The Reader Beat Monthly Recap: January 2026

The Reader Beat aims to cover city and county council meetings as well as other important government and community-related meetings. The following is a summary of each meeting for the month of January.

County Council Jan. 13: Constituents addressed the importance of public engagement. "In order to have effective governance, I understand that members of the public need to regularly engage with members of council and other offices to ensure our voices are heard and our concerns are shared," Constituent Jacob Jones said. Constituent Anna McCartney also discussed public engagement in the case of the settlement between Gannon University and the Blasco Memorial Library. "The settlement really underscores the importance of community involvement and transparency in decisions affecting public assets," McCartney said. "Our achievements were celebrated not as a conclusion of our efforts, but as a testament that we can accomplish a lot when we get united." Some results of the settlement include the first lease term being shortened from 25 years to 10 and the leased space being open and free to the public. Resolutions appointing CPA firm Maher Duessel to perform audits of the County of Erie, the Erie County HealthChoices program, Pleasant Ridge Manor, the Pleasant Ridge Manor Pension Plan, and Expert Community Care Management for calendar year ending Dec. 31, 2025 passed unanimously.

City Council Jan. 21: During this meeting, attendees voiced concerns about future ICE activity in Erie considering the violence and volume of ICE raids in Minneapolis this month. "What is the City of Erie's current approach to interactions with federal law enforcement agencies, especially ICE?" constituent Jennifer Kennedy asked. "How is our city protecting us?" In her report, Mayor Devlin announced that her administration is working on a plan for how to address ICE involvement. "This is something we will work together with our community, our police, and the administration to make sure we can all agree on the language as we put it forward," Devlin said. "We are working on it and we have to be in order to continue our Welcoming City status."

ICE Pop-Up Protest: On Jan. 25 Erie citizens gathered in the snowstorm to protest the ICE raids in Minneapolis, MN as well as the homicides of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE officers. As the snow came down in Perry Square, protestors held signs and led chants calling for the impeachment of Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and President Donald Trump.

A protester named AJ said that his grandmother was Polish-Jewish and was able to escape the Nazis and rebuild her life in England. " I always asked myself when I was a kid: would I have been with the people that were being persecuted? And this is where it starts, so I gotta be out here."

County Councilmen Rock Copeland and Chris Drexel also attended the protest. Drexel accused the federal government of "letting agents out on the street to kill people," pointing to widely circulated video footage showing federal officers fatally shooting civilians during immigration enforcement operations."This isn't the country that I want it to be so it's time to stand up and get together and make a change. It shouldn't be about political sides anymore."

County Council Jan. 27: The meeting was sparsely attended. Constituent Mimi O'Conner discussed addressing racism in Erie, "In small ways, in large ways, in every way the bottom line question is: what will we sign into law? Peace or pain?" Council members Copeland, Bayle, and Schauerman were appointed to the Ad Hoc Committee on the Administrative Code. Wertz, Winarski, and Drexel were appointed to the Ad Hoc Committee to Review Council Budgets, the Davis Administration Vetoes, and the Decisions of the Court of Common Pleas of Erie County and the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

City Council Feb. 4: The timing of a March 4 public hearing relating to design firm Weber Murphy Fox's proposal (on behalf of Scott Enterprises) for the construction of a new 8-story hotel containing 139 guestrooms and three restaurants/bars located at East Front St. in a Waterfront Commercial zoning district was subject to a friendly amendment that sets the Public Hearing to an available evening to allow for more community engagement. Flores voiced concerns about potential loss of waterfront views for the community and Horton proposed the amendment, moving the meeting to an evening time as opposed to the scheduled morning time (9:30 a.m.), as many constituents have work or school.

Coming up this month:

County Council: Feb. 10 at 6 p.m.

City Council: Feb. 18 at 6:30 p.m.

County Council: Feb. 26 at 6 p.m.