Lancaster City Council approves disability pension for officer, corrects pension match and passes multiple resolutions including CDBG reallocations

Lancaster City Council on Feb. 11 voted to approve a disability pension for police officer Michael Dietz, correct an error in the City of Lancaster supplemental pension plan to set the police matching contribution at 35%, and adopt a series of resolutions including a cost‑sharing agreement for Marshall Avenue repairs, a Pride Month flag raising, amendments to Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) annual action plans, and two right‑of‑way license agreements with railroad interests.

The disability pension for Michael Dietz was introduced after an executive session the council said was convened to review personnel and legal matters related to the application. “Based upon the unanimous recommendation of the Bureau of Police Officers Relief, the police pension board, and the information provided to counselors during the executive session, I hereby move to approve Michael Deetz’s application for a disability pension,” Councilor Craig said before moving the request. The motion carried on a roll call with all members present recorded as voting aye.

Councilors also approved resolution 12‑20‑25 to amend the City of Lancaster supplemental pension plan to reflect a 35% employer matching percentage “with respect to a police officer hired on or after Jan. 1, 2011,” correcting language that had previously listed the matching amount incorrectly. Councilor Arroyo said the change corrects an error introduced when the plan was reinstated in February 2024.

The council approved administrative resolution 10‑20‑25, an intermunicipal cost‑sharing agreement with Manheim Township for Marshall Avenue base repairs. Councilor Hirsch described the project as primarily base repairs—not a full resurfacing—with work intended to improve biking and walking infrastructure. The total cost was described in committee as roughly $62,000, with the city assuming 82% of the expense because it owns about 82% of the roadway.

Resolution 11‑20‑25 authorizes a Pride flag raising to acknowledge Pride Month on June 2, 2025 (with an inclement‑weather date of June 3). Council members expressed support and the measure passed unanimously.

Resolution 13‑20‑25 exonerated water charges of $63,700.50 and sewer charges of $64,110.64 across 25 city‑related locations. Councilor Arroyo said most are city properties where the city tracks usage to detect leaks and does not bill itself; two properties on the list were noted as not city‑owned (the public library and a fire line at Lancaster Airport), with special arrangements described for those services.

On resolution 14‑20‑25, the council authorized the mayor to submit substantial amendments to the consolidated and annual action plans for 2021–2024 to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Deputy director and community development administrator Jen Rummel and staff presented reallocations that would direct more CDBG funding to critical repair and lead hazard control programs and to affordable housing. Rebecca Geiser of community development told council the proposed changes assume the city will receive its anticipated 2025 CDBG allocation, and cautioned that a significant federal allocation change would require revisiting the amendments. Geiser summarized the city’s longer‑term affordable housing investments since 2018 as approximately $25.6 million across multiple programs (including lead hazard control, home repair, rehabilitation and new units); she said the CDBG allocation the city currently plans against is about $1.5 million per year and that the amendments reallocate roughly $300,000 into affordable housing over the multi‑year plan.

Resolutions 15‑20‑25 and 16‑20‑25 authorized the mayor to sign license agreements permitting the city to use railroad right‑of‑way for future water‑infrastructure work and to remit fee payments. The council recorded approval of a $5,000 fee associated with the Norfolk Southern Railway Company license (resolution 15) and a separate $6,750 fee for a license with Railway Auditing Management Services (resolution 16), both described by Councilor Hirsch as standard permit or license fees to enable planned infrastructure work.

The council also approved a reappointment: Shelby Norman was reappointed to the City’s CDO Revitalization and Improvement Zone Authority for a term running Dec. 30, 2024, to Dec. 30, 2029.

Many of the items were introduced through committee reports (finance, public works and community planning) earlier in the meeting; few drew extended debate at full council. During the public‑comment portion tied to the CDBG amendments, resident Susie Gomez asked whether CDBG money is federal funding (staff confirmed it is), and asked for clarification about the amount being reallocated to housing; staff described the reallocations as moving unspent administrative funds and other previously allocated but unspent funds into programmatic uses such as critical repair and lead hazard control.

The meeting concluded with routine business and announcements from the mayor about a $74,000 grant for a school‑district‑led violence‑prevention study, recruitment numbers for police officer and cadet applications, and neighborhood programs including Love Your Block and a Neighborhood Art Project.

Ending: Councilors approved all motions and resolutions listed on the legislative agenda; staff noted that final project lists tied to the city’s planned $55.3 million general obligation bond issuance will be presented in a subsequent meeting.