Tag Archives: Destini Hodges

Councilman Johnson says good-bye, as Harrisburg prepares to fill vacancy.

August 28, 2018 | by Lawrance Binda

Cornelius Johnson has announced his intent to leave Harrisburg City Council.

An emotional city councilman gave a preliminary farewell to his colleagues on Tuesday night, as the Harrisburg City Council prepared to fill its third empty seat in a year.

Councilman Cornelius Johnson choked back tears as he reflected on his 2½ years in office, saying that he had grown as a person during that time and hoped that he has served his native city well.

“Harrisburg is a very special place,” he said. “I believe it will be as great a city as I know it can be.”

Johnson, 30, announced just last night on Facebook his intent to leave council effective Sept. 14. He is moving to Atlanta to take a job with Chick-fil-A, he said tonight.

After Johnson spoke, his council colleagues took turns praising both his tenure on the seven-member body and his involvement in the community.

“I’m going to miss seeing you at community events. You’re everywhere,” said Councilman Dave Madsen. “I hope you take all these values to Atlanta and hopefully, someday, you’ll come back.”

Council now must appoint a city resident to fill the remainder of Johnson’s four-year term. Council President Wanda Williams tonight said that council will follow a similar process to past vacancies.

Applications for the position will be available beginning Sept. 7 and must be returned completed to city hall by Sept. 21. At an Oct. 3 special meeting, qualified applicants will have the opportunity to briefly introduce themselves to council members, who each will nominate a candidate of their choice. Those nominees then will have a longer interview that night before a vote to select the appointee, who will be sworn in before the Oct. 7 regular meeting.

This will be the third vacancy on council in about a year, as former council members Jeffrey Baltimore and Destini Hodges resigned last year, replaced by Dave Madsen and Ausha Green, respectively.

In his remarks, Johnson said that he believed that Harrisburg has a great future ahead of it, as long as politicians always remember that they’re in office to serve the public, not the other way around.

“We’ve seen what happens when you don’t put residents first,” he said. “We have to keep to our true purpose, and then we’ll see how Harrisburg will improve.”

October News Digest

October 31, 2017 | by Lawrance Binda and Lizzy Hardison

Eastern Deal Rejected

Harrisburg City Council last month voted 4-2 to reject a proposed lease agreement with Eastern University, a Christian college that wished to renovate and rent space in the city government center.

Council’s objection to the agreement, in which Eastern offered to spend $600,000 renovating city hall’s dilapidated basement, centered on the university’s religious affiliation and its requirement that its employees sign a doctrinal faith statement.

In remarks before the vote, Councilman Ben Allatt said he was deeply conflicted about the prospect of ceding public space to a private, religiously affiliated institution.

“The university would not hire someone like me,” said Allatt, who is gay. “I recognize they can do what they want, but they want to come into our city hall, which is a building of the people.”

Council previously pressed Eastern representatives on their commitment to the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance, which outlaws employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. Eastern embraced the non-discrimination policy in a letter to council.

In the same letter, however, Eastern affirmed its right to hire faculty who “fully embrace” the school’s religious mission. Members of council feared that exercising that right would translate into discrimination against LGBT applicants.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse lobbied in favor of Eastern during the meeting, saying that the deal would save the city “real, significant money” by paying for necessary renovations. After the vote, he blasted council’s decision and accused them of squandering a one-of-a-kind opportunity.

“We’re going to have to take taxpayer dollars and devote it to fixing a building instead of fixing a pothole or fixing a park,” Papenfuse said. “To me, it was a no-brainer to move forward in a partnership with Eastern.”

Green to Take Council Seat

Ausha Green will be Harrisburg’s next councilwoman, as City Council plans to appoint her to an open seat.

Council President Wanda Williams announced last month that council will name Green to the seven-member body, forgoing a competitive process that has marked recent council vacancies.

Williams said that council reached a consensus to appoint Green, who had served on the Harrisburg school board.

The seat became vacant after the resignation of former Councilwoman Destini Hodges, who left Harrisburg to take a job out of state.

Come January, Green would have assumed a council seat anyway, as she won the Democratic nomination for council in May, along with incumbents Wanda Williams, Shamaine Daniels and Ben Allatt. There is no Republican opposition for the four, four-year seats.

A two-year council seat also will be on the ballot this month following the resignation in August of former Councilman Jeffrey Baltimore. Councilman Dave Madsen, appointed a month ago by council, is running unopposed for that seat.

Bike Share Launched

A local nonprofit and community sponsors officially launched Harrisburg Bike Share last month, putting 55 communal bicycles on Harrisburg’s streets.

The program is modeled after bike share systems that have sprouted up in recent years in cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Paying members use a smart phone app or text messages to unlock a bicycle from a docking station and then ride and return it to any docking station in the city.

A $25 annual membership gives riders free access to bikes for periods shorter than two hours and then charges $2 for each hour after that. “Pay as You Go” members will be charged $2 for each hour they use a bike.

The program is spearheaded by Communities in Schools Pennsylvania (CIS), a dropout prevention organization, and sponsored by organizations including Highmark insurance and the Dauphin County commissioners. CIS outsources bike share management to Zagster, which operates more than 100 city bike shares across the country.

The bike share includes 11 docking stations in the city’s Uptown, Midtown and downtown neighborhoods and on City Island.

Riley hopes to add more docking locations in the future, but said that user trends will dictate how the program grows. Bike share sponsors will watch ridership data to see who is using the bicycles and for what purposes.

“We need to know if this will be a leisure [service] or if we have people who want to use these bikes to get to employment areas,” Riley said. “We need to see success to know where to expand.”

In conjunction with the launch, Mayor Eric Papenfuse said that the city will establish two bike boulevards in the spring on low-speed, low-traffic streets. A boulevard on Aberdeen Street will connect the Capitol Complex and the Harrisburg Transportation Center, and another on North Street will extend from the Capitol to Riverfront Park.

The city will paint both roads with “sharrows,” road signs indicating a shared lane for cyclists and motorists. The signals do not designate the roads as bike-only lanes.

City Buys Sinkhole-Ravaged Homes

More than 3½ years after a sinkhole erupted on the 1400-block of S. 14th Street, Harrisburg has started to relieve homeowners of their worthless properties, though some residents say that they still have nowhere to move.

Harrisburg last month bought the first of 52 homes on the block, Mayor Eric Papenfuse said, adding that the city is on track to purchase all 52 affected properties by Dec. 31.

“It’s been a very complicated and drawn-out process,” he said.

Papenfuse reported that the purchasing program is the first of its kind in the nation, since sinkhole events are not usually covered by natural disaster relief dollars.

A few years ago, the situation along S. 14th Street seemed dire. However, the city was able to secure about $4.7 million in federal and state disaster relief funding to purchase all the homes at their pre-sinkhole market value.

Despite the announcement, some residents said that they weren’t prepared to move by year-end.

“I’m not ready to move,” said resident Ronald Cook. “We’ve got nowhere to go.”

Papenfuse and Jackie Parker, director of the city’s Department of Community Economic Development, said that the city has been in continual contact with S. 14th Street residents ever since the sinkhole opened in 2014.

Parker also said that the Dec. 31 closing deadline was negotiable, since each property sale is highly individualized. The grants funding the home purchases technically expire on Dec. 31, but Parker said that homeowners do have the opportunity to extend.

“Nobody has to move by any particular time,” Parker said. “Every property owner has a unique situation and unique closing opportunity and paperwork. No two are the same.”

Off-Leash Dogs at Issue

Citations for off-leash dogs are on the rise in Harrisburg, but some residents want the city to do more to enforce leash laws in the city.

As of last month, animal control officers working for the Harrisburg Police Bureau had cited 22 dog owners in 2017 for letting their animals run off-leash. That figure is up from 14 in 2016, 15 in 2015 and zero in 2014, according to data from the Harrisburg Police Bureau.

But many dog owners say that off-leash dogs remain a problem in certain neighborhoods of the city, particularly Italian Lake and the former William Penn High School. Dogs must be restrained on a leash in all public places, including parks, according to ordinance.

The issue surfaced at a City Council meeting last month. One resident said her service dog was attacked by unrestrained dogs at the State Hospital grounds in Susquehanna Township, where she started going to avoid off-leash dogs in Harrisburg.

“I don’t think this problem is being taken seriously,” she said, adding that an attack like the one her service dog suffered could ruin its training.

City Councilman Cornelius Johnson said that one possible solution is increased cooperation between animal enforcement officers and the city park rangers, who are responsible for patrolling Harrisburg’s 26 parks.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse said that the city hopes to budget for another park ranger in 2018, bringing the total rank to three.

Park rangers cannot write tickets, but they make ticket referrals to the police or report stray dogs, Papenfuse said. Animal enforcement officers are also responsible for collecting stray animals and have picked up 78 this year.

Above all, Johnson said, communication is key. He asks residents to report off-leash dog violations when they see them.

“The best thing a resident can do when they come across an issue is call it in,” Johnson said on Thursday. “When we get calls, there’s accountability.”

New Business Administrator

Mayor Eric Papenfuse announced last month that Harrisburg has hired a new business administrator, concluding a two-year search to fill the grant-funded position.

Marc Woolley, an attorney who has worked as general counsel at the Hershey Trust and the Pennsylvania Housing Authority, will direct the city’s Department of Administration and help the mayor manage the city’s budget and finances.

One of Woolley’s major responsibilities will be helping the city determine its next steps in the Act 47 process, a state program for financially distressed municipalities.

His $115,000 salary is funded for three years by an Act 47 grant from the state.

Papenfuse said that he had been performing most of the duties of business administrator himself. He hopes that filling the position will allow him to focus more on strategic planning and community outreach.

More Apartments Downtown

More residences are slated for downtown Harrisburg, as Harristown Enterprises is eyeing another worn-out office building for redevelopment.

Harristown has under contract a vacant, 11,000-square-foot office building at N. 2nd and Cranberry streets currently owned by Camp Hill-based CJ2 Group, which has it on the market for $399,000. Harristown wants to convert the space to 12 one- and two-bedroom apartments, with additional first-floor retail.

Most of the building has long been empty, though a restaurant, Arepa City, occupied the ground-floor retail space until fairly recently.

“Upscale apartments in the downtown are in high demand,” said Brad Jones, president and CEO of Harristown. “We want to bring more exciting unique and desirable apartments to the market to grow the number of downtown residents and to support retail and restaurant activity along this corridor.”

Harristown now must shepherd its plan through Harrisburg’s land development process. To undertake the project, Harristown will need a variance from the city’s Zoning Hearing Board, as the building is not zoned for this use.

Several years ago, Harristown dipped its toe into office-to-residential projects by converting a part of Strawberry Square into apartments. Since then, it’s undertaken several other conversions along S. 3rd Street, adding a total of 60 new apartments downtown.

Harristown also recently began to raze a building on the first block of S. 2nd Street. It expects to build a new office building in that space, pending an anchor tenant.

Home Sales, Prices Up

Harrisburg-area home sales continued their recent upward trend, with both purchases and prices on the rise.

In September, sales increased 3.3 percent and the median price rose 3.2 percent from the year-ago period, according to the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors.

In Dauphin County, 268 units sold versus 256 in September 2016, while the median price increased to $159,950 compared to $155,000. In Cumberland County, sales fell to 289 units from 314 a year ago, though the median price went up to $195,000 versus $179,250 in September 2016, GHAR said.

Perry County had 40 home sales, a decrease of 10 units. However, the median price rose to $166,450 versus $146,950 a year ago.

GHAR covers all of Dauphin, Cumberland and Perry counties and parts of York, Lebanon and Juniata counties.

So Noted

Brittney Parker has been elected to the board of directors of the Commonwealth Foundation, a Harrisburg-based think tank. Parker is a manager of donor relations for the State Policy Network and, prior to that, served on the staff of the Commonwealth Foundation and the LIBRE Initiative.

Capitol Express Grille opened last month at the corner of N. 2nd and North streets in Harrisburg, offering a variety of sandwich and entrée options, with a focus on Middle Eastern dishes. The storefront last housed Aleco’s, which moved up the block to N. 3rd and Briggs streets.

Eight Oaks Craft Distillers began pouring samples last month in the Broad Street Market’s brick building. The stand sells products such as vodka, rum, gin, applejack and whiskey from the Lehigh County-based spirits company.

Changing Hands

Boas St., 209: V. Padilla to W. Lee, $116,500

Cameron Terr., 1513: Clover Court Investments LLC to M. Lewis, $43,000

Cumberland St., 1725: T. McGarrity to PA Double Dels LLC, $34,500

Emerald St., 218: H. Buda & N. Brown to K. Page, $90,000

Fillmore St., 620: L. Kent to C. Austin, $57,000

Green St., 1008: J. Peirson to J. Iole, $120,000

Green St., 1913: WCI Partners LP to B. & K. Cavanaugh, $129,900

Green St., 2026: A. Brett to Fratelli Property Investments LLC, $119,000

Green St., 2102: J. & N. Fodor to C. Watson, $39,900

Green St., 2104: B. & S. Woodard to 2104 Green Street HBG LLC, $44,000

Hamilton St., 226: J. Shoop to J. Rosado, $159,900

Herr St., 1507: Mussani & Co. LP to P. Akhter, $66,000

Lewis St., 237: M. Horgan & Innovative Devices Inc. to N. Reist, $135,000

Market St., 1918: JPM Property Holdings LLC to Round Rock Investments LLC, $70,000

N. 2^nd St., 909: R. & D. Miller to C. Simmons, $55,000

N. 2^nd St., 1009: Bricker Boys Partnership to J. Kok, $148,000

N. 2^nd St., 1509: Vortex Properties LLC to R. Joseph, $109,000

N. 2^nd St., 1616: D. McCord to M. Smith & D. Root, $190,000

N. 6^th St., 2352: E. Waters to E. Wright, $50,000

N. 15^th St., 1429: K. & R. Thames to J. Ewell & G. Jones, $41,900

N. 16^th St., 907: A. Graves to A. Pollard, $110,000

N. Front St., 1525, Unit 505: L. Bublin to G. & C. Francis, $177,000

N. Front St., 1525, Unit 608: R. Murray Jr. to W. Nugent, $182,500

N. Front St., 1525, Unit 609: N. Borreli to C. Yastishock, $161,500

N. Front St., 2301: J. & V. Zarkin to 2301 North Front Street LLC, $362,500

Penn St., 1524: A. Olives to J. Recordon, $122,500

Regina St., 1434 & 1438: M. Naranjo to J. Gutierrez, $30,000

Revere St., 1615: A. Navarro to S. Wolfe, $74,900

Showers St., 584: W. Jenkins to J. Chacko, $67,500

S. 13^th St., 914: D. & N. Martin to Archie Group LLC, $635,000

S. 16^th St., 434: T. Hong to N. Newman, $36,500

S. 17^th St., 1033: Mortgage Equity Conversion Asset Trust 2011-1 to D&F Realty Holdings LP, $40,900

S. 27^th St., 806: PA Deals LLC to M. Cole, $85,000

S. Cameron St., 830: Cameron Street Associates & Select Capital Corp. to Statewide Enterprises LLC, $100,000

S. River St., 309, 311, 318 & 326: Historical Society of Dauphin County to Allilin LLC, $130,000

State St., 231, Unit 402: LUX 1 LP to LUX Rentals LLC, $124,900

State St., 231, Unit 604: LUX 1 LP to LUX Rentals LLC, $154,900

Susquehanna St., 1712: J. Pittman to W. Sweet, $127,000

Swatara St., 2140: G. & J. Trump to Equity Trust Company, $43,000

Swatara St., 2324: SWM Properties LLC to W. & L. Smith, $125,000

Swatara St., 2413: PI Capital LLC to T. Cooper & R. Stern, $138,900

Tuscarora St., 117: W. Morgan & M. Ford to K. Yesilonis, $157,000

Vineyard Rd., 218: S. & J. Clark to J. Pittman & T. Dierolf, $195,000

Wayne St., 1720: M. Kurtz to Round Rock Investments LLC, $34,000

Harrisburg property sales for September 2017, greater than $30,000. Source: Dauphin County. Data is assumed to be accurate.

And Then There Were 7: Green takes council seat.

October 24, 2017 | by Lizzy Hardison

Ausha Green

Harrisburg City Council is operating at full complement once more, thanks to tonight’s appointment of a new council member.

Council voted unanimously to appoint Ausha Green, a former school board member, to a three-month term. Green will fill the seat formerly held by Destini Hodges, who resigned from council earlier this month to take a job out of state.

Green is running unopposed for a four-year council seat in the Nov. 7 general election. According to Council President Wanda Williams, council decided to appoint her early since she would inevitably join the seven-member body in January.

By appointing Green, council decided to forego the open application and nomination process customarily used to fill vacancies. The last council person appointed by that process was Dave Madsen, who occupies the seat vacated by Jeffrey Baltimore in August.

In Early: Green to fill open Harrisburg council seat.

October 10, 2017 | by Lawrance Binda and Lizzy Hardison

Ausha Green

Ausha Green will be Harrisburg’s next councilwoman, as City Council plans to appoint her to an open seat.

Council President Wanda Williams announced tonight that council will name Green to the seven-member body, forgoing a competitive process that has marked recent council vacancies.

Williams said that council has reached an “informal consensus” to appoint Green, who currently serves on Harrisburg school board. A formal vote will occur during the Oct. 24 legislative session, after which Green will be sworn in, Williams said.

The seat became vacant after the unexpected resignation last week of former Councilwoman Destini Hodges, who is leaving Harrisburg to take a job out of state.

Williams said that appointing Green just made sense given her inevitability as a future council member. The appointment will allow Green to participate in the lengthy 2018 budget process, which begins next month.

A two-year council seat also will be on the November ballot following the resignation in August of former Councilman Jeffrey Baltimore. Councilman Dave Madsen, appointed a month ago by council, is running unopposed for that seat.

Another Vacancy: Hodges resigns from Harrisburg City Council.

October 2, 2017 | by Lawrance Binda

Councilwoman Destini Hodges, far right, today announced her resignation.

Destini Hodges has announced her resignation from Harrisburg City Council, the city said late today.

Hodges is giving up her City Council seat to take a job in Louisville, Ky., according to a statement from city spokeswoman Joyce Davis. The resignation will take effect on Friday.

“Councilwoman Hodges said she regretted leaving her position so suddenly, but she has been offered a great professional opportunity through her church,” Davis stated.

Hodges’ resignation marks the second council vacancy in as many months. In August, Councilman Jeffrey Baltimore resigned, and council since selected Midtown resident Dave Madsen to fill that seat until the end of the year.

Hodges, chair of the council’s Parks, Recreation and Enrichment Committee, has served for almost two years. In 2015, she won a two-year seat, but then chose not to run for re-election this year. She also has served on the Harrisburg school board.

Davis said that council has not yet decided how to proceed. Under the Third Class City Code, council has 30 days from the effective day of resignation to make a decision on a replacement. Hodges’ term expires at the end of the year, when she was going to leave the seven-member body.

“We are very excited for Ms. Hodges as she embarks on a new and exciting career path,” said Council President Wanda Williams. “She brought a lot of positive energy to City Council, and we wish her nothing but the best. Destini is young, ambitious and will be an asset to any team she joins.”

Author: Lawrance Binda

“We’re behind” on community policing, Harrisburg councilman says

September 28, 2017 | by Lizzy Hardison

Panelists at Wednesday’s “Know Your Rights” panel sponsored by Harrisburg Hope. From left to right: Brandon Flood, Harrisburg Hope organizer; Chris Siennick, Andy Hoover, Cornelius Johnson, Robert Martin, Anthony Minium, and Steve Zawisky.

How does Harrisburg stack up to its neighbors on community policing initiatives?

Law enforcement officials, legal experts and activists discussed this question and others at Wednesday night’s “Know Your Rights” forum hosted by Harrisburg Hope. The event drew about 60 community members to the Highmark meeting room at Hamilton Health Center.

Councilman Cornelius Johnson, the only city government representative on the panel, thinks Harrisburg has some work to do.

“The honest truth is that we’re behind,” said Johnson, chairman of City Council’s public safety committee, while responding to a resident who asked him about the city’s community policing initiatives.

Johnson identified a few limitations for Harrisburg’s police bureau. He said the city’s financial distress reduced the manpower of the police force, and a nationwide police shortage makes it hard to improve its high vacancy rate.

Harrisburg police also process a higher volume of calls than smaller, neighboring townships, he said.

But according to Johnson, the city needs to ask what else it can do to improve police and community relations. For example, police should be visible in communities when they aren’t responding to calls, he said.

“Within the urban community, there’s a lack of kids who want to be police officers based on lack of interaction with police in Harrisburg,” Johnson said. “When we are only seeing police officers come to the scene of robberies, we are not seeing them in a positive light.”

Johnson also spoke about solutions that the city is considering to bolster community relations. For example, council hopes to use federal Community Development Block Grant money to start an internship program for young adults interested in criminal justice. Eligible youth would have roles in the police department and get scholarships to attend HACC.

Council is also considering legislation that would create a citizen task force to discuss policing initiatives.

Multiple audience members expressed disappointment that Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse and Police Chief Tom Carter did not appear on the panel.

Carter and Papenfuse could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

Susquehanna Township Police Chief Robert Martin and Steelton Police Chief Anthony Minium both appeared to speak about community policing initiatives they implemented in their forces. They said that the goal of community policing is to increase positive contact between police officers and community members.

Martin described programs that have been ongoing in his force since he took over as chief. For example, the “Honorable Endeavor” program requires officers to interact with children when they see them on their patrol. Another program, called “Stand in the Gap,” requires officers to enter schools on their foot patrols and talk to students about a “Word of The Month,” such as “respect” or “devotion.”

Martin said that officers must write a report when they perform a community policing task and undergo quarterly evaluations based on those reports.

In Steelton, police officers interact with local youth through athletic programs and a junior police academy, according to Minium.

“We wanted to make officers more of a social worker on the street,” Minium said.

Johnson, Minium and Martin were joined on the panel by Andy Hoover, communications director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania; Stephen Zawisky, senior deputy district attorney for Dauphin County; and Chris Siennick, a local activist and victim of a 2015 police brutality incident.

City Council President Wanda Williams was scheduled to appear but had to leave town for a family emergency, said Brandon Flood, president of Harrisburg Hope.

Wednesday’s panel was the first event organized by Harrisburg Hope since its dissolution several years ago. The grassroots organization was founded by former Harrisburg resident Alan Kennedy Shaffer and reincarnated by Flood and Harrisburg Councilwoman Destini Hodges.

Flood said that the group will continue to organize forums on a regular basis and will choose future topics based on public input.

Heated Exchange: Harrisburg council, administration argue over political influence, alliances

September 6, 2017 | by Lizzy Hardison

Harrisburg’s newest councilman, Dave Madsen, posed for a picture following last night’s long, sometimes heated, City Council meeting.

A discussion about mayoral term limits and political alliances in Harrisburg drew sharp words at a Tuesday night council meeting, ultimately ending with the City Council president accusing the mayor of trying to influence a council selection process.

Council is considering a resolution that would limit Harrisburg mayors to serving two, four-year terms. The bill was first introduced at the Aug. 29 legislative session and discussed again at Tuesday’s non-voting work session.

While the consensus on council seems to favor term limits, Mayor Eric Papenfuse said that he would only support an ordinance that established term limits on all elected offices.

“It’s a problem to have the legislative branch impose term limits on the executive branch,” Papenfuse said.

He also said that city hall needed to engage the public on the issue and compromise on the length of the term limit before making any change.

Williams agreed that term limits should apply to all branches of government, but then accused the mayor of interfering with legislative activities by trying to influence council votes. The exchange that followed, wherein Papenfuse defended his right to express opinions to council people, became a referendum on the perceived mistrust between the city’s executive and legislative branches.

Williams rebuked Papenfuse for allegedly texting members of council to tell them how to vote in the selection of a new council person. Council held a special session on Tuesday to appoint a replacement for Jeffrey Baltimore, a councilman who resigned last month.

Dave Madsen got the four-vote majority he needed to take the vacant seat, an appointment that only lasts about four months until the winner in the November election can claim the seat. Papenfuse, though, favored another nominee, Brian Ostella. He drew Williams’ ire for sharing his preference before Tuesday’s vote.

“How are we going to be transparent if you text a council person to select a certain individual?” Williams asked Papenfuse. “You should not have been involved in that process—how can we work together if you keep doing things like that?”

Papenfuse defended sending text messages to councilmen Westburn Majors and Cornelius Johnson, saying that he only told them how he would vote if he were called in to break a tie.

“The mayor gets to participate if there’s a tie, so I thought they should know where I stand if there was,” Papenfuse said. “I expressed my opinion that, for a four-month term with the budget vote coming up, that Brian Ostella would be a good addition to council.”

Williams accused Papenfuse of sending a text message to Councilwoman Destini Hodges, who was absent from last Thursday’s special meeting when council began the selection process.

Hodges voted for Madsen at Tuesday’s meeting, bringing his vote total to four and ending the election. If she had voted for Ostella, however, there could have been a tie between the two nominees. Papenfuse denied texting her about the vote.

“I had no conversation with Hodges at all,” Papenfuse said.

The long evening ended with Karl Singleton, special assistant to the mayor, getting into a heated exchange with Williams. He implied that Papenfuse had every right to voice his preference and that, in any case, Madsen was the choice of Williams’ backer, Jimmy Pianka.

Following this tense, loud exchange, Madsen got up briefly to say, “I look forward to working with all of you in a constructive manner.”

Author: Lizzy Hardison
Lawrance Binda contributed to this story.

Decision Made: Madsen named new Harrisburg councilman.

September 5, 2017 | by Lawrance Binda

Dave Madsen (center) chats with fellow council hopeful Brian Ostella at last week’s Harrisburg council meeting.

Dave Madsen is Harrisburg’s newest council member, as City Council today appointed the Midtown resident to a four-month term.

Madsen takes the seat vacated by former Councilman Jeffrey Baltimore, who resigned last month.

Six city residents applied for the position, and City Council named four finalists: Madsen, Brian Ostella, Jennie Jenkins and Joshua Burkholder. In the end, Madsen, Ostella and Jenkins received nominations from council, which selected Madsen, a technician with the state Department of Revenue, by a 4-2 vote.

Council members Wanda Williams, Ben Allatt, Shamaine Daniels and Destini Hodges supported Madsen. Councilman Cornelius Johnson voted for Ostella, and Councilman Westburn Majors voted for Jenkins.

Madsen remained for the lengthy work session that followed his appointment. He is expected to be sworn in before council’s legislative session next week.

This was the second time that council attempted to fill the seat. Last week, council met in a special session to name a new member to the seven-person body. However, because Hodges was absent, no nominee could garner the four votes necessary for the seat.

Madsen will only serve four months. In the November general election, voters will decide who will serve out the remaining two years of Baltimore’s term. Both the Dauphin County Democratic and Republican committees are eligible to nominate one candidate to appear on the November ballot for the seat.

Tomorrow night, the Democratic committee will meet to decide who will be its nominee. Madsen said he also has applied for that nomination.

Author: Lawrance Binda

City Council Update: Park updates, police contract approved.

May 24, 2017 | by Danielle Roth

green grass in bckground, playground in foreground. Blue sky, rowhomes behind it.

The park at 4th and Emerald streets is slated to receive two trees.

Harrisburg may be a step closer to fixing its two city pools, which have struggled for years to open on time and stay open all summer.

Last night, City Council approved a measure to examine the feasibility of renovating its existing pools or constructing a new one. Council approved other measures for city parks, too, including planting trees at four parks, and a police contract.

The city will begin the pool feasibility study after checking that former Mayor Linda Thompson’s administration did not already conduct a similar study. Parks and Recreation Chair Destini Hodges added an amendment that the administration will search for the previous study before the June 6 council meeting.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse said it’s possible that the previous administration conducted a similar study, adding that current city officials did not know of any study. Papenfuse and Council President Wanda Williams both said they would ask the previous administration about the existence of a prior study.

The pools, built in the 1960s, have experienced maintenance issues that have caused closures or delayed openings in the past ten years. This year, both pools will open mid-June.

In other action, four parks are slated to receive a total of 25 trees after council approved a $3,750 grant from TreeVitalize, a program established by the state to increase urban canopies. The trees will be planted in Riverfront Park and in parks at 4^th and Emerald streets, 19^th and Forster streets and 7^th and Radnor streets.

In a 5-2 vote, Council also approved a new labor agreement with the Bureau of Police. In March, the administration and police officers’ union negotiated a contract designed to encourage young officers to stick with Harrisburg’s force, in addition to rewarding seasoned officers.

Councilman Cornelius Johnson, public safety committee chair, voted against the contract. He said the contract had “wins” for the administration and the police officer’s union, especially under Act 47 constraints. However, he said he voted against it because the negotiating process excluded city council until the final stages.

“While I do commend the administration, I vote no [because] we need to include council when moving forward,” he said. “In the future regarding all union contracts, [we should] make sure that council is a partner. This puts us in a position when we are unable to make changes.”

Author: Danielle Roth

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