[0:02] [Music]

[1:58] so

[2:02] [Music]

[2:49] meeting for monday december 6. the first

[2:52] item on the agenda is a presentation

[2:54] about the central park pool was the man

[2:58] thank you mr palamini

[3:01] said

[3:03] you know we have a facility in central

[3:05] park that's been there for a long time

[3:07] and

[3:09] been

[3:13] putting money in it that requires some

[3:15] maintenance each year painting the

[3:18] surface

[3:19] unfortunately it

[3:22] doesn't meet the standards today

[3:25] the department of health

[3:27] and just some of the upkeep so it went

[3:30] out and uh

[3:32] brought in a consultant uh

[3:35] just this excitement the council's

[3:37] inclined to name the facility tonight we

[3:40] could call it gary's pool

[3:42] but it's not because of me but it's

[3:44] because of gary schultz

[3:47] consultant but if you wanted to take

[3:49] that game

[3:52] probably

[3:59] we have to do something with the central

[4:01] park facility because it just doesn't

[4:03] meet standards today

[4:05] uh it also

[4:07] somewhat of an attractive nuisance for

[4:10] the ducks and geese that are in the area

[4:12] that get in there and that becomes more

[4:14] of a challenge to just maintain the

[4:17] quality of the water

[4:19] but

[4:20] again

[4:21] brought in

[4:22] aquatica which has done some work for

[4:24] the city before in terms

[4:26] of the evaluation

[4:29] not only this facility but other

[4:30] facilities

[4:32] in the city so

[4:34] gary had some general background

[4:36] knowledge and also saratoga associates

[4:39] and so we have a presentation tonight

[4:43] uh

[4:44] submitting

[4:46] to you for consideration as we start a

[4:49] process of

[4:51] relocating the pool within central park

[4:53] and build a facility that will serve the

[4:56] needs of the community for decades going

[4:59] forward with that i'll turn it over to

[5:01] dan

[5:02] and he'll also talk about why you should

[5:04] call it gary's pool

[5:07] i didn't have a vote now just so you

[5:09] folks know uh we're just trying to

[5:11] gary's pool um

[5:13] hi everyone my name is dan sharon with

[5:14] saratoga associates um we are

[5:17] landscape architects we've been working

[5:18] in the capitol district we do a lot of

[5:21] parks work on the municipal side and

[5:24] also on the state side we've been doing

[5:26] that for 50 years so we really

[5:28] appreciated the opportunity to come and

[5:30] provide our insight into the central

[5:32] park pool we're joined on this project

[5:34] by my friends kevin schaefer and gary

[5:36] schultz gary will be the one you know he

[5:39] may want to plaque put in his honor

[5:42] we'll see we'll see how the budget goes

[5:44] but aquatica brought us in

[5:47] um to help kind of direct this but the

[5:49] real experts with respect to the

[5:51] evaluation of the pool

[5:54] and the needs for a new pool would be

[5:56] acquired so gary i don't know if you

[5:59] want to speak for just a moment in terms

[6:00] of aquatic's experience in the pool

[6:02] industry i'd be glad to again i'm gary

[6:05] shells my company is quadruples and

[6:07] water parks

[6:08] and we have pool consultants kevin is an

[6:11] mvp engineer with our firm he's a senior

[6:14] engineer

[6:15] and all we do is renovation and a lot of

[6:18] renovation and build new public and

[6:21] municipal pools

[6:23] all over the uh

[6:25] the northeast and

[6:27] southeast

[6:28] as well

[6:31] we've done a lot of renovations like

[6:32] this we're working on several right now

[6:35] and our expertise is to understand

[6:39] the codes the code requirements

[6:42] the

[6:43] swimming

[6:44] habits and

[6:46] procedures that we've seen take place in

[6:49] other communities and and uh

[6:52] that we are just experts in the swimming

[6:54] pool itself

[6:56] okay

[6:57] thank you very much i don't care if you

[6:58] want to say anything or do we speak for

[7:00] you today

[7:02] all right very good so we understand

[7:04] there's existing pool facilities as gary

[7:07] has a background in um we looked at

[7:09] obviously the central park pool but we

[7:11] understand there's hillhurst front

[7:13] street and quacking bush

[7:17] so when you evaluate the central park

[7:20] pool there's there's some real

[7:21] challenges specific to it it's right in

[7:23] the flight path

[7:25] of the east uh and the docks we were

[7:27] there two weeks ago the day before the

[7:30] day before thanksgiving it was about 20

[7:32] degrees out and it wasn't stopped in the

[7:34] east because they were literally

[7:35] breaking through the water on the

[7:37] iroquois lake and in the swimming area

[7:39] and just continuing their their patterns

[7:41] they don't look like they're going

[7:42] anywhere they look like they look at us

[7:44] like what are we doing

[7:46] a challenge specific to this swimming area is it's it's almost

[7:52] an acre and a quarter that's a very big

[7:54] area that's a very big health and safety

[7:57] concern when you're looking specifically

[7:59] at lifeguards those sorts of things

[8:01] getting too

[8:03] specific areas because it's it's so

[8:06] such a large mass

[8:08] gary touched on something that was

[8:09] specific to code compliance and

[8:11] maintenance i'm sure you folks all know

[8:14] better than we do the issues with

[8:16] skinning filtration circulation this

[8:19] generates it takes a lot of water we met

[8:22] with

[8:23] polython out there on the site a couple

[8:25] weeks ago we were talking about the

[8:27] needs in terms of flow rates of water

[8:29] and how it was handled and the amount of like

[8:35] chlorine or other materials that needs

[8:37] to try to

[8:39] address kind of the bacteria levels and

[8:42] stuff that's a huge challenge everywhere

[8:45] because temperatures are getting higher

[8:47] and when you have higher temperatures

[8:49] you need more chlorine

[8:51] we looked at the maintenance costs with

[8:52] mr lafon

[8:55] and in this area

[8:57] you know you're pretty

[8:58] isolated specifically from like

[9:00] restrooms changing facilities those

[9:02] sorts of things and also we discussed

[9:05] the

[9:07] water quality issues with waterfowl i

[9:09] know i know we discussed it out there

[9:11] specifically a couple weeks ago

[9:14] how one of the big jobs for the

[9:16] lifeguards was going out every morning

[9:18] and cleaning up all the goose waste

[9:20] before people get out there and the

[9:22] problem is is cleaning up that waste

[9:24] isn't all that easy

[9:25] um just because of the type of what it

[9:28] is so it's it's a health and safety

[9:30] hazard frankly

[9:33] well before we before you pass up let's

[9:35] just say one thing

[9:36] in general

[9:38] there is no it's not a cool spot

[9:41] there's no filtration we're just popping

[9:43] chlorine in there

[9:45] and there's no filtration there's no

[9:47] chemical control

[9:49] and it doesn't mean any uh code

[9:51] requirement in the state of department

[9:53] health that i'm aware of

[9:55] so i mean it's been a beautiful facility

[9:58] for a long time for people swimming i

[10:00] understand that but it's not cool

[10:02] it is

[10:06] on this slide just uh sort of

[10:08] delineating the code requirements and

[10:10] how that would apply to this body of

[10:12] water

[10:14] you know public pool would require that

[10:15] water to be turned over every six hours

[10:17] for filtration and

[10:20] biological contamination control

[10:23] right now that facility doesn't come

[10:24] anywhere close to that there's no

[10:26] filtration

[10:28] and we would need

[10:29] 3 500 gallons of flow in there and i

[10:31] think we're probably getting about 400

[10:34] gallons of flow

[10:35] in that facility right now

[10:38] so we would need to add proper treatment

[10:40] and also one of the requirements is

[10:41] surface skin

[10:42] and in a public pool there is no surface

[10:44] skimming there's one drain at a low

[10:47] point and we're not quite sure if that meets

[10:51] safety requirements for entrapment

[10:55] so

[10:56] you know we

[10:58] look at the cost to bring this up to

[10:59] code it would just be uh it would just

[11:01] be a monstrous cause

[11:05] one thing i wanted to touch on kevin is

[11:08] here's some of our friends

[11:11] with their pre-thanksgiving activities

[11:12] right here they were breaking through

[11:14] the ice to get the law and no matter

[11:15] what we do we can't fix the flight path

[11:18] and

[11:19] right now the deck

[11:21] slopes right into the pool it's a low

[11:22] point in that area so everything it's

[11:24] really a watershed for the whole area

[11:26] and that's that's a really that's a

[11:28] really big challenge in terms of how

[11:30] it's set up

[11:31] everything drains into it so there's

[11:33] going to be all the nutrient loading

[11:34] there's always going to be a challenge

[11:36] there with water quality

[11:40] so we looked at the proposed new site

[11:42] which is in this area here

[11:44] um

[11:45] kind of taking the footprint of the

[11:47] existing tennis stadium we looked at the

[11:50] infrastructure and the amount of earth

[11:52] moving that would be required and it

[11:53] would be minimal because we have more

[11:56] than an acre here and you'll see

[11:58] superimposed kind of where the pool

[12:00] would fit on top of it you can see how

[12:02] this is kind of a neat central location

[12:06] with respect to the tennis courts here

[12:08] the a ball diamond here music haven in

[12:12] the fair park

[12:16] so the proposed new site as i just

[12:19] touched on before

[12:21] we're looking to at this area and one

[12:23] thing that would be an advantage for

[12:25] this over

[12:26] the existing

[12:27] site

[12:28] is just the topography of it having some

[12:31] real foliage around it it inhibits geese

[12:34] it's not a normal flight pattern nothing

[12:37] stops them but this helps inhibit it

[12:39] because they would have to come in and

[12:40] go down and they're very gradual in

[12:42] terms of waterfalls

[12:52] yeah so part of that uh part of the

[12:54] scope is to add a bath house and one of

[12:56] the key features of this location is

[12:59] that there are other needs in the park

[13:01] and locating the tool here enables us to

[13:04] have a bath house that could be shared

[13:06] by multiple users the tennis courts

[13:09] are one major user

[13:11] right now they have to walk into a bat

[13:13] to get to facilities so this would give

[13:16] located so so both

[13:19] users have easy access to the facility

[13:22] and

[13:23] like to build in

[13:24] shade and some seating

[13:26] uh it's important that the new

[13:28] facilities want to encourage inclusive

[13:31] play so we want to provide

[13:34] ada access and

[13:36] so that everyone in the community can

[13:38] take advantage of that

[13:40] yeah if you look at some of the some of

[13:42] the things that are the

[13:44] greatest interests for people right now

[13:45] it's splash parks

[13:47] people love them

[13:49] when aquatica and saratoga started

[13:52] discussing this opportunity we were

[13:54] looking at potentially having a pool

[13:56] with a splash apartment alongside it

[13:58] it's splash parks are very popular kayak

[14:01] launches are very popular

[14:03] things access the water is really

[14:05] important and that is from space yeah

[14:08] and and our plan actually does have some

[14:10] space set aside for us

[14:14] go ahead okay so so here's actually

[14:18] where we went with the concept

[14:20] and it's developing a lapse a lat pool

[14:23] here as as kevin indicated a future

[14:26] location for a splash pad this is on the

[14:28] footprint of the

[14:31] state

[14:32] for the the tennis courts and so what

[14:35] you would have is access coming off from

[14:38] the north through a bathhouse where you

[14:40] have to access this and this would all

[14:42] be defense

[14:45] there's there's things you can do with

[14:46] respect to programming

[14:48] you know you want to keep a good chunk

[14:50] of foliage around but maybe you can put

[14:52] in some more uh activities on the

[14:55] playground

[14:57] um you know some pavilions

[15:00] folks for people who have you know lunch

[15:03] picnics those sorts of things when the

[15:05] kids have a play game at the pool

[15:09] and it's tying in with the existing site

[15:11] it's just there's a there's a there's a

[15:13] lot of potential here and and don't

[15:15] think this is gospel this is this is a

[15:17] concept that was pulled together for

[15:20] discussion purposes because we wanted to

[15:23] kind of see what this what you could put

[15:26] here and get a cost estimate in terms of

[15:28] so if we can wrap your head around

[15:29] what's the bill going to be

[15:31] i might also point out as i slide to the

[15:34] fifth house

[15:35] the new bath house

[15:37] is orientated in that fashion so that it

[15:39] was somewhat near the tennis courts and

[15:42] became the

[15:43] toilet facilities became available for

[15:45] the tech stores as well as the pool

[15:48] that's that's exactly right thank you

[15:49] for bringing it up

[15:51] it is in this location so it is in that

[15:53] proximity so it could be get maximum use

[15:56] there

[15:58] and

[15:58] let's see

[16:01] you want to touch base on this

[16:02] sure these are these are this is again

[16:04] this is a concept so we really have to

[16:06] sit down and go through all the features

[16:08] we would include these are some of the

[16:10] things that municipalities are finding

[16:14] you know that are favorable right now

[16:15] they have the beach entry

[16:17] uh that it's

[16:19] made for

[16:20] ada accessibility next for

[16:23] all you know even elderly to access the

[16:25] facility

[16:26] there's also uh

[16:28] there's like a kid zone and you see in

[16:30] the upper left hand corner that there's

[16:31] a wall

[16:32] that slopes down gently to about an 18

[16:35] inch deep area

[16:37] the families find that you know really

[16:38] popular for the young tops

[16:41] and then there's a kind of a flatter

[16:43] area in the center that's really great

[16:46] for programming

[16:47] we do all kinds of things we include

[16:49] different kinds of

[16:50] like splash pad features toys

[16:54] and that's really the sky's the limit

[16:55] there

[16:56] a lot of creative solutions

[16:58] and then uh

[17:00] we have a little resistance walk there

[17:01] at the end that we can create a flow

[17:04] through there and that's popular

[17:08] elderly and you know they get some

[17:09] exercise

[17:12] and then we have the slide feature and

[17:14] then you know some so many spells like

[17:16] to include that and that's something

[17:18] that we

[17:19] can discuss during during design yeah i

[17:21] think i think the one thing i did want

[17:22] to say it's just that this is you know

[17:24] like i said this isn't this isn't in um

[17:30] stuff

[17:31] an iterative process getting feedback

[17:33] from the community

[17:34] the stakeholders that would be using it

[17:36] we want this to be something that the

[17:38] community will use and enjoy

[17:41] um and that's why you know it's great to

[17:44] have kevin and gary here so that we can

[17:46] help program something that is specific

[17:48] to the needs of the community we want to

[17:50] make sure it's going to be used

[17:51] absolutely

[17:52] and

[17:53] i'm sorry also

[17:54] remember to put things in direct

[17:57] perspective that lap pool area that

[18:00] you're looking at is

[18:01] right on top of the old pedestal

[18:04] just that's the

[18:07] thing put it in perspective that's all

[18:10] the toy features and the elements in

[18:12] there are the result of

[18:14] many tools that we've done that we found

[18:17] people like communities like communities

[18:20] use

[18:21] you're not limited no money is limited

[18:23] to any one of them or all of them the

[18:26] only prescription we have is creativity

[18:30] and

[18:31] money

[18:34] i mean at some point there's things we

[18:36] can't afford

[18:37] the community can't afford but

[18:41] the

[18:42] you know if one thing i would say if you

[18:44] could go back just for a second chris it

[18:45] was just the elements of the bathhouse

[18:47] there's the office check-in

[18:49] uh men's and women's room uh restrooms

[18:52] and change areas a break room first day

[18:55] and then a separate pump house which

[18:56] would all be as people access it and

[18:58] they can also access that quite readily

[19:00] from the tennis courts

[19:03] and if you look at the long range

[19:05] concept this was the this was the first

[19:08] image

[19:09] and this is kind of ties in other things

[19:11] and you look at what you improve here

[19:14] with respect to expanding parking let's

[19:16] say this is a big success you come

[19:18] around and you tie in

[19:20] off of fair avenue towards gulf

[19:23] and you look at the you're going to have

[19:25] the future improvements of the fair lot

[19:28] you have a lit walkway to music haven uh

[19:30] you also love to

[19:32] create a traffic circle so it's more easy in

[19:37] easy out specific to getting into the

[19:40] park access to the tennis courts

[19:43] you potentially could narrow down the

[19:46] current uh ashford or is that the name

[19:55] pedestrian walkway down towards the

[19:58] iroquois lake um and the restrooms but

[20:00] there's a lot of potential i think you

[20:02] look at

[20:03] what can happen here putting the pool

[20:07] here can help tie things together

[20:10] it help it can help with traffic it can

[20:13] create

[20:14] more

[20:15] connectivity specifically within central

[20:18] park and obviously

[20:20] if you get more connectivity you're

[20:21] going to have more traffic and you want

[20:23] these walkways lit and it makes it a

[20:25] little more coherent in terms of the

[20:27] wayfinding on central park

[20:30] anything to add guys

[20:32] no i like the circle creates sort of an

[20:35] entry

[20:36] into the part it it it kind of

[20:38] formalizes it a little bit

[20:42] and so as we discussed

[20:45] this the long-range concept would

[20:47] further increase parking which would be

[20:49] readily accessible

[20:51] for

[20:52] the

[20:52] a par a field

[20:56] the music haven the tennis courts it

[20:59] just enhances and creates easier access

[21:01] to parking down by the fair parking area

[21:06] potential for the splash pad

[21:09] i'll be right here

[21:11] right in this area

[21:11] [Music]

[21:15] all right does anyone have any questions

[21:20] we can talk we can talk about this stuff

[21:22] all night but we don't want to pour it

[21:23] in so we'll just ask you those to give

[21:25] us give us any uh

[21:27] questions that are relevant to the

[21:29] presentation

[21:30] feel free

[21:32] yes ma'am um so someone mentioned about

[21:34] money so

[21:35] are we talking do we based on your

[21:37] concept is there a dollar amount that

[21:39] you uh connected to this that's a fair

[21:41] question yeah what we were looking at

[21:42] before was the original step

[21:45] was and actually if you advanced it

[21:47] another couple more slides chris we have

[21:50] the cost in there it's about three

[21:51] million dollars for the new pool

[21:54] and the upgrade

[21:56] basically

[21:57] and doing retrofitting yeah we have

[21:59] three million dollars here

[22:01] for that as a cost estimate the other

[22:03] one to basically try to get it up to

[22:05] code was between eight and ten million

[22:08] dollars

[22:09] and that still doesn't solve a lot of

[22:11] problems you have infrastructure issues

[22:14] over there at the current swimming area

[22:17] this is you bring everything in new you

[22:19] have the infrastructure and you start

[22:22] thank you

[22:24] go ahead um does the three million

[22:26] dollars include the lighting and the you

[22:28] know all the all the things that we just

[22:30] talked about the parking

[22:33] it no it accounts for the stuff right

[22:36] here the

[22:40] other pieces are probably it wouldn't be

[22:43] more but we really haven't quantified

[22:45] that yet that was beyond the scope of

[22:47] what i asked him to look at

[22:50] we have to do the lighting

[22:52] coming along the a diamond going over to

[22:54] music haven

[22:56] uh what do you do with the parking lot

[22:57] on fair avenue

[22:59] uh is part of the

[23:02] uh ongoing

[23:04] review

[23:05] because we're getting rid of

[23:06] this tennis stadium which the city never

[23:09] put any money it was always otb that

[23:11] brought it there

[23:12] the money dried up it's gone into

[23:14] disrepair

[23:16] we have put money in the

[23:18] tennis courts

[23:20] and i think that we should probably look

[23:22] at putting some bleachers over those

[23:24] tennis courts

[23:25] uh there's nobody in the city today that

[23:27] wants to play tennis that's denied the

[23:29] opportunity

[23:31] to play tennis

[23:33] and

[23:34] it's how do you look at this relocation

[23:36] of the pool at the same time to

[23:39] deal with some of the other uh

[23:41] amenities that we need

[23:44] in the park to make sure people are

[23:46] using music haven using the pavilion

[23:49] uh using

[23:51] both the baseball courts basketball

[23:53] courts

[23:54] and other things and again

[23:57] the numbers actually surprised me i

[23:59] thought

[24:00] their estimate i believe is good for the

[24:02] basic

[24:04] uh site for the pool at roughly 3

[24:06] million dollars

[24:09] and then

[24:10] it's what do we spend on the additional

[24:12] modifications for

[24:14] lighting and standpoint enough

[24:16] connectivity with walkways and other

[24:18] things that

[24:19] just allow the other amenities to be

[24:22] used at the level we'd like

[24:24] to

[24:25] mayor to the presentation point chris

[24:28] and i've been working on this with the

[24:29] consultants and i've been working with

[24:32] the tennis group for

[24:34] almost my entirety here about 10 years

[24:36] and one of the things that they've asked

[24:38] for has never been more tennis courts

[24:40] necessarily but they have wanted a

[24:43] bathroom with a changing facility and

[24:46] the cost of that have always been well

[24:47] how do we do that so when we sat down we

[24:50] talked about okay this location which is

[24:52] great and centralized and a bath house

[24:54] with a changing facility the tennis

[24:56] season is longer than the pool season

[24:59] so by having it in a more central

[25:01] location we're really hoping to

[25:02] incorporate some things so that we'll

[25:05] you know meet two goals with one

[25:07] investment because we can we can

[25:09] restrict you from coming into the pool

[25:11] area we can allow you into the bath

[25:13] house which would have changing

[25:14] facilities to do and i think that i mean

[25:17] they have very large tournaments at the

[25:18] tennis facility so i think we'd have a

[25:20] lot of reciprocity with that and you

[25:22] know really show that we're making a

[25:24] smart investment and similarly uh

[25:27] christine and i are 100 aware

[25:29] that this investment will put a lot of

[25:31] bonus on ourselves to connect to it with paths and do intersection

[25:37] improvement project effective shows and

[25:38] make the park and make this location

[25:40] more accessible to everyone and we've

[25:42] already taken one step we've put in a

[25:44] tip-ass location to encourage biking

[25:47] from state street into this area so it's

[25:49] now it's at the forefront

[25:51] if you're not aware of saratoga

[25:53] associates they work on the golf course

[25:55] with us previously they also worked on

[25:57] our central park signage uh package that

[26:00] you've heard about so we have a plan

[26:02] together we're kind of waiting for

[26:03] certain things to happen to put signage

[26:05] throughout the parks people know where

[26:06] things are and that's where they've done

[26:09] some concepts with fair app in the

[26:10] parking lot because that's one of the

[26:12] parking lots we want we've been working

[26:13] with uh mona and music haven so this is

[26:15] a next step but i'll be it will never be

[26:18] the final step i mean this is just the

[26:20] next step

[26:22] with parks the the faces never really

[26:24] ends because the programming constantly

[26:27] evolves i think kind of the work we've

[26:29] been doing today with the city has kind

[26:31] of helped inform our opinion in terms of

[26:34] the location and how it ties into the

[26:36] other programming elements of central

[26:38] park

[26:41] john

[26:42] um what would be the timeline on this

[26:46] construction project yeah we we actually

[26:48] discussed that with i don't know mayor

[26:50] if you wanted to discuss that he won't

[26:51] be able to bring it up

[26:54] better grasp it you know

[26:57] probably over

[26:59] like two construction seasons yeah i i

[27:01] honestly think you know

[27:03] there are still a stakeholder

[27:07] process that needs to occur to finalize

[27:10] the design and we're in december where

[27:12] at the end of 2021 you really get to the

[27:14] point where the first

[27:16] three to four to five months are the

[27:18] design development process

[27:20] until you get to

[27:22] the architecture and

[27:24] the pool design so we're really looking

[27:26] at probably getting started in doing the

[27:29] design from like the second to the third

[27:33] quarters of 2022 and then starting the

[27:36] construction

[27:37] in probably the end of the third quarter

[27:40] into

[27:41] early 2023 with a target start date of

[27:44] say june 1st of 2023 i think that would

[27:47] be a good target

[27:50] thank you

[27:51] and of course you have

[27:52] to supply you know things that we may

[27:54] not be able to so that's

[27:57] it is difficult because we have run into

[27:58] that with a lot of projects yeah it's been a real challenge and and i

[28:02] think the more time we have the better

[28:04] so we can start putting things in the

[28:06] queue but we're hoping some of the

[28:08] supply the supply line issues get

[28:10] resolved hopefully

[28:14] there any other questions

[28:18] all right well thank you thank you very

[28:20] much folks have a good evening thank you

[28:22] thanks for your time thank you everybody

[28:25] next on the agenda is the government

[28:27] operations mrs porterfield call to order

[28:30] government operations there are five

[28:32] items on the agenda

[28:34] uh the first item for discussion is osm

[28:37] broadcast of city council and committee

[28:39] meetings thank you uh so we as you know

[28:42] we've been having difficulties with the

[28:45] transmission of uh council and committee

[28:47] meetings

[28:48] we

[28:49] asked that

[28:51] if

[28:52] here he is there is back there uh if he

[28:54] would bring a quote and some information

[28:56] so you all should have received the

[28:58] email with the quote and zeb if you

[29:00] could uh

[29:02] just present to us

[29:03] what the findings were

[29:09] we asked

[29:11] technologies who's a very

[29:14] good standing reputable uh company in

[29:17] the city to give us a quote on what they

[29:19] would do to upgrade all of the

[29:23] issues with the sound the video and

[29:26] everything like that with the not only

[29:28] this room but also the um the commercial

[29:31] chambers

[29:32] and what they came back with um

[29:36] i had some questions for tom who's the

[29:40] chief

[29:43] guy over there who

[29:45] looked at our space

[29:47] and explained to me each one of these

[29:49] because i wasn't even unsure about some

[29:51] of this stuff

[29:52] um

[29:54] and uh i come to the territory this is

[29:56] actually really good this would

[29:59] put us in a very good spot quality wise

[30:03] there's a lot of issues with um

[30:06] buzzing noises i mean you can hear it it

[30:07] just

[30:08] moves right into the mics

[30:11] and uh

[30:13] tommy's a real good expert and uh

[30:16] and these mics that he outlined in this

[30:18] system would um

[30:25] spot in terms of audio and video and

[30:28] broadcasting the meetings i mean things

[30:29] like um

[30:33] noise cancellation on mics

[30:36] uh having sam in the room

[30:39] with a slider so she can turn down the

[30:41] audio in the console chambers because it

[30:43] gets loud

[30:44] it's very tough for us as the production

[30:47] to know if it's too loud in the council

[30:49] chambers

[30:50] you would be able to just kind of tone

[30:52] the audio down in there

[30:55] and also

[30:56] you know mute likes when you need to

[31:00] and those sorts of things

[31:03] those

[31:04] cordless mics that we use

[31:07] those are those are on a signal that's

[31:09] not really used anymore so

[31:12] they're just they're on their way out

[31:14] so um

[31:18] some new ones that actually meet

[31:20] code

[31:23] yeah i don't know is there any questions

[31:26] so i have a few um

[31:31] let's say we went down this road uh how

[31:33] long

[31:34] do you think this technology would be

[31:37] i asked that exact question

[31:40] he said it would be at least 10 years

[31:42] because you know obviously

[31:44] technology changes and things evolved

[31:47] but i mean um

[31:49] you know

[31:51] uh he said at least ten years on uh

[31:55] on the audio video i'm sorry i think

[31:57] that the cameras are so i mean i want

[32:00] some of these things last longer than 10

[32:01] years i know that somebody's a really

[32:03] good company

[32:04] with video

[32:09] and if we didn't do live transmission

[32:12] with the cost being the same or

[32:16] yeah this does not this is this is just

[32:18] improving the audio and video quality

[32:21] overall

[32:22] uh

[32:23] on the video side so you're recording

[32:25] the actual transmission is a kind of a

[32:28] separate uh thing

[32:30] that um

[32:32] it just that depends on um

[32:34] you know the internet and he did

[32:37] actually

[32:38] uh include uh

[32:41] internet boosting signal to the

[32:43] amplifier to actually uh make sure that

[32:46] the the internet signal that's coming

[32:48] out is a little more secure

[32:51] so the stream will be a little more solid

[33:07] um

[33:23] i know that you've identified um a tech

[33:25] some a business so we would have to go

[33:27] out to bid for this just to find if we

[33:29] were their competing bids

[33:31] i need to defer that to you guys and uh

[33:34] you certainly could put it down

[33:36] we may have to uh a lot of

[33:39] this type of equipment is on state

[33:41] contract or consolidated supply of the

[33:43] federal

[33:44] vetting process so we would be able to

[33:47] purchase it directly okay

[33:50] thank you

[33:53] are there any other options that we

[33:55] might have to

[33:58] get the meetings out there i mean

[34:00] uh we just put

[34:03] i'm gonna say we i mean i think it was

[34:05] two or three years ago probably put 10

[34:08] or 15 000 in

[34:10] and

[34:12] i guess we thought it would take care of

[34:14] the problem

[34:15] are there other options of

[34:19] transmitting the meetings

[34:20] um i mean the the transmitting it and uh

[34:25] capturing good audio they're kind of two

[34:26] separate problems i mean the the

[34:28] transmission is just to determine what

[34:30] you're putting out there this would give

[34:32] us

[34:34] everyone's audible i mean these these

[34:36] bikes they just they just pick up a lot

[34:37] of the ambient sound the air

[34:39] conditioning a lot of things

[34:41] the um this would give us a solid ground

[34:44] to put out

[34:46] a really clean good-looking

[34:49] committee meeting council meeting

[34:51] um and then also uh help us with the

[34:54] streaming that this

[34:56] the internet stream would be a little

[34:58] more stable

[34:59] so it kind of really solved both of

[35:01] those problems but that interesting

[35:03] question

[35:09] i think it's something that we need to

[35:12] think about and obviously the

[35:14] transmission is a major problem we get

[35:17] complaints every single week

[35:20] and

[35:21] but

[35:22] 50 000 is a lot of money too

[35:25] but it should last 10 years hopefully

[35:28] but

[35:29] mayor uh

[35:31] do you have any other options or your

[35:34] staff have any other options of

[35:35] possibility of

[35:38] getting these meetings out there

[35:40] we haven't

[35:43] looked at it specifically other than

[35:47] uh it's

[35:48] packaging all the information that's

[35:50] available where

[35:53] uh it's likely has the long history

[35:55] we're the first to broadcast

[35:58] city council meetings live

[36:00] it's been

[36:02] probably 40 years

[36:04] maybe longer that

[36:05] they've done it

[36:07] but today it's just not the

[36:10] a

[36:11] simple visual of

[36:14] council members

[36:16] talking being at the meeting it's how do

[36:18] you get the additional information up

[36:19] it's you know where you have

[36:21] presentations like this to be able to

[36:23] merge it

[36:24] the more recent change in state

[36:27] legislation that requires

[36:30] information to be made available

[36:33] prior to the meetings

[36:36] and again

[36:38] you know that's all good but at the same

[36:39] time you don't want the public to be

[36:41] overwhelmed with kind of what i'll call

[36:43] white noise where you're putting out so

[36:45] much

[36:46] that they don't have time to sort

[36:48] through it

[36:49] and how do you manage that so

[36:52] i think the discussion has to be

[36:54] not only the streaming of the meetings

[36:57] but it's packaging all the information

[37:00] that goes out

[37:02] the data the photographs

[37:05] other information the council or city

[37:08] staff may be

[37:09] using to make decisions or come to a

[37:12] conclusion in terms of legislation or

[37:14] other actions that you're looking at

[37:16] do you think you could have your staff

[37:18] look at this and

[37:20] maybe make a proposal or presentation

[37:24] you know in the future

[37:28] most certainly we can work with zev and

[37:32] take what he's put together and look at

[37:34] other things that

[37:37] may be applicable and it's out at city

[37:39] council meetings you have other

[37:42] bodies you know it's a zoning board

[37:44] planning commission

[37:47] that

[37:49] have equally important roles i should

[37:52] say

[37:53] nothing's as important as the city

[37:54] council but

[37:56] that

[37:57] people want to know what's going on and

[38:00] how do we get that information out so

[38:02] that they can understand it and

[38:05] again understand what's going on at city

[38:07] hall

[38:10] i think that's a good place to leave it

[38:12] let the mayor's staff hopefully poor

[38:14] nate was that and

[38:16] when they have something and we'll bring

[38:18] it back to the table

[38:20] and open any questions at any time

[38:27] um thank you okay thank you mr feldman

[38:30] thank you

[38:31] okay the next item on the agenda is

[38:33] resolution to appoint carl williams and

[38:35] during tutorial to vacant council seats

[38:38] as we all know there was an election

[38:40] for two unexpired terms and the um

[38:44] you know we have the people who won the

[38:45] election car williamson during the toro

[38:48] who are at this point we can appoint

[38:50] them to the vacant council seats which

[38:52] will you know means they'll be able to

[38:54] govern for like two weeks of 2021 but um

[38:57] you know again you know that's what's

[38:59] before you today for us to make those um

[39:02] to make those appointments

[39:04] so i'm opening up for discussion

[39:08] did you measure

[39:11] are you raising your hand i am raising

[39:12] my hand okay um i would like to go move

[39:14] forward with appointing them even for

[39:16] those only for a few weeks i don't see a

[39:18] reason not to appoint them

[39:20] anyone else

[39:22] okay

[39:23] do you want to

[39:25] i'd like to make a motion

[39:26] a second okay all those in favor aye

[39:29] okay then just be on the agenda for next

[39:32] week

[39:33] um

[39:34] the next item of the agenda is the

[39:36] procurement policy for january uh 2022

[39:39] to december

[39:41] 23. mr colton thank you um in the packet

[39:45] tonight

[39:46] um

[39:47] is more i want to say it's a legislative

[39:49] request

[39:50] it was something that will eventually

[39:51] turn into a legislative request

[39:53] potentially

[39:55] every two years state law requires

[39:57] review of the procurement policies of

[39:59] the particular municipality here

[40:01] obviously the city of connecticut

[40:02] [Music]

[40:04] our two-year period is coming to an end

[40:06] i've included the resolution

[40:09] from the last period january 1 2020

[40:12] through december excuse me um should be

[40:17] through december 31 2021

[40:20] um

[40:21] that the council approved

[40:24] obviously it's open for

[40:25] discussion for

[40:27] the council members

[40:30] from my take on it from talking to city

[40:32] staff this procurement policy has worked

[40:34] pretty well

[40:35] i haven't heard any significant issues

[40:38] obviously i believe there's been a bit

[40:39] more accountability

[40:41] because certain things have to go to the

[40:42] council

[40:43] [Music]

[40:45] obviously happy to address any questions

[40:47] that the council may have

[40:50] in terms of you know uh passing a new

[40:52] policy

[40:56] so

[40:56] it seems like there's thank you it seems

[40:58] like there's not there's no change from

[41:01] what we passed last year or i'm not

[41:03] proposing any changes that's not up for

[41:04] me to propose obviously the council can

[41:07] do what the council would like to do

[41:09] all i can tell you is anecdotally from

[41:11] speaking to

[41:12] the departments they've been

[41:14] i think pretty happy with the current

[41:16] policy i think we did change it quite a

[41:18] bit from the last time

[41:21] in terms of

[41:23] purchases that are less than a certain

[41:24] amount we changed that threshold so it

[41:26] didn't have to

[41:27] come back to the council because i think

[41:29] it was

[41:31] a bit of an older policy and the costs

[41:33] have gone up for certain things

[41:35] making it

[41:36] i think less feasible when we had to

[41:38] make decisions

[41:40] i know that was something that came from

[41:42] i believe general services engineering

[41:44] and development

[41:46] but you know obviously it's up to the

[41:47] council in terms of what it wants to do

[41:49] but that time is coming where a new

[41:51] policy is in order okay

[41:55] so

[41:56] [Music]

[41:57] on on here we have individuals names i

[42:00] thought we changed that to

[42:02] do you have to have a um

[42:04] you're right it has to be an

[42:05] individual's name in there um that's

[42:08] what came to be obviously there are

[42:10] certain things that are going to have to

[42:11] change with regard to that commissioner

[42:13] edens is in there for example yes um

[42:17] and there may be other changes

[42:18] yeah they said no you hadn't put

[42:20] individuals

[42:21] so those people are specifically

[42:23] responsible for it so you can't do that

[42:26] i thought we

[42:27] right that's what we tried to do okay

[42:28] all right

[42:31] like purchasing supervisor obviously um

[42:33] aaron gallagher's now the purchase

[42:35] supervisor so things along those lines

[42:36] those are the obvious things i have to

[42:38] change

[42:39] um but in terms of you know the lack of

[42:41] a better phrase the main potatoes of the

[42:43] you know the bulk of the the purchasing

[42:45] policy that's obviously something that

[42:47] you know the council should discuss um

[42:50] as i said my perspective on it it's a good policy but you know things

[42:55] need to be fine-tuned or the council has

[42:58] no other considerations and wants to

[42:59] address

[43:00] and that's obviously within the preview

[43:02] of the council

[43:04] uh any other questions or

[43:07] so at this point i i am i'd like us to

[43:10] actually maybe have a presentation by

[43:12] those who

[43:13] you know do the procurements like to

[43:16] hear from from whom you mentioned

[43:18] and um

[43:20] to do that before we just go ahead and

[43:22] say let's just uniformly pass this then

[43:25] move forward so that's what i'd like to

[43:27] see okay

[43:28] you know i i can't that's not my

[43:32] one presentation tonight oh no no not at

[43:35] all no i would have asked for that number

[43:43] okay and again if you have

[43:45] specific areas that you'd like

[43:48] because some of the stuff they can talk

[43:50] all night i know

[44:00] [Music]

[44:05] if you look at this resolution that

[44:07] passed it wasn't passed until march we

[44:09] were working on the old policy for a

[44:10] while obviously it's one of those things

[44:12] i was waiting for after budget season to

[44:13] bring this forward but i wanted to

[44:15] obviously be on the council's radar

[44:17] um otherwise we would be operating

[44:19] within this purchasing policy okay

[44:22] fine yeah we need to review it

[44:25] okay

[44:26] all right any questions

[44:29] okay the next item on the agenda is just

[44:30] a reminder of the public hearing on next

[44:33] monday december 13th to amend chapter

[44:37] 87-11 uh for the city code to add

[44:39] juneteenth as a declared holiday

[44:42] just a placeholder

[44:44] and the final item on the agenda is

[44:46] discussion of the legislation

[44:48] legalization of marijuana and the op out

[44:50] option

[44:52] so as we all know that um and

[44:55] in order for us to opt out

[44:57] um we'd have to make a decision by

[44:59] december 31st or we would opt in in

[45:02] terms of having cannabis lounges and

[45:05] dispensaries in the city and um opting

[45:09] out means that you still have an

[45:10] opportunity to opt in

[45:12] uh however if you do nothing then you're

[45:14] automatically in

[45:15] and you there is no opportunity to opt

[45:18] out

[45:19] um so

[45:20] you know however it happened we just

[45:23] this didn't get on the agenda months ago

[45:24] when really it would have been a great

[45:26] opportunity to do it but it was i know

[45:28] that i'm not the only one we received

[45:29] emails i had an informal discussion with

[45:31] mr colton and i really thought that it

[45:33] was something that we need to discuss

[45:34] and

[45:35] um you know asked mr mutaveron if we

[45:37] could have it on the agenda so we're here to discuss that tonight

[45:41] um

[45:42] and i also have to say that since it's

[45:45] on the agenda there's been emails

[45:46] there's an op-ed piece there's i

[45:48] received phone calls and text messages

[45:51] so people have a lot that they want a

[45:54] lot of input and that's just in that

[45:55] small window of time so clearly there's

[45:58] a lot of public um feeling of one way or

[46:01] the other regarding um having uh

[46:04] dispensaries and lounges within the city

[46:06] of schenectady so you know we we as a

[46:09] council have to decide whether we would

[46:11] opt out and then give this further time

[46:13] to discuss it and really see if it makes

[46:15] sense or where it makes sense and if

[46:17] zoning is part of the issue

[46:18] which um i'm told that's that's another

[46:21] thing that you know we could we could

[46:22] discuss so um bringing you here tonight

[46:25] to get input um from the council so we

[46:27] can make that decision because again we

[46:29] um the opt-out deadline is december 31st

[46:33] so

[46:35] is there any comments or concerns or

[46:37] questions or

[46:39] what are your thoughts

[46:41] well i would like to opt out but i was

[46:43] allowing other people the opportunity to

[46:45] say that i would like to opt out i don't

[46:47] think that a decision such as this is

[46:49] something we should make in a very short

[46:51] time frame um because if we even wanted

[46:53] to have a public hearing it would mean

[46:55] that we'd have the public hearing and

[46:56] have to vote on the very same night

[46:58] which is not a true public hearing

[47:00] so

[47:00] um if we this is a decision that's it's

[47:03] it it includes revenue and it also

[47:05] includes other social issues that go

[47:07] along with it so rather than to

[47:09] hurriedly make the decision because we

[47:12] did not do this in a timely manner it

[47:15] makes sense to me to spend the time

[47:17] really discussing it to really get

[47:19] a lot more public input input from the

[47:22] police department input from there's

[47:23] people that

[47:25] have set information regarding business

[47:27] opportunities that they would like to

[47:28] pursue so there's a lot to be considered

[47:31] and in my opinion not all of that can be

[47:34] considered this very short time frame

[47:36] which is also a time frame when people

[47:37] are doing a lot of other things and

[47:38] distracted i won't call it distracted

[47:40] but giving their attention to the

[47:42] holidays so my opinion is that we should

[47:44] opt out take the real time to discuss it

[47:47] and make a decision based on

[47:49] a lot of information just not a short

[47:52] amount of information in a very short

[47:53] timeframe

[47:56] so um

[47:58] in regards to waiting for the

[48:01] meeting

[48:03] i'll speak for myself i was hoping and

[48:05] waiting for the state to come out with

[48:08] some regulations and

[48:10] some rules and there's been nothing

[48:14] and

[48:14] so i think at least for me that's why

[48:17] i haven't looked for it to be earlier

[48:21] and

[48:21] i think probably for many of us on on

[48:24] the council

[48:25] in regards to a public hearing i have a

[48:28] question from mr colbin

[48:30] it's my understanding we could have a

[48:32] public hearing on monday

[48:34] we just need to have like three days

[48:37] notice is that correct

[48:39] yes i mean

[48:42] there have to be a resolution to call

[48:44] for a public area

[48:45] which would take us to next monday

[48:48] because there'd have to be a resolution

[48:49] to call for the public hearing

[48:51] um so you can't there has to then there

[48:53] has to be notice

[48:55] i know i see city clerk shaking her head

[48:58] because

[48:59] even if the city council next monday

[49:00] were to pass a resolution to call for a

[49:02] public hearing there has to then be

[49:05] sufficient notice to provide

[49:07] the public an opportunity not just to

[49:09] have a public hearing but to review any

[49:11] materials

[49:13] that would be considered for that

[49:16] hearing

[49:18] because i

[49:20] wanted to clarify because my

[49:21] understanding was if we called for

[49:24] public hearing on monday we just needed

[49:25] three days so thank you for that

[49:27] clarification

[49:30] but what is patrick well so

[49:33] i didn't hear whether you were thinking

[49:35] um three days was enough if we had the

[49:37] resolution

[49:38] we the resolution wouldn't pass until

[49:40] next monday right but i mean then if

[49:45] you pass a resolution calling for a

[49:46] public hearing um and then notice has to

[49:49] go out but you know

[49:51] generally the mayor has to you know sign

[49:53] the resolution and there's a

[49:57] it'll have to sit problem cycle because

[49:58] you're calling for a public hearing

[50:00] then

[50:01] that's going to be the 13th then you're

[50:04] going to have to have the public hearing

[50:06] and then

[50:06] either pass it that night or the next

[50:08] you know meeting night

[50:14] so it's not just three days it's what

[50:16] you're saying okay

[50:22] so um

[50:26] i would uh recommend a compromise here

[50:31] um i think the dispensaries

[50:33] are

[50:34] you know there's some dispensaries that

[50:36] are already like

[50:37] in process throughout the city i think

[50:39] they're going to be coming before

[50:40] planning a development

[50:43] i would want a lot more information on

[50:46] what they would be wanting to do from a

[50:47] lounge standpoint so my recommendation

[50:50] would be that we opt out on any

[50:52] lounges but go forward with dispensers

[51:00] i i didn't know if we could if we could

[51:02] do that i would have to look really a

[51:03] little bit yes yes i believe we can from

[51:06] the reading that i've read i believe

[51:08] that we can opt out

[51:09] on the lounges and move forward with

[51:11] dispensaries

[51:14] well i would like to be able to be able

[51:16] to read that and see that and have that

[51:18] in detail without making that decision

[51:20] again for me it's about making sure we

[51:22] have as much information as possible and

[51:25] not um

[51:26] not just making it based on this quick

[51:28] decision tonight because i think this is

[51:29] a very quick turnaround

[51:31] and we should really take the time to do

[51:33] it and we've already heard from

[51:35] people that don't want dispensaries so i

[51:38] think that i think public input is an

[51:40] important part of this process

[51:42] before we make that decision

[51:45] yes ms patrick

[51:46] i'm sorry

[51:48] well i did have a chance today to

[51:50] go to the office of cannabis management

[51:53] website uh which i just found out today

[51:56] existed um and did some reading before i

[51:59] came here and you can actually make that

[52:01] choice of

[52:04] just dispensaries or dispensaries and

[52:06] lounges or just lounges

[52:10] i

[52:11] do feel that we need more time to really

[52:14] look at rules and regulations

[52:16] i have had a conversation

[52:18] with our police chief as well

[52:21] my feeling is that i

[52:23] would like to see us be able to have

[52:26] dispensaries

[52:27] i do think that that will help us to cut

[52:30] down on some of the illegal activity

[52:33] that's happening in the city in terms of

[52:35] um

[52:37] i think that we'd have more control over

[52:38] the quality of the product that was

[52:40] being sold if it was being sold in

[52:43] a

[52:44] in an environment that we get to decide

[52:46] you know who's doing that so i think

[52:48] rather than you know is it going to be

[52:50] laced with fentanyl are we going to have

[52:52] more overdoses et cetera that's one

[52:54] thing i think it also gives

[52:56] um us the opportunity for our police

[52:58] force to have less

[53:01] and i don't know that i'm completely

[53:02] accurate on this but less

[53:04] minor offenses that they would be having

[53:06] to

[53:07] review and

[53:09] go after um and so therefore there'd be

[53:12] more focus on the things that we know

[53:14] that they're focused on

[53:16] you know all the time in terms of more

[53:18] major crimes um so those are those are

[53:21] two aspects of it um i think for me the

[53:24] sales tax aspect which i actually found

[53:26] out some more information about that

[53:28] today as well um is part of the decision

[53:31] but it's to me not the uh focus of this

[53:34] discussion i'm more concerned about uh

[53:37] people and neighborhoods

[53:39] in that regard so i do feel

[53:42] luckily i know that we can opt back in i

[53:46] made sure of that because one of the

[53:47] calls i got today from a business person

[53:50] um i got several calls from businesses

[53:52] that do want us to be able to uh have

[53:55] the dispensaries um

[53:58] and like all of us we got obviously

[54:00] emails and calls from people that don't

[54:02] want us to do that as well

[54:03] um but one of the business people that

[54:06] called me today didn't feel that we

[54:08] could opt back in so i really did some

[54:10] research to make sure indeed that we can

[54:13] opt back in uh so i feel comfortable

[54:15] with that so

[54:17] those are my feelings mayor

[54:19] just uh asked chief clifford to be here

[54:21] tonight the council so desired

[54:25] would provide you some background

[54:26] briefing that it would involve sources

[54:28] methods and operations within the police

[54:30] department which you would have to move

[54:32] into executive session for

[54:38] so at this point in time um i mean we

[54:41] can hear that discussion so i what

[54:43] happened with this is right now we're

[54:44] the only two on uh right on this

[54:47] committee but it also sounds like we

[54:48] have to go into a session before we can

[54:51] hear from the chief right

[54:52] absolutely absolutely so i mean

[54:57] does anyone else want to weigh in on any

[54:59] other council member mr palamini um i

[55:02] think there's a number of considerations

[55:04] that

[55:05] we need to think about

[55:07] some have been articulated others not

[55:10] for instance

[55:11] what about all these tobacco shops that

[55:14] are setting up with the

[55:16] thoughts that they're going to be

[55:18] selling marijuana

[55:20] that's something that's in our

[55:22] neighborhoods

[55:23] yes there's stores that want to operate

[55:26] and there's business considerations

[55:28] but those are largely in commercial

[55:30] districts whereas these tobacco shops

[55:33] are in the neighborhoods we already have

[55:34] enough problems in the neighborhoods so

[55:37] what would be some

[55:39] solutions to that problem

[55:41] um

[55:42] you know there's i think a variety of

[55:44] considerations the

[55:46] i don't buy sorry miss patrick but i

[55:50] don't buy the argument that it will

[55:51] solve the

[55:53] illegal issues and it'll just create

[55:55] another market

[55:57] and that's typically how these things

[55:59] operate

[56:00] so i think there's a number of

[56:02] considerations for us to consider

[56:04] um

[56:05] you know the neighborhoods to me is the

[56:07] big one um

[56:09] you know

[56:12] we have many many issues in our

[56:14] neighborhoods already

[56:16] so

[56:17] i think

[56:18] we'll go into executive session i'm

[56:20] assuming that's what you're looking to

[56:21] do we'll hear from the chief but

[56:24] i just think that's some things that we

[56:27] need to consider

[56:28] as we move forward

[56:30] whether to opt in or opt out but

[56:35] i think

[56:36] we we have a number of issues also

[56:39] think about the pharmacies

[56:41] you know pharmacies popped up

[56:43] 20 years ago every corner

[56:46] and now they're going out of business

[56:47] and we're left with these empty things

[56:50] so there's i think things that we need

[56:53] to think through a little bit

[56:55] and

[56:56] maybe we'll get some answers

[56:58] uh in the discussions of some of the

[57:00] things that that will hear

[57:02] but i think it's uh

[57:04] not quite so simple

[57:08] well i just want to respond i don't i

[57:10] didn't think that it would solve our

[57:12] problems with drug killers or illegal

[57:14] drug activity um at all but and i want

[57:17] to hear more about that from from the

[57:20] chief

[57:21] but i also think that it seems to me

[57:23] that we would have

[57:25] uh well first of all there's also zoning

[57:27] and planning et cetera that that

[57:29] businesses would have to go through but

[57:31] i think in terms of what you're bringing

[57:33] up around the neighborhoods i think we

[57:35] also will be able to make some decisions

[57:37] about that as well in terms of where

[57:40] uh in the city we would you know and how

[57:43] many et cetera et cetera i mean we we

[57:45] can make those kinds of recommendations

[57:47] around the number of dispensaries and

[57:49] that kind of thing i think from what i'm reading so that's

[57:55] sorry mr paul ready but those are just

[57:57] to respond to that so with all of this

[57:59] discussion i think with this one thing

[58:00] that's pretty clear it needs more

[58:02] discussion and i also think it needs a

[58:04] lot more public input there are well

[58:06] philosophers currently who are you know

[58:08] talking about making a decision that's

[58:10] going to impact the entire city so

[58:13] um

[58:14] i i again think that public input is

[58:16] important we talked about neighborhoods

[58:18] and where would be and there's going to

[58:19] be a lot of limiting not my backyard i

[58:21] believe that so you know those are all

[58:23] things that we need to consider so i'm

[58:25] not i'm not

[58:27] from my perspective willing to rush into

[58:29] it and then have to then kind of back

[58:31] out of it and consider all those things

[58:33] i think we should have a have it really

[58:36] done well

[58:37] and once we roll it out so i know that

[58:38] we need to go into executive session to

[58:41] discuss to hear what the chief has to

[58:42] say so uh at this time i'll just

[58:44] entertain a motion to recess but we will

[58:46] then have to come out and make

[58:48] and vote

[58:49] okay all right oh i'll make that motion

[58:51] success okay we're going to reset uh

[58:54] government ops and discuss the rest of

[58:56] the an executive session

[59:00] [Music]

[59:02] so caught order finance committee first

[59:04] item on the agenda is a review of the

[59:06] downtown um schenectady assessment

[59:09] district there's a public hearing on the

[59:10] 22nd

[59:12] are there any questions or comments

[59:15] have a motion

[59:16] a second always in favor aye next is

[59:19] review of the 2022 upper union street

[59:22] business improvement district again uh

[59:25] public hearing on 22nd any questions or

[59:28] comments

[59:29] emotionally second all

[59:38] development and planning there are 13

[59:40] items on the agenda

[59:42] the first item on the agenda thermal

[59:44] imaging camera for the connecting fire

[59:45] department aaron gallagher

[59:51] no

[59:53] so

[59:55] are you gonna think that she's gonna

[59:56] take that are we gonna put that on for

[59:57] two weeks

[1:00:02] just the purchase of some equipment

[1:00:03] which i think is detailed

[1:00:07] it's on page 15.

[1:00:11] someone's thinking the same thing

[1:00:23] so the

[1:00:24] council

[1:00:27] has already approved

[1:00:31] we are going to propose a purchase of a

[1:00:34] thermal imaging cameras

[1:00:36] in the capital budget

[1:00:38] then there came an opportunity for a

[1:00:40] grant the general

[1:00:43] assistance of firefighters training

[1:00:45] which we applied and we were fortunate

[1:00:48] enough to get them so we're pulling that

[1:00:50] off of the capital budget

[1:00:52] and it's been approved to accept the

[1:00:54] grant the council has already approved

[1:00:56] that

[1:00:57] so what this is here is just to

[1:00:59] uh it went to bid there was

[1:01:02] one bitter garrison

[1:01:04] uh fire apparatus

[1:01:06] a company that we dealt with and now the

[1:01:08] proposal is for the council to

[1:01:11] accept that date okay

[1:01:13] and it's for

[1:01:15] the total

[1:01:18] that's for 60 000.

[1:01:21] yeah

[1:01:22] 62

[1:01:23] sorry sixty two thousand five five

[1:01:25] hundred and sixty dollars right

[1:01:27] um

[1:01:29] fifty six thousand and change is going

[1:01:31] to be from the grant okay and the city

[1:01:33] is

[1:01:34] uh

[1:01:36] over about fifty

[1:01:39] but i guess the question on the table is

[1:01:42] can we go with garrison

[1:01:46] are there any questions

[1:01:48] no i'll move it

[1:01:53] [Music]

[1:01:58] all right uh the next item on the agenda

[1:02:00] is into municipal water agreement with

[1:02:02] the town of rotterdam it's philippa

[1:02:10] the request you have for planning for

[1:02:12] approval tonight for consideration

[1:02:14] is the um

[1:02:15] updated and renewable lottery

[1:02:17] intermittent water agreement

[1:02:20] we do provide water and certain parts of

[1:02:22] rotterdam that are convenient to our

[1:02:23] water mains

[1:02:25] this agreement has been in place for a

[1:02:26] number of years but it was time to

[1:02:28] update the agreement

[1:02:30] and we entered into a five-year

[1:02:32] agreement with the counter-run and the

[1:02:33] five-year-old

[1:02:35] the rate is the current uh obviously

[1:02:37] rate and the

[1:02:39] budget

[1:02:41] so that would be the new rating

[1:02:44] any questions

[1:02:47] okay second all those in favor aye aye

[1:02:49] thank you mr obama good evening thank

[1:02:51] you it's insane

[1:02:53] next time on the agenda uh to authorize

[1:02:56] the mayor to enter into a supplemental

[1:02:58] agreement with new york state department

[1:02:59] of transportation for

[1:03:01] broadway mill and phil fourth street to

[1:03:04] each street

[1:03:09] uh so as you're aware we are in the

[1:03:11] process of pause right now

[1:03:14] of the preservation of broadway between

[1:03:16] 890

[1:03:18] and newport

[1:03:20] so what we're looking at doing is like

[1:03:22] we did a last session we have two

[1:03:24] agreements this one's the first one this

[1:03:26] allows us to

[1:03:27] enter an agreement with the dot where we

[1:03:29] can get reimbursed for up to 95 percent

[1:03:32] of the costs incurred for the project

[1:03:35] so

[1:03:36] looking forward this we've already

[1:03:38] increased some money but you can roll

[1:03:39] out the current now we can go back and

[1:03:41] get reimbursed for it

[1:03:48] thank you

[1:03:49] okay uh the next item on the agenda is

[1:03:52] the

[1:03:53] department of transportation for rich

[1:03:55] new york and it gives the bin number

[1:03:56] francis avenue over 80 90. mr wallace

[1:04:00] yep so this is the same thing different

[1:04:02] project we have not started the francis

[1:04:04] avenue bridge yet we haven't even

[1:04:06] see it here but doing it this way

[1:04:09] is what finance would actually prefer is

[1:04:12] that we do them at the same time so that

[1:04:14] we turn around the reimbursements as

[1:04:15] fast as we get the bills

[1:04:18] so

[1:04:19] due to my kind of capacity it's not

[1:04:21] possible to usually get everything there

[1:04:22] but we're going to try it with this one

[1:04:24] because it's a little slower in the

[1:04:25] winter so um

[1:04:27] it's a little out of order

[1:04:29] is francis avenue deck replacement

[1:04:32] between

[1:04:33] hamilton hill and mount pleasant we're

[1:04:34] going to be doing that project next year

[1:04:37] with this company tioga hopefully

[1:04:39] it's awarded and that project is going

[1:04:41] to start first thing in the spring go on

[1:04:43] for a number of months possibly three

[1:04:46] all new deck we have a lot of problems

[1:04:51] and

[1:04:52] all new deck lighting radio defense and

[1:04:55] then this will reimburse us

[1:04:59] any questions

[1:05:00] i'll move it second all those in favor

[1:05:06] okay and the next item on the agenda

[1:05:08] number five is to authorize the city

[1:05:09] engineer to take steps necessary for the

[1:05:11] right-of-way acquisition for kings road

[1:05:12] over amtrak

[1:05:15] if andrew was going to touch on this for

[1:05:17] me yeah this is actually something that

[1:05:18] came before the committee um at the last

[1:05:20] committee meeting um only it was a call

[1:05:22] for a public hearing um it shouldn't

[1:05:24] have been a call for a public hearing we

[1:05:25] didn't need it we don't need a public

[1:05:27] hearing for this

[1:05:29] there is that property so kings road we

[1:05:31] need access to certain properties in

[1:05:33] order to complete the bridge work there

[1:05:37] the issue is we had reached out to a

[1:05:40] number of the property owners there's

[1:05:41] one person if you recall had passed away

[1:05:44] another one we had trouble locating i

[1:05:47] think the owner

[1:05:48] another i think another one just was not

[1:05:50] interested but in order to get this work

[1:05:52] done we're not taking a large piece of

[1:05:54] the parcels it's a very small strip for

[1:05:57] the purpose of doing the work um it does

[1:06:01] technically de minimis uh based on

[1:06:04] how much property we're actually

[1:06:06] accessing

[1:06:07] therefore we don't need to have a public

[1:06:09] hearing so be the recommendation from

[1:06:12] the law department and obviously from mr

[1:06:14] wallen from the engineering department

[1:06:16] to move forward with this resolution so

[1:06:18] that we can um seek uh the properties um

[1:06:22] through eminent domain

[1:06:24] are there any questions

[1:06:27] second always in paper

[1:06:30] okay and uh fighting number six

[1:06:33] award-winning contract for the francis

[1:06:34] avalon bridge deck replacement we'll

[1:06:36] talk a little bit about that somebody's

[1:06:38] gonna talk a little bit about that i'll

[1:06:39] just get into the a little bit of the

[1:06:40] detail that we have in there is that we

[1:06:42] did uh design this for a better car

[1:06:44] this was a bridge new york project

[1:06:47] yesterday where bridge new york is a

[1:06:50] competitive statewide project

[1:06:52] solicitation where

[1:06:55] i had to make a

[1:06:56] application for the state it was

[1:06:58] reviewed by a group that is unaware they

[1:07:01] actually have different regions review

[1:07:03] um and it's based on merit and awarded

[1:07:05] it is a hundred percent uh

[1:07:08] it's 100 funded however the work was

[1:07:11] more than we wanted to but still we want

[1:07:14] to get this work done because 80 percent

[1:07:16] it would have been there but we need to

[1:07:17] get this bridge done we put it out we

[1:07:19] got as you see five bridges um for the

[1:07:22] most part the bridges bits were very

[1:07:24] close

[1:07:25] um and tioga we have not worked with

[1:07:28] taiwan we've been working with d.a

[1:07:29] collins and beth but we did call uh i

[1:07:31] did call some references they are

[1:07:33] rapidly confirmed reasons we don't do a

[1:07:35] lot of bridge work in the city um but we

[1:07:38] have no reservations moving forward with

[1:07:40] it and i really think this is going to

[1:07:42] be a great project to get the bridges

[1:07:45] done we're really

[1:07:46] making some improvements with all the

[1:07:47] bridges in the city which is great okay

[1:07:50] any questions or discussion

[1:07:52] i'll obtain a motion

[1:07:53] in a second all those in favor all right

[1:07:56] thank you mr wallace thank you

[1:07:58] welcome

[1:07:59] uh the next time on the agenda is

[1:08:00] award-winning contract for the

[1:08:02] demolition and

[1:08:04] select making properties in the city

[1:08:05] through jackson demolition services mr

[1:08:08] thank you good evening everyone so as

[1:08:10] part of our five year consolidated plan

[1:08:13] we always look we set aside funding to

[1:08:16] remove blight and to complement some of

[1:08:18] the investments and redevelopment that's

[1:08:20] happening within the neighborhoods um so

[1:08:22] this is basically the recommendation is

[1:08:26] that the

[1:08:27] city council authorized the mayor to

[1:08:28] enter an agreement with jackson

[1:08:29] demolition services for the demolition

[1:08:31] removal of debris of the

[1:08:34] vacant buildings that are listed in the

[1:08:36] amount of 422 700

[1:08:39] um jackson was the lowest bidder and

[1:08:42] these are some of our most troubled

[1:08:44] properties uh in the city

[1:08:49] any questions or discussion i'll move it

[1:08:52] second all those in favor all right

[1:08:55] thank you yeah

[1:08:57] okay

[1:08:58] um all the final items on the agenda are

[1:09:00] for executive session

[1:09:03] so this time i'd like to attend emotions

[1:09:04] to go into executive session so moved

[1:09:06] second

[1:09:08] all's in favor high

[1:09:09] okay the public

[1:09:13] [Music]

Schenectady City Council Committee Meeting December 6th 2021

Transcript