The Reader Beat: County Council Notes from June 22, 2026
Summary of public comments and ordinances
I attended the County Council meeting on June 22 at 6 p.m. Constituents continued to discuss the ECRSSA transfer to the county under the Adult Probation Department. Constituent Cyndi Treiber said that she attended a Department of Human Services meeting to discuss how the transfer has gone thus far: "Everybody in that room admitted readily that there have been gaps in services, that it was probably not done right, that they are struggling to make it run right." Constituent David Uhlig spoke about the council needing to commit to transparency. "I'm waiting for this council to revisit the ECRSSA decision as three of you have expressed regret about your apparently ill-informed decision. At the very least, you owe it to your constituents to fully examine the decision."
County Executive Vogel announced that Erie County Community College has received Title IV funding to administer PEL grants to eligible students. "That's all dollars that are going to go to help people train for better jobs. And any money that they get in excess of what would pay for tuition goes back to the students," Vogel said.
Before ordinances were read, Councilman Copeland motioned to move the four repository sales on the agenda under a single vote and an ordinance involving the Human Relations Commission from first reading to a second reading. Councilman Wertz also motioned to move an ordinance that appropriates funding for wellness initiatives from a first reading to a second reading. All motions passed unanimously.
The council addressed the following ordinances:
- An ordinance amending Article III of the Administrative Code to approve the use of an electronic bidding process for all competitive bids and requests for proposal for the county was amended to start August 1 instead of July 1. The ordinance as amended passed unanimously.
- An ordinance appropriating $614,508 for additional revenue received from the PA Department of Drug and Alcohol passed unanimously.
- An ordinance appropriating $491,158 for additional revenue received from the Erie Regional Library Foundation for renovations passed unanimously.
- An ordinance appropriating $74,082 for creation of a Data Governance Administrator position in the Information Technology Department passed unanimously.
- An ordinance revising the revenue and expenditures of $74,082 for the elimination of a GIS Administrator position passed unanimously.
- An ordinance for a 2026 Appointed Official Salary for a Full-Time Assistant Public Defender passed unanimously.
- An ordinance appropriating $2,000 from the 2026 Library Fund Budget for revenue received from UPMC had its first reading and was not voted on.
- An ordinance appropriating $24,825 from the 2026 Public Health Fund Budget for a Grant received from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Health for wellness initiatives passed unanimously.
- An ordinance appropriating $4,550 from the 2025 General Fund Budget for the creation of a new revenue line item in the Human Resource Department for rental revenue from the café had its first reading and was not voted on.
- An ordinance appropriating $15,363 from the General Fund Budget for the creation of new lines in the County Solicitor Department for temporary staff had its first reading and was not voted on.
- An ordinance appropriating $67,568 from the General Fund Budget for additional expenses in the County Executive Department had its first reading and was not voted on.
- An ordinance appropriating $1,000,000 from the 2026 Gaming Fund Budget for transfer to the Revolving Loan Fund had its first reading and was not voted on.
- An ordinance appropriating $1,442,530 from the Revolving Loan Fund Budget had its first reading and was not voted on.
- An ordinance appropriating $189,218 from the General Fund Budget for additional workers and unemployment compensation expenses in all departments had its first reading and was not voted on.
- An ordinance approving the Refunding Project of The Erie County Convention Center Authority had its first reading and was not voted on.
- An ordinance approving the salary for an appointed Part-Time Assistant Public Defender had its first reading and was not voted on.
- An ordinance revising expenditures of $1,669 from the 2026 Library Fund Budget for the elimination of one Library Clerk position and the creation of one Library Assistant position had its first reading and was not voted on.
- An ordinance revising expenditures of $4,434 from the 2026 General Fund Budget for a position change in the County Executive Department from part-time to full-time had its first reading and was not voted on.
- An ordinance revising expenditures of $4,158 from the 2026 General Fund Budget and waiving the Human Resources Code for a change in starting salary for the Director of the Human Relations Commission passed unanimously.
- The possible sale of four parcels passed unanimously.
