When: Lancaster City Council committee meeting, Feb. 5. President Amanda Bakay was absent.
What happened: Tenfold, a nonprofit organization focused on housing and financial security, may soon run a low-interest loan program for city homeowners with critical or urgent repairs, pending a vote by council to move $250,000 from its enterprise zone loan fund to Tenfold’s new critical repair fund.
Why it matters: The city has long been trying to get an organization to serve as a bank for projects for low-income homeowners and Tenfold stepped up, said Mayor Danene Sorace. She said the city would not be able to manage the administrative side of the loans on its own.
Quotable: “I want to thank you (Tenfold) for being such a good community partner in expanding this opportunity for our families who may have a home but do not have $10,000 to repair the roof or upgrade electrical or do whatever they need to do,” Sorace said. “This is really making it possible for people to stay in their homes.”
Details: The program is designed to be self-sustaining. Rates would be 3% for homeowners below 80% of Lancaster’s median income, which is $76,400 for a family of four, and 5% for those who make up to 120% of the median income, which is $114,600 for a family of four, Craig Walt, bureau chief in the city’s department of community planning and economic development, said in an email after the meeting. Walt said those would be fixed rates for the life of loans, but the agreement would allow for adjustment of future loan rates if market conditions changed. Loans would be capped at $20,000, but the average amount will likely be between $8,000 and $10,000, Walt said.
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What’s next: Council could vote on the fund transfer Feb. 13. If approved, more specifics of the Tenfold agreement could be ironed out in March and the loan program rolled out this spring, Walt said.
CASA-driven legislation: Council reviewed an ordinance requiring the city to obtain and maintain a Welcoming City rating of three stars from the Georgia nonprofit, Welcoming America, and to codify city practices “related to the provision of city services without regard to refugee or immigration status.” It also calls for the city to advocate for the adoption of similar policies in other municipalities.
Background: The proposed ordinance — which goes for a first reading Feb. 13 and possible vote Feb. 27 — morphed out of a bill proposed to council by CASA last April. CASA officials held a news conference outside of City Hall that month at which CASA Pennsylvania State Director Daniel Alvalle said many residents, especially immigrants, do not feel welcome. At a council meeting that night, some shared stories of encounters in which law enforcement did or could have alerted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Sorace stressed that month that the examples involved other law enforcement entities rather than city police and said city policies were already in line with what CASA was asking.
Bill wording: Council member Jaime Arroyo said city officials worked with local CASA members and Alvalle to develop the bill that will go before council for a first reading Feb. 13 and a possible vote Feb. 27. CASA originally talked about wording that would specifically prohibit city police from assisting ICE. But the current wording does not mention city police procedure outright, instead saying: “the City acknowledges that enforcement of civil federal immigration laws falls exclusively with the authority of the federal government.”
Price Elementary update: Stephen Campbell gave the council a heads up that the council will soon be asked to consider a land swap with the School District of Lancaster involving Price Elementary and city property that is now part of Brandon Park. This is related to Lancaster Rec’s plans to move its offices to what is currently Price Elementary School in January 2025 and to run programs there starting in the summer of 2025. Sorace said details are still being worked out but are likely to go before the School District of Lancaster board this month and City Council Feb. 27.
Supplemental pension: Council reviewed an addition to the city’s supplemental pension plan that now includes firefighters as of Jan. 1 of this year. That was part of the firefighters collective bargaining agreement, Campbell said.
Quotable: “They (firefighters) are not eligible for social security,” said Sorace. “So, as retirees, they do need to have more than their pension to be able to support their retirement over the long term.”
What’s next: Council could approve the addition Feb. 13.
New name: Patrice Polite Dixon thanked council for renaming their meeting room in City Hall as the “Nelson M. Polite Sr. City Council Chambers” after her father. It’s a move council could make official with a vote later this month.
More: Polite spent the bulk of his adult life in community service, serving on and chairing the city’s planning commission and serving on City Council from 1996 to 1998 and from 2000 to 2012 — two of those years as president. Sorace said it is notable the action is being taken during Black History Month, but a celebration will follow in October, the month of Polite’s birthday, at which time other changes to council chambers will be unveiled.
