employees.

“Harrisburg is a beautiful city, and we will maintain the highest level of park and riverfront beautification possible,” the Mayor said.

“Under my Recovery Plan we will reorganize Parks and Rec and the Public Works Department to assure a higher level of integrated maintenance and beautification in the City. But we will need the infusion of state grant money available under Act 47 to make that happen efficiently.”

Mayor Thompson remains optimistic that her Act 47 Recovery Plan will make sense to the majority of councilwomen and men as a clear strategy leading to fiscal recovery and a better future for the citizens they represent.

8/11/11: William Cluck's submitted testimony on Mayor's Act 47 Plan. 

On extended union contracts, host municipality benefit fee, retaining professional government relations firm, appointing advisory panel to oversee WHBG/Channel 20, and page comments. Cluck Act 47 Comments

8/11/11: The Harrisburg Parking Authority (HPA) is meeting serious challenges getting the loans needed to assist with Mayor Linda Thompson’s upcoming payroll problems. Currently, Public Financial Management, HPA's financial advisors, is attempting to secure what the Mayor has referred to as "pre-paid rent" of $6-8M on a new lease agreement between the City and HPA for land the City owns under the Walnut, Chestnut, and Fifth Streets Garages. The purpose of this loan (which City Council will need to vote on) is to offset the 2011 budget shortfall which Thompson has stated is $5.6M. This can happen with or without City Council's approval of the Mayor's Act 47 Plan. Yet now it is a concern if a loan to HPA can even be secured. We should know soon.  

8/9/11: Brad Koplinski's statement at Harrisburg City Council. 

Koplinski uses Jefferson County, Alabama as a model and calls for a 1% Dauphin County-wide sales tax. Brad Koplinski’s Statement

8/9/11: The Harrisburg Authority has received a letter of interest for the Incinerator. 

Although THA won’t say who the party is or what the offer amount is, they have said there’s another party interested in purchasing the incinerator.  Now that offer stands along with Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority’s offer of $124 million on the table. 

8/4/11: We may not have heard from him in awhile, but the oration of former Harrisburg Mayor Steve Reed is alive and well as is evident in this month's Clark Resources Newsletter. Reed Strategic Advisors is housed at 321 N Front Street, in a space Reed leases from Clark Resources. 

source: Clark Resources August 2011 Newsletter (as published in newsletter)

Getting Things Done

By Stephen R. Reed

There should be little wonder why so many Americans are turned off by the American political system. In many ways, I am, too. Considering that nearly all of my adult life has been spent in public service that may surprise a few people.

A vast number of citizens do not see the “system” as serving them. They witness, for too often, the inability of the political system to get things done – to bring together divergent views into common cause to achieve public good. 

There is an enormous difference between the words “politician” and “public servant”, and most citizens think most elected (and sometimes appointed) officials are the former,

There is much difference between the political proves that existed decades ago and what passes today as its successor.

Civility is largely gone. The goal is too often not to get good things done- it’s to block, thwart and stalemate. It’s to denigrate those of differing views. The internet and blogs, many times anonymously so, deliver instantaneous sharp attacks on others’ views, integrity, patriotism, and purpose. Some news media not only accentuate this buy actively seek and encourage it. No good comes of it.

Solving problems? We had a far greater capacity to do so than what exists today. It’s frequently a Washington playbook game to deliberately not solve an issue that could be exploited and used to political advantage in the next election cycle. This practice has infiltrated into many a state and local level.

Are these words too negative? The genius of American Democracy has always been in producing compromise that advances the Nation and its states and communities. Divided politics today clearly threatens that ability. 

Despite the experience and events which give rise to these views, I remain an eternal optimist. America and its states and communities have overcome many a challenge in our history and we can and, I believe shall reform the political system to resume a far better capacity to do so again.

Our national economic strength, our position amidst the growing global economy, and out society’s ability to unite people through shared values and out common national experience together will depend upon this.

No one person, political party or philosophy is always right and none have a monopoly on the best ideas. We should embrace those of either political party who understand this and whose purpose in public office is public service first.

8/2/11: The City of Harrisburg made the August 1st deadline and submitted its request for Dauphin County sponsorship for its Local Share Municipal Gaming Grant application. On average Dauphin County awards $7-8M each year in local share gaming grants. Dauphin County is pretty clear about the process for applying for Gaming Grants. In order for a municipality to be eligible to apply, it must either be or border the Hollywood Casino host community, East Hanover Township. If a municipality is not a host or border community, then it must have a sponsor. Fortunately, Dauphin County received Harrisburg's request for sponsorship by the deadline of August 1st. If Dauphin County agrees to sponsor the City, then Harrisburg's actual Gaming Grant application is due September 1st.  Gaming Local Share Municipal Grant Application & Appendices 

7/28/11: The Thompson Administration releases a short & sweet statement about Mayor Thompson's meetings with 6 of the 7 City Council members.  "MAYOR THOMPSON MEETS WITH SIX CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS"

7/25/11: Brad Koplinski and City Council colleagues, Susan Brown Wilson and Eugenia Smith held a press conference to discuss the Act 47 process.  Koplinski's statement below. Link to Resolution 25-2010 (laying out a procedure for the sale/lease of HBG's assets) in blue at end of statement.

Good Afternoon - 

Some would say that the four of us began our work to help dig our way out of Harrisburg’s fiscal future last August, when we stood up and said no to have Scott Balice serve as the city’s financial advisor – because they were hired through a no-bid contract worth hundreds of thousands of state taxpayer dollars.  However, in reality, it began four months earlier.  In April of 2010, City Council passed Resolution 25 of 2010 – which laid out the process in which assets would be sold or leased in the City of Harrisburg, if it came to that. It made very clear our beliefs that we have been professing for well over a year since then. 

This legislation ensured a fair, transparent and honest process to transact major assets, as we foresaw our fiscal crisis coming to a head.  Resolution 25 called for the following to occur, before the sale or lease of city or authority assets: 

That all other options to bring Harrisburg to a condition of fiscal stability, including bankruptcy, be presented to Council for consideration.  

That all assets of the Harrisburg Authority have been evaluated and considered for possible sale.  

That a forensic audit with regards to the Harrisburg Authority be completed and presented to Council.

That the efforts to “claw back” fees or other funds deemed recoverable after the audit shall have begun. 

Resolution 25 also has provisions that state that:

Any revenue generating assets approved for sale or lease revert back to City/Authority ownership at the end of 30 years.  

Offers to acquire City assets must be solicited competitively, in an open and transparent way, and evaluated by competent and independent professionals, previously approved by Council through a process of obtaining Requests for Qualifications and Proposals. 

All private parties and entities engaged in the evaluation or the sale or lease of City assets must disclose all legal and consulting relationships, including financial terms, with the City or any of its authorities and/or any of the entities being evaluated or conducting the evaluation prior to being allowed to participate.  

It is in the spirit and substance of Resolution 25 that moved us to vote against the state’s Act 47 plan.  It did not adhere to the criteria that we mandated in our legislation.  It did not pursue every option to create a fair and viable solution.  

Two developments have occurred since our vote last Tuesday evening.  First, of course, is that the Mayor must now formulate the city’s plan for Act 47.  We hope that her plan will be in compliance with Resolution 25.  The four of us reached out to her to offer our assistance to the Mayor and asked to meet with her last week.  Unfortunately, the Mayor chose not to meet with us during the first week of the process for creating a plan – the immediate timeframe in which we believe we should have been sitting around a table brainstorming and coming up with options and then having time to run the numbers or carry out appropriate meetings and phone calls.  Despite not being allowed to meet with the Mayor until the final week of her deliberative process, today we are offering concepts for her consideration in good faith.  

The second development is that we were asked to meet with the Governor’s Chief Counsel.  We had considered and intended to meet with the Governor’s office, with an attorney present – until we were notified after business hours on Friday, that Council President Gloria Martin Roberts called a Special Legislative Session to reconsider the State’s Act 47 plan.  A re-vote. A do over.  A mulligan.  Senator Piccola called us children last week.  This action would show that belief exists in other minds as well.  It’s as we have been told that we misbehaved and this is our chance to have backsies and if we vote the right way, all would be forgiven.  But the Act 47 team failed us by not putting together a plan that treats the people of Harrisburg with dignity and respect.

Obviously, it would be imprudent and improper for us to have a private meeting with any of the stakeholders, now that a reconsideration vote has been requested.  However, we believe that we should communicate with the Governor’s office – but we should do so in a public forum.  We are asking the President of Council to call a public meeting this week with the Governor’s representatives – so that they may ask any and all questions of us, as to our wishes and concerns with the Act 47 process and we can do so in a public forum.  If that meeting is not called by the close of business today, I ask that my colleagues put together the four votes to call the meeting ourselves.  

As I said a minute ago, the Act 47 team did not follow Resolution 25, in that it did not give Council every option available to the city.  It saw the sale of assets as the best and nearly only option to close our debt.  They did not fully consider a county wide sales tax – which Allegheny County and Philadelphia have been allowed to do.  They did not put forth an increase in the earned income tax – like 15 other Pennsylvania cities have been granted the right to levy by their county courts.  They did not look at monetizing the parking garages – through refinancing or enhancing the services of the existing Parking Authority – which would be an innovative option.  They did not suggest things like a drink tax either or shorter work weeks.  While some of these may ask for more from our residents, they would allow for a much greater contribution from groups outside the city and allow us a better chance to keep our assets.  These are outside of the box options that would show that the Act 47 team considered all possibilities – pursuant to Resolution 25 – but more importantly, because the people of Harrisburg deserve it.  The people need warriors for the city – ready for battle with tanks and battleships.  But with the plan that we received, it showed that they only brought pea shooters and sling shots.  The Act 47 team did not even arrange one meeting between Council and AGM, a major stakeholder – not one meeting.  

We stated our ideals 15 months ago, when we passed Resolution 25.  The bondholders, AGM, the county keeps ignoring us – like we will go away.  But we will not go away.  We will stand here as the representatives for the people of Harrisburg.  Those that will fight for the right things – for the right reasons.  

This is transparency.  This is good government.  This is what the people of Harrisburg are hungry for and deserve.  This is what we have been talking about for the last 15 months.  We will not stop fighting for the people of our city.  They elected us to work for them.  They also elected Mayor Thompson to work for them.  We expect her to fulfill her duties in creating a workable and viable plan that follows Resolution 25.  A plan that gets more from those that benefited from Harrisburg’s fiscal crisis – that provides a global and complete solution – that ensures a forensic audit – that obtains fair and honest appraisals of the city’s major assets and is a transparent process.  And makes sure that no one that got rich off of getting us into this mess is going to get rich by getting us out of it.

To those that have made money at the expense of the taxpayers of our city.  Read Resolution 25.  To those who want to sell our parking garages to entities that would take advantage of Harrisburg.  Read Resolution 25.  To those who want to lease our assets for 50 or 75 years or more.  Read Resolution 25.  To those that say we don’t need a forensic audit of the Harrisburg Authority.  Read Resolution 25.  To those who choose not to pursue and investigate every option to raise revenue for our city.  Read Resolution 25.  

We have copies of Resolution 25 here today and they are also available, free of charge from the Acting City Clerk.  

The words and beliefs in Resolution 25 are what have guided us in our public service.  To make sure that the people of Harrisburg are not taken advantage of by those that can take care of themselves just fine.

Senator Piccola says that Harrisburg wants a bailout.  He has taken away our right to file for bankruptcy and is now threatening our right to raise money to help ourselves.  He has and is continuing to change the rules of the game.

It is Senator Piccola who is giving the bailout – To the bondholders – To AGM and to the county.  He is looking for another Wall Street bailout – on the backs of the people of Harrisburg.

It is now Monday at Noon – The titans of Wall Street are back from their weekends in the Hamptons or their ranches in the rockies.  Their yachts should now be back at the docks.  Their private jets should have landed at least an hour or two ago.  They should all be back in their offices to talk about the people of Harrisburg.  They do not care how they get their money – just as long as they get it.  I wonder how much money AGM spent to make sure that the people of Harrisburg can’t file for bankruptcy – making sure that they would get their bailout.  It would be nice if AGM put as much effort into helping Harrisburg get one of these more innovative solutions, so we can pay them – without having to sell all of our assets – and our future. 

Resolution 25-2010 (April 2010): Procedure for the Sale or Lease of HBG Assets

Mayor Linda Thompson assures Harrisburg she's working with everyone to come up with a plan:  MAYOR THOMPSON IS WORKING WITH STAKEHOLDERS 7-25 

7/20/11: Senator Piccola issues a statement on Harrisburg City Council's vote.

Sen. Jeffrey E. Piccola: Piccola reacts to City Council’s rejection of Act 47 plan.Underscores that a Commuter Tax is “Not an Option”HARRISBURG – Senator Jeffrey E. Piccola (R-15) issued the following statement today reacting to Harrisburg City Council’s rejection of the Act 47 plan, known as the “Municipalities Financial Recovery Act,” emphasizing that a tax on the region’s commuters into the Capital City is not an option, and calling on Governor Corbett to withhold state funding.“The latest news of City Council rejecting the state’s Act 47 plan is no great surprise and reveals their hand as they look to intimidate our region, our taxpayers and the Commonwealth at large.  But more importantly, their actions speak volumes on the need for the legislation pending in the General Assembly which would require a management board to force implementation of the plan.”“Council’s rhetoric indicates that they have dug their heels on this issue and are looking for a bailout.  But they cannot and should not allow the citizens – our taxpayers – to be responsible for the fiscal incompetence caused by those elected officials who are responsible for the governance of the city.  The people – the working families of this region – had nothing to do with this financial mess and therefore shouldn’t be saddled with any bailout or additional tax burdens.”“That’s why a commuter tax or any new tax, frankly, is not an option.  To ask non-resident workers to be burdened with this is simply unfair.  I’ve sponsored a bill once again this legislative session, along with Representative Ron Marsico, that would prevent Harrisburg – or any city declared distressed under Act 47 – from levying a wage or commuter tax on non-residents.  A commuter tax is not a solution and would not solve these financial problems.  A viable solution has already been developed by the Act 47 team.”“Based upon the latest irresponsible acts of City Council, I have asked the Governor to enforce the law and withhold state funding for Harrisburg should our local officials fail to adopt an alternative plan that is substantively similar to the originally proposed coordinator’s plan.  I will also continue working towards the passage of Senate Bill 1151, legislation which I’ve authored that would establish a board to oversee and guarantee the implementation of the Act 47 plan for the city.  It’s time our local officials begin acting responsibly and these steps appear to be the only rational recourse.”

Letter from Senator Piccola to Governor Corbett

7/20/11: At the end of the City Council Special Legislative Session vote on the Act 47 Plan, Gerald Cross of the PA Economy League, member of the Act 47 Team, was overheard saying so long to a City resident. He went on to say that since City Council voted down the Plan, that essentially was the end of the job for the Act 47 Team.  Unbeknownst to him, it seems, that's not quite true. Per the Municipal Financial Recovery Plan statute, the Coordinator's job is not quite finished. The Mayor has 14 days to present a plan, then within 10 days of presentation, there must be a public meeting. The statute reads: "The coordinator shall attend the public meeting and furnish written and oral comments on the governing body’s plan." So, even if the Team doesn't stay together, the Act 47 Coordinator, Julia Novak, isn't quite done with Harrisburg just yet. 

7/11/11: Effective 5/31/11, Robert Philbin is officially the City of Harrisburg's Senior Advisor to the Mayor/Director of Communications. His salary is $77,000/yr. See his duties: Senior Advisor to the Mayor/Director of Communications Description

7/8/11: House Urban Affairs Committee will hold a public hearing on Act 47 on July 26th, 9:30 am in the Ryan Office Building, Room 205. While the Committee has not yet decided who all will testify, Harrisburg City Councilman Brad Koplinski is on the docket. 

7/7/11: Mayor Linda Thompson claims Court-ordered victory and City Controller Dan Miller says the Mayor's press release is "disingenuous." The order of controversy: Mayor and City vs. Miller and Wambach. As a lawyer could explain, this is not a judgment. This is an order ordering the parties to do what the parties have agreed to do....for now. A judgement is yet to come with a court date later in the month. 

7/7/11: In case you missed it, here is the link to Mayor Linda Thompson's interview on WHP 580 on 6/30/11. LT on the radio

6/30/11: Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson will be on WHP 580 today at 3pm. 

6/30/11: The Thompson Administration's statements on the Act 47 Plan. 

• 6/29: ”Can do Harrisburg.”–Mayor’s Response to Municipal Financial Recovery Act 47 Plan
• 6/27: Mayor Thompson Says Act 47 Success Will Require Trust Among Stakeholders
• 6/24: Act 47 Update

6/28/11: Despite an Act 47 recommended hiring freeze, the Thompson Administration has hired a new ombudsman. It seems this has been done so former Harrisburg ombudswoman, Brenda Alton, can become director of Department of Parks, Recreation, and Enrichment. 

6/22/11: City Council wins over the Fire Union. Probably unbeknownst to them, the Harrisburg City Council made a profound impression on HBG Fire Union President Eric Jenkins during last night's Special Legislative Session. Afterwards, Jenkins said that he was very impressed with the way in which City Council--together--handled the Act 47 Plan discussion. So much so that even though he walked into the meeting, he was resistant to talk with any City leadership about union business. However, by the end of it he had changed his mind. Jenkins said that if City Council asked for a meeting, he'd willingly grant it. Trust. That's what got created. City Council, I hope you get this message. 

6/22/11: The Mayor embarks on a 3-day fast and prayer for Harrisburg, but her spokesperson wants the public to know, "there's no religious bias in the city workplace." Thompson Administration statement here. 

WHTM 27–“Harrisburg mayor plans 3-day fast“

6/21/11: Piccola's bill's got the votes to pass? 

Of course we won’t know this until Bill 1151 comes up for vote, but insider gossip, scuttlebutt, and rumor is saying the votes are there. Let’s hope this hearsay is wrong. Access the Bill & its highlights here. 

6/17/11: Senator Piccola introduces Senate Bill 1151. 

On Wednesday, June 15th, Senator Jeff Piccola announced legislation which would permit “State takeover of Third Class Cities in gridlock regarding their fiscal recovery.” See Piccola’s press release here.

SB 1151 would:

In the case that a 3rd-class city fails to adopt a Coordinator’s Act 47 recovery plan,

• a 3-person “management board” would be established to implement the Coordinator’s plan
• Powers of the board would include the ability to negotiate inter-governmental cooperative agreements & to direct the sale of assets
• Any city under control of such a management board would not be permitted to file for Ch. 9 bankruptcy

Two members of the 3-member board would be appointed by the governor and one member would be appointed by the county commissioners.

6/15/11: The key to the Walnut Street Garage storage space has been found. 

Acting City Solicitor Jason Hess contacted the Harrisburg Authority to notify them a key to the artifact storage room has been found, so the inventory THA set out to do on 6/7/11 can commence. 

6/15/11: Mayor Thompson applauds her own leadership. 

Thompson Administration issues a press release on the Act 47 Plan. “Act 47 Plan Indicates Efficient Administration Management over the Last Two Years“

6/15/11:  "Sunoco station demo and new build at 2nd and Maclay streets approved by Harrisburg City Council"

6/9/11: The Thompson Administration changes its twitter handle.  

No explanation, but an afternoon tweet indicates: “We have changed our Twitter account of our protected account to – CityofHbgMedia – this account is for members of the media only.” @cityofhbg2 remains as it, open to any and all to follow. It sits unused. 

6/9/11: No one had a key. 

The Harrisburg Authority Board member Bill Cluck has stated that he along with fellow board member Westburn Majors had scheduled an appointment to do an inventory of Harrisburg’s artifacts at the Walnut Street garage storage space on 6/7/11 on behalf of the Harrisburg Authority. They waited for someone from the Administration to arrive to open the door for them so they could begin the tedious cataloging task. Of all people to arrive, Mayor Linda Thompson showed up–in full entourage (including the Administration’s twitterer/official photographer & Channel 20).  No one had a key. Full entourage, cameras, yet no key. And in the words of Cluck in a post mentioning this incident, “one day later–still no key.” It seems one can’t be located. No tweets or statements on this situation from the Administration. 

Bill Cluck’s post on pennlive.com under the article “Harrisburg hopes selling Wild West artifacts will help its financial battle“

Here is the historical facts: In 1991, Reed asked if a special account could be established at the Harrisburg Authority for economic development projects. Bill Balaban opined it was legal under municipal authorities act- then board member ron buxton introduced the resolution establishing the first account. It was supposed to only have non city related funds. as the years went by, it eventually morphed into something much larger. whenever the authority would issue bonds it would include an administrative fee in the transaction- that fee was then deposited into the special projects account. The board approved by resolution delegation of its spending power to reed to go buy artifacts. the purchases of the civil war artifacts served as the local matching funds for the state grant to construct the civil war museum. Reed’s intention was to do the same for sports hall of fame, african american, wild west museums. he had the full support of the board, which consisted of trent hargrove, leonard house, james kellar and fred clark. once the central penn business journal broke the story in 2003, the board amended the resolution to put in checks and balances over reed’s spending. the check being pre-approval and post purchase requisitions. not a single purchase was turned down.

of course the former mayor was not experienced as an expert in historical artifacts and overpaid for much of the collection. some items were not what they were represented to be. there was at least one lawsuit- documented last year by roxbury news that resulted in the city receiving some funds.

although all of the funds came through the harrisburg authority, in 2003, someone determined that anything bought before 2003 was “gifted” to the city and anything after 2003 was the property of the authority. i suspect this was because no one could match up dollars spent, invoices, purchases with the items. many are just not accounted for- so they were never put on an inventory list.

shockingly, the city did not properly manage these items when they arrived. most of the time, they were shipped. lavenda and pickles went on a few trips but not as many as has been implied. boxes would arrive at city hall and put into storage. no one was responsible for opening them and cross checking them with what the mayor allegedly bought.

although the mayor and authority did not issue press releases announcing the purchases, they were part of the official records of the authority and any enterprising reporter could have read the board minutes or requested bank account statements. but the newspaper never showed interest- they were lock stock and barrel behind the wonderful transformation of the city between 1982 and 2003.

so- was the program itself illegal- i personally don’t think so. was the board negligent in oversight- yes. was the mayor irresponsible in his purchases- yes. did the city fail to properly handle museum quality items- yes.

at this point- the condition of the city’s artifacts is sketchy. the warehouse is not climate controlled and they have been left to rust, dust and disintegrate in the past two years.

incredibly, the authority was scheduled to inventory its artifacts in the walnut st garage yesterday- but when the mayor and channel 20 arrived, they did not have the key to the room. one day later- still no key.

i still think they should be displayed somewhere in the city so the taxpayers can see for themselves what they bought. some may want to buy some of them for historical purposes.

any questions?

6/2/11: Eric Papenfuse won't challenge the votes.  

In a series of tweets, Papenfuse announced he will not challenge the discrepancies his campaign found in its vote examination. He stated he had been advised by his attorneys that his challenge could result in a special election with Wendy Jackson for the Dauphin County Commissioner Democratic nomination in the General Election. However, he claims the cost to his campaign and to the County taxpayers makes a challenge not feasible. Wednesday, June 1st, the Dauphin County Board of Elections signed the tally into the official record, and after 5 days–if no challenge–the votes will be come certified, i.e. Jackson wins over Papenfuse by 12. 

5/26/11: Dauphin County will inspect voting machines? 

It was said that Dauphin County Bureau of Registration and Elections director Steve G. Chiavetta has sent for a firm from Philadelphia to come and inspect the County’s voting machines. This seems to come in light of Eric Papenfuse’s examination of the ballots from the County Commissioner’s race. At last public count on Friday, May 20th, 12 votes separated Eric Papenfuse from losing to Wendy Jackson. It looks like certification of results are scheduled to take place next Wednesday, June 1st (per @EricPapenfuse).  It will be interesting to see what comes of the examination as well as from the talk of the voting machine inspections. In September 2009, Chiavetta assured us the machines were state of the art. The Patriot News (archives)--“Dauphin County has quality voting machines”

A probe into the question about Dauphin County issuing an inspection of County voting machines indicates the answer is no, Dauphin County will not be inspecting voting machines. James Roxbury, Roxbury News, made an inquiry to Steve Chiavetta who stated that the machines show no problems, thus, no need for inspection. The Papenfuse camp continues its examination of the May 17th primary votes, scrutinizing sign-in books and numbered lists of voters. Chiavetta did confirm that the certification of all County votes is scheduled for next Wednesday.  See @EricPapenfuse for his tweeted chronicle of this process. 

5/26/11: "Bring the paddywagon.....Harrisburg Police need to start arresting these children."

These were the words of City Council President Gloria Martin Roberts at Tuesday’s Legislative Session. She told of a personal experience she had with Harrisburg youngsters walking down the middle of the street in front of her car. She called on the Harrisburg Police to enforce the curfew ordinance and to begin to fine the parents of children who break it. Roberts said she would be sending a request to the Mayor for stricter Harrisburg curfew enforcement.  As it is now, the curfew is anyone under 18 must be off the streets between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Monday through Thursday. On weekends, the curfew is midnight to 6 a.m. Read the full ordinance here.

5/26/11: Correction from yesterday's post: It's The Harrisburg Authority on Twitter (not Harrisburg Parking Authority). Follow them @TheHbgAuthority. Maybe that typo mistake will inspire the HPA to begin tweeting. Then they can keep the public up to date on what they're discussing about the parking garages and the land underneath. 

5/25/11: Back to talk on leasing the land under the parking garages. 

At the Harrisburg Parking Authority meeting on 5/24/11, the HPA Board disclosed that in an executive session, they discussed the legalities of selling/leasing the land under the parking garages, as had been previously proposed by Mayor Linda Thompson as a way to balance her  ”oops” 2011 Budget blunder. 

5/23/11: Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson refutes Senator Piccola's proposal to amend Act 47. 

“Mayor Thompson’s comments on Sen. Pocola’s memo” (the misspelling of Piccola’s name is their mistake, not TtDHbg’s). Update: the original misspelling has been corrected by the City of Harrisburg, which is good…after 3 days of wrong presentation, but this whole “mistake” begs several questions: who is in charge of communications? Robert Philbin? Is he tired, spent, in over his head, or sabotaging? No need to be melodramitic of course, but to send something out with a misspelled headline….the senator’s name, nonetheless? Philbin’s 90 days “interim” ends in June, right around the time the Act 47 plan comes out. 

5/19/11: Piccola discusses Legislation that would supersede City authority on Act 47 Plan. 

At a town hall meeting on Wed. the 18th at the Derry Street Methodist Church, Senator Piccola disclosed that there is pending legislation currently being drafted that would create leverage over the City of Harrisburg government in regards to the upcoming Act 47 Plan. He was brief and imprecise about it, but it seems Piccola’s sponsoring it & looking for co-sponsors. He indicated it would be weeks before the public would see a draft.

A bit of research yielded this–on May 6, 2011, Senator Piccola sent out a memo to all Senators seeking co-sponsors on legislation he’s proposing to amend Act 47 so that in the case that a 3rd-class city fails to adopt a coordinator’s Act 47 recovery plan, a 3-person “management board” would be established to implement the coordinator’s plan. Powers of the board would include the ability to negotiate inter-governmental cooperative agreements & to direct the sale of assets. Any city under control of such a management board would not be permitted to file for Ch. 9 bankruptcy. 

Two members of the 3-member board would be appointed by the governor and one member would be appointed by the county commissioners. 

Obviously, he’s doing this in anticipation of Harrisburg’s upcoming plan which is be to presented by the Act 47 Team mid to late June. 

Read: Piccola’s memo 

The Patriot News picks up the story: “Sen. Jeff Piccola seeks teeth for Harrisburg’s Act 47 plan”

5/18/11: Statement from Mayor Thompson on yesterday’s election results 

“Congratulations to all candidates for stepping up and taking part in our democratic process. Congratulations to all those successful; it is now time to get to work and move this great city forward.  To those not successful in the primary, it is important for you to stay engaged in public issues and remain committed to progressive transition for our community into the future. We welcome you into other areas of public service. (City of Harrisburg Current News)

5/12/11: A slew of Harrisburg Current News posts including Thompson Administration statements on her delinquent taxes & ex-City Hall employees talk. Harrisburg Current News

5/11/11: The Harrisburg Authority Board unanimously votes to appoint THA Engineering Director, Shannon Williams, Interim Executive Director.

5/11/11: What did happen with Barb Vayo? 

No press release from City Hall on the the departure of Barb Vayo, but theories & tales out of Harrisburg City Hall indicate that strife between Acting Communications Director Bob Philbin & senior assistant to the Mayor Barb Vayo contributed to her termination. Also, there is intrigue about the details of her physical exit from City Hall.

5/6/11: Mayor Linda Thompson has Acting City Solicitor, Jason Hess, write a letter to the Patriot News' publisher in regard to the water main break. Harrisburg City Current News--"Request for Retraction" 

5/5/11:  Michele Torres, Executive Director of the Harrisburg Authority resigns. 

At the HBG Incinerator Stakeholders meeting at 2pm at the Crowne Plaza, Marc Kurowski, Harrisburg Authority Board Chair verifies that on 5/4/11, Michele Torres resigned as Executive Director of the Harrisburg Authority. Kurowski said it was a “mutual decision” & that all parties realized that THA was going “in a different direction.” 

5/4/11: The Harrisburg Authority's Executive Director Michele T. V. Torres, J.D. will be leaving her position. The formal, public announcement will be coming soon.

5/4/11: The fire fighters petition to intervene in the biggest legal case against the City of Harrisburg: TD Bank, M&T and AGM vs THA, City & Treasurer.  On April 29, 2011, Local Union No. 426, Internationational Association of Fire Fighters, filed a petition in Dauphin County Court. In the petition the union argues they have a right to intervene in this case because if TD Bank is granted its Order of Mandamus, then the City will be unable to pay the union its contractually obligated wages. The TD Bank claim alleges unpaid debt service and debt service reserve totals more than $41 million, and they want all first dollar tax monies & revenues to debt payments before anything else...and that includes wages, union wages.  A complicated case just got more complicated. Local 428 Petition to Intervene

5/3/11: Direct Deposit back on per the Thompson Administration. Harrisburg City Current News--"CITY WILL REINSTATE DIRECT DEPOSIT BANKING FOR ALL CITY EMPLOYEES"

5/3/11: The Pride Festival's snafu: the parade portion of the annual festival is off. Part of the reason? Little help from the City of Harrisburg's Dept of Parks, Recreation, & Enrichment. CentralVoice's Weblog-- "Parade Off, Festival On"

• 5/5/11: Harrisburg City Current News–“CITY WELCOMES GAY PRIDE PARADE“

5/1/11: Kinda true, not all false? 

Laura Vescey Commentary, The Patriot News--“Commentary: There’s no need for a museum — Harrisburg government is Wild West”

4/29/11: Incinerator Stakeholders Thursday, May 5th @ 2pm. 

It doesn’t seem that all the details are confirmed yet, so until then, we’re not sure who’s attending and who’s not.

4/29/11: The City of Harrisburg begins to tweet.

•  Harrisburg Current City News–“CITY TWITTER MEDIA UPDATES AVAILABLE ON TEST BASIS”

 4/26/11: Harrisburg Tax Abatement ordinance to be repealed. 

On December 30, 2010, Harrisburg City Council passed Bill 26-2010, adopting tax exemptions for City properties. Mayor Linda Thompson signed the legislation on January 5, 2011.

On February 16, 2011, Dauphin County solicitor, Jeff Engle, Esq., presented his findings to the Dauphin County Commissioners, declaring the City of Harrisburg tax abatement bill to be “illegal.” In response to Engle’s findings, Commissioner George Hartwick said, “Clearly they have not demonstrated the ability to move forward and administer anything with a great deal of competence or confidence.”

At that meeting, CREDC President David Black & Brad Jones of Harristown Development Corporation spoke in support of the need for a Harrisburg tax abatement program. Harrisburg School Board President Roy Christ was also present. Legally, in order for the City of Harrisburg to pass a tax abatement ordinance, the County & School District must agree to it. 

Patty Kim, chair of Harrisburg Community & Economic Development Committee held a meeting to discuss Bill 3-2011, an ordinance to repeal Bill 26-2010. 

• 2/16/11: Minutes from Dauphin County “LERTA” meeting
• 4/25/11: Commentary from Councilwoman Patty Kim on Twitter (after CEDC mtg)

4/25/11: Another Thompson Cabinet Member Resigns. 

City of Harrisburg Parks, Recreations, and Enrichment Director Dr. Dwayne B. Thomas has put in his resignation & will be leaving mid-May. He began in June of 2010.

• 4/27/11: Harrisburg Current City News–“DR. BRENDA ALTON NAMED ACTING DIRECTOR OF PARKS, RECREATION & ENRICHMENT”

4/22/11: Mr. Kroboth goes to Washington. 

It’s been discloseRobert Kroboth, Mayor Thompson’s Financial Director, went to Washington, D.C. during the last week of March to testify before the Securities Exchange Commission.  On what, we don’t know. 

• 4/27/11: The Patriot News–“SEC continues probe of Harrisburg debt crisis at Harrisburg Authority”