Council rejected an ordinance to make the street one-way but approved a grant application to fund it
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times
Coatesville resident Mike Zuratt receives congratulations on his proclamation from Officer Rodger Ollis, who heads the Community Policing Committee.
COATESVILLE – Although harmony dominated last night’s City Council meeting, some of it was in name only.
The six council members present voted unanimously on a host of issues ranging from celebrating a citizen’s cleanup efforts to approving an amended contract for its new finance director.
But a proposal to make Harmony Street one way eastbound from First to Third Avenues not only interrupted the accord, it also generated confusion.
Acting City Manager Kirby Hudson and Redevelopment Project Director Rob Barry both urged the council to approve the plan, which would create 48 angled parking spaces on Harmony Street. The spaces are needed, they said, because Lincoln University is planning to run a satellite campus in the city.
The university will use the Gordon Education Center, which presently houses the Coatesville Area School District’s alternative education program. The company operating that program is vacating the building in the 300 block of Kersey Street in July 2013. The university said it anticipates having an earlier presence, however, with plans to open offices and offer select courses to area businesses in January.
During public comment, only Judy Skolnick, the president of the Army and Navy Store on East Lincoln Highway, voiced objections to the plan. “I am for Lincoln University coming here. I am for increasing parking,” she said. “I am against making Harmony Street one way for many reasons.”
Skolnick said that narrowing the block will negatively impact delivery trucks and traffic flow and she suggested several alternate locations that would provide more spaces without adding problems. “I ask you to take time and seriously consider all of the ramifications,” she said.
Council members Joseph Hamrick, Ingrid W. Jones and Jeffrey LoPrinzi expressed similar reservations, voting against the ordinance. Because Council President Ed Simpson was absent, the support from members Jarrell Brazzle, David C. Collins, and C. Arvilla Hunt was insufficient to pass the measure, resulting in a 3-3 tie.
”We shoot ourselves in the foot all the time,” said Hunt of the vote. Brazzle went further, suggesting that if anyone complained about not having a place to park, he would “point this way” and blame the members who rejected the plan.
Then Council discussed a grant application to the county’s Department of Community Revitalization for funds that would pay for the Harmony Street changes as well as an electronic welcome billboard for the city. LoPrinzi asked Barry if the grant application, which is due Friday, could be changed to omit the Harmony Street proposal, and Barry said that it could.
Then Council voted 5-1 – with Jones the dissenting vote – to approve the grant application, begging questions about the content of the request since the one-way ordinance had just been defeated.
“Mr. Barry has to figure that out,” said Hamrick after the meeting. However, he said since Brazzle had asked to revisit the ordinance, it would appear on the next meeting’s agenda and would likely be approved when Simpson is present.
Hudson, initially taken aback when told that Barry had deferred to him on the contents of the grant proposal, said it would not be changed. “Did you hear anybody tell him to change it?” he asked, explaining that LoPrinzi simply inquired about whether it could be altered.
Hudson said he did not know how many people the Lincoln campus would attract, but he said it could be as many as 500. “We’ve got to prepare for it,” he said.
In other business, the city issued a proclamation to Mike Zuratt, a member of the Community Policing Committee, calling him a “key player in the fight against urban blight.” After the award was announced, Zuratt said he didn’t understand why he deserved the honor. “I really didn’t do anything special,” he said.
Coatesville Police Officer Rodger Ollis, who heads the committee, emphatically disagreed. “People have no idea how much he does to improve the city,” said Ollis, describing Zuratt’s efforts, ranging from eradicating graffiti to removing shoes from telephone wires.
Without comment, the council approved an amended letter of agreement for John Marcarelli, the city’s new finance director. It also passed a resolution to begin a process to hire some part-time police officers. Six full-time members of the department took a recent early-retirement package.
One of them, Chris Strunk, appeared at the meeting to complain that he has yet to receive his first pension check, which was supposed to be issued June 1.
Hudson said he hoped to get the checks issued within the next few days. After the meeting, he said he did not “know what caused the delay.” He said he had inherited the problem after the former city manager, Gary Rawlings, was terminated June 11.
