Monday's County Council Meeting Report: Library, HRC, Pleasant Ridge Updates

Contributed photo

The Erie County Council meeting held on Monday, Dec. 18 was met with a deluge of concerned citizens and was standing room only. Council ultimately decided to reject Erie County Executive Brenton Davis's budget vetoes which aimed to cut multiple positions at Blasco Library, to defund the Human Relations Commission, and to slash funding to Pleasant Ridge Manor.

Erie County Council saved six out of nine library jobs targeted for elimination, preserved the Erie County Human Relations Commission and rejected deep funding cuts for Pleasant Ridge Manor Monday night, but participatory democracy took a hit.

Sheriff's deputies escorted three people, including former Councilwoman Mary Rennie, out of the standing-room-only meeting after Council Chairman Brian Shank, presiding over his final meeting as a council member, ruled that members of the public had to choose just one speaker among the crowd to address specific agenda items, including the Erie County Public Library.

Members of the audience pushed back against Shank's solo-speaker rule, pointing out that they had come to speak to council as individuals, not as representatives of formal organizations.

Eight people who had signed up in advance were allotted their five minutes to speak. They criticized Erie County Executive Brenton Davis's proposal to lay off library workers and move them to "high demand" jobs elsewhere and objected to the county's new lease with Gannon University for space at Blasco Library.

But several speakers quickly revamped their prepared remarks to focus on what they viewed as Shank's undemocratic decision to drastically curb public comments.

County Council Solicitor Tom Talarico said that according to council's rules for "public participation," Shank, as chair, could limit comments.

But Shank seemed less concerned that speakers might be repeating the same arguments and more upset that the meeting would last too long. Indeed, at least 50 people were jammed into council chambers, with more lined up in the corridor to speak.

It wasn't just the Davis administration's plans to fire library workers that sparked interest in Monday's meeting. Dozens of members of Council 13 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal employees wore union T-shirts to protest Davis's plan to reduce the county's contribution to Pleasant Ridge Manor, the nursing home in Fairview, from $999,996 to $500,000. Council rejected the cuts.

Council also left intact funding for the Erie County Human Relations Commission; Davis wanted to slash its budget from $258,380 to $1. In caucus, County Clerk Karen Chillcott, who replaced Julie Slomski in September, strongly objected to defunding the Human Relations Commission and also argued against the Davis plan to eliminate County Council's part-time solicitor. 

Members of the Davis administration said that all department heads had been consulted before the personnel cuts were proposed. 

"No one spoke to me. No one spoke to Kelly Ryan," Chillcott said. Council hired Ryan to lead the HRC in March.

Chillcott also noted that the part-time solicitor handles Right-to-Know requests. "We've had 18 in the last two weeks," she said. She compared the $31,000 paid to the part-time solicitor to that of more than "one-quarter million in legal fees" incurred by the Davis administration.

A large contingent of speakers from the LGBTQIA+ community came to speak out in favor of keeping the county HRC, which protects against discrimination because of gender identity or sexual orientation, among other safeguards.

Rennie, who opened the public comment period, admonished Shank that by restricting comments to a single person on a particular topic, Shank was infringing on First Amendment rights and violating Pennsylvania's Sunshine Act.

Jenny Tompkins, PennFuture's campaign manager for clean water advocacy in the Lake Erie watershed, said she was "deeply troubled" that there had been no advance notice that the number of public speakers would be limited. As the year wraps up, she urged council to reflect on the precedent that Shank's actions had set.

John Vanco, former Erie Art Museum director, said he was "disturbed by what appears to be a wholesale attack on the library" and said the administration's library cuts would cause permanent damage. "Democracy requires access to knowledge," Vanco said.

Rennie, Tompkins and Vanco were among eight people allotted five minutes of speaking time before Shank called a recess.

Three citizens were forced to leave council chambers on Monday night including Issy Lawrie (top left), Jerry Beemer (top right), and former County Councilwoman and former library director Mary Rennie. (Photos: contributed)

During the recess, Issy Lawrie, part of the Keep Our Library Public group that opposes Gannon's lease at Blasco, urged the audience to ignore Shank's rule and come to the podium to speak. She was quickly escorted out of the meeting, as was Rennie when she spoke up from the sidelines.

Next, Shank ordered Jerry Beemer to leave. "Deputy, he needs to be removed," Shank said. As Beemer was being escorted out of the courthouse, he said that one of his "proudest moments" was when he and his grandson, who was about four or five, got their library cards together nine years ago, around the time Beemer moved from Maryland to Edinboro to be close to his grandchild.

During the recess, Councilman Andre Horton, D-2nd District, apologized to people gathered outside of council chambers for the disruption.

In the end, after nearly three hours of tumult, council members mostly rejected Davis's attempts to revise the 2024 budget after council had already made changes and passed it.

At the end of the meeting, Horton thanked Shank for his four years of service on council. Shank, R-5th, lost his re-election bid to Democrat Chris Drexel.

Monday's meeting was also the last for Tom Spagel, D-3rd, who was appointed to Rennie's seat after she resigned in July.  Spagel called into the meeting, voting for nearly all of Davis's budget changes. He will be succeeded by Democrat Rock Copeland.

Drexel and Copeland will be sworn in at County Council's reorganization meeting on Jan. 2 at a time to be determined.

Library protests continue

Members of Keep Our Library Public continue to protest against Erie County's decision to lease space at Blasco Library to Gannon University for its new Great Lakes Research & Education Center.

Picketers will be outside Gannon University's Highmark Events Center (formerly the Hammermill Auditorium), 630 Peach St., on Tuesday before the Gannon women's and men's basketball teams play at 5:30 p.m. 

Even though Erie County Council voted to keep eight Erie County Library positions on Tuesday night, the library didn't escape unscathed. County Council voted to eliminate one union job, vacant since Sept. 11; one non-union job, social media coordinator, vacant since Dec. 1 when the employee was dismissed after 90 days' probation; and a part-time clerk, a union job, at the Millcreek branch.

Council also reduced the line item for paid interns at the library from $40,200 to $22,200 and cut the budget for repair and maintenance from $70,000 to $50,000.

How did Shank limit speakers?

County Councilman Brian Shank turned to council's "public participation" rules, as outlined in Rule D, Section 8 of Article V for the Erie County Council Organization and Procedure rules, to determine that as chairman, he could restrict the number of speakers during the public comment period.

That rule states: "When a group of persons wishes to address the County Council on the same subject matter, it shall be proper for the presiding officer to request that a spokesperson be chosen by the group to address the County Council and to limit the number of persons addressing the County Council on the same matter."

Liz Allen is a contributing writer for the Erie Reader.