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thank you
all right I didn't touch that one all
right thank you very much
20 seconds
facility
just because
okay I'll have to add that in yeah I
mean yeah if it doesn't we have
I know but I think you're right we
wanted to try to come in the fields okay
I'm like okay yeah it's like something
we're gonna pay for it either way
it's nice to have it appropriated right
I missed a gas increase John in the
questions that I just think of the
questions yeah I was out all day okay
great
they've been working real hard today to
answer questions so we'll run into
tomorrow
we'll review what I have today some of
them
um
today I asked you if we can have two
things
um a little bit late I haven't heard
from Mr Toro yet so I'm assuming she's a speaker I have to take back
tonight so she's not coming she's not
coming we haven't heard from her oh
she's the YWCA speaker tonight I didn't
hear from you yeah sorry Dora did
mention that to me yesterday okay
we're going to be here at six o'clock
budget hearing session and tonight we're
dealing with utilities Street lighting
communication
Mr Ferrari can you just give us another
yeah
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is about the department of development
really comprises like a boring Sony
appeals to our Planning Commission uh
the growing Administration and the
community began uh the total increase of
the budget is about 205 000 for almost
four different plans and as we go
through it you can see what what the
difference is
Appeals
um we also oversee the Community
Development funding to put each year
um and I think the one of the main
increases is in our fees for service
line and that is based on um it's an 80
000 increase based on our recent
Community forestry management plan where
there was a recommendation for the city
to have an arborists on staff to really
help us manage the removals maintenance
and planting of trees
um I know this is something that the
mayor and the council has been very
supportive of and rather than requesting
for a full-time position as a memberists
or starting with you know trying to
consult with an arborist to get that
process started as we work with ogs to
actually implement the forestry plan
um so that's the main thing there
um
we had two new positions this year well
the assistant planner was a position
that was vacated in 2018
um when the person left so that was
added
um you know in this year I believe yeah
we've got that Council and then the we
just hired a new program an account
clerk as well
um to help manage the accounting we had
beer of gender who retired this year
um her title was the housing
rehabilitation specialist I believe
um but we just wanted to make a broader
um the program counter who can help us
with all the Hub stuff but also as we're
thinking about arpa and what we're
having to do for that Administration
um so those are the main things
are all these position and filled yes
both the administration and Community
finally we have a full set full style
yes and it's it's really um been helpful
open for questions
go ahead please okay so um I know last
year there was a position that you
wanted to add and we had talked about
that I think it was like an assistant
um
director I can't remember now oh the
assistant director of development but
did you switch that to a different title
is that so that would be the Community
Development supervisor that's
um yep that position
is in place
um the former title was the program
Catholic which had been removed from the
budget when Vera retired we brought that
position back because we knew it was
something that we really needed someone
to really oversee the accounts and I
want to mention too that Vera was a
part-time where this is a full-time
position yes and and
for 30 years old yeah or really for
probably yeah the longest of anybody and
so she just had so much institutional
knowledge what she did at part-time was
really not not what most people would be
able to do
can you address the other time on on
their Community Development
yeah so that was in relation to the
increase in front
of that through the cares act so all the
management of the CV funds
um our community uh I think it's the CD
program monitor
um that position had taken on a lot of
additional responsibilities
um but also the administration costs
were accounted for in the CD funds it
was nothing that the city ended up
paying for that came through the grants
um that were you know get given as part
of the
is
66 in
it so it does seem I think um I asked Mr
Ferrari for a list of all the new
positions throughout all the apartments
um and it does have two new positions
but it sounds like they were already
filled yes that's why they're not on
their list because they're filmed this
year no they're all they're on the list
assistant
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yes and within the last few weeks
thank you
and they're all films so how do we do
that I mean we put it in the 2023 budget
and we hire already
okay we came to the council yeah we did
a month ago okay you know we have the
applications we like to move money for
these positions
if you remember the zoning officer that
used to be in jail in the code's office
and handling more of the enforcement
side of it now we have the assistant the
new assistant plan who's going to run
the board of zoning appeals
um
as in on more on the planning side of
building
um so that we we did bring that for you
guys for approval earlier in the year
okay sorry
so the zoning officer was replaced by
the uh
and these positions they were just
filled within the last two to three
weeks yes yes even though they were
vacant for a long time ago
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one thing I requested was an increase in
salary
greater than the four percent for
managers um for our homes coordinator
Bryce Brown III
um I had requested
a raise for him just given his impact
and you know he gave them with the city
on properties and how you know how
successful that scientists and um so
that was something I requested not
knowing whether or not I could be
populated
um
and so I see what's what's being um
proposed what did you request I think I
requested 65
. thank you and I think it says uh you
know we did present it to the mayor and
America just said upon management okay
yeah which I know happened across the
board I also requested an increase for
myself given that most times there's a
director of Community Development and a
director of planning I'm both
um
but yeah
I think it was just the four percent
across the board that was allocated
any other questions
seeing none thank you thank you
This was um
yesterday at your department
um came into a discussion and there were
many questions I was asked concerns of
um you made a requests to have a
separate Department
and the question was asked
why wasn't it granted
then also the question was asked and
they wanted to know more about what we
were doing foreign
retirement compliance with subcontractor
and things like that
so we think it's fitting there we bring
in here from you directly rather than we
just make an assumption so I will invite
you to kind of walk us through your
department what you're currently doing
the work you're doing in terms of
compliance with mwbs or contractors and the center here and then
we will actually talk about um
people
again thank you so much for the
opportunity to come forth with the
um
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when I came home board here five years
ago now it was
with the onset of how do we make a
difference in terms of what we were
seeing in the city and how do we make a
difference in terms of creating economic
and Contracting opportunities for our
residents within the city and what we
see is in the traditional route of the
way things normally done with compliance
and affirmative action you really don't
take a proactive role in creating
opportunities and make an activity so
like always dealing after the fact
foreign
to why wasn't we getting enough uh
opportunity why wasn't we building the
capacity of the firms and why don't we
have the capacity of each other
Workforce on development so hence that's
how we launched our Workforce initiative
and just give you a little bit of
background on that
we're probably three years into you know
counting the code activity so we've had
about 150 people
go through that program
at this juncture we're into the last
class of the workforce fees the person
just wrapped up in June
tomorrow it's the last day for the
second quarter in this year and he still
passed that 15 students each so they've
gone to 125 hour training field screen
which is the fourth curriculum
and uh of the
150 right now originally we had 56
graduated in the first 90 and this one
here we've got 30 um
in the first round we had I was 26
people were Gateway employees I think
560 graduated 26 we gave you the
employees a 26th job that we actually
you know created
nowhere to this last group out of the 30
people that we have now uh 15 13 of them
successfully committed the course in
June nine of them with the gameplay
employed six of them invented trades in
carpenters union and the uh late the
157. and then now tomorrow they'll wrap
up this lasts from 15 of them completed
it out of the 15 that went in and
they've all got commitments if they want
to move forward to the next level
they've all got commitments where
they're going to get into an
apprenticeship program you know moving
on to the next level and and that's uh
that's huge in in many regards because
we talk about how you change that
dynamic because it's always been a big
challenge in terms of getting folks
the other part of the equation is once
you train this Workforce you know
whether it's a better job so you got to
build a capacity and train more uh small
businesses that's going to hire you know
but we got to create businesses from
this community or from this area that's
more in tune to hire and give these
folks a chance now a classic example of
what I'm talking about how these two
pieces come together I invited Michael
diorio here he's with a happy election
now three years old I got first class he
was one of those first ones that started
with that and if you don't mind I I can
tell your story because he's here you
can answering questions and this will
give you an idea of why
it's not just a matter of chasing
numbers but we're really changing
people's lives he was in a bad space in
his life with depression and not you
know making it happen not making any
money and having a lot of problems you
know with the union he came into came
into me and we talked about what he
wanted to do he wanted to start a
business we helped him start his
business a year later we help him get
certified as a certified MBE he's also a
servant disabled veteran
and he's on track and going for twenty
thousand dollars a year he probably did
four or five hundred thousand dollars
last year and he's on track to really
making a difference
anytime people so he's hired two but if
you spend 15 20 minutes a day on all
that type of thing you know it takes it
takes time and then if our mission is to
create and build capacity you know
that's what we're here to do to help
build you know those businesses in
addition to that
we've been on a regular basis we host uh
workshops and things for training we
work with many partners we work a lot of
hood comes in uh last month we did a
Regional training where they came in
from Buffalo and we have the Regional
training residence over the uh
and it talks about her opportunity and
all the agencies that receive our money
with opportunities about how contractors
would get involved but that's that's
huge in the sense that they're looking
at cementally as a leader in that regard
to bring those Sports together so we
bring people from Albany Utica to all
those folks came here for that type of
training but we do that on a regular
basis and and working with the state uh
we have an mou economy with the Empire
State development which provide access
to Capital finding assistance and things
like that so we're trying to build these
firms up so down can you know get the
job opportunity but they can get the
funding and the bonding necessary to
execute the job and then they could be
more competitive and going after our
Contracting opportunities
how does it relates to the economic
Center they don't promise said you know
there's a lot there and you know please
don't you know go through now but
imagine uh a wagon wheel with a hug okay
the environment Center is is that Hub
where you bring up all of these
collaborations all these different
partners all these industry and
Industrial experts to facilitate a
common objective which is to create
opportunity for Contracting opportunity
with us and as well as a job
opportunities
so we work with a variety of areas
dealing with
access the capital training Workforce
Development you know just anything that
you want to do we want to create an
environment so when you walk in to this
place you know that everybody in this
Jack's back you got a place where you
can ask questions you can have the
nation you know if your resources tapped
in you know mentoring whatever you need
that's the space that we're trying to
create the purpose of having a red and
the Heart of the community because
that's what a creative need is
when we first came on board here you can
look around and see yeah we put a lot of
money and we did 20 million dollars with
TCP we did 49 office development or
whatever but the reality is yeah you put
20 and 30 million dollars in to
communicate with that young man that
lived on Hillary Street and all this
week did not get a job opportunity
and they don't you know and they look at
you why can't I get a job that's sweet
and speak you know what does that say
you know so applying for
you know opportunities to do the
applications how do you create that
dialogue so where that bridge to sort of
make those connections and make a
difference and that's the reality that
we deal with on everyday basis and
that's why it's important to have this
type of facility there to do that just
that and again we're not trying to say
that we create programs you know you
know we're not doing that we're just
becoming that up to facilitate the
conversation with any different partners
together you know to make a difference
so that's why that's the connection
between but they're intertwined together
where you can't do one without the other
because if the objective is to follow
the mission and the mission to create
Economic Opportunity prosperity for our
community how do we do that you know
this is how we do it through education
through training through working with
the school district work with the
Community College working with the
industry and making all those cases
happen so that's why this is also
critically important and necessary to do
it
the reason for the request for the
budget is there's a lot in that alphabet
suit and
um
you can't do it especially with one
person I mean we need uh you know the
data entry person just to track down The
Daily tell you what's happening we want
to know who these people are where they
come from and how do we check for the
next five years to see what the impact
is so that's that's one
the other part is we have to go after
the rent we we spend more time this year
going at the ground up to come and see
and uh you know funding to support this
thing bringing in uh outside uh experts
to help us uh just in this document that
you have right here this was nothing
that we created right here by ourselves
in a back-end now we had people from
across the country out there I had
people from Birmingham Alabama Austin
Texas New Jersey they all had tremendous
impact in terms of what we're doing but
again
this all comes about because of the
relationship that we have with people in
the hub and you know traveling around
like I'm a part of the training service
so we go around the country's different
places and we talk about what we do here
at Schenectady and the highlights that
we get every time we go is the fact that
we create an atmosphere of java
opportunities we like what we've done
with the Workforce Development and all
those type of things and we we're
compared to what they're doing like in
Chicago and that's why the answers to
come around to talk about you know those
type of things that we do because we
really seriously making a difference
ain't nobody in this scaffolding nobody
in this region isn't doing anything
close to what we're doing in fact
they're coming to be a part of what
we're trying to do Saratoga Albany
Georgia you know those folks are coming
to us on a daily basis to participating
in health you know do what we're trying
to do so
I think we got something special here we
need to get this government and health
and government for every random day and
I think I look at it like
there's a friend of mine Arthur Eve from
the State Assembly he talks about yeah
the people's budget this is the people's
name this is this is for the people this
I think this community preserves this I
think
if we're going to do this and do the
things that we're talking about trying
to do and make a transformation
it's just all inclusive program that
we're talking about we're talking about
how do we get involved with redeveloping
the hill I believe people want to live
there can you just imagine we're going
to recruit a police officer a young man
a young lady from Hamilton Hill that
want to be a police officer we created a
battle where they can buy a house here
and they're living in the community a
nice new house and he does duplicating
that over and over we're going to change
and transform what we're doing because
we change Dynamic of what we're trying
to do
you know as people and that we're
serious about making a difference and
not just talking about it you know this
is how we do it we want to create you
know economic wealth
so that's why we do what we do if you
want to get it done you know we're
serious about making it happen we're
very serious about results are oriented
and not just here
pretty soon
can you touch on your uh evolvements
your office involvement in terms of
reviewing the
Eis I guess that's wrong yeah the
invoice from the subcontractor
contractors yeah
so we're involved with all of the uh the
bidding process from the church again I
have a very closer to Chris and hit his
apartment and in which Elder evolved and
tell them how do we tackle this problem
it is huge you know because you got on
the one hand you've got product that you
want to get done and we also have
responsibilities in terms of how do we
have an impact in our community and make
a difference so I do I I will do all of
this that goes out you know and I
participate in all of the
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and we work to you know get the issue
resolved sometimes
you know some of it's more difficult
than others and you know to be honest
and we have to work with but it's a give
and take process and we do work with it
but at the end of the day we are giving
people uh on jobs like the recent
project at the Schenectady police stage
police station
and uh
other things we have to work out you
know uh but yeah I participate in in
that to make sure that we're going to
apply and and it doesn't matter how far
we push it together and you know give
them those that we keep things moving
you know in the right direction so we
are moving and the more we work with the
Department that's you know putting the
biz out and the more they realize that
we have a student program here the more
uh you know you're going to see the
results that we need to see and Chris
could tell you that you know in looking
at the kind of thing he gets from around
they said we got the most stringent
combined requirements you know in the
region but we also get the results you
know if the contract is not in
compliance uh you know they put
something out it's not there you know
we're holding payments
and uh you know you know the government
can find
um we've had things go back out the bid
because they you know didn't want to
play fast so we have a lot of true
within that framework you know to work
and I think with the council support and
supportive Administration
we have we can do much more we can do
much much more but uh but for the tools
are there and it doesn't need the
support to make it happen so that's how
we do it we work with within the policy
uh we do have obviously you know
projects
whether we keep up with them I do visit
the sites
yeah
so are you seeing an increase in the
mwbe and our goals are we getting better
than we were we get we're getting better
but the numbers are still not what it
need to be because we've got to build
capacity I'll give you an example you
know we have uh you know bonding
requirements you know if you get the
bond um you know there's a big list so
working with the state and you know
dealing with those challenges and
preparing folks so we have to spend a
lot of time on the front end working
with a contractor to you know to get
there you know but you know for example
you know something that you know they
might want to build on we got to sit
down and just go through his life
history and say this is what they're
going to ask you you know are you ready
and that's how we present it we're going
to move the quote but
yes we are seeing differences uh it's a
lot easier to talk to contractors now
than it was a year ago they know they
were serious uh they they generally come
prepared to you know make things happen
you got a couple out there a couple
other big boys I think
you know that we're getting there we're getting
there
go ahead please
um in terms of breaking down like right
now affirmative action is within our HR
department
um and I can see some of the obviously
with the recruiting help that you do for
the police and the fire
um I'm sure maybe there's some
complaints maybe within our employee
Workforce that also would come under
affirmative action but it's sounding
like um well I want to ask you like when
you think about
um the office in general and then
building a new Department it sounds like
a lot is what's the percentage
um would you say of how your work
yourself breaks down in terms of whether
it's HR affirmative action or whether
it's
Workforce Development well we do get uh
complaints with that if that's the
question you know in terms of things
like that but it's it's a typical it's a
there's a delicate balance you know
within that question uh I've had people
come to me you know with a question of
concern but they were left unless they
can put something away so if they don't
put it in writing what I'm concerned you
know it don't have work but the issue
that they have is is serious sure and I agree with that but I couldn't
come to you and say okay we got an issue
and then they back out and said oh well
you know but they want to put it in
writings and move forward yes we do that
I work closely with Marianne and HR
utility was here I worked with her and
we went to the same speech you know came
to see that look at that for Andrew so
when there's a question Andrew is my
go-to person you know so whatever comes
up that's how I was doing but you know
we had an incident this summer where uh
somebody uh had a mission and you know
and they followed them playing but the
challenge there was you know without
getting into the details it was
something that they talked about for a
while but they never wanted to move
you know
I said no that's not right you can't
just say you need to talk about it you
need to come and do it so so they did do
that and then once that was done we then
investigate it
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some of the things I get is
and this is a challenge for me is people
of crime so I'm out here advocating and
pushing for opportunity to see so I said
we've got 126 positions available yeah
he said I need customers PDF so we got
six people that we've paid for you know
work with the county to get the CDL
license and then when they're applying
you know something is is missing you
know they're not getting through but
whatever you know one reason or another
but you know we're getting them and so we got to have a better tracking
mechanism of how these applications are
coming in you know where they're going
and
you know really you know get into the
weeds of that because that's
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did you get in favor from this place
I need to follow up on what's happening
with that person you know and
you know sometimes she has and sometimes
she don't and uh but it's it's it's a
process that we have to do I think we
need to talk more about that because
they did a serious value of dealing with
this thing and um
a lot of it comes down to get back into
social service and what's a lot of
what's going on you know it's just a
problem and people with you know
especially not frustrated I'm sure
that's you know that's that's the normal
routine you know we you know actually
really are
you know folks coming into town we may
have visited all of them but they moved
to Schenectady but because their resume
was called me on that they didn't they
got kicked out and you know but nobody
follows up to say you know just that
type of stuff you know so we need to
you know people
better you know
the fact we're trying to get more CDL
Drivers back and
um
you know again because this is a process
and I go downtown so we can get an
application from this person you know so
we just got to come up with a better
mechanism to do that but that's
something that's just time consumable we
are pushing and
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so the point is all those stuff
so that it makes sense to you know what
we're trying to do and then uh and the
other person that's that's critical to
this equation is uh you know what I call
like a program coordinator like me going
after the granting the funding and
basically driving a bus on these
activities you know and
I think you know there's a lot that
happens uh you know in there so it's
critical that one that as we move
forward on these programs and things
that we you know get them done in that
conversation because
the benefits and we're trying to get
through communities is working and um
invest that's that's the way it is
here I think there's a great thing on
the horizon for us and we need to set
the infrastructure in place so that we
can execute
go ahead well Mr Gardner I really
appreciate you coming here and I think
any person listening and those in the
room
the the magnitude that you are achieving
here already singly if we're just being
honest and transparent what seems
apparent in addition to that is the fact
that you need a team and a supportive
backing to achieve more and it's not
that you are not actively working at the
moment it is just your expectations and
also your your foresight with where this
program can reach you require additional
support so outside of Staffing can you
highlight any additional like challenges
or limitations that are making it uh or
say impeding our continued development
in this area of
economic stability and prosperity in the
city center well well
here's a lot there's there's a lot there
and it's not it's not that we're not
trying I mean every department is trying
you know when a problem with the police
department they are literally trying
they're doing everything they can but
there's a lot that goes on you know like
for example we had uh a young man who
was a single father
and he was unemployed so we definitely
got him a job on the construction site
so he had his paper was Transportation
there they paid for the lodging and
bills there and plus he was getting 50
bucks an hour the problem that he only
worked three days why did he worked
three days because he had a child and he
couldn't get child care so Child Care is a serious problem that's for sure and
uh so even though he
that's the reality that we you know in
the comment I get a lot of porch out
there yeah you can but he can't he
couldn't find it yeah
the other thing that I find um is a
challenge and again we have to recognize
we have to get more with these wrap
around Support Services
but have uh
you know all kind of barriers you know
you don't get the best of a person to do
what about a group over again you know
whether they have food to put a child
for this week you know you know mental
emotional issues you know all of that
stuff uh plays in there so so so to
answer the question specifically there
was more in collaborative effort with
our partners like scap uh you know the
county uh the state and all those types
of things to to genuinely do those type
of Support Services you know that's what we need more of and that's
sort of like what we're doing we have
the software that we use for our
Workforce manager as an LCB tracker
where everybody that we engage with
whether you're on a small business side
or an individual it goes into the system
and we're able to track everything that
happened with that person so let's say
they needed housing I can make a
referral over to you know somebody with
a scat and they will get a message and
then they would they can go into the
same system and say okay yeah we
received Jones and we run a system with
this Gabrielle you know you can know
what's happening you know with that
scenario
the other part of is you know we work
closely with the community college and
the career Counseling Center so they do
all of our intake for the folks coming
into the program whether it's on a small
business side of other issues so that's
one part of the way how we're able to
manage you know some of it but they're
overwhelmed too you know so we're doing the best we can
with that but but there's some tools out
there that's helping us and we have that
in place and moving forward and we can
have all the software in the world but
we can't get the data in there and
manage the data you know you know it
doesn't do anything that's like
something on the Shelf but we have the
ability to to really make a difference
here I'm excited about the prospects of
being able to work with these small
businesses that we get this Center open
where we'll be able to offer mentoring
support of counseling support you know
anything they need to grow successfully
so they've been and it's not going to be
labor intensive you know just utilizing
the technology and the resources and the
collaborative efforts that we have you
know to make a difference
the software is not in your budget
request so wouldn't you need the um
software as well yeah yeah but this year
we've been recovered out of CDG oh okay
go ahead please so forgive me if you
want to address this um so I know when
you're just manufactured to your
position so I know um you're doing some
a lot of great work with people trying
to get them you know the training that
they need so they can be gainfully
employed I also know that you're working
with the city I'm trying to help us meet
our mwpe goals and I know that this I
believe the state just increased those
MW the threshold and WV equals and I was
wondering
um are we close to reaching that goal yet
we are we're making progress uh you know
the reality is it depends on what uh
what it is I mean if you got a specialty
project you know building uh drilling
Wells 200 feet in the ground you know
it's hard to get firms you know that's
in that space and
um but so you know but we are pretty
interesting you know and recognize that
in the building the capacity of
in front of coming along and the way
that I'm looking at addressing that
particular question is to grow and
cultivate more GC more Prime contractors
that's that's what I want to do so that
they can compete in that environment and
by aligning themselves with the partners
and the efforts that we have like with
Empire State development with access to
Capital you know bringing the banks on
board to assist you know with training
and access to Capital finding support
and insurance people you know we'll do
that you know and it's going to take
time to do that so but that's how I see
us you know being able to you know make
it happen
[Music]
you know you know the Jerusalem
engagement is is what it is so it
doesn't matter man we can certainly
compete in any environment we can do
that as long as we understand
it doesn't make a difference we compete
and I think that's where we are right
now okay I was earlier today I was in a
meeting with another Community partner
and they were talking about uh uh a
younger person that you worked with and
now they actually and you work in
collaboration with them and they're now
a homeowner in the city of Schenectady
um so that was just that just happened
we came up today so I want to tell you
how much I appreciate that and then the
work that you're doing and you know I
know the council is really uh
considering how we can support the
important work that you're doing to make
sure that you know it's sustainable
right yeah so thank you there's one of
the things we talk about sustainability
you know as you look at the package that
you have there we did some projections
in terms of if we were to invest in our
community invest in training and put the
resources where they're necessary over
the next five years we can create 500
jobs
right here in the city we can do that
and we can look at the projection in
terms of the revenue speed coming in
there we can do 18 million dollars in
Revenue coming into you know this city
and and
some of it is is recognizing the fact
that Industries are changing there's a
trend toward Mortuary technology we got
to get more Focus I mean laser focus on
the stem and the skin technology because
that's where it is you can train a
carpenter right now but carpentry is not
like it was the other going to get as
good a rule now they use a computer
lasers and you know you know cash
software and all those type of things
just for carpentry our kids coming out
of school right now are not ready for
that
and so so we're working with the school
district our first comment is with
staffers and Dr Phil
and and we're trying to keep it
centrically focused on that because once
you get into the the broader uh main
campus kind of thing you know just
deluded you know it's just it just it
just starts but I think if we stay on
that track and work with that particular
Focus we have a plan to do you know now
we can start getting results that's the
patties folks you know that's coming out
whether they want to go to college or
get you know skill sets or you know
things like that you know for example
you know one of the things we're talking
about is like a drone technology so
teaching how Urban kids about how to
build These Fine computers and um
getting their FAA license and any job
that's created that results 100
000 jobs are going to be created
yesterday and we're going to start using
them in public safety you know the
police department
so why can't a young man get that skill
set and get their life
so we we have an mlu currently
in our hands right now with uh
New Jersey Institute of Technology so
they have this they have the first one
it was with Penn State University
so the first statements down there in
this Urban setting so we're going to get
the second uh satellite here is
connecting so they're going to be
working with us to do the same thing
through stylish things but specifically
today and then kind of that to what we
talk about in the Vsauce and you know
with the virtual
cyber security and orchestration which
you'll see in the packet that's what a
job is going to be
they're they're moving in that direction
you know you look at it here in the city
you know you look at it anywhere you
talk about a smart city what do you
think is going to be reading that data
and putting these things in there enough
our kids should be a part of that
and that's what we want to do with this
Center we want to work with the colleges
and make that happen so again we're just saying we're here to
make a difference we're serious and um I
think we can make an impact here and
this city can really be a leader in this
efforts
first of all Ron thank you for all the
work that you're doing I know that you
know I've seen a lot of it up close and
personal so you really are making a
difference and having an impact on this
city since uh we were smart enough to
hire you
so thank you for the work and the
continued work going forward and I just
wanted to actually kind of bring it back
to the fact that the gentleman that you
have here from halfway electric actually
was able to work on the project in
Orchard Park yeah yeah it wasn't the
smoothness I understand but but at least
um you know they have an opportunity so
it it shows that the work that you're
doing is really making that immediate
and um local impact
and so people someone lives locally is
working on a local project so what you
talked about in the beginning where
people drive by or walk by and see
someone who looks like them who is from
the community working on a project does
make a difference so
um I'm glad that you came tonight I'm
not saying that if you have more to say
but um because you know there's a lot of
questions last night I think you've
answered them all and I really
appreciate all the work you're doing I
can't say that enough
for her so the building in terms of the
building being done I noticed Sylvia
might move over from development to be
the executive director of the center
that would be like what would be the
timeline in terms of I mean I didn't get
a chance to read all of this obviously
we've done the uh
the environmental I mean the engineers
and now it's in it's great to go to
design so it's ready to go to design for
the actual documents to be prepared and
put out of there so we're hoping
the timeline I'm looking at it we can
get that done between now and have it
have to be at the start of March it
takes six months for the project to be
done
you know by the end of the summer
that should be open
excuse me around you're talking about
the building an old history called me
right right that let everybody know so
what does that mean for you in the city
Your Role here does that mean that you
would you know would you move over to
this no no we will still be doing this
you know
thank you
so I do have a follow-up question yeah
so like for example Sylvia leaving
development and coming over to the
center but she would not be the program
coordinator in this so your department
as a department would be maybe
affirmative action or would you would it
be Workforce Development
um and then in other words
Sylvia's position in this
would be in addition to this program
okay and then
um so we'd have to replace Sylvia
probably in development as well
right
uh go ahead please I just I just want to
say something yeah speaking of the
subject she just told me she's planning
on retiring and moving back to her
home state so we gotta look at somebody
else
there it goes through the window yeah
geez hold on I
are you referring to contract compliance
also payment from financials yeah yes so
it's a combination
so every every day I have um and
um you know work with the contract so
and then I sign up all the Investments
and they are submitting all the MLB yes
document as required yes
and if they're not then you will reach
all back to them so yeah yes I mean are
you finding it that um subcontractors
have been difficult for some of these
documents no I hope we could do to know
because they don't they're not this
isn't done because they don't get paid
unless you know they're submitted so if
they don't send the documents in and
everything attached
[Music]
you know fill us down remember what an
apartment you know the same thing okay
so they're very good at making sure that
I get what I need and then they'll let
me know if they don't help with anything
I reach out to the contractor and tell
them that you know we're not going to
move forward
you know and the reason why is that
question I want you to highlight it
because not only you're doing a
Workforce you know you get in and we're
probably also doing the back end of the
work to make sure that the contractors
are combines correct but the required
documentation to meet the goals that we
approve through city council here early
this year right but yeah I'm passionate
about this this department because I
know that many many years ago and then
finally with that so I got to spear
ahead and to my colleagues on the
council to revise the city Charter to
bring this one more up-to-date you know
documentation in terms of MLB compliance
and from then on you will have been you
know reaching out to us making updates
and things like that you know I want to
encourage you to continue to do what
you're doing you're doing a good job
[Music]
any other question for Ron
thank you Ron appreciate you taking the
time off to come here and to address all
the questions and concern that we had
for me yesterday
from our friends at KTP and I was
introduced from Mr Gardner and uh you
know ain't no anything to start a
business if it wasn't for him I might
still have um yeah
thanks definitely not on public funded
projects because of the What I Call
Construction red tape
it's like one I was a meeting for her
was everything going on on my street you
know one gentleman stood up and said you
know this is just be a good faith effort
we don't need your tea and your cupcakes
and I
really saw the
what he's here for because it's
impossible for someone like me to get
there so that I can handle hey apps
that's that have bonding you know the
bond of life you know and to really get
where I am right now able to be a prime
of some jobs and consider buying they
can confident I know what indefinitely
means and things like that you know I
mean I understand the insurance I
understand everything though and uh you
know we're going to keep moving forward
but I just got a text that said happy
Johnson Controls is way under their
enemy Eagles and like the higher
resolution projects I mean licensed
electrician and the fireworks sir
one of the first seeds he planted was
introduced me to these gentlemen who
come in and do building audits to you
know change over to LED and they get the
National Grid and everything and uh so
that contact still obviously keeps in
contact and we're going to try to help
Johnson Control it down
so you know that's right what you guys
are talking about
payouts I know we talked about this many
years ago are you still continue to
training with the AIA payment
applications
contractors yeah and you're finding it
easy to use now rather than before they
were so complicated they didn't
understand it they understand what they
did I mean it's just like my kids you
know a good frustrated you know you work
through and what we try to do is talk to
them about
like we try to think still but you need
a team
so that's that's really what it's all
about it says
you know trying to put these pieces
together so that's why the center is
important so that we can create that
team but a smaller firm that don't have
the ability to have that back offer so
part of this thing is going to be to
have somebody in there to help
facilitate you know that kind of
information like you know getting the
you know applications and tags you know
just just putting the big doctor because
I mean Chris can tell you I mean put a
big guy together his a week-long process
it's a nightmare do that
thank you I always appreciate it go
ahead one thing I know no no go ahead
please I just mounting over to the table
so I'm just confused over one thing that
the program is the building who owns the
building
I have a facilities but it becomes if it
becomes a city building then it becomes
a city building and then there's just
you know when I proposed my budget and
we did not have a 3 000 square foot
remote and Empowerment Center in the
budget I know but so I didn't know it
wasn't clearly in the application but
now we're talking about Staffing and
offices and a building we used to have a
remote building across the street for
the PD yeah traffic we got rid of that
building and now this is a building
across the street River I just want to
make sure that while we're doing budgets
we understand like this is a new city
building you know that it was kind of
fall under Joe panjon and facility staff
to help I would assume right so I just
it wasn't clear if anything I had talked
about at one point about if this
building is a separate entity or it is a
city-owned facility
you know so some of those things that
we're in the budget you know later on in
the year or anything might might not if
it's done this year
has changed if I have to do some
modifications for that I I was on an
impression through the excuse me I was
under the impression through the art of
funds that their game was going to end
up on the building
um
[Music]
is related to this project
oh of course this was I see January 9th
so things have changed since January 9th
all right thank you sir I appreciate it
Safari can you just give us a snapshot
on the engineering department
give us a brief you know or extended
on his Department
sections
you know
uh
excuse me uh
Chris what does the Public Works
Administration which is increased by 46
000 557 uh total engineering
construction design is up forty five
thousand three seventy two you already
did facilities but he also knows
facilities yeah and we're just we're
just doing Public Works
engineering Construction and design I'm
sorry could you repeat the page page oh
sorry
[Music]
so I'll try to be detailed but brief uh
we'll go through my budget is actually
quite small when it comes to engineering
and but it works but there are positions
there that we should talk about I'll go
through the package that I handed out I
kind of have it in a sequential order so
what you see here in front of me and by
the way just wanted to point out all of
this is not creating just specifically
for this meeting these were all created
between five and eight years ago because
they helped me keep my head on straight
because without it it's a little hard so
uh and they're just
hold on one second
so there you go so but I was showing you
right here we have the department of
engineering facilities core operations
so while I write this down and I post it
in the department is that if the time
comes which may be soon that the
department is only me
this is what I have to do to keep the
lights on in the department of work
these are all of the daily tasks for the
department of engineering
um you know I like to point out to
people that the capital projects while
they are nice to have new signals and
paved roads and all those things they're
kind of the extra you know we have to do
all of the things on this list to stay
in compliant with municipality so on the
list are
um you know we have easements and maps
from the archive list if you come to the
office right we have to be able to find
files and answer questions about the
history of the city we have programs
citizen request tracker claims against
the city which are you know pretty much
weekly uh Community engagement city
council decorative lighting I do the the
lights upstairs that actually may be
going away soon which is great we're
gonna We form the lighting Consortium
between Proctors Metroplex and the city
and that is active John's uh involved
with that
um AV Vehicle Management I handled the
charge Point stations that are around
City Hall facilities as we talked about
which is the daily operations budgeting
all that foils plot lines ms4 ms4 is
mandated we have to do inspections uh
we'll get into that in a little bit but
like for that one we used to have an
employee who did that he left now I have
a firm that does that for us so we're
paying a firm to do it because we don't
have the employee to do it because it's
mandated and it is quite involved to do
that permits because of our staffing
issues a year ago we gave all of our a
lot of our permission codes because they
were the ones doing most of the permits
anyways we were trying to make a
One-Stop shop for permit so we gave a
lot of permits to codes because they had
more staff plan interview we do all the
planning uh commission review everybody
does that but still we're looked at all
those harder because it's for model
engineering goes into that uh codes
Department property address the storm
water street closures uh pavement and
then also and this one is small on the
bottom but it is actually a lot of work
I am technically the landlord for the
court system here
and so as you know we have two courts in
this building and two one port soon to
be two ports at the PD and those courts
have
20 some full-time employees four judges
officers partnering all these
requirements and all of that
coordination goes through me all the
contract approvals all the maintenance
all the requests they are not allowed to
do any work in our buildings everything
has to come through me so like right now
they're asking for data connections they
want to move a computer
I met with them yesterday we have to
meet there move an outlet move this
coordinate with John and our
electricians they want to build a
counter everything has to go through me
all that so that is like a huge landlord
responsibility to make sure that those
courts are acceptable and as you know
they have a lot of complaints against us
for their facilities and lack of a
fourth Court which we're working on so
that is a while it is a small bullet
here like the others it is a very large
responsibility
so to do these tasks that's the next
page this is a organizational chart that
we have currently informed
um black is uh engineering green has to
do with the golf course and then yellow
is open positions uh and then I put on
here in red all of the retirees
um you know I'm losing joke in several
months I'm losing my assistant at the
end of the year of next year my other
assistant is part-time he works anywhere
between four and 16 hours a week very
hard to it's nice to have him but it is
very hard to task someone who works
anywhere from four to 16 hours with an
assignment it actually makes a lot of
work to try to keep someone like that
and then you know not into my place or
not but we've talked about it I have on
here Paul Anthony and even John are all
looking to retire in the next one two
years and I rely on Paul Anthony and
John a lot you know and we work together
like like this and we have a really good
team but you know I'm 41. I have
possibly 20 years you know 25 if I go
you know and and the team around me is
so I just wanted to point this out the
other thing I guess I would point out is
I am working with Anthony on this as
flexible as I can so while the budget
has these in here we can talk about that
with it is just a shot like for instance
last year's budget uh improved budget
did not have an ips3 but what we found
is ips3s are available and we have so
much paperwork that having another ips3
would probably just be a huge help just
that we are just swamped with paperwork
upstairs
and so last year Colleen was approved to
be a ips4 so now we're looking at
bringing an ips3 under accounting to
help her because once again we're not
only doing
dozens of contracts we're also doing
day-to-day bills for all paper products
to soap fuel deliveries everything that
goes through the golf course so you know
in a week we can have a stack of bills
this tall
and we have to get them out but we also
have to do the contracts we also have to
do so we're kind of and and that would
help us the more organized we are to
help Anthony
because Anthony's Department relies on
us because we do all of our own
paperwork when it comes to finances you
know our department is essentially
engineering purchasing Finance you know
we will we do it mostly everything and
then work with them on just the details
of it and so that ips3 wasn't in my
budget when Anthony sat down and said
you need help and we've looked at it the
issue that the reason that we haven't
hired one we actually interviewed and
then we had to stop was because there is
a list you need the list and the list
won't the list could be out tomorrow or
it could be out in three months so we
didn't feel it was appropriate to hire
anyone because the list is coming
so the
physicians in yellow
um
positions correct
ips3 is proposed but what I guess what I
was getting at too was
um the junior civil all right then this
is you know we'll get into the we'll
talk about a little bit of the weeds of
this year all right like a junior civil
engineer that 52 725 you see there
that's like pop a step for that grade
all right so there's a difference you
have unions and you have nine so yep
that position right there with those
requirements
side of the city is 65 000 started my
wife who worked for a private company
offered someone out of Clarkson no
experience 66.5 with a 2500 signing
bonus justice so that is what we're
paying
and that's TOP Step and I've actually
gotten to talk to by the union about
they may not approve that because they
want people starting in step one and
working their way up Step One is
important so I might as well not even
post it so in turn what I did is I did
not post a junior civil engineer I
posted a position called a senior
technician is similar pay but the
qualifications are less trying to get
just someone
and so that's what I mean kind of by
trying to be flexible the we have the
money in the budget we just don't have
people to spend the money on and we have
the money in the budget last year I
guess is what we always have the money
in the budget okay I just wanted to make
sure that they weren't so what we end up
doing is like for instance our ms4
consultant is actually being paid for
out of like a salary citizen because
if we had a person the person would do
the work so since we don't have the
person and I didn't have a budget line
for consultant ms4 we set aside money to
pay for someone to do what the person is
doing and you'll see that as we go
through uh if you want to go to like the
next page
you just want to be 100 clear so the
junior civil engineer which we which
have been here for 15
5
yes and also this one assistant to the
engineer everything that says open was
in the approved 2022 budget and is open
except the IPS three the ips3 is
proposed and it's in this one okay yes
thank you yes that's how I try to
differentiate things
um the next page of my little handout
here is how I am getting work done so
without staff and would be workable that
I have I had gone out for the term
agreement
last year
and the term agreement was for
everything because we do everything when
I started here in 2012 I was city
engineer in charge of roads and bridges
now I'm city engineer in charge of roads
and bridges and buildings and golf
course and parks and you know it's grown
so my term agreement reflects that we
used to have one company now I have one
two three four five six seven eight nine
ten
the 10th company on the bottom is a
small one-man operation that he's coming
in also in lieu of staff to help you do
grant writing and some applications
um but I need all of these groups to do
the work of that yeah now even if I had
staff I probably would still need this
group
um because these are all like PE
companies but I probably would need as
many so this is what we're using right
now so I have this is what I call my
stable firms I rotate the work
um so I started you know I go to GPI GPI
is working on the paving program and
then I'll go okay MJ you're doing this
cha I'm working with them on Sports yeah
uh all the contracts were reviewed
approved and created by my office
we were outside a lot we did our own
contracts I hired my own attorney
we did everything on our own
independently of essentially the rest of
the city
so we're
are these fees
in this budget these fees are in the
projects oh okay I got it these are I
got it okay these are the soft costs
associated with the products so these
are
you know um like for example you
approved money for uh Central Park
tennis courts yeah
25 000 of the 500 000 you approve is
going to go to the design of the 500.
uh you know chips money all the the
state money that we get and allow to do
the inspection and the design of the
world so that's where the accounting
comes in
you know we have a lot going on upstairs
with how are we paying it where is it
coming from what reimbursements do we
have it's a lot of paperwork but most of
this other than I say civil engineer
foreign female that is in lieu of staff
so actually civil engineer for in the
office assistant those two positions are
coming out of salary lines oh okay
because
if you were to look right now the last
time I looked at something like two
hundred thousand dollars available on
our salary lines if you don't have
people got a chance
so everything else is a product
what's the other one that comes out of
the cellular line besides the ms4 office
assistance and support the last one fcm
and that's brand new we just
so I can I can just touch on that so the
issue why I had to bring fcm engineering
on is uh on the next sheets you'll see
them but well I have seven major
projects that are right now just kind of
held up
all the projects have stepped
you have to do an RFP you have to
evaluate the RFP you have to send in the
evaluations then you're allowed to put
people on once you go through all those
steps
um unlike a lot of other things I can't
just bring a firm on that I like for
those particular these firms I bring on
for smaller project City projects those
are big Federal projects I have to go
through them along the process the
problem is I don't have the time to
write seven rfps so he's coming on board
he has experience writing them so he's
going to help you write them we're going
to I'm just going to really want me
we're going to send them out and he's
going
you know then I'm going to get 10
responses for each one of them I'm gonna
have to review 70 responses and then you
know it the process is going to be
lengthy but you know the number one
project is Craig Street and Craig
Street's actually three projects so you
know do that one is number one and cream
Street then the train main intersection
and all the dri projects project because
we did get the dri contracts but unless
I get these rfps out in the RFP for
those has to go to the Department of
State
and then come back for a review and we
everything we do with them has to be
given to them so the process is going to
be
so all these firms are what we do and
then at the end of 2023 I'm gonna have
to solicit review and do it all again I
mean it's the most fair and Equitable
way to do things but once again time you
know I was going to point out um same
thing with these transitions that are
open
um
every time that I do something it's time
that I'm not doing something else
so if you were to say you know Chris you
know what you really need to focus and
hire and fill these positions
I'm not going to do this for a while and
then we're going to get complaints that
things aren't getting done on this side
of it because I'm doing this you know
there's not this when you go up there
it's me and Colleen mcgarrett there is
not a person behind the room there's no
one up there to help you know do these
things so that's where it does get a
little frustrating that you know I do
want to hire people
but when do I dedicate your time to hire
people because if something needs to get
changed like a job qualification then
I absolutely change and work with Mary
it's a long process that's why I want to
ask you is how that connects to HR
you're hiring
so you said that you would have to do
the work so what part of it does HR help
with so HR will post it
you know like if I ask uh Karen I want
to post these positions she puts them up
and she's using now the website and
indeed and a couple other areas and uh
and then she'll post it for the amount
of time and then send me the resumes
okay
um the issue is indeed it's kind of like
uh indeed it's kind of like a shotgun
blast you get things from everywhere and
I don't even know if they know what
they're applying to one of the
applications said you know I'd be
willing to move from Arizona if you paid
relocation fees you know and it's like
okay they probably don't understand what
we are and
um and then then we have you know the
issue of some of the positions I'll tell
you I was waiting to post until after
the conversation or The Residency thing
because all of our applications go out
saying you know applicants must even
live in the city so I do know a lot of
professionals are not going well why
would you apply your job or at the
bottom of it where it says requirements
it says it if you can so when we post we
don't get a lot of responses but indeed
it doesn't happen indeed it's just a big
Rule and you'll pull from
so but wouldn't some of these positions
be considered specialty positions so The
Residency requirement
I'm not aware of that exceptions that we
just have to get a waiver oh okay
so in fact in the last few years we were
trying to uh apply for these jobs we've
had months where nobody would even apply
we you know we put them out there nobody
would even apply for it for these
positions and I mean I don't want to get
Louise with everything but now too so us
was it civil service we're really
looking at qualifications
so where even if we feel like somebody
has a good head on their shoulders and
did a well interview and we think um they may not be approved
because their background and experience
may not match up with Civil Service
things the position can have can do and
they get rejected and that's happened
quite a few times recently so
it's yes oh I mean I I don't really want
to do that defense but isn't it like
what do you have to say or whatever a
professional is doing the hiring has to
say doesn't that carry any weight at all
with social services
oh my gosh hmm maybe she's upright the
job description
listening to all this and I really
appreciate and recognize your Ingenuity
because it seems like you're just
keeping this
barely from capsizing with like The
Limited crew and it gets reflected like
you're doing a lot with limited
resources I guess I I want to know if
you're able to identify if this person
hasn't already passed but where's your
breaking point is it truly the oh no
don't say it
don't don't know anything
about it sorry it's uh I'm trying to
know when our point is if we need to act
or change something differently because
I think you're aware of the posting
positions we're knocking applicants so
it's when do we need to do something
different has that moment already passed
or truly what is going to be lacking
within the city if it can't be anything
on this first page because I know our
projects that we need to do them so yeah
and this first page let me see you're
looking at this was just an example I
printed this because I didn't think you
guys would believe me
uh this page I highlighted this this
date here is December of 2015 so it
shows you how long I've been doing these
sheets so these sheets I put them in
that PDF that I sent out these are the
only thing that keeps me sane and
organized it's a silly Excel document
that is organized but it's organized by
project type who I gave it to
assignments what category is under so I
just wanted to show you that I didn't
make these documents because what I what
I was afraid of is that you guys would
say well no wonder Chris was so
overwhelmed we spent all this time
making these freaking documents and
these documents exist this is this is
how I is a budget folder year to year
and all this exists and this is my
day-to-day so um you know for instance
the one thing I will show is that you
know this this sheet here this is the
closed project I apologize they're gray
on my sheet I didn't think about the
flexibility I have gray and small but
you know 6 5 million dollars of
completed projects
you know and that probably up and down
and then the next sheet is uh and
usually when I printed my 11 by 17 but I
thought that'd be harder to hold but uh
the next one is my construction project
you know so these are all the projects
that are Bid awarded in construction
going to construction something so right
now you know our department has 21
million dollars of projects in
construction and all this is is just
sorting it you know John's types it
doesn't come too short then you get to
design I have 27 million dollars of
project in design phase so these are the
projects that are going to happen next
year some point that we're working on
designing
um so examples are docs Kings Road
Bridge under there uh Forest Road
improvements which we're working on City
Hall projects and road projects of 27
million dollars of active design
projects and then the impending one is
projects that aren't quite off the
ground yet but all have Merit uh for the
dri is on here right now because
I'm still working on getting firms on it
once I get a firm signed and on board it
moves from pending to design so right
now this is 27 million so 27 million 27
million 21 million so we're right around
70 million dollars of construction in
some capacity and I guess my point was
when I was getting at is all of this is
in addition to this
you know so like yesterday uh my
assistant you know his daughter had a
baby his first grandchild he wasn't in
so there is myself and Colleen and we do
this so it it's a challenge your
breaking point I don't know if I have I mean I think
I'm well beyond it you know it's like
one of those things is once you're into
the insanity you're into it you know
what I mean looking at these sheets by
looking at the Matrix but uh the one
thing I will say is that
um I do feel that
what will be determined the Department's
not what I wanted to be I don't think it
fairly represents what I wanted to be if
you were to come up into the department
it looks like hell I mean you know
because the maps I have to put them away
because no one else knows where they go
so they don't get put away they just get
stacked up because I don't have time to
put the maps away right our furniture is
from 1940 we don't have staff you know
what I mean like so if if you come up
people appreciate what we're doing but I
don't feel it it reflects what we're
doing and similarly the pool project or
the road project those projects I
haven't seen them because if I leave my
office then the wheels stop working and
so I have people that go out and tell me
they send me text photos of it so I'm
like Herbert Hughes up there in my
office all the time just making sure the
paperwork
um but that's where I was going to ask
you like all of the um projects that we
have approved through our that are here
in the capital budget
um which I think we talk about later we
haven't talked about this we're going to
talk about right after this yeah
um those aren't even this are they
all well that's what I'm getting at is
that not on bet they are on these
[Music]
but and I do have people working but
what I'm getting at is that like for
instance I showed up competing yesterday
and the comment was Oh I thought you
were dead because that particular person
that was at the meeting sent me five
emails when I got back to none of them
because the emails were about something
that was bio important to them
wasn't my priority you know my
priorities right now are finished piece
up was to open the bridge right kind of
get everything dialed in for the winner
get the pool done pay bills
you know a lot of times we don't pay
bills on time that's a huge issue for
Anthony and we'll get people because
it's a big stack of bills
you know so we got to pay the bills
that's that's the problem is that I I
like my job and I like what we're doing
but I don't think it represents what I
wanted to represent I wanted to be
a slick organization book with the
amount of money that we're doing and the
amount of staff that we have it's not
possible there's a lot of bumps in the
world and I think people are cognizant
of it which makes it workable like
people know that they're busy they know
what we're doing I mean we talked about
it you know
um I got you know the most federal money
this year of all 20 mispowers we got 60
million dollars the next highest was six
it's the dri if you were to have to
worry about the dri the dri was awarded
because of one of my products because
they loved it so much that they
that's another
and so it's doable I know this sounds
like
boasting at the same time
but I like this is this is engineering
this is what we're doing
um I would appreciate more staff I don't
know how we get there we have the
Consultants to do it uh you know that's
why the Fearless is that I Rely a lot on
John you know I realize
no I'm just saying what's what's I'm
nervous about the future yeah I'm
nervous about you know like Paul and I
have a really good relationship
he knows what I know what he does he
knows what I you know and everybody's
who you see in a year this department
when the city is going vastly different
so Chris I mean we know I can speak
historically you're coming for us almost
every budget
you know talking about your department
is not complaining it's not posting it's
what you're doing on a daily basis so I
want to reference that and we have seen
it we're seeing it across the city the
project that you're completing it was
what you're doing answer and the past
you keep taking on one of the daily
bases now um just cross my mind looking
at this document here this document here
is more of a scheduler who will help
with this have you ever considered
hiring a schedule to help a schedule yes
Anthony was really pushing me towards I
think I think what's happened over the
first eight years and I've been here
kind of first eight years was we'd be we
have been really obsessed with trying to
hire a PT we have to hire a PD let's get
another PE but what's happened is now
that I have this and this isn't new
these you know this is this this
grouping is new these are PES all right
these people are more than qualified to
do engineering that's the you know the
firms I have these are all the PES right
what Anthony and I have come what he has
made me realize honestly is that
bodies who know the Arid system right
can help with things like because if you
have to think about it like if I were to
leave I'm not saying but if I were to
leave no one knows where the maps go now
you know I call I actually call Steve
Caruso who was here for 30 years I don't
know if you guys remember Steve Stevens
phenomenal I call Steve once a month to
ask him where something goes
because that's just how it works you
know there's we have no institutional
knowledge up there I have a hard time
struggling with things you know the same
way we're like we're looking for an
as-built map of uh Kingsway arm over off
of Kings Road yeah and I'm like I know
we built this in the 80s like why can't
I find a map of it and you know he came
he was doing something came here and
he's like oh you know why it's because
it was called this
and I'm like oh he found it in the book
and I'm like you know and that's what
I'm getting at it's like those little
things I would love to hire someone to
come
go through everything and just scanning
and just once again I would have to do
all of that that's a huge process so it
doesn't get done because these things
in terms of the ips3 for example
um and I know the idea of working within
a class and getting outside of a class
but so I don't know all the details
there but I mean would that person be
able to help you with
filing the maps or for example the bills
I guess and I feel like we heard this a
little bit with Mr Gardner as well like
why are you having to pay the bill bills
as opposed to somebody in our
accounting area
we pay them but if we process it from
them yes
the approval piece yeah
I would rather do his end than mine
I mean it's hard again it's still it's
still creating you know getting the
invoice creating the you know the
requisition form Finance so I signed I
probably have to do that Colleen does that so and she does
that for all the facilities in the golf
course
the parks
now my name is just like a circle
because it's just such a because that's
we have to sign I have to sign a lot of
stuff and I don't know
if there's any other questions like who
would sign it otherwise you know if you
don't have it no I get that I just was I
mean to answer that Chris is more of you
signing it because you're doing you're
looking at the progress work and you're
looking at something else on the payment
application so they're feeling for what
is completed yeah building for excessive
work that is yeah the other part of it
is though is it's just
I mean honestly being a supervisor right so last week you know I went last
week one of the bills had a vendor's
home on it was just the wrong because it
got the wrong Bill nobody caught it and
you know so I called him up and I said
is this the right bill that has your
home address on it he goes oh no that
should be this you know so it wasn't
caught and some bills say the wrong
place okay they have to want to know we
bought this from Home Depot
who does it get charged with and also I
mean there is value that I have to do
these things that's just a thing it's a
big thing
so so it seems like you have a lot of
free time on your hands that's what
you're talking about you know I guess I
like that I like that I won't tell you
this right because I don't want anything
you guys think I'm so smart no no no the
uh I I also have a nine-year-old and an
11 year old all right so Anthony can
attest to this when I started here at
31. I came in
twice three times a week and I work nine
to midnight because I like nights and it
was quiet right those days are long
behind me I have to get everything I can
done from nine to five because from five
to nine is another job it's a whole
other responsibility and I told him I
told Anthony that I'm actually staying
late on Mondays because I get so much
more done
browsers when the phones are you know it's amazing what you can just
put it quiet what you can get done and I
bet if I could do that more
I probably wouldn't go as crazy but I
just not it's not feasible until my kids
are in college you know where you can
actually dedicate more time so if you
guys are sitting around saying you know
Chris is working 80 hours a week
I mean I don't want to paint that
picture I'm I I'm working right I work
more than the you know what it is but
I also have this other balance which is
hurting me at the other end of it you
know like if like a doctor's appointment
you know like there's life now and work
and everything you know if I put life
into these things yeah it'd be crazy so
no more clay balance no it's it's just
hard right so in Austin
I think that so I just want to make sure
I'm going to stand and clear so at one
point it was like you know and of course
you need to fill these where you were
looking to fill these positions but now
um through kind of here
uh thinking now is that if we can get
people who might not even be as uh
especially skilled training in these
areas but just want that administrative
support is as that kind of like the
direction yeah so one of those like I
said the senior the senior engineering
technician was seen as a under a level
of a junior engineer
but it does not require uh it does it
has more outs than the job description
than you know of Junior engineering
which was a junior engineer if you were
to look at it I mean you've got to
remember the history of the city and
history the job reports the junior
engineer is a student from Clarkson or
RPI that comes to work for the city I
was a junior engineer when I started in
2005. assuming Buffalo graduate right no
experience come in but I mean I don't I
talked to the union about it just a
little bit but
their rates are here everybody rates are
here you know I told somebody that if
somebody comes and applies for my junior
engineering position in this economy
there's something wrong with them why
are you find me this unit 65 the dot 65
and private's over 65. so why would you come here for 45
you know so that's what we talked about
trying to get people that are City
residents that you know like you know
almost like the cold war try to see what
codes or you know some kind of level
where maybe the requirements for
Education are a little well because it
doesn't mean you don't have a good head
on your shoulders it doesn't mean you
can't you know help with the job and
then we'll train them and the other
thing is trying to get you know and this
is not trying to be ages it's just my
staff I get a lot of resumes from people
who have retired who are looking for
work because they retire at 65 and they
say I got some good years left in me and
they want to work and I have gotten a
lot of resumes like that the problem is
there's not
you know like I don't know how much they
can pass on you know if you have
somebody who's 40 who's going to be here
to Pat like if I teach someone that's
going to retire that's retired
everything about the city they're gone
in two years
they take all of it with them you know
whereas you know that's what I'm getting
on my phone is it's like you know I
spend or 10 years you know
trying to pass the Anthony is doing that
with Derek you know Derek you know
working with him to bring him up to
speed you know having that you know
right now everyone in my office is you
know so have you discussion have you
discussed this resume with the man in
terms of The Residency uh waiver
that is something you should discuss
with him to see if there can be some way
over
I actually pushed I said just bring the
guy in I'll come with you well find
somebody you like me
push him in there
I mean I mean like if I find somebody
you know and that's the other problem I
was even trying to
you know you know we talk about how to
steal somebody you know can we steal
somebody from another company or steal
somebody but they're stealing from us
I'm just we've thought about it but you
know you have to pass the exam there is
no exam available to study off of
there's there's things it's just it puts
you in a tough spot
I'm glad that you you bring this to our
attention this on this page here in
terms of outlining the the PE forms and
that is on board with you to support you
in the engineering department because
sometimes we wonder
are these enough
um support staff that you have but this
kind of make a little easy for us to
know that you do have support staff of
do you need to add more I mean that's
your call and there is funding available
for it you should you know because
you're doing a lot and they're more done
by playing coming your way
yeah that was good
increasingly busy
money into the city
I know and that's the other issue is
Right On My Own Worst Enemy with that
yeah you don't bring any money in you
don't really work yeah all right so
let's go through uh yeah that was in
depth that was wonderful uh I think that
was uh so this Ultra Public Works admin
I have a question about the engineering
case go ahead
um so so you wanted to add that we're
not seeing it on here so we want you
want to add this IPS threads
page nine page nine age nine Public
Works admin okay
38 339
okay that's where that person is
yeah all right
I was just looking at selling
the csda wants people to start at step
one
I mean that's the issue with the junior
engineer engineer Step One is something
like 45. any question on the Public
Works admin
no
yes go ahead please
um well so uh we see that um let's just
be
um we see what your current salary is
and
is
was there did you request more I mean I
just wanted to say I sent a request to
John and yourself I didn't know if I I
was thinking it would got distributed I
don't know if it did we also asked a
requests
all the way through I did submit it to
the mayor and it was not it did not make
it into this budget
uh it was you know because he went with
four percent management price so uh but
that's why I put it into the council to
say I I put a request in for a hundred
and forty thousand
um the number is in line with the
promotion uh the raise that uh Andrew
received last year which was
approximately 24 and it's also in line
with the information that I disseminated
about engineers in the area
um city of Saratoga engineer which is
half of the city Side here and half of
the budget they're in the budget for 148
500 pound of michiguna their Engineers
145 000 in the town of Glenville which
recently posted is 120 which is 5 000
more than on that so
um this is not once again it's a similar
discussion that Anthony made and that
we've had is uh you know I am going to
advocate for myself I believe that I am
the top Municipal engineer in the area I
don't think that there is a doubt about
it by bringing the work I get the work
done
um I have an extremely impressive logo
of contacts um you know of what we can
get done I've never not delivered on a
project and so I look around at peers
who do less in smaller communities with
more staff
I have to say that you know
this is this is my career you know what
I mean this is not something that I take
lightly go to school I submitted my
resume uh with that you know I went to
school for six years got an MBA from
Union and I enjoy this but also
you know this is a career this is
something that you do in your trash bag
would be the best at your career so
that's where that's why I put it in
there you know this is not the first
time I've requested it but this is the
first time that I have
reflected after the mayor has cut it
because it's just you know there were
other extenuating circumstances this
year that made me want to push a little
harder
um some are aware of some are not and uh
I was told my value was here at the city
so I'm asking the counselor to tell me
what my value is and you know you can
tell me it's valuable but like anything
else you know
Sports
private business and all that your value
is most times a number
any additional question on this section
before we move into engineering
Construction and design
so
[Music]
on that I'm sorry I have my notes I
don't have that budget but it should be
very similar
um so we have one of the things we did
do is we moved some position
uh into here from I believe the water
department Anthony right what we did yep
so you know there is an additional
position uh the assistant's civil yeah
um so that's in there
um and then we have our assistant to the
city engineer that's Gary uh Junior
engineer and then we have the arpa
assistant to the civil and then the
civil engineer so you know we have we
have salary
um and we're trying to figure out the
best way to build people with that
salary
the assistant civil engineer is that a
0.5 or 1 32 000.
the assistant civil engineer that one
person it's one person but it's part
time that's the person that works four
to four to twenty hours oh okay but
they're working part-time in your office
in my office okay they are they are not
a consultant they're a part-time yeah
any other questions
um the salary for your position
is just in your it's just what we're
seeing on in your department it's not
spread out into any other department no that's just the junior or whatever I
noticed from some of them but
um historically there is a I'm not
mistaken
you mentioned
because of your beautiful scene
and then and then the idea what it was
if the golf course were to
go for my management the stipend goes
with it because that's it is it is
working you see what we do with the golf
course and how it works I'm not saying
that I can't handle it it's you know we
have a good thing going but that it's
not something that I'm personally going
to hang on to if the work goes away but so the stipend is attached directly
to that word okay yeah
any other question Chris
thank you
fees for service you just want to
address it for you know sure yeah
um yeah we have fees for service line
because you don't have my notes uh that
is what we do use for professional
service fees the smaller ones if we have
a need for Engineering Services I also
have arcgis license that we do as a
share so all the Departments contribute
to arcgis which is our JS program then
we have AutoCAD civil 3D we have one
license for that it's necessary just to
be able to view uh and create files we
also have a trimble program and we pay
uh the cdtc uh uh a fee right now
because they're helping us with some
Road software to do a better evaluation
of our work
so we've got to see what went out it the
use of it can go up and down depending
on what we have or whatnot
but I heard
yeah the architecture of those ai's
documentation every everything I have is
through an AIA are you paying the fees
to use that to use the program no um
that's why we have an attorney
okay so uh I'll try to clarify yeah the
city does not have to my knowledge we do
not have a license for AIA documents and
because of that when I made my term
agreements we hired an attorney who does
have AIA permission to create the
documents now if we're dealing with a
contractor yes they Supply them and they
have the AIA and we review them
so I'm not I don't have an AIA contract
because that would be that'd be another
feat yeah I have another fee so I didn't
hear you mentioned that but I know
that's something that we yeah so Ron was
talking about new reviews AI news is
he's reviewing third party contractors
who submit it in paper form and then he
goes so our contract are coming through
the attorney's office I have my own
Attorney office okay that's how
independent I am is I yeah
all right any other questions for Chris
saying that first thank you thank you
for all of what you're doing in your
office
thanks guys thank you thank you
yes
[Music]
we did the facilities portion already
yeah we did we just have to do parties
I put these down uh just just to let
people know what you know what we plan
to do these capital projects even though
we're playing through our I thought you
know just
even in the future so you can go back
and look to see
you know what what uh what we plan to
have projects get done so
yeah uh I mean this year
um engineering side capital is really
fun to focus around Harper
one of the things I guess I'll tell you
about this little back of house is that
previously you used to see things if you
were here seven eight years ago I would
request bonding money for projects like
Erie Boulevard or Paving Project
Specific federal aid projects and we
will put that in here but because of the
larger allocation of chips funding yeah
we have some of the money to cover our
shares with ships pretty adequately so
instead of bonding additional money and
reducing our bonding capacity Anthony
and I talked about we're going to use
the chips money that the state gives us
because it is 100 eligible to be used
and it's literally just you take this
money we put it over here and it helps
us and it's a lot easier you don't have
to go through can you go to buy this
money right we're not borrowing money so
not I mean I can go through these
projects but these are all the arpa
funded projects
um a diamond lighting General site
improvements for Central Park the the
pool in the bath house tennis courts
Hillhurst Park uh over Fairview I wanted
to make that happen uh the cool
Riverside courts and Jerry Burrell Park
improvements so those are all a lot of
them are actually started in the design
already because we kind of had a head
start running when we made the
applications
um so I'm pretty comfortable with all
those and then the street Improvement
program 1.5 that is used to supplement
our Paving program and things that are
not chips eligible so 95 of the things
that we do are chips eligible and five
percent aren't and we try to make sure
that we always have some money to do
that five percent so for example if
there is a road or park that needs to be
paid if there's some Paving around the
golf course or a parking lot or
something that we own that's not
necessarily a state recognized road we
need to make sure that we have funding
to be able improve his payment so we
always make sure we have Improvement
money in our coffers and that's what we
do that okay any questions go ahead
please so if we were to try to add the
skateboard park in
um so I I want to ask because I know I
saw the bid
um was 1 million plus the 250 000 for
the um this uh the lights in the street
um if we go to 890.
but if we were to try to stay at
Riverside and I know this is a whole
long thing but
do you think we could do something at
Riverside for the 250 and not do those
courts or
um one of the things that I submitted
which I don't think you got a chance to
see was the 1.25 million for the park
uh underneath 8.90.
um so I just wanted to get your thoughts
on that yeah
um I think if we're going to do a skate
park you should definitely allocate
separate money for a skate park and I
would think in excess of 500 000 all day
just going off of it's very similar to
the issue that we ran into the golf
course in 2008 I know you guys Wonder so
what happened with golf courses we get
caught in this and it's not even a catch
22 is what it is your Aqua shoot right
is that Golf Course contractors they
travel the nation and they build
beautiful golf courses and they have and
if they're built into Pinehurst which is
a private club right and they got it
they go and this is what we're going to
do when they do it you come to New York
and and very similar to what Mike was
saying from Happy electric right now
we're bonds prevailing wage do you have
a certified payroll do you have
apprenticeship program what do you mean
and all of a sudden they're like we're
just a contractor out of North Carolina
we are talking about and our costs go
through the roof so similarly with these
skateboarder Parts you know they were
showing me private parts and parks and
other states and he says all the New
York cost is 95 a square foot
and the skateboarders are using four
tennis courts if we wanted to replace it
I'm not saying this is what you're doing
right but if we wanted to replace
an exact four tennis courts with all the
amenities and all that 95 it's 1.8
million dollars
and so what we're looking at is these
guys
if we just we just took the whole
Riverside complex out and put an equal
sized concrete with the ramps and all
that yep you're over you're over 1.5
million all day with that because of the
size of it and so what what we're saying
is these guys have been really nice to
work with and they're not looking for
pools and crazy Rams right so I think
that we'll be able to get more they just
want space to maybe want to set up some
things but at the end of the day my
opinion is is that we can't let them
build things there this is the city park
we can't make this DIY right you know it
has to be designed and built and don't
touch it and if they do touch it you get
your wrists laughed about it don't touch
it again you know because it's ours it's
going to be ours we wouldn't allow
someone to build their own swing set or
slide right you wouldn't be able to do
that in a city park so what now what I'm
getting that long story with this is
that with this one the street
Improvement month the things that aren't
included so if you put a skatepark right
in the middle apartment a big concrete
block right you go okay well now how do
you get to it how do you light it where
do you park
I'm 99 sure we could use our bonded
money to get you there to park there to
light it because that is all Improvement
it's asphalt that City owned that sort
but
that's how I was saying is that if as
long as we can get the perimeter and the
skate park done with money allocated for
the skate park I would use this bonded
type money because you can't use chips
you can't maybe you would use cdpg but I
don't know if you want to and and put
that around there so that's why it was
under 890 I would do all that work to
get to the park and then build the park
with the Harpo or the pond mm-hmm okay
is that Anthony is that what you
wouldn't see it right yeah that's what
we've talked about
but it's gonna
everything's expensive I mean Paul tried
to get a quote on replacing a concrete
staircase and it was over half a million
dollars that was the staircase you know
this is a pretty elaborate thing and I
know that we wanted to be representative
of where we are as a city at this point
so we want it to be nice and these guys
are great
we seem to have a following but the
number one problem we have at the city
it's the number one product is we
shoestring budgets and then we don't
know how to get it done
you know we said well is it a one
million dollar project how can you do
one million and then it's a 1.5 million
dollar project and we're scrambling
we're having that issue with Jerry
Barrel Park you know where our
you want to get Jerry rail Park done you
know when the bids come in high and now
we're trying to figure out how do we get
it done it's it's
very complicated thing to do is try to
get all these projects done we're
fortunate that the street projects
usually don't know but
not every project is a Road apartment so
Chris is going to be talking about this
uh I already had any composition uh what
kind of composition to run this in terms
of liability
I mean
from my perspective because I want to
say I'm a little bit of a realist with
it is that
a lot of City that's in a lot of
skateboards so there has to be something
with it but I do know that I spoke with
the mayor and I don't want to speak for
him but I think Anthony you might be
talking about this he did mention
something to me about when our insurance
does get reviewed the skate park
editions would get factored in like
there is a possibility that our
insurance carrier will say okay now you
have a skate park and we go up yeah that
he did mention that to me but I'm
getting but I've been to Lake George
Saratoga Albany has two Troys looking to
build one so I don't think that we can
sit and say whoa liability because
people go in New York City that's 30.
yeah no I'm not saying that we don't
build it we build it but we need to
address the liability you know what I'm
about to take responsibility for the
liability it's of the organization and
so the people who are using it or is the
city
I think that's what I believe that's
what Andrew is you know is is
but those are yeah that's so not a ton
of
Apple but a lot of projects so we'll see you know once again all these
projects can take so long to design that
next year
more Public Works
speak but right now it's a little bit of
a wall because now we're hitting this
big design ramp again
let's not add more to you if I am sure
we're going to have what two or three
more parts added to this
studying as well Park um
Woodland Park added to what you're
seeing here right now
you know is tough for me to talk about
just me but I have to be my own agent I
would be dismissed to say that this
conversation should be had with a lot of
people
um you know there's a lot of people that
do a lot of good work I know Christian
mentioned Maurice you know he's doing a
really good job I know we have a lot of
good staff here and it's tough uh you
know we don't have a garden movement or
anything as managers you know John and I
and Anthony so you know what I have
always tried to do is my job to the best
I can so that you guys go you know what
Chris gets it done you know and that's
how well we're doing it you know that's
what it is but I would be risk to say
that there's a lot of people that
probably could
deserve a bump too and I'm not I can't
speak for him but it's out there and if
I had people under me all my people
reunion and then Joe was retiring so I
don't have any of that situation but I
don't think I think people sometimes get
intimidated I've been here long enough
for us
yeah price enough yeah so I just wanted
just to say that when you're looking at
things trustful
all right thanks guys thank you
yeah
don't you ready
11. Administration
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did John approve this
I'm not aware that's why I mentioned it
doesn't document
it's a good thing you are moving them in
a good direction
right they give people an indication on
what's going on
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okay yeah a lot of grip
but that's good we all love pictures
right
and I'm not going to talk as much as
Chris
Anthony can you just give us a snapshot
of utility Administration and then we'll
have John kind of walk us through what
is going on there
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not only does he have the utilities
Administration he's also assigned
maintenance uh traffic utilities and
phones and I.T and
what am I missing Johnny
yes go ahead
that's it you're talking about increase
you're talking about things come on
hey Toby utilities uh Administration
that increases by 7.77 by 15 000 uh
total communication Central
Communications was up 30 000.
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and then again I said the sign language
total sign uh utility sign maintenance
is up to Audi 19
144 hours and uh your traffic is up
seventy thousand four twelve utilities
for that
and then Street lighting is uh up
I'll explain that to you too a million
two
I wanted to do that so that you don't
have to be in currency
all right so we'll do um utilities
Administration page 11.
uh
there is a salary bump for one of the
employees on the 100 line
um going down I don't think there's can
you can you explain the reason for the
pump I can so
um
yeah the principal billing account for
the VP Club has been here for a number
of years
has over uh time increased a lot of the
duties that she's been doing she's
this person is uh trains everyone on all
of the software that we use our unit
software our Unicity software she
creates all the
reports for us she uh does all of the
role-based access control to make sure
that we have a proper security
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which works well outside of her original
duties and it has over the last several
years actually been what I'll call 9 to
system if there was an assistant
superintendent job
um this person would have
so I mean I've seen that um you take
that into consideration as a
over even anything that you would give
me because I believe that she
wholeheartedly deserves it for the work
that she's done I just want to add we're
about to go into a major uh upgrade in
our newness uh Citywide system where
she's going to be the leader of the as
she's been in the past a software
upgrades are uh
horrific as you will and uh we need
somebody at that home that can make that
as a minimal of an issue as possible
I believe that's the only major uh
change you can look at this great
question on this how is this link to it
supporting you with Hardware software
you know otherwise just testing tea yes
because no no I'm not saying well how
does this link to it in terms of
supporting this individual
Society supporting this individual so
again it's been evolution of how we use
cross-training employees and get them to
work outside of their limited
responsibilities so you can look at that
I.T staff and say that I'm actually one
of them as well as this other employees
so we just have many more duties
including you know up and above that but
we're supplementing the I.T Department
she does a lot of software
specifications
the reason why I asked the question
because a title
and that person as well as I as well as
several people in the city you know
learn from the um bottom up and um have that in you
know Chris mentioned I don't want to
talk too much about this but
institutional knowledge
um that's where we exist right we have
so much of that institutional knowledge
that it's so much easier for us to sit
there and do some sort of upgrade or
change we know all the Departments we
know how the Departments function and um
to have us there to be able to do those
upgrades uh are so much easier than
anyone else could so actually I I would
like to speak about that um because I
have a concern about that so I don't
know how this person is I don't know how
old you are but eventually people are
going retire and so I see you too is the
only admin staff so I was interested in
knowing what is does it look like in
terms of succession planning you talk
about all the things that she does even
more and more and the same with you yeah
so what does that look like in terms of
more adding more staff or considering
adding more staff so that people can now
learn the next five or six years however
long it's going to mentioned that before
and I appreciate your kids
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gym we have started to look at that and
one of the positions when we get to the
I.T position is that we have added
another PC support specialist that will
be able to supplement some of the
existing duties that our local area
network administrator is doing right now
as well as supplements some of the
police department needs
by being able to have that in third
person uh assisting in that department
then some of the things that I'm doing
and this other person in my
Administration doing we can start to
slop off some of that duties to uh
um you know reduce those types of issues
you know basically you're training too
at the same time right right you know
quite frankly
um I believe when I leave there'll be
multiple people that'll probably be
my duties will probably be split into a
different number of people and I'm
saying that because I have such a very
uh repertoire of things that I do and I
don't see you finding someone that's
going to do all of them well so I think
you know we'll probably start splitting
them apart maybe something about here
something they'll go there a great many
of those duties will go to the it
um local area network administrator I
believe so we're trying to position him
to have more time available to do a lot
of the things that I'm doing so we are
kind of working on that now yeah okay
you're right I do ask and I asked for
all the time the concern is still there
I force them to put an extra ID
okay and that's this new position
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um
help desk support specialist I.T it says
need enough it says it's starting a
succession planning yeah for Lisa and
John yes it does Dodge I forced it up
um
any other questions on this section
utilities Administration
um
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page 14. right to the bottom
I'm sure we have a oh that yeah so 30
000 uh increase from the previous year
but every two is every two years Josh
every two years there's uh every other
year we have to pay an additional what's
that called that it's done maintenance
for the whole new system by appointment
for two years
okay because I had a question there too
because I know maybe we bought some
equipment a couple years ago well I
think our phone system is right now I
think it's like 15 years old but it did
have been up by a couple years ago
reporting equipment no it's been a while
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that's the only item in that one
the next page is uh 15 Central data
processing I will show a lot of
processing
okay so in the central data processing
um this is our I.T
um or three people we have currently
three people in there uh we had the land
administrator and two help desk so we're
requesting a third as well
um
let's see
fees for service that's one of our our
biggest codes it's 350 000 up from three
hundred and twenty thousand
um those are for our communist costs our
immunosity costs are Office 365 which
has been two years now I mean that's
certainly a large expense we can go
through uh if you want it's maintenance
for all of our
great deal of our city Network equipment
um
[Music]
so the Tyler Technologies alone uh were
estimating at uh roughly two hundred
thousand dollars for uh for next year so
that's a really large amount so if you
pull that out
um it's really uh not too many not too
much larger things are virus protection
uh this comes out of that one
um other than the fees for service yeah
okay our uh you guys have seen the know
before training for the fishing training
I've seen them many times
something which honestly I think is
really cool so we can ask me out of our
budget and it keeps educating our
employees because you know we we've been
so lucky that we have not been uh
touched and you know I'll never say that
we can't be touched because we can but
we're taking every kind of Step as we as
much as possible to reduce the potential
that that happens and by training our
employees on what to click and what not
to click um is certainly a big piece of
it
questions
Mr Clean showed that Wayne administrator
is that the secession planning you're
referencing earlier
welcome
training nor is it a different I'm sorry
the land administrators yeah so the land
administrator is the position I
mentioned before that by adding that
additional help desk person it will free
up that administrator to learn some more
of my dream again thank you
questions
[Music]
one more
a couple more page 21.
utilities
so
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um
those of you that aren't aware of what
we do so the sign maintenance we
maintain all of the signage of
traffic signage uh all the temporary
postings we do we take the streets uh
we're doing a lot of painting of Street
lighting and things trying to Spruce
them up we've certainly done a lot of
that over the last couple of years so
those salaries come out of the
assignment in Phoenix the 3310
there are a couple of uh large upgrade
requests the 3310 450 in particular uh
we're going I'm asking to go from 35 000
up to 60 000.
um
just want to make sure that's the one I
want to talk about getting a moment
tell spark yeah I just want to make you
see where I pulled certain things from
so so I have two larger codes so
um obviously our costs had uh
skyrocketed in the last couple of years
because of metal costs
um so those
um include our sign blanks are
yeah so there's two of them right so the
451 is where
um I'm looking to get additional LED
stop signs um
provide some dollars for that uh as well
as a good portion of the potential speed
limit signs that we're looking to do
so we're positioning ourselves for that
right okay
well I don't ask for a lot of upgrade
through the up price increase cost
increases but um there is a limit and we
have to start uh budgeting
um properly based on
um the cost of items that we're getting
today
so that's why those two codes are going
up 33 10 450 and 451. once come one's
the speed limit signs are going to come
out of and um the other one the
additional LED stop signs as well as the
cost increases
questions
um so is that going to be adequate
um that is going to be adequate you
think in terms of what we need we might
need I always try to stay within my
budget especially on those codes you'll
never see me go over so we'll do what we
have to uh yeah get it done okay and then my
other question is um in terms of some of
the traffic studies that we might have
that we will have to do
um is that um is there a cost to that or
is it your time and that's so the
traffic studies and we kind of had that
discussion of one of the committee
meetings and then it went South right so
we do need to make some sort of
decision on that the traffic studies
to look at changing the speed limit
um I did have a discussion with Chris
about the potential that uh the cdtc
um did have a a project that could
potentially do some traffic studies
um and we would look at that and see uh
if the cost was zero or a smaller amount
to do it through CTC as opposed to us
hiring an engineering team so I think we
just need some
okay I thought that we actually had
decided that we needed to go ahead with
the traffic studies I don't think that
anything was actually said that said go
ahead
okay
no we didn't we did not we discussed it
but we never fun
I need to put it on the legislative make
a legislative request
I kind of because I think that was a
discussion of leading towards uh yeah
community meeting was okay it's now the
next step
but the material was from the old ones
is there any value in that didn't get
anything in return because yes we talked
about that a little when that metal
comes back I'm gonna take it we're going
to clean it off and we're gonna put new
faces on it okay
can you quantify what these increases
will mean in the number
for each category
um I mean I don't have those numbers
with me I certainly uh did it based on
the speed limit signs where you know we
were talking about five thousand dollars
at uh based on the number that we had
and I added a little bit I think that's
what the cost was uh for receiving this
time
um I think the
um you know probably looking to get
maybe another six or drop signs um they
are very expensive so I don't think we
want to go crazy we've been super lucky
that none have been damaged you had to
think that yeah we replaced uh a half a
dozen signs every week
it was at least
stop signing that they've been very
effective and totally I would say that
yeah we certainly hear it from people
that they reported on the sign
maintenance supervisor is that a union
position it is it is
supervisor so really all three of them
work uh one one supervisors over them
um biggest change that we're looking at
is uh they asked for uh 65 000 in a
quick Place uh traffic controllers we
have uh that'll give us about 15 traffic
controllers that I'd like to change on
Upper State Street
um that are over 20 years old so that we
can get them in our back in our
coordinated system so that we can better
monitor them and better overheat the
signals up up there
parties position all filled yes yeah but
that third one took us a while ago we
finally got it yeah last year
took a while oh so the one that says
Arbor is filled as well yeah yes
that's awesome
okay all right any questions on this no
if not only want to uh equipment so um
uh the other
um change is the uh 425a which is the
smart city
um so again when you think of smart City
there's a couple of different
um things we're talking about right so
this particular National pretty smart
city if you remember going back to the
committee meeting last week when we went
machine and uh video analytics so um
this is the second of three payments
that we'd be making to National Grid uh
for that equipment and that's why it's
like in every other looks like in every
other year kind of well the first
payment was a hundred and two thousand
the second payment was the uh was that
1.3 and then this one is a one point
yeah and 21 was 1.3 yeah
so you're talking about
um currently working on the Zone A and B
which is the north and south side of the
state for the most part as well as the
North End uh van brinken Avenue area
um we uh if you recall we did receive a
um
that is helping us to do a great portion
of
um Hamilton Hill
um the North End as well as
around Seward place so uh I don't have
the numbers I'm sorry I'm not wasn't
prepared for that but I may come back
and ask you for some more dollars so
that we can at least get this core area
uh complete but um
we should have another uh 100 access
points in the North End
um late in the next uh I want to say two
months
so they're actively installing them out
on the polls right now
um when it's slow because we have to get
National Grid to power them up and every
place for the record every time we ask
to put one of these up on the pole we
have to go through a process with
National Grid you have to send someone
out there and measure and look at it and
see if it's okay and then Verizon has to
approve it it's a wicked long process
but um we're getting through it and
um we have about 300 access points in
the pipeline and again the first hundred
or so
um and we should have relatively
shortened and then those uh a little
farther
what are you
um you know by the beginning of next
year we do want to look at the potential
to ask for some more funding so that we
can continue the project because it's
been so well received by our residents
thank you and I can give you a better
one if you you know you want me to come
back
um maybe next month let's get to the
budget
we paid it actually we paid it at 22. we
charged it back yeah but that was we
allocated about two million dollars over
yeah there's two million yes yes
foreign
[Music]
[Laughter]
[Music]
[Laughter]
foreign
let me know if you have any other
questions
okay thank you all right thank you I
think
thank you
all right
thank you
Department
[Music]
here section forwards everything
I don't see anything else Anthony is
that correct hey do you have anything uh
that we can touch on
no no I just uh can I just ask a
question about the process now yeah I
asked him because there was a lot of
requests there was a lot of different
things and how do you put that together
yeah the questions that we answer and we
are print I'm printing out and getting
copies to all the council members
um is there anything if you go through
your questions and the answer is not
what you're looking for please let us
know and we can reach out back to the
department head to clarify any
unanswered question or need additional
information
and one of the questions then how about
changes yes you I mean I think we should
just look at the question and if you
feel that satisfied just reach out to me
and I can ask Anthony
yeah and I have to comment them for
doing that because it's not easy to get
all the answers to these questions and
it doesn't mean that you guys keep
submitting your questions we'll get an
answer
um tomorrow we'll group I am requesting
that we meet at six I have a little bit
of setback tomorrow so if you guys can
please um give me a break at six o'clock
tomorrow instead of 5 30 I really
appreciate it
um I know that I am getting some changes
already we're getting some proposed
changes
you guys do that now you're gonna yeah
separately decide the changes well we
need six o'clock tomorrow okay
discuss those um those changes tomorrow
at six o'clock but I encourage everybody
please submit I know John I'm trying to
Papa John's I came to you late no that's
all right send them in tomorrow and
we'll discuss them but copy Anthony at
what time we are proposing the changes
that we must discuss our final
budget with him okay being at a table
with us I asked
um Mr Ferrari to send me a list which he
now I think all of us have of all across
all departments so we probably end up
having to do that next week
um but there are I mean you'll see the
chart because it was I think in our
mailboxes
um when we arrived today yesterday from
yesterday yeah yeah there was nothing
this was in yesterday yeah
oh because I I wrote him yeah as soon as
I asked him he's so funny to you because
I said oh you probably didn't get it get
it but it was there yesterday
I see Mr Williams
um have already presented to us before
we got this conversation yesterday
so yeah if you need to have further
rationale for any of the other positions
that are on this
um I think we'd have to call the staff
the department heads back in
um if not send us send us the question
that you may have and we can ask the
department what we did today right
a you know asking the same questions as
we asked Mr Gardner to describe I guess
is what I'm asking then you see the list
yeah
[Music]
Mr Gardner was kind of different because
he's asking for a new apartment versus
oh somebody asked me for an Empire
um